Jungle Braves

The 3rd edition WFB entry for Jungle Braves

These are the first 5 of what will eventually be a unit of 15 Jungle Braves for the 3rd edition WHFB Slann force.  They represent the most primitive subjects of the emperor and as such I have painted them in a very simple colour scheme relative to the rest of the army.

Simple colour scheme of greens and browns with an accent of purple

I decided to paint the clubs a little like an Irish shillelagh for the hell of it rather than particularly going for something of south american inspiration.  I don’t plan on following along with real world historical precedent too closely, I am just going on my gut feeling of what I think will look good.  Generally I like to mix and match stuff in an anachronistic style as I think it suits the Warhammer feel more appropriately and leave historical accuracy to the historical wargamers.

 

In terms of gaming with them the Jungle Braves are levy troops and so have diminished statistics compared to the other Slann warriors while costing less points to field.  They can be used in closely formed units but are not exactly front line troops and would need to get onto a flank or rear of an engaged enemy to have any chance against decent enemy units.  They make for an inexpensive reserve unit and can bulk out a force considerably when used in this manner, a bit like Skaven slaves really.

Close formation

They make for a good skirmishing unit standing in front of the expensive elite troops and generally taking any missile attacks the enemy can throw at them with their excellent toughness of 4.  I would not rely on them to do much actual killing of the enemy though except perhaps to chase off other skirmishers.  They are some of the worst shots in the Warhammer world so missile weapons are not a great option at all really unless you want to use them in a small skirmish game where you want adversaries who are inept at shooting at your central cast of characters (like any native who has fired a missile at Indiana Jones).  I have opted to equip them with shields as I intend to use them to “catch” any missiles destined for my precious elites.  They are also invaluable for drawing out the inevitable goblin fanatics!

Skirmishing

For levy troops they have excellent Cool so they will tend to stand their ground and not panic when friendlies flee past them, highly desirable in WHFB 3rd edition.  Leadership 7 while good by levy standards is still about as reliable as a cowardly hooman though!

Run away!

 

The Eagle Knights of the Slann

Did I not mention my army theme yet?

Finally getting over the drop in enthusiasm for doing anything hobby related over the Xmas period I got some solid work done on the elite Slann Eagle Warriors .  As you can see the colour scheme is inspired by the great Liberace.  Whenever I think that a colour scheme is too over the top I look at a picture of this guy for 20 seconds.  It makes me realise that I was being conservative in the first place!

Enough blathering on with da figgaz!

“GrrrUrrkkkk”

I have been experimenting with a basing scheme for the Slann.  This one is not bad.  There is simple oldschool charm to just using sand and painting it.  I have used colours on the bases which appear in the unit colours helping in gunking this unholy colour palette together in a credible manner.

This unit is the nucleus of a Slann army

This many took me bloody ages to crank out but they were worth the effort in the long run.  I need to make up a musician and a standard bearer next.  The musician will have a horn based on a John Blanche concept sketch for the Slann.  The standard I have not really coalesced a clear idea about yet.  I think it will have to be on the big side for sure.  I don’t want to make an Aztec banner or anything but something more Warhammer and painterly I think (but with feathers natch).  Perhaps a portrait of the man himself with an eagle for a head….with me it will probably end up being something batshit crazy.

Those headdress feathers were a pain in the arse but I did love painting the brightly coloured feather PJ’s

I will need to do another 9 standard guys to go with that musician and standard bearer to bring the unit up to full battle strength.  I plan to do those ones with reposing and greenstuff resculpting in order to break up the cookie cutter look.  I have a higher threshold for planning, preparing and converting than for painting so it will not take me very long to get those guys made up when I get the wind in my sails for this unit again.

Skirmishing

There are still some minor touch ups to be done here and there but as I have reached my sanity threshold for this unit it’s time to move onto another unit for a while.  Next up is finishing off those primitive Slann Jungle Braves I started ages ago.