[PLOG] The Lost Colony

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Which demon should I use?

The dying tentacled demon
5
83%
The Reaper fire demon
1
17%
 
Total votes: 6

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Elvenstar
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Re: [PLOG] The Lost Colony

Post by Elvenstar »

Your mage is beautifully painted, so elegant. I especially like the idea of the various tokens to represent magic lores.
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Amarok
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Re: [PLOG] The Lost Colony

Post by Amarok »

Wow, you have been busy!

Crackin stuff all round. The harpies in particular are incredibly dynamic (and the different heights only adds to that). Did you pin the wings? I got a box of those models to use with DEldar Scourge bat wings, but they are so frail I havn't gone near them yet.

Just wondering if you have considered edging your bases in a darker colour? For example, the converted spear elves look fantastic as a unit, but the blue/grey base edges with the marble base top of a similar colour makes it look (IMHO) kind of unfinished (especially in a movement tray of the same colour). The marble effect is great, and might stand out a bit more against a black (or dark grey) edge. Just a thought :)
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Rowena
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Re: [PLOG] The Lost Colony

Post by Rowena »

Elvenstar: Thank you for the compliments. I think some kind of smooth elegance is one of the main themes of this army, so I am glad the sorceress fits. The tokens were a crazy idea I didn't manage to get rid of. :D

Amarok: Thanks, I am glad you like the models.
I have indeed pinned the wings, made the pin slightly longer to be able to bend the wings as I liked and then put greenstuff over it to make the transition smooth. It wasn't too difficult, but I have to admit I was worried for the models a bit.

The bases are part of my "artistic vision". I am trying for more or less seemless blend, so I chose a very similar colour on purpose, a striking endge would probably bug me as something not belonging to the unit.
When I was painting wood elves just for the models, I even used round bases and covered the edges with sand, to be able to just place them on terrain without anything looking too out of place.
I guess my view is not really common in Warhammer, but it's proably just different vision.

Thanks for your views and suggestions, though. :)
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Rowena
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Re: [PLOG] The Lost Colony

Post by Rowena »

The first goal, a 500 point army, is finally finished!
It took me more than a year, but I had fun painting it and I already look forward to more models. 500 point battles are fun, but a bigger army means more toys to play with. Also if we want to enter a tournament, we probably need at least 1000 points.

Here is the army as it stands now, tiny but finished and playable:

Image

Another quick and dirty colour scheme comparison photo, I think the colours go together quite well:

Image

And what's next?

The first thing I'll work on now will probably be Executioners, which we even already know how to make, so stay tuned. :)

We're also thinking about these, in no particular order (I still don't know my boyfriend's recent plans for 1000 point armylist):

- Warlocks - elite battle mages, probably solar and fully clothed, but we have no idea which bits to use yet, other than the beautiful Glade Rider horses
- Cold One knights - we have an idea for the mounts we really like, but still struggle with the knights themselves, they should be solar and armoured, but which bits to use?
- Sisters of Slaughter - we have an idea for them, but don't know if we want them in the nearest expansion
- Crossbowmen - should they look like the spearelves?

I'm having trouble finding the perfect models and bits to match my vision of the army. I don't really like the armoured skirts both Dark elves and High elves have and would prefer to skip them completely (maybe using some Dark eldar kits?), but it will probably be quite hard. The same goes for chainmain and High elf scale armour - we could probably justify both in our fluff, but so far we have neither and I quite like it like that.
Overall, one of the themes of the army seems to be sleek elegance, which will probably also quite hard to keep, given that I work mostly from Warhammer models. But we'll see... :)
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Marchosias
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Re: [PLOG] The Lost Colony

Post by Marchosias »

Nice photos. :)

Rowena wrote:I still don't know my boyfriend's recent plans for 1000 point armylist


I do. :D

1. Executioners - conversion fully agreed upon.
2. Dark riders - if I remember correctly, we only need to find suitable heads. While warlocks are much more overpowered, dark riders are very useful, too, and warlocks are going to be very difficult to think up.
3. Crossbowmen or shades. Making crossbows as warriors with different weapons would make sense, but I am starting to fear that we are going to be short of lunars soon. And that the majority of lunars would be female (witch elves and sisters of slaughter), for which there is no fluff reason.
4. 1000 points army finished!
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Rowena
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Re: [PLOG] The Lost Colony

Post by Rowena »

Marchosias wrote:Nice photos. :)

Rowena wrote:I still don't know my boyfriend's recent plans for 1000 point armylist


I do. :D

1. Executioners - conversion fully agreed upon.
2. Dark riders - if I remember correctly, we only need to find suitable heads. While warlocks are much more overpowered, dark riders are very useful, too, and warlocks are going to be very difficult to think up.
3. Crossbowmen or shades. Making crossbows as warriors with different weapons would make sense, but I am starting to fear that we are going to be short of lunars soon. And that the majority of lunars would be female (witch elves and sisters of slaughter), for which there is no fluff reason.
4. 1000 points army finished!


Thanks! I wasn't sure when I was writing the post, so this helps a lot. :)
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Calisson
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Re: [PLOG] The Lost Colony

Post by Calisson »

I'll comment mostly from a tactical point of view - not knowing Marchiosias plans, I typed this long post before reading the two posts above.
As I understand you have no inclination for painting very large units, your playing style is likely to be MSU (many small units).

You have:
- 2 sorc on foot
- 10 WE, pennant
- 20 spears, champ, pennant
- 5 shades (who could pretend to have GW)
- 5 harpies

You have lots of low strength attacks, but no high strength attacks (except 5 shades if they take great weapons, and magic). That's why Marchosias struggles against anything with strong armour.
Your first priority should be to get more strong attacks. That means Execs, RBT, kharib, hydra, COK, COC.

You have some agile troops (shades, harpies) but could make good use of a few more. That means DR, warlocks, and characters riding steeds or pegasi.
Aim to have one agile unit per 500 pts.

You don't have much shooting. Shooting won't win any war, but it is useful to get rid of opponent's chaff.

You have plenty of magic users, unfortunately on foot only, so they are committed to use a babysitting unit (obviously the spears). If ever you want one more sorceress, try to make her ride a steed or a pegasus. But it is not a tactical priority, all the more that warlocks are said to come soon and will bring on enough magic.

You have no BSB. Don't hurry up to take one, it requires careful tactical consideration. But that is definitively a must-have at 1500 pts and above.
In MSU, a BSB is not as necessary as in classic lists; a BSB riding a pegasus - or a dark steed at least - would be highly useful. He would wear the best possible armour (including a sea dragon cloak) and probably use a lance.
An alternative could be to take a BSB mounted on a CO in a medium COK unit (8 to 10), if you consider to make a COK unit larger than minimal.

You don't have a single musician. Musicians are important for melee units: in case of a draw in melee, there's kind of a music competition and the winner wins the melee. Also, in case a unit has to flee, a musician helps it to rally. So musician are very important for large melee units (spears) and for units which flee a lot (DR). Less important for minimal size units which are meant to be sacrificeable.
I recommand you to add or convert a musician to your spearmen.

What's next?
- Executioners => well needed high S unit. The minimal size is convenient. Try to have a musician with them, and a champion.
- Warlocks => 5 are enough, no need for a champion. Very interesting unit.
- Cold One knights => Either 5 are nice, with only musician, or 8-10 with full command. I'd recommend 10, FC.
- Crossbowmen => a small unit of 10 should be interesting. They could be handy to babysit a sorceress (so take a champion). A musician is mandatory, otherwise they could not shoot at a fast opponent coming on their sides or rear. A pennant is not necessary.
- Sisters of Slaughter => no hurry, that's another low strength unit. Some reports tell that a unit of 15 joined by a shrine makes a very nice unit.


What's not considered?
- Master BSB: Must-have. I recommend either on a fast mount, or on a cold one inside a medium COK unit.
- All other characters and their mounts seem to be out of your fluff. Marchiosias don't really need them anyway.
- Dark Riders: they would be valuable for your army tactical style. I'd recommend one unit of 5 with shields and crossbows, musician. If you like the pennant, it is not a liability.
- corsairs out of fluff and not necessary for you.
- More warriors are not useful at all.
- RBT would be very valuable, the more the better (up to 4).
- scourgerunner is not the best addition to your army.
- COC would be useful, if you start using COK, why not COC?
- BG is interesting for a MSU army.
- hydra seems out of fluff, and it is not what you lack most.
- kharib would be slightly more useful, but seems out of fluff.
- shrine is not really a MSU thing, but seems to synergize wuite well with sisters, or spears (as a bunker for your footed sorceress).



Now, from an aesthetical point of view,
your army looks fantastic! :D
I just wish you handpainted the two pennants. And a BSB when you will get one.

- Warlocks - elite battle mages, probably solar and fully clothed
"followers of the old lunar cult, loosely based on Celtic culture, and followers of the new way, calling for order and unification and using the imagery of sun."

Very strange that you consider warlocks as solar. Their design, both in rules and in model, make them fit perfectly in your lunar theme. Also, most people would spontaneously consider fast cavalry with clothes to be dark riders, and naked fast cavalry to be warlocks.
I really would advise you to have two sorts of horse riders:
- the "solar" Dark Raiders, fully clothed and using lances,
- and the "lunar" warlocks, bare chested and using strange hand weapons, with mere tatoos providing an efficient armour.

But you could also make them all lunar, that would provide more male lunar models. The fast cavalry concept is certainly more "lunar" than "solar".
In that case, make them all bare-chested,
- the ones with crossbows and lance (shields would be nice, too) would be the DR,
- and the ones with handweapons only and weird heads would be the warlocks.
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Marchosias
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Re: [PLOG] The Lost Colony

Post by Marchosias »

Wow, such a long post! Thank you for all the time you spent writing it!

For the tactical part, I am glad your recommendations coincide with my plans. :) (And both warriors and witches actually do have full command, though it is not easy to spot the horns the musicians carry. And to distinguish vestal champion from regular vestals, as even the regular ones are incredibly awesome. :) )

For your warlock question, I understand your points and was thinking about it myself, but consider these points (in no particular order):

1. I think our opponents will distinguish the two units based on their weaponry rather than the amount of clothing. A unit with lances and shields is DR, a unit with hand weapons and magical fire (we have quite a few left arms from Dark Eldar mandrakes spare) is warlocks.
2. The official warlocks are allies of Slaanesh and as such look demonlike. Ours will be normal elves - no pacts with demons and no slaughtering of innocents if it does not save at least an army. Therefore, our warlocks are just battle mages who can fight and ride very well. No need to look as fierce as the original ones.
3. Dalamar suggested one year ago that he thinks even DR should be solar, as a feigned flight requires a lot of discipline to be pulled of. And you need good self control to master your magic talent.
4. It is not that easy to give all lunars some character and soul. You can tell apart a shade and a dark rider easily, as the latter is riding a horse; but ideally I would like to have them so unique that you would not confuse a shade with a dark rider even if he would borrow a steed. The more lunar units we will recruit, the more difficult this is going to be. Of course we want more male lunars, but I have some feeling how the solar version should look and no good idea for lunar ones.
5. In the whole army, we are going for a clean and elegant look. Tattoos, strange weapons and wild flowing hair are all acceptable, but have to be used carefully. Just compare our witch elves with the original models and their concept art. Or look at harpies, who are obviously demons, but beautiful ones.

With all this I want to say that a prospect of solar warlocks would hopefuly not be that confusing, has some sense and could be easier to achieve then a lunar version. On the other hand, we have spent quite some time trying to think something up and without much success, maybe we will return to the more obvious way of lunar warlocks after all.
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Rowena
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Re: [PLOG] The Lost Colony

Post by Rowena »

Calisson: First of all, thanks for your detailed analysis and advice, I really appreciate it!

The warriors already have a musician, so do the witch elves. The executioners will most probably be made with full command, just in case, I think it's easier to say the command models don't count as such than use them without the models. Plus they add some diversity to the unit. :)

I consider both banners unfinished, I'm just still gathering courage. They will definitely be handpainted in the future.

Concerning the warlocks... what Marchosias wrote, basically. Plus it would be original. :D I see your points, though (and we have discussed this a lot) and anything may still happen, because we don't have any definite ideas for either of the two factions. If we come up with a way how to make them, lunar warlocks it is.
They probably wouldn't have weird heads in any case (we don't want them demonic, after all), but magic fire from Mandrakes would probably help to distinguish them.
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Calisson
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Re: [PLOG] The Lost Colony

Post by Calisson »

:oops: Sorry for having missed the full command.
I've spent some time re-reading the PLog, but that was still not enough, it seems...

About lunar units, there's not much choice for non-female armourless units:
- shades
- warlocks
- assassins.
If you count as solar the warlocks, then lunar boys will have no choice but become shades.
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Rowena
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Re: [PLOG] The Lost Colony

Post by Rowena »

It's ok, especially the horn on the musician is very easy to miss. :)

You're right about the lunars and we've been considering that. We would probably consider corsairs to be lunar as well (if we ever decide to have them, that is) and either dark riders or warlocks (if not both in the end, we'll see)
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Rowena
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Re: [PLOG] The Lost Colony

Post by Rowena »

I have placed a huge order on ebay for bits I'll need for new conversions. Fingers crossed it will arrive safely and then hopefully there will be more pictures. ?)
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Rowena
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Re: [PLOG] The Lost Colony

Post by Rowena »

And now for something completely different.
This was made as a gift for a Bretonnian player who has played against us in a few of our first battles and was always supportive and gentlemanly like a true knight. We should probably create a special scenario for this, a bonus for his units near the lake or something. :)

Image

When I saw the lake terrain at the store we usually play, with the water just painted solid blue, I couldn't stop thinking that lakes didn't look like this. Water was supposed to be transparent. Then I thought of the sword and I then I knew I had to make it.
My original idea was something like a positive version of my lake of death, crystal clear water with a sword waiting for the true king. But soon I realised there was one big difference between the two pieces - as this was supposed to be a terrain piece, I didn't really have where to dig the lake, the depth had to be fake. And I still refused to let go of the idea that true water is transparent.
Eventually I have arrived at a compromise - crystalic resin and sanded bottom, but painted to fake sloping banks. Not what I had hoped for, but... I'm afraid I can't produce anything better, at least not at this stage.

Image

This also affected the sword - just making it burried in the sand would destroy any illusion of depth I might create with the painting. Then I got this crazy idea of the sword being offered by a hand formed out of the water and then I was pretty much doomed. This is probably seventh or so attempt at casting the hand and it's far from perfect, but at that point I just wanted it to be done.
Still I think it came out fine.

Side view:
Image

Anyway, our friend was delighted when he received it and that's what matters the most. :)
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Datalink7
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Re: [PLOG] The Lost Colony

Post by Datalink7 »

This is quite stellar army. I'm totally stealing your idea for a Sorceress (as I said in the PM). Model just arrived :)
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Rowena
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Re: [PLOG] The Lost Colony

Post by Rowena »

Datalink7 wrote:This is quite stellar army. I'm totally stealing your idea for a Sorceress (as I said in the PM). Model just arrived :)

Thanks for the compliments and I'd love to see what you do with the model! :)
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xFallenx
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Re: [PLOG] The Lost Colony

Post by xFallenx »

I'm digging the terrain piece, have any others?
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Rowena
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Re: [PLOG] The Lost Colony

Post by Rowena »

xFallenx wrote:I'm digging the terrain piece, have any others?


Thanks! Other than the two mini dioramas without models, not yet. I want to finish the army first. :) But I definitely plan to add some that would match our army's style.
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anthalont
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Re: [PLOG] The Lost Colony

Post by anthalont »

Thanks for the group shot, your army is just beautiful!

And I love that terrain piece,
very nice gift to a very lucky friend ;)
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Rowena
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Re: [PLOG] The Lost Colony

Post by Rowena »

The lost colony is busy this time of year. :)
I have received many new boxes and am very busy removing mold lines and such, so hopefully there will be new reinforcements soon. Stay tuned! ;)
Last edited by Rowena on Sun Dec 29, 2013 12:56 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Rowena
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Re: [PLOG] The Lost Colony

Post by Rowena »

As a little teaser, a quick snapshot of what's on my work table right now.

Image

The result to come soon, I hope. :)
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Rowena
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Re: [PLOG] The Lost Colony

Post by Rowena »

As promised, the finished conversion:

We have decided on dark riders being the first of the planned reinforcements. Originally we wanted warlocks, but as we still don't know how to make them... anyway. Dark riders were pictured as lunar from the very start, before there were even rumors of bare chested elves, and we have stuck with the original image. Let's hope weapons will be enough to make them recognizable.

Image

They're made from chaos hellstrider torso, original dark rider spear and the rest is Glade rider.
When I first saw the hellstriders (on the box in a shop), I was overjoyed and immediately ordered some torsos. Bare chested male models are quite hard to find. When it arrived, however, I stopped being so sure. The posture seemed weird, shoulders and thighs as well, it seemed too muscular... and it didn't even fit on the horse!
But after some fiddling and some cutting, I think I have managed to make it work after all.

Image

When he's bending forward, he not only looks more dynamic, but the hunching position makes a bit more sense.
This is still WIP, he will hopefully get both a crossbow and a shield (when I get my hands on some) and the position of the rider on the horse will be adjusted when I glue him on after painting.

One more shot:
Image
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Rowena
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Re: [PLOG] The Lost Colony

Post by Rowena »

I'm still working on the horses, but an upcoming tournament has made me at least assemble some other models as well.

Image

This is one of our future executioners, based on Dark Eldar incubi with shadow warrior helmets. Still WIP, especially the sword needs to be straightened, but I quite like the overall look, especially the cold, merciless feel of the helmets. Together with the swords (which, at least to me, resemble butcher's cleavers), they look quite scary. Hopefully.
By chosing these models, I have also managed to avoid armoured skirts as well as both chainmail and scale armmour once again. Maybe it's actually manageable?

The conversion was fairly easy (only two kits and no major changes?!), the only thing apart from a simple headswap I had to do with them was to get rid of the spikes that go in his back. I'm not looking forward to ranking them up, though!
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Amboadine
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Re: [PLOG] The Lost Colony

Post by Amboadine »

Some interesting conversions going on there. Couple of comments;
The rider, I think the head just needs a slight adjustment, so he looks like he is looking where he is going, or maybe it is just the angle in the 3rd picture, it looks fine in the first two. But it may also look correct when you reposition on the horse.
With the Executioner, again it might just be the angle, but is he leaning backwards? Love the concept though, hadn't considered Incubi models for conversion.

All in all nice work and food for thought for me on what I can do with my unloved Dark eldar models I never got around to making.
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Rowena
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Re: [PLOG] The Lost Colony

Post by Rowena »

Thanks for your comments.
Ia agree that the 3rd dark rider pic looks weird. I don't think it would be possible to bend the head any more on this model (I guess I just haven't cut it enough, the pieces don't really fit), but i'll make final adjustments when I glue him on his horse. At the moment he was just placed there any way he would fit.
About the executioner... I think you're right, but again, he is not glued to the base yet, so it may be balance thing.

And if you do make something, please show us. ;)
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Amboadine
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Re: [PLOG] The Lost Colony

Post by Amboadine »

I will indeed. Just starting my own plog. Will make sure I do something dark eldary.
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