Dwarf army finished !

First of all I would like to say thank you to everyone who has been viewing my blog as I have exceeded 5,000 views since I started in April (5,207 as of lunchtime today). It's nice that people have taken an interest. I still have loads more to photograph and to paint.

Secondly, whilst it was lovely and sunny outside yesterday,  I was sitting indoors finishing painting the Dwarf Army. That is now the third of the 3,000 point armies done, the others being Orcs/Goblins, and the Slann. Next on the agenda are either the Dark Elves or Undead. I am planning to do a mail order to Foundry miniatures at some point for some of the old C26 Men at Arms miniatures to finish off the Bretonnians, but they will not be ready for painting for a while.

I enjoyed getting the Dwarves painted and having another army up and running, although they are'nt as endearing to me as painting Goblins. Very pleased with the look of the Dragon Company and the green and red theme to the army. Some of the flesh tones of a couple of the Dwarves came out a little darker than I have planned, and so will re-highlight those this afternoon.

Here is the army:

 The whole 3,000 point army

 The Dwarf King and Wizard.

 Need to think of names for these two.

 16 Hammerer's, +4 Shock elite.

3 Hammerer's

The one on the left is the 'Stout Dwarven Warrior' from the BC1 Adventurer Starter set.

 3 more Hammerer's. The one of the left is named Brewer, and I have been told that he was meant as an additional extra for the Bugman's Regiment of Renown.

 Another 3 Hammerer's.

 3 Imperial Dwarf Crossbowmen.

 These are the all the one piece casts.

 3 Crossbowmen with the plug in plastic crossbows

 20 Warriors with double handed weapons, light armour, and shield.

 3 Warriors. 

All of the Warriors are a mix of the C06 Warrior, D4 Adventurers, D5 Imperial Dwarf, D6 Villagers, Norse Dwarf ranges, with a the occasional one from the C06, C07, C08 solid based ranges. 

 2 D5 Imperial Dwarves and a D6 villager.

A  Norse Dwarf; Dwarf Adventurer called Dimzad Stoutheart; and a solid based C06 Dwarf Adventurer, also included in the Dungeon Adventurer Starter Pack.

 On the left is Drambuin, from the Dungeon Adventurer's starter set. 

 20 Warriors with hand weapon, light armour and shield.

 The Level 10 Hero, flanked by warriors.

 2 more Imperial Dwarves and an Adventurer 

 I am pleased how the red and green quartering looks on the cloth and shields.

 A mix of Dwarves, the one of the right is called Thombear.

 One the left is a D5 Dwarf called Rom Rom; in the centre is a Marauder Range Dwarf; and on the right is a Dwarf named Zircon.

 2 Regiments of 20 of Prince Uther's Imperial Dwarf Dragon Company, being used as +1 Shock Elite Clansmen.

 Comand Group.

 I did'nt include the Prince Uther model in the army as both units have the same Level 10 hero, so I thuoght to keep it simple with the Champion models leading the Regiments.

 The Dwarf on the left is actually a Dwarf Adventurer, but I understand that he was produced in a similar style to the Dragon Company troopers to be added for variation, which is what I have done.

 The other two are Troopers from the box set.

 2 other Troopers variants.

 The Gob-lobber, standing in for the 3-man Catapult. 

The thing that always made me wonder was that the Dwarves were meant to be more civilised than Goblins. However, here they have decapitated two Goblins and cut the hand off of one of them and nailed it to the front of thier War Machine!  And that is ignoring the fact they load them alive onto a catapult and fire them back at the Goblins.

 Upside down!

Looking at the bowl on the catapult arm, I never noticed until re-painting that it forms a face.

 Three of the Crew.

 Two Cannons and Crew. The crew member on the right has the flesh tone that needs lightrning.

 Aiming!

 The bound Dragon 1, all based up, being bound by the Wizard. It gives a better idea on how comparatively big the Dragon is. It is on a 50mm square base.

Two freshly based Jabberwocks, not doubt off to find Michael Palin  ;)

I really enjoyed painting these up and getting them done.

Beware the Jabberwock(s) !

Due to public demand, and to test run my new paint brush, this evening I have painted the Jabberwock photographed in the last blog update. I also painted the other Jabberwock I have.

The green-ish one is based on the colourised illustration used in Alice Through the Looking Glass. The second Jabberwock is loosely based on the Jabberwock in the film Jabberwocky, although I have given it red eyes consistant with the poems discription of  'eyes of flame' (although that might be a simile).

As noted, I won't be using any of the Jabberwocks in my 3,000 point Dark Elf army. They will probably get put in one of the Chaos armies or a larger points Dark Elf army.  Fun to paint though, and quick. I will be varnishing and basing them tomorrow.


Also, in between waiting for the paint to dry on the Jabberwocks, I finished off the Grenadier Rock Lizard Monster that I intend using as a wingless Dragon for the Dwarf army. 

I'm quite pleased by the way all three turned out.

 Two of the C29 Jabberwocks !

 Side views

 Close up of the face

 The body. In the poem the Jabberwock wears a vest, but the model does'nt (probably best, it would look right for Warhammer).

 Back view.

 The darker Jabberwock. Easy to paint, just drybrusing green-grey over black, with some details. He looks a lot less freindlier than the other one.

 Side view. No vest either!

 Back view. His tail is slightly longer, the other one might have the end missing.

 The Blue Tongued, Wingless, Rock Dragon

 Boo!

Back scales.

Dark Elves: 3,000 point army list.

Just a quick update for today, I'll probably do a another better update with more pictures of something else on friday, and then one on the Dwarf army for sunday.

As part of my ongoing sorting out of armies, I have paint-stripped, re-organised and undercoated my old 1980's Dark Elf army, and then wrote up a 3,000 point army list for them. I have also written up a provsional 3,000 point Bretonnian list, and been getting stuff together for the Undead army, but more of that at a later date.
Sadly, I have'nt been able to get much of the Dwarf Army painted, although there is not a lot to do, so they will be done soon.

My Dark Elf army has always been overshadowed by other stuff in terms of collecting and gaming (Slann anyone!!). I always liked the background and the feel of the army, but as I spent a lot of time fighting Wood Elves and Dwarves,  felt that as an army, they lacked something.

Firstly, I found the list itself constricting as they seemed to have the highest points value worth of compulsory troops of any of the armies. The 40 Warriors, 10 Witch Elves, and 20 Crossbows, makes 800 points before you start. Only the Orcs and Goblin have a higher number , 80 troops at 450 points.

Secondly, especally fighting Wood Elves, I found that the 24 inches ranged crossbow was no match for a Elf long bow. The bow has a range of 36 inches, a good 12 inches more range the crossbow, meaning that I had to spend 2 to 3 turn moving to get in range, then wait until next turn to fire. With the standard tactic of hanging back on the table edge by armies such as Elves and Dwarves it meant sometimes spending 3 to 4 turns with out returning fire and getting shot at.

So I have designed this army to combat this more. I took a lot more Crossbowmen, and they have shields for advancing. Two units will advance skirmishing to benefit from the -1 to hit, and to maximise thier return fire.
 The Witch Elves are crossbow armed, and there are more Warriors than I used to take to mitigate losses and to split enemy fire. In addition,the General on the Dragon, the bound Hippogriff, and the Harpies, provide a faster flying menace that can allow the foot soldiers to advance and see off any Giant Eagles. I took the heroine on a Temple Dog to provide hard hitting magical based close combat support, and because I love the model, and why not field a Temple Dog if you have one!?

I did'nt go for Cold One riders, or any Cavalry as they are expensive in points, and with a smaller sized the Dark Elf army to pay for them, they would not be sheltered from missile fire.  I might go for Dark Riders with Crosbows at a later date. Also, the Repeater bolt throwers did'nt work with a fast moving advancing army, and with only 2 crew, are suprisingly fragile.
 I might try to find 30 points from somewhere to give the Witch Elves poisoned attacks, as strength 5 crossbow shots are unexpected!

Here is the list and the undercoated army:

Level 20 General mounted on a Dragon 1 , with heavy armour, shield, hellhoned blade =507 points

Level 20 Heroine mounted on Temple Dog, lance, light armour, shield =258 points

Level 20 Wizard  =303 points

40 Crossbowmen with hand weapon,light armour and shields (to be split into 4 units of 10) = 560 points

10 Witch Elves, with hand weapon. light armour, crossbows =130 points

19 Warriors, hand weapon, light armour, shield, standard bearer, musician, and level 10 hero = 322 points

19 Warriors, hand weapon, light armour, shield, standard bearer, musician, and level 10 hero = 322 points

 19 Warriors, hand weapon, light armour, shield, double handed weapon,  standard bearer, musician, and level 10 hero = 366 points

Chaos host:

1 bound Hippogriff  =200 points

2 bound Harpies = 30 points

=2,998 points.

 The army on the board (with the Dwarf and Wood Elf Armies on the 'to do' shelf above ! 

 20 Warriors made up from the solid based RR4 Menghil Manhides Regiments of Renown set.
The paint scheme for the entire army will be largely black, with a few dark pieces of metal, and a limited palatte of a few dark colours for equipment. I might go for some gold details if I keep the Dragon gold.

 20 more Warriors, with a mix of Menghil troops and C09 Dark Elves.

 20 Warriors with double handed weapons and shields. A mix of Citadel and Marauder figures.

  3 units of Crossbowmen from the PBS3 Warhammer Regiments. I forgot to photograph the other unit, but there are a few lurking in the background of the photograph below.

Heroine on Temple Dog  (with lurking crossbowmen).

Army general, a spare Dragon-horse rider with a Marauder shield.

2 Harpies. 

They are two demonettes from Spyglass miniatures, and I think they fit in well. I had no other use for them.  I do have 2 of the Bob Olley Harpies, but no idea where they are.

Wizard and Hippogriff.

Elf General on Dragon. I painted this Dragon up recently with an idea of putting it in the Bretonnian army, but I plan to make a green stuff saddle and use him here. Not sure if I will keep the gold colour, not too keen on it. Might go a dark midnight blue.

The poor, forlorn, and not included Jabberwock. 

I was going to use it instead of the Hippogriff, but I wanted something not subject to supidity that might wonder off. He'll end up in one of the Chaos armies probably.