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 Post subject: Project: Alternative Angmar - 1st Company complete.
PostPosted: Sat Jun 11, 2011 4:38 pm 
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Yet another project doomed to never be finished... Actually, I'm really gonna try hard at this, so, errrr, watch this space.

So, based on this thread the premise was to assemble a WotR Angmar army, using a host of alternative miniatures. I'm actually, on reflection, going to assemble the entire force without using any Games Workshop miniatures. Hey, I never shirked from a challenge.

After a rather stressful house move, from which I am still to fully recover and unpack, I figured I might as well get started in any free time I find. As I want to cover every possible option from the Angmar list, as well as the monstrous and bestial Misty Mountains allies, I wasn't too sure where to start, so, failing to dig out my rulebook and Battlehosts, I took a quick trip to GW Falkirk for a sneaky look at their copy.

The Spirit Host of Angmar - perfect start, as it was the undead I first thought of as using.

Basic components are:

The Tainted AND/OR The Dwimmerlaik (Otherworld Shadows) - Still to be bought
2 Spectral Hosts (1+ Companies) - Mantic Games Zombies with swampy bases - Zombies in bulk
1 Ghostly Warriors (3+ Companies) - Mantic Games Skeletons - Plenty of these too.
2+ Shades - Mantic Games Liche King - Got 2 of these.

So, basics are 5 Companies of Infantry, 2 Shades and 1 Epic Hero. Which should be a good start, and will give me something to focus on.

I'll sort out some preliminary pictures when I dig out the minis I need, and hopefully get started.

Until then, sit back, relax and get ready to embark upon another epic thread that will probably never see completion...


:wink:


Might as well keep a tally of what is done so far.

The Tainted - to be bought
The Dwimmerlaik - to be bought
Spectral Host (1 Company) - built, cleaned up, primed, started
Spectral Host (1 Company) - built, cleaned
Ghostly Legion (3+ Companies) - 1 Company finished, 2 Companies built, cleaned up and primed
Shade - cleaned up and primed
Shade - to be cleaned up

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Last edited by gaarew on Fri Jun 17, 2011 12:05 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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 Post subject: Re: Project: Alternative Angmar
PostPosted: Sat Jun 11, 2011 7:23 pm 
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This will be interesting to see what you come up with here. "I'll be watching...." He says in a completely non-freaky way.

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 Post subject: Re: Project: Alternative Angmar
PostPosted: Sat Jun 11, 2011 8:48 pm 
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Good to still find you alive and kicking mate. :D

You know it will lead to yet another half-finished army project disaster, but if you have fun doing if (and we, obviously, enjoy it), why not? :)
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 Post subject: Re: Project: Alternative Angmar
PostPosted: Sat Jun 11, 2011 9:13 pm 
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spuds4ever wrote:
"I'll be watching...." He says in a completely non-freaky way.


As long as you aren't touching, I'm sure it'll be fine. :-D

@Sean - Yeah, thanks for the vote of confidence mate, appreciated. :P



Anyway, much rummaging through packing boxes has proved fruitful...

Image

Which is -

30 Mantic Skeletons (Ghostly warriors including the sprue, with enough for a Captain and Banner.

Image

16 Mantic Zombies and 10 Ghouls, which will form the basis of the Spectres, plus 2 Liche Kings as Shades.

Image

The remaining Skeletons, plus WotR trays.

Image

And a little gem to add at some point in the future. (Cheers Matty)

Image

Which means I just have the Otherworld Shadows to get, and I'll have the basic force in place. Time to get gluing...

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 Post subject: Re: Project: Alternative Angmar
PostPosted: Sun Jun 12, 2011 6:32 pm 
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So, I've been a busy boy...

Spectres 1

Image

Spectres 2

Image

Ghostly Legion

Image


The Spectres had some Warlord Games Celt pieces mixed in, as they should really just look like water-logged corpses, rather than Zombies. Of course, the brass etched foliage and basing will help complete the look. I've even got one ready to be rising from the mire to drag an Elf below the murky depths. (Fair treatment for all Elfs I reckon :-D )

I'll confess to not having removed all the mould lines yet, I just wanted to get them stuck together to see how they worked out. I'll clean them up properly before I base them. I'm not sure about going with standard basing on the Legion or some fancy scenic bases. Just leaves me 2 Shades to clean up, and the force is ready to start work on.

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 Post subject: Re: Project: Alternative Angmar
PostPosted: Sun Jun 12, 2011 10:31 pm 
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Damn, that looks great John! So you need 2 Formations of Ghosts, one of Spectres, a Nazgul and 2 Shades for that Battlehost? Well, seems that I shall have to get some more Ghostly Legion models then. While I'm happy with the GW ones I had already, I think I'll grab some of these Mantic Skellies for my second Formation. Where is Mantic located, anyway?

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 Post subject: Re: Project: Alternative Angmar
PostPosted: Sun Jun 12, 2011 10:39 pm 
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gaarew wrote:
So, I've been a busy boy...
The Spectres had some Warlord Games Celt pieces mixed in, as they should really just look like water-logged corpses, rather than Zombies. Of course, the brass etched foliage and basing will help complete the look. I've even got one ready to be rising from the mire to drag an Elf below the murky depths. (Fair treatment for all Elfs I reckon :-D )

How easy was it to match up the Celt bits with the Mantic ghoul bits?

Rob
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 Post subject: Re: Project: Alternative Angmar
PostPosted: Sun Jun 12, 2011 11:08 pm 
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Very good! I hadn't realised Mantic (and others) made such useful figures, thanks for the heads up.
Scott

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 Post subject: Re: Project: Alternative Angmar
PostPosted: Mon Jun 13, 2011 6:22 am 
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Lord Hurin wrote:
Damn, that looks great John! So you need 2 Formations of Ghosts, one of Spectres, a Nazgul and 2 Shades for that Battlehost? Well, seems that I shall have to get some more Ghostly Legion models then. While I'm happy with the GW ones I had already, I think I'll grab some of these Mantic Skellies for my second Formation. Where is Mantic located, anyway?


Cheers dude. Yeah, basics is 1 of the 2 Wraiths, 2 single companies of Spectres, a 3 company formation of Ghostly Legion and 2 Shades. Mantic is based in Nottingham, Barker's Gate to be exact.

kidterminal wrote:
How easy was it to match up the Celt bits with the Mantic ghoul bits?

Rob


Simple. No cutting or trimming required. It's almost as if those folk at Mantic and Warlord had worked together in the past and were using the same tooling company. :wink:

Just in from work, so, coffee time, then I'm aiming to get a few companies cleaned up. The hunt for my copy of the rulebook and battlehosts will also continue.

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 Post subject: Re: Project: Alternative Angmar
PostPosted: Mon Jun 13, 2011 7:01 am 
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Thanks for the answer. I see you've got a new slogan for the painting service. Cool.
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 Post subject: Re: Project: Alternative Angmar
PostPosted: Mon Jun 13, 2011 12:47 pm 
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gaarew wrote:
Mantic is based in Nottingham, Barker's Gate to be exact.


Ah damn, I was hoping to visit if they have a physical store, but it's a little far from me then. Ah well, maybe next time I'm in the UK.

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 Post subject: Re: Project: Alternative Angmar
PostPosted: Thu Jun 16, 2011 11:02 pm 
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Ok peeps, update time! :D

First company of Ghostly Legion with Captain and Banner Bearer.

Image

Image

They are still to be varnished and the movement tray obviously needs textured and painted, but it is a start. Very happy with these guys, I used a lot more steps than normal for doing the ethereal look, and tried out some rust effects on the armour which I hope worked out. I'm a lot more comfortable doing verdigris, but steel and iron rust...

Comments and criticism welcome.

EDIT - If someone with Battlehosts to hand could PM me the exact force composition for the Spirit Legion of Angmar, I'd be most grateful. Still can't find the book.

EDIT - Nevermind, got it. 8)

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Last edited by gaarew on Fri Jun 17, 2011 5:35 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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 Post subject: Re: Project: Alternative Angmar - 1st Company complete.
PostPosted: Fri Jun 17, 2011 1:58 pm 
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very nice, i really like how you brought in other mini's!

+with a very nice paint job.

well done
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 Post subject: Re: Project: Alternative Angmar
PostPosted: Fri Jun 17, 2011 3:09 pm 
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gaarew wrote:
Very happy with these guys, I used a lot more steps than normal for doing the ethereal look, and tried out some rust effects on the armour which I hope worked out. I'm a lot more comfortable doing verdigris, but steel and iron rust...

Comments and criticism welcome.

The rust effects look great in the first pic, and on the table they would look even better. Up close I have to say they don't look that great, but I know you paint for speed and completed armeis that you can play with, not GD standard. :)

- Just noticed that you did infact paint eyes on them, the glowing blue looks cool, but is very hard to pick out. Not sure if that's good or bad though. :P
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 Post subject: Re: Project: Alternative Angmar - 1st Company complete.
PostPosted: Fri Jun 17, 2011 4:00 pm 
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Looking good John. I like the eyes a lot, but they can only be seen in close-up. Maybe paint the eyes pure white? They would certainly stand out. By the by Vallejo has a WWII line of paints call Panzer Ace which has a number of rust colors. I just bought some.

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 Post subject: Re: Project: Alternative Angmar - 1st Company complete.
PostPosted: Fri Jun 17, 2011 4:19 pm 
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Great work, John. Up close they appear a little dusty, but the varnish may help with that. The group shot, which is a better idea of "gaming standard" is fantastic.

I wonder, though...since the metal is obviously a physical object, I am assuming that these are more like re-animated corpses than pure spectral beings, correct? If that is the case, I would probably make the cloth a different color, just to give the models more "pop." Just a suggestion.

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 Post subject: Re: Project: Alternative Angmar - 1st Company complete.
PostPosted: Sat Jun 18, 2011 5:44 am 
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Feanorthenoldor wrote:
very nice, i really like how you brought in other mini's!

+with a very nice paint job.

well done


Cheers.

theavenger001 wrote:
The rust effects look great in the first pic, and on the table they would look even better. Up close I have to say they don't look that great, but I know you paint for speed and completed armeis that you can play with, not GD standard. :)

- Just noticed that you did infact paint eyes on them, the glowing blue looks cool, but is very hard to pick out. Not sure if that's good or bad though. :P


Yeah, it is one of the failings of macro photography, bear in mind the image you see is probably 3-4 times the size of the actual miniature. I'm not GD standard, and I'm not quite crazy enough to want to paint an entire WotR force to GD standard either. :P

kidterminal wrote:
Looking good John. I like the eyes a lot, but they can only be seen in close-up. Maybe paint the eyes pure white? They would certainly stand out. By the by Vallejo has a WWII line of paints call Panzer Ace which has a number of rust colors. I just bought some.

Rob[/quote

Cheers Rob. Yeah, I quite like vallejo's, but they seem to get pretty gunky. I have a few Panzer Ace paints (seeing as I recently picked up some Flames of War stuff), so I'll have closer look at the range. I might look into the Forge World weathering powders (or a cheaper alternative)


Erunion wrote:
Great work, John. Up close they appear a little dusty, but the varnish may help with that. The group shot, which is a better idea of "gaming standard" is fantastic.

I wonder, though...since the metal is obviously a physical object, I am assuming that these are more like re-animated corpses than pure spectral beings, correct? If that is the case, I would probably make the cloth a different color, just to give the models more "pop." Just a suggestion.


Cheers Jon, yeah, the drybrushing is a messy technique, and it really shows up in the close-ups. I really don't want to be blending the colours on all the basic infantry though

Right, going by the book, these are ghosts, so should be completely insubstantial. Now, that's just a bit too lazy for me, so, I took a cue from the King of the Dead, and my old Army of the Dead models. In the film, the Army of the Dead is pretty much just greeny white, but the King has a red lining to his cloak. When I painted my AotD, I did them insubstantial, but painted the metals and their hair just to break up the scheme a wee bit.

Same idea here (although, they have no hair), they SHOULD be insubstantial, but, let's face it, that would be rather boring, so, I took a bit of artistic license and decided that, although they were spirits, the armour was still corporeal, the anchor holding them to the earth so to speak. If you look at the official Barrow-wight colour scheme, it follows the same pattern, uniform clothing/flesh colour and the metals. This may have been my inspiration for my original AotD, but I can't honestly say I ever really noticed before. So yeah, the flesh and cloth has faded to nothing but the steel remains, tarnished and worn. I don't think there is a right or wrong way to do it, but this just feels right for me, and I like the effect. When I come around to the Spectres, I plan to paint them as water-logged corpses, although, by rights, they should be insubstantial too, being spirits... It's never easy.

The eyes - yep, I did paint them, and yep, it is really hard to make out. Probably because they are the same shade as the final highlight... I chose that blue just to tie them in with the rest of the palette, but, in hindsight, I should maybe re-do them. I'm currently thinking either yellow for contrast, bright green or white. Now I think white and/or yellow will work for the Spectres, as they are supposed to be able to create faerie fire to lure the unwary, the green will really stand out, but might not look right, I may have to find a test guinea-pig...

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 Post subject: Re: Project: Alternative Angmar - 1st Company complete.
PostPosted: Sat Jun 18, 2011 6:27 am 
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I think a bright green or even red would look good on these fellows, but please...don't go trying to paint a guinea pig's eye. They blink too much, and you'll have PETA hauling you to court.

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