Good day everyone.
I’m new to the Empire and would like some advice.
My armor is very much dwarven-inspired and feels like it might not fit in any of the Nations.
But I want a second opinion on it.
(Example photo.)
(Example photo.)
I could definitely see that fitting into Highguard as a Cataphract or depending on how you dressed it with tabard, etc, you could fit into Dawn easily.
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Agreed, Highguard and Dawn leap out as suitable. Possibly League too with the right soft kit.
There’s also an argument that as long as you can be labelled “oh, he’s from nation x” from a few paces away the actual armour you are wearing it less important. Soft kit and accessorising will get you a long long way.
Heck, you could even pull off off in the Brass Coast with a good enough story about how you acquired it, a tagelmust and a lot of brightly coloured scarves!
If you are feeling self-conscious about it, you have maille underneath, and maille fits any nation really as it’s much easier to dress up with soft kit.
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Welcome along 
That’s lovely armour (blued steel?), and as noted by others, it’ll fit in fine. It’d go in Highguard fine, Dawn with a bit of colour (bright undershirt/surcoat/extra bling), or indeed you could try pushing it elsewhere.
Not Imperial Orc or Marches though…
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Yes, I think it is blued steel but it seems to rub off, or at least when I clean it.
Has a few spots from deep scrubbing.
I concur with my colleagues definitely Highguard and with a brightly coloured tabard Dawn too
One thing that you might be interested in is that armour was often painted to keep it in good condition historically. So if you were up for it you could paint it brighter for Dawn or just add some chapter colours and symbols for Highguard.
Here’s a few examples of what you can do with that:
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I would love to paint my amour just how would i start with that?.
And also i think its better if i showed what my kit looks like right now.
Forgot i hade these photos.
That armour is pretty perfect for Highguard. Just get the Highguard soft kit right, then when you find a Chapter in the field you can add Chapter logos etc
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I’ve never painted my armour but I know some people who’ve taken all the bits apart and then used spray paint for cars. But I would poke around and see what other people recommend.
I can’t see if you’ve got one underneath so I would recommend getting yourself some padding to go under your armour. A light gambeson would save you from a lot of bruises when you’re running around the field or you get knocked down.
Also getting some padding to strap round your shins before putting your greaves on will help too, getting that comfortable for running and so it didn’t slip was always something I had fun with when I was wearing plate .
Your armour is fine as it is, I wouldn’t paint it.
My armour was plain steel and I did paint it.
I used car spray paint and then a billion layers of clear acrylic, it still gets chipped and needs maintenance.
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What if i want to put a patern like that skull in the first photo?.
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Its relatively simple.
- Choose a temporary tattoo you like the art work of. Try and stay away from anything religious or obviously modern.
- Using fine sandpaper rough up the area of the armour you want to have the art work.
- Mask off any areas you do not want paint on.
- Spray with auto primer. If you have y used spray cans before I suggest you follow some YouTube tutorials and practice.
- Wait for the primer to dry.
- Paint the colour you want to show through the tattoo, in my case this was white.
- Wait for the paint to dry.
- Apply your tattoo transfer.
You could stop at this stage.
If you do then apply layers of clear acrylic spray. The more layers the more protection is applied.
I went a stage further and blended black onto the pouldrons. I used a fade effect to blend it in.
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Hiya, I’ve painted steel lamellar plates, which are quite different to this, but the main bit of advise I would offer is to make sure your surfaces are clean and have no residue (dust/oils) on them. A light sanding of the surface also helps to give the paint something to key onto. Then its just a case of undercoat, overcoat and clear on the top. If surfaces brush against each other they will require maintenance (or jest let them chip - it adds character). Hope that helps
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I welcome any and all advice cant wait to start working on my kit more.
once I figured out what nations im going to be in.
Definitely good Highguard vibes off that (sweet) armour, you probably dont need to paint it even it its not needing protecting.
For mine the process was essentially:
1.Clean the plates, remove rust and oil
2. Mask up the straps with tape.
3. Good couple of coats with car primer (Halfords grey is excellent)
4. Leave it 24 hours then good couple of coats with your bottom colour (White in my case) Almost any rattle cans are good for this tbh and ive used all sorts.
5. Again after 24 hours, longer if possible, mask up any larger or geometric designs you want to stay white.
6. Leave it 24 hours then good couple of coats with your Top colour (Black in my case) Again any rattle cans are good for this tbh and ive used all sorts.
7. Leave it 24 hours (Getting the rhythm? 
) pull off all the masking on the metal and do any tidying up or smaller freehand on the armour, including other colours and assorted mayhem. I tend to use an eclectic mix of any water based paint you have heard off but primarily citadel ones as its what ive got 
8. 24 hours again then do a good couple of coats of lacquer, usually one more than i think i need Ive used Halfords a lot, but also LIDL stuff 
9. Pop off the masking on the leather, check everything is tidy, maybe do a polish and treat the leather as a little spray might have got through and masking tape aint great for it either tbh.
tada!
My main advise is lots of thin coats tbh, and remember you can always tidy things up afterwards, the pauldron trim took hours but its worth it.
Until you die, strip and do it all again ofc
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Looks great, I’m new to empire too and I know at least 15 new Dawn players ready to join so you would be welcome.
From my random chat to everyone, any and every nation are really welcoming.
People have said before but highguard and dawn for the armour but I personally think it would look great with some orcish extras too