Wood Elves

Theme
This army was painted to represent a Wood Elf army in the various stages of autumn. While each unit holds to the fall theme they span the season from late summer to late autumn [just before the snow flies]. It was quite a joy to work with such an earth pallet, creating so many tones from so few base colours.
I thought of the most striking colour that can be found in an autumnal forest and decided on the red of a Maple leaf. This colour can be found in every unit and on all the characters. This single colour allowed me to vary the tones of each unit while maintaining a cohesive theme. In my initial visualization of the army I saw Wood Elves from many different parts of the forest coming to the aid of a respected noble. I did not see the force being a 'standing' army rather a militia type force. This is one of the main reasons why I wanted each unit to looks a bit different than the next. To this end I decided to span the season with a unit done in pastel green and brown [early fall], and a unit done in rich golds and reds with a bit of green [late fall].

About the leaves
I had numerous requests for information on the leaves I used on the bases. They are in fact purchased from Hudson and Allen and are called, 'Fall Forest Litter'. I am sure they are derived from natural sources since they look like the the flakes from the inside of some tree cone.

Dryads
I faced a special conceptual issue with the dryds when painting this army. I wanted them to all look the same, since I see them all coming from the deep recesses of the Blood Wood. However, from a playing point of view this would be very difficult since dryads are skirmishing units. I decided to make them 'look the same' while at the same time making them easy to group together as units. I did this by altering the colour of the extremities of the models. In the end I am very happy with the way this turned out.

TREEMAN
This model is simply fantastic. The pose enables the viewer to see a creaking tree stretching to life in the defense of it's forest. With the larger work space I was able to show the multi colour blends better and to more dramatic effect. This model is very large, barely fitting on a 50mm base. The size of the model is fitting since he is old beyond years and very powerful. More pictures can be found here.

TREEKIN
These models were sculpted by Microart Studios at the request of the army designer. They fit the roll of powerful tree spirits so much better than the ones from the Wood Elf range. The sculpts allowed me to really work with many colour blends to achieve a living organic scheme. These models really add to the over all effect of the force and were a pleasure to paint. More pictures can be found here.

WILD RIDERS
These are the last of the elven units for the army. I really like the texture of the armour on the horses head. I was hard pressed to use the red tie in on these pieces since they don't have cloth cloaks and have little actual clothes. I compromised and only some of the models have red but it is enough to link into the rest of the army. I painted the horses to look like Flaxen sorrel with the main and tail being more grey than blonde. More pictures can be found here.

GLADE GUARDS
These models painted so nicely. They were one of the few units that I could really see come together early. I guess that is because I have done so much in the Autumn tones now. There are so many colours and tones on these models that at one point I wondered if I had done too much. However, in the end they look great, in real life they are the best non-character figures in the force. More pictures can be found here.

GLADE GUARDS
More pictures can be found here.

GLADE RIDERS
More picture can be found here.

GLADE RIDERS
After having the horses on my table for so long it sure was nice to finish the unit. Once I started the riders I was able to see where I was going to end up and I was very excited. The riders are painted with a fair bit of rust, this balances out the liberal use of pastel greens on the barding. The blades of their spears are done in a green grey in an effort to eliminate the use of all metallic paints. The weapons turned out to look like worked wood which is exactly what I was trying to create. More pictures can be found here.

WOOD ELF DRYADS
This is the final unit of dryads. I decided to paint their extremities in a worn/old wood look. The purple tones blended to yellows make these drayds look the most menacing. More pictures can be found here.

WOOD ELF DRYADS
Just like the last unit of dryads I am very impressed with these figures. They have got to be some of the coolest figures GW has released in some time. These models have the first 'cool' colours in the army. I did this after a lot of contemplation on the colour composition of the force. The models still fit into the fall scheme but they also add an element that was missing before. Since they are woodland spirits I thought that the glowing blue would help to capture this element. I imagine that these dryads of the Blood Wood have only just been summoned from the essence of the forest. More pictures can be found here.

WOOD ELF WARDANCERS
I went with an early fall scheme for these models. A bit more in the way of green tones can be found on these than on the rest of the force to date. They still hold the fall look of the army but I wanted them to be a bit different. One of the nice things about doing an army all at once is you can make everything look cohesive and yet different at the same time. This can be hard to do when you do an army in a piece meal fashion.
I feel it is only fair to comment on the models. They look great on the table and in the end they hold very solid lines but they have many areas that I consider to be at fault. These models have numerous areas where there is no detail in the sculpts and others have broken lines of continuity. The models look great but they don't have the polished feel of the rest of the range that I have painted so far. More pictures can be found here.

WOOD ELF GENERAL
This model is another fantastic example of captured grace. Like the spell singer and the Highborne the pose of this model flawless and it just begs to be painted. As you can see I continued with the fall theme but moved from the golden brown seen on the other two characters to a rich orange brown. The red theme of the army is carried on in his cloak and flowing garb. This is the last character model for the standard 2000pt force. When I have done more of the basic foot troops I will build and paint a forest dragon and lord conversion. More pictures can be found here.

WOOD ELF DRYADS
The dryads have got to be some of the coolest models for this range. The unbridled savagery of the wood spirits has very effectively been captured by the sculptor. In keeping with the Autumn theme and the use of red I will be painting all the dryads with red torsos and faces. My thought behind this is that these dryads cultivate the forest at the sites of great battles. They force the rapid decomposition of the enemies of the wood and take on a blood red tone. Hence there title as Blood Wood Dryads. More pictures can be found here.

WOOD ELF SCOUTS
This is the first unit of the army and I am very impressed with how the models paint. Most of the time it is a chore to paint rank and file troops, not so for the Wood Elves. With all the various levels of cloth they are actually very fun to paint and they really look cohesive when done. I decided to add some free hand swirls to these models since they are going to have a special role in the army as the primary unit the general joins. I also wanted to emphasize the wooded nature of the bases and sculpted a tree for each base. This will be the only unit that features the trees as part the base. More pictures can be found here.

WOOD ELF SPELL SINGER
This is my favorite spell singer model. The implied power in the pose combined with the sense of motion make it one of the best models in the range. Continuing with the Fall theme she is painted in rich gold browns. Since the army will be composed of earthy browns and grays I decided to make red the unifying 'colour'. This is the reason why her hair is flame red, like an oak leaf in autumn. Unfortunately her skin tone is washed out due to my new camera. As I perfect the settings I may come back to this model so the subtle tones can captured. More pictures can be found here.

BANATH'ALIS DE'ARTH'LIR, WOOD ELF HIGHBORNE
This is one of the models that drew me to the fantastic new wood elf range. The studio did a great job of capturing motion in his cloak and the over all feel of the 'quiet, deadly warrior'. I decided to try my hand at a warm paint scheme for the army and this model shows that it will display very well. The fall forest litter really helps to complete the autumn look of the model. I added a twisted eerie tree to his base to balance the forward pose he has and to further emphasize the darkness of the elven wood. His blade is not magical but I painted it to look like wood since I see the elves limiting the use of metal. More pictures can be found here.