Thursday 25 February 2016

From JohnSh - 28mm Empire Halberdiers (40 points)

These old Warhammer Empire Halberdiers are one of those miniatures that never really caught my attention. I don't know if it was that they were one piece, so stiff or all the same, they just didn't ring my bell. However I recently purchased a pre-loved Empire army and among the many units were 30 odd of this mini unpainted and one painted with Test #1 written on the base.

I wonder why he never finished the unit?

The colour scheme jumped out at me and I thought that it would be a fun exercise to try and replicate the paint job. It was in quite a different style to what I normally do being base/block painted with was only on the face and with grey "line highlights" on the black.

My eight with the original Test figure in front

I knew that I would never get all 30 odd done for the challenge so I grabbed eight, sat down with my enormous pile of paints and started working out what had been used where. I don't have many Citadel paints, which I guess is what was used on the test figure but Army Painter, Humbrol and Vallejo were all used on my version. I even had to buy a flesh tone as I always use a tan colour for flesh but this one was much pinker.

My eight. Only 24 more to go.
I found the act of copying someone else's paint scheme and style to be an interesting challenge. Mine turned out a little brighter but I'm happy with the result. I often dither around trying out different schemes myself so it was kind of cool to be directed by an unseen hand.

This is 8 x 28mm figures so 40 points. I can't claim the Test figure :)
This is some serious Oldhammer goodness John! I've always felt the plastic halberdiers were on the wooden side too but for all that they have a real toy soldier charm about them. 
I'm quite impressed with your paint matching skills, especially given you were using paints from three different stables and none of them were Citadel. I really like the colour combination and would love to see all 30 painted up the same. I wonder if there were other test schemes that got lost along the way? 
This little lot earns you a solid 40 points John. Keep 'em coming mate! Cheers, Millsy

16 comments:

  1. Those look nice! You didn't happen to get any shield transfers for those guys? I need some...

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  2. I have a love/hate relationship with Empire Halbarders! That aside you really have bought these to life. Other than the HUGE feathers I can easily imagine these as historical figures

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  3. Great job John! The match is brilliant. I know first hand what a challenge it can be to match an unknown paint job, usually from not bothering to write down a paint recipe for a unit I've come back to after a long break :)

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  4. Nice job matching the paint colours and style John :)

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  5. Haven't seen those fellers for a while - great paint job on 'em as well!

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  6. Interesting exercise in copying painting styles!

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  7. nice work on top vintage figures! congratulations!

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  8. I recently found a few of these in my figure stash partly painted... might try to do something with them. Very nice work.

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  9. Grand work on the halberd troops! That is a lovely color choice and you matched the test model really well! ;)

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  10. Purple - interesting. Does work well though

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  11. I like those purples-really great choice on these guys. Well done sir!

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  12. Great old school work John. Well done.

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  13. Great work John - I think you've done an excellent job in colour-matching to the test figure. The purple plumes are wonderful. I have a unit of similar vintage halberdiers that are very close to these (in metal). I've always quite liked them, but it's always annoyed me that they were designed to stand on a 45 angle on the 20mm bases, which makes them look a bit odd when ranked up (giving them a look of a Motown vocal group). :)

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