Updated pictures of my Citadel Wood Elf Army

I took a couple of hours this afternoon to set up and photograph my Wood Elf army again, with the additional units that have joined since last time! Bringing out this many troops onto the table and setting them up reminds me I really must invest some time into getting some movement trays sorted! - Maybe I'll have them done for the next photo shoot. My army has also grown so much that I will probably have to get a proper gaming board rather than just use the kitchen table! Still not much progress on the halfling allies though...

Anyone care to guess what point value this would come to in an old school 3rd edition battle?

Painting halfling allies... Update

I never seem to be able to come up with a satisfying paint scheme by myself. I dont seem to have the colour intuition. Anything that I've painted that looks any good, has normally been copied from games workshop.

Anyway I've tried painting my first halfling. Bearing in mind these guys have been in storage for the best part of 20 years, I'm finding it hard to come up with a halfling-esque colour scheme.

I'm not particularly happy with his brown trousers and would appreciate some ideas!!!

Update:

I've lightened his tunic, and darkened his trousers and cloak. Apart from sorting out his dodgy eyes I think I'm ready to go...

I'm thinking of doing 3 different units of 10, so I'll have to come up with some more paint schemes...

Citadel halflings and elf dragon

I decided that I wouldn't go to Salute this year... I'm hoping that I can spend a couple of precious hours of hobby time being creative and doing something with my lead pile rather than just adding to it. I still will be jealous of everyone that does go though!

Now the zoats are finished I'm deciding what I should paint next... Halflings or Dragon? Hmm...

At this rate the halflings will be the size of dragons in a few tears time...

I wonder if dragons are experiencing the same problem of scale creep?

Zoat Progress

Slow progress on my zoats, but I can see the light at the end of the tunnel.

And a quick snap of Skarlocs wood elves who have returned from the painter 'lead legion'! I'll do a proper post on them shortly. Definitely would recommend 'lead legion' though...

Zoat Test Piece

All the good websites will tell you to paint a test figure before you forge ahead with a whole unit. I've failed to listen to that advice many times in the past, however, because I was just so unsure about painting these Zoats, I've done the right thing and painted just one to see how hard he was to paint and determine whether I like the colour scheme... Whilst I was looking at Zoats on the web, I found a site that was selling a newly sculpted zoat!  One finger-twitch later and my shopping basket was paid for! Hopefully he'll fit in with the current crew!

In the end he was easier to paint than I imagined, but I take a few days to decide if this is the route I want to go with them. What do you think?

Some quick snaps...

I undercoated a unit of elves and have sent them off to lead legion to be painted. It's my first time I've used a painting service... I kinda feel like a cheat, however you can see just how many elves I've still got left to paint below!

Anyway I had to visit my local friendly gaming store to pick up some more undercoat and showed them my sculpted standard. Some kind and encouraging words came back, but the interesting thing was the lack of recognition of the Zoat! Can't believe they don't know their own history! Anyway i got back home and I sprayed my Zoats! :)

I'd love to start painting them, but I have to do some Ironing to keep the better half sweet!

My Zoats need your help!

I cant decide what colour scheme to paint my Zoats!  Luckily I'm still at the stage of sculpting my standard-bearer zoat. Until he's finished I've got time to ask you my dear reader for your thoughts on Zoat colour schemes! I've done a quick trawl and the following are paint schemes that I like, But what scheme do you think would fit in with my Wood Elves?

Scheme 1 - This was my understanding of the classic Warhammer colour scheme.  Dark green and bright yellow!

Scheme 2 -This is classic 40k colour scheme, that should be quite simple to paint just white undercoat and green ink (I think).

Scheme 3 - Quite a 'realistic' colour scheme, but to get it right would take quite a bit of effort!

Scheme 4 - This caught my eye as a modern take of the classic warhammer colour scheme...

Scheme 5 - Unusual colour scheme of Zoat with iron skin!

Scheme 6,7,8 - Light green (on the right!) - but if enough readers say orange or purple I might be persuaded!  ;)

Wood Elf Animal Handlers

Some lovely Wood Elf Animal Handlers ready to join the army! Zoats are next on the painting table!

 Bears!

 Wildcats!

Wardogs!

Sorry for the poor photos. Once the Zoats are sorted I shall do another photo shoot!

Im still alive!

and to prove it - here are some updates of stuff painted over the last few months...

Mantichora, now I'm seeing it on my screen I might need to redden the tail and green up the sting a bit more...

Such a nice figure! It doesn't look so glossy in real life.

Old Skool Giant. Dodgy eyes... :(

 Moradin - painting commission for my Best Man!

All Quiet

Well its been quiet here on at The Masterwork Guild. Having lots of time on my hands hasn't necessarily translated into painting. I've been popping into my local games workshop on a semi regular basis. Not really bought anything but just like to hang out and get some inspiration!  Im currently working on the Banelegions Mantichora:

I painted up and sold some Zulus on ebay. These guys earned me just £41, but the paint job was a little bit basic.

I've also painted up half a dozen old style Gnolls and Bugbears for one of my D&D friends and I also painted a Space Marine Predator tank as a christmas gift for the neighbour kid.

I have painted up 3 more units of Wood Elves, 6 Wild cats, 6 War dogs and 4 Bears all with handlers. I'll take some pictures over the next few days.

So maybe my blog has been quiet but I've still managed to get some painting done...

Wood Elf Army

I've updated my Wood Elf page with new photos of my army. After setting it up I sat and looked at it in awe! Im so pleased with it! Now I really need someone to have a battle with.

I've also taken a few snaps of my growing undead army (see my Undead page). I might take a break from Wood Elves for a bit and see if I can add a couple more units of skeletons.

However first I've got some Black Tree Design Zulus that need rebasing and sprucing up ready for ebay...

Painted Wood Elf Chariots and Cavalry

Some quick snaps of the Elven Attack Chariots I've painted. I need to set up my dining room table with citadel grass mat (tm) and trees etc and reshoot the entire Wood Elf army! I must get used to taking photos with my tripod as these are a bit blurry! Hopefully get this done on Wednesday.

Wood Elf Chariot update...

In between writing the odd job application, I've managed a spot of painting. Hopefully there's not much more to do on these chariots, which will be ready to roll onto the battlefield soon!

Busy Doing Nothing

The good news is that I haven't exactly been doing nothing...

In fact I've finished off my unit of Mordinis Doomed Nightmare Legion Skeletons. However I'm a bit peeved as I've just read they should be green and gold, however mine are purple and silver! Doh! My painted undead army now consists of Nightmare Legion (40), Zombies (30), 80's Ghouls (5), Current Ghouls (10), Liche King, and the old Tom Meier Zombie Dragon!

Anyways clearing off the undead for a moment has given me the space to sort out my Elf Chariots, which I've spent some time this afternoon putting together and preparing for painting...

Some of the cavalry have already lost their tabs, So I've glued to a piece of wood just for painting. The chariots don't fit brilliantly, so some Greenstuff was required. I've also tried some liquid greenstuff, with which I'm quite impressed with!

Anyways these guys are ready for undercoat as soon as I've finished off painting the fence...

My Last Day in Work...

Today is my last day in work. After nine years the company I've been working for has decided to offer me voluntary redundancy. They even made it financially worth my while! Therefore I might have some time off before I go back on the trail of hunting for a job (Software Testing if anyone has contacts! lol)

My hope is therefore to paint some stuff and post pictures and generally make everyone extremely envious! hehe! (Well one has to have a reason to get up in the mornings!!!)

I even might try my hand at a bit of sculpting...

My First Sculpt from years ago!

Golden Gobbo Painted!

One chaos dude painted, based and photographed!

Golden Gobbos...

Well I have a couple of hours free time this afternoon. So obviously the thing to do is paint something... should I finish off those Elf Chariots ( ahem I mean start!) or should I be led down another direction. Well obviously in the spirit of being a true wargamer, I have as much capacity to be focused on one project as a particularly scatty butterfly on a bad day.

So I've decided to try and paint something for the Oldhammer Painting competition - aka 'The Golden Gobbos'. The idea being painting something possibly from the 80's using the old school vibe of bright colours (and maybe even goblin green base!).

Nothing says 80's citadel more to me than the old excellent Chaos range. I therefore searched around and found the first tub of Chaos and tipped it out.

There are some Marauder Chaos Archers in there which are ok, but the rest all give me the tingles when I just think about painting them. So I've chosen one and it is now on my painting table. Unfortunately, due to the highly regulated nature of the Golden Gobbos (In painting competitions apparently there are rules!), I'm not allowed to say which one, nor provide any work in progress updates. Booo!

Im hoping to finish him quite quickly (Just because I dont have much time!). The deadline being the 13th August. I'd better start or else the paint wont dry in time...

Playing around with camera setup

Obviously the Camera phone isnt quite up to scratch for taking photos of 15mm sized figures! So I dug out my old Digital Camera to see what the difference is...

Phone camera on a sunny day...

My old 5 megapixel digital camera with Macro and flash...

A little bit more practice with the camera and a bit more spacing and the results are definitely better. I might have to spend more time painting to get my paint jobs up to digital media standard. In real life my eyes are not as good as a digital camera! (eyes or painting ability!)

I can resist anything except the temptation of something shiney and new ...

So my Elf chariots are currently half made up and sitting somewhere to the rear of my painting table. In front of them stand a half painted legion of 40 skeletons from the Nightmare legion. A skeletal lord on throne from Reaper miniatures feels the occasional touch of brush, highlighting his purple cloak.

Overtaking them all is a new package containing shiney new playthings. Direct from Copplestone Castings, a slew of 15mm barbarians spill out onto the painting table and are hastily glued on to bases as my excitement grows at the thought of painting them. They are truly nice figures. The sculpting is impressive. So many historical 15mm figures have disappointed, but not these. If you have a weak disposition (such as I) then do not hold one in your hand. More compulsive than the Orthanc Palantir. I despair at the infidelity to my own projects! So many half started and so little time.

In double quick time I knocked these up over a couple of evenings. I've also got some Ogres and Beastmen from Magister Militum. I see a force of Chaos growing. In 15mm! So these are will be either Human Barbarians, Dunlendings or Chaos Thugs! Im going to have to start updating my other blog.

For us, there is no spring. Just the wind that smells fresh before the storm!

Found another one

That nice man Gaj sent me an email offering a replacement Prince Lolair for my chariot. I couldnt believe someone would have a spare one without having a complete chariot (obviously they do -because I have a chariot without Prince Lolair!). Anyway, about the same time that Gaj was rummaging through his lead stash to find him for me, I was also rummaging through mine, looking for bits that I could throw onto ebay. My lead mountain is big enough and the girlfriend is rightly worried for my sanity. During my rummage I found I had another elven attack chariot. Complete this time! Heres some photographic evidence of my long term memory loss/ Citadel Wood Elf addiction...

Are two Chariots better than one?

Maybe there are some dwarf halls under my mountain, filled with dwarves that hammer and heat, who fire and forge minerals deep, into exquisite pieces ready for enchantment. It is the only explanation!

Certainly not that I buy willy-nilly from ebay and like most things I buy, this second chariot was thrown onto the lead mountain pile and forgotten! I got a parcel this morning but didnt have time to open it. I think its my replacement Prince Lolair for my first chariot.

I've just seen on ebay an incomplete chariot go for £43.23 plus £2.50 for p&p! link These toy soldiers are beginning to get very expensive! I've gathered a carrier bag of miniatures that I shall be putting onto ebay shortly - I dont think any of them will be interesting to Citadel addicts unfortunately so dont hold your breaths!