I kind of like the bright faces, has a scary tribal thing going on, like a cartoon of a nightmare or the famous scream painting.

@Thocanfoxfire: Thanks, your attitude will take you far.

I started placing some little spite thingies on the treemen. Spites are fun to make, and pretty easy. Here's a shot:


Thanks Mike.

Here's the rough beginnings of the treekin:


Comments and ideas appreciated.

They always look really cool at that stage, lord knows how you bring yourself to paint them.

What would you suggest, then? I'll give any good idea a shot.
My Idea was to make them kinda like smaller versions of my treemen, with clump foliage, GS faces, and little spites on 'em. I tried to model them to look like they were rising up to a standing position, kinda like they're tearing themselves out of the ground, as Zobocom suggested. The extras I add will hopefully add to this image.

I wasn't sugguesting anything, I just think those bronze armatures (sp) look really stylish, even if they ain't appropriate for gaming. I do like the finished work though.

For the treekin I'd at least see what they're like with bare branches, fits the fluff for treeking better and might make them look a bit different.

To make a model look like it's tearing itself from the ground, i think a better idea is to make more links to the ground, instead of just bending the knees. These models are too much built up like humans - two arms, two legs, torso, head. Why not making 'legs' that don't look like legs, but more like the roots of a mangrove forest ? Noone ever said tree spirits have only two legs.
http://shiftingbaselines.org/blog/archives/2004_06.html

On the faces of the dryads - the mouths look a bit too alike, a tad too clownish. Might be good to look at GW dryad's mouths, or ad dark eldar mouths, or whatnot.

Klaw

Thanks for the suggestions, Klaw. I like the mangrove pic in your link. I'll try it on the next run of four treekin.
Yeah, I know what you mean about the faces. I'm getting better at sculpting them, so maybe just more experience will fix the problem. I have considered cutting face parts off old plastic heads. With a sharp blade, it seems like it wouldn't be too hard. I'll give it a shot on a few, and see how it works out.

I think you should see what it looks like when you overlay the cool old red eyes you used before over the masks you recently made for your dryads.

I got some more work done on the treekin:


As to the eyes, I think you're right. I'm thinking I'll have to roll little balls of green stuff to fit into the sockets, or I won't have anything to paint. I don't think just painting the hollow socket red would cut it. What do you think?

Balls of putty if you want to return to the big red ones, yes.
Tiny red dots, Terminator-style, could be neat though.

Congrats with a characterful alternative army, by the way.

Dude these look great!

In my mind these are a culmination of what you have done before them. To me they are the first models of the lot that capture the potential of your project (I think this is true of the treemen as well). Thinner, and lither ala the branchwraiths really does work. The faces look tight as well, perhaps with face like these I will grow to like the dryads more as well.

Nice work, keep pushing.

Jimmy D

Way to stick it to the man (GW)

The closest treekin in your picture has quite a haunting and fleshed out face, you've really given it character. The rest appear to have "masks" on more so then faces, but it's all good.

After Cinabon's post I took a closer look and would have to agree. I think this is because the one closest to the camera has his face "rounded into" the trunk...the face is more a part of the whole. If you agree that the one closest looks more natural perhaps adding some putty to the other faces so they curve into the trunk. This would probally improve the dryads as well.

Thicky J (too late to run spell check)

Thanks for the enthusiastic response!

I want to clarify, however, that this project is not a protest, or an attempt to "go cheap". I like GW, and I like the models they offer (I own lots).

For me this is a fun project made possible by GW.

Sorry.
Way to stick it to the man while you still retain your passion for the man as you try not to stick it to the man

I got some work done on the standard for the wild riders. Here's what I came up with:

Any suggestions for improvement? I plan to add little spites here and there on the wild riders, as well as faces similar to those on the treekin. Maybe some spites on the standard too?

Just.. wow dude.

I dunno about the Wildriders really. I'm not a fan of those at all. I really like the Treemen, but .. they don't sit right with me, like a McDonalds breakfast. I think it has something to do with the booze in the pics.. there is a relation!

How heavy is your army with the carrying case? I was wondering and I bet it's rather heavy. As noted, they do appear to be wearing fleshy masks.. which is creepy.

Fr0

Those wild riders remind me of spiders. Little beasts I don't like. But anyway that whole army looks nice, and orignal.

I simply love the Treemen and would like to try and make some myself next week just for the fun of it

But what kind of wire did you use? Because it has to be strong enough to hold the model but also easy to bend.

@LordFilth: .035" MIG welding wire, mild steel, with a few 1/16" mild steel TIG welding rods mixed in. It's difficult to get the initial twisted trunk started. Use two large vise grip pliers, and warm up before you start.
@My man FrO: The models are slightly less heavy than comparable gw metals. Twisted wire is still to a large extent empty space. They are easy to transport, since I've magnetized everything including the movement trays, so the whole army is locked firmly into my army carrier, firm enough to hold upside down:

I'd guess the whole thing weighs 10-12 pounds.

I've now got all the fleshmasks modeled on everything, and many spites here and there on the models. Next, I'm adding a spite to about every third dryad, and touching up the paint. I still haven't decided about the eyes, either to leave them as hollow sockets, or to try a tiny red dot inside the sockets.

The basing could be better, I'm just not sure what to try.

Main reason I think people are dissing wild riders is that you are making something they aren't. Making treemen and dryads makes sense. They look like they are trees. But wild riders are elves on horses. Why would an uprooted tree (even an anthropomorphic one) move as fast as a horse while being about the same size. Treants have always moved very slowly... so using them as alternative models for a calvary model strikes me as a mistake. If you want a completely tree force, don't pussyfoot around it by converting elf models into trees.

Otherwise nice work. The faces make the models pop.

I know what you're saying, but wild riders are just too good to pass up. They're also forest spirits, so that fits. I guess I'm willing to take the hit for great troops. And having a fast unit in the army adds variety and fun.

once again, refur to my post and thick johnsons post on this same page, I think that really could be the ticket to bringing this army to the next level.

Lotta work though.

Again with the beer! Miller time!

Well, 10 pounds seems ok to me probably a bit heavier than my 2K DE army.

I think they look cool dude, and seems like enough people are willing to battle you. Hope they work out well!

Fr0

Loving these models still.. though the wild riders just look weird still.. you just dont see many low lying trees with that many roots.. however shrubs.. now those would have been cool to see as wild riders.. attack of the hedge

though the standard of the wild riders looked nice.. a branch waving in the wind looks perfect..

The Wild Riders would look cool if they had 4 rooted legs, 2 arms and a mohawk of shrubbery running from head to toe...complete with magical paint job and sprites.

I don't see why GW made the Wild Riders into elves to begin with...they're forest spirits. M9 on a tree-like creature wouldn't be too hard to justify.

I've been plugging away at the spites, and got almost all of them done. There are four dryads with a spite per 10, which adds a splash of color and a little more character.... I think.
I'm now deciding how best to add spites to the wild riders. There's not a lot of room in there for extra stuff (it was hard enough making sure they ranked up), but between me and you guys I'm sure I'll come up with something.
Here's a shot of some of the dryads with spites, and the wild rider standard with face and spites on the banner. There's more paint to add to the faces. I've got one week to work before my next tournament, so it's time to decide what's most important.

I had a friend over for a friday night hobby session, and I made some progress. I'm calling the treekin done for next weekend's tournament. Here's how they came out:

I went over all the spites on the dryads with a two layer highlight (if you can call it that at my skill level) and I think they look much better. I'll post a pic soon. Got to get back to work!