Marienburger Warband

Although not complete I am making good head way through my latest warband so I figured now was a good time to start posting some pictures.  If you had followed my beastman warband then you would recall my sneak peak at the final photos of my test model for my next warband.  Here are some pics of that model:









I normally have a very hard time painting human flesh colors hence why I enjoyed painting the Beastmen because I was not restricted with normal looking skin tones.  I also wanted to start painting in pupils on the models.  With the beastmen I got away with red eyes but with these mercs I wanted to get them as realistic as possible.  Although the color scheme of red/blue/yellow is not groundbreaking for Marienburgers I wanted to stick with it because those are THE marienburger colors and if you don't use them then they loose some of that character.  This test model was knocked out quickly and a few mistakes were made.  Fist, I found out after the fact that instead of using a blue wash I was using a blue glaze so his pants are really BLUE.  I also experimented using Hexos Palesum Dry paint over the yellow for an added highlight.  Didn't really work for me and I have not really had any good uses for the Dry line of technical paints.  The biggest mistake I had with this model was a bit of over-spray on the clear coat.  Unfortunately this turned out to be a repeated mistake for me as I really messed up the majority of the hero models with the over use of clear coat.  It really broke my heart that five of the six hero models I painted up had a lot of hard work covered over with a frosty/dusty look from the spray.  Anyhow, before that tragedy struck, happy with the test model I started on the least ornate of the Marienburgher models and painted up a youngblood:









Alas this is the only hero model that wasn't affected by the clear coat since he was sprayed by himself.  I still need to work on how I paint swords, but beyond that I was very pleased with how he turned out.

The Lads are FINE LOOKING pieces. Your brushwork, flesh tones, & color choices in general are EXCELLENT. VERY WELL DONE!  

Great start, I love your color scheme!

Thanks for the feedback on the painting and the color scheme, I appreciate it very much.  

Finishing up the youngbloods we have one of the nicer sculpted Marienburger models.  Originally the model comes with two pistols, but I decided to make a change to the model.  First I have a hard time justifying having a BS 2 model with two pistols no matter how much money the warband starts with.  Second the pistol in the models hand looks like something reserved for lady to carry, no where near as nice as the one on the models belt.  So with a simple bit of work I removed the pistol in hand and replaced it with a nice sword hand from the Greatswords set.  









This model was affected a bit by my overuse of clear varnish as the back side of the model has a touch of the dusty affect that really mutes the nice red of the model.  His face was a bit on the fugly side once the paint job was all done, but good looks isn't a big deal on the streets of mordheim.  The lion logo on his sleeve was very poorly defined so I opted to keep the colors as muted as possible to hide it.  Overall I like the model and I think he turned out pretty good.  Here he is with his fellow youngblood

A second light spray will sometimes kill the dust effect; just make sure to shake the can for at least 2 minutes. That aside, the Rogue in Training looks TERRIFIC...red, blue, & yellow is not only my favorite color combination, it is consider the most powerful of color choices. AND you did a FINE job on a very expressive face. VERY WELL DONE!  
Lest I forget, the weapon swap is a definite improvement.  

I hope the haze effect can be defeated without too much trouble. I have had to re-do or live with a bunch of milky finished models over the years.

The models look great! I am always a fan of the traditional Marienburg colors.

DeafNala wrote:

A second light spray will sometimes kill the dust effect; just make sure to shake the can for at least 2 minutes. That aside, the Rogue in Training looks TERRIFIC...red, blue, & yellow is not only my favorite color combination, it is consider the most powerful of color choices. AND you did a FINE job on a very expressive face. VERY WELL DONE!  
Lest I forget, the weapon swap is a definite improvement.  

A good friend of mine suggested doing a re-spray but I am nervous to add to the problem.  Perhaps I didn't shake the can as much as I should have before I did them?  

Anyhow, up next I have the first of the two champion models.  Now this was always one of my most favorite models of the Marienburger metal models.  The only problem I had was with the weapon choice. Now I'm not a medieval weapon expert but to me this weapon appears to be a flail, something that the Mercenaries are not allowed to have off the bat.  They are allowed a Morningstar, but I was under the impression that was a spiked club.  Anyway, I liked the character of model although I did make one conversion on it.  I'll see if you can spot it.  




I used the new blood paint on his weapon and I mixed a little black paint with it on the bandage to give it an appearance of old soaked blood.  Overall I think it would have been better to leave the bandage as it was.







Overall he survived his clear coat relatively well compared to the rest of the Hero models.

The Lad painted up WONDERFULLY...FINE brushwork & color choices once more. VERY WELL DONE!  
To the best of my knowledge, a morning star is one or more spiked balls attached to a shot handle/heft. It's most commonly used as a cavalry weapon. A flail, which is basically an agricultural implement, is a wooden bar with or without metal plates that is joined to a longer haft by a chain like link/hinge.  

Great work. I like your conversions and painting. Excellent colours and very neatly done. I've always liked the Marienberg models, though I never had any.

Thanks again for the feedback,

Up next I have the other Champion model.  Again another great sculpted mini with a lot of character.  I proabably should have put him on a diagonal base because he ended up being a bit off balance with his sword arms so far out across the base.  The color scheme went well although his face wasn't a nice as I hoped it would have been.  Still with the nice large feathers and couple of extra daggers added to his back I rather like how he turned out.  The clear coat stole some of his color much to my dismay, but thankfully he didn't get it as bad as some of the others.  







Again the lion on his shoulder was very unclear so I painted dark to hide it some



And lastly the latest group shot

The new Rogue turned out SPLENDIDLY...love that feather, & the Group Portrait is WONDERFUL! You managed to give the Lads individuality while maintaining a unified look. GREAT WORK!  

I like the way you present warbands.

Nice Paintjob!

Thanks again for the feedback!

I'm getting close to finishing this warband so hopefully I can have it done in the next two weeks.  Currently I have all the marksmen to base and only two swordsmen left to go.  Up next I have the two Leader models.  Both models are excellent sculpts and I was very excitied to paint them.  Unfortunately both models probably got the worst end of my varnish spray.  The light box does well to make them still look presentable, but they were much more vibrant before the spray.

The first model is the I painted a reserve character unit incase the model with the Morningstar/flail doesn't work out.  I deliberately gave him some what darkened armor since I wanted the Leader of the group to be the flashiest of the group.  After the varnish I was very tempted to do a re-paint on the model, but I am already a slow painter so I don't need to start redoing all my work before the job is done.  Here are the pics:







The backside of the model seems to have gotten the worst of the spray.  I think I may have done a couple passes too many with the varnish on the back side.




The last model is in my opinion one of the best sculpted Mordheim minis from GW.  I spent a great deal of time painting up his armor following a nice tutorial I came across online.  The armor was one of the best looking silver armors I had ever done.  Unfortunately it looked like straight garbage after the varnish.  Here it is:










So that completes the starting Heroes with an extra one incase I want to change up their setup.  Here is a look at the warband so far:

The Lads look FINE in the photos & make a WONDERFULLY flashy group. GREAT WORK!  
One of the keys to using a matte spray finish is to be sure to shake the can for at least 2 minutes AND never spray when it's excessively humid. Old cans of spray also have a bad reputation.  

The models look great in the photos

Good classic marienburgers, like them!

Sorry for the delay in getting this warband finished but Uncle Sam is working me like a dog these days so I am lucky to get any time off.  My Marksmen are about finished with only basing left to be finished.  I have had much better use with the matt varnish so nothing too heart breaking lately.  I find that I am now shaking the can for a good five minutes before every use!  I have for you all today three of the five swordsmen.  At first I was going for a full mercenary approach to the Marienburger warband.  Since they have such lucrative backing I imaged the warband to be filled with top notch help.  The warhammer fluff it has made mention of the skill of Tilean crossbowmen and the deadliness of Estalian swordsmen.  I had planned to use some of Pizarro's Lost legion as swordsmen since with a shield and sword they look very much like Spanish Rodelero.  That was the plan until Forgeworld came out with the Manaan's blades.  They certainly fit the Marienburger look so I snapped them up.  Unfortunately the first batch I got turned out to be cheap Russian copies.  While they were inexpensive they didn't have the crisp lines of the Forgeworld models.  I did end up purchasing the authentic models and despite some very bad mold lines (which seems to be a problem with forgeworld in my opinion sometimes) the models look great.

Whenever I do a Mercenary group I also try to distinguish one models as the leader of the group.  It helps out if one day I get a lads god talent so I'll have a hero styled miniature ready to go.  Up first is the leader of the swordsmen:









All the models I tried to have two swords on them since in my experience a charging swordsmen with two swords is a thing to be afraid of.  The next pose I tried to give the impression that he is in the middle of a sword fight. I think the arm is from the archer sprue.  My only complaint is that he appears to have a merman on his armor, something you don't see too often from sailors.









The third model is using one of the few GW left handed sword arms that I could find.  His beard I paint using a ginger technique that turned out well, but unfortunately is not very noticeable with the red he is wearing.  









And finally a group shot



So that's it for this update.  Up next will be the seven marksmen and lastly will be the remaining swordsmen and then this warband will be finished.  Thanks again for the great feedback!

CONGRATULATIONS on getting the spray finish to work correctly...no more tragedies we hope. The Forge World Fellows look SPLENDID; GREAT brushwork & color choices...that is how Renaissance soldiers should look. VERY WELL DONE!  

Remember to save something cool for the Golden Tom Competition.  

Both the Mordheim- as well as the Forgeworld-Marienburger turned out really nice. You don't see many Fantasy-Forgeworld-stuff getting shown on the forums. How well do these two groups fit together, scalewise?

a very fine paintjob on your warband, so far. I really like the bright colours you used and I don't think it is necessary to have a creative colour scheme for your warband - like this they are obvious Marienburgers.
Everybody has some struggles with the spray vanish at some point. From the pictures I would guess that it isn't as bad as you think it is - although I understand that one is always more critical when it comes to the own models.

keep up the good work!

They look great. I like the clean and bright paint jobs. Well done!

I had the same problem with a matte spray before, I found that I was either putting it on too thick or too thin. I had to find that "goldilocks" zone to get it just right.

Grimscull wrote:

Both the Mordheim- as well as the Forgeworld-Marienburger turned out really nice. You don't see many Fantasy-Forgeworld-stuff getting shown on the forums. How well do these two groups fit together, scalewise?

For these particular models the scale is right on in my opinion.  Here is a quick shot of them mixed with the original Mordheim models:



I have found some of the other models that I have picked up from Forge World to be a little on the tall side.  For example I have the limited edition Warrior priest model and he is almost a good head taller than some of the others.  I guess his name will have to be Longshanks when I get around to doing Witch Hunters.

Great looking warband

Those Marienburger really fit together nicely. If you cannot fit the warrior priest into one of your warbands, I'd be willing to lighten your burden there