Dark Elf Underworld army (army list)

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Jaqtaar
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Dark Elf Underworld army (army list)

Post by Jaqtaar »

Since the release of the COP army list I was wondering which kind of (themed) army I could use the list for.
After some time I remembered an idea I had been pondering about since I read the 5th edition army book:

An army based in the Underworld, exploring the caverns and waterways under the Black Spine mountains.
I especially liked the part of the texts about the hints found by the scouts about an entire civilisation living down there.

So, in the background for my Underworld army I'd assume the following:
The DE discovered this race (let's call them the Komodons for now) and enslaved them. As the Komodons are quite superstitious and not that high-developed, they came to regard the DE as a godsent, superior race they are supposed to obey.
The Komodons have explored some areas of the underworld by themselves and the DE used their knowledge in order to populate new territories and to capture and drill creatures that are to be used in the Witch King's armies.


So the armies based in the Underworld consist of DE, Komodons and the beasts of the Underworld.

The background for the units and special rules would thus be changed accordingly:

Devoted display the small units of hunters, who expertised the fight in the narrow tunnels and whose primary task is capturing the beasts used by the DE. They fight with spears, nets and whips and use those to keep their foes at bay and to incapacitate and immobilise them (--> Soporific Musk). Only experienced and fearless beast handler are assigned for this task (--> mark of Slaanesh).

Warriors:
The Dark Elves built several encampments in the Underworld. These are guarded by grim warriors, all of them veterans of countless battles, who faced the most terrible of enemies (--> mark of slaanesh). This is common practice as only the most hardened can handle the horrors of this repelling environment.

Shades are part of every army of the Underworld. They are the explorers of the ample cave and waterway systems.

Marauders and/or Chaos Warriors
....the rules for those are going to be used for the basic Komodon warriors.
I'll use these models, from Dragonrune (they were rumoured to be Warhammer Fishmen not long ago :lol: ):
http://perso.wanadoo.fr/sylvain.quirion ... dragon.htm
(waiting for the release, which is due in several weeks or so, I will use Saurus Warriors until then)

Aspiring Champion
.....Chieftain of the Komodons or, if equipped with the Book of Secrets, a Komodon Shaman.

Dark Riders:
Many of the creatures of the Underworld can be used as mounts for the warriors of the Underworld colonies (5th edition Cold Ones replace the Elven Steed).

Chaos Spawn
Sea Snakes, Sea Hydras, half Lizard half Fish creatures (Kroxigors with 40k Ravener tails or something like that) etc.

Daemons(Steed of Slaanesh, Daemonettes....):
I'm not quite sure if I'll use any Daemons at all, but if so I'd probably make them some kind of Water Elementals.

Sorcerers
The Dark Elves of the Underworld use magic to control particularly dangerous beasts. Some of their sorcerers have perfected the art of illusion and mind control and are thus able to manipulate creatures of all kind (--> Lore of Slaanesh).

Annoited
...still working something out for him:
The best idea I had so far was to make him a Fantasy version of Indiana Jones, a veteran scout who has survived all the adversities he encountered in the Underworld , hardened, skilled and experienced by centuries of travelling and exploring.
Another idea was to assume that the currents of magic flow very intense within the paths of the Underworld and that this severly affected this particular Elf (the more I think about it the more I like this latter idea as I'd be able to associate the Annoited with the Water Elementals I mentioned).

Or should I use the cliché of the sole warrior encountering a dreadful entity in some remote place and being granted some superhero powers ;) ?


The whole thing will come along with a display presenting the army in an subterranean cavern so that the idea behind the army should be distinguishable.

So, what do you think of it?
Would the concept/background of the army be "identifiable" at sight without me having to tell the whole story each time someone sees the army for the first time?
Last edited by Jaqtaar on Wed Sep 15, 2004 6:33 pm, edited 4 times in total.
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Post by Mtucache »

I love it... simple, brilliant. Totally believable (at least from a fantasy sense).... the only problem is that GW hasn't released any info for additional races yet.

The only gameplay problem I can see so far is that your opponent would probably be confused at first by which unit was which.
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Post by Viciousofkhaine »

hmmm....
I think it invloves too much chaos. Why whould chaos be under naggaroth.
I would revise it. Definately make some beasts that would really be neat like that hydra dragon snake thing. :D
He was a beast that lost his fangs. Thats why hes dead. The same goes for you.
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Post by Lord meaglin »

my army has a rock fortress then hasnt ever opened its gates since the day it was made lol it operates underground in old dwarf (high elf) tunnels and caverns, maybe one day we will meet lol

here's my fluff http://www.druchii.net/viewtopic.php?p=282770#282770
Last edited by Lord meaglin on Tue Jun 29, 2004 8:38 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Post by Lord meaglin »

hmmm....
I think it invloves too much chaos. Why whould chaos be under naggaroth.
I would revise it. Definately make some beasts that would really be neat like that hydra dragon snake thing.


the cult of slanneshi got forced into the underground of the druchii system so why not have them actually underground
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Post by Jaqtaar »

I' ve got some work to do, so I'll just answer this one for now:

ViciousOfKhaine wrote: I think it invloves too much chaos. Why whould chaos be under naggaroth.


Actually there is, speaking of the background, no Chaos at all in the army. I just use the given set of rules (the Chaos part of the COP army list in this specific case) to display a totally different race (the Komodons).
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Post by Viciousofkhaine »

I just use the given set of rules (of Chaos Warriors in this specific case) to display a totally different race (the Komodons).


oh ok so there is no chaos your just using there stats?
He was a beast that lost his fangs. Thats why hes dead. The same goes for you.
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Post by Simpleton »

man its brilliant.

for the annointed thingy he might have been offered some really funny mushrooms by a komodon medicine man
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Post by Shadowkiller venomblade »

the adionteds could be semi gods for them. people from above or some specific ritual ( like assasins)
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Post by Mtucache »

I'm thinking some kind of Posieden (sp?) kind of elf/merman god would be cool, and probably not all that hard to find a miniature of. :?
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Post by Manwe »

Really cool idea... How about the anointed being a DE who fell into the waters and was stinged by some fish thing and started to mutate???
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Post by Hand of khaine »

Brilliance, very original theme.I say go with the annointed being a indiana jones type of adventurer who was the first to enslave the komodans and they view him as blessed and cast spells over him(similar to quartermain in the league movie)
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Post by Darkspear »

i think its a beautiful concept.
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Post by Jaqtaar »

Thanks for all your comments, compliments and critique.

You've certainly given me something to think about with some really cool ideas.

Let's see what we have as concepts for the Annoited:

- Dark Elven version of Indiana Jones
- Elf Explorer encountering "something" (could be anything from a monster, a daemon, a force of nature, current of magic, some arcane enchantments he activated by mistake...), he hardly survived the encounter, but it left him with unspekable might and powers
-Elf who originally discovered the Komodons, they believe him to be "The One" :roll: (as stated in some prophecy) and start to worship him and cast spells on him.

All these ideas are kind of cliché, but I like all of them ;)

As stated before I'd like to be able to implement Daemons in the form of Water Elements in the army and I think they'd fluff-wise best be associated with the Komodons and/or the Annoited (maybe after being "chosen" by the Komodons the Shamans channel some magic through him enabling him to "call forth" these Elementals).


@MTU:
Confusion over units ...that might indeed be a problem, but as I hope only for those who don't know the list that underlies the army. Equipment will be mostly WSYISWG (e.g. Devoted/Hunters) and the base sizes should do their part for the units where this isn't the case (e.g. Chaos Warriors/Komodons).
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Post by Voodoomaster »

great work simply brillient.
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Post by Sawtooth »

Firstly, your concept is most unique and interesting. I like it alot.

Secondly, I get a Lovecraft vibe from this army, maybe it's because of the fishpeople, or the fact that it's subterannean as well as beneath the water...I don't know if that's what you were going for but it's still pretty creepy.

Thirdly, on the subject of your annointed, I have a few ideas you might like:

-The Annointed did battle with one of these water elementals you want to include. Instead of slaying it, he used some arcane means to consume its soul, thus gaining its power. It has left him a bit unhinged, so he can't be trusted to lead an entire army.

-The Annointed has discovered an ancient relic of some kind, which grants him his improved stats and spellcasting ability. In the vast underworld, you can easily come up with a backstory for the relic.

-Expanding on your 'The One' premise, the Komodons offered up grizzly sacrifices to him, including their young and many of their shamans. The arcane ceremonies allowed the Annointed to absorb their powers, and the Annointed has taken on some of their other characteristics as well.
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Post by Jaqtaar »

Here's a preliminary report on what I evaluated on the background so far:

The Sorceress X (didn't think of a name for her yet) was at the head of the expedtion that discovered the Komodons.
This was possible thanks to her discovering parts of the fabled journey recordings of Y, who was lieutenant to the famous Kaldor Maglen, in the library of Hag Graef.
These recordings contained some hints at the possibiltiy of the existence of an unknown race living in the Underworld, based on the finding of single ruined structures strangely resembling the pyramids of the Lizardmen from Lustria.

Following those indications X discovered a lost city of the Komodons. One of the buildings temple was stamped with inscribtions and effegies. From those she learned quite a few things about the Komodons:

- the Komodons are a rather martial nation as they have to defend themselves against all sorts of natural enemies
- their society is ruled by the sect of the Shamans.
- the authority of their caste is based on the rituals they perform. These seemingly include the conjuration of Daemons.

But those things were not the only one X learned from the hieroglyphics on the walls of the temple.
Obviously other (Dark?) Elves made contact before, and a long time ago as well as she estimated the age of the ruins to at least 1500 years. Unfortunately only parts of this assembly of pictures remained and the story was not displayed in its entirety.
But at least one thing was to be catched from the half-destroyed temple's walls:
The Komodons apparently awaited the return of the Elves.

......to be continued



Some updats concerning the models:

I'm thinking of including RBTs as well, using Salamanders with a "crew" of beastmasters. I did this with my Karond Kar army as well and it looked quite good.

I'll definitively include some Daemons (only on foot) as well, bu I didn't find models fitting my image of Water Elementals (most of the models I found basically were waves with a hinted face) and so I'll just use converted GW models (this will also help in not confusing people too much about what is what in the army):
- the claws of the Damonettes will be converted to look crab-like
- Steed of Slaanesh will loose the boobs and tongue, the tail will be replaced with the Black Dragon's one, some scales may be added (using Tyranid plastics?)

Showing the water-relatedness of the Daemons will thus mainly rely on the painting.

Spawns will a sub-species of the Komodons, the models will consist of Ravener tails and Kroxigor upper body.
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Post by Danceman »

that is awesome! i love anyone who thinks outside of the box.
go with it, and i just looove to see the pics.

awesome man
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Post by Ansob. »

JaqTaar wrote:I'll definitively include some Daemons (only on foot) as well, bu I didn't find models fitting my image of Water Elementals (most of the models I found basically were waves with a hinted face) and so I'll just use converted GW models (this will also help in not confusing people too much about what is what in the army):
- the claws of the Damonettes will be converted to look crab-like
- Steed of Slaanesh will loose the boobs and tongue, the tail will be replaced with the Black Dragon's one, some scales may be added (using Tyranid plastics?)

Showing the water-relatedness of the Daemons will thus mainly rely on the painting.

Spawns will a sub-species of the Komodons, the models will consist of Ravener tails and Kroxigor upper body.


Another round of praise, my (French? If the page you linked to for the model pictures was yours, that is) forum co-member. A few suggestions, on a few things.
Annointed: the idea of him being "annointed" (sorry, I couldn't resist the so-called and self-entitled pseudo-pun) by the Komodon shamen is, in my opinion, the best.
General army background: I especially enjoyed the little twist at the end - that they were "waiting" for the emissaries from the gods...
RBTs: I would advise against using the LM Salamander, as I feel that it would confuse the player even more than him not knowing which unit is which - and for another reason, mentioned a few lines down. Perhaps a Salamander model from another miniature range would be best, yes?
Daemons: regardless of the fact that the miniatures you found weren't exactly those you wanted, I would suggest using them rather than slightly-converted Daemonettes - however beautiful said Daemonettes may be, they would break the feel of the army, in my opinion. Have you tried the Rackham range? I believe they have quite excellent elementals (that is, if it even exists outside France - though if you are, as I tend to think, a compatriot, it wouldn't prove too much of a problem getting your hands on them... :roll:).
Other than that, your project is awe-striking, and it would be most interesting to witness it seen through... :)
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Post by Lord meaglin »

Shades are part of every army of the Underworld. They are the explorers of the ample cave and waterway systems.



i have shades as

watchers of the old passess surfacing to hear of news of the cult then submerging them selves ever watchfull in the dark

also what would be cool having white eyes that allow them to see better in the dark than in the light
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Post by Jaqtaar »

A neutral shade of black wrote:Another round of praise, my (French? If the page you linked to for the model pictures was yours, that is) forum co-member.
I actually am half-french, half-german; the page isn't mine, I just happened to know the link.

RBTs: I would advise against using the LM Salamander, as I feel that it would confuse the player even more than him not knowing which unit is which - and for another reason, mentioned a few lines down. Perhaps a Salamander model from another miniature range would be best, yes?

I thought about that as well, the best would probably be to use the regular RBT model and only replace it by a Salamander or another beast model when playing against people who already know about the army.


Daemons: ...I would suggest using them rather than slightly-converted Daemonettes - however beautiful said Daemonettes may be, they would break the feel of the army, in my opinion. Have you tried the Rackham range? I believe they have quite excellent elementals (that is, if it even exists outside France - though if you are, as I tend to think, a compatriot, it wouldn't prove too much of a problem getting your hands on them... :roll:).

Rackham miniatures are indeed awesome and also available here in Germany; but the Elemental models I saw don't fit either, they're just too small (being more familars than elementals) and there are only 3 different models.
But it is true that I'd dislike to have to use Daemonette models just because I didn't find any better.

I'll have to reconsider the whole Elemental idea if I want the army to look coherent.

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Post by Simpleton »

this is my idea for making the komodon models:
Use the marauders and add some scales with green stuff (not to difficult) and then paint them in a grey/green colour scheme. Perhaps catachan green mixed with codex grey and scorched brown scales?
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Post by Beowulf »

I think that the annointed could be an elf that went looking and came across the water elementals and fought then. He could of beaten them off and impressed the watching savages. They could of started worshipping him as a god and making divine sacfrices but one of the sacfrices went wrong when a water elementaly ran into the sacrfice circle and got merged with the elf by mistake but gave he greater poweres instead.

it is a little bit cliche but it does work.
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Post by Ansob. »

JaqTaar wrote:I'll have to reconsider the whole Elemental idea if I want the army to look coherent.


Would these still be sub-par? :roll:

Edit: I would also suggest using the Shelob LotR model as Hydra, if you like it.
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Post by Flash_hound »

I have an idea, you should have the water elements based of flamer models. Just paint the flamers blue and change fire...It could work.

The annointed should be a noble who with three others entered the underhive by mistake. Before they could even make it all the way down they were attacked by around 15 water elementals in the end the noble was left and a water element. The noble couldn't fight much more but he had one trick. He unleashed a defensive spell in his armor. It was made to work against flesh... A blinding light appeared and then suddenly the creature was gone. He continued down to where these barbaric creatures lived and he fought there champion with supreme ease, he killed there champion. And soon realised his new powers....

I think that might be more interesting.
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