How do you motivate yourself to paint a model that is not very good in the game but you really, really want to add one to your collection? Today, I answer that as I share with you my finished Hemlock Wraithfighter, a gorgeous model that is rubbish in the current game of Warhammer 40,000.

Firstly, I want to say a big thank you to Dunk, who gifted me this awesome looking model. It was incredibly generous of him.

Flyers in the current rules aren’t very good. They can’t hold objectives and that is the whole point of 10th edition 40k. So you’re spending points on something that isn’t effective. There also very little to no benefits with flyers. In previous additions they were quite hard to score hits against unless you had anti-aircraft weaponry, in this edition they as easy to hit as the ground troops. To make matters worse, it can’t start on the board, has to arrive on turn 2, but doesn’t move off until turn 3. Fo something that’s meant to be mobile it’s not doing much for the first half of the game.

Knowing all of this, why would anyone take them? I’ve been asking myself this a lot before I started this model. In the end, as you can see, I decided to include the Hemlock Wraithfighter in my 1000pt list, I’m pretty sure using 155pts of my list on something that can’t score points might put me at a disadvantage, but you know what, it looks so cool and I love the paint job I’ve given it. I’ll find a way to make it work, maybe I’ll use the Stratagem Rapid Ingress to deploy in my opponent’s turn, so in my turn I can start moving it a turn earlier than usual.

Enough of all this strategising. You’ve probably noticed the weird bit of terrain on the base? I didn’t use the flying stand that came with the model. I’m not a fan of the clear plastic stands, they shatter the illusion a bit for me. I quite like mounting fliers on terrain features so it looks like they’re flying close to the ground. I 3d modelled a simple Aeldari wraith bone shape and 3d printed it, then covered it in filler and sanded it smooth. I drilled a hole and superglued a metal rod into the top and drilled a hole in the Hemlock Wraithfighter. I decided to drill the hole at an angle so the aircraft was leaning over to make it look more dramatic.

How to Paint the Ulthwe vehicles.

I’ve covered painting Aeldari Grav Tanks already and this process is exactly the same for the Wraithfighter. The biggest difference is you’re able to keep the grav tanks’ hulls and chassis separate making it easily to paint the bone under carriage and black body work. The Hemlock doesn’t really do that, so I had to use masking tape and get the order base coats correct. it was definitely harder to paint.

What’s next?

The Hemlock marks me hitting my 1000pt target so the next step is a game against the Ultramarines Dunk has been currently painting. Will the Hemlock exceed my expectations and be a valuable addition to the army? Or, will it suffer from new model syndrome and get blown out of the sky on the turn it arrives? Watch the skies, I’ll let you know.