Rumble in the Jungle: Lenihan's expeditionary force

We are no treasure hunters. We are no collectors. What drives us is not the desire to possess. What drives us is the desire to keep others from possessing that which they do not deserve. That which they are not capable of understanding. That is why the sea draws us here. Draws us to this land of dark green, this land of burning sun. Land of secrets. Land of sweat.



This blogpost will be a bit of a copy and paste job, I'm afraid, as most of this has already been on the WIP thread at the Blood forum but I thought I'd stick it up here too.

I'm heading up to the Oldhammer weekend at the Foundry in Nottingham on 31 August/ 1 September, and ever since I heard about it at the start of this month, I've been preparing a small high elf force to take along. I'm going to be taking part in the Rumble in the Jungle organised by Padre.


Padre's scenario description:
"The Southlands.
A long forgotten valley of temples has been discovered, revealed when a volcano/earthquake incident collapsed what was thought to be a rocky ridge but what turned out to be the ancient and crumbling remains of a massive structure walling off one end of the valley. Once the valley’s existence was discovered various creatures rushed off to tell their respective rulers. Now a disparate array of forces have rushed to the lost valley in order to loot and plunder the temples. They hope for ancient artefacts and rich treasures, perhaps even the chance to obtain the relics and possessions of ancient gods."

As befits a Southlands scenario, the forces taking part will include the undead forces of a Pygmy witchdoctor, Norsemen and Amazons, and plundering greenskins.


I'll be bringing a small expeditionary force of High Elves. Lenihan's cohort have been sent at the behest of a noble who is a collector of artifacts and wishes to possess relics of the ancient days. Having heard tales of ruined temples from travellers to the Southlands, and disgusted at the thought that such precious wonders should fall into the hands of mere barbarians, Tirnahan has sponsored a small expeditionary force, to be led by his nephew, Lenihan.

In terms of troops, given the sweltering heat, the terrain, and the need to travel light, it seems sensible to avoid many of the units I used to rely on, like chariots or heavily armoured troops. Instead, I will use light troops who can adapt to the coniditions (so models like reaver knights, shadow warriors). They will be joined by a unit of sea elves, accompanying the force ashore from their ships. A life at sea has rendered them more uncouth and less cultured than those who rise every morning to set eyes on the glory of their homeland, and they are regarded with some suspicion by Lenihan's cohort; yet their travelling experience has left them far better prepared for the conditions and challenges of the southlands than their land-bound cousins. High above the canopy, two great eagles scout the way through the jungle and towards the temples.

So, in short, I'm bringing:
- High Elf light cavalry (reaver knight models)
- High Elf light infantry (shadow warrior models)
- Sea elves
- Sea elf bolt thrower (the early sea elf bolt thrower model seems like a far more portable thing, suitable for expeditionary forces, rather than the unwieldy later models)
- 2 great eagles


As I see this as partly an opportunity to play with the toys of my childhood (ahhhh yes I am a nostalgia junkie) the nucleus of my force will be some of the models from my teenage years, dug out from storage:

So there's some reaver knights, the old-style marauder Shadow Warriors, and a pair of great eagles.


I've been working hard to significantly increase the number of Reaver knights (almost done) and Shadow warriors. I've also assembled a unit of sea elves - some of the crew of the ship bringing the expedition to the southlands:

These are all marauder sea elf minis from the 80s, except for the musician, which is a model from the elf attack chariot. The musician and standard bearer are crude conversions using bits and bobs from recent plastic sprues (horn from the silver helms, banner from the chariot model). The sea elf models are now much further along, I'll post a picture of the unit in its painted state soon.

I'm also pretty much done with the sea elf bolt thrower:

Compared to the later bulkier high elf bolt throwers, this sea elf bolt thrower is just about lightweight enough for them to bring off the ship to accompany the expeditionary force. Eagle eyed sea elf enthusiasts (and there may be more than one!) will notice that the guy bringing the magazine to the bolt thrower is wearing "the wrong trousers" (or rather, not wearing trousers at all, but the typical high-elf style skirt). Sadly, he lost his legs in an unfortunate incident, so it's latter day GW plastic sets to the rescue once again, here providing him with legs from the most recent plastic high elf charioteers.

As the Oldhammer weekend comes closer and my force nears completion, I'll post up pics of the painted metal before it makes its way to Nottingham/ the Southlands.