goblinpaladin's Wood Elves - a February update (241 points)

For all my belly-aching and whinery, I have actually managed to haul my lazy, procrastinating bottom over the February line - and with a few points to spare, at that. I've blown my original plan out the window, but I'm still pretty happy with how things are. Group photo:

the février gang

11 archers. That's 121 points.
2 wardancers. 40 points.
5 glade runners. 80 points.

A total of 241 points. Algebraic!

I painted the wardancers at the start of the month, as I didn't really want to paint the archers. I procrastinated from them all month, really, which was why I started getting anxious and whiney on Facebook. Then, last week, slam, a burst of energy got a second batch of five painted up and the end looked in sight. Pretty nice stuff.

Let's have some close-ups. My partner, who can actually hold a camera without it trembling, is out of town for work. I hope you guys enjoy blurry miniatures, out of focus and sometimes out of frame! Yeah!

the iron plating over his groin is a nice touch

 I can't pass up the chance for some of the wardancers to have outrageous hair, and this fellow begged for a Slayer-orange hairdo.

leather bodysuits are very in among - ah - certain elves

I really enjoyed painting this guy. He came out pretty much exactly as I envisaged.

tight elven buttocks. i know that's what you're all here for, really

#justiceforgary

I absolutely adore Morley's mid-90s Waywatcher range, and they are a perfect fit for the third edition glade runners. Leaf-patterned cloaks, additional equipment, ropes, weird masks. Brilliant. I'm hoping to get the other sculpts as well, but the three on the left here are the only ones I've managed to gather so far.

The chap on the far right is from the Scout range. I'm not sure who sculpted him - it might have been Morley as well, but he strikes me as a little different. It might have been Aly Morrison. At any rate, it's another sculpt I've always liked. I fancy his horn as a hunting horn, used to sonically notify the main elven body of enemy troop movements - the sort of thing that happens before the Warhammer game - and not a musician in the usual sense. So he just counts as a regular guy.

across the Field of Själland, the elven scouts spot the rest of their kin

The chap with the purple hat is a 1980s elf. I did some research on him, all of which I've forgotten. From memory, he's a Goodwin sculpt, originally part of the Tolkien range before being moved to the elven range and then shifted into wood elves, when the elven sub-species became more distinct. He was gone by fourth edition.

His personalised gear and sense of style strike me as very ranger-like, in that D&D sense. The sculpt has a real sense of the individual to him, which is the main reason he's become a glade runner.

His purple hat is a nod to a very different kind of elf, in a different fantasy franchise.

don't tread on the flowers, mortal man (who is doomed to die)

Folks keep commenting on these old plastics, surprised to see them included. They are actually pretty decent sculpts, especially for 1987. There are a few bits of soft detail, notably under their mantles, but not so that you can really see on the board. The biggest issues are the mould lines - along the arms, sure, but especially in the hair. Yeesh. 1987 plastics technology also means that the hair winds up having a bit of a cornrow feel, with washes darkening the shadows more than I want.

But they are very simple models, and in an age of a million tedious details on miniatures, it is refreshing to paint something this simple. Cloak. Scabbarded sword. Quiver of arrows. Coat of mail.* Boots. Manly, muscular arms. Fin. Even I can't screw that up too badly.

i did warn you about the photography

Speaking of hair, I wanted to mention something. As these are wood elves, I wanted the hair to mostly fall into naturalist colours in the middle of the range. Dark elves often have black hair. High elves have flowing locks the colour of spun gold or winter's straw. Wood elves should be auburns and light browns, pale blondes and the like.

However, in keeping with my mixed elven kin ideas, I did want to have the occasional figure with darker hair, to show that not every elf with black hair buggered off to Naggaroth to colonise America wage eternal war for the Phoenix Throne. You can see one in the top right.

I've also been reading a lot of CJ Cherryh lately. Several of her books have some fantastic ideas for Oldhammer gaming, something I want to talk about some other time,** her Morgaine series specifically. Of relevance here is her qual species. An ancient elder race who Tampered With Forces and were Cast Down (sound familiar?), the qual are tall, elegant - and all have white hair. I was already toying with the idea, but now I've settled on it, so a number of elves will have white hair, especially heroes and wizards. I'm going to use different washes to give them some variance, which should be pretty cool.

eleven archers archering

The light wasn't the best this afternoon, but I hope you can also see that I experimented with some different shades of green on the cloaks. It creates more of the effect I was always hoping for in the first place. The systems I was using to get forest and moss greens often wound up with the two looking too similar when grouped together.

Warhammer Rulebook, Rick Priestley, p.59. Artist: David Gallagher. © Games Workshop, 1996.

That's it for this round, folks. Next month, I'm hoping to finish off those archer regiments, do a few more fun wardancers and maybe a character model. If all goes well, I might even be back in alignment with the original plan! A surprise twist!

= = =      = = =      = = =      = = =      = = =

* Only one unit of third edition archers can have light armour, so the mail tunic is both ineffective and free. What a bargain!

** The Morgaine books, with their Gates, their fallen, ancient qual, their science-as-magic, and their humans living in weird, new societies are begging for Rogue Trader-style gaming. The Goblin Mirror's aesthetics of sparse wilderness and small-scale skirmishes is very Oldhammer. It also features an unusual take on goblins, being human-sized and witty but with an alien sense of ethics. I could go on.

Mustafa's Meinolf Fehrenbach’s journal. 33rd of Jahrdrung (265 points)

Another sleepless night plagued by visions that follow no rhyme nor reason. At least this time my surroundings had a semblance of normalcy.

I found myself in the crumbling ruins of a great stone city. The buildings seemed to be manmade, but the rock itself had an unearthly quality to it. All of th e roads and paths were covered in a thick layer of soot.

As I wandered the empty streets I heard heavy footsteps coming towards me. Considering the foul denizens I recorded in my previous journal, you would not think less of me for hiding!

I hid behind a small wall and cautiously peered over the top. In the distance I saw what I thought were men coming towards me, but as they got closer I realised they were to men what a wolf is to a puppy! Each of them was a veritable giant, clad in heavy, green, rust encrusted armour. They marched in a column, chanting in a language I did not understand. Despite the words being alien to me, they caused a nausea the like of which I hope to never again experience.

Leading the way was a man who stood a clear head taller than the others. Unlike his cohorts, he wore no helmet. His visage was far more terrifying than the horned helms the others wore.

As soon as they were out of sight and a safe distance away, I rose from my hiding place. I explored the city some more, but found no other signs of life. Tiredness overcame me so I found a quiet corner to rest and soon fell asleep. I awoke back in my own bed, my feet covered in soot...

• Chaos Champion with Mark of Nurgle, Chaos Armour, and a shield: 112pts
• 6 Chaos Warriors, 3 with two handed weapons, 3 with shields: 153pts

Total 265pts

Now, some of the more observant amongst you may have noticed that these are not demons. I am still doing my 1000 points of demons, but I decided to add a little flavour to the mix :)

Jeff's Dark Elves - February (190 points)

February put January to shame in terms of competing demands on my time, so I'm delighted to be writing this post instead of the one explaining why I had to use my mulligan.

This month I've added the remaining  5 Dark Riders, including their standard bearer, and the first of the Ogres.

Here's the points breakdown:

4 Dark Riders @ 22 = 88

1 Dark Rider Standard Bearer @ 44

1 Ogre Mercenary with Heavy Armor and Double Handed Weapon @ 58

On to the models - First the Dark Riders...

I was struggling to come up with a banner design that was more than just a pink streamer....the skulls were a serendipitous bitz box find, and fit well thematically with the helmet banner last year's infantry are carrying.

The completed unit poses for a group shot

...and next the Ogre.

I'm particularly pleased with how the face turned out on this model.

Heavy armor might be a bit of a stretch for this model, but he's the most lightly armored of the group.

You might have noticed that the Ogre's basing doesn't match the elves, that's intentional, as long term there are several armies the Ogres might march to war with, and I wanted something that would blend reasonably well with all of them.

So that's February done in the nick of time, perhaps March will play nice (doubtful).  March's plan is 4 more Ogres and the first 2 witch elves.

Dustin's February Submission (A Trollish Trio, 195 points)

February, the shortest month, and a busy one for me even when not participating in army painting challenges. This month's output is pretty basic:

3 Stone Trolls -- 195 points

These guys were fun to paint, and a good diversion from the gobbos. I've been a fan of these sculpts since the Nineties, but for some reason, had never painted any of them (in fact, I had never owned any until this past year). I'm glad I was able to pick them up before GW finally "retired" them a couple of months ago.

This is Glogg. I rather enjoyed painting the femur he wields as a weapon. Perhaps it's a femur with which to bash fimir?

Here's Fletch. He's not dual wielding weapons, the big rock is just a snack.

Finally, Ol' Stinkmouf, ready to empty the contents of his stomach on some unfortunate stunties. Failing that, he can bash them with his stone maul.

That's all for February. More goblins to come in March.

Arjen's The Linden Way Militia (209 points)

So, for the shortest month I chose the unit with the mostest minis. What was I thinking?

So here they are mayor Leofwine and the Lindenway militia; 20 pike-men, 5 archers and a level 5 hero for a total of 140+35+34=209 points.

Now these are not professional soldiers but the farmers, shopkeepers, hunters, village watch, accountants and business annalists (A bit like "Dad's Army"; "don't panic, don't panic!"). Most of soldiery gear is family heirlooms and gear from previous tour of duties (the accountant is rumored to have been a "+4 shock troop" before his arthritis made that profession difficult).

The uniform look has more to do with everyone in Linden way using the same material for clothing (wool and deerskin) and the occasional peddler dumping bulk volume of cheap fabric paint (worm purple and scorpion green in this case).

  

Front row here are 5 hunters and poachers.

In the middle is Mayor Leofwine with his great sword and those citizens with prior experience in soldiery.

Next row are the farmers, landowners with their heirlooms and peons.

Last row are those with enough pike experience that they are trusted to not hinder their fellow soldiers with their reach weapons.

Last pic is of Mayor Leofwine alone.

I contemplated spreading this unit over several months and adding models worth more points to get the ~200 point monthly quota. In the end I do tend to paint in large batches quite fast and it is not that much of a problem after I picked my color palette.

Ratwig's Second OWAC II Installment: Tashi's Chrysanthemums (216 points)

For this second installment of OWAC II, I present Tashi’s Chrysanthemums, a rocket launcher battery, part of Samurai Pirate Warlord Toru Sekiguchi’s mercenary army. The Dark Elf Army of Varl Heavy Hand utilizes Toru's mercenaries on such a regular basis that they are almost a permanent part of his army.

Tashi was an artillery specialist in his home on the Han peninsula of the Cathay land mass when he was taken prisoner during a raid. He was “convinced” to form a rocket battery utilizing some of Toru’s ashigaru. He and his battery, which consists of two launchers and six crew, are now an integral part of Toru’s pirate mercenary army. His name, which means "once more" in his native Han language, is usually associated with drinking, but Toru says it when he wants another rocket volley and it stuck as his name.

2 x Mercenary Samurai rocket launcher teams with bombardier (Tashi) - (216 points)

I have had these figures since I broke them out of packaging back in 1988. They were part of a planned Army of Nippon from the Ravening Hordes book from 2nd Edition. They were even primered way back then, but sat in a box until this challenge brought them back into the light and they actually got painted. A long wait...

Until next month.

Thanks,

Ratwig out

Stuart's What the chuffin 'elf is going on? (196 points)

Good morning all you fine folks. February sure is a short month with all the procrastinating that needs to be done.

"the young wizard, Yvieol Pureheart was tired and drained. he had been up straight for 4 days maintaining the illusion of greater forces that kept the rats away.

His brethren were feeling the strain too. Only 9 remained from a company of 30, and despite felling over 20 score their number in rats, they too were beginning to tire. 

What Yvieol needed more than ever was relief, surely someone from the kingdoms could be spared to assist the defence of Ydriel? 

He had sent out the call weeks ago, sensing the rising vermintide that passing this way. Up until now his magical tricks had been more than enough to confuse the simple ratmen. they were easily beguiled by his distractions and Yvieol's brothers had been able to strike with spears from behind the protective screens. However bigger, heaver, more dimwitted rats had started to appear that did not have eyes and appeared to be powered by magic itself. One of them had taken his brother Everleaf and 2 more young elves were unable to fight because of their wounds from the beast.

A crack cleaved the air and from the protective illusion a bolt of energy crashed into the rats lurking in the wood opening. The impact completely removed a whole column of rats. it was if they had been skewered on a stick that the humans used to hold their meat.

A thunder of hooves came from the left and the sound of primitive armour clattered and split as an unknown force plowed through from the right.  The object reflected back the light of his illusion, almost intensifying it and for a moment the rats were stunned.

A huge mountain of a rat swung a limb towards the light and howled as the limb was no more. More flashes angrily lunged at the mass of rats as screams of pain rose into the air.

It was at that moment the rats lost heart, they were scared of the flashing thing, it took limbs and heads and was painful to look upon. they dashed back to the shadows and the safety of the undergrowth"

As it's the shortest month, i've chosen it to spend time on a character model and a war machine.

My unit of elf guards needed some desperate reinforcements and they have come in the form of a mighty sea elf both thrower and Iyandril Truelight, with his gleaming armour and icy blade.

the bolt thrower will hopefully add in some much needed heavy artillery to take out massed troops and the odd big creature

Here is the superhero himself Iyandril Truelight on his mighty steed. truely a match for any opposing leader!

another group shot

pointy ears, pointy fingers

So for next month who knows what i will get done. Frankly i'm happy i'm still not in the graveyard of bones. Perhaps some cavalry to keep our mighty leader company, or maybe just some more elves like Yvieol desperately needs?

Brennan's February Slann or the Frog Men Cometh! (226 points)

Ere we go, ere we go, oh wait, wrong game and wrong army all together!  Sorry, that happens to me when I paint a bit of green!  Oh I know, I know, made the Slann blue and not green, but the game master said it was ok...  And the scouts have green shields!

This month I decided to tackle the biggest unit and some extra figures to make up the points.  Seeing as it was the shortest month of the challenge, this was not the wisest decision, but I got there in the end.

The most significant hurdle this month was the variety of the castings.  The Slann were not a huge range and the figure options in some of the units can get a bit limited.  Just wait till I get the unit of 15 Eagle warriors done.  All one casting....  It's worse than napoleons! I might as well declare them clones and give them blasters....  But that's a challenge for another month.

I tried to keep the colors and the other elements of the unit of Slann Braves fairly consistent, which gives the illusion of a limited about of uniformity.  In another list, in another time, these may serve as unit of Bull Slann, but that's a wicked maybe.

The images below should show some of the color combos I used to give an air of uniformity.  I mixed in some less armored and commanding fellows.  Just to give it some contrast from the suit wearing more professional warrior types, which are to come in the following months.

I've also decided to give a little heraldry to the army and use a stylized leaf as a general symbol for the army.  The standards are going to be a mix of cloth and feathers.  The feather standards will all have some sort of stylized sun.  The lad are cold blooded after all!

The scouts below carry on the stylized leaf but in a green/black combination.  I was also surprised to see the scouts in pants, but hey even frogs need to protect the under carriage.

And before we get to the final points for the month, lets have group shot.

So!  for February we have:
16 Spawn Band with Standard = 170 Points
4 Scouts with Poison and Shields = 56 Points

For a monthly total of 226 points!

ZeroTwentythree's February Sea Elves (208 pts)

Change of Plans

After last month, I re-worked my schedule for the rest of the OWAC. Aaaaand it went off the rails right away in February. I did paint the five seekers I was originally going to paint in January, but then rescheduled for this month. These were a last minute acquisition, old Marauder sea elves to replace the wood elf miniatures I was originally going to use. Now that I've painted them I really wish that (a) I had more, and (b) there were more models in the range. (I would like to pick up some more if I get the chance! One is actually a Marauder wood elf, but I'm pretty sure both ranges were sculpted by Trish Carden & the styles look good together.)

I had also planned on painting the attack chariot this month, but only got part way through assembly of the chariot itself. The crew are primed, and the horses have a base coat of grey paint on them. So a last minute change of plans, and I've swapped out the chariot for the contingent commander. Probably not the most "oldhammer" miniatures to some, but I've always liked it quite a bit. I painted one for someone else, long ago, but now I've got my own. I think he's got a nice, haughty look to him that fits my concept for a leader of a mixed sea elf military force from Marienburg. (Later Ral Partha high elf, sculpted by Chris Fitzpatrick I believe.) I want to paint some more freehand detail on his cloak, but I'm still working on a design. I'm going to call him done for now, but he may receive and update at some point.

Seekers

The forces of the sea elves in Marienburg can vary greatly, and many light troops are used. Scouting, spying, small escort, delivery, and diplomatic missions mean light and flexible troops are in demand. Being in high demand, these sorts of troops can be drawn from the ranks of the various trade houses, from the native wood elves, or from the ships' crews.

These are among the latter. Every sailor plays a number of roles, and many have experience in scouting missions as a landing party. During extended stays in port, some sailors hire themselves out as scouts, whether it be for the gold, the excitement, the chance to see more of the Old World, or just a way to pass the time before setting sail again.

Galion

The current leader of the Elven Continental Exarchate Defence and Expedition Forces (DEF) is a young second son of a fading noble line, Galion of House Äënäräë. Despite the impressive sound of the titles and powers bestowed upon Galion, his position involves a shared responsibility for keeping order in the elven quarter of Marienburg, and leading the security detail for trade and diplomatic missions centered out of the “Star-Gem-by-the-Sea,” as the Marienburg colony is known. The office is better than an elf of his age and social standing could hope for, and one with only minimal risks. Young Galion also has plenty of time to indulge in his love of salons and wine, and although he is loathe to admit to his fondness for “slumming,” he spends a good deal of time in some of the best human social clubs in Marienburg with a small crowd of other young elves of even lesser standing and even more limited futures. But he is also an elf with dreams of making a name for himself, returning to Ulthan, and joining greater social circles. All he lacks is an opportunity to seize. And better judgement.

Although the DEF seldom see large scale action or anything important enough to further Galion’s “fame & bigger parties” agenda, the elves-who-are-not-riding-chariots are an effective force for the duties to which they are typically assigned.

This month’s addition to Galion’s DEF jam are...

Galion of House Äënäräë (lv. 15 hero) : 128 points + equipment

5 Seekers (scouts w/ longbow & hand weapons) : 80 points

Total to date: 408 pts.

Qrab's Empire: Irregulars (175 points)

Hot on the heels of last month's elite unit of Reiksgard, for February I went to the opposite end of the social spectrum and painted a unit of Fleglers and a unit of Bergjaeger. Combined, the two units total 175 points. (Yes, this is 25 points fewer than the target, but my contribution for last month was 28 points over, so hopefully the Challenge Overlord will let it fly).  Note from the Overlord : We are magnanimous so we will do just that.

In a short month and with multiple weeks of work travel, there were times when I wasn't sure I'd get everything finished. Next month isn't looking much better, so I expect I'll have to use my mulligan. I've got some models set aside to work on, but I can't shake the feeling I won't get close to the monthly points target.

First up for February is a unit of 8 Fleglers with a standard & musician (110 points). While I have a bunch of the Marauder Flagellants, I find them just a little too big, so I've got other plans for them. Instead, Perry sculpts from 6th edition comprise the bulk of the unit, which is rounded out by one model from the F2 Fighters range and one that I'm pretty sure is from the Cleric range (couldn't find it on Stuff of Legends).

Here's a photo of the entire unit, followed by separate photos of the first & second rank.

Religious fanatics common in the Empire.

The front rank. 

The rear rank.

As much as I like the look of the Perry's Flagellants, they were somewhat difficult to paint. This is due to the lower legs/feet and hands being fairly crudely sculpted, which made it challenging to work around.

The other unit I painted this month consists of 5 Bergjaeger (75 points), who serve as Scouts in the Imperial army.

The Bergjaeger of Nuln.

With the exception of the dude in the middle, the models comprising this unit are from the C07 Rangers line. From left to right they are Poacher, Scout, Trapper, and Gamekeeper. So far, I haven't been able to identify the range to which the middle model belongs. The models in the Rangers line are all very characterful, and I was really looking forward to painting them. However, once I got working on them, it was impossible to not to notice how rough some of the details are. If it weren't for the Challenge, I probably would have stopped painting them in order to do some reconstruction of the dodgy spots.

On a side note, I had painted three of the five models back in the late 80s (Scout, Trapper, and Gamekeeper), and stripped them so I could give them updated paint jobs for the challenge. Before sending them to the chemical bath, I remembered to take a photo of the Scout and Trapper:

c.1988 paint job with gloss varnish.

Modern paint job, unvarnished.

And with that, February is finished. It was a rough month, and I salute all of my fellow challengers that were able to make it through without falling to the field of bones.