From GregB - 10mm High Elf Heroes for Warmaster (11 points)

High Elf heroes for "Warmaster" - 3D prints, mostly designed by Forest Dragon.

We kick things off this week with...eleven points! Not exactly a "points bomb" - not even close - but I'll take what I can get! Here we have a small collection of High Elf heroes in 10mm size, mounted on round bases to serve as characters/heroes for the game "Warmaster". These are 3d prints, most of them (although not all) designed by the amazing "Forest Dragon".  There is a mix of warrior-type heroes and mages, a cadre ready to lead a High Elf army into battle on the table. 

Valiant mounted High Elf warrior, leading the cavalry to battle!

"Warmaster" is one of the very best "specialist" games GW ever released - the bones of those rules went on to serve as a foundation for a number of very, very popular rules. Plus, they are just great to play on their own. Those rules are so awesome in terms of how to mix the actions of the different troop types, of heroes and of magic. Heroes and magic have an impact, but cannot carry things on their own - but for all that, you can have a lot of fun with the hero figures!

When you have the right sceptre, one can read AND ride into battle!

GW's original line of metal 10mm figures for Warmaster were incredible, and for the most part are now very hard to come by. But holy smokes, have the 3d printer ever filled the void! Not only can you find equivalents...the current 3d prints are functionally even better IMO. These character figures are all 10mm, but they are just...they are amazing! All sorts of wonderful little details one can take a stab at with their brushes!

A mounted "not-Tyrion" - another fine 3d print!

Does 3d printing have ANY weaknesses? Well...these resin figures do kinda maybe break if you drop them on the floor...one can say that about ANY figures, I suppose, but there have been, let's call it, "V2 requirements" after encounters with the hardwood floor in my house. No matter how much I swear, it seems you can't always fix broken figures...but here we have, at last, a group of non-damaged 3d prints!! Re-painting broken 3d prints is massively f*cking frustrating super-rewarding but it all works out in the end.

Floating on a cloud, but carrying a flaming sword...ready for whatever comes up!

I have strips and strips of 3d-printed High Elf infantry and cavalry waiting for their turn under my brushes...one of the 10 "top priorities" I had lined up for this edition of the Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge. Will they get any paint this year? We'll see...but I'm glad to get these heroes finished off at last. 

This fellow could be a mage, or some kind of sword-master type hero as well. 

Scoring is obviously super-modest for this post, but hey, points are points! We have three mounted 10mm figures, and two 10mm foot figures, for a grand total of, er, 11 points! Hey, progress, is progress. Hopefully the next post I have for today will increase the score counter a bit more...

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Very nice indeed Greg! Some lovely detailing and highlighting on these tiny fellows. 11 points well earned indeed.

I was, however, shocked. SHOCKED I tell you with this bold statement of yours:

"Warmaster" is one of the very best "specialist" games GW ever released 

Clearly you have not played....

From Curt: Wood Elf Archers and Warhawk Riders (115 points)

Hey there!

For a little change of pace this week I decided to add a few more units to my 10mm Wood Elf army which I laid the foundations for last year.

Included today are four units of archers along with a unit of warhawk riders.

It seems thematic that there would be scads of archers for an Elf army, especially elf archers nestled within a treeline.

The pine trees are 3d prints. I like how they're a little chunky and abstract. I try to incorporate a bit of terrain with my bases as, in addition to adding a little visual interest, they also serve as a way for players to easily pick them up.

I had fun working on the feathers of the warhawks. I tried to keep it simple and relatively high-contrast.

Again, the tree-handle may help in their contact with Peter's over-enthusiastic digits. We'll see. :)

The figures here are all 3d prints from the very talented 'Forest Dragon'.

I'll be using these with M2, which is a clever fantasy variant of 'To The Strongest'. 

And to close, here's a pic of the collection as it stands. Other than a couple more command stands, I think I may have enough for an actual game - hooray!

As to points, there are 96 foot (I think) and seven mounted figures, which should give me 117 points. It's kinda paltry for the work involved, but as I made the bed I will lie in it. We'll see if we can tweak the 10mm classification for next time.

Thanks for dropping in for a look and have a terrific day!

- Curt

Your maths is a little bit off - 96 foot and 7 cavalry comes to 110 points for 10mm. However, I'm adding a few points for the trees.

Great work on the little chaps, especially the plumage!

Tamsin

From ByronM: 10mm Kings of War Salamander (Lizardmen) Army - Part 1 (251 points)

One of my goals for this years challenge is to finish a second Kings of War (KOW) army in 10mm scale so that I can indoctrinate welcome new players to this wonderful game in this great scale.  I had always wanted to paint up a Lizardman army for Warhammer Fantasy Battle, but never got around to it, and ended up giving the figures to my son Riley to paint.  So when I saw the amazing files for some10mm sculpts from "Forest Dragon" I just had to jump on board and pick them up as my second KOW army, and got to work printing out an armies worth of them.

I have kept them all based to 28mm standard base sizes using my own Northern Lights Terrain Kings of War Bases that have a notch in the leading edge to help pick out the center point of each base of figured (which is important in the rule system).  This means that a unit that in 28mm scale would be based with about 18-20 figures on the base ends up having 45-90 figures on the base.  The actual number of figures never really matters in KOW (as long as it looks correct or cool), just the base size.

 

 

This first submission for the army has most of the core units, with mainly specialty units to come in a future submission.  I did this because I find it way easier to bang out the rank and file while motivation on a project if high, and then get to the reward of specialty / cool figures to paint later on in a project.  As it turns out, this core block of painting is actually 1020 points total (in game terms, don't worry, not painting points!) so with it I am actually already 1/2 done this project!

So with that I have 2 horde sized units of Tyrants.  These are massive 15-20' tall lizards that swing clubs the size of full grown trees to smash their way through the enemies.  They hit hard but do not have much in the way or armour or defences.  In 28mm scale there would be 6 per base, but here I did 13 per base to give a look of unordered giants lumbering forward in rough formation.  I also painted them in 4 different shades to provide a mixed look rather than the standard single skin tone that GW always did their lizardmen armies in.  I did keep predominately to the traditional blue skin tone as I find it looks really sharp, but mixed in some pale blues and greens as well for variation.

Next up are 2 regiment sized units of Salamader Primes, the core of the army as they are both effective on the attack and have sturdy defensive abilities to take a hit.  In 28mm scale there would be 20 per base for these units, but in 10mm scale I put 60 on one base and 75 on the other base and really like how packed they look (especially the 75 model base).  I kept some variation of colour with these as well, using 3 different shades of Scale 75 Instant Color paint (Replenish Blue, Paralyze Blue, and Magic Blue) and find that the slight variation makes them look more realistic to me.

 

 

Lastly a pair of regiment sized units of Skink Ghekkotah Hunters with blowpipes.  These are smaller troops so end up on a smaller base.  Since they have the Pathfinder and Stealthy rules I kept them spaced out more on the base and much closer to the actual model count that they would have had in 28mm scale, but I did add a champion to each base and a few Salamaders to the back of the units with two-handed weapons as minders/tenders.  The smaller lizards are a bit flighty with lower moral than their larger brethren so I pictured having a few larger lizards with them as support, but hanging back to the rear of the unit as they are not able to sneak around as much so follow as a reserve.  They play ZERO effect in game terms and I just put them there for looks cool factor and fluff.

 

 

All of these were super fast to paint with the Scale75 instant colours, and are not great individually, but I think they look pretty damn good when all ranked up. So while more could be done to them, I am leaving them as is and moving on.

Points:

26 tyrants @ 2 points per (15mm scale infantry) = 52 points
135 Salamader Primes @ 1 point per = 135 points
56 Ghekkotah Hunters @ 1 point per = 56 points
8 Salamaders w/2hw @ 1 point per = 8 points

Total: 251 Points

From TeemuL: Those crowded bases look great, much more unit/army looking than GW units in 28mm. I trust your miniature count, I'm not going try to count them all and I'm happy with your 15mm tyrants. :) Looking forward to see the sequel.

From Curt: 10mm Wood Elves (353 Points)

Hi All!

I thought I'd squeeze in a post from myself at the end of the day as I didn't want to make Peter's tomorrow any busier than it needs to be.

I needed a change of pace from the Tomb Kings, so I thought I'd try something a little different by starting a force of 10mm Wood Elves.

These are all 3d prints from Forest Dragon. They're really lovely models and an absolute pleasure to work with.

First up, we have a elven General astride a Forest Dragon. At first I had it simply mounted on a base, but it seemed like it needed something a little more dramatic. So I carved out a piece of blue insulation and modelled it to represent a portion of an escarpment, or perhaps a hilltop. 

I had a bit of fun playing with Colourshift paints from Greenstuff World, especially with its wings.

Next we have a unit of spearmen, all arrayed for battle in their serried ranks. 

Ultimately, I'd like to get a two or three more of these done, along with scads of archers, but that will have to be for another time.

Here is a regiment of wood elf cavalry. 

Not very hard-hitting, but will be good for skirmish tactics and harrying the enemy's flanks.

Another unit of cavalry, but these chaps are mounted on elks (I really enjoyed working on these models).

Here's a moot of Tree Ents striding purposefully into the fray. 

One of the fun things with 3d printing is that you can play with the scale of the models and create mirror images of them. So I varied the size of the Ents to reflect their maturity and age. I also put in a few archers and some Dryads to help provide a sense of scale.

A massed unit of Forest Dryads on a double-depth base, with a few Tree Ents shepherding them along. Think Helm's Deep, or the Birnam Wood at Dunsinane.

I know it's sort of hard to discern which is what in the photos. It makes a bit more sense in person as you can clearly see the Ents keeping everything moving in one direction.

As to points for this mob:

The spearmen are 72 figures strong, giving 72 points;

The horse cavalry is 26 strong for 52 points;

The Elk Cavalry is 24 strong for 48 points;

The Ents have five 30mm tree giants and five 10mm cheerleaders for 30 points;

The mob of Dryads is composed of 126 forest spirits and three Ents for 141 points;

...and the Wood Elf General on the Forest Dragon mount. Hmm, let's say 10 points as it's close to a 28mm cavalry figure in mass.

So, that puts the grand total at 353 points. Wow, okay, that's not bad when it's all tallied up. The other nice thing is that this submission will push me past my 1200 point target. I'm pretty chuffed with that.

These forest elves will give me a Squirrel Point, and will fill-in 'E' for Elves in my Alphabet Soup Chart.

Thanks for dropping in to take a look.

- Curt

From ByronM - 10mm Kings of War Zombie Horde and Heroes (150 Points)

This week saw the completion of a few pieces that have been in progress for a little while.  They may not look like a lot, but painting that many individuals and trying to keep randomness to the colour patterns was a pain in the backside...

First up is my promised Horde of Zombies for my 10mm Kings of War Undead project.  These are all once again 3D printed from the excellent sculpts from Forest Dragon, and I wanted to have enough of them to actually look like a horde.  In 28mm scale KoW it would only be 40 zombies on a base to makeup the "horde", to me that is just not enough... So, here is my 136 zombie horde!!!  20 of them are 1/2 zombies though (the tops crawling along) so I will count them as 126 models for points purposes later.  I don't know about you, but to me this actually looks like a horde of zombies.

Painting these was a major pain, as there are only so many colours to use, and I wanted it to look random, and at a small scale subtle colour differences just do not show up.  So I stuck with brown, tan, red, blue, green, and purple and went to town on them.  It took far longer than I expected though as keeping it random looking took a lot of going back and forth between models and strips.

Next up is the Heroes of the Undead army, a vampire count on foot, a mounted female vampire count, and two necromancers. While I would not necessarily call a vampire a hero, they are hero choices in the army list, so even though they are evil, I am claiming them as heroes for the space map Glorantha space, which is my fourth space on the outer ring, so time to move into the middle ring.

I decided to base these heroes on 25mm round bases even though KOW wants them on 20mm squares.  I did this as the placement of heroes in KOW is not super fiddly (essentially if they are beside a unit they are involved in the combat with the unit) and this way they are easy to spot on the table and it makes the army usable in other games like Warmaster or any of the derivatives from it (Hail Ceasar, Pike and Shotte, Black Powder, etc) so that if we ever decide to mod any of those games to a fantasy block based setting we can.

Overall this should count as 126 zombies and 4 characters and 20 bonus points for the planet Glorantha bonus, for a nice round 150 points.  Not a bad start to a Saturday.

From Millsy:

Starting off small with the first of three offerings this week I see Byron. These are brilliant mate, hitting just the right mix of grotty consistency with mixing colours across a horde. I totally get the challenge that presents from painting 15mm undead myself. I like the stepped back basing on the horde too, really effective.

150 points on undead goodness added to your tally. Woot!

From ByronM - Kings of War Undead Army in 10mm - Part 1 (212 Points)

I used to love Warmaster and Fantasy Battle, but over time got tired of the look of Warmaster being 2 thin rows of models or removing individual models in Fantasy Battle. So, I went looking for something else and came across Kings of War.  Its an awesome simple and fast fantasy mass battle game that focuses more on units and positioning rather than individual heroes.  It's a fun game but at 28mm it just always looked wrong to me, as it is almost impossible to get the look of a mass battle game in 28mm on a 6x4 or even 8x4 table.  So, a couple friends and I decided, why not do it in 10mm, its cheap (as you can 3d print everything), super fast to paint (to a simple tabletop standard), and looks great ranked up!

I have to start by saying sorry for the image quality on these, I just for the life of me could not get good pictures of these. The camera just wouldn't focus correctly on them and kept washing out all the colours, and Photoshop decided to blow up on me as well, so until I sort that out I had no way to correct the colours or clean them up.

 

All of these models are from the excellent collection offered by Forest Dragon, and the detail is amazing! All the bases are from my company (Northern Lights Terrain) and are the standard Kings of War base sizes as if the units were standard 28mm scale.  I chose to do this as it allowed the game to play exactly the same as if it was being played with 28mm figures, and allowed a lot of space to pack on models to a base.

First up is the really cool looking Vampire Count on Undead Dragon.  He will obviously be my army commander.

 

 

 

Next up, a unit of Vampire Knights.  This is a hard hitting but small unit, only counting as a troop sized unit in KoW.  There are 40 heavily armoured Vampires packed onto that 100mm x 40mm base.

 

 

Next is a big regiment of Skeletons.  While I painted up a ton for the base (64 of them on there!), once I started ranking them up I realized I could have done another 20 or so to completely pack the base, but it still looks good with so many ranks and a bit of space at the front, so I left it.

 

Then come the wraiths, which I tried to paint up as eerie glowing green ghosts.  Not sure it worked, but I am OK with them as they offer a bit of a counter point to the purple I chose for the main colour of the rest of the army.  This is a regiment sized unit of them (100mm x 80mm) and has 60 of them on the base. 

 

As a side note, while printing 10mm strips is cheap and effective, re-basing them once done is NOT.  I learned that leason the hard way.  I had done a unit of these wraiths as a test unit over the summer for this project, and I had wanted to base everything green to blend with many of my play mats.  It looked horrible with green ghosts on a green base, so I figured no problem, pop them off and re-base to grey when I got to the army in the painting challenge... NOPE, every single strip broke when trying to get them off the old base (weapons broke, wraiths broke of the strip, and the strip broke in multiple places)... So had to print and paint all new models...   Oh well at least they paint fast.

Lastly, a unit of Black Coaches, which I based up on a 125mm x 100mm Cavalry Regiment size base and am using them as Revenant Cavalry since Black Coaches do not exist in KoW but I still wanted to use them.  Initially the horses were just painted as undead horses but the models lacked enough contrast, so I switched them over spectral horses to add some more colour.  I think it worked out ok.

As for points, these add up pretty damn fast, which I honestly didn't expect given how fast they paint up.  But there are 164 infantry models for 164 points, then the dragon and rider for 4, and 4 Black Coaches at 6 points each for a total of 24.

I am also claiming these as my entry for the Babylon 5 planet as "low budget fun" as doing an army this way is super cheap and a ton of fun to paint as it is so quick.  So that adds 20 more points to the total, for a grand total of 212 points!

Lastly, this is my second different theme, so my second point in the Squirrel side contest.

As you can tell from the title (Part 1) there will be more of these as the challenge continues.

From Millsy

I was wondering if someone would be painting up Forest Dragon 10mm stuff!

These are absolutely smashing Byron, both the quality of the paintwork and also the way you've gone about utilising the scale vs. 28mm base size to give that mass battle feel. The black coaches in particular look fabulous en masse as opposed to just one vehicle as you'd get at 28mm scale. I'm very much looking forward to the promised next installment mate!