A new season of Warhammer+ has just started. As always, subscribers can choose one of two excellent miniatures to add to their collection – and can buy the second if they fancy it. This year’s offerings are miniature dioramas, entitled Infinity’s Lament and The Summons.
We snared a couple for some eager Warhammer Community staff members who had ambitions to paint them.
Joel
I have been an Aeldari collector for most of my life, so the choice was obvious – this is such a gorgeous representation of the melancholy nature of the craftworlders. As a devoted follower of Yvraine, my Ynnari army has expanded slowly over the years, even to the point of adding a Phantom Titan into the mix, which I swear I’ll finish painting sometime… I’ve been busy, okay?
My army, aside from aspect warriors, is painted in the classic Ynnari colours of red and black, with Wraithbone and Retributor Armour gold as spot colours. For this miniature, I wanted the cloak to stand out more so I took the blue colour from the Visarch’s cape to add greater variety to the piece.
While the broken Wraithlord is sad to see in such a pitiful state, it’s a great peak into the inner machinations of a wraith construct. I had a lot of fun trying to match my Wraithlord model’s freehand onto the shattered headpiece, working out how it works across the multiple angled shards. Will the Spiritseer make use of the waystone, or will the Ynnari find another way to deploy its lost soul?
Laura
While both Warhammer+ miniatures are glorious, I couldn’t resist the gorgeously melancholy diorama of Infinity’s Lament. Aeldari were my first love for Warhammer 40,000, and many moons ago my introduction to the worlds of Warhammer and miniature painting was the Eldar Dreadnought – since re-christened the Wraithlord.
I imagined this one had been lost for several generations, perhaps among the ruins of an unfortunate maiden world, and as a result the wraithbone had begun to break down and rot. The Wraithlord itself was painted in successive layers of Wraithbone, Deepkin Flesh, and Ulthuan Grey – with lots of sponging and repetitive washes of very thinned-down Agrax Earthshade, Nuln Oil, and Carroburg Crimson.
The crest was initially painted Abaddon Black, then I added several layers of very light sponging of Deepkin Flesh, and it was washed back down with thin Nuln Oil. I added a lot of Ardcoat to the crest and some details on the body to give the impression of exposed flesh, or glistening coal bleached by the sun, bringing a bit of life to the wraith-corpse.
For the Spiritseer, I painted her in colours mostly inspired by the third-edition Codex Eldar – lots of deep blues, reds, and glittering silver details. I opted for a brassy gold on her armour as a way to contrast with the Wraithlord. Finally, I added some bits of rotten viscera, some all-purpose glue stretched over a few details then painted with Blood for the Blood God and Ardcoat.
I’ve since very much caught the bug for Aeldari and got a hold of the new Combat Patrol along with a few extra additions – I have designs on creating my own little craftworld, I merely have to settle on a name!
Luke
Despite having a fairly expansive Biel-Tan army, I decided to opt for The Summons as I love the aesthetic of the new Deathrattle Skeletons, but at my painting speed I can’t really justify a Spearhead, let alone a whole army. The challenge here was to not just follow the box art colours, which are pitch perfect for the diorama. I decided I wanted to work in some rich purple and magenta tones, colours associated with Shyish, so inverted the cape design, changed the skull on the staff to a sort of amethyst crystal, and worked Screamer Pink into the skin’s shade. A little unnatural, but he is a Necromancer.
I wanted to give the impression that his skeletal attendants were recently raised, still covered in the patina of the grave. That meant lots of weathering across the armour, and some nice complementary oranges like Skrag Brown and teals like Kabalite Green. For the Wight King, I made sure to weather his fur with dingy greens and tarnish the metals. I added lots of spots of grime and staining to the gravestones as well, to continue the look across the diorama.
A bit of clumsy assembling at the end meant that the head from the Necromancer ended up seated in a more straight on position, but it’s a happy accident that has all four figures looking in the same direction. I’m looking forward to seeing people in the wider community get their hands on him, and do something cool with a creepy glow coming from the grave, which was an idea I had knocking around, but lacked the time to implement.
Warhammer+ subscribers can claim their miniature from 18th September via their MyWarhammer accounts, and will be able to purchase the other miniature alongside it from the Warhammer webstore. When you’ve got yours, show us how you’ve painted them on the official Warhammer Facebook and Instagram accounts.
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