I gotta say I’m really enjoying this blog, very nice to see so many of the RA metal mini’s all coming together so nicely in a single army. I like your color schemes and appreciate your hints and recommendations to others, who like yourself, want to go with a RA army.
Your RA ‘blunderbuss’ gun line is impressive…if I was not already a 4th edition Big Hat fanatic, I would definitely go the same RA route that you have done here :hat off
And I kinda like the eyes, they have a Steve Buscemi look about them :o
Edit: Thanks for the comments all, and thank you for the praising words Yodrin and Fuggit Khan
Well, here is a small update. I have to work tommorow, so I thought that I might as well spend a little time on my army. It bothered me that my two other units could line up now, but my blunderbuss coulden’t, so I decided to do something about it. I placed the entire second rank on rocks. I can’t figure out if it works, so I would be glad for comments. They have been made the same way the unit fillers rocks were. The bottom of the bases haven’t been made yet. Theese pictures have been taken with flash, as my room isen’t so well lid at night, so the coulers are a bit distorted and unflattering, however, I fell that the look of the rocks shines through.
I’m thinking the rocks would look better if they were about one third of the height they have now. But maybe they need to be this tall to allow the models to line up?
It just feels like the second rank is standing too high compared to the first.
I thought about roughing the stones up a bit more, but I was worried they woulden’t hold the miniatures. Also I had a hard time figuring out how much I could cut of, as the minies them selfes takes up about 3/4 of the 20x20 base. Maybe I’ll carve something of them, now that they are there
I would also have liked the rocks to be smaller, but then they woulden’t have been high enough up, so I like to imagine that they are standing at some kind of cliff and some of the guys are standing below and some of them up top
I have painted my BSB today. Looking at the pictures I see that one of the flags need some more lining up at the back, and his nose need more wash at the tip. Other wise I’m really satisfied with the outcome
So… Everything (expept the BSB) have been based now, and they are ready to action. The unit of HW/S is 30 strong and the GW is 25 strong. I coulden’t line anymore up, but I don’t think I’ll be needing anymore than that.
Edit: I should proberably try to find some better lighting and take some better pictures for you. Sorry.
It’s a nice miniature that hellbrute. A true beast. But I think it needs some bit of work - in it’s current state it’s not my cup of tea. Too futuristic.
Depending on your level of skill and will (no one likes to work on a painted model).
* I would cut away the face, it doesn’t work like that. A deep gaping maw work make it look mor like a daemon, less like a dreadnaught. And the hellfire could be spit from it’s mouth. Or if the face needs to be there, add a green stuff curly beard - but I really thing the maw is better.
* Chop off the shooty bit and add another close combat weapon / hand. A claw from a defiler if nothing else. I have one (planed for a siege giant), but I’ll let go of it if you want it. Or add another kind of gun (the one now i too scifi, more artillery like.
Lastly, I this is a must. A 100150mm base, fitting for a heelcannon. And then add chains, loads of chains, and either secured to the base or held by slave handlers / crew members. I get my chains from second hand stores (kirkens korshær, Rødekors etc.), will cost you nothing.
But of cause taste is individual. And if you love him as he is - don’t change a thing! My mind is just always set on conversions.
I was expecting a conversion of the Helbrute, more along the lines Bloodbeard describes, but I think it does actually work better than expected without conversion. I’d say some minor conversion (before painting) would have been better - in particular, I think the gun looks wrong - but so long as your opponents are happy with it you should definitely feel free to leave it as it is.
Hellbrute as Hellcannon: As a opponent I had no problems with the model (Good paintjob ;)) even if it is not a obvious choice. But if I may say so it should be based on a monster base as is delivered with the hellcannon at the moment (100 x 150 mm). This also leaves plenty of space for the cannon crew.
Optimally it could have been remade into something befitting Fantasy more, but on the other hand the new Helbrute and Maulerfiends looks really good and have an aesthetic that can make them fit into WHFB with some rework. Less modifications in the case of the 'fiend, more so in the case of the Helbrute.
Thank you for the comments. It seems everyone agrees it could stand some conversion. So far I have decided to replace it’s small head with a lamassu head Optionally I am thinking of replacing its gun with an empire cannon. About basing: I am of course going to put it on the reqiured base and make handlers (Thanks for the tip about chains bloodbeard! I was really at a lose, where to get them, so that’s excellent!). The handlers are going to be some of the dwarfs from my company, as I have some laying around that I never got to paint (They are about 27+CG in each company). I’m really looking forward to making theese handlers as they will allow me to make more of a scenic base.
My trick for eyes is a micron pen. They’re kind of like a Sharpie marker, in that they are permanent, but you can get them with insanely fine tips on them, around a few hundred microns (1000 microns - 1 mm). I then prepare the eyes with my finest tip brush and then position the face so that I’m looking as straight-on at the nose as I can (or if the model is supposed to be looking to the side I position the model so that it’s looking straight at me) and I then use the micron pen to make a small line for the pupil in each eye socket, keeping in mind where the pupils should be focused. Don’t try to make a circle or a dot, it has a good chance of looking terrible, or at the very least your models will all look very surprised. Try instead for a very small up-and-down line. Go too long and you’ve made cat/lizard eyes, but anything short will give you a very good size without overdoing it.
Anyway, good luck with the continued progress, nice work so far!
