"The Blood Dragon met with the Priestess of Khaine just after the midnight ritual, just as you predicted my lord" reported one of Genral Vor'Lach's many spies.
"By dawn their wildling scouts will have found the secret path up through the Harpies nests on the cliffs. We fear they will discover the Valley of the Sisters much sooner than we'd hoped. Forgive me, lord, but such treachery from the priestess must not go unpunished. I would be honoured to wield the poisoned blade mysel...."
"The Witch's treachery is entirely predictable and will continue to be so. I will turn that to my advantage, just as I have always done" interjected Vor'Lach with a sneer.
"Tell our own scouts to herd them deeper into the canyons. Any that survive the Sisters' many pets will be worthy sacrifices for the Cult of the Gorgon."
The dark elf lord snapped his jewelled fingers and pointed to his goblet, indicating to a nearby servant that it should be refilled.
The assassin disguised as his cup bearer had been watching carefully through the window of the tower room for the allotted signal, two brief bursts of dragon fire from out on the water, but it didn't come.... this time. The little packet of poison powder was slipped back inside their sleeve, but this did not go unobserved...
From the shadows of the arched doorway, the assassin serving as one of Vor'Lach's personal guard watched as the 'servant' carefully concealed the poison, slowly exhaling the breath they had been holding for some time, and letting the hilt of their poisoned dagger settle back into it's deadly sheath, but this did not go unobserved...
In the adjacent watch tower, the assassin posing as a member of the Daggerpoint Cityguard took their finger off the trigger of their crossbow, just a hair's breadth from having shot the bodyguard with a poisoned bolt before he could strike the servant. Not tonight then, but soon....
The final month of OWAC VIII, 'El Ocho', is upon us and I'm playing my wild card to throw a fun things into the mix of my Dark(ish) Elves.
The Scouts are obviously leading the way this month, making their way through the wilds of the bleak coast, encountering the local wild life.
One of the mantras for this Dark(ish) Elf project is 'no Elf left behind', in reference to my previous High Elf and Wood Elf projects. We've already met the treacherous High Elves of the House of the Blood Dragon, but I also wanted to make use of a few damaged Wood Elf Wardancers, and a random Elf Blitzer from Bloodbowl. I could see them as Elven pirates, used to exploring and foraging on wild shores, fitting neatly into a unit alongside some more traditional Dark Elf Scouts from Daggerpoint.
One of the Wardancers needed a repair for a missing lower leg, not my best bit of putty work after I realised I didn't get the bend right in the wire quite right before fixing it in place. There was some reshaping of one of the damaged swords, and the Blitzer got an additional Elven looking dagger on his hip.
The other missing weapons were replaced with cut down crossbows, and they got a little pouch of bolts, with the idea being the pistol crossbow is both more pirate like but also a clear nod to them adopting Dark Elf equipment.
Another example of the two sets of forces merging are the two Repeater Bolt throwers, which I imagine were mounted on the High Elven ships and now bolster the Blood Dragons forces on land.
One of the bolt throwers was missing the rear leg piece but again, it wasn't getting left behind. I had a crack at a quick press mould...
...but was the result was far from usable, so I upgraded my methods with a Lego frame to hold everything in place.
The final result wasn't perfect but it was useable. You can notice one is a lot chunkier and clumsier when you look at them side by side, but that is my first go at casting a structural piece and I learnt a lot from the process.
The crew are a motely combination of a couple more Dagger Point City Guard, along with a Dark Elf warrior learning how to use the Ulthuan variety of the familiar war machine, and a damaged plastic High Elf archer who is now learning to use a crossbow plundered from a Frostgrave Cultists kit.
Sadly I snapped both the X-bow strings and my patience in the process of making it fit...
The final result is in line with what I'd envisioned, just don't look too closely at the angle of the arms! I definitely took perverse enjoyment from painting him up in Dark Elf colours like his new 'friend'.
The other two crewmen have run into some trouble with a Giant Scorpion who has been snapping their store of bolts for lolz...
I think I got this from Otherworld Miniatures, which now very sadly no longer seems to be trading! Hopefully they get a second lease of life as they had a really lovely set of wilderness encounter, animal, and monster sculpts. I certainly enjoyed painting this big beastie :)
Early in the challenge I suggested that the noisome leather used in the armour of the Daggerpoint City Guard would have a local source, and here we have the answer in the rubbery hides and wing membranes of the local monstrous populations.
The Harpies, Giant Scorpion, and Manticore were painted up in the same colour scheme as the Basilisk I painted in the run up to this year's challenge as a palette tester.
While the basilisk doesn't have a WFB profile it could proxy as various things if needed, giving me a variety of monster options and showcasing the local wildlife.
Next we have a few shady characters who have been conspicuous in their absence from the Dark Elf ranks so far (and so they intend to remain until the necessary moment!). These assassins are loyal to the cult of Khaine, which will prove interesting in the merging power structures of Khaine worshipping High Elf interlopers and a heretical Dark Elf lord and his forces loyal to the Cult of the Gorgon.
The two chunky 4th/5th edition era sculpts are fairly uninspiring if I'm honest, and so it was easy to paint them in a way that deliberately blends them into the background of the landscape as well as their host units. No prizes for spotting the ubiquitous Ainur, the Sword of Twighlight Mordheim freebie model from White Dwarf, but I hope you will agree he fits the bill in this band of rogues.
Last up (for now...) is a Witch Elf Champion. The sculpt is a Ral Partha Blade Maiden Mistress and is still available at a bargain price. The only problem is I don't have any Witch Elves for her to lead, so for now she might have to serve as another assassin 'in game'.
Monthly total:
2 Repeater Bolt Throwers - 200 pts
7 Dark(ish) Elf Scouts - 91 pts
5 Harpies - 75 pts
3 Assassins - 168 pts
Witch Elf Champion - 62pts
Giant Scorpion - 50 pts
Manticore - 200pts
Total for the month: 846 pts
To sign off I will look ahead to OWAC 9 which will have the theme of taking inspiration from a piece of Warhammer art. Alongside my unknown Sorceress sculpt, and the Dark Elf lord on Battle Lizard, I think the Blade Mistress make a good proxy for the trio featured on the front of the Dark Elf Army Book, something which has definitely been an inspiration for this years project.
Tom's Bony Bit
I made it! This is my second completed OWAC. I had lots of fun and I wanted to say thank you all for being so kind with all the positive feedback, I love being apart of the OWAC community it is a pleasure to paint along side fellow nerds :)
This was a short month it was tricky to paint due to the heatwave here in the UK but I still managed to complete my leader month. I am very happy with the outcome in combining the rider from Mierce Miniatures (a present from my Dad) with one of the undead horses from Fireforge Games as his steed.
I used the same mix of greens and browns I used for my ghouls, to show he's undead even though he is not a skeleton. I used green, brown, and red inks to add finishing touches to bring him all together.
I did not like the axe or whip from the weapon sprue so I decided to use a spear from my collection, the model was very fiddly so I had to ask my Dad for some help, but I'm really happy with the final look. I'm going to use him as a Wight Lord in games of WFB.
Monthly total:
Wight Lord w/ spear on skeletal steed - 68 pts
Total for the month: 68 pts
Thank you for reading. I hope your final months went well, many thanks, Tom :)