The Wild Hunt!

September 30th, 2019
I caved and bought the Beastgrave Core set, and now I am thinking hard about how I can do the awesome Elves from the game justice...

As it stands I think I am going to use a "Paint Horse" look on the warband to add some variety and cohesion to them outside of the original solid brown coloring featured in the box art.

I am thinking that the metallics of the armour will be gold that I will shade to have a green tint to it, and I will make the "woven" looking armour a nice bright "springtime" green. There are a number of different types and colours of painted horse, and I am hoping to be able to find some that transition to models nicely. I want to steer away from the orange hair in order to make the warband better fit with my vision of  what "wood elves" look like. I guess only time and trials will tell...

October 2nd, 2019
I think I am going to try and replicate this for the cat model in the warband. Liger for the win! Napoleon would be proud!!!

October 15th, 2019

I managed to put paint to model last night! I wanted to create a spring feel to the models as opposed to the autumnal feel of the box art (The Wild Hunt rides out in the spring after all!). I used a mix of shinning gold and wraithflame to base, and gradually added more gold up to pure gold as the highlights increased. I'm happy with how it turned out, 5+ layers and it all looks really smooth. 

I was also able to make a start on the green and I think that will be nice when its finished. 

October 16th, 2019

I gave the skin a go tonight and I am pretty happy with the result so far... I like the tone in general and I am pretty proud of myself for painting abs on him too! It wasn't until I took pics that I realized it needs a little more contrast on the darker end, so I will be going back and addressing it in the near future. 

I was also able to make some impressive (IMHO) progress on Skraeth himself! I tried the painted horse idea, but sadly I was unable to successfully achieve the look I wanted... SO I went with a nice brown with white legs instead. I added the highlights to the green armour, and I am very happy with the look! I am thinking that as a finishing step I will return to the armour and strategically apply a thinned dark green wash to add more depth/contrast to the mini.  

I'm liking how the mini is coming together. The green/gold, green, and brown are looking good together.
Next I need to decide on hair colour, gem colour, and spear blade colour...
I'm leaning towards red hair, green gems, and i'm torn between a true metallic silver spear with green tint, or an OSL green like I used on Ylthari's guardians....

October 17th, 2019
Greens are shaded, hooves are done, Hair is red, Gems are green (MAN are they ever SMALL!), and I went with yellow for the spear and OSL

So what's left?...

Horns which I think I will paint with a progression from brown to bone, ? Glowing eyes, the tail spikes, and the base which will have a water effect on it...

October 20, 2019
Horns and Skraeth complete!

 Healthy start on the cat!

 Tried to make the horn look like... well an animal horn, but ai feel that it looks a little more like wood... Either way i am happy with it. The gems came out nicely, as did everything else IMHO.

Here are the finished models and the cat together. Still not sure about the basses...
I have a game night tonight so we will see if these guys are as much fun to play I hope, AND if there is any truth to the belief that painted models do better! It has been my experience that it IS true actually... Stay tuned.

October 22nd, 2019 

Well game night went well. We ended up playing a three way game and I scored 11 glory. Chris won with 12. I am happy with how the warband played, but I am pretty sure a 1:1 game will be a different animal all together. 

Not feeling too motivated to paint, but I did manage to finish off the cat. Another small gem completed! I almost completely base coloured the archer. Still unsure what to do for the models eye's, so I will wait until I am decided and go back and do them all. 

October 23rd, 2019

SO I was really unmotivated to paint last night, but was able to force a start on this model, and actually ended up getting a lot done and being very happy with it! Not too much left to do at all really. I like the gems, and the OSL on the stomach gem thingy.

I'm still REALLY drawing a blank as to what I can do with the basses...

October 27th, 2019

Made some great progress last night! Finished the archer all bur her houves and base. I went back and added an orange wash to all of the belly gems and it has really made them pop IMHO. 

I also made some fantastic progress on the Sword dude! I have been on the fence about his sculpt, but it has really grown on me. The fact that he one shotted an orc last game doesn't hurt ;) . I'm really feeling that i've found a balance between detail and speed, I am very happy with the blends and details on these models, and my speed is really increasing. 

Next up I will give this fine fellow a nice glowy yellow sword with some OSL. 

I'm getting closer to knowing what I want from the basses, and I think I will give the warband glowing green eyes.... Only time will tell. 

October 28th, 2019

Another productive evening! I finished the Sword guy, and decided to give the whole warband glowing yellow eyes! I also committed to a theme for the basses, and decided to rough them in. Dark brown mud, and bone coloured honeycomb stuff... Still VERY MUCH WIP. I'm uncertain about the colours for the flowers... I'm pretty excited to do the water effects too! I added a little OSL from the sword to this pond for fun! I SHOULD be able to finish these models up tonight! 

November 3rd, 2019

COMPLETE! Water effects and basses are painted and dried. I'm happy with the war band, and excited to play with them.