Imperial Knights - Cerastus Twins in manufactorum pt6. - Gold and Vermilion armour texture

Afternoon #Warhammer Community I've been #PaintingWarhammer on the Cerastus Knights. I've finally managed to make the next couple of steps. 

Retributor Armour stippled on to the brassy bronze areas. Now I know I will be shading this but I think already I had reservations about how gold the skeleton had become.

Bearing in mind that I had originally intended to experiment with a silver subframe this gold is far more than I expected or ever intended. We're almost wandering into Khorne territory. 

Again, there will be plenty of other colours in play but despite the satisfaction in progress I'm not wholly satisfied with the result. But it is all mostly done so next steps are available and I can always see how I can rectify things. And lets not overlook the Vermillion [sic] art acrylic that has been stippled on.

So, the Vermillion [sic] art acrylic is a key element in my paint scheme. The paint has a gel-like texture that can be sponged on to create the hammered, cast-iron effect I prefer. This means the armour plates are not flat. You can drybrush or stipple it and it's incredibly forgiving. The texture hides any imperfections in coverage. Or rather enhances poor coverage to give more depth and weathering to the panels. So I decided to record painting a panel so you can see how easy it is.

Now this is just the basecoat. There will be shading, highlights and battle damage to do that will capitalise on the texture. But from a distance, if you were so inclined or not into painting I don't see why you couldn't stop here. A little extra shading or darker definition would add so much more though. 

And on to the Acheron. And this definitely feels too gold, even with the chain fist just primed. Hopefully the shade wash will help tone it down a bit.

I've managed to add the pistons to the Reaper Chain Fist and they are functional! 

There is an awful lot of time at this stage trying to visualise the colour scheme. I do have some Cerastus outline pictures that I had intended to colour in an work on my schemes in advance. But it all seemed like a lot of work.

The irony being is that I may end up doing it down the line when it's less helpful in decision making but will provide some fluff imagery. 

The plan was to do both shins and feet yellow on this one. But I can't seem to reconcile it in my head. I can visualise it but something is not quite right and it doesn't wholly fit with the heraldry rules. It still needs to be Raven, even with the chevron marks. Trying to balance the schemes of both Cerastus at this stage is really quite difficult.

Cerastus Knight Twins in Manufactorum
Parts: | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 |

Battle Report - Middle Earth Scouring of the Westfold #MESBG 16/07/26

Afternoon #Warhammer Community we've been playing MESBG again. Liam is on holiday and Ben was working so it was just me and Otty, with Will adding helpful advice and the occasional dismissive comment about the state of our dice rolling! 🤣 Otty and Ben had tried playing this older version of the Scouring of the Westfold and had come to the conclusion Isengard had no chance. Given the Westfold actually got scoured they felt this wasn't particularly accurate. So, I wasn't overly keen to give it a go. It's not always fun to go into a game being told your position is impossible and Rohan are going to win. It's also not helpful if you only pay attention to part of the rules.

So at this point all I know is I have to burn down all three buildings, two gets me a draw. The Rohan infantry are protecting them in the centre, the cavalry can come on from turn two with a D6 5+, turn three 4+, four 3+, five 2+. At the beginning of the fight phase I can burn a building on 5+, but for every additional model in base contact I get plus one to the dice roll to a maximum of 2+. Otty can try to put the flames out in the same manner - 5+ but every additional model adds plus one. With time against me I decide to blow two of my four might points and Heroic March with both my left and right flanks. I needed to get to the buildings ASAP and set them alight before the cavalry arrived. Meanwhile, my archers tried to pick off a warrior, and I think they managed at least one.

Otty was stunned to see me spend the remaining Might to get both flanks into base contact. But it was worth it as both houses were set alight, with the great house on the left only just sparking with the 2+ it needed. My archers continued to fire into the Rohan infantry. I know I was more effective than Otty, he failed to kill anyone with bows for the entire game. I think by the end of turn 2 he was able to extinguish the fire on the great house but not top right, which didn't spread. The cavalry, needing a 5+ to arrive, fell short with a 4

I think this is turn four as the cavalry need a 4+ to arrive in turn three and fell short with a 3. It was only turn four needing a 3+ that they managed to arrive from the north, with the outriders in the back, out of range of my archers, which had pushed up to support the centre. I'd reignited the great house but it just wouldn't spread on a 4+. His infantry had started to come round the great house. There was a scrap in the offing but who would commit? To cap it all while the warriors waited to engage they put out the flames on the great house again!

The warriors repositioned and with the right flank in my control I managed to set fire the small hut, but failed to light up the great house again.

Otty was able to get his cavalry into my Uruks and wildmen to the north of the settlement. Their charge won the duel but they couldn't kill a single model!

But I won the next priority and was able to counter charge to avoid being knocked prone by the cavalry. I was able to chop down the leader, but the banner remained alive.

At this stage I began to realise how hard this mission was. Each building needs six flame markers. We realised that we'd missed a couple of chances in the early turns to see if the spread - you set fire at the beginning of the fight phase, they spread at the end of it. So the great house got set alight, spread that turn and spread again the next turn while the other two buildings refused to spread. It became apparent the best chance I had was just to wipe the Rohan [they can't be broken in this scenario]. The Outriders had managed to join the fray in the middle.

But I was able to take a few down so I had weight of numbers to gang up on the banner, the last outrider and then commit forces to assault the infantry from behind. Meanwhile another flame broke out on the great house and on the small hut.

Having wiped the cavalry the hut was on 3 fires, great house 4 and the long house still only 1. But the Rohirrim had been vanquished.

We continued to play on for a bit to see how long it would take to scour the Westfold. The hut finally succumbed.

And then the great house.

With the long house inevitably to follow.

The impossible mission was won! Now we debated whether my heroic marches had made any difference, or whether the 4th turn arrival of the cavalry was too late. I thought that although the early fires had been extinguished I was in a strong board position because of the march. But attempting to burn the houses was less effective than just killing everything. Perhaps if there was a way to help the flames along, similar to starting the fires it would feel more achievable to get the 18 flame markers needed. That fixed 4+ to spread seems arbitrary if it can't be influenced.

Anyway, flushed with success [for once] Otty decided to check something given this was an older scenario using legacy models and it turns out the Isengard faction has a 40+ point advantage! So, once again I have to have more points to win! A little galling, bringing me down to earth with a bump. But I did do what neither of my more competitively successful friends had failed to do with the same list! 😜 So, not all bad afterall...

Hopefully Ben is back next week but this was surprisingly fun, given I expected to fail from the beginning. Winning is actually quite nice 😎

Battle Record - Middle Earth Army of the Dead Vs Shadows of Angmar? #MESBG 09/07/26

Afternoon #Warhammer Community we've been playing MESBG again. This time Army of the Dead with Aragorn Vs maybe Shadows of Angmar. There was definitely Gulavhar, Werewolves, Spectres and a Shade

The mission had three objectives, with the centre one worth more, and even more if your general was controlling it. As usual the memories are sketchy but I'll probably recall things as I go along. I had considered taking Army of the Dead to the next Midweek MESBG in September, so this would be a fun way to see what they're about. Fast is one thing. My warband in the bottom left managed to get up to the corner ruin and then next turn just float over/through it!

Gulavhar then took their place to keep out of the way. 

Meanwhile Wargs and werewolves trapped a few ghosts, but could not kill them because they're so darn tough.

Gulavhar go in behind our defence of the centre objective. Will was very certain things would end successfully for him, his dad not so much.

I think we started to lose a few ghosts

And then we trapped Gulavhar.

But the dice were not with us! 🎲🎲🎲😱

I think we eventually got broken and so the game came to an end. Otty and Will had managed to get more round the objectives. We'd been tough but invariably neither side had been able to capitalise much when winning a duel. Just killing enough and ending the game in a better position had won the game for them.

A lot of fun. Jury is out on whether I'd prefer to take them in September, maybe some more games needed? Liam is away on holiday for the next two weeks now, so it'll be limited attendance for shed night.

Imperial Knights - Cerastus Twins in manufactorum pt5. - Rough Iron and Copper

Afternoon #Warhammer Community I've been #PaintingWarhammer on the Cerastus Knights. I can't quite convey just how little motivation I had to do the metallics on both these knights. I was thoroughly overwhelmed by just how much needed doing and for weeks I couldn't bring myself to even contemplate putting paint on them. 

Couple that with a heatwave which made the shed unbearable, even in the evenings and it took a monumental push to get the Army Painter Rough Iron base coat on the skeleton and trim. 

But I was blown away how quick it actually was to apply. I think I did 80-90% of them in about 80 minutes. It was incredibly satisfying, which provided some motivation to keep that momentum going.

 However, I was beset by doubts about what came next, was it the texture stippling of the armour plates or the VGC Hammered Copper highlights on the metallics? If only I had some record of doing these Knights previously so I didn't have to make such decisions and could just follow the plan... 

The thing is, I'm pretty sure it's not one way or the other. The battle damage always covers a multitude of sins so I can make all sorts of mistakes and it can be hidden or covered up. I don't know why I fret about these things.

And then I sabotage myself by not doing everything at once. The Acheron Reaper Chain Fist is missing a couple of pistons on the elbow joint. I wanted to make the pistons possible, which I hadn't figured out how to achieve. So while everything else had metallics up to first highlights with the sponged on Hammered Copper, the Chain Fist was just primed.

But the sponging had been relatively straightforward. It might not have been as quick as the Rough Iron base coat but I was making progress and it was filling me with hope. Which can be a dangerous thing because I'd already been imagining these would easily be complete by the end of the hobby season. But then I squandered a couple of weeks of potential progress with my lack of hobby mojo. 

You can never take any of it for granted. I'd gone from imaging these completed alongside a few other projects and now my hope is this and I'd be ecstatic to get the Adeptus Titanicus buildings done too by the end of the season. I've still got some design work to do as well though so there are no guarantees.

But this is not only significant progress, but more importantly actual progress. Particularly because as I write this I know I have stippled all the Vermillion [sic] armour texture, added the Retributor Armour sponge highlights and shaded all the trim, with just the two skeletons still to add sepia washes on. Even more progress. Now, the metallic results aren't great. I wasn't happy with how much gold I added, so went overboard with the sepia.

 There will be more work to do to try and bring it all back to what I'm happy with. But if there's one thing I know about my brassy bronze - it can all be fixed by Blessed Verdigris! 🗽As soon as I get the remaining sepia done, then maybe some Strong Tone in other areas. I can do a bit of extra Retributor sponging, where I won't go overboard. Then some Runelord Brass [or similar] and at that point the metallics are all done. Then I get the fun of choosing my actual colour scheme for the panels. I think I know what I'm doing but just blocking in the colours will make such a huge difference to my motivation. I would just add at this point there's just a smidge of regret for not actually doing a knight with a gunmetal/silver skeleton. I may have done them for my Adeptus Titanicus Atrapos, but I couldn't bring myself this time round, nevermind. 

Cerastus Knight Twins in Manufactorum
Parts: | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 |