[WHFB] Wood Elf Modelling Diary - 56K Warning, Update 20/1/08 - Unit Shots - FINAL UPDATE! Options

[sious_69]

A Modelling Diary for Wood Elves
By Trent Denison

Update 1 - 15/12/07

This is a collection of my thoughts for my new army, Wood Elves, which I am attempting to get ready for Dogcon. I have used the Kelt Sessairs Rackham range to represent every model in the army except for the Great Eagles. For painting the army, I am using the Derivan Minis range of paints exclusively, as a demonstration of their use for the WarPuppy Games website. I will include my thoughts on how these Derivan paints stack up to GW paints.


The Einarjar
Far to the north of the Chaos Wastes, high in the mountains, lives a nomadic tribe of Norse known as the Einarjar, the Riders of the Forest. They earnt this name many years past, when the Jarl of this tribe, who was known as Aegir, led his warriors deep into the lands of men. They traveled far, and ended up in the lands of Bretonnia, where they were defeated in battle, and driven deep into Loren Forest. Normally, they would be destroyed by the inhabitants of the forest, but for some reason, they were allowed to live, and forced to travel deep into the heart of Loren. There, they came upon the sacred oak that housed the spirit of Orion. He infused Aegir and his warriors with his vengeful spirit, and gave to them the power of the woods. The tribe became known as the Riders of the Forest, as they lived with the Wood Elves for many years, adopting some of their customs and traditions. They returned to their mountain homes, but no longer did they worship the four gods of Chaos. Instead, they sent their prayers to Kurnuos and Isha, the deities of the Elves. And for this tribe, just like worshippers of the Chaos Gods, those truly blessed by Kurnuos would be infused with a fraction of his power. Like Orion himself, they began to take the forms of the forest, so they could better defend it.


The army itself comes from the mountains, so the basing and colour scheme evolves from that. Their bases are mostly dirt and rocks, with a splash of grass and vines here and there. Some of them stand on the ruins of ancient temples to the Chaos Gods, but they are long since destroyed. Since they live high in the mountains, where it is pretty cold, their bases include some snow also. And finally, what Wood Elf army would be complete without trees? So the basing of each unit also includes a gnarled and twisted tree. Their clothing reflects the craggy mountains where they live – dark grey like the rocks, blue like the skies, brown like the earth and very little green.



The Treeman Ancient
Aegir himself has lived for these many years, his powers growing slowly, like the ancient oak of the forest. His form has mutated and evolved, increasing to massive size, being covered by the ancient runes of Kurnuos, growing horns and cloven hooves. The warriors of the Einarjar all strive to become as Aegir himself has become, one of the truly blessed of Kurnuos.

The Treeman Ancient is a Kelt Sessairs Minotaur, converted to stand around an inch taller. I removed his hooves and inserted legs, sculpted from a wireframe and Knead-IT. I will go through and add Green Stuff soon, sculpting furs and leg muscles as required. The base requires sanding and a little bit more work on the rocks so it looks impressive. I was initially worried about his height, which is why I have increased his legs and put him so high up on his base. Now he stands out enough to be recognized as the Treeman Ancient. I have not decided about painting him yet, I am leaving him until last as a reward.





Dryads
When the spirit of Kurnuos begins to change the forms of the Einarjar, it is only a gradual shift. The first stage of change sees the host form increase in size and muscle mass dramatically. Their features and temperament become more aggressive and they are armed with enormous and brutal weapons. The tribe relies on their strength and power to keep them safe.

The Dryads are the Giant Barbarian models. Some of these figures are simply awesome and look tough as. There are only six different variants for these figures, so I have converted most of them, changing weapons and poses slightly so the unit does not look too static. I plan to use heaps of browns and greys on these guys so they look woodlike.





Wild Riders
Occasionally the change will bring about a different form to the norm. With the bottom half of a powerful horse, and the upper half of a powerfully muscled tribesmen, these lucky few are the blessed of Isha, and they ride across the mountains as surefooted as any mountain creatures.

The Wild Riders are made using the Centaur range. The Standard is from the Kelt Hunters pack, and the Musicians horn comes from a Minotaur (its his actual horn!) These are probably some of my favourite figures in the army, and I am looking forward to painting them.





BSB on Eagle
Living high in the crags of the mountains, the Einarjar have allied with the Eagles that live there. Riding into battle upon one is the faithful lieutenant of Aegir, Hrothgar. Hrothgar has served his lord since the first days. He has retained his humanoid form so he can continue to ride his Eagle.

Kelen the 13th voice is the basis for this model, riding on the GW Great Eagle. I love this model, and I think he fits perfectly on top of the Eagle. He needs very little work, and is pretty much ready for basing.





Archers
The tribesmen are renowned for their skill with a bow, much like the Wood Elves whom their society is based upon. They are agile and swift, clambering over the rocks and mountains of their homeland without fear, striking with accuracy and force even when the enemy is almost upon them.

These guys are pretty basic models, which I think fits in perfectly (they are Kelt Sessairs Archers) for the rest of the army. They have MASSIVE harpoons for arrows, which are a little overpowering, so I have left a lot of them off. I think the unit itself looks really good. When mr_bretonnia finally comes through and sends my standards through, I will be hanging it from the tree in the front rank. Again, the Musician’s horn is from the Minotaur model.





Wardancers
The tribesmen of the Einarjar are fearsome warriors themselves. Their styles of fighting are modeled on those of the Wood Elf Wardancers, whose twisting forms and supple movements are the bane of the enemies of the forest.

The Wardancers for my army are the basic Kelt Sessairs warriors. These guys are probably the simplest figures in the whole army! So I plan to paint plenty of interesting tattoos and stuff on them.





That’s it for this first update. Next update I will reveal my Treekin, Scouts and Glade Riders, and hopefully have some skin finished on my little dudes.

This post has been edited by sious_69: Jan 20 2008, 10:56 PM

[cazaril]

Looking the goods so far trent.. quick question though - is there a particular reason you do the basing first?

[sious_69]

Yeah I always do my bases first, for a couple of reasons. Firstly, it lets you see how the model is coming together from the first few stages. Secondly, when gluing flock and stuff down you dont have to touch a painted model and get greasy fingerprints on your models. Thirdly, its one of my favourite parts of painting!

[sious_69]

Since I am feeling generous, here is my work in progress Scout (being painted as a Test Model for the colour scheme, and practice with the Derivan Paints).

[peacekeeper]

Hey I didn't know WarPuppy had Derivan paints I will have to get some to try out. How are you finding them to use mate?

I reckon the odd rune etched/painted on a couple of rocks wouldn't go astray to helping out the Nordic theme you have. Looking forward to seeing a unit finished If you need any more standards from the woodie box I have a kajillion of them.

[sious_69]

Yeah they are not bad at all actually Dano.

The dispensers are excellent, the colour range quite extensive, and the quantity you get per bottle is excellent.

In terms of how they paint, the finish that they give is a true matte finish, which is different from the GW one, which has a slightly glossy finish. The coverage of certain colours is not great (the same as many GW paints), but overall, so far I am finding them to be really good.

I will be adding the snow to the bases at the end, and I will make a decision then about adding runes, but it is something I had considered.

[sious_69]

Ok, so I am hard at work this morning on the skins of all the little fellas in the army, except for the two Eagles and the Treeman. I am expecting to get this mostly finished today, and hopefully make a start on the browns.

The army is looking really good together, and I have done a few neat little things to improve its playability.

1. Every model is magnetised on its base, and all my trays include metal inserts. This means no falling over, which means no paint chips. Its also handy for moving the units, they dont wobble around as others can. For my skirmishing units, I have a flat piece of metal which I plan to paint with some interesting designs, then varnish, so they have something to rest on loosely.

2. The trees. Since they come from the mountains, where it is cold, I plan to put foliage on the trees, and then include some snow on tops of this. Does anyone have any ideas for foliage? I planned to use a packet of stuff I got from Hobbyrama, but its not going to be enough, and its quite expensive to buy a lot of.


I plan to have some more photo updates later on today...

[Kojihama]

Looking pretty swishy Trentus.

[peacekeeper]

Dropper bottles are awesome after using VGC for the past couple of years I can't go back to GW's flip lids.

Which stuff do you have already for the trees? I have a bunch of different stuff like lichen, mini-trees from various places, clump foliage is the best looking imo.

[sious_69]

Clump foliage. Ill get a picture of it soon.

Im not at home at the moment!

[sious_69]

Update 2 - 16/12/07

So, welcome back, here is my first update, a day after I started, very good of me! However, thats because I have just had two days off, I dont expect to have another update until maybe Wednesday at the earliest. The timeframes involved for getting the army done in time for Dogcon are not extensive, so I am really going to have to knuckle down and get some serious painting done.

The Derivan paints I am using are both a blessing and a curse. The dispensers and paint colours themselves are excellent, so that is speeding up some of the time I spent going back to the GW pots, but the one thing that I am struggling with at the moment is the coverage. Its slightly different to GW, not as heavily pigmented, so my normal painting style of wetbrushing is not really working. I need to go back to the "proper" painting techniques of individually painting sections with a slightly more moist paint. This is a little more time consuming than I am used to, but I am enjoying the process just as much, so I cannot complain.

So far, I am really liking the Dark Chestnut and Dark Flesh, both excellent coverage and nice colours (I like brown ), and the Flesh colour itself is a bit of a struggle, but I am coming to grips with it. The couple of Blue's I trialed were very interesting, coming out much lighter than they initially appeared, which for me is a good thing. One thing I can say is that the true Matte finish looks a lot different to the GW finish, so I am going to explore some Varnish options in the next few days over some practice models. The GW Purity Seal gives a nice satiny finish, so that may help the final product. I normally use Testors Dullcoate, but I tried that on some test model already, and it just retains the exact same finish. Further experimentation will ensue, and I will keep you posted.





So Dane, this is the stuff I was planning to use, but its around $12 a bag, and I cannot see one bag being enough. Normally I don't mind spending whatever is required, but I am currently on a tight budget, and a tight timeframe also, so thats not helping!!


Anyway, onto the models! Some of the skins I have started, and I am sure it looks a little naff at the moment, but thats because its only halfway done. Skin is the hardest thing to paint well, and I have a technique that I am really happy with. Translating it over to the Derivan paints has been a little challenging, involving mixing a new colour up to work as a go between for the two Flesh colours, but it has worked really well on my little Scouty, so I hope the army will look awesome.


Treekin
After serving the great spirit of Kurnuos faithfully for many years, some blessed few are given great size and strength as a reward for their loyalty. These hulking warriors possess the intelligence of their smaller brethren, yet retain a ferocity that their opponents fear greatly...

So these Treekin are the Sons of Ogmios models. Awesome figures, remarkably dynamic poses and really awesome details. Initially I planned to convert these guys to have wings, and use them as Warhawk Riders. I even bought some wings to use as well, but I decided they would be better suited to Treekin. I still plan to include some Warhawk Riders, but it will be just conventional dudes riding Hawks I think.





Scouts
The most skilled of the Archers in the Einarjar are given great responsibility, to guard the High Peaks from attack. Incursions from the Temple of the Horned Man are frequent, and they often attack from the skies, so these Hunters are the first line of defence.

Maybe my favourite models from the whole army, but I say that about most of them. They are awesomely detailed, and one of them even reminds me of Tim the Enchanter, which is really cool!





Alter Noble
Alongside Hrothgar as the trusted warriors of the Einarjar stands Wulf, the solitary figure who guards the southern route up the mountains. Famed for his legendary ferocity, Wulf is a warrior who possesses the ability transform into a baresark form, slaying his enemies in a bloodthirsty rage. This has led him to leave the safety of the tribe for fear of hurting his friends, but this existence has suited him, and he relishes the role he plays for Aegir.

The model that started my fascination with Rackham figures, and the inspiration for my whole Wood Elf army, this guy is based on the Spasm Warrior. Initially I planned to use the basic figure on the table, and then change when he charged, but time constraints have forced me for the moment to simply paint this guy. I am considering converting up a unit of Eternal Guard from the three different cloaked models of the Spasm Warriors.





Glade Riders
Sometimes the Centaurs that are created are similar to the blessed of Isha, but not as muscular. These delicate creatures are used as scouting troops, ranging far and wide to keep Aegir aware of the movements of his enemies.

These models are simply awesome. The movement, the muscular structure, their heads and the detail on their weaponry, I love it. The unit itself in the game is not really one I would consider using, but when I was scouring the web for figures to use, these guys were the first things that caught my eye, and I knew I had to include a single unit.






So, that's where I am at right now. Things are looking ok for getting it all done in time at the moment, assuming I dont lose heaps of free time to a scary girlfriend who wants more attention, or watching the cricket that is currently going on. Fingers crossed!


This post has been edited by sious_69: Dec 16 2007, 10:20 PM

[cazaril]

Liking it lots mate...

And there's cricket on?

[sious_69]

Well, certainly not today after the stupid rain cancelling it, but I am talking about generally speaking over the next 6 weeks until Dogcon there is heaps of cricket action!

[Gyrfalcon]

Cricket - the perfect excuse for Warhammer and vise versa!

Looking good Trent. You might even be able to inspire me to get serious about my army...

[peacekeeper]

That's the good stump clump. I'm definitely going to have to try the derivans for myself. I bought some gw brown recently while I was picking up the new HE book because I'd run out of my normal stuff, I found the coverage of it compared to my vallejos to be shocking. Ah well we'll see.

I is have a question, why do you do your stones brown? I always envisage mountain rocks to be grey!

[sious_69]

Grey on bases looks turd unless its only small areas. Takes the focus off the model.

[XxSolitairexX]

[sious_69]

Please dont post in my thread unless you are going to add something positive, its supposed to be interesting for everyone to read! Thanks.

This post has been edited by sious_69: Dec 17 2007, 06:11 PM

[XxSolitairexX]

It was a picture of people applauding; I like using pictures to express my opinion. What I meant was that the army looks nice. I am sorry if that offends you.

[sious_69]

Its a picture of retarded people applauding. Look at that guy with the hair. I mean seriously, just write what you think instead of something that can be construed differently.

Incidentally, that guy in the top right looks remarkably like you.