Tuesday 25 November 2014

Warhammer Dark Elf army

Welcome to another post!

Apologies for another lengthy delay since the last. I'm currently separated by international borders from any hobby equipment as I've recently moved to Spain and haven't brought any of my stuff over yet. Sadly other things had to be prioritised...

Nonetheless, I did take some photos a while back which I haven't had the opportunity to post yet. I have showed you pictures of my Khemri and Von Carstein armies and now it is time to show some pictures of my oldest Warhammer army, my Dark Elves!


So where to begin on this walk down memory lane. I suppose the beginning is as good a place as any! When I first got into the hobby in the early nineties Dark Elves were my passions almost straight away. I remember the plastic one pose warriors, rakarth on his dragon, male sorcerers (before the fluff changed) and so much more. I must have had at least one of most things. All of that old school stuff has since been traded or sold over  the years. The models in this post are from when Dark Elves got a much needed reboot and some fantastic sculpts. Onwards to more photos and I will elaborate more on the way.

 photo 75d67de0-26bd-467c-b2dd-0c51496e8d60_zpsad5a3502.jpg

The army pictured above is only a small portion of what my total force was. It happened to be all in the same case that I stumbled upon. There were also a lot of crossbowmen, more bolt throwers, Malekith, lots more knights a cauldron of blood... Where all of those models are now is anyone's guess!

The models pictured would have been painted by me approximately 14 years ago I think. My Dark Elves, or smurfs as they were known due to their blue tinged skin, saw a lot of action and were generally very shooting heavy, however towards the end of my time with them I branched out somewhat in favour of lots of small hard hitting combat units.

 photo da7797f6-6663-4e54-a514-c03586da4fc7_zpsf35a810c.jpg

Here we have a few Witch Elves and an Assassin. There were lots more of these girls and I used to run them in only 2 ranks with a very wide frontage to get maximum attacks. The new plastic models are fantastic but I still think for their time these models were very impressive.

The purple that you see if I remember correctly is broadly speaking liche purple with
various highlights and washes added. The skin was always based on space wolves grey.

 photo 1ce3535a-f31b-46a1-be6f-9a7010ee3dd4_zps9c9942ba.jpg

Here we have  small unit of corsairs led by none other than Malus Darkblade himself! This unit I entered in Golden Demon (around 2001/2 I think) set on a nice display base with a couple of slaves lying about (the dark eldar ones from Vects raider). I placed as a finalist and received an invite to warhammer world where I got a tour of the factory! Those were the days.

The pictures sadly don't do them justice as even today they look very nice. It makes me think though how much the standard of painting has improved over the years as I can't imagine them getting anywhere near the finals now!

 photo 668e05fc-2b26-4139-b993-0764592173df_zpsb8d5c8bf.jpg

Here we have a unit of spearmen, who I understand are now called Dreadspears. These guys were once again revolutionary at the time with the ability to have the front rank with their spears pointing forwards in the shield nook, with those following having their spears at various angles. It was a great plastic kit for its time. I'm unsure yet how I feel about the new plastic kits being rather more 2 dimensional and less poseable, however I imagine it makes ranking and painting a lot easier!

Behind you will see a few cold one knights on the prowl. My favourite cavalry in the warhammer world without a doubt!

 photo 9a0b3437-b8e2-4848-a8a2-0fe393041802_zpsd56fc14a.jpg

A couple of twin sorceresses converted from beastmasters. Even then magic was very powerful and I liked to run lots of wizards in the army to overwhelm my opponents. These models were some of my first attempts at greenstuffing.

 photo f0550b21-4d36-469e-add9-19bd9f475e01_zps7123f4dd.jpg

You can see the host of Naggaroth advancing behind these two menacing fellows...

 photo 18cf0de9-785d-43b0-9d9f-3dd85c08eb61_zps9362cffb.jpg

and here they are brought into focus! Sadly only two of them, but here are the Black Guard! Once again I think these sculpts are beautiful. I loved the models but sadly they suffered the curse of being made of metal and therefore very expensive. For some reason I never managed to finish painting a whole unit of these guys. The two pictured would have been painted shortly after the corsairs which explains the move from black to silver armour.

 photo 4697914e-cc84-4b41-baef-53adc2d8b371_zps6bddcb51.jpg

To finish off a photo of the limited edition Malus on foot sculpt.

I've still got a real soft spot for Dark Elves and all this end-times excitement is pushing me ever closer to starting a new dark elf army. It is proving harder and harder to resist ordering a few boxes of the lovely new models...

Thank you all for taking the time read through this. So, what do you think? Is it about time I made a return to the old world for the end times?



7 comments:

  1. Wow - impressive stuff, mate! I personally prefer high or wood elves, but you obviously more than do these babies justice!

    Good luck with the move, by the way. Does moving to Spain mean you're officially an Old Person now?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. One of the benefits of ET, you can combine all the elves!

      Haha, officially an old person? Perhaps only in spirit, I'm still the good side of 30!

      Delete
  2. Nope. Stick with one project and see it through. Once you are sure you are done, THEN start another. Don't go down the rabbit hole with the rest of us and end up with a mountain of unpainted projects that WILL eventually overwhelm you. :)

    Lovely DE's though. I really like the sculpts from back then - far more soul to them and your paint jobs make them pop!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Dai, wiser advice was never given and then promptly ignored! The rabbit hole has my name all over it.

      I was trying to think of the sculptor for the old DEs, almost the whole range was done by one guy who afterwards left GW under a cloud. If I recall correctly it's why mengels manflayers were never properly released. Any rubbish sculpts were done by others (sorceress on cold one I'm looking at you...)

      Delete
    2. Welcome to the dark side.....

      Although, at least your own private dark side will be a sunny one.

      Delete
  3. Another beautiful army!? Barr!
    Dude you had some serious skill as a young blood, and as you said you have come a long way since then. Best of luck with your life adventures. Oh and Yes you should be buying more. pfft. Is there ever a reason not to!

    ReplyDelete