Ulthuan

Note: Please excuse the minor chaos as I attempt to rework my first post so that it functions as an index page. The pics currently on this particular post will be moved to other posts on this log shortly.

Army Blog - The Lady of Sorrows' Warband

Log Index

Archers
Silverhelm Horses
Finished Silverhelms
Island of Blood Mage
Lion Chariot
Pinkie Pie - My Flamespyre Phoenix and the annointed of Asuryan who rides her
Current WIP - Lothern Skycutter

Okay so I'm fairly new to the hobby and I'm very definitely still learning both painting and the game itself, however I thought I would share with you my new High Elf army. I also have a dark elf army (boo hiss). My High Elves came about as a local gaming place is running an escalation league and I have used it as an excuse to pick up a new army.

My colour scheme is potentially controversial as I've gone for pale pink and white. They are going to be quite possibly the girliest high elves in a long time but hey I like it I'm also running them as an all female army which will be explained in my fluff below.

The fluff that I have come up with for these guys is as follows: The High Elves darkest hour is upon them, dwindling population numbers have led to a shrinking genetic pool worsened by nobility who cling to ancient traditions of keeping noble blood pure. This narrow-minded practice has led to an increasing number of infertile elven women. Such women are often disowned and shunned by the noble family from which they came, seen as abberations in the blood line.

One such woman is the charasmatic Lady Naerdiel. Cast out by her family she dropped her family name and took the name Naerdiel meaning Lady of Sorrows. She has gathered to her a small warband of fierce women intent on proving to elven society that barren though they may be, they still have a place and a purpose in Ulthuan's darkest hour.

The standard bearer for my archers

One of my archers

Lady Naerdiel - I decided that I preferred the harbinger model over the mounted noble model so intend on using this to represent her. This one is still very much a work in progress, it was first painted a wee while ago and I have learnt some new tricks since then so I'm gradually improving her.

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Welcome to Ulthuan...

Nice start to you army. Glad you didn't go traditional colors, but you have chosen 2 of the most difficult colors to work with... if I can give one tip, thin your paints a bit more and do more layers - especially the white. Keep up the good work, I like the pink.

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How much wood can a woodchuck chuck??..

Welcome! Nice color scheme! Unique fluf! I wish you good luck with your project and waiting to see it progress!

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My High elven painting project http:http://www.ulthuan.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=44391

lol that's fair, thank you I shall bear that in mind. It's also one of the hardest colours to photograph, the pink is a tiny bit brighter in real life.

When thinning paint down, what kind of consistency should I be aiming for? I seem to end up making it too watery.

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As Tinman said, nice stuff and an original choice for a colour scheme. I agree that white and pink are probably the toughest colours to paint with though!

For layering, I think 3:1 or 4:1 paint to water should be good (you could use GW's Lahmain Medium to help the paint flow better), but it more of a feel and a perfect ratio. White dries so fast and is can get clumpy quickly. Can I suggest a wet palette? They help with keeping paints fluid for longer and it makes mixing colors very easy...

What is your pink? It's not that Changeling Pink thinned down?

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How much wood can a woodchuck chuck??..

It's Emperor's Children mixed with white and thinned down a wee bit. I've also been painting it over a base coat of pure emperor's children to try and get the original bright pink to lift the colour just a smidge. If that makes sense?

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Yes it makes sense, and that's good... What color do you prime your models?

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How much wood can a woodchuck chuck??..

Undercoat is white with nuln oil over the top to pick out the details.

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Archers more or less complete. Haven't done anything with the movement tray at this stage as this will eventually become a unit of 20 rather than 10 but 10 is all I currently need.

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The horses for my silverhelms are now painted up, they even have horseshoes I'm really pleased with how they've come out. I had originally intended the horses to be a lighter grey but the dark colour worked well with the pale pink of the decoration. It's difficult to see in the picture but I have also used 'ardcoat on the bead/decoration on the bridle which looks a lot better than I imagined it would.

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Love the colors and theme for your army! It is redundant to say high elf and girly in the same sentence though

The shoes on the horses is a nice touch. If you want to add just a little punch to the horses color, I'd take some nuln oil down the back quarter of the horses in the muscle line. It'll make them just a bit more dynamic.

Fun scheme!

Loth

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My poorly kept up painting log on Ulthuan.net

So my silver helms are pretty much complete. I haven't attached the sheathed swords yet as I'm not yet sure if I even want to and the crests for the riders that aren't in the command group have been put on the back burner at the moment. I may later on add a little more to the bases as well. I can't find our static grass or my basing kit beyond the sand for that matter.
I'm particularly proud of the gem stones. My technique for doing them has definitely improved, getting new brushes helped ^_^

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I like the freehand on the shields!

The way you've done the gems looks great and they really stand out!
One thing though - I think it's better to do the colours on the gems in the same vertical pattern regardless of the angle they happen to be at. This is because the colours show how the light interacts with the gems rather than the way the gems are actually coloured.
To show what I mean better, look at the gem on/behind the champion's shield. The greens have been done sideways compared to the rest. It still looks really good, but I think it looks a bit better when they're all the same way.

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My painting log
My battle reports

oops lol, I tell you why that's happened, it's because I painted it on it's side! Doh! Note to self do not paint when tired.

I'm glad you like the free hand, the runes apparently mean sorrow and inner strength which fits with my fluff.

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Hello!! Your army looks really beautifull together! Freehands are really nice! Good luck on the rest!! What's next??

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My High elven painting project http:http://www.ulthuan.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=44391

Thank you Tzineris, I'm currently repainting the mage that came with the Island of blood set. I've also got some spear elves to finish. Once they're done I have a few choices but think either the lion/Tiranoc chariot or the sky cutter

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This is actually the second time I have painted this mage. The first attempt really really didn't work. Too much blue that just clashed with the pink of the rest of the army. The back of his cloak is supposed to look like it's shimmering. Seems to depend on the light as sometimes it manages to just look a little dirty lol.

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Finished my Lion Chariot Pictures aren't amazing as I was having lighting/camera problems but they should provide an idea of how it looks.

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Hey dude, awesome colour scheme!
I really love the gentle pink, really different

A quick question, when you paint white, are you painting on shadows/folds, or just painting it all white, even the receses?

It'd really help me out with my scheme!

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Hi DiscoKing,
I build up very thin layers of white all over to try and get a smooth finish. Though I often start from a base colour of grey - Administratum I think off the top of my head. I find that this means the shadows show up a little better as some of the colour shows through the multiple layers of thinned down white. Best thing to say with white is to thin it down and do multiple layers. I learnt that one the hard way It takes some patience to build up the layers as you need to let them dry in between otherwise the paintbrush just sorta smooshes the paint around but the final result is worth it
Hope that helps.

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I love the palette of earth colours you've used on your lion chariot. And the pink banner! - it just looks so right.

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Thank you for your kind comments Wilda.

Oki doki, so the next things in line to be painted are: A Flamespyre Phoenix, A skycutter and I need to fix and continue the rather rushed job I did on my phoenix guard in order that I might get them to a point where I could glue enough of them together to build them for a big game last friday.

Since I was finding the rushed job on the guard frustrating, I have decided that for the moment I shall be concentrating my efforts on the Flamespyre. Following the theme of the army, I have opted to ignore tradition and go for a pink phoenix. I intend to start with an undercoat of black, then basecoat in Screamer Pink, graduating through Pink Horror, Emperor's Children? down to the pale pink of my army and then hopefully down to white. I'm currently researching pictures of flame as well as googling pink flame. Really hope this turns out okay as it's a gorgeous model. I'm intending to magnetise the chair with help from my clever husband (he's much better at the building side of things than I am) to enable me to switch between a basic flamespyre and one with an annointed on its back. I must confess though the brony/pegasister in me is tempted to troll a little and build a party cannon out of greenstuff, magnetise that as well and call the bird Pinkie Pie.

In all seriousness though I do hope I can do the model justice and that what looks cool in my head translates onto the model itself. I felt the reds of the normal colour scheme might clash with the rest of the army.

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Pinkie Pie - Flamespyre Phoenix and the annointed that rides her.

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Skycutter work in progress.

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The pink Phoenix is really eye catching, well done!

I really like the wood colour you have on the Skycutter, what's the recipe for it?

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My painting log
My battle reports

Hi Solith, Thanks

The recipe for the wood is 1 part ushabti bone with 1 part lahmian medium to thin it. Then once dry a wash of Agrax Earthshade. Simple as.

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Looking wonderful as per usual.

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Nec Sorte Nec Fato - Neither By Chance Nor Fate

X-wing Blog

I love the colours you chose for the Roc.

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Lord Elessehta Silverbough of Ar Yvrellion, Ruler of Athel Anarhain, Prince of the Yvressi.
Beastly member of The Mage Knight Guild.