A pack of hounds

 It's been a while since I last managed to post anything, but have two excuses for that, so you can choose.

First, I’ve been away on a work trip abroad that’s kept me away from my minis for a whole week. I got the chance to visit Finland, which I’d never been to before – spent some time in Helsinki and Tampere, and I think it’s the furthest north I’ve ever been in my life! Sadly, I didn’t make it far enough north to visit Santa and hand him my letter. Guess I’ll have to save that for next time.

On another note, I’ve thrown myself into a little adventure that’s taken up quite a bit of my time. Not because it’s particularly tricky, but more because of the sheer numbers. Hang on, I’ll explain:

I started to build a Warhound Titan. I wanted it to look a little more dynamic than the previous ones, so I played with the pose of the legs...

Leaning to the side to show movement

Looks like it's running?

 But you know, these fellas come two by two...

It’s supposed to have its leg lifted in the air

You can see it better here

The thing is... once I had started... Why not assembling the other box I still have?

Now you begin to see the root of my issues and delays

So four Warhounds it is! This way I can get the Warhound models off my plate in one go and move on to the next phase of the project. Right now I have an Imperial and a Chaos Warhound, so I decided to make another Imperial one (I can't march to battle with just one of those!) and three for the Chaos Legio.

Looks like the worst-rehearsed dance routine ever

Now an important addition I haven't done in any of my previous Titans. Banner poles! Flags and banners are quite an important part of the Adeptus Titanicus imagery, at least in the old times. I thought these bad boys were in serious need of some good, old fashioned banners. I used these nails; they may look thick, but I hope they'll work fin in the end:

 

Ha, I nailed these (you see what I did there?)

They might look excessive, but once you place the carapaces on, they look better:

 

Well, when I finish them they'll eventually look better!

Here's a silly idea I came up with. Unfortunately it's absoutely unfeasible on this model (I tried. I tried hard, trust me)

 

But the idea of a Cerberus Warhound was just soooo appealing!

 There's simply no room for three heads, no matter the configuration. I would have to destroy the carapace and even so I had no guarantees. BUT. I'm so trying it again on the next Reaver I'm building, you can bet!

But I'm digressing.

Looking better!

  So, while I assemble and glue the heads and weapons...

 

...Let's make some banners!

  

I know, banners should be the last thing to add, I need to make bases first... but I was so excited I couldn't wait!

 

Banners!!

 Well, the bases then.

There’s something that’s been on my mind ever since the game came out in this 8mm scale. Right, these new Legions Imperialis minis are truly gorgeous, that's out of debate. But I’ve got a hypothesis I need to prove or disprove using the scientific method:

 

AHA! I knew it! 6mm is THE right scale for these!!

This is scary. This is imposing. Besides, people this size can fit in that head

 

So it is decided. Now that I've dared to go to the very end of the known world (my shelves), from now on I'm definitely using old Epic models for the bases.

If I ever get into Legions Imperialis (which I'm not doing. I'm not ever doing that!) or I need to buy more Epic models (not doing that either! I have tons of unpainted minis!!), I'll have to look for 3D prints in 6mm. Legal disclaimer: The foregoing statement shall not be construed as expressing any clear or explicit intention to initiate any of the aforementioned projects.

Ahem.

 

Back to current bussiness. Here you have the four Warhounds!

First, the Raptor Iudex, from Legio Artemis:

 

Black Legion Rhino for scale!

And, when it comes to Legio Faucibus, we have the Ghostfang (imperial designation Cruor Celer)

 

Run, Forest, run

Please notice the very brave (or very stupid), devoted Space Marine who is quite confident about his chances:

Should have painted more details for this pic

But it's staying this way, sorry

 This is the Wolfhowl (Imperial designation Ululatus Rex):

 

Another brave Space Marine bike rider

And the Dreadstride (Imperial designation Mordax)

 

Hey, watch where you're stepping!

 I don't know which one of these pics is better (or less awful), I'll let you decide:

 

 Then this is it! All four Warhounds finished!

 

BUT

 

(You knew there was to be a "but"...)

 

BONUS!

 

Once I started adding banners, of course I had to put them on top of all my previous Titans!

 

(Why the hell are those bases different from all the others??)

 You may have noticed that loyal and traitor banners are floating in different directions. It could have been my mistake, for sure, but in fact I thought that, when facing each other, all banners should flow in the same direction:

 

I already need a bigger backdrop!!

 The rest of the band:

Could have added more banners, but not today

Top carapace banners, pennant on the arm and sensible parts banner

Wasn't it scary enough without flags??

Come here, we're gonna have fun with flags

 They all are pretty basic, but I think they add some quality to the overall effect, so I'm happy!

Wow, now I have quite some models! Should I paint more? Reavers? Knights? Or should I paint some scenery and try to actually play with what I already have?? 

Ahh, the difficult decisions.... 

Long time ago...

 ...in this very blog...

...I used to paint (and even play!) the long forgotten Imperial Assault game. You know, the kind of Star Wars dungeon crawler, before the times of Legion (and of course Shattered Point). Even before those days, Knightmodels produced some really beautiful 28mm Star Wars minis.

I was there. 

I still had some of them, unpainted, forgotten, waiting for years and years for their moment to finally come.

Well, better late than never. While I'm working on some other (titanic) projects, I've been putting some time on these, just to breathe within project stages.

I'll start with the Knightmodel minis. They were really, really sweet. I only managed to get a few of these second-hand, and honestly, I totally regret not buying more back then. I was caught up in other projects at the time and figured I could just get them later. But unfortunately, Knightmodels lost the license (same thing that happened later with the Lord of the Rings line), and the minis stopped being sold. Real shame, really.

Here you have them. Han Solo and Chewie carrying poor dismantled C3P0:

Space scoundrels

It was kind of a reedition of this post of ancient times, though I had totally forgotten the recipe for Chewbacca's fur, so I had to improvise a little.

The other couple is our favourite and most famous twins (apart from those from the Acolyte TV show, of course -sarcasm mode off): 

Ebony and Ivory

 There's really little to say about these. They are true 28mm, well scaled and proportionate, so they can pose a challenge to all those who, like me, are so used to GW and their kind of minis. To better illustrate what I say, let's compare them to the Imperial Assault ones: 

They are beautiful and really well sculpted

Of course they are enormously cool, don't take me wrong

But I think you can see what I'm talking about

The Knightmodels ones are delicate and are of a different scale. They are white metal, traditionally sculpted. They are not as clumsy or random as a 3D sculpted mini; an elegant miniature for a more civilized age...

Here you have them all:

Rebel fanfare sounding now

I also took this shot of the Knightmodels minis only, with the other one I had from long time ago:

Sigh, still so very few...

 It's been ages since last time I played Imperial Assault (or any other thing). I’ve gotta admit, painting these has totally reignited my urge to do some Star Wars projects and play something—anything, really. I don’t think I’ll be able to right now, but hey, the idea and the itch are definitely floating around out there...

 

Men at Arms

 Bretonnia on the works again!

After the Knights Errant (which I mistakenly called Questing Knights!), I needed some good, old infantry, the reliable men at arms. I have fifteen of them, enough to build up a unit.

Four models (repeated) and the command

 As you can see, there is no much variation. Though conversions could be technically achievable, it certainly was not worth of the work. What I tried instead was different colours for the hoses. You can see above two different tones of brown and one grey. Idle work, as they will eventually be covered by the shields, but at least in my mind there is a subtle difference.

They fit in nicely. I haven't studied how would they look on ToW bases, but not my priority

These minis have aged well, I have to say. Even in their simplicity they still keep that special charm of old, that strange quality that the new plastic minis didn't get to grasp. Assembling the unit was quite easy, and then I paid some attention to the shields.

It was time to choose the livery. I went for a simple green and yellow pattern, quite classic and simple, yet effective, I believe. It works on the garments and is easy to repeat. However, back to the shields themselves, I thought I could do something more. I didn't want to paint full heraldry, as that would be the prerrogative of their lord, but I could add something else without necessarily painting heraldic figures. The obvious solution in Warhammer is always some chequered strip.

If it hasn't any chequered patterns, then it's not Warhammer

Little else to add, this unit is pretty straightforward to paint and assemble. I added some grass and tufts to the bases, replicated the shield pattern on the banner and here you have them:

Compact and battle ready, as they should

Here you can see them a little bit better

I have some archers that I believe should be next, but I'm still undecided. Don't worry though, I still have plenty of other stuff to paint while I make any decision XD
 

Finishing old bussiness

 A very brief update today, about going back to unfinished bussiness I had set to oblivion for long time.

Delving into old shelves I found a nice stash of old Orks. Most likely from even before I started this blog. Most of them are 2nd Ed plastic Goff Orks, but you can also see some Space Crusade Orks turned into Evil Sunz and some other few gubbins.

Da stash!

I can make a full Mob with those Goffs, so let's pay some attention to them. They were painted in the most basic way imaginable. Full black, classic green skin and almost no details. There are no glyphs or marks, and for that reason I've concluded that I must had started painting them but, at some point and by reasons long forgotten, I never finished them. You can see what I mean in the pic below.

The paintjob is... basic. I believe this must be almost certainly 20+ years old

However, I thought I could make something without having to totally unpaint them. I could use what I already had as base coat and work from that point on.

For starters, I'm going to keep the green skin. Unlike other Mobz, in which I've been constantly switching skin colours, I didn't fancy doing this now. There's nothing wrong about having some consistent true greenskins in my army, after all! So I had to repaint the lips and also paint the ears pink, nothing more.

I kept the black garments, but highlighted them (not too much!), gave the Agrax treatment, and finally made some markings on the shoulderpads. It's an old mark I had already used long time ago for a commission and which looked appealing to me. I finally painted a classic chequered pattern on the other shoulder pad and changed the bases into my usual Renedra flat ones.

Unfinished, yet almost done

I didn't really want to make anything complicated, just finishing an apparent pending job, so I can count a new Mob into my army!

'Ere we go!

I'm still not sure of what to do with the other Orks on the foam tray you saw earlier. Should I try a full Evil Sunz Mob with what I have? Should I use that Ghazghkull Thraka as himself or as a mere Nob? The other characters need a pinting update, for sure, but that will come some other day. So many decisions to make!

Questing for the Realm

 Now for a totally diferent thing! What can it be?

Oh, it seems that I'm mixing the holidays and I'm back to Christmas in the middle of Easter. Look, look at this candy cane:

Hey! That's no candy cane!

Oh, you got me. I'm starting a new project. Well, you can say that technically it's not really new, but after all these yearts it feels like that, and given that it involves painting a whole army, I'm counting it as new!

I started playing WHFB at 4th Edition, the first one released here in Spain. I had a few Empire minis but not a proper army. Later on, at 5th Edition, I also got some Bretonnians, even the core of an army. But my pals back there weren't that much into Fantasy, so I ended up focusing on WH40K and selling most of my stuff.

I don't know if all this new "The Old World" is responsible for the WHFB revival, but the fact is that I can see a lot of people undusting their old armies, and I'm doing so! I've recovered what I had and have patiently bought some old stuff, so now I can say I'm on my way to build a Bretonnian army!

I had already repainted some plastic Knights of the Realm (that was 2018!! Seven years ago!). Not necessary to click on the link, I'll be bringing them again on this very same post. I decided I could re-start this project with a few Questing Knights, this was my first one:

The Knight of the Stairs

It was fun and I enjoyed it, so I immedately painted another one:

The Knight of Snowfield

It's not that easy to paint heraldry without any figures on it (as Questing Knigts must be!) and yet make it look interesting. My greatest fear was to make them look dull. So I tried something different for the next one:

The same blue I'm using on my Titans!

Three of them!

 

Believe it or not, this is already a whole rank of a unit

The good thing about Bretonnia is that it's not real heraldy, so you are not restricted by its rules, you can play with different hues of the same colour and go wild with some things.

Once I got the basic knights, I started with the characters. First, the trumpet guy:

That one would look better with some figures on that shield

 

I had some problems deciding how to paint the banner bearer, as I hadn't still decided what colours I would apply on the banner itself. I played it safe and used white as base colour, being neutral enough to combine with anything I could come up later:

At the moment I didn't realise I was painting the flag of Finland. Hei ystävät!

 For the Paladin of the unit I got infatuated with the idea of bright red, as I thought it would combine well.

Not original at all, I admit it, but I hope it works

With this one I got six Questing Knights:

A full unit! Weeeee!!

Time to think of the banner. At first I was reluctant to use heraldy figures on it, but in the end I leaned towards that idea, thinking that it would look nice and it can represent the banner of a higher Lord. So I came up with this:

I'll try to pay attention to proportions next time, I promise

OK, let's leave these young, impetuous Knights for a moment, as I will do their bases later. Let's pay some attention to my old Knights of the Realm. I can do all the bases at a time.

I know that Questing Knights don't bear figures on their heraldry and Knights of the Realm do, but I guess that if I was crazy enough to paint these schemes, you will be indulgent on me. Remember them from seven years ago? Well, I don't blame you, here you have them again, with a Knight of the Grail Paladin:

Knights of Epilepsy! Charge!

If you check the link I provided before you may notice I have repainted one of the knights since then, a yellow/green one with an awful and failed scheme. I used an easier pattern:

The Knight of Argyle. His socks combine, of course

 But I wasn't really happy with the Paladin of the unit. That livery was awfully dull among his peers. I thought of a new design, but you see...

...I lacked the stenght of will to do what I had to do

 The only reasonable option was... not to think about it and just start doing it!

Sir Proton, he leads quite positive charges

 It was kind of a hell. I started painting a chequered pattern, which gave more regular spaces, but in the end I was messing up the places I had to paint. So I started over again and painted the crosses just by approximation. However, I think it works. More or less.

Once I was using turquoise, I made the banner in the same colour:

I wanted to make a lion, but it can be a wolf, a dog or a cat deopending on the angle

With all this work in order, I just made all the bases. The ones of the Questing Knights as well as some refurbishing on the Knights of the Realm ones. Here is the final result:

Bushes to hide the plastic grass

The background book is an A3. I need a bigger one!

I don't quite remember the rules, but I pity the poor chaps who have to bear this combined charge

Well, this is it for now! May the Lady of the Lake guide my hand and bless my brushes. I think I'll be doing some men at arms next, but before that I still have Orks to paint! And Titans! And...