Graeme's Wood Elves - OWAC 9, January Post (Rank and file #1 - 110points )

Graeme's Wood Elves - OWAC 9 January Post (Rank and file #1 - 110 points)

Well, I got off to a really good start in January, and made the most of my holidays - I had the base colours on all my January models within a few days. Plus, I managed to do at least a little painting every day of the month, so the progress was consistent.

I had a few wobbles in the middle of the month. This is a new colour scheme I'm trying, with a 'summer palette' based on a tetradic color combination, with green as the main colour. However, I realised some of the other colours I'd chosen (purples and oranges) weren't really working as well as I'd hoped, and I'd gone with too many complementary colours, so I had a bit of a re-think and re-painted a couple of tunics to make the group a little more coherent. In the end, I managed to scrape through and get the first 10 models finished. Nothing fancy, nothing spectacular, just 10 basic Elf archers.

I'm happy with how they turned out:

Group 1:

Group 2:

And the whole unit together:

Looking at the photos I see a few areas which need a little more work, but considering this is the most minis I've painted in four years, I'll take it. I'm planning on varnishing everything this year too, but I'll wait for a bit before doing a big batch, then flocking the bases.

I think the 'summer palette' worked fairly well. I used three different shades of green. Two worked really well, but I'm not so sure about the darkest green. I might try another shade in February.

The warm reds, browns and yellows worked out pretty well. My grand plan is to use an 'autumnal' palette with my High Elf army, and a 'winter' palette with my Sea Elves. I'm not sure what I'll do for my Dark Elves, but that's something I can worry about later.

I did want to give an impression of age, despite the bright palette, and was planning to do more ageing on the metals. I still might get round to this, as well as weathering the leathers more, but this would be a nice bonus. If I get round to some warriors in the later months of the challenge it should be easier, since there will be more metal and armour on display.

For the bows, I wanted to emphasise that these are the renowned Wood Elf bows, made from the Lornalim tree. I went for a lighter, natural (bone) colour, but I'm tempted to add more highlights, to make them stand out more.

For the bookkeeping:

10 Wood Elf archers - (110 points)
Equipped with longbows and hand weapons

Now, I'm a little worried about being able to keep up the pace I need to complete the OWAC. I didn't have many distractions, was painting a little every day, yet was still cutting it fine to reach the finish line this month. I suspect I'll need to take on some different models in February, either ones with less details, or at least something to break up the monotony of painting archers. I've got a few Wardancers and Bears in the wings. However, I've got to keep reminding myself that my personal goal for this OWAC is to have at least 30 archers done by the end of it...

I'll also try to focus on batches of three figures, aiming to finish them in a week. At least this breaks things up a bit, and might avoid that last-minute sprint for the finish line at the end of the month.

At least our cat is quite happy that I'm joining in the challenge - he's realised I now spend more time than usual sitting still at my painting desk, so has been making the most of it: