Hi everyone, (I'm doing a lot more computer work than I used to, so I never really feel like sitting at it when I don't have to, which is why I'm so absent from the fluff thread. Plus the more fantasy is past and the more AoS is present is the less I'm interested) I have just turned 40! A year ago I started wondering what I wanted for my 40th. A fancy chess set was what I decided on – but I did not realise what they cost. Thinking about alternatives I came up with a unique (I think) concept. Over 20 years ago (eep) I used to be into wargames like warhammer. I liked painting the miniatures but since I haven't played it in decades I would never again paint... for some reason I connected the two of them and decided to order new paints and models for a very personal chess set. COLOUR SCHEME The first thing I thought of was “black vs white”. But what would accompany the colours? Black I thought a dark purple and white I was thinking yellow. Taking some advice off friends who are still in the hobby “everyone who has painted a white and/or yellow army has regretted it” I decided to go black & purple vs grey & green. I YouTubed some painting videos and planned out the colour scheme. The problem was I had selected a dark purple to go with black. I did not realise how much I needed to contrast colours. A lighter purple worked much better. This was a general theme of my colours. A very dark bronze to go with iron warriors with black looked terrible – but the bright gold worked very well. In fact, I realised that the main colour of black was quite difficult to pull off. So I decided the main colour would be a light purple with the contrast second colour being black. Despite the grief that black gave me, I actually think the colour scheme worked better in the end. I also based the models on green grass which is what I always did as a teenager. If I had of thought more about it, I might have made them black and white, or possibly put the black models on darker grass or mud. It was instinct and I was half way through before I thought about it. PAWNS https://fireforge-games.com/northern-kingdom/370-folk-rabble.html These took me a while to find. There are a lot of “foot soldier” infantry going around, but in my head pawns would be villagers running out with torches and pitchforks. A soon as I saw these models I knew they were right. The models themselves came in sprues. I found them quite difficult to put together. In fact, the “two handed weapon” models came in 3 parts (two half arms and the weapons with hands) and I gave up on the whole thing. Painting was scary as they were my first and I hadn't done them in 20 years. I had a few practices before I got serious. I thought the torches would be really hard but actually they look great. They were 28mm in size which suited how I wanted the pawns to look. BISHOPS https://puppetswar.eu/tormentors.html I knew the set would “make or break” with the bishops. Knights, Kings and Queens would be easy to find. Rooks would be impossible. If I could get bishops, I could make it work. It was very hard, not many wargamers field religious figures. The search for these took me the longest. I decided the hats really made them. I considered removing the weapons but I thought it was beyond my skill, as I had tried it on a pawn without much success. When I got the models my biggest concern was making sure people could tell them apart from the pawns. They were 32mm and I put them on bigger bases. I came up with the idea of reversing the colours, so they are “green with grey” and “black with purple”. This was a rare instance of one of my original painting concepts working really well. I think they are now easy to tell apart. My first instance with black cloth was difficult, but I found a good YT video. If you look carefully at the bishop facing me you can see a little blue on the folds of his cloth which really brought it to life. (I am not a photographer as I am sure you can see) KNIGHTS https://weird-farm.dk/ The Knights were always going to be the easiest to find. I decided I really liked these from weird farm. The customer service they gave me was seriously 11/10 I ordered these at 28mm as Knights were going to be bigger than other models for obvious reasons. I ordered Rooks from them as well (below) in 32mm They emailed me straight away to check if this was an error, they said it would odd on a battlefield. I explained what I was doing and got advice to the effect of “well you can go smaller if you want with Knights but we really don't recommend it”. They sent me some photo concepts of size. Once I had locked in 28mm (and 32mm for Rooks) they cam back with the best advice ever – do you want the bases to be smaller? Yes, it was the biggest issue for Knights. In fact, I wish they were slightly smaller still but they only overhand the squares by a fraction. I found the painting of these difficult, especially the black and grey cloth. I also wish I hadn't of glued one of White's swords pointing forward, it really increases the size of the model. ROOKS https://weird-farm.dk/ Rooks were always going to be difficult. I thought for a long time about using terrain or something to look like a rook (or “castlehead” as my 5 year old has me calling them). In the end I went for these heavily armoured paladins. I thought the extra armour and bulk sort of looked like a defensive unit that a rook conveyed... well maybe not, but I think it was the best of my options. At 32mm I think that weird-farm (as much I love them) have printed them slightly large. They are the same size as my King and Queen which are 35mm and are bigger than my Bishops at 32mm. If I was to go again, I'd probably have them printed smaller, or, at least put them on a smaller pawn-style base, which I didn't think of at the time. (It appears weird-farm have closed for now. I know he was really busy. I hope everything is okay) I think they were the most fun to paint, although the grey cloth (especially against the silver armour) did give me difficulties. Although originally they weren't going to have an gold highlights on the armour, supposed to be for the King to really differentiate it. But it really worked, especially on the black models. I think the guy with the hood is my favourite model (if slighty out of focus on the shot) QUEENS https://bigchildcreatives.com/store/product/queen-guinevere-35-mm/ I found a single Queen on the internet! (Kings and Queens) I quote liked the model and it was 35mm. I actually wish I could have made it 40 or 45mm. I regret not asking – I didn't know it might have been an option until the big conversation I had with weird-farm. They had 75mm options but that would be insane. I tried a toothpick technique I saw on youtube for her cloak (and the kings). Of course it didn't look as good but I was still happy with it. Her dress.. far out that was difficult. I literally tried 3 iterations. I should have tested more on my spare models but I wasn't expecting it to look so bland. So I added extra wash. Didn't work. In the end I painted an undercoat of silver metal than 5 coats of wash to try to make her dress look “shiny”. It was okay... I think the best I can do given my limited skills. KING https://bigchildcreatives.com/store/product/king-arthur-pendragon-35-mm/ I thought I'd have lots of options... I was wrong! Kings and Queens from behind. I wanted something that gave easy recognition I was lucky in that the first one I found I liked. But otherwise, I found it really difficult to get a human figure with a noticeable crown. I really love this model too and tried to make him stand out with his cloak. Again, some things look better on YT than they do at home but at least it makes him easy to site on the board, especially when you are looking from behind (i.e. you can easily tell the difference in your own rooks and kings). CHESSBOARD https://www.chesshouse.com/products/19-wooden-chess-board-with-coordinates This was an interesting one. The pictures of Mahogony online make it look orange. I asked before I ordered, and their excellent customer service gave me good answeres and allowed me to take a gamble it was a natural wood colour I wanted - which it definitely was. The first board they sent me had a small imperfection, it looked like a sticker had been left on too long and left behind residue that could not be cleaned off. They first offered a discount but since it was a display board for me (although I admit this is cheap as far as wooden chess boards go) I asked for a new one. They agreed to give it to me despite postage to Australia being more than the board is worth. So I was very happy with their customer service. It is something I always worry about ordering independently as opposed to amazon/ebay. But they delievered. The second board I got has a few wooden knots in it. I like it as it really makes it look like "real wood" rather than "clever plastic". Some might not agree. But overall I have to say I highly recommend chesshouse and they have really good customer service. So make me feel less guilty about having two boards in my room (I will give the other away when I figure out the best way to do it) and check them out. Please. So this post turned out a lot longer than I thought but it was fun to relive a year worth of painting. Add a few good audio books and a beer or two and they were some fun evenings. A friend laughed at me trying to relive my youth and called it "a mid life crisis chess set" which I quite like!
I've toyed with a similar idea on and off for years. I'm glad to see someone has executed the idea successfully!
If memory serves, Rooks were in ancient sets often a chariot, an elephant with a howdah, or a siege tower. The famous Nordic sets made from tusk bones instead had berserkers and heavily armoured wardens for their Rooks. So I think your decision of making your Rooks heavily armoured paladins is actually quite accurate. Really great work on the set and hope you get many games out of it!
Interesting, I just looked it up on Wikipedia. If I had of known all that I probably would have made it a canon.