Shadespyre's June Post - Wild Card Month - Army Name Suggestions on a Postcard Please! - Dark Elves (1472 points)

OWAC VI - Wild Card Month - The Leftovers

June

Wild card month! Full of all that crazy stuff that doesn't fit anywhere else? Well, not really - this time around, wild card month is mainly the things I didn't own at the start of the project, or wasn't sure I'd get around to. 

But let's start by righting a wrong!

Remember this lass? The first Dark Elf I painted, as a test of the colour scheme? She currently doesn't have a place in the army! Just for fun, let's include her as something else missing from the army - an Assassin.

While we're filling gaps with things that are just sat there in the army list, here's a unit from the Rank and File section:

Just five Dark Riders. I really wanted to include some "proper" Dark Elf cavalry in this force, and as I own a large selection of pre-slotta Citadel horses (chiefly from the very old Fantasy Adventurers Cavalry range) I was confident I could identify some good fits. However, once I brought a rider to the horses, it was rapidly clear that due to scale creep (yes, it's always been a thing) and the odd semi-kneeling pose of the Dark Elf Cold One riders, there was only ONE horse that really worked. I scoured ebay to assemble this 5 and left it there.

Drawing on the Drow inspiration, it makes sense that this mostly subterranean dwelling force has a limited number of "surface" critters, like these horses and the Giant Eagle, at its disposal. Maybe I should have gone for some polar bear riders instead? Anyway, cavalry - all Citadel, all pre-slotta - achieved.

Also in the "rank and file" section is a War Altar, as depicted in this classic line art:

Could I, I wondered, make something like this using the Witch Elf models? The poses available don't best fit, but it might have been possible with cutting off some arms and resculpting them. Not really my strength and also quite a lot of vandalism.

On the other hand, I had some Cold Ones left over from Dark Riders project, so maybe something pulled by those? Or carried by those? After much deliberation and some mucking around, this is what happened:

Yes, it's a little more elaborate than I originally envisaged! It just grew as new components suggested themselves! Once I'd decided to carry it across the two cold ones, that set the approximate dimensions. I hit upon the throne (from FS5 "Old Wizard on Throne reading Book on Lectern") as one of the few suitable pieces of pre-slotta furniture that would look the part - it's enormous, and to my horror is effectively unfinished on the back. Hence the addition of the bulky back piece. But I rather like the wonky lines of the throne, which put me in mind of the early AD&D artstyle as drawn by the great Erol Otus. 

The purple slab itself is made from foam sheet with a skin of Miliput - the foam allowed me to push it down over the saddles of the Cold Ones rather than file them off. The painting is meant to mimic the appearance of the purple-red rock porphyry, which was used for decorative architecture across the ancient world. I probably made mine more blue-purple than is usually seen in nature, to fit the army theme.

It doesn't really show in the pictures, but the slab is actually an inverted squard stepped pyramid with three layers - as is depicted on the icon painted on the altar cloth. Why? Because (in D&D) the inverted ziggurat with the eye is one of the symbols of the Elder Elemental Eye, to which the rebel drow of  the great city of Erelhei-Cinlu turned from their worship of the spider-goddess Lolth. Which in turn explains why my Drow-themed Dark Elf army has NO SPIDERS in it! Sometimes it's almost like I've planned things!

I have to admit the candles are resin  or plastic from some kit or other, but the two cauldrons full of blood are classic Citadel pieces (from FS33 "Witch's Items" I think). They are a nod towards future Dark Elf models of the Cauldron of Blood. We then have five more Witch Elves as altar guards, of course.

And although there is NO REASON and NO RULES to do so, I of course made a space on the slab to stand a Wizard:

So, as you can see, it all became A Bit Unnecessary, but I'm rather fond of it.

Now, let's introduce some really wild stuff. With all the wildlife in the Rank and File list, I've turned to another section for some more teeth and claws; Hosts.

A quick glance at the options shows that the fun choice is a Chaotic Host, which includes some Dark Elf favourite critters. But (thematicaly at least) you should have a Chaos Wizard to bind your Chaos Beasties, so here's yet another Wizard:

This is the second time I've converted this oft-broken miniature, there's another example in my Vampire Counts army. This time I've added a mass of tentacles in place of the broken staff, in reference to the Tentacled Rod magic item used by the AD&D Drow. Suitably chaotic I hope.

Now here come the bound Chaos critters:

Six FF8-2 Harpies. Got to have Harpies in a Dark Elf army. Now you see exactly why the Harpy Eagle became the inspiration for my Giant Eagle.

Something else you also have to have is a Hydra:

It's a C27 Hydra as featured in Bryan Ansell's Chaos army from the book. Very hard to get all seven heads to fit on! The colour scheme is based on the one I used for the Cold Ones.

And some less traditional choices - brace yourselves for the terrifying FF61-1 Giant Wyvern!

Yes that's a 50mm base. This was a big model back in 1981, honest! You can see why he was replaced by the Black Dragon though... if you think that's smol, please spare a thought for his colleague, the deadly C27 Chimera!

Cute eh? I spared him the indignity of trying to mount a character on his back.

And finally, I think, that embodiment of Chaos, the Jabberwock. Inspired by Thomas' glorious bright red model, I unleashed the full range of those purples that I bought for the project, and painted him in Lipstick Pink:

I still gave him "eyes of flame" though.

Army List Additions:

Scores for June:         1472  points   23 models

1 x Assassin (level 10)    (Light Armour, Repeating Crossbow)                    94 points

5 x Dark Riders  (Light Armour, Shield, Repeating Crossbow)                   150 points

1 x War Altar with 5 Guards                                                                                 100 points

1 x Wizard (level 15)                                                                                               208 points 

6 x Harpies                                                                                                                90 points  

1 x Hydra                                                                                                                 200 points  

1 x Wyvern                                                                                                               180 points  

1 x Chimera                                                                                                              250 points

  

1 x Jabberwock                                                                                                        200 points  

Running (Final?) Total:          7243  points  211  models

Next Time

Will be the final wrap up post

Jaakko and Slargash - Wild card month

Slargash's forces had returned victorious from the battle and spirits were high in the sad little camp they called home. Slargash and the twins managed to pry a few dwarves form the hands of hungry minotaurs to be offered to the Gods of Chaos on their fancy travel sanctuary. The Mad Spell twins chanted ancient incantations, drawing upon forbidden magic to sustain their arduous endeavor. Determination burned in Slargash's eyes, the emptiness that had plagued him had been replaced by a fiery resolve. "We need more Blood for the Blood God", he commanded.

Days had turned into weeks, and weeks into months as they immersed themselves in the grueling ritual. Slargash's warband, despite their fragmented state, had rallied behind their leader, embracing the hope that their fierce presence would finally be immortalised in colour.

Wild card month arrived, a pivotal moment in their quest. It was a time for experimentation, a daring leap into the unknown. Slargash, fueled by his newfound determination, urged the Mad Spell twins to push the boundaries of their magic. The land trembled with unpredictable energies as chaos intertwined with whirls of colour, creating a spectacle unlike anything witnessed before.

With each passing day, their efforts bore fruit. The once-monochrome army began to transform, as vivid pigments materialized upon their fractured bodies. From the seducing pinks and comfortable black to the eerie verdigris and rust of decaying metal, The Great Painter's touch breathed life into their chaotic essence.

Through exhaustion and doubt, Slargash and the Mad Spell twins pressed on. They found solace in the collective spirit of their endeavor, forging bonds that transcended mere war and conquest. Their perseverance became a testament to the indomitable nature of their quest and the power of unyielding determination.

And then, on the eve of the sixth month, as the final stroke of the ritual approached, they stood before The Great Painter. The majestic being, draped in robes of swirling colours, cast a discerning gaze upon the transformed army. A smile crept across its enigmatic face, and it nodded in approval.

 

And with the passing of another month we meet again!

I had promised earlier that I will paint a war altar and a host for the wild card month. For the host my initial plan was to have hounds and a hydra. I also wanted to surprise you with three giants and a jabberwock. The plans changed a bit on the way as I decided to add a handler to the hounds, I couldn't resist adding one of the giants already into an earlier post and as I fell in love with the old trolls I decided to acquire a couple more.

The dwarves are painted to match my own dwarf army (which quite closely resembles the scheme of  the legendary Wayne Englands army)

I was hunting for the same hydra that is featured in the chaos army in Warhammer Armies but settled with the realm of chaos hydra that is not quite as cool IMO but is delightingly fighting with itself. As added bonus and maybe more wild cardesque elements I painted two blood-greed tokens (aka dead dwarves) for the minotaurs to feed on and a single test model from a group of lesser demons that is to be summoned in the heat of battle (only 17 more to aqcuire and paint to please the 3d6).

This month in points:

- War altar and 3 altar guards: 90 points

- 6 chaos hounds and a handler: 153 points

- 2 giants: 500 points

- Hydra: 200 points

- Jabberwock: 200 points

- 2 trolls: 130 points

- Demon: no points

- Blood-greed tokens: no points

Total so far 4410 points, 92 models

 

 

A cheeky demon from the Valley of the Four Winds range

 

Hobol Firebreath and Rattlebones Bowlegs are more and less excited to join their kin

I had a lot of fun and enjoyed painting this month and I hope it shows. Until the end of June! It seems that I can't dodge Slargash any further.

Steve's Cult of the New Colossus: A Minor Tour of the Newest Recruits of the Cult (1407 points)

Rank and File #4

Wermius clutched his head in an attempt to steady the reeling of his mind. How far could he go in comprehending the works of the Colossus and the beloved Godhead? He a mere man. It felt as though some sphinx of flesh and brass had bashed open his skull and eaten up the brains inside. A sphinx much like the enormous creature, some brutish union of Ogre and Dragon, that reposed nearby in all its impossible majesty. How far did it go Wermius feverishly wondered. The Beastmen had been a revelation and confirmation of the power of the living God he and his brother clergy had pledged themselves to. Yet there seemed no end to the diverse forms of creatures that now flocked to the banner he held dear. His very frame of reference to the real physical world seemed to be spiralling out of his grasp as he encountered each new example of the mutability of flesh. What future had mere men in the plans of the Colossus other than utter destruction and ruin?

Wermius reflected too on how the Cult had fared recently. Some months past and from the forests that surrounded Talabheim had come their menagerie of beast-like men and men-like beasts and the Cult had taken them in gladly. Their existence only proved the power of the Colossus and their ferocity often proved useful when their creed was met with hatred and opposition.

 Fortunes, however, had begun to turn and the brethren found themselves beset on all sides by the nonbeliever - whether by the pitchfork and burning torch of the ignorant and fearful peasant mob or the sword and lance of the heretic knight templars who subjugated the masses to the will of their false Gods. The cult was nonetheless forced to retreat from the lands of men. Even passage through the old mountain passes had not been easy, harried as they were by the damnable and recusant Dwarf remnant who still persisted among the high peaks. Forced back in to the Blasted Wastes, the followers of the New Colossus had wandered directionless and here Wermius was to find himself sorely tested - as they all were.

Well we're getting in to the big hitters of the Cult now and the more stable mutations in the form of Centaurs and Minotaurs. I think any cogent narrative of how they fit in with the original Human elements of the Cult is now lost and the whole enterprise begins to spiral in to madness and excess as is Chaos' wont! 

Previous entries have had Heavy Metal influences and this one is no different and is brought to you courtesy of the excellent Mastodon! I have them to thank for the Centaurs' banner as the cover of their album, Remission, looked very fitting for a wild bunch of mutated horse boys! 

The quote on the banner comes from Anne Bishop's Queen of Darkness - not something I've read but her description of Centaurs rang true for me for this project, "The living myth. Dreams made flesh."

I've always loved the Northern Steppe that features in the old Dolgan Raiders scenario, in which Centaurs also appear. These chaps will no doubt appear in future games set there so I based the majority of them on Prsewalski's horse which roams the Eurasian Steppes of our world.

The standard bearer is based on Frazetta's Moon Maid and the Centaur. Sadly I had no Moon Maiden for him.

The odd man out is a Boar Centaur from one of Tim Prow's excellent Kickstarters a while back!

In to the wilderness they had been led by madness, or perhaps by their mad God. In to the wilderness of stone where the dead tree gave no shelter and no sound of water relieved desperate ears. Dry sterile thunder mocked them with the empty promise of rain and in their hungry delirium they were driven to look upon the stones on the ground as loaves of bread. Visions afflicted them - a dead mountain with mouth agape and full of rotten and carious teeth, red sullen faces leering from out of the haze, a great horned figure with fists raised to the uncaring sky and always that elusive shadow that walked ever beside them, gliding, wrapped in brown mantle and hood, who faded from sight when looked for. Under the pitiless sun the pitiful crowd maundered, futilely seeking shelter in their own shadows. Yet the agony of this stony place, the cries, the shrieks and the stumbling in the cracked earth were not for naught. Here they came to learn the true fear that lay in a handful of dust, to see that they who were living were dying, and better to be ashes than that frightful dust. With these revelations came a certain sense of peace. Where there was once neither refuge nor shelter, they now enjoyed cool respite in the shade offered by the New Colossus, where others cast no shadow. Here, for a time, the horror grew mild and the darkness light.

Despite returning to work this month from a long furlough due to Covid, I had intended on reigning in the quantity of miniatures I'd be attempting. That intention was foolishly ignored as I've been champing at the bit to paint some big monsters! 

This represents part of the Chaotic Host that is bound to the Cult after they are discovered in the Blasted Wastes. I liked the idea of the Cult beginning to run out of control as it grew and the original Human zealots feeling increasingly overwhelmed at what their organisation was turning in to! 

I couldn't resist copying the colour scheme from the Citadel Combat Cards for this Dragon Ogre - a mini I have coveted since laying my eyes on its picture on those cards!

A shout rang out at the sight of smoke on the horizon and the Cult was drawn to this sign of life like moths to a flame. Upon clearing a small ridge, they looked down upon a truly hellish scene. Great beasts lay all around in the dust, languorously basking in the heat. The air was rent with the bellowing of huge bull headed monsters and the screams of their human victims who they tossed in to the firey mouth of a great brazen bull. Amidst the terrible lowing chorus a name became discernible... Moloch, Moloch, Great Moloch, Nightmare of Moloch!

I have to admit the Minotaurs were the ones that really fired my imagination this month. I've always loved the miniatures but on top of that there was a whole load of mythology and art to draw upon to give them their own flavour within the Cult. 

In particular the cover art to Mastodon's album, The Hunter has been haunting my dreams. It features one of AJ Fosik's artworks and I'm quite a bit in love with his blend of religious icongraphy, folk art, taxidermy and cultural ritual. Not only that but I was amazed to find they were amazingly intricate wooden sculptures too! 

I attempted to replicate his highly stylised colour schemes on my Minotaurs with varying degrees of success!

The banner is based on another of his artworks entitled Strange Regions in Search of Beauty, Awe or Terror. Not only did I feel the title resonated with the Cult but the image of a (possibly skinned?) bull's head thrusting through a Human head and skull was pretty apt for my Minotaurs!

I had wanted to work in a reference to Moloch (more on which later!) with this piece by Jason Mowry, entitled Moloch, which also features the juxtaposition of a human face with that of a bull but Fosik won out!

I thought Jes Goodwin's Mutant Ogre actually makes quite a good mutated Minotaur!

So as I said earlier, I also had to work Moloch in to the narrative somehow and the bull headed Minotaurs seemed a good fit for this bull headed, sacrifice demanding God. Who else would such bloodthirsty creatures worship! 

The idea of a statue of Moloch that also functions as a means of sacrificing victims reminded me of the old torture device, the Brazen Bull...

Which in turn also reminded me of the bible story of the worship of the Golden Calf...

... and the Charging Bull of Wall Street - which some have likened to the aforesaid Golden Calf!

The Wall Street Bull resides in New York, which for me calls to mind Ginsberg's poem, Howl. The repeated refrain of Moloch in the second verse, although a metaphor for the limitless and destructive appetite of industrial civilisation, nonetheless feeds in well to the themes of desperation and being consumed by greater powers that I've worked in to the Cult of the New Colossus.

By which long-winded and torturous mental gymnastics I arrived at this monstrosity!

I guess it'd be some kind of mix between a War Altar, Idol and Demon Engine!

I had hoped to get Scotia Grendel's Eye of Gorath painted up so he could push the whole contraption along and provide a source of locomotion but that'll have to wait for another month.

Whatever it is I had fun attempting heat tarnish effects on the bronze - no idea if verdigris would be present with such high temperatures but the rule of cool won out anyway! 

Don't even ask how the wooden structure survives the heat - it's magic ;)

Once they might have quailed at such a sight. Now though, the spectacle of the absolute dissolution and immolation of their fellow man by fire, offered up as sacrifice to a demoniac and horned God, brought the brethren of the New Colossus renewed religious fervour. They hailed the great bulls of Moloch and came to an understanding with them for they knew that their Colossus, the Beastmen's King Stag and now Moloch were but three aspects of the power they all revered. A frenzied chorus of prayer was offered up by those with any semblance to human vocal chords, in honour of this new union and strengthening of their following -

"O friends and companions of night, thou who rejoicest in the baying of dogs and spilt blood, who wanderest in the midst of shades among the tombs, who longest for blood and bringest terror to mortals, Great Stag, Moloch, thousand-faced Colossus, look favourably on our sacrifices!"

Now, marching away from the wastelands with new purpose, the burgeoning cult yearned to do their God's work. They would overturn the Empire of Man and throw his ashes to the four winds. His towers would fall and they would pile the ruins of his temples in to a heap of broken images. They would kill him and his Gods too. They would watch the world burn. Amongst the hooded horde that swarmed back over the mountains, Wermius still clung to some last vestiges of sanity and with them he reflected on how it was a truly fearful thing to be in the hands of a living God...

10 Minotaurs 506

Pasiphae’s Brood

Hand weapons, standard

Led by L10 Hero - light armour double handed weapon

7 Chaos Centaurs 464

Chiron’s Children

L10 hero, light armour, hand weapons, shields

Dragon Ogre                                87

Hydra                                            200

Cockatrice                                    150

Demon Engine/Idol/War Altar of Moloch            Free - I guess the easiest thing is to consider it a terrain piece!