Jeff's Dark Elven Expedition

Hi All!,

So, about me....It all started when I read The Hobbit in the second grade, and I've been unrecoverable ever since.  I've been playing Warhammer since 1988 and painting miniatures for a few years before that. (My first models being painted for D&D with my Dad's model railroad paints..) I've never stoppped playing Warhammer, although there have been periods of higher and lower activity (low activity typically coinciding with sea duty)  I've been Oldhammering for a few years now, although I continued to play 8th edition at the same time (with my older models, of course) although, Age of Sigmar has been a step too far for me.

I've painted a number of armies over the years; Orcs and Goblins are probably my largest painted force, and I have good sized Empire and Chaos armies as well, and smaller forces for Wood Elves, Undead and Skaven.  I had the good fortune to be stationed in England a few years ago and was able to attend the first two BOYL events in Nottingham, which really reinvigorated my love of 3rd edition.  This Dark Elf force is the product of the lead collecting spree I went of while I was "over there"; I'm looking forward to getting them painted now that I'm back over here, and I've found that a deadline is the motivator I need to get things done. (so, Hooray challenge!)



On to the Elves...

My force will actually end up at 1500 points, because trying to get the 200 points a month to work out smoothly was driving me nuts, and I didn't want to split units across months. In no particular order here are the monthly breakdowns for the army.

12 Crossbowmen with a standard and 2 Whelp masters - 199 points

10 Crossbowmen with a standard and a repeater bolt thrower - 201 points

Mengil's Manhides fielded as

 20 Warriors with Light Armor, Shields, Standard and Music - 242 points

20 Warriors with Light Armor, Shields, Standard and Music - 242 points

Level 15 Hero, Level 10 Wizard and Level 5 Assassin - 321 points

Hydra - 200 points

These choices allow me to take care of the 3rd edition minimums which are fairly high for Dark Elves - 40 warriors and 20 crossbowmen, with a bit extra to keep it interesting.  The Hydra is a plastic toy I found at Target for $10, but I figure that's well in keeping with Oldhammer traditions, and he's only getting painted if I don't need the mulligan month.

As far as the painting itself, I painted three witch elves previously for a RoC warbands game, so I intend to continue with the skin tone I used there. I also tried my hand at the "blue dark elf" skin tone, but wasn't happy with the result. (The fellow on the right has been seeing action as a vampire ever since...)

I intend to try to keep with the cool metallics (land of chill and all that, plus it will contrast nicely with my warm fall toned wood elves).  I intend to reserve the reds for the witch elves, and will focus on a "slaneeshi" palette for most of the units, but I'm still trying to decide what I want to do with the Manhides.  That's probably more intro than most of you were looking for, so I'll close here.
-- Jeff