As promised a little while ago, I’m going to take stock of what I’m working on currently with my High Elves. I’ve said to myself that I don’t want to start painting my Skaven until the High Elves are done and so far I’ve stuck to that, despite the Skaven having some really awesome models!
The consistent theme throughout is that I’m rubbish at finishing things. I’ve got maybe three models that I think genuinely don’t need anything done to them. Also, I need to investigate better lighting for these photos. I was using a bright LED lamp but that doesn’t seem to have done the trick and things are still quite dark. Though when you live in Tasmania, Australia and it’s winter; natural light is hard to come by. Another tip I saw on a YouTube video was that if you give a light dusting or drybrush of white to a model that’s just been primed, the camera it will pick up better.
I’ll start off with Lords & Heroes. From left to right here we have Alarielle the Radiant, a Mage and a Loremaster of Hoeth. Alarielle and the Mage have clearly only been primed and the majority of the highlighting on the base has been done but not yet flocked. The Loremaster has been completely undercoated but needs washing and highlighting. You’ll see later on that his colour scheme matches that of my Swordmasters of Hoeth and I am really excited about how he’s going to look in there! It’s a little disappointing that so far in games, he’s not lived up to the hype…
Next up is my Archmage from the Island of Blood set. This is a pretty cool sculpt and I’m much closer to finishing this guy. I’ve got to work on the yellow of the robes a bit and highlight the potions in his belt but then I think I can put him down. He’s a bit of a pain to play with again though because he won’t rank up nicely. Overall, I’m happy with this guy but you can tell that I changed my mind about colours a couple of times because the paint is a bit thick.
On to my favourite model I’ve painted so far: my Noble with Battle Standard. This guy was a Noble with Great Weapon model that I experimented with magnets on. I cut his arm off and then took a standard from the archer sprue and magnetised them both so that they would be interchangeable. I’ve learnt since trying that that the magnets I was using were too big to magnetise arms (3mm diameter 1.5mm height). I ended up realising that I was unlikely to play a Noble on foot without a Battle Standard anyway so glued him up like you see here. I’ve tossed up the idea of doing some freehand on the banner and probably will when I get around to it.
Next up is my Noble (or Prince) on a Griffon. This is the centrepiece of the Island of Blood set and is a pretty awesome model. Very early on, readings on the internet made me think that Griffons were particularly bad because for almost as many points you could take a dragon. With the 8th edition changes though, you can now have a noble up there which makes it more appealing. I might try and get some games in with it as the 18″ leadership re-roll bubble seems like it might be worth a go. This is another model where I think the paint is way too thick (on the wings in particular). I think the pattern really adds to the overall feel of the model. This can almost be a catch 22 though as it will draw people in and then they’ll notice that it’s not that neat, haha! I’ve also not finished the rider at all, he’s just been basecoated.
Lastly for Lords & Heroes is my Prince on an Elven Steed and my Archmage on an Elven Steed. Both of these are eBay rescues and in the process of being restored and have basically just been undercoated. The Prince was modelled with a great weapon and without a shield which looked a bit rubbish and is much less appealing after the 8th edition update so I’ve picked up the original “bitz” from a store in the UK. They’re on the way over with my sister, who lives out there and is coming to visit early next month.
Core now! We’ll start off with the unit of 10 Lothern Seaguard from the Island of Blood set. These guys are mostly finished and just need a touch up on their spears and maybe the bows on their backs. This was the first unit that I painted upon my return to the game. I had dabbled a little bit in primary school and as a young teenager but never really collected with a clear purpose. Anyway, I had painted these before I decided on the colour scheme I was aiming for with the army. You’ll notice that yellow and purple are the two colours that feature heavily. I’ve been thinking about trying to make the dark blues look more purple here and to get their white robes to a yellow. This shouldn’t be too hard and if I end up doing that, I’ll be sure to keep things updated.
Next up in Core we have my archers. I have them here as a unit of 12 and a unit of 10 but I rarely run them like that anymore with the changes to Martial Prowess. These guys have mostly been undercoated but, again, not finished. The grey is the undercoat for what will be white. I do have a test model though that I’m quite proud of (in the back right). Once I get the rest of the unit looking like him and some banners on those empty flag poles, I’m sure they’ll look resplendent! 
Here we have another awesome sculpt in the Ellyrian Reavers from the Island of Blood set. I’ve only just started to get an undercoat on these guys and the plan is for the horses to be a palomino colour maybe with some spots on the upper hind quarters. Excited for how these will turn out and having them in Core means that they’re that much more likely to be played!
Another unit of Cavalry here with my 8 Silver Helms. These guys are another eBay rescue job and I actually had to pick up new shields and some new horses so they probably ended up costing me as much, if not more, than a new kit. Caveat Emptor I guess. So far I’ve undercoated and washed the horses but they look quite blue. I’m going for a glistening silvery white so I’ll really have to hit the highlights hard to bring them back up through. The riders have barely been started and, as of yet, aren’t even glued on.
Special choices now with my big block of Swordmasters of Hoeth. I really like the way these models look ranked up like this and it’s a bit of a shame that they probably play better in an MSU (Multiple Small Unit) type list as a sort of dispensable shock troop. They’re just too squishy to be ranked up. There are 25 models here but I’ve got a second set of command hidden in the back so I have a couple of options when it comes to fielding them. Again, another unit that has only been basecoated and not yet washed or highlighted. Also, ignore the fact that they’re lined up a funny way on the movement tray!
Next up in Special is my strangely sized unit of 11 Shadow Warriors. Another eBay rescue and while I do like the new models, these old metal ones are still pretty cool. Logistically, dealing with skirmishers in the game can be a pain so I’ll probably end up magnetising a 2×5 Cavalry base and spreading them out on that, like you see in the picture. Seems like a reasonably efficient way to reuse a tray. If I wanted to play with a Shadow Walker here, a couple of the sculpts stand out a bit more so I can do that also. I do enjoy when there’s scope for versatility.
Finishing up with Rare now. We’ll start with my two Eagle Claw Bolt Throwers. Having received nothing but a rename and a severe points cost reduction, these guys have gone from being a bit over priced to almost an auto-include in 8th edition. Another model that’s been based for the most part but still needed a completed undercoat and then washes, highlights blah blah.
Next up we’ve got a couple of Great Eagle models from The Hobbit games. These are impressive (and impressively large) sculpts that I had planned to use as Great Eagles prior to 8th edition but, luckily, hadn’t started painting..
I’ve decided to paint them up as Phoenixes and I have some resin monster bases on the way over from the UK. So far I’m really happy with how the blue has come out but I feel like once I’ve based it up there might be room for some exciting uses of water effects, snow and possibly something else to really give the impression that this is a Frostheart Phoenix. I’ve still got some work to do on the beak and claws but this guy is pretty close.
Last up I’ll just cover what’s on the way. As I mentioned earlier, my sister lives in England and is coming out soon. Much to her chagrin, I’ve filled her bags with toy soldiers. I have a High Elf Battalion; 20 Spearmen(Spearelves?), 20 Archers. 8 Silver Helms and a Chariot. I’ve also bought another Chariot and two more eagles from the Hobbit which will probably end up as Flamesypre Phoenixes! I’ve not yet decided if I want to make the Chariots up as Tiranoc or Lion Chariots but there’s no rush as I don’t plan to use them in the next tournament I hope to attend in July.
So that’s it! My few thousand points of High Elves in various stages of paint or assembly. There are a few more pics over on imgur, including the originals for the grouped ones. Don’t hesitate to write something below if you’ve got any questions, comments or criticisms.