Blog Resurrection of an Army

[tom ndege]

Good observation, maybe if they were held on the corners and pointing up-and-inwards?

Sounds good.

 

[Lord-Marcus]

I think that might be a bit overkill, given the snake heads underneath?

Never enough lizard heads

 

[Axquirix]

Okay, more progress today on the Balewind platform!

Not sure what to put on top of those corner pillars. Possibly something like the big feathers on the Skink Starseer palanquin. The underneath's pretty much finished now, just have to detail the anti-gravity-tictac things.

 

[tom ndege]

What about snakes? Or make three with feathers and three with snakes? Maybe spherical gems? Totem faces like the riders drums? Or torches?

Just brainstorming here...

 

[Axquirix]

What about snakes? Or make three with feathers and three with snakes? Maybe spherical gems? Totem faces like the riders drums? Or torches?

Just brainstorming here...

Good suggestions! I've been trying to stick to having things in three for smaller details and then sixes for the obvious bits, but you've got me thinking that I could do two spheres (something like the Starseer's staff) opposite each other and then four of something else...

 

[Axquirix]

Had a little bit of a brainwave yesterday, and I've come up with this;

Little fonts or braziers, about 7.5mm tall so they won't interrupt a wizard's line of sight too much (and definately not a Slann's). You could fill them with still water, you could fill them with something to imitate hot coals, you could make them into little planters, you could model skink sentries sitting in them. Lots of options. I'll be making a separate model of them soon, too, since they'd fit well on a 25mm base to use as game objectives.

 

[Aginor]

That's a nice variant. Both flames and water would look cool. Maybe even half-half!

 

[Axquirix]

Day off for current projects today to try something new, using spares from my brother's skeleton and zombie sprues to make some filler units and objective markers.

Actually looking forward to painting and basing these more than most models I actually intend to play with, which feels weird. Probably because it's a really small and simple project; stone, zombie flesh, leather, two wood bits, two metal bits, one bone and then base them.

 

[Aginor]

Day off for current projects today to try something new, using spares from my brother's skeleton and zombie sprues to make some filler units and objective markers.
View attachment 43698 View attachment 43699
Actually looking forward to painting and basing these more than most models I actually intend to play with, which feels weird. Probably because it's a really small and simple project; stone, zombie flesh, leather, two wood bits, two metal bits, one bone and then base them.

I know that effect. Limited scope and crrativity instead having a fixed goal makes for good motivation.

 

[Warden]

Day off for current projects today to try something new, using spares from my brother's skeleton and zombie sprues to make some filler units and objective markers.
View attachment 43698 View attachment 43699
Actually looking forward to painting and basing these more than most models I actually intend to play with, which feels weird. Probably because it's a really small and simple project; stone, zombie flesh, leather, two wood bits, two metal bits, one bone and then base them.

Awesome work, I do like unit fillers and using extra leftover bits... great that you are doing both at the same time!

 

[Axquirix]

Okay, got the Astrolith Dial finalised!

I'm going to be hosting everything I make and put up for download on my Google Drive for now, just because I know the links won't expire.

And as a derivative of the Balewind Vortex platform, here's some basins!

These are on the Google Drive too, along with diagrams of what the radius of the bowls are just in case you want to model something in there. I've made them in 15mm, 25mm and 32mm sizes at the top rim, and the bottoms are smaller on the last two so they'll fit on round bases nicely if you want to do that. The 25mm one also comes with a 1/2 inch radius bowl version, which doesn't look as good IMO but will probably really help someone model something at some point. Use them as drinking fountains, braziers, food troughs, planters or some sort of prayer seats, it's entirely up to you!

All of these can be downloaded here:
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1gOKwqDklu2YZESAAPqfSVYgkq2rooj3N?usp=sharing

As for the actual project, being the Balewind platform, here's how far I got before deciding to call it a day:


...And then after maybe half an hour of looking at mayan designs, I found one I liked and kept on going anyway.

Now I'm a little bit dubious of this as a mayan design; the dragon face in the middle looks like a more asian design (though I couldn't tell you which specifically) and there's definitely a greek circle around the outside. However, the middle section fits fairly well with the Lizardmen look, and I liked the idea of a big Sotek/Dracothion face leering out at whoever's present. I'll probably also end up doing one with Lord Kroak's mask in the middle instead, though, in case you're worried. One other note; three of the outermost double-swirly shapes have been blanked, because I wanted them to fit the three-symmetry of the sides instead of having all of the top be in sixes. I'm going to try doing a terradon design, since the platform so far has snake, crocodile and gecko/salamander icons on it already.

 

[Aginor]

Okay, got the Astrolith Dial finalised!
View attachment 43837
I'm going to be hosting everything I make and put up for download on my Google Drive for now, just because I know the links won't expire.

And as a derivative of the Balewind Vortex platform, here's some basins!
View attachment 43838
These are on the Google Drive too, along with diagrams of what the radius of the bowls are just in case you want to model something in there. I've made them in 15mm, 25mm and 32mm sizes at the top rim, and the bottoms are smaller on the last two so they'll fit on round bases nicely if you want to do that. The 25mm one also comes with a 1/2 inch radius bowl version, which doesn't look as good IMO but will probably really help someone model something at some point. Use them as drinking fountains, braziers, food troughs, planters or some sort of prayer seats, it's entirely up to you!

All of these can be downloaded here:
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1gOKwqDklu2YZESAAPqfSVYgkq2rooj3N?usp=sharing

As for the actual project, being the Balewind platform, here's how far I got before deciding to call it a day:
View attachment 43839

...And then after maybe half an hour of looking at mayan designs, I found one I liked and kept on going anyway.
View attachment 43840
Now I'm a little bit dubious of this as a mayan design; the dragon face in the middle looks like a more asian design (though I couldn't tell you which specifically) and there's definitely a greek circle around the outside. However, the middle section fits fairly well with the Lizardmen look, and I liked the idea of a big Sotek/Dracothion face leering out at whoever's present. I'll probably also end up doing one with Lord Kroak's mask in the middle instead, though, in case you're worried. One other note; three of the outermost double-swirly shapes have been blanked, because I wanted them to fit the three-symmetry of the sides instead of having all of the top be in sixes. I'm going to try doing a terradon design, since the platform so far has snake, crocodile and gecko/salamander icons on it already.

Hmmmmm @Warden is our expert on that topic (Maya art) but I think you are right...

 

[Warden]

Now I'm a little bit dubious of this as a mayan design; the dragon face in the middle looks like a more asian design (though I couldn't tell you which specifically) and there's definitely a greek circle around the outside. However, the middle section fits fairly well with the Lizardmen look, and I liked the idea of a big Sotek/Dracothion face leering out at whoever's present. I'll probably also end up doing one with Lord Kroak's mask in the middle instead, though, in case you're worried. One other note; three of the outermost double-swirly shapes have been blanked, because I wanted them to fit the three-symmetry of the sides instead of having all of the top be in sixes. I'm going to try doing a terradon design, since the platform so far has snake, crocodile and gecko/salamander icons on it already.

I agree it does look like it is inspired from an Asian Dragon design, almost like from a tattoo artist?

If you were going for something more Mayan/Mesoamerican looking I would suggest the Kukulkan masks from Teotihuacan:



Then again I found a couple of good examples:

 

[Axquirix]

I agree it does look like it is inspired from an Asian Dragon design, almost like from a tattoo artist?

If you were going for something more Mayan/Mesoamerican looking I would suggest the Kukulkan masks from Teotihuacan: /snipped/

Looking at it I would guess it's a tattoo design. Thanks for all the pictures, they'll be really great references! The third and last ones are especially helpful right now, I think I might do a fusion of the tattoo design and the last picture? Essentially a mesoamerican version of the asian-style face.

 

[Warden]

Looking at it I would guess it's a tattoo design. Thanks for all the pictures, they'll be really great references! The third and last ones are especially helpful right now, I think I might do a fusion of the tattoo design and the last picture? Essentially a mesoamerican version of the asian-style face.

Glad to help

 

[Axquirix]

Welp, been a while since I was here. Time for an update;

The Saurus are mostly done!

All I have to do is pick out their eyes (I'm thinking Averland Sunset to match some other detail parts of my army, pure white is too bright) and add some plants/grass tufts to their bases. I've decided on a Ghyran theme for my army, so I'm looking at a rainforest floor look.

I've also painted a unit of the old metal Grave Guard for my brother's birthday.

Twelve is a bit or an awkward number by the new rules, but that's his problem and not mine.

I've also got a cheap airbrush and compressor, mostly to get a huge number of skinks basecoated quickly. I'm going to make a huge push to get them, a character, and at least one monster finished in time for Armies on Parade.

 

[Axquirix]

In terms of 3D printing stuff, there's been progress there too!

The top platform for the Balewind Vortex is fully designed and should be functional! There's two variants with designs, or a blank one for your own design or if your Slann's base is just going to cover it all the time anyway. There's also variants without the corner braziers for all three, in case anyone wants that.


The first variant is an entirely made-up design, but the second is derived from art of Coatl shared by @Warden so many thanks to him for the help!

For the big dials going around the base, I didn't get far.

It's sized correctly and I like the additional detail given to what on the Astrolith are just arrows, but coming up with icons to go on each tile prove challenging. I didn't just want to copy what I did for the Astrolith, even though most of the designs on here were from that. Unfortunately I've now lost regular access to Solidworks at work, so progress has hit a stall until I can find a solution that I can use from home (although being able to use the Solidworks model isn't necessary as it's not a lot to recreate).

I also made some movement trays while bored because it turned out to be really easy.

In there you've got a tray for heavy weapon teams, unisize based squads, a squad with different hero arrangement... I went a little mad. And also made most of them work for base sizes of 25mm, 32mm and 40mm. The flat area between holes is so they can match you army's basing style, and there are two version of each depending no how you want them to be underneath; solid for structural strength, or shelled to minimise printing cost.


All the various trays, and the top platforms for the Balewind Vortex (now more useful than every with how our summoning works, hooray!) will be being added to the download link in the first post of the thread. EDIT: They're in there!

And as a little added bonus, here's something I was very, very pleased worked with no adjustment, just glue;

 

[Aginor]

Good stuff!
When are you going to print the models?

 

[Warden]

Really great work!

For the big dials going around the base, I didn't get far.

It's sized correctly and I like the additional detail given to what on the Astrolith are just arrows, but coming up with icons to go on each tile prove challenging. I didn't just want to copy what I did for the Astrolith, even though most of the designs on here were from that. Unfortunately I've now lost regular access to Solidworks at work, so progress has hit a stall until I can find a solution that I can use from home (although being able to use the Solidworks model isn't necessary as it's not a lot to recreate).

If you are searching for something to put on glyph-wise, why not open up the army book to the end and spell out a secret message in Lizard glyphs!

 

[Axquirix]

Good stuff!
When are you going to print the models?

I'll be doing a print of the Balewind top when I get a Vortex, which will probably be shortly after I finish my behatted Slann. A couple of the movement trays I will be printing off pretty soon, though!

Really great work!

If you are searching for something to put on glyph-wise, why not open up the army book to the end and spell out a secret message in Lizard glyphs!

That's a really good idea! I'd forgotten that those were in the older books.

Update on what I'm currently doing; not a lot of painting or lizards, but I made these;

Tempestus Scions for Kill Team and general 40k use. Custom helmets are from Anvil Industries, needed greenstuff to make them fit properly (mostly because of the amount of armour Scions have, they'd fit fine on regular guardsmen no problem) which ended up squeezing out of the connection pretty evenly. Given that I'm going for a wintery Guard army, I left the excess in as scarfs! Not a fan of the default Volley Gun model, so built flamers troops and replaced most of the weapon with miniguns from Zinge. The ammo belt supplied with them match up to the Scion's backpacks perfectly, so they just look like boxed-in heavier cables.

Some gas grenade rat boys for a friend's Skryre army. 20 Stormvermin, 20 zombies (for empty hands and circular bases), biohazards backpacks from maximini (four sets, they come in sixes) and a set of 5mm plastic balls to use as gas globes was still cheaper than just getting 10 metal Acolytes. And I even got a perfectly good set of zombies out of it to sell on! Fitting these backpacks was a lot easier than I expected, given that I couldn't find a guide. I'll probably post one on a more ratmen-oriented site at a later date for other warpstone fanatics.

Doing a lot of spraying today, including airbrushing. Should have 40 skinks and 6 handlers to show off by this evening, in various states of development. Currently they're all based white, so I'm going to airbrush them Caledor Sky from the outside, leaving their underbelly white, then paint everything except their back scales and frills with Lothern Blue and then shade over everything with a 50/50 mix of Drakenhof Nightshade and Lahmian Medium. Hopefully that'll keep much brighter skinks than my last set from earlier in the thread!