Morganspyr spat on the ground as his mount's hoof touched the shore of the bleak coast of Naggarythe for the first time. Was this really the price of their devotion to the cause? Disparaged honour forcing them to act in retaliation and then slink away to this miserable rain swept outpost of their mad kinfolk?
He waved the rest of his men, cavalry and spear, onward to take up position on a rocky hill top above the shoreline. If their noble and enthusiastic bloodletting for Caledor had been valued in the war, afterwards it was seen as an inconvenient stain on it's reputation. Something not to be celebrated but hushed up. Erased. Deliberately forgotten...
No wonder Blood Dragon, as leader of their house, had been compelled to take action in leading his men against a delegation from the newly proclaimed 'Phoenix King', bearing his very banner indeed. The slaughter had been bright and bloody, the prideful fools having no idea enemies were among them. Their banner fallen. Burning in mage fire. Taken by Blood Dragon as a totem of his devotion and their new loyalties...
Morganspyr's expression soured as his memory of that last fight on Ulthuan faded and he looked around at the grey rocks and cracked bones that scattered the coastline and let his melancholy take him once more. What was the point of being worshippers of Khaine if everyone around here had already been killed?
I'm calling this unit The Tarnished Helms to signify the beginning of their transition from Silver Helms (albeit murder hobo-ing Khaine worshipping Silver Helms) to Dark Riders. I enjoyed using a vey restricted colour palette for the unit, although I accept that with such a dark feel overall I'm maybe not making the best of the details on the sculpts.... but that is in some ways deliberate to hide the fact they are a bit of a rough and ready repair job with replacement press-moulded tails, mismatched heads, uniforms, weapons... even one of the horses heads is different. I decided to embrace this mixed bag by making them a down on their luck unit of refugee war criminals who have been accused of crimes they definitely DID commit.
Dark Riders come with sword and light armour and can be equipped with spears, so if we downgrade the lances that fits pretty well with the models. They can also have repeating crossbows, but that doesn't fit with the models or the unit background, so I didn't add them despite still having plenty of milliput X-bows available. They don't have the option of shields in the army book but I really felt like the models needed them (especially as one of the most serious rescue jobs has a badly mangled hand, now hidden by his shield) and I really wanted to use the classic HE emblem shields on my two traitor units to show their heritage, and the sword through the heart symbol seemed to fit these Khaine worshipping cut throats.
Dark Riders do get the Skirmish ability though, so I will happily forgo actually using the shields (and the point cost) to keep them in line with the DE army book, and also as a way to show how they have changed battle tactics as renegades, and how they will integrate into the wider Dark Elf forces.
I added a reference to the grey rocks and bone strewn ground in the intro to link in to the basing elements I'm starting to introduce - lots of skulls and broken bones. The swamp grass is partly inspired by an earlier reference to how dank the high walled port town of Daggerpoint is, covered in moss. Also partly inspired by my Gardenhammer backdrop.
I named the champion Morganspyr because it sounds suitably pretentious for someone who wears a feathered helm so offensive it is basically his whole personality. I could never quite bring myself to use the figure in my High Elves (that high helm is too high maintenance even for the High Maintenance Elves themselves - try saying that three times fast) but it turned out that's because he was waiting for his starring role as a complete douche bag sidekick for the main BBE.
The Keepers of the Burnt Banner are a solid unit of not-so-High Elf spearmen, pledged to the Blood Dragon and the cult of Khaine, they have their own bloody reputation as the unit who turned on the royal emissaries when the Blood Dragon refused the summons and captured the phoenix king's banner amid the slaughter.
I've given them Caledor themed shields to emphasise their heritage, but made them all dark and edgy with a grey to red fade. On reflection I regret making the gems on the helms green and not red, but I like the overall look of both units as being a dark inflection of the red and green colour scheme of my Caledor themed High Elves from the previous two OWACs.
I've used two (Marauder? I should check...) sculpts for the Champion and Musician that had a slightly more rugged look than some of the other high elf command, and certainly the later versions. Both have animal skins, the champion is definitely a spearman, but his pose, fancy armour and cloak remind me a little of the Phoenix Guard (or in my Host of Caledor the Dragon Guard - maybe he was part of the unit they deposed?), while the musician bears a bow and quiver on his side which I also thought spoke to the fact that these fallen-from-on-High Elves might not all have started in the same unit or region but have come together as renegades.
The banner is my freehand take on the Banner of the Phoenix King from the High Elf Army book. I use the foil from tomato paste tubes for big banners that I want to shape or distress, and it worked well in this instance. I wanted to give a sense of the banner having been badly burned before being captured as a trophy (emphasising it's phoenix like credentials) so after finishing what might be my best ever banner.... I slapped a load of congealed AP Soft Tone and (not congealed) Vallejo Smoke effect all over it.... I think it worked quite well, even if a little part of me died.
The banner top has a story to tell. It belongs to the White Lions of Chrace from my High Elf host, but was lost in the congealed murk at the bottom of the paint stripper jar. At the time the needs of the OWAC spurred me to craft an alternative banner for that unit which I was quite happy with. When it reappeared from the gloop at the end of last year along with a big load of Dark Elves it inspired the idea behind this unit's backstory and the banner they carry.
Monthly Total:
The Tarnished Helms - 5 Dark Riders (w/ light armour, swords, spears) inc Champion - 157 pts
The Keepers of the Burnt Banner - 10 Spearmen (w/ spear, light armour and shield) inc full command -180 pts
Total pts - 337 pts
Tom's Bony Bit
Month three was another skeleton unit, this time archers. It felt good to finish multiple coats of browns and reds, metals, and the banner of this fiddly unit. I started off with the usual chestnut brown into a dry brush of coffee. Then I worked with a red triad to get a fade effect before applying skeleton horde and red tone to bring this unit together.
I included a Beastman skull to infer the different types of armies I have defeated. I loved using the new Retributor Gold we bought at our new FLGS during half term last month. I like the beautiful effect it had on the helmets and banner top.
Finally, I used light grey to pick out details on the banner and the High Elf bows and quivers carried by the unit command, to keep to my overall army colour palette.
Monthly Total:
10 Skeleton Archers inc. Standard and Musician - 120 pts
Total points: 120 pts
To sign off here are four different banners from my different skeleton units, to show how they all tie into the overall army scheme. Next month is my last rank and file then I'm onto some fun things! Good luck for next month, many thanks for reading, Tombo!
