Clan Crayfish Horn-blower and Sentinel - Foundry Sea Elf Command

Following an earlier test mini, I am now starting to paint a unit of Sea Elves from my homebrew Crayfish Clan from Lustria.

The first one is a musician, blowing a horn that could be a conch-shell or the horn from a sea-beast. The original miniature didn't have the sword, that comes from the GW High Elf Hero and Noble set.

The second one is a sentinel, apparently scanning the horizon and protecting his eyes from the bright Lustrian sun, looking for the enemy. Again, the sabre comes from a GW set, IIRC the Empire Militia set. 

This should turn into some nice unit, I reckon, if the Foundry scale doesn't make it awkward when mixing with Oldhammer minis.

Clan Crayfish Standard-bearer - Foundry Sea Elf Command

The Foundry Sea Elf Command, sadly discontinued, is a great set, albeit a bit large scale-wise. This piece was painted as the standard bearer of the Lustrian Sea Elf clan Crayfish.

Here goes the fluff (miniatures are just an excuse to make fluff, which is probably my main hobby):

Six thousands years ago - about the year 2500 of the High Elf Calendar - Elves left Ulthuan for the first time, sailing the high seas. Some of them travelled south to the coasts of Lustria, and settled on an isle inhabited by sea birds, which came to be known as Lystarannal. These settlers would later become the first Sea Elves. One of their clans adopted the Crab as their device, and they became renowned as warriors and marines, clad in heavy armour, fighting under the banners of the Phoenix Kings.

Around the HEC year 4500, after they had inhabited Lystarannal for two millennia, the Elves of Clan Crab sundered: it is not clear what happened exactly, as accounts differ, but some young Elves of their numbers left Lystarannal and settled in the harbour of the Slann city of Krox. These Elves adopted the Crayfish as their device, reversing the colours of the Crab banner. Clan sunderings were not rare in those times when the Elf race was still young and multiplied easily, but some bad blood remained between the old and the new Clan, which survives to this day as a rivalry.

Perhaps the source of disagreement was the willingness of the younger Clan to serve as mercenaries for the Slann: for long millennia Clan Crayfish offered their weapons to the crown of Ulthuan as much as any Slann governor willing to pay their price.

Clan Crayfish had its centre in Krox of more than three and a half millennia. But in HEC 8066 the city of Krox was struck by a terrible plague, brought by Humans who had recently learned how to cross the Sea: the Scourge of Krox killed one third of population and left the city as a partial ruin. The survivors hunted Humans out of vengeance and often associated Elves with them. Clan Crayfish abandoned Krox to return to Lystarannal.

But returning to Elvish lands was not easy. Clan Crab would not have their offshoot back to their lands and offered them a choice - return to the original Clan or be its enemies. A few Crayfish Elves subjected themselves to the mother Clan, but most angrily refused. Now, Clan Crab had always refused to serve in the same armies of Clan Crayfish, but now they actively fought them, provoking them into duels and slandering their reputation. Crayfish Elves were subject to every kind of abuse until the very governor of Lystarannal encouraged them to leave for public order's sake.

In HEC 8316 Phoenix King Finubar obtained elven rule on the isle of Osshual, already settled by Clan Clam. After 250 years on Lystarannal, Clan Crayfish was offered a new home and they formed an Elven Community. Today, Clan Crayfish numbers 40 Elves.

The Clan device is a green-grey crayfish on an inverted field of pale yellow and dark red. Their Head is Yvron, a mercenary veteran, nicknamed the Proud. He is relatively opportunistic and not in particularly good terms with the other Clan Heads in Osshual, although he is respectful of them. His clan is charged with the police and defence of the Community.

Undinel, Herald of Serpentsfang - Foundry Sea Elf Command

Since last Summer I have been experimenting with colour schemes for a Sea Elf force. Here's one of them - the light blue and sea green of clan Serpentsfang.

This figure is from the Wargames Foundry Sea Elf Command blister, a line with many flaws (strange proportions, missing weapons, weird body positions) but also great detail (I love their mariner boots and scale armour). Too bad they were discontinued, but if you are at the shop you might be able to get a few at half price.

This specific figure came without a weapon - i would have loved to find a trident but in the end settled for a spear, which I had among my bits. It is a female figure in armour, with a closed helm sporting a serpent crest and a harp decorated with wave motifs.

One of my housefluff Sea Elf Houses is called Serpentsfang: they are based in Dralas, in the Border Princes, and they are merchants and healers. Their device is a Serpent's Fang dripping poison, a reference to the foundation myth of Dralas - the slaying of the Sea Serpent - and a reference to the killing and healing powers of venom. 

I decided this character is wearing a ritual armour representing the whole clan in city festivals. The harp is a heirloom of the clan, the Harp of the Waves, able to conjure or banish sea turbulence. Undinel is one of the daughters of Magalhaes, the clan Head, and is also her father's herald, representing him in missions away from the city and the Community.

A Band of Pygmies

 

For those who didn't know, I've been working since last Summer on a massive sourcebook project on Lustria. The idea came to me when I visited BOYL2018 and saw the wonderful Lustrian-themed table done by some fans. That day the Lustrua-hype came back to me and I purchased these Pygmies.

 We are talking, of course, of Wargames Foundry DA137 Pygmy Archers, masterfully sculpted by Mark Copplestone.
 

Kevin Dallimore is better than me, I know

These are historical Pygmies from the Darkest Africa range, and are remarkably different from the GW art about Pygmies. They miss swollen lips, pot bellies and the outrangeous decorations of leaves and bone, but to be fair I was never a big fan of those. Still, they missed something, so I decided to add some skulls and bones here and there, mostly from bits of a Skeleton Guard box.

The final result is not too abysmal, I hope. Unfortunately, some of the nose- and ear-decorations, being made of greenstuff, snapped very easily so you can't see them in the pictures. That's a lesson learned for me. The spear, which was missing from the box, is a broken toothpick, which fit nicely with my idea of Lustria being almost completely ferrous metal-free.

Proportions seem to fit nicely with original GW miniatures, as you can see. So now, how to use these hungry little savages? I based them on round bases because they are going to be skirmishers. I guess I should try to use them in WFB but probably will attempt at house-ruling a Pygmy warband for Mordheim, including special rules for enchanted enemy heads - some warding off bad luck, some speaking to their carrier with secrets from beyond the veil of death.

Suggestions are welcome, anyway. Did you ever use Pygmies in your games?