New Army: Avelorn

So, the Beastmen are done and dusted.  While they'll be the army I play with for quite a while yet, I have to keep my hands busy with a new project or two, right?

That new project is going to be the Army of Avelorn, which I've been dreaming up and for which I've been picking up models for almost a year and a half.  The army will eventually consist of hundreds of models, and by my estimation almost 10,000 points without upgrades, and will be playable as either a Wood Elf or High Elf army.

For those unfamiliar with the background, Avelorn is the wooded area of the High Elf island of Ulthuan, where their Everqueen lives.  The High Elf book describes the elves there are more "Fey" and similar to the Wood Elves, and notes the presence of Treemen and Dryads in the area.

I remember reading that and originally having the idea to make a large army that could be used with both books.  Plus, I really liked the theme, whereas I'm kind of lukewarm on just plain High Elves or Wood Elves.  Several other factors helped start me down the road, such as the great deal offered by Island of Blood and winning some old Wood Elf stuff in tournaments.  I want to do some overlap with models that count as things in both armies like Glade Guard counting as High Elf Archers, but don't want to force things and will have units such as White Lions being only High Elf White Lions.

With a new army, I'm also trying to improve the look of things.  I love my Beastmen, but there is always room to improve as a painter and hobbyist.  For the Wood Elves, I'm going to try and use more blending and bright color, and improve from plain basing to a much nicer, scenic look.

Anyway, here's some pictures of my first model, who will be a Glade Guard in a Wood Elf army and an Archer in a High Elf army.  I'm happy with the greens and blues especially, as well as the bow and feathers, but need to work more on the smaller eyes to make them pop. Comments and criticism is, as always, very welcome.