Collecting Dark Elves

I'm not sure this is a good idea to write this post, since one of my future projects involves painting a warband of dark elves. But, dwarfs first! And I'll see later if I need to lower the prices of OOP Dark Elves :-)

This small army was published in WD 144: it is mainly composed of Marauder Miniatures, but also includes some nice old Citadel models. Among other things, the authors explain their method to get colored metals, and I think it works quite well. The only thing I'm not fond of is the unit of witch elves. IMO, these models are the weak point of the whole MM70 range, and honestly, I haven't the slightest 'painting' idea to improve their look (should you know some pictures of great painting jobs on these minis, please share!).

I've also included this advertisement published in WD 138 because witch elves excepted, most of the models are really cool and well painted (I need to get these whelp masters and their warhounds!).

Buy Skaven, sell dwarfs!

OK, step 2 of my plan: the legendary pages featuring Mr. Chambers' ratmen. I think I've read this article at least a thousand times: the amazing number of painted models, the choice of colors, the banners, the conversion ideas... should you buy a White Dwarf issue in your life, this is definitely number 137.

Now, you have an excellent reason to sell your dwarfs to buy these magnificent models sculpted by the grandmaster himself, Jes Goodwin!

Damn', I'm pretty sure I've seen the screaming bell Andy mentions in his conclusions in another issue of WD... sadly, I can't find it.

P.S. Don't forget to visit Nico's blog, he painted a great skaven army last year.

Dwarven countermeasures

All right, you may have noticed recently an incredible rise of the old lead prices on eBay. It seems to be more and more difficult to get OOP references at decent rates these days... A few months ago, Darkblade pointed out the fact that we, bloggers, could be responsible for this growing interest in 80s and early 90s models.

So, here is my plan: to distract people from collecting dwarfs, I'm intending to make available online some great articles featuring armies of the other races of the Old World... If collectors start to invest in elven, skaven or undead models, I expect a rapide decline in dwarf prices :o) Clever, isn't it?

First countermeasure: Richard Gunson's Undead army, published in WD142. Now, drop your dwarfs and go buy skeletons and zombies!


The complete army, with the zombie dragon as central piece. Isn't it beautiful?

And to help the reader to start an undead army, followed a tutorial by Mike McVey on painting skeletons.


Don't forget to send me your useless dwarf models ;o)

My second unit

I'm still searching a good name for this regiment of axemen (meaning including a bad pun), but here they are: three ranks of fiece warriors equipped with two-handed weapons...

The last rank, where I hide some poorly sculpted or painted models (the staff guy and the female dwarf or the beard of the dwarf in the middle): 

The second rank, composed of a mix of Citadel and Marauder models:

  And the whole regiment with leader, musician and standard bearer:

So, according to the 3rd edition Warhammer Fantasy Army book, I am now the proud owner of 276 points of dwarf warriors + 130 points of crossbowmen + 56 pts of fire thrower, which gives 462 points (only!) for 33 painted dwarfs... sigh. I should have collected high elves!

So what next? Probably the completion of my second unit of crossbowmen... or a second warmachine... or the beginning of my second lot of 20 warriors. To be continued...

Dwarf warrior #20

Maybe you remember my tests to get a convincing standard bearer: I've finally painted the converted model from the Bugman's dwarf rangers Regiment of Renown. The black cross on a white field is supposed to recall the crusader look of my dwarf army.

I've spent a few hours on this flag, but I'm quite happy with the result! What do you think?

Dwarf warrior #19

Hurray! We're close to the end of this unit! I had several possibilies for the musician of the regiment, since I've got 3 different hornblowers equipped with an axe. But finally, I've chosen this norse drummer, which carries a nice two-handed weapon in the back.

This model is great and I really enjoyed painting it.

Dwarf warrior #18

I owe this nice model to a dwarf trade with Bonecrusher, on Bugman's Brewery forum and after a few months, I have finally decided to paint it (since the guy carries a crossbow in the back, I've hesitated for a long time to include him in my unit of axemen).

So here is my 18th warrior (you'll notice that NMM doesn't work under all angles, but I'm still happy with the final result!)