Pax Elfhammer

 

Another month of the Odds and Sods Challenge passes, another army complete! You'll have seen Happhyia Siddance previously, here's the rest of his woody kin. They're the happy little treefolk who suffer no high speed rail or crap estate developers to ruin their haven.

Most of the army is a blend of Jes Goodwin elves that somehow survived my "I'm an adult now" toy cull, ex-Grenadier elves from Forlorn Hope and Battlezone and plastic Fantasy Regiments elves. The Jes elves I repainted a couple of years ago. I had been using them as human tribes for my fimir but I thought they deserved a better paint job so I broke my rule on not repainting for them.

There are also some of my own sculpts in here, Oakbound Faw Walkers- an attempt to complement the Jes and Copplestone elves. Not all that successful but they make up the numbers.

I see the wood elves as a very bow-heavy army. If you can even see them (never mind reach them in close combat) that doesn't feel very elfish to me. With the exception of the wardancers of course, who should appear from nowhere, cause havoc and vanish again into the trees.

The regiments elves I picked up cheaply in a few lots. I love them for doing exactly what they were intended for- filling out the units with loads of low-cost troops that have enough variation not too look too monopose.

I was given enough silvan elves to break up the plastic ranks. They'll likely be mixed together when fielded but here they are in a separate unit.

And some of my own archers too.

Here's this month's actual challenge minis, the glade riders. The Copplestone cavalry are great but the actual mounted models are limited on the bow front and I want to preserve the heavy-archery theme. I really don't see wood elves driving headlong in ranks of lancer cavalry intending to run their foe into the ground... not unless they're clearing up the fleeing remnants of a routed foe.

To give myself more mounted archers I have cut the tabs off ex-Grenadier foot archers and bent their legs to fit on the horses. I don't think they look too bad for such little effort. The horses I wanted to give a kind of native American painted look to introduce a bit more colour to an otherwise pretty drab green force. That's entirely appropriate of course, but doesn't pop on the table as much as I would like.  

The command are also adjusted from foot troops. Rather irritatingly I put the champion and standard on the same horse (a Citadel one I think? I actually don't like it as much as the Grenadier ones) and the musician and general on the same horse so the front rank of the unit is two horse sculpts instead of four. Ah well.

No wood elf army is complete without wardancers! A blend of Jes Goodwin and my own sculpts with some 4th edition ones at the back (with substitute heads as I sculpted Anubis heads onto the originals to use with my Egyptian high elves, then switched their allegiance again) and lead by the WHQ wardancer which is one of my favourite models of all time. I don't think I have done him justice, might need to get another one and try again. 

Of course nature is on the side of the elves against stupid humanity. The Mark Copplestone eagles are amazing. I put the riders into other units (find them somewhere above!) as I just didn't think they could actually ride the eagles in the way they are posed. Anyway, eagles by themselves are cool and more multi-purpose.

The flora of the woods is the hidden might of the wood elves. Taking cover behind a tree from the hail of arrows? Sorry, wrong tree! This big fellow is a 6-soul sluagh from oakbound, formerly Bear's Head Miniatures Oggalump.

I seem to have amassed quite s election of treefolk... here's another Oakbound (only a 4-soul sluagh this one, there's a 2-soul one as well, but not in this selection), a RAFM and a Hinchliffe now Broadsword Miniatures (based on an Alan Lee drawing from Faeries... or is it a Brian Froud illustration? I forget).

And, of course, a mighty Trish Morrison treeman. Definitely a birch this one.

Lastly, these two are Alternative Armies. I think I ordered one and then they were giving them away free so I ended up with two. The metal arms (resin bodies) are nicely posable to make them look sufficiently different.

Pax Elfhammer

Reign of the Lichemaster: Macabre Monks of La Maisontaal

What did Kemler do after he had decimated the settlements in the Frugelhorn valley? He went to the abbey of La Maisontaal where he had once enjoyed shelter and learned camaraderie from the brothers. That turned sour when Kemler's studies become more overtly dark and the Lichemaster was cast out to wander gibbering in the wilderness. The reunion was not to be a pleasant one...

So runs the tale in Vengeance of the Lichemaster (Citadel Journal Spring 86) which introduced the villainous Skaven for the first time. It's also featured as part of the Lichemaster WFRP campaign, adopting different names once again. La Maisontaal existed before the concept of the nature god Taal had been thoroughly explored so its resident brothers as described and shown in the painting by John Blanche (above) for the cover of the Journal don't immediately conjure up images of what a modern WFRP player might expect from Taal-ites. But that's just as well because I never was orthodox in my interpretation of Warhammer fluff. My brethren have adopted the red robes and yellow trimmings of the Blanche painting. 

There are two 'types' of monk described in the campaigns. The 'Warrior Monks' are the 'younger' initiates... yes, they are kung fu monks. There aren't this many in the WFB scenario (indeterminate number in the WFRP campaign) but this doesn't seem an unreasonable amount for a decent-sized abbey. In the WFRP campaign there's a small village adjacent to the abbey and those villagers are porbably among these ranks now as well, plus of course there would be some extra recruits already in the graveyard... Since he's pissed off with the monks I reckon Kemler would find it amusing to arm former followers of Taal with agricultural tools. They are lead by Bagrian (the Master of La Maisontaal in the Journal) and Jean-Louis Dintrans who succeeds the dying Master at the start of the WFRP campaign.  

Fir Bolg Shadow Lord from Celtoc (Brigade Models). He straddles two bases!

An assortment- Citadel, Ral Partha, North Star, Zealot?

Gary Morley Wraiths and standard

Marauder/Night Horrors/Citadel

Harlequin (Black tree Designs)

Then there are the 'Wizard Monks' (magical monks of La Maisontaal), older brothers who have made a study of the mystical arts. Again there are more of these than in the WFB scenario, the extensive crypt of old Masters has been raided for the purpose! I've given these more decorative trim to their robes to show their status. They are lead by Rene de Muscadet, the Master who dies at the beginning of the WFRP campaign and who was responsible for driving out the Lichemaster, mortally wounding him in the process. The former Master is forced to carry his skull, a ram's head being placed on his neck as form of humiliation by Kemler.

Past Masters- Ral Partha, Chronopia and RAFM

Alternative Armies

Citadel, gotta love those old barrow wights

Later LotR... Ringwraiths more colourful than they've ever been before

Alternative Armies, Citadel and ?

Of course the monks aren't the only asset residing at La Maisontaal. Thanks to Bagrian (in the Journal scenario) or de Muscadet (in the WFRP campaign) the abbey is also the current resting place of the Black Ark, a powerful chunk of Warpstone, and the Mechanical Warrior. The Skaven of the original scenario have been repulsed and Kemler has retained possession of the Ark which he is using to increase his power. The Mechanical Warrior he has kept in service as a novelty. In the original scenario the warrior is a Dalek (Citadel released their licensed Daleks in the same Journal issue) but I have gone with a more tin-man style animated suit of armour... until I find a Dalek model that is. The Black Ark is being stored in an ox-drawn casket so Kemler can take it with him should he need to tap its power whilst out and about. The Skaven will not have forgotten where it lies...

The Ark is a repurposed Black Coach with the original coachman now an outrider, dethroned by the Plague Cart driver. I never liked the Black Coach model, it always felt rather too silly, even for a fantasy wargame. The oxen are from the Fenryll chariot.

Next week- the defeated forces of Bretonnia!

Reign of the Lichemaster: Macabre Monks of La Maisontaal

Barbaric reinforcements

September is the usual kick-off time for new year-long army projects after the lull of summer and passing of BOYL. However I have so many odd bits and pieces to add to existing armies I had already decided that 2022-23 should be the year of 'finishing' (such as is ever possible) those forces. I am approaching a significant birthday and am feeling a bit of pressure to get things I want to do done before my eyesight fails completely, then I can just enjoy playing with them knowing the figures are painted as well as I possibly could. Imagine my delight therefore when Dave of Snickit's Tail  announced that this year's challenge was going to be odds and sods, perfect! The rules are no two concurrent months can be from the same army (can definitely manage that) and each will have a theme. This month's is 'Rank and File' so I have used it as an excuse to get some barbarians added to my barbarian horde. 

Ral Partha Europe Savage Skirmishers from their Barbarian Clans.

Chronopia Maidens of the Blade and a shaman from Alternative Armies that was a free giveaway last year... or was it the year before?

More RPE Barbarians

The month's entry complete. 15 barbarians to join the throng of the Horny King.
 

Barbaric reinforcements

We are the fighting Uru Lukinnat!

Happy new year settlers of blogsphere! This Christmas was a bit of a first, with no need to travel and the big day falling in the middle of the first week I had 9 clear days which translated (with a cold and impromptu days out and housework) into a solid 5 days of paintingand sculpting. :)

Thus was I able to expand my Orctober efforts to a mighty 2000pts of not-green skins. The mighty, fighting Uru Lukinatt, greatest goblinoid horde of Morrrrrrdooorrrrrrr! To be fair, not all of these were started and finished in the holidays, the crossbow arrer boyz has been creeping towards being finished for most of November and December. 40 odd goblins and 15 orcs, however, are a pretty good turnover for 5 days, even if they are definitely tabletop standard!

Speaking of standard...

I'm not totally sure, but someone fluent in black speech told me the approximate translation is "Oo are yoo lookin' at? Boris is my aunty", whatever that might mean. I figured it was a good moment to revive a truly oldhammer tradition, putting detested leaders on banners! The stone tablet afixed to the pole carries the regiment's official motto "Break shit, done". The reverse of the banner, designed to spur on the following unit, carries the unofficial motto.

I realised I needed to double my number of goblin warriors to make it effective, but was having difficulty finding an economically viable way of doing this. Luckily I had dug out some Moria goblins to paint and had been playing with Prince August home casting moulds that Harry gave me. The worst thing about both these sets of models was the heads, so I experimented replacing them with the very Angus McBride-style orc heads once released by Wargames Factory. They're oversized, as fits a goblin, and really helps lend them a LotR vibe. A short amount of superglue on fingers and broken knife blades later and...

Not too shabby. I had the bow goblins left, so thought I'd get myself a small unit of wolfriders to harass enemy flanks. Because they have a bit of a steppe goblin look I thought I'd put them on the Tibetan mastiffs I sculpted a few years back, with two huge RAFM wolves as mummy and daddy. Really pleased with how how the poses worked out.

This was also a great opportunity to paint up a recent acquisition. I've had my eye on an old Asgard Half Troll Chieftain for some years and last year finally got it together to collect a small group of buyers together and order from Viking Forge who still make them. He's too small to be a proper troll, of course, but makes an excellent Orcish Warboss.

The rest of the orcs are a mish mash of still-available miniatures and a few oldies I had available. I had ordered from SHQ at the start of December, but sadly still no sign of those despite being assured they were on their way. As it turns out I think I have enough orcs, I was just hoping a few of their mountain orcs might go with Alternative Armies one to make a small unit of Black Orcs and allow me to field my warboss as one. I still have some boarboyz to add, and am looking for the savage orc boarboy boss if anyone has one for trade or sale in the UK. He was my first metal Citadel Miniature, painted in Humbrol enamels and car body paints, and I would love to have another crack at him.

The background, in case you are wondering, was the product of the wife and I having our first lesson with Bob Ross to celebrate our 10th anniversary. Still lots to work on (it really isn't as easy as it looks!) before I try to tackle anything specific, but works nicely for a soft-focus backdrop.

The photo at the top shows the whole horde, this shows just the figures completed since Christmas (including 14 arrer boyz started in November).

We are the fighting Uru Lukinnat!

Orctober Fest 2019

I painted some orcs.

I realised that I only had two sets of orcs- my Goblinoids set which live in their nice display cabinet and my Heroquest orcs. What I needed was some gaming orcs!

Sadly prices of classic Citadel orcs seem to have gone up even more than when i was doing the Combat card thing a few years back. In fact I don't think I could have begun to do that project with today's eBay prices for these chaps. There must be thousands of them around, I guess people just love them and hang on to them. I did have a couple kicking around and managed to pick up a few broken models but it seemed that the best way forward would, like with my undead, be to find old-school still-in-production miniatures. This seemed quite difficult. Most of the available orcs were knock-off red era cartoony without being anything like as well sculpted. Those that caught the look exactly (like Knightmare Miniatures' Kev Adams-sculpted, ex Crooked Claw) are still too pricey for me to get more than a small warband's worth from, I may as well get the classic Citadel ones.

In the end I decided that rather than try and capture the Citadel look I should go for another orcy classic, Angus McBride's LotR illustrations. This was especially relevant as I've just got back into playing the ICE Middle Earth CCG and GW LotR skirmish game again.

Many years back I bought some Wargames Factory plastics to make an Angus McBride orc force, but they were really too spindly in my view to do the job well. For this attempt at an orcy rabble I turned to Alternative Armies, Ral Partha Europe, Denizen Miniatures (Paul Strivens goblins) and a Westfalia goblin that fitted nicely with the Citadel Monster Starter Set I'd wanted to paint for a while.

I think they turned out as a nice orcish rabble.

This is all I've managed for Orctober, I have another 40-ish orcs waiting to go (archers and boar riders mostly) but time is in rather short supply at the moment. Nor are these strictly finished, there are some details left to pick out and a couple of broken weapons still to fix. I want to put a big banner on the Monster Starter Set ogre. They'll do as my Orctober contribution though. :)

The orcs (and goblins) on the right are based on 20mm slottas and will probably count in WH as goblins but to my mind they are all orcs. After all, Tolkien didn't draw a clear distinction and there are clearly orcs and goblins of various sizes in his writings.

Orctober Fest 2019