Work on the Wood Elves
I picked up a useful number of wood elves at Beachhead last month from Battlezone Miniatures. Now these are a good value buy at £6 for 5 metal figures. But one thing was bothering me and it took a while to figure it out. A number of the archers seem to be missing the top of their bows. It looks like they were deliberately shortened. Presumably to make them easier to cast?
Now like I said, at just over £1 per figure I still think they are excellent value but it does vex me! Anyway they will continue to form the core of the army now that they no longer are suffering from a shortened condition.
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| It vexes me |
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| Not a great picture but you get the point. |
Anyway work is progressing on the wood elves. Numbers wise I am half way through the starting army list. As I have a few doubles from the Battlezone. I plan on a few simple conversions such as shield swaps and a bit of light Green Stuff changes / improvements. As you can see, I now have a few plastic bases in addition to my home made examples.
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| The Elven Warhost so far... |
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| WFB 3rd Ed. |
And Another Thing
One of the side projects I wanted to complete was the excellent Oldhammer elemental set when first started recollecting Oldhammer figures a few years ago. When the first fire elemental was painted twenty five years ago. It was just painted how I thought it should look at the time.
When I reacquired the fire elemental a few years I painted using a sort of reverse highlighting technique I saw on the Citadel painting website. And I am still undecided on which figure looks better. I am tempted to strip the figure and try again with a couple of years more experience...
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| C34 Elementals - Fire Elemental 2020 |
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| C34 Elementals - Fire Elemental 1995 |
Rob
Your army of Wood Elves seems to us to be forming with a look worthy of awe the opponents: you have managed to create varied and dynamic units, using non-Citadel miniatures. By the way, what inverted bases did you then use?
ReplyDeleteAs for completing the bow of some elves, your concern seems understandable to us and we too would have done the same (and we will, as some of our warband's Alternative Armies dogmen have fusion deficiencies ...). The idea of intervening on a miniature to correct miscasts, especially when you have images or other examples of how it should have appeared according to the sculptor or the manufacturer, seems normal to us and indeed an integral part of this hobby. The opinion on kitbashing miniatures could be different, especially the old miniatures that have become iconic and also expensive, because the creative tendency of the hobbyist collides with the scruples of the collector ...
Last comment: in our personal opinion, the reddish Fire Elemental of 1995 had a more "flamboyant" look compared to the 2020 painting work, where yellow predominates.
The bases came from eBay, described as 25mm Square Plastic Bases LIPPED Warhammer 40k Wargame Roleplaying figures.
DeleteYes, looks like miscast bows. One of the issues I'm having bringing Hinchliffe Fantasy figures back is modern metal not flowing down the very narrow channels designed for casting with a much higher lead content. I'm just painted a fiery standard at the moment and am trying the reverse highlight method...takes a bit of getting used to.
ReplyDeleteInteresting point. I think they are also more brittle than the older lead figures.
DeleteDefinitely looks miscast to me. Also looks a bit ropey around the quiver... any idea if they are selling on behalf of Forlorn Hope, selling off old stock or (the dreaded question) casting their own? I have had no issues whatsoever with the current iteration of Forlorn Hope, beautiful castings, but there was a period where the models were being sold mostly through eBay and the moulds clearly needed remaking.
ReplyDeleteI think Battlezone are casting their own. The ones I have had from Forlorn Hope are much crisper with a lot less flash. I had to spend quite a bit of time removing flash from the Battlezone figures. But they are much cheaper.
DeleteWonder how they got the rights. I know Grenadier spaffed rights all over the place when they folded but I thought it had whittled down to Mirliton and Forlorn Hope as the official rights holders.
DeleteGets more interesting when you see that Forlorn Hope are issuing the same figure but without the miscaseing (https://forlornhopegames.co.uk/products/0136_archer_with_bow_on_left_knee compared to https://www.battlezone-miniatures.co.uk/shop/product/1028). I guess it might not be out of the norm for two companies to get the rights to produce the same figure in the same region...
DeleteSo I guess it really boils down to you pays the money and you makes your choice.
Deletepound less per figure for army building? fair enough for minor issue.. though if all of them are like it, I think i would have prefered the company being a bit more upfront with the fact
DeleteThe Wood Elves are shaping up to be an amazing force.
ReplyDeleteAnd those Elementals are really great miniatures - always tricky to paint flames and living ones at that!
Thanks for the comments
ReplyDeleteNice work recovering that bow. But I do love those Elementals, they look really cool :)
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