Tree Kin

To make painting my 1200 points of Wood Elves easier I opted for a large 6 strong block on Tree Kin.  In my mind I figured through dry brushing I would knock this unit out in short order.  Unfortunately, I made the decision to add brass leaves to their limbs so that each Tree Kin would be a different type of tree.  This decision significantly increased my modeling and paint time to the point where it almost drove me insane.  Fortunately, I'm quite chuffed (too much time hanging out with the Bad Dice crew) with how the unit came out. 

I painted the unit in two batches of 3 starting with the back rank.  This was my first time dealing with a large unit of Fine Cast, and I have to say that it was so much easier to work with than metal.  At the end of each limb I drilled a tiny hole to receive a "branch" of brass leaves.  [Brass leaves are from Hasslefree Miniatures in the UK]



After the painting of the model was basically complete I went back in and glued the brass leaves into the holes at the end of the limbs.  [dry brushing would have destroyed the brass which is why I had to add it after painting).  Finding the holes after the paint was applied was really tough.  Next time I would probably glue in a small piece of wire that could be removed after painting to help sort this out.  With the leaves in place I bent them into the right position.  Finally I used brush on primer followed by several layers to build up the colors of each leaf.  Looking back painting I'm not sure I would add the brass if I add it to all over again. 

Though I didn't have a champion in the unit I opted to create one for future use.  For the champ I painted the bark in gray tones and added birch leaves.  This contrasts well with the dark brown of the other 5 Tree Kin. 

 In the end I really like how this unit came out and look forward to fielding it for many years in my Wood Elf army.