Paul's High Elf Heavy Cavalry - Rank and File Month One (263 pts)

These guys definitely look like they have black undercoat

I decided to go in at the deep end for my first rank and file month and tackle my heavy cavalry, the slightly daunting Dragon Princes of Caledor. 

These have always been a prestige unit for me, with sumptuous box art and regular appearances in White Dwarf, and although I started gathering a unit early in my Warhammer collecting days, I'll admit to having always been a bit intimidated by actually painting them.

Well, that's what the OWAC is for, right!?

Right.

I started laying down some base colours, following a fairly pedestrian trio of Citadel Greens. I remembered a few things along the way. I get why people moan about Caliban Green (base) not being the same/as good/dark as the old Dark Angels Green. I remembered (too late) that the new Dark Angels Green (Layer) is far too thin and glossy for what I was looking for, but it sort of worked in making the carapace for the barding look more shellacked. And finally I remembered that if you highlight your greens in the traditional 90s GW fashion with Sunburst Yellow, then they risk blurring into your traditional 90s lurid goblin green bases. Doh!

On the plus side, VMC Hull Red proved a real winner as a base for my deep dragon scale red, and GW Warpstone Glow and VMC Intermediate Green gave me somewhere to go that wasn't Sunburst Yellow, and served to keep the overall look of the greens quite dark, which is what I was after. I've used VMC Gun Metal on the chain, and the lances (with just a touch of highlighting of Citadel Leadbelcher) and I like the contrast of the dark oily chain under the bright armour plate.

Green on green on green on.... *snores*

Far worse than any of that was the moment I realised that my OWAC prep had let me down - one of my horses had the standard/human plastic heavy cavalry head rather than the metal Dragon Princes one, and it had been well cemented in place by the original owner.  Could I find an extra metal DP head? Yes, I had one in my HE bits. Could I find a replacement horse and get it prepped in time? No. Could I try and sculpt some horns on top of the Hvy Cav head to make it fit in a bit better? I got as far as grabbing some 0.8mm piano wire and the greenstuff before remembering that my sculpting skills are junk and I just ripped the bloody head off in frustration.... 

Well... shit.

Thankfully, although it initially looked pretty awful, some very basic green stuff repairs and the new metal DP head meant I was able to get it back in line with the others pretty quickly. Phew!

If you only look at it from this side its fine! ;)

I decided to go that little bit further with this unit than I might have otherwise done, and added some pennants or streamers in the red and green of Caledor, which I think along with the (badly press moulded) dragon themed shields from the HE plastic spearmen help to finish off the unit.

I found this little snippet just underneath the DP entry in the 5th Edition HE Army book, and although not expressly linked to them I felt like there could be some unit background here:

The wind howled, lightning flashed, and thunder boomed as the sea foam soaked Caledan, the young thrain, and his steed on their perilous trek down the cliffs. The Cave of the Crone awaited far beneath him, while above the jagged crested silhouettes of his noble kindred barred his way back. 

A hoof slips, rock cracks and tumbles, and the wind wailed... calling to him.

Elven folk lore held that these sea caves on Caledor's inner coast were home to the Banshees of Morai Heg, their wailing foretelling the death of any who approached the caves. 

Caledan boldly urged his steed onwards into the promise of death, for it was also claimed that an Elf who could survive the caves and withstand the keening cry of the Banshees could find immortality... as a Dragon Prince of Caledor! 

Sadly I've really struggled to get decent pictures of these, and they either come out looking very flat, or showing highlights as yellow when they are actually scarlet. I'm really quite proud of them and don't feel my photography is doing them justice (although on the other hand it may be saving them with soft focus in some eyes!)

Anyway, here they are again, this time enjoying a prance around the garden :)

I also couldn't resist painting up this Chaz Elliott sculpted 'Elf Noble' from Ral Partha Europe. In my mind he makes an excellent Champion for my Shadow Warriors, who also got a slight brush up and re-basing this month to match their new leader.

Here they are out on manoeuvres. 

So here's my output in points for month one:

5 x Dragon Princes of Caledor - 215 pts
Shadow Warrior Champion - 48 pts

Total for the month: 263 pts

Next month will be some light cavalry, and a quick brush up of some Sword Masters of Hoeth, followed by tea and scones in the village hall.

Cheers!