[3-10-19] Willmark's Dark Elf Army Blog- Project Rebirth

Willmark

Member
NOTE
Originally this started as a catch all thread. I've since re-purposed it to chronicle the repainting of my third edition dark elf force. I'm also copying over my witch elf war altar that was in a separate thread too.

I originally painted it in 1992 and has stayed in that form for 25 years, but no more. In mid 2016 I started stripping down and reorganizing the force. Noting which minis I wanted to exclude as I'm focusing solely on citadel and marauder minis from the right time period. So out were my plastic dark elf warriors from the 4th/5th edition days.

The entire army did not need to be redone but a good chunk of it does/ Some like my unit of 10 Cold One Knights just needs the mounts touched up but the Knights are a different story. In some cases like my crossbowmen they needed a full tear down and redo.

As time progresses you'll see more work here as I add.

Original Post
Dark Elf Chariots, now I've probably read that section on page 32 of Warhammer Armies quite a few times before but never really paid it much mind. Chariots for dark elf heroes, but no rank and file entry in 3rd edition? Every army that allows for chariots for characters has a rank and file entry to correspond, consider:

Woodies= Wain Lords
High Elves= Warwains
Orcs and Goblins+ Orc and Goblin Battle chariots
Undead= Undead chariots
Chaos is another odd-man out as there are models for it but no rules (although listed in a bit more detail in Slaves to Darkness). In fact Dark elfs are the opposite of chaos= in the rules but no models.

Now I get that GW did this all the time (chaso dwarf juggernaught anyone?), but just exactly how does rules for dark elf characters work? You can place your general in a chariot but what then? The best solution I've come up with is to look to the wood and high elf entries and make some educated guesses, especially the high elf one.

128 points for a chariot (although reduce if only pulled by two mounts)
Crew 2 or 4?
warhorses or cold ones
Uses stat line for dark elf warriors for crew members.

scythed wheels for 20 points
one rider may have a crossbow (7 pts) or repeating crossbow (8 pts)
Any crew member may have a shield 8 pts.
Any chariot rider may have throwing knives (2 pts)
Any chariot rider may have light armor (4 pts)

I guess this is just one of those particularities of 3rd edition. The rules on pages 118 to 119 are helpful but to me there seems to be some gray areas.
 

Galadrin

Member
Re: Dark Elf Chariots in 3rd Edition?

Chaos Chariots have rules in Slaves to Darkness, as you mention, and these are also reproduced in White Dwarf 114.

Dark Elves definitely did have a model for their Cold One Chariot (bizarre looking, if you ask me), although it was never sold in stores. I have seen it on eBay before (and I would love to know how this is possible, if the item was never released). The point values can be found in the Warhammer Fantasy Battle 3rd Edition rulebook on page 121. Unlike the Chaos chariot, it has no special rules—it's just a normal chariot pulled by two Cold Ones. I believe the point cost would be (22+22+8) 52 points for the chariot and driver, plus 20 for scythed wheels, plus the character's cost.
 

Willmark

Member
Re: Dark Elf Chariots in 3rd Edition?

Galadrin":2in95mca said:
Chaos Chariots have rules in Slaves to Darkness, as you mention, and these are also reproduced in White Dwarf 114.

Dark Elves definitely did have a model for their Cold One Chariot (bizarre looking, if you ask me),
Indeed it is. The basic chariot body is fine as are the wheels but the yoke pole is more akin to a wood or high elf chariot IMO. I've seen photos of that before but as you mention, the model? No way, near impossible as it was only mail order for a limited time and limited numbers at that.

My main wondering is loading it up with extra crewmen besides the character. I'm thinking the army standard bearer right besides and two other crewmen.

I should add I'm working on one... going to go with it pulled by 4 horses. Since i mainly play at home it shouldn't be an issue.;)

I should also, also add that with the movement tray I'm making I can add four cold ones instead of war horses or go with only two cold ones if need be. Pics later will show what I'm working on.
 

Galadrin

Member
Re: Dark Elf Chariots in 3rd Edition?

A four horse chariot with more than crew is perfectly legal under the rules, so no need to worry about that. Warhammer Armies came out at the very end of 3rd Edition and shouldn't really be considered the only official way to build an army. It's more like a suggestion about what you could do with the point value rules in the main rulebook.

Classic 80's Dark Elves were such a neat army—can't wait to see the model you come up with!
 

Willmark

Member
Re: Dark Elf Chariots in 3rd Edition?

Yep. Thanks for the reminder I just re-read that section.

I might have some pics tonight after I work on painting some Nippon stuff.
 

Willmark

Member
Re: Dark Elf Chariots in 3rd Edition?

As discussed here is what I've come up with so far. My idea is to mimic the 3rd edition dark elf one but not with the Wood Elf imagery. So here we are:

dark_elf_chariot3.jpg


dark_elf_chariot4.jpg


dark_elf_chariot5.jpg


Still have a bit to go but you can see how its shaping up.
 

Galadrin

Member
Re: Dark Elf Chariots in 3rd Edition?

Very cool so far! It looks a lot sleeker and more brutal than the original chariot. What is it made out of?
 

Willmark

Member
Re: Dark Elf Chariots in 3rd Edition?

Thanks, that the intent. Dark elves are nasty their chariots shouldn't look like they belong to pesky wood elves.

Materials:
Crescent/moubting board. (Thicker then card stock)
Plastic card
Tooth picks
Popsicle sticks
Small wooden dowling
Balsa wood
Chaos chariot wheels
Chaos chariot scythes

Obviously the horses are high elf ones.

The movement tray is two layers: one cardboard, the lower part is card stock. Glue it together and then cover the edges with masking tape. Dip into the gravel- sand box and done. Undercoating, painting and flocking the base takes next to no time to accomplish.

The basis of the yokes for the horses will be balsa wood.

EDIT: it went pretty quick, now I've got to find some actual crew members!
 

Willmark

Member
Re: Dark Elf Chariots in 3rd Edition?

Side Track! I'm still working on dark elf stuff but the chariot is largely done until I get crew for it. One being a general means I really have to think this out. This is also before I work on the finer details of plastic card edging to the chasis as I dont know how the crew will fit in just yet, Stay tuned. In the meantime here are some old school models painted 20 years ago.

I never played Undead back in the day, but a great tactic we all probably used in 3rd edition days? Summon undead! So I painted these guys eons ago but their lance heads were allocated to my Empire Knights. So I went back and used spear heads from the 6th edition orc plastic units and bam! Still have a lot of touch ups to go but I'm going to leave the skeletons as is; I know I can do way better now but a good piece of how far I've come in terms of painting.

Undead Bretonnian Knights? Mmmmmmwwwhhhahahaaa.

undead_deathriders1.jpg


undead_deathriders2.jpg


undead_deathriders3.jpg


undead_deathriders4.jpg


I also have 30 skeletons on foot to re-base...
 

Willmark

Member
Re: [12-30-16] Willmark's Dark Elf Army Blog- Project Rebirt

BUMP and Thread renamed

Arise from your grave. My Dark Elves are my second oldest army, and the one that was most in need of being repainted. Due to the fact that my massive Chaos Dwarf horde is now coming to a close, I needed to work on something else. My Nippon force is a bit stalled for the moment, so over the last year I have been busy stripping down to the lead and plastic in my dark elf force. While not complete, I have a bunch to go forward with while I add minis I didn't get back in the day or trade away ones I don't want.

Back in the day with they also fielded hobgoblin mercs as an additional infantry unit(now also stripped and ready to be painted). Now with Baron Brightgore which I picked up for $15.

On the Workbench
20 dark elf crossbowmen (still need four more) see the Marketplace forum. I'm currently working on these.
11 Mengil Manhide's Dark Elves (will function as Shadows)
8 Shadows

Here are the WIP of the Crossbowmen, better ones will be up later (yes Mengil's Manhide Dark Elves in the background too, see below)
dark_elf_crossbowmen1.jpg


Future plans
Purchase 2 Bolt Throwers
Add a few more cavalry, as in 5 to fill out one unit to ten (will be Dark Riders)
A few more 3rd edition cold ones for the above chariot and to fill out the second Cold One Unit.
Second warrior unit, first needs to be filled out to 20.

After that I'll take stock of the situation and see where to go next.
 

vonkortez

Member
Re: [12-30-16] Willmark's Dark Elf Army Blog- Project Rebirt

Hi Willmark,

As it happens I was just reading your posting about the dark elf war altar yesterday and wondering if I should do some threadromancy and ask you if you have completed that altar. I´m involved in a joint effort to create a dark elf army for a friend of mine and now as I´ve done what I originally promised to paint for that project I´m looking for the next thing to do. I´ve started a repeating bolt thrower but at the same time I´m really concidering doing a war altar myself too.

So if you got your altar done I would really like to see what it became.

-VK
 

Willmark

Member
Re: [12-30-16] Willmark's Dark Elf Army Blog- Project Rebirt

Greetings VK. I should incorporate that into this thread. Will do later.

Right now it is complete and undercoated but I have not started painting it yet. Something perhaps for the new year.
 

Willmark

Member
Re: [12-30-16] Willmark's Dark Elf Army Blog- Project Rebirt

Update
Two units are underway
One is the crossbowmen who I'm angling to get to 20. They are actually fun to paint. I was able to modify one into a standard bearer as noted. As far as the paint job. Can't say I thought it up but the excellent mini paint jobs here were too good to pass up: https://thelostandthedamned.wordpress.c ... true/feed/

So while not exactly as is I've added a few minor changes like the crossbows, in all this should be fun so blatant mimicking? You bet! This also works as my unit of 10 Cold One Knights should fit in well. The cold ones themselves are fairly well done so they only need to be touched up. The riders will be stripped of paint and redone. The color scheme is green and yellow on the knights so green and purple here to with touches of black? We'll see.

Crossbowmen underway:
dark_elf_crossbowmen2.jpg


Second is Mengil Manhide's Dark Elves. Rather then "waste" them as Shadows I'm thinking of getting 9 more and they can be my second unit of 20 warriors filling out the compulsory choices. In the past I had used 20 plastic ones from the 4th/5th edition ranges...
dark_elf_mengil_manhide1.jpg
 

Willmark

Member
Re: [12-30-16] Willmark's Dark Elf Army Blog- Project Rebirt

Update
As noted here is my Dark Elf War Altar from a different thread. This is the original post and all updates will go from here.

Original Post
To the best of my knowledge I haven't seen one on the web and as we all know, GW didn't create one back in the day... So...

Now I'm working on my Nippon Army over at Dogs of War Online and of course I'm looking through the Warhammer Armies book and Dark Elves are the only ones who can utilize Nippon. This of course leads me to digging out my entire Dark Elf army with its crappy circa 1991 paint job :cry: A few nights later I've stripped a ton of paint and am sorting and arranging models. So not only am I creating a Nippon army, but now I'm apparently working on a Dark Elf one (again) as well.

Then I get to the Witch Elves. I have 14 citadel ones & 8 Marauder ones. Now, normally I like/love Marauder minis, but not the Witch Elves, thus they get set aside. I'm not telling anyone here that the 3rd edition witch elves don't have a lot of dynamic poses and only one with her hands above shoulder level, making it tough to haul a war altar. This puts a crimp in my plans for a war altar now doesn't it? So what to do? Conversion time! As you see, not only did the witch elf model in particular that I used work for the altar but for a standard bearer too. I went with the same model because as you can see in the pics the left arm works perfectly to drill through and use a rod for the altar poles. The right arms I had to cut off and reposition and glue with some gray/green stuff coming later.

Some further thoughts: I debated going with a 40mm base in the vein of what I did with my chaos dwarf general over at CDO, but it didn't really work; too big and a tad too long. I even had another extra base for a dwarf Throne of Power, but that didn't work either. In the end I had to start creating it from scratch. Right now its pretty basic. Still not sure what I'm going to put on the top. I also remembered some old regimental bases for the bearers, but alas no round insert parts. While doing this I did noticed that three 20 mm bases in a line (20 mm by 60 mm) would work perfectly and allow it to fit into the regiment of Witch Elves.

Next up is a movement base for the unit and as you can also see I need two more Witch Elves with the human flesh from Mengil Manhide's regiment for the additional altar guard and two more 3rd edition Witch Elves and I'll have a regiment of 20.

Enough talk here are the photos:

Here is where I started at as the basis of the conversion.
dark_elf_war_altar4.jpg


Snap to ladies!
dark_elf_war_altar8.jpg


Lining up
dark_elf_war_altar2.jpg


Lift on three!
dark_elf_war_altar7.jpg


Front View
dark_elf_war_altar6.jpg


The regiment WIP (once again? 25+ years later???)
dark_elf_war_altar5.jpg
 

ardyer

Member
Re: [12-30-16] Willmark's Dark Elf Army Blog- Project Rebirt

Lovely work, glad to see someone is getting some dark elves painted, because I'm not
 

Willmark

Member
Re: [12-30-16] Willmark's Dark Elf Army Blog- Project Rebirt

100th post! Woot.

Many thanks Ardyer.

All- there seems to be a lot of interest being generated in my war altar, never would have guessed that. So with that in mind here is one WIP photo. Not anywhere near done, but you can see the progress on them while I'm working on my first crossbowmen unit too.

dark_elf_war_altar1.jpg


As you can see I've added some washers to the base of Morrslieb, it was tottering around quite a bit and it dawned on me: duh Willmark, it just needs a bit of weight.
 

Subedai

Member
Re: [1-4-17] Willmark's Dark Elf Army Blog- Project Rebirth

Nice progress on the altar. No danger of me overtaking you. I'm looking forward to seeing the regiment with the altar in its middle, it'll be something quite special!
 

Willmark

Member
Re: [1-4-17] Willmark's Dark Elf Army Blog- Project Rebirth

Update
Still working on both the crossbow unit and the war altar. As it is the crossbowmen are a bit more complete with the first 10 nearly the finish line. Naggaroth is the Land of Chill so it makes sense to paint their bases with snow similar to what I'm doing with my revamped 5th edition chaos force.

Anyways, here they are, I have a line on four more plastic crossbowmen to round out the unit.

dark_elf_crossbowmen3.jpg


3rd edition dark elf crossbowmen? There are not that many out there on the web so thanks to Subedai for the inspiration again.
 

Willmark

Member
Re: [1-8-17] Willmark's Dark Elf Army Blog- Project Rebirth

Update
Still a WIP but the last four crossbowmen arrived by mail couldn't prime them as the super glue was drying. The other 16 are now complete as is the standard bearer. I'll get some photos of that shortly.

Of note is the fact when placed in two ranks the back rank will poke the front ranks with their crossbows. Simple matter to shift the back rank back on their bases by cutting the plastic slotta tabs.

The reason for a rank of twenty is I have another unit of 10. In battle the unit of twenty will be placed on a hill when possible and support the unit of 10 as they advance. Plus in bigger games I can deploy the unit of 20 as two, 10 man units.

Anyways, here they are as they stand now:
dark_elf_crossbowmen4.jpg


dark_elf_crossbowmen5.jpg
 

Willmark

Member
[1-29-17] Willmark's Dark Elf Army Blog- Project Rebirth

Update
I've been a busy Dark Lord working on lots of stuff (Chaos Army and hobgoblin units for my Chaos Dwarfs), some wood elf stuff, Dwarfs, etc. With that said I was able to finish off my first unit of my refurbished Dark Elf army. No points for guessing, yes my first unit of crossbowmen. 20 strong; the unit is to march forward and secure ground. My other unit is primed and comprised of 10. The idea in battle is advance one unit then the other to allow one unit to fire while the other is marching, or to place the unit of 10 as far forward to fire and march the unit of 20.

Still not done with the banner but I have yet to figure out what I want to add and after I took these pictures I finished touching up the leader's face.

As you can see the army will have snow covered ground for the bases and movement trays, fitting as they sweep from the icy north of Naggaroth.

dark_elf_crossbowmen6.jpg


dark_elf_crossbowmen7.jpg


dark_elf_crossbowmen8.jpg


dark_elf_crossbowmen9.jpg
 
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