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Re: Averlorn Army - Now with Treeman

Posted: Fri Nov 18, 2011 9:58 pm
by Curu Olannon
Your army is indeed a masterpiece and I absolutely love the scenery and conversions you've made. To me, finding a unique colour scheme and heavily modifying the models (compared to what's standard) really makes an army stand out and makes it interesting to look at.

What intrigues me the most is your usage of Sigvald. I'm intending to use him myself as a mounted elf. My two concerns in these regards were:
- his cape: it seems rather long and probably wouldn't look good if bent. How did you work around this?
- his waist: it seems very small, perhaps even for an Elf? How does it look on top of SH/DP legs?

From your photos the above 2 seemed hard to determine. Could you enlighten this some more, preferably with more photos? :) Also - what parts does the model consist of?

Regards,
~Olannon

Re: Averlorn Army - Now with Treeman

Posted: Fri Nov 18, 2011 11:24 pm
by Dragonlord Hailthir
Superb painting!! I'm thoroughly impressed with your skill. The army is great and the treeman is spectacular!!

Thanks for the tips on the terrain. I'm going to use the columns as unit fillers.

Once more, marvelous job!
Hailthir

Re: Averlorn Army - Now with Treeman

Posted: Sat Nov 19, 2011 2:55 am
by Gray
Thanks for the words of encouragement guys, it keeps my obsession going :)
The great thing with sharing my force with High Elf fans is that you have familiarity with the range and can appreciate some of the more subtle conversions.

Olannon - my army is currently at my mates house. It's a been a little while since I put Sigveld together, I will compare some model parts and put together a guide for you when I pick my army up - with some more photos.

Re: Averlorn Army - Now with Treeman

Posted: Sat Nov 19, 2011 3:07 am
by Curu Olannon
Yeah I totally know that feeling. Tried to show my converted Prince to an Ogre opponent who was mostly like 'Meh...'

Anyways - if you could just pm me (if you don't wanna clutter your thread, otherwise you can just post here) with a few details about Sigvald I'd be very grateful.

Are you playing a lot with this list by the way?

Re: Averlorn Army - Now with Treeman

Posted: Sat Nov 19, 2011 3:16 am
by Lord Anathir
The paint is wonderful, but the most impressive thing you have is that chunk of brand new unpainted metal lsg. =P~

Re: Averlorn Army - Now with Treeman

Posted: Sat Nov 19, 2011 4:10 am
by tinman
I am so impressed by your army. Amazing!! Now that Secret Santa is almost finished I really want to get back at my elves. You have inspired me. Thank you for posting.

Re: Averlorn Army - Now with Treeman

Posted: Mon Nov 28, 2011 1:44 am
by Gray
Hey Olannon,

I'll shed some light on the Sigvald conversion.

– I did bend his cape - this was necessary so he could sit on a horse if need be. My Sigvald was metal, I bent his cape around a pen. The idea is that the pen has a natural curve and that the cape would follow this.
It's also good to wrap the pen in insulation tape and or a few layers of tissue. This ensures less pressure is applied on the detail. A bit of patience was needed, but this technique can be used on other metal models too if you are feeling brave.

- Sigvald is pretty skinny even for an elf! Originally I was going to put him on the legs from the high elf lord kit for when he was on foot (so that he had some scale mail) but his upper body was too tall. I used the lower legs that he comes with for the on foot version. In regards to mounting him on the horse- I added a small amount of greenstuff to the mid rift of the commander kit legs to extend his waist up a bit to make him a bit taller. Sculpting here is not really too important - it can resemble a cloth belt or a piece of armour.

- I think if you use the technique described above he would look good on a dragon prince horse. The Silver helm legs are quite a bit more chunky, and wouldn't work as well.

My Sigvald is build primarily of Sigvald and a High elf general kit.
The banner is made from a brass rod and other bits from high elf spearmen kits. Also Chaos insignia has been shaved off/ filled in and or replaced with gemstones.

Sweet.

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Re: Averlorn Army - with Sigvald conversion tips.

Posted: Mon Nov 28, 2011 2:00 am
by Valeli
That's very nice, as has been said. I'll say it again just cause.

I think the treeman is a bit big for a unit filler though, unless, perhaps, you were using a truly large horde formation unit of spears. But in anything more normal size I think he's going to take up too much space, not to mention too much attention. I think good fillers should add to a unit's character, rather than become the focus themselves. Just my two cents though.

Can I be selfish and ask you to give a general rundown of how you painted the dragon? I have an old dragon model like that and need to get him painted up, and was thinking strongly of going with a green themed army myself (although I was associating my green more with the sea than with Avelorn, but it's the same idea colorwise). I'm a dreadful novice when it comes to painting though, and a bit intimidated of taking up a big centerpiece model like that all on my own. So if you had the time to sort of give a quick Avelorn Dragon for Dummies thing, I'd appreciate it a ton.

I like the maiden guard in your list. I was never sure if I liked them, and never bought them back when I had the chance to do so easily. They seemed pretty cliched to me, and not in a particularly positive way. But I think I actually do like them. They don't look half bad when lined up in the big unit you have there, and any cliched modeling is kind of nicely tongue in cheek.

Good work!

Re: Averlorn Army - with Sigvald conversion tips.

Posted: Mon Nov 28, 2011 9:21 am
by Curu Olannon
Nice conversion and a really good guide!

At the moment I'm unsure of whether I'll include the model in army in particular (a great weapon wielding non-BSB eagle noble that is) but if I will, I will most definitely look to this post again :D

Re: Averlorn Army - with Sigvald conversion tips.

Posted: Thu Dec 01, 2011 11:37 am
by Siegfried VII
Great stuff overall mate. And you also have a wonderfull theme! :)

Re: Averlorn Army - Pimp my White Lions.

Posted: Mon Dec 19, 2011 12:49 am
by Gray
I've worked up a new unit of White Lions, my old unit was built of the old edition models. I've always loved a sketch that Jess Goodwin did in the design phase of the original White Lion development- The elf had no helmet and looked pretty badass.

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Inspired by that I decided I wanted a unit with out helmets. I sourced the heads from various kits most notably the chariot and dark elf corsair kits. I had to remove the barbs. If it made my white lions look slightly less royal that would be fine- I figured they were more likely to be woodsmen who had come across the border than the phoenix kings royal guards. At one point I was going to give them bedrolls and backpacks to make them look like they were on the move- but I stopped as they were complicated enough!

In gaming terms my White Lions have a tendency to be pretty awesome- I wanted my unit to reflect this- so I've posed them like the are making a stand on a small rise. As the ranks go back they get higher, and include a Lion mauling a dark elf (close ups shown on a previous page) And a wounded elf protected in the back rank and the unit to faces all directions. Its fairly hard to capture with photographs- the unit looks quite different from different angles.

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Re: Averlorn Army - Pimp my White Lions.

Posted: Mon Dec 19, 2011 12:59 am
by Gray
Oh some other tweaks I made to the kit was to reduce the size of the Horn the musician has- and to incorporate some of the old Korhil model into the champion- I did have to give him a new body as the new white lions are massive compared to the old elf models. Takes a lot of protein shakes to get to Strength 4 obviously :)

Re: Averlorn Army - Pimp my White Lions.

Posted: Mon Dec 19, 2011 10:05 am
by Darkblade001
Absolutely superb! Some great ideas here that I may just borrow, thanks for sharing.

Re: Averlorn Army - Pimp my White Lions.

Posted: Mon Dec 19, 2011 7:26 pm
by korhian the 28th
WOW these are nice!!!

really like them.. bases. gold, unit filler etc.

have you made all those heads by your self or have you just cut away the helmets and made some hair with green stuff???

Re: Averlorn Army - Pimp my White Lions.

Posted: Mon Dec 19, 2011 7:34 pm
by Gray
Hey Korhain,

The basis of the kits comes from the new(ish) plastic white lions kit. One of those heads come with the new kit, but unfortunately it is only one. The other heads are from the Dark Elf Corsairs kit, Wood elf archers, and the High elf chariot kit. When I had a close look at the corsair heads they are very similar to the head supplied in the white lion kit. I trimmed off and filled any non high elf details- some of the corsair kits had barbs in their hair. Also Some trimming was necessary to adjust for the right neck height.

Re: Averlorn Army - Pimp my White Lions.

Posted: Mon Dec 19, 2011 7:59 pm
by Woden
Really good looking work in here, well done.

Re: Averlorn Army - Pimp my White Lions.

Posted: Mon Dec 19, 2011 8:44 pm
by Gray
Hey Valei,

Thanks for your feedback regarding the Treeman. I'm also thinking he is a bit over the top for a unit filler - I also prefer unit fillers that enhance the character of a unit but don't dominate them. I'm thinking of building an army display board to draw attention to my army- which will hopefully make up for the fact I don't have many big monsters.

In regards to the dragon it's been a while since I've painted him, At the time foundation paints didn't exist and they would have made life easier. If I was approaching painting it today- I would do it something like this.

For the white areas.
A few things first, When painting any white and especially large areas it's best to use more than one coat (2-3). Water down the paint and ensure you are washing your brush in a clean pot (to keep your whites whiter :)

• I would mix some astronomican grey with some skull white and astronomican grey. 50/50 This is your mid tone- and will cover most of the area

• For the highlights start to mix in more white, so you might have 2-3 stages of highlights, look for areas that stick out and would catch the light. Basically the more transitions you do between the stages the better blended a model will look.

Highlights darker to lighter
Stage one- 60% white, %40 grey,
Stage two- %80 white, %20 grey
Stage three- %100 white use this sparingly.

Shadows lighter to darker
Stage one- 80% Astro Grey, %20 White,
Stage two- 100% Astro Grey
Stage three- 60% Astro Grey. 40 Adeptus battle grey (paint lines into the creases)
Also in some areas I've mixed green into the shading of the white.

For the green areas.
I would approach the green areas by using a base coat of 60% Snot green, and Orkhide shade. As opposed to watering down the paints that are not white for an nice even (non gloopy coverage) you can dilute them with green ink.
Use a black wash and paint it into the cracks between the scales and the creases on the wings.
Use a mix of snot green 30% and scorpion green 70% and paint on sharp highlights on the edges of the scales and the edges of the wing creases. You can also blend up where the wings rise. A Short cut for the scales would be to dry brush them.

For the bones teeth and claws
Work up from Scorched brown, bleached bone and skull white. Use Devlan mud to blend
Paint the layers on as lines.

Quite a bit of patience is required and plenty of deep breaths along the way for this approach. White is the most challenging colour to paint, at least most high elf players will share your pain. A great thing to do is really look at models from a white dwarf ect to see how the how they have painted the shadows and the highlights. Take time to really look- you can learn as much from really looking as you can from doing.

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Re: Averlorn Army - Pimp my White Lions.

Posted: Mon Dec 19, 2011 9:23 pm
by Jimmy
Coming along very nicely which is hardly surprising.

Great work.

This is one log I always look forward to having a peak in.

Re: Averlorn Army - Pimp my White Lions.

Posted: Mon Dec 19, 2011 11:21 pm
by Elithmar
Exceptional Chracians! =D> :D

I think they look much better without helmets - wilder, as they should! I also love the bronze and green colour scheme.

Re: Averlorn Army - Pimp my White Lions.

Posted: Wed Dec 21, 2011 1:31 pm
by Anvalous
Amazing work! I'm inspired by your tiered basing on the white lions. It does so much for the unit. Also, though I don't really like the style of the older GW dragon, your execution on the paint is epic. Can't wait for more!

Re: Averlorn Army - Pimp my White Lions.

Posted: Wed Dec 21, 2011 7:08 pm
by Tethlis
It's a beautifully executed army. I think you've done a great job conveying the Avelorn theme without making the army feel too much like Wood Elves. Your banners, in particular, have provided a lot of inspiration, and I also like the scenery you've created.

I did have a question that's only moderately related to painting; do you you use your Maiden Guard in games, and if so, what unit do you count them as? Lothern Seaguard seem closest, in terms of wargear and function.

Keep up the excellent work!

Re: Averlorn Army - Pimp my White Lions.

Posted: Thu Dec 22, 2011 9:27 am
by Gray
I did have a question that's only moderately related to painting; do you you use your Maiden Guard in games, and if so, what unit do you count them as? Lothern Seaguard seem closest, in terms of wargear and function.
Thanks for your the encouragement guys. :D

Tethlis - I currently use my Maidenguard as spearmen, for a couple of reasons - I don't rate seaguard that much & I painted so many of them its great to get them out every game! I found that the bows and quivers are fairly discrete I haven't had any opponents who has objected to me using them as such.

It's probably not quite befitting of their elite status- I'm hoping to use them in campaign game soon and field them with rules that make them a bit more formidable.

Re: Averlorn Army - Pimp my White Lions.

Posted: Sun Mar 11, 2012 9:31 am
by Gray
After the white lions I wanted to give myself a break so I've been working on some new terrain projects.

Amongst the projects I'm currently creating different scenic counters to represent the different types of mysterious forests. The idea being that when you move into a forest and roll to see what it is you place down a marker to represent what kind of forrest it its. you will see below a marker for a Abysall wood (I've created a fey forest), A venom thicket (which includes a swarm of spiders and a wild wood (which includes some beasties). The touches really help bring the game to life and they have been very quick to make and paint. They are mounted on cheep coasters. The fluff mentions regions of Averlorn forest being dark and hostile and I've always loved the descriptions of Mirkwood from the hobbit and I was somewhat inspired by it.

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I'm currently playing an narrative campaign which has inspired to paint up and create different characters. I've finally got round to painting the island of blood guy (with no conversions!) and on my desk I have a rather haughty looking bow wielding female noble conversion, more pics to come soon. Also I've painted up Ludwig for a friends Birthday which was a nice of a break from green and brown.

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Re: Averlorn Army - Stick to the forest track.

Posted: Sun Mar 11, 2012 10:21 am
by Elessehta of Yvresse
The new Griffon Prince hardly needs converting, he's awesome, and looks good in green.
I like the forests idea, looks a great deal better than just markers.
A female elf? Hot, Great Weapon and Reaver Bow? Can't wait to see her painted.

Re: Averlorn Army - Stick to the forest track.

Posted: Sun Mar 11, 2012 10:44 am
by Elithmar
Those poor shadow warriors, ran straight out of a wildwood into a venom thicket...

:D :lol:

I love the female elf conversion, it's excellent! Definitely haughty, as you say. ;)

The stripes on the griffon are great too, and I love the abysall wood marker.

Keep up the great work.

Re: Averlorn Army - Stick to the forest track.

Posted: Sun Mar 11, 2012 11:31 am
by Caradryal
Wow i have no idea how i've missed this before.

What a beautiful army, very nicely painted and the conversions are excellent!

Will be following this with interest :D

Re: Averlorn Army - Stick to the forest track.

Posted: Sun Mar 11, 2012 4:33 pm
by tinman
I really enjoy looking at your work!! Amazing stuff here =D> and the forest marker idea is brilliant!!

Re: Averlorn Army - Stick to the forest track.

Posted: Sun Mar 11, 2012 9:08 pm
by Aicanor
Beautiful, both the woods and characters look alive. You even made the tiger stripes on your griffon look natural. It is the first time I can say I like them.

Re: Averlorn Army - Stick to the forest track.

Posted: Mon Mar 12, 2012 5:19 am
by Gray
Thanks guys, I was worried half way through the griffon looked like a flying Zebra (!). But a few blind tests and no-one has mentioned a zebra as yet :wink:

I had a game yesterday with my white lions storming through a wild wood. Seemed pretty cool to have a visual indicator of ravening beasts ambushing them. It's always a bit depressing losing elves to invisible poltergeist force.

Re: Averlorn Army - Stick to the forest track.

Posted: Tue Mar 13, 2012 8:31 am
by Tarval
Just one question, can we please you sick little monkey get a break down of the skin for your everqueen model.... That is some masterful painting and I am just blown away by how it looks.

Thank again for taking the time to post all your work. You have done one fantastic job with this army......