This is the core of General Palafox's army, a nice block of elven spears. A good solid defensive block. You'd call it a tarpit unit if they weren't elves. Having the durability of a cheese slice in a volcano takes some of the tar out for me. I suppose that worked for cigarettes, though, so why not elves?
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| Tantantaraaaa |
Sticking to the established red, yellow and gold, they have a good spangly look. The gold came out well, thanks once more to my mentor, the internet. I laughed when I first read the suggestion to use purple ink for shading. I'm not laughing now.
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| A golden sword? Good luck keeping an edge on that. |
The banner is a lovely Stylus conversion of an Eagle's Claw crewman, complete with what is almost certainly going to be a Banner of the World Dragon at some stage. I'm led to understand that all High Elves have one these days, because it's broken and why wouldn't you. Personally? I wouldn't because I don't like winning enough.
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| Gold Standard. Did You Know - the weight of standard High Elf infantry kit is about 50% gemstones? And the fact that this guy is the only trooper in the unit to carry any sort of pack is a testament to the power of Lembas. |
They got phoenix emblems on their shields, partly because I reckoned I didn't like the plastic bosses they come with and wanted something else, and partly because then you can them field them as Phoenix Guard without feeling too cheesy about it.
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| I'm Elite. Don't look at the elf behind the shield. Don't look! |
There are in fact only twenty elves here. A spot of unit filler will be making up the rest, starting with this bloke who's just popped out for a breather and will definitely be back for roll call, cover for me if I'm not there lads.
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| Looking a bit thin, Corporal Glimfondel, even if you are an elf. |
The other guy isn't here yet.
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| Or he just burst, we aren't sure. |
We have a plan for this, to be revealed in time. Some of it is nearly in place - when seen from above, you may be able to spot a pattern emerging on the bases. The rubbish photo doesn't help, but even so, it needs a bit more contrast, I think. Getting there.
Crafty touch though it may be, it also means the unit ranks up in a specific order. This is a bit of a bugger, because I put them all back in the box without making my planned marks on the bases. Ah. Lucky I've got these pictures, then.
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| Always believe in your soul You've got the power to know |
Painting Guide:
- Primer - Skull White
- Reds - Khorne Red basecoat, Blood Red and Wild Rider Red layers, WRR+White Scar drybrush
- Yellows - Averland Sunset basecoat, Golden Yellow and Bad Moon Yellow layers, Hexos Palesun drybrush
- Scale Mail - Rhinox Hide basecoat, Burnished Gold drybrush, a touch of Yellow Ink here and there
- Plate Mail - Burnished Gold basecoat, Agrax Earthshade on detailed recesses, Yellow Ink wash over all, a second Druchii Violet wash over recesses, Auric Armour Gold then Runefang Silver drybrushes, the latter being very light
- Spears - Steel Legion Drab shafts, Abaddon Black tips with Mithril Silver, Drakenhof Nightshade wash, then Runefang Silver drybrush
- Skin - Ironic Dwarf Flesh basecoat, Agrax Earthshade and Flesh Wash inking
- Boots - Abaddon Black with a Pallid Wychflesh drybrush
- Trim - White Scar
- Gems - As before, Abaddon Black with Deadly Nightshade, Teclis Blue, Etherium Blue and White Scar build up
- Shield Devices - A black laundry marker pen for the base, which felt like cheating until I discovered it's just as easy to screw up as using a brush. Eshin and Codex Grey touches.
No characters this week. I've done some scenery instead, but I'll post that elsewhere. This army is a nice achievable size, so I don't need to power through the way I did their Dark cousins. Still, more to come!
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| You're indestructible Unless you're not really Phoenix Guard |
Trivia - if you want to go hunting for gold seams, why not try the goldspear? That's what Google thought I wanted to look up when I was searching for inspiration for title puns.
(Au)some!
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