With a high degree of unintentional synchronicity with Games Workshop, I decided to have another look at my Dark Elf army which I put on hold early in the the Summer.
After painting the Snakemen I thought it was a shame to have got most of the way through the army and not completed it. I also knew that there was very little left to do, and so that if done, it would be another of the 3rd edition Warhammer Armies completed. :)
It was very much just a week long project, but distracted me from updating during the week. After updating the blog last sunday, I re-wrote the army list to include more of the Snakemen (as a stand-in for Fimir in an Ally Contingent), and added the Repeating Bolt Throwers which I felt I should not have left out.
I was'nt happy with mix of miniatures in the army. The mix of 1st Edition Mengil Manhide's Regiment, slotta C09 series Dark Elves, and the later Marauder ones did'nt seem to work. Especally as one of the two Mengil Manhide's regiments had to be bulked out with C09 Dark Elves. So, whilst wasting time on e-bay I found 11 Mengil Manhide's for sale (for £20) which meant I could now have two uniform regiments as the core for the army, flanked by Snakemen, and supported but other units.
As an aside, I paid £20 for 11 1984 Dark Elves, a good buy I think. Now while I don't want to get involved in a GW bash, the new snazzy Dark Elves being released are very nice, but £2 per plastic miniature! And the Witch Elves are even more pricey, with a plastic (thankfully not 'Finecast') Assassin of about £10 or £12. It does re-inforce my thought that 'Finecast' is a stop-gap until they can have a fully plastic range. It also makes me think I have made the right choice by not bothering with current GW stuff now my 'modern armies' are completed (I'll do an update of the full Tomb Kings force at a later date).
Anyway, back to the 3rd Editon army.
To give an usual grey pallid feel I painted the flesh of the Dark Elves with a basecoat of Vallejio WW2 German Field Grey, and then highlighted them with a mix of that with white. I wanted to give the Dark Elf Army a really dark raider feel. So I avoided any bright colours and went for predominantly black and midnight blue, with muted metal and gold decoration to stop them looking too dull. I avoided purple, which is used a lot in Dark Elf armies, but I think that as a soon as you use it as a main colour it dominates the look of the army too much. I might go back at a later date and add Elven Runes/Script to the shields.
Also, the relative brightness of the Snakemen I feel gives a nice constrast between the two, without being too jarring.
Here is the 3,000 point army list:
Level 20 Dark Elf General, Heavy protective rune Armour, Sheild, Hellhonded magical weapon, mounted on a Level 1 Dragon = 517 points.
Level 20 Wizard = 303 point.
Chaos Host:
2 bound Harpies = 30 points
19 Warriors, light armour, shield, Standard bearer, Musician, Level 10 = 322 points.
19 Warriors, light armour, shield, Standard bearer, Musician, Level 10 = 322 points.
10 Witch Elves, light armour, crossbow = 130 point.
2 Repeater Bolt Throwers = 116 points.
12 Crossbowmen, light armour shield = 168 points
12 Crossbowmen, light armour shield = 168 points
Fimir (Snakemen) Ally Contingent:
Warlord, heavy armour, shield =198 points.
7 Finnia Fimm, heavy armour = 322 points.
7 Fimm warriors, light armour, shield, Level 5 = 322 points.
=2,998 points
The plan would be to have the two Regiments of 20 Warriors in the centre, flanked by the snakemen. I gave the Crossbowmen shields as I find it can take time for them to move into postion and range, and so it gives the a little more protection on the move. They will also skirmish, as they are more difficult to hit, all 12 can fire thier crossbows, and I don't plan on using them to fight in melee.
I had to drop the heroine on her Temple Dog due to lack of points. However, I still have lots of Dark Elves still unpainted, and so I will paint her and the other stuff for larger games at a later date.
The Witch Elves and Repeater Bolt Throwers will give missile support where needed, and the Harpies are specifically chosen for attacking other flying things such as Giant Eagles. The General and Wizard will lend a hand where needed.
So here is the army :)
The whole 3,000 point army.
Army General.
When sorting out the Wood Elf and High Elven armies, I relealised that the Dragon Master Miniature was going spare, and so included it as the Dark Elf General after re-painting the face/hair/armour.
Close of up the face.
Side view showing the big citadel plastic shield.
Wizard.
Rear view.
Chaos Host:
Made using Spyglass Miniatures Demonettes.
Two Regiments of Warriors made from 1st Edition Mengil Mangide's Regiment of Renown.
Close up.
Standard Bearer and Leader.
Trooper, front and back.
Musician and a Solid based C09 Dark Elf Black Guard. I swapped him for the actual Champion model as he fitted the regiment better and I only have one hero in the unit.
10 Witch Elves.
Two mid 1980's C09 Dark Elves.
I'm not really a fan of Witch Elves, and so find it better to use them Crossbows. If I had the points left, I might have given them poisoned attacks, and therefore strength 5 shots!
Another three Witch Elves.
I prefer the look of the earlier Witch Elves rather than the big haired bikini clad ones of later sculpting.
12 Crosbowmen.
Three Citadel C09 range.
Three Marauder Crossbowmen.
12 More Crossbowmen.
I had already painted up 10 Warriors to bulk out one of the Mengil Manhide Regiments. So to save wasting time and effort, and because all but one of two of them had slung crossbows on them, and they have shields, I just reformed them into a Crossbow unit and painted up another two to complete them.
Three C09 Dark Elves.
You can just make out the slung crossbows on the belts of the left and right ones.
Another three, consisting of a solid based archer, a slotta warrior (he has a slung Crossbow), and a Marauder miniature.
I have about 30 odd of the plastic Warhammer Regiments Crossbows, I am not too struck on them, but will paint them up for a bigger army if needed. I liked the idea using the 'spare Warriors' above as they are nice miniatures and the Marauder ones don't always rank up easily.
Repeater Bolt Throwers.
Strangely you only get 2 crew in the list, the High Elves get 3, but the set came with 4!
All four of the crew.
Repeater Bolt throwers, front and side/back view. They are exactly the same as the High Elf Ones, and I think they look quiet sinister painted black.
The Snakeman Allies.
'Finna Fimm' with Warlord.
Fimm Warriors.
I only did a couple of photographs as I did a more extensive update on them here:
Next up: Undead!
Now I have finished the 3,000 point Dark Elf army, I have made a start on my 3,000 point Undead Army.
