Jaeckel Alone: MM13

Showing posts with label MM13. Show all posts

Sunday, July 10, 2022

OWAC V - The Canus Gigas

As promised last time, my dwarf mercenaries welcome the Canus Gigas ("Grey Giant" in Classical), distant cousin of the Helvetus Gigas discovered in the canton of Lucerne (depicted below on one of the paintings of Lucerne's wooden bridges).

The model is a Citadel C28 giant, holding a slightly converted trunk from the Gargant plastic kit. End of June, I was not satisfied with the result submitted to the OWAC. The fact that I've used an old pot of Reikland Fleshshade didn't help (for some reasons, it became very glossy), and but the main reason is my painting job, definitely lacking contrasts. When you look at the giant using a greyscale conversion, the flesh, the trunk and the clothes have very close values. Not good.

I have therefore decided to touch up the giant after June's entry. Essentially, I have tried to emphasize the flesh parts with washes of black and dark red in the shadows, and more highlights on the shoulders and the forehead of the giant. I've also darkened the trunk a little bit with washes of dark brown, dark green and black, and reworked the tunique by removing the redish and greyish parts, that were distracting the eye of the observer (at least from my point of view).

All in all, I see some improvement, even if I'm well aware that I should spend more time on models like this one.

Now back to the dwarfs. The Gigas often needs some help to find the battlefield, as giants are not famous for their skills in manoeuvring.

For the giant herders, I have picked 3 spare models of the Marauder Miniatures range and replaced their original weapons with the imperial wagon man-catcher, the fork of a squig herder, and what I was able to sculpt in greenstuff for the whip.

Now go! Right in front of you, stupid giant!

Thursday, January 21, 2021

OWAC IV - The halberdiers

First month and first regiment for the OWAC IV: the halberdiers. Inspired by Nico's regiment, I have converted a few models, as the halberdiers are rather rare in the Marauder Miniatures range: two MM10 and two MM 15 references, and that's it! You may recognize the loader of the splendid siege gun MM13, the seargent of the mythic MB1 regiment and one MM10 clansman usually equipped with a two-handed hammer.

Regarding the colour scheme, I had in mind a vague parallel between these dwarf mercenaries coming from the Grey Mountains, and the formidable Swiss, fighting to protect their Old Confederacy, or going down the Alps to sell their services to foreign armies.

As the white cross was the major field recognition sign of the Swiss, I have tried to find a rune that would do a similar job for my mercenaries. Keeping in mind that it had to be simple, as it was made of white cloth sewn onto the hose or the doublet, or directly painted on the breast or back plates of armours, I haven't found anything satisfying. So far, I have used the white cross on only one model: I may rework this once the pikemen regiment is complete, as I should have more space on the clothes to figure out a recognition sign. Below, a few examples of the white cross, either sewn on the clothes or painted on the armours.

Diebold Schilling the Younger, Luzerner Chronik (1509–1513)

For the colours of the different regiments, my plan is to use some typical Swiss flags, slightly transformed to avoid any copyright issues :op

Diebold Schilling the Younger, Luzerner Chronik (1509–1513)

The halberdiers come from the Frostpeak Hold: their coat of arms consists of a black boar charging upwards on a yellow diagonal with a red background (yup, replace the boar by a bear, and you have the banner of the Canton of Bern). The main colours for this regiment are therefore red and black, with touches of (brownish) yellow and (dirty) white. Regarding the hats, after a test with a vivid blue, I've finally opted for peacock feathers, with more subdued tones of green, brown and blue.

OK, enough writing, time for pictures, by order of painting.