The Caddies of Kurnos

In previous editions, there was one overwhelming reason to take a Wood Elf hero: you needed someone to haul around the Hail of Doom Arrow.

Now, marvellously, there is a second reason: Glade Captains/Lords are the only models who get to shoot the Talon of Kurnos at the start of a battle and plink a wound off an enemy character before anything else begins.

(I've had better luck with the Talon of Kurnos than with the Hail of Doom Arrow, so I'm very much in favour of it. Mind you, I've had better luck with the National Lottery than with the Hail of Doom Arrow, so the bar isn't set high)

Without further ado - here are the Glade Captains!

From the Timotei Kindred

I picked up Fabio here with a grab-bag of other elves, and I'm not sure I would have picked him out. Great weapons don't seem particularly Wood Elfy (although they are tactically useful) and the heroic stance just seemed to slip onto the wrong side of parody.

Most heinous of all, he was missing the gem belt-buckle that all the other characters possess, which allowed me to weave the yin-yang symbol into the army.

Still, he paints up well and makes a pretty decent Glade Lord for when I need one on foot. I wanted him to match the colour scheme of my Glade Guard, so gave him yellow-brown armour (a heavy Brown Ink Wash, then highlights of Golden Yellow), Regal Blue boots and gloves, and Dark Angels Green cloak.

My Wood Elf army is a constant experimentation with how to effect blond hair (which at least gives it variety). I think this one was attempted with a Brown Ink wash directly onto White Primer, then highlighted with Skull White/Golden Yellow.

Like all my other early models, this one got a new base and flock before being let back into the army. Fortunately, I had to reposition it anyway, as I'd glued it along the diagonal slotta (I think the power stance had me fooled). So thanks to Leofa for pointing out that he was facing the wrong way (maybe that explains his failure to hit anything during his first battle in 8th Ed).

The second Glade Captain is a more recent acquisition, added once I realised I had no battle standard for the Wood Elves, and this one didn't even require me to find a plastic banner.

The banner blows in a different direction to all my other standards.
Just one of the mysteries of Athel Loren there.

The good thing about this model is that the banner top matches the two others I have in the army (one in the Wardancers, another on a unicorn mage), plus it's a fairly dynamic pose and in-keeping with the other characters of the period.

But my liking of this model ends there - I found it a bit of a chore to paint, and the sculpt seemed to be fussy, rather than detailed (does he really need two different types of cloak, as well as the banner flapping around him?). I've looked through superior paint jobs of the same model (for there are many), and it still hasn't convinced me of its virtues. All the pieces seem good individually, just something didn't combine well.

However, it did give me another chance to practise my freehand painting. I was quite happy with the way the moon turned out (I even gave it moon spots and a slight glow around the edges), and I've painted worse trees (notably one that looked like a stem of broccoli), but the aim of the design was to create a combined effect when viewed from a certain angle...

You can just about see it if you squint.
You're not squinting hard enough.
SQUINT HARDER!

Well, the idea was that a tree and bird silhouetted against the moon would also resemble the yin-yang symbol of the Wood Elf army. Still, it's a nice tree.

And in case it wasn't explicit, I slapped the actual symbol on the back.

In terms of where I got the idea for the yin-yang symbol, I think I saw it on the Warhammer Quest Wardancer, but that still puts me 15 years ahead of this new fashion of the light/dark duality of the Wood Elves.

So there you have it: I've either met my deadline or run out of time, but I do have enough Wood Elves to field at WoffBoot XI.

Gentlemen, I shall see you at the tables.

The bags under his eyes are from late-night drybrushing sessions.