I decided to get the twenty Warhammer Fantasy Battle (WFB) 3rd edition Dark Elf Crossbowmen that have been sitting around partly painted since the mid 1990s painted. My plan is to have two regiments (10 figures each so technically squads) each having slightly different but related colour schemes. I have always thought the figures from Citadel for WFB 3rd edition (Citadel and Marauder) were some of the best, with the ones from 6th also being pretty good. There are exception from other editions like a small number from the 4th Edition. As for the rules and army lists none are perfect but I think 6th was the best followed by 3rd, but ideally I would take bits and pieces from both (although that is not practical in most cases).
This is how my template figure looked when I put on the shelf in the late 1990s in a blue livery, I was thinking the second regiment would be similar but in Liche purple instead of blue to distinguish them.
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My 3rd edition plastic Dark Elf
crossbow figure in blue livery. |
I like the way he looks in his dark blue livery and light coloured leather armour, but is he really sinister enough to represent a Dark Elf? I think he needs to be a bit darker.
The above paint scheme was based with the instructions on the Citadel Warhammer Fantasy Regiments box set back in the late 1980s when the Dark Elves were more colourful. Here are some pictures from the box they came in.
However after looking at the Dark Elf Crossbowmen on the Lost and the Dammed blog that were much darker and more sinister I decided to make my figures darker.
https://thelostandthedamned.wordpress.com/2017/01/15/evil-crossbowmen-of-the-dark-citadel/comment-page-1/#comment-3648
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Well painted sinister plastic crossbow dark elves
from the Lost and the Dammed |
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| Close-up |
For my purposes keeping in mind the lighting where I game and my eyesight I decided maybe I did not want to go too dark as the figures might look like shadows from three feet or more away.
I decided to change the snakebite leather to a much darker Vallejo leather brown or black highlighted with Army Painter dark green over painted with Citadel Technical Warpstone dark green similar to the above pictures. Additionally add colour to the "feather" on the helmet, plus experimented with Citadel Liche Purple (AP Alien Purple) and Vallejo Game Colour Imperial purple. Here are my three new template Dark Elf Crossbowmen (including a repaint of the blue version) that I will choose two from for the two regiments.
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| I will pick two of these colour schemes |
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| View from the back, the shield is a problem |
The figure on the left is painted with Liche purple the other two imperial purple and the one on the right has the green over black leather armour. All of them have yet to be varnished (so a bit shiny and the one they need flocking on the bases.
To sum up the three colour options are from left to right:
1. Liche purple with dark brown leather straps
2. Imperial purple with dark brown leather straps
3. Imperial purple with black leather straps with Citadel Technical Warpstone green highlights
Only the original template figure has a shield, as I don't really like the way the shields looks, just wood slats makes it look like the back side of the shied and out of character for the Dark Elves. If I use the shields I will somehow smooth over the surface, paint them dark purple or black and add some appropriate dark elf symbols with decals.
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| A Dark Elf general's shield I painted and added decals. |
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Excellent shield from the Lost and Dammed that shield,
detail is beyond my painting ability - I will use decals. |
I could of course just leave out the shields as the figures look fine without them. However for game purposes the Dark Elves need them to deal with opponents that outrage them, such as Wood Elves with Long bows, the shields provide protection until they can close the range gap.
A close up view below of the original template Dark Elf Crossbowman originally in blue now in Vallejo game colour Imperial Purple and darker leather armour. He definitely looks more sinister and darker flocking as in the image above will also help. Only downside with the new colour scheme is I lose some of the detail on the leather chest and shoulder armour with the darker colour.
Below are example of the GW / Citadel earlier and later Crossbowmen from various editions (not my paint jobs) all of which I own versions of these figures.
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Lost and Dammed Crossbow Dark Elves figures on the ends
are Citadel metal versions from the 2nd or 3rd
edition that were more dynamic |
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Citadel 4th edition Dark Elf metal repeating crossbow
figure, not bad but a little chunky for an elf. |
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| Two of my 4th edition. metal Dark Elf repeating crossbowmen |
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A Regiment of 6th edition plastic Dark Elf repeating
crossbowmen a little more elf like than their predecessors. |
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Citadel 6th edition plastic Dark Elf repeating crossbowmen,
painted by Autumn Leaves, don't like the light blue,
leave that for the High Elves.
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Update:
I have decided on the two colour schemes to use:
1. Liche purple with dark brown leather straps
2. Imperial purple with dark brown leather straps
Therefore I repainted the figure with the black straps with green highlights to match colour scheme #2 and added a little more snakebite leather highlighting to the dark brown straps to bring out the detail (first figure on the left).
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| The two colour schemes for the 2 regiments |
Shields
As for the shields I had three products I thought might work to fill in the wood detail on the front to create a flatter surface for the decals:
1. Mr. Surfacer 1,000
2. Vallejo plastic putty
3. Citadel liquid Green stuff.
The Citadel Green stuff was quickly eliminated as it had dried out, typical poor packaging.
Mr. Surfacer which is a grey colour:
Pros:
Self leveling
Dries fast
Acts as a primer
Drys to a smooth finish
Cons:
Toxic smell, I had to put on a respirator mask, not surprising as it is thinned with lacquer thinner.
Dries very fast so it needs to be thinned as you use it
Can be stringy and leave little threads like the old plastic model glue in a tube.
The coat is very thin so likely more than one is needed
Vallejo Plastic Putty is a white colour:
Pros:
Can be thinned with water, rubbing alcohol or flow improver (I used the latter)
No nasty smell
Dries to the touch in about 30 minutes
It gives a thicker coat so seems to fill gaps better.
Cons:
Not self leveling, the flow improver helps somewhat, but it will likely require sanding
Reviews suggest it takes 1-3 days to fully cure before it can be sanded.
Reviews suggest its flexibility makes it tricky to sand but applying a coat of CA glue solves this
It is not a primer so requires priming or colours will bleed.
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| Shields with the 2 products applied. |
Update 20-21 April:
Making progress on the shields.
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Shields with CA glue added to white ones with
Vallejo putty, Undead coffin lid shields above them. |
The CA glue certainly makes the shields easier to sand and seems to help cover the slats, but you have to make sure you use the watery type not gel!
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| Template Dark Elf Crossbow figure, shield has had filler and paint. |
This figure had his shield done with Mr. Surfacer then the Vallejo putty, sanding (no CA glue) then a coat of primer, then gloss black and purple in the centre. The wood slats are still visible but less prominent. The shield will get a coat of gloss varnish before a decal is applied.
Some reinforcements to be painted or re-painted for the Crossbow Dark Elves
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Reinforcements for the Crossbow elves, 3rd Ed.
Citadel C9 series metal warriors, crossbows, and command |
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Reinforcements for the Crossbow elves, 3rd Ed.
Citadel C9 series metal crossbows, and command |
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| Citadel C9 series warriors unit. |
Update 23-24 April 2020
I painted a coat of gloss varnish over the shield to prepare it for the decal, which adheres much better over smooth gloss surfaces. It is important to make sure the acrylic varnish is fully cured, not just dry to the touch as acrylic paint expands even after it is dry to the touch and can crack decals if they are put on before the acrylic is fully cured. In most cases you should wait 24 hours to be on the safe side but I can accelerate that with a dehydrator.
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| Dehydrator |
I applied the decals to the shield on the template figure as shown below using decal setting solution to make it conform. It was a delicate job as the decals are from the early 1990s and thus fragile, I had to touch up a couple of cracks with white paint.
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| Shield with decal |
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| Crossbow Dark Elf front view |
The shield still needs a coat of varnish applied by hand over the decal and the figure itself a final spray coat of flat spray varnish after it is fully dry -back into the dehydrator. The skin also looks a bit too dark.
Here is another view with some other Citadel C09 Dark Elf figures: Legion Leader, Crossbow, and Sorceress Azireth Darkforce who is not yet finished.
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Legion Leader with purple and brass detailing,
Crossbow Elf with shield decal, and Sorceress Azireth Darkforce |
You may remember the Legion Leader on the left who appeared with the Crossbow Dark Elf (then in blue) in an earlier AAR post from over 3 years ago of a Frostgrave game. At that point he was predominantly red as I wanted to try painting armour in Ral Partha metallic red acrylic paint. However this week I added some purple and brass detailing to allow the Leader to blend in with one of my other Dark Elf formations which for the most part will be purple. I am pleased with the result. You can see the Legion Leader / Scouts older predominantly red colour scheme below from the Frostgrave game in January 2017.
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| Frostgrave: Legion Leader as Scout far left, Crossbow near centre |
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| Legion Leader / scout fights a skeleton giant - Frostgrave |
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| Legion Leader / Scout meets his fate in the Frostgrave game. |
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| Casualty area from the Frostgrave game 2017 |
Below are the other shields for the remaining 19 crossbowmen after putty + CA glue, Mr. Surfacer, C, sanding priming. For some reason the photo has a brown tinge but they are primed black. As always primer shows up problems. The shields where the wood gran is still prominent are the ones with Mr. Surfacer despite my adding a little Vallejo putty.
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| 19 Crossbow shields primed black |
I added some CA (liquid Crazy glue) to the shields that still had very predominant wood grain (ones done with Mr. Surfacer) unfortunately it is hard to control and I got a little more than I wanted reducing the definition between the shield rims and surface (see column on left). However I painted the rims in steel on the first 4 and it brings back the definition. The shiny spot is where I added some gloss varnish to fill in a hole left by the putty the CA did not fill.
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| Shields, with some of the rims painted. |
Everything is drying on the Crossbow template figure in my dehydrator in preparation for the final spray coat of Army painter flat varnish and I will add some gloss varnish by hand to some of the metallic parts. I will use Tamiya semi-gloss varnish on the Legion Leader as he is predominantly metal that should have some sheen and then hand paint on flat varnish to areas that should be flat like flesh.
Update 25-26 April 2020
Here are pictures of the back and front of the Dark Elf crossbow figure after an application of Army painter Anti-Shine (flat) spray varnish and of the Dark Elf Legion Leader spray varnished with Tamiya semi-gloss varnish.
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| Back |
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| Front |
The semi-gloss spray varnish has done a good job of preserving the original sheen of the armour on the Legion Leader and the flat spray varnish has removed the unwanted shine from the Dark Elf Crossbowman. Not sure I need to hand paint semi-gloss / satin varnish on the Dark Elf crossbow's metallic parts as they don't look overly flat. I will consider hand painting some flat acrylic varnish on the Legion leader's non armoured areas like: gloves, wooden handle and skin. His base cold also use some earth added in for contrast like the crossbow figure has.
April 27, 2020
I hand painted some Vallejo flat brush on varnish to the Legion leaders clothing, gloves, mace handle and flesh, but left his armour and boots semi-gloss, no doubt he has some lackey to polish them! I also added some earth like ballast flock to his base. The Crossbowmen got some Vallejo satin varnish with a little gloss mixed in brush on the metal skulls. The effect is subtle but I think it improves the figure, not sure if it will show in the picture.
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| Front |
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| Front |
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| Back |
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| Close up front. |
Now that the template crossbowman is finished I can start painting the remaining 19 figures, 10 will be like the one above using Vallejo Game Colour Imperial Purple the other 10 similar but with Citadel Liche purple (Army Painter Alien purple used on the Legion Leader), so I can distinguish the two regiments apart.
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| The 19 Crossbows needing painting, |
In the picture above the group of 10 on the left are from the original box set I bought in the 1990s and had started to paint from scratch in the dark blue livery, including the one on the far right that I have now repainted purple as the new template figure. The group of 10 on the right are from an eBay purchase in various colour schemes including the one in the centre I started to paint in the original purple livery with the light snakebite leather armour.
Below is an example of a different way of painting these crossbow figures from the Stuff of Legends, painter Stuart Thomas:
http://www.sodemons.com/rhstuartt/plastics3rd/pbs3darkelf/index.htm
I like the way these are painted, other than the white shirt and trousers that just seems a bit too bright for Dark Elves, but there was a different look in the 1980s and early 1990s for Dark Elves. Presumably these figure were painted in the early 1990s, but I can't say for sure. I would prefer to see the shirt and trousers in purple, but that would mean changing the leather armour to brown which is essentially what I have done.
Update September 2025
As often happens the project got put on hold do to other priorities. Since the last update I have switched from WFB to Fantastic Battles as my mass combat Fantasy rule system. I am now trying to get at least 12 of the crossbowmen finished for a Fantastic Battles campaign and will need a unit made up of 3 companies (bases with 4 figures each) for a total 12 of them including command. The unit will be in purple with dark brown leather armour and black boots and gloves with some silver ornamentation. I am mulling over different flesh / skin face options using Vallejo Game Colour elfic flesh and / or GW Pallid Wych flesh and purple wash.
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| I like the faces on 4, 6 and 7 |
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| Latest finished template figure |
The above example has AP Imperial Purple for the uniform colour and the face is painted with a base coat of Rakarth Flesh (beige grey), wash with AP purple ink wash and highlight with GW Pallid
Wych Flesh. However the face is a bit chalky, maybe I can fix it with a glaze mix of flesh wash (light reddish brown) plus a little purple wash.
Below if the regiment I am working on (including the template figure) that I want to get done soon. Unlike my other archer units for the Dark Elves these will have regular crossbows not repeating crossbows, it means they hit harder but have to take time to reload.
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| WIP the dark elf crossbow regiment for Fantastic Battles |
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| Stats card for Fantastic Battles |
The above crossbow are called light due to their leather armour. Below are the stats for a unit of Dark Elf Armoured Crossbows with repeating crossbows and chain mail armour. I represent the faster fire of the repeating crossbows with the "poison" trait. and the armour using the "doughty" trait.
I am also planing a regiment of Dark Elf longbows, template figure below, I think the flesh is a bit too dark (perhaps a purple wash and highlight with GW Pallid Wych flesh) but otherwise I like it.
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| Heartbreaker Witch Elf archer |
