The Swordmasters (Part 1)

 

The Swordmasters. Or, more formally, the Swordmasters of Hoeth. Martial artists with really big swords. These guys were one of my favorites back in the early days of WFB 6th edition, not just because of their game stats back then, but 'I just love the 'batter's up' stance of everyone in that unit. If I recall, I had about 20 of the metal miniatures and ran them in one big massive block. (I still have PTSD from watching them being pulverized by orc rock lobbas...). 

A few months ago, around the time that the High Elf Arcane Journal was released,, I bought a second-hand collection of High Elves, most of which were from the Isle of Blood set*.  It had two 10-man units of Swordmasters however and I have since felt compelled to tinker on them. Rebasing them to 25mm bases really gives them a more beefier vibe**. With a desire to paint something that doesn't have a beard, horns or that wonderful (imagined of course) undead smell, I figured I would tinker on a single High Elf just to see how well it goes. 

Contrast Paints (first coat).

The Contrast Paints that I used for the basecoats are Guilliman Fleshwash for the flesh, Space Wolves Grey for the clothing articles that will end up white, Aggarros Dunes for the gold and hair, and finally Ultramarines Blue all over the rest of the model. 

Contrast Paint (second coat).

I was happy with the vibes I was getting from just the Contrast Paints alone! But I wanted to see it through and take him all the way to the finish. 

Metallics added.

On the next step I employed some metallic paints, classic and modern, to see this model through to the end. Retributor Gold was painted on the surface of the areas previously painted with Aggarros Dunes (except the hair). On the blue areas (except for the helmet's top knot) I painted over that with Polished Blue. And I got to say, I think this really pops! 

The translucent effect this achieved was a pleasant surprise.

Mithril Silver, another classic Citadel Colour paint from decades ago, was highlighted onto the blue metals. The heaviest application of it was on the sword as I wanted it to standout the most.  

Auric Armour Gold was the next layer over the gold followed by a highlight of Stormhost Silver. 

Mitheril Silver highlight.

And that's essentially it. There are a few gem stones that need to be dealt with, but I'lI get to them, as well as the base trim, when I knock out this next batch:

"We're next. Hopefully."

*Sadly, it didn't include White Lions, Sea Guard or that sweet Griffin. 

** We are talking about Elves here, so...

Square Base Adaptors

 Finally! I managed to find some cheap adaptors to extend the square bases on some of my finished Warhammer miniatures. Most of my old WFB miniatures are on either 20mm or 25mm bases respectively. And since The Old World launched last year (2024) a good portion of the older Warhammer miniatures have had their bases increased by one stage. Part of the reason I have started new armies (Dwarfs, Beastmen and Vampire Counts) is because I did not have the heart to rebase my Orc, High Elf and Empire miniatures. Or the time to do it even if I wanted to. 

The adaptors arrive. These are the 25mm ones.

Back when Warhammer 40k extended the round Space Marine bases from 25mm to 32mm,  it seemed that 3rd parties were quick to make adaptors or extenders for them. The first ones  I bought were made from resign and some of the later ones were plastic. But when The Old World did it's big base refresh it seemed to take a bit longer for these cheap and simple adaptors to show up.  In the interim I found some plastic ones but they were over priced for what they were. Or the cheap ones I found were MDF,  and that's a material I'm skeptical about using for this purpose. Recently, I found a seller on eBay that sells both 20mm-25mm square adaptors and 25mm-30mm square adaptors. They're plastic (a major plus!) and fairly priced. 

On the day they arrived in my mailbox I was eager to try them out.  I wanted to update one of my older miniatures so I went with a wizard who was the last model I had painted for my High Elves back in the WFB days.

Elven Wizard on 20mm base. 

It wasn't too difficult working the adaptor into place, and once I was satisfied with the dry fitting, I applied some superglue to make the bond permanent. 

Elven wizard, now with a 25mm base.

Then I added some grit and painted it to match the existing base. I followed that up with a grass tufts and a few fallen leaves. 

Flocked and painted. 

And yes, I chose to stick with a Goblin Green base. My old High Elves have Goblin Green bases, and even though this project could be a good opportunity to depart from that tradition, I just feel that the Goblin Green just works well with the High Elves. 

Anyway,  I'm pleased with this product so far and I am very likely to get more! 

AOS Square-Based Skeletons (Part 2)

 ...and they are done! 

A view of the command group.

Continuing on from last time I managed to get the whole unit of 20 completed. And I am quite pleased with how they turned out. 

The whole rabble.

I repeated this process 19 times: I edged highlighted the cloth scraps using Fenrisian Grey and washed over that with Drakenhof Nightshade. Then I kind of drybrushed the metals using Canoptek Alloy over the Gor Grunter Fur base coat.  

A view of one of the ranks. 

The banner (see the first pic) proved tricky as I had attempted to use a decal on it. But it was so old that it disintegrated when I tried to apply it. Then I attempted to hand paint an icon (the folks at Den of Imagination makes it look so easy!). But I was not happy with those results either. In the end I just decided to leave it black. This way I can just say it represents whatever banner suits me at the time. 

The undead gather

And with that, here they are gathered with the rest of their fellow Undead ilk. I am really enjoying this project and I hope you are as well! 

AoS Square-based Skeletons (Part 1)

 

After I finished the Black Coach for my Vampire Counts and gathered the whole (painted) army together to look upon my progress so far, it became apparent that I needed more Core units to support this army. Enter Skeleton Horde #2. This unit was part of the AOS Soulblight Gravelords Vanguard set that I recently picked up. Unlike Skelly Horde #1, these fellas are better proportioned, better armored, and look bad-ass. After getting them on to 25mm square bases and playing around with ranking them up, I am confident they'll work out just fine in the game. 

Assembled and gritted.

And yet, that older style of Skeleton Warrior isn't without it's charm. I have enough left over to assemble another unit (Skeleton Horde #3 will have Hand Weapons and Shields). Oh and those really old ones I posted about awhile back will likely be joining these guys as well.  Just for kicks, I thought I would take some of the leftover  bitz from this new kit and see how well they would work on the older ones. 

...and I think it works well! 

Anyway, I painted these things almost entirely using Contrast Paints. All of the cloth areas were painted using Black Templar. The spear shafts were painted with Baal Red. All the leather bits, straps and sheaths, were painted with Snakebite Leather. The bulk of the models are the armor and Spearheads which were all painted with Gore-Grunter Fur which makes a great base for rusted metal. 

Basecoats with Contrast Paint.

I wasn't so sure about this direction, so I decided to take a single Skeleton Warrior up to a nearly finished state. I edged highlighted the cloth scraps using Fenrisian Grey and washed over that with Drakenhof Nightshade. Then I kind of drybrushed the metals using Canoptek Alloy. 

One guy mostly done.

And dang! -I am very pleased with these results. Now I have 19 more to go...

An undead mass.