One of my first project since returning to Warhammer 40k is an Eldar Wraithguard army. As I've mentioned in my airbrushing post here, when I left the hobby, I had purchased two Wraithguard battle forces. Along with some other boxes I had 3 Wraithknights, 4 Wraithlords, 35 Wraithgurard and a Spiritseer. It was light on HQ choices, so I bought a Farseer and the new Spiritseer recently too.
Firstly I needed a colour scheme. Most of the Eldar colour schemes come from the early Games Workshop days. While I enjoy them, I wanted my force to be more grounded in reality. Not that giant alien robot zombies are realistic. I came across the Yme-loc Craftworld colour scheme on the Forgeworld Wraithknights. I thought the colours looked amazing with the bright orange working well against the grey. I also considered this scheme easy to paint. While the orange would require multiple layers, I could achieve the grey basecoat with Mechanicus standard grey spray. I'd finish this off with black weapons.
Next, I wanted to choose the basing option. I've always liked the Death Korps bases, covered in thick mud. I'd also never done a thick mud base before. Originally I used the texture paints from Citadel but quickly found myself an alternative. I talked about that experience in my post here.
Finally, I had to consider what options I would build. This army is going to be for display rather than play. So I decided to go for the rule of cool. I wanted to make at least one of all the options.
I built a Wraithcannon Wraithguard as a test model. The paint scheme was straightforward as I expected. The grey is Mechanicus standard grey spray basecoat. Then recess shaded with Nuln Oil before highlighted with Administratum grey. I took the recipes for the colours from the Citadel Colour App. The App is incredible for figuring out which paints to pick. The orange was created using Jokaero Orange basecoat, followed by several layers of Troll Slayer Orange and Highlighted with Fire Dragon Orange. I also shaded some areas of the orange with Carroburg Crimson. The weapons were painted using Abbadon Black with an Eshin Grey highlight.
After I completed a few final details, I was finished with the test model.
I was happy with the result. The scheme was quick to paint and looked good. I quickly replicated it with the rest of the unit and had my first 5 Wraithguard finished.
The Wraithguard scheme would be easy to reproduce on the bigger wraith units. The HQ models are different though. There is a Wraithseer HQ, which I plan on converted out of one of the Wraithlords, but I thought I'd start with the Spiritseer and Farseer.
The grey and orange didn't seem the right colours for the seers' robes. I decided to paint the robes white and the jewellery silver. I choose silver as I didn't think the gold jewellery, used on the example miniature, fitted with my scheme. I used the Spiritseer as a test model.
While the model fits in with the army, there was something wrong about it. It wasn't until I started to paint the Farseer that I realised. I didn't have to paint the jewellery only gold or silver. I could paint it a bone colour. So this is what I did and I am far happier with the result. The other change with the Farseer is the use of grey-blue for the robe. As the Farseer has layers of robes I had to choose an additional colour. Again I am far happier with this model than the Spiritseer. I plan to redo the Spiritseer in the future.
Once I had finished two units of Wraithguard, I decided to tackle some Wraithlords. I wanted to do a small conversion on the first one. I used two of the Ghostglaives to make a broader symmetrical Ghostglaive. I had to use a brass rod and green stuff to finish, but I'm happy with the result.
Painting the orange on the Wraith's was proving to be time-consuming. I decided to use my airbrush to speed things up and picked up the air version of Troll Slayer Orange. While my first attempt was messy, it was much quicker and had smoother coverage than using a brush. It only took me a few hours to fully paint the Wraithlord.
With one Wraithlord down, I started the second. I went for a simple build but magnetised the shoulder weapons. Building and painting the second one was more straightforward. Partly because I had chosen to use subassemblies where I could.
Currently, I am building a Wraithknight. It is a monster of a build, the only other model I've built of this size is a Baneblade variant. I'm still unsure if I'm going to magnetise it. While it allows you to change your loadout, I suspect these models will mainly live in my display cabinet. Sometimes magnetising can make the model look strange to me. I'm going to paint the model using the same technique as the Wraithlords.
Going forward I still have a lot of Wraiths to finish. After the Wraithknight, I plan to paint a squad of Ghostblades. Then I'll have a valid vanguard detachment for when I do use them in a game.
After that, I'd like to get the other two Wraithknights done. Especially with the release of the new edition of Apocalypse.
Hopefully, you've enjoyed a look at my Wraithguard army. I'll be updating as I make progress. If you have any comments, questions or criticisms about the army, I'm happy to hear. I'm always looking to improve.
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| My Wraithguard haul |
Planning
Firstly I needed a colour scheme. Most of the Eldar colour schemes come from the early Games Workshop days. While I enjoy them, I wanted my force to be more grounded in reality. Not that giant alien robot zombies are realistic. I came across the Yme-loc Craftworld colour scheme on the Forgeworld Wraithknights. I thought the colours looked amazing with the bright orange working well against the grey. I also considered this scheme easy to paint. While the orange would require multiple layers, I could achieve the grey basecoat with Mechanicus standard grey spray. I'd finish this off with black weapons.
Next, I wanted to choose the basing option. I've always liked the Death Korps bases, covered in thick mud. I'd also never done a thick mud base before. Originally I used the texture paints from Citadel but quickly found myself an alternative. I talked about that experience in my post here.
Finally, I had to consider what options I would build. This army is going to be for display rather than play. So I decided to go for the rule of cool. I wanted to make at least one of all the options.
Getting Started
I built a Wraithcannon Wraithguard as a test model. The paint scheme was straightforward as I expected. The grey is Mechanicus standard grey spray basecoat. Then recess shaded with Nuln Oil before highlighted with Administratum grey. I took the recipes for the colours from the Citadel Colour App. The App is incredible for figuring out which paints to pick. The orange was created using Jokaero Orange basecoat, followed by several layers of Troll Slayer Orange and Highlighted with Fire Dragon Orange. I also shaded some areas of the orange with Carroburg Crimson. The weapons were painted using Abbadon Black with an Eshin Grey highlight.
After I completed a few final details, I was finished with the test model.
I was happy with the result. The scheme was quick to paint and looked good. I quickly replicated it with the rest of the unit and had my first 5 Wraithguard finished.
The Wraithguard scheme would be easy to reproduce on the bigger wraith units. The HQ models are different though. There is a Wraithseer HQ, which I plan on converted out of one of the Wraithlords, but I thought I'd start with the Spiritseer and Farseer.
The grey and orange didn't seem the right colours for the seers' robes. I decided to paint the robes white and the jewellery silver. I choose silver as I didn't think the gold jewellery, used on the example miniature, fitted with my scheme. I used the Spiritseer as a test model.
While the model fits in with the army, there was something wrong about it. It wasn't until I started to paint the Farseer that I realised. I didn't have to paint the jewellery only gold or silver. I could paint it a bone colour. So this is what I did and I am far happier with the result. The other change with the Farseer is the use of grey-blue for the robe. As the Farseer has layers of robes I had to choose an additional colour. Again I am far happier with this model than the Spiritseer. I plan to redo the Spiritseer in the future.
Onto Bigger Wraiths
Once I had finished two units of Wraithguard, I decided to tackle some Wraithlords. I wanted to do a small conversion on the first one. I used two of the Ghostglaives to make a broader symmetrical Ghostglaive. I had to use a brass rod and green stuff to finish, but I'm happy with the result.
Painting the orange on the Wraith's was proving to be time-consuming. I decided to use my airbrush to speed things up and picked up the air version of Troll Slayer Orange. While my first attempt was messy, it was much quicker and had smoother coverage than using a brush. It only took me a few hours to fully paint the Wraithlord.
With one Wraithlord down, I started the second. I went for a simple build but magnetised the shoulder weapons. Building and painting the second one was more straightforward. Partly because I had chosen to use subassemblies where I could.
Current Situation
Currently, I am building a Wraithknight. It is a monster of a build, the only other model I've built of this size is a Baneblade variant. I'm still unsure if I'm going to magnetise it. While it allows you to change your loadout, I suspect these models will mainly live in my display cabinet. Sometimes magnetising can make the model look strange to me. I'm going to paint the model using the same technique as the Wraithlords.
Future Plans
Going forward I still have a lot of Wraiths to finish. After the Wraithknight, I plan to paint a squad of Ghostblades. Then I'll have a valid vanguard detachment for when I do use them in a game.
After that, I'd like to get the other two Wraithknights done. Especially with the release of the new edition of Apocalypse.
Hopefully, you've enjoyed a look at my Wraithguard army. I'll be updating as I make progress. If you have any comments, questions or criticisms about the army, I'm happy to hear. I'm always looking to improve.
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