The slow mustering of Hochland

[Korraz]

I figured, since I was working up the old stuff I had lying around, I'd might as well make a log of it, so here we go!


First off, the old stuff I did years ago. The infantry is not particularly well painted and not worthy of their own pics.


Bought this beauty a year ago. It seems to be covered in matt varnish, so I'm currently thinking up a way to strip the tank. Any suggestions on stripping metal miniatures with a protective coating?



Here's the big project I'm currently working on. They'll be a Halberdier Horde eventually, everybody kitted out with skull mask and puff sleeves. I got the inspiration from the heraldics book. They are a veteran Drakenwald patrol unit, called "Morr's Knechte", going by the colours of black and red. I'm not sure how exactly I'll compose them in the end, though it will be 40 guys, a Vulture Bearer (every main regiment will get a mascot in my army) and a Priest of Morr (= warrior priest.) SO I need to fill up 8 more spots. maybe I'm going to add 2 Ogres with mask and sleeves, that have earned their place with the halberdiers.
The masks aren't looking all to good, yet, and funnily enough I screwed up the left sleeves. I didn't match up the stripes with the right ones and I forgot to widen them. The test guy on the right is the only one where I got it right. Oh well, I've got 35 more to go, at least, so I have time to learn it.

[Korraz]

I painted these up during the last few days. I'm quite satisfied with the outcome and I hope to maintain and improve my standard for the state troops from there.

Still looking for a good place to take fotos around here. Maybe I'm going to build one of those miniature photo studios...

[mdiscala]

The new stuff is really well painted, and the conversions on the halberdiers looks ambitious and cool. Simple Green is a cleaning fluid you can get at hardware stores that is good for stripping stuff.

[gonzilla]

The Halberdier conversions are looking top notch, with the standard of painting on those gunnery crews they will look great.

I live in South Africa and always struggled to find this magical "simple green" I heard about everywhere. Ended up using an oven cleaning product (called Mr Min here) with a 24 hr soak and some agressive toothbrush action they were looking good as new with no loss of detail.

[MrSean]

I am ALL for puffy sleeves. When it comes to Empire sleeves and pants, the puffier the better.

[Korraz]

I am ALL for puffy sleeves. When it comes to Empire sleeves and pants, the puffier the better.

That makes two of us. The original plan was to give them puffy pants too, but with the current bodies that just doesn't work, sadly.

The other painted miniatures are pretty old already. They barely make it to "Acceptable to be played with", I'd only shame myself if posted those online.

[Brother Alexos]

Dude, take a pic of the old stuff, just to show how much your painting improves over this log! It would be sweet!! Also can't wait to see those Heroes painted up, they look sweet.

[Okuto]

You can never go wrong with puffy, slippers, stockings and codpieces....

Turning out nicely, looking forward to some hangunners

[Korraz]

I had these pics lying around for a week, and now I've finally found the time to upload them.




Here are the first painted Knechte. I'm quite satisfied with the outcome, except for the bone. I'll have to play around with that one some more. But I think the black has turned out nicely.


Here's the next guy in the line. I wanted to give him his pole in a relaxed stance, but to my shock I realized that there are no relaxed arms in the box, like with the old troops. I had to improvise a bit, and I'm not happy with the halberd. Let's just hope he will blend into the horde and for the vulture to divert from the halberd.

And last:


The story behind this one: One, nearly two years ago a LGS went bust. Now, the liquidator has decided to clear the stocks and throws this stuff out with an discount of up to 75%. And it's older GW prices too. I figured "What the heck, you'll never get a chance like this again." and bought all the Empire stock for a dime a dozen, before the Vulture-LGS-Owners turned up. I guess I have all the Empire troops now I'll ever need for my entire life. Sadly, those guys are chore to paint and I'm already hating myself for buying 270 of them... On the bright side, I'll have an ARMY in the end.
Now I just need to come up with uses for all those state troopers...

[Toshiro]

Those Morr's Knechte looks gorgeus!

And I agree, puffy sleeves = good!

[LocaLicious]

Every thing is looking truely awesome! And I must say, I'd have done the same thing, if I ran into a discount of that size! .. Another bright side would be, that you can safely experiment with convertions, since you'll prolly never run out low on bits

Looking forward to see more!

[Superdan21]

I really really like the skeletal masks, they look really really good, paint job is spot on to i assume from your description of what you're going for its these from the heraldry book?


They look just right, loving theme and can't wait to see more

[Korraz]

Yup, those are the guys. Although I decided to give them a different paintjob, obviously, since they aren't the... damn, I forgot the english name again. On a related note: I think it's incredibly lame that Hochland was the only province not to get a named regiment. Well, yes, we are proud of our Drakwald Patrols. But would a Bergjaeger Regiment have been too much to ask? Coincidentally, a Hunter Corps is one of the next things I'm going to build. All grizzled vets with cloaks and Long Rifles. I guess I'll try to write rules for them, but if all else fails, I'll use them as Ironsides.

Every thing is looking truely awesome! And I must say, I'd have done the same thing, if I ran into a discount of that size! .. Another bright side would be, that you can safely experiment with convertions, since you'll prolly never run out low on bits

That's true. I can play around with Goldswords without any second thoughts. That's gotta be worth something.

You can never go wrong with puffy, slippers, stockings and codpieces....

Turning out nicely, looking forward to some hangunners

On that note: I'm not quite sure what I'm going to do with all those missile troops now. I guess I'll make a good part of them into Handgunners, but I'm tempted to build 2 25 Man detachments of crossbows for the Knechte. While Hochland is more known for the guns, I like the crossbows and I think it's okay to have them as detachments for a "special" regiment. If I can scrap the heads together, I'll equip them with feather-hats too.

[Korraz]

And here's the painted mascot! It took longer than I wanted it to, since I had no time to paint this week till today. I'm really satisfied with the vulture.




I also finished the next 4 of the Knechte. The sleeves are actually symmetrical now! After painting these, I'll probably paint the Fire Mage, for a change. Painting those state troops is a chore, and I get fits of hysterical laughter when I remember that I'll have to paint at least 90 more (the Knechte Horde and two 25 Crossbow Detachments) just to get my core done... Maybe I'll paint some knights, just so I have some core to play with. I'm also itching for something big to convert....must...resist...temptation of chaos. I think I'll try to get an IOB Griffon to convert a general on griffon. It'll be a nice training, since I want to convert my own Karl Franz on the long term. The current model just doesn't cut it for me...

Edit: I just remembered that I've got a pair of old pegasus metal wings lying around somewhere here, so making a pegasus would be an option too. Since I can't decide, I'll just ask: Would you rather see a Griffon-Rider, a Combat-Y Pegasus Rider or a BSB Pegasus Rider?

[eldargal]

Very impressive, I like the greenstuffed puff and slash might borrow the idea.

[Korraz]

Very impressive, I like the greenstuffed puff and slash might borrow the idea.

Go ahead, it's pretty easy to do.

Great stuff! Its sad when an FLGS goes down, but I love discounted GW.

The masks are really unique. You might be able to speed up the process by making a press mold of the masks and pressing out 5 or ten at a time...

I considered doing that, but somehow I felt that each masks deserves to be sculpted individually.
And I want to improve my sculpting skills anyway, so...

[Student]

The skull masks look great and the vulture is a nice touch.

[mdiscala]

Yeah I like the vulture too, really fits the theme.

[Confessor_Atol]

Great stuff! Its sad when an FLGS goes down, but I love discounted GW.

The masks are really unique. You might be able to speed up the process by making a press mold of the masks and pressing out 5 or ten at a time...

[Gargobot]

Awesome another Hochland log!
Morrs Knechte look pretty nice, the masks are cool and help with that issue of having to use the same heads over and over again. But I guess with the amount of bits you have that's not really a problem.
I haven't seen a BSB riding a Pegasus so that would be cool.