My Templar Army

[d3m01iti0n]

Here is my current batch of BT. The army is always expanding. Comments are welcome!

 

http://images.dakkadakka.com/gallery/2012/9/8/409906_md-Black%20Templars.jpg

http://images.dakkadakka.com/gallery/2012/9/8/409907_md-Black%20Templars.jpg

http://images.dakkadakka.com/gallery/2012/9/8/409908_md-Black%20Templars.jpg

http://images.dakkadakka.com/gallery/2012/9/8/409914_md-Black%20Templars.jpg

http://images.dakkadakka.com/gallery/2012/9/8/409913_md-Black%20Templars.jpg

http://images.dakkadakka.com/gallery/2012/9/8/409912_md-Black%20Templars,%20Chibihawk%20Jr,%20Storm%20Talon.jpg

http://images.dakkadakka.com/gallery/2012/9/8/409911_md-Black%20Templars.jpg

http://images.dakkadakka.com/gallery/2012/9/8/409910_md-Black%20Templars.jpg

http://images.dakkadakka.com/gallery/2012/9/8/409909_md-Black%20Templars.jpg

http://images.dakkadakka.com/gallery/2012/9/8/409916_md-.jpg

http://images.dakkadakka.com/gallery/2012/9/8/409915_md-.jpg

http://images.dakkadakka.com/gallery/2012/9/8/409917_md-.jpg

http://images.dakkadakka.com/gallery/2012/9/8/409918_md-.jpg

http://images.dakkadakka.com/gallery/2012/9/8/409919_md-.jpg

[tvih]

That's a formidable army. I spotted Yarrick there though, so I'm curious - are you using him as a "count-as" thing or as an ally, though I don't think I spotted any other IG in there.

[d3m01iti0n]

Yarrick is there because he and Helbrecht are BFFs, and I havent bought any Steel Legion......yet. :D

[Honda]

Excellent looking force Brother and welcome to the Eternal Crusade.

 

I saw Yarrick in there and figured you were aiming for an Armageddon force. The Steel Legion would be a nice match for you Templars. Are you going to acquire true SL figures or get DKK to represent them?

 

One comment on your painting style. Your infantry are very clean and yet your vehicles are lightly weathered. It's actually a noticeable contrast. Any thoughts to extending the weathering to your foot troops?

 

Cheers,

[d3m01iti0n]

Excellent looking force Brother and welcome to the Eternal Crusade.

 

I saw Yarrick in there and figured you were aiming for an Armageddon force. The Steel Legion would be a nice match for you Templars. Are you going to acquire true SL figures or get DKK to represent them?

 

One comment on your painting style. Your infantry are very clean and yet your vehicles are lightly weathered. It's actually a noticeable contrast. Any thoughts to extending the weathering to your foot troops?

 

Cheers,

 

It has a lot to do with recently completing the vehicles. The tanks were originally all black with minor details. I recently added the red, white, and scuffing. They are the results of months of practice I suppose. The HQs and Elites are next. There arent any good closeups of the standard Crusaders but they are all scuffed.

 

Steel Legion minis all the way. Waiting for the new Grimaldus to drop, then picking up an Assault Ram, and finally Steel Legion. I also have a sizeable Ork army as well.

[d3m01iti0n]

Excellent looking force Brother and welcome to the Eternal Crusade.

 

I saw Yarrick in there and figured you were aiming for an Armageddon force. The Steel Legion would be a nice match for you Templars. Are you going to acquire true SL figures or get DKK to represent them?

 

One comment on your painting style. Your infantry are very clean and yet your vehicles are lightly weathered. It's actually a noticeable contrast. Any thoughts to extending the weathering to your foot troops?

 

Cheers,

 

It has a lot to do with recently completing the vehicles. The tanks were originally all black with minor details. I recently added the red, white, and scuffing. They are the results of months of practice I suppose. The HQs and Elites are next. There arent any good closeups of the standard Crusaders but they are all scuffed.

 

Steel Legion minis all the way. Waiting for the new Grimaldus to drop, then picking up an Assault Ram, and finally Steel Legion. I also have a sizeable Ork army as well.

[d3m01iti0n]

Double Trouble

[greendestiny]

Very nice looking army. Thanks for sharing!

[Acebaur]

Looks nice, I noticed the Storm Talon in there. how are you going to put that in the army?(allies obviously but wondering what the HQ and Troop will be)

 

Also, get some crosses on those blank shoulder pads! ;)

[d3m01iti0n]

Storm Talon was an impulse buy and just in there for fun. If we get it down the road then horray. Yeah I need to apply more crosses, mainly my AoBR shooty squad is unadorned but theyll all be replaced by regular models eventually.

[Arthanor]

Nice models! We can definitely see the improvements on your vehicles, I'm looking forward to the revamped infantry! And kudos for getting them on the webz, I haven't had the guts to put my work up here yet.

 

You could easily field the Storm Talon using C:SM allies painted as BTs for some much needed anti-air. AoBR squad as a tactical squad, your converted AoBR captain as.. a captain! and done. Being battle brothers, you can put the captain in a BT squad any ways and as a bonus, you get a shooty squad who will stay put on objectives and has grenades (handy if you can charged by a T6 MC, mmm S6 i4 krak grenades :huh:)

[d3m01iti0n]

Any advice on what washes for what colors? Im afraid to slap something on my hard work and ruin it.

[Honda]

I'll take a shot at the washes. Now, some of this depends on personal preference. I prefer a softer contrast on my guys, so look up my thread (Albigensian Crusade) to see how I see things. If you are striving for a sharper contrast in your colors, then you might take a look at Reinhard's thread as a good example.

 

So, having said that I would do the following:

 

1. White - I like a soft brown wash on my whites to take the sharpness out of the contrast with the black. You've already taken a step in this direction with the grey weathering you've done on your vehicles. So, one possibility is to use (not sure of the new names, so refer to a comparison chart) either Devlan Mud or Grphonne Sepia to edge your shoulder pads. You can also thin this down with water, like 4 drops of water to 1 drop of shade, and paint it over the white areas of your vehicles. Same with your shoulder pads.

 

2. Flesh - Devlan Mud does a good job of filling in the recesses on the faces to give them some definition. You may find yourself going back and adding just a few highlights to the nose, brow, and cheekbones, but that's not a bad thing to do anyway.

 

3. Red - The old wash was Baal Red. It was good for giving reds some depth. You can do a couple of things here. You could paint all the red area with the Red wash, then follow up with some red highlights (original color) or use the red wash in the recesses of the cloaks and such. Either work and give you some depth. Also, if you want to add some additional highlights, you can put a few thinned highlights on corners, folds and such, then wash the whole area in the red wash.

 

4. Black - I think you know what you are doing with black, so I would just say, get to a point where you are consistent with how it is treated across the army.

 

5. Bleached Bone - Again, Devlan Mud will be your friend. However, you mostly want to keep the shading in the shadows and where it might touch another color to give it some separation.

 

Most important lesson of all. DO NOT JUMP IN WITH BOTH FEET WHEN TRYING SOMETHING NEW. Pick one figure that you'll probably take off as a casualty for whatever reason, and try a couple of things and see how you like them. If you do something and you like the result, then you can have confidence that it will look good on the army.

 

Also, if you want to try a couple of things and then post them on here, I'd be glad to add more commentary.

 

Cheers,

[d3m01iti0n]

Awesome, thank you sir for the awesome write up. I typically beat up on the AoBR guys because they will all be replaced anyway (still have a Battleforce box with maybe 10 guys to build in it). So if I understand it correctly.....the basic "washes" you buy from GW are simply watered down "dark" versions of base colors designed to settle in the recesses, correct? I do have Nuln Oil and Ive tried it on my Orks and looks decent on their green skin. I was also recommended to try it on gunmetal/silver weaponry. So tonight I will pick up a few more colors and test them out.

 

I did water down a lighter brown (Snakebite Leather, or maybe Vermin) and tried to wash a Neo's face and it looked like crap, thats why Ive stayed away from washes so far.

 

EDIT: Another difference between my old and new models is my use of "layering" I suppose youd call it. Whereas the older models (my Initiates, Neos, Speeders, Dread) I would simply use one shade of each color in two or three coats, I now start with a darker color and layer on the lighter color and I REALLY like the effect better. For instance, my reds start as "Scab Red" and finish with "Blood Red", white starts as "Fortress Gray" and ends "Skull White", and so on. I guess this is standard practice but hey, Im still learning =)

[Honda]

I did water down a lighter brown (Snakebite Leather, or maybe Vermin) and tried to wash a Neo's face and it looked like crap, thats why Ive stayed away from washes so far.

 

Yeah, unfortunately, I could have told you that wasn't going to work. The pigments in washes and paint work differently and do not produce a similar effect. Now, if you had done a base coat of leather, then, a lighter layer of something like Elf Flesh (or equivalent) that would have gotten you a little closer to what you were after.

 

 

EDIT: Another difference between my old and new models is my use of "layering" I suppose youd call it. Whereas the older models (my Initiates, Neos, Speeders, Dread) I would simply use one shade of each color in two or three coats, I now start with a darker color and layer on the lighter color and I REALLY like the effect better. For instance, my reds start as "Scab Red" and finish with "Blood Red", white starts as "Fortress Gray" and ends "Skull White", and so on. I guess this is standard practice but hey, Im still learning =)

 

I am a big layer person as well. Not only that, but I like to thin out my paint with water so that it is the consistency of milk. Something I've noticed about the new paints is that they seem to dehydrate a lot, so that means adding water from time to time (like three drops of clean water after use).

 

A technique I like to use because it thins my layers out is to get a piece of paper towel and use an eye dropper to put a couple of drops of clean water on it. Then I put my base color on there in a dab. What this does is transfer some of the pigment off of the brush and get back some of the water, thinning your paint. Then paint the area with what is on the brush.

 

For layering, after the base coat has dried, I mix base coat + next higher color (e.g. Fortress Grey + Skull White) and apply my highlights. Then You can step this up by adding 1 dab of FG to 2 dabs of SW and take that as high as you want for your layered highlights.

 

As you will discover over time, a lot of this is not difficult, it just takes some practice. And don't be afraid to try new things. Even your mistakes will teach you something.

 

Cheers,

[d3m01iti0n]

Okay everybody, picked up some washes......

 

Before:

http://images.dakkadakka.com/gallery/2012/9/8/409914_md-Black%20Templars.jpg

 

After:

http://images.dakkadakka.com/gallery/2012/9/14/411590_md-.jpg

http://images.dakkadakka.com/gallery/2012/9/14/411589_md-.jpg

 

 

Before:

http://images.dakkadakka.com/gallery/2012/9/8/409917_md-.jpg

 

After:

http://images.dakkadakka.com/gallery/2012/9/14/411591_md-.jpg

http://images.dakkadakka.com/gallery/2012/9/14/411592_md-.jpg

 

 

So far Im happy with my first washes but I have a ways to go. Watched a tutorial on highlighting black armor so I will try and put it to good use tonight.