80s Dark Elf Army Update 1

Some more pics to publish of the Dark Elves as they currently stand, work still in progress. These were also recently posted over at the Oldhammer Forum, but thought I'd talk a little more about some of them individually.

Dark Elf Crossbows:

Dark Elf Crossbows

This unit is made up from Marauder's MM70, Dark Elf range, from 1988. The command group however is made up from Citadel Miniatures from around the time of 3rd edition WFB. There's a good variety of sculpts in the MM70 range, and they are mostly well proportioned and interesting. They also fit alongside the Citadel sculpts perfectly, which is something of a bonus, though the Citadel sculpts are a little more variable (I'm not a big fan of the 'champion' model 2nd from right, front row).

Menghil's Manhides:

An iconic Regiment of Renown, I have amassed a good sized regiment of the 2nd incarnation of this set; check out this page on Orlyg's Realm of Chaos 80s blog to have a look at the other set released way back when.

Ean Hawkbane, Menghil's champion

This model took me some time to track down on ebay at a reasonable price, by which I mean under £5; I've seen him listed for all sorts of crazy money though. He's a typical 80s Citadel champion - brimming over with character and slightly quirky sculpting. The lines may not be as clean and the design may not be flashy as modern GW models, but I think he's fantastic! Why and how has he befriended an owl, is it a familiar, channeling his worship of the dark gods or simply a tool for hunting and battle? These are the sorts of questions older models tend to pose, that are becoming, for me, less prevalent in modern miniatures.

Mengil Manhide's Company (incomplete!)

This is an older photo showing the progress I had made with the full Manhide company last year. Notice the mixture of male and female troopers. It may not be much but it certainly breaks up the monotony of an otherwise monopose unit. These are the first models I started painting for the collection. I jumped in feet first and made up the colour scheme on the fly. I picked turquiose for its cold, but vibrant character and complimented it with a contrasting, bold orange. The decision to paint all the army in the same, or similar, uniform was pretty much given to me by the fact that the Dark Elf ranges tended to confirm to a fairly uniform style. This is most evident in the fact that the champion, second from right, is not from this set at all, but from the more general Dark Elf range of roughly the same time. He has the same scale armour, in a sort of skirted tunic, as the other character models, with a similar crest on his helmet; these basic features pretty much define every Dark Elf model released from 1980 'til the release of 4th edition, when the design changed forever! That champion can now return to his own company, and be replaced with the 'true' champion of the set, Ean Hawkbane.

Maruader Beastmaster and Warhounds:

Dark Elf Beastmaster and 4 warhounds

This is the Marauder beastmaster set, with an extra chaos hound (with two heads) added to make a better sized unit. I have another pair of chaos hounds to make up a harder hitting group in larger games. The dogs are great though, looking like old English Bulldogs (bigger than the modern breed) with a good range of dynamic poses, snarling muzzles and spiky studded collars. The chaos hound is, weirdly, emaciated but sporting a suitable mutation. I love how the muscles are defined on this model. The Beastmaster herself isn't bad, though being of the later Marauder style is afflicted with a somewhat ridiculous hairstyle. I'd love to track down an earlier Citadel Beastmaster, and move this individual model on, to a more appreciative owner; for now it'll have to wait though!

Citadel Dark Elf Bolt-thrower:

This final one is plain weird.

Citadel's 80's Dark Elf Bolt-thrower. Its odd

The Bolt-thrower itself is pretty huge, which is fine. Its actually quite a nicely designed model with large wheels to facilitate easy targeting and re-positioning, a frame with some suitably intricate 'rope work' type embellishment, and a magazine of bolts ready to hurl at the enemy. The crew are sculpted in the same manner as the other Dark Elves of the period, sporting feather like appendages on the helmet and tracery on the armour and clothes. However they are rather short, almost halfling sized, and next to the huge war machine they look tiny! The sharpness of the details is in line with other models of their era, which is rather soft, but that can be dealt with by painting sympathetically. The poses are a little awkward, but I do rather enjoy the stooping spotter and the guy stretching up to refill the magazine (he'd have to at 4.5 feet tall), if only because the exaggeration of such mundane activities is far more fun than a model pointing into the distance with a "Raaagh!" expression. I think this bizarre set might just grow on me, and hopefully - once I've finished basing them all up - will create a good compliment to the army. It better do; I have another two to work on.

The Nameless Army (so far):

The Dark Elf Army, work still in progress

Well, its fairly self-explanatory, that's what I'd got done some time around the turn of the year. There's plenty more to do to get them finished. I'm looking to complete the first 1.5k (based on Warhammer Armies, 3rd edition supplement) by the end of March, and come up with a name for them as well. Any suggestions?

What's to come:

I'll be taking a look at the models I worked on throughout last year (two more companies of infantry, more crossbows, cold one riders, chaotic and ogre allies, summoned spectres/ghosts/whights) over the coming weeks, as well as those I'll be working on soon (including units of light and heavy cavalry, more summoned spectres/ghosts/whights, skeletons and demons!).