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Hey guys.

I had to scratch the rank and file itch a few weeks ago, so I dug out my old High Elves from the glory days of WFB (6th edition). I had painted these when I was in middle school and new to wargaming, meaning they were pretty bad. I think I've improved a fair bit since then, so I decided to strip them down, add a few new units, and see what kind of army I could put together.

I started out with a box of each core unit (16 spearmen, 16 archers, and 8 Silver Helms), 4 Shadow Warriors, 2 mages (1 foot, 1 mounted), a unit of 12 metal Swordmasters, metal Teclis, metal Tyrion, a bolt thrower plus crew, and a mounted metal champion/leader guy.

Here are a few pics of how they looked pre-stripping: https://imgur.com/a/yuLx7jb

I've never stripped plastic models before, so after agonizing over how/if I even should, I gave it shot with a concentrated cleaner called "LA's Totally Awesome" from the dollar store (Dollar Tree here in the US), lol.

For for the most part, it worked really well. I was able to get the majority of paint and globs of glue off the models. There were a few casualties along the way-broken feet and weapons from scrubbing too aggressively. A few bits were lost down the drain. The plastic was discolored a little in a few places and some of the metal models were a little dark/didn't have that new shine. All detail on both plastic and metal has remained intact. I'll definitely use this stuff again for future model stripping.

When all was scrubbed, cleaned, reassembled, and re-based...I was left with 14 serviceable spearmen, 15 archers, and 5 Silver Helms. All the metal dudes made it just fine. Losing the 3 Silver Helms stung, but a lot of lances were broken and arms missing.

I trolled around eBay, reddit's r/miniswap, and right here on dakka to search for reinforcements. After a bunch of trades here and on reddit, I was able to add 16 spearmen, 20 IoB Seaguard, 20 IoB Swordmasters, 11 IoB Ellyrian Reavers, 1 IoB mage, a pair of Dragon Princes, an OG/new Everqueen plus her guard unit (not used in 6th edition I don't think, but I can use her model as a mage or something), and the crown jewel of them all: an unpainted and unassembled Imrik. I've been lusting after that model for years and was never in a spot to get it- then it was OOP and WFB was canned. All these things I picked up here are either new, assembled, or assembled/primed. The 16 spearmen were primed and I stripped them too. IoB stuff, half was primed, but primed well enough where I could live with it. Also they have a fair amount of fiddly bits that I might accidently scrub off during the stripping process.

I grabbed a couple of things on eBay that I felt were good deals. A new box of spearmen ($20), 8 unassembled archers ($15), 5 unassembled Silver Helms ($45), and an unassembled plastic bolt thrower plus crew (came w/ Silver Helms).

It should be a nice day and good for priming tomorrow, so I got as much prepped as I could this weekend. Here's where I'm at currently with all this: https://imgur.com/a/jw7KoFx

Everything aside from the eBay stuff, Tyrion, Imrik, and the Everqueen plus her gang is ready to be primed.

Needless to say, I'm pretty excited about it and have been having fun getting the dudes prepped and ranked up so far. My friends and I had a very loose interpretation of the rules back in the day, so I'd like to ultimately get some real 6th edition gaming in sometime with these little dudes. With the Old World making a comeback in a few years, I might have a third of them painted by then.

I'd love to hear any thoughts on color schemes, army composition for 6th edition, or whatever else you guys think.

Thanks!

 MDSW wrote:

 Moscha wrote:
https://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/787545.page

For inspiration. Ulthuan needs more pinkness!

Wow, those pink Elves look like they need fairy wings! Kinda like what I did for my wife's Wood Elf army. And, a few pics of my old HE army - did them in the standard blue/white - a bit boring.

These look great, very nice man. Nothing wrong with the white and blue imo, classic look is always good.


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TinyLegions wrote:
You certainly off to a good start. As far as 6th edition support, this is a very good venue. One of the amenities that they have here on Dakka, is a player finder. Please register on it and include the classic/legacy warhammer as one of your preferred games that you play. There is also www.classichammer.com that supports the 6th edition on top of more than a few facebook groups. I happen to know the site owner for classichammer, the way to register these days is to email them at classichammermembers at gmail. First step is to procure a copy of the BRB and HE army books if you don't already have them. After that we can talk about composition, etc.

As far as paint schemes goes, that is more dependent on what you want in the look of your army. Do you want something more gritty, or more clean looking? Do you want something rustic, or more affluent? Any particular colors that you like/hate? Do you want an army from a particular region?
Finding the right paint scheme can be a process if you want something that you don't see in the book or WD.

Olthannon has some good advice on this front. Once we know more we can either guide you or play art critic. Ultimately, no matter what we say, its your army. You need to like the paint scheme. You will be spending all of that time painting it. You don't want to paint an army in a color that you hate.

I decided to stick with my original paint scheme (if you can call it that, lol) from the old pics and go w/ the white and red accent. Once I had started, I got into the 8th ed. book which has a bunch of paint schemes...looks like my dudes most fit with the Eataine province I think. I'd like to work in some blue here and there, but red is the dominant accent color I'll probably go with.

I'll try to get some pics up soon...I've got 10 spearmen completely done, 5 that are going to be done tomorrow or the next day, and 5 more that are primed and need to get in process.

Forgot how how much I love the rank and file look on squares and how handsome they are, lol.

 Olthannon wrote:

I decided to stick with my original paint scheme (if you can call it that, lol) from the old pics and go w/ the white and red accent. Once I had started, I got into the 8th ed. book which has a bunch of paint schemes...looks like my dudes most fit with the Eataine province I think. I'd like to work in some blue here and there, but red is the dominant accent color I'll probably go with.

Good luck to you man! Eataine is an underrated province and the brighter reds and yellows look really good on a full regiment.

Here's a couple of photos of my Chracians. I did a similar thing to you. High Elves were my first ever army and I painted them up in the 'Defenders of Ulthuan' blue and white. So this time round I went for something different. Plus I just love the Chracian feel and design.


The rest of my army can be found here, including a very slow build of a Hawk Ship: http://www.ulthuan.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=70814

Hope to see your pictures up soon!

Looking good man. Here's a few pics of my first completed spearmen regiment along w/ one test model for the unit of archers I'll be doing next:

https://imgur.com/a/Rp4IqTW

Pics too big to post ITT.

 Olthannon wrote:
Nice one man, I saw that regiment on reddit. Love that banner

Haha yeah, thanks man. I post stuff on reddit a fair bit- hate using imgur to upload stuff. I recently found their app and it's actually easy to use, so I should hopefully be able to get stuff up on here more often.

Currently working thru the archers. Have 10 I'm looking to complete for the army- test model is done, 4 others are getting washes now, and the remaining 5 are base coated, needing touch up on base paints, then will be moving to wash. Brightening and highlighting is always a lot quicker for me, probably because I skimp out on a few steps, but they're getting there. Aiming to have them all complete by next weekend...we'll see how that goes.


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TinyLegions wrote:

 Orlanth wrote:
Nicely done. Want a tip. Spearelves models are notorious for big clumsy hands. Paint them brown and they are instantly wearing reasonably scaled padded leather gauntlets. The patch on the models wrist then becomes part of the gauntlet highlighting the effect. You could widen the wrist for the flange of the glove but I dont think you need to; the scale and the hand plate do enough to signify the model is wearing a gauntlet.

My problem with Spearelves were not their hands, but their very small heads. Look at all of the other heads that were put out with helmets afterwards, Silver Helms, Bolt Thrower, Chariots, All were larger than the spearelves in the multipart plastic. The older metal/plastic spearelves are larger and just about right with everyone else. My fix for this was to get as many heads from the other spruces that I could find and use those instead. They make for a better proportioned model IMHO. The hands either match or are smaller than other races during that period.

Now if you are unable to get larger heads, then yeah, your are SOL and go for the glove idea.

YES. The archers almost look like a different scale compared to the spearmen. Spears are much more in line w/ the older metal heroes I have.

 WhiteHaven wrote:
GREAT PICS.

Really nice looking models man.

I've made some progress getting through the OG models, haven't dipped into any of the 'new' stuff yet. Working to get all my old stuff done first before venturing out. So far, I've gotten the 20 spearmen, 10 archers, a mage on foot, and a bolt thrower with it's crew. Doesn't sound like a lot, but I'm happy w/ the pace.

Here are some pics. Apologies in advance for the absolutely terrible photo quality. New phone...a nice camera was not part of the deal.

https://imgur.com/a/jhErS6u

I'm pleased with the red/yellow theme. Once I get shields on the spearmen, they'll be predominantly yellow as I didn't use it on their bodies or anything. Swordmaster was a test model, but I like it. Once I get my core forces and heroes done w/ this theme, I'll branch off and try something else. I have 10 of the Ellaryian Reavers from the IoB set...will likely do something different there. I'll probably do another block of spearmen w/ the yellow sleeves and mix them in w/ the ones I currently have to even out the color spread.


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Forgot to mention, horse is in progress. I've got a mounted mage for him and another horse I've just started.