TheWild Hunt Orion We spied Jim Bailey s fantastic Wood Elf force at the Chicago Grand Tournament and asked him to tell us a little about his unique conversions and paint jobs. Here, he shares his thoughts on his army of choice. Friends and fellow hobbyists, I ask you, what is there not to love about Wood Elves? They are neither the foppish Lords of Ulthuan nor the pointy-booty-wearing Wood Elves of yore. These guys forged alliances with the Daemon-spirits of Loren and went native. With unbridled savagery, the tattooed and warpainted children of Kurnous the hunter and Loec the Trickster fall upon and slay those who would bring harm to the woodland realm. In game terms, the Wood Elves simply rock. They can outshoot and outfight almost everybody. Most importantly though, they are incredibly fast and maneuverable. My interest in Wood Elves was piqued many years ago by the old Jes Goodwin sculpts from the 1980 s and rekindled several years ago with the White Dwarf preview list. There were some evocative sketches of savage Elves and Dryads that led me to create my first close combat Wood Elf army composed of spearmen (Glade Guard), Glade Riders, and Dryads. The Glade Guard made it into my new army as Eternal Guard. Soon after Warhammer Armies: Wood Elves was released, I set out to create a new army, a thing of savage grace: the Wild Hunt. When I saw the Orion model in the book, I knew he had to lead the charge! The model is so fantastic that all I had to do was stick him on a base and paint him. 120
Satyr Dryads If I wanted my Wild Hunt to thunder across the fields of Bretonnia and lay waste to all, I figured that my Dryads would need hooves. The whole air of the hunt felt Bacchanalian to me so Satyrs seemed an appropriate choice. I shaved the fur from plastic Ungor torsos, added various plastic Elf and Eldar heads, sculpted hair from green stuff, and added antlers, which are actually bits of Gor hair from the Beastman sprues. Each of the four units cavorts around a Waystone. I really love the little extras on the Wood Elf sprues. Little Spites and stone markers adorn many of the bases of this army. The little owl perched on one of the Waystones is my favorite. 121
122 The Wild Riders The Wild Hunt would not be complete without the hunters of Kurnous: the Wild Riders. I did two units of these bloodthirsty forest daemons. It is my firm belief that one can never have too many Centaurs in one s army. While these savage beauties look like Centigors, they are not Beasts of Chaos, of course. I created their upper bodies in the same way as my Dryads and sculpted about a half an inch of torso where the steed body meets the Ungor belly. I attempted to pose them as elegantly and dynamically as I could.
The Bases My bases are built up with green stuff, sand, and rocks from my driveway. I painted them and then applied various flocks and static grasses. I created the mushrooms with little balls of green stuff on the ends of pieces of steel wire. Noble on Great Eagle The Noble on a Great Eagle carries the Hail of Doom arrow, a big sword, and an attitude. Her job is to knock out enemy light units and war machines. To make this model, I cut a Daemonette off of her steed; sculpted hair, a nose, and an upper lip; and mounted her on the bird. 123
Wardancers Wardancers are indescribably cool. I had to take a unit of these guys. Much like Orion and so many of the new models, these guys are perfect right out of the box. My only hope was that I could do justice to the fine detail with my paintbrush. I m currently working on an army converted almost entirely from Wardancer models. I think they are that cool! Glade Riders I modeled the six Glade Riders in much the same way as I created the Noble on Great Eagle. They are modified Daemonettes with weapons from various Wood Elf sprues. The new Elven Steeds are amazingly graceful sculpts, which I posed dynamically on the bases so that they look as if they are galloping wildly into battle. 124
Eternal Guard Nothing defines Warhammer like the noble Spearman, and Wood Elf Eternal Guard are some of the best Spearmen in the game. Their job is to bait the enemy into combat, while the Wild Riders and Dryads flank the bad guys and destroy them with a rear charge. I modeled these Spearmen much as I did my Dryads, except that I used Bretonnian Peasant Bowmen legs and some green stuff to lengthen the torsos. Some of the models are heavily modified 40K Chaos Cultists. The spears are steel wire with High Elf and Ungor spear tips. Though these models didn t make it into my GT army, I thought I d share them here. Noble on Great Eagle Though I didn t field this model at the Chicago GT, it s one of my favorites, and I wanted to present it here. This model, inspired by Jeff Wilson, is a conversion that uses bitz from an Empire Griffon, a Kislev Archer, a Bretonnian Archer, and a Dark Eldar as well as a whole mess of green stuff. In Parting This army is a heck of a lot of fun to play and was a blast to convert and paint. As I write, I m already dreaming up new Wood Elf concoctions. My pals give me grief about doing the same army all the time, but I can t help it! I have a couple of Dwarf armies, some Empire, and about eight gazillion flavors of Chaos, but I just can t stop painting Wood Elves! Come join me in Loren, fair reader, where the wild things are! 125