in need of help - wood elves

[planet psyrum]

So here is the story. My best friend was diagnosed with leukemia, and when the the fighting began he began to start a wood elve army, shown below. He always wanted to go big or go home. He collected a 2000+ army, maybe more, and got to fight once and squished an orcs & goblin player. Months later he passed. The army sat for a couple of years, until his mom asked if anyone wanted it. I volunteered to take it with the intent on breathing life back into them, however after painting one model the task seemed overwhelming. So, I am asking for help. Where should i begin? How do I fix broken models? What are some short term goals I should make. Some are painted, should I remove the paint with simple green. What are some bench marks? Pretty much I'm asking for where to start and how to stay motivated? He also had a small necron army that i am currently practicing on.
http://i1073.photobucket.com/albums/w381/planet_psyrum/Snapbucket/4BBD89DC-orig.jpg
The army consists of 40 glade guard, 9 glade riders, 30 eternal guard, 6 tree kin, 1 treeman, 24 dryads, 12 wardancers, 9 waywatchers,noble, branchwraith, spellweaver, amd waywatcher noble. Any ideas?

[Subexarch]

First off, welcome to the Woody side. It sounds like you really want to do justice to these models to honor your friend. Kudos to you for that. All the advice I can give is as follows.

1. Decide on a paint sceme for the army. Woodies are typically painted in "seasonal" colors, but don't let that limit you. Do the painted figs fit into your chosen sceme? If yes great, if not, into the simple green they go. Broken models are easily fixed if they are plastic. Even the smallest bits can be re-attached with plastic glue. Metal ones are a little tougher as they will almost certainly require pinning. (I'm looking at you Mr. Treeman)
2. Painting large units can be mind numbing. So break them up into bite sized pieces. Paint the Eternal guard 10 at a time...and alternate. Give yourself a little treat to work on between the rank and file guys. Paint the glade riders, then paint the treeman, then 10 Eternal guard, then a spell weaver and so on. Heck, maybe even throw in a necron unit just to break up the monotany. If your painting talents are up to it add little extras into the smaller units, tatoos on the wardancers, enbroidery on the waywatchers cloaks, etc. (I only ever have the chunk I'm working on on the table. All the other models are tucked away where I can't see them. It helps me focus and takes my mind off my enormous painting back-log.) As each unit comes to life, THAT will keep you motivated.

Good Luck and Have Fun

[planet psyrum]

That's some great advice. I already put the army away, and took out 25 guys (10 glade, 8 Dryads, 5 riders, spellweaver, and a wardancer) and put them in my "on deck" drawer. I painted one glade guard last night, seen below. I am going for a summer look. Rich gree yellows.

Questions. The models are really dusty, should I just dip them in water with a quick scrub? Plus most are primed but the primer looks chunky amd its 3 years old. Simple green them too?

For the dryads, I want a summer look to them also, how should I go about this, and should I dip them. Because i saw some nice dryads that were dipped. What colors?

http://i1073.photobucket.com/albums/w381/planet_psyrum/Snapbucket/C6E7665B-orig.jpg

[fuzzbuket]

im not a wood elf player but i think i know a thing or tow about painting :)

first of all if they are dusty: Dust them! either a duster or a quick dip in some water will do the trick!
i really like the color scheme below! thats quite nice so ill just give some tips!


-for 'summer' dryads how about a lightish brown think calthan brown but a bit lighter, possibly with a bit of white or yellow! and for the leaves some nice autumnal orange leaves or green leaves would be nice i think!

-as for large units subexarch's idea is quite good! break them down into blocks of 5 or 10, and between large
blocks reward yourself by painting a character/hero/ monster! another good trick is find a small spot on the model to do what you enjoy: if you enjoy freehand a little symbol on the cloak of each guy is a good idea

-as for dipping it divides many peoples opinion: whilst it is a easy way to do a larg army VERY quickly many painter view it as cheating as well as it occasionally clogging up detail as well as restricting the improvement of your painting!

-also with your test model, I really like it! did you use a green wash on the broze leg guards? it looks very nice!

- finally the more you paint the better you get! so once this armys done im guessing you'll be a really good painter!


Its really great how your doing this army in memory of your friend! my hat goes off to you :)

-fuzz

[Wildeybeast]

The GW website has two galleries of alternate paint scheme's for both Dryads and and GG that I'd recommend taking a look at, there are some great schemes on there that really stand out from the standard green and brown.

Edit: Correction had some great articles. They must have taken them down ahead of the big new paint release. If they put them back up I'll link them

[Subexarch]

Realy like your chosen sceme!
Questions. The models are really dusty, should I just dip them in water with a quick scrub? Plus most are primed but the primer looks chunky amd its 3 years old. Simple green them too? If the primer is fuzzy I would definately strip and recoat them. As for dust, as stated above, just give them a rinse and maybe a light scrub with an old toothbrush.

For the dryads, I want a summer look to them also, how should I go about this, and should I dip them. Because i saw some nice dryads that were dipped. What colors?
OK, this is where the fun starts! Don't paint them all the same. Hit the old Google images for pictures of tree bark and just pick a few. In a forest not all the trees are the same. And a malevolent spirit probly wom't be to picky when possessing them. Anyway, some amount of variation looks great in the dryad units. Just adds a neat feel to them. As for wether or not to dip, I'm with Fuzz on that one. Drybrushing works so well on the woodies forest spirit models.

[Wildeybeast]

For the dryads, I want a summer look to them also, how should I go about this, and should I dip them. Because i saw some nice dryads that were dipped. What colors?
OK, this is where the fun starts! Don't paint them all the same. Hit the old Google images for pictures of tree bark and just pick a few. In a forest not all the trees are the same. And a malevolent spirit probly wom't be to picky when possessing them.

I hate myself for being this pedantic, but I'm always picking my friends up on this and irrationally bugs me beyond reason, so I'm sorry but Dryads don't possess trees. They are spirits in the shape of trees. Treekin and Treemen are possessed trees (hence the flammable rules), but Dryads are just treeish looking spirits (hence no flammable rules). Sorry, but I couldn't let it go! :D
Otherwise, great advice!

[planet psyrum]

So, I just completed 500 pts if necron and I am moving onto the wood elves. I put them in diluted concentrated simple green for 3 days and the paint is harder to get off then the necrons I did before. So i scrubbed 5 minis good, then put them in nondiluted simple green. Is 3 days not enough, don't dilute , or old toothbrush not string enough ? OR combination of all three? http://i1073.photobucket.com/albums/w381/planet_psyrum/Snapbucket/360A3046-orig.jpg http://i1073.photobucket.com/albums/w381/planet_psyrum/Snapbucket/B2004391-orig.jpg

[Jamo]

I wouldn't dilute the simply green, just keep it as it is. Also 3 days should be enough unless you want to get rid of a spray primer. Normally my paint comes off in 1- 2 days and 4-5 weeks for a spray primer.