Lead Adventure Forum
Miniatures Adventure => Weird Wars => Topic started by: Snackelwolf on 28 September 2023, 03:44:40 AM
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Greetings all,
Going to post some step-by-steps of how my various armies and terrain unfold for a War Transformed.
Let's start with the Germans, using the tutorial provide to me found here:
https://scrivsland.blogspot.com/2015/01/more-wwi-germans.html?m=1&fbclid=IwAR08O4VjWKoVQgwvhj1gnx-_10DuOAZZhuqLv091HtzrpslbLlGwS5fe0Ng
I will be doing my own basing, deviating with the UK and French uniforms into unique color schemes for the era, etc. The great deal of hobby effort
will be going into the Manifestations, Witches and other characters / Terrain that make the game even more unique.
But first up, just some German infantry in gas masks. Here are two photos: partially base-coated, followed by fully a fully base-coated image with the suggested Sepia Wash.
As you can see in comparison, the wash / shading is crucial to toning down the bright or slightly pasty colors from the recommended Vallejo range.
I feel the Sepia wash does quite a nice job of this, and I'll post my highlights very soon. One area I struggle in is knowing what all the gear is called and "what is what" on the model, but all in good fun; I look it up online or ask on Facebook, and don't stress too much about it.
But I digress, here you are, feedback welcomed.
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Good stuff - as you note the wash is key to making the figure look right!
I agree on the trouble (and fun) it can be to find out what all the various accoutrements are and what colour they should be. There were quite a lot of differences between WWI German gear and similar items in WWII, so you have to be doubly sure you have the right rear view photo.
Certainly wiht AWT you have some more lea way as part of the lore is that supply lines have broken down somewhat so you can always say some items are civilian or captured. Which gives me an idea, with the plastic kits you have options to actually swap some gear between nations.
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Nice work on the figure.
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thanks you two.
I'm pondering basing options. Please tell me what you think:
which base scheme:
1.) Left -- Cool Spring, a rather unusual static grass color
2.) Center -- Doggerland Awakening -- No static grass, just pine forest base, but more flowers
3.) Right -- Traditional Spring, a more basic green grass.
Note that with the minis on the bases, I won't have room for a lot of static grass. To add it will likely mean a few less flowers on average. Thanks in advance for your votes or feedback.
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I think perhaps 2) - like the contrast of the flowers with the drab basic colour. But quite like 3 also.
Not a fan of 1, looks a bit like light snow, which doesn’t really work with the flowers - IMHO
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They look great Snackelwolf. I often get very stressed with my efforts painting (in the blocking stage) and it’s nearly always the application of wash and starting to do highlights when the model starts to come to life for me as it looks more as I intended.
From a basing point of view, and I’m going to be difficult lol , I like the the second basing scheme (forest floor/mud and grime) to which I’d add small amounts of the brighter green materials from option 3.
I imagine the setting (I haven’t read the book) to look like it’s bursting back into life and would probably personally do drab bases (I often use greys for basing as they make most things pop - I’ll usually stipple some brown paint and add brown wash to make an indistinct ground colour) with some bright, splodges of botanical growth - maybe old logs where the branches are re-sprouting, maybe some dead foliage (to represent plants no longer in there chosen environment) being overtaken by the new. Tiny fish skeletons? Ferns are fast growing and you can get some really nice pre-cut paper versions.
There seems to be a great range of possibilities - and I know if this was me I’d get analysis paralysis over the best option and trying to get my imagination and ability to line up :D
How long has Doggerland been accessible in the setting? If it is set only weeks after the land surfaces there would still be plenty of unvegetated ground or old, dying aquatic vegetation (piles of seaweed) scattered about.
Really looking forwards to seeing your progress, I’m tempted by the game but trying to be sensible and focus on my other projects.
Andrew
BeneathALeadMountain
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They look great Snackelwolf. I often get very stressed with my efforts painting (in the blocking stage) and it’s nearly always the application of wash and starting to do highlights when the model starts to come to life for me as it looks more as I intended.
From a basing point of view, and I’m going to be difficult lol , I like the the second basing scheme (forest floor/mud and grime) to which I’d add small amounts of the brighter green materials from option 3.
I imagine the setting (I haven’t read the book) to look like it’s bursting back into life and would probably personally do drab bases (I often use greys for basing as they make most things pop - I’ll usually stipple some brown paint and add brown wash to make an indistinct ground colour) with some bright, splodges of botanical growth - maybe old logs where the branches are re-sprouting, maybe some dead foliage (to represent plants no longer in there chosen environment) being overtaken by the new. Tiny fish skeletons? Ferns are fast growing and you can get some really nice pre-cut paper versions.
There seems to be a great range of possibilities - and I know if this was me I’d get analysis paralysis over the best option and trying to get my imagination and ability to line up :D
How long has Doggerland been accessible in the setting? If it is set only weeks after the land surfaces there would still be plenty of unvegetated ground or old, dying aquatic vegetation (piles of seaweed) scattered about.
Really looking forwards to seeing your progress, I’m tempted by the game but trying to be sensible and focus on my other projects.
Andrew
BeneathALeadMountain
Andrew you are a scholar and a gent -- thank you for your feedback. It's rare to receive such thoughtful assessment on an opinion post. As a few of us old punks still say in California, "you're Rad."
I went with the receded water terrain, sprouting with new growth. I could not find anything I liked for seaweed, lichen or similar plants that appealed to me. So I see this as a bit more heavily traversed, with the return of the Doggerland established.
This will sync nicely with my terrain plans, which will feature some precise pagan features fully built -- I am getting the large Wicker Man model positively ASAP!
I've never been one for sensibility, and I hear you on the project overload. This is a true labor of love here, as I will have to provide both forces to play. Yet, I will not complain -- most of my gaming circles are a, "we'll try anything twice" crowd, so I know it will be good fun here and there.
Enclosed are my first four test models. Full squads should go faster now, with the slightly adjusted paint recipe logged in my google docs. Feedback welcomed.
Cheers.
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I’m liking those figures! They have a not quite WWI feel to them, which feels right for AWT.
For variety, you could add camouflage or mystic symbols to helmets. The putees can be various colours too. No need to change anything on these guys - just ideas for the next batch.
Some good thoughts on terrain from Andrew- I’ll certainly be adding them to my thinking. The lore suggests that growth is greater where blood has been spilt which gives good options for adding plants and growth to more typical WWI terrain.
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Snacklewolf I try and edit my nonsense but it tends to be an overexcited splurge/stream of consciousness in excitement of talking to fellow hobbyists lol. I think your troopers look great, don’t get too stressed trying to achieve everything (you want) with the bases, as long as they match in with the bigger terrain blocks (same colours/tones/thematic objects) the bigger stuff will tell the story (the miniature bases just nail it all down) in my opinion.
The lore suggests that growth is greater where blood has been spilt which gives good options for adding plants and growth to more typical WWI terrain.
Urk I have brambles like that in my garden :D. I could see judicious use of flocked, rubberised horse hair and some carefully painted and manipulated model Barbed wire (15mm) would make nice tendrils creeping from impenetrable mass of greenery. Judicious application of model blood (maybe some in puddles with a thirsty, straw like tendril) on some points and scattered bones around/in the bushes. Wish I had someone to play it against now…..
Keep up the good work (going off to think about doing this in 15mm now…..)
Andrew
BeneathALeadMountain
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I’m liking those figures! They have a not quite WWI feel to them, which feels right for AWT.
For variety, you could add camouflage or mystic symbols to helmets. The putees can be various colours too. No need to change anything on these guys - just ideas for the next batch.
Some good thoughts on terrain from Andrew- I’ll certainly be adding them to my thinking. The lore suggests that growth is greater where blood has been spilt which gives good options for adding plants and growth to more typical WWI terrain.
Thanks for the reminder about arcane and mystic symbols to the helmets. I need to come up with some original designs, or look at some of what reflected in various circles of the time period.
As for the putees -- that's a good idea, I may mix it up a bit on the Germans. I've already decided my French are going to be more colorful overall.
Finished a Witch for Germany. She's a bit dirty from all the outdoor... festivities.
I used the Slap-Chop method on her, with traditional acrylics mostly only on skin and metal.
Shoot I just realized something -- the staff, making it metal over the skull and at the bottom of the wood as I did -- in the Lore that would harm her magic potential, yes? I haven't had a chance to read a lot of the storyline yet.
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Like the witch, especially the bunch of flowers!
In the lore iron disrupts magic - certainly large chunks of iron like tanks! Not sure there is any mention of witches avoiding metal weapons. The staff could always have silver trimmings?
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Nice work on the witch (if you wanted to use it for a British force it could be a Cunning Person).
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Iron is the classic nemesis of magic and the fair folk. As Ultravanillasmurf puts it a “cunning person” - for which I’d read hedge witch (without knowing the book) I could see great value in a practitioner that has strong ‘roots’ in plant life and their understanding as if the landscape is predominantly filled with new and unknown, but potentially dangerous flora. They’d be vital as a guide and all round assistant to your troops in just keeping them up and fighting.
Andrew
Balm
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They look great Snackelwolf. I often get very stressed with my efforts painting (in the blocking stage) and it’s nearly always the application of wash and starting to do highlights when the model starts to come to life for me as it looks more as I intended.
From a basing point of view, and I’m going to be difficult lol , I like the the second basing scheme (forest floor/mud and grime) to which I’d add small amounts of the brighter green materials from option 3.
I imagine the setting (I haven’t read the book) to look like it’s bursting back into life and would probably personally do drab bases (I often use greys for basing as they make most things pop - I’ll usually stipple some brown paint and add brown wash to make an indistinct ground colour) with some bright, splodges of botanical growth - maybe old logs where the branches are re-sprouting, maybe some dead foliage (to represent plants no longer in there chosen environment) being overtaken by the new. Tiny fish skeletons? Ferns are fast growing and you can get some really nice pre-cut paper versions.
There seems to be a great range of possibilities - and I know if this was me I’d get analysis paralysis over the best option and trying to get my imagination and ability to line up :D
How long has Doggerland been accessible in the setting? If it is set only weeks after the land surfaces there would still be plenty of unvegetated ground or old, dying aquatic vegetation (piles of seaweed) scattered about.
Really looking forwards to seeing your progress, I’m tempted by the game but trying to be sensible and focus on my other projects.
Andrew
BeneathALeadMountain
I'm glad there's somebody else out there who gets stressed when they see the results of their block painting. My efforts look like a little kid's work until that coat of Agrax Earthshade and Nuln Oil get applied.
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Quite like your witch - she looks like a crone from a Grimms' fairytale (properly Black Forest).
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These are great, enjoying reading about your thought process and seeing the painting develop. I like all the bases but think that 2) is probably favourite.
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As this will be mostly a secondary effort for me, decided to use primarily late war WW1 figures I already have (have a pretty substantial number of Germans and French), with perhaps the odd conversion thrown in for color.
Veterans of this website who have been reading the VSF board may be familiar with the excellent Hinterland figures of female soldiers of colonial conflicts and the WW1 era. For the German Witch, I noted that the rule book indicates that some witches wear carefully tailored uniforms, and also noted the "Curse of Iron," which probably means most witches would not wear a steel helmet (which might interfere with spell casting). Having the Hinterland figures of Crown Princess Cecilie and Princess Tatiana, already painted in feldgrau and respectively wearing Pickelhaube and lancer's Czapka, I decided that these would be my German witches. There are many pictures of high-ranking German officers and royals, wearing impeccable early war uniforms while visiting German combat soldiers who had already switched to the Stahlhelm and Bluse. In fact, many royal women of the period were Colonels-in-Chief (an honorary title) of regiments, and were photographed in a feminized version of that
https://tile.loc.gov/storage-services/service/pnp/ggbain/16700/16734v.jpg
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8a/Olga_and_Tatiana_Nikolaevna_of_Russia_in_hussars_uniforms.jpg
The below photos are not of my own figures (which are painted in feldgrau)
Cecilie on the right:
https://chapleau.us/Gallery/colonial/1206.VSF.Princesses.jpg
Tatiana (actually a Russian Princess, but my figure represents a German Countess)
https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7371/9254702312_bbb0ed58bb.jpg
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Lets see if I can get the images to display!
(https://tile.loc.gov/storage-services/service/pnp/ggbain/16700/16734v.jpg)
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8a/Olga_and_Tatiana_Nikolaevna_of_Russia_in_hussars_uniforms.jpg)
The below photos are not of my own figures (which are painted in feldgrau)
Cecilie on the right:
(https://chapleau.us/Gallery/colonial/1206.VSF.Princesses.jpg)
Tatiana (actually a Russian Princess, but my figure represents a German Countess)
(https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7371/9254702312_bbb0ed58bb.jpg)
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Great photos - both the historical and the figures. German Princesses as witches sounds a good approach.
I’m going with a similar overall approach of re-use of existing WWI forces with some extras appended to them
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Quite like your witch - she looks like a crone from a Grimms' fairytale (properly Black Forest).
thank you so much -- that's what I was going for in essence. I am uncertain now if she's going to stay as a Witch for my Germans, or a Cunning Person for my UK.
Everyone, check out my opponents French troops. He did these with a bit of airbrush, some oils, and Army Painter speed paints.
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Very nice.
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Those French look good!
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Here's some more of my regular infantry
I want to paint something fun and different next.
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French look excellent, very clean and I don’t tend to like speed/contrast paints effects generally.
I like the floral abundance on your bases - I’m still trying to resist the setting but I do like the ideas and possibilities it provides.
What’s up next to paint?
Andrew
BeneathALeadMountain
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French look excellent, very clean and I don’t tend to like speed/contrast paints effects generally.
I like the floral abundance on your bases - I’m still trying to resist the setting but I do like the ideas and possibilities it provides.
What’s up next to paint?
Andrew
BeneathALeadMountain
Thank you so much.
It's counter-productive to me having a German force, but I really want to do this Vitiated Spirit project, which is a French unit. A games workshop Branch Wraith with barbed wire surrounding it.
I'm keen on painting my Cernunnos manifestation as well (although the model from Northstar is a bit smaller than I would of liked).
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I like the Germans, the flower tufts just change them up from historical figures.
The model for the vitiated sprit is great - I had seen some similar models (but in 10mm) that I was thinking of using - so I will push on with that idea, now I’ve seen this!
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These may be some of the best French 28mm painted troops I have seen. The helmets in particular are very well done. The Germans are also very well done. Looking forward to seeing the two forces in action.
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Love the Germans! And I have to agree the flowers look fantastic. Hoping to see more soon!
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A like that branch wraith - whilst I’m not a fan of the more modern digital sculpting and over crowded style of Age of Sigmar, there are some great models hidden away in the ranges that with a bit of fettling or redesign, would be perfect for monsters/creatures in smaller scales.
Well now I’m looking at A War Transformed AAR’s and reviews whilst weakly trying to resist lol
Keep up the good work,
Andrew
BeneathALeadMountain
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That Vitiated Spirit looks great.
Well now I’m looking at A War Transformed AAR’s and reviews whilst weakly trying to resist lol
Resistance is useless.
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Resistance is useless.
:D (Especially when you’re not trying too hard!)
Andrew
BeneathALeadMountain