PLOG, Elves of the Pale Tower

[Hillbilly Carl]

Hi everyone, this is my first attempt at a regular plog, hopefully I'll be able to keep it up. I'm going to be painting this army fairly slowly but hopefully regularly. I'll get at least 5 cavalry models or 1 chariot painted every month and since my army is all cavalry and chariots (see my army list post in the appropriate area) that should be fairly easy to stick to. Here are my first models, 5 cold one knights:







I'm not sure how I'm going to paint the skin on this army, it's a tossup between the usual pale skin or something more like drow's dark skin.  Luckily I won't have to really decide that until I get to the warlocks in the army.

[T.D.]

Beautiful work

Regarding skin, I'm personally not a fan of the Drow look. But it is up to whatever fits your artistic vision...

[Ilmaestro]

Very dark. Very bad-ass. Consider me very interested

Can't wait to see more of these guys, I really like your style!

[strategem]

looks great. I like the cold ones . can't wait to see more

[Setomidor]

My god, those are some fine looking Knights I really like the way they seem to lean in to fight, might have to steal that idea!

[Lion of flanders]

They look very dynamic and the raised bases give them a "charging downhill" look that really works. How did you build your bases up?

[Dyvim tvar]

Very cool. Love the banner.

[xFallenx]

Those Cold ones look pretty damn fine mate. Wow.

[Hillbilly Carl]

They look very dynamic and the raised bases give them a "charging downhill" look that really works. How did you build your bases up?

Bases are cut from a piece of Styrofoam insulation, carved to a hill-shape and then cut up and put onto the individual bases so they have a uniform slope. I then used drywall putty to add rigidity and texture, and then a bit of sand. I've got a second rank of bases already made and waiting for the models to put on them. I may add a dead tree to the second rank to give it some more visual interest, I haven't decided yet.

Thanks for the positive reviews everyone. The color pallet is actually really quick and simple. It's mostly washes which makes batch painting easy and I'll spend more time on the characters when I get to them. If anyone wants the recipe I'm happy to give a step-by-step.

Once the new models are released I'm going to pick up 2 boxes of dark riders/warlocks and a chariot. That should keep me occupied through November at least.

[Hillbilly Carl]

While I'm waiting for the new models to be released so that I can continue painting up the dark elves, I thought I'd share some pictures of my High Elves. I think these two armies will look good side by side (or across the table from one another) once the dark elves are done.

First up, the characters:

Prince, I also have him on a griffon and I use him for Eltharion:


Archmage:


Alternate Prince:



Bsb:


Core Units:

Archers:


Spearmen:


Special Units:

Swordmasters, I usually run the unit with the two characters:


Silverhelms:


Dragon Princes x2:



Rare Units:

Bolt Thrower:


Eagle:

[Hillbilly Carl]

No pictures to add yet but I have made some progress, I assembled a unit of dark riders and partially assembled a chariot. I'll paint it partially assembled so that I can access the interior bits more easily. I also started building 25 cavalry bases and a chariot base. Tonight I'm going to paint the bases and tomorrow I'll add snow effects then I'm ready to start painting models again. Before the end of the month I'm hoping to have 4 cold one knights painted as well as test models for the dark riders and warlocks.

I'm not letting this PLOG die, I'm just a slow painter.

[Hillbilly Carl]

Here are some terrible cell-phone pictures of the bases:




Only 25 more cavalry bases and 3 more chariot bases to go! I'll add the snow and grass to all of them once the mounts are painted (or at least assembled and base-coated). I only need 5 more cavalry bases to be able to build my 1250 point list though.

I'm making good progress though, I hope to have more pictures soon!

[Hillbilly Carl]

Made some more progress, first off is my BSB:



I also managed to finish off the first cold one knight unit:

All that is left to do on them is to add a bit more snow and some grass tufts to the bases.

I also started building the second unit of cold one knights, these ones will be led by the BSB:


And this will be my general, he'll go in the first unit of cold one knights:



Next on the painting block is going to be the first scourge runner chariot.

[cultofkhaine]

Ahh my eyes - High Elves

Nice conversions, I also like the freehand you have done on your banners.

Keep the posts coming it would be good to see some more close ups of the models as you progress and see the details more.

[Dyvim tvar]

Really love the Dark Elves. The banners stand out and the color scheme is dark and menacing.

Not as fond of the High Elves. The whites seem too white. It lacks shading and depth, and make the models look unfinished to my eye.

[xFallenx]

Liking the freehand on those banners, well done.

[Hillbilly Carl]

Thanks for the comments everyone, I started basecoating the scourgerunner chariot last night, hopefully I'll be able to get some more paint on it this weekend.

If anyone is interested, here are the "recipes" for the different colors used:

"gold" - Boltgun Metal (Ironbreaker) highlighted with Mithral Silver (Runefang Steel) and then glazed with Lamenter's Yellow and shaded with Devlan Mud (Agrax Earthshade) and edge highlighted with Dorn Yellow.

Purple - Black, lightly drybrushed with Ushabti Bone and then washed liberally with Leviathan Purple (Druchii Violet).

Silver - Boltgun Metal (Ironbreaker) highlighted with Mithral Silver (Runefang Steel) and very selectively edge highlighted with pure white.

Cold One and Sea Dragon Cloak scales - black, drybrushed with Elisyan Green, Washed with Agrax Earthshade and then highlighted with Ushabti Bone.

Cold One and Sea Dragon Cloak skin areas - Ushabti Bone washed heavily with Agrax Earthshade.

Bases are Charadon Granite (Stormvermin Fur) drybrushed with Space Wolf Gray (Fenrisian Gray?)

[Hillbilly Carl]

Here are warlocks, a scourgerunner chariot and a dark rider test model -




I'm currently working on 14 more dark riders, when they are done I'll be finished the first 1250 points!

[Malikos]

Great looking stuff. I love the height change on the models in the cold one unit. Oh and that freehand is out of control!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

-Mal

[Amboadine]

Good work, the free hand is great on the banners.
Liking the use of varying degrees of height to give the units more dynamic posing, plus I am sure it helps with the ranking.
Look forward to some more soon.

[Hillbilly Carl]

Thanks, I initially tried the freehand on the high elves' banners to see if I could and surprisingly it worked out! It turns out that I find painting freehand banners fun and gives me something to look forward to during the long monotony of batch-painting.

Speaking of batch-painting, the remaining 29 dark riders must be feeling neglected. I haven't picked up a brush since I posted the last set of pictures . I'm going to be taking 1500 points of Dark Elves to an event in the middle of February so hopefully I'll get 19 more and a cold one chariot painted between now and then.

[Nuriochi_sol]

Love it all! You've reminded me of the pile of Corsair cloaks I have in my bits box.

One question - what are you using to build up your bases? I really like the effect and it seems to make ranking up the models much easier.

You've inspired me to deeply consider an all cavalry army - though I'll round it out with some ranged support I think - repeater bolt throwers for example. And maybe consider my Manticor Dreadlord kitbash again.

[Hillbilly Carl]

One question - what are you using to build up your bases? I really like the effect and it seems to make ranking up the models much easier.

The bases are built up using styrofoam insulation. I carve the overall shape and then cut it up into the individual bases to get a uniform slope across the unit. The styrofoam is then covered with a layer of drywall putty to give it more rigidity and texture. Lastly, I add some sand for even more texture. It is a lot of work and I wouldn't even consider doing it for anything but this low-model-count cavalry army.

You've inspired me to deeply consider an all cavalry army - though I'll round it out with some ranged support I think - repeater bolt throwers for example. And maybe consider my Manticor Dreadlord kitbash again.

I haven't actually played a single game with the Dark Elves, let alone this list. Hopefully I'm not making a terrible mistake. Oh well, I'm going to make some sort of display board for this as well so if nothing else, I'll have something cool to look at.

[T.D.]

I haven't actually played a single game with the Dark Elves, let alone this list. Hopefully I'm not making a terrible mistake. Oh well, I'm going to make some sort of display board for this as well so if nothing else, I'll have something cool to look at.

These models and this army need to be played.

You will enjoy it trust me and all cavalry is very viable these days

[Hillbilly Carl]

Here are the first two finished units of dark riders:




Just 20 more to go!