Loyal to the Blood - Sylvanian Loyalist Empire

[Brother Alexos]

First of all I see you're well stocked in caffeine and alcohol, which always makes for interesting painting sessions. I also see you paint 10 inches from a LCD screen, drank a monster sometime recently, own what I believe is an HTC thunderbolt, and took these pictures around 10pm. I'm like Sherlock Holmes, I know.

No-One, If I were you, I'd be scared. I know half of that stuff is seeable in your first pic, but it took me a good 5 minutes to give up on trying to find the hidden Monster (the drink, not an actual monster) in that photo.

On another point, how are you painting your Red so far? I get a pretty deep red on black through the following:
Mechrite Red base
Highlight Blood red (Non-watered down, the thicker, gloopier stuff)
Highlight watered-down Blood red (gets the red to be nice and solid)
Heavy Wash Baal Red
Touchup Blood Red
Wash Gryphonne Sepia (or devlan mud) directly into the recesses

I find this goes by a bit slow, but it's worth it. I haven't tried it on cloth, mainly SM power armour, but the red comes out good. (much like Ilikebmxbike's Blood Angels) so it may help.

Try and do a heavy wash of Ogryn's Flesh, then Baal red on the skin, he looks about as dead as Lord Dan's zombies. (not bad considering it's Sylvania, but considering Dan got all that info above from 1 pic, you may want to watch you're back for a horde of crazed militia)

This is all probably a LOT though, but I do think you could do better on that Swordsmen.

[No-One]

i went with a wash of gryphonne sepia on his skin to make it pop a little more and as for the red

my recipe currently is:
black basecoat
red gore
blood red (thick)
gryphonne sepia (heavy wash of it, usually about 2-3 layers)
Blood red
finally Devlan into the cracks/recesses

the pictures i've currently taken are kinda crap because of the lighting so they dont show off the colors the way they look in RL, but after applying this last bit of finishing touches to the sergeant, i'm going to try for some decent lighting and see if i can get some better pictures of him up tomorrow, thanks for the advice though on the red, should look really good, i'll try it out and see if i like it more than my current red

[Skratchington]

Loving the colour scheme, No-One, and having discussed some of the background of your army in detail with you, I'm definitely looking forward to seeing this army come to life...errr, well, un-life, mixed with life, as it is

Red has always been a problem colour for me to paint, and hence I'll be avoiding a lot of it when it comes to my own upcoming Vampire Counts army(which you know as well as anyone at this point!), but you've really got a wonderful and very fitting red tone going on...I think it's going to be a very, very striking army when massed on the tabletop.

I've got to admit, though, more than anything I'm looking forward to eventually seeing the Umbral Slaughterer himself, the exiled Count Alaric von Carstein! Any hints on what you're planning to make him out of? I know you're using Konrad's rules to represent him(and rightfully so, knowing the background of Alaric), so were you also planning on using the Konrad model, painted differently and/or modified, with Alaric's shadowy, black armour and all that? Or are you doing a completely scratch build for him, or using another model? I know I'm jumping ahead and trying to get dessert first, but...I want me some Alaric!

Awesome stuff, No-One, stoked to see more!

Skratchington

[No-One]

the basis for Alaric von Carstein will be Reaper's Stefan von Kruger: http://www.reapermini.com/OnlineStor...r/latest/03538

though i will be gutting the torso and giving him a bare torso, with hooks through the flesh attaching the armor of the arms to the skin and same with the legs. His swords will be replaced with short, heavy, curved blades(most likely going to be stealing 2 of Queek Headtaker's sword), going to add a waistcape/cloak starting at his waist sculpted from GS to resemble faces stitched together. the stone he's stepping on is gonna be replaced with a Empire soldier/captain freshly killed. If it all goes as planned, it should turn out really cool, especially painting his pale flesh and black armor, and then faintly painting faces screaming all throughout the plating of the armor.

[Lord Dan]

What province will the dead Empire soldier hail from?

Just curious.

[No-One]

oh i dont know, theres sooo many to choose from... though these Black and Purple wearing Reclaimation guys have been catching my eye more and more

[Brother Alexos]

Oh. That's a Burn, Dan.

[Lord Dan]

That's okay. If they're dead it means they weren't strong enough for my army anyway.

[No-One]

it was totally a leading comment, Dan knew exactly what army was going to be featured on that base! haha

friendly rivalry for the win?

[Lord Dan]

Of course!

...if I'm the one winning.

[No-One]

atleast one more Reclaimation trooper will be massacred now...

sidenote, or i suppose, back on track: The standard bearer is started, not sure how long it will take for the banner but i'll be working on the bearer as well as the musician for the unit at the same time as i do the freehand on the banner, so updates on one of the three should be coming shortly

Edit: some opinions please... should i stick with standard Empire equipment for weapons and such, or should i incorporate stuff like dark elf swords and crossbows, halberd blades and stuff like that, giving the army a more vampiric feel with "evil" looking weapons, or should i stick to plain Empire stock gear?

[Skratchington]

Your base model and conversion plans for Alaric sound absolutely awesome, No-One...I'm stoked to see it done! Actually, I'm looking forward to some WIP shots when the time comes, my friend...by the sounds of it, Alaric is going to be one epic Vampire Lord, to say the least. Can't wait!

As for your latest question on whether or not to stick completely with traditional Empire-esque looking weapons, or to go for some more nasty, evil looking gear...I'd say go for a little bit of the wicked looking stuff for sure. I think it'll go a long way in helping to really separate their look from a typical Empire style force. Not only that, but I definitely think your troops and such, hailing from where they do, would certainly have access to some more...unique and nasty equipment than your typical Empire province. Some wickedly curved blades and some more Undead-looking shields and such will just look cool, too

Again, No-One, I'm definitely looking forward to seeing more of this army shape up! Oh, and my own project log should be starting very soon, and I'll shoot you a message and a link as soon as I get it on the go.

Skratchington

[No-One]

me and Lord Dan were talking about it in PMs, and because Sylvania doesn't really have forges of its own, having custom "evil" weapons on their troops wouldn't really be thematic, more of a rule-of-cool situation, and while i like the idea, i'd have to go all out with it and add spikes to their armor and stuff like that, which would be waaayyyyy too much work for my tastes, atleast for standard rank-and-file troops

BUT, it got me thinking deeper on Alaric's bloodcult, and how since he's only able to feed once a year, they gather and keep blood magically fresh for him, so he doesn't go apesh!t on his own men when his punishment is lifted temporarily and his helmet is removed

so... with that in mind, many of the troops will be carrying chalices, maybe even a few with barrels/casks to store blood, the blood-filled Chalice will carry over onto banners and such as well

also, plans for my War Altar/Arch Lector will be using a zombie pulled corpsecart frame, with steamtank armor and some other mods to it, with a large cauldron filled with blood, the main gathering point for all blood recovered in Alaric's name

[The Yak]

Glad to see some pics up Like the rotting flesh look you have gone for it suits your theme well. I did have a good little chuckle at what you wrote on my log. The way your going you will have a dead empire trooper on every base! We only send the shamed, weak and unskilled soldiers to Sylvania as no right thinking Averlander would go on campaign there. It plays hell with your Pig leather boots and that dirty sylvanian mud is a pain in the **** to get out of your silken drainpipes!

[No-One]

i dont know about every base, but i plan on atleast 10-15 dead Empire troopers, not including the warrior priest being killed, and the other unit fillers i'm contemplating. alot of bloodshed and gathering blood for Alaric will be a big theme throughout the army, since, according to his fluff, Alaric isn't allowed to drink but only once a year, so his Sylvanian's try to gather blood, keeping it fresh through magic, to keep him sated when his helmet is finally allowed to be removed, so he doesn't rampage through his own mortal servants. (usually it doesn't help, many are killed anyway to sate his thirst)

working on the banner as of now, the castle being silhouetted by the moon side of the banner is about halfway finished, hopefully pictures up tonight

as a total sidenote: Lady Alexia, Lord Alaric von Carstein's "wife", i'm debating whether I should have her be a vampire in the fluff, like her husband, or should i keep her a mortal? I was contemplating using her as my Arch-Lector, riding around with all the blood gathered for her vampiric lover, leading the mortal servants that make up his army. thoughts on this idea?

[No-One]

Double Post apologies, but i have the beginnings on my banner to show... still WIP about halfway through:





personally i dont think its anything to jawdrop over, but its my first freehand and i'm quite chuffed with the progress so far

[Zywus]

I believe you need to thin your paint some more. It comes across as a bit smeared, especially on large flat surfaces such as that banner.

[No-One]

yeah... i'm growing to really dislike my paints because even when i thin them they still seem to look thick on the camera

pertially i think its also because i'm not used to doing freehand, so it doesn't look as good as it should, but i think its also the paint not being thinned enough

on a more hopeful not(to me atleast), my order for Stefan von Kruger from Reaperminis should be coming in today sometime, so some work should be beginning on him

[No-One]

I've finally got a somewhat definite list of models/purchases for this army, so now people know what they can expect to see from me, it will most likely be as follows:

Empire Contingent:
-Alexia von Carstein: Arch-Lector on War Altar(converted using Black Scorpion's Governer's Daughter model riding atop a kitbash of the Steamtank and CorpseCart, with a Cauldron of Blood cauldron to represent the blood gather and preserved magically for Alaric)

-High Bloodmage Skevrin: Lvl 4 Wizard, Lore of Death(Going to be using the new VC Necromancer for him, the skulls hanging from the staff will be painted with amethyst colored runes on them, glowing slightly)

-The Hatred: Warrior Priest with Greatweapon(He'll be converted to appear to be a armored, robed warrior, carrying a large sword, leading the Royal Guard)

-Bloodmage Everik: Wizard, Lore of Shadows(converted from the Corpse Cart Necromancer, will be holding a staff of some sort)

-Bloodmage Hahlos: Wizard, Lore of Beasts(converted from Flagellent lower body, Ghoul upper body, holding a staff made of bones)

-Captain Johnatan: Captain with BSB(still unsure on what i will be converting him from, or what stock model i will use for him. suggestions?)

-The Devotees of the Blood: 40x Halberdiers w/ 20x Swordsmen and 20x Archers (will be painted with quartered red and black uniforms. will feature some troops carrying chalices to gather blood for their Lord, Alaric. Unit filler = Warriorpriest of Sigmar having his throat slit and another troop making ready to gather the draining blood using a large chalice)

-The Retrievers of the Lost: 40x Swordsmen w/ 20x Spearmen and 20x Archers (will be painted with half-and-half red and black uniforms, vertically. will feature some troops with shovels and picks, such devices you would need to raid graves/graveyards to free the undead warriors bound within. Unit filler = crypt being broken open with a skeleton warrior or two rising forth to march alongside their mortal allies)

-The Royal Bloodguard: 30x Greatswords w/ 10x Handgunners (still unsure exactly how i plan to convert the Greatswords, but skulls, batwing designs on armor, ect. are being considered. Suggestions more than welcome!)

I'm still unsure on the rest of the army's choices, any suggestions are more than welcome

Vampire Counts contingent:
-Alaric von Carstein: Vampire Lord with Red Fury, Flayed Hauberk, Other Trickster's Shard and Dawnstar Sword. (converted from the Stefan von Kruger model from Reaper, given the sword from Warmachine's Lich Lord Venethrax, some other small changes including changing the left hand sword into more of a punch-dagger type weapon instead of a hand-held sword. chainmail waist-cape sculpted on to add more detail)

-The Scavenging Kin: 18x Crypt Ghouls(converted somewhat to give an overall more vicious appearance, most of the lame bone piercings and such removed, the Ghast's skeleton piggyback rider removed, ect. but almost all models with be given glue-drip blood dripping from claws and teeth to resemble freshly killed enemy's blood. Possible unit filler = Empire troop or two being ripped apart in a feeding frenzy)

so... not much of an update, but aside from the list of models/conversion plans, I've also finally recieved the Stefan von Kruger model yesterday and began converting him. He is a beast, towering over the State Troop models(they come up to about his chest), and with the addition of Venetrax's sword, he really does look like a terrifying monster of an armored vampire, thankfully fitting the look i had in mind for him all along

keep your eyes peeled, I will be posting pictures of him in WIP as i convert him, and also a size comparison just so you can see how massive he is

[falcone]

I believe you need to thin your paint some more. It comes across as a bit smeared, especially on large flat surfaces such as that banner.

It looks more authentic this way. If a soldier paints his banner it's going to look, well, painted. It wouldn't be crisp, clean, and smooth. Same thing can be said for shield and tunic designs.