goblinpaladin's Wood Elves II - a May Rank & File update (559 points)

                                             ..he mid bordum het
wyrcan þone wihagan   and þæt werod healdan
fæste wið feondum.         Þa wæs feohte neh,
tir æt getohte.                   Wæs seo tid cumen
þæt þær fæge men           feallan sceoldon.

   - The Battle of Maldon, lines 101-105.

'old' is a state of mind right

As I warned in my introductory post, some of the models I had planned are modern plastics rather than weighty old lead, as is true and righteous. However, none of you objected, so this is my offering for May:

CHARACTERS

Eada the Noble (95 points)

RANK ⁊ FILE

11 Guards with standard, musician (195 points)

18-strong Warrior Kinband with spears, shields, light armour, standard, musician (240 points)

Shapechanger with spear (29 points)

All of these lads are available from North Star, part of the Oathmark range (except the Grenadier shapechanger in the spearmen).

Oathmark elf archers

I don't know how I settled on twelve as the number for the elite archer regiment - possibly some ancient battle report had those numbers, or I just wanted to emphasise their elite status by having a regiment outside my usual 'divisible by five' formula. At any rate, here they are.

I made sure they were well-armed (each archer has a longsword and a knife) to visually cue their elite status. Their robes are trimmed in white, the elven colour of mourning, giving them a more uniform appearance than the warrior kinbands.

Oathmark elf king (conversion)

Eada the Noble is a very minor conversion of the Oathmark elf king model; I clipped off his left arm and gave him a bow. Either his quiver is under his cloak or it's magic; whatever. His colours tie into his men, but he's brought his own gloves, a handsome red cloak, and a lochaber axe.

Oathmark elf spearmen (some converted)

My second infantry regiment is also made up of Oathmark plastics, although several of these are converted with spears and a draco from historical ranges. The musician and unit leaders are Oathmark metals, while the burly fellow on our left is a Grenadier model serving as a shapechanger.

Celarn leads from the front

As with the last kinband, these warriors are led by a Melnibonean whom I painted long, long ago. He's also gained a new shield (with a design also unlikely to be historical but kind of perfect for wood elves!).

eagle-eye view

While they are all the same plastic sculpt, giving them shields from a handful of ranges with transfers from all over the place has kept them from feeling like a uniformed Asur-style regiment and more like the kinband that they are.

shieldwall!

Of course, I did manage to screw up more of the Little Big Man transfers than I successfully used, but they are actually very good.

my poor broken phone

These regiments were mostly fun to paint. Did I regret assembling the archers with all their kit before painting them? Yes. Have I learned from my mistakes? Absolutely not. I also continue to prefer pre-made banners to having to cut paper banners out with scissors, apparently having never mastered the skill of a five-year-old.

Interior illustration for Warhammer Fantasy Battles (5th edition)
David Gallagher. © Games Workshop, 1996

Coming up next: Something Trish-tastic...