Warmaster: Complete Wood Elf Army

This is what I've been working on the past few months. A 2,500 pt Warmaster Wood Elf Army (or thereabouts). It can be divided into two 1,250 pt armies (one forest spirit/Sylvaneth and one elf/Asrai) fairly easily, so I can use it for games with my kids, where I need to supply both sides. It includes a small Wood Elf village.

I don't really want to go into how most of this was painted here ... a lot of different things were tried and there are better guides out there. Most of the heavy lifting on this project was done with Contrast paints. Aggros Dunes followed by spots of Aggrax Earthshade works surprisingly well.

I tried something a bit different, by adding some scenery, with the pictures. Now onto the pictures:

 

Warmaster: Waywatcher Rangers

The sneaky guerrilla fighters of the Wood Elfs. The Waywatchers come in smaller units (2 stands instead of three) and have special deployment rules that let them ambush other units. Technically I had 2 units worth, but I split them amongst three. I only realized after the fact that you can only have 2 units in a standard 2000 pt sized army. So I have enough for 3000 pts. Oh well.

 

Warmaster: Wood Elf Eternal Guard

More warmaster units. These are the Eternal Guards. Painted with either blue cloaks or white cloaks so it's easy to tell the two units apart. Mostly these were painted with contrast, which works pretty well at this scale. The key to getting the light blue on the cloaks was too thin the Contrast paints down. These were fun to paint. In game, they aren't necessarily the best choice.

 

Warmaster: Wood Elf Dragon

 I need some Warmaster miniatures to go with all of this Warmaster terrain I've been making/painting. So I bought a Wood Elf army for my birthday a few months ago. I got these from Warprunner Games in San Diego. Looking at pictures online, I think Excellent Miniatures are a bit more crisper, but given my painting skills at this scale ... I don't think it matters much.

The first piece I finished is the centerpiece of the army. The "general" on dragon.

I had a lot of fun painting this guy. I tried for an autumnal leaf look for the wings (it was either that or make them look like monarch butterfly wings).

My eyesight isn't as good as it used to be, so 10mm is proving to be a challenge. It doesn't help that my brushes are bit worn and due to Covid I haven't been able to get new ones. Overall I like him though, he looks suitably woodsy!

The Spiteswarm Hive

Bees!

It's the Spiteswarm Hive. Working my way through my Sylvaneth endless spells in preparation for the next wave of Sylvaneth. I went for a prismatic look for the spites/bees themselves. Lot's of glazes that GW no longer produce and blending them together (Red to Yellow to Green to Blue to Purple (made by mixing Red/Blue). Overall it was pretty easy to paint. Either I'm getting better (unlikely) or I'm picking easier miniatures to paint.

Awakened Sylvaneth Wyldwoods

They're awake!

These are the Awakened Sylvaneth Wyldwoods. Okay, at first I didn't like them. I thought they looked "off" for trees. Then I assembled some, and took a look from 3+ feet. It turns out GW's official pictures really don't do them justice. The angle makes them seem "top" heavy with all the foliage at the top. From a normal viewing angle, they look really nice. In addition, they are 1000% stronger and easier to use than their previous iteration. These things have really "grown" on me, my opinion has flipped 180 degrees.

Warhammer Underwords: Skaeth's Wild Hunt

You can hide, but you can't run! These guys are faster than you!

It's Skaeth's Wild Hunt for Warhammer Underworlds Beastgrave.

I had a lot of fun painting them. They are beautiful miniatures. The bases are a bit weird, given that Beastgrave takes place underground. It has quite a bit of greenery and flowers. I kept it pretty close GW's paint job. I varied some of the hair colors a bit and painted the Ligor as a baby White Lion. I used Guiliman's Flesh Contrast and the Orange Contrast for the first time, both worked really well. The white contrast also continued to work well. I also tried Sylvaneth Bark Contrast for the "hairy" bits ... that didn't work quite as well (although still okay).

It'll be interesting to see if GW ever releases any more Kurnothi.

Warhammer Underworlds: Ylthari's Guardians

Here are Yithari's Guardians. The last (yipee!) of the Underworlds Nightvault warbands. Finished them just in time for the upcoming Beastgrave Underworlds stuff that's coming. I also picked up Dreadfane, which is an Underworlds game that comes with 2 more warbands (Underworlds 2.5?), so those will be coming soon.

Nothing particularly special about the paint job on these. I followed my recipe for Dryads for the woody bits (and spites). The fleshy bits are Darkoath Contrast Paint over Wraithbone. The hair is Drakenhof  Nightshade Wash mixed with water (1:1 or so) over Wraithbone, highlighted with Pallid Wychflesh.

I like them, but they did come out a bit rough looking. I do like the spectral bluish tinge skin on some other paint jobs I've seen, but in the end I decided to go for more of a human look. I wanted the blue white hair, and I was worried it would be a bit too same-y same-y if I went for the spectral look.

WHFB: Treekin WIP

Once more, the paint is finished on these, but the bases aren't finished (hence the WIP label). These are the medium sized forest spirit in that pantheon. I have to admit, I have mixed thoughts on these models. At first I really didn't like them, after having painted them, I only somewhat despise them. The detail blurs into the bark while the overall form is rather ... hideous.

Treekin w/ Skeleton

Treekin Champion

Treekin w/ Owl

Treekin w/ Owl #2

Treekin w/ Skull

Treekin Champion

WHFB: Tree Spirit Tokens WIP

As part of the tree spirit/wood elf project, I put together some tokens to use for either wound markers or spell effects (mostly they will be used for spell effects ... I don't expect to be taking too many wounds).

These are in the same state as the Dryads from last week. The paint is complete but the bases still need a bit of work.

Not pictured is a owl on top of a waystone (my thumb got in the way).

Skull Bush #1

Skull Bush #2

Reeds with Spite

Spites (sorry about the blurriness)

Spite w/ Skull

WHFB: Dryad WIP #2

The paint is finished on the Dryads, I just need to do the bases (add green flock and maybe add some static grass). Then I'll overcoat them with 2 coats of glosscoat followed by one of dullcoat to protect the paint job. I'll do all of that at one time for the entire Wood Elf forest spirit project. I still have some treekin and treemen to finish.

Dryad Champion

2nd Dryad Champion

Dryad w/ bones (if Dryads ever get command models, this will be used as a std bearer)

Branthwraith (i.e. a Dryad that can cast spells)

Dryad w/ Owl (if Dryads ever get command models, this will be used as a musician)

Drycha, the Branchmaven of Woe

More Dryads

WHFB: Dryad WIP

I decided to do a summer project. I've always wanted to do a Wood Elf Tree Spirit army, so I thought that would be a good goal (even though the new Wood Elf makes it a decidedly underpowered choice). With the end of summer looming, it doesn't look like I'll make it ... but hopefully I'll have it done before the snows of winter hit. Now onto pictures!