Possibly the LARGEST wip ever!!

mattsterbenz

New member
Hello everyone! It\'s been a while since I posted a WIP thread. No, there are no Golden Demon entries here! Those are secret! Sorry to get you excited! =)

This time, it\'s a very, very large Bretonnian army commission. This is a massive 4100 points of old school miniatures, all painted to my highest gaming standard (along with 6 competition level characters). Needless to say, it\'s a beast! But surely it\'s going to be a blast to paint!

I figured I would keep a log on here, mainly so people can get an idea of how to undergo the daunting process of painting a high quality gaming army. Pick at my brain! Ask questions! Tell me I suck! Kick me in the face! All is welcome here! (The latter not so much) :D

I should be updating here every day, or at least every other day, with new photos. I\'ll also be sharing what colors I used, how I did certain things, etc. This is all designed to help people get their armies dusted off and painted!

So first we have some of the old metal Squires. The color scheme for this group is green/yellow. Since the customer is playing these as scouts, I\'m painting them in more earthy/neutral tones of green and yellow to help them blend in with their surroundings. Now that I think about it, I\'m going to add some small clumps of bushes on their bases.

archers1.jpg

archers2.jpg

archers3.jpg

archers4.jpg


I tested the new washes out a bit on this group. I am very pleased with the result, and will surely be using these again in the future.

Beginning from a black undercoat, here\'s the color recipes I used:

Skin: BC Tallarn Flesh, W Gryphonne Sepia, HL Pallid Flesh (an old color. I mixed a copy from Elf Flesh, Skull White, and a drop of Red Gore).

Green 1: BC Knarloc Green, W Thraka Green, W Devlan Mud, HL Knarloc Green, HL Knarloc Green + Skull White.

Green 2: BC Catachan Green, W Devlan Mud, HL Catachan Green, HL Catachan Green + Camo Green.

Yellow: BC Tausept Ochre, W Gryphonne Sepia (twice, to get some darker tones), HL Ilyanden Darksun, HL Iyanden Darksun + Skull White.

Leather: BC Calthan Brown, W Devlan Mud (twice), HL Calthan Brown, HL Calthan Brown + Tallarn Flesh.

Bows: BC Dark Flesh, W Badab Black, HL Vermin Brown, HL Vomit Brown, W Ogryn Flesh (just a final glaze to tie everything together).

Wristguards/feathers: BC Bleached Bone, W Gryphonne Sepia, HL Bleached Bone, HL Bleached Bone + Skull White, HL Skull White.

KEY: BC=BaseCoat, W=Wash, HL=Highlight

Basing was done with fine sand, GW gravel, and medium slate pieces from the GW urban basing kit.

That\'s it for now! Look forward to some Men at Arms tomorrow, and lots more updates to come! :D

-Matt
 

Gilvan Blight

New member
I\'ve gotta say zoomed out, and therefore probably at arms/table length these look great.

For the new washes are you applying them over the entire base coat or just in the resesses?
 

mattsterbenz

New member
The pics are a little large, aren\'t they? lol

I applied the wash over the entire area. The advantage of there being very little pigment in them is that they don\'t darken the high points. Slop plenty of the wash on!

-Matt
 

darklord

New member
a great start, i look forward to seeing this come along, should be a fantastic looking army in the end
 

Monkfish44

New member
nice! i will certainly be watching :D brilliant stuff and i like the colour scheme, the washes look nice too. might have to pick up a set. lol
 

mattsterbenz

New member
Hi all!

Got 30 zombies painted today, for a different commission. Also got a unit of Men at Arms cleaned up and primed. I\'ll be getting the test model for that unit done shortly, then should have the full unit done in the next day or two.

The first unit of Men at Arms is green/yellow, but brighter than the bowmen. The second unit of Men at Arms is blue/white.

Thanks for all the interest! More to come... much more :)

-Matt
 

Verm1s

New member
Originally posted by mattsterbenz
This is a massive 4100 points...
I figured I would keep a log on here, mainly so people can get an idea of how to undergo the daunting process of painting a high quality gaming army. Pick at my brain! Ask questions! Tell me I suck! Kick me in the face! All is welcome here! (The latter not so much) :D
The scale makes my mind go blank, in some Lovecraftian way. I\'m watching with interest, but I\'m happy with whatever pointers you come up with yourself.

Oh, wait. It\'s clearing. Roughly how long would it take you to complete a single archer, or the whole unit? How much care do or don\'t you take?
 

mattsterbenz

New member
Originally posted by Verm1s
The scale makes my mind go blank, in some Lovecraftian way. I\'m watching with interest, but I\'m happy with whatever pointers you come up with yourself.

Oh, wait. It\'s clearing. Roughly how long would it take you to complete a single archer, or the whole unit? How much care do or don\'t you take?

The 10 archers probably took about 15 hours, including basing/assembly.

Basically, I make each color blacklined, and have about 1 shade and 3 highlights for this level of quality. More basic paintjobs are simpler, having fewer highlights/shades.

-Matt
 

mattsterbenz

New member
Got the test figure done for the first group of Men at Arms. More green and yellow, but it\'s brighter on these guys. The green edge highlight for some reason looks really bright in the photos. Oh well.

MAA1.jpg

MAA2.jpg


There\'s a huge shortage of plastic shields. One unit of Men at Arms is missing all of them, and a lot of knights are missing theirs too. I started making some green stuff molds to cast the different shields. These are made in 40mm bases. Since taking the photos I have made the other sides, and should have some casts by tonight.

shieldmold.jpg


Should have an update later tonight or tomorrow.

-Matt
 

wilks

New member
I really love this army!

Great colour scheme... reminds me of robin hood haha :)

keep the photos coming, im looking forward to seeing the rest

Good work :beer:
 

Undave

Flockwit
If you wanted to save yourself some bother with the shields Gripping Beast do packs of heaters (it\'s the type of shield not warming equipment lol ). OldGlory15s distributes their stuff in the US and you can get the same shields for $15 but it doesn\'t say how many you get per pack.

Keep it up.
 

Arma

New member
Whoa - I have 2000+ points of brets just say waiting to be painted. This thread has inspired me to get moving! I may even follow a similar scheme since it looks so effective.

I have the washes on the way too - they look decent.
 

mattsterbenz

New member
Here\'s 10 of the first regiment of Men at Arms. 10 more to go, then I\'ll start on the next unit, which is blue/white.

MAA3.jpg

MAA4.jpg


-Matt
 
S

sg2009

Guest
:rolleyes: them 1o men are them shields made from them gs moulds or are they plastic ones???

there looking great by the way

sam
 

Monkfish44

New member
:O and is this just your tabletop standard?...because these are amazing. especially for just rank and file troops. the shields REALLY stand out too!
 

mattsterbenz

New member
@sg2009: These are all plastic shields, and the next 10 have all their shields as well. It\'s the next 20 after these that will have the green stuff shields.

I have made a couple shields from the molds so far. The only problem is they take so long. I have to wait a few hours before I can remove the cast piece. I think I may try to find a way to make them out of plasticard to speed up the process.

@Monkfish44: This is my highest quality of tabletop painting. I have 3 different \"levels\" of service for armies, level one being very basic (one highlight), level two having a couple highlights, and these are an example
of level three. Thanks! Glad they stand out :)

-Matt
 
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