Old Worlder Ally Contingent

[Jeff McC]

Those turned out very nicely - great looking force!

 

[KingOfTheLeadPile]

Thank you Jeff!



With the Nordman Mercenary Journeymen I started to use metal bases instead of the classic plastic ones. So the bases on the village guard have to be replaced.

Removing the plastic bases was no problem, only some boots need to be repainted as the Vallejo basecoat sticked so well to the sand, that pealing the sand off the base also ripped the paint off some of the boots in one go. But this will be quickly repaired.

The plastic bases were marked on the bottom as the models only align in certain positions. With a Dremel I cut the markings into the metal bases, then painted them. There is some kind of protective coat on the metal, so I wasn't sure if the cutting would make the metal susceptible to rust.

 

[KingOfTheLeadPile]

Rebasing Done!

 

[KingOfTheLeadPile]

The next models are Border Horse.

Nadir - Pony Shoe Tribe

The Nadir are a nomadic people living on the steppes to the east of the
Empire - also called the Dark Lands. They live in tribes, each tribe's
wealth being measured in the number of cattle they posess and can keep
alive; which means to find them water holes and grazing grounds.

As the good spots often are already occupied by other tribes, clashes
between tribes are common. Also increasing one's own number of cattle orse
women often happens by taking them from other tribes - which of course
resist.

For a long time, the tribes suffered a lot from the other tribes as well as
from those, that the Dark Lands got their name from - Goblins, Beastmen,
Hobgoblins and all other kind of creatures.

Some years ago, the prophesized uniter seems to have emerged - ilKhan Ulric
Gemmell. He managed to mitigate hostilities between tribes (by for example
assigning time slots to the usage of the most sought after water holes) and
managed to have the tribes act together to a certain degree; for example
with combined raids of several tribes against dangerously large groups of
Goblins. There is still a long way to one united people of Nadir, but the
first steps on this difficult path have been taken.

Gemmell also got into contact with the neighbouring humans. Trade agreements
have been concluded, as well as military alliances been forged against
common enemies. One of the units of Nadir sent support against evil
raiding creatures is Nogsta's company of light horse. Their tribe, the Pony
Shoe Tribe, had good contacts outside the Nadir people anyway, as their
grazing grounds were always near to their non-Nadir neighbours and trade
relations were always good.

Anyone knowing where I "borrowed" most of this background from?

This unit represents the Border Horse allowance of the Oldworlder Ally Contingent. They can be armed with spears, shields and/or bows, all of which can be found amongst these models.

Tobias' Wargaming Legacy contains 15 rider models, which I choose to use for this unit. They consist of 11 Steve Barber
Mongols (apparently not available any longer), and Harlequin Miniatures' (today called Black Tree Design) babarian cavalry.

I will mount the miniatures on metal bases from [Products for Wargamers](http://www.productsforwargamers.com "Products for Wargamers").

I cleaned the riders of flash, and started on the horses (and the one camel). The cleaned animals were then glued to the base. One of the Harlequin models is missing its tail, which I will try to recast from one of the other horses.

 

[KingOfTheLeadPile]

I used Instant Mould, to make a form of a horse tail, to replace the missing one. The actual cast was done with miliput pressed into both halves, with one half filled over the brim. In the other I put a piece of wire, to be used as a pin when gluing the tail to the horse.

Next I applied some plaster to the bases to smooth out the integral bases of the horses and not have them sitting on a small hill. I added some larger stones to the plaster. Afterwards, the bases where covered in PVA glue and sanded.

There are two riders with open hands, from brass rod I cut one banner pile and one spear.

 

[Chico]

Very good, still following this with interest

 

[KingOfTheLeadPile]

Thanks, the interest here is one of my motivators

 

[LilBroGrendel]

It is a true joy to follow this WIP thread

 

[KingOfTheLeadPile]

It is a true joy to follow this WIP thread

Thank you

 

[KingOfTheLeadPile]

The horses (and the camel) were given a quick basecoat out of a spray can, as I didn't find the time to get out the airbrush. After the bases were done, I started by painting the camel.

I started by painting the main fur 72.061 Khaki, the dark fur and the hooves 72.744 Dark Fleshtone and the light fur with a mix of 72.061 Khaki & 72.046 Ghost Grey. Fur the muzzle I mixed black into the mix.

The Khaki was given a wash of 72.092 Brown, the dark fleshtone a wash of 73.201 Black. Both areas where then highlighted in the base colours.

The khaki was then highlighted further with a mix of 72.061 Khaki & 72.097 Pale Yellow; the dark fur was lightly drybrushed with 72.744 Dark Fleshtone & 72.061 Khaki.

To tone the yellow done a bit, I applied a light glaze of 73.203 Umber Wash.

The light grey parts where highlighted with 72.046 Ghost Grey.

Finally, the grey parts were washed with 73.203 Pale Grey Wash.

The red cloth was painted as follows:

• 72.772 Red Terracotta
• 73.203 Umber Wash
  &
  73.201 Black Wash
• 72.772 Red Terracotta
• 72.712 Scarlett Red

Camel finished. On to the ponies.

 

[KingOfTheLeadPile]

I started to paint the ponies. They will all be piebald or skewbald, so I started by painting all of them white - or rather in grey, as a shade colour. I painted the base colour in three different greys, and will paint the black/brown blobs in three colours as well, combining each grey with each black/brown to get the most variety into the unit.

I then added the black and brown areas of the piebald/skewbald scheme. I have the ponies set up in three columns according to the base grey they were painted in. For the blobs I choose three colours as well (black, dark and medium brown), and painted the models in rows in the same colour. This way each base grey has each blob colour once, for maximum diversity.

For the distribution of the colour, I painted these sitting in front of Google image search.

The manes and tails were painted as looked good according to the pattern on each horse, with either using the blob colour, black or white mixed with some tiny dots of different browns.

 

[Chico]

I'm impressed that you can batch paint and in such large numbers, I'm one of those painters that paints in 1 or figures at a time start to finish or I'd end up straining my eyes or getting bored/disheartened.

 

[KingOfTheLeadPile]

If the bagdes get too big I also get disheartened, depending on complexity/level of detail around 5-10 models normally suit me. Only painting 2 models at a time would certainly improve my quality/precision of painting, but I would not see enough progress towards a finished unit to keep me motivated.

I guess each painter has a different optimal way of working

 

[KingOfTheLeadPile]

After painting all the leather parts, all equipment on the animals was repainted black; it will be painted together with the riders.

After that, all areas were given a wash.

 

[KingOfTheLeadPile]

The ponies are done, next are the riders.

 

[KingOfTheLeadPile]

I started to batch paint the riders, but their clothing and equippment is too un-uniform, so I gave up on that approach and continued to paint single models. The first two are done:

 

[KingOfTheLeadPile]

Î painted two more miniatures, one of them the standard bearer.

 

[Chico]

Good stuff as always, looking forward to seeing what you have next after the horsemen too

 

[symphonicpoet]

Novel way to do a banner. I've always just used both sides of a single sheet of paper, but I can see where that might have some advantages. Might have to try that. It looks great, in any case.

 

[KingOfTheLeadPile]

Good stuff as always,

Thank you

looking forward to seeing what you have next after the horsemen too

More horses This time better armoured and uniformed.