Na Coiltte Dorcha - Ard-Bhanríon Cuileann

 

The Elves of Na Coiltte Dorcha are ruled by their High Queen (Ard-Bhanríon in the tongue of the Elves) called Cuileann.  She has ruled over her kind for as long as any Elf can remember, and many are the wars that she has fought against those who would threaten the Dark Woods - long slipped from the memories of most races are the names of those empires and civilisations she has laid low.

Cuileann will often take to the field of battle to lead her troops against the most dangerous of enemies.  She typically rides at the head of her personal honour guard, made up of her sisters and cousins.  These lethal warriors are skilled with both sword and bow and are mounted upon dark unicorns of ill temper.

First amongst the High Queen's kin is Seamair - who is given the unique honour of carrying the Queen's personal standard into battle.  This banner inspires courage in her people, and fear in her enemies - for it to be sighted is a sign of sure death to all who oppose the Elves of Na Coillte Dorcha.

The High Queen and her kin ride to battle!

(L-R - Seamair and Ard-Bhanríon Cuileann)

These complete the Na Coillte Dorcha project and provide a nice hard-hitting force of Elite Riders (with Mounted Missiles option).  They are from Ral Partha's Demonworld range - where they are called Wood Elf Female Unicorn Riders.  Rather helpfully they come 6 to a pack, which is perfect for Dragon Rampant!

Na Coillte Dorcha - Fuinseog, An Rí Síoraí

 

The surest sign of the intentions of the Elves of Na Coillte Dorcha was the awakening of the incredibly ancient and powerful being known as Fuinseog, An Rí Síoraí.  

When Fuinseog marches to war, the earth itself trembles as if in fear - for this is no mere tree-spirit or woodland faerie; it is the very primordial essence of the Dark Woods itself manifested into a towering tree-like form.  With powerful limbs it strikes at the enemies of Na Coillte Dorcha, sweeping aside lesser creatures Orcs and Goblins and tearing apart the larger Ogres and Trolls.

Revered by the Elves as some deity, Fuinseog channels the emotions of those who have woken it - their unending anger, rage and hatred all feeding it and guiding its actions.

The Union fears this creature like almost no other; it has trampled over scores of its soldiers - their very lifeblood an offering to this dread entity.

Fuinseog, An Rí Síoraí

This is a Tree Shepherd from Ral Partha's Demonworld range - I added some clump foliage to give it some extra volume and texture on top!

Na Coillte Dorcha - The Daoine Broic

Amongst the most warlike of the Elves of the Dark Woods are The Daoine Broic - who have taken as their totem the dire badger; a savage, territorial creature that calls Na Coillte Dorcha its home.

To join the Daoine Broic an elf must track and kill a dire badger - those that survive don the fur of their prey and in a secret ritual imbibe a mixture of badger blood and woodland herbs, becoming as ferocious as their totem.  Some believe they actually become one with the spirit of the animal they have sacrificed.

These elves lead the vanguard of the increasingly numerous attacks staged by the denizens of Na Coillte Dorcha against the Union; armed with claws of elven steel they tear through their foes, leaving only shredded flesh and torn armour in their wake.

The Daoine Broic

Like with the rest of the 15mm Dragon Rampant collection these are from Ral Partha Europe - they are Wood Elf Badger People.  I plan to use these as Bellicose Foot in Dragon Rampant.

Na Coillte Dorcha - The Ruathair

The Elves of Na Coillte Dorcha once kept to the confines of those dark woods - but no more.  Something has changed within this ancient race and they seem no longer content to merely protect their domain - they have begun to stage merciless raids against villages near to the woods.

Striking without warning, often at night, these raids are led by elven warriors carrying both bow and barbed spear - and they are experts with both.  These Elves are known as Ruathair amongst their kind and their cruelty is becoming infamous amongst the peoples of the Union.

Already the villages of Ubrin and Breshbu have been razed - with the inhabitants slaughtered to the last goblin.  The largest settlement to face the wrath of the Dark Woods so far was the Troll and Orc town called Bhuzga Ozdal - all that remains today of that once peaceful and prosperous market town is the charred ground and a small mountain of bones.

The Ruathair

These are from Ral Partha Europe's Demonworld range - they are called Wood Elf Hunters.  In Dragon Rampant these will be Light Foot with the Mixed Weapons upgrade.

Na Coillte Dorcha - The Leanaí Duille

The Elves of the Dark Woods do not claim that domain alone - entities older than even the ancient race of Elves call the Woods home.  Entities that share the hatred that the Elves have for the Orcs and Goblins.

Primordial spirits of nature itself - the very creators of Na Coillte Dorcha - rise to defend their sacred lands.  Having no real form of their own - they appear to mortal eyes as nothing more than small purple-tinged balls of light - these spirits inhabit shells made from the Woods themselves - bark, vine, branch and stone held together by the energy of the spirits.  When in this form they are known by the Elves as The Leanaí Duille - and it is in this form that they are most often found, assisting the Elves to protect Na Coillte Dorcha from harm.

The Leanaí Duille

These are from Ral Partha's Demonworld range - where they are called Shrublings.  They come 6 to a pack, so I bought two packs to use as a single unit in Dragon Rampant - I plan to use them as Heavy Infantry most likely.

Na Coillte Dorcha - Guardians of the Dark Woods

The Dark Woods has long been a place of both wonder and dread to the people of the Union.  Long ago the elves that call the Woods their home had been allies and mentors to the Orcs and Goblins teaching the younger races about the world - but that time is long past and not remembered by even the most scholarly Orc.

The Elves do not forget though...

Now, hundreds of years later, the Orcs and other members of the Union are not welcome in the Dark Woods.  Those who enter generally suffer one of two fates - the lucky walk for days until nearly delirious from thirst and hunger they arrive right where they entered the Woods.

The unlucky ones are met by a group of Elven Guardians and inevitably become food for the trees - a sacrifice to Na Coillte Dorcha.

These bands of Guardians are expert trackers - well-versed in woodcraft and virtually silent to the ears of most, they follow interlopers and engage in all manner of mental torture.  Once their prey's mind begins to break they strike with wickedly barbed javelins - most victims don't ever see the silver-haired Elves before they die.

Seicamar's Guardians 

Dair's Guardians

These are Wood Elf Skirmishers from Ral Partha Europe.  I picked up an extra single mini of the leader so I could run them as two units of Scouts in Dragon Rampant.

Queen Skeggjöld's Host - The War-Queen

Queen Skeggjöld stood in front of the gathered Engles and Birnir.  Proud swelled her heart - she knew her Host would give their lives without hesitation if the battles ahead so required it.

But she also knew every Engel that fell, ever Birnir that dies, takes both races closer to their ends.  She vowed to all the gods that she would make the vile Necromancer pay for each of her Host that falls in battle.

Skeggjöld raised her magickal axe Issbita high and gave an ancient warcry of her people - it was taken up by the other Engels, making their voices one.  Even the giant Birnir offered up roars to the heavens alongside their allies.

"Yes," the War-Queen thought, "we will make the Necromancer pay...".

Skeggjöld addresses her Host

This is the Shield Maiden Queen from TTCombat's Fantasy Heroes line.  I got it as part of my Kickstarter pledge - I decided early on to give her a magical effect on her weapon.

This marks the end of the painting stage of the Of Halflings Living and Dead project for Dragon Rampant - when I've got some suitable scenery painted up they'll definitely be hitting the table!

Alternative Armies - 15mm Bastion Walls

I've finished painting up the 15mm Bastion Walls from Alternative Armies' Horde of Buildings range.  As with the wooden stakes, the pack included 12 sections - I painted these all the same this time:

But to mix it up a little, I added tufts to half of them along the base of the wall:

I went for a deliberately simple and quite non-specific colour scheme on these - they'll primary find use in 15mm games of Dragon Rampant, but I think they'll work for Sengoku Monster Hunter too (there's drystone walls in Japan after all!).

Queen Skeggjöld's Host - the gentle Peace-Queen

The Engels have two Queens - although only one claims the title at any time.  In times of conflict and danger, the War-Queen is the peerless warrior Skeggjöld - but in peace-time it is the gentle Sigrdrifr who rules.  Beloved by all of the Engels, Sigrdrifr is a healer and spiritual leader - caring and fair to all who petition her.

However in the direst of times Sigrdrifr the Peace-Queen will accompany Skeggjöld to battle - acting as wise counsel yes, but she is as brave as her counterpart; wielding powerful holy magic to strike at the enemies of the Engels.

With the near-annihilation of the Merrivale by the vile Necromancer Kemmler, and the Engels descending to answer the desperate prayers of Halflings, once more Sigrdrifr directs her magical powers in service of the War-Queen.

Sigrdrifr channels holy energy as she prepares to cast a spell

This is TTCombat's Shieldmaiden Sorceress - I really like this sculpt; the pose, the little details - it adds up to one of my all-time top 10 favourite miniatures!

Queen Skeggjöld's Host - The Engels did not come alone

When they answered the prayers of the Halflings the Engels knew they would need to muster their allies to the cause - answering the ancient pacts came the Birnir, fierce warriors all.  To the Halflings of the Merrivale they seem to be large bears, clad in heavy steel armour.  The citizens of Oldburgh that have seen the Birnir think them trained beasts of war at most.

The truth is somewhat different - the Birnir are an intelligent species, capable of communicating telepathically with higher beings such as Engels, Elves and Dragons.  They have a long history interwoven with the Engels in particular - one of the reasons why the Engels adopted symbols of the Birnir in honour of their long friendship and alliance.  The Birnir are few in number, but gladly lend their strength to the Engels' cause.

The Birnir bring strength, claw and fury.

These warbears are from TTCombat - part of their new Shieldmaidens range.

Queen Skeggjöld's Host - Like a bolt of lightning

When the Engels appeared to save the Merrivale they brought with them ancient weapons of war to smite the foul undead with righteous fury. Foremost amongst these are the bolt throwers - launching bolts longer than two Halflings are tall with such power and accuracy those who have witnessed it swear it take the form of a lightning bolt in the air.

Few in number, these weapons may yet turn the tide in the desperate war to save the Halflings from the armies of the Necromancer.

Róta commands the crew of Veðr

This bolt thrower came as part of my KS pledge - TTCombat have recently released it as a two-pack for those planning larger armies.  For my purposes it'll be a reduced model count Heavy Missiles to keep things simple.

Queen Skeggjöld's Host - A tireless watch

The tired militia, such as it was, were struggling to man the watch protecting the hastily erected barricades outside Oldburgh.  Although they were fine archers, their usual sport was rabbit or gamebird - they weren't used to shooting the rotten remains of what could quite easily have been one of their cousins from the second village over.

The Engels provided the answer - they did not tire as mortal Halflings - and their deadly skill with their finely crafted crossbows was more than a match for the shambling horde of Heini Kemmler.  Their golden Bear totem raised high, these warriors would ensure none of the foul undead would make it into Oldburgh.

Kára’s Crossbows

These are from TTCombat - and they have recently announced that their range of Halfling Shieldmaidens will be available from their webstore!  Kára in particular (pointing obviously - bottom right in the pic above) is full of attitude!

Alternative Armies - 15mm Wooden Stakes

You might remember me posting about some scenery purchases from Alternative Armies - well I've painted up the Wooden Stakes set ready for some 15mm wargaming!

As there were 12 pieces I did six each in a couple of different shades of brown to mix it up a little:

As you can see, I added grass tufts to some of each shade to further vary things.  I'm really happy with these - they are great value and provide a versatile set-up for our games of 15mm Dragon Rampant and Sengoku Monster Hunter.  To give you a better idea - I took some pics with a couple of 15mm miniatures I had to hand:

I'm really happy with how these turned out with just a simple paint job.  They are sure to see a lot of use in our gaming at this scale!

Queen Skeggjöld's Host - Desperate prayers answered

Holed up in Oldburgh, the remaining Halfling priests gathered all those with any measure of faith whatsoever left alive.

Continuous vigils were held; candles lit and prayers chanted, imploring the Engels to come to their aid. Calling upon those being once called Valkyries to save the Halflings of the Merrivale from the evil of Kemmler.

After four days straight the people of Oldburgh saw a blinding white light - lasting mere seconds, but brighter than the sun - and when it cleared a force of fierce warriors stood in front of them. Clad in glorious gold armour and with eyes of pure light it was clear that the prayers had been answered.  The Engels had arrived.

Hrist’s Shieldmaidens

This unit of Heavy Infantry forms the core of the Engel Host - originally part of the TTCombat KS, I don't think these have had a retail release at the time of writing the post.

Five games on my mind right now

Hopefully it is apparent to readers of the blog that I like to mix things up hobby and game wise.  From week to week (sometimes day to day or hour to hour!) the games occupying brain space change and flow - although none ever disappear completely these days, they just go towards the back of the queue for a time!

So, here's 5 games that are on my mind right now!

Dragon Rampant - I have two projects running side by side for this system, one 15mm and one 28mm.  Whether it's the proud armies UNORP against the denizens of the dark woods (or, once lockdown is over the Human Barbarians!) or the clash of Halflings both living and dead, this ruleset will accommodate!  For the fact that I will have three painted armies for this ruleset, with another still to go, this game is never far from my mind these days.

Carnevale - the unique setting of this game and the diverse cast of gangs we have in the collection make me keen to give it a try - however I do want to 'play it painted' so it's got to wait for me to paint up a couple of gangs before it will hit the table.

Mortal Gods - I'm going to chalk this one up to my better half playing (and thoroughly enjoying) Assassin's Creed Odyssey.  The metal minis definitely suffer from the Footsore issue of hand joints (seriously, can we at least have Gripping Beast style pegs on wrists?) so they are finding themselves pushed back on the assembly queue - which at the moment means they won't get primed any time soon either unfortunately. Still, the setting is cool, the miniatures are cool (hand joint gripe aside) so this is on very much still on the brain radar.

Burrows & Badgers - I've had a couple of warbands painted up for this for a while now, but real life has gotten in the way of learning the game and getting a mini-campaign going.  With the purchase of a third, neutral NPC style warband this has bounced back up the queue - and once some suitable terrain is painted up I really hope to get this to the table to start getting to grips with the game.

SAGA - well I finally got round to picking up the Age of Vikings supplement - and the fancy dice - to make use of my Irish and Shieldmaiden armies.  I'm hopeful that the armies shouldn't be too onerous to paint once I get into a groove, so this has bumped its way up the list a little.  However, I find the writing style of SAGA (particularly the 'in character' style of rules clarifications) to jar a little in this day and age with it's 'rarr masculine man' attitude - Mortal Gods has a much better example of 'in character' elements in a rulebook (and even then I personally find it a bit cringey).

Honourable mentions go to Infinity (thanks to the Infinity Army app - seriously, I wish all companies had that kind of approach), Dracula's America (now that I have some Wild West buildings) and Sengoku Monster Hunter (which, as a game, is totally 'me')- maybe next time I do a Five games post they'll have broken into the list!

Autumn Trees and Flowering Bushes

We want to get playing some games - especially things like Dragon Rampant and Burrows & Badgers - but of course we needed some scenery actually assembled and painted!

I thought I'd start quite gently with some basics - trees and bushes (the ones I got from Arcane Scenery and Models).

I based them on appropriately sized round MDF bases, textured with my standard sand dip and gave them a quick, basic paint job.  I deliberately didn't embellish the bases further as I intend to use them with a range of games - and the minis for those games will certainly have different basing themes (for the tufts and grass etc).

Here's the taller of the trees first - with a couple of minis to give a sense of scale (as they were still hanging around since the previous photo shoot they were used in!):

I think they'll work well either placed together as a copse or as random single trees.

The bushes pack I got included two with yellow flowers and four with red - again these can be placed as groups or single bushes:

I think these will work even better as trees in 15mm games - here's the rest of the pack with a 15mm Ral Partha Orc and a Two Dragons Samurai:

I'm pleased with these - simple but will do the job, hopefully looking decent while they do it!