Warhammer Fantasy - High Elves - Chronicles of The Glorious Host - Chapter 1 - Archmage & Eagles
Warhammer Fantasy - High Elves
Chronicles of The Glorious Host
Chapter 1 - Archmage & Eagles
This post is about my High Elf Archmage on Great Eagle conversion. If you want to see the links to what iv used, or the other relevant blog posts then please see the end of this post for the "HANDY LINKS SECTION"
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| Lindalan the Pure of Heart rides the Great Eagle Gwindolir |
"Lindalan" the Pure of Heart has gained added manoeuvrability and resiliency by being mounted on a Great Eagle. This post is about kit-bashing a High Elf Mage on a Great Eagle for a High Elf Army.
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| Lindalan first appeared in Phaedrils' Sky Patrol - An Army list from one of Gildoren's Campaigns |
A Great Eagle is an appealing mount option for Archmages in any High Elf army list, the Great Eagle offers increased mobility (and toughness) as they follow the rules for monstrous beasts (p85, WHF Rulebook 8th Edition). Also gaining a "STOMP" attack in combat.
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| Lindalan's hobbies include Bretonnian Poetry, Glittery Trousers, Nippon Crochet and frying Druchii Scum alive! |
This means your mage can get where he needs to be to deliver his devastating magical impact on the battlefield and the eagles can help him get out of trouble reducing the chances of getting outmanoeuvred.
Toughness 4 in an Asur army is something of a rarity; so having a T4 Archmage that can fly and has 2 extra S4 attacks and a stomp attack should not be sniffed at.
(Fat Dwarf-Even from a particularly sniffy High Elf Archmage eh, Gildoren?)
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Crystal Codes for Element Games RIC134 or ROB8508 |
Eerie Images from Last Century!
The first Great Eagle models I purchased would have been old lead versions, (probably from the late 1980's), before they even had "white metal" models and they came on 40 x 40 mm bases.
I did convert a Noble to use one of these as a mount, probably back in 6th edition, but it always looked a bit ungainly - the eagle just looks too small. There was a Wood Elf Great Eagle model (metal as well) that was available but I just never got round to getting it. I recall that it was slightly bigger, or beefier but still not the size I would have expected to carry an elven warrior into battle.
The Eagles are Coming!
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| The plastic MESBG (lord of the rings / hobbit) Great Eagles are fantastic proxies for the High Elves. |
Games Workshop eventually released the Eagle models for Lord of the Rings and I didn't hesitate to capture two of them for my High Elves army.
The scale looked perfect for mounting characters on them and you got two in one box!
Check out the comparative scales and how much better the model looks on the LotR Eagles.
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| A comparison image of the Original High Elf Eagle and the Lord of the Rings / Hobbit version. |
The Conversion:
Components
We have the Eagle models from Lord of the Rings / Hobbit.
You will also need 50 x 50 mm bases.
(This is an increase from the 40 x 40 mm bases of the older models but, at the time, I went for the larger base for stability. Luckily, the base size was increased to 50 x 50 mm for monstrous beasts - so happy days!).
The Arch-mage model is from the High Elf Lord on Dragon box set.
The only other thing we need is a paper clip or similar item to use to pin the rider to the mount. I decided not to permanently glue the rider on as I wanted the option of using both Great Eagles as individual models in their own right and perhaps have other riders for them or a different mount for Lindalan, should he go up in rank..
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| Crystal Codes for Element Games RIC134 or ROB8508 |
Construction
Assemble both the Eagle(s) and the Archmage as per the instructions in the manuals.
I assembled these then proceeded to paint both of the separately.
This is where you need to test the seating position and the angle you want the Archmage to sit at. You then want to drill a 5mm deep, small diameter hole in the bottom of the Archmage (Owww!) and glue in a 15mm section of the paper clip.
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| The power of High Elven Magic, combined with the manoeuvrability of an Eagle is a deadly combo. |
Hobby Tip: Paper clips are pretty tough. Don't ruin your clippers on trying to cut through them - use a good set of pliers.
Dab a small spot of white paint on the end of the paper clip then align the rider to the mount. The dot of white left on the Eagle indicates where you need to drill the hole for the riders pin to go in.
You can now slot and swap riders at your leisure.
Good Eagles Never Die!
I am not a fan of the Tomb King Carrion models, so my old metal Great Eagles now serve the Tomb Kings in that capacity - just a paint job conversion to vulture colours. I did toy with the idea of chopping off their heads and replacing them with some kind of skull/beak freakish monstrosity but they turned out well, so I'm happy to keep them.
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| The Carrion minis where both expensive and not my cup of tea, so the old eagles where transferred. |
Noble creatures flock to the banner of Ulthuan.
Gildoren
HANDY LINKS SECTION
As ever we suggest you look around for the best deals, but we have found the following the most competitive.UK:Please note many of the UK listed companies here will post out to the Australia, Canada,New Zealand and the USA (and often others) often for CHEAPER THAN YOU CAN BUY LOCALLY!!!
High Elves
Dark Elves
Khainites
Chapter 3,4&5 Khainite Witch Elves, Cauldron of Blood and Hellebron
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