I've been meaning to collect a high elf army for years, and when I heard they were being re-released I couldn't resist. I bought a whole stack of models from the BSS forum and got to work straight away. I decided early on to steer well clear of the blue and white colour schemes that seem to dominate high elves everywhere, and try something different yet striking. The scheme of the army is built around deep red and gold- which will look rather striking on the tabletop. By the time all the models were assembled I had taken up a new job as a first year out primary school teacher, and realised that I would not have any spare moments to paint my massive force (for 3 terms or so anyway while I found my feet). Luckily, a good friend of mine agreed to paint the majority of the army for me- so that problem was solved.

Just recently, having settled into the teaching profession, I have found myself with a little spare time to paint and model. So far I have almost finished a unit of 10 archers. The other unit fully painted (not by me) so far is 15 phoenix guard.

The list of models in the army is as follows:

Prince on Dragon
2 Mages on foot
Commander on Horse
BSB on horse

10 archers
15 spear elves

20 silver helms
15 swordmasters
15 phoenix guard
10 dragon princes
1 Chariot (2 more new chariots to come in the near future)
10 Ellyrian Reavers

4 bolt throwers
2 eagles

The archers are obviously still WIP- with a bit of cleaning up and final highlighting (and the guy's bright blue sword) still to go. I think the scheme is great and will look fantastic as a whole army.

*EDIT* I forgot to add that the bases are the cobblestone ones from Back-to-Baseix. I can't recommend these bases enough- they are easy to work with, easy to paint, and most of all they look super! I inted to magnetise all the bases once the army has been painted.

Commence with the pics already........

















I'll keep this diary updated as more units get painted.

That is a fine start.

The archers could do with another bit of highlighting. although it could be the flash washing the picture out?

I do like those bases!

Yeah the flash is washing it out big time- I do still have more highlighting to do on the red robes and the skin in particular. Back to Base-ix is a must for the get-an-army-together-quick hobbyist.

Nice work jason prolly just a little tieding up in areas but other than that its sweet.

gl with it mate as im slowly getting keen to play my elfies again

Finished the archers off tonight- cleaned up and highlighted further- very happy with how they've turned out, given my lack of painting skills. Next on the list is a unit of swordmasters. I'm so glad the painting of this army is a joint effort..... as I seem to be quite slow. I reckon I spent 16+ hours on 10 archers....... my back and neck are already twitching in anticipation of the rest! Pics of the swordmasters WIP will come soon.

Grrr, I wish I'd had some of those bases for my Dwarfs - I've been green stuffing them all...

I'd be tempted to ditch the white on the archers for something close to a gold colour (bubonic brown), buts that probably just the contrarian in me wanting to see something with less white for HE.

Nice clean paint scheme. Looks good.

Lovely work Jase

My lion chariot arrived in the post yesterday and I must say it looks saweeeet! I spent 1.5 hours assembling and cleaning mould lines etc.- ending up being a fair chunk of work, but that's OK because the end result is simply stunning. I also started painted the swordmaster unit. Hobby work has been sporadic at best due to the birth of my son last Tuesday. I'll post pics later on tonight.

OK it's pic time. As I mentioned, the lion chariot took a while to assemble, but it was really worth the effort.





I also undercoated the swordmasters and have begun to slap on the basecoats.



Since purchasing this guy off CharlesMcCharles a while ago, I've started to drift towards an archmage build for the list. The thing about high elves.... is that you simply can't fit all the great looking unit types in a typical list. The dragon rider will probably make an appearance in 2500 or 3000 point games only.





And on a completely unrelated note- I received the Chapel terrain piece in the post today and couldn't resist putting it together. It should go well on one of the tables at Vigilance next year.







All in all, I'd say that progress has been going as well as can be expected, given that my son was only born last Tuesday night. Only 3.5 weeks left of work- then 7 or so weeks off to paint! [I love being a primary school teacher]

The aim is to get the whole lot completely finished by the time Emperor's Legion rolls around next year (March). At this stage- it's looking like that will be a reality.

OK time for another update. Since the baby bonus arrived in the family account, I was able to at last buy some kind of storage for my miniatures (2nd child means we have everything we need for another baby anyway!). I decided on a large book case so that I can gaze upon my beloved figures whenever I please.


My assembled minis in all their glory


Vampire Counts- note the mean looking zombie dragon


Unpainted skaven on the left, more VCs on the right


Skaven


More skaven


Archers and Lion Chariot


Dragon, swordmastes and phoenix guard.

TFM (my local club) are having thier annual club championship this weekend, so I don't see myself getting any High Elves painted this week. The top 6 players from the club will battle it out in a round robin tournament. At stake is bragging rights for the year, and maybe a wheel of cheese for the tooliest army. I'm tossing up whether to take Skaven or High Elves.

Another update will come when more gets painted. Also, keep an eye out on the WFB general forums this weekend for batreps from the TFM CC 2007.

Good use of the baby bonus - after all the bookshelf keeps the little tykes from eating figures!! That chjariot looks awesome, makes me wish they'd redone the swordmasters as well!

Looking good. The trouble with HEs is they have so many cool looking models you want to put it all in a list and can't Same as VCs actually. I love the dragon models in both armies but alas, rarely use them...

I like the red, it reminds me of a Caledorian army that Troy Forster did many years ago. Still one of my favourites. Bronze, red and skin all complemented the white and it was striking on the tabletop. How is this progressing anyway Jason?

My mate is still painting a few minis for me at the moment. As to my side of the painting and all the basing etc..... it is on hold until I finish painting some skaven for Cancon. I only have 8 stormvermin and 3 PWG to go.

Need update

I see where Dodgy's skaven got to

I thought I would share with all of you what I've been doing instead of painting high elves. As I mentioned, I've been painting skaven to get ready for Cancon.

Well, tonight I finished the stormvermin. That's 23 models in about 5-6 days. I'm fairly happy with that effort, considering that Christmas and Boxing Day are included in that time! Only 4 Poison Wind Globadiers to go and then the army is good to go.

Here is the fruit of my labour.



The front view, Take special note of the sexy warlord on the right (painted by none other than Dodgy Dave himself)



A side view. Notice that the banner is still WIP. You can also make out the BSB at the back of the unit.



The other side. I think the warlord has taken some hints from Gav regarding the 'Lynx effect'.

Well that's it for now. I'll be back in a few days with pics of Globadiers. Until then- happy painting!

Well I finally got a chance to paint tonight, and I managed to get a Globadier completed (except for the basing and varnishing of course). I am very happy with how he turned out- the red especially. Here is a pic taken with crappy light:



My daughter is in day care tomorrow and I am a teacher on holidays. All this means that I'll have the full day to be in front of the cricket and painting. HOORAH! Expect another update tomorrow with the remaining 3 PWG completed.

Damn you and your plethora of holidays!

I wish I could have tomorrow off and enjoy the cricket, do some painting. Bummer.


Where are the High Elves? I like them better than dirty dirty rats.

looking good, see you tomorrow for some cricket and painting

Shane

Looking good Jase - I hope you've repainted that Zombie Dragon since its spanking at the hands of...(damn I can't think of the silly name I was using for that Orc Warlord now).

Stupid zombie dragons and their rabid enthusiasm for pursuit......... I'll repay you one day, Chunk Man!