Old Worlder Ally Contingent

symphonicpoet":10qt750z said:
Novel way to do a banner.

:o Been doing them like this for years... decades... never thought anyone would do them differently...


symphonicpoet":10qt750z said:
I've always just used both sides of a single sheet of paper,
But what have you done with the stripes going around the pole? Painted over where they were glued to the banner to hide them?
 
The next four riders are done.

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The last three Nadir riders are painted.

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I then added static grass to all the bases and took a final group shot.

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Now I have the 4 Black Tree babarians left. Originally I wanted to inlcude them in the above unit, but after all they are too different size wise and in the style of sculpting. I ordered one more of them, and will form them into a separate 5 man unit.
 

symphonicpoet

Moderator
symphonicpoet":28r0t3p5 said:
I've always just used both sides of a single sheet of paper,
But what have you done with the stripes going around the pole? Painted over where they were glued to the banner to hide them?[/quote]

Painted over them and cut them very short so that the strip ended in a strategically camouflaged place, apparently. It's been so many years since I last did a banner . . . I'm trying to remember what the last one would have been. But then most of mine are one fairly one sided, as though they were painted onto a piece of fabric. Which isn't so far off, really. I only did them as two sided when they were fairly simple and geometric and it made sense to me that they'd be sewn together from colored cloth. Also, most of mine are hanging down from a yard Roman style, so the back is often fairly obscured anyway. That might be the difference right there. I'll have to try your version, though. Mine have often become quite delicate with age. The lamination won't solve all problems right around the pole, but it might help elsewhere.
 
On their northern border, the Nadir are in contact with an area inhabited by
babarian tribes. Clashes and raids are common. Sometimes, depleated babarian
tribes are defeated and absorbed into a Nadir tribe, continuing their lives
as thralls to the Nadir.

The first of the babarian thralls is done:

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The second rider is done. I again only used browns, but I think I managed to make him look different enough to the first one for them not to look identically brown.

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On their northern border, the Nadir are in contact with country inhabited by
babarian clans. Clashes and raids are common. Sometimes, depleated babarian
clans are defeated and absorbed into a Nadir tribe, continuing their lives
as thralls to the Nadir.

This small group of babarian thralls is used as a flanking/scouting
detachment by Nogsta of the Pony Shoe Tribe. It is lead by Thros Split Skull.
Thros received a heavy head injury while his clan tried to fight off the
Nadir. His forehead was split open by a heavy club, but miraculously he
survived - only the wound would not heal, the broken up bones would not mend.
He was left with a swollen head, a vulnerable forehead and a constant bad
mood resulting from heavy head aches.
To protect himself, he had a metal spike nailed into his sound skull parts,
on the one hand covering the open wound, on the other giving him a nifty
advantage in battles when dealing head butts. Still, from below the spike
blood and brain liquids are oozing, further darkening his mood...

I ordered one more babarian rider from Black Tree (together with some more models for the next units of the Ally Contingent). This was the first time I had any trouble ordering from them (the order took 3 months, and I am still waiting for the last three models), but their customer service made up for it, compensating me with a unit worth of halberdiers.

The rider came with another type of shield than the original models, so I instant moulded one the old ones. The head and weapon I took from my bits box (GW plastics).

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The next unit for my Oldworlder Ally Contingent is an Imperial Templar unit. The list allows to field 10 of the heavy cavalry, organized into units of 5+. I ordered knights from Black Tree (a custom combination of riders and mounts, which they fulfilled without any problems).

I ordered 8 knights and two each of leader and standardbearer. This allows me to field two units of 5 or one unit of 5-10.

A time long ago, at least long enough ago that most exact details have been
forgotten or twisted by countless retellings, but not long enough ago for the
major part of the story to be lost completely (probably), a group of warriors
of noble (we guess, but it sounds more epic for them to have been) heritage,
no-one knows if the word 'knight' was already used for them or even did exist
back then, was on the prowl to hunt down the evil sorcerer Nieh that plagued
the land.

Besides being evil, the sorcerer was also cunning, a combination most
uncomfortable for the good people of the land - which caused the knights
(let’s call them so for the sake of simplicity) to fall for his cleverly
laid trap. They were baited into a pentagram, back then another word for a
pentangle consisting of five points, created from six (historical sources
are sure of that!) pebbles hidden beneath the grass of a rolling plain, when
the sorcerer triggered a prepared spell and trapped the knights inside the
boundary created by the pebbles.

To add insult to injury, he taunted them from outside the magical barrier, by
telling them they would only need to place a hawkbit on a certain spot inside
the pentagram (some say this was the reason for the sixth pebble of the
pentacle) to dispel the spell - the plain was dotted with hawkbits (except
inside the five to six pebbles as you should have expected), but of course
the knights were not able to cross the magical barrier or even reach through
it! So they were trapped in a most wicked way within arms reach of their
botanical salvation! Cackling, the sorcerer Nieh went his way to conduct
further mischief, now unmolested by any righteous pursuers.

The poor knights were trapped inside the pentagram for a long time, no-one
exactly remembers how long, probably a bit longer than one would expect, but
not nearly as long as one might image in one‘s worst nightmares - anyway, it
was short enough for them to survive, but long enough for them to go a bit
nuts - not that they ate any nuts during that time, being trapped and all,
but somehow they still acquired that trait.

For what happened next, there are countless versions, the most commonly told
one goes like:

Knights Hey you there, travelling merchants!

Merchants Who are you?

Knights We are here on the scheme of... Nieh!

Which of course was true, but perhaps a bit misleading for the merchants,
seeing a group of hard, armed men, with the latest crimes of Nieh still
large in the news - which would have been travelling and singing bards
during that time...

Merchants (horrified) No! Not on the scheme of the evil sorceror Nieh?!

Knights The very same!

Merchants among themselves Those who meet the
henchmen of Nieh seldom live to tell the tale!

Knights That is absolutely correct, we saw too many of those
massacres! By the way, we need you to do something for us.

Merchants Well, what is it you want?

Knights We want... A HAWKBIT!!!

Merchants A *WHAT*?

Knights Nieh! Nieh!! Nieh!!! Nieh!!!!

This desperate cry of the knights, if they were indeed called as such, was
meant to express their dire desire to stop the miscreant, but in their
nutty and exhausted state they were not able to express it more clearly,
and instead seemed to emphasise their allegiance towards Nieh...

Merchants No! No! Please, please, don't call the evil sorcerer
upon us! We will find you a hawkbit!

Knights You must return here with a hawkbit... or
else you will never pass through this plain... alive.

The knight‘s meaning of course was, that without their help the merchants
would be at the mercy of the evil sorceror, but the merchants probably
understood it more like a threat, again...

Merchants O Knights of Nieh, you are just and fair, and we will
return with a hawkbit.

Knights One that looks nice.

Merchants Of course!

Knights And not *too* expensive.

Merchants Yes!

Knights Noowwwww.... GO!

A merchant stooped down and plucked a hawkbit.

Merchants O Knights of Nieh. We have brought you your hawkbit. May
we go now?

Knights Yes, it is a good hawkbit. I like the petals particularly.

The merchants were able to pass the hawkbit through the magical barrier
from the outside, but then their arms were trapped as well, and could
not be retracted. The Knights placed the hawkbit where the sorcereor
Nieh told them to, most probably on the surplus pebble of the five
needed to form the pentacle. A glimmer went up around the outline
(probably not including the sixth pebble) of the pentagram or some
other spectacular effect, sources scintillate on the specific one, and
the knights and merchant arms were free again - well, physically that
is. Only the knights minds were not as before any more, due to all
that isolation, not present legumes and so on.

Knights But there is one small problem...

Merchants What is that?

Knights We are now no longer the Knights of Nieh - we actually
never were. We never said so anyway! We are from this point on the
Knights of the Hawkbit, eternally sworn enemies of the sorceror Nieh and
any evil doers like him! Therefore, we must give you a test to ascertain
you are free of all evil!

Merchants What is this test, oh Knights of the Hawkbit?

Knights Firstly, you must find us... ANOTHER HAWKBIT!!!

Merchants mocking but this was probably lost to the knights Oh no,
not another hawkbit!

Knights Indeed! Then, when you have found the other hawkbit, you must
place it here, beside this first hawkbit, only slightly higher, so we get a
terraced effect with a little path running down the middle. Then, in your
capacity as merchants, you must supply us with material to build a castle!
This will be our cosy strongpoint from which we will set out to destroy
all evil, Nieh first of all!

Thus the story of the founding of the Knights of the Hawkbit is told. The
castle still stands today, or at least the n-th renovated version of it, the
knightly order strong as ever, scouring the land for evil doers, chaos
worshippers and monsters, defeating them for the good of the common man - and
their pride and history of their order. The center of the castle still
proudly displays the terraced hawkbits (the original ones, it goes without
saying!), framed by the six pebbles the pentagram was created from, tended
to by a score of five acolytes - the same acolytes whose task it is to
extinguish all signs of hawkbits around the castle, for miles, kilometres or
any other arbitrary length of measurement; otherwise the two hawkbits inside
the castle would not be antyhing special now, would they?

One word of warning: There were those who called the mighty Knights of the
glorious and manly Hawkbit in a jokey or snidely way the Knights of the
Daisy, oftentimes picturing them in a pink coat of arms at the same time -
those did not live long or happily after (if at all) when this became known
to a Knight of the Hawkbit... How can anyone confuse deep, masculine yellow
with light, womenish white petals anyway?!

Any similarity to a Programm Snake are fully intentional and no allowance
to use their intellectual property was asked for.

I mounted the horses on metal bases from Products for Wargamers, added spackle and sand, then basecoated the models in black.

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I painted the bases as well as all the base colours on the horses. I choose three different browns as the body colour, which will now be combined with different washes to create twelve unique body colours.

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The horses are done, at least for now. I am still unsure, whether to leave the metall as it is, giving them a very down-to-earth hands-on appearance, or to add some decorations in coat of arms colours, like a triangle or checker pattern on the lower arour rim. I definitely want to have a stark contrast between these Imperial Templars and the likes of Bretonnian Knights which wear only decoration and no (visible) armour...

What do you suggest?

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.

Having done the horses, the riders were next. From both the shields and the tunics, I cut away the hearts. On the shields I modelled on hawkbit petals. Finally I mounted the models on paper clips for handling while painting.

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Thank you :)


I do not like flat backsides of shields, except they are meant to be full metal shields. These look more like wooden shields to me, with some kind of front coverage. So I always ponder with these kind of shields whether to paint the backside in detailed way, after all, in the end you won't see it anyway when looking at the model. But I always end up doing it anyway, because I would know it...

So a light brown base coat, wood grain in two darker browns, and plank lines in a very dark brown later, the backsides of the shields are done.

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The unit is done; riders mounted, flags attached and greenery added to the base.

The Oldworlder Ally Contingent allows for 5-10 Templars with a minimum unit size of 5. Here is the finished unit set up as two 5 man units and one 10 man unit. Of course, one unit of between 6 and 9 is also possible.

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