[Diary] Making a Dreadlady

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Daeron
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[Diary] Making a Dreadlady

Post by Daeron »

Hey!

I've been stuck with a character in my head, a most dreaded dreadlady, in charge of one of the old Watchtowers of Naggaroth. The way I envision her, she'd be strong for an elf, have an air of command and the poise of a predator. In combat, she'd favour a longsword and shield and, of course, bear heavy armour. She'd wear the cloak of awesome command, which preferably would be the pelt of a wolf.

But.. apparently... there is no figure that even comes close to matching that description. It seems our female miniatures can't escape the E-cup plate bikini syndrome. Poses with an air of command or something that looks like a heavy armoured warrior wading into combat seems reserved for male miniatures mostly.

I thought I'd make a small diary with my quest for the holy grail Dreadlady.
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Re: [Diary] Making a Dreadlady

Post by Daeron »

The first place I went looking for a new Dreadlady was, of course, the GW site but since I knew the range almost from the top of my head I wasn't surprised to find that there's no miniature matching my description.

So I set out to look for female warrior miniatures, and the first place I went to was the Dice Bag Lady's collection. While she does provide some of her own sculpts (well, not sure she scultped them herself but.. whatever), she offers a collection of female miniatures from a wide range of miniature companies. If you're looking for a female miniature, this is often a good place to start.
http://thedicebaglady.net/female-miniatures/

But unfortunately, few are suitably equiped or posed in a manner that could fit my army. My army is still 100% classic GW Dark Elf, so it's hard to pick a model from a different range that won't look too odd in the mix.
There is one miniature in particular that comes close, but it's bearing some icons and details that will have to be removed.
Image

My guess is that, with the proper color scheme and by filing off the symbols I could make a Druchii out of her yet. But it's not a perfect match. She doesn't have a sinister look, and I'd rather have a fur cloak. If possible I'd rather give her a commanding pose than a fighting pose. So I'm adding this to my list of things to try, but I'm not sold yet.
I love me a bowl of numbers to crunch for breakfast. If you need anything theoryhammered, I gladly take requests.

Furnace of Arcana, a warhammer blog with delusional grandeur.

"I move unseen. I hide in light and shadow. I move faster than a bird. No plate of armour ever stopped me. I strike recruits and veterans with equal ease. And all shiver at my coldest of whispers."
- The stiff breeze
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Re: [Diary] Making a Dreadlady

Post by Daeron »

Oh, as an extra, I'm mentioning this set of conversion parts:
http://thedicebaglady.net/heroic-scale- ... eads-x-10/
Some heroic scale female heads... This might open some options as male models can be converted to a female model this way. I've seen a friend use this kit for his spearmen captain and it worked remarkably well. A head swap can do a lot.
I love me a bowl of numbers to crunch for breakfast. If you need anything theoryhammered, I gladly take requests.

Furnace of Arcana, a warhammer blog with delusional grandeur.

"I move unseen. I hide in light and shadow. I move faster than a bird. No plate of armour ever stopped me. I strike recruits and veterans with equal ease. And all shiver at my coldest of whispers."
- The stiff breeze
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Diobarach
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Re: [Diary] Making a Dreadlady

Post by Diobarach »

Reaper minis has a ton of decent female drow that make for good dark elf characters that might also be to your liking. They might be a bit expensive though.

I picked up this one
http://www.reapermini.com/Miniatures/Warlord/latest/14631

Not sure how hard it would be to convert her cloak into a wolf pelt. Her shield has a spider icon though.
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Re: [Diary] Making a Dreadlady

Post by Daeron »

Yeah, I found some time to browse through their collection. That one is definitely a top candidate, though I'd replace the sword and clean up the shield.

Some other candidates:
Image
http://www.reapermini.com/figurefinder#detail/02982
She looks a bit slim and I'm not fond of her blade, but given a cloak and a neater sword that should work out.

Image
https://www.reapermini.com/OnlineStore/ ... down/03203
I could swap the blade from hand and get a shield on that left arm.

Image
https://www.reapermini.com/FigureFinder#detail/03521
More dragon styled than wolf... But a head and shield swap, perhaps adding a cloak, might make her more suitable.


Image
https://www.reapermini.com/FigureFinder#detail/03004
Almost good to go, but there's something about the style that doesn't seem to fit my army. Perhaps the blade and shield should be swapped.

Image
https://www.reapermini.com/FigureFinder#detail/02849
Unclear details, but it looks like some filing could make her suitable.

Image
http://www.reapermini.com/OnlineStore/a ... il/02725_G
Should work with a weapon swap and scraping the knee-pads.
I love me a bowl of numbers to crunch for breakfast. If you need anything theoryhammered, I gladly take requests.

Furnace of Arcana, a warhammer blog with delusional grandeur.

"I move unseen. I hide in light and shadow. I move faster than a bird. No plate of armour ever stopped me. I strike recruits and veterans with equal ease. And all shiver at my coldest of whispers."
- The stiff breeze
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Re: [Diary] Making a Dreadlady

Post by Amboadine »

If you are willing to wait, take a look at the Ragingheroes kickstarter for some inspiration.
I think something like the Dark Elves spears command group might be close to something suitable. They will also come with swords rather than spears.
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Re: [Diary] Making a Dreadlady

Post by Amboadine »

Found the pictures now.

2d1364fba6a3a910fece0c2d2c83cc0e_original.jpg
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Daeron
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Re: [Diary] Making a Dreadlady

Post by Daeron »

Raging heroes does make stunning models, but I'm usually put off by them being slightly too chaotic and over the top, and a "tad" too sexual. For example their Harpies look more like Succubi. Not that it diminishes the impressive art and style, but it's not what I'm looking for. Perhaps their more regular troops will be a little less explicit :P
I love me a bowl of numbers to crunch for breakfast. If you need anything theoryhammered, I gladly take requests.

Furnace of Arcana, a warhammer blog with delusional grandeur.

"I move unseen. I hide in light and shadow. I move faster than a bird. No plate of armour ever stopped me. I strike recruits and veterans with equal ease. And all shiver at my coldest of whispers."
- The stiff breeze
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Re: [Diary] Making a Dreadlady

Post by Amboadine »

I agree some are definitely overly sexual. But the regular troops are looking good and pretty much fully covered like a sensible female warrior :)
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Re: [Diary] Making a Dreadlady

Post by Rowena »

You can also get some fur cloaks as conversion bits here: http://www.spellcrow.com/furrywolves-cloaks-p-255.html (or just get one from HE White Lion box?)
Anyway, those are some lovely models to choose from. :)
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Re: [Diary] Making a Dreadlady

Post by Daeron »

I also found these cloaks:
http://maxmini.eu/fur-cloaks-bits
Image

And from a bits site I learned that the Chaos Marauder Champion may have one. I might have a box of that lying around.
I love me a bowl of numbers to crunch for breakfast. If you need anything theoryhammered, I gladly take requests.

Furnace of Arcana, a warhammer blog with delusional grandeur.

"I move unseen. I hide in light and shadow. I move faster than a bird. No plate of armour ever stopped me. I strike recruits and veterans with equal ease. And all shiver at my coldest of whispers."
- The stiff breeze
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Re: [Diary] Making a Dreadlady

Post by Malys the younger »

Payce made this model for a painting contest on this site last year:

Image

She mentioned this:

The arms are actually from the Chaos Sorcerer as well - I only did a hand swap, sword is from Empire Wizard kit and shield is a simple Warrior shield form the Dreadspears kit. I pinned it in place and used greenstuff to tidy the gaps. The Sea Dragon Cloak is from the Corsairs kit - took a bit of cutting and filing to fit it in place, and greenstuff-work to overlap it with the armour, but the long hair helped cover up some of the biggest cuts.
Image

Image

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Re: [Diary] Making a Dreadlady

Post by Red... »

It seems our female miniatures can't escape the E-cup plate bikini syndrome.
I'm struggling to see the problem ;)

But weak jokes aside, what about this model from Reaper?

Image

http://www.fantization.com/chivaneredma ... 1-1-1.aspx

Or this one (I think it's female, but can't quite tell. It has long hair, but does that mean it's a girl? Not sure... Anyway, you can decide:

Image

http://www.darkelfdice.com/product/reap ... 28mm-minis
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Re: [Diary] Making a Dreadlady

Post by Daeron »

It's a terrific conversion, Malys. I recognized the parts quite quickly since it's such a good base model to make conversions from. I think I've seen it pop up a fair few times in conversions. Anyhow, we have ample head options to make such a conversion possible.

And yes Red, that's a very good candidate (we mentioned it above, actually). Reaper does seem to offer a fair few models. Thanks to their mini finder tool I was able to fetch a few candidates.
Quite an impressive variety in their range.
I'm tempted to try that one, as I think the armour could easily be painted to match my 6th ed Dark Elves. I would swap that blade to match a GW style blade. I'm not sure if I can swap the shield so easily.
I love me a bowl of numbers to crunch for breakfast. If you need anything theoryhammered, I gladly take requests.

Furnace of Arcana, a warhammer blog with delusional grandeur.

"I move unseen. I hide in light and shadow. I move faster than a bird. No plate of armour ever stopped me. I strike recruits and veterans with equal ease. And all shiver at my coldest of whispers."
- The stiff breeze
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Re: [Diary] Making a Dreadlady

Post by Daeron »

Very interesting links, thank you. Though... I do think the only one fitting the description would be this excellent suggestion:
Image
http://mierce-miniatures.com/index.php? ... cf_106_000
She's a winner.. And from the images I managed to google it looks fairly easy to cover up that gap in her chest plate. (She also looks a bit more human than elf but that's okay.)
Then, of course, I still have to add some weapon swaps. The bow I can bear, though I wouldn't have expected that on so heavily plated a warrior.
I love me a bowl of numbers to crunch for breakfast. If you need anything theoryhammered, I gladly take requests.

Furnace of Arcana, a warhammer blog with delusional grandeur.

"I move unseen. I hide in light and shadow. I move faster than a bird. No plate of armour ever stopped me. I strike recruits and veterans with equal ease. And all shiver at my coldest of whispers."
- The stiff breeze
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Re: [Diary] Making a Dreadlady

Post by Barking Agatha »

It looks like you've found her :)

Have you considered playing around with this, though? https://www.heroforge.com/
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Re: [Diary] Making a Dreadlady

Post by Red... »

Barking Agatha,

That site is shockingly cool and actually pretty fairly priced. $14.99 for a custom designed 30mm plastic model is good value. It's a shame that some of the customization is limited (i.e. you can choose the kind of weapon, but not the size of it), but it's still impressive stuff!
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Re: [Diary] Making a Dreadlady

Post by Barking Agatha »

Be careful though, $14.99 is for 'strong plastic' which will not be very well detailed or high quality for painting. You want 'ultra detail plastic', which is closer to what we're used to, and will cost you $24.99.
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Re: [Diary] Making a Dreadlady

Post by Daeron »

Ahh yes. Thank you for pointing that out Agatha. I had neglected to mention it, but I did fiddle around with their tool and this was the best I could come up with.
Image

I found the pricing and the different materials used to be very enlightening. It reminded me of an aspect of 3D printing that somehow escaped my notice before: the chemistry. And it may prove a big factor in holding back 3D printing for tabletop gaming for a while. Not to the point where it'll never show up. But to a point where it may prove less cost effective for large armies.
3D printing is/was a hype at some point and everyone and their neighbour's dog was convinced it was the future. In many ways it is. But to reach a level fit for tabletop miniatures it needs a high precision and durable material.
I didn't think the precision would be a problem for long. For one, I know 3D printing technology is on the rise in dentistry and other medical applications, which tends to be as precise or more precise than our requirements. With such an industry behind it, I imagined it would be but a matter of time until 3D printers would be available with the required precision. But there's one more element that's missing and that's the plastic. Not every material can be used for 3D printing. In medical applications they tend to use very complex and expensive materials, way out of our budget range. And while cheaper plastic, or even glue-like materials could be made to work for 3D printing, it's not sure those materials themselves can match both the precision -and- the durability of injection molded plastic.
It could end up like printing. Sure, you could print your own pages and even your own photos, but when you want a book or a bunch of posters you can't match the quality of a professional printing factory.
I love me a bowl of numbers to crunch for breakfast. If you need anything theoryhammered, I gladly take requests.

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"I move unseen. I hide in light and shadow. I move faster than a bird. No plate of armour ever stopped me. I strike recruits and veterans with equal ease. And all shiver at my coldest of whispers."
- The stiff breeze
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Re: [Diary] Making a Dreadlady

Post by Crowsfoot »

Have you seen these 3d prints and they were not expensive (around the same as GW)

Image


So good quality is available but probably not to a mass market as yet.
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Re: [Diary] Making a Dreadlady

Post by Crowsfoot »

Daeron wrote:Ahh yes. Thank you for pointing that out Agatha. I had neglected to mention it, but I did fiddle around with their tool and this was the best I could come up with.
Image



Would she work if you added your own sword and shield?
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Re: [Diary] Making a Dreadlady

Post by Daeron »

It might help to give her a custom blade and shield.
As for those croxies, they look great. I was impressed, but they also looked like a render, not a printed version. So I took the liberty to dig up where they came from and found this:
http://www.coolminiornot.com/forums/sho ... B-Kroxigor
and this is how they turned out after print:
Image
Impressive. Although the sculptor didn't seem interested to make money on it, just cover some expenses. So I'm not sure how fair the price comparison is. There also seemed to be an issue with the production en masse but that might be a financial one.

It is interesting for sure! If they have sufficient sturdiness and the quality we've gotten used to, then they are closer to a profitable. It also shows that to print them in high quality, then a centralized professional printing service may give the best results. But if that proves cost effective... I can imagine more sculptors going freelance or starting their small companies.
I love me a bowl of numbers to crunch for breakfast. If you need anything theoryhammered, I gladly take requests.

Furnace of Arcana, a warhammer blog with delusional grandeur.

"I move unseen. I hide in light and shadow. I move faster than a bird. No plate of armour ever stopped me. I strike recruits and veterans with equal ease. And all shiver at my coldest of whispers."
- The stiff breeze
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Re: [Diary] Making a Dreadlady

Post by cultofkhaine »

those are some sweet models.
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Re: [Diary] Making a Dreadlady

Post by Crowsfoot »

They are lovely here is the set I painted,

Image
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