The mounted standard-bearer

I always have a little apprehension when it comes to painting a standard-bearer, and this model was no exception. 

The horse was painted in the same way as its 3 predecessors (the only change being the candles fixed to its caparison).

The dreaded flag was painted separately and took me a stupid amount of hours. I have basecoated it with Vallejo Extra Opaque Heavy Charcoal, then used two shades of grey (VMC Neutral Grey and Light Grey) to reproduce the faces of Louise de Lorraine and Henri III, as proxies of Adelarde de Montfort and the late Count Heinrich of Schädelheim.

I have then painted the knight, glued his right arm in place, reworked the highlights a little bit, et voilà!

The Tomb-bearer

As I said in a previous post, I needed a break after painting 10 knights in full armour. 

I'm not sure how I'm going to use this miniature, but it was a fun project. Essentially an old Citadel cleric whose shield I filed down, and whose staff I extended... with a tombstone, decorated with chains and candles.

And yes, this thumb up is super weird 👍

 

More Mourners

Another batch of Mòrr's maniacs, concluding my forced (but welcome) leave. Four flagellant conversions, using bits from the WFB, W40K and AOS ranges. 

 

For the standard bearer, I have included the starting point to paint the banner: one of the panels of Louise de Lorraine's room in the Chateau de Chenonceau. 

And the usual family shot:

I still have to prepare and paint at least one additional model to consider the regiment finished. Hopefully by the end of the month!

Two new archers

Again, two miniatures lying on the desk, I had to finish them before moving to something else!

 And the resulting regiment of 12 archers:

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...

Empire standard bearer

Third standard bearer for the Guild of Lamplighters and Watchmen, this model is based on a MM60 fighter. The "A" letter stands for Alderhorst, the oldest district and the most affluent of Pfeildorf. 

The banner is a Dark Elf bit, topped by a burning skull borrowed to imperial flagellants.

And here are the banners for 3 districts of the free city: Mórrsfeld, Alderhorst and Söllhafen.

The fools

All right, first month of the OWAC III, I knew that I could use the end of the winter break to paint my most populated unit:15 fools who gave up everything to follow Pieter the Pious.

As mentioned in the introduction post, my plan for this challenge is to use a wide range of Citadel models that couldn't join Pfeildorf's troops. No feather or fancy clothes here, more the medieval kind, most of the time without any piece of armour and, when necessary, equiped with wooden shields (bought years ago to Hasslefree Miniatures and unfortunately, out of production now - yep, even the accessories are OOP here!).

In terms of colors, I've made tests on a first model, slightly modified by adding a candle on the helmet, something I had seen earlier on this Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay illustration:

The Watchman - Carrier art for WFRP 4th Edition

This very ordinary "Imperial Foot Soldier" (his official name) was painted using a limited palette composed of VMC Dark Sea Blue (highlighted by VGC Bonewhite), and a few brown, grey and beige tones. I've also tried to spare some time with very simple bases: a single layer of Agrellan Earth, highlighted with VMC Tan Yellow and then Pale Sand. As I was reasonably satisfied with this first trial, I've used again and again the same tones on too many models, giving something too regular for a bunch of zealots lost in Araby.

From left to right: Harwood, Mercenary, Imperial Foot Soldier, Ernst Stoutheart and Adolf

I've tried then to change the overall look by removing the Dark Sea Blue from my palette. And whenever possible, I've added some candles to illustrate their religious inclinations. Below a few pictures of my attempts:

Mercenary and Mercenary swordsman

Altdorf Axeman and Mercenary Captain

Gunther, Albrecht and Bardach

And finally, the command group:

Marauder Citizen CZ19, Sir Monne de la Monte and Harwood

Family shot! 

See you next month with the noblemen!