1 00:00:07,120 --> 00:00:13,720 Hello Owen here and here is the third part of my deep dives into 2 00:00:13,720 --> 00:00:19,840 the 4th edition army books and this time I am literally wearing 3 00:00:19,840 --> 00:00:23,040 the T-shirt as I present this to you. 4 00:00:24,080 --> 00:00:27,800 So how about you sit back if you're painting, just 5 00:00:27,800 --> 00:00:32,240 concentrate on the flow of the colours and reminisce with me 6 00:00:32,920 --> 00:00:37,280 about Warhammer Armies Dark Elves. 7 00:00:39,000 --> 00:00:43,120 I'm looking at the cover of this book, one of the truly iconic 8 00:00:43,120 --> 00:00:47,600 Warhammer covers, one which wouldn't probably be published 9 00:00:47,600 --> 00:00:52,800 today, but in itself is one of the covers that everyone 10 00:00:52,800 --> 00:00:56,600 remembers. The 4th edition book Warhammer 11 00:00:56,600 --> 00:01:02,480 Army's Dark Elves, published in 1996 and written by none other 12 00:01:02,480 --> 00:01:06,480 than Jervis Johnson. The cover art is by David 13 00:01:06,480 --> 00:01:10,120 Gallagher and the stories are by Jonathan Green. 14 00:01:11,160 --> 00:01:16,160 This cover features 3 Dark Elves in varying states of undress. 15 00:01:16,960 --> 00:01:21,600 The first one at the back is riding a cold one with a face 16 00:01:21,600 --> 00:01:23,800 taken straight from Jurassic Park. 17 00:01:24,720 --> 00:01:29,400 His armour is from head to toe and he carries a massive sword 18 00:01:29,520 --> 00:01:33,040 and a banner on his back. The second one is obviously a 19 00:01:33,040 --> 00:01:35,800 sorceress, she's gone a bit risky. 20 00:01:36,200 --> 00:01:41,800 Big boots, big hair, big cloak. And the third one is practically 21 00:01:41,800 --> 00:01:47,600 naked right at the front with two red blood covered blades and 22 00:01:47,600 --> 00:01:51,440 the hat of Cain the witch King. Hoof. 23 00:01:52,440 --> 00:01:55,000 Yep, I've literally wearing the T-shirt with this on. 24 00:01:55,160 --> 00:01:59,600 One of those iconic images. Now the Dark Elves were a great 25 00:01:59,600 --> 00:02:02,920 race to have in Warhammer. The Dark Elves were a race that 26 00:02:02,920 --> 00:02:08,160 everyone liked, but they were very difficult for a limited 27 00:02:08,160 --> 00:02:11,720 painter like myself. Now as you know, I tend to go 28 00:02:11,720 --> 00:02:15,000 for the Orcs and Goblins, the Beastmen, even the Dwarves 29 00:02:15,000 --> 00:02:17,680 because you can cover a lot of sins with a beard. 30 00:02:18,160 --> 00:02:21,440 But when it came to Dark Elves, they were intricate. 31 00:02:21,760 --> 00:02:25,880 The models were very special indeed and they were very 32 00:02:25,880 --> 00:02:29,640 difficult to make look good with limited painting skills. 33 00:02:29,760 --> 00:02:34,120 So they're an army I've never actually collected or painted, 34 00:02:34,760 --> 00:02:38,480 but that doesn't mean that they don't hold a place in my heart. 35 00:02:38,640 --> 00:02:42,880 That doesn't mean that I used to love playing against them, and 36 00:02:42,880 --> 00:02:46,560 they were one of the finest armies you would ever see on the 37 00:02:46,560 --> 00:02:49,560 table top and always tough to beat. 38 00:02:50,160 --> 00:02:54,280 I think, as with the other books we've looked at, by the time 39 00:02:54,280 --> 00:02:58,240 this 4th edition came around, Games Workshop and Warhammer 40 00:02:58,360 --> 00:03:02,760 were particularly trying and finding their feet when it came 41 00:03:02,760 --> 00:03:07,120 to the background, when it came to the world, when it came to 42 00:03:07,120 --> 00:03:11,760 creating a picture in our head of where our toy soldiers were 43 00:03:11,760 --> 00:03:16,840 fighting and why. And this book, like the others, 44 00:03:17,440 --> 00:03:21,520 does a stellar job of that. I'll wake my way through it. 45 00:03:21,800 --> 00:03:25,680 We turn from the cover and we look inside and we see some a 46 00:03:25,680 --> 00:03:28,960 very evocative images. If you have the book in front of 47 00:03:28,960 --> 00:03:32,960 you, why not look along with me, Read along with me. 48 00:03:33,520 --> 00:03:36,840 I am coming to this blind. I have not looked at this book 49 00:03:36,960 --> 00:03:42,640 for probably almost 30 years, but here it is in my hand. 50 00:03:43,960 --> 00:03:48,600 The first page shows photographs of the model range. 51 00:03:50,000 --> 00:03:54,400 Some amazing scenery. A mighty dark elf horde prepares 52 00:03:54,400 --> 00:03:58,400 for war is the first one with some ranked up units on a hill, 53 00:03:58,480 --> 00:04:02,360 harpies in the background, an old temple and some great 54 00:04:02,360 --> 00:04:06,800 looking monolithic scenery. The second one, a Dark Elf army 55 00:04:06,800 --> 00:04:11,240 mounts a ferocious attack against their arch enemies, the 56 00:04:11,240 --> 00:04:16,200 High Elves, and in this you can clearly see the juxtaposition of 57 00:04:16,200 --> 00:04:21,440 the white gleaming armour of the white gleaming High Elves and 58 00:04:21,440 --> 00:04:25,280 then the dark armour of the Dark Elves opposite them. 59 00:04:25,600 --> 00:04:28,400 But you have the white hair of the Witch Elves as well. 60 00:04:29,080 --> 00:04:34,560 Two polar opposites of the same coin, the High Elves and the 61 00:04:34,560 --> 00:04:39,720 Dark Elves. Even though this this model 62 00:04:39,720 --> 00:04:46,120 range is 30 years old, the figures stand and hold up really 63 00:04:46,120 --> 00:04:51,120 well, The background is deep and varied, and the armies look 64 00:04:51,120 --> 00:04:54,320 absolutely stunning. We move on. 65 00:04:55,000 --> 00:04:58,320 There's a contents page a bit shorter than the other books I 66 00:04:58,320 --> 00:05:00,960 find this one which went up into the 100 pages. 67 00:05:01,080 --> 00:05:05,600 This one is 84 pages, so a little bit shorter, but still 68 00:05:05,600 --> 00:05:09,480 full of incredible art. On the next page we have what 69 00:05:09,480 --> 00:05:11,520 looks like a John Blanche illustration. 70 00:05:12,440 --> 00:05:16,640 Dark elves, Colwyn riders steaming out of a skull shaped 71 00:05:16,640 --> 00:05:19,480 Fort, the air thick with harpies. 72 00:05:20,320 --> 00:05:23,280 Wow. Dark earth warriors in the back 73 00:05:23,600 --> 00:05:26,640 and banners absolutely everywhere. 74 00:05:27,640 --> 00:05:30,720 And then we head to the introduction with text. 75 00:05:30,720 --> 00:05:36,080 So good text, so full of life that I will read it for you 76 00:05:36,720 --> 00:05:42,120 right here. Over 5000 years ago, a great 77 00:05:42,120 --> 00:05:45,600 civil war erupted in the elven lands of Ulthorn. 78 00:05:46,480 --> 00:05:50,160 For decades, the two sides battled against each other, 79 00:05:50,320 --> 00:05:55,280 unleashing a period of anarchy, terror, death and bloodshed on 80 00:05:55,280 --> 00:06:00,280 the Kingdom of the High Elves. The war began when Malekith, the 81 00:06:00,280 --> 00:06:05,760 future which king of Nagarov, attempted to seize the power in 82 00:06:05,760 --> 00:06:10,120 a bloody coup. Malekith and his black hearted 83 00:06:10,120 --> 00:06:15,760 followers forsook the way of the old elven gods and sought out 84 00:06:15,760 --> 00:06:18,520 the forbidden power of dark sorcery. 85 00:06:18,880 --> 00:06:23,160 When their kin attempted to stop Malekith, their elven kingdoms 86 00:06:23,160 --> 00:06:26,600 were plunged into a long and bloody war. 87 00:06:27,360 --> 00:06:31,320 Ultimately the dark elves, as those Renegades were named, were 88 00:06:31,320 --> 00:06:35,920 driven out and banished. They settled in Nagarov in 89 00:06:35,920 --> 00:06:40,720 bitter and resentful exile. Here they established their own 90 00:06:40,720 --> 00:06:44,680 Kingdom amongst the dark mountains and pine forests of 91 00:06:44,680 --> 00:06:51,080 the aptly named Land of Chill. The largest and the oldest of 92 00:06:51,080 --> 00:06:55,160 these cities is Nagarond, with the ancient and undying Witch 93 00:06:55,160 --> 00:06:59,840 King holds court and continues to mastermind the Dark Elves, 94 00:06:59,840 --> 00:07:03,160 never ending war against the High Elves. 95 00:07:03,960 --> 00:07:07,640 Over the millennia, the Dark Elves have been twisted and 96 00:07:07,640 --> 00:07:11,840 corrupted until they have become complete opposites of the noble, 97 00:07:11,840 --> 00:07:16,280 altruistic High Elves. They are a cruel and wicked 98 00:07:16,280 --> 00:07:21,440 race, revelling in the pain and despair of others, completely 99 00:07:21,440 --> 00:07:27,120 untrustworthy, and capable of carrying out the most wanton 100 00:07:27,160 --> 00:07:32,080 acts of depravity and murder. Of all the races in the 101 00:07:32,080 --> 00:07:35,680 Warhammer world, the Dark Elves appear to be the most purely 102 00:07:35,680 --> 00:07:39,200 evil, for they will take pleasure in performing a 103 00:07:39,200 --> 00:07:43,520 malicious act for no other reason than it causes suffering 104 00:07:43,520 --> 00:07:46,240 to others. Like a child that pulls the 105 00:07:46,240 --> 00:07:51,840 wings off a family, a Dark Elf will slowly torture a prisoner 106 00:07:51,840 --> 00:07:56,440 to death simply to see how much pain they inflict before the 107 00:07:56,440 --> 00:08:00,040 victim dies. Not even the followers of the 108 00:08:00,040 --> 00:08:04,280 vile Chaos Gods are so depraved, for while they are perfectly 109 00:08:04,280 --> 00:08:09,120 capable of performing acts of quite unspeakable horror, they 110 00:08:09,120 --> 00:08:12,840 at least do so in the name of their gods and to spread their 111 00:08:12,840 --> 00:08:17,840 unholy religion. The Dark Elves neither have nor 112 00:08:17,840 --> 00:08:23,000 seem to feel the need for such reasons or excuses. 113 00:08:24,080 --> 00:08:28,400 Like all Dark Elves. Like all Elves, sorry, Dark 114 00:08:28,400 --> 00:08:32,360 Elves are lithe and sinuous. Their muscles are strong and 115 00:08:32,360 --> 00:08:35,919 their reactions every bit as quick as their agile minds. 116 00:08:36,360 --> 00:08:40,840 Despite their deathly pallor and cruel faces, they are savagely 117 00:08:40,840 --> 00:08:43,159 beautiful and highly intelligent. 118 00:08:43,640 --> 00:08:47,320 As suits their name, the Dark Elves almost invariably wear 119 00:08:47,320 --> 00:08:52,000 dark and sinister attire. Their helmets and other war gear 120 00:08:52,160 --> 00:08:56,040 are exquisitely well made and highly decorated with 121 00:08:56,040 --> 00:08:59,960 distinctive patterns in black and gold and silver. 122 00:09:00,680 --> 00:09:04,640 All are extremely dangerous fighters, equally adept with 123 00:09:04,640 --> 00:09:09,000 sword, spear or their famous repeater crossbow. 124 00:09:09,680 --> 00:09:13,400 At times of war, almost the entire Dark Elf population can 125 00:09:13,400 --> 00:09:17,120 be called to arms, which means that the Dark Elves are capable 126 00:09:17,120 --> 00:09:21,520 of fielding huge armies, even though the total number of Dark 127 00:09:21,520 --> 00:09:25,800 Elves is very small compared to the other races that inhabit the 128 00:09:25,800 --> 00:09:30,520 Warhammer world. In battle, the Dark Elves prefer 129 00:09:30,520 --> 00:09:34,520 to use guile and cunning to defeat their enemy rather than 130 00:09:34,520 --> 00:09:38,240 pure brute force. Dark Elf armies have large 131 00:09:38,240 --> 00:09:42,840 numbers of the infamous Dark Elf Scouts and Dark Rider cavalry. 132 00:09:43,680 --> 00:09:47,560 These troops range ahead of the main army, spreading fear and 133 00:09:47,560 --> 00:09:53,040 confusion and reporting back with detailed information on the 134 00:09:53,040 --> 00:09:56,960 enemy's deployment. If at all possible, the Dark 135 00:09:56,960 --> 00:10:01,880 Elves will use this information to draw the enemy into a trap or 136 00:10:01,880 --> 00:10:05,200 ambush. Even when forced to fight a 137 00:10:05,200 --> 00:10:08,680 pitch battle, a Dark Elf army will not normally charge the 138 00:10:08,680 --> 00:10:12,080 enemy head on. Instead, the Dark Elves will use 139 00:10:12,080 --> 00:10:15,600 their Repeater Crossbow and Repeater both throwers to wear 140 00:10:15,600 --> 00:10:18,720 down the enemy and goad them into a rash attack. 141 00:10:19,680 --> 00:10:24,240 As the enemy move forward, Dark Rider cavalry will mount hit and 142 00:10:24,240 --> 00:10:27,840 run attacks on their flanks while Dark Elf scouts will 143 00:10:27,840 --> 00:10:32,600 emerge from hiding to unleash flurries of well aimed crossbow 144 00:10:32,600 --> 00:10:35,240 boats before they can be attacked back. 145 00:10:36,080 --> 00:10:39,040 Only when the enemy's advance turns to falter under the 146 00:10:39,040 --> 00:10:44,000 relentless hail of missiles and surprise attacks will the Dark 147 00:10:44,000 --> 00:10:48,880 Elves unleash their cold One Nights and War Hydras to finish 148 00:10:48,880 --> 00:10:52,960 the enemy off. Although the majority of Dark 149 00:10:52,960 --> 00:10:56,680 Elves are warriors by nature and inclination, this is not true 150 00:10:56,680 --> 00:10:59,480 for all of them. The Dark Elves are a race 151 00:10:59,480 --> 00:11:03,680 touched by magic power, and Dark Elf's sorcerers have become the 152 00:11:03,720 --> 00:11:06,520 ultimate masters of Dark Elf's sorcery. 153 00:11:07,000 --> 00:11:12,800 The High Elven mage, they knew of the dark power of magic, but 154 00:11:12,800 --> 00:11:16,080 for long ages they turned their back on its possibilities, 155 00:11:16,240 --> 00:11:19,360 considering it too dangerous to use. 156 00:11:20,120 --> 00:11:24,440 It was Malekith who long ago started experimenting with the 157 00:11:24,440 --> 00:11:28,480 power of dark magic. Many say that in doing so, he 158 00:11:28,480 --> 00:11:32,720 was touched by the very power of Chaos, and it was this that 159 00:11:32,720 --> 00:11:38,240 corrupted his once noble spirit. Be this as it may, Malekith's 160 00:11:38,240 --> 00:11:42,680 experiments revealed a new form of magical energy, of terrifying 161 00:11:42,680 --> 00:11:45,360 power. Once he had mastered its deadly 162 00:11:45,360 --> 00:11:49,880 secrets for himself, Malekith began to teach a small but 163 00:11:49,880 --> 00:11:53,200 growing band of followers how to use dark magic. 164 00:11:54,080 --> 00:11:59,720 Thus were born the Dark Elf sorcerers, and in time, the 165 00:11:59,720 --> 00:12:07,760 entire Dark Elf race. Now that was a mouthful, but 166 00:12:07,760 --> 00:12:12,160 also what a brilliant introduction for a race that you 167 00:12:12,160 --> 00:12:15,320 may be thinking of painting or collecting or putting on the 168 00:12:15,320 --> 00:12:19,320 table top you have given them. The reason why they were born 169 00:12:19,520 --> 00:12:23,480 there is the small part of a story which would run through 170 00:12:23,480 --> 00:12:27,920 all the editions of Warhammer, very much up until the end 171 00:12:27,920 --> 00:12:32,160 times, where Malekith at last seemed to take his crown. 172 00:12:33,480 --> 00:12:37,480 As I said, I loved the Dark Elves, but I found it very 173 00:12:37,480 --> 00:12:40,840 difficult for a limited painter like myself to collect them. 174 00:12:42,000 --> 00:12:45,560 But even now, just reading that, I'm quite inspired. 175 00:12:46,200 --> 00:12:51,160 And on my painting desk, if I can reach across here, is one of 176 00:12:51,160 --> 00:12:54,320 those old miniatures of a dark elf sorceress. 177 00:12:55,600 --> 00:12:59,120 I'll put her there on my painting desk in the hope that 178 00:12:59,120 --> 00:13:02,280 I'll paint her. And maybe what I'll do is I'll 179 00:13:02,280 --> 00:13:08,160 print or put a photograph on the discord so you can see how I get 180 00:13:08,160 --> 00:13:11,160 on. Can I even wear such a good 181 00:13:11,160 --> 00:13:13,480 figure? But maybe I can even make it 182 00:13:13,480 --> 00:13:15,320 look bad. Let's have a look. 183 00:13:15,480 --> 00:13:18,320 I would love the Dark Elf army. I really would. 184 00:13:19,280 --> 00:13:22,440 Anyway, we move on. The history of the Dark elves, 185 00:13:22,880 --> 00:13:25,600 Page 7, the birth of the Dark Elves. 186 00:13:26,120 --> 00:13:28,920 There's lots of information there about how they came to 187 00:13:28,920 --> 00:13:31,760 being. With some lovely pencil art of 188 00:13:31,760 --> 00:13:35,080 some dark elf warriors with huge axes and swords. 189 00:13:35,560 --> 00:13:39,480 We have a piece here on the Bloody Handed God, the Blighted 190 00:13:39,480 --> 00:13:44,640 Isle and the Sword of Cain, the Black Arcs of Nagarov. 191 00:13:45,040 --> 00:13:49,720 Remember, this was around the time of of men at war and man O 192 00:13:49,720 --> 00:13:52,280 war. Sorry, men at wars like Men At 193 00:13:52,280 --> 00:13:56,800 Work, men of man O war, which was when that great game came 194 00:13:56,800 --> 00:13:58,280 out. And some of the best figures of 195 00:13:58,280 --> 00:14:02,120 that were from the Dark Elf Range, including the Black Arcs, 196 00:14:02,840 --> 00:14:09,360 the Underworld Sea, the Boiling Sea, Nagarov, the Land of Chill. 197 00:14:10,480 --> 00:14:12,200 Let's see what they have to say about that. 198 00:14:13,320 --> 00:14:17,800 The Dark Elves were driven from the elven land of Uthron many 199 00:14:17,800 --> 00:14:21,800 centuries ago and now live in the northern regions of the New 200 00:14:21,800 --> 00:14:24,680 World. Their black and unwelcoming 201 00:14:24,680 --> 00:14:30,360 homeland is known as Nagaroth, which translates as the Land of 202 00:14:30,360 --> 00:14:33,320 Chill. The name is an appropriate one 203 00:14:33,840 --> 00:14:38,840 for most of Nagaroth is a harsh wilderness of frozen tundra. 204 00:14:39,800 --> 00:14:43,840 The Nark elves live in six heavily fortified cities, their 205 00:14:43,840 --> 00:14:48,360 innumerable black towers rising like pinnacles of ice from the 206 00:14:48,360 --> 00:14:54,200 cold, Hard Rock of Nagaroth. All these cities are dark and 207 00:14:54,200 --> 00:14:57,760 evil places, steeped in death and agony. 208 00:14:58,360 --> 00:15:02,240 Their black dungeons are crammed with captives whose wailings 209 00:15:02,240 --> 00:15:05,960 fill the air and whose moans seep through the thick walls of 210 00:15:05,960 --> 00:15:11,360 the high towers, saturating the place with pain and despair. 211 00:15:12,560 --> 00:15:16,120 All the tips of these towers soaked with evil and doom. 212 00:15:17,200 --> 00:15:21,960 The sorcerers of Nagaroth cast them a line magic all over the 213 00:15:21,960 --> 00:15:25,360 world. The surrounding landscape is 214 00:15:25,360 --> 00:15:28,720 bleak and forbidding. To the north, the land is flat 215 00:15:28,720 --> 00:15:33,440 and windswept, only broken by outcrops of poor rock and poison 216 00:15:33,440 --> 00:15:37,040 black water streams that Criss cross the landscape. 217 00:15:38,080 --> 00:15:41,960 Further South, the thin soil becomes slightly more fertile 218 00:15:42,120 --> 00:15:45,720 and the temperature rises high enough to support dark, 219 00:15:45,800 --> 00:15:51,000 forbidding pine forests as well as huge plantations where slave 220 00:15:51,000 --> 00:15:55,000 workers are forced to work until they drop dead in their tracks 221 00:15:55,160 --> 00:15:59,640 in order to provide the food for the Dark Elf cities. 222 00:16:01,080 --> 00:16:04,520 Sounds nice, doesn't it? It's a bit like Port Talbot. 223 00:16:05,240 --> 00:16:10,080 I can say that I'm from there. Moving on, we have more 224 00:16:10,200 --> 00:16:12,640 descriptions of the dark elf cities. 225 00:16:13,200 --> 00:16:19,080 Nagaron, the tower of cold, Karondkar, the Tower of despair, 226 00:16:20,080 --> 00:16:25,200 Grand, the north tower, Ha Grief, the dark crag. 227 00:16:25,920 --> 00:16:27,840 That sounds good, Should we have a look at that? 228 00:16:28,720 --> 00:16:33,000 Ha Grief is named after the Dark Crag and all the cities of the 229 00:16:33,000 --> 00:16:36,880 Dark Elves. This one is feared the most, for 230 00:16:36,880 --> 00:16:41,320 no captive man or elf has ever escaped from this place. 231 00:16:41,960 --> 00:16:46,720 It lies at the bottom of a cold, dark valley and is completely 232 00:16:46,720 --> 00:16:52,440 surrounded by mountains of bare Black Rock higher than the 233 00:16:52,440 --> 00:16:56,400 highest walls. No sunlight reaches the city of 234 00:16:56,400 --> 00:17:02,840 Hagrave, and it is surrounded and shrouded in gloom and 235 00:17:02,840 --> 00:17:06,280 shadow. All about the city lie many 236 00:17:06,280 --> 00:17:10,200 mines and quarries, from where the Witch King takes iron and 237 00:17:10,200 --> 00:17:14,000 stone to arm his warriors and build his fortresses. 238 00:17:14,400 --> 00:17:17,359 Thousands of slaves labour in his service. 239 00:17:17,560 --> 00:17:22,319 Chained together, they scrape and hack at the rock, often deep 240 00:17:22,319 --> 00:17:26,800 underground in narrow tunnels and dark in the Witch King's 241 00:17:26,800 --> 00:17:32,480 land. Sounds really, really grim, 242 00:17:32,520 --> 00:17:38,240 doesn't it? Anyway, we move on Ka Karond, 243 00:17:38,240 --> 00:17:43,160 the Tower of Doom. In Ka Karond, untold slaves 244 00:17:43,320 --> 00:17:47,240 labour upon the fleets for the Witch King, for here are his 245 00:17:47,240 --> 00:17:50,920 principal dockyards where the raiding ships are built that 246 00:17:50,920 --> 00:17:53,840 Harry the lands of Uthwan and beyond. 247 00:17:54,360 --> 00:17:58,120 The city is vast and sprawling, and all around is surrounded by 248 00:17:58,120 --> 00:18:03,040 forests of towering Pines, black trees of harbour, few creatures 249 00:18:03,200 --> 00:18:07,160 and cloak the ground beneath so that all is in darkness. 250 00:18:07,400 --> 00:18:12,840 In this, the Forest of Shadows, chained slave gangs work the 251 00:18:12,840 --> 00:18:16,440 forests, cutting and dragging the massive Timbers into the 252 00:18:16,440 --> 00:18:22,440 city of Khakarond, the Tower of Doom, as it is called by men. 253 00:18:23,520 --> 00:18:26,360 I don't think there's anywhere nice in Nagaroth, is there? 254 00:18:27,040 --> 00:18:33,720 Dark, horrible pits and mines and towers and forests full of 255 00:18:33,720 --> 00:18:38,720 shadow and doom. But this is the timeline, and 256 00:18:38,720 --> 00:18:41,960 this is the land which the Dark Elves find themselves. 257 00:18:43,320 --> 00:18:47,360 And this, by giving us the names of these places and what happens 258 00:18:47,360 --> 00:18:52,080 in there, it makes us excited about creating a really 259 00:18:52,080 --> 00:18:55,640 evocative and powerful background for our armies. 260 00:18:57,160 --> 00:19:00,840 No matter how hard they try these days, they never seem to 261 00:19:00,840 --> 00:19:03,560 reach the high levels of these early books. 262 00:19:04,600 --> 00:19:12,080 The Dark Elf timeline comes next starts off at -4461 an Aryan, 263 00:19:12,520 --> 00:19:16,040 the first of the High Elf Phoenix Kings, rescues the witch 264 00:19:16,040 --> 00:19:18,840 Marathi from a slanishy war band. 265 00:19:19,360 --> 00:19:22,920 So there we are some famous characters that go all through 266 00:19:22,920 --> 00:19:28,800 the books of First of all mentioned, I'll go to -2200 The 267 00:19:28,800 --> 00:19:30,760 High Elves take the Blighted Isle. 268 00:19:31,000 --> 00:19:34,280 Kalador does not draw the Sword of Cain, even though it would 269 00:19:34,280 --> 00:19:36,280 give him the power to defeat the Witch King. 270 00:19:37,200 --> 00:19:41,720 On his way home, a great Tempest separates his flagship in Dwar 271 00:19:41,840 --> 00:19:44,600 from the rest of the fleet. Sails torn. 272 00:19:44,720 --> 00:19:47,440 Driven to the very coast of Nagaroth, the ship is 273 00:19:47,480 --> 00:19:52,320 overwhelmed by Dark Elf rivers. Khalidor throws himself into the 274 00:19:52,320 --> 00:19:56,840 sea rather than be captured. It's like some great 275 00:19:56,840 --> 00:19:59,840 Shakespearean tragedy, isn't it? It moves on. 276 00:20:00,000 --> 00:20:06,560 Let's go to a more recent age with the 11125. 277 00:20:07,200 --> 00:20:10,400 The Dark Elves follow up their success and invade the Shadow 278 00:20:10,400 --> 00:20:15,000 Lands in a series of battles. The High Elves are driven back 279 00:20:15,120 --> 00:20:19,200 until all that remains in the Shadow Lands are scattered bands 280 00:20:19,200 --> 00:20:23,160 of shadow warriors fighting a desperate guerrilla war from 281 00:20:23,160 --> 00:20:31,960 hidden camps in the mountains. The year 1783 Dark Elf scouts 282 00:20:31,960 --> 00:20:35,200 discover a way through the underworld which leads to the 283 00:20:35,200 --> 00:20:38,920 High Elf colony of Arnhelm in the New World. 284 00:20:39,680 --> 00:20:42,440 Until now, the High Elf colonists have been shielded 285 00:20:42,440 --> 00:20:45,960 from the Dark Elves by the Black Spine Mountains to the West and 286 00:20:45,960 --> 00:20:48,360 the Impossible Doom Glades in the north. 287 00:20:49,160 --> 00:20:53,000 Caught completely unprepared, many outlying High Elf 288 00:20:53,000 --> 00:20:56,720 farmsteads are destroyed before a proper defence can be 289 00:20:56,720 --> 00:21:00,800 organized and the Dark Elved Scout raiding parties driven 290 00:21:00,800 --> 00:21:03,200 back into their mountain strongholds. 291 00:21:04,040 --> 00:21:06,680 Wow. Let's go to the most recent 292 00:21:06,680 --> 00:21:17,360 entry, 2420 Three 2423 Elfarion, son of Moranion leads a highly 293 00:21:17,360 --> 00:21:20,320 successful raid against Nagarond itself. 294 00:21:20,760 --> 00:21:24,520 It is the first time High Elves have entered Nagarond and 295 00:21:24,520 --> 00:21:29,600 returned alive. The Witch King broods and plots 296 00:21:29,840 --> 00:21:36,000 his vengeance. Bless him, good stuff again. 297 00:21:36,400 --> 00:21:39,640 Then moves on and there comes a short story which is a couple of 298 00:21:39,640 --> 00:21:43,720 pages long before we start to look in detail at the various 299 00:21:43,720 --> 00:21:45,640 things we find in the Dark Elf army. 300 00:21:45,840 --> 00:21:48,800 There on page 15, Dark Elf War machines. 301 00:21:49,000 --> 00:21:53,280 The repeater, both thrower and what a stunning piece this was. 302 00:21:53,640 --> 00:21:59,160 It looked so dangerous and sharp and deadly and often was. 303 00:21:59,360 --> 00:22:02,360 I can always remember taking off buckets full of figures when 304 00:22:02,360 --> 00:22:04,800 these shots just waved through the air. 305 00:22:04,800 --> 00:22:08,960 Multiple shots taking away figure after figure after 306 00:22:08,960 --> 00:22:10,520 figure. It does volleys. 307 00:22:11,320 --> 00:22:13,880 Single shot. There's a range of 48 inches. 308 00:22:14,080 --> 00:22:18,760 Strength 5 -, 1 per rank, whereas multiple shot strength 4 309 00:22:18,760 --> 00:22:22,840 -, 1 per rank. But still, you know, deadly, 310 00:22:22,840 --> 00:22:26,240 absolutely deadly. And then straight in comes the 311 00:22:26,240 --> 00:22:30,360 witchelf cauldron of blood. Can you remember that being 312 00:22:30,360 --> 00:22:34,920 wheeled around on the table top? It always looked a bit full to 313 00:22:34,920 --> 00:22:36,960 me, as if it would spill at any moment. 314 00:22:37,440 --> 00:22:38,600 Maybe they should have just filled it. 315 00:22:38,600 --> 00:22:42,640 Half would have been better. There's lots of rules with that. 316 00:22:43,400 --> 00:22:48,080 And then we go on to talk about Urean Poison blade as a colour 317 00:22:48,080 --> 00:22:51,520 photograph. He must be important, carries a 318 00:22:51,520 --> 00:22:56,280 huge sword and a spear and his shield has got like a red demon 319 00:22:56,280 --> 00:22:59,240 on it holding up the high elf moon. 320 00:23:00,280 --> 00:23:03,480 Nasty looking chap. Let's have a read about him. 321 00:23:05,120 --> 00:23:10,440 Urean Poisonblade was one of the most infamous of all Dark Elf 322 00:23:10,440 --> 00:23:13,120 warriors. He was the Witch King's personal 323 00:23:13,120 --> 00:23:16,920 champion, a mighty fighter of awesome ability, skill and 324 00:23:16,920 --> 00:23:19,320 cunning. It was rumoured that he had been 325 00:23:19,320 --> 00:23:23,840 bred by battle, bred for battle, sorry by the Witch King himself, 326 00:23:24,000 --> 00:23:27,080 to be the destroyer and relentless Slayer of his 327 00:23:27,080 --> 00:23:30,320 enemies. Yurian's cruelty was as 328 00:23:30,320 --> 00:23:34,240 legendary as his skill. His foes said that he had the 329 00:23:34,240 --> 00:23:38,000 heart of a demon, and that if you were captured by him, it was 330 00:23:38,000 --> 00:23:39,960 better to swallow your own tongue. 331 00:23:40,680 --> 00:23:44,440 That's difficult to do and choke to death, then survive and face 332 00:23:44,440 --> 00:23:47,840 the horrors the following hours or days would bring. 333 00:23:48,760 --> 00:23:52,360 When Urean learnt of this, he made sure that in future his 334 00:23:52,360 --> 00:23:55,240 prisoners had no tongue to choke on. 335 00:23:57,120 --> 00:23:59,960 In battle, he was all but unstoppable. 336 00:23:59,960 --> 00:24:02,560 He had been taught by the greatest masters of the fighting 337 00:24:02,560 --> 00:24:06,120 arts in Nagarov. He let his teachers know that he 338 00:24:06,120 --> 00:24:09,120 would slay them once he had learnt all they could from them, 339 00:24:09,600 --> 00:24:11,320 unless they could teach him first. 340 00:24:11,680 --> 00:24:15,320 This they did, slaying each of his teachers in turn. 341 00:24:15,440 --> 00:24:18,240 He outgrew them in skill and ability. 342 00:24:18,720 --> 00:24:21,720 The technique he learnt made him the most deadlier fighters. 343 00:24:22,200 --> 00:24:25,960 It was said that he knew more than 10,000 ways to kill an 344 00:24:25,960 --> 00:24:30,480 opponent and 10,000 more ways to cripple them and leave them at 345 00:24:30,480 --> 00:24:33,720 his mercy. Yeah, I bet 9000 of those were 346 00:24:33,720 --> 00:24:36,920 headlocks. He could kill a bull with one 347 00:24:36,920 --> 00:24:41,240 blow of his bare hands and deflect an arrow in flight with 348 00:24:41,240 --> 00:24:45,000 a sweep of his blade. He was death Incarnate. 349 00:24:46,000 --> 00:24:48,760 With such ability went pride and vanity. 350 00:24:49,320 --> 00:24:52,440 Urien was here to boast that he could slay Cain himself in 351 00:24:52,440 --> 00:24:55,840 single combat. It may be that the blooded 352 00:24:55,840 --> 00:25:00,760 handed God heared this and decided to pay Urien back, which 353 00:25:00,760 --> 00:25:04,720 case his hubris cost him dear, for it was Urian's fate to meet 354 00:25:04,720 --> 00:25:07,720 the one warrior who was greater than himself. 355 00:25:09,040 --> 00:25:12,720 It was at the Battle of the Finvel Plain that Urian met his 356 00:25:12,720 --> 00:25:15,200 nemesis. The Witch King's forces were 357 00:25:15,200 --> 00:25:19,600 poised, expectant a final victory over the hated High Elf 358 00:25:19,600 --> 00:25:23,080 enemies. Urian, as proud and as arrogant 359 00:25:23,080 --> 00:25:26,920 as ever, strode forward and called out a challenge to single 360 00:25:26,920 --> 00:25:30,200 combat. Was there anyone in the High Elf 361 00:25:30,200 --> 00:25:35,480 army who dared fight him? First R Hallion of Ivress and 362 00:25:35,480 --> 00:25:38,720 then Corhane, Iron Glave, captain of the White Lions, 363 00:25:38,720 --> 00:25:42,960 accepted the challenge. Erian cut them down as if they 364 00:25:42,960 --> 00:25:47,480 were children, but then Tyrion stepped forth. 365 00:25:48,600 --> 00:25:51,200 The struggle between these two masters of the warriors craft, 366 00:25:51,360 --> 00:25:55,480 so alike in skill and yet so deeply different in character, 367 00:25:55,600 --> 00:26:00,280 was awesome to behold. For fully an hour the two mighty 368 00:26:00,280 --> 00:26:04,920 heroes fought in grim silence, first one gaining the advantage, 369 00:26:04,920 --> 00:26:09,480 then the other, but neither able to land the final telling blow 370 00:26:09,600 --> 00:26:11,960 before their opponent even the odds. 371 00:26:12,920 --> 00:26:17,760 Then Tyrion slipped and fell heavily to the ground. 372 00:26:18,240 --> 00:26:22,640 Eurion leapt forward, his blade held high, but before he could 373 00:26:22,640 --> 00:26:26,440 land the death blow, Tyrion struck. 374 00:26:27,200 --> 00:26:31,760 A quick thrust of his blade found Irian's heart, and the 375 00:26:31,760 --> 00:26:36,320 fight was over, its end so sudden and abrupt that watchers 376 00:26:36,320 --> 00:26:38,680 could hardly believe that it was finished. 377 00:26:39,840 --> 00:26:46,360 Irian slid slowly to the ground. The simplest of tricks. 378 00:26:46,880 --> 00:26:53,040 He gasped a Tyrion as he fell. You killed me with the simplest 379 00:26:53,560 --> 00:26:57,400 of tricks. And with that, he died, 380 00:26:58,040 --> 00:27:03,920 receiving no answer from Tyrion other than a cold, pitiless 381 00:27:04,240 --> 00:27:11,320 stare. Following that tale, we have 382 00:27:11,320 --> 00:27:14,240 some heavy metal pictures of some of the Dark Elf figure 383 00:27:14,240 --> 00:27:17,600 range. Brilliant figures even to today. 384 00:27:17,880 --> 00:27:21,200 You could feel these warriors even in a modern game of Age of 385 00:27:21,200 --> 00:27:24,800 Sigma, Warhammer, the Old World, etcetera, and they would still 386 00:27:24,960 --> 00:27:28,760 look fantastic. We have a Black blackguard 387 00:27:28,760 --> 00:27:33,840 halberdier, black arc Corsair, another black arc halberdier, a 388 00:27:33,840 --> 00:27:37,480 dark elf champion, a dark elf sorceress who looks very much 389 00:27:37,480 --> 00:27:41,080 like the one on the cover of the book, a dark elf Spearman, the 390 00:27:41,080 --> 00:27:44,320 standard bearer. And then a page with the dark 391 00:27:44,320 --> 00:27:48,480 elf corsairs, all ranked up with a fine looking banner with two 392 00:27:48,480 --> 00:27:51,920 dragon headed beasts. Then the harpy regiment. 393 00:27:52,240 --> 00:27:57,040 I used to love these harpies. Yeah, huge feet and hands, but 394 00:27:57,040 --> 00:27:59,520 great. And then a warrior regiment of 395 00:27:59,520 --> 00:28:02,760 the plastic dark elves. We have a unit of dark elf 396 00:28:02,760 --> 00:28:05,560 crossbow men. Then the black guard of Nagarov, 397 00:28:06,040 --> 00:28:10,920 those huge axes, a city yard regiment crossbow men mixed with 398 00:28:10,920 --> 00:28:12,720 Spears. You could do that if you 399 00:28:12,720 --> 00:28:15,920 remember a dark elf repeater crossbow men. 400 00:28:16,840 --> 00:28:21,920 Again, deadly deadly weapons. I love the small crossbow with 401 00:28:21,920 --> 00:28:25,640 the ammo box on it as well. Fantastic stuff. 402 00:28:26,640 --> 00:28:29,880 Then we have the cold one nights now in this book. 403 00:28:29,880 --> 00:28:34,560 Now I remember the big chunky cold ones, but these had taken a 404 00:28:34,560 --> 00:28:37,680 bit of more of a Jurassic Park turn and they were small Raptor 405 00:28:37,680 --> 00:28:40,640 like crease creatures which they were riding at this point. 406 00:28:40,880 --> 00:28:44,760 I know the cold ones have taken a few turns over the years, but 407 00:28:44,760 --> 00:28:49,360 yeah, nice nasty looking beasts. And then the Dark Rider figures, 408 00:28:49,560 --> 00:28:53,960 absolutely gorgeous figures. A lot of people used to use 409 00:28:53,960 --> 00:28:55,720 these as well. They were a good effective 410 00:28:55,720 --> 00:28:58,840 force, the Dark Riders, because they could run, they could flee. 411 00:28:59,000 --> 00:29:01,280 They were a scouting cavalry that could do that. 412 00:29:02,200 --> 00:29:06,320 Then the witch shelves. Again, this range has changed 413 00:29:06,320 --> 00:29:09,720 many times over the years, but I think this one was my favorite. 414 00:29:09,880 --> 00:29:13,920 The big thick swords, the rock'n'roll, Tina Turner hair, 415 00:29:14,120 --> 00:29:16,920 all that. They look great, absolutely 416 00:29:16,920 --> 00:29:20,360 fantastic, although they were really difficult I think to rank 417 00:29:20,360 --> 00:29:25,000 up in units because the figures were so dynamically posed. 418 00:29:25,960 --> 00:29:28,320 Another Spearman regiment, a warrior regiment. 419 00:29:28,880 --> 00:29:31,880 Then we have some dark Elf shield and banner designs, which 420 00:29:32,160 --> 00:29:34,200 of course in these books they used to do a lot. 421 00:29:34,880 --> 00:29:38,280 These are really intricate and other than cut them from the 422 00:29:38,280 --> 00:29:42,080 books, unless you were really skilled painter, I can't see 423 00:29:42,080 --> 00:29:46,080 anyone managing to do these but how they looked even when you 424 00:29:46,080 --> 00:29:49,840 did cut them from the book. And then we go to the map of 425 00:29:49,840 --> 00:29:53,400 Nagaroth. Nagarond, the land of Chill. 426 00:29:53,760 --> 00:29:58,400 What a map that is as well. Absolutely stunning. 427 00:29:59,720 --> 00:30:03,400 And when you see it, you can see how close it is to the high elf 428 00:30:03,400 --> 00:30:06,400 realm of Othron. Look at it. 429 00:30:07,200 --> 00:30:15,400 The petrified forest, the doom glades, the wraithgate, Kraken 430 00:30:15,400 --> 00:30:21,680 lake, the witch gate, the Titan peaks, peaks, even the jungle of 431 00:30:21,720 --> 00:30:23,040 oh, we're going into Austria there. 432 00:30:23,040 --> 00:30:25,800 Let's stay clear. Although I do like thee lizard 433 00:30:25,800 --> 00:30:31,600 men, the rumbling Isle, the salamander mount, the plain of 434 00:30:31,600 --> 00:30:34,560 dogs. They must have had some fun 435 00:30:34,560 --> 00:30:38,040 making up these areas. The map is great. 436 00:30:38,040 --> 00:30:41,480 It goes into a little bit deeper in the in the mountains there, 437 00:30:41,480 --> 00:30:47,080 the black forests, the altar of ultimate darkness sounds nice on 438 00:30:47,080 --> 00:30:51,880 the summer day Grand, the North tower, the Hex Gate, the 439 00:30:51,880 --> 00:30:57,560 underway, the cold water lakes, the pits of Zardoc and the 440 00:30:57,560 --> 00:31:01,200 Broken Lands. We have pages of this now. 441 00:31:01,200 --> 00:31:04,240 These are all in colour and they seem to have gone onto a more 442 00:31:04,240 --> 00:31:07,480 sort of computer aided design that perhaps was available at 443 00:31:07,480 --> 00:31:11,480 the time here rather than the pencil sketches that we had in 444 00:31:11,480 --> 00:31:14,600 the the previous books. The, the ones I've looked at, 445 00:31:14,600 --> 00:31:17,680 the orcs and goblins and of course the dwarves, which I 446 00:31:17,680 --> 00:31:20,040 think were actually a little nicer than this. 447 00:31:20,880 --> 00:31:26,600 But the standard of the, the naming and the imagery is as 448 00:31:26,600 --> 00:31:29,120 good as ever. We have some pictures of the 449 00:31:29,120 --> 00:31:32,040 witchelves, the witchelf figure range and there's a battle 450 00:31:32,040 --> 00:31:36,200 picture of witchelves make a frenzy attack on a unit of dwarf 451 00:31:36,200 --> 00:31:39,040 warriors. And then we've got a little 452 00:31:39,040 --> 00:31:41,800 description of witchelves with a picture. 453 00:31:41,800 --> 00:31:45,560 And again, like the the story I read earlier on, this is a 454 00:31:45,560 --> 00:31:48,200 colour picture, a lot more colour in this book than we've 455 00:31:48,200 --> 00:31:51,000 seen previously. This is a colour picture of a 456 00:31:51,000 --> 00:31:55,680 witch elf in all her glory there with a big red sword, a huge 457 00:31:55,680 --> 00:32:00,200 mane of hair and not much clothes with the boots up to her 458 00:32:00,200 --> 00:32:02,200 knees. And let's read what it has to 459 00:32:02,200 --> 00:32:05,640 say on Witch Elves, which were one of the most fantastic 460 00:32:06,200 --> 00:32:09,240 imaginative troop types that you would find. 461 00:32:10,440 --> 00:32:16,320 The Witch Elves are called the brides of Cain, the mighty God 462 00:32:16,320 --> 00:32:20,120 of murder. As maiden elves, his servants 463 00:32:20,120 --> 00:32:24,480 were wedded to him in midnight rites of blood sacrifice and 464 00:32:24,480 --> 00:32:28,080 cruel abasement. When the temple fires grew hot 465 00:32:28,240 --> 00:32:34,040 and the nights black and cold, Cain takes new brides and blood 466 00:32:34,040 --> 00:32:37,800 flows in torrents down the steps of his altar. 467 00:32:39,040 --> 00:32:42,800 Only the strongest and most grateful, graceful, sorry are 468 00:32:42,800 --> 00:32:45,200 chosen to honour Cain in this way. 469 00:32:45,720 --> 00:32:49,760 Their cadaverous beauty is legendary even among the fair 470 00:32:49,760 --> 00:32:54,240 elves of Uthwan. Their unblemished skill skin is 471 00:32:54,240 --> 00:32:58,040 pale as milk and their hair is white like ice. 472 00:32:58,560 --> 00:33:02,560 Their disdainful eyes are pale and their full red mouths are 473 00:33:02,560 --> 00:33:05,000 quick to laugh at another's pain. 474 00:33:05,760 --> 00:33:08,960 When their master calls the dark elves to battle, the Witch elves 475 00:33:08,960 --> 00:33:12,000 sharpen their blades. To the brides of Cain, the 476 00:33:12,000 --> 00:33:16,320 battlefield is but another temple, and combat is another 477 00:33:16,320 --> 00:33:18,960 chance to taste the blood of sacrifice. 478 00:33:19,600 --> 00:33:22,440 Mad eyed, they fall upon the enemy. 479 00:33:22,440 --> 00:33:27,120 Howling with lust, they eagerly sate their thirst for slaughter. 480 00:33:27,560 --> 00:33:31,200 They laugh as bones break and flesh is torn. 481 00:33:31,440 --> 00:33:35,760 Their own pale bodies are smeared with the red blood of 482 00:33:35,760 --> 00:33:39,560 battle. When the fighting is done, the 483 00:33:39,560 --> 00:33:44,080 hag Queens lead the whitchelves to the temples of Cain where 484 00:33:44,080 --> 00:33:49,000 they bathe in cauldrons of warm blood and dance naked long into 485 00:33:49,000 --> 00:33:51,800 the night. The witch elves howl with 486 00:33:51,800 --> 00:33:55,600 pleasure to see beating hearts torn from living breasts by the 487 00:33:55,600 --> 00:33:58,000 knives of the cackling hag Queens. 488 00:33:58,840 --> 00:34:01,960 These are the oldest of the witch elves and their ancient 489 00:34:01,960 --> 00:34:04,920 Crone like bodies are vile and bent. 490 00:34:05,080 --> 00:34:08,199 Their laughter is a cackle of madness and withered lust. 491 00:34:08,440 --> 00:34:11,199 As they bathe in the sacrificial blood of their shrivelled 492 00:34:11,199 --> 00:34:15,199 bodies. They are renewed once more, and 493 00:34:15,199 --> 00:34:18,719 they emerge reinvigorated with the power and beauty of youth. 494 00:34:20,520 --> 00:34:25,920 There is a knight put aside for the brides of Cain, called Death 495 00:34:26,000 --> 00:34:29,440 Knight, when the hag Queens lead the which elves through the 496 00:34:29,440 --> 00:34:33,199 streets, breaking into houses and stealing away the people 497 00:34:33,199 --> 00:34:36,239 from within. On Death Night, all doors and 498 00:34:36,239 --> 00:34:39,920 windows are barred, and elves hide in terror from the servants 499 00:34:39,920 --> 00:34:45,120 of the God of Murder, For on this night the God shows no 500 00:34:45,120 --> 00:34:49,120 mercy, not even to his most faithful worshippers. 501 00:34:49,719 --> 00:34:52,080 Hundreds of dark elves are dragged to the altars and 502 00:34:52,080 --> 00:34:56,040 sacrificed, young and old, and their blood fills the cauldron 503 00:34:56,040 --> 00:35:01,200 for the hag Queens to bathe in. Amidst great revelry, the dark 504 00:35:01,200 --> 00:35:05,160 elves feast upon raw flesh and drink blood mixed with wine. 505 00:35:06,080 --> 00:35:11,080 After many hours, intoxicated and exhausted, they dance and 506 00:35:11,080 --> 00:35:16,720 they fall into a stupefied sleep and do not awake for many days. 507 00:35:19,400 --> 00:35:23,760 Pretty grim that, isn't it. Replacement Dark Magic spell 508 00:35:23,760 --> 00:35:27,120 cards, just in case you've lost your previous ones. 509 00:35:27,280 --> 00:35:30,400 The books are keen to give us new ones. 510 00:35:30,720 --> 00:35:33,800 And we have the Dark Hand of Destruction, the Power of Chaos, 511 00:35:33,960 --> 00:35:38,160 the Death Spasm, the Blood Banner, the Amber Amulet, the 512 00:35:38,160 --> 00:35:42,520 Circuit of Iron, the Whip of Agony, the Executioner's Act Axe 513 00:35:42,680 --> 00:35:46,080 and the Witch King's armour. And then we have more colour 514 00:35:46,080 --> 00:35:48,800 pictures taken of the beautiful figure range. 515 00:35:49,400 --> 00:35:52,680 The Blackguard of Nagaroth engage as a unit of savage ork 516 00:35:52,680 --> 00:35:55,960 ball boys. Dark elf warriors charge a pair 517 00:35:55,960 --> 00:35:59,920 of scave and warp fire throwers. Throwers and witchell 518 00:35:59,920 --> 00:36:03,640 sorceresses use dark magic against the forces of Chaos. 519 00:36:04,200 --> 00:36:07,880 We have some slannishy figures doing battle against some dark 520 00:36:07,880 --> 00:36:11,480 elves there. And we come to the bestry Dark 521 00:36:11,480 --> 00:36:14,360 Elf warriors. Movement 5. 522 00:36:14,480 --> 00:36:16,400 Weapons Skill 4. Bow Skill 4. 523 00:36:16,400 --> 00:36:17,880 Strength 3. Toughness 3. 524 00:36:18,080 --> 00:36:19,840 Wound 6. Initiative 6. 525 00:36:20,240 --> 00:36:22,440 Attacks one. Leadership 8. 526 00:36:23,120 --> 00:36:25,560 The dark shadow of the High Elves. 527 00:36:26,160 --> 00:36:31,080 Exactly the same, but much more evil. 528 00:36:31,320 --> 00:36:34,920 They come with a hate. High Elves ruled Dark Elves hate 529 00:36:34,920 --> 00:36:37,800 their ancient enemies, the High Elves, so intensely that they 530 00:36:37,800 --> 00:36:41,080 will often fight them to the death rather than to run away. 531 00:36:41,600 --> 00:36:44,160 When fighting High Elves, Dark Elves are affected by the rules 532 00:36:44,160 --> 00:36:47,680 for hatred as described in the Warhammer rule book. 533 00:36:49,320 --> 00:36:52,120 Now that would make games between those two armies very 534 00:36:52,120 --> 00:36:54,760 interesting indeed. As the hark, the Dark Elves were 535 00:36:54,760 --> 00:36:58,920 often forced to charge, but then could reroll attacks and things 536 00:36:58,920 --> 00:37:01,840 like that. Dark Elf obedience tests are 537 00:37:01,840 --> 00:37:04,280 here. Oh I can't remember this, let's 538 00:37:04,280 --> 00:37:07,600 have a read. Dark Elf troops are normally 539 00:37:07,600 --> 00:37:11,880 extremely disciplined, obeying orders promptly and efficiently. 540 00:37:12,160 --> 00:37:15,560 However, when fighting against High Elves, the thousands of 541 00:37:15,560 --> 00:37:19,280 years of bitter enmity between the two races can affect even 542 00:37:19,280 --> 00:37:21,720 the iron discipline of a Dark Elf army. 543 00:37:22,840 --> 00:37:26,760 Ancient hatreds bubble forth, threatening to overwhelm the 544 00:37:26,760 --> 00:37:30,960 Dark Elves with a desire for revenge, a need to get to grips 545 00:37:30,960 --> 00:37:34,480 with their despised opponents and tear them to pieces in 546 00:37:34,480 --> 00:37:38,760 bloody conflict. Under such circumstances, the 547 00:37:38,760 --> 00:37:41,680 leaders of Dark Elf regiments have to struggle to keep the 548 00:37:41,680 --> 00:37:45,240 warriors under their command from acting impetuously and 549 00:37:45,240 --> 00:37:48,920 disrupting the army's generals carefully conceived battle plan. 550 00:37:49,840 --> 00:37:53,160 Because of this, a Dark Elf regiment that adds a High Elf 551 00:37:53,160 --> 00:37:56,520 unit to the front and within 24 inches at the start of their 552 00:37:56,520 --> 00:37:58,320 turn must take an obedience test. 553 00:37:59,240 --> 00:38:02,840 Note the tests are only taken for regiments, characters, war 554 00:38:02,840 --> 00:38:06,480 engines, or indeed anything else other than a regiment does not 555 00:38:06,480 --> 00:38:10,400 have to test. Roll AD 6 for each Dark Elf unit 556 00:38:10,400 --> 00:38:13,600 that has to take an obedience test in the compulsory movement 557 00:38:13,600 --> 00:38:17,480 part of the movement phase. On a roll of two to six, the 558 00:38:17,480 --> 00:38:20,520 unit remains under control and they may move normally this 559 00:38:20,520 --> 00:38:23,520 turn. On a roll of one, however, the 560 00:38:23,520 --> 00:38:28,360 unit is disobedient. A unit acting disobediently must 561 00:38:28,360 --> 00:38:31,720 charge the nearest High Elf unit if they are within reach. 562 00:38:31,960 --> 00:38:34,880 If no High Elves are within reach, the unit must move as 563 00:38:34,880 --> 00:38:38,600 quickly as possible, marching if it's allowed to do so, directly 564 00:38:38,600 --> 00:38:41,400 towards the nearest High Elf unit it can see. 565 00:38:42,080 --> 00:38:46,760 Units that act disobediently on one turn are not forced to do so 566 00:38:46,760 --> 00:38:50,400 again on their next turn. Unless of course, you roll 567 00:38:50,400 --> 00:38:53,480 another one. Note that regiments of harpies 568 00:38:53,480 --> 00:38:57,240 do not hate High Elves in the same way as Dark Elves, and do 569 00:38:57,240 --> 00:38:59,560 not have to take the obedience tests. 570 00:39:00,440 --> 00:39:03,320 Very much like animosity, isn't it? 571 00:39:03,320 --> 00:39:05,800 And I mean, their leadership was quite high at leadership 8. 572 00:39:06,040 --> 00:39:10,120 But look at this, it's on a one to six. 573 00:39:10,200 --> 00:39:13,520 They'd have to make that move. I can't remember this in work, 574 00:39:13,520 --> 00:39:17,920 but it surely must have been a nightmare for Dark elf generals, 575 00:39:17,920 --> 00:39:22,040 and perhaps that's why it wasn't used as much in future editions. 576 00:39:22,800 --> 00:39:25,400 We have the dark elf sorcerers there they have the stats, the 577 00:39:25,400 --> 00:39:30,360 black R Corsairs and they're they have the sea dragon cloak 578 00:39:30,360 --> 00:39:34,360 as well there the dark riders, the ones I loved so much, never 579 00:39:34,360 --> 00:39:37,720 had a unit, never had a figure. And I'm still I'm reading this 580 00:39:37,720 --> 00:39:41,000 off APDF as well where all these books have gone. 581 00:39:41,000 --> 00:39:43,720 I probably stole them for pennies going back in the years. 582 00:39:44,560 --> 00:39:47,400 Which elves? The really 80s looking? 583 00:39:47,400 --> 00:39:52,600 Which elf clambering down some stairs with A2 weapons movement 584 00:39:52,600 --> 00:39:56,440 5 weapons 4. The same as the dark elf profile 585 00:39:56,440 --> 00:39:59,880 there but with frenzy and poisoned weapons. 586 00:40:00,920 --> 00:40:03,280 There's a little bit of a story that goes to this one I'll read. 587 00:40:04,760 --> 00:40:07,800 Fear was not a common emotion amongst the inhabitants of 588 00:40:07,800 --> 00:40:10,640 Grand. Dark Elves were more familiar 589 00:40:10,640 --> 00:40:13,160 with inflicting pain than experiencing suffering 590 00:40:13,160 --> 00:40:16,320 themselves. One night was different, though. 591 00:40:17,160 --> 00:40:21,000 On Death Night, they were all rendered equal by the knowledge 592 00:40:21,000 --> 00:40:25,200 that death could strike any one of them at any time, and 593 00:40:25,200 --> 00:40:29,920 equality of dread unified the city in no way in in a way that 594 00:40:29,920 --> 00:40:33,720 no other event ever could. The inevitability of Death, 595 00:40:33,720 --> 00:40:38,000 Night hungover, the life of grand like a blot, a pall of 596 00:40:38,000 --> 00:40:41,560 blood and cruelty that stained the soul of all the elves living 597 00:40:41,560 --> 00:40:43,640 there. Even the architecture of the 598 00:40:43,640 --> 00:40:46,000 city reflected this time of darkness. 599 00:40:46,280 --> 00:40:50,440 Doors were thick and barred with bands of iron windows and such 600 00:40:50,440 --> 00:40:53,800 tiny slits that no intruder could ever climb through them. 601 00:40:54,800 --> 00:40:59,160 For 10 sleepless hours the dark elves would cower in their homes 602 00:40:59,160 --> 00:41:02,040 listening to the screams of the witch elves dragging their 603 00:41:02,040 --> 00:41:05,080 captives away. The following morning, those who 604 00:41:05,080 --> 00:41:07,960 would survive this lottery of death would celebrate their 605 00:41:07,960 --> 00:41:10,040 escape in the time honoured fashion. 606 00:41:11,080 --> 00:41:14,400 Each family would sacrifice one of their own household, use your 607 00:41:14,400 --> 00:41:18,240 slave or an elderly elderly relative as thanks to the Lord 608 00:41:18,240 --> 00:41:22,040 of Murder for sparing the lives of them and their children. 609 00:41:23,800 --> 00:41:27,600 I don't know about you, but I think perhaps banning death 610 00:41:27,600 --> 00:41:32,360 night would be a good thing. I don't know what the benefits 611 00:41:32,360 --> 00:41:35,320 of it are, I really don't. Anyway, moving on, we have 612 00:41:35,320 --> 00:41:37,400 executioners. These have got weapons skill 5 613 00:41:37,400 --> 00:41:41,080 so they're slightly more skilful and have the expert axman rule. 614 00:41:41,520 --> 00:41:44,840 Then the dark of scouts who have a bow skill of five and a 615 00:41:44,840 --> 00:41:48,400 special deployment. We have another story that comes 616 00:41:48,400 --> 00:41:50,360 up there which we will move through. 617 00:41:50,560 --> 00:41:55,280 We have dark alpha assassins weapons, skill 9 bow, skill 9 618 00:41:55,600 --> 00:42:00,400 initiative 10/2 attacks yes, these were hidden in dark elf 619 00:42:00,400 --> 00:42:02,960 units where they were sort of like sort of posh goblin 620 00:42:02,960 --> 00:42:06,280 fanatics really incredibly powerful when they came out. 621 00:42:07,360 --> 00:42:10,920 Then we've got the cold ones, the harpies, the dark elf war 622 00:42:10,920 --> 00:42:13,600 hydra. I used to have a beautiful war 623 00:42:13,600 --> 00:42:16,120 hydra sort of in my my case here. 624 00:42:16,960 --> 00:42:19,160 I wonder if I've still got it. I'll have a look when I finished 625 00:42:19,160 --> 00:42:22,240 here. The dark elf city guard another 626 00:42:22,240 --> 00:42:24,960 story. And then we move. 627 00:42:25,000 --> 00:42:30,120 Ah, full page pencil drawing of Malekith the witch king. 628 00:42:31,000 --> 00:42:35,720 What a fantastic he's in his chariot being pulled by two cold 629 00:42:35,720 --> 00:42:39,520 ones here, lightning coming from his hands. 630 00:42:40,720 --> 00:42:43,680 Nice looking chap. Then we go into the army list. 631 00:42:43,680 --> 00:42:46,000 Now, of course, the army lists were very similar for all the 632 00:42:46,520 --> 00:42:48,760 the warrior, the the armies of this time. 633 00:42:49,160 --> 00:42:51,680 So we have the introductory thing for a few pages. 634 00:42:51,880 --> 00:42:54,600 The characters, the Dark of General, the battle standard, 635 00:42:54,600 --> 00:42:57,640 the dark of heroes, sorcerers, etcetera. 636 00:42:58,480 --> 00:42:59,960 And then we move on to the regiments. 637 00:42:59,960 --> 00:43:02,640 Coal, Sorry. The core units, the dark Elf 638 00:43:02,640 --> 00:43:06,480 Spearman, the crossbowmen, the regiments, the Cold 1 Knights, 639 00:43:06,480 --> 00:43:09,320 the executioners, the Dark riders, the Black guard of 640 00:43:09,320 --> 00:43:13,360 Nagarov, the Dark Elf City guard, the Witch elves, the 641 00:43:13,360 --> 00:43:18,480 scouts, the blackout Corsairs are good a mix of of troops as 642 00:43:18,480 --> 00:43:20,880 well. Missile troops, cavalry, 643 00:43:21,040 --> 00:43:27,120 infantry, war machines, scouting units, powerful characters give 644 00:43:27,120 --> 00:43:30,480 a really good balanced army that could take on anything really. 645 00:43:30,920 --> 00:43:34,800 Then we have the the obligatory list of monsters that people can 646 00:43:34,800 --> 00:43:37,960 have in these days, where you could just have random monsters 647 00:43:38,160 --> 00:43:42,200 like a gigantic spider or a Wyvern or a dark Pegasus. 648 00:43:42,800 --> 00:43:47,000 I've got a Dark Elf on a Dark Pegasus painted by me rather 649 00:43:47,000 --> 00:43:48,840 poorly. I'll see if I can find it later 650 00:43:48,840 --> 00:43:51,680 on. Then we move to some special 651 00:43:51,680 --> 00:43:55,680 characters. Of course leading them at 350 652 00:43:55,680 --> 00:44:00,440 points was the Witch King of Nagarov with his Circle of Iron 653 00:44:00,440 --> 00:44:03,640 plus 50 points, a Witch King's Armour plus 60 points, a Spell 654 00:44:03,640 --> 00:44:07,680 Shield plus 50 points, the Destroyer plus 75 points and the 655 00:44:07,680 --> 00:44:13,320 Black Chariot plus 90 points. So he would cost you over 500 656 00:44:13,320 --> 00:44:16,520 points if you took all his gear there and you had the option of 657 00:44:16,520 --> 00:44:19,000 taking some and not the others. I, I don't understand that. 658 00:44:19,000 --> 00:44:22,720 Would he just be oh, I've forgotten my my circlet of Iron 659 00:44:23,200 --> 00:44:25,520 and this week. Damn, should I go back and get 660 00:44:25,520 --> 00:44:27,920 it? No, it cost me 50 points. 661 00:44:28,920 --> 00:44:30,680 We have rules for all his gear there. 662 00:44:30,880 --> 00:44:35,480 Then we have the beast Lord Rakrath of Carac of Caron Car 663 00:44:35,800 --> 00:44:38,760 with his whip of agony. Don't want to read that. 664 00:44:39,040 --> 00:44:45,520 Morathi the hag sorceress Crone Helbron the hag queen Kuran, 665 00:44:45,520 --> 00:44:48,720 captain of the Black Guard. Really nice characters. 666 00:44:48,720 --> 00:44:52,600 Here we have a repeated picture which you don't often see in 667 00:44:52,600 --> 00:44:55,320 this book often, but we've got a another picture of a dark elf 668 00:44:55,320 --> 00:44:58,760 executioner beating a high elf which you've seen earlier on. 669 00:44:58,760 --> 00:45:01,720 I believe I might be incorrect, but there we go. 670 00:45:02,360 --> 00:45:04,920 And then we have some some more story. 671 00:45:05,360 --> 00:45:09,400 Then we have a couple of pages on battle tactics. 672 00:45:10,280 --> 00:45:16,160 Now again, this is what we don't see in in in in the newer books 673 00:45:16,720 --> 00:45:18,120 I'll read. I won't read it all, but I'll 674 00:45:18,120 --> 00:45:21,560 just read a bit of it. The Dark Elf army is a tough one 675 00:45:21,560 --> 00:45:24,680 for any opponent to defeat. Just about all the troops in the 676 00:45:24,680 --> 00:45:26,880 army have good fighting abilities, above average 677 00:45:26,880 --> 00:45:30,080 leadership values and have access to excellent weapons and 678 00:45:30,080 --> 00:45:32,640 armour. The rank of file are backed by a 679 00:45:32,640 --> 00:45:35,720 powerful selection of heroes and Wizards and supported by the 680 00:45:35,720 --> 00:45:37,880 awesome Dark Elf repeater boat thrower. 681 00:45:38,880 --> 00:45:42,080 This being said, the Dark Elves have a number of weaknesses that 682 00:45:42,080 --> 00:45:44,360 can be exploited by a competent army general. 683 00:45:44,880 --> 00:45:48,240 They are expensive in terms of points for a start, which means 684 00:45:48,240 --> 00:45:51,360 that a Dark Elf army will tend to be rather small. 685 00:45:51,880 --> 00:45:54,560 This is not helped by the fact that the Dark Elves are not all 686 00:45:54,560 --> 00:45:57,960 that tough, nor at least compared to Dwarves or Orcs. 687 00:45:58,600 --> 00:46:02,200 These two factors mean that a Dark Elf army is very vulnerable 688 00:46:02,200 --> 00:46:05,600 to attrition and can start to melt away, even if they are 689 00:46:05,600 --> 00:46:07,680 subject to quite low strength attacks. 690 00:46:08,480 --> 00:46:11,720 The purpose of this tactic session is to help new Dark Elf 691 00:46:11,720 --> 00:46:15,800 generals downplay their weaknesses and maximise their 692 00:46:15,800 --> 00:46:18,280 strengths. There's a piece then about 693 00:46:18,280 --> 00:46:21,880 missile fire, then they talk about shock troops, light troops 694 00:46:22,480 --> 00:46:27,440 and and scouts, assassins, and then a conclusion. 695 00:46:28,280 --> 00:46:32,000 The Dark Elf army has access to a wide variety of excellent 696 00:46:32,000 --> 00:46:35,480 troop types. However, in order to do well, 697 00:46:36,000 --> 00:46:38,880 all of the different types of troops need to be used as a 698 00:46:38,880 --> 00:46:42,640 combined force that emphasizes the special abilities of each of 699 00:46:42,640 --> 00:46:45,320 the different elements. I tend to think of this as a 700 00:46:45,320 --> 00:46:49,040 hammer and unveil attack. The Dark Elf missile troops form 701 00:46:49,040 --> 00:46:53,360 a solid immovable anvil, against which the enemy is smashed by 702 00:46:53,360 --> 00:46:55,800 hammer blows from the Dark Elf shock troops. 703 00:46:56,360 --> 00:46:59,360 Meanwhile, the Dark Elves light troops disrupt the enemy's 704 00:46:59,360 --> 00:47:03,560 attack, harrying the opponent's flanks and slowing up his troops 705 00:47:03,560 --> 00:47:07,760 so that the main hammer and anvil tactic is even more 706 00:47:07,760 --> 00:47:10,960 effective. Ah, so that's interesting. 707 00:47:11,720 --> 00:47:14,760 It gives you a beginner in Warhammer, a way to have a look 708 00:47:14,760 --> 00:47:16,680 and best use your army I suppose. 709 00:47:17,320 --> 00:47:21,000 And then following that, we have a sample army called Curl 710 00:47:21,000 --> 00:47:25,360 Vraneth's Raiders, and it gives you a sample army that someone 711 00:47:25,360 --> 00:47:29,520 would take with a total army points value of 1990. 712 00:47:29,680 --> 00:47:31,600 So it's a 2000 point army essentially. 713 00:47:32,320 --> 00:47:35,080 Lots of different things there. Some more Dark Earth banners, 714 00:47:35,240 --> 00:47:37,280 this time in black and white that you can cut up. 715 00:47:38,040 --> 00:47:41,800 And then this just showing us the range of other books 716 00:47:41,800 --> 00:47:44,520 available, Citadel miniatures ranges. 717 00:47:44,880 --> 00:47:48,200 And then the collecting the Dark Elf army obligatory little list 718 00:47:48,200 --> 00:47:51,800 as well, which shows you what to get of 1000 point army and then 719 00:47:51,800 --> 00:47:56,120 maybe expand upon, look at those metal miniatures there black and 720 00:47:56,120 --> 00:47:59,160 white. And then it gives us stats for 721 00:47:59,160 --> 00:48:03,520 that sample army as well that you can use and shows you how 722 00:48:03,520 --> 00:48:06,800 you could possibly expand it. And then a roster list. 723 00:48:07,200 --> 00:48:11,360 And then a blank roster list. And then the Dark Elf reference 724 00:48:11,360 --> 00:48:14,120 guide with all the stats for everything that's appeared in 725 00:48:14,120 --> 00:48:19,680 the book so far. And that leads us to a final 726 00:48:19,920 --> 00:48:25,760 photographic wonder, which shows us an unstoppable Dark Elf army 727 00:48:25,920 --> 00:48:29,800 marches forth against the desperate forces of the Empire. 728 00:48:32,480 --> 00:48:37,960 Lovely image, like an old keep in the background, mountains 729 00:48:37,960 --> 00:48:41,440 made from polystyrene and then some buildings in front which 730 00:48:41,440 --> 00:48:45,560 have been occupied by the dark elves who are taking advantage 731 00:48:45,560 --> 00:48:48,480 of their numbers. Here the empire has a steam 732 00:48:48,480 --> 00:48:53,440 tank, has a war wagon, has unit of dwarves all facing up. 733 00:48:53,440 --> 00:48:57,880 But maybe on the way to shore death, I'm not sure. 734 00:49:00,600 --> 00:49:04,000 Well my friends, I've really enjoyed having a look through 735 00:49:04,000 --> 00:49:06,680 this Dark elf book, a book I haven't looked through for many 736 00:49:06,680 --> 00:49:10,040 years. As I've said, I never collected 737 00:49:10,040 --> 00:49:12,200 a Dark Elf army, but I wish I had. 738 00:49:13,640 --> 00:49:17,080 As a pledge to you, the listener, I will paint this dark 739 00:49:17,080 --> 00:49:20,120 elf that's on my desk here, and I will. 740 00:49:21,040 --> 00:49:24,000 I will put the photograph on the Crown of Command Discord, you 741 00:49:24,000 --> 00:49:27,080 can have a look at it. Her staff has unfortunately 742 00:49:27,080 --> 00:49:29,960 snapped so she'll have to do without that, but I'm sure she 743 00:49:29,960 --> 00:49:32,880 won't mind. Having spent probably about 30 744 00:49:32,880 --> 00:49:35,720 years unpainted in my range in my desk. 745 00:49:36,600 --> 00:49:41,560 I'm still wearing the T-shirt and I still wish that one day I 746 00:49:41,560 --> 00:49:44,920 would become a Dark Elf general on March 4th. 747 00:49:46,000 --> 00:49:49,760 My name is Owen Staton, I hope you're enjoying this number of 748 00:49:49,760 --> 00:49:52,840 deep dives. If you're painting your armies, 749 00:49:52,840 --> 00:49:55,720 I hope it's something you get a lot of fulfilment from and help 750 00:49:55,720 --> 00:49:59,200 to relax just listening to somebody waffle on about an old 751 00:49:59,200 --> 00:50:02,160 book that he still holds very dear to his heart. 752 00:50:03,360 --> 00:50:06,000 I have a podcast, it's called Time Between Times. 753 00:50:06,000 --> 00:50:09,960 It's a storytelling podcast where I tell old ghost stories, 754 00:50:09,960 --> 00:50:12,600 myths and legends. Would be ideal painting 755 00:50:12,600 --> 00:50:14,440 listening as well. If you were to do that and if 756 00:50:14,440 --> 00:50:17,480 you were to support me and perhaps leave a review wherever 757 00:50:17,480 --> 00:50:20,800 you get your podcasts for that pod, for that podcast, I'll say 758 00:50:20,800 --> 00:50:23,880 the word podcast a few more times, then that would mean a 759 00:50:23,880 --> 00:50:28,320 great deal to me because it's quite a lonely thing sometimes 760 00:50:28,320 --> 00:50:31,160 talking into this mic, not hearing much back. 761 00:50:32,560 --> 00:50:36,160 I am here on Discord if anyone wants to ask me any questions in 762 00:50:36,160 --> 00:50:38,920 the count of command, you're more than welcome to. 763 00:50:39,320 --> 00:50:41,840 So thank you ever so much for listening. 764 00:50:42,080 --> 00:50:45,480 Diolc and Vauer and Grando. Take care, my friends.