The Heart Tree bleeds.
The Heart Tree bleeds, red in the dappled sunlight of the forest.
The Heart Tree bleeds because she is in pain. The forest is in pain. Athel Loren is in pain!
Invaders, intruders, interlopers! They come with axe and they come with fire; and so, the Heart Tree bleeds.
They come with violence and fury, and animal lusts. Raging against all that is true and beautiful; and so, the Heart Tree bleeds.
But she is not defenceless. No, this forest has violence and fury of its own. And deep within its Glades it rises. The Kindreds have come!
They anoint themselves in the blood of the Heart Tree so as they might share its pain as they redouble it upon its enemies. They move, swift and silent as thought, between towering trunks and across mighty boughs. They rise with the creaking of branches in a summer storm, and cracking of earth under the hottest sun.
Athel Loren goes to war!
So, I'm now a two time OWAC veteran eh? Peachy.
It's a been a slog though if I'm honest. Despite only painting a slack handful of miniatures, I'm bloody sick of the sight of them. But still quite proud of the little force I've managed to muddle through regardless.
So what does that final force look like I hear nobody ask? Well, it comes out something like this:
Mórr 'The Slayer' - Wood Elf General 166pts
Cruath 'The Truth Sayer' - Mage Champion 121pts
No-Mórr 'The Demoted' - Archer Champion 56pts
Scarloc - 'The Aged' - Scout Champion 56pts
5 Scouts - 'The Pine Glades Kindred' 80pts
15 Archers - 'The Pine Crags Kindred' 187pts
5 Glade Riders - 'The Kindred of Equos' 210pts
16 Dryads - 'The Wizened Ones' 560pts
Treeman - 'Groth The Gnarled' 280pts
TOTAL (sans magic items etc.) 1,716pts
Points as per the 4th Edition army book, though these will mostly see service in 6th Edition and The Old World (where it comes out somewhere around 1,300pts under the same conditions).
So, points wise, a little more than I thought I'd manage. And model wise a little less. I still have bits and pieces I would like to do, but they will have to wait a little while until I'm back in the mood for green...
Anyway - Army Shot and Ansell (RIP) pose. This was taken at this year's BOYL (an appropriate place for an Ansell pose if there ever was one!), thank you to the lady who took it for me, all credit goes to them...but I'm sorry I forgot to ask your name!
And a wee shot of the army as a whole:
Next year? Well, there's that Undead thing I wanted to do...oh and that 2nd ed Khorne Berzerker army...or maybe finish off my Chaos army from my first OWAC (I bought so many knights)...or maybe just chill a year.
Seriously, I'm a glacially slow painter with limited time; this has meant I have painted nothing but these elves for the past seven months. And it is making me reconsider if I want to take part again. But never say never.
Congratulations to all my follow competitors. You've all produced some absolutely stunning forces of which you should be very proud. I hope to see some of them in the flesh some time and maybe we can throw some dice and push little toy soldiers around.
Peace.
