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| "...And their helms were of strange shape, high-crowned, with long cheek-guards close-fitting to the face..." |
These five "cartoon scale" white metal figures of King Victor's Royal Guard are produced by “Lucid Eye Publications” and can be bought from the company's "Toon Realms" range as a pack of four miniatures. Sculpted by Steve Saleh, I have painted the warriors in the colours of the Guards of the Tower of Gondor so as to field a six-figure strong unit of (Elite Foot) Guards of the Citadel for “Dragon Rampant” by "Osprey Games".
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| "...And above the cheek-guards were set the white wings of sea-birds." |
Initially primed with two coats of "Citadel" Abaddon Black, these personal bodyguards to the twenty-sixth ruling Steward of Gondor were dry-brushed using some "Vallejo" Heavy Charcoal and subsequently washed in "Citadel" Nuln Oil. They then had their boots and spear shafts layered with "Vallejo" Heavy Sienna, and their belt buckles, spears and helmets delicately dabbed in Gold. All of these areas were later washed with "The Army Painter" Strong Tone Quickshade to dampen down their pigment's vigour.
The Tower Guards' helmets, armours, chain-mail, shield emblems and spear-tips were treated to a combination of "Citadel" Ironbreaker and Nuln Oil. These parts were later delicately dry-brushed with (more) Ironbreaker. Finally, each knight’s linen surcoat and feathers were ‘picked out’ in “Vallejo” White and ‘shaded’ with a tiny amount of Pale Grey.
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| "Toon Realms" WIPs - Sterling has been washed with "Citadel" Nuln Oil and then dry-brushed with Ironbreaker |
Despite having now finished enough "Toon Realms" figures with which to field both a 26 point Undead and opposing Gondor/Fangorn army for "Dragon Rampant", I still have a couple more models manufactured by "Lucid Eye Publications" which I am working on, most notably a characterful sculpt of Sterling the Wandering Knight. This marvellous looking miniature will make a good proxy for the eldest son of Denethor II, Boromir, for my 'Lord of the Toons' project, and having already been primed, shaded and dry-brushed, just needs some of his details to be 'picked out'...
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| "Kings Of War" WIPs - The Ahmunite Pharaoh is slowly having all his armour coated with "Vallejo" Gold |
Significantly far less agreeable to pigment has been the leader of my Empire of Dust "Kings Of War" force, an Ahmunite Pharaoh. This metal 'Lord of the Two Lands' by "Mantic Games" is proving particularly difficult to progress on account of the flimsy nature of its two hand-weapons, which persistently seem to want to bend in half with just the slightest contact from my paint brush.
Indeed, I've already lost count how many times the figure's Egyptian khopesh and 'axe' have almost snapped off whilst I've been applying the tiniest amount of verdigris to the undead corpse's bronze hand-weapons. In addition, despite heavily watering-down my "Vallejo" Gold and applying it as multiple thin coats, the sculpt's soft detail is still being lost, and as a result I have already abandoned my plan to 'highlight' some of the ancient warrior's armour with a smidgen of Turquoise...
Great work on your toon models Simon, and the progress on the character looks good.
ReplyDeleteSorry to hear about your problems with your undead lord, give your gold a quick wash with agrax earthshade, this will help show the detail back up so you can pick out the details
Thanks Dave. I've now finished Sterling the Wandering Knight :-)
DeleteI already use "The Army Painter" Strong Tone Quickshade rather than Agrax Earthshade, which is why I can see some of the Pharaoh's detail is being lost. It really is incredibly soft, and I get the impression from the 'official' Mantic Games paint-job that their painter struggled somewhat too.
the difference I find with the quickshade and the GW wash, is the quickshade tends to be a bit thicker and can obscure finer details, worth a try, just keep it thin, with not too much pooling
DeleteSpookily, I actually stopped using Agrax Earthshade for Strong Tone Quickshade, as I felt it gave a better result. Albeit, I was tempted to give the Pharaoh a wash of "Citadel" Reikland Fleshshade as I really liked the way it worked on the brass of my Iron Golems. In the end though, I went with my tried & tested Quickshade combo.
DeleteIf he's not too tall, could Sterling stand in for a nice halfling knight? He certainly looks like it from here.
ReplyDeleteIndeed he could Dai. He's only 24mm tall, which is considerably shorter than most "Games Workshop" minis these days. Good call!!
DeleteThe Tower Guards look great and really stand out in the army shot. You must be pleased with that little force as it looks splendid. Sorry about the Pharaoh but I am sure you will make him look awesome!
ReplyDeleteThanks Undercoat. That's two armies from last year finished with us being less than a month into 2020, so I'm very pleased. I fear my Empire of Dust might take a little longer, but I'm hoping once I've got the Pharaoh out of the way, things might pick up some pace.
DeleteI had no idea you had done so many! Fabulous job Simon.
ReplyDeleteCheers Michael. The units of twelve are pretty time-consuming, as I tend to do them in batches of four-six, so end up being posted intermittently.
Deleteas always great work.
ReplyDeleteThanks very much, Mr Martin.
DeleteYour guardsmen sure stand firm, or maybe they don't know what they're facing yet.
ReplyDeleteFabulous additions and Sterling is coming along nicely. He'll make a great commander.
Cheers Wouter. For now my knights will be facing skeletons and giant spiders. But as the "Toon Realms" range expands I don't know what else is just around the corner :-)
DeleteLoving all these Toon figures but I think you missed an oppourtunity in not painting "Sterling" as brave, brave Sir Robin
ReplyDeleteRealistic sized weapons, even in metal are very flimsty indeed, I've had a few similar problems with BARs in 28mm.
Thanks Joe. There's a few more "Toon Realms" minis yet to come, and, as you suggest, there's a definite "Monty Python And The Holy Grail" feel to them too :-) The flimsy weapons on my Pharaoh have certainly put me off the minis for the moment unfortunately...
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