Photo-shoot of the pre-slotta Dark Elf army.

This weeks blog update is a little bit of a 'photo-album', as in that there are a fair few photographs, but little accompaning text or prose as the photographs are largely self explanatory.

After photographing my completed pre-slotta Dark Elf army last week, I booked a table at my local gaming store, The Dice Saloon in Brighton, to do a proper photoshoot of the army on a full sized gaming table, as I have done with my Snakeman army. The Classical looking scenery is mine, which I think complements the classical look of the Dark Elves, the rest of the scenery belongs to the shop. I am really happy with how the army looks, and the Classical Greek look.

Enjoy :)

Side view of the army.

Front view.

From the view of a Dwarven Gryrocopter.

The flank of the army, with Scouts advancing.

Crossbowmen.

General on Dragon.

And again.

Better view of the General.

Cold One riders.

Cold One riders, with better view of the standard.

Cold One riders, showing the shields.

Standard bearer and leader.

Shields.
I chose some of the more intricate designs for the Cold One riders shields to signify their elite status. 

More shields.

Even more shields. These three are some of my favourite.

Dark Elven sorceress.

Rear view of the sorceress. I painted her cloak black, but the lining purple, as per some coven cloaks. 

Male Dark Elven sorcerer.

Bound Ghost. I love this miniature, it's a very old miniature, simple sculpt, but effective.

(Great grandpa's!) Mengil Manhides regiment.

Top view showing the shields.

Shield wall!

Alternative painted sea raider version of Mengil Manhides.

Top view.

Shield wall!

Witch Elves.

Witch Elf.
I painted her up in a slightly Gothy look, with stripey leggings.

More Witch Elves, about the fail a frenzy test!

Crossbowmen.

A few of the Crossbowmen's shields. 

More Crossbowmen's shields.

Shadows, Darf Elf Scouts, moving through the forest, er, scouting I suppose.

Scouts.

I took a few different photographs of the army.
Here they are marching through the ruins of an ancient Elven city in the forest.

Closer up.

Glimpses through the trees of the passing army.

Crossbowmen and Cold One riders.

Crossbowmen and Cold One riders from the other side.

Rear Guard of the army.

Sea raiders.

The first of a few 'Classical Greek' vignettes.
Crossbowmen tackle a Hydra in a ruined Classical Greek temple.

Shadows corner a Gorgon, but is that such a good idea?

Witch Elves attack a Harpy perched in another ruined Classical temple.

The Army General amongst the ruins of a ancient city.

Next weeks update may be on my Slann armies, or my redux Catachan army, both of which are currently distracting my attention.

Pre-Slotta Dark Elf army finished!

Wow! I did'nt realise that had been this long since I updated my blog! Sorry, but in my defence I have been a busy Goblin painting and finishing my pre-slotta Dark Elf army. However before I detail them, I would like to say that my blog has received 360,500+ views, which is pretty cool. Thank you for everyone who has taken an interest in my intermittent blog updates. :)

Now concerning the Pre-Slotta Dark Elves, I have finally finished painting the army. This blog update is a 'stop-gap' in a way. My plan is to update with a few photographs of the army now, and of the shields to show how they look. However I am planning to go to my local games store (the Dice Saloon) to hire a much larger gaming board to photograph the Dark Elves in a much better (hopefully!) set of photographs, as I did with the Snakemen.

The main time consuming aspect of the army were the shields. As I have mentioned before, I considered the old C09 pre-slotta Dark Elves to have a slightly 'Classical Greek' feel to them. So, with that in mind I have added some Classical Greek Hoplite shield transfers I purchased from 'Little Big Man Studios'. As the Dark Elf shields are small I opted for 15mm scale transfers from Xyston, which I guessed (correctly!) that they were the right size. Little Big Man Studio's website is here: http://www.littlebigmenstudios.com/

I am really happy with the look of the shields, and the army as a whole. I tinkered with the shield transfers where the transfers and shield edges met with the transfers to blend in with the colours, and I think they give the Dark Elves a distinctive look. I wanted a 'Classical' feel to them, an anitiquity aspect to them to suggest a post Elven Civil War feel, before the Dark Elf culture became very distince to the High/Sea Elves, and also in line with the 1st Edition background.

Apart from the Dark Elves, I have been lucky enough to win an e-bay auction for one of Nick Bibby's Spined Dragons. I love this miniature, and it is becoming very collectable and so difficult to find at a non-silly price. However, as it was broken, I managed to bag it, and then repair it. I still have to add the wing membranes, which I plan to do with very thin (0.25mm) plstic card, and then paint thinly to suggest the translucence of membranes.

Other than that, I randomly bought a Dragon Skull incense stick holder for £15 to use as background for photographing. I have been working on sorting out my Melnibonean army, which I really want to paint soon, and making plans to revive my Catachan army for 40k. After recent conversations, I will also post an inventory of my Slann at some point as well.

Enjoy :)

The obligatory, if not very good, army photo shot. 

Centre of the army.

Army General.

Rear view.

Female Wizard.
I like her as she is a realistic looking middle aged Elf. reminds me of some of the Wiccans and Druids I know ;)

Male Dark Elf Wizard.

Bound Ghost.

Dark Elf Sea raiders, made from the RR4 Regiment of Renown Mengil Manhide's Dark Elf Company, with a C09 Dark Elf Leader.

RR4 Regiment of Renown Mengil Manhide's Dark Elf Company, with 'Mengil himself', well sort of really. As this is a post Elven Civil War army, it would be too early for Mengil himself. So I like to think that the male regimental leader and the female standard bearer are Mengils ancestors, and he followed in their (bloodsoaked) footsteps many years later.

Cold One riders.

Witch Elves.

Crossbowmen.

More Crossbows!

Scouts.
I actually have ten of these, but I only seemed to have photographed five.

Shield transfers.
These were easy to use, although I did have a couple of mishaps. They are great quality and cheap.

Crossbowmen's shields.

More Crossbowmen's shields.

Shadows (scouts).

Again Shadows (scouts).

Cold One rider.
I went for some of the 'fancier' shield designs for the Cold One riders as they are an elite.

Cold One rider.

Cold One rider.

Cold One rider.

Cold One rider.

The Sea Raider Warriors regiment. 

I opted for more of the aquatic designs for this regiment.

More Sea raiders.

Mengil's ancestor and troopers!

Dragon skull, with Goblin for scale.

Nick Bibby's sculpted 'Great Spined Dragon' from 1984. It's a lovely Dragon, full of character, and quite a size. I never bought it at the time as I was put off by having to make the wing membranes.
This little chap (or chap-ess?) was a bargain at £85 inc P&P compared to recent auctions. It came listed as broken, which may have put people off of the auction, with a broken and foot, but I fixed those.

Repaired, the Goblin being for scale, and of course mischief!

Right hand side view.

That's a lovely smile! :)

Next blog update, which will be next week I promise, will be a proper series of photographs of the pre-slotta Dark Elf army.