Middlehammer Legacy Project 2018: Update #3 - Mad Marik Trollbiter

My submission for the Middlehammer Legacy Project Warband of the Weird and Wonderful is Mad Marik Trollbiter from the 1986 Citadel Chaos Dwarf Renegades release, with awesome box art from John Blanche himself. It's that sickly yellow that is so evocative of Blanche for me!

The sculpts are by the Perry brothers, and the painting for the advert was by Colin Dixon (thanks to the amazing Orclord and Stuff of Legends for the pics and info!)

You can see Mad Marik in the bottom left of the advert. I'm not sure if it is the paint job, or the lighting, or the production of the advert, but there is a bit of a purple tinge to him and it gave me some confidence that he'd look OK in the Purple and Off-white colour scheme for the Warband.

So here he is in the bare metal with the shield I eventually selected. I didn't have the exact shield shown in the flyer, but I still wanted to use an original 80s era shield, and to make use of the shield boss rather than cutting it off to fit a later shield. This left me only a couple of options as some of the larger RoC shields would have looked ridiculous on such a small mini, and the couple of simple small round shields I had are being saved for Halflings. I eventually settled on this as being not too large for the mini, but also adding enough interest with the shape. With that I got to painting!

Even accepting that the two main colours for the model were already chosen, I wanted to use a restricted colour pallet, so beyond the Purple triad of  Liche Purple (which I appropriately had to resurrect from a half dead plastic bullet pot), Worm Purple (still going strong in an original early 90s round pot from more than 15 years previous!) and Vallejo Model Colour Blue Violet, and the Off-white (Dheneb Stone foundation, Bleached Bone highlight, shaded with Army Painter Soft Tone - except the skin of the face which was shaded with Purple Tone), the only other colours are leather brown for the straps and weapon shaft (Bestial Brown with Snakebite Leather highlights and shaded with Strong Tone), Gold for the metal work (Tin Bitz base worked up with Shining Gold and then highlighted with Golden Griffon dry pigment (like jelly now sadly, but still usable if you work with it for a bit, and a less sharp highlight than silver in my view).

I used Army Painter Purple Tone for both the purple areas and the gold, letting this both blend the model together but also pick up some of the iridescence of the metal work. It sort of works. I'd been avoiding doing the hair, not wanting to deviate from my restricted colour pallet, but knowing that it wouldn't look right in brown, off-white, or yet more purple. For a while I thought I'd leave it black and decided to go back to working on the shield and let the completed mini tell me what colour the hair should be.

Problem is, the pose of the mini means the back of the shield is very visible, and I was suddenly conscious that it was very, very flat....

Keeping with the restricted colour pallet and not wanting to add more Gold or Purple to the model the only logical choice was for it to be brown, but a flat brown surface didn't seem right so I attempted to add some detailing to make it look like planks of wood, which you can see below before and after an ink wash.

Crude, I think it would be fair to say, and now I'm a bit worried it actually distracts from the rest of the model a bit and it would have been better to keep with the flat surface. In the end I don't hate it enough to re-do it, and once it was on the mini it convinced me that what Marik needed was a nice blue rinse for that hair of his. So it was an Elf Grey base with a simple Army Painter Blue Tone set. I don't think the old ladies in the hair dressers appreciated his ribald language however!

And with that he was done!

So just who is Mad Marik Trollbiter? Well that story needs a soundtrack!

No Dwarf asked 'Mad' Marik why he joined their band of outcasts and misfits, Trollslayers being a bit like the Brettonian Foreign Legion about stuff like that. Similarly his bright blue hair caused no qualms, and even his chained nipple piercings only raised a few eyebrows, although it might have been that they were the ones with piercings in. No, it was only once the band tracked down their first troll pack since Marik joined them that he started to seem, errr, a touch outre?

The rest of the band decided it was easier to accept his excuse that it wasn't what it looked like and that he was in fact giving the troll a savage bite to the groin before delivering the 'death blow', and to be fair he had then decapitated the thing to prove his point. The excuse started to wear thin after the first half dozen times...

...but it was the incident with that Horny Minotaur in the ruined temple that finally saw Mad Marik 'Trollbiter' expelled from even that most savage of Dwarven fraternities.

Marik headed north in search of more Trolls to err.... bite! Soon he fell to the whispers of Slaanesh on the winds of the Chaos Wastes, abandoning the last vestiges of his former self and getting all new spiky armour and weapons, more in keeping with his new identity. Now he serves in any warband that can muster enough monstrous muscle to catch his eye ;)

Mad Marik Trollbiter is a Chaos Dwarf (4th Edition, as it is a Middlehammer project) with an extra attack due to his tendency to bite, and a bonus to his initiative due to his experience in finishing clandestine encounters quickly

 

He is wearing Heavy Armour and carries a shield (4+ save), wields a Spiked Mace (hand weapon) and bears the Mark of Slaanesh (Immune to Psychology/Cannot break)

I really enjoyed painting this guy, and ended up painting a whole bunch of stuff using variations of this same Purple and Off-white pallet including some Malifaux Neverborn, and finishing the Zombie Dragon I'd primed and based for Deadcember 2017 and then stalled, so yet again a painting challenge has spurred me on to paint stuff  that would have been waiting a long time otherwise!

Things are hotting up with the project now with four weeks to go, but there is still time to get involved if you want to take part (check the project rules here). I posted some group shots on the Middlehammer facebook page the other day, and more entries have arrived since or are arriving soon so I'll do another update ASAP, but for now here is the gang so far chilling out on a break from their Bank Holiday maraudings :)

L-R: Al's Chaos Sorcerer, Mike's Oriental Inspired Chaos Warrior, Christians mighty Chaos Lord conversion, Stewart's alien looking mutant Glaur, and Mad Marik 'Trollbiter'

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Thanks for stopping by - stay tuned for more project updates as the month progresses!

WFB4 Battle Report: The Kraken's Lament vs Grumpgit's Goblin Snivellers

Yikes - the intro to this post shows how long I have been sat on it. It's not even the oldest draft post I have.

Orctober was a busy month for me hobby wise, not only were numerous greenskins painted up for various forces/rule sets and painting challenges, but I also managed to fit in some D&D and even a small introductory battle of WFB4 with one of my D&D group who has started collecting a small force of Dark Elves.

Apologies in advance that there are only photos of the beginning and end of the game. It was a tutorial game so I wasn't really thinking about a battle report at the time, but we are hoping to carry on with the story in a mini campaign, so decided to write it up for fun.

I've had these painted boards for about 20 years. MDF with green gloss on one side and yellow on the other. Crude but incredibly durable and versatile.

The battle field (approx 3'x3') was set up with deployment zones in the corners, Goblin Village on one side and hill top and woodland on the other for the sneaky Dark Elves to sneak about in. Sneaks.

Here we see the necessary accoutrements for a game of WFB4 in their natural habitat

An experienced roleplayer, with a love of the Old World from playing WFRP, she knows the background for Warhammer Fantasy Battle but was interested in learning the game so I suggested we play a small 500pt game (no magic) which would also give her a chance to figure out what her first purchases should be when building up her force. She brought along her newly assembled Corsairs, so they were the first unit on the list, but the models themselves got a spray undercoat so had to sit out the battle while we turned to my collection of unpainted Dark Elves and assorted other bits to make up her forces.

Her Dark Elf raiding party would face off against my small tribe of Goblins, in the hope of taking slaves and improving the reputation of her ambitious young champion before high tailing it back to their boat and then back to the Black Arc before it sailed too far ahead for them to rejoin the larger raiding force.

THE KRAKEN'S LAMENT: DARK ELF RAIDERS

Dark Elf Champion w/ Light Armour, Repeater X-bow + Blade of Leaping Bronze (25 pts) - 77 pts
10 x X-bowmen - 130 pts
10 x Scouts - 130 pts
5 x Witch Elves - 60 pts
Repeater Bolt Thrower - 100 pts

Total: 497 pts

GRUMPGIT'S SNIVELLERS: GOBLIN VILLAGERS

Goblin Big Boss w/ Light armour, Short Bow, Axe, Shield, riding a Gigantic Spider - 87pts
5 Wolf Riders w/ Shields (inc Standard Bearer)* - 60 pts
5 Wolf Riders w/ Short Bows (inc Musician)* - 60 pts
18 Goblin Spearmen w/ shields - 63 pts
2 Goblin Fanatics - 60 pts
9 Goblin Archers - 27 pts
Snotling Mob (3 bases) - 45 pts.
Goblin Doom Diver - 100pts

Total: 502 pts

*The leaders of the two Wolf Rider units are rivals, so one has a standard, and one has a musician, but neither have both, because that would be too convenient (and I was attempting to demonstrate their different functions, and the potential benefits of having both in the same unit). If I had been playing to win I would have put them all in one unit. Obvs.

Grumpgit's Goblin Snivellers have gathered  outside their huts to watch Doom Diver target practice

Grumpgit the Goblin Big Boss was grumpy. As usual. He was tired of getting pushed around by Hoggrash the Orc Big Boss from over the hill, just coz he was twice the size of Grumpgit and was best mates with Big Drekk the Warlord from down the fire caves, and liked to remind all the other tribal bosses at every opportunity. There was only one thing for it, he needed some mindless cruelty to take his mind of things. Grumpgit snatched up another Snotling that had got too drunk on Mushroom Beer to get out of the way in time and tossed it to his Gigantic Spider Rosey Red Knees to devour, before shouting for the boys to get the catapult set up. Maybe some Doom Diver target practice would cheer him up?

Caci Pyrerider, champion and leader of the Kraken's Lament raiding band, slunk silently through the shadows on the tree dotted hillside. Vekha Silentreaper, unit leader of her corsair scouts, had located a suitably miserable goblin village for them to execute a quick raid and score some new Goblin slaves for the bilges of the Black Arc. Caci was ambitious, but she also knew the key to success here was a quick and simple raid. They couldn't afford to get held up otherwise the Arc would be too far ahead for them to rejoin and they'd have to make their way home back along the blasted stretch of Naggaroth's coastline in disgrace. She'd commandeered one of the Arc's deck ballistae for the mission, and had chosen to base herself with the X-bowmen for this action. She planned to dominate the goblins with missile fire. That and she wanted to keep an eye on Tocek Duskcrusher, the treacherous unit leader and her potential rival for leadership of the raiding band. If this mission didn't go well she wanted to be close enough to put a knife between his ribs during the retreat before he could mount any kind of coup... Her thoughts returned to the present. She must focus. Now what on earth were those Goblin wretches gathered around outside that big hut?

Turn One

Caution was the watch word for the Dark Elves and having won the first turn it was the Witch Elves on their left flank that made the boldest move, pushing their way to the edge of the woods but remaining in cover. The Scouts advanced very cautiously in a skirmish formation while the Bolt Thrower took aim at the Wolf Riders and dropped two of them, forcing a leadership test which they only pass due to them still being next to the Big Boss in their starting formation! However, the Dark Elf champion was left cursing the Scouts who had ended up blocking the line of sight of her Crossbowmen, otherwise that might have been curtains for the first unit of Wolf Riders on the first turn!

Never fear! They didn't have to wait long as the remaining Wolf Riders (with bows) positioned themselves to shoot at the Scouts and lined up for a charge on the next turn (the cautious advance of the Dark Elves having prevented a charge straight out of the gates - damn them!) and would now be dead centre in the sights of those vicious Repeater X-bows. Grumpgit urged his Gigantic Spider (Rosey Red Knees) forward to back up the charge, but hopefully keep out of the way of the missile fire. The Goblin archers and their Snotling meat shields held their ground as protection for the all important Doom Diver, who took aim at the Bolt Thrower and only over shot by a couple of inches, unable to quite adjust in the wind, ending up a Goblin Pizza in the open space between the hill and the trees.

But what about the Goblin spearmen I hear you cry? The mainstay of Grumpgit's Snivellers line? Well they succumbed to animosity on their first turn and did nothing but shout abuse at the nearby archers. Well, I guess it did help show a new player all the fun of playing with/against Orcs and Goblins!

On the far flank the Wolf Riders more melee minded frenemies lowered their standard and charged into the Witch Elves skulking in the trees in front of them. This turned out to be a BAD IDEA (who would have guessed!?) and although they valiantly took down two Witch Elves (or rather their wolves did) the remaining Witch Elves ripped them a whole bunch of new green/furry arseholes in return, sending the surviving pair fleeing back a fair old 9 inches, but savagely following up a whopping 11 inches and butchering the lot of them in a blood soaked frenzy. As you do.

Turn Two

The second turn was all about the Dark Elves superior missile fire. The Witch Elves advanced along the edge of the goblin village trying to get close enough to charge the Goblin Archers while the Scouts backed up slightly and then opened fire along with the X-bowmen on the Wolf Riders in the middle, killing them all. This left the Bolt Thrower free to shoot at the Goblin Big Boss, choosing a single bolt it struck true leaving poor Rosey on a single wound.

The Snivelling Spearmen finally got their act together and marched forward into the gap left by the dearly departed Wolf Riders, hoping to tempt the cowardly Dark Elves into a charge so they could unleash their secret weapon. Without anyone to back up his charge Grumpgit held back. This was also a mistake. I thought about moving back into the cover of the trees, but I was worried this would bring him within charge range of the Witch Elves, he was a bit stuck really. Sadly the archers failed to take down any of the Witch Elves menacing their flank, and although the Doom Diver did manage to take out one of the crew of the Bolt Thrower this was clearly not going to be enough.

The cowardly Dark Elf scouts slink back into the cover of the trees having taken a mauling from a Goblin Fanatic

Turn Three and beyond

At the start of the next turn the Witch Elves charged the Goblin Archers in the flank, the small number of remaining models meaning they could bypass the Snotling defences. This seemed to cheer the Dark Elf forces and the Scouts finally made a more aggressive move to charge the Spearmen - just as I hoped they would! The unit parted to reveal two spinning balls of death with mushroom crazed goblins attached to them, stopping the Dark Elf charge in its tracks as they tried to dodge out of the way to no avail. The Fanatics did OK taking out four scouts and none of my own troops before being promptly shot to pieces by the nearby X-bowmen who didn't like the look of what might happen on the next turn. The Bolt Thrower targeted the Bog Boss and Gigantic Spider again, this time hitting the Goblin and killing him in a single hit, leaving a wounded spider limping about in circles. Meanwhile the Witch Elves had remarkably been held in combat having only killed one archer and a very low role on the resulting LD test for the Gobbos.

I must admit I can't entirely remember what happened towards the end. I know the Doom Diver missed by a couple of inches again, and that the Spearmen ended up loosing a combat and the resulting break test and then being caught and slaughtered (captured?), and the three remaining Witch Elves breaking the archers who then fled off the battle field. I think the X-bowmen put the Spider out of its misery and the Bolt Thrower took a chunk out of the Doom Diver catapult, but didn't destroy it.

Don't be decieved. Those Wood Elf archers are actually

There really wasn't any debate as to who won. The rampaging Witch Elves saw off all resistance and the village was left abandoned to the Snotlings, who soon enacted Darwin's Law by deciding to play with the Doom Diver catapult unsupervised...

We didn't bother with victory points. The dead piles told their own story at the end.

Dark Elf dead pile - note the genuine giant spider corpse in authentic web in the nearby trees. That's what you get if you store your scenery in the garage...

Goblin dead/captured pile

My opponent was rewarded for her victory with 10 un-built and unpainted Goblin Archers I had going spare to add to her small but growing collection, and to represent the Goblin slaves her Dark Elf raiders had taken with them.

Even though my Goblins were completely massacred I'm still counting it as a win, as my main objective was to show how much fun old school Herohammer could be, and the best evidence of that is that we are planning for the next game, where her wily Dark Elf raiders need to avoid being smashed before they can get back to their boat, by Big Boss Hoggrash and his nearby Orc tribe who have been alerted to their presence by all those fleeing gobbos!

Thanks for reading. Do pop back for the next installment.

Tale of Middlehammer Gamers: Orctober 2017!

Credit to Russ T Painting for the lovely monthly challenge posters!

Howdy folks!

So, the theme of the Tale of Middlehammer Gamers (ToMG) painting challenge for Orctober has been basing. I thought this was a great idea from Russ in terms of helping people keep up productivity and actually get armies fully table top ready. Improving my basing has been something I have been working on (having previously only painted my bases, and often not even bothering to fill in the gaps in slotta bases!), so following on from the success of my project for Da Great Snot Off! I was full of enthusiasm for this one!

I pledged to paint from scratch/re-touch and then base up:

4 Orks/Gretchin for Shadow War Armageddon
3 Ogre Mercenaries (2 existing paint jobs needing rebasing)
4 Assorted Oldhammer Orcs
6 Assorted Old/Middlehammer Goblins
3 Goblin Fanatics
1 Blood Bowl Goblin star player (proxy Goblin Fantatic)
Azhag the Slaughterer's Wyvern (existing paint job needing basing)

I then added two more Blood Bowl Goblin-Proxy Fanatics with existing paint jobs that needed rebasing right at the end... sheesh, that was a lot of basing!

Sorry/Not sorry

Below you can see (almost) my total output for the fantasy side of the Orctober challenge. I also did some Red Period style 40k Orks for Shadow War: Armageddon, which you can see here.

I must apologise for the quality of the photos in this post - for some reason pictures that seemed to display fine on my phone have come out really blurry when uploaded. I'm edging closer and closer to biting the bullet and buying myself a decent digital camera, proving once again that this hobby gets expensive in so many different ways!

First up are three Mercenary Ogres. Two are Blood Bowl Ogres that I had painted quite some time ago and have just been rebased as part of this challenge. The one with the massive sword is a Tim Prow sculpt available for a bargain price from RPE at the time of writing. He's a little shorter than the others, but I like that as it makes Ogres seem more diverse as a race. The look is pure Oldhammer if you ask me. I wanted these guys table ready as I'm planning on including them in my O&G Middlehammer Fantasy tournament force* which is due for a practice outing in November.

*Interesting question here, which I have put to my fellow Middlehammer tournament buds already, but what is the minimum unit size for Ogres in 4th edition WFB? I'm sure I have seen units of three in photo shoots in old WDs for example, but when checking the O&G army book it doesn't have the same exemption as Trolls specifically do about having units of less than 5. But then, neither does the listing for Giants, also under the Units heading, yet we all know they don't have to come in units of five! Let me know your take on this in the comments! :)

In terms of basing these got the previously standard treatment of a base of thin Humbrol Acrylic Matt Green 88, followed by a thin wet brush of Citadel Snot Green, and then a final dry brush of Citadel Sunburst Yellow. It makes for a really vivid green, and is how the majority of my fantasy models have been flocked - but it is wasting my precious Citadel Snot Green, so these are probably the last that will get that version of the treatment.

Other basing components I try and keep consistent include the field stone, which is Citadel Shadow Grew, washed with black ink, then dry brushed with Shadow Grey again, and finally Elf Grey. Together with the bright red toadstools and sunburst yellow dry brush (which I always think looks like it might be tiny flowers mixed in the grass), this field stone treatment forms part of what I think of as the 'fantasy meadow' treatment. I know that sounds naff, but I like the idea of a wooded dell, or mountain top meadow being defiled by battling forces of Orcs and Elves etc... Bwahahahahaha!

The broken weapons and discarded shields and helmet are all from the ever useful Frostgrave Soldiers sprue and were added to emphasise the fearsome nature of the Ogres having caused their opponents to throw down their weapons and run!

As the month wore on and REAL LIFE began to take it's toll this challenge definitely became one of quantity over quality. For a while this was bugging me, and I can see loads of things that I could/should have done better when looking back over these photos. But as JB/Asslessman said in his excellent recent blog post on his entry for a 4 pot painting challenge: "Done is better than perfect." In that spirit I am really happy with my output this month as it has moved me closer to having a second tournament ready force for November.

Next up were some Goblins and Night Goblins. I have large blocks of 4th Ed monopose Gobbo Spears and Archers, but am still in need of more command figures to turn them into fully functioning units. Apologies as I forgot to take a picture of the reverse view, but you aren't missing much.

Basing wise I have swapped to using Coat D'Arms Goblin Green over the darker Humbrol green. This is less lurid than my preferred thinned down Snot Green formula, but is much more sustainable across a large force. Dry brushed with Coat D'Arms Putrid Green, these are now getting the same treatment as my 40k/SWA Space Orks, which is in turn my attempt to match my existing 2nd Ed Ork forces which were painted by a friend's uncle in the early 90s... So Anna B, in anticipation of your objection to the lack of Sunburst Yellow dry brush - it is still "auffentic Ork fashionz from da 90s, right!"

Next we have assorted Orcs; one of Harboth's archers (I think?) which was my second ever metal Oldhammer Orc archer and both have been really lovely models to paint; a member of the Man Mangler crew who, as I sadly don't have a Man Mangler (yet!) will have to do duty on a Skull Crusher instead, an Orc casualty who I have also come to think of as a member of the Skull Crusher crew (lying on his back trying to fix the winch mechanism like a mechanic?); and a Standard Bearer that had been damaged and needed some work. I got the chance to test my new pin vice and fixed in a good length of paper clip.

Basing wise they got the Coat D'Arms Goblin Green/Putrid Green treatment. A piece of loose field stone made sense for the Man Mangler crew, and the Archer and Standard Bearer both got toadstools made out of lentils - all to try and tie the new colour scheme back to that common landscape with the rest of my finished minis.

More apologies now as these photos are both blurred and contain duplicates of the chainsaw wielding loon, but you can see the same strong red and yellow accent colours that dominate my goblin forces are repeated, as are the basing elements of field stone and toadstools - I particularly like those elements for the fanatics, both to emphasise their fungus fuelled mania, and give them something to trip over.

Here you can see the two even more basic paint jobs on two other Blood Bowl Goblins I like to use as proxy fanatics, which I have rebased to fit in with the updated O&G forces.

I have a real penchant for using Blood Bowl minis in WFB as you can see with the two ogres above, and even in RT/40K as with this beast! But, only one of these proxy fanatics looks like a Night Goblin, which led me back to a point I have always wanted to argue - why do only Night Goblins get fanatics!? Yeah, I know it is to do with the special fungus brew etc. but if you think about it, Goblin Doom Divers are just as suicidal (if not more so) and they don't have to be Night Goblins? How much would you object if an opponent wanted to field proxy fanatics in a non-night goblin unit if it seemed in character with the army? your thoughts would be welcome in the comments :)

Finally we have Azhag's Wyvern - who was one of my first purchases from the OTC and painted up straight away ages ago for a special appearance in my D&D campaign, but who remained unbased since then, and still remains unmounted (soon Azhag, soon!).

I wanted to keep the base in keeping with the rest of the force, but needed to break up the block of green to give more contrast against the scales of the Wyvern.

A larger area of broken field stone has helped with that a bit, and has helped disguise the fact the right foot sat quite proud from the base, but given free reign I would have used something other than green as the main colour for this one. Never mind - it's not perfect, but its done, and so is my Orctober 2017 painting challenge!

Big thanks as ever to Russ for running the ToMG challenges, and to everyone who is taking part each month via the Middlehammer facebook group - it's amazing to see so many people taking part!

A Tale of Middlehammer Gamers: High Elves Anonymous

Me: "Umm. Hi. Hello. My name's Paul, and I'm addicted to High Elves.

Group: "Hi Paul!"

Me: "So.... I've been keeping hold of the High Elf army I started when I was 14 and got the WFB4 Box Set, you know the one with all the chunky monopose archers and spearmen that most people hate?"

Group: "Uh huh, yeah, we do, carry on Paul. You are doing great."

Me: "Umm. Thanks everyone. Well, you see, it gets worse. I'm fixated on this concept of painting a whole host of Caledor themed High Elves, in the same shiny metallic green and primary colours as I did when I was 14! Gah! There. I said it..."

Group: *polie and supportive applause* "Well done Paul. That can't have been easy."

Me: "No. No it wasn't. So, can you guys help me kick the habbit? Can you help me get off the High Elf monopose plastic crack!?"

Group: "Hell no! We are going to enable you and facilitate even more painting of High Elves in garish primary colours!!!"

Me: "Wait... What!?"

*Chanting growing in the back ground* "One of us! One of us! One of us!"

And that, dear reader, is almost exactly how it happened.

My indoctrination into the online cult masquerading as a self help group known as High Elves Anonymous (fallen brethren welcome), came swiftly after it became clear that there were a number of us fellow Elf Nuts (sorry/not sorry) taking part in the Tale of Middlehammer Gamers monthly challenges via the Middlehammer facebook group. September's challenge was to pledge a number of minis towards whatever force you are currently (or, rather should be!) working on, and I pledged 4 Archers (to 'complete' a unit of 26), a Silver Helm Standard Bearer (to 'complete' a unit of 10), and Prince Tyrion on his war pony Malhandir- following on from August's Procrastinators Challenge this seemed an apt choice seeing as I have owned Tyrion for just over 20 years, but have always been too scared to paint him!

Here we can see my September pledges at the start of the month

I must confess that I had some help with this project from Son #1, although he did think they should be more worried about the Snotling invasion on the other side of the table!

As I mentioned, I'm commited to completing the 4th Edition (blurring into 5th edition) High Elf Army I dreamed of and indeed started all the way back when I was 14. The thing is that means working with a pretty bold colour scheme, and incorporating paint jobs like this...

Why do you look so alarmed Mr Spearman? Is it your lack of ink wash making you feel naked and unfinished? No....?

Oh, it's because of the garish colour scheme on this archer! I don't know what the hell is going on here. The colours on the wings on the quiver are like the Jamaican fla.... Oh wait, yes I do.

I have two pretty large units of archers already painted, dating back to 1994, and a few rushes of productivity between then and now. They will eventually be two units of 26 inc command, but that means they need sprucing up and a more unified colour scheme as there is a lot of variation in quivers and fletchings. These four will serve as a template for the updates colour scheme.

Better...

The first model I actually finished (and for some reason this means it got missed off the solo shots in the light box - apologies) was the Silver Helm standard bearer. I have plans for a pennant banner at some stage, but I need some practice first, so that is for another time.

Even the Silver Helms in Caledor love their vintage citadel Glistening Green scale mail

I have a shield related issue to address at some point. Too many elves and not enough shields. Once I know what my plan is across the whole force then I will come back and sort out the shields, but for now they remain blank.

Here he is with his nine Horse Bros. There are more in a shoe box somewhere for another unit at some point....

Did I mention I was a bit scared of putting paint on Prince Tyrion and Malhandir, king of all Shetland ponies? The stellar job I had done on his brother Teclis (not to be shown here) had not filled me with confidence I can tell you! I needed a boost to get me started, so made sure I had a good lunch.

Well sort of good. Missing two of the five essential food groups - nuts and crisps, but what you can't see here is that I had a Cheese and Salt and Vinegar crisp sandwich first. So this was desert. I'm not an animal.

Right! That was better. Braced by sugar and later some dutch courage I summoned up the courage to go with what I wanted for this model and to paint him up in a Dragon Prince-esque style, slapping on some dark green and fading up to acid greens and yellows, and a matching red to orange-yellow fade on the head pieces of Tyrion and Malhandir.

I have to say I was pretty chuffed with that!

I knew I didn't want the cloth barding to take focus away from Tyrion, but I also knew I didn't want to leave it blank. Referring back to the original studio version I decided to locate a rune in the same front left portion, as it seemed to balance the model well (it wouldn't look right on the side with the sword imho).

High Elf Runes

Keeping with the Caledor theme I decided to go with the rune Sarathai (the World Dragon), which also appears on Tyrion's Rune Sword, Sunfang, so it seemed appropriate for hat reason too.

I added a blue trim to the bottom of the cloth, but other than that have left it as a block of white. It is a High Elf war pony after all!

I regularly put the two parts of the model together to check how the colour balance was going, especially before opting for a dark blue cloak which I knew was going to give Tyrion a much darker aspect than is traditional.

The blue cape was balanced out by a blue sword, with the flesh was given a purple wash to continue the darker look

My intention was to have the blue sword picked out with ice blue-white runes and I shared the version below with the High Elves Anonymous group claiming it 'done' - but even as I shared the photos I realised the blue tone wash had taken a lot of the contrast out of the runes and it looked a bit flat.

Credit and many thanks then to Anna B who advised using the same red-orange fade as for the head pieces, which you can see in the finished pictures below. She was not wrong! Indeed huge thanks to all in the High Elves Anonymous (fallen brethren welcome) support group both for their encouragement and valuable Elven lore!

Tyrion and Malhandir are sporting this season's must have his and horse matching head gear...

What the hell is that thing? It's got a Dragon's head and an eagles wings. It's not a Griffin, it's not a Phoenix. What the hell is it!?

I've just realised I paint my fantasy horses without horse shoes... Huh. Might have to address that.

Group shot of the September pledges

I've often mentioned my love of monthly painting themes and challenges when blogging, especially when they can be tied in with ongoing projects that need a bit of a boost. Well, Tale of Middlehammer Gamers (ToMG) really ticks all the boxes. Not only has it spawned a new set of connections with my fellow Elf Freaks, but across the Middlehammer group more generally there has since been talk of meet ups and mini tournaments and I have thrown my hat in the ring not only with my High Elves, but potentially with my Orcs and Goblins too!

The ToMG theme for October Orctober is to work on your bases to get things battle ready. I have already confessed my sins to the group that I will be putting the Elf(s) on the Shelf for the month to focus on my Greenskins, but this challenge has really given me the gumption to get my High Elf host into battle ready shape. My 14 year old self would be proud!

Thanks for reading. Do stop back for the next instalment in this Tale of Middlehammer Gamers!