Blood Bowl - Elf Team

I have a plastic Elf Blood Bowl team that came with Dungeon Bowl (1989) - like the orcs and human plastic teams that came in the second edition core box (1988), they are mono-pose and you could only tell which position they played by the colour-coded bases. I thought I should FINALLY get around to painting these minis that I've had squirrelled away for over three decades! 

I'd originally started painting them in a dark green uniform - ALL with blond hair - But I'm just going to prime them black and start over. I was thinking I might just paint these up as an existing team, just so I don't have to think about it too much... Elves probably aren't going to be my go-to team, these will strictly be loaners (or... maybe Amanda will play them!?).

So I was considering the classic Elfhiem Eagles... but then... WHICH version of their colour scheme!? 

(Image ©2026 Games Workshop, used here entirely without their permission for the purposes of review)

The current ones are in an orange and purple uniform and... not going to lie, one of my favourite colour combinations...

(Image ©1989 Games Workshop, used here entirely without their permission for the purposes of review)

This is as they were also depicted in the Blood Bowl (Second Edition - 1988) Star Players book (which came out in 1989)

BUT.... on the cover of the Blood Bowl (Second Edition - 1988) rule book... 

(Image ©1988 Games Workshop, used here entirely without their permission for the purposes of review)

They are depicted in PINK - with white pads and gloves... and some red and yellow accents! And... I kind of LOVE that... 

I don't know about that all blond hair, though... I may have do deviate from that a bit... or not... we shall see! 

In addition to the plastic mono-pose minis, I also have a few metal ones, which I will also do in... whichever scheme I decide upon! They can be the captain and alternates or whatever... 

The Silver Bayonet - French (ELF!?) Unit

As with the Russians I posted yesterday, these Napoleonic French(-ish) Elves are from a Deadloque starter box I pickedup somewhere over a decade ago. Two of these I painted just over TEN YEARS AGO!? (Though I've rebased and touched them up!).

Also, just like the Russians, my plan is to use them in The Silver Bayonet. 

I'll admit, I don't know a tonne about Napoleonic French armies and don't know what some of these are supposed to be, exactly (assuming these FANTASY ELVES are in a direct copy of of an actual Historical French uniform!?). I guess as a ragtag group of survivors, they could have picked up bits of uniforms from others along the way, as needed... 

The whole unit. 

The Box came with a booklet that had names for them all and probably explained who they all were. There is currently still a listing for these as a separate pack on Alternative Armies website (though it currently says "out of stock") - The page does list their names, but does not indicate which is which... So I've just made up my own names... 

Lieutenant Etienne Delarue - formerly a commander of a troop of Lancers, now leads this rag-tag group of Monster Hunters. He has a Musket and Cartridge box (tucked away in his riding cloak. I'm not sure what to classify the Lance as? Heavy Weapon? Might just not and say it's just there for show... Have not selected stats or additional equipment for him yet. 

(I just noticed I may have gotten the white and red of the flag on the lance mixed up... GAH!? May just leave it...) 

Soldats Luc Deschamps and Guy Lambert- two Imperial Guardsmen with Musket, bayonet and cartridge box - with both Cold Iron and Silver Shot! 

Sergeant Jean-Louis Babineaux, Laurent Lafleur, and Docteur Henri Dubois 

Sergeant Jean-Louis Babineaux I think ... is supposed to be an officer, but I'm going to call him a sergeant from an Imperial Guard Regiment (a different one from ... and ...) and classify him as a Junior Officer. He is armed with Musket, Bayonet, and Cartridge box with both Cold Iron an Silver Shot. 

Laurent Lafleur is a dismounted Hussar that I'll classify as a Swordsman (I know, French aren't supposed to have Swordsman... but that's what I'm calling him) with Fencing Weapon (inlaid with silver) and Pistol. 

Finally, Docteur Henri Dubois is a medical doctor armed with a hand weapon and pistol and detailed medical knowledge. The handweapon is actually just a brutally sharp silver scalpel. 

Again I thought I'd include a little size comparison... From Left to Right: Hät, Alternative Armies, Renegade Miniatures,  Alternative Armies, Perry Miniatures, Alternative Armies, Hät. I do have some other French, that I probably would have liked to include in this line-up... but none of them are painted... 

I'm usually not that fussy about different sizes of models being on the table - especially if they're in different units. I'm less excited about using minitures with HUGE differences within the same units. I likely won't be bolstering these with any of the Hät minis! 

My order from Minifigs/Matchlock Miniatures arrived and they are wonderful. The ones that showed up. It's missing one of the minis I ordered. Those that arrived are already prepped and primed and on the workbench! I also just loaded Pride and prejudice onto my ipod to listen to while painting them. 

Today is the kids' last day of school! I think we still have dance classes this weekend, but aafter that - nothing much on the schedule - so hopefully these guys will be hitting the tables SOON! 

Elves of the Southern Isles

Enough resting on my laurels, on with the next 10 years! Here is another force for Dragon Rampant!

The Elves of the Southern Isles are usually a reserved, most unwarlike people, rarely seen in the lands of men. Rumors claim they inhabit distant chain of islands in warmer climes and travel only to occasionally trade with the other peoples of the known world. Decades, or even generations, can go by without seeing their ships on the horizon. They have never been known to meddle in the affairs of men-folk, nor even come to the aid of their continental kin (the Elves of the Woods). When moved to violence, it is for their own purposes, and they strike as if from no where with a swiftness and ferocity that leaves their foes bloodied and wondering what has happened (well… those that survive…).

These figures are all made up for old I-Kore Celtos Sidhe figures. I picked all but four of them up from a bargain bin at my friendly local game store (Dragon’s Den Games) for $1 per pack!? The other four I recently ordered from Brigade Models who currently sell the line.

(Remember: click on the pictures for a bigger version):

The entire force (with options)

Elf War Leader – with his standard and a musician - (Elite Foot, Reduced Model Unit) – 6 points

Elf Wizard – not regularly part of the force, I envisioned this as an option to replace the leader, or one of the archer units or perhaps both units of spear… unfortunately the most obvious way to field him (Light Foot, Single Figure Unit, Wizard) ends up being 7 points, which doesn’t allow him to just slip into any of those 6 point slots… I suppose the other option could be (Heavy Foot, Single Figure Unit, Wizardling), which would be six points and he’d only have the use of 3 spells. OR I could just call him (Light Missiles, Sharpshooter, Single Model Unit) and say all his offensive spells are pretty much just like a whole unit of elves shooting.

Elf Warriors (Light Foot) 3 points

These aren’t really offensive warriors – truthfully they aren’t really warriors at all – they are sailors and crafters and such that have had to take up arms to defend their realm (or the interested of their realms abroad). Their task at war is to guard the flanks of the War Leader (who IS a professional Warrior – who has spent his life training for combat) and protect the Archers.

More Elf Warriors (Light Foot) 3 points

(These are newly painted – I was trying once again to go for a styleized leave motif on the shields, but these ended up looking even LESS like leaves than the first batch… ah well… they’re done and I’m not that fussy so I’m not going to bother repainting at this point... maybe they're supposed to be fish scales...? Who knows with those crazy Elves...)

Elf Archers (Light Missiles, Sharpshooters) 6 points

The business end of the Elf Warband. The Elf Way of War is: “Long Distance: The Next Best Thing to Being There…” Melee is messy and dangerous. Why get involved in that nonsense when you can just pick off your enemy from afar and set them to flight without having to come into actual CONTACT with them…

More Elf Archers (Light Missiles, Sharpshooters) 6 points

Four of these ones are newly painted as well – they are the ones I recently ordered from Brigade Models. The rest have been partially repainted as they were originally painted in purple like the unit above.

Now to get them all on the field of battle! Perhaps over the Holidaze I can get The Boy to face off against them with his mix of Orcs and other smelly, mean monsters…

Coming soon on Tim’s Miniature Wargaming Blog:

Great War Canadians.

No, really… This is the end of this distraction, and the urge to paint more stuff for Dragon Rampant... well... until I actually PLAY a game... then I might be distracted all over again!? 

Rogue Stars: Skirmish Wargaming in a Science Fiction Underworld arrived today and I am VERY excited about it. It shouldn’t cause any trouble on the painting front, however, as I have NO shortage of Sci Fi figures that could be used for this (or even Modern… or Old West…? figures that could be used in a pinch) – Perhaps we’ll see a return of Mad Willie to the tabletop (The Scottish gunslinger who doesn’t believe in lasers...?) – and the rest of the Crew of the Muttonchop Express!

Orcs and Elves

More distractions this week… More colourful and pretty things to get me through these dreary dark days of winter... I know, I know... Napoleonics are colourful and pretty too... These I might actually PLAY with some time in the not-to-distant future. 

(Remember: click on the pictures for a bigger version):

A completed unit of Orcs for Dragon Rampant. I think I’ll field these are Heavy Foot (@4 points) or possibly Offensive Heavy Foot (@6 points).

Only four of these are actually newly painted…. and a couple were recently re-based. I think they are old Citadel pre-slotta fantasy figures. I’ve had them for over 25 years. They’ve been rebased and repainted a few times. Of course there are 14 of them here which is actually more than I need for a Dragon Rampant. Of course I wasn’t thinking of Dragon Rampant when I bought them 25+ years ago… I guess I could just say the musician and standard bearer are just there for show – only the armed ones count as strength points…?

Elf Archers for Dragon Ramapnt – Light Missiles with The Sharpshooter option (6 points).

Nothing newly painted here – these were just recently rebased. I originally painted them eight years ago and based them for Hordes of the Things. Originally it was a unit of three bases of six. So only twelve were used to make this unit. The others ended up as the core of the next unit below.

Beginnings of a second unit of Elf Archers for Dragon Rampant – as above.

These are more of the same I-Kore Celtos Sidhe that were in the re-based unit mentioned above. I’ve partially repainted these to make them a bit distinct from the others above. The Drummer is newly painted and I actually ordered another four from Brigade Models (which now produces the Celtos line) to finish up the unit.

A unit of Elvish Light Foot for Dragon Rampant (3 points)

These are all newly painted. I’d had them sitting aside to become elements of Spear in an Elvish HotT army (with the aforementioned archers above) but when I did my stock taking I decided I didn’t really NEED more than TWO Elvish HotT armies and I’d need to order a bunch more stuff to make a complete HotT army of Celtos Elves, whereas I only needed four to make a complete Warband for Dragon Rampant.

I was trying to make the shields look like leaves, but I’m not totally happy with how they turned out. Despite my dissatisfaction, I can’t be bothered to repaint them.

I do have another, nearly identical unit of Light Foot to paint up for this warband. I’m not sure how to paint them now. I had originally though of just painting them all in purple – to match the existing unit of archers… but then thought that would be too dull. Then I was going to go with all cool colours – greens, blues, purples. The archers would be purple and each of the units of light foot would be green and blue, respectively. But then I got the idea of painting the second unit of archers a different colour to help differentiate them. As I already had (or had planned) units in green, blue and purple, I somehow decided to do the second unit of archers in ORANGE – the OPPOSITE of a cool colour…!? Then once I got painting these Light Foot I decided to do their shields green-ish to look like leaves… Now I’m not sure how to paint the next unit of Light Foot. I was going to do them in green – the cloth they’re wearing, at least, but not sure what to do with their shields… again with the green leaves – then they’ll be all green. Would that clash too much? Then I got the idea of painting them like autumn leaves in browns and red and yellow… but with green cloth? Is that going to look good? Or should I do them with Brown or something else…? GAH!? I don’t know.

Whoever said painting fantasy stuff was less stressful because you never have to hear anyone complain that it’s “historically inaccurate” was wrong. Just WRONG! Or maybe I’m the only one that stresses about the aesthetic coordination of their fantasy elf units…. Anyone else out there cause themselves this much anguish over such things? Share your pain in the comments below!

Elf Wizard for Dragon Rampant. It seems like Wizards are typically fielded as Single Figure Units of Light Foot (3 Points) with the Wizard Option (+4 points).

This guy Is another newly painted model. He wasn’t originally planned as part of the warband. He was originally going to be a standard bearer in the spear unit (because that’s what I thought he was). When I was looking through the Brigade Models site to find myself some archers and got to thinking about adding a mage of some sort, I came across this guy and realized I already HAD a Celtos Sidhe wizard. I didn’t really dig on the look of any of the other witches and wizards so I just decided to stick with this guy.

Elf Warlord for Dragon Rampant – which will be fielded as a Reduced Model Elite Foot unit (6 points). I painted him a few weeks back. Just thought I’d post a picture of him with the rest of his unit – freshly re-based musician and standards (originally from the archer unit above – hence the arrow on the standard). If I ever got playing in a campaign and I came up with a character for this warlord I might come up with a new standard… but for now this will do.

When it’s done (just need to finish the second unit of 12 Light Foot and the 4 Archers when they arrive) the Warband will look like this:

1x Elf Warlord (Elite Foot, Reduced Model Unit) – 6 points

1x Elf Spear (Light Foot) - @3 = 6 points

2x Elf Archers (Light Missiles, Sharpshooters) @6 = 12 points

Option:

1x Elf Wizard (Light Foot, Single Figure Unit, Wizard) 7 points

Unfortunately that wizard just doesn’t fit into the force very nicely, being 7 points… If only he ended up beign 6, I could easily swap out both spear or one of the archer units or have him lead instead of the Warlord… Blast it…

Coming soon on Tim’s Miniature Wargaming Blog:

I’d like to say it’s going to be the 21st Battalion, CEF… but I’m kind of feeling like finishing these Elves… and ANOTHER order just arrived – I did place two small orders amid the black-cyber-daze-sales; The aforementioned small order to Brigade Models for the four Celtos Sidhe Archers – and a few 6mm SciFi Polish 6mm SciFi Polish that I thought I might be able to pass off as Epic Imperial Guard, and another small order to Black Tree Design - who had 50% off all infantry – to pick up two packs of Zulus I needed to complete units of 20 for The Men Who Would Be Kings and a few packs of Dwarves to finish up a unit or two for one of the Dwarf Warbands for Dragon Rampant (including a few Dwarf Miners to go with the handful of GW Dwarf miners I already have – there’s a standard bearer I’m going to paint it as an International Brotherhood of Dwarf Mine Workers banner and give them a special rule: Solidarity – this unit will not attack any other unit made up of unionized labourers. Attack being the optimal word there – they’ll defend against them if they have to, but seriously, if the opponent is also fielding unionized labourers, they should also have the Solidarity special rule!) Anyway, I am awfully tempted by the Dwarvsies... Probably more Elves next, though... 

Dwarves!?

Yes, Dwarves… AND an Elf…

While rebasing the highland dwarves (mentioned in the previous post) I realized painting just three more would finish off another unit for Dragon Rampant… so… I kind of painted a few Dwarves over the weekend. (This may become a regular feature of the blog – painting something “fun” in between painting stuff for the Vimy project as in nears the end and starts to feel like a bit of a “chore”…)

(Remember: click on the pictures for a bigger version):

Three newly painted Highland Dwarves and a Horn Blower for a Mountain Dwarf Unit. The Highalnd dwarves are from Old Glory… and I think the hornblower might be from Essex Miniatures?

These are the three units I have complete so far for the Highland Dwarf Warband I am building for Dragon Rampant.

The Highland Dwarves will likely all be classified as Bellicose Foot. I’m kind of torn about the rest of the force. I had thought of making one unit an “elite” unit of them and add “Terrifically Shiny Armour” to give them a bit more staying power on the battle field… but that would make one unit 6 points and the rest would be 4 points and that doesn’t add up to a nice neat 24 points. I mostly wanted to do that because one of the units is made up of West Wind Productions Highland Dwarves – which are considerably bulkier and meaner looking than these (which are from Old Glory)… I may just do six units of Bellicose Foot… but I am FOUR FIGURES SHORT of being able to complete such a force… dammit…

This is the unit the Horn blower was painted for – the Dwarven Jarl and bodyguards for the “Mountain Dwarf” Dragon Rampant warband… Originally I was going to leave it with the five others (saying the Jarl himself is worth 2 strength points) but when I line up the units in the storage box and all the others are 6 or 12… the unit of five just looked out of place (does that seem a bit OCD…? I’m probably a bit OCD…).

I also finished up this Elf Champion – the figure is an old Celtos figure, which are currently available through  Brigade Models - I actually just ordered a few more Elf archers to finish up a second unit of them for another Dragon Rampant warband.

The warband will be made up entirely of Celtos “Sdihe” figures. It will include two units of archer (Light Missile, Sharpshooters @6), two units of spear (light foot, @3), and this fellow as a single figure (or perhaps reduced figure - I might have a standard bearer and musician that could join him…?) unit of Elite Foot (@6 points). I also have a goofy looking magician for the force that I could potentially use (not sure how I’d rearrange the force to field him, though…).

Coming soon on Tim’s Miniature Wargaming Blog:

Well with that all out of my system, hopefully I get on to finishing up the 4th and 5th Canadian Brigades for the Vimy Project!! 

More Elves for Dragon Rampant

I found a few more figures I could paint up to finish up a couple of units for Dragon Rampant. All are Elves from West Wind Productions that I’d originally picked up to make elements for Hordes of the Things (actually, now that I think of it, they were picked up for a short-lived 28mm Warmaster project that quickly turned into a 28mm Hordes of the Things project…). They came in unit boxes of 24 so for each I planned to use 18 for HoTT elements and the remaining six would be individually based for skirmishing/role-playing. A few of them were painted eight years ago - One of the batch of three HotT Elements and the leaders of these two units. I couldn’t find when I painted the other three axemen, but I imagine it was about the same time.

(Remember: click on the pictures for a bigger version):

Elves with Great Swords – all but the champion are newly painted. I figured these could be fielded as Elite Foot for 6 points.

Elves with Great Axes – two of the guys without helmets are not.  These could also be fielded as Elite Foot for 6 points.

I also have these Wood Elf War Dancers (I think I actually have a total of 18 now). What could I field them as? Bellicose Foot? Three reduced model units (6 figures each) of Bellicose Foot?

With the Elite Elf Archers @ 6 points (for Light Missile, Sharpshooters, Reduced Model Unit), three War Dancers @ 4 points each (Bellicose Foot, Reduced Model Unit), and the two units of Elite Foot above @ 6 points each. I have 30 points worth of Individually based figures I could field as part of Elf Warbands…

Coming soon on Tim’s Miniature Wargaming Blog:

Swashbucklers seem mostl likely… but who knows... I might find some other fantasy stuff for Dragon Rampant to finish up... 

Elite Elf Archers for Dragon Rampant

After playing our first game of Dragon Rampant my attention has been split between painting stuff for  Dragon Rampant/Lion Rampant and En Garde!…. So less stuff getting done… This is why it’s good to have a plan to focus on ONE THING and stick to it… of course not having a plan and doing what you want is fun too… so…

(All of the figures pictured in this post are from Games Workshop. They are © and ™ Games Workshop and painted by myself and posted here entirely without their permission.)

(Remember: click on the pictures for a bigger version):

One elf archer.

Yeah, that’s all I got done… but it’s all I needed to do, because I already had five others:

The whole unit. I painted most of these years ago (like, back when I was playing Mordhiem - which was a LOOOOONG time ago - before this blog was around!) – though I did do some touching up on a few as I painted the new guy.

I see elite elf archer/scouts as the fantastical equivalent of modern Special Ops forces. There is a temptation to call these guys “Scouts” but scouts are actually crap at hitting stuff.

I guess it would depend on the role I was expecting them to take in a particular action. If the goal was to be sneaky beaky and just get from one place to another and avoid contact… then yeah, maybe I would take them as scouts….

But if they’re more Direct Action Special Ops they would be better off as a Light Missile reduced figure unit (2 strength points per figure) with Sharpshooters for a total of 6 points. That would make them a small group of hard-hitting shooters that can take some hits.

I was tempted, at first, to give them “Invisible” but for another three whole points (making the unit NINE points total!?) it seems a little weak considering all it does is make them immune to mundane shooting – they can still be targeted by magic and still be charged by anyone close enough and wishing to attack them.

Coming soon on Tim’s Miniature Wargaming Blog:

More Swashbucklers for En Garde! or some Elf Elite Foot for Dragon Rampant… or maybe something completely diffeent!?