Gem Madness! High Elf Swordmasters Update #1

*Squeek*

High Elf Bladelord

Only a week to go until the "big reveal"of this High Elf army to the kids (gulp). Since last posting I have done some ordering, some painting and some movement trays.

Thinking ahead to the unveiling, I ordered the Gale Force 9 Battlefield in a Box Elven Tower to try and have a bit of impressive scenery. 

Gale Force 9 Elven Tower:

The good news is that reviews have been pretty favorable and the price was reasonable. The bad news is it looks as though it hasn't been dispatched yet, so I guess it won't make it in time.
:-(

On the painting side of things I spent most evenings this last week working on the Swordmasters. Somebody said they would be easy...
...but I can only guess that they mean in comparison to detailed units like Ellyrian Reavers! 

For example, a unit of x20 Swordmasters is about 80 gems. I think that I have now contracted that rare affliction - "Gem Madness". I actually dreamed about gems last night after finishing these. ("Snot Green, then Dark Angels Green at top, Snot Green/ Skull white at bottom, and a dot of pure Skull White at top...") 
To keep myself sane I went outside my comfort zone and tried to do some red gems for the first time ever (adventurous eh?). I used the technique in the High Elf Army Book and to my surprise they came out OK (pics in the images below.)

After a few nights of work here is where I am now:

x20 ranked Swordmasters

Standard Bearer (Detail)

Bladelord (Detail)

Unit (Detail)

Front rank (Detail)

Swordmasters unit

Red Gems - first ever!

Red Gems - detail.

Bladelord - metal figure

Swordmaster with red gems

Bladelord - green gems

Bladelord - gem detail

Swordmaster command - detail

As they have large areas of scale armour I guess they are quite quick to do, but after the armour I slowed down quite a bit (layers of Warlock Purple on the robes, and aforementioned gems took me a while.) 

For the armour I used:

• Chainmail 
• Badab Black (wash)
• Mithril Silver (dry brush)

I still have to do highlights on the details, bases, layers on the skin, and eyes, but I reckon I should then be clear to start on one final unit for the army.

Yesterday I also finished painting up and flocking x5 movement trays. 

These are all by Gale Force 9 and came with my original HE order from eBay. They are wood and well put together. The only think I am not so keen on is that they are very "square"- I'd prefer them to have more rounded edges. After texturing and flocking I think they came out OK, but next time I will carve or sand/ file the edges first so they don't look quite so regular. When I have a bit more time I may add some ruins or other bits and pieces to add some atmosphere.

(For the texturing I used textured grey spray paint for the first time. Available at garden centers and used to add a concrete-like texture to smooth surfaces, this has fine sand in it. It did add some texture, but it was too fine. Next time I may do several layers to thicken it up. To achieve the same thing here I used PVA glue and modelling sand.)


Hopefully the next update will see me with the Swordmasters finished and the Silver Helms underway.
:-)
Hope you are all having a good week/ weekend!
*Squeek*