Thursday, May 27, 2021

OWAC IV - The Crossbowmen

Enter the Frostbeards clan with this unit of quarellers! From the beginning of this OWAC, I wanted to paint something close to the banner of the shooters of Zürich (1513): I have therefore used the blue-and-white scheme of this canton to depict the Frostbeards. 

Written at the same epoch, the illustrated chronicle of Lucerne shows a similar flag, this time with an horizontal crossbow:

Illustrated Chronicle by Diebold Schilling of Lucerne (page 81)
 

In the end, I have opted for the vertical option, and decided to replace the upper red strip by painting in red the ribbons hanging from the pole, and sewn to the outer edge of the flag. As for the crossbow, I needed a more stylized design, and I have slightly adapted the model drawn by Gary Chalk in the Warhammer Armies book:

For the painting job, same technique already used for the BlackHorns and the FrostPeak banners: first, paint a grid on the flag undercoated in white, then draw the crossbow with light brown using the grid as a reference, then hide the grid by painting a background as uniform as possible, then paint the coat of arms, and finally (try to) suggest highlights and shadows on the flag itself. I've painted thin lines to figure the fabric of the banner, with limited success I would say. I've then tried to correct the mess, the result being worse... If I had doubts about blue-and-white schemes, I now have the confirmation that I suck at painting them :) Anyway...


As there is no crossbowman musician in the Marauder Miniatures range, I have slightly modified my second MM11 hornblower model by replacing the original axe by a more suitable weapon.

The other shooters are just ordinary MM15 models:

The second rank:


 The entire band:

 See you in June for the mercenary captain! (and hopefully a few additional dwarves).

11 comments:

  1. Un schéma classique, mais très efficace.
    Et quand il est réalisé par quelqu'un qui manie le pinceau comme toi, c'est un régal pour les yeux (et d'autant plus quand les figurines sont ces vieux nains pleins de personnalité).

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    1. Ce n'est pas mon unité préférée pendant l'OWAC, mais merci !

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  2. Great color selection. It's been a long time since I have seen such well-painted dwarves.

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  3. Replies
    1. Ah! I've tried some new colors to paint my beards :)=

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  4. Toujours pas de hobbits chocolatiers ? C'est la déception dans le public, un peu modérée par la réussite des arbalétriers...
    Jusqu’où le tyran de Tirnabor refusera-t-il d'entendre la voix du peuple ?

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    1. Nan, et ça sent le raté pour la fin du challenge. Mais ça me laisse plein d'idées pour celui de l'année prochaine !

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  5. Good job! Even if you are not fully satisfied, it seems to us that the combination of colors works, especially when the white and blue are combined with red, as in the flag and in the minature with the red hat and the white cross. Maybe a darker blue, like in the original Zurich flag, would have convinced you more? We agree with the previous comments that the beards are beautiful, especially that of the crossbowman with a pipe: it gives him the air of a surly veteran of the company!

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