The number of hobbyists we’ve seen completing entire armies in the past year has skyrocketed, and with so many at an incredibly high standard, we just had to show off one of our favourites. Today we’re taking a look at David Wright’s Lumineth Realm-lords.
David: I picked Warhammer back up at the beginning of the lockdown period, after collecting it when I was a kid. Like a lot of people, I found that building and painting models was a great way to pass the time and de-stress. It had been more than ten years since I’d built a model, but I had fond memories of my very first – High Elf Spearmen from the old days of Warhammer Fantasy Battles.
Seeing the Lumineth Realm-lords released just as I was reengaging with the hobby was a blast, and I was absolutely taken with their updated aesthetic. I love the ranked pikemen and archers, the cavalry are gorgeous, and the models are incredibly dynamic and detailed.
The idea was a scheme of green and purple, with bone armour. The Hurakan range is really cool, so I decided to go with the Great Nation of Helon to theme my army around.*
The recipe is pretty simple. For the green, I used a light green base and dark green recess shade, with additional highlights of lighter greens. For the bone armour, I undercoated in Corax White, applied a slightly thinned coat of Skeleton Horde Contrast paint over the armour, and carefully drybrushed white to highlight the raised areas.
I used the gems and tassels (so many gems and tassels) to add pops of colour – mostly pink and purple, but sometimes blue. For the sunmetal weapons, I applied a thinned coat of Aethermatic Blue Contrast over Stormhost Silver. As I added Vanari Sentinels and Wardens to the army, I reversed the schemes for variety.
Ellania and Ellathor were a blast to paint, and I ended up painting ten Vanari Wardens to match their non-Helon scheme, imagining them as a special bodyguard for the Eclipsian Warsages.
The Vanari Bladelords are probably my favourite models in the Lumineth range. After finishing one unit, I thought another unit without helmets would look cool, perhaps to represent veterans, and I nabbed extra heads from the Black Ark Corsairs kit.
Basing is one of my favourite parts of the hobby, and I wanted an army that looked like it was emerging from an enchanted forest. I started with some Stirland Mud, drybrushed it up, and added some basic grass flock, small purple flowers, and craft moss to complement the army scheme. I also used crumbled bits of cork to make rocks and provide elevation across the units.
I’m really proud of the army, and can't wait to add to it – I have an unpainted Teclis looming when I can muster up the courage to try painting a god. In the meantime, I'm continuing to sharpen my painting skills with some Space Wolves.
Thanks for showing off your army, David! If all these amazing-looking aelves are getting your paintbrushes tingling, remember that there are less than two months to go before submissions open for Armies on Parade 2021 on the 1st of October – plenty of time to finish off this year’s project.
What’s more, if you need a few more tips to get you over the line, the reimagined Citadel Colour website is now live and ready to fill your head with the greatest repository of painting know-how we’ve ever seen.
* Helon is strongly linked to the wind spirits of the Hurakan.