Showcase: Sylvaneth Ylthari’s Guardians (incl. paint recipes)

Last week I posted a new scenic picture of my Ylthari’s Guardians warband on Instagram, and a few people asked me for a painting guide, so here it is! Learn about all the paint recipes I used in this post.

It’s not a huge secret I love anything with pointed ears, be it Aeldari, Drukhari, or any flavour of Aelves. When the Sylvaneth were released for Age of Sigmar, I was blown away by the sheer creativity of the range. When Ylthari’s Guardians were released for my current favourite Games Workshop game, I knew I had to paint them. They were also a great practice piece for using the Contrast paint range that was released around the same time.

Paint Recipes

Primer/basecoat: Corax White Spray

Base
Gravel: Mechanicus Standard Grey, Drybrush Corax White, Wash with a 1:1 mix of TAP Dark Tone / Strong Tone Ink
Moss: Create several shades of greening by combining two layers of Creed Camo, Munitorum Greem, and/or Coelia Greenshade
Wood: Charadon Granite (OOP), Wash TAP Dark Tone Ink, Drybrush with Charadon Granite (OOP), P3 Bastion Grey, Highlight with P3 Bastion Grey, P3 Trollblood Highlight, Wash with TAP Strong Tone Ink

Spectral Bodies
Wash: Nihilakh Oxide / Lahmian Medium 1:1
Selective Shade: pure Nihilakh Oxide (where needed)
Selective Shade: P3 Turquoise Ink / Lahmian Medium 1:2
Remove any pooling by layering a mix of Corax White and Nihilakh Oxide
Drybrush: Corax White, VMC White
Drybrush: VMC White
Basecoat eyes: VGC Jade Green
Highlight eyes: Gauss Blaster Green
Edge Highlight: VMC White

The recipe for the bodies basically follows my original Nighthaunt tutorial, check it out here if you haven’t yet.

Turquoise gems
Basecoat lamentari soul stone: VMC Jade Green, wash Coelia Greenshade
Basecoat other gems: Lupercal Green, layer Lupercal Green / Jade Green 1:1
Highlight: VGC Foul Green
Highlight: Gauss Blaster Green
Highlight: VMC White

Brown Bark
3x Wash: Wyldwood / Contrast Medium 1:1
Remove any pooling by layering a mix of P3 Umbral Umber and P3 Bootstrap Leather
Highlight: P3 Beast Hide (where needed)
Dot Highlight: TAP Banshee Brown

Pale Wood
Basecoat: P3 Hammerfall Khaki
Wash: Agrax Earthshade / Lahmian Medium 1:1
Layer: P3 Hammerfall Khaki (where needed)
Highlight: P3 Banshee Brown
Dot Highlight: Wraithbone

Pink blossoms, leaves and details
Wash: Volupus Pink / Contrast Medium 1:1
Highlight leaves: P3 Carnal Pink Highlight
Highlight blossoms: VMC White
For the loincloth: Pick out a few leaves with a Pink Horror / Contrast Medium mix, highlight with TAP Centaur Skin

Forest spirits
3x Wash: Terradon Turquoise / Contrast Medium 2:1
Wash: Biel-Tan Green
Layer: Lupercal Green (where needed)
Highlight: VGC Jade Green (where needed)
Highlight: VGC Foul Green
Eyes: Basecoat Jade Green, layer Gauss Blaster Green, highlight VMC White

Silver blades
Basecoat: VMeC Steel
Wash: Coelia Greenshade / Lahmian Medium 1:1
Build up a gradient by successive glazes of the Coelia Greenshade / Lahmian Medium mix
Highlight: VMeC Light Steel

Brass ornaments
Basecoat: Runelord Brass
Wash: Agrax Earthshade
Highlight: VMeC Light Steel

Vines
2x Wash: Creed Camo
Highlight: Elysian Green
Highlight: TAP Combat Fatigues

I noticed that back then when I painted this warband, I didn’t took a proper scenic shot of them, so here it is. Notice how I painted my Awakened Wyldwood in a matching paint scheme (check out the tutorial here if you want to learn how).

How do you like my rendition of Ylthari’s Guardians? Any questions regarding my paint scheme? Are you excited for the new Warsong Revenant revealed by Games Workshop? Leave a reaction and let me know in the comments below.