I love metal models. I find them so much easy to do as second-hand or rescue projects because they hold their shape so well compared to resin, and I find that they take better solvent baths in Super Clean or Simple Green than plastic, but it’s more than that. There’s something tactile and satisfying just about the weight of metal models, to me, and it’s part of why sometimes I just get an uncontrollable Oldhammer itch. When I decided I was going to add some Wraithguard to my army, doing an Ebay rescue on some second-hand metal models just felt like it was the natural choice – especially since I’d previously done a kitbash/rescue project on a matching metal Wraithlord.

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While I decided to go with the classic models, since me and my friends play 8th and 9th edition Warhammer 40K I decided to use some old Kromlech bases I had lying around to make their base sizes the same as the modern plastic ones. Other than that, I didn’t do much in the way of customizing or kitbashing with these – just took my time with the painting and made it a straightforward, leisurely build. The paint scheme is somewhere between what I’ve used for my Storm Guardians before and what I used for my old Wraithlord, and I’ve found these really bring the paint scheme of my overall army into great coherency. Also, with the bigger bases and the large metal bodies, picking up any one of these feels like picking up a nice heavy desk-stamp. I don’t know why, but I like it.

The build on these was fun, but I think in the end there were two pretty grueling steps that were, of course, all self-inflicted injuries. Normally adding the gems to an Eldar project is like the “signature” of the miniature, that and the rims on the bases, and generally takes me very little time to complete. This time, though, I decided that every gem on the Wraithguard was getting painted, with the exception of the ones on the top of the heads and on the end of the Wraithcannons. What followed, between the gems on these and my Banshees, was hours of suffering, and I only made that worse by deciding to use more waterslide decals. And not just the modern waterslide decals, no, I had to dig back into the old stuff to get runes that would fit the older, slightly smaller Wraithguard.

Rambling aside, I think the end result was definitely worth the work. Rescues are always some of the most satisfying models for me to make because I always feel when I’m done like I’ve given an old model a totally new lease on life and often just a whole new personality. These ghosty bois are no exception to that, and I love the way that they look standing next to my Wraithlord. One of my next projects is definitely going to be to update my Spiritseer so that they have a dedicated HQ, but first – I have a bingo card to update!

The good news: I’ve claimed two more lines. The bad news: I have dangerously bottlenecked myself into potentially having to finish three 10+ model squads and a Lord of War by the end of the year if I want to finish my bingo card. I have no idea if I’ll be able to get through all the smaller models at this rate, but if nothing else I have something kind of fun planned (if it all pans out) for the Lord of War. It’ll involve bending the rules and cutting the books on this one a little, but I think if it works it will be a hell of a build, and something I haven’t tried building since back in the Dark Ages when I was a teen. More on that to come.

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