It's been a long time since I did anything miniatures-wise. Lots of pottering and theory-crafting, but not much doing. Still, this feast-or-famine approach to the hobby is nothing new - I always come back to it eventually given the right inspiration.
Well, inspiration struck just before the holidays. I've been reading a fair bit of Medieval history (another long-overdue return following a pretty substantial detour into the C17th) and eyeing up a variety of models and rulesets. I've also had Wizkids' Critical Role Wraithroot Tree sat on a base awaiting paint for... a while (I can't remember how long, to be honest, but it was very dusty when I took it down off the shelf!).
The original intention for that model was to have it form the centrepiece of a new Dragon Rampant army. We were - and still are, to be honest - having a whale of a time playing DR in the office, pitting the Choleric Order of the Yellow Bile against my mate's Night Goblins, and while I could keep slowly adding units to the Order, I fancied something a bit different. Obviously, not too different, so I settled on a different cult-type force - a druidic army that never grew beyond the acquisition of this tree-man and a barbaric were-bear (the bear model since passed onto a friend's unit for The Silver Bayonet).
Fast-forward to Winter and with a bellyful of Medieval history and folklore, and the erosion of resolve regarding various attractive historical models, I realised I was motivated enough to reboot the druidic idea and get some paint on some models.
So here, then, is what came about over the holiday break...
The model is the usual kind of rubbery plastic you get from pre-paints, Bones, etc., so the clean-up was something of a chore, but it took paint well enough. Various dry-brushes of browns and greens to give it a mossy look, along with washes of the same to give it a varied tone.
While some moss/foliage was sculpted onto the model at knees, arms, and shoulders, the large section on the model's left shoulder had an ugly mouldline running the length of it, so I opted to cover these with static grass, then coat it with brown wash and drybrush with some sickly greens to represent lichen. This effect isn't overly strong (perhaps I should have increased the weight of the white-green drybrush to make it pop more), but it does add a nice contrast to the otherwise brown model!
The final touch was to add some tufts, both to the base and to the model itself. On the model, I tucked some into various gaps and alongside larger areas of lichen to add contrast and more of a foliage effect. This is, believe it or not, my first time using tufts! I think I'd been so locked-in on my standard basing style by the time they really hit the market that it never occurred to me to use them. Or I'm just lazy. Either way, I'm impressed by the effect and if any army deserves to have a more verdant basing style, it's these guys.
Lore-wise, I'm stealing liberally from the extended cut of Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves and setting up a northern baron as a member of this nature cult. This means I get to include knights and men-at-arms (I am deeply envious of my friend's Bretonnian DR army made from mostly historical models) alongside the unit I've already started working on... Footsore Picts. These guys will represent the more overt members of the cult, living in the wilderness areas of the barony. They'll also do double-duty as, well, Picts, should I be persuaded to give Pillage a try...
Thereafter, aside from the aforementioned baronial forces, I'll want some dryads, and some Green Man banners for the army's standard bearers. And boars. Probably. Everything's better with boars. Here's hoping the motivation and inspiration stays with me through into 2026!
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