Lissanne's X-Elves, Dark Elf April Bloodbowl team

 Introducing my Dark Elf team, the X-Elves.  
There is always one month you rush a bit on, this time I planned for it.  This is a relatively easy team to paint in order to get a head start on the rather difficult wood elf team I am working on for next month (and doing well on).  They are lovely figures, but fairly new.  However, I don't care much for the old GW team, and these are really nice sculpts.  And I had an good idea of how I wanted to paint them.  So, here are the X-Elves.

Dark elves in our D&D game have a wide variety of skin tones, and it is reflected here.  
Names were easy.

                                                   Assassins Wolverine and Cyclops

 

 

 

Runners Rogue and Gambit

 

                                                  Witch Elves Nightcrawler and Mystique

 

                                                      Blitzers Sunfire and Phoenix

                                                    Blitzers Banshee and Longshot

 

                                                         Line Jubilee and Havoc

                                                      Line Quicksilver and Storm

                                                   Line Dazzler and Psylocke

I use the expedient method of having different hair color for the different positions, so they are easy to see what is what when playing.  And here is a back shot.

 And for this month's old school minis, since every month should have some old school minis, I present the start of a new team, the Mighty Ducks, a Hobbit team.  Alas, I only have the 4 hobbits.  I was given these little ducks from (I think) Jason Lye, and as soon as I saw them I knew I wanted to use them on their helmets!  They think it makes them look taller.

 Someday I will find more hobbits for my Blood Bowl team, but it's a good start.  I have an ent for this team previously painted, but it doesn't count.  So just 5 on the team so far. 

And the whole month together- 16 dark elves and 4 hobbits. So 20 figs.

 As for next month's wood elf team, here is a preview.  If I don't get all 16 done, I will come very close and finish the rest in my Wild Card month,   Harlequin style is always HARD!  So I have been picking at them every month.   I have pretty much painted everything in my large Blood Bowl tackle box now, which was the point of this OWAC to me!  

ZeroTwentythree's April Undead (250 pts)

 April Entry

Wild Card Month!

I've been after a Citadel Plague cart for ages. I gave up trying to get one for a reasonable price and decided to make my own. I used some Citadel wheels, various skeletal bits & skulls, plasticard & rod, and I sculpted the yoke. I had started sculpting a driver but before I got very far a package from Shadespyre arrived, containing (among other things) a driver from the Citadel model!

 

 

The face was a bit of a joke and I hadn't intended on keeping it. But it's grown on my so I haven't painted over it. Yet? Maybe it will stay there forever.

I bought some new flower tufts for the cart, hoping to mimic the use of marigolds (flor de muerto) in Dia de Muertos celebrations, offrenda, etc. As I understand it, one reason for their use is for the scent of the flowers to guide the spirits of the dead back home. So here we have a more sinister version -- the cart driver, summoning the poor spirits back to their skeletal remains to be re-animated.

 

 

I also painted a wraith and some more home decor for the Liche's tumulus/party pad. Trophy heads on spikes, I think they came with some Foundry Gauls.

 

The wraith is translucent Reaper Bones figure. After reading how others had used clear acrylic medium or varnish and ink washes & such to shade the translucent figures I gave that a shot, but it didn't work AT ALL. So I ended up painting her with solid colors, as I would any other figure. Sort of an odd figure, more flesh and less robes than most other wraiths. Supposed to be some sort of "sexy" wraith, I guess? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

 

I also painted an ancient carved stone monument. Its origins are a bit of a mystery. Although hobbits have only settled the Little Country and expanded into the Wasteland in relatively recent times, some say this stone monument is an indication that their ancient ancestors may also have had settlements in the region.

Speaking of Reaper Bones figures, I have had a zombie dragon sitting around prepped but unpainted for a couple of years. I had planned on painting it for a Deadcember painting challenge, but never got to it. I was hit by a sudden inspiration and painted it this month, as part of my April entry for no reason other than it needed painting. I had originally thought the figure was just OK, but after painting it I really like it! Not strictly "oldhammer" but I think it still fits the vibe of the rest of my largely oldhammer undead.

Interesting discovery: 3rd. ed. undead didn't have dragons. (In spite of the awesome Tom Meier zombie dragon figure that was available at the time.) I didn't have a full undead army back then. When we moved from playing RPG games to experimenting with various fantasy wargames to finally settling on doing big armies with WFB 3rd, I traded off my undead (and elves, goblins, etc.) to focus on bulking up just a couple of core armies. I think most of us avoided the big monsters most of the time anyway, I'm not sure why. At any rate, I get a big 0 points for the dragon this month, but I'm not really concerned with my points count anyway.

Lastly, I have we have unfortunately lost two more OWAC participants to the Field of Bones. But all is not lost. They shall fight, and paint, on in the eternal army of The Liche! Samuel will dual-wield hand weapon and paintbrush, same as those previously raised from the Field of Bones.  Bill, on the other hand, brings the heavy two-handed paint brush for those large and brutal painting needs. These two seriously look like undead versions of heroes from a fantasy novel cover. But with paint brushes. "Swords Against Unpainted Lead" or something like that. ;)

We had a brief but comfortable weekend of nice weather, so I managed to get some yard work done. Naturally, there were priorities...

 

 

Undead flamingos! The bunny ears fell off the skeleton in the background, who is pretty much a permanent fixture in front of our house since Halloween. The ears and the Easter basket were put away. Looking for a wreath of flowers or something else suitable for the next change in season.

FYI, the little fella to the right is Godzilla eating garden gnomes. A gift from my sister-in-law a couple years ago. The first of the flowers are starting to bloom, but the deer have unfortunately been trampling through the garden and eating them. I would love it if the undead flamingos scare them off, but unfortunately I think they may have the "immune to psychology" trait.

I'm trying to prep figures for the remaining two months. Expect to see more cavalry, some carrion, The Liche himselves (yes, plural) and a few more of his entourage!

April Wild Card Month
 

1 Plague Cart....... 100 pts
1 Wraith.............. 150 pts

1 Dragon.............     0 pts

Terrain...........          0 pts

April Total: 250 pts

Grand Total: 1133 pts