Starting from nothing ! Spearmen WIP !

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MeuhMeuh
Posts: 17
Joined: Thu Dec 18, 2014 7:22 pm

Starting from nothing ! Spearmen WIP !

#1 Post by MeuhMeuh »

Hey Everybody !

I figured it would be a good boost of motivation to start a painting log of my future army creation.
I won't introduce myself, but if some of you are curious about it you can find it here : http://www.ulthuan.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=76&t=67788

As a student, I'm far from rolling on gold, and even if I wish I could afford everything I want from the elve models, I'll have to make choices. I'm not sure about what style of play will fit me yet, but I plan to use universalbattle a bit to find out. For now, I will just list what I like and why in the HE army book, to get a plan of what I will get. I'll use this topic to post the advancement of my army, when I'll start it (first purchases should happen in january).

Lords & Heroes :

-For starters, I'll need mounted character (prince/noble) and a mounted BsB. I feel that the possibility to have a M9 BsB is too good to pass, that's probably because I'm a dwarf player and this appears to me as wonderfull ^^. So the mounted character + bsb (will get converted to fit on a horse) is a sure go for me.
-Secondly I need mages. The mage box seem also to be a good go as the models are cool and it's quite cheap compared to other characters.

Bonus (for later) :
-Probably a Loremaster, as this guy look, gamewise, very interesting to me. Getting all 8 signature spells is probably the best supporting magic versatility you could get, and with book of hoeth it should become really powerfull and reliable !
-Annoited of Asuryan : I think this guy deserves more love. Basic 4++ wardsave is very good to me, and I'm dying to try him on a flame phoenyx (I get why it doesn't get as much love as the frostie, but mounted and +1 to rebirth roll seem really good )! The model is very expensive and it will be one of my last purchase, if I ever go for it ! As a side note about me, I'm not a fan of big monsters (then again, it's probably because as a dwarf player I find them weak and easily killable with canons).

The two boxes should cover all my needs for starters, as I could use them to represent different heroes & lords. I would probably need another monted character (to have one with starlance and one with handweapon, but one of them will probably be converted from other kits).


Core Units :

-Silver Helms : they seem to be the bread and butter of every elven army I see in game or on this forum, and for good reasons. I will get atleast one box of them early on, and probably a second not much later.

-Archers : I love BS4 shooters as core, I will get some WE archers to represent them. They'll come in the first purchases for sure.

-Ellyrian reavers : This is a tricky one for me. I find reavers to be a weak light cavalry, with no real asset compared to other ones. They're fast a fragile, as every other chaff, but have no real shooty presence or hitty power. I'll get five of them to cover the coretax, as DE dark riders because I love the models.


Special Units :

-Pheonyx Guard : Probably one of my favorite warhammer unit, lookingwise (tighed up with Executionners). I'll get 20 of them for sure, as they not only look good, they rock on the table too !

-Dragon Knights : Because they look badass, that's why. And a decent shock cavalry.

For the rest of the special selection, I will most likely get some white lions at some point but I don't feel the urge to play them. I'll probably enjoy fast or mixed army, and the infantry I choosed is pheonyx guard. I will probably try to grab a box of shadow warriors aswell, and this for two reasons : First they look very cool and will provide a lot of good bits for conversion. Secondly I had a lot of interest in Malossar's blog ( http://www.ulthuan.net/forum/viewtopic. ... &start=660 ) and youtube channel, showing his use of shadow warriors !


Rare Units :

One or two eagles are a no brainer, really. I'm sure I will play them a lot, and therefore I'm better getting them sooner than later.
RBTs : I will need four of those at some point. While they're expensive in real money, I will lurke for cheap ones on ebay or so.

And as I talked, probably a pheonyx at some point.


Recap :

Mounted character and bsb box
Mounted mage & archmage box
1 box of Glade Guards
1 box of Silver Helms
1 box of Dark Riders
2 boxes of Pheonyx Guards

This will be my first grouped purchase, I think. I will use proxy for RBTs and eagle while I don't own them.

For later, plans are (for now) :

-Phoenyx + Annoited
-Loremaster (maybe not the original model, will try to find a viable alternative as I don't like this one that much)
-Another box of Silver Helms
-Shadow Warriors
-Dragon Knights

I'm open to advices and oppinions about this plan to build my army ! If you have some good does & don't, I'm all (pointed) ears open ! :)
Last edited by MeuhMeuh on Fri Jan 02, 2015 2:53 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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John Rainbow
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Location: PA, USA

Re: Starting from nothing !

#2 Post by John Rainbow »

Seems like a good start. Hybrid lists are pretty decent and Phoenix Guard are generally the way to go as they still have ASF and the 4++ and hence don't need as many buffs as other units - you can concentrate on putting some magic into helping out your cavalry.
Gandalf_82
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Re: Starting from nothing !

#3 Post by Gandalf_82 »

Welcome to the forums buddy. Looks like you are planning a pretty fast list, I would definitely recommend you try and fit a Frosty in there - will fit with the mobility side of things and great in close combat.
MeuhMeuh
Posts: 17
Joined: Thu Dec 18, 2014 7:22 pm

Re: Starting from nothing !

#4 Post by MeuhMeuh »

Hey Guys !
Thanks for the replies and the welcoming :D

I've came back from the hollidays at my parent's, and found some old models in some dusty boxes. Here are what I've found, wich will get me started :

Image

I don't intend to play spearmen but they will be a good painting training to find my colour scheme, and they are anyway always good to have. I love the metal archer models, but I got very few of them and they won't marry very well with the glade guards I wanted to have as my archers ; I will need some more thinking about that. I didn't find a use of the Eternal guards yet, but it will come.

I also started a model this morning, and I'll give you some pictures of it here. I've been lurking around the painting section for 10 days to find inspiration and found some very talented ones around here. It was almost too much and discouraging ^^
I know that I won't paint white on my models, first because I don't know how to do it properly and second because I want something original. After a lot of debating, I choosed to go for black and red-orange, with gold. I find the volcana theme very cool and flashy enough for me.

Here is the WIP of some spearchampion/SeaHelm (if I ever play it :P), it's almost finished and I don't know what to add now.

Image
Image
Image

A quick note on the pictures and my painting skills in general :
-The pictures have a bad quality and I'm sorry for that, I'll watch the tutorials about posting pictures and come back with better ones as soon as I get new batteries for my camera.
-I'm not a skilled painter, nor extremly patient. I like to finish what I paint fast (for exemple, this model is two hours of work, no more...). I use only basic technics such as dry brushes and washes.
-This is the first time I paint eyes on a model. I'm not very happy with the result but still find it 'acceptable'.
-The spear isn't finished, it lacks some brushes with lighter cream/white colours.
MeuhMeuh
Posts: 17
Joined: Thu Dec 18, 2014 7:22 pm

Re: Starting from nothing !

#5 Post by MeuhMeuh »

Double post, because I have new pictures to post !
I've worked hard to paint 12 spearmen this past two days, and I want to show my work !

Quick notes :
-I don't own any shields at the moment, but I'm currently looking for some in my town.
-I don't have a lighter skin paint, but this will be fixed after my next trip to the shop !
-I still suck at taking good pictures ;)

About the colour scheme : I like the look of it. It's very warm and volcanic, as I wanted it ! Fact is I wanted to start a Chaos Dwarf army but I realised the gameplay was too close of regular dwarves and stopped the idea. But I liked very much the molten theme I painted on tryout models, and wanted to keep up with it with the elves ! I know it's not your regular elvish colour scheme but I find it working for me, even tho the models are much goldish than I first planned (wanted black and molten orange)

I'd gladly take advice on different things :
-I don't know what to do with the hairs. Blond seems do not fit here, because of the very goldish painting, and also because I don't know how to properly paint it.
-I don't know how to improve the straight skull/cream colour of the spears.
-Same goes for the golden chainmails.

Here are the picture !

Command and some cool spearmen ^^ :
Image
Image

The current painted models together :
Image
Image

Here you go ! 10 more spearmen to go !
I hope you enjoy it, I'll gladly take any advice/criticism about them :)
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RE.Lee
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Location: Warsaw, Poland

Re: Starting from nothing ! Spearmen WIP !

#6 Post by RE.Lee »

I like how these are turning out. The darker colour scheme is quite original (and surely easy on the eye of our new overlords ;)) and the execution is not bad at all. You're colletion of classic miniatures is also nice to see - the old LSG are great sculpts, as are those champions!
cheers, Lee

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Ferny
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Re: Starting from nothing ! Spearmen WIP !

#7 Post by Ferny »

You've got a really nice collection of minis there, and good shout on identifying the spear champ as a contender for seahelm model - like it!

RE: the archers...I agree they're lovely models and they wouldn't marry with glade guard, but you could always use them as shadow warriors, which tend to be taken in smaller unit sizes. (I kinda plan to take my actual shadow warrior (metal) minis as waywatchers as I'm not a fan of the wood elf models and think the cloaks and bandit masks work really well).
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Davariel
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Re: Starting from nothing ! Spearmen WIP !

#8 Post by Davariel »

Those are some really cool looking spearelves! The black and red gives them a very professional, warlike feel, it even reminds me a little of Roman legionaries.

The only thing I'd suggest you try and improve is the hair. If it's blonde hair you're going for, I recommend using a creamy colour like GW's Ushabti bone, with a bit of yellow mixed in. It gives a much more natural look than plain yellow.
MeuhMeuh
Posts: 17
Joined: Thu Dec 18, 2014 7:22 pm

Re: Starting from nothing ! Spearmen WIP !

#9 Post by MeuhMeuh »

Thank you all for the kind comments, I really appreciate it !

Davariel : I will definetly try that out, and I'll post the result after I'm done.

Thing is, I just recieved an order I made in november (no stock available for all that time..) of dwarves that I need to have painted by the end of the mounth, because I need them for a tournament. If you are curious, these are 20 berserkers dwarves from avatar of war and 20 Irondrakes, models I don't play usually but this tournament as a particular comp that made me take those.

Anyway, I've finally made a big order and took benefit of the free delivery and 5% off prices on wayland, and here is what I have coming :
-Archmage + Mage box
-Mounted char + BsB box
-5 Dragon Princes
-8 Silver helms
-20 Pheonyx Guards
-10 Shadow warriors.

With the 20 spears and 10ish archers this will give me stuff to play with, along with some proxied RBTs ! I took the shadows because the kit is awesome and will provide a ton of bits, especially for archers !
I will have 2 mages on foot and one mounted, this will be enough for me regarding spellcasters. I will need to make a conversation out of the BsB to make him mounted, along with another mounted character. A lot of work in front of me, I love it :D
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