TUTORIAL: Iyanden Wraithguard

Do you like robots? How about yellow space-elf robots? Well then you're in luck, because so do I! I've always had a soft spot for these unfortunate Eldar and with the ease of contrast paints it seemed like the perfect time to tackle them in a step by step painting tutorial!

After painting lots of Death models for AoS followed by some undead robots for 40k I decided to do something a bit different with an Eldar. An undead, robotic Eldar… Oh, hmmm. Well, I seem to have a thing. Well, anyway! I’ve been a fan of the Iyanden Ghost Warriors since back during 3rd edition. When I first entered the hobby the Craftworld Codex supplement had just come out and with that a selection of Army Boxes, one of which was for Iyanden. Something about seeing all of those wraith constructs painted in yellow and blue just called out to me. Now, with the awesome plastic Wraithguard and the Contrast paint range I knew it was the perfect time to take a crack at them.

The Yellow

Step 1.

I assembled the model in 3 parts, leaving the arm holding the gun and the head separate. I primed the main body and arm with Wraithbone and the head with Macragge Blue.

Step 2.

All of the yellow armor was then painted with a 50/50 mix of Iyanden Yellow and Contrast Medium. Try and make sure this doesn’t pool in any weird ways.

Step 3.

Next, I highlighted all of the edges of the armor with pure White. You can use any pure white for this, like White Scar from GW.

Step 4.

I went back over all of the armor with another mix of Iyanden Yellow and Contrast Medium, this time using a bit more Medium. You’re just looking to use this as a glaze to tint the highlights and make the yellow a little more saturated and vibrant.

Step 5.

Lastly, I picked out some of the most prominent areas, such as corners and top edges with pure White again.

The Black

Step 1.

All of the areas that were going to be black were painted with 2 coats of Black Templar. This includes the soft joints on the armor, the gun, and the bottom/back of the head. Try and be really careful not to get anything on the yellow, but if you do, like I did, if it’s just near the edge you can clean it up with a pure White/Iyanden Yellow mix.

Step 2.

These were then all edge highlighted with Dawnstone.

Step 3.

The hard armor areas then got a second highlight of Grey Seer, just picking out the corners with small dots. I didn’t do this on the soft joints.

The White

Step 1.

The cloth was base coated with Corax White.

Step 2.

Next I painted some Tallasar Blue which I heavily diluted with Contrast Medium into the folds. I don’t have an exact ratio for this, but it was more Medium than paint. It’s safer to go lighter and darken it up where needed.

Step 3.

I finished this off with an edge highlight of pure White. Be sure to pick out the tops of the folds too.

The Gold

Step 1.

The gold areas, which on this model is the symbol on his chest and the areas around the gemstones, were base coated with Retributor Armor.

Step 2.

These were then highlighted with Stormhost Silver.

The Blue

Step 1.

At this point I glued the head onto the body since it made it easier to paint. Using a 50/50 mix of Leviadon Blue and Contrast Medium I shaded the front of the head and the area near the back where it dips down before it flares back out. While this was still wet I took some pure Contrast Medium and used it to feather the Leviadon mix into the Macragge Blue base coat. This sounds more difficult than it is, the real trick is just being quick before anything dries.

Step 2.

Next I edge highlighted it with Calgar Blue. I also painted some reflections onto the surface of the head.

Step 3.

This was followed by a more refined highlight of Fenrisian Grey, sticking closer to the corners and points.

Step 4.

Lastly, I picked out the points of the corners with Blue Horror.

Final Details.

Step 1.

All that’s left are the gems and a design on the cloth if you want. To start I base coated the gems with Black Templar.

Step 2.

For the gems I then painted the lower right corner with Macragge Blue, followed by a smaller section of Fenresian Grey, and then a dot of pure White in the opposite corner. At this same time I also painted a design on the cloth using Macragge Blue. There’s no real trick to this, just keep your paint thin and use a brush with a good point. For the symbol I had a copy of the Iyanden symbol in front of my while I was painting this for reference. Keep your lines thin to start and bulk them out a bit once you have it sketched in. Any mistakes can be fixed with Corax White.

That’s it, your Iyanden Ghost Warrior is done! I added a decal to the head and then based him in a neutral color that let the model stand out. The part that took the longest on this was probably base coating the black since I had to be so careful not to get anything on the yellow. 

This model probably took me about 3 hours total to paint. I think it will go faster in the future since I know what steps I’m doing now. The good thing about an Iyanden army though is that it’s a fairly low model count army, so it’ll get done fairly fast!

Until next time,

Tyler M.