Tuesday 4 May 2021

Amallyn Shadowguide, Asuryani ranger - Blackstone Fortress

 


Ok so still ploughing the Blackstone Fortress thread it seems and after finishing a few villains, I finally managed to get some of the colours I needed to finish Amallyn at last !
Note for later pandemics : you do NOT want to start a lockdown without some of the essentials like medium or some washes and you do NOT want to start with a colour when all your pots are partly dry...
Now this isn't the only thing that's held me back with finishing Amallyn. I was first puzzled by the weird pose (why is her right foot up ?) but I was getting to know and like her as I was painting her (like on most of the models of the set I wasn't initially sold on.

But fine intricate and fiddly details come with a price. One you pay with bits of your raw heart.
The gun barrel broke once because I was holding the model upside down and it scratched my palette...
The gun barrel broke a second time because I didn't grab the model correctly and the barrel was weakened (can't pin it so just relied on plastic cement)
The 2 stabilisers broke... and got lost... and were found again... and the barrel broke again while fixing the stabilisers...
And I couldn't get my hands on purple paits to finish the blade and tried to do it with semi dried paints...
And to be honest I would have kept things simpler than the box art since she's a ranger (just from another craftworld) but I don't see the point in haing a ranger covered in jewels and everything and remember not every soul stone has got to be painted as a gem !


A man has his limits and I certainly found mine then. Amallyn was started walong Dahyak but got delayed tremendously out of frustration and I didn't really enjoy her afterwards so I would have refined the blade a lot more, I would have painted more gems and done a lot of things differently if I just didn't mean to finish it and put it on the shelf for good...
I'm also VERY reluctant to taking her in the game now since it means almost certain broken parts again...
Anyway, time to move on and as frustratuin as it can be, progress was still made so that's the main thing right now. The pace is good and that's the most important thing.


Those groups of 4 villains are perfectly sized to get a real chunk of achievement while still being easy, I don't know if this was taken into account when designing the groups of villains but that's definitely a major asset in my book.


Now back to something else, bit more villains, and some other things to keep the motivation up !
Got to make hay while the sun shines and while bank holidays give us more time !

16 comments:

  1. Beautiful and cohesive, nice to see the models together. You've really done justice to this reange.

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    1. Well thank you! They're rewarding for the most part so that helps, I'm eager to see how the complete set looks in a while !

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  2. Really like the colour scheme you chose for her, but I feel your pain on the sculpt in general. I hate the pose and all those damnable fiddly bits are just annoying! (Definitely my least fav of all the hero sculpts in this game.) At least she's done now though and she looks great next to your other heroes.

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    1. Yeah, I like many of the design elements but some just look odd and somehow useless, it's a few misses vs a lot of hits in this set though.

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  3. They look great together. The fragility of some of these new models is what is delaying me getting started on Cursed City. With most of the heroes done, it looks like you are over the worst of that.

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    1. I haven't had the CC models in hand but I bet it's similar, there's a line between display and gaming models GW seems to follow that makes it tough for us gamers sometimes ^^'

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  4. Nice work, JB. What nice about her is she's an excuse to paint Eldar for games, and only have to do one of them! Nice work with the red, it really sets off the bloodorange of the robot.

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    1. I had the same conclusion while painting her !
      Thanks, I've tried to work my colours a bit differently on this project, not painting all reds the exact same way and all, it might be subtle but I think it shows enough in the group shot, I try to keep an individual look with some form of unity throughout the group, I hope the ratlings keep the overal balance !

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  5. I do like your colors, dark grey and Red are very fine and looks like a stealthy ranger for once, note a scout full of shiny colors...

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    1. I could neither go with bright nor typical scout so had to find my way !

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  6. I find your choice of palette interesting, it really makes the mini look different. I think you are right, the pose is somehow problematic, and wow, you really were jinxed with this one! However, you were able to overcome everything, perseverance has its reward!

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    1. I might have lost a few nerves in the process but in the end it's done and that's what matters to me !
      Even the pose doesn't bother me now !
      Thanks man ;)

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  7. Excellent work on Amallyn and that group photo is pure eye candy. By the way, are the Blackstone Fortress books any good? I was thinking of getting the ebooks online from Black Library.

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    1. Thanks ! I have no idea about the books, I've never read any book about GW's game I have to admit !
      And I have yet to play the game !

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  8. Very impressed how the red armor speaks to her eldar craft world heritage; yet you tied her to the group through the cloak. Great color work for sure!

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    1. Thanks : I somehow felt giving her the colours of a craftworld not renowned primarily for scouts made her more of an oddity and felt more intriguing !

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