Showcase: Wood Elves Glade Guard

Here we have a Glade Guard of the Wood Elves – my first test model for Warhammer: The Old World. With the rerelease of the classic Wood Elves range, I wanted to revisit one of my all-time favourite fantasy factions and experiment with a fast but effective painting method that balances speed with visual appeal.

My love for classic Wood Elves

I remember being absolutely blown away by the relaunch of the Wood Elves back in the 2000s. I was a teenager at the time and had drifted away from Warhammer for a bit, getting into other hobbies like Yu-Gi-Oh! and Magic: The Gathering. But then, the stunning cover artwork of the Wood Elves Army Book appeared on the front of White Dwarf, and my love for the hobby was instantly reignited.

The models were breathtaking for their time – the flowing, organic shapes, the dynamic horses, and the brilliant character sculpts, especially the spellcasters.

Now that the classic fantasy Wood Elves range has been re-released for Warhammer: The Old World, I remembered I still had a lone Glade Guard lying around. I don’t have the time at the moment to start a full army, but I wanted to do this model justice and come up with a thematic colour scheme.

How to paint Wood Elves

For inspiration, I leafed through old army books and found the colours of Cythral in the 8th Edition book, which served as a rough template. Similar to my Skaventide Skaven, the model was primed using a classic zenithal basecoat – black from below and white from above – to establish volume and lighting. I then used a mix of Citadel Contrast paints from Citadel and Speedpaints from The Army Painter, building up the colours in thin, transparent layers to let the zenithal work do the heavy lifting. I focused on rich natural tones, using warm greens and earthy browns to capture that woodland vibe without going too desaturated. I then added a few highlights here and there for a crisp finish. This approach is all about efficiency – a tabletop-ready result with minimal highlighting required.

One thing was clear from the start. Inspired by all the Olden Demon models flooding my Instagram feed lately, I knew I wanted green bases. Back in the early days of Warhammer Fantasy 6th Edition, the ’Eavy Metal team still gave their studio models classic Goblin Green bases. Funnily enough, I recently made a video on that very topic, where I tested all currently available paint ranges to find the best match for the iconic ’90s Goblin Green. Be sure to check it out:

What do you think of the colour scheme? Would you like to see a tutorial?

Feel free to leave a reaction, or drop a comment below, I’m also happy to answer any questions on our friendly hobby Discord server. Thanks a lot, and happy hobbying!