Defenders of Malko

I hinted last post that I was going to start on another faction for our Border Princes campaign. If you remember, right at the start of this project I drew up a map of the Border Princes that the campaign will be fought over. At the centre of that map is the town of Malko, one of the major objectives of the campaign. We decided that Malko should have some neutral defenders, to provide some opposition to any players trying to take the town.

In come these Bretonnian archers! The Border Princes is a region outside the more civilised areas of the old world, but is home to some that try their luck in the wilder areas. This includes quite a few Bretonnian nobles that decide to strike out with their retinues and make a life there. As such Bretonnia was a clear pick for the neutral faction that occupies Malko.

These archer models are the ones that were found in the 5th edition Warhammer starter set. They are single part models and there are two poses. You’ll notice all the archers in this batch are the same pose however, as I decided to paint 12 of the one pose and then do 12 of the other pose later.

While I’m talking about these models, definitely check out the Hammer the Backlog blog, especially posts like this one, with photos of the fully painted starter set in question! Lee over there has done an awesome job of bringing them to life.

To break up the uniformity of the models I decided to try to differentiate them by changing the patterns of their clothes. I think it worked pretty well!

Painting-wise these are nothing special, mostly my usual basecoat > wash > highlight process I do for my “bulk” army models. Here are the colours used:

Undercoat: Vallejo Primer Dunkelgelb

Yellow: Undercoat (left as is) > GW Agrax Earthshade > Vallejo Heavy Goldbrown

Green: Vallejo Heavy Green > GW Agrax Earthshade > Vallejo Heavy Green > 50/50 Vallejo Heavy Green/Vallejo Russian Uniform WWII

Wood (Bow/Arrows): Vallejo German Came Medium Brown > GW Agrax Earthshade > Vallejo German Came Medium Brown > 50/50 Vallejo German Came Medium Brown/Vallejo German Camo Beige WWII

Leather: GW Gore Grunta Fur Contrast > GW Agrax Earthshade

Silver: Scale 75 Black Metal > GW Agrax Earthshade > Scale 75 Black Metal

Brass: Scale 75 Necro Gold > GW Agrax Earthshade > Scale 75 Necro Gold

Light Skin: GW Bugman’s Glow > GW Reikland Fleshade > GW Bugman’s Glow > GW Cadian Fleshtone > GW Kislev Flesh > GW Carroburg Crimson (Noses only!)

Dark Skin: GW Bugman’s Glow > GW Contrast Cygor Brown > 50/50 GW Bugman’s Glow/GW Contrast Cygor Brown

Base Rims: Vallejo US Field Drab

These were fun to paint, and very quick! I have the second batch sitting in paint stripper, and they should be ready soon. Good chance then that the next post will be more archers unless I get distracted by something else along the way!