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So, being a bandwagon jumper and hopelessly subject to whatever the latest army GW releases, I decided to start a beastmen list. Yeah, I know, heap on the derision, I can take it!
But, being cheap, and disliking the beaten path, I decided to make this army count twice - as beastmen and wood elves. It's going to be based around a sylvan theme - forest creatures & such.

Here are a few of the promo models I've got worked up:

Satyrs (Gors/Dryads)
I wanted these guys to still look pretty bestial, but not evil or quite as primitive as they do off the sprue. They'll be carrying elvish weapons & will have a bit more civilized gear sculpted on.


Fawns (ungors/glade guard)
These were an easy conversion - the glade rider heads fit well, and I had a pile of old sea guard quiver/bow sets to use anyway. We'll see where the rest of the unit goes.



Wolfen (minotaurs/tree kin)
I've always wanted an excuse to use the Rackham wolfen metals, and now I have it. These guys are awesome looking, and won't require much conversion at all. I picked up a whole pile off bartertown, so the army might be a bit mino/tree kin heavy...)


This is just the beginning of course - let me know what you think!

Dan

Im liking it has a very fairytale theme also very Narnia esque with Satars,Trees,Minotaurs....hmmmm an idea elementals would be good that can manifest themselves as Earth,Leaves,Water GS and a mind is all you need.

Very much liking this idea. I'm looking forward to seeing how you bring it all together.

really liking the Faun and the more animalistic look for the army. Cool idea.
(Have a look for Shere Wars stuff - they've got some nice shapeshiftery type guys that would fit well with the theme)

Alright, I finally finished the test model for the list - a minotaur stand in.



As you can see, I opted for a WoWish color scheme w/ foresty bases. I may add tatooing as well.

Let me know what you think.

I love the nice, bright colours. It really gives the mini character.

Cool idea for a themed army, especially so when it counts as two!

Keep it up dude, this looks to be shaping into a really cool force.

The test model looks amaising, i perticulary like the base which gives thee whole model a fairy tale theme which is quite nice because you don't see that often in warhammer armys.

I'm looking forward to more and I like the concept, I'm also planning to use Wolfen as Minotaurs at some point in the grim darkness of the far future.. But to my eyes the skin looks far to garish for a real animal, I reckon it should seem more muted. Having said that its well executed.

The bright colors are VERY crisp and clean. Kudos to you on a job well done. I may have gone for a more natural tone myself, but you have definitely pulled it off. My only question/suggestion is are you planning on using such bright colors on your regiments? The idea I'm not against, but just all those bright colors may be too distracting when the armies set up on the table. Anyhoo, just my thoughts. Looking forward to seeing more of your work.

Yes indeed - the purple skin will be across the army, except in a few of the monsters. Once I finish the first regiment (minotaurs), I'll get a better since of how it will look all together.

Dan

When you said you were wanting to make an army that counted as two different races I wasn't sure.. but it's a very nice idea and well executed.

Can you PLEASE find a way to include fairies in this army. Or maybe toadstools painted red and white. The army needs them....

Yep - the harpies are going to be fairies - I haven't found a good sculpt yet though.

The Sylvan Animae Rackham makes migth work well for that.

Today's update sees the completion of the wolfen unit.

I'm happy with the results, so I think I'll proceed along the same lines with the rest of the army.




Now it's off to work on some Catachan stuff for D Co - the Sylvans will get another go soon.

Let me know what you think,

Dan

Cool purple dog type things. Look very World of Warcraft.

So after a long hiatus, these guys are back in the "work in progress" pile. I pulled the wolfen off the rack for comparison, and set to work on a unit of ungor raiders (or glade guard).

Here's what I came up with:






Obviously, these guys are fawns (ah la The lion, the witch and the wardrobe, or D&D, or whatever). The wood elf parts mix well with the ungor parts - with a bit of green stuff, it all looks fairly seemless. I mixed a few dark elf weapons in to get a slightly more civilized feel.
The back to basics bases are a lot of fun, and add an element of dynamism to the unit I think.

Let me know what you think,

Dan

Bugger it, i love this idea.

Now i gotta decide between Empire, and Beastmen...

The raiders are finished - I'm really liking this color scheme:





The flavor of these guys is going to be a bit like the wood elf fluff in the 6th ed book - darker and more fey than high elves, but not quite as jerky as the dark elves. I think the GW range is a bit lighthearted actually, given how they wrote the Asrai - That's why I went with the curved, nastier looking weapons.

The color scheme, is of course going to continue looking a bit WoW-ish. I don't play the game, but I appreciate Blizzard's artistry.

C&C are welcome, as always,

next up is a unit of satyrs.

Dan

Nice start! The satyrs came out looking really smooth. And the color scheme looks a lot better on tabletop models than anything in WoW. Cartoon-bright is good when you're talking about tiny things you see from several feet away, but not entire computer game worlds (IMO).

Looking forward to seeing what you have planned for this in the long term. Are you considering a giant/treeman at all?

The first 10 satyrs are built - here are their WIP shots. I wanted to emphasize the brawling, drunken nature of the goatmen, rather than the eat-the-babies stuff that the GW beastmen are known for. I don't imagine they're particularly evil, just a bunch of inebriated louts with a penchant for fistfights and fornication. I imagine the fawns sort of keep everyone in check and goad them into battle with clever verbal banter - like David Spade and Chris Farley.



C&C Welcome, Centigors are up next.

Dan

More WIPs ahoy!

I finished sculpting the centigors/wild riders tonight. Here they are:





I know the abs aren't perfect. What can I say, my green stuff-fu is probably never going to rise much above the yellow belt. Still, with paint, they'll look fine I think, and as a unit on the table, they'll fit right in.

Unfortunately, this will be my last update of any sort for a good long time - 3 months or so. I'm off on an army sponsored sabbatical tomorrow, and I'll be off the map for a bit.

C&C welcome,

Dan

Purple Minotaur Stand-Ins? Blue, Beastmen, Elf Raiders? Octo-Abed Centaurs? ... ...

LOL, what are you smoking son?

So, after a long and ever so fun summer of assorted training, I'm back home and painting.

I've picked up this project because I hate leaving things undone, but I admit, I'm being drawn off toward a large empire army, so I'm not sure how many beasties will get painted before I get sidetracked again... we shall see.

At any rate, here are the latest couple of units I've finished/started. The army is growing nicely.

First, the gors.




As you can see, I'm continuing with the drunken theme - they're not evil, just a bit rowdy. These guys will also stand in as dryads in the wood elf incarnation of the army.

Here is the next pile of GIPs (gors in progress)


And here are the centigors/wild riders - I really like the way they turned out. As you can see, they're short static grass, but I'm out atm and didn't want to wait to post the pics.



There should be more posted soon enough. In the mean time, let me know what you think. Is the Blizzardish color scheme looking pulled together, or am I way off?

Dan

I'm liking this drunken, rowdy, brightly coloured fairy-tale force a lot. Try not to let those silly imperials distract your attention. Focus on the fabulous...focus...focus..

I think this is a highly original and attention grabbing army.

I'd be delighted to fight it. Lots of care and attention to detail.

I think a white heart and a very big golden lion should be in here somewhere as well!

Great use of bright colours. On any other army it may look a bit strange, but you have pulled it off brilliantly. Fantastic centaurs (and nice use of GS).

I've got the white hart model - but I haven't found a large enough golden lion yet.

On that note, does anyone have a good lead on some solid 28mm faries? I'm looking for something to use as a harpy stand in, but so far I haven't seen any that fit the bill. I'm thinking more along the lines of the butterfly winged sort.

http://www.freebooterminiatures.de/en/catalog/miniatures/faeries

Werner Klocke does many other female minis as well which would be suitable with wings attached to them.

http://www.reapermini.com/OnlineStore/wings/latest/06204

http://www.reapermini.com/OnlineStore/fairy%20wings/sku-down/03486


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Big lion:

http://www.reapermini.com/OnlineStore/lion/sku-down/14133#detail/14133_Celestial_lion

Thanks to the long weekend, I was able to finish up the first big satyr unit. I'm happy with the look of the big unit - the beastmen do it well - and I stuck in 3 or 4 unit fillers to break it up a bit.

Here they are:





Next up for the army is the other half of the centigor unit, complete with Ghorrus (in the form of a white stag centaur). It's probably going to be a bit though, as I've got to start on the other 6 from scratch, and green stuffing them up takes a bit. I've also got a jabberslythe online based on a Rackham dragon model. We'll see how he turns out. Oh, and I might take a few days to work on a unit of greatswords that's calling my name... who can resist a hobby tangent?

Oh, and I love those fairy models - now I just need to scrounge up a hundred bucks for enough to make a unit! and people give GW hell for their prices, sheesh.

Anyway, I hope you like the satyrs.

Let me know what you think.

Dan