Can you hear that? It's the sound of the victory drums approaching!
I'm presenting a somewhat mixed cast of characters for leader month, some of which I had planned from the start of this year's OWAC and some who have found a place in the drive to paint every damn High Elf within a 50 mile radius of my house!
First up is an 'Ellyrian Reaver' Hero, although I think he is supposed to be a Silver Helm... Anyway, what he isn't is the 'Kingfisher' knight that I had envisioned. I like to go for walks along the river in the woods near my house and if you time it just right and are very lucky... you can see a pair of kingfishers darting along above the water. Their colours are simply beautiful and I got the idea in my head that I would try and use a kingfisher colour scheme... in metallics... on this mini.
Well.... let's just say my first attempt looked like something my 12 year old self would have mocked and my first attempt at mixing my own coloured metallics ended up with a blue that can only be described as 'Faded 1980s Ford Escort'
So back in the dip he went and I quickly opted to make him the leader of my Ellyrion detachment. As I've elected to use the embossed shields from the 4th Edition Warhammer Box Set (a bit too big for many mounted minis tbh, but good for the themed detachments) I've taken a couple of pictures without the shield before it obscures lots of the detail. The shield itself reverses the colour scheme of the main units, coz that's how you show one of your minis is the champion - right?
Next up is a multipurpose mini. I decided I didn't need two Prince Imriks mounted on Dragons in my Host, and I painted my preferred version last year, so I decided to repurpose the newer version as a mounted Army Battle Standard/Musician. As I was looking at the mini and deciding what to do with it it occurred to me that the combination of long lance with pennants and the big horn in the other hand rather lent itself to the idea of a 'Battle Herald' who might combine use of the lance and pennants and the horn to signal to the High Elf army.
A slightly damaged High Elf Mage's horse provided an alternative mount although it required some moderate vandalism of the metal saddle that was designed to fit a dragon rather than a horse, the final fit is no worse than most warhammer cavalry of the Oldhammer period... i.e. terrible.
He's obviously a bit flash so I think he could easily be upgraded to the Army General if needed, or could be demoted to unit musician if I want to up my numbers slightly to field two units of Dragon Princes.
Sods law, as soon as I took the first picture of him on his own I knocked him over and the lance detached, damaging the paint job. He's back on the desk for repair but I was relieved to have got a couple of pictures with the unit first which show him from a couple of other angles.
Right, what's next? No, it's not a Tiranoc Charioteer it's clearly a Phoenix Guard Champion! I have somehow found myself with a surfeit of Tiranoc Charioteers, partly because of 'reasons that will be revealed' and partly because I don't quite know.
Anyway, with his fantastic helmet plumes and fancy glaive I thought he was a good bet for a unit champion for my Caledor themed Phoenix Guard from last month. Again, you can tell he's the champion because his colour scheme is reversed. These are the rules.
A truly classic sculpt from the period and quite iconic in High Elf armies so I was thrilled to find it was as much fun to paint as I had hoped. You can see him with his unit a bit further down the page.
Here we have a Phoenix Guard Unit Standard/Army Battle Standard.
Did I mention I had a surfeit of charioteers? Well this one came to me already prepped for conversion into a standard bearer, and with an unfortunately squashed face (which I guess was the result of him being clambed when his hand was drilled by a previous owner. I have to say I think the idea is a good one and I was happy to make the most of someone else's bravery here and use the already damaged mini rather than risking making a pig's ear of it myself.
That said there was still a bit of work to do in fashioning the banner pole and standard along with the banner itself. The pole is brass rod cut to size, the cross piece is made from pieces of two tooth picks cut and sanded to fit relatively flush (others would have done a much better job of this I'm sure!) and a small grove filed in to locate the banner pole. The standard top is from a sprue of plastic Elven shield bosses while the banner itself is cut from the skin of an expired indoor football, which I think looks a bit like dragon hide.
The runes are Asur the eternal flame, Mark of Asuryan, symbol of rebirth and lordship; Caladai symbol of the line of kings, the dragons of flame; Sarathai. the rune of the World Dragon, symbolising defiance, unyielding. Used in combination here they represent the ascendancy of the line of Caledor to the throne of Ulthuan.
Utility/versatility is at play again and the mini can act as either full army battle standard or unit standard for the Phoenix Guard as seen below. as such his colour scheme follows theirs, which also serves to distinguish him form the unit champion of the same sculpt.
Finally we have Prince Teclis/Mage Lord of Caledor. This exact mini has been at the centre of my High Elf army since 1994. I have absolutely no idea how his staff is still in one piece after all the time he has spent in show boxes and all the house moves he has survived. It now wobbles if you paint it too roughly so please don't look at it too hard in the pictures in case it breaks.
It is even more remarkable it didn't break when I decided at the end of April that it needed ot go in the dip as a simple refurb just wasn't going to fit the bill for this beauty. I know I could have done more on the detailing on the robes and cloak, and the staff, and the tabard... but I am pretty happy with how he came out and think the red, green and gold make an impact.
I'm glad I took the risk and added significantly to the monthly work load (as with the last minute Imrik on horseback decision) as painting him alongside the two 'Phoenix Guard-(not)Charioteers' meant I had a consistent 'Caledor' themed colour palette across the three and they sit very nicely together in the Phoenix Guard unit.
Monthly Total:
Mounted Hero (Barded Steed, Light Armour, Shield, Sword) - 114 pts
Mounted Army General (Imrik) - (Barded Steed, Heavy Armour, Lance) - 172 pts
Phoenix Guard Unit Champion (Heavy Armour, Halberd) - 53 pts
Army Battle Standard Bearer (Heavy Armour) - 101 pts
Mage Lord - 328 pts
Total - 768 pts
So... with May being my leader month and all four of my rank and file months already completed I 'could' call my OWAC VI completed with a month to spare...
But I think the appearance of Imrik minus a dragon and the mention of multiple charioteers but no chariots might give you some clues as to what might be coming for my final wild card month.
Thanks for reading and congratulations to everyone who made it through month five!
