Paul's Dark(ish) Elves - Leader Month (288 pts)

Vor'Lach, Dark Elf General and Lord of Daggerpoint, cracked his neck and shifted in the saddle of his giant Cold One. The beast was a Lustrian breed, much larger and even more fearsome than the native stock, and gave off the stink of raw and rotting meat from it's last meal of a lizardman slave. 

He stared disdainfully at the approaching High Elf leader as he weaved his horse up the rocky slope to the parlay, his troops following behind, the ruined banner of the Phoenix King held half in pride, and half in shame. 

His shiny armour might be as tarnished as his reputation but the arrogance still dripped from him, calling himself the Blood Dragon but riding an elven steed when it was Vor'Lach who had the courage to have such a terrible lizard as his mount. 

"Hail, mighty Blood Dragon, your reputation for treachery precedes you..." sneered Vor'Lach. 

"Are we truly to believe you and your rag tag reavers, have come to pledge your allegiance to the Court of the True King, and the Cult of Khaine? I hope you have something more convincing than a burnt offering some petty murders behind you in Ulthuan?"

The leader of the High Elves cast his pale face and strange red eyes towards the Dark Elf general, his once noble features now sharp and full of hubris.

"Hail, mighty Vor'Lach, your reputation for ignorance is well deserved I see, for I am not the Blood Dragon. My brother and I are merely its heralds, though it is more than capable of announcing itself..."

He gestured through the mists to the looming cliffs and peaks of Daggerpoint, across the water. A great gout of flame bursts and brightens the gloom, then a second, and a third, accompanied by the sound of roars and screams.  

"I'm afraid you arrived a bit too late, Vor'Lach, and your position as 'lord' of Daggerpoint, and what will remain of it, depends very much on what you do next."

The unmistakable shape of a dragon launched itself from the town walls in a cloud of smoke and embers and soared across the bay to land right in the middle of the gathering. Elves on both sides fell back in awe and terror, but Vor'Lach swallowed his growing bile and kept his nerve.

A second pale skinned and red eyed elf sat atop the mighty dragon, bearing the banner of their house, but it was the Blood Dragon itself who next spoke to Vor'Lach.

"I BELIEVE YOU WERE IN SOME DOUBT ABOUT HOW SERIOUS WE ARE.... I TRUST THAT IS NO LONGER THE CASE, BUT DO LET ME KNOW IF YOU NEED FURTHER CONVINCING AND I WILL HAPPILY EXPLAIN IT TO YOUR REPLACEMENT."

Month five is leader month for my Dark(ish) Elves and it is finally time to meet our main protagonists in this tale of treachery and deceit!

Vor'Lach and the fearsome Herrersaurus battle lizard he rides are from Krakon Games. I've always thought this battle lizard sculpt is an excellent homage to or proxy for the dinosaur/cold one seen on the front of the Dark Elf Army book. However, I originally had something else in mind for it (long since forgotten) so didn't order the rider at the time.... and it turns out you can't order him separately from their website. Doh! Shout out to Ross Whitehorn from Krakon Games who was really helpful when I reached out and hooked me up with this guy in time for the challenge.

I've kept a simple green and purple colour scheme partly for nostalgic reasons... partly because it looks like a packet of Apple and Blackcurrant Frosties (best sweets ever!) which in turn reminds me of the kit Bristol City wore when they beat Liverpool at Anfield in the FA Cup 3rd round replay in 1994... but also because it ties in to the colour scheme for the Gorgon's Guard, his elite mercenary followers.

I had a rough crack at replicating the medusa skull emblem on the banner of the Gorgon's Guard on his rather small heater shield. It's not perfect but at that scale I can probably live with it as you get the general idea.

Given it's impressive size I have been considering playing the beast as a proxy Cockatrice (minus the ability to fly) if I ever need the extra punch. The petrifying gaze would be a good match with such a fearsome beast and would fit in with the emerging gorgon theme for this part of the army. Or it could just be a really big cold one if I don't want to spend the points.

The idea for my renegade High Elf leader was originally inspired by Elric (as I was re-reading his adventurers when I was planning this army) but the story has changed and grown in the telling and the idea for the treacherous High Elven brothers is now part Elric and part Cobra Crimson Twins from GI Joe/Action Force.

Hence they are known as Tomax and Xamot, which I think fits the idea of them being interchangeable stand-ins for the Blood Dragon and would explain how the famed and fearsome reaver could be rumoured to be in two places at once.

Tomax (or is it Xamot?) is a High Elf Hero made from various left over bits from my extensive High Elf cavalry. I'm not entirely sure the legs and torso go together but the lighter armoured lower half with helm and cuirass might work for a half naval half cavalry officer. His high crested helm looked a bit like fluted dragon scale, and that seemed to tie in with the random later edition Dragon Princes horse head I had somehow acquired which then got stuck on a left over silver helm steed.

I had to add some greenstuff to the saddle to make him fit without hovering, but all in all I think he makes for a fairly convincing fallen high elf noble. The slightly odd pose forced by the putty-saddle makes him look like he is leaning forward to bark commands while using his shield to shelter incoming missile fire.

I painted up the dragon and rider prior to the start of the challenge, as both test and inspiration for the idea for my Darkish Elves. Now that the ideas are more fully formed I've gone back to add the shield and the banner to show the same emblem of the Dragon emerging from a sea of blood. This serves as both house emblem and a not so subtle dig at the new Caledor regime in Ulthuan. 

I've also included a few basing elements to tie it in to the terrain of the Bleak Coast, and a discarded loyalist Caledor shield as a nod to their treacherous background on Ulthuan.

I'm not counting any OWAC points for the dragon and rider but they are included here for character and context for the army background for my Dark(ish) Elves.

Monthly Total:

Dark Elf General w/ heavy armour and shield, mounted on Cold One - 174 pts
Dark(ish) Elf Hero w/ light armour, shield mounted on Elven Steed w/ barding - 114 pts

Total points: 288pts

Congratulations as always to those of you still in the challenge!

With the leaders taken care of and all four of my rank and file months already in the bag, this is technically my 6th completed OWAC. I'm very proud of that achievement but I also want to keep my record of never having taken a mulligan, so I definitely still have plans for a Wild Card next month :) 

Tom's Bony Bit

This month I finished my last rank and file unit and I feel like its been very successful. I had made a good start last month so it didn't take me to long to finish this elite unit. The question is are they Skeleton Horsemen or mounted Wights? In a game I could us them as either, but I came up with the idea to make the riders look like the Nazgul otherwise knows as the Ringwraith's for the LOTR. In WFB4 you can't really have mounted Wraiths, so I guess counting them as Wights is the best option to show they are an elite unit. 

The zombie horses are Living Dead Cavalry from Fireforge Games in Italy. They are a good fit for modern GW skeletons.

I chose to do an old Citadel shield from my Dad's collection for this Standard Bearer. I went with another crusader design as the year before they are one of my favourite historic periods. In Old World terms they could be fallen knights of Araby.

I used VMC hull red and red to get a fade on this shield design and up to Mephiston red making it look like the paint has chipped of  after years in the grave. For the banner I went with a red on black design, mirroring a previous design.

To bring this unit together with the other units in my army, I used; MPs chestnut-brown and coffee, and Citadel Colours Skeleton Horde (Contrast), Basilicanum Grey (Contrast), Rakarth flesh, Dryad bark, Death-world Forest, Ogryn camo, Mephiston red, Screamer pink and Leadbelcher. I have used purple to show the dark magic that gives them power to crush their enemies. 

I'm very happy with my work for this month as I think they tie in with both the ghouls and the Skeleton units.

Monthly Total:

5 Wights on Skeletal Steeds inc. Standard Bearer - 234 pts

Total points: 234 pts

Thank you for reading, hope everybody's last month goes well. Just my leader to go before I finish my second OWAC!! :)