After recent discussions with various other LAFers here, I realised that I really fancied doing some 6/10mm scale models, and that this would be a great excuse to also finally get something done for Kings of War.
Kings of War is a mass fantasy battle game by Mantic, and is a very simplified version of the old WHFB school of games. Written by Alessio Cavatore, the rules are short, easy, and intuitive, but the game still offers a pleasing amount of subtlety and customisation options without making everything too hard to keep track of. Rules and core army lists are all free
here, with the printed book versions adding in magic items, more scenarios, and additional units for armies.
For me, the problem with games like KoW is the number of models required to play. Specifically, these cause me the following issues: I'm a glacially slow painter, storage of all the armies is problematic, and gaming space is rather limited (which makes 6'x4' tables tricky). Therefore doing this project in 10mm has crossed my mind a few times over the years, but it was seeing
this epic thread on Wargamerau that finally tipped my hand.
I did some research, and there's quite a few nice-looking options for 10mm fantasy models nowadays, and I therefore decided to try and avoid GW's Warmaster models where possible. Not because I don't like them, but because I felt that I wanted to explore other options, and because the project would (hopefully) be rather cheaper that way. Besides that, KoW isn't a GW game (despite a number of obvious nods), and so I felt that my armies for KoW should likewise not be GW, even though having the odd model here and there is acceptable if I can't find anything else I like enough.
I decided to start with Elves, as these tend to be fairly elite/forgiving to play and I should be able to get up to a good army size with relatively few figures. Depending on how these go, I will then consider another army (probably Ratmen, but Abyssal Dwarves and Undead are also looking tempting).
After placing some orders, two weeks back, I started receiving some small heavy packages these last few days, and so last night I finally made a tentative start.
I bought bases from Renedra, some Pendraken High Elves, and some Kallistra High Elves. I also cheated and got three Warmaster High Elf bolt throwers, as I couldn't find any by other manufacturers that looked remotely decent. Here's the stuff all laid out:

This little lot should give me (roughly):
10 stands of Spearmen
8 stands of Archers
4 stands of Cavalry (i.e., Silver Helms)
4 stands of Light Cavalry (i.e., Ellyrian Reavers)
6 stands of various sword-wielding elves (Place Guard... Er Swordmasters of Hoeth?)
3 stands of Chariots
3 stands of Bolt Throwers
4 stands of Scouts with bows (i.e., Shadow Warriors)
2 stands of Forest Shamblers (i.e., Treekin)
Loads of characters!
With a few small exceptions, that's basically everything in the army list!

I got rather excited when all the above arrived, so I placed a few figures on bases to see how they would look:

And last night after dinner, I made a start. Being a while since I'd modelled anything this small, I decided to start with the Forest Shamblers, which seemed fairly easy. These are Pendraken's Tree Elementals (code: FAN-MON4), and as these had
no mouldlines or flash, I managed to get these 95% done including magnets set into the base:

I then made a start on the core troops - Spearmen. I had some from Kallistra, which are on strips, and some from Pendraken which were loose. I decided that 10 on a base looked a bit cramped width-wise and a bit sparse from the side. I therefore committed to clipping the strips up and filing the integral bases down so that they sit more flush to the base. Doing this lets me spread the models out a bit more on the base too, and should help to give the units a more "full" look from different angles despite having slightly fewer models per base. This is simple enough to do, but the additional clipping and filing will take a bit longer than I'd like unfortunately. Anyway, I managed to get the first stands' worth done:

I noticed that although the Kallistra models were originally bought from Pendraken and then tweaked (for example, mounting them on the strips), I also noticed a few other small differences. There is a pennant hanging from the spear which serves to strengthen a fairly flimsy part of the model, and the shields are a slightly different shape too. The Kallistra ones also have a few small variations in pose, whereas the Pendraken ones are all one pose. There's a side-by-side of the two at the bottom of the above pic for anyone who cares about these things!
I also noticed that the Pendraken ones are much better cast (almost no mouldlines or flash), and that the metal is slightly softer. Whilst I do prefer the shields and the pose variations of the Kallistra models, and I think the pennants are a nifty (and very Elven) way of strengthening the spears, I would probably go all-Penraken for the Spearmen if I were to start this project again. The better quality casting combined with the models coming loose is just so much easier to work with!
As I have enough to do a fair few stands, I am going to do one unit with Pendraken, and one with Kallistra, using the small variations between the sculpts to tell the two units apart. The non-armoured Pendraken Spearmen will get mixed with a few Archers to make some Sea Guard. I have no idea if Sea Guard are any good in game-terms, but I always liked the GW scheme of white/silver/teal for them, with spots of gold and red as accents, so I will likely use that as a scheme for the whole army. Therefore, it also seemed reasonable to include some Sea Guard, and it could also be a nice excuse to consider some Water Elementals in future too.
Anyway, I'm also a bit stumped on how to paint and base the models. Really big models aside, if I fully base them all first, painting them is going to be a ****; if I paint them and then base, I'm more than likely going to balls up the paintjobs. So far, I think I'll put down base colours with some simple shading on all the models,
then base them, then do some tidying up and the details to the front rank. As this is not something I've had issues with previously (Epic models are smaller at 6mm, and the bases are easier to get into), I'd appreciate any advice on method from experienced folks!
Hopefully more to show off after tonight's efforts, but please do ask if you have anything you want more pix of - I know that getting manufacturer's photos of these figures is difficult.
