A Song of Ice and Fire in 25mm

[sukhe_bator]

Some very nice units developing there. I particularly like the Rohan swordsman with Perry head and heater shield combination you have used as a commander for your bowman unit.
I have some Perry WOTR minis on my Christmas list, together with some Gripping Beast plastic Bondi which I hope to swap around and add. I have a few Rohan infantry I have converted to Northern Bannermen, but I see I will have to get a few more to use with Perry head swaps.

[sukhe_bator]

Some WIP shots of my first batch of Wildlings based on the Warlord Celtic Warriors figures with added fur and skin cloaks, wristbands and leg warmers and a variety of weapons from the bits box. (I have yet to sculpt some stone axes). The round shields are the smaller GW Dwarven variety. The overscale thick metal rims will be pared down and roughened to make them look like skin over wood/wicker. The guys with the disc applied tunics will ultimately make up a unit of about a dozen Thenn. The basing is rough and ready since it is more for handling the figure while sculpting. These will be detailed and tidied up later. I usually spray undercoat them white which shows up any imperfections that need cleaning before starting to paint




4 more torsos in the process of having green stuff added

[Wilkins]

Very impressive! Nice idea combining the LOTR and Perry stuff, never considered doing that. Now I'm not sure why!

[assi]

Looking good so far! I never liked the TV Series Approach of the wildlings (looked too ... stona agey to me) but your's look wild but not primitiv!

[sukhe_bator]

The Wildlings are supposed to be backwoodsmen with limited availability to metalworking technology, so wood leather bone and fur and stone feature quite heavily. They also scavenge and steal weaponry and armour. The Thenn have a bronze age culture, but I had great trouble finding suitable barbarians with sufficient clothing to survive the cold - hence the extensive alterations in green stuff!
I do have my eye on some of the Copplestone Castings cavemen (and women) for the New Year - with suitable extra clothing and furs a smattering of figures amongst the various warbands they will provide me with the Low-tech look I am also after.

[Mr.J]

I love this project. Great conversions. Wish I had the motivation to persevere with mine.

[sukhe_bator]

Mr J,
Its not that hard - and I'm having great fun with the green stuff and I would by no means classify myself as expert. It is surprising just how quickly you can make alterations. I only use 2 tools - a blunt scalpel and an old nail file, bent at the ends. The real knack is not mixing too much up for the session time you have available. I always keep a few other sculpting jobs ready to hand just in case I overdo it and mix up too big a batch. A pea sized ball will last you a good half hour of sculpting. Start with something larger to get your confidence and then try progressively fiddlier projects...

[blackstone]

Nice thread. Also when mixing green stuff, you can mix up a larger batch than needed and place any extra stuff in the freezer. That'll slow down the rate it hardens. Can last for days like that. Make a thin worm of the greenstuff before it goes in the freezer so it's easy to snap off a small amount when needed. I place it in a ziplock baggie. ( also a 50/50 mix with milliput is highly recommended, much esier to work than straight green stuff)

[sukhe_bator]

Just three of the Rohirrim I'm using as Northern Bannermen. The two swordsmen have a Gripping Beast Viking and GW Empire head respectively, as well as built up fur collars to their cloaks. I particularly like the sallet on the 'Empire' head of my Stark levy and seeing assi's examples look forward to adding some Perry 'halfhelms' to my troops

Some excellent modelling tips from blackstone - though I tend to model one or other because of their different consistencies when mixed. I quite like the more plasticised consistency of green stuff over milliput when adding detail. I'll certainly bear the blending idea in mind for future projects. The freezer/storing idea is an excellent one. I'm not sure I'd ever find it again in our chest freezer at home so I'll have to content myself with using it all up on other figures!

[max]

I just refound this thread after notifications stopped being sent to me. You seem to have cracked on, you wildlings looks awsome!
I'm trying to summon the courage to start a modelling project i have in mind, but don't want to get bored and have a dozn un-used figures! I have already had a go at making SOIAF figures and that didn't last long!

EDIT:
How about these for great helms? I had this idea and thought it might be good for the setting (i use it for my own setting, and they look good to me).

[sukhe_bator]

max,
It may well be easier to adapt/swap other plastic or metal heads (GW and Fireforge come to mind among others) and save the sculpting for the more ideosyncratic helms such as Victarion Greyjoy's kraken helm and the Hound's. Otherwise you may end up with an awful lot to handsculpt!

[max]

These arn't really for common soldiers, but for men who have enough money to buy full plate armour, and still e some left over to add gold and decorations!
My current project is silent, sitting under a pile of wars of the roses plastics. Maybe one day thought. Rohan are a good idea for northern troops.

[fastolfrus]

Hat do some hard plastic figures too in their El Cid range.
Not sure that they would fit in but might give you some more variety for the southern troops.
For the piercing blue eyes, how about a metallic blue?
I think Tamiya used to do one in acrylic, and Humbrol had an enamel.

For the icy blue camo armour, Dulux did a copper-green metallic/verdigris home decorating paint possibly called "Editions". Unfortunately comes in a 250ml pot.
If you are ever near Scarborough you're welcome to decant some from the pot I have (do you ever go to the York show in February?).

[sukhe_bator]

Thanks for the offer, but I've nearly cracked the eyes using acrylics... Am currently in the process of painting up around 20 wights and some white walkers.

ATM I am adding quilted tunics in green stuff to 20 Warlord Numidians to make a unit of 'Unsullied'. I had to replace the bearded heads with spare heads from Perry Sudanese tribesmen, but have kept the conical helmets. I will be accentuating the tops to represent the spiked finials. It has given the unit a younger, more African look, and the Perry faces have a larger variety of facial expressions... will post pics of the 'greens' before and after soon.

8 other Numidians with full Perry Sudanes heads with skull caps and fezes have made a nice little unit of Astapori archers.

[sukhe_bator]

The Unsullied are now practically finished, so I've switched for a change of pace to churning out all the Westerosi bannermen. I've now assembled the best part of 4x 12 man units of pike/billmen, 4x 8 man units of Longbowmen, and 12 Crossbowmen from a combination of Gripping Beast Hirdmen, Perry Miniatures WOTR Infantry and Mercenaries and Warlord Miniatures Viking Bondi. As a basic principle, a Viking torso will have a WOTR head and Vice versa, while there is enough WOTR and Viking equipment spare to ensure a good representation of troop quality from Militia through to professional soldiers. I'm adding cowls and hoods based on photographs from the excellent Embleton and Howe 'Medieval Soldier' book. The end result is an interesting mix of poses with a distinctive Martin feel.