Monday 16 December 2019

The trees are still moving!!!

So after it being nearly 5 months since my last post and after an excellent British summer consisting of the usual rain and sporting failures its back on board the painting train. Progress has continued apace with the Wood Elves with the latest completed unit being 30 dryads, to go along with my 3 kurnoth hunters presented in the last post.

For those interested the Dryads were painted the same as the kurnoth hunters, without the final layer of Ushabti bone. It makes them darker than the hunters but the variance looks good on the table (I think so anyway).

With the updated Sylvaneth rules also coming into being (finally) I've also assembled and magnetised a Treelord to lead my erstwhile band of saplings. With Treelords also being able to summon a wyldwood as well, I'll probably need to look at getting one of those at some point. Then the army really will function like the Wood Elves of the world that was.

In addition to the 30 Dryads and the Treelord I also finished a unit of 3 Warhawk Riders as well as a Great Eagle Riding Lord to lead them. Armed with the Spirit Sword (he's actually dual wielding swords) I like to think of him swooping in then leaping off the great eagle into the fray and taking names.

Lastly I've also been assembling a unit of 10 Wyldwood Rangers to support my Eternal Guard. I actually bought the box mainly for the additional 10 shields so I could fully shield up the Guard, so I've had the box for quite some time now. The Rangers are some way off being finished but here's a photo of them nonetheless, posed striding through the forest, on the lookout for Interlopers. I like to think of them as the vanguard of my battlehost, even though I think they're rules suggest they're heavy infantry.

Photos to follow for all of this when I can get everything down out of the loft.

Linked to all of this progress, the release of the new free cities battletome has got me very excited. The livig City allegiance is definitely something that needs exploring, although quite how I'll represent my Warhawk Riders and Eagle Rider in that list is anyone's guess....ah well, nice problems to have.



New Beginnings...sort of

So following on my last post I've decided to put the Wood Elves to one side for the time being. This year has most certainly been a year where I've played alot more 40k than AoS anyway, and the state of my poor Dark Eldar army has galvanized me into revisiting them.

Also handy was the release of not one, but two new army boxed sets for the Truekin, Blood of the Phoenix for Psychic Awakening and the Poisonblade Christmas boxed set, both of which I now own (purchases funded through the selling off of my Word Bearers).

In any case both boxes have arrived and I've been busting myself in assembling the mountains of new grey plastic like a madman


 First up is the Master of Blades himself, Drazhar. This model is such a great sculpt, and whilst not as iconic as the original more than makes up for it in sheer dynamism and board presence! Additionally his new rules and soon to come points drop are most welcome.

 Where would the Fallen Phoenix be without a squad of deadly fallen aspect warriors. Again, having these in plastic is great news and meant I finally made the jump to replace my original metal Incubi.

 The first of two new venoms, taking  me to four in total. I've got a vague idea of this being a "command" venom for my Archon and possibly some Sslyth to scoot around the board in. Of course if GW ever decide to up the transport capacity to 6 (please!) then perhaps it'll become a ride for Draz and Co.

 The second of the two new venoms. This is a little more inconspicuous and will probably be transporting a kabalite warrior squad.

The first of two Scourge Squads. I know current internet wisdom suggests haywire blasters, but I can't help thinking of the sheer destructive potential of 4 blasters deepstriking in! 

In any case as you can probably tell this list is going to be heavily kabal based for the moment. Rest assured though I've already got some Haemonculus Coven units in the wings I want to show off. Until next time!

Wednesday 20 March 2019

The trees...they're moving!

So I know these aren't technically elves but the Wood Elves from the land that was hung around with walking trees so why should it be any different in the mortal realms! Sorry, what's that... wanderers betrayal in Ghyran?.... surely that's water under the bridge now! 
Anywho, here's my 3 kurnoth hunters, minus one head. We'll just say he's the unit champion for now until I source a replacement. For those that are wandering where the head has gone I've used it for my Avatar of the Hunt conversion which is currently in progress. 





For those that are interested I undercoated Abaddon black, basecoated the bark areas in Calthan Brown (old foundation paint) and the green "flesh" areas Orkhide shade (another old paint). Bark was then layered dessert yellow and finally ushabti bone before a wash of Aggrax Earthshade. Green areas were layered with Warpstone glow and moot green before a wash of Athonian camoshade. 

Saturday 23 February 2019

New year....Same Armies

I'm back! It's been a while since I last posted and, considering it's now nearly the end of February, much too late for any new years resolutions....isn't it?

Concious of the fact I didn't get anywhere near achieving any of my goals from last year, mainly because I kept getting distracted by my Dark Eldar, Harlequins and Necromunda gang, I've decided to set the bar even lower this year.

With this in mind my main aim for 2019 is to complete the 2000 point Wood Elf battlehost the was my main resolution last year. For those keeping up you might remember I'd painted around 1300points in the end, so surely even I can paint up 700pts in 12 months...you'd think so anyway.

That said I've changed my list yet again! After some more games with my army I'm getting to a point where my Elves are putting up a good fight whilst remaining true to the spirit of my old Wood Elf army, although they certainly wouldn't stand up in a tournament setting! I'm sure things will no doubt change again when I play some more games (2 more games lined up over the next 3 weeks), but I'll try to stay true to this list (try...):


Allegiance: Order
Mortal Realm: Ghyran

Leaders
Archmage on Dragon 
- Magestaff & Book of Hoeth
Avatar of the Hunt 
- General
- Trait: Legendary Fighter
- Artefact: Ghyrstrike 
Glade Lord on Great Eagle 
- Spirit Blade

Battleline
20 x Glade Guard 
10 x Dryads 
5 x Reavers 

Units
10 x Wardancers 
5 x Hunting Hounds 
3 x Warhawk Riders
20 x Eternal Guard 
3 x Kurnoth Hunters 
- Greatbows

Endless Spells
Soulsnare Shackles

Total: 2000 / 2000
Extra Command Points: 0
Allies: 0 / 400
Wounds: 136

I'm thinking I'll update this post as I complete units, maybe even adding their pictures below each unit heading as I complete them if I'm feeling organised!? Then by the end of the year I should have a post that shows off the army in all its glory! 

Probably getting ahead of myself but it's nice to dream. Anyway, let me know what you think of the list. Am I mad, foolish or a genius.