The Eternal Court of the Carmine Rose

[Shadespyre]

Slow progress this month, nothing painted apart from the shields for these ladies so far.

I have now built a full dozen of them, however. And am making progress on a couple of conversions too

 

[Adam_Barrow]

Good stuff! I had planned an all-girl KoBK unit a couple of years back, and it looks like you're going for the same kitbash I had in mind. I couldn't round up the proper bits at the time, so the project got abandoned halfway. I'm excited to see it followed through, yours are looking awesome.

Been meaning to ask, that old school metal Zombie Dragon, how would he look on a chatiot base? The GW one, that is. Pre-6th edition gribbly.

 

[Shadespyre]

I looked and looked and couldn't find another sensible answer to the Lady Knights problem. The only variable is the heads, really. Helmets would have been nice, but too much extra work.

As for the dragon (the pale green one) the base he is on is 75 x 50 mm A chariot base is only an inch longer, and the head of mine overhangs the front of the base by half of that, so it would be fine on the chariot base with a bit of extra decoration.

Strangely, the model is naturally curved, and would actually look okay on a square base. I think you could make it "longer" by changing the bend in the neck a little - the tail would be harder. It's a nice model, worth getting hold of and using.

 

[Shadespyre]

First WIP Lady Blood Knight

This is base colours plus a black wash only so far.

Feedback would be nice! Is there too much red? Too little contrast between the reds? Does it need more metallic, if so where? How about gold? That sort of thing.

 

[ObliviJohn]

I like it. I just made 2 blood knights of my own. Under the strong desktop light I use for painting it looked nice but when I put it in regular lighting it looks really dark.
I tried cutting it off with gold and I guess some of my brighter red highlights dissapeared then. Have a look in my plog if you want to see a gold on dark red example.

 

[Mad 'At]

I think it could use some gold.

Personally I really like the kind of heavy chipping that 'Eavy Metal has done on GW's Blood Knight. It looks great on the red IMO. I think yours could look really cool with something like that too. Give them a more evil feel I think. If you do that I would also recommend to do the mail armour (which now is steel) in gold colours instead, to set them apart more. In either case I think you could add gold to the armour bits under the horse's eye, and on the handguard of the lance.

Really like the use of a bright and a dark shade of red btw. It's bold but it works

 

[Theerteen]

Now that's some cool and unique blood knight turn! Really, really like it! Now you force me to make my BK champion a female too! Awesome!

 

[Shadespyre]

Some changes, based on your suggestions and some from Warhammer-Empire.

Please bear in mind that I am very much sketching in colours here - I know it needs highlights and so on.

Do we like the gold ribbing?
Should I continue it on to the Vamp's armour e.g. the fancy knee guard?
Should the trim on the top of the reins be gold? Silver? Another colour?

Etc

@Therteen - I can give you a parts list for what I've done here, but the female Dark Elf warrior torsos are getting very hard to find. Grab them now if you can!

 

[Theerteen]

I have a few of them, that shouldn't be the problem. Slightly more I wonder which horse to take. My bk are from chaos knights, so thE horse must not be much smaller than theothers, but may stick out a little bit. If you want, I can have a look if I have some female de parts left here if you still need any

 

[Adam_Barrow]

@Theerteen if Shade doesn't need any torsos, hit me up.

 

[Theerteen]

@Theerteen if Shade doesn't need any torsos, hit me up.

Yep

 

[Seneschal]

I can't believe I've never commented in this thread before. Your work is exceptional, Shadespyre! I'm working on some female cold one knights using the silver helm torsos as well but your conversion is far superior!

You've got some really great stuff here and I feel privileged to see it!

 

[Shadespyre]

@Seneschal - you are way too kind! This whole project is based on pretty simple modelling work, basic paint techniques and a lot of hours. I don't think there's any exceptional art in here, but I am pretty pleased with it I guess.

Next version of my Lady Blood Knight:

Sorry about the shine, I'm using old satin paint for the red. Actually quite nice effect, a shame I'll be dullcoating it!

Main changes: more gold, brightened both reds.

I'm pleased with where this is heading, now.

I tried gold on the reins, didn't like it. More suggestions? Also need to decide gem colour (red or green I think?) then it's mostly finishing off the face.

@Theerteen - I'm good for DE torsos, I think. I have a handful of spares, just in case. I think my next challenge would be kit-bashing unarmoured mounted characters, anyway.

 

[ObliviJohn]

100% green for the gem. In swedish we call it convergence colors, it's on the opposite side of the color spectrum wich makes it very complementary.
(Did you know that this is the reason why they have green clothes when doing surgery? After a while staring at all the red it sort of gets a big blur, but then you can just rest your eyes on the green and sort of reset your vision. ^^)

 

[Dragonet]

I also just rediscovered this thread and reread from the start, an absolute pleasure of a project from this end and one of the main reasons I joined this forum.

I love the theme! I love roses, and grey flagstones; I love reappropriating existing rules to meet your vision for the story you want to tell. Your model selection is brilliant. In fact, this is the only army that's made me doubt my relatively mundane Blood Keep theme. As for keeping a blog running like this, I couldn't be so brave... Pics when it's done from me guys!

I almost cheered out loud when I saw your Blood Knights make their debut, female heads were the right call. All I'd say is reconsider keeping the shiny lacquered effect on the armour, it looks awesome!

 

[Shadespyre]

Stop it! I'm blushing now! Seriously though, who could ask for more than "one of the main reasons I joined this forum" as praise. Thanks for your kind words, Dragonet.

I think this is close enough to what I had in my head to start painting the rest of the unit:

I do like the lacquered effect - I'll see if I can restore it after dullcote (which the horse, cloth etc really needs) by brushing on some gloss varnish.

Any final tweaks I should consider?

 

[Dragonet]

Start buying some DECENT model storage!

 

[Shadespyre]

!!!

At the moment, these will live on a crowded display shelf in my study. The whole army is untransportable and homeless for now!

To be honest, it's handling in play that I want to protect them from, my storage systems are rarely a problem. Besides, I really like the flat finish you get from the dull coat!

 

[Farmer7574]

Fantastic work buddy, I love your theme you've run for the army and everything in it works very well. Keep it up!

 

[Shadespyre]

Thanks Farmer, that's the pep talk I need after 3 days of base coating Vampire Knights!

 

[Farmer7574]

@Shadespyre Good mate, keep it going. I know how it is to get stuck on something That saps your motivation (recently finished 60 night goblins).

It's awesome seeing your really unique army going through the motions from conversion to finished product. The theme, colours, kit blends and even your bases are really inspiring!

 

[Angie]

Ooh, I hadn't seen your female blood knight before. She looks amazing, great job! If I ever get to build some blood knights for myself I'm definitely going to keep yours in mind!

 

[Shadespyre]

I'm calling these done.... more pictures later, here are some to be going along with...

Yes, making a suitably impressive standard counts as another project!!!

 

[Adam_Barrow]

That's the craziest thing I've ever seen.

 

[Burnanation]

That just looks awesome!