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!

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. 

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.

2018 - towel thrown

So following on from my last post here's what Ive managed to get painted unit wise for my Wood elves over 2018 (more or less):

Heroes
Arch mage on dragon
1 x Spellweaver
1 x Wayfinder

Battleline
20 Glade Guard
20 Eternal Guard

Other Units

10 Wardancers
3 Warhawk Riders
5 Hunting Hounds
5 Way watchers

All told that lot comes to about 1300pts painted and based to a tabletop standard that I'm more than happy with.
Left to complete are the following:

Avatar of the Hunt
Nomad Prince
Glade Lord on Great Eagle
3 x Kurnoth Hunters
10 x Dryads
10 x Reavers
5 x Wild Riders
5 x Waywatchers

Finishing those off would put me over the top of 2000pts giving me some flexibility when selecting units but alas at this point this will be added to the list of stuff to paint for 2019.

Going forward i've got plans to add in a Treelord, 10 x Wildwood Rangers, a Repeater Bolt Thrower, Chariot  and maybe some Sisters of the Watch. This would take me nicely to around 3000pts and see the army finished for the time being. This I could see happening in 2020, assuming I achieve my goals for 2019 (which i now won't of course!).

All of this is assuming we don't see a major release relating to Wood Elves or Wanderers in the next two years. If that happens then may God have mercy on my wallet!

The End Times

So it's been a while since I last posted and with the end of 2018 fast approaching it's time for a final push to try to at least complete one of my goals. For those of you that have good memories those goals were:

1) Complete a 2000pt wood elf army for Age of Sigmar

2) Paint 1000pts of Word Bearers

3) Paint 1000pts of Night Goblins

As you can probably guess from the lack of posts showing completed word bearers and Night goblins, the second and third of my objeftives has fallen by the way side. The first one though....that's what still in with shout of achieving. 

Allegiance: Order
Mortal Realm: Ghyran

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

Battleline
20 x Glade Guard 
10 x Dryads 
5 x Reavers 
5 x Reavers 

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

Endless Spells
Quicksilver Swords 
Soulsnare Shackles 

Total: 2500 / 2500
Extra Command Points: 0
Allies: 0 / 400
Wounds: 171

The Narrative Approach

***Rant Alert****today's post is less about progress and more about an epiphany I had the other day with regards to "my" hobby. If it comes across as a little pompous and self important that's not my intention. I just thought that documenting my feelings on this on this here blog might mean I actually reflect on them and actually take them on board this time! Anyway, enough of this and onto today's post.

Like many of my fellow gamers I'm an avid reader of white dwarf. Also like many of my fellow gamers I'm also loath to throw anything out in case I need it at a later date. For those of you that can't see where this is going, this means I now have quite the stack of old White Dwarf magazines.

Anyway, the other sag I was going through some of the oldest one's in my collection and came across an article in issue 290 (old numbering before the mag was rebooted) called "The Narrative Approach" written by one Paul Gaynor. I'd actually go so far to say as this is my favourite white dwarf article of all time looking back. In it Paul talks about creating themed armies in Warhammer fantasy, using his own army of Night Goblins led by scrap collector Ma the Grub as an example (as well as showcasing some other very cool armies also). He talks about building an army around a central theme and the importance of sticking to that theme rather than just picking the best units/combos etc in a list. 

All of this got me thinking about both my own list building and also that of the rest of my regular gaming group's, when it comes to Age of Sigmar and 40k currently. I realised I've become a little obsessed lately with squeezing the best possible combos and units into my lists, reading up on the best units etc... to use in the hope of getting one up on my fellow gamers in our semi regular game sessions. This has resulted, in my opinion, me starting to lose appreciation for an element of what got me into the hobby in the first place, namely the fluff behind the armies I collect. It's also led to me being a bit more over competitive in my games than I ever used to be and perhaps even a little bit "sulky" at times when games werent going how I thought despite all the work I'd put into my lists. (Leading me on to my second favorite WD article about "The Face" written by Jervis Johnson). 

Ultimately it meant that when it came to lists building I was ending up building very samey lists that we're boring me and then subsequently not enjoying the games i was playing with my friends.

This isn't good! After reading that article several times over the last few days i think I'm ready to take it's message to heart. Starting with my wood elves I'm going to review my original list and go back to the drawing board. My intention is to come up with strong theme to base them around in the age of Sigmar and then to use this blog to document their story. 

Hopefully this will mean I can take a little more enjoyment out of my games going forward and spend a little less time trying to min/max my lists. 

Anyway, let me know what you think. Do you have a similar issue to me that's affecting your enjoyment of the hobby?