A Ranger's Journey

[Olsson]

I first stumbled across Rangers of the Shadow Deep a little bit before its release as I came across Joseph McCullough's own blog and it peaked my interest early on. Like many others my favorite aspect of the war-gaming experience is the narrative side of things. The ability to make my own story through the games appeals in a way pure competition never have. Indeed my friends often tease me by saying I want a roleplaying game not a miniature wargame. And what game is closer to that than Rangers of the Shadow Deep? Few that I know of.

It revitalized my interest in the hobby for awhile and I saw more things painted than I have in quite sometime and most impressive of all, I actually played it with friends. The number of games I have picked up, painted and never gotten around to play is for various reasons much too high. And I quite enjoyed it to boot! It opened the door to throw together a bunch of my old miniatures for various purposes for my own wicked Shadow Deep which I will keep track of here. Initially it will mostly be ones I have already painted which you might have seen elsewhere but I wanted to set it up on its own and add my little lore blurbs along for the fun of it.


So first thing's first, our hero.

Orwald Redtree

" [...] many of the King's Rangers are renowned for their martial prowess and ability in the mystical arts Orwald has always been a man defined by his swiftness and cunning. While a giant of a man he is not the best swordsman among us, no that honor falls to Cedric of distant Erenthean. Yet with a keen mind and swift action he's proven able to get the better of his foes, even the wicked souls of the Shadow Deep."

--Record of the Shadow by Arcanist Vernan

Orwald here is a sculp from the Crannogman Trackers box from the A Song of Ice and Fire line. While they come with a lot of duplicates and are a bit bigger than most of my Oathmark/Frostgrave/GW miniatures I still think they are some of the most evocative rangers around right now, and afterall some men are taller than others. I just cut him off the base he comes attached too since he needed to fit the rest and attached an unstrung bow to his back from an Empire Archers sprue, otherwise I left him as he was.

I picked this one in particular as I enjoy the motion in the pose, the man is sprinting forward with his cloak billowing behind him which is what inspired me to have Orwald be a man of speed and trickery rather than your usual hero of martial power. Game-wise that lead to a not optimal but intresting character to field as my hero I felt, the extra points were put into movement, obviously, and the Heroic Ability Dash and Evade speak further to his speed while Distraction and Push suggest the dirty tricks he is not above using to win the day.

[joe5mc]

That's a sweet mini. Nice paint job!

[Olsson]

Thank you Joe!

The Shadow Knight

"[...] a dark figure clad in tainted steel, its head wrought in the shape of a skull, the face of death itself and glowing in a fel light.
We were blessed to come out of the tower alive. But I fear not all wounds left by the wights of the Shadow Deep are in the flesh."

--Record of the Shadow by Arcanist Vernan

This evil looking fellow is as most everyone will be familiar simply a Chaos Warrior from the Games Workshop range, no conversions or anything of the like done here so a rather simple miniature. But I was in need of a dark champion of the Shadow Deep with a skull head and this worked out fine enough. Sadly there are very few of these heads in each box, likely assumed to be used for the Champions of the units due to how striking it is. Worse for me I fear, as more than one Shadow Knight serves the evil in the Deep.

But mundane as the miniature is this marked my very first attempt at something akin to painting light on a miniature. Since much of him was so dark I figured to try actually painting the glow to add some contrast. Not having ever looked at how to do it I went with the rather simple approach of guessing where the light should be and painting on some off white over the areas, followed by one of Citadel Paints green glazes, adding additional layers of it where the light should be darker.

In the end I wouldn't say I managed to make anything that looks like light, but it gets the point across of the glow I feel and it makes him noticeable and striking where otherwise he'd just look all black/dark metal everywhere.

[Swordisdrawn]

Very smart indeed

[Olsson]

Fiends of the Shadow Deep

The Barrowmen

"[...] and so the corruption has seeped into the land itself and woken the warriors of old from their blessed rest.
 Warriors of bone with naught but hatred for the living patrol the wastes which were once the fields of fair Lorenthia."

--Record of the Shadow by Arcanist Vernan

Blood Sprits

"Strange creatures they are, pale and sickly looking with wings red as blood. Indeed from what I have seen they seem to feed on the stuff.
 Mostly seen near the freshly fallen like carrion they are not above ending life themselves.
More than once they have fallen upon us in the wake of a battle, drawn by the sound of the dying."

--Record of the Shadow by Arcanist Vernan

Zombies

"We thought the terror was over when the bastards left! The town was in ruins, most of the people left dead on the ground and there was little we could do for them.
 We didn't even have time to bury them before they rose again with the nightfall. I ran even as I saw my little Lisa tear open the smith's throat. How could I leave her like that."

-- Karl, Lorenthian Refugee

Fiend

"More beast than man these creatures have emerged in numbers as the Shadow Deep grows.
 Base and crude they are nevertheless strong and cunning foes, fighting with a savagery and malice too dark for the hearts of men. "

--Record of the Shadow by Arcanist Vernan

Every villian needs its henchmen so I dug out more of my old Games Workshop products lying around to throw together the opponets for the game. Nothing too special here oncemore just the Vampire Counts Skeletons, Beastmen Gors, Vampire Counts Zombies and some of the little nature spirits that come with the Wood Elf Glade Guard. Most of them were painted a few years ago and were simply rebased for RotSD to fit along with the rest of my fantasy force for the game which I have put on round bases.

The Blood Spirts are probably the one I am the happiest with, they came from me pondering how to do the giant flies which you need a few of in the first scenarios in the core book. As the goal was to not buy new things unless I really needed to I went over what I had and noticed the little nature spirits. I remembered how I had seen a rather sinister looking Glade Guard and spirit over at Ana Polanscak's wonderful blog Gardens of Hecate. So I set out to try and paint it in a vaguely similar vein, an off-white primer and then just work with dilluted washes and a red glaze over the wings to add contrast. Ended up quite happy with the critters.

[Olsson]

These next creatures were my first foray into making my own miniature, so to speak, and was inspired by a similar golem I saw someone made over at the AoS28 group over on Facebook, sadly I cannot remember who it was. So I went to work with a block of cork and a tube of filler and started sculpting my own little monsters. The first one I threw together ended up a bit small but not too bad of a first go, added a single skull as the focal point to have a "face" to speak of and similarily to the Shadow Knight above I tried to give it a glowing appearance, alas that did not go so well.

A second attempt followed which ended up way more successful, indeed the main issue with it is that the base ended up too tiny if anything. I made the body larger and in particular the arms to make it a more imposing figure, a happy accident followed which made a large indent along the "front" of it so I dug out some skeleton bits to add in there and then partially cover up with filler/textures. I ended up quite happy with this one, especially for how cheap the materials are and relatively quick it was to make and paint.

In the world of the Shadow Deep they have both worked as various things, I even made a custom little scenario where they were the guardian of standing stones corrupting the land. Stat-wise I went to Frostgrave and used the Large Construct ones with little tweaks depending on if they needed to be tougher. I imagine them to be the very land of Lorenthia itself rising up to serve the Shadow Deep.

[Swordisdrawn]

Very creative and inspirational! Great stuff.

[Knight-Captain Tyr]

I am really fond of the gritty, earthen, understated style in general so I'm a big fan of what you've done here. The colours are great, the Ranger model is perfect and the flavour text is very nicely done. I'm most impressed by the golems however - you've given me some serious inspiration to do something similar.

Looking forward to seeing where you take this next.

[Olsson]

Thanks for the kind word guys! I am a big fan of your thread Tyr so means a lot!

Cedric Deravir

"The man's past has become the subject of much gossip, the recruits and the women see an exotic man, dashing with scars and a remarkable talent with the sword.
 Exiled noble, soldier or bandit, I couldn't tell you anything beyond the man's from Tollonia judging by that accent.
 Can't say I give a damn though, he's cut down six of the beastmen on his own so far. "

-- Orwald Redtree

Cedric here was put together with the Oathmark Human box mainly, together with a dagger arm from the Frostgrave Soldier box and a head from Games Workshop's Empire Greatsword box. It's a popular head and one I have used for many things, in this instance I thought it suitable with a striking scar across the face for an experienced duelist. Painted him green to fit in with the rest of the ranger party and with the light blue cloak to add some colour to him, meant to suggest his foreign roots and flamboyant nature. Also always fun to pratice painting darker skintones.

Derek Laval & Charles Breyard

"Derek and Charles? They're simple boys the two of them. But while they're not the sharpest minds out there I'll not have you question their ability or their courage.
 When we first set out to scout the watchtowers after Lorenthia first fell I asked a whole company of men who would volunteer, and they were hard men, men who had seen war.
 Not a single one stepped forward other than these two fools and they've not run back yet. "

-- Orwald Redtree

My most loyal companions so far! These two were the first things I painted for Rangers of the Shadow Deep as I found an old box with Brettonia Archers and figured they would work just fine for the game. So far I have had atleast one of them present with Orwald on every mission, a good arrow has made the difference on more than one occasion. Painting wise they're rather simple, just the brown and green of Alladore and the miniatures were left basic. It was my first go at painting a brighter wood, which I think turned out quite well.

[FreakyFenton]

These next creatures were my first foray into making my own miniature, so to speak, and was inspired by a similar golem I saw someone made over at the AoS28 group over on Facebook, sadly I cannot remember who it was. So I went to work with a block of cork and a tube of filler and started sculpting my own little monsters. The first one I threw together ended up a bit small but not too bad of a first go, added a single skull as the focal point to have a "face" to speak of and similarily to the Shadow Knight above I tried to give it a glowing appearance, alas that did not go so well.

A second attempt followed which ended up way more successful, indeed the main issue with it is that the base ended up too tiny if anything. I made the body larger and in particular the arms to make it a more imposing figure, a happy accident followed which made a large indent along the "front" of it so I dug out some skeleton bits to add in there and then partially cover up with filler/textures. I ended up quite happy with this one, especially for how cheap the materials are and relatively quick it was to make and paint.

In the world of the Shadow Deep they have both worked as various things, I even made a custom little scenario where they were the guardian of standing stones corrupting the land. Stat-wise I went to Frostgrave and used the Large Construct ones with little tweaks depending on if they needed to be tougher. I imagine them to be the very land of Lorenthia itself rising up to serve the Shadow Deep.

I rather like both of the miniatures you scratch built here. Good work and good execution! I might even try a cork creature myself now. 

[Kitsune]

These next creatures were my first foray into making my own miniature, so to speak, and was inspired by a similar golem I saw someone made over at the AoS28 group over on Facebook, sadly I cannot remember who it was. So I went to work with a block of cork and a tube of filler and started sculpting my own little monsters. The first one I threw together ended up a bit small but not too bad of a first go, added a single skull as the focal point to have a "face" to speak of and similarily to the Shadow Knight above I tried to give it a glowing appearance, alas that did not go so well.

A second attempt followed which ended up way more successful, indeed the main issue with it is that the base ended up too tiny if anything. I made the body larger and in particular the arms to make it a more imposing figure, a happy accident followed which made a large indent along the "front" of it so I dug out some skeleton bits to add in there and then partially cover up with filler/textures. I ended up quite happy with this one, especially for how cheap the materials are and relatively quick it was to make and paint.

In the world of the Shadow Deep they have both worked as various things, I even made a custom little scenario where they were the guardian of standing stones corrupting the land. Stat-wise I went to Frostgrave and used the Large Construct ones with little tweaks depending on if they needed to be tougher. I imagine them to be the very land of Lorenthia itself rising up to serve the Shadow Deep.

These are very very nice. Might have to have a go at something similar myself, if I can get some corkboard. Got a feeling darker is going to be better with it

[Olsson]

Sir Amberden & Sir Danhar

The noble gentry of blessed Alladore's proclaimed adherence to chivalristic virtue has often been overstated. A young man's game to seek the favour of their greaters and prove their martial mettle in games of war grants them prestige among their fellows and often plays as the means of courting among the lesser nobility. In the wake of the Shadow's advance and the fall of Lorenthia many have sworn to prove their will and talent agaist the terrible Enemy, many are yet to return.

These two knights were made from the old trick of cutting a Brettonian Man-At-Arms off at the waist and just putting the usual Brettonia Knights of the Realm parts on top to make a foot knight. The first one was originally made to be part of a Mordheim warband that never got to see the light of day and has been revived as a noble warrior of Alladore seeking to vanquish evil in the name of his own ego. The second one I made when I found a few older Brettonia bitz lying around in a bag, mostly the older kit helmets and shields and decided that would make a very different figure, especially with how insane the helmet decorations were back then even compared to the quite striking ones from the later kits.

The main thing which was important to me was that they needed to look very different even while being equipped and technically an identical miniature in regards to the game. The feudal knight needs to be striking and apart from his peers afterall, how else would people know who they are in a crowd? Just doing the light and dark contrast I think did it fine and the different shields sets them apart as well seeing how that covers a lot of the miniature.

Thanks for all the kind comments regarding the cork golem, I did that a long time ago now and would likely have done a few things different but it was a fun exercise in making something original. I'd agree with Kitsune that darker might be better and I went a bit overboard with the highlights, maybe I will darken it down with a wash at some point.

[Swordisdrawn]

Wonderful stuff!

[Colonel Tubby]

Great looking minis. Loved the background flavour.

[horridperson]

Oh!  Those golems are fantastic.  The second one especially;  You nailed the pose.  I can see the wall of animated stone grating forward.  Very impressive.