High Elf Army Update Photos

*Squeek*

With a busy work week and travel I haven't posted much this last week. However, before hitting the road I managed to take a few photos of the growing (but still small!) High Elf army that I am painting as a birthday surprise. As the kids were out, I threw down my GW battlemat and got out my camera.

This is the first time that I have put the units I have painted so far together to see how they look.

Photos below - with a few more comments later...

High Elf Spearmen

High Elf Spearmen

High Elf Spearmen Command

High Elf Archers (Forgot to do the eyes!)

High Elf Archers (Gems)

High Elf Archers

High Elf Mage (Front)

High Elf Mage (Cloak detail)

High Elf Repeater Bolt Throwers

High Elf Army (Eagle's eye view?)

High Elf Army (Battleline view?)

High Elf Army 

High Elf Mage

I only have a couple of weeks total painting time left, and even that means just a couple of hours per night, so I am going to have to motor on through to finish a reasonably sized army. To do that, I reckon I need to do at least 2 more units - High Helms (5-8?) and Swordmasters (minimum 10, but 20 if I can!)

Hope I can make it!

Thanks for visiting,
*Squeek*

High Elf Repeater Bolt Thrower - Finished!

*Squeek*

Finally got the Eagle Claw Repeater Bolt Throwers finished up! I worked on two units and polished them off last night by highlighting the skin and filling in the eyes.

Here are some photos that I took today of one of the units:

With two units, that will add 200 possible points to the army which now consists of:
x20 Spearmen
x20 Archers
x2 Repeater Bolt Throwers

As you can see, I haven't worked on the army to date in any logical order (the RBTs are rare choices). I have a few options for what I could do next, but I think I will either do a Mage or two OR a unit of 10 Swordmasters...

Cheers,

*Squeek*

Repeater Bolt Thrower Update #1

*Squeek*

I am feeling a bit guilty about all the High Elf love on this blog as of late...
...but truth be told I am under the gun on getting this army done to the deadline. So, no time to work on more Skaven until after this is done!

In an earlier post I looked at which models to work on next, and in the end settled on a pair of repeater bolt throwers (RBT). These beauties can really lay down some hurt (with their two modes of fire) and are an iconic HE unit (IMHO). Additionally they cost 100 points a unit, which quite nicely bulks up the army.
But damn if they don't take a lot of layers to get a nice smooth "Starwood" effect! I have already lost count of how many layers I have done - and I still feel the urge to do more. Add all those layers of Skull White on the crew and it isn't as quick as I would like.

So how far along am I? Pictures below (stages and paints used below the pics).

At this point, I have used the following paints: (EDIT: Please note I am still using the "old" GW paints. GW provides a conversion chart HERE.)

RBT: 

Basecoats:
Snakebite Leather/ Bleached Bone mix. 50/50 (RBT arms and smooth parts of the RBT)
Bleached Bone (as above)
Bestial Brown/ Dwarf Bronze (RBT metallic parts- this is a basecoat for the Dwarf Bronze)
Dwarf Bronze (rbt metallic parts)
Shining Gold (rbt metallic parts - highlights)
Dark Angels Green (gems)
Mithril Silver (stock, some parts of the frame)

Washes:
Gryphonne Sepia

Crew: 

Basecoats:
Skull White (Robes, haft of bolts)
Liche Purple (robes/ sashes)
Mithril Silver (armour, weapons)
Chainmail (helmets)
Snakebite Leather (boots)
Calthan Brown/ Dwarf Flesh (Flesh)
Sunburst Yellow (Hair)

Washes:
Ogryn Flesh (Skin)
Badab Black (Armour)

Bases:

Calthan Brown overbrush
Snakebite Leather drybrush
Codex Grey dry brush
Snakebite Leather (base edges)
Static Grass


Finally, for all those HE players out there, do you have any tips about the best use them on the battlefield? Also, how do you protect them in a small army? Any advice would be welcome.

Cheers,
*Squeek*