Paul's 90s High Elves - Wild Card Month! (1134 pts)

Summer is here and it's time for a visit to the scenic coast of Ulthuan :)

It's both wildcard month and the final month of the challenge so with the benefit of a kick start thanks to some time off work during Jubilee week here in the UK, I pushed myself into the painting and am very happy with the results. I know I could have taken a few things further in terms of detail, but my aim was a balance between quality and quantity as it has been throughout the challenge, and in many ways this month felt like a mini OWAC all of it's own! 

I've always liked the idea of Sea Elves, and saw an opportunity to play with this theme and the idea of a Dragon and Sea Serpent alliance between Caledor and Lothern in my High Elf host. I've been planning a unit of proxy Seaguard from the start of the challenge, although slightly lost heart with this unit halfway through as I got sick of all the press moulding... but it was on the original OWAC list so I made myself pick it back up. 

As you can see the unit is a mix of plastic monopose Spearmen and Archers, with extra equipment added to represent the full load out for Lothern Seaguard. The shields, bows and quivers, and (very chunky and no tat all pretty!) spear tips are all press moulded from milliput, with brass rod for the spear shafts. 

The command group are metal Seaguard Standard Bearer and Musician, and the Champion is actually just a standard Seaguard trooper, and his bow and quiver is a green stuff press mould, but he looks the part next to the plastic proxies. The rune on the banner is Cython meaning "The serpent, wisdom, knowledge, futility, the symbol of Lileath" used here to echo the shape of the sea serpent emblem on the shields and banner top.

I might have been sick of painting plastic spearmen by this point, but I was enjoying painting the Sea green/Teal colour scheme, so decided to expand the Lothern detachment with a Mage (though not the one I had originally been planning to paint, which I now think will be added to my future Wood Elves). I have to say I wasn't always sure about this sculpt fitting in my Caledor themed army until I saw how well it would fit in with the Seaguard, and I'm glad I decided to switch the models as it ended up also being my entry to the Oldhammer Gary Morley challenge for June. #JusticeForGary

I also added two Repeater Bolt Throwers in the same colour scheme, although in my mind this means that I definitely need at least one more unit in this colour scheme so I have lined up a unit of archers for the future. I kept the loaders but swapped out the two commanders for an old citadel Elf Warrior and a Chaz Elliot sculpted Elf Lieutenant, both of which felt like they had the sea elf vibe to me. Not only does this add a little character to the Bolt throwers, but I've also got plans for the commanders to appear as unit leaders for a couple of archer units.

Definitely not Oldhammer, but continuing with the Lothern Seaguard theme, I was able to do a pretty quick paint job on this modern plastic High Elf hero on Griffon. I painted the Griffon a bit like a sea eagle (the wings are very flat and lack detail, so I had fun trying to add feather texture with old knackered brushes), and added some coastal elements to the base to emphasise the connection to the bolt throwers and Seaguard. The runes were already part of the banner, which was convenient, and read Lathain on one side, meaning: "Storm, wrath, gently falling rain that brings eternal sleep" and Thalui on the other, meaning: "Hatred or vengeance." He does look quite angry! 

Yet more painting detail that you can't see on the finished model

There was just time to push for one last stretch goal and finish the last unit of five Reaver Knights after striking it lucky and being able to source half-way suitable horses for them (they still don't sit well on the saddles, but never mind). Speaking of horses, there was one Reaver from the first unit I did that had to use a Silver Helm horse. At the time this just looked like he was the unit leader, so had fancy barding for his steed, but as the ranks have grown it has started to stick out and bug me, so I was glad to be able to replace it with one to match the rest of his unit, and now I have a fancy Elven steed without rider for my D&D games :)

The banner was a bit of a rush job, although it did feel right for the final piece of my OWAC 2022 to be a banner. The rune is Lecai, meaning "Light, nobility of the soul, lightness of being" which seemed to fit well with the idea of Reaver knights being messengers and scouts as well as fast attack cavalry. I do slightly regret not adding some more detail around the rune, but in the end I just needed these to be done as time had run out and so, finally, had my mojo. 

Total for the month:

21 Lothern Seaguard, including full command - 362 pts
Mage - 59 pts
2 Repeater Bolt Throwers - 200 pts
Hero (Heavy Armour, Lance) on Griffon - 259 pts
5 Reaver Knights including full command - 254 pts

Total = 1134 pts

Congratulations to everyone who made it over the line, I'll see you for the wrap up with cut off t-shirts, mullets, and cold beers! :D