The army of Spires; assembly time

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Prince of Spires
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Re: The army of Spires

#121 Post by Prince of Spires »

Looking forward to the caradryan pics :)

Next up is 2 units of Elyrian reavers. I have 5 IOB ones already assembled and I'm in the process of assembling 8 of the older ones. They're a great unit now that they're core. And so I can use another unit and realy should get them painted. They're seeing a fair bit of use in army lists after all.

Rod
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Re: The army of Spires

#122 Post by NexS »

So here's my Caradryan. I used a tooth pick and green stuff to mould the flames. I haven't put any yellow on him yet (yellow and blue is my theme)
Image

I was a little disappointed in the IoB reavers because the model doesn't represent the unit properly - you can't get barded horses for reavers, and that really bugs me for some reason haha. They are really cool models though, so I'm looking forward to seeing them with your armys theme!
Regards,
Brad
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Re: The army of Spires: to arms!

#123 Post by Prince of Spires »

NexS wrote: I was a little disappointed in the IoB reavers because the model doesn't represent the unit properly - you can't get barded horses for reavers,
Thanks for the pic. The old reavers (though I think technically they are still the current ones, since the others are only in IOB) aren't much better in this regard. They have shields included in the kit. I'm not sure yet if I'm going to put that on or not.

As for other news, a few shots of the army of Spires in action. Only a 1000 pts battle (vs Skaven). But this was the first time I managed to field a fully painted army. Yes, I have more painted, but they never all appeared on the table together.
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Image

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Re: The army of Spires

#124 Post by NexS »

You're right, that is strange..

The painted deployment looks great! How did they go? Pick up a win?
Regards,
Brad
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Re: The army of Spires

#125 Post by Prince of Spires »

Yes I did win. 3 ranks of PG just walked through anything he had, only taking something like 3 casualties from some big combats. They were definatly the elves of the match. And an IF convocation on his big unit of clanrats did the rest. There is something very satisfying about rolling 48! to wound dice that wound on a 3+. :)

Of course, I did also roll a 3 for the miscast, which removed most of the unit of LSG from the table. A lot of elves fit underneath a big template... But my mage managed to stay out of the warp at least (with a 4).

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Re: The army of Spires

#126 Post by NexS »

Good news! convocation is hard to get off (unless you get irrisitible force.. haha), but it's nice when it gets there!
Regards,
Brad
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Re: The army of Spires

#127 Post by Prince of Spires »

After suffering from a second one in a more recent game, which also lasted for a second phase (because of 1-2 for his winds) and removed something like 38 of 48 rats, my opponent decided to include a scroll in his next army list. 19 is pretty high. But with a good roll and

Problem with 1000pts is of course that things can get a bit unbalanced. The unit of 15 PG with razor banner completely wreck pretty much anything he can put on the table at this level. He probably will be bringing a whole bunch of slaves at some point. Doesn't matter if they die after all.

Rod
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Re: The army of Spires

#128 Post by Ambrosius »

I'm always inordinately pleased to put a fully-painted army on the table (looks like your opponent's is also?), regardless of the outcome of the game. =)
The table itself looks nice, too.
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Re: The army of Spires

#129 Post by Prince of Spires »

My opponent stil has his block of stormvermin to paint (they're the brown block in the middle of his deployment zone) and a bunch of clanrats. The back 6 models of the large block or something like that.

The table I'm realy lucky with. It's a realm of battle game board that belongs to the club where I started playing recently. As do the buildings. The have some great game boards and terrain pieces (even if a lot of it is geared towards 40k). At the moment with this opponent I'm keeping terrain relatively simple. He's new to 8th edition (he played a few editions ago), so to get back into things we're not complicating stuff with aditional bells and wistles.

It all combines to create a great looking battlefield and a lovely looking battle. I agree that that's as big a part of the fun as winning is. Then again, I play the game for fun, and overall winning is a bit secondary. That doesn't mean that while playing I don't play to win of course. But having a good time is more important.

Rod
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Re: The army of Spires; the history of Spires

#130 Post by Prince of Spires »

Being both inspired by Headshot and bullied by Aicanor (*waves*, just kidding, our PM exchange actual gave a lot of inspiration as well), I finally give you:

The history of Spires or at least those parts of it that he's willing to share.

Spires (though he would only be given that honorific later) was born about 200 years into the reign of Bel-Hathor as the second son (3rd child) of the second son of a Tiranoc Noble. This heritage can still be seen in the prolific use of chariots in the army of Spires. His original house (such as it was) lost pretty much everything during the sundering and was left with nothing more then a rocky slope above the fallow marsh in Tiranoc. It was also the bottom part of said slope, meaning that he was accustomed to wet feet during his childhood.

As the second son of the second son of a poor family, he had not much of a future ahead of him at home, unless you count moving rock around. So when he turned his first century he packed up and went to join the royal army and the ranks of the Sapherii Sea Guard (when Finubar became phoenix king, they moved to Lothern). At the time, Bel-Hathor was recruiting to fight of the increasing human pirates as well as the standard druchii and chaos invasions.

Because of his very limited connections he started near the bottom of the ladder. Not as rank & file warrior, the training with sword and spear he received as a child helped there, but as unit champion. This is where he met Bob, who was the standard bearer of the unit. After all these years Bob is still with him as his second in command and occasionally the BSB in his army.

Spires was stationed on the more "adventurous" side of saphery, on the great ocean fighting of the Norse pirates and other invaders. Part of the reason he got this assignment was probably that he was more expendable then the more important sons and daughters of bigger noble houses. But more importantly he got the placement because he saw that it was an opportunity to rise through the ranks and distinguish himself.

He did manage to distinguish himself. Spires found he was able to read the eb and flow of battle and anticipate his opponents moves. Using this and some quick, creative thinking he was often able to limit the casualties in his unit and those units around him. This earned him the loyalty of his men and the name amongst the rank and file troops of being lucky and blessed.

Rising through the ranks was a completely different matter though. After serving a few years and having earned enough experience to start rising through the ranks, Spires still found himself in the same place, with his unit. Commanders would rely on him in battles, occasonally he would be given the opportunity to lead troops in skirmishes. But somehow official promotions always went to other people. It turned out that name and family was more important in deciding who got promoted then experience.

Oftentimes, a promotion would be giving to some green nobles son who served in an inland battalion and never saw battle, or even one who served on a ship patrolling the Sea of Dreams. Spending time at court or at one of the social parties and gatherings was more important then spending time on the field of battle. And to be invited to these events, you needed the connections and friends that came with being born into one of the great houses, being part of a family with valuable trade agreements or simply enough money to purchase invitations. Spires of course came from a swamp, which meant he had none of these things. And so he stayed in his unit.

When Spires first half century with the Sapherii Sea Guard was almost over, he finaly got a lucky break, though the rest of Ulthuan would probably call it slightly different. This period saw a big increase in the numbers and strength of the human pirates as well as increased Druchii presure, which eventually led to the raising of the shifting isles of the eastern coast of Ulthuan. With the number of skirmishes and thus casualties rising, the willingness of young ulthuan nobles to gain a command decreased sharply. Suddenly there was a wealth of commands and promotions Spires could chose from. And within a year Spires found himself in command of a small hawkship with two full units of sea guard under his command as well as an eagle claw boltthrower crew and even 3 pairs of Swordmasters of Hoeth.

For the next 3 decades, until the raising of the shifting isles, the eastern ocean, from the Blighted Isle to the coasts of the old world, became his hunting ground. With Bob (who came from a fisherman family in Lothern and had thus spend most of his childhood on board a ship) at the helm, his hawkship, Isha's Tear, struck fear in the hearts of many would be raiders. His crimson sails appearing at the horizon was a reason for many smaller raiding vessels to turn tail and wait out a safer day to try approaching Ulthuan.

The result being of course that raiders started working together. Where originally pirates would come with single ships, as time progressed they started creating ever bigger fleets of ships. And so, slowly Spires gathered around him a small flotilla of ships and troops. At first this started as an informal cooperation between ships captains. But as Spires moved through the ranks from Lieutenant to Captain, it became an increasingly official position until finally Northwatch's Flotilla was formed under his command.

Spires, remembering his own rocky road to promotions tried to reward craftmanship, potential and abilities above lineage wherever possible. This gave him a big atraction on young, ambitious, common elves hoping to make it big in the world. It also made him some enemies in court. But the influx of talented young men led to the growth and excelence of his flotilla. And at its height, around the time the shifting isles were raised, Northwatch's Flotilla contained over one third of all royal hawkships of the North Eastern Fleet.

And then, after about 3 decades, the shifting isles happened. Within a year of their raising, the raids comming in from the north east dropped to almost zero. And as is the case in politics everywhere budget cuts started happening and fleet size was reduced dramatically. Also, with the disappearance of the raiders, most of the fun and challenge went out of being part of the north eastern fleet. So, when his 75th year in the force ended and thus his tour of duty ending, he applied for a transfer from the north eastern fleet to the colonial fleet, which is headquartered in the Tower of Stars and Tower of the Sun. With him went a large part of his original crew, many of who had been with him since his days as unit champion.

The colonial fleet controls the seas between the Fortress of Dawn and the Gates of Calith. It deals with all the colonies in the east, trade with Cathay and Nippon, but also with greenskin fleets comming out of the badlands, Southland pirates, Ogres and and Tomb Kings. Due to its location and colonial appearanceit's also the least popular and least glamorous comission possible for an officer of the Royal army. It was generally seen (and still is by many in Ulthuans upper society) as a social black hole. Of course, it should be noted that at this time the city of Spires didn't actually exist and most of the other colonial cities where either garrisons or small backwater towns. So they weren't entirely incorrect.

The upside was of course that there was more then enough work for an eager crew. And because few good officers actually wanted a commision in the colonies, Spires was able to negotiate a promotion as part of acception the placement. And so commodore Spires received command of an eagleship and a full squadron of his majesties ships and was given charge over the seas north of the Tower of Stars.

During his many partrols Spires noticed that the amount of dragons around the northern archipelago was higher then in most other places. The great animals could be seen relatively regularly floating around on the currents and updrafts amongst the dragon isles (as they later became known). During quiter periods, Spires went about cataloguing the dragons and creating a full overview of the different hunting packs. Slowly he started realising that the dragon isles contained perhaps the largest concentration of dragons outside of Caledor. Maybe even larger if only awakened dragons were taken into consideration.

This realisation put a seed of an idea in Spires mind that slowly matured during his commision in the colonies. The dragons, if they could be befriended would prove an valuable ally and an even more valuable resource if they could be managed. Even more so then the spices and luxury items that flowed back in small amounts to sate the high demand of ulthuan. And so, whenever his duties took Spires to the northern reaches of his patrol area, he kept an eye out for a suitable site for a city. A city which, in his dreams would rival the great capitals of Ulthuan.

One day, about 50 years into his commision, a typhoon forced Spires of course to the uninhabited reaches of the north easthern region of the sea of Stars. Here he found a large, sheltered bay dominated by tall, naturally formed spires. When the storm settled the bay turned out to offer a large natural harbour and a large, mainly flat area inland. The ideal site for his dreamed city. For the rest of his tour in the sea of Stars, Spires kept his discovery secret and slowly and set about charting as much of the northern sea of Stars and the Dragon Isles.

When his second 75 year tour was over, Spires returned to the court in Sapheri as Vice Admiral. Spires decided to retire from the Royal army and try to realise his dream of creating the first large Asur city outside Ulthuan since Caradryel abandoned the colonies at the end of the war of the beard. For this, Spires asked to be granted the northern reaches of the sea of Stars as entitlement. It was, and still is, common for high ranking officers to be given title, lands or both when they retired. Seeing how the bay of spires and the dragon isles were largely uninhabited and unclaimed by the Asur, the Phoenix king was very happy to give them away in their entirety to Spires.

Since the Phoenix king was giving away something he didn't own anyway, he also granted Spires the title of Sovereign Prince. To date, Spires is the only noble holding this title, which is about 2 ranks below a prince. Spires had divulged parts of his plans to Bel-Hathor about wanting to build a colonial city to match those of Ulthuan. Bel-Hathor realised that if Spires was succesfull the city would be a asset to the empire, while if he failed, nothing would be lost by giving both gifts. So Bel-Hathor invented the title of Sovereign Prince, signifying Spires was an independant ruler, answerable only to a conclave majority and the king, but not a full Prince.

And so, about 450 to 500 years into the city of Spires was founded.

And with this, I leave you. For now, this is what Spires wants to divulge about his past. More may always follow later of course.

Rod
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Re: The army of Spires; the history of Spires

#131 Post by Elessehta of Yvresse »

I still have nothing writen down, nice Rod.
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Re: The army of Spires; the history of Spires

#132 Post by Malossar »

Good work. Nice read.
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Re: The army of Spires; the history of Spires

#133 Post by Aicanor »

At last! :lol:
I like it a lot, especially that we still do not know his real name. And I bet Spires edited some parts to look better than they really were. :mrgreen: I looked up a noun for spires in Quenya. Tirion or Tirios seems to be the closest. Sounds quite ambitious. :mrgreen:
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Re: The army of Spires; the history of Spires

#134 Post by RE.Lee »

Nice background. Colonial elves rock! :wink:
cheers, Lee

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Re: The army of Spires; the history of Spires

#135 Post by Headshot »

RE.Lee wrote:Colonial elves rock!
The colonies are a hive of scum and villainy! The product of lesser sons of lesser houses!! :evil:

Or so I've been told…. :wink:

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Re: The army of Spires; the history of Spires

#136 Post by Prince of Spires »

Aicanor wrote:At last! :lol:
I like it a lot, especially that we still do not know his real name. And I bet Spires edited some parts to look better than they really were. :mrgreen: I looked up a noun for spires in Quenya. Tirion or Tirios seems to be the closest. Sounds quite ambitious. :mrgreen:
Tirion would indeed be a pretty ambitious name to give to an elven lord. Not even Spires is that ambitious, and he still has a sense of reality and his place in it. Hence why he just sticks to Spires.

His real name is actually alluded to in one of Headshots writings, though I think most people missed it upon reading. Of course, since Spires wants to preserve some mystery around his character, he's not (yet) going to reveal it here. But it's known to some... (in case you go searching, the story with the hint also features Spires' pet tiger).

@Headshot: at least we don't get overrun all the time by Druchii and we actually know the meaning of dry feet from first hand experience. All Nagarythe is good for realy is give the Druchii a place to play around in while the rest of the Asur get on with their lives. ;) And produce lovely stories of course, there is always that...

Rod
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Re: The army of Spires; the history of Spires

#137 Post by Malossar »

rdghuizing wrote:
@Headshot: at least we don't get overrun all the time by Druchii and we actually know the meaning of dry feet from first hand experience. All Nagaroth is good for realy is give the Druchii a place to play around in while the rest of the Asur get on with their lives. ;) And produce lovely stories of course, there is always that...
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

Good thing he lives in the North to better soothe that burn!
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Re: The army of Spires; the history of Spires

#138 Post by Headshot »

rdghuizing wrote:All Nagaroth is good for realy is give the Druchii a place to play around in while the rest of the Asur get on with their lives.
Exactly! :D

And…

You are welcome!! :wink:

Headshot

PS though it is 'Nagarythe' not that dutch gobbledygook you wrote.

….sigh… mods qualifications seem to be slipping…. grumble grumble…in my day the mods could cite off the entire lineage of Aenarion, blind folded, standing naked in a cold shower, while being beaten with a bamboo pole! That was our dedication to Ulthuan! :twisted:
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Re: The army of Spires; the history of Spires

#139 Post by Aicanor »

Headshot wrote:sigh… mods qualifications seem to be slipping…. grumble grumble…in my day the mods could cite off the entire lineage of Aenarion, blind folded, standing naked in a cold shower, while being beaten with a bamboo pole! That was our dedication to Ulthuan! :twisted:
Are you sure it was not Naggaroth after all? :lol:

I suspect there was a number of unworthy forum members killed or having ugly accidents over this grammatical slight. No need to add more to the unfortunates who couldn't spell Nagarythe, Naggaroth, Naggarond, Naggor and Nargothrond correctly. There is a world of difference. :twisted:
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Re: The army of Spires; the history of Spires

#140 Post by Prince of Spires »

Headshot wrote: Stuff...
:lol: oops. Small printing error. Good thing I have an edit button. ;)

And by the way, welcome to my little corner of ulthuan.net :)

Rod
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Re: The army of Spires; the history of Spires

#141 Post by Prince of Spires »

Time for another update :) This time, it's reavers. 8 old metal ones (FC) and 5 from the IOB.

Image
Image
Image

Now, the observant follower will notice that I ranked up the units wrong. The 3 in the back of the IOB unit are 3 of the old ones which belong in the old unit obviousbly. Small detail and I don't feel like creating new photo's at the moment.

This also makes it time to update my todo/done list. Together with finishing the reavers, I've started assembly on my skycutter. Lots of parts to put together.

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

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

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

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

Rare
- RBT
- RBT
- RBT (last metal version)
- 2* GE
- 27 Maiden Guard, 2* fc
- phoenix

By my count 247 models, 122 done, 38 in progress and 87 left to go.

Last edit: metal RBT is in progress

Rod
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Re: The army of Spires; the history of Spires

#142 Post by Malossar »

Great update Rod! Lets see you get some more together!
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Re: The army of Spires; Reavers

#143 Post by Ambrosius »

Looking good, Rod. The IoB reavers have to be one of my favorite sculpts in the entire HE range.
Pictures of my army:
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Re: The army of Spires; Reavers

#144 Post by Prince of Spires »

Thanks for the encouragements. :) Always nice to see some people are still following along. And slowly but surely, the next milestone is approaching. Just 5 more models left to finish and I will have more models done then still to do (either in progress or still packed). Though unofficially, the count is probably a bit off, since I also have a seahelm on foot from the skycutter and a annointed on foot from the phoenix. So that's an extra 2.

The IoB reavers are pretty nice (though I found out I hate painting horses) models. I do dislike the skulls on the bases on principle. WH has a bit too many of them in my mind.

Rod
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Re: The army of Spires; Reavers

#145 Post by Wilda Greenbough »

I enjoyed reading the background history you'd written Rob. Very fond of a good background story I am :)

You had some good luck with finding those old metal Reavers and the red colour scheme looks really good on them. Unfortunately back in my 5th Edition days I tended to buy the old metal Reavers to cut up to make conversions from and somehow never actually ended up with a unit of them to play (sigh). In the end I converted some Old Glory metal Elf light cavalry figures and used them as Reavers, but it wasn't really the same.
Reading through this thread is been good to see how your painting has improved and I love the terrain pieces you've made. I was always one for making terrain models back when I was playing 5th Edition as it's much more fun playing on a properly dressed up battle field instead of a bare table.
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Nicene
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Re: The army of Spires; Reavers

#146 Post by Nicene »

Excited for the skycutter!
[url=http://www.ulthuan.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=51&t=61399]my MSU army list/battle reports[/url]

[quote="Nyeave"]Omg it's a parrot chariot - a parriot... :D[/quote]
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Prince of Spires
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Re: The army of Spires; Reavers

#147 Post by Prince of Spires »

I'm pretty exited for the skycutter as well. I'm considering pledging it for april, to see if I can get it done in a month. I'm away for a week though, so that might be tricky. It's an interesting model though. It's still in a lot of separate pieces, to be painted separately. And while I do the same for cavalry models etc, they are usually in 2 or perhaps 3 pieces. With the skycutter and the way the pieces come together, at the moment it's all separate pieces. Even the base is in 3 parts.

I'm still not 100% sure about the color scheme. I'm thinking of going for a blueish look on the crew I think, to fit in with the naval feel of the unit. But the bird I'm not sure of yet. I may just paint it up like my great eagles. But on the other hand, it is a magical bird. So perhaps I will try something a bit different as well. Maybe see if I can get a bit of red going on the model to fit in with the army color scheme. I'm (very) open to suggestions at this moment. If anyone has an idea, please let me know.

As for Spires' background, that is something that has been under development for the past 3 years or so. The idea slowly started evolving and Spires started making appearances here and there in different stories in the story section. Usually in the background. Over time his character developed into what I finally put down on (virtual) paper. Lots of fun, and more will definitely follow at some point.

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

Check out my plog
Painting progress, done/in progress/in box: 167/33/91

Check my writing blog for stories on the Prince of Spires and other pieces of fiction.
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Prince of Spires
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Re: The army of Spires; Reavers

#148 Post by Prince of Spires »

The skycutter is finished. It was a great model to paint.

First off, my inspiration for the bird pulling it (Which I also put in the april painting challenge topic).
Image
Then, the photo's of the skycutter
Image
Image
Image
Image
I really like how it turned out. I personally think it's my best paintjob so far. And I've had loads of fun painting it. The base layer of the crew and most of the wood on the actual cutter was done with my airbrush, which really sped up the process. The bird was done mostly by hand, except for a black and white undercoat.

As mentioned in the monthly painting challenge topic, I've also started on a new project. My parents recently dropped off several boxes of my childhood stuff they still had stored somewhere. In one of the boxes I found several plastic model airplanes still un-assembled in their box. Together with my bitsbox, especially the phoenix parts, I got the following idea. I'm going to try to turn this:
Image
plus this:
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into:
Image
The basic shapes are there in the plane. And a bit of hacking and sawing should clear off all the part I don't want. But the whole thing is beyond any modeling I've attempted so far. So it is definitely going to be a challenge. (So I can definitely use some advise here and there...). I can already see I'm lacking some parts in my bits box, like the claws, which are going to either require some sculpting or some creative use of other bits. We'll see.

I already have a question to the general audience here. Should I make him mounted or not. The phoenix bits include the annointed bits, so I can put him on. Putting him on takes up room and therefore reduces the sculpting that will be needed. But on the other hand, it might reduce his in game viability. Any suggestions?

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

Check out my plog
Painting progress, done/in progress/in box: 167/33/91

Check my writing blog for stories on the Prince of Spires and other pieces of fiction.
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Aicanor
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Re: The army of Spires; Reavers

#149 Post by Aicanor »

That Skycutter looks ace. Great execution of difficult colour scheme. Well done!

As for the Messerschmidt, if you play with people who possess sense of humour, just assemble it without the glass cockpit cover and assemble it with the Angry bird (I mean, Angry elf ) sitting inside.
As an alternative, build it as intended and I can send you an IoB griffon, don't think I'll ever need four. :lol:

Edit: I have this feeling it would be actually easier to sculpt the bird from putty than convert it from this...
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Re: The army of Spires; Parriot Skycutter!

#150 Post by Prince of Spires »

Glad you like the skycutter. It's a joy to paint. It has lost of different pieces and textures on it for a lot of variety. So I can recommend giving one a try.
Aicanor wrote: Edit: I have this feeling it would be actually easier to sculpt the bird from putty than convert it from this...
Thanks for the encouraging words :S ...

It's not actually as bad as you think though (I hope at least). Due to the scale (and probably age) of the model, the airplane body is not as detailed as the image on the box suggests. The size of the thing actually fits decently with the size of the phoenix. So I think it should give me a decent frame to work off. I'll put some pictures up of the Messerschmidt plastics if I remember to take them.

I do have 2 questions for you (and others who actually know what they are doing...):
- what is an easy way to bend plastic
- I often see people using a kind of blue putty to temporarily put things together for dry-fitting etc. What is it?

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

Check out my plog
Painting progress, done/in progress/in box: 167/33/91

Check my writing blog for stories on the Prince of Spires and other pieces of fiction.
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