Children of Ulthuan

[Swordmaster of Hoeth]

Excellent! You are constant inspiration. I might have said it already but if I didn't I want to add that I really like strong contrast on your miniatures and the smoothness of transitions between colors.

That BSB is fantastic! Thanks a lot for sharing!

[Anvalous]

Delightful stuff, as always! Your reds on the cloaks of those mages are beyond smooth. Congrats!

Thanks for the update - great way to start my day!

[Dragonlord Hailthir]

It didn't seem possible, but your skills are improving and they were amazing to start with! That is the level of painting I'm hoping to achieve. Your BSB is magnificent!!

The brief tutorial on your flaming base for IoB mage was very helpful. I'm going to give it a try and hope I can get it at least half as good as yours.

Can't wait to see what you come up with next!!

[Brian Mage]

Nice BSB dude, but i'm afraid i'm gonna sig this

A final shot from the rear:

p.s. - Epic work as usual

[wamphyri101]

*cough* can I borrow your army for Sheffield! so much sexier than my lame needing updating HE *cough*

[Valandil Narmolanya]

I'd been trying to find a cool Red or Green theme to use for my High Elves, I wish I'd found this before I decided on the scheme I'm going for. Oh well, I better just paint mine really well so I don't regret not finding this sooner.

Love the quality and combinations of the colours!

[Mireadur]

loving those mages and the BSB. trully amazing. However i think you can work to improve those skins! i think it is your only weak point now since you paint amazing metals, clothes and gems!

[erdbeerchen]

phenomenal blending! It surely takes "forever" to paint one minature like the IoB mage

[Arratak]

Epic!!! Absolutely epic!!
I'll give money per model to paint my army?

[psy_lock]

Allright, it's been a while since I posted somehting. I have not been idle however, and the time has come to let you know what I've been up to lately. As planned, I went ahead and created some more terrain pieces for our board. I'll break this update down in three parts, in this first i will show you things that in one way or the other became part of the main project.

To start things off, I painted up another of GW's forests. Sadly the pictures are somewhat bad, I'll try and get some more done soon. Here you go:


Next up are some mysterious and dangerous creatures from the wild Anulii - these three have been trusted allies of my army in some games of storm of magic. Hardly surprising, this didn't help to improve army's reputation


River Trolls and Gnoblar Sappers are some of GW's best miniatures, I really like those a lot. Not very high-elfish, but cool despite that drawback. I used this terrain-making episode as an excuse to paint some up. Let me introduce you to the Gnoblar Gangsters, dreaded in the Anulii Mountains for all kinds of shenanigan!


You're probably wondering how this is fitting together - Coming up is part two, things are going get clearer soon! Until then, wise Toby got some important advice for you:

[psy_lock]

So, the plan was to produce a part of the wild anulii mountains as a piece of terrain. I wanted to try some new techniques, one of those being water effects. I had the vague idea to use this piece as part of an army display board, but mainly it was supposed to look good on the board.





The Troll's Cave is a place where a mountain stream finds a path downwards.



In the upper area, two pieces of rock are modular and provided with magnets, so that instead of stony surface, trees can be placed there if wished.



The different levels of terrain are accessible via the cave. There is an entrance on the ground, one entrance at the first level and stairs lead to the top level. The Skaven have found about this, too - you can see them dispatching a scouting party out to from the underdark!


By the way, in the water you see the Green Helmetfish, a rare dish most relished in Lothern

And now - A final shot from the rear! (Hey Brian Mage, me being no native speaker I still didn't get the pun However, I think I will make this my very personal trademark sentence )


Here you can see the Back of the Piece. Obviously, it's supposed to stand in the corner of the board, which somewhat reduces the variety of uses. The piece is made mainly of styrofoam, the back sides are covered with a thin layer of wood. The rocks are made with pieces of shale. The water is made of Vallejo's water effects. In the last picture, you can see the switches and the battery compartment - more about that in the next part

[psy_lock]

Another Rock? Well, not just any Rock! The Mountain's side is modular, under it you can see the mischievous Gnoblars' hideout!





For any of you who were wondering where all those Anulian Chrystals are coming from - this is the place!



In the lower part of the Cave lies a still lake, one of the mirorring one of the chrystals.
During their long criminal careers, those Gnoblar's collected a whole pile of treasures....


... among them trophies from all over the Warhammer World!


I painted the light from the torches and the candles using OSL. First i waas afraid that the Chrystals would disturb the effect, but I'm happy with the outcome. The Chrystals are illuminated with LEDs. On the back side are Controls with which the intensity of the LEDs are regulated. On the pictures above, the intensity is reduced - here is a shot with 'full power':


Thus, I conclude this terrain-making project. It's about time to get some more Infantry ready for battle!

[Aicanor]

I understand now why you didn't have time to post here. The idea is great and execution impeccable; the number of vermin that apparently lives in the Anullii is incredible. Don't feed the trolls indeed! They can feed themselves all right.
Love it!

[Arratak]

Omg!!!! I'm speechless..... Truly masterful. Gw need to hire you, how mch would u sell it for?

[Jhaantikaal]

Amazing piece of scenery. Hats off to you. Brilliant.

[Prince of Spires]

That is some pretty amazing scenery. I love the idea of the cave and it looks well executed. A piece like that would also be great to have in a skirmish type setting (think mordheim or Lord of the Rings SBG).

A few observations on otherwise great pieces.

The Trees are a bit too shiny for me. It could be the photo of course. But while the leaves and the ground are great, the trees look a bit artificial and shiny.

On your mountain, the water of the pond needs a bit more highlighting near the edge I think. The waterfalls are great, but I would expect the water to speed up and create a bit of foam as it gets near to the top of the waterfall. It would give it a bit more a natural flow.

But all in all, great pieces. And thanks for posting the pictures.

Rod

[Swordmaster of Hoeth]

Fantastic work! I really like the idea and the exacution. Hidden cave with Gnoblars and all special effects are simply amazing. You are constant inspiration and I just wish you post the pictures of your projects more often.

Thanks!

[EltElf]

What can i say... Just Fantastic work here

[psy_lock]

hey everyone, long time no see!
It feels like it took me forever, and there has not been an update for a long time, but finally i completed another unit: the White Lions!

They may not be our enemies' favourite sight, but I have to say that the models are really great, they are so incredibly detailed! All those tiny details definitely tried my patience, and the amount of gems on a single White Lion is astounding .







Now here is a picture of the command group, from left to right: The Champion Ilkoryar Cailhir, his musician, his standard bearer and his son Ilcan Cailhir, second in command.



For the banner, i decided on an scene picturing the Asur sailing serene waters towards an unknown destination. This might look somewhat displaced on a unit of white Lions and more fitting for, say, Seeguard. However, I am working on a background story for the army which should explain this choice.
The other side of the banner corresponds more to the lion theme - the challenge here was to find a design which is simple, yet distinctly feline.

This is how the unit looks from the rear:



The furs are the parts i am not entirely happy with, I think the highlights are not quite stark enough. I will keep that in mind for the next unit, should I come avcross more White Lions!

The pictures above give a good impression of the unit as a whole, however they do not represent all the colours perfectly. Therefore, here are two detailed pictures of the Rank'n'File:





I think the next project should be something a litle different, I thought a nice small band of Ellyrian Reavers should provide some much-needed change from the infantry.

[Elithmar]

Well if you will do them in NMM, they will take forever!

They are amazing, as usual. Also that freehand on the banner is just incredible.

Good luck on the reavers.

[Gizmos]

OMG. I cannot express how amazing those models are. You are a genius good sir.

[Jimmy]

Truly incredible work.

[Swordmaster of Hoeth]

Awesome painting! These are the best lions I have ever seen! Yet again you provided a fantastic inspiration.

I have just one question. How do you paint eyes?

[MartinElf]

Words cant actually desribe how amazing your painting in this blog is... Just wow.

However i like to thank you for scaring the living poo out of me, about starting to paint my own army !!!!!

[Andrew_uk]

Stunning work!

What are you planning next? The Caledorian in me cannot wait to see you tackle a Dragon or some Dragon Princes

[Elessehta of Yvresse]

Maybe it's the lighting but I thin the lion pelts are a touch too bright, the rest of the model is your typical amazingness though.

[Ptolemy]

Incredible. Bravo all around. Not much more to be said.

[Cyn]

Now I'm just repeating what everybody else has said, but with a reason: your High Elves are without comparison the best I have ever seen. How in Aenarions name can you fit so much skill on such small spaces?!

[Galharen]

masterpiece! well, you have to have a huge amount of patience

[psy_lock]

Hey guys, thanks so much for your feedback. I'm glad you liked the Lions!
Very quickly on the eyes: I usually first paint all the skin (and this is an ongoing learning experience, I need some more experimenting with that color). When that is done, I paint the eyeball using pure white. Now, usually that does not succeed perfectly, so next I go over the skin-areas to repair any damage done. Lastly, with a fine brush, I place a black dot in the middle of the white, making sure no white is left above that black dot.
This technique usually works allright, though the outcome is a little random at times and some guys can end up with quite the wide-eyed stare...

Now, these are exciting times for us and I am very much looking forward to having the new army book in my hands a few days from now! In the meantime I didn't idle and painted up some more troops. Unfortunately my army really lacks in the core department. Originally, I planned on painting Sea Guard, but I could not yet bring myself to another huge infantry block. So instead, I took a little gamble and decided to go ahead with Ellyrian Reavers. I am not quite up to date on the rumours but last I checked, chances were good they'll make it to the core section

Asterion Wavesong...


... and his brethren!

A final shot from the rear:

Just kidding, that's not the final shot. Brace yourselves, pictures are still coming! Painting these I thought long and hard about the colour of the horses - I finally decided for white horses, just because they look regal and proud, which fits the messengers of such proud a race. I was afraid though, that the colour might clash with my approach on the metals - still I am a little unsure, whether the horses' skin and the metals separate enough. Another tricky part was to fit all the colours which found their way into my painting scheme while still maintaining red as the dominant colour.
In the pictures above, the individual riders are not that visible, so here are some pics with the loose formation befitting the herolds of the Asur:




Here are two more pics of the herold. This was a fun miniature to paint, IoB all the way


I used the unit to some success and look forward to their new rules. Meanwhile, I've already started the next project, which will be Eagles.