Dave's Scouts, Bolt-Thrower and Sorcerer (234pts)

January feels like the coldest month in Canada, although the longest days of winter are now behind us. It feels only appropriate to be sculpting snow onto the bases as the real stuff drifts down silently outside my window. The snow bases are made out of titanium white pumice and although I am enjoying how they are turning out, it has proven to be a time-consuming and arduous task to move the sticky white sand around on the bases!

This month we have the odd-ball troops as I fill in the gaps before the final leg of the competition—five scouts, a bolt-thrower and crew and a sorcerer (all nice, chunky Marauder sculpts). These were an absolute delight to paint; definitely the most fun so far. I stuck with the great variety of colours with the scouts, as they seem like a piratey bunch, and went with a more uniform scheme for the war machine, crew and sorcerer. The wonderful classic Dark Elf shields were supplied by the generous and handsome Niko.

5 Scouts ~ 75 points
Upgraded with Light Armour

Repeater Bolt-Thrower ~ 100 points

Sorcerer ~ 59 points

Total: 234 points

The scouts are an absolute must-have for any Dark Elf army, in my opinion. Some might balk at the high price of the relatively fragile scouts, but their scouting and skirmish rules make sure you can put them right where you need them from the beginning of the battle, with enough movement to stay out of harms way and use terrain to your advantage. Once they are behind enemy lines, scouts wreak havoc. Scouts can eviscerate enemy war machine crews or stray wizards with their Ballistic Skill of 5 and double attacks from their repeating crossbows (this little unit alone throws 10 bolts at 3+ to hit at short range, averaging 7 hits and 3-4 wounds against light targets... that is nearly their own number in kills each round!). The repeater bolt-thrower, which really needs no introduction to Warhammer players, is likewise feared. Dark Elf Sorcerers are also some of my favourite wizards in the game, as they get Dark magic (which I love) and the special rule that they can use dispel cards as power cards (which is probably the better of the two, in comparison to the High Elf ability to use power cards as dispel cards). Overwhelming power!

Like a cunning Dark Elf, I've bided my time, and plan on using February as my "mulligan" month for a couple of reasons. One, we will be moving to a new apartment at the beginning of the month, so I am not sure how that will impact everything as we settle in. Two, it is the shortest month, and thus would have required a slightly more demanding turnaround time for the next unit. I will be doing the "biggest" regiment next and I will enjoy having both February and March to get it squared away and ready for presentation!