John Shaffer: With the much-awaited re-release of the Eldar range, I decided to do an Alaitoc army. I was sure to include some Rangers, Guardians, Aspect Warriors, and a copious number of vehicles to my growing forces, but I still had one Heavy Support choice I was saving for something sweet. When I caught wind of a new plastic Wraithlord kit in the works, I knew I had to save room for "dessert" after the main course of my army was finished.

After testing a wide assortment of configurations with Blu-Tac, I decided the best way to represent an Alaitoc Wraithlord was to pattern it after the most widely recognized Alaitoc infantry choice: Eldar Rangers. Conveniently, the sprue comes with a hand that enables you to make one of the Wraithlord's armaments look handheld. The Brightlance looked the most like a Ranger's long rifle, and after fashioning a stock out of the sword that comes on the Wraithlord sprue, I had a weapon that certainly looked appropriate for the theme. I chose to glue the numerous tabards and streamers that come with the kit in a configuration on the model's back that resembles a cloak – again, a common feature of the Rangers. I chose to reposition the legs of the model to make him appear to be skulking about, scanning the battlefield for his next target. Look to the positioning walkers article for more details about how to reposition the legs. With these simple modifications, I was satisfied that the look of my Wraithlord was in line the Alaitoc notion of the stealthy and reserved sniper.

HOW'D HE DO THAT?

Base. I made the Wraithlord's base from of an assortment of plastic pieces and components I excavated from my bits box. Cities of Death buildings are a great source for large chunks of debris. The way I (and many others) handle making bases like this one is to first put down a layer of a self-hardening modelling clay. Then, its as easy as jamming all sorts of odds and ends into the putty and tidying up the surrounding area with a sculpting tool. To represent the weight of this towering construct, I clipped off pieces of the diamond-plated paneling on the base and replaced put them back at jaunty angles around the model's feet. This placement gave the impression of the metal buckling and breaking under the weight of the Wraithlord.

When it came time for painting the base, I gave it a coat of Scorched Brown and drybrushed it in four layers, from a dark grey up to Skull White. I gave the metal a coat of Chainmail and then a wash of Vermin Brown. Afterward, I sparingly applied washes of Chestnut Ink, Brown Ink, and Dark Green Ink. I used a light drybrush of Chainmail to restore the metallic look of the debris.

The Head. I decided to add one of the Wraithlord's hip plates to the head to break up the large, flat surface, and give the look of a visor on the model's head. I decided to make this addition stand out even further by painting it to look like Wraithbone. Apply a basecoat of Graveyard Earth and highlight with Bleached Bone for similar results.

The Gems. For the gems on the model, I always choose a contrasting colour. In this case, the blue of the body demanded orange gems. I started with Dark Flesh and began bringing up the highlights on the lower left side of the gem. I started with Blazing Orange and worked my way up to Sunburst Yellow. A light glaze of a 3:1 mix of Blazing Orange and Dark Flesh helped to smooth the transition between colours. After I sprayed the whole model with matte varnish, I picked out the gems with gloss varnish to make them stand out even further.

I painted on the stylized infinity symbol with Codex Grey and highlighted with Skull White. For more info on painting this design, see the banner details pop-up section.

The Colour Scheme. The Alaitoc colour scheme incorporates large fields of stippled blue on the armour plates of its vehicles. This is a timesaving technique that can look really sharp if properly applied. Resist the temptation to use a small brush for this. You will get a more even spread in your pattern and have more variation in the marks if you use a Tank Brush. Be sure to thin your paints, or you will find the surface will get lumpy pretty quickly.

Start with the darkest colour (in this case, black) and work your way up. As you move around the model with repetitive strokes, turn the brush in your fingers to further randomise the pattern. I achieved the look shown here in five layers working up from Regal Blue to Enchanted Blue. To smooth the transitions, don't wash the brush as you add more of the highlight colour. Go back in and break up the pattern with a darker colour if your stippling has yielded an uneven or overly blotchy result. The War Walkers article contains a stage by stage guide to painting Alaitoc colour schemes.

Weapon Systems. I envision the alloys of the Eldar to be somewhat exotic and very clean, so that's how I paint them. I avoid drybrushing the metals, as I feel that is a technique better reserved for weathered or rusty surfaces. I start with a basecoat of an even mix of Scaly Green and Boltgun Metal and work my way up adding increasing amounts of Chainmail.

With thinned highlights, I build up and blend the layers of paint as I would with nonmetallic paints. I find blending the layers of metallic paints to be pretty easy. The transitions between the semitransparent layers are further blended by the metallic flake in the pigment, which is not diluted by the addition of water. It usually only takes a few passes to blend the colours to a level that looks good to me.

To bring out the coloured tints, I will at times apply a thin glaze of Scaly Green in the recessed areas. I also applied a similar glaze to the nozzles of the weapons. This time, I chose to glaze them with Chaos Black, concentrating the bulk of the glaze near the nozzle's tip to suggest a surface charred by high temperatures.

Highlighting. While the stippling takes care of covering the large flat panels of the model, I still like to define the armour plates with edge highlights. I applied thin lines on the edges of the raised surfaces with an even mix of Enchanted Blue and Ice Blue. Once the highlights were done, I black-lined the recessed areas around the armour panels for further definition and contrast.

A new technique I tried for the first time when painting this scheme was to further highlight the flat surfaces of the stippled armour panels. Obviously, since the panels are made up of several shades of blue, this made things a bit tricky. To get the look I wanted, I had to apply several nearly transparent glazes of an even mix of Enchanted Blue and Ice Blue to the raised surfaces. The addition of a glaze medium (a thinning agent that you can find at most arts & crafts stores, with the viscosity of a watery, liquid hand soap) to the mix helped keep the glaze more controlled and prolonged the drying time, which helped me to smooth out the edges and blend the transitions more easily. The result provided the smooth transition of highlights I wanted, but still preserved the mottled pattern underneath. I concentrated these highlights near the edges of armour plates, at the tips of the back spines, on the top of the head, and on the shoulder pads.

The Robes. I painted the designs on the tabard with Graveyard Earth and highlighted by adding Bleached Bone. Aside from highlighting the lines to match the raised surface of the cloak, I chose to highlight the upper edge of the lines to give them an embossed appearance.

The stylized infinity symbol on the banner is a common feature on Wraithlord and Wraithguard models. The symbol is easier to paint than you might think at first. Start by painting an "X" in the centre of where you want the symbol to go. Be sure the lines are perfectly perpendicular to one another and of the same length on each side of the centre point. Then, extend the ends of the lines at 90-degree angles on either side to make a pair of squares. Using the base colour the design is painted over, paint over one line on either side of the centre point to make two gaps. Next carefully highlight the design at the top corners of each square. Imagine that the design was three-dimensional and a light was shining down on it from above. Highlight the corners and flat edges of the design accordingly.

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Posing War Walkers | War Walker Step-by-Step

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