Armada Conversions

[Kelly]

Here are crew conversions for the rest of the starter box Orc ships...




...both fall into the diminishing returns category since the masts had to be raised different heights, cutting and re-cutting down my existing spacers for masts, and since these upper decks are closed, there were not a lot of choices to populate them and bring everything up to PSB code.  I do not plan on getting an XL size for these, and the smallest ship for the faction is only about an inch long for the squadron, so that may be it as far as the Orcs go.

[Kelly]

I began working through the Basilean ships from the starter set using what I learned from the Orc crews.  First, I only used the PSB poses from the earlier ships, but I narrowed down their width to put in a little contrast between the races since they are a human faction as opposed to orcs.  They do not stand out, but I did want more muted colors for these decks, so the striped sails could have room to be the focal point on this fleet.


The mortar on the front is a disc and recess mount, so I set a magnet in the bottom of the mortar so it can freely rotate to face targets.

[Kelly]

The next starter Basilea ship is the Gur Panther, again with risers on the masts to allow room on the decks for crew.  Planning out my color palettes by fleet has restricted my choices on what colors I can use for the crews to keep them differentiated, and I think I will have to really pack the decks more to balance out the neutral colors for the Basileans.


...and a closer view for PSB certification.

[Kelly]

Below is the next test crew conversion for the Orc fleet: one Rabble ship.  According to the background the Rabble are crewed by goblins, so I reworked the regular PSB crew down from 6mm to 4.5mm and angled all of their legs to have them hanging off of the sides of the ship since there is no real deck to speak of on these.  The Rabble Squadrons are in the Tiny size category, barely over an inch and a half, and are meant to be dual based on a 30mm square, but there was barely room for two stock Rabble to fit, much less with crew overhanging both sides, so I will be basing these individually.

[Covertwalrus]

 Really captured the feel of a well-crewed but less that well-organised assult team carrier there. I love your conversions just as art pieces alone. (Y)

[Easy E]

Love these little adds.

[Kelly]

I have not had much progress on my Armada Basileans, one Elohi was finished before the end of the year with raised masts to allow room on the deck for PSB crew, but it involved a lot more work than any of the other medium sized ships so far.  With all of the cannons below deck on this ship, I put on swords and shields as the prior gun crew poses would be out of place.  There are no shields I had to match from the rest of the current range, so I did half pointed versions to tie them into the Basilean range from the original Kings of War.


Anyone comparing this to Mantic’s production shots will note there is only a hand wreathed in flame instead of an inch long staff… after several attempts at repairing that breakage I decided to cut my losses and cut down that part of the figurehead.  And then, I thought how hard could it be to just cut out the rest and make the next Elohis stand out?

Really really hard as it turned out… far more work than putting together crew and pinning up masts combined, but the existing figurehead is roughly the same scale as the Battles of Westeros pieces from Fantasy Flight.  I have boxes of those, and picked out two to cut and fit into the front of the second and third Elohis.


The replacements took paint well and I do not have to worry about them breaking as they are incredibly soft plastic.  The different fronts will make it easier for ship management instead of the letter tokens from the starter, and I have literally handfuls of different weapons from the out of print BoW boxes that can be used for any future Elohi fronts, I just need a break for something with a little shorter build time.

[Kelly]

...I just need a break for something with a little shorter build time.

And since the Sloops are not much more than an inch tall, I think they qualify as shorter…


Even though they are tiny, the curve of these sails do leave more room than I expected on the deck for placements of PSB crew, far more than the Orc Rabbles.  My first attempt on a Sloop was the only one that included the freestanding cannon that comes with these, but I could not get it to look right, so I will be saving the remainder of the cannons to fill out another larger Basilean ship’s deck.  For all of the rest I am just putting on an assortment of printed crew.

[Kelly]

While not technically conversions, these Dwarf Hunters do include the magnetic insets I am planning on using across all the Armada fleets for basing and storage.  These are still too small for any PSB integration, and while they broadly appear to be close to the Dwarf Thunderer, their details of outline and layout are different enough that I had no areas to easily tie in the wooden decks or additional spot colors of blue on the other Dwarf ships.



Guess which of these three were Vault prints?

[Kelly]

Next ship test for my Dwarf fleet is this Fury.  Again the ship is totally enclosed, so no opportunities for PSB integration, and also no decking options to match the wood from the first ones, the design of the Fury did have good options to spread out the color palette in a balanced way.


My one regret is the rivets on the dragonscales along the side.  They were an ordeal to highlight and they look very out of place as opposed to the armor plating.  I have never been shy about adding to models, but hardly ever remove anything… if I paint another Fury, I’ll be slicing each of those off and may go back to remove these at a later point.

[Kelly]

I am still reworking my basing plans for Armada, but whatever shape they take, they will have plenty of details added.  My first test pieces for ships' boats are a little over 3/4 of an inch should easily fit around most medium and small size bases.


Also along the bottom are the first debris pieces.  Barrels did not work out as they were far too small, and masts will probably be too outsized for bases, so unless inspiration strikes, assorted plank lengths will be the extent of anything floating.

[Kelly]

The Dwarf ships are all heavy, single blocks and I thought it might be time to work on something a little lighter…


…like their airships!  These were a little difficult to manage while painting as they are very top-heavy, but the main issue was that they have a heptagonal cross section for some reason (I have another heptagonal project I have been putting off for months) and my plan was to break up the expanse of the balloon.  Seven is impossible to divide, and it was at least a week of trials until I remembered that that multiplying by two will always result in an even number, so here we are with a 14 checker pattern.

No PSBs again, I think all the Dwarves in the setting are smart enough to stay inside when the shooting starts.

[Ruckdog]

I really like the envelopes on those air ships! The alternating colors on the panels really make them pop.

[Kelly]

One of the first thoughts I had for Mantic Vault models was using translucence by printing in clear resin, and the Trident Realms release gave me the perfect subject to finally test.


The Kyr Angler was printed with plain clear resin as I have not yet tested out how dye ratios will affect the curing process, and after hollowing out, the glowing portions just received a plain blue wash.  The remainder of the model was primed with a brush and then built up around the glow parts.  During the painting process, I held the model up to a lamp for light-proofing and mostly kept the appropriate areas together, but I definitely should have stretched the stl out wider for ease of access on the inscribed back plates as I did lose some detail along the spine.

Three trials so far, and nothing is set yet on the final lighting… the latest is a set of cut-down Christmas lights, but I definitely will be using this on a 75mm base to represent the Kraken from the base scenarios which should allow plenty of room for batteries within.

Will I do an entirely lighted fleet?  Not anytime soon, or probably ever… this took far longer than any other conversion, but I am glad I have at least this one as a scenario centerpiece.

[Ruckdog]

That looks fantastic! Clear resin opens up all kinds of possibilities.