Dark Elves + Awesome = This Log

[Lord Dan]

Log number 1,000!!! I wonder what kind of prize you get for that? ...oh right. Shame.

That aside, some may be wondering why there haven't been any updates to my Sylvanian log in some time. Some may also wonder what happened to my Tzeentch-themed Dark elf log I started working on a few months back. The former will make a return eventually, the latter will not. I offer no excuses, only more painting logs.

Alright, so listed below is my army and a simple color guide to indicate individual unit completeness. Everything is bought, assembled, and undercoated, so the only thing to worry about is whether or not they're painted:

Supreme Sorceress - PAINTED
BSB Master - PAINTED
Assassin
Assassin

29 Warriors
10 Crossbows - IN PROGRESS
10 Crossbows - IN PROGRESS
29 Corsairs

24 Executioners
Cold One Chariot
Cold One Chariot
10 Cold One Knights - PAINTED
5 Shades - PAINTED
5 Shades - PAINTED

Bolt Thrower - PAINTED
Hydra - PAINTED

The yellow is to give you an idea of what I'm working on. This log is going to move really quickly, as everything listed as "painted" has been completed in the last 2 weeks. I should finish the second unit of shades tonight, at which point I'll post pictures of everything painted so far. In the meantime:



Keep your browser tuned right here for some more awesome.

[Caiphas Cain]

*cough* Who was that guy with the ancient greek log? *cough*

[Lord Dan]

Still have it. Haven't touched them in a couple months.

[Lord Dan]

Finished the shades last night. I'll base them when I get back from campus and post pictures this evening (so, tomorrow morning for most of you )

Next up are my BSB and sorceress. I really wanted to get started on some core units, however I have a tournament coming up this Saturday and only want to work on things I can reasonably finish before the weekend (the only thing worse than an unfinished unit is a half-finished unit).

[Gargobot]

Is it that time of the year again?
Looking forward to the Lord Dan conversions™ that are sure to follow.

[Lord Dan]

Is it that time of the year again?
Looking forward to the Lord Dan conversions™ that are sure to follow.

Hey buddy! Actually we're a few months overdue!

I regret to say that this army doesn't have much in the way of conversions, at least nothing in comparison to my Empire. I did have some fun with the crossbowmen and executioners, however otherwise I just slapped the models together and painted them up. For example:


I painted the bolt thrower after I finished painting what felt like 100 cold one knights. The bolt thrower, by contrast, was a breeze to paint. As you can see I've gone for a simple, traditional color scheme (I'm getting pretty good at purple, huh?).



Ugh, these knights. This is the only photo of 5 or 6 that turned out well enough to post, so I apologize if you don't have a good idea of what the unit looks like. You probably can't tell, but as this was the unit I experimented on to find the color of purple I would use in the rest of the army, most of the knights have a slightly different shade of purple. That, or I just stared at the models for way too long. In any case while I love these models from a design perspective I was a bit surprised at how poorly the cold ones and knight torsos went together, and by the massive gaps that ensued. Ah well, I won't ever have to paint them again...




The most recent addition to the warband. I had a blast painting these, mostly because they consist almost entirely of my favorite color combination, and as a result only took a couple nights to finish (or was that knights?).




Hydra and friends. Big Momma here was a lot of fun to paint, though I noticed while painting that even my shoddy green stuff attempt failed to keep the gap in her neck from forming a rather substantial crater on the inside. Perhaps it's her way of telling us the new finecast variant of the same model is far too expensive. That, or it's super late and I've given a name, gender, and personality to a pewter miniature.

Thanks!

[Shadow_Steed]

Looking great! Perhaps you could get more individual shots at the knights?

[JackDaw]

Oh Dan, Dan, Dan. Stop making me like 'classic' Dark Elves damn you. Really nice work though, very smooth and clean - pretty much the exact opposite to my own stuff, which is possibly why I like it so much. The Hydra is especially nice, the bright scar-tissue helps to break it up a bit and really adds to the character of the mini. The Knights are looking good as well, the ridge of blue scales along the spine is a nice touch.

Have to say though, my favourite thing is the slaver in your first post. That's just a cracking little conversion.

Looking forward to seeing more, especially your characters. And I hope there'll be some fluff. Everyone needs fluff.

[Elfboy]

If less conversions and more painting is the name of the game in this log then I'm happy.
I especially love the paintjob on the beastmasters, shaded and bolt thrower.
The bases are lovely too, simple but effective, that yellow colour works really well with the paint scheme.
Looking forward to seeing what fun you had with the crossbowmen and executioners - I hope it wasn't too sadistic, as is the dark elven way.

[Gargobot]

If less conversions and more painting is the name of the game in this log then I'm happy.

Same here. Looks like Dan turned all his conversion mojo into painting mojo, cause these DE are rockin'. Love the cold ones and shades (which most people paint really plain and boring, yet you've managed to make them pop), my favorite is, of course, the "Hochland Hydra".

[Lord Dan]

Oh Dan, Dan, Dan. Stop making me like 'classic' Dark Elves damn you. Really nice work though, very smooth and clean - pretty much the exact opposite to my own stuff, which is possibly why I like it so much. The Hydra is especially nice, the bright scar-tissue helps to break it up a bit and really adds to the character of the mini. The Knights are looking good as well, the ridge of blue scales along the spine is a nice touch.

Have to say though, my favourite thing is the slaver in your first post. That's just a cracking little conversion.

Looking forward to seeing more, especially your characters. And I hope there'll be some fluff. Everyone needs fluff.

Hey Jack, thank you sir! I found that I got burnt out after converting my entire Empire army, and looking at pictures of old 5th and 6th edition "standard" armies made me a bit nostalgic. So, here we are. The hydra was so much fun to paint, though the scar-tissue is actually what ended up taking the longest. There wasn't anything technically difficult about it, I just kept changing the color and making it too bright or dark.

The slaver in the first post is a unit filler for my executioners, which are based on the plastic HE swordmaster models. I think you're going to like the crossbowmen, too. I'll give you a hint: the units are armed with shields, however I didn't have enough actual shields so some had to be pressed into service.

I'm big on fluff, too. I've got some ideas in the works, and I'll see what I can come up with for you.

Looking great! Perhaps you could get more individual shots at the knights?

It's funny you should mention that, as some of the failed pictures I mentioned were of individual knights. The problem I ran into was the fact that the lances poked the camera lens and blurred the shot. I'll see what I can come up with when I take pictures of the characters in the next couple of days.

If less conversions and more painting is the name of the game in this log then I'm happy.
I especially love the paintjob on the beastmasters, shaded and bolt thrower.
The bases are lovely too, simple but effective, that yellow colour works really well with the paint scheme.
Looking forward to seeing what fun you had with the crossbowmen and executioners - I hope it wasn't too sadistic, as is the dark elven way.

Thanks, man. Sounds like a fair trade to me, too. The beastmasters are actually very similar to how the corsairs will be painted, and I used the same colors as a test for the big unit (white cloaks, tan scales). The executioners and crossbowmen aren't sadistic, no, just...practical.

Same here. Looks like Dan turned all his conversion mojo into painting mojo, cause these DE are rockin'. Love the cold ones and shades (which most people paint really plain and boring, yet you've managed to make them pop), my favorite is, of course, the "Hochland Hydra".

Thanks Gargobot! I painted the Hydra with you in mind. In fact I would name the hydra Jens if it weren't for the fact that it dies in pretty much every game...

[Lord Dan]

Alright, it's tournament day! First 8th edition tournament with the Dark Elves, so hopefully everything goes smoothly.

I finished the sorceress and BSB last night. For whatever reason I can't find my camera's memory card (or more specifically, my 3 year old won't tell me where she hid it) so I won't be able to post pictures until I get back tonight. I rushed the BSB's banner (no detail, just the background color) in an attempt to get done so I think I'll go back and redo that, however I think everything else looks pretty cool.

I have to put together a couple painting tutorials this weekend for a website my friend and I are putting up, however given that it's Memorial day weekend here in the States I should have plenty of time to finish those and get started on the chariots.

Wish me luck!

[azhagmorglum]

Great hydra, I especially like the painted scars on its heads (are they scars by the way?)

Nice log, keep it up !

[Lord Dan]

Great hydra, I especially like the painted scars on its heads (are they scars by the way?)

Nice log, keep it up !

Thank you! They are mostly scars, with some splattered blood and burn marks mixed in. Lots of fun.



So I still can't find my SD card, and I'll have to give the house a thorough sweep tonight so I can put up pictures of my sorceress and BSB. In the meantime I'll post a quick report about the tournament.

The tournament was 2,500 points, 3 Ard Boyz-esque scenarios, no comp, open list, and 2 1/2 hours per game. I ran the following list:

Sorceress, lv. 4, Lifetaker, Dagger
BSB, Armor of Darkness, GW

10 Crossbows, Shields
10 Crossbows, Shields
10 Crossbows, Shields
29 Corsairs, Handbows, Frenzy Banner, Musician
23 Warriors, Standard, Musician

23 Executioners, Standard, Musician, Flaming Banner
10 Cold One Knights, Standard, Musician
Cold One Chariot
Cold One Chariot
5 Shades, AHW
5 Shades, AHW

Hydra
Bolt Thrower

In all 10 players showed up with the following armies:

Dark Elves
Dark Elves
High Elves
High Elves
High Elves
Dwarves
Orcs and Goblins
Orcs and Goblins
Ogres
Vampire Counts

I was surprised to see so many High Elf players there, and I was equally surprised (delighted?) that no one brought Teclis.


Game 1 - John's Dwarves
John and I know eachother through a mutual friend, however we've never actually played a game together. The scenario was the breaking point one from the BRB, with the additional rule that any unit with 5+ models holding a terrain feature added +1 to your army's fortitude points. John's list was roughly the following

Dwarf Lord general
Thorek w/ Anvil
Runepriest
BSB
35 Warriors, HW shields
35 Longbeards, HW Shields
10 Thunderers
14 Rangers w/ crossbows
Cannon
organ gun
grudge thrower

Overall one of the smallest Dwarf armies I've seen, due in no small part to the amount of points he had in characters. My plan early on was to kill off his longbeards and general, which would mean I would only need to kill his BSB to bring him down to 3 fortitude points and break his army for a massacre.

Highlights:
-Thorek misfired turn 1, and rolled a 1 for his re-roll. He misfired again two turns later when he was allowed to try again. The anvil didn't do anything once the entire game.
-Grudethrower landed a hit on the executioners turn one and reduced them to 10 models.
-Hydra and a chariot charged the Warrior block turn 2, and ended up killing almost half the unit in a single round of combat. He held through steadfast, and those units ended up duking it out for 3 more turns.
-Cold One knights (foolishly) charged Thorek and ended up getting wiped out, as I forgot that 1) Thorek's sword ignores armor saves and 2) I could only have two knights fight at a time.

Result:
-Dwarf general was killed by the corsairs, which cost me my BSB and the unit in return. The remaining longbeards were shot down, which deducted another fortitude point. The hydra and chariot ground the warriors down and killed his BSB turn 5, breaking his army and giving me the massacre.

Post game thoughts:
-Hydra + chariots charging are brutal
-Thorek isn't worth going after, despite how many points he is. With the new war machine rules he's too hard to kill in combat, and almost impossible to kill with shooting.
-Keep your stupid units near your BSB, as you can re-roll failed stupidity tests with him (thank you, 8th edition!).


Game 2 - Jordan's Orcs and Goblins
I have to admit I was surprised to see and Orc player meet me at the head table, however when I saw his list I figured out what happened. He ran

Black Orc Warboss
Lv. 4
Lv. 2
BSB
5 goblin bosses with GWs
91 night goblins, 2 fanatics, nets
20 goblins
40 savage orc big un's, AHW
2 wolf chariots
2 wolf chariots
2 wolf chariots
5 wolf riders
5 wolf riders
lobba
doom diver
doom diver

Yikes. This game was a battle line scenario, with a strange rule:
The Talisman- Elect a core unit to hold the talisman. They have +1 T, +1 ward save (6+ if they don't have one), and half movement on the first turn. The yield double victory points if destroyed, and full victory points if reduced to half.
This was a terrible rule in retrospect. If someone had shown up with a Tzeentch chosenstar (remember, no comp) the unit would have been T5 with a 2+ ward save. Choosing the coward's route, I gave one of my crossbowmen units the talisman and stuck them in a corner, and Jordan put the talisman on his night goblin horde of doom. My plan was to shoot off his chaff, take down the doom divers with my shades, and combi-charge the savages with my knights, chariots, and hydra as soon as he made range.

Highlights:
-Turn 1 Jordan got hand of gork with irresistible force, which teleported his horde of night goblins to about 4 inches from my lv. 4's bunker.
-Due to poor placement on my part, Jordan managed to kill both my shade units with a single doom diver shot turn 1.
-All 3 crossbowmen units were taken down by those dual chariot units around turn 2, despite a hail of bolts for each.
-Corsairs valiantly charged the block of night goblins to attempt to save the sorceress, however the 5 bosses in the front rank chopped the unit to pieces and ran them down
-Sorceress successfully cast Soul Stealer on the night goblin block twice, killing something like 1/4 the unit in all. The toughness 4 and +1 ward was just too much to handle.
-Hydra and two chariots (the knights were killed by doom divers turn 2) charged the savages, killing almost half the unit. They were killed and run down after two full combats.
-Out of 12 shots with the doom diver he only missed once. Laser guided goblins for the win!

Result:
My entire army was run down and killed to a model. Game ended turn 6 with the bolt thrower getting finished off by a doom diver. In all I only managed to get points for the chaff I killed and those 5 bosses, as the night goblins weren't down to half, his war machines all lived, and his savages were never finished off.

Post Game Thoughts:
-I've never seen someone play that efficiently in my life. Not only did Jordan know what to hit, when to hit it, and what was worth sacrificing to get there, he did it with such speed like I've never seen before. Above all else was a total gentleman about the whole thing. Despite this being the worst game for my score, it was probably the most fun I had all day.
-I should flee more often with my crossbowmen when faced with average-to-long-range charges. I put way too much stock in the stand-and-shoot reaction.
-Executioners were horribly placed on a flank that didn't allow them to see combat until turn 6. I need to keep their placement in mind well before it's time to place them.
-Ask your opponent about the saves on characters before you decide what to attack. In the corsair combat I could have directed all of my attacks at the bosses up front (T4, two wounds, and no saves) and probably sat in combat with that big block all game. Instead I directed all of my attacks at the goblins for combat res, however it turned out they were even harder to kill (6+ ward and T4 from the talisman). Little things like this can seriously swing games.


Game 3 - Bryan's Vampires
This was my first game against the new Vampire Counts, though I was surprised by Bryan's list a bit:

Kemmler
Vampire BSB
Lv. 2 Vampire w/ Lore of Shadow

40 skeletons w/ spears
20 skeletons w/ HW shield
20 ghouls
30 grave guard HW shield
3 wraiths and a banshee
2 bat swarms
corpse cart
black coach
5 hexwraiths
10 dire wolves

This scenario was battle for the pass, with the additional rule that a single unit was to be nominated as a "delivery unit". If this unit was in the central piece of terrain at the end of the game you were awarded +500 VPs. I chose my corsairs, and as the central terrain was a wildwood I planned on sitting them outside the woods to shoot at whatever Bryan put in there until I needed them to charge in turn 4 or 5.

Highlights:
-Shades gunned down the corpse cart
-Warriors managed to hold up the grave guard for 3 turns without taking too many casualties before being run down
-Executioners killed the block of 20 skeletons in one turn, and killed the unit of 20 ghouls and a vampire the following turn. Promotions all around!
-Cold One Knights got stuck in combat with the bats and the black coach for 3 turns. They ended up killing both units, however were reduced to 3 models in turn.
-Sorceress successfully cast soul stealer on Bryan's delivery unit (the horde of 40 skeletons) twice. This almost wiped out the unit, however throughout the course of the game she killed something like 6 or 7 crossbowmen with the dagger.
-Hydra got stuck in combat with the wraiths (the one place I didn't want her) and died not from the great weapons, but the banshee scream.

Result:
Around turn 4 it was looking obvious that I was going to win the game, as Bryan had nothing but the grave guard and his wraiths left. The tournament organizer, seeing this, did some quick math and determined that no matter how many points I got from the victory I would only be able to pull 3rd place. He called the tournament before we even finished, so Bryan and I called it a draw.

Post-Game Thoughts:
-This army has way too much shooting. People are annoyed by it, and I just don't need it.


Overall thoughts:
-I was surprised that the tournament organizer called the tournament early. I understood that people wanted to leave, however we were only an hour and 15 minutes into our allotted time. I also found out that the organizer wasn't awarding full points for a massacre (as I would have gotten in the first and third games) and instead gave the same points for a major victory and massacre. I asked him about this, and he said that in the last 40K tournament he played in he "should have" won, however the person he played against had racked up some many points in his first two games that he only pulled second, despite winning the last game. I tried to explain that it wasn't designed to be a Karate tournament style last person standing match, and that if someone did incredibly well in the first two games they should be rewarded for the effort. He disagreed. Whatever, I won't play there again if they pull something like that again.
-My army has too much shooting.
-Corsairs with handbows just aren't worth it
-My warrior block needs to be a bit bigger, as with 23 models it's less of a bunker and more of a hastily constructed house.



Tournament aside I picked up the warmachine starter with a friend, and will start putting together the Khador models once I get a change. I also made some changes to my army, bulking it out to 3,000 points by adding two assassins, a bolt thrower, some more warriors, 10 black guard, and dropping a unit of crossbows. I made the changes to the list in the first post.

[Lord Dan]

No comments without pictures, huh? That's fair:






Working on the first unit of crossbowmen now. I just basecoated them last night, so they should be finished in the next day or two.

[unwanted]

Looks great, but with a title like that, you're pretty much required to provide some ass-smackingly good DE...

[Gargobot]

Thanks Gargobot! I painted the Hydra with you in mind. In fact I would name the hydra Jens if it weren't for the fact that it dies in pretty much every game...

Go ahead and name him Jens anyway, honestly I don't think I'd fare any better on a battlefield. Not everyone can be Gargobot, Prince-Slayer, after all.

Thanks for the tournament report, I always enjoy reading these. A little rules refresher if I may; the wording on page 110 of the BRB is pretty shoddy, 6 cavalry models can fight against a warmachine in CC. (See page 8 of the Rulebook FAQ)
Still, it's probably best to avoid Thorek.

Great job on the Sorceress btw.

[bravey]

Darn dude, those Knights are ACE, as is the Hydra. Everything I see here is very crisp and clean, just the way I like it! Looking forward to more!

~Bravey

[LocaLicious]

Better late than never ... Those Cold ones are awesome dude! Hydra as well (and the rest ofc) The bases are so great!

[Shadow_Steed]

Tournament: Pics or it didn't happen!

(Would be great with some battle shots, if you took any =)