The third article on this tale revolves around Durthu. While not legal for anything below something like 1200 points due to the weird restrictions WFB puts on HQ, I had him, he was free, and looked like good fun to paint, so I had a crack.

He came in pieces from my aforementioned brother in law, so after a bit of filing to remove the flash, I began building the model. Its moments like this that I even prefer fine cast, let alone plastic, the damn thing weighed a tonne. Luckily with some decent glue, it stuck nicely after some more filing without the need for pinning but the legs were awfully moulded, they just didn’t fit like they should have.

In the end however, I achieved a good pose, the outstretched arm didn’t fall off, and so it got a black undercoat in preparation for some drybrushing. I wanted a silver birch feel for this model as it has much more texture, the smooth muscle, the bark flesh and the papery thin barky stuff almost as skin, if you google silver birch you’ll know what I mean here. A dark grey base washed with Agrax then drybrushed up to a much lighter grey, the same method as above worked nicely for the bark skin and tied it in to the Dryads. I wanted a whiteish colour for the papery layers, and this was achieved with a base of Ulthuan Gray, and again a wash with Agrax Earthshade, then a drybrush with Ulthuan again, followed by Ceramite White.

It came out pretty awesome, just needed the moss adding, which was painted in Caliban green, washed with Agrax, then drybrushed with Kommando Khaki and then Rotting Flesh, adding the only bit of colour to the model, re-enforcing the winter theme, as moss tends to say green while everything else fades. The base was finished off in the same way as the Dryads, only with more added fishtank gravel and cork board.

I’ll not be able to use the model for some time yet given the points cost but its good to breathe some life in to a model upwards of 20 years old. There are 3 old Dryads in the box I got given, I’m thinking these could be used as Tree Kin, again, saving me £30+ on new models, and reclaiming good looking models from the past.

I think these and the Eagle will be the next on the table, along with units of Glade Guard, blokes on horses, and some more dryads from the Battalion boxed set.

While I predominantly paint in silence, I spent the time painting up these models listening to Wardruna, essentially ancient Scandinavian folk music, performed accurately, with each song based on an individual rune within the Higher Fulthark. The second LP has recently been released and is even more atmospheric, both are on Candlelight Records for little more than a tenner.

 [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b_AlO85w3wE&feature=share&list=PLEA6E8399CC1A3FFA]