Looking back at old paintjobs: Sylvaneth

Sylvaneth are my primary army — and the main reason why I started playing Age of Sigmar back in its 1st edition. They are also the closest thing to the Wood Elves I loved in Warhammer Fantasy Battles. I have a few other armies that I enjoy collecting and painting, but there will always be a special place in my heart for the forest spirits.

However, Sylvaneth were also the first AoS army that I fully painted. Most of that work happened between 2016 and 2019, and my painting skills have progressed significantly since then. As time went on, I started noticing that the paintjobs on some of my favourite models no longer matched the standard of my more recent work. That left me wondering how I should approach the problem.

I did not want to fully repaint the miniatures. That would feel excessive and, in a way, those older Sylvaneth models are a snapshot of my painting skills at that point in time and a clear reminder of how much I have improved over the years. At the same time, I also did not want to leave them completely untouched.

Eventually, I realized there was a middle ground. Instead of repainting the models from scratch, I could strategically touch up certain details and areas to make them stand out more while still preserving the character of the original paintjob. 

The first of the models I worked on was the Treelord I wrote about some time ago. Next were the unit of Kurnoth hunters with scythes. I love those models - Kurnoth Hunters are my favorite Sylvaneth models as wells as some of my favourite Age of Sigmar miniatures. The original paintjob was a bit "flat" when it came to the details: everything was precise and clean, but there were no highlights or emphasis on specific parts of the model. Also, the bases were pretty simple and did not help in makind the model stand out. Below you can see the pictures of the models before the refresh: 

I wanted to perserve the original identity of the model (which I liked a lot), while improving "readability" and atmosphere. I think the bark has much better texture now, the green foliage/branches are not so overpowering, the weapon gradient is much better and the base actually frames a miniature (instead of being just some mud with grass).

Looking at the models side by side, the changes are not too dramatic, but they make a surprisingly large difference overall (at least to me). The original version was already clean and precise, so I did not want to repaint it from scratch. Instead, I focused on improving contrast, adding selective highlights, and making certain details stand out more clearly. I also reworked the base to give the miniature a bit more atmosphere and visual framing.

The end result still feels like the same model I painted years ago, just viewed through the lens of the experience I gained since then. And that was exactly what I was aiming for (and seeing the result, it's clear that the repaint would be such a mistake)!

Belthanos, First Thorn of Kurnoth

Recently, a good friend of mine surprised me and gave me Belthanos, First Thorn of Kurnoth as a present. I haven't added anything to my Sylvaneth army for a while and when Belthanos was announced, I immediately fell in love with the model. So when I got the present, I assembled it the very next day and started painting immediately. Sylvaneth are my primary army and I enjoy painting them - and this model was no exception. I was eager to get him ready as soon as possible, so I managed to get it fully painted only few days after I got it. You can see the finished model on the pictures below:

Painting Warsong Revenant

During the past two months, I had a lot more time for painting than usual. However, since there was a lot of models/units that I wanted to paint, I decided to try a different approach - so I started working on multiple things at once. In the past, I usually focused on one thing at the time, but in some cases it wasn't a good approach, because sometimes you need an alternate project (or two) to break down the monotony a bit if you get "stuck" (or burned out) working on a particularly challenging model. Turns out that this was the right choice - and all of the models I'm currently working on are either finished or progressing nicely! 

Here are some pictures of my Warsong Revenant - it was one of the models that was painted using this approach. I really enjoyed working on this model and it was done fairly quickly because I use my standard Sylvaneth coulour scheme. It's a great looking model and I can't wait to try it out once the new Sylvaneth battletome comes out. 

And here's the picture of a fully finished model: 

Sylvaneth Warcry Warband

Few months ago, I have tried Warcry for the first time. As someone who liked (and played) Mordheim and who generally enjoys small-scale games, I was very interested in trying out Warcry ruleset. I built a small Tzeentch Arcanites warband (made entirely out of Tzaangors and Skyfires) and really enjoyed all of my games (espically my opponents complaining about the Skyfires :D). Since I have several armies for Age of Sigmar, I am really looking forward to building different warbands, especially now that new battletomes for each of the grand alliances have been published and each army got some (or many) new options.

So, yesterday I bought Sylvaneth Warcry set. I already have a big Sylvaneth army, but I wanted to create Sylvaneth warband with an alternative colour scheme (something I was considering fo some time now) and I also wanted another 3 Kurnoth Hunters with bows for my regular games of Age of Sigmar, so this box was perfect.

I like this set because it provides a lot of options for whatever you want to use it for - your regular army, or for your Warcry warband. Here's what you get inside:

• 3 Kurnoth Hunters (with all available options - bows, swords, scythes)
• 5 Tree-Revenants (that you can also build as Spite-Revenants)
• Warcry unit and ability cards (not including new units and abilities available in the Warcry Order  Battletome)
• Bases, tokens and assembly instructions
  

This box is a great choice both for expanding your existing Sylvaneth army, or for building an interesting Warcry warband. I'll start assembling the models week and during the holidays I will play a bit with the ideas for the new colour scheme. 

Battle report: Sylvaneth vs. Cities of Sigmar (1000 pts)

Last week, I played my first game of AoS after a long pause (I became a dad recently), against my friend Vuk. We both had new battletomes for our armies, so we were really excited to try our new stuff. Both armies went a bit over 1000 points and we decided to use one of the Meeting Engagement scenarios and ME rules for deployment and terrain/objective placement, since we played on a smaller board (in all other aspects, it was a standard game). I was playing Gnarlroot list. My main plan was to try to use support spells (like Regrowth and Verdurous Harmony) to keep my main hitting units (Kurnoth Hunters) or my Treelord Acient alive and win by attrition. Summoning Dryads and then returning models to the summoned unit with Verdurous Harmony is also one neat thing that you can do - so they an tie up important units or contest objectives.  Here are the lists:

SYLVANETH - Gnarlroot glade

Branchwych (Deepwod lore: Regrowth)
Branchwraith - general (Deepwood lore: Verdurous Harmony)
Treelord Ancient (Deepwood lore: Regrowth)
2 x Tree-Revenants
Kurnoth Hunters (bows)
Kurnoth Hunters (scythes)

Endless spells: 
Gladewyrm
Spiteswarm Hive

CITIES OF SIGMAR - HALLOWHEART

Battlemage x 3 (Whitefire Retinue battalion)
Freeguild General on Griffon
Demigryph knights
Freeguild guard
Freeguild Handgunners

I deployed Hunters with bows and Branchwych on left flank, one unit of Tree-Revenants on the right flank and everything else in the middle.

Hallowheart army goes first: wizards put up some defensive spells on General and then both he and Demigryph knights run forward, while the rest of the army cautiously advances. I use Treelord Ancient to place another Wyldwood on the table and then summon 10 Dryads and Spiteswarm hive. My army moves forward just a bit, trying to stay mostly outside of enemy charge ranges. Kurnoth Hunters with bows shoot at the General and put 6 wounds on him.

Hallowheart wins the priority for the second turn. General is healed for 3hp, then Wizards place spell that gives enemy units -1 to attack rolls against that unit (Pha's protection). Demigryph knights fail their charge on Dryads, but the General rolls 12 for charge distance and after charging and piling in, he is able to engage my Branchwraith (ouch!). However, this also brings him in combat with my Kurnoth Hunters with scythes and one unit of Tree-Revenants. General on Griffon divides his attacks between the Branchwraith and Kurnoth Hunters: he kills the Branchwraith, but scores only one wound on Hunters. In return, Kurnoth hunters and Tree-Revenants manage to put just enough wounds on General to kill him, despite having -1 to hit.  In my turn, I heal Kurnoth Hunters and fail to summon Gladewyrm. Treelord Ancient shoots at the Demygryph Knights, but fails to wound. Hunters with bows also shoot at Demigryph knights and score just a single wound. Dryds run forward and Hunters with scythes charge at the Demigryph Knights (with a huge boost from the Hive). I roll poorly and manage to kill only a single knight and put two wounds on another. However, I start leading in victory points.

Hallowheart wins the priority for the third time. Wizards fumble some spells, but they heal the Demigryph Knights and take out one of the Hunters with scythes. Handgunners shoot at Dryads and manage to kill two. Knights attack, kill the second Hunter and leave the last one with only one wound. In return, that Hunter kills one of the Knights. In my turn, I shoot with Treelord Ancient at the Demigryph knights and kill the last remaining Knight, and Hunters with bows start thinning out ranks of Handgunners.

I win the priority roll for the last turn (yay, double turn!). Gladewyrm is finally summoned and it heals the last surviving Hunter with scythe. Hunters with bows kill some more Handgunners. Both units of Tree-Revenants "jump" on the other side of the board, but despite their ability to reroll dice, I fail all their charges. Dryads charge Handgunners and wipe them out, while the Hunter with scythe charges one of the Battlemages and kills him. I control my opponent's objective as well at this point. During his turn, my opponent does not manage to clear the Dryads with his Battlemages and Freeguild guard manages to score a single wound on a lonely Hunter with scythe. In return, the Hunter wipes out half of the unit. 

SYLVANETH VICTORY!

Some observations from this game:

• Branchwraith as Gnarlroot general is a very powerful combination. Nurtured by Magic ability works great with Regrowth spell and Chalice of Nectar artifact will help you greatly with summoning Dryads and casting Verdurous Harmony. However, my Branchwraith was the first casualty of the game, so I was not able to test this theory :D
• Kurnoth Hunters with scythes were probably my best unit. They had a key role in taking out General on a Griffon, they killed two of the Demigyph Knights, one Battlemage and half unit of Freeguild guard. Regrowth or any healing ability helps a lot, because it keeps them on the table much longer. 
• Hunters with bows were also very good - they were basically artillery, always dealing some damage from far away. 
• Hallowheart can be very powerful, especially if they have access to lots of Endless spells. However, my opponent could do some things very differently and he made several bad choices during the game. For example, he could put much more defensive spells or buffs on his General, making him very hard to deal with.
• Battalions should be used carefully in 1000 point games or smaller - they eat a huge chunk of available points and may not be worth the price.

Painting Sylvaneth Endless Spells - Gladewyrm

Yeasterday, I have finished painting Gladewyrm, so now all of the Sylvaneth Endless spells are done. I'm one model away from having all my Sylvaneth models painted - there's one Awakened Wyldwood that I'll probably finish by the end of the month. After that, I can focus on painting my Khorne stuff.

Below is the quick tutorial on how the Gladewyrm was painted, so you can use it if you like the colour scheme:

• The model was primed using Vallejo white primer
• The base was fully painted with GW Contrast Gore-Grunta Fur
• Light dryrush of Vallejo Khaki was applied to the base
• Light wash of GW Agrax Earthshade was applied to the base
• Skulls were painted with Vallejo Elffic Flesh, then washed with GW Agrax Earthshade
• Vines and leaves were painted with GW Moot Green, washed with GW Biel-Tan Green and then highlighted with Vallejo Livery Green
• The worm's chitionous plates were painted with Vallejo Hexen Lichen
• The "belly" and the head of the worm were painted with Vallejo Squid Pink
• The worm was then washed with GW Carroburg Crimson
• Chitionous plates were dlightly drybrushed with Vallejo Squid Pink, then edge highlights in the same colour were applied
• A layer of Vallejo Squd Pink was applied to belly and the face of the worm (leaving darker shade in the recesses)
• Belly and the face were highlighted with Vallejo Off White
• Eyes were painted with Vallejo Livery Green
• Glowing runes were painted with Vallejo Livery Green
• Gale Force 9 static grass and some tufts were added to the base

Painting Sylvaneth Endless Spells - Vengeful Skullroot

I am slowly getting my Sylvaneth Endless Spells done - last week I finished Vengeful Skullroot. As I have mentioned earlier, there's something strange with this model - it looks a bit too happy :D Jokes aside, I have the impression that, for some reason, this tree ended up being unintentionally funny. I expected it to have "creepy tree" kind of look, but instead it's a strange floating tree with skeletons dangling from it (the slight "curve" of the trunk and short branches are only contributing tho that look). However, I like the rules and how the painted model looks on the table. Below you can find a quick guide on techniques and paints used, in case that you want a similar colour scheme.  

Painting process:

• The model was primed with GW Zandri Dust
• Bark was washed Vallejo Brown Ink
• Bark was drybrushed with Vallejo Khaki
• Very light wash of Vallejo Sepia Ink was applied to the roots
• The soulpod (?) inside the tree trunk was painted with Vallejo Livery Green and then washed with GW Hexwraith Flame
• Leaves were painted with GW Moot Green, washed with GW Biel-Tan Green then highlighted with Vallejo Livery Green 
• Skeletons were painted with Vallejo Khaki and washed with Agrax Earthshade
• The base wash done using Gale Force 9 basing kit (Summer)

Painting Sylvaneth Endless Spells - Spiteswarm Hive

Today I've finished painting The Spiteswarm Hive endless spell. It's a small model, that can be painted quickly and still look very good on the table (which is great if you're short on time). In case that you like this colour scheme, you can check out the guide below. Of course, the colour scheme is consistent with the rest of my army.
 
Painting process:

• The model was primed using Vallejo white primer
• Stone was painted with Vallejo Blue Gey Pale
• Roots were painted with Vallejo Khaki
• Both the stone and the roots were washed with GW Agrax Earthshade
• Roots were highlighted with Vallejo Kkaki (mostly edge highlights)
• Stone was drybrushed with Vallejo Off White
• Hive was washed with few coats of GW Cassandora Yellow (over the white base)
• Leaves and vines were painted with GW Moot Green, washed with GW Biel-Tan Green then highlighted with Vallejo Livery Green 
• Very light wash of GW Hexwraith Flame was applied to insects/spites, and then they were lightly drybrushed with Vallejo Livery Green
• The base wash finished using static grass and Gale Force 9 basing kit (Summer)

New Sylvaneth models

Recently new Sylvaneth Battletome was published, along with new Wyldwood model and Sylvaneth Endless spells, so I got both of these last week.

Good thing about the Wyldwood is that you can still use the old model - this was covered by errata/designers commentery. I am very happy with the new battletome, because it gives a lot of options for the Sylvaneth army and you can easily find somethig interesting to play. Not only that, it also opens up some really cool painting and modelling possibilities (especially if you decide to paint your army using one of the Glades as the central theme).

Of course, one of the main things that interested me in the new book were the new Endless spells. I like the rules for all of them (and they are also very thematic) and I will be playing them on a regular basis in my Sylvaneth lists. However, when it comes to how the models look, I think that Vengeful Skullroot could be much better. The model just looks... funny? At least that's the vibe that I'm getting. This model is a great fit for Outcast/Dreadwood theme, but I would like this tree to look much more menacing. Luckily, that is something that can be easily fixed with some green stuff and a few parts from Citadel Wood kit.

Here's how the assembled models look like:

Ylthari's Guardians

Today I have finished painting the last miniature from the Ylthari's Guardians warband. Now the warband is complete and I'm looking forward to my first WHU game (but I'll have to wait for it for some time, since my son was just born few days ago :) ).

I really like the look of Ylthari's Guardians - actually, they and Farstriders were the reason why I started looking at Shadespire/Nightvault sets. However, what I'm planing to do in the future is use these guys much more in our skirmish games, because they really have a lot of character (and if you add them a single Kurnoth Hunter, you get a sweet 250 point skirmish warband).

Here's how my Ylthari's Guardians look like:

Arch-Revenant

Recently I got the Sylvaneth half of the Looncurse box, and the first mini I have painted was the Arch-Revenant. I really like the look of the miniature (actually, I wanted a Revenant hero) and the rules are also great. I used Arch-Revenant in few recent games and her ability to make Kurnoth Hunters more precise, together with the command ability allowed me to really increase the damage output of the Kurnoth hunters. In my last game against Flesh-Eater Courts, 3 Kurnoth Hunters with schytes managed to almost completely destroy a unit of 6 Crypt Flayers (they killed 5 out of 6) - rerolling 1s and having an extra attack is pretty huge!

So, here's how the finished model looks like: