Rising from the Ashes – Jodain’s Spring Clean

So as targetted the army went down on the table at the RE:Play Wargames show today at the Royal Engineers Museum.

It was great to see the whole army painted and ready to go, although not so great when the dice god didn’t look favourably on the Phoenix.  A victory to the Shadowlands army today.  At over 5000 Koku per side I had nearly everything out.

The only miniatures not painted now are those that actually belong to Test of Honour, so unless I get more miniatures specifically for this army this project is done.

A new project starts up next week, so look out.

I managed yesterday to complete the painting work on the Earth Dragon, I’ve added more grass to the base on this one to help the brown colour dragon stand out from the ground. The model was primed in AP Uniform Grey, then airbrushed with Vallejo Mud Brown focussing on the brown coloured sections, these were then wash with AP Strong Tone and then highlights added of Mud Brown with increasing amounts of Ice Yellow mixed in. The Grey plates were touched back to AP Uniform Grey and then highlighted with increasing amounts of AP Company Grey mixed in and then a final touch of AP Matt White. The horns are Citadel Ushabti Bone with Contrast Skeleton Horde and then highlighted back with Ushabti Bone and then a touch of white, the teeth are the same.

No fancy AI background this time, sorry.

Well the last 4 of the mounted archers are now done, I did decide to change the horse a little from previously adding some Garaghak’s Sewer to the hairier sections of the horse.

I have again created the backdrop using AI, it does such a good job and looks better (to me) than my painting desk.

I originally asked Copilot to remove the background and put the miniatures into a background with a feel from the Phoenix Clan of Legend of the Five Rings. It came back with the following, having asked it not to include a temple but more of a battlefield:

Epic Legend of the Five Rings Phoenix Clan battlefield, cinematic miniature photography backdrop, cavalry advancing from right to left across a war-torn plain, open battlefield ahead on the left, distant enemy banners, drifting smoke, dust clouds, broken spears and arrows scattered on the ground, crimson and gold Phoenix Clan colours, magical blue-white elemental fire spirits moving with the wind, dramatic sunset lighting, realistic Rokugani battlefield, no temple buildings, no castles, no large foreground objects, strong sense of movement from right to left, atmospheric depth, photorealistic, highly detailed, suitable as a backdrop behind tabletop miniatures, shallow haze, cinematic composition, no empty space.

It then suggest a Mist Valley style diorama backdrop and came back with this:

I’ve created the Mist Valley-style diorama backdrop, with the cavalry riding through a Phoenix Clan landscape of autumn maples, waterfalls, mountain spires, drifting mist, clan banners, and a mystical phoenix spirit overhead. The scene is composed like a miniature photography diorama, with depth and atmosphere suitable for showcasing the figures.

The last of the Isawa Inquisitors have been finished and I am close to completing the 4 Samurai horse archers that complete my unit of those.  The Earth Dragon has been stripped, re-assembled and primed so paint can start going today later today.  RE-Play is on Saturday so I need to work fast.

No change in how I’ve been painting the Inquisitors.

I have realised that I have counted some Test of Honour cavalry into this count, but I will need to change them onto rectangular bases rather than the round ones they come on.  I didn’t include the Infantry from the Test of Honour starter box so this project might well continue until those are added, but they aren’t AEG figures and yes neither are the mounted samurai that I’m fielding.

The picture uses another AI generated backdrop, they are so much more fun and easy to create.  I asked for a Phoenix Clan feel this time.

I cracked out 7 more Isawa Inquisitors using the same approach as the Firestorm below.  I have also assembled the 4 remaining Medium Cavalry with Yumi so that they are ready to paint. I then made the decision that I didn’t like the Earth Dragon, especially when compared to my Water Dragon and so I’ve started to strip in off with IPA.  So it goes back onto the to be painted side of the list.

For the picture this time I thought I’d see what AI could do to make a more interesting background, so two photos for you to look at the original and the AI one.

Some how every time I go to get some more painted I find another odd miniature sitting around, in this case I seem have found an extra Inquisitor – their on the painting handles next. There are only 4 weeks left to get these painted and one of those is half term so we stand a good chance of having a completed army ready for RE Play.

Over the last two weeks I got on and finished painting 10 more of the Firestorm Legion.  Same painting style as before with a start at halfords grey primer , drybrush with Sky Grey and the with Brainmatter Beige.  I had a play with two different oranges – AP Fire Giant Orange (Speed paint) and GW Magmadroth Flame contrast. The later was the one I used previous, but I actually preferred the Fire Giant Orange. With this batch I finally overcome my concerns about sticking the fireball onto the guy in the process of throwing it.  The Fireballs are painted with P3 Cygnus Yellow, the drybrushed with AP Lava Orange, then AP Pure Red and then AP Matt Black, each progressive drybrush was over a smaller area.

The basing was always designed to give a mountain feel for the army as the Phoenix lands are mountainous hence the stone and flowers used.

Many thanks to the team for the Golden Button.

Looks like I’d forgot to add the Water Dragon to my listing when I updated the count last week.

I managed to complete all of my Hurricane Initiates and then painted up the four Tsunami Legion that I have managed to acquire whilst this project was on hiatus.  Both units started out with a Mid Grey primer, dry brush Sky Grey and then Brainmater Beige. Contrast paints Baal Red, Ironclaw Yellow and Speed Paint Fire Giant Red got the main colours down.  The waves are contrast Telasar Blue with some white to give the hint of foam.  I decided to base these guys as if the wave was just riding over the battlefield so that they are based in the same pattern as the rest of the army.

I should have posted this last week, but the start of term is always a bit crazy.

I worked through the Water Dragon, the base is took a while to get the right balance of colours.  Most of the dragon came together easily with the airbrush for help.  Alongside the Water Dragon I completed a block of 8 Avalanche Guard to join the rest of the unit.