New HE army in the making..

[grisnik]

Ok just a bit about me to start here.. been in the hobby for about 15+ yrs now.. I have plenty of armies however most of them of the evil variety. This is going to be my step into the side of good it seems with the wife just buying me the Battalion and Chariot boxes, with probably a dragon sitting under the tree for Xmas.

Here is what I have put together so far..







Although I have already read that some people do not like the dragons ( Luna I think fits in here ), I am not againest getting one as none of my other armies have ever had the opportunity to field one. Would be nice to have such a great centerpiece to an army.. even if it never sees any gametime..

Things I am planning on doing is buying another chariot and battalion boxsets. I would like to have 3x10 archers, 2x15 spearmen, 3x5 Silver Helms, Lord on Mount, 2 Chariots, 2 RBT. This should be a solid starter core that I can build up from.

That being said I am also planning on spending a bit more than just those 2 boxsets, but this is where I would need a bit of help.

I want to have White Lions.. mostly cause I do like the models, and the idea of them a lot. Plan here is to buy 2 WL Cmd boxes, add 2 Lions to the unit to proxy 4 WLs, and convert the remaining spearmen into WLs with the spare parts from the Chariots. Should give me 2x10 White Lions then to add to the mix.

Also in the conversion section, is a warhawk rider to Great Eagle. Is this feasible? I do not mind the fact that it has the faceplate on it, but is it enough? I ask cause I cannot find a great eagle on maelstorm and such am looking for alternatives that I can get from there.

My other major conversion is to take the Glade Riders and turn them into Ellyrian Reavers. This I think will be easier, as I have plenty of heads, spear arms and LSG bow parts left over from the battalion boxsets. This is more due to it being a cheaper alternative to the official models, which I don't think are that good ( sorry to all that really like them ). So this will give me a good 8 man unit of Reavers to play with.

I was considering Dragon Knights, but they are really expensive models to buy and are they really that much better than Silver Helms? I have been reading a lot of lists and no one fields Silver Helms, but if I wanted to go more Mounted force I think it would be better to have more hoofs on the ground than anything else wouldn't it?

So with all the parts listed above my army would have the following roughly..

Prince mounted,
Mage mounted,
BSB mounted,
Mage on foot,
Noble on foot,

3x10 archers, musician, champion?
2x15 spearmen, full command,

2x10 White Lions, full command
3x5 Silver Helms, musician, champion
2x1 Chariots
1x8 Ellyrian Reavers
1x10 Shadow Warriors with champion

2x1 RBT
1 Great Eagle

And possibly a dragon somewhere in the mix as well.

If you were going to add anything to this list what would it be? One suggestion is the dragon princes, but they are damn expensive.. another is to get some more White Lions, and make the units 15s instead. Or should I try to make a unit of Pheonix Guard?

I do not plan to have everything on the field but I would like to have options as much as possible here and also to make it look nice when it stays on my shelf which it will do more often than anything else.

Will update this thread when I get more guys put together like the RBT and Silver Helms. I am still waiting on some paint to arrive so that I can go through and paint the whole army at one shot. Something that I have tried in the past and failed but would like to succeed this time around

Cheers and looking forward to seeing how this army turns out..

[Happy Scrappy Hero Pup]

Dragon Princes are really good and that's why you don't see Silver Helms. I think everyone who owns HEs has a bunch of Helms on the shelf these days. The models are impressive and - barring a dragon - make for a great centerpiece.

Swordmasters are very effective in small units. The models aren't so great, but its a fair trade.

Phoenix guard are also excellent and very resilient (something the rest of your army isn't). The models are excellent as well.

Finally, I feel a dragon is an essential element for High Elves. Not neccessarily for every build, but if you're going to play them you really should have one around. They're too much fun to leave out.

[Baerion]

What are you using for your bases? Will those be like roads with dirt on them or what will the finished look be?

I agree with Scrappy. Sword Masters are very good and would be a nice addition. 2 boxed sets to field a unit of 7 or so would be good.

[grisnik]

Mmm good to know on the Silver Helms but still doesn't completely tell me why DPs are so much better..

However with that in mind, I might have to do some SH converting and make some White Lion Princes instead out of the SHs.. Lion pelts and motifs on them instead of Dragon armor and barding? More so as I am leaning towards a Charace army list/style.. do you think that would work? I know it would be a lot of converting but that is something that I am not afraid of doing..

Thanks for the further insights on the swords and such.. might have to look into them as well then and see what comes out of it.. maybe a spearman to swordsman conversion? Or to Phoenix Guard? Might be easier to pull off?

Will keep looking through all the army lists and photos here more for ideas and such.. while putting together what I have so far..

Cheers

[grisnik]

What are you using for your bases? Will those be like roads with dirt on them or what will the finished look be?

I agree with Scrappy. Sword Masters are very good and would be a nice addition. 2 boxed sets to field a unit of 7 or so would be good.

Good to hear on the SMs then.. and yeah am thinking of going for a broken, kinda off beat stone road.. with gravel/dirt/grass grown through it..

Easy to make but time consuming.. just cutting up the boxes that the models come with into strips, then cutting them off at different lengths and glueing them to the base. Then add model ( which I didn't do to the archers ) and then glue the gravel/sand parts.. I say add the model first as it makes sure there is a flat surface for the model to be glued to before adding the sand.. won't do that again..

Hopefully it will turn out ok

[Happy Scrappy Hero Pup]

DPs: 2 Attacks, immune to fire, Ld9

SHs: none of the above, but otherwise identical


Chrace is fairly fertile ground for conversions since you can add lion cloaks to anything with relative ease. You'll see everything from charioteers used as regular foot troops to lion knights on this site.

The spearman to swordmaster conversion has been done and is an effective, if time-consuming, project. I made exactly one and decided to keep the regular guys. But most folks have plenty of swordblades lying in their bitz boxes to swap out. The spearman poses are almost exactly the same as regular swordsmen, though, so you don't get much pop for your effort.

I wouldn't convert spears to PGs. Too much difficulty in producing halberd blades, and you'd be skipping some of the coolest models in the line.

[grisnik]

Mmm good to know then.. will have to weigh out my options and go from there then..

Thanks for the heads up.. might get a unit of PGs then.. and add that to the list of models to grab..

Cheers

[Skai]

Interesting idea with the bases. I was trying to figure out how to do the same thing (broken up road with grass poking through etc.) so I will look forward to seeing how they turn out.

[grisnik]

Will be a bit before I get any paint on these guys but they are shaping up nicely.

Was able to get the RBT put together, and the chariot as well. Also received the dragon this morning for xmas from the wife.. so will be seeing how to put that together later this weekend. Will attempt to make it so that I can swap out the Prince/Archmage as needed.. I think I have some magnets kicking around still..

Will be putting in an order for more models very soon as well.. hopefully it won't take too long to arrive so that I can put more guys together and then begin the audicious task of painting them all

Seasons Greetings to everyone as well.. hope everyone is having a good holidays

[grisnik]

Ok so I have put together everything that I have so far which consists of the 16 archers, 15 Spearmen, Chariot w/ Crew, RBT w/ Crew, SH Horses ( not sure what I am going to do with the riders yet ), and my Dragon.

Also from the scrapes that I have I made the first 4 Shadow Warriors..

See the pictures below..








The legs are left over from the archer box, the arms as well. The heads are from the RBT crew and unhelmed Spearmen. The chests are actually from Skaven models which seemed to work nicely to give that ragtag kinda look to them but still look semi armored? SImple GS work to make a belt to cover the gap between the chest and legs.

On the second close up of the SW, the left arm holding the Bow is actually 4 different pieces pinned together very carefully. Starts with the sleeve of the left handed sword, glove of the muscian horn, and then the ends of a bow. Was the only way to get another bow into this group while also looking like he has a weapon.

I still need to do a bit more work, add a gem perhaps and some hand weapons but they are pretty much finished.

Hopefully my order of models will show up next week or the week after, along with my paints. I plan to paint them in a green like theme, with white and brown as accents. Hopefully it will look good as those I have seen already on this site. Will have plenty to put together though:

Battalion, 20 White Lions, 5 Dragon Princes, 2 Heros, 2 Mages, 8 Ellyrian Reavers, and another chariot..

Should keep me nice and busy indeed..

Cheers and thanks for the advice on the DPs and the WL Theme.. am thinking now how I can combine the 2

[Allerion]

im anxious to see what they look like when they are painted.

if you are one of those crazy-good painters, a blued-steel look for the skaven chests would fit. maybe blacked steel.

[grisnik]

lol I would love to say that I am one of those crazy good painters.. but I am more on the mediocre scale of painters

Will probably paint it more like the other armor bits, in a silver/gunmetal color scheme with blue/black washes to give it some depth.. but not much more..

Thanks though.. after seeing the close ups I need to do a bit more work on the mold lines here.. plus fill in the gaps a bit where the head fits in.. but they should work and will be making another 6 when the other models show up

Cheers

[lord marcus]

did you use skaven bodies on those shadow warriors? i never thought of that.

[grisnik]

Yeah it is skaven torsos on archer legs.. surprising they fit very well.. I still have another 6 more to make to have a nice 10 man unit or 2x5 units but will have to wait till my order shows up. Apparently it is currently being processed.. so probably on friday it will get shipped out and I can work on it more next week

Looking at joining a 500 border patrol tournament at the end of february.. so will be trying to get a force painted up for that..

Any suggestions for an armylist? I am going to start looking at ideas now, but any help is also welcome. Will also make a thread in the armylist section to get more help on this topic..

Cheers

[lord marcus]

can the hairy backs be seen? or do the cloaks cover it really well, i cannot tell?

[grisnik]

No hairy backs here.. shaved whatever hair there was and if there is any left the cloaks and paintjob will remove them..

I have added a jewel to the shoulder/chest of one of them.. to make it more elven instead.. will see how it looks when I get my paints later next week and get to start building more and painting them up.

In the meantime I am starting to work the GS into the Silver Helms and make them into Lion Princes. After starting on the first one, it seems I will need to remove most of the horse's hair on his neck to make it look proper.. but I think it will turn out nicely in the end. I will try to emulate the lion cloaks that come with the chariot, complete with the cloth part and gems hopefully hanging off it..

Will post up more pictures of them this weekend when I get more work done on them.

Cheers

[grisnik]

Ok so my order has finally been shipped off.. will see them later this week it seems.. also am contemplating getting the Galeforce magnetic bases.. anyone have any experience with them? Seems like a good deal and should help to make all my models heavier as well which is always nice.

Got some converting done on my Silver Helms to Lion Princes..

See the pictures ( although badly lit photos ) below..











I still need to put the heads on obviously.. but I am also needing to add the actual fur to the cloaks and see if I will do a lion head on the shoulder or not yet.. I am leaning towards not, but will see what happens.. might try a few on spare models and see how they look..

This is shaping up to be anice looking army so far, I just hope to do it justice with the painting once my paints show up.

Cheers

[cb_rex]

This army is shaping up nicely, I like the work you've done the Archers, and those horses look like they will be toasty warm in the mountains of Charace, and I think its a much better concept to have elite horsemen cover their steeds in fur than using white lions as mounts, which I've seen some people do.

I'm looking forward to seeing this army painted, keep up the good work.

[grisnik]

Thanks that the thought I had as well.. even though I have a few people here that still think I should go the lion route.. though I will be using them in my White Lion units instead as fillers.

Paint is going to happen as soon as they arrive.. going with the green/brown/white color scheme on them.. will try to make them more regal looking than wood elf looking..

Also just ordered up the gale force nine magnetic bases.. so will be rebasing the archers and spearmen there with them once they show up this week ( hopefully ).

Cheers

[Aristin]

I really like the look of the horses, I am looking forward to seeing them painted.

It would be great to hear how you like the Gale Force Nine bases, been looking at them myself, but I don't know if they are worth it.

[Spiked-Lord]

That greenstuffing is amazing!

[grisnik]

Thanks mate.. I am really trying to bring my GS work up a notch with these models. So with all the models that I am getting I am trying more and more..

Just received my package full of models.. still waiting on the package of bases but it should be here early next week as it was shipped out last night.

Also was able to prime the 8 horses so now that I have paint I will be giving them some attention very soon.

Hoping to have a lot of updates over the weekend as I plan to put a lot of models together and get some painting done as well.

Cheers

[Si'anelle of Avelorn]

Yeah it is skaven torsos on archer legs.. surprising they fit very well..
Cheers

Skaven! Now I am the most surprised. 'Tis a goodly conversion methinks and it doth cause me to wonder if I might attempt a similar making. Hmmmm......

[grisnik]

Hey.. thanks.. I was surprised that they fit as well but was needing some torsos and they were the only ones that looked to fit well enough.. thankfully I have more still so that I can make another 6 of these guys from the other battalion that I got..

Just to show what else I have to work on here I uploaded a picture of what I just got in the mail this week for xmas



So I have a lot in front of me to accomplish.

I have put together the heros and mages already, and am taking on the dragon princes now.. I think I will tackle the other Silver Helm to DP conversions next and then paint them all up at once.. before getting to their mounts. Though I do need to go and paint up and build my 400 point border patrol force so will have to hurry on that as well..

Will post more pictures once I have more to post

Cheers

[lord marcus]

thats more than 290 USD in models & paints! how did santa manage to perform something like that?

gratz man, gratz. and envy.

[grisnik]

LOL I dunno.. Guess I was lucky

This is not including the Battalion, Chariot and Dragon that my wife bought me as well

I have a lot to put together... though I have been busy today. I have gotten the Dragon Princes, and Chariot assembled.. now I am putting the Ellyrian Reaver ( Glade Riders conversion ) horses together.. then will begin to look at how to convert the riders into Reavers.. am thinking more Lion Cloaks and some extra padding on the body.. will have to see how it turns out..

Cheers

[lord marcus]

so you have two battlaions?

i'm calling shenanigans!

[grisnik]

Yup.. nice eh

So to modify the initial post I should be able to build the following:

Prince mounted,
Mage mounted,
BSB mounted,
Mage on foot,
Noble on foot,

3x10 archers, musician, champion?
2x15 spearmen, full command,

2x15 White Lions, full command
4x5 Dragon Princes - 1 with Full Command
2 Chariots
8 Ellyrian Reavers
10 Shadow Warriors with champion

2 RBT

And probably a few more odds and ends as well considering that I am not afraid to do a bit of GS work to make some more models

Should be a good sized force

More pictures tonight when I get home from work and gym.. will take a photo of all that I have so far and post it up

Cheers

[Si'anelle of Avelorn]

O thou must forgive me my Lord Grisnik for my name is Envy.

[grisnik]

Well Si' Color me busy for the next little while.. that is a lot of mold lines to get through and tons to put together..

I was able to get 4 ellyrian reavers started last night.. I am unsure as to how I will make them more High Elf like instead of Wood Elf like ( since I am using the Glade riders as a base for them ) but I think that Lion Cloaks still will be the best answer. Plus some extra GS armor on them as well.

I also had quite a bit of difficulty with the Dragon Princes horses as per the thread kicking around about it. I ended up drilling in 2 holes into the head and neck area and double pinning them to make them stay. I do not think they are going anywhere now, but they are really front heavy though. I think I will end up pinning the arms as well as they were not fitting all that well and I can see them breaking off easily as well

Again.. pictures to come tonight when I get home.. just posting while waiting for the work day to finish

Cheers