Lord Sessadore's Retribution

[Lord Sessadore]

Hello all!

I've put this off a really long time, but I've been wanting to put up a thread for my Retribution army for a long time. So, here it is. I've finally managed to seal a batch of models (this is difficult during winter here when you don't have a garage) and got some decent pictures of them (instead of yellow-tinted blurry ones, lol).

The purpose of this thread is partly just to share them (not that my painting is anything spectacular), and partly for my own motivation. Comments and critique are welcome. Since getting into Warmachine was the first time I really set brush to model I haven't been going for anything fancy, just a nice tabletop quality. I like to think that I can see the difference between my painting at the start (June-ish 2010) and now, heh. I'll just post a couple pictures of each model for now, but if people are interested I did take pictures from a few different angles.

Anyway, to start things off, the warcasters!

First up is Vyros, because he's my go-to guy:

[Lord Sessadore]

Ossyan:

[Lord Sessadore]

Ravyn, the newest addition:






(Also, IMO the best face I've done to date. Eyes are my bane!)

[Lord Sessadore]

My trusty Phoenix, the first Warmachine model I got: (I've re-done some parts and added the free-hand since the initial paint job, and recently reposed the right arm because I felt the pose was horribly static. Now it's more like he's getting ready to run some fool through ... or at least I think it looks like that.)






And last but not least, my newest myrmidon, the Banshee!
My freehand ability has definitely gotten better since I did the Phoenix, if I do say so myself.

[Arizona_Troll]

I love the alternate color scheme. It really works for me! The subtle differences in the two greens and two grays produces a very cool effect.

Well done

[Lord Sessadore]

As you can see from my sig, I do have quite a few more models to get pictures of. That should keep me busy for a while, plus whatever else I get painted I'll post up when it's done as well. Next up I think is the Mage Hunter Strike Force - I did hit them with dull coat, but it doesn't seem to be doing the trick by itself because a few of them have been chipping on me. Plan is to touch them up, then hit them with a gloss varnish and then dull coat again (which is what I did for all of the above) and hopefully that'll take care of them better.

[Lord Sessadore]

I love the alternate color scheme. It really works for me! The subtle differences in the two greens and two grays produces a very cool effect.

Well done

Thanks! Though I'm not sure what the second gray is. O_o

I've got a gloss coat on my MHSF, and just waiting for another nice day to do the dull coat. Hopefully today, actually.

I also managed to finish my last three invictors on the weekend, so I've got two more units to seal and get pics of after the strikeforce. Only 6 more unpainted models ... what am I going to do when I finish them?!

[Darguth]

Thanks! Though I'm not sure what the second gray is. O_o

I think he meant between the gray and the black

[komodokeeper]

IT's the ret-tron-bution

[Lord Sessadore]

I think he meant between the gray and the black

Ah, that makes sense I guess. On some of my mage hunter models I did the leathers with the same gray as above but with a heavy green wash ... but I didn't post any, so I got confused.

IT's the ret-tron-bution

Haha, I suppose they are a bit, with the dark black and grey with the bright green lines. On a similar note, the other week I noticed that the colours I picked are very similar to the colours used in the HTC Sense UI too, even though I picked the scheme far before I got my HTC.

Anyway, did manage to get the strikeforce sprayed down today, so pictures of them incoming as soon as I get a chance to take them with decent lighting. They're substantially less TRON, though.

[ColinT]

Looking good as always Matt, when we gonna see those new jacks on the tabletop?

[Lord Sessadore]

Looking good as always Matt, when we gonna see those new jacks on the tabletop?

The banshee has made it to a couple games, but it looks like I'm going to just be doing painting for now since I won't be able to play many games (if any) for a while. You'll be seeing them when I do get time to play again, though.

[twoheadsbarking]

I like the green and black, especially on the cloth. Very striking.

[Lord Sessadore]

More pictures!

These ones didn't turn out so well. They looked alright on the camera, but once I got them on the computer they look a little washed out. I used a very light green sheet as a backdrop instead of the brown cardboard box, which looked a bit nicer, but next time I'll have to not use a green sheet - even though it was quite different than the greens on the models, the fact that it's green made it difficult to try to correct the colours in photoshop.

Anyway, without further ado, the Mage Hunter Strike Force:






Closeups on their fearless leaders:


I really enjoyed painting them, they are fantastic models and quite different than painting the rest of the army, most of which is jacks and Dawnguard. They did definitely take more time than the Dawnguard, simply because there's more little details in more different colours, but those extra details and different colour palette is what made them interesting.

[Lord Sessadore]

And a bonus! The first mage hunter and everyone's favorite elf, pEiryss:


She was I think the third model I painted (after the Phoenix and Vyros) and I've specifically not done touch ups or improvements so that I have at least one model where can see where I started. I've forgotten whether some of the details are intended or I just forgot to finish them, like the pupil-less eyes and the black quiver. But they are as they are now, haha.

[Lord Sessadore]

Nearly ready to take some more pictures, I've been slacking on that front. Sentinels get to go in front of the camera next - they were giving me dirty looks for letting the mage hunters go first even though they've been around longer. I'm a little concerned about the matte sealer I used on them though - tried a Krylon spray instead of the dullcote I've been using, since the Krylon stuff comes in a bigger can. It didn't take off the shine nearly as much though ... I'm going to hit them with another coat and see if that helps, otherwise I might have to get more dullcote. Anyone have any suggestions on that front?

While I haven't been too productive with picture taking, I have been pretty productive (by my standards, at least) on the painting front - I officially have one more model to paint, my Manticore, and I will be fully painted! I figured that at this point I might as well get fully painted before buying anything else, and then I can paint as I buy to keep from having 20 or 30 some models to paint again.

[Lord Sessadore]

Finished! The manticore is done, and I officially have no more models to paint. Going to have to make a trip to the FLGS soon and pick something up.

Anyway, since I'm sure people are more interested in pictures than my story, here you go! My three Shyeel heavies, all in a row. Apologies for the crappy phone pic.

[Lord Sessadore]

Update!

Nothing that's newly painted, but a bunch of stuff that's newly photographed!

Griffon, who I think is going to see some table time when I proxy Vyros2 (excited!):


Discordia, with upgraded shoulder symbols to reflect her character status:




My two Mage Hunter Assassins:

[Lord Sessadore]

My trusty pair of Arcanists:


Soulless and Ghost Sniper:


And as promised, the Sentinels. Probably my favorite unit in Retribution. <3

[Lord Sessadore]

That's all for now, but I hope to have more soon. All of my painted models are now based, so all that's left is to seal them. The list includes Invictors + UA, Sylys, Stormfall Archers, Issyen, and Manticore.

I suppose I need to update my sig now, because I bought Kaelyssa. No more 100%, haha.

As always, C&C welcome. Also curious what people think of this set of photos - I think they're better than the previous ones, but more opinions would be good!

[Mordjinn]

Great looking force mate. I especially dig your freehand shoulders and the brighter green highlights on the Sentinel shoulderpads. Really makes them pop.

[Lord Sessadore]

I am sad.

I've got Kaelyssa and a Chimera (nothing wrong with getting the battlebox for your faction nearly 2 years after starting the game, right? ) all assembled and ready to prime, my painted & unsealed minis ready to be sealed ... and then we got hit with a wave of ridiculous winds a couple days ago. And will continue to have for the next couple days. And no garage means priming & sealing need to happen outside, so ...

I am sad. I guess no hobby work for me this week.

[Lord Sessadore]

Well, it's been a while! Took these pictures a while ago, just never got around to editing them. Without further ado ...

Sylys, the wish-nailer:

I wanted to tie him in with my Retribution scheme (the green cloth and grey and black metals), but still give him some colouring that set him apart a bit as a merc, so I did the maroon cloak. I'm quite pleased with how it turned out!

Fane Knight Skeryth Issyen (aka the Pain Knight). I was a little worried about painting the horse flesh when I got him, but again I think it came out pretty good. Wasn't really all that different than normal shading, just a bit different contours and such that you're painting on.

[Lord Sessadore]

Stormfall Archers:


Dawnguard Invictor UA:

The rest of the Invictors are done as well, but I've only sealed these two plus 4 of the unit. I did take some pictures of those 6, but decided I'd wait and upload pictures of the whole unit together like I did for the others.

[Lord Sessadore]

Been a while since I've posted anything new (again), but thought I'd just throw up a preview of things to come (cross-posted from the Ret forums):

The Incissar (sans horsie) with a Manticore inspecting the arcanists' progress on the newest Hyperion.





As I was putting Hyperion together I got curious how it compared size-wise to a heavy myrmidon, so I pulled out the Manticore since it's the closest in style to Hype. Then I thought of the comparison pics on the PP gallery and pulled out Vyros too. Then I thought, "Hey, why not make a scene out of it and take a picture or two?" and pulled out the arcanists. And Voila! This is the result.

[m3g4tr0n]

I really like the colors you chose. Looks more "elfish" over the standard colors. I especially liked Vyros' cape.

[Lord Sessadore]

Thanks! I didn't give Vyros' cape any different treatment than the rest, but I'm glad you like it all the same. I guess most of the rest of the capes I have posted are on the MHSF, and those are admittedly poor pictures; I should retake those sometime.

[Smeeg699]

So, my question to you, sir, since you know I'm working on my Sentinels and jacks as well, is how do you get the green in the grooves so cleanly?

I've been trying to do something with a light blue on top of my dark green metal armor for the Sents/jacks, but it's, well, damned messy. Is it basically paint the base metal, use a really watered down green, or in my case blue, then go back and touch up the green afterwards?

If so, I gotta work on not messing up the grooves with green when I do that, cuz I really suck at it, lol. Then again, having painted maybe a total if 25 models in my entire life, I guess it's ok to suck right now.

[Lord Sessadore]

Yeah, you've basically said how I did it. For mine I do the grey and black basecoat, then use watered down green in the power lines. If it's watered down enough it usually takes two or sometimes three coats of the green to fully colour, and yes it often spills over. However, the more watered down it is the less pigment you actually get spilling over, and the paint will actually fall into the grooves on its own. If you get the consistency right you almost don't really paint the grooves, you just kind of lead the paint through them, if that makes sense? Then I go back afterwards with the black or grey and touch up around the lines and hopefully don't get any black/grey into the grooves.

I do all the edge highlighting and shading on the armour plates after that, otherwise when you touch up the green spills you have to re-do the highlights too.

And don't worry about not being the greatest painter. I'm not fantastic either, but you will get better with practice. Try new techniques as you get more confidence, too! A piece of advice I've read a few times that I agree with is to resist the temptation to go back and touch up or redo your older models - it's really nice to be able to look back at where you came from as a painter, and nothing shows progress better than comparing your newest piece to the first one you ever painted!

[Jayz]

nice army so far how is the hyperion coming allong?

your free hands are very nice! great inspiration for my army!!