Guardians of the Shadowglades ~ Wood Elves

[Desert Rain]

Really cool conversions

[Lord Azoth]

amazing as usual, love your conversions...

[Elfboy]

Thanks, much appreciated.

I have started green stuff work on the scout glade glades. I've added my own cloaks and cowls. The general aim is to make them look more mobile and better camoflaged than the regular glade guard without them looking too similar to the waywatcher models. I've tried to make the cloaks a little shorter than the regular ones to help with the mobility side of things, and in the hope that the models look a little lighter on their feet.

Also if there are any suggestions for the wild riders, they would be much appreciated. I still feel like they're missing something, an extra detail here or there to finish them off (yes, I know, I said I'd finished them before), although I need to make sure I leave space for talismanic tattoos on the bodies of the horses.
edit: I should add that I'm really trying to push myself with these conversions, I want them to turn out as best as they can, so any advice or criticism will be welcome, don't be afraid to be ruthless if you have to

I'll put up some photos of the scouts soon, once I've completed the first couple.

[sasheep]

Awesome work on the Wild riders Elfboy. Glad to see you are still going with these guys, this plog has always been good isource of inspiration to carry on with my own WE. Look forward to seeing the scouts

[Gargobot]

I'd just leave them as they are, especially if you're planning to add tattoos anyway, otherwise you might end up with too many details that distract from the overall picture. Less is more, and all that.
And with the sweet conversion work you've already done and the painting we've come to expect from you, the Wild Riders will look fantastic.

[Elfboy]

@Sasheep - Thanks, glad to be of inspiration.
@Gargobot - The part in particular that was bugging me was the breast part of the horses, but I might just be getting carried away. My old art teacher used to tell me that knowing when to stop is an important skill as well, so I think you might be right. Thanks for the feedback and the kind words. Definitely looking forward to painting them, especially the masks, should give me an emotional lift with painting the other wood elf stuff as well.

I've finished one of the scouts now, plus have five more that are getting there, so I've included a couple of WIP shots of them as well. I've tried to add leaves and moss as well as changing the quivers to alter the glade guard design.
Here's the finished one first.

I'm really pleased with how his cloak came out, although truth be told a lot of it came down to luck: at the very start when I pushed the green stuff into place it fell into a perfect shape, doing most the work for me. I'm pleased with how the rest came out, after the work on the wild riders I'm getting a lot more comfortable with green stuff.

And WIP


Just a few more details for the bird guy to balance the composition.
EDIT: Bird guy completed. I intended this guy to be a spotter for the unit, using the eagle to locate the target (like The End's parrot in MGS3).
Other guy needs a lot more work but I was really happy with how the cloak came out so I wanted to share him too.
EDIT: More wip

[Student]

Looks cool. I like the folds that you've got in the first guys cloak.

[Elfboy]

Thanks, the green stuff did just seem to fall into place on that guy.

SEE ABOVE
I've edited my previous post with a new picture of a completed scout (to replace the old picture). I will do the same with the next couple of photos too (I want to avoid overloading you guys with pictures of practically the same thing).

Comments, criticisms and suggestions welcome as always
Thanks

[Animerik]

Wow the creativity in this blog is mindblowing! The riders standard is my fav so far, a good different use of the beastmen which really makes the unit pop. Your attention to detail in both conversion and painting all the way to the bases is top notch stuff. Will be sure to keep my eyes on this one.

cheers and thanks for the inspiration

[Elfboy]

Thanks animerik, although having recently checked out your log I can see I still have a long way to go creativity wise, my conversions feel pretty tame in comparison.
All the same, I'm very glad you enjoyed looking at my log, really appreciate the kind words.

Well, I've finished three more glade guard/scouts. I definitely prefer these over the previous two. Hope you enjoy!

[Elfboy]

And the next one:

[Lord Dan]

I was hoping you would do something like that with the cloaks. I've always been a fan of the design of these models, but the cloaks are just too billowy and obtuse for the lithe and agile elves of the woods. It seems only logical that Waywatchers should be coming our way soon too, right? I mean someone with sculpting skills like yours would be foolish to pass up such an opportunity. I'm saying it woul-

Just make some %&* waywatchers and appease us.

[Elfboy]

Such flattery will get you nowhere my friend , you'll have to call me a fool
I already have a fair few waywatchers and I like the models, don't think I can bring myself to design and make new ones.

Making new cloaks actually came from a comment someone left a long while back. It was before I'd painted and attached the cloaks, and they'd
said they liked the glade guards without the cloaks, so it came from there really. Like you say, the cloaks from the kit take away from the litheness
and agility of the base models.

Four left to go now, only one of them has a design that I like, the rest are normal build pose wise, put together to fill in the gaps in the unit more than
anything. I wanted to get a mix between static and mobile poses in the unit, the glade guard artwork was very much an inspiration too.

[Gargobot]

I recently tried to come up with a good WE army and found it almost impossible. I don't know if you play or not, but this little glimpse on the plight of the WEs has given me an even greater appreciation for all the work you pour into this army.

And I think Mr. T has something to add that might get you motivated to start work on the waywatchers.

[Animerik]

Great minis mate! I really like the new cloaks given to the scouts as they look more stealthy than the regular ones. I really like the subtle changes you have made to the minis. Will you add bowstrings and arrows onto the minis as they look somewhat wierd when they are aiming but when they lack the previous mentioned details.

Anyhow, good progress and top ratings

cheers mate keep it up

[sasheep]

Brilliant work on the scouts Elfboy!

[Daniel36]

You put the original sculpts through so much shame, it's not even funny anymore. Your Wild Riders especially are suitably WILD, and Forest Spiritish.

[Elfboy]

@Gargobot - I love working on the army so much that it's worth it, the idea of getting to 2000-3000+ points painted and seeing the end product really keeps me going. I do play (I've probably only played ten to fifteen games in eighth ed., which is when I started to play more regularly) and have really enjoyed the wood elves despite not having the "competetive" list. No treekin, only one treeman, one small unit of dryads. Though there are some hard games, the win-lose ratio has been more or less 50:50. Plus it really feels great if you can get the manouvreability going, ganging up tactic still applies (and works to an extent) too. I can understand there are some gripes (waywatchers is my only major one), but personally I still think they're a great army to play with!
Have I tempted you

@Animerik - Cheers, I hoping that they would convey that stealthy side. I'm going to keep them without the arrows. Admittedly the models do look great with arrows and bowstring added, I've seen some great examples, but the lack of them has never really bothered me too much, plus I can't bring myself to do all that bowstringing! Thanks for the suggestion though, always appreciated.

@Sasheep - Thanks!

@Daniel36 - I'm really looking forward to painting those wild riders when I get home now. Even though I have quite a few wip units back home, those masked riders are just calling me for a lick of paint!

Update - Just one model, I did take photos of three more scouts, but photos have a habit of showing up a few things that don't quite work, so I took them back for some minor adjustments. Now just one more scout to finish sculpting and the unit will be done!

[Elfboy]

The unit is now finished, here are the pictures. I will probably name the unit 'Wardens of the Wildwood Waystone Barrier', or something along those lines.


Probably the least interesting of all the conversions, I just add some moss and laps of material, as well as decorating the quiver.


I wanted to give the impression that this guy was surveying his enemy from behind the tree, his back hugging its trunk, waiting to peek out and loose an arrow at his quarry.


I really struggled to come up with a design for this guy. In the end I went for a slightly different style of cloak. I should note that the style was influenced by another wood elf poster's converted waywatchers, but it has been a while since they've updated so I can't remember who it was, thanks though! The quiver is a little too chunky for my liking. Terrible photo too.

[Elfboy]

More pictures:

I kind of struggled with this guy too but in the end I quite like the outcome. I wanted the quiver to look quite loose, with the arrow being wrapped by straps rather than inside a quiver.

And a couple of shots of the finished unit. I might try and balance out the composition by adding stuff to some of the bases. I might see if I can remove the eagle guy so I can place him on a slanted rock, giving him and the right side of the unit a little more height to counteract the height of the tree (which may also get a couple of branches added).