#hobby2020

Not a massive change from the last team photo. I’ve been getting most of the work done on my weekends, and the weekends this month have been particularly busy. I’ve added Stirland Mud to the bases of the finished Sylvaneth, the Dryads and Endless Spells, started on the final batch of 20 Dryads, and finished off the Branchwraith.

The tiny sprite on the base is painted like a small version of the Gladewyrm - because of the large similarity in colour with the Dryads, a little something like this can help it stand out.

(It was only an arm, and a clean break where it had been glued on - an easy fix)

The post title basically comes from my still finding a way to put off painting the Treelords. I think I’m intimidated by the size and detail of the models, but I reckon with a good run I could get one finished over a weekend. Next month, hopefully.

I’ve still been busy though. In lieu of painting the Treelords, I managed to finally get an alternate pose built for the second Treelord Ancient. Because I’ve included two in my army, I wanted to be able to distinguish between them. I figured the pose would be the best way, and I’m very happy with the result I managed to achieve.

On the left is the standard out-of-the-box, follow-the-instructions build. Because you can build a Treelord, Treelord Ancient or a Spirit of Durthu from the same set of sprues, you get three sets of elbows and shoulder joints, as well as leg poses, so I planned to mix and match them. I had the idea of the Ancient sweeping its staff, or attacking with the spike on the end, so set about thinking how I would achieve something like that.

The legs are from the Treelord, but I used the Ancient’s tabard on it to tie the two together, it just needed trimming to fit. The torso also meant it had a bit of a lean to it. The Ancient’s shoulder with the Treelord’s elbow give the angle to the staff arm that I was looking for - when I was posing it with blutac, I was worried it would obscure their face, but when glued it worked out okay. I wanted the claw arm to be back and open, so I believe that was the Treelord shoulder with the Durthu elbow. The final effect is as dynamic as I was hoping. Now I just need to find something to use on the base.

The final things I worked on this month, this evening in fact, were the Wyldwood models. I’ve got the trunks and bases primed, now I just need to work out how to get the branches primed as well, and then I can get them built too. As the weather starts to take a turn, it’s best to get as many models built and primed as I can, as it’s the only thing I need to be outside to do.

Picking up where I’d left off, I had a pile of Dryads with no heads and arms, but was starting to build up the 16 in the first Start Collecting box. I’d settled on making a Branchwraith from one, instead of using the slightly janky looking Finecast model, and then building the 3 Branch Nymphs I would need for my battleline units. (above, from left to right, my converted Branchwraith, the out-of-the-box Branch Nymph, a Branch Nymph using the decorative skull for a head, and the Branch Nymph I was converting out of the now redundant Branchwych model from the SC! box. That’s a lot of branches).

After building the Treelord Ancient with the first SC box, when the second box arrived I built it as a Spirit of Durthu. This is when I took note of the spectacular killer heels the Treelords sport. I started to build it as per normal, but when I got my Souldrain Forest order (basically a marginally cheaper way of picking up the required Wyldwood Forests) I used one of the pieces of scenery from that for his base.

I also put together some of the Sylvaneth Endless Spells, like this cheeky chap.

4 Start Collecting boxes later, and I finally completed building the 60 Dryads I required for my list, which I now realise I have never posted:

Forest Folk Battalion (Branchwraith, 3x 20 Dryads)

Lords of the Clan Battalion (2x Treelord Ancients, 1x Treelord)

Spirit of Durthu

and the 3 Sylvaneth Endless Spells.

Three drops for deployment. Four Behemoths. 2000 points on the nose. And just 4 Start Collecting boxes plus the Endless Spells. Probably a garbage list, but it’s my garbage list.

Next step after building was to prime! I split the Dryads 50/50 and primed one lot grey and the other black, before splitting those roughly 66/33 and basecoating Wraithbone and Grey Seer respectively. The idea was to produce a variety of tones within the units when I painted them. The spells got a Grey Seer coat.

I’d also picked up the Emerald Lifeswarm Endless Spell off eBay, and rebased my Branchwraith to make her stand out more from the Dryads (a better picture below). I also added some extra bits to the Treelord Ancient before priming - Computer, enhance:

IMPORTANT DETAIL

My Branchwraith. I added the little scenery block from the Durthu model to raise her up a bit, and added growing vines and plants from unused bits from the Treelord kits. I also made the tree-growth from her back into something resembling butterfly wings, again to maker her stand out from the Dryads.

And so I started painting. Everything with Contrast, a mix of browns across the bodies, with a much lighter brown on the face (to make it stand out) and the claws (to make them look sharp), a consistent green on the leaves across the models, and varying green shades for the grassy.. loin-clothy things? The backdrop for the photo is the Warcry board from the Souldrain Forest box.

As I was using the scheme across all 60 Dryads, I decided on splitting the units up as 20 with plain bases (apart from tufts), 20 with some kind of base decoration (stone, skull, etc), and the other 20 with plain bases, but any leaves would be purple. Hopefully enough so my opponent can distinguish them, as well as me being able to as well.

And this is where I am up to at the end of this month. I built a Branchwych to give me options for smaller games or Meeting Engagements. A Treelord is now built, which just leaves the Vengeful Skullroot spell and the second Treelord Ancient to finish the army. The Ancient will take a little working out as I’m planning to pose it differently from the first, but not far off now.

Big Ragnar! Such an excellent conversion, some really great work in there, especially the wolf head shoulder pad. And dynamic! I am constantly in awe of the modelling ability of this wonderful community.

Speaking of the community, the most recent Miniatures Monthly podcast included a breakdown of the team that went to the recent Brotherhood AoS team tournament in Cardiff. Although I’m not hot on competitive play (the last serious gaming I did was a couple of Blood Bowl tournaments back in the very early ‘00s), the idea of being part of a team at one really appeals. So I’ve (tentatively) put my name in the hat for the team event at LGT in June.

The current sticking point is that this is the current state of the (2000pt) army I would be taking with me:

Not a lot going on, although they at least have arms now.