Converted Dark Elves Ready for The Pitch

[mozz]

At long last, my first BB team is ready to play. All the names are historical or mythological and pulled from any a host of sources based primarily on how cool the name sounded. No team name yet though so I'm up for suggestions. C&C on the models is welcome too.

The WIP thread is here, and the photobucket album is here.

The whole team:



Two Witch Elves:







4 Blitzers







3 Female Linemen







4 Linemen







The Runner

[Duder]

Very cool team. Great job!

[DixonCider]

those are amazing

[Shteve0]

Yeah, love these. Well done mate, superb execution

[burgun824]

Good looking team. I really like the white helmets. It makes them 'POP'.

[Sir-Skofis]

Very nice conversions and nice looking team. Congrats!

[Norse]

Norse doesn't sugar coat stuff...

awesome conversions get 9/10.. would have been 9.5 without the whips on the witches..

paint job does not do the conversion work justice, seems rushed, as if you were trying to make a deadline? their eyes just look like black dots to me, detail is limited

also, personal taste, I've never been a fan of names on bases.. players should have a number on their uniform or helmet, that's all...

I loved seeing the conversions, but I find the paint job disappointing, sorry.. overall 7/10 could have been SO much better with an extra few hours on detailing the minis...

[DinoTitanedition]

I really dig the shoulderpads. What are they? Green Stuff?

[mozz]

Thanks for the kind words guys. This team was great fun to convert but the painting was definitely a hassle.

I really dig the shoulderpads. What are they? Green Stuff?

It's grey stuff actually. To be honest, at my skill level there's no appreciable difference really. The only thing I notice is that the grey stuff doesn't seem as sticky. Anyway, I go over the pad making process in this thread here.

paint job does not do the conversion work justice, seems rushed, as if you were trying to make a deadline? their eyes just look like black dots to me, detail is limited [...] overall 7/10 could have been SO much better with an extra few hours on detailing the minis...

You hit the nail on the head here Norse. I almost literally painted myself into a corner with the eyes. I did most of the flesh work first over white primer. I did not anticipate how difficult working around the helmet and the face guard would be. By the time it came to do the eyes I was not confident I could get realistic eyes painted in there and went for just black almond shapes as a visual shorthand for eyes. It's a shortcut and it shows.

As for details, what do you mean other than the eyes? On the helmet and white clothing I did almost no shading because I wanted the uniforms to be as bright as they could be. Is this lack of shading what you mean? If painting the stripes had gone better I would have considered adding logos or numbers to the helmets. Without that I can see that these guys come across pretty bland.

Thanks for the critiques though. I'm the best painter in a really small community so it's easy to get lazy. I just played my first game of BB on the tabletop yesterday and I'm already eyeing another team to build. I'll see if I can't step up my game in the second half.

[Chris]

I don't like the whips as well, but... since they are on both models I wouldn't mind as clearly marks the type and you can rationalise it in various ways...

Names on bases?Guess it depends if you see them as boardgame pieces or not? I like numbers on the models and colour coded bases so not sure where that puts me!

[Wifflebat]

I kinda like the whips! It seems sort of believable to me--and I've always hated Horkon and other dagger-wielding minis.

The names on the bases would bug me because I'd have to pain't 'em out anytime a player died.

[Norse]

well first off, start with the eyes next time...

http://www.impactminiatures.com/Gallery ... gGuide.pdf

lack of shading on armour and boots is slightly weird, especially the lack of shadows on the white, but for example on the flesh tones I like the fact they are understated.. more shading on flesh = more muscular definition = less femininity as a rule, so the light shading on the abdomens is flattering..

the highlighting on the purple is slightly obvious.. probably looks great from 3 feet away, but in images the size of the ones above, looks a little drybrushed maybe? also for the stripes, I might have done a black or very dark purple stripe first and then done a purple/pink stripe inside the black stripe.. against white it would give a better outline and look more striking...

here's some white and purple ladies I painted a LONG time ago.. 2 hours per mini, but possible to pack in some shading with codex and fortress grey and still make the overall white look clean... and yeah, with those helmets on I had to paint the eyes first...

[Norse]

I've always hated Horkon and other dagger-wielding minis.

but DE assassins come with the Stab skill, so they need some kind of sharp implement..

Witches should not have any weapons other than a svelte 34-22-34 stat line..

[Wifflebat]

I've always hated Horkon and other dagger-wielding minis.

but DE assassins come with the Stab skill, so they need some kind of sharp implement..

Witches should not have any weapons other than a svelte 34-22-34 stat line..

I prefer spiked fists, like Jordell's or Varag's. I don't usually like anybody but Secret Weapon guys carrying weapons on their minis. It's a personal preference... I just want the players on the field to look like Blood Bowl players. The whips, though, seem kind of integrated to me, like the spikes.

[mozz]

Well, as far as the whips go, it was partly because it looks cool and partly because I came to BB via the video game. In the game, during the which's touchdown animation she whips the ball on the ground. I was not familiar with the fluff at all until I made these models.

I guess I also think it looks cool. Now that I am more familiar with the background and how other teams look I would probably skip the whips.

@ Chris: Color coding the bases is a very good idea as it would help distinguish players. Hadn't thought of that before.

As for names, I like the character they add. I saw someone's roster online and he would just use numbers to differentiate versions, so something like "John IV." When John IV dies John V is purchased and so on. I want to remember the exploits of my minis. Razia I already ran in a 6+ interception for a touchdown in my demo game, then was promptly killed 3 turns or so later. I'll remember that even if it's technically Razia II now.

@ Norse: Those are some excellent miniatures. The stripe technique is a solid idea too. I considered trying multiple colors on the stripe but opted for simplicity. Excellent job on the free hand numbers as well.

I hear what you're saying on doing the eyes first. I didn't in this case because I wanted to experiment with using an airbrush for the flesh tones. It worked pretty well but, again, I painted myself into a corner with the eyes.

As for the uniforms, I definitely should have added more shading. However, I spent a while trying to shade the boots. Obviously that didn't come out in the miniatures. I could have gone a shade or so lighter at the uppermost parts of the boots. I've struggled with including enough contrast in the past. I'll just have to be careful of that again.