Fae Sidhe

I had a set of Wild Faeries from Eureka Miniatures for their Avalon’s Bleeding setting.  To these I added some pixies and twig blights (?) from Wizkids Noldur’s D&D line.  These have been combined into a horde of minor Fae.

They have been painted in the same way that both the Wardancers and Dryads were.  They may be small but they are quick and carrying sharp, pointy things.

The Tree Lord is Archon Studios’ Demonic Tree.  He is the Monster for this army and uses the profile for Giant on the list builder.  The model comes with some extra hung bodies that I didn’t attach and has a heart carved into his left arm which I only noticed after I painted him.  I went for the same 3 part Speedpaint blend that I used on the Dryads. I went for a slightly heavier dry brush on Bonewhite.  I felt it gives the look of older bark.

I figured he was a different species of tree so needed different leaves.  I’m happy with the final finish.

I was looking for different leaves and saw some on sale for Black Friday so ordered a set, expecting to get a decent number.  They arrived in a very small hard plastic box with just enough to cover the bottom of the box.  I’ve used the whole lot on this miniature and didn’t really have enough.  A snip at £5.50 – and that was in the sale!  They look fine but I can’t recommend them at that price – scale modellers must be nuts if they pay that sort of money for these things regularly.

I know the label is a bit blurred in that image but tbh they don’t deserve a clear one.

The Tree Lord can see you and he is unimpressed:

Here are the Dryads – allied forest spirits of the Sidhe.  These are GW minis.  They are a three part Speedpaint wet-blend working from the bottom up the colours are; Dark Wood, Satchel Brown, Bony Matter.  The loincolth thingy (?!?) were picked out in Dusk Red.  Once dry a light drybrush of Vallejo Bonewhite to pick out the bark textures and they are done.  I decided to give them an autumn leaf glow-up so stuck GSW Autumn Leaf Litter to the ends of the branch pieces that extend behind and above the miniatures.

There are two bases so I’ve shown the front of each and then the back.  They are relentless hordes in the game so will keep attacking until they are destroyed.  This can be quite hard to cope with and can lead to some disruption to the line or hero deployment of their enemy as they try to get rid of them.

I gave they eyes a light violet glow effect.  They were repainted white with Liquitex ink and then a dot of Purple Swarm was added.  It is very subtle and having debated whether to either brighten it up or take it away I’ve decided to keep it as it looks a bit more ‘naturalistic’ 😀

The first commander is Oberon, Lord of the Wild Hunt, consort of Titania the Everqueen of the Fae.  He is an Hasslefree miniature, sculpted by Kev White.  Sadly Hasslefree seem to have gone away.  It is unlikely they can get their stuff together again so let’s hope the miniatures resurface at some point.  I’ve given him a Root Elf fanatic hornist as his champion.  In my system a Level 2 leader had a command base with 2 miniatures on it.

Oberon was painted as a wet blend with three speedpaints on the palette at the same time.  The darkest colour goes on the bottom, blended to the mid tone at the waist which in turn is blended to the light tone at the top.  The three used were Dark Wood, Dusk Red and Goddess Glow.  Speedpaint dries quickly so I had to work very fast which I’m used to.  Once done the hair on the head and back was touched in with a darker blend than the area around it.  The horns were painted with Bony Matter which was then wiped off to give an instant highlight and the tips were emphasised with a drybrush of regular acrylic white.

The hornist was painted in the same method as his Wardancer colleagues in the previous post.

Both miniatures were highlighted with Colorshift as previously described, again a bit hard to see in the photos.

A word on the basing scheme.  I’m going for a “fading” look for these Sidhe.  Their time is coming to an end in a classic ‘decline of the elves, rise of men’ fashion.  Therefore I went for a suitable way to show this with autumnal colours and fallen leaves used in the basing scheme.  This sits best on a dark earth base, a good look for the base layer of a forest floor as it helps the brighter leaf litter and clump of growth stand out.  The miniatures in their pale colours will also pop on these bases, despite the very full look the bases will have.

Base layer is Krautcover Common earth (dark) and bases are edged in Camouflage Black Brown (previously called German Camouflage Black Brown).

Clumps are GSW Autumn Leaf Litter and Micro Leaves Brown.  Grass tufts are mostly Gamer Grass Marshlands although some are matching tufts from other companies.  The pink flower tufts are Mininatur.

With this army I want them to look otherworldly.  I have read about painters using purple as an undertone when painting skin.  I like that as a concept and will try that as the final finish.  Then to dial up the otherworldly quality I’m going to channel Edward Cullen in the sunlight from the horrid Twilight films.  Therefore I’m going to highlight with Colorshift paints.

I’m starting with the Lucid Eye Root Elves.  As fanatics they are suitably nude (hence the Not Safe From Weiners warning).  They also have a nice Celtic look with their spiked hair and fit in very well with the Grenadier elves and AA sidhe.

Because I’m using Speedpaint the whole force have been zenith spray undercoated, white over grey.  I applied the purple tint to the skin, Pastel Lavender thinned 50/50 with Medium.  With this on I painted the hair with Sand Golem, wiping back the tips of the spikes with my finder for an instant highlight.  Then when dry I dry brushed the hair with white to take the highlight up a notch.

Next the tattoos went on with a thin brush in a standard acrylic, Oxford Blue.

The blades were painted with Enchanted Steel which has a very blue tone.  This was wiped off the edges with my finger as I went to provide an instant highlight.  Gold torcs and jewellery were painted with Aztec Gold which has a very green tone.  These colours help to give a boost to the otherworldly look of the miniatures.

When everything was dry the skin was highlighted with Celestial Azzure and the tattoos with Martian Green. These Colorshift paints don’t really show up in the photos but take it from me they add a very noticeable shimmer to the skin and are strongest in the places where a ‘standard’ highlight would sit.

I’ve used some unusual paints doing the bodies so for those who aren’t familiar with any here they are:

It is always miniatures that inspire my latest muse.  In this case the classic Grenadier Miniatures Fantasy Armies range of Wood Elves as sculpted by the incomparable Mark Copplestone. Alongside those are the brilliant Alternative Armies Erin Sidhe range – all motion and ethereal menace.  Having both been designed in the 1980s they are a good match.  Because of the heavy Oldhammer overtones I’ll need to be careful with what I choose to put with them.

I had a look around and through what I already had.  I’ve got a couple of Banshees that will make a great unit – after all their name has Sidhe in it (Sidhe is pronounced ‘shee’ as in Banshee).  I have had my eye on some Lucid Eye Root Elves and I have some minor Fae from the D&D plastics by WotC.  Finally I like an allied faction to add to the main army and I bought a mixed collection that had a box of GW Dryads that  I’ll use for forest spirits.  Finally every good Midgard list needs a moster – I’ll go with the Archon Studios Demonic Tree.

A 450 point Midgard list (45 reputation):

Heroes (151pts):
Titania Queen of the Fae (L3 Army Commander) – 44pts
Oberon Lord of the Hunt – L2 – 28pts
Cú Fiáin The Wild Hound – L2 Chariot Hero – 27pts
Druids – L2 – 26pts
Shamen – L2 – 26pts

Units (255pts):
4x Sidhe warriors 56pts
1x Sidhe Archers 25pts
1x Banshees 26pts
1x Wardancers 24pts
1x Minor Fae 14pts
2x Dryads 28pts
2x Glade Riders 52pts
1x Eagle Riders 30pts

Monstorsity:
Tree Lord 44pts

The bulk of the force are light infantry with a heavier punch coming from the Wardancers and the relentless horde of Dryads.  Should make an interesting contrast to the largely heavy infantry Tribes and Drune forces.

Finally I needed a spooky autumn forest as a backdrop image.  Sadly my Jon Hodgson books don’t have anything suitable so I went to Freepix.com to find something royalty free.  This one will do just fine.