Dave's Charging Chariot (303 points)

Bursting through the underbrush and roaring onto the wild heath comes the mighty Wood Elf Chariot, crushing all foes under wickedly scythed wheel and madly stamping hoof!

This is a true rarity in my collection. I personally count it as more rare than the regiment of Dark Elf Executioners painted in the first OWAC—models which never had an official release. It is so rare that I am guessing many of you kind readers did not even know it existed! Now then, there is a story to be had... what is this thing, and how did it come about?

Coinciding with the 1996 release of their army book, the Wood Elves received a slew of new models. Between April and August of that year, nearly every Warhammer release was dedicated to supporting the new army. After Warhammer Fantasy Battle 5th Edition was released in October, however, the new models slowed to a trickle. Nevertheless, by the end of 1997, every regiment in the army book had been released. Well, nearly every regiment... one unit remained elusively unavailable: the Wood Elf Chariot. Finally, at the very end of the 5th Edition era, the long awaited chariot would arrive, albeit not as a full release. Rather, for a very short time, interested parties could telephone the Mail Order Trolls and make a special request for a made-to-order kit comprised of parts from various other models.

Together, these pieces would fit together to create the missing chariot. The body, haft and yokes of the chariot came from the 1993 High Elves Tiranoc Chariot. The walls were made from Orion's cloak, carefully sawn in half. The scythes were taken from the 1998 Chaos Warrior Chariot. Adorning the haft end was the deer skull standard top and the yokes bore no fewer than three Wood Elf Lord Shields from the Forest Dragon kit. The crew were made up of the recently released Wood Elf scouts—one standard bearer and a regular scout with a bow. The chariot was pulled by up to four Wood Elf steeds.

Being that it was not given a normal release, and it was only on offer for a very short time, and it was very poorly advertised to boot (I have found only a single reference to the Wood Elf Chariot offer in Citadel Journal #42, although supposedly there was an advertisement in White Dwarf #236 as well), I consider this to be one of the rarer items in my collection. Of course, its rarity really comes from the fact that it is so little known and there are so few of them in existence.  Being that it is entirely composed of parts from other models, however, it is not that hard to collect the parts and build one yourself! Indeed, I would recommend nothing less, for it really is a wonderful model! It was not all that difficult to put together (although mind your fingers while sawing the cloak in half!) and it was an absolute pleasure to paint up. Not only is the model very dynamic, but it is also extremely flexible. I pinned the crew so they can be removed as casualties, pinned the scythes so that option can be removed as desired and each horse is actually loose and can be removed easily. Despite the fact that the steeds are not actually attached to one another or the chariot, the convenient overlap of the yokes means that the whole model slides easily across the table and the steeds stay snugly in place as you launch a ferocious charge. I prefer the fully-upgraded four steeds and scythed wheels, but I may field the lighter two-steed chariot sometimes as well.

Finally, we also have a Wood Elf General, the commander of the Guardians of the Grove, the noble-born Galadrin himself. As before, I did my best to recreate the Games Workshop Studio paint job, as found in the 1996 Wood Elves army book. This was also my first attempt to make a homemade banner—it is a very simple design but I am happy how it came out, although perhaps I will not seal the banners with clear tape in the future as it gave it a bit of a glare. All in all, a very fun model to paint.

So for this month, that makes a total of 303 points! There is only one regiment left in the army, and they are some of my all-time favorite models and indeed the very figures that won me over to Warhammer and tabletop gaming many long years ago. But that story will have to wait till the next post!

Wood Elf General (Lance, Longbow, Light Armour, Shield on Barded Steed) ~ 175 pts
Chariot (Light Armour, Shields, Longbows, Spears, Extra Steeds, Barding, Scythed Wheels) ~ 128 pts