Delectable Tea's Sisters of Sigmar WIP

Afternoon boring comrades,

I'm preparing a sisters warband for my first ever campaign later this year. However I realise that Sisters are a bit tough to get going seeing as past the main box set and a few extras NOBODY wants to part with the mail order sisters (unless you have an even more obscure mini to trade ) So I've decided to go customisation heavy with this warband so that I can in effect duplicate certain models without too much of the horror of clones!

So anyway here is my progress so far and also (as you will be able to tell) my first attempt at Green stuff modelling (that stuff is cruel).
I have only got six sisters to begin with, always on the look out for more and will update this as I obtain and customise them. Will also be looking into alternatives for the Augur seeing as I have failed over and over to win one on Ebay.

So here's the initial purchase, pretty standard assortment, got a matriarch, superior, a couple of sisters and a couple of novices! Cleaned them up with a toothbrush and some washing up liquid and this is what I started with:



So first up I wanted to adjust some of the poses, I picked this particular sister as her pose is a little awkward, I wanted to try out making a flowing cloak or shawl of some kind so what better chance than to cover up a hacked off arm joint! ha! Turns out that this lady snuck in some fancy furs when she was sent to the sisterhood.





Next up I wanted to add a second hammer to the other sister, her hand pose was just asking for a second weapon! Although she can't dual wield sigmarite warhammers I still wanted the second hammer to have a slightly more SoS feel than just a regular hammer. This was a real pain in the FACE to make, I need some green stuff tips because I just couldn't get flat surfaces down. In the end I modelled the hammer head over some cut up bits of sprue and then sliced the end when the putty had dried a bit. The shaft is made from the banner off of a zombie sprue. It's not 100% perfect but it's my entry point into weapon modelling!







Next up I wanted to give my Novices some cheap firepower, not content with them flinging rocks and stones at my opponents I thought perhaps a weighty cannonball would adequately cave in enemy skulls, so here's the novice cannonball sling!





and finally last week I painted up (quite thickly thanks to the blazing heat :S) a halfling scout to help my Sisters find their way through some of the more distorted, chaotic ruins... I have a feeling he'll be gunned down in the streets. Ironically I ordered him back when Mordheim first came out to use in a custom halfling warband, who would have known that so many years later he would finally be used. I've got some other old halflings left over as well, need to use them somewhere!



So that's my progress so far, I can't decide on colour schemes at the moment and I also need to sit on Ebay lots trying to get some more troops for the cause, I shall update as progress is made!

Nice start,

I like the modeling on your poses and the added cannonball sling.

I am looking forward to see more.

COOL...Holy Babes! You're doing a FINE job personalizing your War Band...I really like the upgraded slings. The Ladies show a lot of promise...as does that disreputable looking little heretic. Keep up the GOOD WORK!

I can't offer any GS advice, as I've used it less than you, but I can offer encouragement!

Keep it up!

Good work! Nice conversions and look forward to the paint being added. Post photos! The halfling scout is a hoot...love the buck teeth (havent seen the model before). No tips here about greenstuff, I have used it, but not to very good effect. I tend to stick with straps, fur and tunics. It is difficult to get it smooth, but I am sure there are experts here...this place rocks!!

Thanks for all the comments so far, I've adjusted the green stuff hammer to be a bit more squared off and flat (as opposed to slightly bulbous) and removed the twin comet sigil as it was way too pronounced!

And a minor update, I also received both additional minis from the GW website, the Matriarch with steel whip and sister with weird flail (which I will be removing)

FAILED another bid on an Augur which is pretty lame!

DeafNala wrote:

COOL...Holy Babes! You're doing a FINE job personalizing your War Band...I really like the upgraded slings. The Ladies show a lot of promise...as does that disreputable looking little heretic. Keep up the GOOD WORK!

You know I don't actually know what series that little heretic is from, I remember getting him on mail order some time ago but I can't find what batch of halflings he was released with... he is a rather dodgy looking chap isn't he!

mavfire wrote:

Good work! Nice conversions and look forward to the paint being added. Post photos! The halfling scout is a hoot...love the buck teeth (havent seen the model before). No tips here about greenstuff, I have used it, but not to very good effect. I tend to stick with straps, fur and tunics. It is difficult to get it smooth, but I am sure there are experts here...this place rocks!!

This place does indeed rock, photos as soon as improvements are made! As I said to DeafNala above, I'm really not sure where that little buck toothed scout is from, he's an ugly little guy!

On the subject of GS I've seen your handywork over on your Bretonnian post a couple of days ago, I'd say you have a few tricks up your sleeve with the tunics and the like!

Hi!
I try to help with my little piece of advise.
As any other SoS player I also met the problem with insufficient number of models which are in addition highly unsutable for any converting. I was also lacking the augur. So I helped myself with tones of GS. Amazon models played the main part in it. Check my thread (link is in my signature), if it could be to any help.
As for the hammer conversion, I'd recommand you to cut it from plastic sprues parts, rather than sculpt it, unless you are an experienced sculptor.
The most sutable alternative for the augur I've ever seen is this model (with a little of cutting)

http://www.reapermini.com/Miniatures/zodiac/latest/03360

Aldhick wrote:

Hi!
I try to help with my little piece of advise.
As any other SoS player I also met the problem with insufficient number of models which are in addition highly unsutable for any converting. I was also lacking the augur. So I helped myself with tones of GS. Amazon models played the main part in it. Check my thread (link is in my signature), if it could be to any help.
As for the hammer conversion, I'd recommand you to cut it from plastic sprues parts, rather than sculpt it, unless you are an experienced sculptor.
The most sutable alternative for the augur I've ever seen is this model (with a little of cutting)

http://www.reapermini.com/Miniatures/zodiac/latest/03360

Your work is amazing, not just the SoS but all of your warbands are looking extremely good! Looks like I have a lot of work to do to match those standards but the converting Amazons idea is really great, I think I'll have to try my hand at it as well. As for your Augur suggestion my problem is that I really don't like mixing mini studios so I probably wouldn't opt for using a Reaper mini. I've actually got quite a few Augur's on my Ebay watch list, it looks like the UK ebay has a couple up every week (expensive but just about affordable) meanwhile I'm going to snap all the green stuff off of the Sisters so far and start again as your minis have really inspired me!!

Just a quick update with my latest edition to the warband, more minis due in the post this week!

I think you got away with using the greenstuff pretty good The cloak look epic!

BTW: where did you get the Bertha model from?

Thanks, I've since improved that bulbous greenstuff hammer quite a bit by taking a knife to it.

The Bertha model I got off ebay, I think I have another one coming as well, there seems to be a load of sisters going at the moment for quite horribly high prices... 6 of the fanatic special sisters went for £160 on Sunday, I was winning the bid with £41 until the last 10 seconds... seriously... I hope people are actually putting these minis to use and not just hording them to make a little bit of cash, thanks to all the fanatic sister horders I have to rely on heavy conversions to complete my warband.

Quote :

thanks to all the fanatic sister horders I have to rely on heavy conversions to complete my warband.

You say that like it's a bad thing

Seriously, your conversions are making your warband a hell of a lot cooler than it'd be if you just used an endless supply of stock models!

FKSN wrote:

Quote :

thanks to all the fanatic sister horders I have to rely on heavy conversions to complete my warband.

You say that like it's a bad thing

Seriously, your conversions are making your warband a hell of a lot cooler than it'd be if you just used an endless supply of stock models!

You're right! I even really enjoy doing conversions and having a more unique warband... I think the fanatic models just get me all riled up! haha

Some more minis to work with



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You know that for some people, it's hard to look at so much rareness in one place Congrats on the minis, though, they are pretty cool (got them myself )

Just think of the poor SoS players out there making do without Augur or Bertha... lol

Not that I mind, I've already got Mrs 5Pointer's Augur and Bertha

Quote :

You know that for some people, it's hard to look at so much rareness in one place

Haha! Too true. Lucky fella.

some nice conversions in here sir, they add alot of character to the stock models great job in particular on the fur cloak the 1 sister is wearing

Quote :

I need some green stuff tips because I just couldn't get flat surfaces down.

weapons and flat surfaces in general are a bit of a bitch, I got the gale force 9 12 piece sculpting kit for my Birthday earlier this year and find this:



tool from it really useful for flat surfaces and getting straight edges. You might be able to get something similar off the net on its own instead of getting the full set, though I would recommend the set I've found most of the tools in it really useful.

Also for straight edges and weapons I hear that Brown stuff (brown milliput) is good as it is firmer than GS, I stil haven't tried it out myself but intend to get some next time I go hobbycraft.

Sorry for hijacking your thread with the random picture too

Are you looking for general green stuff tips or tips on modelling specific objects/materials?

@Maestrom thanks for the tip there, don't worry I'm not an international police force so I don't get all uppety about hijackings! At the moment I use the generic games workshop tool and a craft knife!

@hero general tips are always welcome! If there was some dream material that is much easier to use than GS then I'd want to know about that too!

Water is your friend, green stuff doesn't stick much to wet surfaces. Wet your tools and fingers.

Less is more. It's really easy to mix up more green stuff than you need. Try to mix small amounts and do some work, and you can always mix more if you need it. To build up details, let an area dry completely, then you can easily add more green stuff to the area afterwards for details.

An interesting trick is to use the hardening of the green stuff to your advantage. You can do this for slings by flattening out a piece of green stuff on a wet surface, maybe a wet tile or some other smooth surface. Make it roughly the size of the sling unfolded, but it will be sort of a very long oblong shape. Then leave that alone for maybe half an hour, and come back and cut it with your craft knife into a straight piece as wide as you want the sling. The partially hardened green stuff should maintain a bit more of its shape and texture making it easier to work with, but you should still be able to fold it and wrangle it into a model's hand as a sling. Also you can make the sling ball ahead of time, let it dry completely, and just stick it in the sling when you fold it. Lots of my excess green stuff goes into making random little balls to be sling ammo. I just pick the roundest ones with the proper size later when I do the sling.

Green stuff sticks pretty well when dry but sometimes it'll pop off, especially things like slings that are long and attached with a narrow base. If that happens just super glue the hardened green stuff piece back in place it should fit perfectly. Sometimes I actually pop dry pieces off on purpose and then glue them back on (or even pin them because I'm a freak for pinning) just because I don't want them popping off later after the model is painted.

Green stuff is kind of gooey. This makes it good for flowing material and curvy organic stuff, but also makes it's very hard to get sharp edges. Most sculptors use other materials for sharp edges like on metal weapons and armor. There are other types of putty available, including a "brown stuff" putty that is much better for doing sharp edges. Sometimes people will opt to graft on carved plastic bits or other non-putty alternatives as well.

Colour Shaper products are really great for doing green stuff work because the type of plastic used for the tips does't stick to green stuff even when dry, and the pliability helps keep green stuff surfaces smooth. I recommend firm tips (they have soft, medium and firm).

Here is a very decent sculpting tutorial for beginners. Hope it helps.
http://www.warseer.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=53586&d=1235977147

Ah ha, yeah I learned a lot of what I know from that pdf.

@Hero and @Aldhick

Seriously thanks for taking the time to offer up help and advice, i'll be giving that PDF a proper read before I get stuck in to any more GS modelling.