Grant's Wood Elf Host - Wrap Up (4279 pts)

So marks the end of my first Old World Army Challenge!

This project was one that I really got a lot out of. I really enjoyed growing the army, and found the scheme enjoyable to paint. I think my method of mixing up hair colours through each month of the project meant that I wasn’t ever getting massively burned out on any one particular troop type. Definitely appreciated when past me had painted all the troops needed when we hit those rougher months in April and May, and I had time to do different things.

I’d rather not do posts of the individual units – they’ve already all been photographed. If you’d like to see them, you can do so in the archive. This is July, and July is about the army as a whole. Without further ado, my best Bryan Ansell pose (and my army).

I learned a lot throughout this project. Mainly to do with working in volume. My output towards the end was a lot faster than at the start. Largely because all the paints had already been pulled out of the rack, and were sitting to hand!

I massively underprepared. I expected to get about half of this done. This was good, as it meant I had a lot more time left at the end of the month to start the following month’s efforts. It was bad, because it meant I had to buy more Wood Elves and spend time preparing them to paint. Overall, it’s a good thing though, because now I’ve got a much bigger army.

So what have I ended the challenge with? Here’s the list.

Characters:

1 Sylvan Chieftain (Level 20 Hero) 168pts – Baneblade +5pts, Hail of Doom +25pts – 198pts

1 Greenfey (level 20 Wizard) – Riding Unicorn (80pts) – 383pts

1 Sylphseer ( Level 15 Wizard) – 203pts

1 Spellsinger (level 10 wizard) 118pts

1 Wood Lord (Level 15 Hero) 128pts – Additional Hand Weapon +1pts, Longbow +3pts, Eagle +75pts, Hail of Doom +25pts – 232pts

1 Wood Lord – Hail of Doom Arrow + Great Weapon – 155pts

1 Guardian – Hail of Doom Arrow + Great Weapon – 115pts

1 Guardian – Hail of Doom Arrow + Great Weapon – 115pts

1 Guardian (Level 10 Hero) – Great Weapon (2pts), Javelin (1pt (to represent his Eagle)) – 91pts

Troops:

10 Archers – 110pts

10 Archers – 110pts

10 Archers – 110pts

10 Archers – 110pts

10 Wardancers – 200pts

10 Wardancers – 200pts

19 Warrior Kinband - Spears 1pt Musician and Standard Bearer 18pts - 208pts

19 Warrior Kinband – Light Armour, Standard & Musician – 231pts

5 Wood Riders – Longbows 6pts – 130pts

5 Elven Lords – Barding (40pts) – 195pts

1 Beastmaster – 13 pts – leading 4 Boars 6pts – 37pts

1 Wain Lord – Scythed Wheels (20pts), Falconer (6pts), Shield (8pts), Long Bow (6pts) – 168pts

Monsters:

1 Treeman – 280pts

1 Treeman – 280pts

1 Wight – 100pts

1 Forest Giant – 200pts

Total 4279pts!

If we ran only a single Treeman, we’d be looking at putting everything in the army on the table for a whopping 4000 point game. Think that’s my most immediate goal with the army – actually get it on the battlefield for a game. Unfortunately, getting Covid kind of knocked that on the head this time around, but it’s definitely on the cards.

What next for the army? Well, more Archers would be the most likely place for it. 40 isn’t really that much, and it’d be nice to have some variants for the more exciting types of Archery available to Wood Elves. As nice as Skarloc’s Archers are, there’s only so many of them you can paint! Other than that, another Eagle Rider would be great, though I’d like to do one of my own design rather than just ‘borrowing’ Mike McVey’s classic. It was deliberate to paint as many ‘out of the box’ minis in this challenge. Aside from the Eagle Rider, everything is exactly as you could buy out of a blister pack. I must confess to watching Mariano’s gorgeous army full of conversions with a twinge of jealousy!

I also need to finally get the movement trays sorted – they need based. Other than that though, I can’t see much else. It’s a well rounded army, with a little bit of everything available. I just need to find a way to get them onto a table soon!

I've loved taking part in the challenge. It's been great having something motivating me to get painting in the evenings, and the lovely comments from other participants have really been hugely encouraging to read. I hope to be back next year, though doing what, I cannot say. I have the start of several potential projects, but I'd need to flesh out everything. Hopefully I can work something out, and see you again in a few months. 

Grant's Wood Elf Host - Month 6 *Wild Card* (760pts)

And just like that, it was the end of June!

Feels like it was only a couple of weeks ago that the challenge started, and now it’s basically over. I had some plans for this month, but they didn’t end up coming all the way to fruition. I had planned a Zoat, but it’s still lying in paint stripper. I’d also planned to do the movement trays, but other plans got in the way. Work got super busy, and movement trays aren’t the most exciting things to paint.

I also took a holiday with some pals down to a stately home in Monmouth, South Wales. Spent 5 days drinking, and playing Magic and Board games. Was very pleasant, and would massively recommend it, but it’s knocked me out of my painting rhythm massively, as well as causing my hands to shake in the immediate aftermath for some reason.

So, without further excuses about what I didn’t do this month, this is what I’ve done.

1 Treeman – 280pts

            

            

The classic 'give us a hug' pose. I painted the lichen in the same way as I painted the green on the Wood Elves, in an effort to unify the Trees as part of the army.

1 Treeman – 280pts

            

            

The other of the Trish Morrison classics. I have a more modern Durthu, but it doesn't resonate with me nearly as much as these two. I'll probably add it after the challenge, but I didn't have time to finish it before the end of this month.

1 Forest Giant – 200pts*

            

            

This is an interesting addition for a couple of reasons. First, it breaks the self imposed 'all Citadel' rule that I'd made for myself at the start. This is a Ral Partha Cloud Giant miniature. Secondly, it's not actually in the 3rd edition Wood Elves list.

I thought that a Forest Giant would make a cool centrepiece, and that if I wasn't allowed to use him as a Giant, he'd make a decent Durthu in a game of 4th+ or Renaissance. I did do a bit of justification for his inclusion in Giant form, and present the following, from my trusty, dog eared copy of Warhammer Armies.

 


As you can see, clear as day - Giants live in the Forest. Wood Elves ally with inhabitants of Forests. I rest my case!

Looking forward to next month, and my best Bryan Ansell pose looming over my army. It's been a great first challenge. I've got a wonderful new/old army that I didn't before. I'd encourage anyone who's on the fence to get involved and add to it next year. There can never be enough old warhammer armies in the world.

Grant's Wood Elf Host - Month 5 *Rank and File* (837pts)

 This month, fast attack was the order of the day. Previous months, per my original plan, I was going to paint one horse-elf per month, with the plan being to end the challenge with a single unit of cavalry, armed with bows. Due to my over-enthusiasm for the project, I ended up accomplishing this unit, in its entirety in March, instead of May. Champagne problems! Prior to this challenge, I’d never painted a horse, so thought that as a reward for my hard work, I’d focus on that for a whole month, and thus Fast Attack Month came about. A bonus of this was that I got to paint two of my favourite all time miniatures – the Elven Attack Chariot, and the Mage on Unicorn.

First up, the Chariot. Being completely honest, this was a pain in the backside to build, and to paint. It’s massive, so needed to be painted in sub-assemblies, but the mini itself really doesn’t lend to that. In the end, I painted the crew, the horses, the chariot body, the wheels and the draft pole and yoke all as separate components, before attaching it to the base. Caused me a lot of headaches in having to hold parts of the miniature that I’d already painted, and a bunch of unnecessary effort in painting things that are hidden away on the underside etc. The crew were done in with the batches from the previous month, and the horses were doubled up with the rest of the month’s effort, ensuring we had four different colours, tied together by the blue black manes and tails. I’ve been describing this job as being one that I’m glad I’ve done one of, but have no desire to do a second!

1 Wain Lord – Scythed Wheels (20pts), Falconer (6pts), Shield (8pts), Long Bow (6pts) – 168pts

                      

                

              


Next up, we have the Marauder Miniatures Mage on Unicorn. I cannot say enough nice things about this figure. It was a joy to paint, and the Unicorn would still look great if produced today. I started out with this as a ‘straight out the pack’ mini, but when I ranked her up, I wasn’t sold on the giant, winged hat she’s sporting, and felt that even with my forest paintjob, she’d look more like a displaced High Elf than a permanent resident of Athel Loren. I got out my hacksaw, and chopped it off, leaving a headband behind, and sculpted her some hair. I think it looks pretty good. Showed it to a pal, and he said he’d believe it was the original version if he didn’t know better, so I’m taking that as a compliment. Scale wise, she’s quite a bit larger than the rest of the cavalry, but I reckon that’s fine – Unicorns are creatures of Magic, so it makes sense that they’re a little larger than your standard elven steed. Works in my head, anyway. 

The box art mini for this features a white, blonde maned Unicorn, and I saw no reason to diverge from this. I went for a cold white rather than a warm one, mostly because I wanted to use the same recipe as the white on the Elves trousers, but I'm really happy with how it's come together on the larger surface.

1 Greenfey (level 20 Wizard) – Riding Unicorn (80pts) – 383pts

    



                                

Throughout the project so far, my goal has been to take the lowest version of each troop type, in order that I have a baseline points value that I can scale up by ‘promoting’ them to more senior versions. With this unit of Lancers, there was no way that they were anything other than Elven Lords. I can’t say I was a fan of some of these. Buddy with the winged helm is ok, and I quite liked the bare head one, but the rest of the range are massively heavily armoured, which kind of looks out of place in the Forest. I’m excusing these as being where the older Elves that chose not to return to Ulthuan kept some of the weapons, armour and customs of their Higher cousins, and are wearing them into battle in tribute to the old ways. Again, it makes sense in my head. I’m using Barding on the horses points wise to represent this, as Heavy Armour isn’t an option in Wood Elves

5 Elven Lords – Barding (40pts) – 195pts



                    

Last new submission for the month is another Hero. My partner bought this for me for Christmas, as she knew I was planning on painting old Wood Elves this year, and combo’d with a pal to pick this. I needed to find a time to get some paint on it, as any lovely kindness and consideration like this warrants a coat of paint on it. Don’t know if I’m sold on this paintjob – I think I’ve botched the eyes on the Eagle, but I can revisit them later.

1 Guardian (Level 10 Hero) – Great Weapon (2pts), Javelin (1pt (to represent his Eagle)) – 91pts
                                

Total for the month – 837pts.
Total for previous months – 2625pts
Running Total – 3462pts

Wow. Planned for a 2000pts army, and am already over the size of the ‘typical’ third edition battle. Very pleased.

Last month, I’d mentioned that I was unhappy with the shields that I’d ordered for the army. Happy to say that while the replacements arrived too late to be included with last month’s entry, I have successfully caught up, and am able to re-present the Kinband and Wardancers, who are now completed. Not claiming any points for these, but they are now done. They’re from the wonderful oldschoolminiatures.co.uk, and I can heartily recommend these.



    

Plans for next month are quite exciting. I’m planning 3 Treemen, and a Forest Giant using the wonderful Ral Partha Cloud Giant. Will break the all-citadel self imposed rule I’ve placed on myself, but it’s such a lovely miniature, and I really want an excuse to paint one. Fingers crossed I can get through this last month – would be incredibly annoying to fall at the final hurdle, and I’d love to push the total over 4000pts, which this planned output would do, even not claiming any points for the off list Forest Giant. See you in a month!

Grant's Wood Elf Host - Month 4 *Rank and File* (901pts)

 So this month went pretty well…

Riding the success of previous months, I was able to start adding extras to my army, to start the pad out to 3000pts. I’d toyed with doing a simple Kinband, and with doing something more exciting in Wardancers. In the end, I couldn’t decide between them, so I just did both!

This does put me in a position where I’ve needed to buy more minis to pad out the coming months, especially since if I never see another stripy trousered Wood Elf holding a Longbow again, it’ll be too soon! This means that my new, revised, probably going to change again plan now means I’ll be doing some fast attack stuff next month – another unit of Cavalry, this time with Lances, and the gorgeous, timeless Elven Attack Chariot. The following month will be my Wildcard month, and I’ve got Treemen and a Forest Giant planned for that month. The idea to front load as much infantry as possible has definitely worked, as we’ve got nothing but exciting stuff to work on to close out the army.

I might pepper some more Heroes in, time permitting, as I really don’t have that much left in the to-do portion of the army now. Champagne problems.

On now, to this month’s output.

1 Wood Lord – Hail of Doom Arrow + Great Weapon – 155pts

         

I can't say I'm a massive fan of this miniature - He doesn't make much sense with that sword. How's he supposed to fire his bow with that gigantic sword in his hands? Maybe he uses the sword as an arrow?

1 Guardian – Hail of Doom Arrow + Great Weapon – 115pts

19 Warrior Kinband – Light Armour, Standard & Musician – 231pts



The unit as a whole, including Guardian and command group. Really enjoyed painting these. A good mixture of old Wood Elves, including the Silvan Elf range from early LOTR. Some have aged better than others, and some of them are probably a little too heavily armoured, but I found it really difficult to get 20 unique sculpts together for this, so I made do with accessibility. May rectify this post project.



Ginger Kinband



Raven Kinband, including standard bearer.



Brown haired Kinband 1, including Guardian



Blonde Kinband, including horn blower.

Brown haired Kinband 2.

10 Wardancers – 200pts



10 Wardancers – 200pts



I'm not sure how much of this is my Blood Bowl experience, but Wardancers are what I think of when I think about Wood Elves. I managed to put together 20 unique sculpts from the original range, and managed to work out a painting queue where none of the bases had the same colour as another one, which was harder than it should have been, given that there are 7 different base variants! May track down and add another Glam on foot, as he's just such an iconic mini, I wouldn't mind having Eagle and foot variants available.



Ginger Wardancers



Raven Wardancers



Brown Wardancers 1



Blonde Wardancers



Brown Wardancers 2

Total for the month – 901pts

Added to the running total – 2625(!)

Well over the planned 2000pts army touted in December 2021!

The Eagle eyed among you will notice a number of stubs where shields should be. You're correct to notice these. I ordered some shields in plenty of time, but really didn't like them on the models when they arrived. I went back, and ordered a different style. Expect to see these units again before the end, with shields added.

Roll on next month, and the Elven Attack Chariot!