The army of Spires; assembly time

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Re: The army of Spires; Airforce underway

#181 Post by Malossar »

I'd love to see you do a cracked lava theme on the bird. Would look really slick.
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Re: The army of Spires; Airforce underway

#182 Post by NexS »

Did I just see correctly?!

Is that a Flame Phoenix/Plover?

Probably fitting really, seeing that plovers are the worst, most evil avian animals in the face of the planet ;)
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Re: The army of Spires; the Phoenix Reborn

#183 Post by Prince of Spires »

Malossar Dragonborne wrote:I'd love to see you do a cracked lava theme on the bird. Would look really slick.
I was afraid someone would say that. Now I actually have to go and do it... #-o

;)

I did find a lovely orange as a base for the lava-paintjob. I've put it on already (couldn't resist...) and it looks pretty good. I don't know if I'll manage to pull off an actual lava look and feel. But it should start looking great.

Already, now that the whole thing is basecoated, it is starting to look like a real model. Interesting to see how a simple layer of paint makes a difference compared to seeing the greenstuff and bits stuck on.

As for plovers, nah. They're spawns of chaos. And so not allowed in the city of Spires... So it's a genuine phoenix. Not some hybrid ;)

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Re: The army of Spires; The End Times

#184 Post by Prince of Spires »

I realize this is a double post (from the announcement), but this way I keep all exploits of Spires in one place. So here I give you Spires' musings on The End Times

The End Times

Spires looked at the papers on his desk in front of him. Behind him, the noise from the city that had given him his name drifted in through the paneled balcony doors. He permitted himself a small, tired sigh. No one was around to notice this lapse in hard, unshakable exterior. The lack of sleep was getting its toll. But too many things still needed to be arranged if even only half of the documents contained some truth. It was hard to be sure about news from afar.

Things were afoot. Too many pieces seemed to be moving at once, independent from one another. But his years in the colonies had shown him coincidences rarely occurred. There was bound to be a connection. Some piece of the puzzle he was missing.

He looked at the different documents again.

The first was a letter from Ailana of Saphery. After Arakis they had kept up a regular correspondence. Both of them had information the other could use. It was always useful to keep up with the latest gossip from the upper echelons of the Ever Empire.

By itself, the content of the letter was relatively innocent. The phoenix king was being reclusive and eccentric again. But then he had always been that way. Creatures were stirring in the Annullian mountains in greater number then before. And there were reports of things moving in the swirls of the Vortex. Some claimed to even have seen flashes of Grom the Paunch in the mists of Yvress.

Of course, the Vortex was always acting up. By itself it wouldn’t be much to worry about. But Chaos was also rumored to be on the march. Spires’ ships and contacts in the Old World reported greater than average movement in the far North. Whole tribes and nations were said to be on the move. Deamons driving them on. Of course, no one reliable had actually seen them. It was always someone who had talked to a trader who knew someone who had had a drink with a lad who had seen something.

But then, most people wouldn’t live long enough to report Chaos Deamons on the move. Especially if the person in question was human. They generally either went mad or cowered somewhere until they were overrun.

The rumors were also backed up by reports from closer to home. All along the north eastern order of the territories of the City of Spires skirmishes were breaking out. Ogres were pouring out of the mountains of Mourn in ever greater number. So far they mostly had been turned aside and been diverted around the colony. Directed towards easier prey. But if the numbers kept increasing at this rate then Spires’ border guard would be hard pressed to keep the lumbering brutes at bay.

The whole mountain range seemed to be emptying. But if it was because the Ogres had joined forces with Chaos and were looking for plunder or if they were being driven onwards by invading legions no report told. Standing in the way of an Ogre migration was a surefire way to get eaten. Even for one of the Nagarathi scouts.

And then there were the lands to the west of the city of Spires. The ancient kingdom of Kemry. The land of the Dead. Dreadful and bleak. Devoid of life and yet home to one of greatest human civilizations. The dead were restless. Ships had disappeared while mooring in previously safe harbors along the coast of Kemri. Those ships alone had lost Spires a small fortune in goods from Ulthuan.

But if the coasts were unsafe, then the inlands were even worse. For some reason, fighting had broken out amongst the different undead factions. And living explores were simply considered new recruits. After losing large parts of several expeditions sent to gather intel from Kemri, Spires had stopped sending them. He now was blind as far as the Southlands of the Old World were concerned.

Spires put the different documents down again on their different piles. There had to be a connection. Gracefully, cat-like, he got up and walked out onto the balcony. Down below the city of Spires spread out towards the harbor. Several of the rock spires that gave the city its name reared up around the palace. To the left was what was known as the Little Tower, a nod to the white tower in Saphery, home too many of the mages of the city. Over to the right, nearer the city wall, the watchtower stood guard. Highest of the spires, an elf standing atop it could watch all the way to the foothills of the mountains of Mourn. And over by the docks, the Spires chapter Company. Lower and broad, it housed the largest trading chapter of the city. Much of the wealth of the colonies was linked to that spire.

Around this last spire, Spires saw several of his regiments march towards the docks. At the moment it was still Sea Guards, Ballista’s and one of his units of Swordmasters. Not too many yet. But the call from Ulthuan would come. Spires could feel the storm brewing on the horizon. The Ever Empire would come under attack again. And Spires intended to have his pawns in place when it did. And so the sons of the colonies were being shipped home. To be ready when the call came.

Behind him the door to Spires’ study crashed open. His secretary El’An rushed in. Three steps brought Spires back to his desk. He arched an eyebrow in anger at El’An. This was not to be accepted. Proper form needed to be followed. And one does not simply rush in on a Prince. El’An was young, granted. But youth only could excuse so much.

El’An raised his right hand almost like a ward before him. “A report sir, from the Dragon Isles” he said in a timid voice. “It was just now delivered by Eagle”
The Prince of Spires looked at the sealed scroll. And saw the reason for El’An’s haste. Four ribbons were attached to the seal. Each of them Red and White, the colors of the City. His personal colors. An urgent missive. For his eyes only. The ribbons were his code, known only by the commanders and high magistrates he had appointed to rule his different outposts. The only message more urgent then this one would be one from the Phoenix King himself.
“Thank you, El’An” Spires said as he took the report. “You may go now.”

Spires rolled the letter in his hands for a short while after El’An had closed the door behind himself again. He felt a trepidation to open it. Would this be the missing puzzle piece? What could be so important that the message carried this encoding? With his nail Spires broke the wax seal and unrolled the letter.
“Dear sir,
Great disturbances have shaken the Dragon Isles. The different volcanoes of the archipelago have become restless. And the dragons are awakening and rising. Not just one or two. But they all seem to be waking from their eternal slumber. Even the oldest species, which were already in deep sleep 500 years ago when we first found them are getting restive. It won’t be long before even they rise.
Already at this moment, large flocks of them circle on the thermal currents surrounding the islands. And, which is the direct cause of this letter, the first Star Dragon has left his lair. As I write this, he is currently feeding on one of the herds around New Harbor.

This seems news of great importance. Hence the urgency of this missive.
Yours,
Commander An-Ar Oleth”


Spires dropped the letter to the ground. The dragons were waking. He never thought it would actually occur in his lifetime. It was indeed the final piece of the puzzle. He thought back to his lessons in the White Tower in his youth, almost a 1000 years ago now. There were the prophecies. In all Elven writings about Dragons, there was always only one reason why the dragons would wake up. It was worse than he had anticipated. For once, the Prince of Spires was caught off guard.

The End Times had come.

In other news, the Phoenix is almost done. All that is left to do is glue him to his base. And he looks great :D I'm really proud of this one. Keep an eye on this space for updates.

Rod
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Re: The army of Spires; the phoenix reborn

#185 Post by Prince of Spires »

As mentioned above, the phoenix is done. And I must say, I am really proud of this one. The paintjob isn't the best I've done perhaps (though I am satisfied with it), but the fact that it doens't actually look like something I've build myself is great. I did even get a small "wow" from the missus when I was done. :)

The phoenix Reborn
Bel'Halith made his way through the dense bushes. This close to the border of the Kingdom of Ind, the jungle tried everything to hinder his progress. And with the Winds at a low, using fire to clear a path was out of the question. It had been slow going these past few days. But he was getting closer. He could feel it ahead of him, a slowly pulsing flame. Like a heartbeat. But slower.

The brush cleared ahead of him into a small open space. There it lay. Perfect and smooth, it looked almost like a rock veined with lava. The clearing around it had a burned look to it, although the forest was slowly growing back again. Gently Bel'Halith probed at the rock with tendrils of fire magic.

And the world exploded! At the touch of fire, the egg hatched in an instant. And out of it rose, in a ball of fire, a flamespire phoenix.


Image
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And finally one with his twin
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Let me know what you think. Comments and criticisms are welcome.

Rod
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Re: The army of Spires; the phoenix reborn

#186 Post by Asurion Whitestar »

Lovely work as always Rod, sorry (bows*).. Spires..

Could you post a pic of the painted underside? He looks almost as if he in a Flame Archaeopteryx. Which isn't bad either :3.

Edit:
The spines are a nice touch.
Last edited by Asurion Whitestar on Tue Sep 02, 2014 7:03 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: The army of Spires; the phoenix reborn

#187 Post by Elessehta of Yvresse »

You new name tricked me good and proper mate, looks pretty good considering how much it cost =P
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Re: The army of Spires; the phoenix reborn

#188 Post by Prince of Spires »

Elessehta of Yvresse wrote:looks pretty good considering how much it cost =P
Not sure that's a compliment or not... ;)

I haven't actually added up the cost of materials for him. Though it is definitely lower then the 50,-ish euros he costs from GW. I'm guessing somewhere around the 20,- euro mark. Well worth it for the fun I had in building him.

And yeah, it was time for a new and proper name. And the End Times release was as good a time as any.

I can tell anyone thinking about modelling to just give it a try. It's not as hard as it seems actually. Highly educational and great fun.

@Asurion: This one is for you
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It's not the best of pictures (since I didn't have any daylight for instance). The colors are a bit oversaturated. Just imagine it with a bit more contrast.

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Re: The army of Spires; the phoenix reborn

#189 Post by Swordmaster of Hoeth »

Hi Rod,

Congratulations on a great looking phoenix! It is really amazing to see how imagination and persistence can first create a unique conversion and then lead you to the finish. It is one thing to have an idea and entirely different to make that idea to become reality. Well done and thanks for inspiration! =D>

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Re: The army of Spires; the phoenix reborn

#190 Post by Ferny »

Prince of Spires wrote:As mentioned above, the phoenix is done. And I must say, I am really proud of this one. The paintjob isn't the best I've done perhaps (though I am satisfied with it), but the fact that it doens't actually look like something I've build myself is great. I did even get a small "wow" from the missus when I was done. :)
You won't find higher praise than that from any of us lot :). My wife humours my addiction with appreciative words and gestures and I couldn't ask for more, but I've yet to take on a project which would elicit a true "wow" on completion.

It's been a great project to see come through, from the initial (mad!) inception through the painstaking delivery. I'm not sure what's best about it - the idea, the GS skills you've developed doing it or the finished mini. The base and fluff set it off very nicely too.

In the context of awe and admiration I might add a comment of critique (although it may be a little late to actually be useful now). But I wonder whether the pheonix models in general and yours in particular, with such a straight wingline, really need feet at all? And if they do I think they might be more fitting if they were tucked in and back (like the option on the Roc with the skycutter) rather than coming forward on the pounce? That said, I think even the feet are custom made aren't they? Super impressive job!
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Re: The army of Spires; the phoenix reborn

#191 Post by Prince of Spires »

Ferny wrote:You won't find higher praise than that from any of us lot :). My wife humours my addiction with appreciative words and gestures and I couldn't ask for more
I know. My wife has pretty much the same approach. She doesn't mind the hobby (as long as I don't leave too much WH stuff lying around) and thinks it keeps me quiet and busy. She can in general appreciate the skill in painting miniatures and knows when to make appreciative noises whenever I finish something. This was the first (and probably only for a while) project that got praise this high.

It was a great project to take on. Sometimes setting a high goal really helps push your skill level I feel. So I can recommend it to everyone who is thinking about learning more about greenstuff. And yes, the initial idea was (and still is actually) completely mad.

I agree with your critique. The claws (which are indeed also custom built) are the weak part of the model. Fortunately they don't stand out when looking at the model on the tabletop. But tucked back they would have probably looked better and given the model a more streamlined look. It is probably the main thing I would change if I would have to do it again. Which I'm not going to, in case anyone is wondering. I do have more conversion ideas (and still a whole bunch of model airplanes lying around ;) ). But they'll look different from this project. And first I have more painting to do.

@Swordmaster, thank you for the kind words. I must say I do love it when a plan comes together... :) Of course, now get to work with all that inspiration and show us some pics ;)

Rod
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Re: The army of Spires; the phoenix reborn

#192 Post by Asurion Whitestar »

Sorry for the late reply Rod, thanks for that pic, it really shows off the models claws and looks great.
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Re: The army of Spires; the phoenix reborn

#193 Post by Swordmaster of Hoeth »

Prince of Spires wrote:@Swordmaster, thank you for the kind words. I must say I do love it when a plan comes together... :) Of course, now get to work with all that inspiration and show us some pics ;)
I will let you know when I have something to share!
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Re: The army of Spires; Sea Helm BSB

#194 Post by Prince of Spires »

As mentioned in the September painting challenge thread, I've finished my Sea helm, Captain Nonchalantis (with thanks to NexS for the title...).

The pictures aren't the best (taken at night with a phone), but they'll do until I get some better ones. Same with a bit of back-story. He'll get some together with his new pics. Soon. I hope.

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Re: The army of Spires; the phoenix reborn

#195 Post by Elessehta of Yvresse »

The blue on the cape looks a little flat, but wow it makes it stand out.
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Re: The army of Spires; Captain Nonchalantis

#196 Post by Prince of Spires »

In part, the flat cloak is due to the bad pictures. It has a bit more contrast in real life. But I agree that it could be done better. I'm a bit afraid of touching it and ruining it. I managed to get fairly smooth transitions on him (airbrushed). And I don't want to mess that up by trying to improve it. I might see if I can get some better highlights / shading on it. I'll first see if I can get you some better pictures tonight (I should be home before it's dark and have some time to actually take the pictures).

Time to update the worklist as well I think. I've added and finished a bunch of models since the last time I updated it. Most notably the flamespire of course. But also the seahelm and I've put together the annointed.

index:
- finished
- asembled/in progress
- just owned

Characters
- Dragon (half metal)
- Mounted BSB (plastic prince / bsb kit)
- GW noble (plastic prince / bsb kit)
- eagle mounted prince / bsb (secret santa)
- Seahelm BSB
- Anointed on foot
- Griffon (IOB)
- Loremaster
- Mage (elemental)
- Dragon mage
- Mage (IOB)
- Alith Anar (metal)
- Eltharion on Stormwing
- Caradryan (metal)

Core
- 16 archers, FC
- 8 archers (plastic monopose)
- 8 archers (metal)
- 16 spearmen, FC
- 8 spearmen (plastic monopose)
- 16 spearmen
- 10 LSG (Island of Blood)
- 20 LSG (metal)
- 5 Elyrian Reavers (IOB)
- 8 ER, FC (metal)

Special
- 10 SM, FC (latest metal)
- 5 SM (metal)
- 10 SM (IOB)
- 10 WL, FC (latest metal)
- 5 WL (metal)
- 5 SW, champ (latest metal)
- 2 SW, (previous metal)
- 26 PG, FC (metal)
- 1 Lion chariot
- 1 Tyranoc chariot
- 1 Skycutter
- 10 DPs, FC (latest metal)

Rare
- 1 RBT
- 1 RBT
- 1 RBT (skycutter kitbash)
- 1 RBT (last metal version)
- 2 GE
- 27 Maiden guard, 2* fc
- 1 Frosthear phoenix
- 1 Flamespire phoenix (kitbashed)

By my count 250 models, 135 done, 47 in progress and 68 left to go.

Which means that I'm halfway there. :) I should probably get a group picture and add up the actual points I have so far.

Looking at the list, there are 2 big blocks left to do. The LSG and Maiden guard are more then half of the todo list. Given that they are old metals (mostly) they shouldn't be too much work. Though they do deserve some care and attention since they are really lovely models. :) And, I've also found I don't like painting horses. I've picked up the DPs again, and somehow I just can't get myself to get to work on them. Horses are almost finished though. So hopefully the rest will go better.

Edit: last update: DPs done and LSG started.

Rod
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Re: The army of Spires; Captain Nonchalantis

#197 Post by Prince of Spires »

As promised, some (slightly) better pictures of captain Nonchalantis. I've also touched up the cape a bit (as mentioned by Ele). I hope its improved a bit.

Captain Nonchalantis
Lounging on a conveniently placed rock Captain Nonchalantis surveyed his surroundings. In the hazy distance a mob of chaos warriors drove a horde of Ogres towards them. To his left and back, guarding that flank the tall white cliffs of D'ver fell down into the sea below. Inland, the terrain sloped gently away from him. Several rock formations created natural choke points without hindering the lanes of fire of his Repeaters.

"Alright lads," he said to the Spires Sea Guard that stood in formation behind him "give them another half an hour or so and they'll be in range. The plan is simple. Shoot anything that moves. Focus on the choke points to slow their approach. If it keeps moving after you've shot it, stick your spear into it. Whatever happens, hold the line. Once we make contact, our Skycutters will swoop in over the cliffs and finish the job."

Silence settled over the gleaming blue ranks. Nonchalantis' thoughts drifted with the waves crashing into the cliffs below. He thought back to his beginnings in the City of Spires, more then 50 years back. Washed up on shore, with no memory of who he was or where he was from, no fortune and no family he was welcomed nonetheless. Drawn to the military, the Prince had offered him a place with the SSG. And though he had started as a simple rank and filer, something of the skills of his previous life seeped through. This and his ability to inspire those around him helped him rise through the ranks until this point where he now served under Bob as the Battle Standard Bearer of one of Spires' armies.

The sound of the waves behind him gave him strength and resolve. They always did. He was a man of the sea. He would protect his adopted city.

Looking up he saw that the approaching horde was almost within range. "Get ready!" He shouted. "Take aim! Wait for it! Hold steady!..."

Image

Image

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Re: The army of Spires; Captain Nonchalantis

#198 Post by Elessehta of Yvresse »

HaHa Nice Rod, keep plodding through the list mate, I'd say one day you'll finish, but that's not how this hobby works hey ^_^
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Re: The army of Spires; Captain Nonchalantis

#199 Post by Prince of Spires »

Lol, yeah, finishing the list is a far away dream. There are plenty of models I don't own that will end up on the list at some point in the future. But having more models done then still to do is a good place to be. And I'm slowly getting to a place where the missus will let me buy more models. Or rather, she lets me buy them anyway. But somehow the question "why do you need more of them?" is easier to answer if you don't have a few dozen models left to paint. :)

And, I do have a wish to at some point pick up something other then HE models. I'm keeping my eye on LotR models or perhaps goblins or so. Lots of choices. But first I have to finish the backlog a bit more.

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Re: The army of Spires; Captain Nonchalantis

#200 Post by Elessehta of Yvresse »

I loved the fluff piece too, I picked up some elves for lotr, or the hobbit now. My club has its yearly tournament, on soon, so I have 600p painted ready for it. I've played a few games now, and it's a fun game.
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[quote="Narrin’Tim"]These may be the last days of the Asur, but if we are to leave this world let us do it as the heroes of old, sword raised against evil![/quote]
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Re: The army of Spires; Captain Nonchalantis

#201 Post by Prince of Spires »

I enjoy writing the little fluff pieces. It gives a bit more body to the army. It takes it from just being a bunch of models to a more cohesive army for me.

I'm not at all surprised that you have some LotR (hobbit) models, given the amount of game systems you play. Both the fluff (I love the LotR books), the models and the game have a draw on me. It looks like a great skirmish style game. It looks like it enables a different use of terrain, compared to WH. And there is a lot more room for scenarios. And the fact that you only need a handful of models to play a quick game is a bonus too.

Rod
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Re: The army of Spires; Dragon Princes

#202 Post by Prince of Spires »

As promised earlier, here are the Dragon Princes:

Bob stood at the end of the dock, leaning against a stack of crates. He was watching the unloading of the ship at the other end of the pier. Elves in heavy, spiky armor were working under the blazing sun of the colonies. Silly, stubborn fools. Anyone with a sound mind would have taken their armor off. A dress uniform was already hot enough in this weather. No need to add extra layers to it.

Still, for all their faults, those Caledorians were formidable fighters. And those were always welcome in the City of Spires. The Dragon Princes mounted up and started riding off the stone pier towards the city which stretched out behind Bob.

Time to welcome them and tell them the rules, Bob thought. He pushed himself upright and ambled over to the middle of the road, blocking the path of the riders. Let's hope it goes better then last year...

"Welcome to the City of Spires" he said. "I am Bob, bannerman of the Prince. I speak with his voice in his absence. The Prince regrets not being able to welcome you personally, but urgent matters of state keep him occupied." Some shuffling of horses. For the rest, they mainly looked bored.

Well, so far, better then last year, Bob thought. At least no outright complaints this time. "During your year long tenure here, you'll be assigned to the standing army of Spires. In the army, you will fall under the normal chain of command." One or two heads picked up on that. "You are assigned to the cavalry battalion. There, your squadron leader will get the rank of Captain. You "

"We don't answer to anyone!" the left Dragon Prince, the one with the spikiest armor, exclaimed.

"You will answer to me" Bob stated simply. "I am the highest ranking officer you will run into during your time here, unless the Prince himself leads the army. And if you want your chance of a dragon at the end of your year, you will do as I say. You get the choice now. Either you obey, or you turn around and march your pretty little pony back to you ship." Bob waited for a second, allowing them a moment to decide. In all these years, only one company had turned around. For the rest, a chance of a dragon was too much to turn down.

The company looked indignant, but none of them turned around. Predictable. "Good. Now that is out of the way, remember this. I don't like being interrupted. Next one to do so will find himself cleaning stables for the rest of the year. You may get special privileges at home, but in the army of Spires, people get judged by their deeds. As said, you will fall under Major Eldrin. His word is law for you. My aid will take you to his barracks afterwards."

"After your year is up, assuming you behaved, you will each get one chance to wake a dragon on the isles. You had better be prepared, because that one chance is all you will get. Afterwards, you can either return home or remain here in the service of the Prince."

"Questions? No questions. Good. In that case, I wish you all the best. Good day" Bob turned on his heels and strode towards the gate of the city. This lot were reasonably well behaved, he thought. At least he hadn't had to beat any one of them up. Not like two years ago. They would do. And who knows, maybe one of them would actually succeed in waking a dragon...


Image Image
Image Image

This guy is one of the first conversions I've done, a long, long time ago. Just never finished painting him. Though there are definitely things I would change and improve on him next time round, I'm happy enough with how he turned out.
Image

Rod
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Re: The army of Spires; Dragon Princes

#203 Post by Elessehta of Yvresse »

They look good Rod, and that 's a decent number of them, I kind of regret only making eight, but back then there was no such think as Martial Prowess.
[url=http://www.ulthuan.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=34506][i]Lord Elessehta Silverbough of Ar Yvrellion, Ruler of Athel Anarhain, Prince of the Yvressi.[/i][/url]
[quote="Narrin’Tim"]These may be the last days of the Asur, but if we are to leave this world let us do it as the heroes of old, sword raised against evil![/quote]
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Re: Rods red and White HE- log

#204 Post by Talathel »

Prince of Spires wrote:Time to resurect this tread. I've been busy buying and renovating my house the past few months, but that is slowly comming to an end. So I have some spare time to spend on Warhammer again.

I haven't painted anything new (as all my painting stuff is in a box somewhere), but I do have something I want to share. I found these archers for dirt cheap on ebay, and I absolutely love the models. They are much better than the current ones and amongst my favorite models so far.

Image

Image

These last few need to have the paint stipped off. I'm still thinking about how to go about that. I've read that Simple Green works wonders, but I'm not sure where to get it in the Netherlands. As for brake fluid, I'm not sure I want to go that chemical.

Anyone know of other possibilities?

Rod
Hi i dont know if anyone has answered this question but do you get dettol? The antibacterial liquid? If so soak the miniatures in it for at least 24 hours and wash off using a brush and the paint falls off. Its very effective and cheap!
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Re: The army of Spires; Dragon Princes

#205 Post by Elessehta of Yvresse »

Ask the misses for some nailpolish remover?
[url=http://www.ulthuan.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=34506][i]Lord Elessehta Silverbough of Ar Yvrellion, Ruler of Athel Anarhain, Prince of the Yvressi.[/i][/url]
[quote="Narrin’Tim"]These may be the last days of the Asur, but if we are to leave this world let us do it as the heroes of old, sword raised against evil![/quote]
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Re: The army of Spires; Dragon Princes

#206 Post by John Rainbow »

I've used simple green a lot so if you can find it, it works really well on both plastic or metal minis.

I have also used acetone. THIS ONLY WORKS ON METAL MINIS and will turn anything plastic into a gooey mess. It is super effective though - probably better than simple green. It is what is in nail polish remover but it is very dilute in this. I would try and pick up a canister of it for your metal minis. It is pretty amazing.

In either case it helps to use a toothbrush or similar to get the paint out the cracks/crevices once it is softened.
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Re: The army of Spires; Dragon Princes

#207 Post by Prince of Spires »

Thanks for all the tips. I have cleaned of the old paint, using Dettol. I wasn't sold on it. It could have been the kind of paint that was put on. But the dettol wasn't very effective. So it was a lot of hard work.

As for nailpolish remover, I think the misses has the non-acetone kind. So I'm not sure if it would work or not. Something to try on a metal mini perhaps.

Next time I think I'll have a look around to see if I can find some simple green. I've heard good stuff about it. But I'm not sure if they sell it in the Netherlands.

@Ele: I agree that 10 is a good number to start with. I got the last 5 just before the new DPs arrived. My thinking was that I could always get the new ones at a later date, since they're bound to be in production for a few more years to come. Part of the reason to go for 10 with FC was actually that it also lets you run 7 in a single rank without command. Which was a pretty good unit in the 7th ed book.

Rod
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Re: The army of Spires; Dragon Princes

#208 Post by Prince of Spires »

Managed to take a few (slightly) better pictures of the dragon princes

Image

Image

Rod
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Re: The army of Spires; Dragon Princes

#209 Post by Prince of Spires »

In other news, on monday I played my first ever game of Mordheim. A friend of mine has the buildings from the original mordheim set, so we decided to run a practice game. Great fun, even though I lost quite badly... But then, I didn't even know most of the rules when we started. I found it's a game much more dependent on individual movement and using terrain.

The plan is to get in some more games in the near future (time allowing of course) and at some point perhaps run a campaign... We'll see how it goes. I did manage to get a picture pre-game of the terrain setup;
Image
You can even spot some of the skaven in there. Though the bloody rats are good at hiding.

As you can see, we only used a small part of the table. It was only a quick game just to get a feel for it. And we don't actually have a lot more terrain available. In the back you can actually see the next terrain project I'm working on. More on that will follow somewhere in the future.

This does lead me to a question for the readers, does anyone know of a good way to make arches and (round) pillars? I was thinking in the direction of Hirst Arts molds and casting them. But especially shipping them is bloody expensive. So, I'm open to ideas.

Rod
For Nagarythe: Come to the dark side.
PS: Bring cookies!

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Re: The army of Spires; Dragon Princes

#210 Post by NexS »

Prince of Spires wrote:Managed to take a few (slightly) better pictures of the dragon princes

Image

Image

Rod
Hey Rod!
These are looking good :)

Is the barding metallic at all? I might consider running a (very)drybrush of silver over the scales to make them pop a little more. Maybe the gold as well, or perhaps the gold might like a black or red wash in there.... i can't tell :/
Regards,
Brad
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