Rab's Wood Elves ( new title )

[Rab]

Army wide shot...

[Baardah]

Looks very good, but it hard to see details on an army shot. It looks very cool and impressive when it all comes together like this...
But seriously...5000 points and no dryads?

I'd love to see some closeups though. Show us more

[albertoalter]

It's seems a good job but... We want more photo !!!!!

[Rab]

Dryads on the right...I have 24.

I will post some close up shots of some of the units once I work through them...

in the interim, some glade guard.



and some wild riders with Orion ( also in other thread somewhere )

[Yuri]

I know its not appropriate, but... if thats 5k army, then I have more than 5k of wood elves... and I did not know that.

Sorry for OT. Nice models. How did you pin that gamezone eagle. I tried several times, but every time he somehow finds a way to break and slip out of his hole.

[Rab]

It's just over 5000 assuming 4 lords and 5 heroes for the characters not allowing for magic items or kindred costs. It's quite amazing how small it is really, but there are some majorly expensive units in there. I played a 4000 point game on friday ( well, 8,000 a side ... and I was allied with Brets ), and once you start adding magic and kindreds..even at 4000 there is still a fair bit left behind.

Glad you have more..the more Asrai the better! army shot would be great

[Rab]

I didn't pin the eagle at all....just some use of gale force nice super glue and accelerator. I didn't even pin the wings, although there was quite a lot of green stuff in there to add some surface area to the bond.

[Rowena]

I really like the colour scheme for the Glade Guard. May I ask what colours you used on them? They look absolutely great.

And yes, I think I've already seen the wild riders conversion and loved the idea. It might actually inspire me to try something like this myself... if you don't mind, of course.

[dutchwarlord]

That's a lot of wood elves! They look beautifull!
I also really like how your gladeguards blend with their bases.

[Beithir Seun]

It's amazing how tiny a Wood Elf army is!

Great work Rab. Those Wild Riders are fantastic, I really like the Mandrakes as elves (they are the Mandrakes, right? I don't pay attention to Dark Eldar, so I might have got the name wrong!)

And I second Baardah - we need more close-up pics!

[Comic Book Guy]

As a matter of interest, what's your recipie for the Glade Guard? I've always agonised over painting Wood Elves because I could never work out what the hell different parts of their clothes were, and hence what colour to paint it! But that does look pretty cool

[Baardah]

Dryads on the right...I have 24.

Ahh....iPad browser won't let me see the entire picture you see....

[Rab]

Bardah, oh yeah...just checked on my iPad. The right hand side has a Treeman , 24 ( well 23 as one had lost its base! ) Dryads, 8 Wardancers and the female Wardancer Lord.

[Joey_Boy]

What body's are you using for the wildriders? I'm looking for some naked(more or less) body's for conversion work in my own army

[Comic Book Guy]

Those bodies look like Dark Eldar to me... can't remember which unit exactly, but I'm certain they are Dark Eldar.

EDIT: Got it! They're Mandrakes.
http://www.games-workshop.com/gws/catal ... od1160120a

Oh, and In case I forgot to post it... what's the paint recipie for the Glade Guard?

[Rab]

Glade guard paint scheme, as requested.

Undercoat white ( as light a coating as you can get away with ), thinned elf flesh and white 1:1 for the flesh, Clothing panels are Khemri Brown and commando Kaki ( again thinned ). ( if you look at the models you can see that the clothing is layered, so decide which layers are which colour for each model...I tend to vary this to add some variety between models ) Boots are khaki. midrif 'corset' is scorched brown. leather straps on arms scorched brown or khaki ( again, for variety ). All Cloaks are Goblin Green, leather masks/helmets graveyard earth. Hair is Iyanden Darksun ( highlighted later with a little bleached bone and then white ). At this point the model looks very bright and not at all like the finished article.

Then selectively wash with Devlan Mud, thakra green and gryphon sepia. This is for me the key part. I tend to use washes to modify colour and also to add contrast and shadows. Cloaks are washed with thinned thakra green. All washes are thinned to various degrees and selectively applied in various stages until I think it looks right. e.g. boots have a very heavy wash with Devlan to stain the khaki and add a lot of shadow in the folded areas, but the main clothing panels get a light thin wash to add some depth and a slight tint.

Then some selective highlighting using the base coat colours. Then a base colour/white mix for extreme highlights.

Then I pick out some of the detail using bleached bone or chaos black and apply some selective highlights of elf flesh and white to the skin areas.

top tip: paint the cloaks separately and glue once done.

[Rab]

[Rab]

Completed today!

[Beithir Seun]

Brilliant conversion Rab!

[OneShotOneKill]

Wow. Very inspiring, I just picked up a wood elf army and you have me really excited about painting.

[The Forest Lord Daereth]

Wow, more great models!

I might just have to steal that idea for the two hand weapon character...

[Tuhis]

The best dragon ever.

Also clever use of parts on the dryads. And the eternal guard colour scheme is great, gives them sort of a holy knights feel.

[dutchwarlord]

They look amazing!!
I really love that dragon!
Can you please tell how you've made it! I will really appreciate it.

I've got another question for you too:
Why haven't you glued the head-brancches on the dryads, they look rather small-headed now.

[Rab]

dutchwarlord:

I simply left a HE star dragon in my model of Athel Loren and the next morning it had transformed...that forest has strange powers you know

As for the Dryads.. I just think they look better without the head branches, I also only use back branches on some of the models ( which incidentally helps them rank up in combat )

[Rab]

on a more serious note...

The dragon is based on a HE star dragon ( obviously ).

I wanted a more lithe and dynamic pose, as if the dragon would be at home in a forest. So I cut the dragon from its rocky base...used a pot of boiling water, two pairs of metal tongs, some deep breaths, some bravery and patience and reshaped the dragon so that it was rising in a curled stance over a fallen tree. I then did the same to the wings until I got the look I was after.

Obviously it could have gone horribly wrong, in terms of the model or the flesh on my hands! I am pleased with the end result though. I have another donor dragon, and I am looking for some suitable models for a take on Naestra and Arahan.

-Rab