More Auralan Wardens for Age of Sigmar

A unit of Auralan Wardens, 28mm plastic AoS figures from GW.

There has been a lot of travel, and a lot of travel for work, for me over the past several weeks. This is not great for hobbying (although work pays for hobbies, so, you know). Despite the challenges, I have been managing to paint. Where I have been really been falling down on the whole "post stuff" side of the painting equation. Time to remedy that with a few posts here as fall approaches. Up first, we have something of an abrupt break of the recent run of 30k content - a unit of Auralan Wardens from the Lumineth Realm Lord faction (a.k.a. "high elves"), multi-part plastic figures from GW's Age of Sigmar setting.

Long, pointy spears on these fellows...watch out, bad guys!

I started painting GW's Lumineth Realm Lords new high elves back in the spring. I had tried a demo game of AoS in that period at the FLGS in Sault Ste Marie, and had a fun time. As a replacement for Warhammer Fantasy Battle, well...it just isn't. I know WHFB fans have strong feelings about AoS (myself included), but a fun game is a fun game, and I enjoyed AoS. Hence, the Lumineth Realm Lord new high elf project.

View showing the rear detail on the figures - and, once more, how long those spears are...practically pikes (although still not as long as a pike)

Another view showing some of the side and rear detail.

And the project made great progress. I got nearly all of the models I had purchased painted. Not bad! But note the "nearly" in that preceding sentence...yes, when it came to this last group of elves, I faltered. I had already painted one unit of these troops, and I thought it would make sense to have a second unit of these guys in the collection, as they seem like solid basic troops to build the fancier stuff in the army list around. I duly assembled these models back in the spring, primed them, and even painted one of them...and then, something else came up....

Officer to lead the unit. Only an elf would bring a wand and a lamp to a fight...and still seem scary...

Again, the details on the sculpting of these plastic figures is really something, very nicely done.

And then they sat there, as my hobby-squirrel-brain chased other stuff. So nearly six months and 50 or so Space Marines later, I thought it was time to finally clear these out of the pending pile. Painting the things you had been procrastinating around always feels a bit like trying to push your paintbrush through some kind of mind-numbing fog, but I got it done, here they are, and the initial little Age of Sigmar project is complete at last.

Getting this unit finished was something akin to "clearing the baffles", knocking off a unit that had been sitting, primed and ready to go for months. I even had one figure painted, but the other nine just sat there in their black undercoat and their really long spears getting in the way and knocking everything else on the hobby table over when I moved them around.

Really like the poses of these warriors.

These fellows have yet to see a game - and truth be told, I have no idea when they will, as work-related travel essentially consumes all opportunities to game or try and game in either Sault Ste Marie or Toronto. But that is no reason to stop painting, is it? Glad to have these fellows finished.

The officer pose looks even better massed in a group...

It would seem GW is close to re-releasing "Warhammer Fantasy Battle" in the guise of "Warhammer - The Old World". Personally, I'll believe when I see it, and I feel for the WHFB fans who have been jerked around by GW by years of vapour-adjacent teaser-style marketing efforts ("Look! A map!" "Look! A Brettonian!" "Look, an arm holding a weapon!"). If and when "The Older World" actually makes a commercial appearance, it will be interesting to see what happens to AoS...but lets hope that, in the meantime, I get these guys on to the table for at least one game...

Ready for a battle...sometime...I hope...

That's all the rambling I have for now, but I hope to have pictures of more stuff very soon!

Scinari Calligrave for Lumineth Realm Lords

A Scinari Calligrave from the Lumineth Realm Lord faction in GW's "Age of Sigmar" universe.

Was the Lumineth Realm Lord project "finished"? Did I say or type those words? I should clarify that here I mean "finished" in the sense that it was time to move on to one of my many other many hobby obsessions, as opposed to the idea that I would just simply be completely done with a project or collection (which just never happens). In that sense, the Lumineth seemed finished. I mean, I had painted all of the the elements of an army box. The Vanari Lord Regent being the last figure from that effort. I had also added extra character already, you know, just to round things out. So, "finished", yes.

But then I spotted this whacky figure, and I thought I needed to do just one more character for the Lumineth...this is a Scinari Calligrave, a multi-part plastic 28mm figure from GW's "Age of Sigmar" range.

In terms of the lore and background of the Lumineth, I am way out over my skis. I have been putting in time painting figures, but have not read or learned a whole lot about the Lumineth as a faction, beyond the surface background you get from blurbs on the GW website or product box. The Lumineth, to me, are very much "not-high-elves", and to me that implies prowess in battle, but also a reliance on magic when it comes to battlefield encounters. So that means magic users are a good thing. This fellow is a magic-user, and so I thought it would be a good one to paint. 

He paints stuff too!

But not only that...the figure is, well, he paints too! I think he actually paints runes, which have magical effects because elves. The website blurb describes him as an "esoteric symbol-mage". Not sure how that works, but it seems to require painting stuff, so I enjoy that at a meta level :)

He doesn't actually have a lamp for a head...I was just trying to get a view of the rune he was painting up here, presumably to unleash so manner of magical effect on the battlefield!

Apparently this magic effect also requires special pseudo-stilt shoes... "long daethar shoes" or something. Seems like the kind of thing that a high-street retailer would charge extra money to get. Heck, leave out the magic effects, and there are still some metropolitan types I know of who would buy shoes like this for a night out on the town!

I wonder if he needs to use "Contrast" paints to get the magic to work...

Anyway, this was a fun figure to paint. Like all of the Lumineth figures I have worked on so far, I am impressed with all of the details on the Age of Sigmar figures. Many of them are just small enough to be subtle, but are still large enough to encourage to try to bring them out - that is a just-right combo when in comes to sculpting and designing figures in my books, so well done with these.

Ok, so that probably is it for the Lumineth, at least for a while, as my brushes have, in fact, moved back toward other painting subjects. But I hope to get this fellow and his colleagues on to a gaming table of some kind later this month, so stay tuned for more on that. Thanks for visiting, and have a great day!

Lumineth Vanari Regent - Commander for Age of Sigmar

Vanari Lord Regent, ready to lead the Lumineth Host to battle.

Over the past month-and-a-bit, I have been putting together and painting up a basic force of Lumineth Realm Lords for GW's "Age of Sigmar" game. It has been built around a box set, an impulse purchase made at the local game store in Sault Ste Marie, called the "Vanari Shining Host". Throughout April, I have been working my way through the various units included in the box, saving the most dramatic figure for last, and here is is - a Vanari Lord Regent.

An impulse buy from the local hobby store - now assembled and painted!

Throughout this project, I have been struck by the level of complication and detail in the Age of Sigmar figures. You may love or hate the look - in my case, I do quite like these models - but wherever your opinion/preference falls, I think you would find these are complicated figures by the standards of general, multi-part plastic kits. Even the most basic models, the Vanari Wardens, have a lot of small details - on their armour, their shields, their helmets and helmet plumes, even the basic "pike" has some flash to them. 

These models are complicated...here you see that the piece containing the reins for the mount also include a piece of the mount's face...boy, I hope that thin piece of plastic doesn't break...

So, if the basic infantry will have bling at that level, then one would expect the figure representing the senior, heroic commander of the force to have a commensurate, and much higher, level of detail. And so it is with this kit - which in fact offers two options for the build out. One option is a sort of generic commander - that figure is holding a sword aloft - and the other is closer to the build you see here, a named character, Lyrior Uthralle, wielding a beautiful lance (with a nice sword handy for backup). You have a choice of different heads for the warrior, for the mount, and different weapons to wield.

Uh oh....

I don't object to complex figures like this as a matter of course - after all, GW continues to take multi-part plastic to a new level, and this can be a lot of fun. But this tendency also leads to build options that include several fine, small plastic pieces that fit together with more than a dollop of hope. Small, thinner pieces of plastic are vulnerable to warping, and to breaking. If they break, they are not easy to work around and/or replace. In a situation with a complex kit, this can go very badly, very quickly, and did so here. In this case, it was the reins, which also included bits of the face of the mount...these small plastic pieces broke in ways that were not reparable...

The plastic piles up as I try and sort out the model build...much of this is the neck of the mount, which had to be carved away to make room for the replacement...

This lead to the need switch heads for the mount - but the time to have made that decisions was much earlier in the build. I now needed to replace the neck, which was already covered by armour segments, which required some drilling...and a fair bit of colourful language...and then a work-around to make the reins still sort of line up with the rider...anyway, we got there in the end! We all know that paint covers many sins, and it certainly is my hope that this applies here...

Moving on from the modelling efforts, we put paint on things to cover up the problems...

This model took a fair bit of time to paint. There is the obligatory huge chunk of terrain that seems to increasingly be part of many command figures be they Age of Sigmar, 30k or 40k. I'm not a big fan of that trend in general, but I confess to enjoying the look of this specific terrain chunk here. It looks cool, it matches the visual theme of the Lumineth not-High-Elves very nicely, and also helps to ensure the mount is fastened securely to the base.

We got there in the end!

Here you get a sense of how important the terrain chunk is for keeping this fellow mounted securely on his base.

Another view of the "blind side"

Charge!

 

 

Since this model is wielding the lance, I believe this is actually now the named character, Lyrior Uhtralle, but I don't, at least at this stage, know why it would not be able to take to the field as a more generic Vanari Regent. Either way, I now have all of the basic elements required to put this lot on the table for a game of Age of Sigmar down at the local game store. We all know what happens with newly-painted figures, so I expect the results, when this happens, will be suitably grim - but that said, I hope to take some pictures and report back later this month! That is all for this post - thanks for visiting, and I hope your hobbying is going well, wherever you are!

Vanari Dawnriders for AoS

Vanari Dawnriders prepare to charge into battle. 28mm plastic figures from GW.

My surprise (even to me) Age of Sigmar project continues - here we have a unit of High Elf Silver Helms Vanari Dawnriders, the battle cavalry arm of the Lumineth Realm-lords in GW's "Age of Sigmar" setting. These are all 28mm multi-part plastic figures  from GW.

What lovely animation on these sculpts.

As I have said in all of the other recent posts on this subject the figures are...well, they really are lovely! I know that for many folks - myself included- it is hard to separate feelings regarding the demise of the "Old World" when contemplating these models. But even allowing for that frustration, I must say I was truly blown away by these models. I joke (lamely) above about the obvious starting reference point for these particular models being the High Elf Silver Helm cavalry from GW's long lost Warhammer Fantasy Battle Game, and that basic inspiration is, to me at least, obvious. But the sculptor/designers took that, and then went to town, hitting the sweet spot for what I would love to see when it comes to "High Elf Battle Cavalry". 

This, to me, is what "elf" cavalry should look like! Very cool.

I love how these models look - the proportions, the armour, the sense of motion and speed given by the mounts and the poses of the riders. They look like they would hit hard, hit decisively. And yet the armour, while glorious, is hardly overwhelming, and thus they retain that faintly delicate sense that, to me, an effective "elf" aesthetic should have when it comes to war - the glass jaw. This sort of cavalry will be successful because it arrives at the exact right moment to the exact right place on the battlefield, charges at incredible speed and hits a precise point on that battlefield with great precision. Support from powerful magicians and spellcasters doesn't hurt either, right? 

The connections to the base are, however, dangerously lean...just a plastic leg...yikes.

At the same time, while they can dish it out, they are not meant to take sustained punishment in any way. Their armour affords them both the cool, elegant "elf" look and the protection necessary when engaging on their own terms, but should they be caught unawares, should the powerful mages supporting them fail or otherwise be overcome...well, suddenly, it's time to get out of there. Besides, when you live forever, you can always wait for a better moment, right?

"Steedmaster" on the left, regular warrior on the right.

So yes, I loved these models, and would like to add more at some point to make a larger unit. But nothing is perfect, and there are some challenges to be advised of with these particular figures. I have said before that GW is the best when it comes to designing plastic multi-part figures, and I still believe that, but these Dawnriders show how this talent can start to push aside practical gaming considerations.

You get a beautiful standard with sculpted detail...again, the plastic connections all make me nervous, but so far, so good...we'll see how it does in an actual game...

This is particularly a concern when it comes to the connection between the mounts and the bases - generally on one leg only. One plastic leg. Yikes. Do these people never game themselves? Said plastic leg usually has an slightly enlarged bit of terrain or ground around it to ease and support this connection, but it is still pretty tenuous with everything going on up top with these figures. 

Another view of the standard bearer.

And that brings me along to the other issue with these models - like, they are pretty complicated to assemble. It's the flipside of all the beautiful details...but they are tricky as f*ck to assemble, and kind a tricky to paint. Looking back, I wish I might have taken them on in sub-assemblies...but even that is a little fraught, as there is nothing generic about them. Each mount only has one type of rider, and each rider has their own pose of legs and arms that only works with that mount. It is not that there are no options - quite the contrary, you can make the leader just a normal warrior, the standard bearer is totally optional too - it is just that there are a LOT of components to keep track of, they have only one overall set they can go with...it's just tricky. And that's fine! It's not a reason to avoid the kits - they are gorgeous! Just be prepared...

"Hey, look over there - a painting distraction. Charge!"

So with these five Dawnriders painted, I am closing in on completing all of the models that came with the initial impulse buy, the "Shining Host" box set. Stay tuned for more on this project - but other diversions of course! Thanks for reading, have a great day.  

Vanari Bannerblade

Vanari Bannerlade for the Lumineth Realm Lords. 28mm plastic figure from GW.

The rollout of the Lumineth Realm Lord figures continues, and here we have a Vanari Bannerblade - i.e. the "army standard bearer" for a Lumineth force. This is a 28mm multi-part plastic model from GW.

Every army needs a good symbol to rally the troops around, and when it comes to the Lumineth, this guy will clearly do the job. Just look at that flag!

I guess the back of the banner won't rally anyone, but you can see there is quite a lot going on to keep the whole "solarsilk" production upright and visible to the Lumineth troops!

While the figure bearing the banner is quite lovely, the banner itself is obviously intended to the be the main act of the show here. The design of this thing is an impressive feat of hobby engineering, and the sculpted detail on the "solarsilk" banner gives one a shot at painting up the design nicely, although the logistics are not simple...the banner holds together remarkably well, for plastic, but it is still just plastic and it makes me kind of nervous in terms of safe transport and handling on the table...

Close up of some of the details on the banner. That image is kinda...different? To my mind, it is an example of how the GW sculptors are searching for a different vibe for the "Lumineth", while trying to keep the clear points of inspiration from the old High Elves.

Sure, the flag is fancy, but the fellow carrying it around is no slouch either! He means business with that sword...

Anyway, whatever might happen in the future, it was fun to paint this fellow, to take a stab at all of the sculpted detail on the huge banner, and good to get another component from that "battleforce" box completed. Thanks for reading, and watch for the rest of this project to be completed soon-ish-I-hope!

Vanari Bladelords

Vanari Bladelords, here to slice up your problems - 28mm plastic figures from GW.

Here we have a group of High Elf Sword Masters Vanari Bladelords, elite warriors of the Lumineth Realm Lord faction in GW's "Age of Sigmar" game. These are 28mm multi-part plastic figures from GW.

Seneschal, leader of the unit (and clearly into cool sword poses).

I'm still all pretty new to the setting, but from what I can tell, these fighters land more on the elite end of the spectrum for the Lumineth forces. In particular it seems that they are charged with protecting the magic-using/spell-throwing heroes in any Lumineth force. 

Another view, showing some detail on the back banner.

They certainly look the part of an elite-protection-detail, with fancy helmets, fancy clothes, fancy banners and - most important - fancy swords! You have a choice in terms of armaments - the Bladelords can either carry two smaller swords or one big sword. I opted for the one-big-sword approach, because I think big swords are a big part of solving big problems...

Couple more of the "regular" Bladelords.

More detail on the back set up...that is quite the get up. Does all that stuff interfere with the sword play? I guess not...

Again, I continue to be really impressed with the sculpting quality of these multi-part plastic figures. Of course I made a sarcastic reference to the famed High Elf Sword Masters of Hoeth - which were such lovely metal figures from "back in the day" - and that inspiration is clear in these sculpts of course. That said, they still have enough of a different and unique look, sitting well with the look and feel of the overall Lumineth lineup.  These models are beautiful, and were a lot of fun to paint. 

You can see a bit of the detail of the characters on the big sword blade...my efforts to capture that detail were mixed at best, but it was fun to try.

As a group of five models, this unit should do fine in smaller games, but for a larger scrap, or to confront a larger bad-guy beastie, an increase in the unit size might be called for down the road. That said, I am still trying to get through painting this first "battleforce" box before muddying the waters with even more new stuff (but don't watch too hard to see long that resolve lasts LOL).

Let's carve up some bad guys!

That's all for now - thanks for reading. I hope the weather where you are is nicer than the weather where I am...spring in Canada is f*cking useless...

Something Different - Vanari Auralan Wardens for Age of Sigmar...?

A group of Vanari Auralan Wardens for GW's "Age of Sigmar" game. 28mm plastic figures from GW.

Here we have a group of Vanari Auralan Wardens, warriors for the High Elves, sorry, I mean "Lumineth Realm Lord" faction in GW's "Age of Sigmar" game. These are 28mm multi-part plastic figures from GW.

[Insert record screech sound]Age of Sigmar? Really?

Those are some loooong spears...watch out, bad guys!

Yes, really. Having played in a demo game here in Northern Ontario, and rather enjoyed hacking some monsters to bits, I picked up a battleforce box of these proto-high-elves and I have to say it has been fun to build and paint these figures. Does this mean I find "Age of Sigmar" to be a fitting replacement for "Warhammer Fantasy Battle"? Well, no, of course not - it is a wholly different game, and wholly different game experience - but one that, separated from the emotion of GW's decision to blow up the beloved Old World - is in fact a fun, not-too-mentally demanding scrap on the table with some quite lovely figures.

Rear view, showing the Wardens carry swords for when battlefield matters get a little closer.

My understanding of the game and the world is still pretty limited, but as you would expect with an elf-type faction, the warriors hit hard, but with a bit of a glass jaw, and seem to rely on magic to succeed in battle. The Vanari Auralan Wardens are a basic sort of infantry unit for the Lumineth - although as you can see by the armour and the weapons, still pretty fancy. This makes sense when you consider nature of this faction. 

The High Warden, leader of the unit.

Some extra flashy kit for this fellow - and of course, he has to stand on a piece of terrain because reasons.

The sculpting quality of the Lumineth figures is tremendous, and these were a lot of fun to paint. Now, these pike-length spears are not the easiest things to manage in terms of logistics of moving the models around, but they are quite nice to paint - I pause here to strongly recommend painting the shields separately, an approach I took and it worked out well.

Lots of lovely details on the shields as well.

The particular aspect of the sculpting that really pleased me was the proportions on the figures. The high elf models for Warhammer Fantasy were certainly very nice, but the multi-part plastics, at the time GW ended the Old World, had actually lost their proper sense of proportion - in particular, I recall the cartoonish size of the hands on the basic warrior frames. They were getting cartoony and goofy. 

These Lumineth sculpts, on the other hand, show how to do heroic-scale 28mm "elves" while maintaining proper proportions. These sculpts also show that GW continues to raise the bar overall on the design of multi-part plastic miniatures. There are so many lovely details, lots of options for shields, slight differences in helmets etc...all very nice, and lots of fun to paint. 

Coming soon to a gaming table in Northern Ontario...

This group of Wardens is the first AoS unit I have painted. The "Battleforce" box contained enough models to put a small force out for a game, and I'm continue to paint them up, so watch for more in this space! Thanks for reading, and I hope you have a great day.