Warhammer Fantasy - Dark Elf Army of Naggaroth

Two months ago I managed to obtain the entire collection of my friend and who was my main Warhammer Fantasy Battle opponent.  His collection was extensive: Dark Elves, Ogres and Chaos Mortals (Nurgle, with a side dish of Slaanesh and Tzeentch).  Sadly he no longer plays (although I am sure I can persuade him to come by eventually), but at the very least I can provide a good home to armies which I loved facing all those years ago.  This post will feature his Dark Elves, an army which I found both enjoyable and tough to play against due to their willy nature.

The army was massive, and over the last two months I have added to its bulk with over 100 additional models.  Chris did all the heavy lifting though and my contribution is small compared to what he had accomplished himself.  He is a fabulous painter....I need to do some closeups of the various units to really do them justice.  

Eventually I will feature each unit type in a separate post.  My friend was excellent at model conversions.  He always did something to make a unit unique or add some pizzazz to a character. 

The forces include:

• 1 Hero on a Black Dragon
• 1 Hero on a Manticore
• 1 Supreme Sorceress on a Dark Pegasus
• 1 Hero on a Dark Pegasus
• 1 Cauldron of Blood
• 9 Characters on mounts of various types
• 8 Characters on foot of various types
• 85 Spearmen 
• 60 Repeater Crossbowmen
• 20 Black Ark Corsairs
• 23 Witch Elves
• 30 Black Guard
• 33 Executioners
• 10 Shades
• 20 Harpies (10 from the 90s, 10 are converted from various model parts)
• 10 Dark Riders
• 10 Cold One Knights
• 4 Larger Cold One Knights (I count them as 4 models each)
• 3 Cold One Chariots
• 2 Reaper Bolt Throwers
• 2 War Hydras
• Several unit fillers to increase the size of individual regiments (a clever idea)

Hero on a Dark Pegasus

Hero on a Black Dragon

Characters on Foot

I am very proud to display this awesome force alongside my own troops.  Hopefully they will see a table this year.

My Gaming Den

 I have been painting off and on for the last couple of weeks.  Nothing major, some additions to my inherited Dark Elf army mostly.  However, I realized that I have never really described my personal play area or how I display or store miniatures and terrain.  So, here goes.

This is my basic play area, which consists of a 4x4 flocked table, of which I have another close at hand to expand the space to a 4x8 if necessary.  Everything is close at hand.  The brown bench on the right also serves as storage.  

The bench holds most of my 28mm building terrain.  

Two large aluminum KR cases, with store all of my 15mm infantry.  They fit snuggly under the table, out of sight.  Vehicles are stored in five smaller plastic GW figure cases.  They are in the room, stored underneath and beside the glass cabinets.

Terrain is in the basement landing, just outside the door: three plastic storage units from Walmart.

Everything is organized by type.  This drawer holds some of my 15mm buildings.

Another holds Evergreen trees.

Two bookshelves from Walmart hold my much reduced gaming library.

Three glass cabinets from Ikea display much of my 28mm collection.  This one holds 15mm odds and ends plus Chaos Nurgle and Dark Elf armies.

This one holds my Undead, Ral Partha Ogre and Games Workshop Ogre armies.

The third holds my Chaos Khorne and Slaanesh armies, plus monsters and other odds and ends which don't quite fit anywhere else.

The room doubles as the basement family theater.  On the far left wall are three built-in wall storage units which hold my boardgame collection.  

Having a large tabletop gaming collection presents significant storage issues.  Keeping everything safe and accessible is not easy, and quite often, not cheap either.  Spending money on these types of things is never a priority.  However, it  makes a huge difference in the long run and solved a lot of headaches for me.

Warhammer Fantasy - Chaos Daemons Bloodletters of Khorne circa late 1990s

I have a thing for the Chaos Powers in Warhammer Fantasy.  The history and conversion opportunities captured my imagination early on.  In particular, Khorne, followed by Slaanesh was my go to for Chaos.  Their contradictory nature was always a big draw to me.  

In any case, I present my Bloodletters of Khorne, the demonic foot soldiers of the Blood God.   The legion, The Sons of the Axefather”  is 50 models strong, and done in a red gore and brass theme, with demonic blades to help speed up your demise.  They have never known defeat   Men, Elves, Dwarves and Ogres have all fallen under their axes.  There is no hate in their hearts....only the love of Khorne and his axe.  

Chaos Daemons Bloodletters of Khorne

These bastards make an appearance in a number of games: Dragon Rampant as Bellicose Foot and in Oathmark as Orcs or perhaps Undead Revenants.

Sometimes innocents fall to their axes as well. However, like Khorne says, “When you chop wood, chips fly.”  

To die in battle is glorious.  To die in a one’s bed is disgrace. 

They are ready.  They are hungry....they prefer High Elf blood though.   Their skulls also make good lamps and ashtrays   

Otherworld Miniatures - Hobgoblins & Owlbear

This weekend I realized that these boys below have never had a photo shoot: my Otherworld Miniatures Hobgoblins and Owlbear.  Today, they finally have their day in the sun.  The band consists of 43 models, 1 wizard,  12 arches and 30 infantry.  

I painted these 10+ years ago, to go with a Warhammer 3E Chaos Warband that I was building.  The numbers quickly increased from a dozen to several.  The line consists of several different poses, with both hand weapons, spears, polearms and bows.  

Otherworld Miniatures Hobgoblins

Originally, I had planned for them to be part of a Chaos Khorne warband, hence the skull standard.  However, the band is now large enough to use in stand alone games of Dragon Rampant, or as a small allied contingent in Warhammer or Oathmark.

Hobgoblin Chiefs lead from the front, flanked by his personal guard

They are not works of art, but it was the best I could do at the time.

The Owlbear make a perfect Indrik for Oathmark.

Otherworld Miniatures Owlbear

Hobgoblin Shaman

One dozen archers is the perfect size for almost any game.

Hobgoblin Archers

Today, I would never amass such a horde from Otherworld Miniatures.  The models are now $5 GBP each, far too expensive for army level games.

Warhammer Fantasy - Dark Elf Cold One Knights on Ral Partha Dinosaur Mounts

This weekend I managed to bang off (amongst other things) the last two of my converted Dark Elf Cold One Knights mounted on Ral Partha dinosaur mounts.  The plan is to use them as Cold One Knight unit fillers for Warhammer Fantasy, or as Elite Riders in Dragon Rampant. 

I don't claim to be a great painter.  I do try to keep things neat and tidy though.  I am only shooting for table top standard, which is the limit of my skill.

The pennant is loosely attached to the lance right now.  I need to fix it in place so it does not move around more.

I have another 6 mounts left to do, along with their Ral Partha Ogre riders.  Not sure when I will get around to completing them.