Tale of OG Gamers - High Elves

[fatolaf]

It's the only way to stop her watching CBeebies

Ever tried a blindfold??? 

[cunningmatt]

Matt, Dave was just joking about the Child molester thing.... no need to take it as career advice

Also, the Dragon Princes look great.

Threatening the safety of someone's relatives doesn't come under the category of molesting, I checked. Cheers for the compliment (that refers to the Dragon Princes, not the child molesting - I don't see that as a compliment).

Ever tried a blindfold??? 

I nearly answered that with something in such poor taste, that even I stepped back and went "No Matt, you have standards". Suffice us to say it isn't sufficient to get her drawing.

[fatolaf]

Suffice us to say it isn't sufficient to get her drawing.

Never fails....

[cunningmatt]

That's where you and I differ, you're the stick and I'm the carrot.

I offer her the reward of seeing her mother again, you only offer the cruel barbarity of the whip.

I do hope no one's come into this conversation halfway through, it's very difficult to explain to outsiders!!

Right I really should get back to work!

[Dave]

Ah didn't think beast items came out magic item allowance, thought it was in addition to, will change that one.

Thanks for the kind allowance of a random aside matt.

[cunningmatt]

Thanks for the kind allowance of a random aside matt.

I don't think I have a leg to stand on when it comes to complaining about random asides!! 

[cunningmatt]

Wednesday 22nd June - WEEK 25

And you thought these blog entries wouldn't get longer or filled with more photos!!

Ladies and Gentlemen, Boys and Girls we're finally here the end of the Tale of OG Gamers - High Elves. Now before you start crying, this isn't the end of my blogging career (sadly - I need my life back, oh wait...), but this is the final entry for the original Tale of OG Gamers challenge, and I'm going on holiday too! More on this later.

Way back on Thursday the 2nd of September 2010, thirteen people began their Tale of OG Gamers story, and now 10 months later the survivors crawl their way over the finish line, battered, bruised and with repetitive strain injury after typing enough words, that if I were paid a penny a word I could single-handled bail out the Greek economy.

Before we get to the finish we should of course look back at the months that have gone before, if not just to pad out this blog and save me having to come up with new content. Here's the previous nine months worth of painting <insert uplifting music here, probably something by Westlife>:

September 2010, Month 1: Lothern Sea Guard



October 2010, Month 2: Ellyrian Reavers & Shadow Warriors





November 2010, Month 3: Mage & Shadow Warriors





December 2010, Month 4: Repeater Bolt Thrower and Great Eagles



January 2011, Month 5: High Elf Archers



February 2011, Month 6: Phoenix Guard and High Elf Archers



March 2011, Month 7: Caradryan and Phoenix Guard



April 2011, Month 8: Lothern Sea Guard (and Prince on Griffon, see below)



May 2011, Month 9: Prince on Griffon



Plus there's Month 10 still to come...

Of course it's not just been about the painting here at the Tale of OG Gamers - High Elves, in fact far from it. Here's some of my favourite bits of madness that have graced these pages in the last 10 months, hopefully they'll be some happy memories and maybe some gems you missed first time round (alternatively it will be full of unfunny tedious stuff you didn't want to look at the first time round). Plus most importantly it is another excuse to stall before we get to the inevitable:

September 2010, Month 1: Highlights, Pages 1-2

September not only saw the birth of this blog, but it saw the birth (I say birth, obviously she was born 4 years ago) of our resident 4-year old artist, as she recreated the historic moment where myself and Lee swapped the appropriate parts of our Island of Blood sets:



We of course threatened to do what every person who has played against the Daemons of Chaos has wanted to do (though at this point I should confess I've never ever played a game against Daemons - I expect a queue of people to form to ruin my day!)



And I may have suggested I had an addiction to a certain milkshake brand...



A great wrong was righted when my Chaos Giant finally won the prize he deserved...



And we saw the highlights of my home town, Orpington in Kent:



October 2010, Month 2: Highlights, Pages 3-5

In October I took part in my first (and so far only) ever tournament, annoying Jack with my inane comments for a whole day! And shockingly coming third, I still believe it was a fix:



We also pondered how much green stuff to shove up a horse's bottom, a question I still don't know the answer to:



Cheryl, the plant, drew the first ever result for the What's In the Box? competition:



We discussed Wagner (remember him?) and the X Factor:



I included my first non-Games Workshop models in my High Elf army after a little bit of self assembly:



And their was blatant flouting of the law as we discussed contraband paints:



But the month was indeed tinged by the sad death of John and Edward:



November 2010, Month 3: Highlights, Pages 6-7

Despite a rude attack of real life consuming all my free time, there was still a bit of blogging time as we discussed I'm a Celebrity... named Wizbit the wizard and found my other sweet-based Achilles' Heel:





December 2010, Month 4: Highlights, Pages 7-16

December was marked with the festive mood in the air and snow on the ground:



The highlight of the Tale of OG Gamers – High Elves in December was the Tale of OG Gamers – High Elves: Forgotten Special Characters Advent Calendar, as we counted down 25 (yes 25, did you spot them all?) doors worth of Special Characters that are no more:





We painted with Mr Shakey Shakey in Willesden Green:



We even had a fully comprehensive guide to wrapping Christmas presents together, hope that helped:



Plus 2010 and that year's resolutions were reviewed through the 12 editions of the White Dwarf and a spurious help of random rambling about everything else:



But it wasn't just happy times, as we lost blog entry in December and I was forced to go Christmas shopping, a hellish trip that wasn't helped by this:



Bloody happy people.

January 2011, Month 5: Highlights, Pages 16-18

The New Year began with 2011's resolutions which probably should have included giving up chocolate:



And of course painting abroad, as the Tale of OG Gamers – High Elves hit Gran Canaria:



Bray Shaman Cameron launched his ill-fated campaign to the Black Isle, he certainly wouldn't return with this many limbs:



And we had the first ever Tale of OG Gamers – High Elves Battle Report, complete with old school maps:



February 2011, Month 6: Highlights, Pages 19-24

In February we learnt lots of lessons, firstly that it is quite difficult to photograph a hoard unit:



Secondly that some single people can deal with Valentine's Day quite well, but some can't:



And that there are actually 42 days in February:



March 2011, Month 7: Highlights, Pages 25-29

In March we painted in Liverpool, home of not wearing a coat:



Discussed brushes:



And gave away a Shakeaway voucher, as we spotted the missing paint brush cap.



In fact the voucher went to Ol as he cleared up in a series of competition wins defying all probability!

Plus there was the only, to date, tabloid edition of Tale of OG Gamers – High Elves:



And some Beastmen even got painted up:



Although someone took themeing their army a bit too far:



April 2011, Month 8: Highlights, Pages 29-33

In April I very nearly went to work for Games Workshop itself, but celebrations were short lived as we said goodbye to a close friend:



We made crap jokes and hid eggs!



Plus there was a super injunction taken out by a premiership footballer against the blog:



And the fine Easter weather meant we hit the garden, although we seemed to have swapped April and June's weather around:



May 2011, Month 9: Highlights, Pages 33-36

In May we explained proportional representation through the medium of Warhammer:



And we discussed how procrastination and toilet trips can ruin your day of painting. Plus I showed off:



Finally did some varnishing:



Used some natural yoghurt in my painting:



Painted some more Beastmen...:



...and then realised maybe I  painted a few too many Beastmen:



June 2011, Month 10: Highlights, Pages 37-41

And this month we discussed The Only Way is Essex for far too long, spilt grass everywhere:



Plus played Tape Measure Pontoon:



And went behind the scenes of this very blog:



So there we are the last 10 months of crazy blogging, hope you enjoyed the whistle stop tour?!

The big question of course for today is will Greece accept a new austerity package? Oh and the other big question slightly more pertinent to this blog is did I finish the Dragon Princes or am I coming here empty-handed having fallen at the final hurdle? Of course I finished, if I hadn't I'd have simply never come back to this blog, you'd never have realised! I wouldn't have had all this build up just to end in inevitable disappointment, otherwise you'd have thought I was the World Cup.

Stage 4 - Doris' Dragon Princes















Base: Drybrushed Bleached Bone, then flocked with Static Grass
Rocks: Drybrushed Fortress Grey, then washed Badab Black
Masonry: Overbrushed Dheneb Stone, then Overbrushed Bleached Bone
Hooves: Highlighted Codex Grey
Tail and Leg Fur: Washed very weak Badab Black, then drybrushed Skull White
Horse Body: Washed very weak Badab Black, then layered Skull White
Silver Metal: *NO CHANGE*
Gold Metal: Highlighted 5:1 Shining Gold : Mithril Silver
Reins: *NO CHANGE*
White Cloth: Layered Skull White
Blue Cloth and Pennant: *NO CHANGE*
Yellow Cloth and Armour Trim: Washed Ogryn Flesh, then highlighted Bad Moon Yellow
Lance: *NO CHANGE*
Flesh: Highlighted Bleached Bone

I painted the gems and eyes in the usual Elven way. Sadly the banner didn't have a sculpted on picture, which is a bit of a shame given the amazing detail on every other aspect of the model (and the fact that all the other recent releases had sculpted banners).
This meant I had to put down the vodka and do some freehand – I hope I lived up to the quality of the models. I replicated the design painted by the 'Eavy Metal team, fortunately Games Workshop seem to have seen my technique and provided a nice 1:1 photo of the banner on the back of the box:



I painted the banner in the same way as the dragons on the Lothern Sea Guard shields, way back in September. Mercherite Red undercoat, layered with Blood Red, then highlight with Blazing Orange followed by Vomit Brown and a light wash with Baal Red.





You'll notice the banner is quite large and does trail behind the unit some way!!

So the final full 2,000 point army looks like this:




And on paper this translates as:






(Yes I know this way of doing army lists doesn't really work, but hey it's the last one I'm not changing it now!)

Conclusion

So this is it, the end, and what have we learnt? Where have we come? Where will we go? And what will we do without another series of So You Think You Can Dance?

The whole 10 month experience has certainly been more involving than I could have ever imagined at the start, personally I blame Steve - the whole Tale of OG Gamers thing was his idea. But I feel pleased I stuck with the High Elves and have been rewarded with a nicely painted High Elf army at the end. 200 points a month now seems easily achievable, even if it didn't back in September and bare a few wibbles I've kept up. In fact I haven't got bored once of the bright colours that make up the High Elven ranks, I've found the bright whites, yellows and blues a joy to paint and all the new models from Island of Blood and the recent High Elf wave have been such a pleasure to work with. I even seemed to have even got the hang of playing with the High Elves (a little bit) – so we'll so how that goes in the next battles!!

In terms of the future of the High Elves, well I can't really stop here can I? Next on the list has to be a White Lions Chariot, being the only unit from the High Elf army list I haven't painted at all (over this and my existing army), plus some how I've not painted any Dragons so we need at least one (or six of them). Then there's the remainder of the Isle of Blood box, will I give into those Swordmasters, they look so amazing sitting there in the box begging to be painted? Or I could paint a unit of the new White Lions (given the Phoenix Guard and Dragon Princes were such amazing models, could be fun to tdo them)? Or add another rank of Dragon Princes, even if just to keep the banner fully contained within the unit! Oh and I'm developing a fondness for painting special characters, so maybe when the Elves start popping out in Finecast they may get a Teclis or two? Plus if I'm going to paint all that I'll need some Spearmen to give me more core units.

As you can see, I think there may be a lot more to paint. Although my attention is now wandering to the Warriors of Chaos, with a couple of new models coming soon, it's time to give my Tzeentch warband some love. Plus with loads of old Bretonnians in one of those drawers (just which one!) and a new book expected soon, perhaps I should join the bandwagon and paint up a load of horses. Who knows?

Blogging-wise I have really enjoyed writing this blog, I hope you have enjoyed reading it too, well done if you managed some of the longer entries. As I say I will keep blogging, after a well deserved rest, I hope you agree! Not sure if it will be this blog as it is, a new blog, or simply a reversioning of this one – I'll make sure you find out, so keep your eyes peeled as I'll let you know. Though I may not stay up until 2am desperately trying to finish that week's entry - that HAS to stop for my own sanity!!

All that remains is for me to say thank you so much to all of you have popped by and simply read this blog, from OG Gamers and beyond – in this busy world we live in, I can't tell you how flattering it is to know so many of you are prepared to give up your time (up to an hour a week in some cases!) to read my crazy thoughts. But special thanks to all you who have left comments, abuse, praise and encouragement – without your input this blog would have been so much less, and it's always useful for me to know what parts of the blog you enjoy, so I know to do more of it! Once again a massive thank you!

Until we meet on the blogosphere again, I wish your milkshakes are always creamy, and goodbye! Let's do it again sometime!

[Dave]

Hurrah, now the important question - has the shakaway legal department been in touch telling you to cease and desist from a) plagurising their colour scheme and b) sullying their good name by association with your reams of twaddle?

Great to see someone actually get to the end of a 'tale of x gamers' style event the majority of time they sink into a gruesome hole never to be seen or discussed again (I refer you to my Eldar project which has been prosponed generally due to the bases being the wrong shape but it will resurface as do all my projects).

Unfortunately you now face a fresh challenge, now you're unleashed on the wider world and no longer have the safety net of a specific 200pts target per month you can really cut loose (ok I can't help but notice you painted an even larger beastmen army as a side project to this one in a fraction of the time) so what to do next?  Personally I'd have completed all of the IoB box, because that in itself would have been a good challenge but you've broken the back of it now anyway only really  having some swordmaster guys remaining.

Considered running a hobby status diary to track your progress?  I've finally hit the limit of my unpainted mountain that I'm working on an attempt to run down the backlog a little.  Because of purchases this year I'm not going to achieve 'The Painters Challenge' (painting more than purchased) but I am committed to not buying more and I find tracking it is helping me with that.

[maelzch]

I suppose that like all good series, this had to end at some point, but at least Fox didn't cancel it early and it didn't turn out that everyone had been dead all along and was in limbo!

It's been a long journey for your high elves and I'm impressed you stuck through (and painted another army at the same time!). I'm curious to see where your painting goes next.

Who knows, maybe the blog will get comissioned for a second series!

[Crompton]

Who knows, maybe the blog will get comissioned for a second series!

I'd vote for that. Although it would have to be something even wackier than before and never seen on a blog before!