General Hobby Chatter!

[Melcavuk]

35 minutes ago, sigmar is scottish said:

How would you guys go about creating your own race? 

I had a throw away idea i could use help on.

gorkamorka stumbling across slaanesh's prison during one of his mindless rampages. Not really understanding the enormity of what he's come across and unable to let an opportunity to humble a fellow God go past he smashes his mighty fist into the God of excess stomach, causing a violent expulsion of soul matter. 

Briefly amused by these pathetic mewlling creatures he would unintentionally help shape them by his brutal will. However as is his want this amusement wouldn't last long and they would be cast into the mortal realms to fend for themselves. 

Prized for their strength and sharp intellect the fractured people would be pressed into slavery by the races of the mortal realms or hunted down by others as an abomination that shouldn't be. 

years of suffering at the hands of others  would help shape them into a hardy people with a strong identity and hatred for all others outside of their own. Even the Gods wouldn't be spared their ire. 

The exodus of these people wouldn't happen in a flood but rather a trickle. Chain gangs breaking free of their masters whip, gladiators revolting from the fighting pits, miners turning pick and hammer on slave drivers. 

Drawn together the people's would form into wandering nomadic groups across the mortal realms. Using their freedom to explore the worlds denied to them and hurt thoughs that had hurt them. 

 

This is pretty much as far as I've gotten outside if how I imagine them looking. Even if I did get the chance to start the project and see if I could mould these guys to the table top I dont even know where I'd start or how I would represent them on the table top. 

Lol please dont gut me for this.

It would ultimately come down to what you mean by race. Are these Aelven? I mean slaanesh probably ate a whole load of stuff toward then end and whilst alot were aelves likely countless other species got swept up.

Are you looking to convert to fit an existing army?
Create a unique battletome army?
Fit within a grand alliance army instead?

If you spell out your "look" for them we can suggest base models, conversion concepts etc but when you decide the scope of the project it'll define where you go from there.

[Overread]

Building your own army can be anything from just theory crafting your own lore all the way to sculpting your own miniatures.

It really depends how far you want to go; how much skill you have (and how much you are willing to learn); how much money you have (some conversions are cool but ultimately very expensive to achieve); if you want to stick to GW only or 3rd party parts and models (a consideration for GW store and GW event playing); how much time you have (some stuff is cool and you can achieve it but the time investment can be significant). 

Rules wise its often easier to take an existing army and just put a twist on it with a visual creative direction; whilst keeping the base size, stats and overall function of the existing army. That makes them easier to slot into any game and makes most pepole more accepting of them. Making your own rules comes with its own pitfalls; lack of support for tournaments and potentially fewer pickup casual games locally (really varies on your local group(s)

[sigmar is scottish]

58 minutes ago, EccentricCircle said:

I guess the first thing is to decide what kind of base you want to build them around. For conversion purposes its usually best to start with some kind of existing model to work from. There are those who are very handy with green stuff and fimo clay, and can sculpt their own models from scratch. For most though its best to look at a variety of ranges to find something which is close, and then build on that by kitbashing, green stuffing and creating variant paint schemes.

You then need to convert some rules to represent them. Again its perfectly possible to write an AoS warscroll or alliegence abilities from scratch, but its always easier to have a starting point, and tweak things a bit to better match what you want your army to be able to do. The simplest solution is to create a "counts as" force, so you take a legal army list, but use your custom models to represent the existing scrolls. That may be easier said than done if your idea is quite unique, but if you can find something similar then its possible to add rules, change numbers and generally tinker until it gets closer to what you want.

Good luck with the project, it sounds great, so we'll be keen to see what you come up with!

First off thanks for the quick reply all of you.

@EccentricCircle thanks for the support. At the moment this is just something floating around the old noggin and some scrawled on a notepad but if I do you'll be one of the first to know. 

It would defo be a case of a counts as. I'm not the best with rules so creating my own just seems like a stroke waiting to happen. 

30 minutes ago, Melcavuk said:

It would ultimately come down to what you mean by race. Are these Aelven? I mean slaanesh probably ate a whole load of stuff toward then end and whilst alot were aelves likely countless other species got swept up.

Are you looking to convert to fit an existing army?
Create a unique battletome army?
Fit within a grand alliance army instead?

If you spell out your "look" for them we can suggest base models, conversion concepts etc but when you decide the scope of the project it'll define where you go from there.

@Melcavuk thanks for the reply bud and sorry I realise I was vague on that part. 

I defo think they are Aelven but twisted by gorkamorkas brutal will. Taller than men but shorter than aelves but slightly more muscular than your standard Aelven. The skin colour varies from a light ash colouring to a dark greyish green. Tribal tattoos, branding and scarification. Baked leathers, hide and bone for armour with very little metal work in their arms and armour and although slightly feral looking there is more than a hint of some sophistication to their attire.    

Their facial features would be angular and sharp like the rest of the aelven species with their pointy ears and piercing eyes but with a heavy brow, piggish nose and small tusks reminiscent of the orruks. 

Being a nomadic and hunting based society I imagine they use large beasts to aid in said hunting and moving of their camps.

25 minutes ago, Overread said:

Building your own army can be anything from just theory crafting your own lore all the way to sculpting your own miniatures.

It really depends how far you want to go; how much skill you have (and how much you are willing to learn); how much money you have (some conversions are cool but ultimately very expensive to achieve); if you want to stick to GW only or 3rd party parts and models (a consideration for GW store and GW event playing); how much time you have (some stuff is cool and you can achieve it but the time investment can be significant). 

Rules wise its often easier to take an existing army and just put a twist on it with a visual creative direction; whilst keeping the base size, stats and overall function of the existing army. That makes them easier to slot into any game and makes most pepole more accepting of them. Making your own rules comes with its own pitfalls; lack of support for tournaments and potentially fewer pickup casual games locally (really varies on your local group(s)

@Overread thanks for the reply and help.

Oh 100% just theory crafting at the moment. I'm not part of any gaming group or anything so anything I do create would be for myself and to share with you lovely people. I never see me getting this past a few units and maybe a monster or two. I can't see me getting a full fledged army out of this but hey maybe a warcry warband lol. 

I'm not much for sculpting but I'm happy using green stuff for conversions. 

[Melcavuk]

Never doubt what you can make, I'm upto 2 full custom tome rules and a third started in AoS, it tends to snowball once you get inspired. Rules feedback can be challenging to get, people are more inclined to comment upon the models or official rules and tend to steer clear. Still if you do work on any rules tag me into it and I'll give it a look over for what its worth.

For bodies the Idoneth are the best bet for what you described for a starting point, definitively more muscular that your standard aelf and decent poses too.

[sigmar is scottish]

13 minutes ago, Melcavuk said:

Never doubt what you can make, I'm upto 2 full custom tome rules and a third started in AoS, it tends to snowball once you get inspired. Rules feedback can be challenging to get, people are more inclined to comment upon the models or official rules and tend to steer clear. Still if you do work on any rules tag me into it and I'll give it a look over for what its worth.

For bodies the Idoneth are the best bet for what you described for a starting point, definitively more muscular that your standard aelf and decent poses too.

Thanks man I really appreciate the support and words of encouragement. If I do have a tinker with the rules I'll 100% let you know. 

Also you read my friggin mind on the IDK. Weapons and armour I think with minimal work would be what I'm after. I think possibly their battle tomb as well as they have lots of beasties that rule wise could represent their beasts of burden. 

[Moldek]

@sigmar is scottish have you thought about kairic acolytes too? They could give some interesting bodies as they are pretty muscular but still have some agility to them.

Edited September 23, 2019 by Moldek

[sigmar is scottish]

8 hours ago, Moldek said:

@sigmar is scottish have you thought about kairic acolytes too? They could give some interesting bodies are they are pretty muscular but still have some agility to them.

I was actually thinking this. Their weapon options as well was something I thought about as I like the idea of spears and shields. Maybe I could Possibly combine the two kits.

I've been looking at some of the war cry kits as well.

[EccentricCircle]

If you can find them the old wardancers .ight be a good fit, but they are getting a bit scarce these days, so its probably best to stick to extant kits.

If you're not planning on going to tourneys then definitely take a look at other companies that make 28-32mm figures. You can get a lot of diversity just by taking stuff from non GW sources, which others might be less familiar with.

Edited September 23, 2019 by EccentricCircle

[sigmar is scottish]

1 hour ago, EccentricCircle said:

If you can find them the old wardancers .ight be a good fit, but they are getting a bit scarce these days, so its probably best to stick to extant kits.

If you're not planning on going to tourneys then definitely take a look at other companies that make 28-32mm figures. You can get a lot of diversity just by taking stuff from non GW sources, which others might be less familiar with.

This is something I will defo look into. In not a competitive game at all so tournaments don't interest me. This will mainly just be for me.

[michu]

New way to use contrast - dipping.

[Overread]

@michu careful! I've heard some artistic purists burn dippers at the stake! 

 

Honestly I rather like how contrast works on large surface areas for things like large lizards and scales - ergo organics. It gives a slight randomness to the pattern of colouration. Not good for tanks, but great for monsters. Also freaking love the ancient in the background! In my view GW really should show that off FAR more often in photos because I don't think many realise just how much monster you get for your money with that beast. 

[michu]

@Overread It's not me, it's Ben Bailey.  And have you seen that Slaan on Geminid conversion near the Dread Saurian? I missed a chance to make a screenshot of him but it's really nice.

[sigmar is scottish]

11 hours ago, michu said:

New way to use contrast - dipping.

Neat idea. I wonder how many pots were used for that lol. 

Seems like a great way of batch painting hordes I.e skaven, orruks, goblins. 

[RuneBrush]

4 hours ago, sigmar is scottish said:

Neat idea. I wonder how many pots were used for that lol. 

I think he said it was 6 with 6 pots of medium

[zilberfrid]

Has anyone used the horses from the Corpsmare endless spell to make undead knights? I have a mighty need to do so somehow, even though I don't play dead ones.

Edited September 25, 2019 by zilberfrid

[sigmar is scottish]

3 hours ago, RuneBrush said:

I think he said it was 6 with 6 pots of medium

That's an expensive dip. 

[Overread]

Hmm I wonder who that could be 

 

 

 

[michu]

Hero-man? The way it's written points to him.

EDIT: I don't know if I hadn't fallen for "That's the joke".

Edited September 27, 2019 by michu

[Kirjava13]

Depression has hit really bad lately. Haven't done any painting, even though I made such good progress with my Arch-Warlock at the start of the month. If anyone has had a similar experience, I'd be curious to know how you powered out of it.

[Overread]

1 minute ago, Kirjava13 said:

Depression has hit really bad lately. Haven't done any painting, even though I made such good progress with my Arch-Warlock at the start of the month. If anyone has had a similar experience, I'd be curious to know how you powered out of it.

The light change around this time of year, shifting from summer into winter and the shorter days is a trigger for SADS which might be influencing your depression. You might consider some daylight bulbs or look into other methods for avoiding/reducing the impact of SADS. 

Other methods can be things like exercise and diet. Both of which can have quite dramatic effects on our mood and mental health without us realising. 

Finally don't beat yourself up about it, its your hobby, your free time. Sometimes all you need is a little break, try something new, or paint a different model or something totally not model related at all. A little change, sometimes even just one evenings worth, can help you recharge your enthusiasm. 

[amysrevenge]

32 minutes ago, Kirjava13 said:

Depression has hit really bad lately. Haven't done any painting, even though I made such good progress with my Arch-Warlock at the start of the month. If anyone has had a similar experience, I'd be curious to know how you powered out of it.

One thing I have tried with minor success when struggling with depression coupled to lack of hobby motivation (or any kind of motivation) is to just force myself to do some hobby, whether I feel like it or not (sometimes even my wife will tell me to go sit at my desk lol).  Just going through the motions of getting the pots out and moistening the wet palette and choosing brushes can sometimes kick me out of the rut I'm in.  Doesn't always work.  Sometimes does.

[TimM85]

Try what this guy says, just doing something. I know you don't feel like doing anything but whenever down for me its usually caused by stress so doing something about the problem helps but for others just pushing yourself to do something that takes your mind off it helps whenever painting I lose track of time because I'm absorbed in it.

 

[sigmar is scottish]

11 hours ago, Kirjava13 said:

Depression has hit really bad lately. Haven't done any painting, even though I made such good progress with my Arch-Warlock at the start of the month. If anyone has had a similar experience, I'd be curious to know how you powered out of it.

Although depression and seasonal depression are two different beasts what overhead stated was a very good point. The change in weather and darker days can certainly contribute. My mother suffers from depression and it can get worse during the winter months. Vitamin D supplements and fresh fruit normally go a long way to helping. 

Walking can also help greatly and I find it also helps spark the imagination. 

Either a change in your hobby routine whether it's a different model, converting instead of painting or throwing together some terrain might help. Sometime though taking a step back might help. Play some video games, watch a movie or as I said above go for a walk. 

Last but not least don't forget to confide in people dude. Talk to your friend, family or even jump on here and shoot the ****** with us. 

[EccentricCircle]

One issue can just be giving yourself permission to do stuff. If you've got a dozen more important things to do, and are procrastinating because you just can't face them then doing hobby stuff can feel like cheating, since if you can do that then you should be able to do whatever the other stuff is that you should be doing. Then you don't get the chance to do the hobby stuff, and potentially the important stuff doesn't get done either. It is sometimes better to set aside time for hobbies and make sure that if you want to do it, you do. That can give you the morale boost to get on and do the work/life/productive stuff. 

[zilberfrid]

Yeah, I've heard this through more channels, and it's been the same with me, I don't have a full on depression, but had a few setbacks lately, which I did not have time to handle between them.

Work was in a rut, emergency rewiring of the house after losing electricity for a few days, relationship broke up, own health, family's health combined with simply bad weather that makes me excersize less and not knowing what would be what in CoS had basically stopped me from doing anything last month.

It's a lot better now, but it takes time to recover, and darker days are not helping.