"Wood Woads Were Powerful Humanoid-Shaped Guardian Plants.”
This 32mm scale resin print of a WoodWard is produced by "Rocket Pig Games", but actually 3D printed by “FullyCycled” over on “Etsy”. The sculpt is clearly based upon a Wood Woad, which first appeared in the Monster Manual III for “Dungeons & Dragons” in 2004, and is one of many test prints I have bought over the past few months in order to see just how well such figures can currently be manufactured.
The figure is actually 40mm tall, and comes on a pre-printed stand. The Lawful neutral plant is encircled by a handful of pebbles and a pair of large(ish) rock formations which was clearly designed to help support both its shield-hand and club. I therefore decided against removing the model from its surroundings and simply super-glued it to a 40mm circular base by “Games Workshop”.
Created through the gruesome ritual of “removing the heart of a living person, planting a seed into it and placing it inside a cavity in a tree”, the miniature was primed using a couple of layers of “Vallejo” Heavy Sienna. I then shaded it with a mixture of “Citadel” Agrax Earthshade and The Army Painter" Strong Tone Quickshade, before dry-brushing the entire model with (more) “Vallejo” Heavy Sienna.
In order to lighten up the creature’s well-sculpted bark, I also applied a dry-brush of “Vallejo” Earth across the entire 3D print, and made sure to make this particularly heavy around the forest-based warrior’s shield. In addition, I took the opportunity to ‘pick out’ the WoodWard’s actual head, which was slightly visible when viewed down the top of its trunk, with a combination of “Vallejo” Heavy Brown and “Citadel” Agrax Earthshade.
Considering that the walking plant’s hand-weapon was simply pigmented with “Citadel” Doombull Brown and The Army Painter" Strong Tone Quickshade, I was a little desperate to add another colour to the creature’s palette so as to break it up a liitle. I had considered trying to paint its shoulders red to suggest that they were actually toadstools of some kind, but ultimately I went with a super-subtle dry-brush of “Vallejo” Heavy Green over these areas instead.
Alongside my latest 3D printed monster I’ve managed to make some progress one of two Iron Ferret “Battletech” models I aim to paint up as a French Levasseur-class medium War Walker. This solid-looking 6mm scale (1:285) mech by “Catalyst Games Labs” will accompany the British forces in their bid to rescue Poland from the Axis clutches during the early days of Weird War Two…