Blue Gets Lost in the Woods...Old World Army Challenge

Hi all,

Sorry it has been so long since my last post.  Trust me I haven't been idle on the hobby front...just on the blogging front.  As some of you may have noticed I've taken up a challenge put forward by that Gentleman from the North Country...Iannick!  Iannick came up with the idea of a painting challenge in which all the participants would attempt to paint 1000pts of Oldhammer goodness over the course of six months...basically 200pts a month with one "mulligan" month if you can't get your work done for whatever reason.  Quite few people signed up for this fun a supportive event...and while a few have fallen to the wayside since it began in November, the number of painted models coming out of this challenge is nothing short of impressive.  Every participant is required to write a blog post each month with their 200 points....check out the Challenge Blog here We are half way through the challenge now so there are many many posts of Oldhammer goodness to explore. Follow the blog for regular monthly injections of yet more Lead goodness.

With the option open to start a whole new faction I dug around in my lead pile and settled on painting 1000 points of Wood Elfs.  As a dedicated Dwarf fan I've never actually painted many elves in the past....that was until the very first Bring Out Your Lead event in England.  I decided to paint an iconic wood elf Wardancer for the painting competition of that BOYL and to participate remotely.  The figure I chose was Glam...the wardnacer champion of the Skarloc's Wood Elf Archers Regiment of Renown.

...and surprisingly...I really enjoyed it!  Glam is a great figure and I am very happy with how he turned out.  That fact led to me collecting a significant number of the other Classic Goodwin Elf sculpts of the 80s and the Challenge seemed like the perfect opportunity to get started on painting up a bunch of them.

So sat down with Warhammer Armies and my box of figures and worked up a small but potent force of Wood Elfs...here is what the whole force looks like...naked

In an effort to not have any duplicate figures in my force (other than the boars for the handler) I also did a few head swaps to add variety.  This was also quite fun and I'm happy with the results...though as I have started painting a few of them I see where I could have cleaned things up a little better...

...anyway...here are some examples of the head swaps

Head donor on left...body donor on right...finished model center

same figure with head swap and arm re-positioned on right

Same figure with donor head from a standard bearer on right

 I've chosen very earthy and muted colors for my troops...trying to avoid the standard "Forest Green" that is seen on many Wood Elfs...this has worked well and really allows the flesh areas to stand out and highlight the fantastic sculpting the Jes Goodwin put into this figures.  They really are the archetypal wood elfs IMO.

We have just passed the half way point of the Old World Army Challenge and I was able to take group pictures of what has been completed to date....its starting to look like a force and I'm quite excited to see what it looks like when its all finished.

Have a look!

Wardancers

Glam isn't technically part of the challenge...but as he inspired it I include him in the pictures

 Warrior Kinband

Wood Riders

Lord's Bowmen

Animal Handler and Boars

So there it is...I've started in on the February figures and am saving my general for March...I don't plan to take a mulligan month so will hopefully use the April slot to finish up shields and mounting the Cav models...I may even sneak in a final special character if I have the time.

Cheers for now!

Blue