Retlaw's Customs Updated 07/27/13

[Retlaw]

Added new terrain custom - grass terrain

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Moved all the repaints to the first post in this thread - The latest additions posted at the bottom.

I think most of these were originally posted on the HQ site, but I have made some changes since then and a couple may be new since then.

The first two were done before the bio for Sir Denrick was changed to Sir Hawthorne, so they reference Sir Christopher.

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Sir Christopher's Bio:

Sir Christopher was once a Knight of Weston. The honorable Knights of Weston were founded by Sir Denrick and were sworn to a righteous oath to protect the weak, to uphold honor of oneself and others, and to punish those who would seek to harm or destroy either.

Lost in his own petty desires of leading and his angry jealousies of his chapter master Sir Denrick, Sir Christopher and his Dark Knights opened the gates of their battle fortress and lead a besieging host of jealous lords of the land to lay slaughter to the noble knights. Sir Christopher lead the charge taking out several knights at once with large swings of this war hammer - which he prefered in battle over the sword. The battle was all but won when his desires were thwarted when Jandar took Sir Denrick and the remaining Knights of Weston to Valhalla in the midst of the battle.

With the Knights of Weston either defeated or gone, the lords - wanting nothing of the knights to be left -- turned on Sir Christopher and his Dark Knights. Just as the last of his followers were about to fall, Sir hristopher and his three remaining Dark Knights were brought to Valhalla by Einar to use their skills and cunning to fight for him.




Black Knights's Bio:

The Black Knights were once Knights of Weston. But were swayed by Sir Christopher to follow him and overthrow Sir Denrick.

The Black Knights fought with Sir Christopher in defeating the Knights of Weston, but with the taste of victory still fresh in their mouths, the soldiers of the lords they were fighting with turned on them. The Black Knights put up a valiant effort to save Sir Christopher and as each one of them fell, the remaining seemed to fight with even more strength. When all were lost but the last three, Einar summoned them to Valhalla to use their skills and cunning to fight for him.



The next one is the first repaint I did:

Nidhogg (Card Updated to correct size)

Deep underground in the most terrible spot in all of Niflheim, the place of frozen fog, was a whirlpool where the dreadful dragon Nidhogg lay. Nidhogg, the dragon of destruction, had one goal -- to destroy the Yggdrasil, the world tree, by gnawing away at its roots. On the day of reckoning, Ragnarokk, the destiny of the Odin and the other Aesir gods would be determined. It was then that Nidhogg suceeded in the destruction of Yggdrasil. After the fall of the gods, Nidhogg rose from the depths, hovered over the fallen world and then returned to the void.

Vydar summoned Nidhogg from the icy void to fight for him and destroy his enemies. Nidhogg's icy breath has been known to freeze armies in their tracks. In addition, his years of living in a land of frozen fog has made him at home on snow or ice and even some say stronger.



The next one is probably my favorite - not due to abilities, but due to the bio story line.

Ragnarak's Bio: (Card updated to correct size)

Ragnarak was training in the ways of becoming an Orc warrior, but became dissatisfied with the wild uncontrolled nature of the orcs. He left his training and searched the Grut deserts for the legendary Orc sand warriors. Orc mythology told of great warriors that had ruled the desert with a strict and disciplined armies. Legend also tells of a great battle between the desert Orcs and hordes of wild Orcs. The desert Orc armies fought well, but were out numbered 10 to 1 and eventually lost the war and with it their civilization. Ragnarak found the ruins of their desert civilization. He spent years studying the writings and practicing their methods until he was as great a warrior as the ancient ones.

He tamed one of the rare sand tyranos and road back to his home to teach the old disciplined ways to his fellow Orcs. They treated his teachings as heresy and were about to stone him to death as Einar brought him to Valhalla.

Ragnarak's disciplined training shows in his leadership abilities which will motivate other disciplined armies near him to attack with even more force. In addition, his years of training in the desert have given him an advantage when fighting on sand.



Just having some fun with this one (not too creative)

Arctic Wolves (Card updated to correct spelling)

The northern brothers of the Anubian Wolf packs, the Arctic Wolves, share their same fury and relentless nature. These wild warriors can make even the most fearless foe's blood run cold. Their life in the harsh frozen tundra of Feylund has made them adept at traversing snow and ice and it has also made them stronger than their southern brothers. Often attacking in numbers and beside an empowering comrade, Arctic Wolves fight with frenzied rage. While the attack is always quick, the demise of the defeated can be dreadfully, painfully slow; these wolves are devourers, so the sweet taste of victory has a very special meaning for them.



Another Grimnak repaint (he is really fairly easy to repaint). I also like the story line behind this one.

Marnak's Bio:

At an early age Marnak left his tribe for a solitary life in the Onark Swamp Forests on Grut -- an area of many lakes, dense groves of trees, and home of the wild swamp raptors.

Early in Marnak's stay in the swamps, he found an injured swamp tyrano and nursed him back to health. The two became an effective hunting team with both of them attacking their prey before it could fight back.

Their skills even earned them a following of swamp raptors who would follow them as they hunted hoping to scrounge some scraps.

Marnak's skills as a hunter impressed Ullar who brought him to Valhalla to join his army.



The following is the only one I have done so far that is not a repaint of a HS character. I needed something to go with Marnak and these fit the bill. The image on the card is not good -- I can't seem to get a good picture of these guys (the dark green/brown paint doesn't come out well).

Swamp Raptors' Bio:

The Swamp Raptors live in the Onark Swamp Forest on Grut. They are wild hunters that often can be found in small hunting packs of three or four. Although small is size, when in packs their combined attacks can be quick and deadly. Sometimes a victim's only hope is the raptors wild nature when some members of a pack won't follow the others.

The Swamp Raptors' speed and skills as a hunters impressed Ullar who brought him to Valhalla to join his army.

Here is the updated card:


More to come later (a couple of AE repaints - snow troops and Afrika Korp, and some MM to Redcoats) -- hopefully later this week.
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8/24/06 Update

Before the last couple of waves, we (son and I) thought that Einar was getting short changed on the number of figures, so we were making repaints for him (see Sir Christopher, the Black Knights, and Ragnarak in the first post in this thread). Here are a couple more we did:

British 10th Light Infantry

After their skirmishes at Lexington and Concord in April 1775, the British 10th Light Infantry had returned to their encampment on the Boston Common. The British Commander General Gage found himself blockaded in Boston. To remedy the situation, he resolved to seize the Charlestown peninsula across the harbor. But the American troops of the Massachusetts and Connecticut regiments occupied Breed's Hill and Bunker Hill on the peninsula. On June 17th General Gage had General Howe landed his force on the southern shore and directed the light infantry to attack the section of the American line a the sea shore. The Light infantry column was repelled with heavy casualties.

Watching the the fighting from Valhalla, General Einar selected members of the British 10th Light Infantry who were standing their ground and even trying to advance while those around them retreated and brought them to fight for him.

(Except for the last part about Einar bringing them to Valhalla, this is a fairly accurate bio of the real British 10th Light Infantry)




Afrika Korp

On November 3rd, 1942 after almost 2 weeks of fighting the British forces the German Afrika Korp were losing the battle of El Alamein through pure attrition. Field Marshall Rommel sent a message to command explaining his untenable position and seeking permission to withdraw, but Rommel was told to stand fast. General Von Thoma told him, "I've just been around the battlefield. 15th Panzer's got ten tanks left, 21st Panzer only fourteen and Littorio seventeen." Rommel told him their orders, so he left to take command at the head of the Afrika Korps.

When 150 British tanks came after the remaining members of the nearly vanquished 15th and 21st Panzers, Von Thoma stood with his men. Despite the desperate situation, Von Thoma's men stood their ground. Entire units were destroyed, but the remnants continued to fight. He was in the command tank at the spot where the two panzer units joined, and there he remained until the last tank was destroyed. At the end, when all was lost, von Thoma stood alone beside his burning tank at the spot that was to become known as the "panzer graveyard".

General Einar, watching from Valhalla, was impressed by the Afrika Korp's tenancity and disciplined fighting abilities. He scoured the battlefield for the bravest soldiers and brought them to fight with his army.

(again except for the last part, a fairly accurate bio of what happened)



One more completed repaint:

10th Mountain Division

On the evening of the February 18, 1945, 700 men of the 10th Mountain Division made a daring night climb and successful assault on Riva Ridge, which rises steeply 1700-2000 feet above the rushing Dardagna River in northern Italy. The attack utilizes five carefully prepared climbing routes, including two that require fixed ropes. Surprise was complete, and by daybreak the mountaineers have taken Riva Ridge at the cost of only one casualty. But ferocious counterattacks immediately put the achievement in jeopardy. Not until February 25th was the entire Riva Ridge secured. The Riva Ridge operation had cost the division 80 casualties: 21 KIA, 52 WIA, 3 POW, and 4 MIA.

The 4 MIA now fight for Jandar on Valhalla putting their mountain and snow training to work to fight a different foe.

(like the Redcoats and Afrika Korp, this is a fairly accurate bio - except for the 4 MIA part -- we (son and I) like to incorporate a historical aspect when possible)



My son has some he repainted, but hasn't worked out the cards/story yet. One is a Ullar Raelin (primarily shades of green) and another are Omicron Guards (Zettian Guards painted similar to Omicron Snipers).

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Update 9/6/06 - a couple more master set repaints/mods

Grendel Bio:

Grendel, the firedrake from the lava fields of Wolflin on Feylund, was enjoying his favorite game of chasing the bay wolves along the edge of the lava fields (the ones he caught didn't suffer long as he chomped them down quickly) when Utgar brought him to Valhalla to fight in his army.

The harsh environment of Wolflin has given him a tough hide and made him resistant to the heat of the lava fields, and like all firedrakes, his fire breath can be deadly on the battlefield.

(Those of you who remember your literature class will recognize the name -- altough Grendel wasn't the dragon's name in the story. You may also see the poor excuse for humor in what he was chasing. Now I will have to make some Bay Wolves -- nah -- Arctic Wolves was enough).

This is a Mimring minus the wings (filled in the holes where the wings go with white painters chaulk -- what I had handy). This is another one we were just having fun with -- he may be overpowered (haven't play tested him yet).


Sergeant John Basilone Bio:

On October 24-25, 1942, Sergeant Basilone was in charge of two sections of heavy machine guns defending a narrow pass to Henderson Airfield on Guadalcanal in the Solomon Islands. He and his fellow Marines held 3,000 Japanese soldiers at bay for 72 hours during the battle. For that, Sgt. Basilone was awarded the Medal of Honor and sent back to the states to appear at war-bond rallies. But Sergeant Basilone was unsatisfied back home and volunteered to return to combat, ending up at Iwo Jima. Under heavy artillery fire on February 19, 1945, he single handedly took out an enemy blockhouse. Minutes later, he and four others in his platoon were thought to have died in an artillery blast. Sergeant Basilone was posthumously awarded the Navy Cross and Purple Heart, making him the only enlisted Marine in World War II to receive all three medals.

But, Sgt John Basilone wasn't killed by that blast, for Jandar pulled him from the battlefield just before the shell hit and brought him to Valhalla to continue his valiant fight.

Note: Gunnery Sergeant John Basilone is a real person and the bio above is accurate (except for the "thought to have died" -- he was killed by the artillery blast). On the card, he has 3 life - one for each medal (Medal of Honor, Navy Cross, and Purple Heart).

This is a Sgt Drake with the sword cut short to look more like a knife and the grappling hook "gun" has the "hook end" removed and the rope removed. Also given a dark brown wash to look more like "fighting in the mud".



These last three are just modified official cards. The first just changes the general on the phantom knights. The next changes the unique hero status to either common or uncommon.







A couple of pictures of Samuel Brown repaints:




These are repaints of repaints. They all started out as 4th Mass that got repainted to red coats (see card above). Original repaint was done long before the 10th Reg came out, but since then the 10th came out, they haven't been used, so when Samuel Brown card was released, they were all repainted again.

[reapersaurus]

Wait a minute.

Before moving on to other units, why not wait awhile to allow feedback on some of these ones?

There are some noteworthy units here:

1) I don't remember seeing these on HQ, but it was impossible to keep up with that site.
Your Sir Christopher is startlingly similar to Sir Hawthorne - you didn;t think to just mention "Cool beans! My Denrick repaint had a special attack, and almost the same stats!"
If you don;t advertise your own customs somewhat (when they are VERY applicable), who will?

2) I also like the stories for the Grimnak repaints.

3) The Swamp Raptors are a disappointment.
Here I was, all ready for a well-paired dinosaur team, and they get a ability that while neat, makes them WAY tough to balance.
And so you made them weak weak weak to compensate for the danger of their 8-dice special attack.
If you can think of a different ability, one that's less dangerous and hard to balance, you could make them a common squad, which is much better.
For example, how much do you think they're worth without the Pack Attack ability? I'd guesstimate less than 40 points, since they're REALLY weak, and Wild Nature almost cripples them (have to roll a 12+ just to use 4 of them?)

If you made Pack Attack just a simple +1 bonus for however many Swamp Raptors are adjacent to the opponent, that would make them 50 points or less, I'd think. And you'd have to up their defense to at least 3 or 4.
They are a 2-space figure, right?

[Retlaw]

Responses:

1) In the "Official Units" I did have a post on Sir Christopher vs Sir Hawthorne where I point out I had done repaints of the Knights. Even later added a link to this thread. Although that post did primarily deal with why his name changed to Hawthorne.

2) Thanks - I think my son and I have as much fun coming up with the stories as we do repainting the figures.

3) The raptors have been a problem -- I have changed the card at least 3 times trying to get the right balance. They are small raptors (i.e., one space). Below is a picture of them on the battlefield with Marnak and som MM repaints. I like the idea +1 instead of combine attacks and possibly making them common. We may give that a try.



Doing a little math and using the points cost worksheet. If you take away all the specials, the worksheet comes up with a point value of 30 (rounded).

If I change the range on the "wild nature" to 1-2, 3-6, 7-10, 11+, and then do a little math then the expected outcome is that you will get to use 3.1 of the 4 each turn. Running 3 instead of 4 as the point total is stil 30 (rounded). Also, with Marnak +2 for the dice roll, you would never end up with just 1 raptor attacking.

Bumping the defense up to 2, increases the point total to 40 (still assuming expected 3 units attack).

Changing the Pack Attack to add 1 for each adjacent (to the figure being attacked) is similar to an attack aura which per the point cost calculator is a bump of 10pts per unit so +30 (again using the expected 3 units).

So with these change they would be:

Move 8
Range 1
Attack 2
Defense 2
Cost 70

These changes make the defense stronger and reduce the pack attack some, but also enhance it some (i.e., max attack would be 5 instead of 8, but would expect to attack with 3 units instead of just one combined attack).

If they were changed to common, there would probably need to be a limit on the pack attack (e.g., maximum of +3 attack).

[hextr1p]

Where did you get the figs for the 'Swamp Raptors'?

[Retlaw]

They are: 03021 Dark Heaven Legend Velociraptors.

This site has them at a decent price: http://www.miniaturemarket.com/inc/sdetail/23779

[reapersaurus]

1) I have those figs! (2 of them) They did look REALLY good on the battlefield.

2) Because of the cost of the metal figures, you may want to decrease the squad numbers to 3. More on that below.

3) 3 figs in a squad is safer. 4 is dangerous and harder to cost properly when having boosting abilties. Giving them that Pack Attack ability which is great in theme, makes every additional fig in a squad that much more effective.
So either make it 3 in a squad (just my recommendations - throw them out if you don't find them useful) or make Pack Attack grant +1 to each figure beyond the first that attacks the same figure (a melee Zettian Targeting, eh? )

4) Don;t look at the calculator too hard.
They are notoriously inaccurate - it's better to just comapre them to other units and get a ballpark figure that way.
No calculator can compete with comparison to other unitss- the variety of abilities makes it too hard for calculators to estimate.

BTW - Have you seen my Hunting Raptors?
They are a nuetral unit that is pretty nifty, for dinosaur players....
They're in my Customs thread - and I'll upload the cool card atmospro updated soon.

[Retlaw]

Reapersaurus - yep I've seen the hunting raptors (I had to go looking for them -- the post is on page 5 of the customs, but once I found them I remembered them from the HQ site).

I have reworked the Swamp Raptor card some.
1) changed the 20-die roll levels -- the expected outcome of the roll is that you will get to use 3 raptors (10% 1 raptor, 20% 2 raptors, 20% 3 raptors, 50% 4 raptors = 0.1x1 + 0.2x2 + 0.2x3 + 0.5x4 = 3.1 expected results) This also means if you have Marnak, you will always control at least 2 raptors.
2) changed pack attack to add 1 to attack for each adjacent instead of combine attacks
3) added evasive speed to help on the defense

In repsonse to your latest comments/suggestions:
1) I agree
2) Since they came 2 in a package, 3 or 4 is the same cost.
3) You are probably right -- but the wild nature makes the expected number you will control 3 each time you roll, so even though there are 4 they can be costed as a 3 unit squad.
4) We only use the calculator to get a starting estimate of the point cost - then we play test to see how it works. We have found it to be reasonable most of the time, but we do make adjustments as needed.

Here is the updated card posted in first post in this thread

[Retlaw]

Latest repaints added to first post in thread (9/6/06)

[robaula]

The British 10th Light Infantry look fantastic! The colours are much more vibrant than the dull blue of the original Massachussets colour scheme. Absolutely brilliant!!!
(I am not biased at all by which country I live I live in)

[Retlaw]

Thanks -- the British 10th Light Infantry is the only repaint that I haven't put a darker wash on when done (well Nidhogg got a white wash). I wanted them to look clean compared to the 4th Mass. Something like the 10th Light has been staying in town and the 4th Mass has been camping out of town.

[paloriam]

I am going to be getting another MS soon and I was wanting to repaint some of the figures. I have never done anything like this and I was wondering what steps I should take and what type of materials to use.

[Retlaw]

I use artist acrylic paints (you can find them at most Walmarts or craft stores). Also, get yourself several sizes of small brushes.

I make sure the figure is clean, but I don't remove the existing paint (I know some do). Start with the base color and work up to the highlights, and then add a wash for an overall "dirty/shadow" look. For example, on the Mimring repaint to Grendel (see picture to left), I painted the whole body red first, then came back and did the underside of the neck/belly with a yellow (it may take two coats of paint), then did the black horns, claws, point of tail, teeth, and eyes, and then a wash with black (wash is a very watered down layer of paint applied over every thing) and used paper towels to blot up the black wash (these leaves black in the areas between the scales, etc., but removes it from the high points). As a final step, I came back with a "bry brush" (brush with no water and very little paint on it) and did spots with black to make him look sooty.