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Friday, September 30, 2005

Lively Liveries and the King's Men

...'When the clarion call is sounded
I will ride out and fight in the name of Liege and Lady
Whilst I draw breath the lands bequeathed
unto me will remain untainted by evil
Honor is all, Chivalry is all.'
Painting the knights of Bretonia is proving to be a huge task. Doing it in *NMM is adding to the difficulty but ultimately the result is much better. These figures are still works in progress however, there are a good deal of tiny details that have yet to be touched by my brush. :D

NMM- short for non metallic metal, a technique used in miniature painting that simulates metals on a miniature with the use of oridnary paints instead of metallic paints.
Among the knights of the realm, this is the first figure I did and the third which I is in NMM. You can tell by the way I obviously struggled with the colors. I was having difficulty finding the right color to shade yellow and the highlights on the red appear pinkish. I opted to leave it as is though since when grouped together with the other knights, the mistakes I made with this one gives it a character of it's own. Serendipity. ;)

Those of you familiar with the Warhammer 40,000 game will probably recognize the color scheme as that of the Howling Griffons chapter that appeared in the white dwarf magazine a few years back. The animal charge on his herald is a boar, for those who may not see it clearly. I painted it in blue so as to make it stand out.

In my opinon, the better yellow. :D This is the standard bearer for the unit. I have yet to paint that standard though. before I'm done with this I will likely have my first bout with Lighting Effects as that icon of the lady has two candles in there which i will attempt to simulate with paint. Good luck to me. ;)

I'm very satisfied with the NMM that i was able to do with this fig. The yellow is okay in my opinon but needs a little tidying up. I also learned that rushing freehand heraldry is not such a great idea. lolz. I still basically have no clue as to what to paint on that banner.

This is my designated unit champion. He is identified by thee white stripes on his lance. In the future I will adpot this style for all the unit champions, either their lances will be striped or it will be carrying a token of some sort from a damsel.

It's so blue it almost reminds me of my ultramarines. :D Well... either I paint it blue or it becomes mostly white... so obviously I chose not to slave over painting white and dying of old age. lolz.I'm beginning to find the tiny fleur de' lyses on the lances or armor to be both interesting and challenging to paint.

The unit musician. I opted to use a different shade of blue for this one. I wanted to stay within the confines of the rules on heraldry but deviate from the normal bold colors as well.

So how many times have you won in combat resolution just because your musician happened to raise his trumphet at the right moment? lolz. His charge is a Lion, though in some angles it tends to appear like a dragon without wings. :P. I personally like this head that Games Workshop did. The haircut looks so historically authentic. ;)

This is my favorite knight among the bunch. I don't know why... maybe it's the green and white or just the fig itself. I decided to add reds for accents. I'll eventually pick out the tiny details using red.

The Unicorn icon on his head was done in a complex gem pattern. it might not be obvious from the picture here. I'll add some detail on the tiny flag on his helm eventually.

Thursday, September 22, 2005

Into The Colorful World of Greys

...I set down my lance, symbol of duty. I spurn those whom i love.I relinquish all and take up the tools of my quest. No obstacle will stand before me. No plea for help shall find me wanting.No moon will look uppon me twice lest i be judged idle. I give my body, heart and soul to the Lady whom i seek...

So after months of working at it all i have to show is an unfinished model. The lance at the base of it remains unpainted and the flags need more embelishments as it looks so simple this way.

I'm begining to regret having painted the lord first. The things I've learned painting the five man knight of the realm unit (will post pics soon) would surely have made a lot of difference applied to this figure. Still... I am quite satisfied with the result, especially since the plan was to keep it simple with this one.

What is it about armored knights that I find so fascinating? I remember reading thru the Arthurian Legends since childhood. Perhaps it's not the way they look... perhaps its the ideals that they embodied. Sadly, the knights of literature are very different from their historical counterparts. Very different.

Wednesday, September 21, 2005

Can I Take a Peek?

I'm looking in the mirror and all i see is a child of 10, smiling back at me with crooked lips and eyes feigning innocence.