Shadespyre's May Post - Leaders - Guardians of the Moonglade - 3rd Edition Wood Elves (+2604 points)

 OWAC VII - Leader Month - Guardians of the Moonglade

May

Month Five. Traditionally, for me, this is Leader month. Also the month where things finally all seem to hang together, maybe? Let's find out together!

Let's kick off with a tiny bit of lore. I say a tiny bit implying that there might be more later, but my track record suggests there will be just one tantalising morsel that I never come back to expanding.

In the depths of the great forest, far beyond the wanderings of woodcutters and rangers, where the trees are incredibly ancient and unbelievably huge, there is a vast green glade, in the shape of a crescent moon. In the centre of the glade is a large, still lake; it is also the shape of a crescent moon. And overlooking the lake is a long, green (you guessed it) crescent shaped mound.

At the highest point of this hill stands the largest of the trees, its canopy so wide that it shelters most of the Moonglade. Its huge branches are full of life - squirrels and owls and sprites and so on - but most importantly it is the home of an ancient and potent nature spirit. The spirit of the great forest, its Dryad Queen.

And her King? The Moonglade is home to a large community of Wood Elves, and the mightiest Prince amongst them is her consort. And so when anything threatens her forest, a force of Wood Elves will set forth, led by the mightiest Guardians of the Moonglade.

Or something like that. 

Moons, you see? Like the crescent shaped shields? It's a bit like I planned it...

Some Leader minis then? Here we go:

From left to right:

Autumn hero, Summer Prince, Dryad Queen, Spring Spellsinger, Summer hero

The Autumn hero will probably slot into the Autumn Guard unit (you may recall that I forgot to include a specific leader miniature in that unit). The Summer hero, by contrast, was ejected from one of my Oreon units after I picked up the official champion mini. But I like him so he got painted. The guy with the harp is obviously meant to be a musician but I like the idea of a bardic wizard for Wood Elves.

Here are bigger pictures of the main two - the Dryad Queen is obviously the C34 Life Elemental, not an elf but how could you not use this model? Unless you hate finding and painting all the tiny flowers, of course.

Her consort is the classic moon-helmed Elf captain with a falcon, except that I carefully removed most of the falcon and replaced it with a fancy owl. Because moons and owls, you see. This is the third owl so far, I think.

Oh, his name is Amarion the Evergreen, Prince of Eternal  Summer, Guardian of the Moonglade, and of course he is named to honour the true King of the Wood Elves, our very own Mariano. Thanks for the inspiration, sir! No fancy Forest NMM from me, just coloured washes over Chainmail, but still.

Here's another guy, not technically a Leader but if I don't post him this month I'll forget he exists. He's just an Elf in a wolfskin, but I'm going to call him a Shapechanger, just to include one in the army. That makes him my last (?) rank and file contribution.

Before we move on, I should probably mention basing! Yes, I did some! Yes, it's ridiculously elaborate and is taking ages! Yes, for some reason I have used between 15 and 20 different products to achieve this. So I hope you like it.

You'll note I've put the characters on a movement tray, just for display purposes. I will try to fill the back rank at some point. But this is an opportunity to explain my new basing technique, which is to apply all the basing materials with the minis in place on the movement tray - magnets are obviously key to that. This method is saving me on materials because each individual base doesn't recieve as much attention - the guys in the middle of middle ranks are almost untouched, because you don't see their bases much. 

To aid this approach, I've been applying PVA glue with more precision using a small disposable syringe. I'll leave you to imagine the mess I made perfecting that idea! But it means I can reach into a unit and leave a little blob of glue to stick grass to, or whatever.

So, that was all the Leaders. Or was it?

No, gentle reader, it was not...

Hidden Reserves

Who puts leader models in their optional extras? This guy does! To be honest it wasn't optional, I just wanted to keep it under wraps until it was done. Time to reveal Hidden Reserve No 2...

It's a chariot! A heavily customised chariot, in fact.

I've got one of those lovely MD4 Elven Attack Chariots stashed in a cupboard, but it's soooo fancy I thought it looked better as a High Elf option. I wanted something a bit more rustic, like the picture from the Warhammer Armies book:

And so I built this. The basis is still the chariot floor, pole and yoke from a second metal chariot kit (I found it on its own on eBay). Wheels are from my bits box, the horses are Elf cavalry horses. The large Celtic-styled shield at the front is a button! The body of the chariot is a home made concontion of 3d printed shapes and Milliput - it was a bit of a devil to do, and it's actually rather assymetrical, but I'm quite pleased with the finished model. 

Of the crew, the Archer is the only one who isn't converted. The driver is extensively reposed from an ordinary Elf warrior, his legs were cut off and cut apart and reassembled to get this uncomfortable looking pose.

The Wizard Battle Standard Bearer (yes, this is allowed!) started life as a simple standard bearer who for some reason has a scroll? Go figure. The tree motif (representing the Tree at the centre of the Moonglade) is a piece of cheap jewellery, and is the perch for a fourth owl.

Finally, the Prince of Golden Autumn is pretty vanilla except that I sculpted a moon onto his helmet to match the other Prince. I would have like a more exciting pose for him but I had to pick from what I had *and* make room for him in that tight squeeze.

And *that* concludes our Leaders.

Unless I paint a few more in June, no promises though.

Wow this Month's post is dragging on a bit? But to avoid Wild Card month being even worse, let's add even more stuff! More Hidden Reserves, this time No 4 and No5.

It's ZOAT ALLIES! I genuinely thought you might guess this, just based on the association with Wood Elves and the profile of the model on the end of the row. And then I remembered that I converted that model so there's no reason for it to be a familiar silhouette...!

Second unit first, because it's more photogenic. Notice the same Celtic knotwork as on the Chariot, and the (very basic, I know) heraldry featuring a moon on a green background. It's simple and it gets the job done and that is the point where we have got to. I'll be going back and adding it to other standards in the army.

Not a hugely original colour scheme. I took an olive green not used on the Elves and then graded it darker to brown-green on the backs and lighter with Zandri Dust on the fronts. Am I the only one who thinks the faces are a bit "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles"?

The magic spheres held by the leader of each unit (not technically wizards) are purple because of complementary colours - I'm trying to take this stuff on board a bit. 

A picture just to show how Zoats do not rank up! I used a staggered line, a slight rise in height, and also the rearing pose to make this happen. Sort of. You can probably guess that the minis and trays are labelled underneath because they only fit together in one combination.

The other unit. The standard completely messes up the look of it, but a second rearing standard bearer would have been boring, so I stand by it.

Zoats have to be led by a wizard, so here he is - a big purple extra-magical Zoat. He needs to lay off the purple orbs for a bit, maybe.

I should probably mention the conversions here. The rearing Zoats are made using the bottom halves of the "Zoat the Bibbisaur" star player model from Impact Miniatures. I bought a bunch of these and intended to use the top halves with metal bottom halves, too... but then I got bored of Zoats and passed them on.

Most of the Zoats are as-cast, just with the poses tweaked a little to allow even this level of ranking up. The wizard's club got reused to make a weapon for one of the standard bearers, in turn their weapon was used to top the wizard's staff (a previous owner had already removed the axe blades.) Finally, the standards are made from old plastic ones cut into new shapes to conceal their (evil?) origins.

Oh, if you ever fancy a laugh have a look at eBay and see how much people think Zoats are worth...

Okay, THAT IS IT for May. Back to painting.

Army List Additions:

Scores for May:       2604    points   22 models

1 x Autumn Hero - already accounted for                                                                          0 points

1 x Summer Hero (Level 15)      (Light Armour, Great Weapon, Longbow)             135 points        1 x Dryad Queen (Level 25 Wizard)                                                                                   418 points 

1 x Amarion (Level 25)                 (Heavy Armour, Great Weapon, Falconer)            215 points

1 x Spell Singer (Level 10 Wizard)                                                                                     118 points   

1 x Shapechanger (Giant Wolf)                                                                                           28 points

1 x Wain Lord Chariot                 (Shield, Longbow, Javelin)                                        144 points

1 x Autumn Prince (Level 20)                    (Heavy Armour, Shield, Longbow)           175 points 

1 x Battle Standard (Level 15 Wizard)     (Army Standard, Falconer)                         256 points                                             

Zoat Allies List:

1 x Zoat Leader (Level 15 Wizard)                                                                                       275 points

6 x Zoats                               (Standard, Great Weapon)                                                    420 points

6 x Zoats                               (Standard, Great Weapon)                                                    420 points         

               

Running Total:          6947  points  157  models

Note to self - with all these character additions, need to check the legality of the final army list!

Next Time:

The Wild Card. I'm sure I can still find something to post...

Graeme's OWAC V Introduction post: Wood Elves - Forenrond’s Last Stand

Graeme's OWAC V Introduction post: Wood Elves - Forenrond’s Last Stand

In the early ’90’s a few of my friends and I decided to hold a small Warhammer 3rd edition tournament between ourselves, over a summer holiday, with 3000 point armies. We bought one or two of the Fantasy Regiments boxes between us, to help build up the core armies. One of my friends took the Goblins and Orcs, another took the Dwarves, and I took the Elves and Skaven.

I managed to built up the Skaven army quite a bit (as you might have noticed from OWAC III), but just didn’t have enough models to field a full 3000 points, due to the low points cost per model. So I resorted to my second-choice army - Wood Elves. A small, flexible, well-equipped, archer-heavy army, with a wealth of heroes and wizards. The lovely Jes Goodwin sculpts were a huge factor in choosing them. Thus, they became my first ever Warhammer army.

A plastic bag of second-hand Elf stuff bought from my friend’s younger brother provided me with a cavalry unit and some Wardancers. I then built up a few more units of archers, and a unit of spearmen. I also invested in the newly-released Marauder Dragon, Treeman, and Unicorn, for some serious muscle, with a slightly different style.

I've only been able to find one photo of my army at the time. Here it is in action in the tournament, held on the dining room table at my parent's house, around '93 or '94, I think... :

The bright-red Dragon really should practice his sneak-attacks...

In the end I was third in our summer tournament. I got off to a promising start, decimating an infantry-heavy Dwarf army with a Treeman and Dragon-mounted champion. I suspect the picture above is from that game.

However, I was trounced by the Orc and Goblin army (helped in no small amount by my opponent rolling the ‘invisibility’ Chaos Attribute for his army general’s Wyvern - yes, it was as bad as you imagine… ). The one highlight of this game was attacking a unit of Chaos Warrior allies in the flank, on my first turn, with my Eagle-mounted hero with magical blade. They promptly routed off the table, never to return... all 500 points of them… 

There was also a meat-grinder confrontation between my Cavalry, Wardancers and Spearmen against a unit of Skeletons, Skeleton Chariot and a Corpse Cart (where pushing back the undead caused instability which, due to the Corpse Cart in the vicinity, proceeded to increase the size of the enemy units and/or make them invulnerable to wounds the next turn…). A shortage of magical weapons meant it did not end well…

Despite the ignominious defeats, the Wood Elf army remained my favourite - let's say they were the moral champions! 😀

After going to University, I followed the usual path of losing touch with my friends and the hobby. Luckily, I kept all of my minis in storage, so a good chunk of the stuff you see here are from my original collection, which I’ve just been adding to over the last 20 or so years.

I’ve spent the last few months stripping the majority of my Wood Elf collection, to give me fuel for the OWAC. I suspect I have enough models for multiple challenges. I first considered re-creating my original army, but decided to go for something a bit different:

Forenrond’s Last Stand!

I always wanted to play this battle when I got the 3rd Edition rulebook, but never had enough models (from either side). After many years of collecting, this is no longer an issue… It also gives me an excuse (as if I really needed one) to put together another big group of Jes Goodwin sculpts.

There are no points costs mentioned in the scenario in the rulebook, so below is an overview of the force with points taken, or inferred, from Warhammer Armies for 3rd edition:

CHARACTERS

• Corma Lightmantle (leader of 1st Elven cavalry)
  General - Level 15 Elf Hero
  Lance, hand weapon, shield, light armour, barded warhorse
  143 pts
  
  
• Atlanta
  Level 5 Elf Wizard
  Hand weapon, warhorse
   184 pts
  
  
• Philander (leader of 2nd Elven cavalry)
  Lieutenant - Level 10 Elf Hero
  Spear, hand weapon, shield, horse
  93 pts
  
  
• Labriele (leader of elite Elven archers)
  Level 10 Elf Hero
  Hand weapon, longbow, light armour
  93 pts
  
  
• Sola Brighthelm (leader of Elven archers)
  Level 10 Elf Hero
  Hand weapon, longbow
  91 pts

Character total: 604 pts

RANK & FILE

• 1st Elven Cavalry
  10 mounted lancers, with standard bearer and musician
  Lance, hand weapon, shield, horse
  264 pts
  
  
  
  Yup, still some prep work needed for these...
  
  
  
• 2nd Elven Cavalry
  10 mounted lancers, with standard bearer and musician
  Spear, hand weapon, shield, horse
  220 pts
  
  
  
  
  
  
• 3rd Elven Cavalry
  10 mounted archers
  Hand weapon, longbow, light armour
  240 pts
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Elite Elven Archers
  9 archers (+1 missile elite), with standard bearer and musician
  Hand weapon, longbow, light armour
  143 pts
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Elven Archers
  9 archers, with standard bearer and musician
  Hand weapon, longbow
  121 pts
  
  
  
  
  
  

Rank & File total: 988 pts

Total points:        1592

Bonus ideas

Out of the rest of my Wood Elf collection, I’ve got a long list of potential ‘bonus’ and ‘super-duper bonus’ units.

The ‘bonus’ units are my fall-back to give me a change of pace from the archers and cavalry.

Bonus

• 10 Warhounds
  40 pts
  
• 2 Warhound beast masters
  26 pts
  
  
  
  
  
• 4 Bears
  80 pts
  
• 1 Bear beast master
  13 pts
  
  
  
  
  

Allies:

• Zoat Wizard
  Hand weapon
  275 pts
  
  
  

Realistically, I won’t get round to the ‘super-duper bonus’ stack, but I’m including them to reflect the good chance that my focus will drift and I’ll pick up something random and shiny near my painting desk and start working on it.

• Dragon Lord (Lvl 10 Hero, on Dragon 1, winged)
  Hand weapon, spear, light armour, shield
  392 pts
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Wain Lord Chariot
  128 pts
  
  
  
  
  
• Treeman
  280 pts
  
  
  
  
  
  
• 23 Spearmen, with standard bearer and musician
  Hand weapon, spear
  225 pts
  
  
  
  I'm quite happy with my rescue-job on the leader
  
  
  
• 23 Warrior Kindred, with standard bearer and musician
  Hand weapon, light armour, shield
  275 pts
  
  
  
  
  

This gives me plenty of options, and the freedom to paint what I feel like during the challenge, and it shouldn’t be a tall order to meet the points requirements.

One last thing - and it’s still just an idea - for a Wildcard month (if I suddenly find lots of spare time) I’m tempted to build the scenery for the battle, so that when I complete the Orcs and Goblins part of the scenario, I have something to play it on…

Finally, the Overlord’s Offering! I picked an Elven Wardancer from my Wood Elf army, with Iannick’s favourite colours - which are usually outside my normal palette. For the first time, I used a hobby magnifying lamp while painting, and realised how bad my eyesight is… I really noticed the difference and was able to pick out a lot more detail than normal. This is too slow a process for the main challenge, but I may just use it when painting the leaders... It gives a taste of how I'm planning to paint my army.

Hope you like it Iannick!

goblinpaladin's Wood Elves - an April update (275 points)

♫  ♪  we're half way there / woah-oh ♪

featuring: the Hand of God*

This month just sees a single addition:

Adzel, zoat allied contingent commander and level 15 wizard. 275 points.

*my partner. close enough, right

Sometime last year, I got really into zoats as a concept, even changing my Twitter profile to one based around the noble, long defunct creature. The zoats in both fantasy and 40k were intriguing concepts. I'm sad that they've since dropped away. There was a vague allusion to their 40k iteration in one of the Heresy novels, but that's been pretty much it since the release of Rogue Trader. I think they were in an early 90s Warhammer battle report, but I don't believe there has even been any content featuring the peaceful wizards of the realm for Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay. (I don't talk about 8th edition Warhammer Fantasy.)

her new camera phone really bring out her hand lines

I've bought a handful of them via ebay and the trading communities, but have been really hesitant to paint them. I've not really done lizards or lizard-adjacent creatures before, so I wasn't sure where to start.

This challenge provides a great way to kick your butt into doing things, it turns out.

a noble brow conceals a clever mind

This sculpt is a bit wobbly, with some mould lines I couldn't really scrape away without risking too much damage to his scales, and some wonky bits, especially around the face. I think he turned out okay, at least from my requisite three feet away (in a dimly lit room, without my glasses on).

From Warhammer Fantasy Battle, Priestly, Halliwell & Ansell, p.233. Artist: Angus Fieldhouse. © Games Workshop, 1991.

Only the single miniature this month, folks. Next month should see the return of elves - wardancers, heroes, maybe even a cheeky beastmaster. Until then!

The forest is alive with Squirrels of Judgement! (371 points)

This was kind of a weird month for me. I was hit with inspiration to paint an old Blood Bowl team and totally lost track of the month.

Within the last week I painted up a units of Glade Runners that I could either run on their own or use them to bolster my bowmen ranks.

These models were a lot of fun to paint up. I wanted to have a strong green feel in this unit to have them stand out from the rest of the army.

I kept the blue war paint in this unit to help tie them into my over all force as well as give them that 80's throwback feel.

Adam is a very fancy Wood Elf? Right?

For my final model of the month I wanted to start working on an ally that had the ability to bring some big magic and the possibility of a heavy hitting unit as well. 

I have wanted to paint up this Zoat Wizard Commander for quite sometime but could never figure out what colors to use. I have a few partially painted up for Rogue Trader but I was never happy with the way they came out so they just sat half painted. 

With this one I broke out the airbrush and just started playing with the colors I was already using in the rest of my force. I must say I am pretty damn happy with the way he turned out and I will be revisiting my Rogue Trader Terror Squad now.

The total for this month is:

6 Glade Runners: 96 pts

Zoat Wizard: 275 pts

Total points for March: 371 pts 

Till next month. Skal