Khalifate facelift: Redux

[Sleepwalker]

I like the helmet ponytail woodmouse so I'm all for adding that , and yeah a bit more differentiation wouldn't hurt. What about a disk armor plate? Kind of like http://home.mysoul.com.au/graemecook/Re ... armour.jpg perhaps. The Saree and Jawal are also very similar, different stances is good and all, but with the only equipment difference being a slightly pointier hat... It's not enough i think.

Monawish has got some attitude, i imagine him saying: hey you and me! we fight, right here! He looks a bit too small though as was pointed out i think, the mighwar too. I'd try to widen his stance a bit more.

I like the little armor details you have on both the arif lines, actually those and the melee cavalry lines are your best looking efforts. Your latest khalid the best imo.

The Batar looks very stiff with his very square shoulders though, I'd suggest trying to loosening him up, for example lowering the shoulder closest to the viewer.


Anyway, first try on making the Qanas more archer-y, what say you? In the middle pic you see I gave him a a bit different hat. Question: Is it visible enough that he has a mace slung to his side?

[thespaceinvader]

I think it probably is, yes, but i'll give noy the final say.

[Thrawn]

Just a quick reminder--we have the potential for "draw weapon" animations, so if it's hard to show both mace *and* bow, you can just accentuate the more important of the 2 (bow I presume), and have them draw the second weapon (ala the default elves) before attacking.

@ Sleepwalker: glad to see you back!

[thespaceinvader]

We can indeed, and we probably will do, but the base frame should emphasise the more important aspect, the bow.

[woodmouse]

Hmm, I edited the bow a little. (of the middle one of Sleepwalker's tweaks) I think it might be too big for a level 1 though...?

[thespaceinvader]

It doesn't look like a bow any more.

[Fog]

More like a broken stick. What was the purpose of the edit?

[thespaceinvader]

woodmouse is trying to help.

[Sleepwalker]

Here's the Madaf. Changed a few things as you see. Lightning was a bit inconsistent, most notably on the horse splint armor. tweaked some equipment...

EDIT: A few minor adjustments

[shiremct]

The unit looks really nice, but the masked one especially looks very samurai-ish. The open-faced one still looks pretty oriental but it's not so distinct that it completely breaks the style. I think it helps to maintain a mid-east feel if you remove the TC... thing... flowing behind his helmet. I assume it's some kind of tassel/plume type helmet accessory, but I can't tell for sure. I don't think it's needed to differentiate the unit and, and I know this is just my opinion, so take it for what it's worth... it removes just a little bit of that far-east feel... to my eyes anyway. This unit is certainly nice tho, don't get me wrong, just stretching the style a little.

The warhammer (yes?) by his leg looks good but blends into everything a bit because it's all the same color scheme. thespaceinvader is right, there is a lot to be learned from your work and your ability to convey an image using so few colors... It really is quite impressive... but... one or two extra shades to put in place of some of those greys on the warhammer to make it pop would probably be worth it.

Lastly, and maybe this is just my ignorance, as I'm not very familiar with real equipment from this area/time period but that thing between the warhammer and the tip of his cape is completely indecipherable to me. I assume based on it's location it's a quiver of some sort, but I honestly have no idea what it is and it looks a little out of place, but as I said, may just be my ignorance.


I'll have to study your work, there is much I can learn from it. The unit looks really great, I think it just needs a few tweaks to fit with the faction better.

[thespaceinvader]

No masks is part of the faction's general description, the only exception being the Naffat line.

And btw, apologies for my horrible handwriting, but the unit name is Hadaf, not Madaf.

I'd probably say keep the mace rather than a war hammer, too. But that definitely looks good, anf I can backport those armour changes across the other units that use that design. Thanks =) I like the new helms too, it helps to distinguish them a bit better from the other lines.

If you felt like giving the same sort of attention to the Jawal and Saree, that would be awesomesauce =)

EDIT: here's a final version incorporating your changes into the Faris and Mufariq, and fixing some minor issues I had with the Hadaf in particular - replacing the mace, and moving the head up a pixel cos he looked a little hunched and the same height or even slightly shorter than the previous level.

I think these are pretty much final except for the saree and jawal, deciding which of the level 4 khalids to use, and what the names for that line will be, and to decide whether to do anything further with the naffat line, and to tweak up the falcons.

[Sleepwalker]

shiremct: Thanks for pointing this out, yeah i was a little unhappy about some of that stuff. The indecipherable thing was indeed a quiver. I tried making it a little more fancy than the standard brown leather tube. It was based on a quiver design used by some of the eastern civilizations.

TSI: No masks? Can't say I like that decision but ok then. Was thinking maybe there could be a female version of the healer unit that could use a veil... Eh, could I have a look at the descriptions? To prevent doing anything wrong if anything. You could pm me if it's secret.

A warhammer might not be the best choice but I was hurrying and just tried to get something to post.
Anyway, I kept doing some changes. I wanted to do a bit different mace among other things... swapping the bow hand, trying it out. The 3rd pic has that weirdo quiver again though a bit different. "Shrug" Maybe it's still no good so I included one without.
Hmm I see now the mace arm might look short, I meant it to be bent back a bit but you can't really see it. Well, I post it for now see what you say.

Sure I can see what I can do about those other units, I'd like to tweak the third flamethrower guy (I guess you have a arabian language speaking dude who comes up with these names), add some goggles perhaps if that's okay.


EDIT: Oh and one other thing... I know some artists including yourself probably would like to have a go at doing portrait art for the khalifate. I think I would like to try it out too, unless you REALLY want to do it yourselves.

[thespaceinvader]

Don't have any descriptions as yet AFAIK - the no masks/enclosed helmets thing comes from noy, you'd be better off talkign to him about design decisions like that.

Another Khalifate portrait artist. There are now four people interested. Taking a line each would seem sensible... We can organise that over the summer though, i think - it's something that wants some proper thought.

Goggles for the tineen is probably an idea for differentiation, yeah, and yes, we do have an arabic speaker helping with names.

I think that might eb a winner for the hadaf =) The middle one, that is.

[woodmouse]

Another Khalifate portrait artist. There are now four people interested.

I'd be interested too... But I don't have the talent to do that...

Anyway, I changed the bow of Qanas again to look more bow-like... Though, I don't know if it's better... But I think it is?

[Speedbrain]

Well, it kind of looks like a tiny bow now. Like maybe a child's bow or something.
We should only see maybe half or less of the bow.
Look at Sleepwalker's post a couple above yours. The first unit of the three has a bow in much the same position as yours.