Khador ? Black Dragon theme

[apologist]

Hi all. I'm new to the forum – and to the game. While I've had my eye on the old metal Juggernauts for years, I've never taken the plunge into the game until now.

My gaming group has only just started with Warmachine. I wasn't sure whether the game would stick, so as a result, I gave these a quick tabletop paint job. Now we've played a bit, we're all keen to get our stuff on the table, as we're really enjoying the game.



I decided to go with an alternative scheme for my Khador, as I aim to produce a gritty, muted, more realistic feel. As a result, I've gone for a black scheme, loosely themed around the Black Dragon background. For the same reasons, I've left off the warcaster's shoulder pads and cloak.

As a huge fan of Vladimir Tzepeski after reading the background, I was really pleased to see that my favourite Khador models – Drago, Iron Fangs, Uhlans – all fit in quite nicely around him, so they'll be coming up next.

I'm in two minds about the basing. I'm quite tempted to go for snow for a real high contrast effect. What do you think?

[Gladius]

I actually really like the dried grass look. If you wanted to put snow on the bases, I would just add a few small patches. Vlad looks awesome, BTW. Gee, I guess he never really needed the shoulder pads after all!

[apologist]

Ta! Here are some close-ups of Tzepesci without his 80s newsreader shoulder pads:









I'll post some detail pics of 'Roach and Rover when I get a minute, too.

[PG_Kerk]

Great !
How did you remove his shoulder pads ?

[apologist]

Just left them off – they're optional
I hope that design choice is carried through to the upcoming 3rd version.

[Karl Eller]

I'm really digging Epic Vlad without the shoulders, and now I'm wondering if I could convert an eVlad body with pVlad's weapons and make it look convincing...

[jdeckert]

Very cool scheme, and you pulled it off really nicely instead of having it come out boring or unfinished. It's just really sharp. Your black turned out really nice, looks well-oiled. I don't mind Vlad's shoulder pads as much as some people (they make more sense after reading some of the IFP fluff), but he's looking really good here.

[Nuriochi_sol]

Really striking and effective color scheme! Can't wait to see more!

[Drzombieface]

If I ever get back into Khador, consider that Vlad scheme sort of stolen.

[apologist]

Roach 05
Some close-up pictures of the Juggernaut.

[apologist]

I really enjoyed painting this guy. This is a fairly quick scheme to get on the tabletop, but I'd like to go back and see if I can give him (and the others) a bit more 'zing' at some point. While I've read through the Khador book and main rulebook, I'm still waiting for a real background 'hook' to add, which may influence the final result.

+++
WIP Iron Fang Pikeman

[the_Ravenous]

looking good in black, and vlad sans shoulderpads looks very nice with a touch or two of menancing - well done.

[badwolf-00]

That color scheme looks sexy! ha I really like that gritty realistic look going on here and I also like the ever so slight gold trim you have on Vlad's armor.

[PG_Finkmonkey]

They look quite murderous. Way to pull of the scheme. Looks great.

[Khador247]

I love the look of your Vlad. He looks good without the shoulder pads and I like the simplistic color scheme. Great detail on the head too.

[MikeyC]

I like what you tried to do, but the details all just mash together and look like one big blob of black. There isn't any contrast to the black on them. Had you tried to use like a red as trim instead of the brass/bronze/copper I think it would have gone a long way towards splitting up the dark monotony.

But as to the actual painting, and less about the color scheme, you did do a pretty good job.

[guspm]

If you leave the shoudler pads off does he have a large enough percentage of the model left to count? doesn't that leave him with only 49% of original?

[JuicySquash]

The eyes on your IFP are amazing, it looked like someone was actually staring at me when I scrolled down. Freaked me out a little but nicely done.

[apologist]

Coo, thanks for all the feedback – this is a really friendly forum, with good critique

I started work on Drago last night.

Fairly early stages, but I like to block out the shapes, then add the focal point (faces or glowing bits), before developing any more. This approach gives me my highlights and shadows so that I can work on the midtones.



MikeyC's point

[...]details all just mash together and look like one big blob of black. There isn't any contrast to the black on them

is a really valid one, and something I'm keen to address. At the moment they are extremely dark-toned, with nothing to really draw the eye or lift the pieces. This is particularly a problem at tabletop height, as the focal point (the head) is partially hidden by the armour's 'cowl'.

I'm going to play around with the paintjob on Drago (as a character piece, he can stand out a little more if it's not something I want to extend across the army) to try out some ideas to break up the dark tones without introducing too many colours – I'm a bit concerned I'll lose the brooding feel if I go that direction.

[apologist]

+++

The eyes on your IFP are amazing, it looked like someone was actually staring at me when I scrolled down. Freaked me out a little but nicely done.

Heh, sorry – and thanks! I like painting skintones best of all, so I'm looking forward to tackling some brave helmetless Khards soon.
(Hope it's okay to post these here – please let me know if not, and I'll delete 'em post-haste)




+++
Iron Fang Pikemen

A little more work done on these.

[P.S. Could a kind moderator alter the title of the thread, please? The '?' is supposed to be a '–']

[apologist]

Rover 03



The grit in the bombard has since been removed!


[cont.]

[apologist]

[cont.]



Not at all sure about the pose on Rover. Maybe I'll break him up and reposition the legs, like I did on Roach.

[Celebros]

That Vlad mod is amazing. That is the best looking Khador caster I've seen.

[Mod_Plarzoid]

I love this idea, but the nearly complete lack of highlighting on the black makes it hard to see detail. The checkerboard pattern is very well executed.

[soedis]

I really like the idea of em being totally black and without a stand out contrast. It's just a heavy metal blob of destructoid machinery ^^
Weather them up like hell and make em look they've got up on the wrong side of the bed each day of the last century ;-)
Keep up the good work dude :-)

[MikeyC]

Coo, thanks for all the feedback – this is a really friendly forum, with good critique

I started work on Drago last night.

Fairly early stages, but I like to block out the shapes, then add the focal point (faces or glowing bits), before developing any more. This approach gives me my highlights and shadows so that I can work on the midtones.



MikeyC's point is a really valid one, and something I'm keen to address. At the moment they are extremely dark-toned, with nothing to really draw the eye or lift the pieces. This is particularly a problem at tabletop height, as the focal point (the head) is partially hidden by the armour's 'cowl'.

I'm going to play around with the paintjob on Drago (as a character piece, he can stand out a little more if it's not something I want to extend across the army) to try out some ideas to break up the dark tones without introducing too many colours – I'm a bit concerned I'll lose the brooding feel if I go that direction.

I think if I were painting them I would attempt more highlighting of the black to split up the details a bit more. Besides that the awesome checker patterns you have on some of them are very well executed, I would just try to make the white brighter and maybe add more checker patterns. The last thing I would do would be to pay homage to the original Khador colors and use some red here and there as accents. It doesn't even have to be a bright red, but can be more of a deep scarlet.

A few ideas. Use the checker pattern on the inner side of shoulder pads then do the rest in a deep scarlet would be pretty cool. Or use a deep scarlet on some of the plates around the fists or on the barrels of guns.

Edit: Also, thank you for being one of few people to be able to take constructive criticism without spazzing out. It is much appreciated and I almost did not originally post. I am glad I did though.

[squidstudios]

Try taking your photos with a gray or black background. Your camera will make better white balance decisions and your blacks will show detail better.

[apologist]

That Vlad mod is amazing. That is the best looking Khador caster I've seen.

Coo, thanks very much! I've never claimed to be more than a journeyman painter, but it's great to have such complimentary feedback.

Also, thank you for being one of few people to be able to take constructive criticism without spazzing out. It is much appreciated and I almost did not originally post. I am glad I did though.

I always say 'If you're going to post stuff up for critique, you can't be sensitive if people don't like it'. Thanks for the valuable points – I've taken a few more shots of Roach, who has earned himself some replacement red honour plates. I think these break up the black quite nicely, so cheers for the ideas.







...and a final shot of him menacing a disarmed Cygnar Ironclad

[MikeyC]

I always say 'If you're going to post stuff up for critique, you can't be sensitive if people don't like it'. Thanks for the valuable points – I've taken a few more shots of Roach, who has earned himself some replacement red honour plates. I think these break up the black quite nicely, so cheers for the ideas.

Those red plates make such an enormous difference. Absolutely awesome looking now that there is differentiation between the black plates and.. well.. more black plates. I personally may also try to find something in the leg region to redo red as well, but that's me being nitpicky. Awesome work, I love this guy.

[isaac]

Those Khador 'jacks look great. I especially love Vlad without the shoulderpads. He goes from cartoony to menacing in two shoulderpads flat. Great look to him.

[Darkmeer]

Have to agree with MikeyC. The red plates just make everything pop more. This makes me like these MUCH more.

[rvrchamp]

Very nice man... though I'm somewhat biased as I have an extremely similar paint scheme. haahaa

keep up the great work!

[Autumn Stone]

Those are beautiful paint jobs.

I must ask, what colours have you used for Vlad's hair. It's perfect.

Cheers
A.S.