The Thornshaw Guard
Talahir, Glade Guard champion
Monday 29 August 2011
Sunday 28 August 2011
Progress report
Just a bit of a progress report, I've painted a he'll of a lot today, it's late and dark but I took a few quick snaps anyway, await daytime pics tomorrow!
First, I've extended on of my units of glade guard from 10 to 16 strong, with command.
Also, 15 (actually 14 at the minute) eternal guard. 5 of these guys were the first models I painted for this army a few years back, hopefully you can't tell the new from the old too much
That gap will be filled by my army box BSB, who'll make a nice eternal standard.
More tomorrow
First, I've extended on of my units of glade guard from 10 to 16 strong, with command.
Also, 15 (actually 14 at the minute) eternal guard. 5 of these guys were the first models I painted for this army a few years back, hopefully you can't tell the new from the old too much
That gap will be filled by my army box BSB, who'll make a nice eternal standard.
More tomorrow
Sunday 21 August 2011
Glade Guard additions
Uuurgh...it's late and I've done lots today.
Today has mostly consisted of stripping old models, but I've done some painting too.
Just one quick pic before bed, sorry about the light. One of my units of ten Glade Guard has been extended to sixteen, including command. Theyre almost finished, but I've left the champion out of the photo, he's a special surprise
Just need to finish the gold and the bases, then pick out a few details
Today has mostly consisted of stripping old models, but I've done some painting too.
Just one quick pic before bed, sorry about the light. One of my units of ten Glade Guard has been extended to sixteen, including command. Theyre almost finished, but I've left the champion out of the photo, he's a special surprise
Just need to finish the gold and the bases, then pick out a few details
Thursday 18 August 2011
Oakroot- Treeman finished
Tree men. You just can't ignore them forever. Sooner or later in your wood elf army you're going to have to give up and get one.
Unfortunately, despite it's incredible background, awesome rules, great character and war hammer pedigree, we are left with this.
This is what I used for my current Treeman. It's not a bad model. But it's not an army defining, kick ass model either. Way back in White dwarf 190, I first became aware of Wood Elves after an incredible battle report. I'd never seen them before, and the treeman drew me to the army, probably for life. If I did the same now with the current tree man, would I be just as inspired? Probably not. I hoped a quick paint job and a mighty base would solve his problems, but I was wrong. He looks OK, and that's not what I want.
Here's the unavoidable faults, In my opinion.
1) the expression. I want terror. I want faces in the bark created by your mind when you're scared at night in a forest. I want malice! I get a bobbed out Tongue and a smile.
2) the 'hips'. Think about a treemans movement. In your minds eye, surely he's either lurching, or stomping. Your mighty treeman can do neither with the centre of his 'hips' thrust forward like a disco menace. Coupled with the expression, he looks like your drunken uncle out on the pull.
3) no arms. The branches are cool, but he needs two identifiable arms. Durthu had the right idea with his angry fist.
It feels good to say all this, because as a GW staff member I had to defend every model to the hilt. I had to make out it was incredible. Not that it's without it's virtues, it's size was a welcome improvement, and the bark sculpting is lovely.
So without further ado, I hereby declare that I like the oooollllddd treemen best, and will be basing mine on this fellow.
The main issue is the size. Compared to the modern treeman, the classic sculpt is closer to a treekin in size. There are two sculpts, the first with his arm raised in the air, the second with his arms wide. I won one of each on eBay for a fair price, but by some fluke I ended up with two of the second sculpt. My original plan was to use the first sculpt, and his 'slam dunk' pose would help the size problem.
So, the second sculpt (actually my favourite of the two). Whilst waiting for it in the post, I had many grand ideas about resculpting a head etc, but when it arrived, I got to see how nice this model actually is. It has tons of bark, trunk, foliage, little details, and I realised I had to do very little to it.
All I did was two simple things to increase it's height and overall mightiness. First, a huge base! Second, I pinned on a couple of dryad branches and sculpted the joins to match.
He was an absolute joy to paint, and was instantly preferable to the modern version, who I remember being a bit of a chore. Here's the finished article, Oakroot, tree-guardian of Everfall.
How does he square up to his younger cousin?
Quite well I think!
Unfortunately, despite it's incredible background, awesome rules, great character and war hammer pedigree, we are left with this.
This is what I used for my current Treeman. It's not a bad model. But it's not an army defining, kick ass model either. Way back in White dwarf 190, I first became aware of Wood Elves after an incredible battle report. I'd never seen them before, and the treeman drew me to the army, probably for life. If I did the same now with the current tree man, would I be just as inspired? Probably not. I hoped a quick paint job and a mighty base would solve his problems, but I was wrong. He looks OK, and that's not what I want.
Here's the unavoidable faults, In my opinion.
1) the expression. I want terror. I want faces in the bark created by your mind when you're scared at night in a forest. I want malice! I get a bobbed out Tongue and a smile.
2) the 'hips'. Think about a treemans movement. In your minds eye, surely he's either lurching, or stomping. Your mighty treeman can do neither with the centre of his 'hips' thrust forward like a disco menace. Coupled with the expression, he looks like your drunken uncle out on the pull.
3) no arms. The branches are cool, but he needs two identifiable arms. Durthu had the right idea with his angry fist.
It feels good to say all this, because as a GW staff member I had to defend every model to the hilt. I had to make out it was incredible. Not that it's without it's virtues, it's size was a welcome improvement, and the bark sculpting is lovely.
So without further ado, I hereby declare that I like the oooollllddd treemen best, and will be basing mine on this fellow.
The main issue is the size. Compared to the modern treeman, the classic sculpt is closer to a treekin in size. There are two sculpts, the first with his arm raised in the air, the second with his arms wide. I won one of each on eBay for a fair price, but by some fluke I ended up with two of the second sculpt. My original plan was to use the first sculpt, and his 'slam dunk' pose would help the size problem.
So, the second sculpt (actually my favourite of the two). Whilst waiting for it in the post, I had many grand ideas about resculpting a head etc, but when it arrived, I got to see how nice this model actually is. It has tons of bark, trunk, foliage, little details, and I realised I had to do very little to it.
All I did was two simple things to increase it's height and overall mightiness. First, a huge base! Second, I pinned on a couple of dryad branches and sculpted the joins to match.
He was an absolute joy to paint, and was instantly preferable to the modern version, who I remember being a bit of a chore. Here's the finished article, Oakroot, tree-guardian of Everfall.
How does he square up to his younger cousin?
Quite well I think!
Dragon finished!
He's finished!
As with all my models I'll come back to him in a month or so and touch up any bits I'm notbappy with. I find a rested pair of eyes helps a lot. I can see already I'll have to do something with the spear tip
Looking back at the original, I think he looks a million times better. He looks important enough to ride a dragon now
As with all my models I'll come back to him in a month or so and touch up any bits I'm notbappy with. I find a rested pair of eyes helps a lot. I can see already I'll have to do something with the spear tip
Looking back at the original, I think he looks a million times better. He looks important enough to ride a dragon now
Tuesday 16 August 2011
Faerie Lights In The Forest
Hi guys, it's time for another tutorial. This time, I'm going to be looking at the Asrai wood. We all get one for free, so I feel like making mine a little different.
My inspiration comes mainly from music videos that are filmed in a forest at night with strobe lighting (cherub rock by smashing pumpkins and anything can happen in the next half hour being notable examples). So, imagine, if the spites of Athel Loren could lure in their next victims with strange, mystical lights.
For this project you need a set of LED circuits. I got mine from http://www.modeltrainsoftware.com , but to be honest I'd look around for better. I chose them as they were the first the found, but the wiring is a little flimsy and I ended up ruining one circuit as the wire was too brittle. Still, I got the job done, so if you can't find any better, use these guys. They sell pre-made battery and switch sets. I bought a couple of 3Vbatteries and switches, and several red 3V LED's. I also picked up a bit of PVC tape.
Simply enough, purchase a GW wood and clean up all the pieces with a craft knife. I leave the leaves where they are and paint them on the sprue.
Most of the trunk is hollow. I pick the spots I want my lights, and I make a little hole for them. Accomplish this by sticking a knife and twisting till the hole is made
Check your LED fits into the hole
Using the same technique, make a hole in the tree base and in the bottom of the trunk for the wires to pass through.
Using a ring of green stuff and superglue, fix it in place
Feed the wires through the hole, and glue the trunk halves together
Join all the wiring up. This is straightforward enough with my pieces, red wire to red wire, black to black
Seal up the joins with PVC tape
After that you just build and paint the wood as normal. I just did an autumn theme to match my army.
Here's some pics of the forest so far. I just need to finish the third tree and paint the bases of each tree.
You can't see in the pics cuz the light shows so bright, but it reflects off all the trunks and leaves, and looks very spooky.
Let me know what you think!
My inspiration comes mainly from music videos that are filmed in a forest at night with strobe lighting (cherub rock by smashing pumpkins and anything can happen in the next half hour being notable examples). So, imagine, if the spites of Athel Loren could lure in their next victims with strange, mystical lights.
For this project you need a set of LED circuits. I got mine from http://www.modeltrainsoftware.com , but to be honest I'd look around for better. I chose them as they were the first the found, but the wiring is a little flimsy and I ended up ruining one circuit as the wire was too brittle. Still, I got the job done, so if you can't find any better, use these guys. They sell pre-made battery and switch sets. I bought a couple of 3Vbatteries and switches, and several red 3V LED's. I also picked up a bit of PVC tape.
Simply enough, purchase a GW wood and clean up all the pieces with a craft knife. I leave the leaves where they are and paint them on the sprue.
Most of the trunk is hollow. I pick the spots I want my lights, and I make a little hole for them. Accomplish this by sticking a knife and twisting till the hole is made
Check your LED fits into the hole
Using the same technique, make a hole in the tree base and in the bottom of the trunk for the wires to pass through.
Using a ring of green stuff and superglue, fix it in place
Feed the wires through the hole, and glue the trunk halves together
Join all the wiring up. This is straightforward enough with my pieces, red wire to red wire, black to black
Seal up the joins with PVC tape
After that you just build and paint the wood as normal. I just did an autumn theme to match my army.
Here's some pics of the forest so far. I just need to finish the third tree and paint the bases of each tree.
You can't see in the pics cuz the light shows so bright, but it reflects off all the trunks and leaves, and looks very spooky.
Let me know what you think!
More work on the dragon!
Almost there!
Today I've made the face mask. As I planned, I wanted to keep a half-mask, but I wanted more armour on the dragons head.
First I cut a few shaped armour plates out of black plasticard.
Heres some painted shots
I'm pretty happy with it, happier than with the leather half-mask anyway.
Today I've made the face mask. As I planned, I wanted to keep a half-mask, but I wanted more armour on the dragons head.
First I cut a few shaped armour plates out of black plasticard.
Heres some painted shots
I'm pretty happy with it, happier than with the leather half-mask anyway.
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