[Tale of Painters] Wood Elves

[xbanditsx]

EDIT 9/30/2008:

A year later and I've finished the army. Below this is my complete list with links to photos for those of you who don't want to dig through the whole thread for them.

Lords and Heroes:
Wild Rider Noble with Dawn Spear 157
Alter Noble with Helm of the Hunt, Hail of Doom Arrow, great weapon, light armour, shield 158
Spellsinger with 2 Dispel Scrolls 140
Branchwraith with Level 1, Cluster of Radients

Core:
9 Dryads with Branch Nymph 120
9 Dryads 108
9 Dryads 108
10 Glade Guard with musician 126
10 Glade Guard with musician 126
5 Glade Riders with musician 129

Special:
3 Tree Kin 195
5 Wild Riders with Wild Hunter, musician, standard bearer, War Banner 191
7 Wardancers with Bladesinger, musician 147

Rare:
6 Waywatchers with Shadow Sentinel 152

total: 1997

END EDIT.

This is the thread where I will be logging my progress in the Tale of Painters. I have never played Fantasy before, so I don't have a 2000 point list. My plan is to build a 500 point army, play with that for a little bit to figure out what is going on, and then use it as a base to progress up to 1000, 1500, and eventually 2000 points.

This is also the first time that I plan to do more than prime and base coat an army. My two previous armies (Tau and Space Marines) would qualify as 'tabletop quality' but not a whole lot more. I am going to try to highlight and shade these models, as well as do some experiments with basing.

Anyway, on to the list!

Noble 141
+longbow and spear
+light armour
+elven steed
+Hail of Doom Arrow
+Helm of the Hunt

10 Glade Guard 120

8 Dryads 96

5 Glade Riders 129
+musician

This list gives me a chance to play around with some skirmishers, fast cavalry, shooting, combat, and a character (i.e. a good into to many of the rules). I also think that the Dryads and Glade Riders are going to pack a solid punch that my Noble can back up, so hopefully it will be effective.

As I expand up towards 2000 points I plan to add another unit of Dryads and Glade Guard, a unit of Wardancers, Waywatchers, and Wild Riders, as well as some new heroes (not sure about them yet).

Let me know what you think.

[xbanditsx]

First up, some pictures. Thus far I have assembled and begun the basing process. I hope to have the sand applied to the bases and the models primed black by the end of the weekend (and since Monday is a holiday I think there is a pretty good chance that will happen).

The whole army!




The Glade Riders. I am pretty proud of the bases here, especially of the middle three. I cut the branch into pieces and then glued them to the bases to match up the cuts. I think it turned out pretty well.



And last, my Noble. I really didn't like the things connecting the hooves to the bases, so I cut them off (I did this on the Glade Riders also). I think the pose looks good with the cork.

Left Side



Right Side



What do you guys think?

[Tekore]

That looks excellent with the cork. Can't wait to see how it turns out. Nice pics!

Tekore

[xbanditsx]

Dryad test.

Basecoat of scorched brown, heavy drybrush of bestial brown, light drybrush of bleached bone, wash of scorched brown, drybrush of snakebite leather.

The highlights are more visible that the photos suggest (but not a whole lot more). I was hoping for more highlights on the model as a whole, but the paint would either blend into the previous coat completely or be too stark. I guess that's why this is a test.





Suggestions? Comments? Let me know.

[xbanditsx]

The first unit of Dryads are done! I am pretty happy with how they came out, although I am going to try to make the skin (bark?) look better on the second unit. The clump foliage turned out really well and I am really happy with how the spite and skull look.

First four.



Second four (my favorites are in the middle with the skull and spite).



The whole unit.



Suggestions?

[xbanditsx]

Glade Guard test figure. I used the GW online tutorial to paint this guy. The colors look pretty good and I'm happy with how the highlights turned out. Only 19 more to go.

Front.



Back.

[xbanditsx]

The first unit of Glade Guard is done.

First five.



Second five.



I ended up rushing through these guys to make the tale of painters deadline so I wasn't as happy with them as I wanted to be. That being said, they're probably the best miniatures I've ever painted.

If anyone has any comments or suggestions I'd love to hear them.

[maraschino]

Originally Posted by xbanditsx

I ended up rushing through these guys to make the tale of painters deadline so I wasn't as happy with them as I wanted to be. That being said, they're probably the best miniatures I've ever painted.

If anyone has any comments or suggestions I'd love to hear them.

not bad dude, keep painting youll improve a lot !

just a few tips to help you on your way,

keep you paints thin, it makes the surface smoother (less visable brushstrokes) and keeps the detail of the model

make your highlight strokes smaller and build them highlights up gradually

8Y

[xbanditsx]

Can you explain what building highlights up gradually means? I've never highlighted anything before so everything is new to me.

[maraschino]

use a progressively lighter colour ontop of your base colour by layering

gw tutorial