High Elves of Nagarythe (and their estranged kin) - Tale of Fantasy Painters 08-09

[Magos Explorator]

When I first got into the hobby in the mid 1990s, my first purchase was a £5 box of 10 single-pose Chaos Warriors. Shortly after I got the 4th Edition Warhammer Fantasy boxed set: I went for the Elves, while my brother got the Goblins.

So High Elves were the first army I painted, and after returning to the hobby following a 6-year break at the end of the last year, via Horus Heresy-era goodness, I thought I'd revisit them when I came back to Warhammer. Harry's Tale of Fantasy Painters is providing the impetus for me to assemble and paint my force; I thought I'd start my log now, with my test model and rough force outline, ready for the festivities to begin in a week or so. This thread will show my progress towards the goal of 2000 points of troops, with probable forays into the world of Wood and Dark Elves along the way too every now and then.

My painting style's fairly dirty, so I decided to go for a slightly grimmer and more worn look to the High Elves than the traditional clean white. With this in mind, and enamoured with the new foundation paints, I decided to theme my army around the province of Nagarythe, perhaps a force fighting around Anlec and the Shrine of Khaine. Here's what I came up with after an hour or so of work:



I'm fairly pleased with how it's worked out so will stick with the same for the rest of the army. Champions will reverse the white and purple, for a bit more brightness, and I'll try to work more blue into other characters. I'm going for a reasonably decent tabletop standard--I want the force to look good as a whole, and the models to be presentable, but am under no illusions regarding my abilities and the time constraints (although quite fast, I don't get much time to paint).

So, I've planned out a force of a bit over 2000 points to try to get painted over the coming year, so if I ever get a game I can pick smaller armies with some variety. We'll see how it turns out! This is my list:

Lord/Hero choices:
- Hero (I won one on eBay called "Selafyn" quite cheap, but don't see him as a special character in the book, so don't know who he is)
- Mage on foot (one of the late-1990s metal ones)
- Mage on foot (Warhammer Quest Elf Ranger figure)
- Battle standard bearer (will convert from an old musician; just need the plastic banner!)

Core troops:
- 10 Archers with champion
- 10 Archers with champion
- 10 Archers with champion
- 20 Spearmen with full command
- 20 Spearmen with full command

Special troops:
- 14 or so White Lions with full command (have heard 2 ranks of 7 is a good formation?)
- 6 Shadow Warriors with champion
- 6 Shadow Warriors with champion
- Some Sword Masters (however many I can get my hands on cheaply, basically)

Rare troops:
- Repeater bolt thrower
- Repeater bolt thrower
- Giant eagle

I was never a big fan of painting cavalry so haven't included any... perhaps if I get this all done then it's something for the future. I think that's about all I wanted to say in the first post, so hope it's of interest to some!

[Kraal_Lord_Of_Blood]

Actually selafyn (of the anulii?) featured in a white dwarf as a 'semi-special' character designed to slay big stuff, i'd say he's just a regular hero by now though.

[Yorick]

It looks very nice, and you have managed to steer clear of the usual snowwhite and rainbows theme that seem to plague highelves. Very good work, and I think the purple will work well for your Nagarythe theme!

[Magos Explorator]

Thanks. I hope I manage to find the time and keep the motivation to finish the force!

[lord opium]

why not add one more spearmen(elves) to each unit and rank them up by 3x7 so with champion you get 22 attacks striking first? just a suggestion

[Magos Explorator]

I may do that; depends how many models I have! The list above is just a rough guide (based on what I've got now or is in the post).

[Magos Explorator]

So here's the result of Month 1 of the Tale for my High Elves. Only one figure, but I've been busily assembling as many of the rest that I can. I've also got a Wood Elf to post up at some point. Here's a repost from the Tale's thread...

HIGH ELVES

UNIT: 1 Archmage





BACKGROUND/THEME: I've always loved this model, so thought it'd make an excellent choice for my army. The army's themed around Nagarythe so will be darker than normal for High Elves--although this guy isn't so much, as I wanted the characters to stand out.

PAINTING: Foundations and washes, largely; I am enjoying this new paint range a lot!

BASING: Sand painted black, then drybrushed Adeptus Battlegrey and then Dheneb Stone. A little grass added. I wanted the bases to make them look like they could be scouting around a mountain, or the battlefields near Anlec, or perhaps even Naggaroth.

STILL TO DO: He's all done.

HIGHS AND LOWS: I think it's turned out quite well, though as the new washes are different from the old inks they take a little getting used to!

POINTS: ~300

Next month's going to be the rest of the unit for the Archer in the first post.

[TheBattleShop]

I love the colour scheme - very nice!

[t-o-l-o]

Wonderful looking mage! My only suggestion would be to perhaps add an additional highlight to blue on the cape, maybe iceblue, it would help the elevated details stand out better IMO.

[Malakai]

Wow what a coincidence. I just went through an old box of minis and found my High Elves from the fourth edition box too. Aren't those models cool? I especially love the spearelves. I've been thinking of cleaning them off and repainting them some day. I really like your archer, what colors did you use on the scalemail?

-Malakai

[Nephilim of Sin]

This is a great concept, and loved to see it in the TOFP. I really love the color scheme personally, and I have to say you do gems extremely well. As for you keeping up motivation, we can help with that (especially Kraal ).

[Magos Explorator]

Thanks for the comments, guys. I may try another highlight on the blue, we'll see. I agree it'd probably improve the look of the figure a bit.

The mail is quite simple:
- Chaos Black undercoat
- Basecoat Tin Bitz
- Drybrush 2:1 Tin Bits: Mithril Silver
- Light drybrush Mithril Silver
- Ink it; I use a mix of Chestnut and Black inks, but don't know what the equivalent of these will be in the new washes when my pots run out...

I use the same ink mix over my browns, too, so it's quite fast.

[Monsterzonk]

Nice colour scheme! I just started painting High Elves myself, so I know how hard it is to get good results. But yours are really cool! Keep it up!

Cheers,
Monsterzonk

[Lord Azoth]

Like a lot, an original colour scheme for HE...

and you have converted the 5th plastic archer in a very cool mini

[Magos Explorator]

Thanks, all.

I've also painted this classic Wood Elf miniature:



I'm not so pleased with it as I don't think the colours work well. It was again a bit of an experiment with foundation paints and washes (on the green and blue), as well as the Citadel snow basing. I think the pale blue's a bit garish, though, without more contrast in the armour. I should've perhaps made the mail more silvered, and done the gems the same pale blue. Plus the blood is too red.

It was fun to paint, though, and I think it looks ok. Perhaps I'll touch him up some time. I don't have a Wood Elf army, though, so he was just a diversion!

You live, you learn.

[Malakai]

I like this mini. Concerning the blood the most important thing is that it has a natural looking spray pattern, which you got right. The color you can work on and tinker with later. Cool stuff!

-Malakai

[Magos Explorator]

This month I didn't get a massive amount done, but I did finish this Archer regiment:



These next photographs show the reverse paint scheme that I'm going to use for the champions. So they should stand out as being the leaders of the regiment, but not clash terribly with the rest of the force:





I'm planning 2 more units like this (though with different champion models). Next up, though, is a pair of bolt throwers: one of the classic 4th edition range, and one of the new plastics.

I think these guys look pretty good, although the washes still tend to pool a little (see the archer's purple tunic).

[Malakai]

I think these guys look pretty good, although the washes still tend to pool a little (see the archer's purple tunic).

The new washes don't pool as badly as the old ink washes do. You should be happy when you switch up. I know I was.

-Malakai

[lord marcus]

can i get a pic of sepla--whatever please? i've never seen the model myself so... anyways the painting is sharp and awesome at the same time!

[Magos Explorator]

The new washes don't pool as badly as the old ink washes do. You should be happy when you switch up. I know I was.

-Malakai

Yeah, not as badly as the old inks. Those purples were done with the new washes so I think I need to be careful loading my brush. I think the finish of the washes is better for fabrics than the old inks were (or at least with inks you had to be more careful!). The metals and browns, though, are shaded with the old inks.

Marcus: I'm not entirely sure what you're asking, but I've not used the sepia wash yet? It's a colour, not a model?