Spearmen completed (again ?!)

Done. Again. Pushing the spearmen to 24 means that I'll probably add 2 bowmen to have a 12 archers regiment.

So happy to be done with spearmen! 😂

The last Four... and a half

I couldn't move to the next project until I painted the last models lying on my desk. 

So, here they are, two classic spearmen (with head swaps), one modified halberdier (spear and man heads replaced), and the drummer, protected by his personal bodyguard, an old Marauder Miniatures reference.

Since these guys are not supposed to be on the front rank (except the musician of course), I have used more black than white on them, quicker and easier to paint.

And the whole lot:

Spearmen completed... for now!

Finally! I can't wait to paint something else than feathers on shields 😆

I wish I was better at painting beards... 

And I should probably paint an additional quartet to align 6x4 spearmen.

Another batch of spearmen

Always a pain to reach 20 models, and consider a core regiment playable. Well, milestone reached, I can move on to my next unit 😜... unless I paint 4 more? 

In order of appearance, the champion, a converted gunman, a converted halberdier, and another spearman with head swap.

And the four aligned!

More spearmen for the White Lady

The same four models, slightly converted, and painted in the usual colour scheme, except that I have forgotten the recipe used on the bones of the previous batch. This time, I'll log things properly. So, for my now 'greyish' skulls:

• Basecoat: VMC Chocolate Brown + VMC Neutral Grey
• Highlights: GW Karak Stone, VMC Light Grey, VMC Ivory Bone
• Shades: GW Agrax Earthshade

 

We're close to the end of this regiment!

Rough days II

Well well well... can't say things are improving on the private side. Broke my hand, useless for everything, except complaining 😜

All I could do in the past weeks was gluing pieces of cork on bases and drybrushing them with different shades of grey. You may notice that compared to the previous post, I have also touched up a few details, and numbered the skulls (that was before the accident). 

Anyway. 10 spearmen now ready for battle.

Family shot:

Rough days

2024 started pretty badly on the family side, and I had to stop the OWAC army painting challenge rather abruptly. 

On the plus side, it means that I have now some spare time to complete a few things pending for too long. Maybe a few citizen from Pfeildorf, some mercenary dwarves from the Grey Mountains, or a couple of additions to Castle Wittgenstein. Or maybe (let's be crazy) some new miniatures. I don't know...

In the meantime, here are the spearmen painted for the White Lady. I don't think I'll be able to finish this project any time soon.

A new army poject (part II)

One thing that I find strangely soothing when building a new army is the whole preparation process: rummaging through the boxes of lead and unfinished projects, clipping off the tabs, pining the feet, scraping and filing the mold lines. And of course... the conversions, to make sure that each model has its own personality.

For the White Widow, I have decided to pick some rarely seen models in an Empire army: the spearmen. I guess they simply sucked in terms of game, plus the fact that GW had released only four models... which doesn't help to build full regiments. Below my rather basic conversions: I have used spearheads of undead warriors, skulls, imperial heads from various boxes, and a few bones stolen to the ghouls. Two gunners have also been transformed into a spearman and a standard/shield bearer.

The more demanding model was probably the Death Crier of the regiment, who's in charge of shouting the losses and chanting the exploits of the fallen brothers in arms. Starting from the illustration of a "clocheteur", I have used the body of a standard bearer, replaced the hand holding the sword by another one holding a bell from the flagellant sprue, and the hand holding the standard by the hand of an outrider, complemented by a small handle from the Kruelboyz, and an old Bretonnian lantern.

Les rues du vieux Paris by Victor Fournel

The second unit to join the White Widow will be archers. Since there are 9 different models, I have only played with skulls and arrows, to tie the regiment to the general theme of the army. No Death Crier here, just a horn blower converted to also bear the sinister standard of the company.

 

To conclude, here's my second attempt to refine the army colour scheme. 

• The leather coat has received a basecoat of VMC Chocolate Brown, darkened with a mix of black and Chocolate Brown, then highlighted with VMC Flat Earth, and VGC Bone White;
• The belt and the pouch have received a basecoat of VGC Heavy Sienna, darkened with a mix of VMC Dark Sea Blue and VMC Mahogany Brown, highlighted with VMC Cork Brown, then flesh tones;
  
• As for the shirt, the basecoat is pure GW Dawnstone, slightly darkened with Mechanicus Standard Grey, and highlighted with GW Grey Seer, VGC Light Grey and pure white.   

And a last model. Not convinced by the armour, I need to rework the NMM...

A new army project

At the end of OWAC VI, I have to admit that I was considering building a brand new Cities of Sigmar army. But the visit of the château of Chenonceau last summer, and in particular, the gloomy bedroom of Louise de Lorraine, rekindled the "oldhammer" flame. 

After the assassination of her husband, King Henri III, Louise de Lorraine fell into deep depression, and began to dress in mourning white clothes, being nicknamed the "White Queen". In the château of Chenonceau, she covered the walls of her room with black, only decorated with shovels, cornucopia shedding tears, thorns, and white feathers (in French, "penne", for feather, sounds like "peine", for pain).  

Examples of the symbols of mourning painted on the walls

This gloomy bedroom sparked my imagination, and I started to think about a bretonnian widow, refusing the death of her husband, and going to war with his remains. For nobles dying away from home, there is indeed an ancient ritual, the excarnation, where the body is dismembered prior to boiling in wine or water. The viscera are often buried at the place of death, but the heart and the bones are transported back to the deceased's home. 

I am still unsure about the baron's remains. After his skeleton was brought back from the battlefield, will it be installed on a throne, or lie in a coffin? That will depend on my (limited) conversion skills... What is certain is that it will not rest in peace in the family's vault 💀

As for her husband's heart, the baroness decided to keep it in a jar. And while she opted for white mourning clothes, she ordered her men at arms to wear black.

Source: Würzburg chronicle, by Lorenz Fries [1]

Source: Würzburg chronicle, by Lorenz Fries [2]

The sinister look of the White Lady's army is even exacerbeted by the generalisation of excarnation to ordinary men and creatures fallen on the battlefield. The skulls of the fiercest opponents are displayed as a warning to the enemy, while the remains of fallen soldiers are kept in portable shrines by their comrades, with the promise to lie one day in the Gardens of Mòrr.

And now some colours:

I have picked one of the imperial spearmen designed by the Perrys in the early 90s to make some tests:

• for the black clothes, I use a basecoat of VGC Heavy Charcoal, highlighted with GW Eshin Grey, and sometimes VMC Light Grey, and darkened with pure black; I have also used GW Stormvermin Fur on the feet of the model;
  
• for the skintones, nothing new: basecoat of VGC Heavy Skin Tone, shaded with GW Reikland Fleshshade, a deeper brown from the Andrea Flesh Paint Set (not far from the VMC Dark Fleshtone), VMC Black Red (sometimes mixed with black), highlighted with VGC Heavy Skin Tone and VMC Basic Skin Tone (sometimes with a touch of VGC Bone White). I'm also using some reds and VMC Tan to give some colors to the lips, nose and cheeks, plus thin washes of VMC Violet ink.
• for the white clothes, I need to do more tests. Here, I have used a mix of P3 Bastion Grey and VMC Neutral Grey, which was way too dark. I then struggled with GW Dawnstone, and VMC Light Grey. Adding GW Grey Seer helped a lot to get a moother result, but I need to find a simpler way to have a clean result;
• for the leather parts, the basecoast is VMC Chocolate Brown, darkened by adding black to the base, and highlighted with VMC Flat Earth and some VGC Bone White.

You'll recognize on the shield one of the symbols painted in Louise de Lorraine's bedroom.

That's all for the moment!

OWAC VI - The Villagers

March is done, give me a drink! Well... maybe not, after all. The Rotgut booze prepared by the good doctor Jean Rousseaux - and sold only for 6 pennies the bottle! - is not exactly the kind of medicine you would expect from a physician: a mixture of alcohol and juniper berries... flavoured with the powdered warpstone, gently provided by Lady Margritte von Wittgenstein. 

Needless to say that the peasants and farm-workers of Wittgendorf that are addicted to the Rotgut booze are both mentally and physically damaged.

Still, the 10 models painted this month are in a rather good shape (if one excepts the bandages hiding minor mutations). The miniatures come mainly from two Citadel ranges: the C46 Militia & Villagers, and the F4 Mercenaries. Only two models have been converted to receive a spear. In terms of painting, I have used purple and light blue in the skintones to suggest that there could be something wrong with some Wittgendorfers.

The villagers are led by Kurt Kutzmann, doctor Rousseaux's loyal assistant. Intoxicated by the booze he's selling to the peasants, he's totally idiotic, and giggles all the time. In terms of miniature, I have painted a citizen from the Marauder Miniatures MM62 range. 

The Wittgendorfers:

 

See you next month!