Orc Warboss on Boar - WIP

Continuing the theme of old minis, here I am with another classic greenskin. This one is extra special!

While I sold off most of my oldest collection when I was needing the money, this one I kept, because it's the very first model that I bought for WFB. While I had to scour many old toy boxes in search for parts, I was able to get most of him - which makes me very happy, I am a sucker for authenticity.

Of course, that didn't mean I would change a thing about him - it's like architectural restoration of an old ruin, some parts could be improved upon. The shield was lost, so I got him a fancier one, as well as the boar's tail and tusks. I also wasn't a fan of the original fur texture on the pig, so I sculpted it anew - to suggest that it's a very venerable mount, like the mini itself! Original standard pole was also lost, so I improvised something similar and added a plasticard banner as well (I never liked those paper ones that were popular back then).

The base is still in old size, as I am waiting for official ones in the right size. The painting will probably wait comfortably until The Old World is released.

Knight of the Realm #12

Surprise, surprise, even more Knights of the Realm! This one is actually a renovation, as the model was painted originally in 2008 - but very flat, of course. Now, armed with newfound skills in painting yellow and red, I could redo this brave guy and make him feel less embarrassed among his peers. The main colors are readjusted and a lot of highlights were added.

Besides that, nothing too special - just some Spanish-adjacent yellow and red color scheme.

Knight of the Realm #11

Continuing two things from the previous post: heraldry from A Song of Ice and Fire and a wavy pattern.

I needed a yellow and black color scheme and I always liked the Greyjoy's coat of arms, so I decided to incorporate it. Wavy pattern on the barding was supposed to be a contrast to the smooth one on the Tully one and serve as a thematic fit for the Kraken on this knight. Sadly, when I designed this, I didn't know how much I would dislike painting the pattern... The Emblem itself may not be very kraken-y, but this is how my books were depicting it.

You may also notice, that despite him being a musician, he has a lance strapped to the saddle. When I was making photos of the Errant Knights, I noticed that I really like the "forest of lances" effect that was made in the last rank - and those musicians in the middle really messed it up! I added those light lances to all the already painted musicians and even something similar to the damsel - just to bring some much needed verticality to the whole unit.

Knight of the Realm #10

Yet another Knight of the Realm - and after a particular pegasus knight, yet another that was inspired by A Song of Ice and Fire back in the day. This time, the emblem of the Tully family from that story.

It had the typical Bretonnian red and blue, so it was an easy idea. Besides, I also wanted to try that wavy field - unfortunately I don't enjoy painting it, it's harder than it looks.

Cadret the Black - WIP

When I posted all my converted Bretonnian knights, I said that one knight was missing from that lineup - I was still very much working on him back then and now he's finally ready to be painted.

It's kinda crazy to see him ready like this, as I invented this character when I was just around 18 years old, during quite an edgy phase of my youth. He was supposed to be a half-vampire, wielding a katana, and was based on some anime characters... Still, my idea was a bit too grand for my skills back then, so barely anything was done and almost everything was converted this year in the end. Now, I eased up on the edge, so he's much more realistic and Bretonnian, but there are still plenty of references to that old version - everything was very fun to put together!

The bits used are all over the place. Even his legs are taken from a Green Knight model, as I couldn't find anything better - I feel so frickin' privileged for having two of those! Besides, there's an elven knight, a vampiric helmet, and a sword hilt from a Nagash knockoff... Even with paint he should stand out amongst his brethren - let's see soon how it'll turn out.

Knight of the Realm #09

While I had some black&white knights so far, most of them were predominantly black, with only the tiger knight being halfway white a long time ago. Here I am back with one that could almost pass for a teutonic knight!

Because of that, I was inspired to give him a german-inspired emblem - there should be at least one eagle, right? Those things are popular in heraldry!

Besides, nothing too special about him - it's time to fill up the ranks!

Sir Armand du Plessis, Knight of the Realm Gallant

It's been a long time since we've had a Knight of the Realm here, so here we are back with a converted unit champion to get this thing rolling again. His WIP was presented HERE.

The idea with him was to make a cardinal-like knight, inspired by heraldry of cardinal Richelieu. Quite a lot of bits were used to make him special, but I think the paint makes most of the work. I had a lot of fun painting all that red, going against my usual multicolored approach to Bretonnians. I also realized that this whole project is a very good exercise in painting basic colors! I hated pure black and yellow for example, but now I find them quite pleasant and manageable!

This guy also starts a big batch of Knights of the Realm, so be prepared to see quite a lot of them here.

Donning the deep crimson of his very wealthy and influential family, Sir Armand de Plessis is very recognizable - and his presence always means trouble to those not devout enough, truly or just perceived as such. While he always proclaims to be driven by love, that’s the love of a very, very strict parent, one’s that not afraid to draw blood when teaching lessons. Acting almost like a male priest in a very important sanctuary, he commands a lot of respect amongst his fellow knights, so it’s only natural to act as their commander. This way he’s also close to his men to search for any kind of foulness or heresy.

Errant Knights

We've had one group of knights here some time ago, now it's time to finally show off a full unit! All the knights, full command group and with a character too. They may be just young helmet-less knights, but it's still a good start.

As you can see, I updated the bases on all the knights to have more tufts, more ivy and more stones.

Next ones in the line are two units of Knights of the Realm, 12-knight-strong and 15-knight-strong. This will be a major undertaking, but seeing how nice just 9 of them look, I really can't wait to have them ready on my desk!

While Knights of the Realm are the mainline of Bretonnian forces, every one of them had to be an Errant Knight first. While relatively inexperienced, not as skilled and impetuous, they have the strengths that their older peers do not possess. Eager to prove themselves and not truly understanding the danger, they are truly fearless when charging and fight with heart unlike any older knight that spent too much time managing his lands and politics of the court. Earl Sagremor prefers to lead them himself in battle, using their strength directly to ride around the enemy force and strike their weak points.

The Errantry Banner

I left the toughest topic of the whole unit for last, the standard bearer for my Errant Knights.

Back in WFB Bretonnians had a certain magical banner, unique to this type of knights, that was so cheap and useful, it was a mistake not to use it. It was described as an being tattered and worn, used on many occasions across the history. Eager to try some converting back in the day, I decided to recreate it, while also making it look as if it was stitched from many smaller, torn pieces. I would do it differently nowadays, but I like how it shows a certain stage of my hobby career.

Conversion part was done a long time ago, but the painting is all fresh. Every part of the banner had to use different scheme to reinforce the mismatched look, so it was a bit intimidating, but I somehow managed it. The knight underneath it is really simple - I used a coat of arms that I found a long time ago on the internet, supposedly used in IRL history, but only when actually painting it, I noticed that it's basically Nurgle's emblem. So, even when painting Bretonnia, I can't really escape Nurgle's embrace...

His WIP post can be seen HERE.

The idea of an errantry quest is a very old one in Bretonnia. When there is a big undertaking, one that may not sit well with all the landed nobility, a lord may call upon his much freer subjects to accompany him, all the eager, young errant knights. This not only allows the lords to swiftly deal with arising problems, it also allows the youngsters to earn their spurs. Unfortunately, the reality can be harsh and the history of those quests is a bloody one. When Earl Sagremor took his position, he wanted to remind his errant knights of that fact - so the banner they’re carrying to battle each time is a burned, tattered and stitched collage of all the previous ones that were used during those quests by his forefathers. It may not be as glamorous as others, but this banner is a strong reminder that the knights are carrying a legacy of their predecessors and their history is built upon blood, sweat and tears of those that came before.

Sir Estienne Sagremor, Knight Errant Cavalier

The penultimate member (and a champion) of the Knight Errant unit and the second son of Earl Sagremor, the main leader for the whole army.

Because of this important position in the story, I had to do some simple conversions to make him stand out. A horned helmet for the horse was a must, then a cloak and an extra pauldron. A little, but it fits a champion for an unit of youngsters. He also got that little hawk on his hand - I always liked that bit that came with the knights' box, but I didn't have a good excuse for it - until now.

Also, as you can see, his base is a little more busy than usually. After redoing the bases on my pegasus knights, I decided to bring the whole army in this direction - and Estienne here is just the first one to get it after that change in policy. All the group photos from now one will feature upgraded, fancy bases.

His WIP post can be seen HERE.

Second and youngest son of Earl Sagremor, Estienne had a much easier childhood than his brother. Without as many expectations placed upon him, he had time to develop himself as a person. While he’s prone to jokes, carefree behavior and being led by women way too easily, it would be foolish to dismiss him as a spoiled brat. Estienne still tried to emulate his brother at least a bit, so he still grew into a fine knight and a capable leader. Leading a lance of like-minded Errant Knights, he’s always eager to prove himself in the heat of battle - and so far, this approach worked very well for him. If just his father would let him lead more autonomously, that would be perfect.

Sir Thierry Sagremor, the Battle Standard Bearer

Now it's time to show off the sons of my main guy, Earl Sagremor. The oldest one, presented here is carrying the Army Battle Standard, a big fat centerpiece for not only his big KotR unit, but also the whole army. However, I already did one fancy standard for them, so I had to do something extra here. Not wanting to suffer an even more elaborate freehand, I just built more details around it all. The WIP post can be seen HERE.

The painting was a little annoying, because the banner itself is metal and I had to handle it a lot as a separate piece, there was so much chipping. And because there were so many colors and textures there, it took a fair amount of time too. The brave knight underneath the standard is rather straightforward in comparison, even the freehands around the barding are rather subtle. Still, I am very, very glad he is done.

A small sidenote - his helmet was the origin of the unicorn that appears on the main family's coat of arms.

Fullsize image is in higher resolution than usual. This model is so high, it was quite difficult to take good photos!

First son of the well-regarded Earl Sagremor, Thierry was under a lot of pressure from his youngest years. Friends and enemies, nobles and peasants, everybody was judging him at all times - and to not break under all that, he just had to become the best version of himself. Thierry embraced the rules of chivalry, devoted himself to studies and thrived in battle. With his unwavering faith, he became a Grail Knight in a very young age - a true paragon to be admired. Because of that, there was no one better to carry the banner that Earl Sagremor commissioned when he took his position. Now Thierry can be found always on the front line, bringing not only the banner for everyone to rally behind, but also his courage and unparalleled skill. Unfortunately, to achieve all that success, he had to bury himself as a person underneath all the virtues - in private he’s a very cold, strict man with almost no personality to speak of.

Pegasus Knight #02

Switching a bit, we're back to pegasi.

This one is a unit champion - and when I was painting him back then, I was really into this small obscure book series called A Song of Ice and Fire. Inspired by that, I converted and painted him to emulate Robert Baratheon, with the big hammer, yellow color scheme and antlers on the helmet. Perhaps now, after the series, I would choose something else, but he still works quite well like that.

A big change from the original model was to turn the wings downwards - idea taken from GW's site, back when they still had hobby articles! This not only would make the whole unit more varied, but also allows them to actually fit together in a unit. Then, to bring even more variation to the model, I painted the horse itself in a brown color scheme, more like a sparrow than a swan. I think it makes them more realistic.

Just like the previous pegasus knight, I gave him quite a lifting right now, updating the base, adding deeper shading and sharper highlights. This is also as many as I managed to paint when I was younger. There are 4 more and I will tackle them now from scratch, once the weather outside will allow to me to put some spray on them!

Pegasus Knight #01

I apologize for the lack of the post last week, real life kinda derailed my plans.

At least this time I come with something fresher than those plague marines - a flying variant of Bretonnians! This model was originally a part of the batallion I bought for my 18th birthday ages ago and painted not much later after that. Wanting to refresh the whole project, I gave him a lifting of almost everything - improved shading, highlights, metallics, etc. The paintjob was quite thick to begin with, so his "spirit" of 2000s is still there. The biggest change was probably the base - perhaps you can recognize here, those slabs are painted cork. It was good enough for the young me, but now I just see ruined concrete there. To cover it up, I decided to make the base really lush with vegetation - not many options for that in my usual projects!

The whole idea for him was as basic as it gets. The pegasus is so white, he has a blue tint to him and the heraldry is based on papal white and yellow, to make him as "pristine" and "pure" as possible. There's even a cross on the crest! As you'll see on next flying knights, the next ones are much more "down to earth".

Knight Errant #06

One more Errant Knight to break up the monotony of the Plague Marines! Here comes the black one for the unit - every one of them has one to serve as a contrast to all the other (relatively) gaudy colors. Other than that, pretty standard thing.

Thankfully, this is the last rank-and-file knight for this unit, only the champion and the standard bearer are left and should be soon done and ready. This will bring us the first completed unit of this whole mess!

Mounted Bretonnian Damsel - WIP

Sadly, I wasn't able to finish what I was working on recently, so a little filler this time. Sorry!

Quick conversion I did for the mounted damsel for my Bretonnian force. I was unhappy with how one sided her design is... I understand that this is how she sits on the horse, but there are ways to make it interesting. A sculpted quilt, some bits and detailing, her other side shouldn't be now as boring as before. Now, after painting Bretonnians for so long, I don't know how to paint a horse so exposed!

Knight Errant #05

Back to Bretonnia - they are weirdly very popular on my Instagram, so I decided to move them in the right direction.

Musician this time, nothing overly fancy. I tried another way of painting black and yellow parts and it works pretty well, quicker and cleaner. Should prove helpful in the future!

Karel the Black, the Commander

Third Sokolov vampire for the collection, after the red one, the white one, here comes the black one. I even managed to find two variants of the model, so I was able to get him both mounted and dismounted.

A horse was unavailable for him, so I had to find something else. Through a weird trick of fate and horrible post service in Germany, I actually have two Bretonnian Green Knights... one of them will be actually used in my Bretonnian collection, but the second one was rather redundant, until I found that this vampire fits very well. This gives him a lot of extra flair. Shields were also missing, so I found them some replacements, simple ones to accomodate some emblems. Just like with Havel, I needed to add some detail to their clothes and barding and let's say that black isn't a very easy color to get it right... Everything is either completely drown in blackness or turns everything to grey. I tried finding some equilibrium and it kinda works, but I think it would be much more pronounced and pretty if I wanted to have him blue or green.

He's also my proposal for the "Mirror, mirror" challenge amongst polish bloggers - with an idea/character mirrored into something different, yet similar. So, instead of a chivalrous Green Knight, I have a cruel Black Knight, on the same horse model.

Three male vampires serve lady Ecaterina Sokolov - the red warrior, the white bodyguard and the black commander. The last of them, Karel the Black, is most usually tasked with leading his mistress’ forces. Brooding, cruel and with strong personality, this one, while still loyal, is the most independent amongst his comrades. Good quality for a commander, but this also makes him an unpredictable servant, ready to object Ecaterina’s orders more than anyone. She tolerates this, because in the end he cares deeply for her interests, even if he thinks his means are better. During the battle with von Greifens he was on a diplomatic mission, so Ecaterina had to lead herself. Next time Karel will lead and make sure that his mistress comes up victorious.

It was difficult to make photos of both models (the lance takes so much space!), so here they are once together and then separated.

Leader mode:

Fencer mode:

Earl Guiscard Sagremor

Finally, a Bretonnian that isn't just another namless rank-and-file dude! I actually managed to paint the main hero and leader of this whole force, good and brave Earl Sagremor. This mini, bought about 15 years ago, went through numerous iteration of conversions and now managed to even get some paint on him. He was an absolute pleasure to paint, as he hails from the era of GW that I like the most, with it's metal minis with lots of pouches and other details, all in that proportion of fantasy to realism that I like the most (or its just nostalgia speaking).

He's also the first one to get that black-blue color scheme of his family painted on. I was worried that the blue and the black would meld into one dark mess, but I believe I avoided somehow. I still have 2 of his sons to paint in the same style, as well as a surprisingly large amount o archers I managed to get in those Bretonnia-unfriendly times!

His WIP post can be seen HERE.

Lands of the Sagremor family were beset by enemies for many decades - as long as the vampires and greenskins avoided raiding the great halls of the nobility, the high-born didn’t care. Then, a third son of the current earl, Guiscard, embarked on his quest for the Grail. After years of traveling the land, he understood the sickness wasting his homeland and returned to set things right. With the help of some of the connections made during his journeys, he took over the title from his father after a short, but violent war. With newfound powers, he drove out the bloodsuckers, painted the greenskins’ dwellings with their own blood and actually strived to protect his peasants. Those were hard years for everyone, but they paid off with prosperity that was unheard of for years, all thanks to the new Earl Sagremor. He became known as the one ready for the harshest methods to reach the noblest of goals, yet still compassionate and understanding. Life of the quest influenced him so much, that even now, years and years after, he’s still more comfortable out in the country than in his castle and still wields his giant sword as a weapon of choice.

Knight Errant #03 & #04

My new resolution is to focus on the unit of Errant Knights first, rather than jumping from unit to unit randomly. So, today I'm showing you one with a fresh coat of paint (right) and one from 2008 (left) with some extra shades added to make him look more... contemporary and with proper shadings. Not much of a difference between them now, I guess. The new one was painted much faster though.

The new guy is yet another pleasant black-red-white kind of dude. Nothing too remarkable about him. The older one is a variation on a templar heraldry, but with some extra details and colors to make it more bretonnian.

Knights of Bretonnia, group shot 01

There was some popular demand for a group shot, so here I am as promised, with the first group shot of all the knights that I painted this year (so no oldies from 2010).

Unfortunately, seeing as I paint them rather randomly, we have some Knights of the Realm here, as well as the Errant Knights, there is no banner and the colors are unbalanced. Final units have some more thought put into them, so please wait for that - but in the meanwhile, it's actually very nice to actually see them as a proper group. I got most of my Bretonnians in ages long gone and only now I am getting close to seeing them as they were supposed to.