Tall Poppies

 Tall Poppies. 

That's what they called us, almost 20 years ago. It was towards the end of my final year of primary school, which today remains one of the happiest times of my life, and I had been called in with a bunch of other classmates, a lot of whom I was friends with, and a lot of whom in hindsight were probably considered the highest performing academically, for a short little lecture thing. There we were sat all around in a quiet classroom, and my teacher at the time (an Atreides-grade tutor who happily indulged in my passions for fictional worlds, introduced us all to the wider body of Douglas Adams and who will forever hold my eternal admiration) explained to us that we were all of us a a special sort called Tall Poppies. 

Being Tall Poppies meant that we were especially intellectually gifted types, with enormous potential in life, but it also meant we were likely prone to eccentricities and, most crucially, would draw a lot of ire from others, because the world was very hostile to eccentric intellectually gifted types with sensitive souls, and would likely throw all manner of venom at us as we grew older, because people fundamentally do not like Tall Poppies. They typically try to cut down the Tall Poppies in their midst. 

Doubtless for the kids in the audience today this will all sound terribly elitist and bourgeoise, and it is true they missed a bit of a trick in not recognising that everyone can be a Tall Poppy with the right circumstances behind them, but remember this was back in the ancient halcyon days of 2005, when everything was all milkshakes and rich girls and lovely lady lumps, and when Hummers roamed the earth. It was still a very neoliberal bourgeoise time. 

More importantly though, it was very uplifting for me at the time, I got a really good feeling out of considering myself a Tall Poppy, a bright shining example along with all my other fellow Tall Poppies. I wore it as a badge of pride. 

Then primary school ended, and intermediate school began. 

The horrors of those dark times, and of the high school and university years that followed, are not stories for this blog. Some secrets are best left left undiscovered, the galaxy remains a better place for them being undisturbed. Suffice to say that much of the world began to damn well try it's hardest to cut this particular Tall Poppy down to size, or failing that to stomp it flat. And it's never really stopped. 

This is compounded by my discovery that, as that teacher long ago was probably trying to warn us all about, I happen to inhabit a country with a very, very deep distaste for ambition and high achievement. The urge to cut down the Tall Poppies is strong, most visibly illustrated by one of the most grievous insults in its cultural lexicon being 'Tryhard'. 

And in 2013, as I was drawing up plans for my Wood Elf army, it was this story, this overwhelming impression of the whole world trying to cut down this Tall Poppy, this tremendous desire to just see all the Tall Poppies grow free, that was the genesis for the Glade of Poppies, and the guardians who defended them. 

After I had enjoyed a much needed palette cleansing break working on Tau starships, I returned to the fantasy project and followed up my first full regiment with my second Warhammer regiment and my first ever metal Warhammer troops, the Eternal Guard. The reason for this choice for the next addition to the army was simple - I was working towards a very specific goal that was critically important to the army overall, but in order to make absolutely certain I would do a good job of it I needed to build up to it in a series of three distinct stages. The first of these stages had been getting some practice in on the basics of painting Wood Elves with the archers. The next stage would be to practice painting gold/bronze Elven armour, and there was no better unit to practice that on than 20 Eternal Guard models. 

Of course, quite besides such matters of practical convenience, I had also quickly grown to love the imagery and concept of the Eternal Guard as an elite anchor unit around which the nimble Glade Guard regiments pivoted and weaved. The awesome artwork of them battling skeletons in the snow that featured in the army book only sweetened the deal, as did the spectacular metal sculpts and the awe inspiring green and gold colour scheme the 'Evy Metal studio painted theirs in. 

Plus I really like the name Eternal Guard. It's very fun to say with the Rs rrrolled. "The EtEARrnal GuaRred." "The ETERNAL GUARD." 

I guess it's kind of hard to properly convey in text format, without being able to hear the full scenery chewing going on. But take my word for it. 

Painting the unit went much more smoothly than the Glade Guard. The largely prebuilt metal sculpts meant getting them to rank up was very easy, which left me free from worrying about making sure they lined up next to each other and let me work through them in batches. This resulted in getting through about one rank of them each week in what remains one of the most successful examples of assembly line painting in the modern era of my model painting. 

The colours were much the same as the rest of the Elves, with two notable exceptions being the lighter green cloth, painted with Warboss Green Goblin Green and highlighted with Nurgling Green Rotting Flesh, and of course the golden bronze armour which was done with a base of Hashut Copper Dwarf Bronze drybrushed with Ghenna's Gold Shining Gold and a final drybrush of Golden Griffon Tin Bitz to give a silvery finish to the gold. 

The bases were originally planned to be liberally covered in big tall red poppies, sculpted from greenstuff. Such an ambitious vision quickly proved to be well beyond the capabilities of my greenstuff skills and patience at the time, and at the time there was no source of pre-made red flowers available to me, so the initial concept was scaled back to just a single red poppy growing out of the base of the Guardian champion, the unit leader pointing down at it dramatically to remind the whole regiment of exactly what it is they are fighting for. 

The banner was much simpler to do, with the bigger surface area of the flag giving more breathing room for the device of a simple poppy. On the other hand, the banner is also why this unit was one of the two most painful and challenging headaches in the army. 

See, like I've mentioned before this army was started in 2013, and this unit was painted the same year. In 2013, I was still following what Warhammer rules GW currently sold, and that meant 8th edition Warhammer. 

Now, the important thing about 8th edition Warhammer is that it contains this massive collection of Common Magic Items, which are the commonplace magic items available to everyone. When you disembowel a giant spider or a troll or some other monster, it's normally one of these Common Magic Items that spills out of their carcass along with a healthy pile of gold and a healing potion or two. And in 8th edition Warhammer, the range of Common Magic Items is this enormous spread of colourful fun things like the Fencer's Blades or the Gambler's Armour or the Trickster's Helm or the Pidgeon Plucker Pendant or the Trickster's Shard or The Terrifying mask of EEEE! or The Other Trickster's Shard. And it's awesome and easily one of the best parts about 8th edition Warhammer (we don't talk about what the army books do with their magic items). 

Eternal Guard of course are able to take a magic banner, and for these ones I opted for a Razor Standard. This is mostly because I was still very new and unfamiliar with Warhammer and how a lot of the magic items fitted together, and the Razor Standard on Eternal Guard was a popular photocopy special at the time. It is hard to go wrong with some nice simple extra armour piercing on a regiment after all, especially one that throws out as many attacks as Eternal Guard in 8th edition do. 

Then from late 2014 to the end of 2015 I broke ties with what Warhammer rules GW was selling and began to pivot from 8th edition Warhammer to 6th edition Warhammer. This is important because the lineup of Common Magic Items in 6th edition Warhammer is different to 8th edition - there are fewer of them in those core rules. I was aware of this moving into 6th edition, but payed little heed to it, reasoning that the Common Magic Items I had chosen for the army would surely be in that edition too. 6th edition Warhammer might have fewer Common Magic Items sure, but it can't have that many fewer of them - after all, magic items are fun and cool, and you need lots of different Common Magic Items to fleece off to local merchant traders for gold, or to feed your blacksmiths and artisans for raw enchanted materials with which to craft more useful magic items with. 

Yes there was a sad pathetic little list of basic Common Magic Items in the Wood Elf army book, but surely that was just a bare skeleton list, a short little cheat sheet listing a few of the most basic ones for quick reference. It couldn't be the entire list of Common Magic Items for 6th edition Warhammer. No fantasy game could possibly have such a depressingly piddly number of Common Magic Items. There had to be a more comprehensive list in the 6th edition core rulebook where the rest were listed. 

Wait. 

What? 

Wait, WHAT? 

WHAT? 

What is this? 

No, seriously. 

What the HELL is this! 

Pirinen! Cavatore! Where's the fucking Enchanted Items!

Look at it. Just look at it. Only one page? And no miscellaneous Enchanted items at all? Where's the Pidgeon Plucker Pendant? Where's the Terrifying Mask of EEEE? Where's the set items? What kind of joyless Sour Prude who hates fun wrote this thing? 

The most serious problem here however was that this Common Magic Item list doesn't have any Magic Standards at all in it, except for the War Banner which is the most joyless and boring Common Magic Standard of the bunch. You would think that the Razor Standard, with its simple reasonable AP on the unit's attacks, would be safe and ubiquitous across all the editions, but no evidently even that one is too fun and interesting for whatever Sour Prude was in charge of the 6th edition Common Magic Items list. 

And so, just like that, my Eternal Guard were not usable in the 6th edition that had so captured my attention. 

This was enormously frustrating for several years. Eventually after a little experimentation I settled on replacing the Razor Standard with a Banner Of Dwindling, which is an army book item and thus guaranteed to be accessible in any Warhammer game I would be seriously interested in playing frequently. It also had the added advantage of being much more cinematic and evocative, and has generally been a much better magic standard all around, but still it's the principle of the thing that matters here. 

I was just fortunate that such a chance was even possible due to where this regiment comes from, the Glade of Poppies, which by now had crystalised into a major centre of learning and scholarship, as well as a powerhouse of artifice and magic item production in the chunk of Athel Loren I had carved out for myself, the Meadows of Heaven (because what else was it going to be called with the origin of this army). Being a centre for magic item production meant that they have plenty of Magic Standards available to take into battle. 

The Defenders of The Glade Of Poppies

Once the Glade of Poppies was the crown jewel of the Meadows of Heaven, second only to the capital of Imaginaerum in wonder. It was a centre of learning, knowledge and academia, filled with some of the wisest minds in the Meadows of Heaven, and for many leagues beyond, and many scholars could be found within it, passing their knowledge on and studying the world around them ever more. Its name came from the great blood red poppies that grew in the grass of its clearings and meadows. These were left to grow free, and so grew to be extremely tall, some even getting to be taller than the elf children that played around them. Some of the greatest and fairest Wishmasters of the Meadows of Heaven came from this place, and all studied in the Glade of Poppies at one point or another. The advancements and knowledge of those who dwelt there was put to good use in bettering the lives of all who resided in the Meadows of Heaven.

It was during Cyanathair's first attack against Athel Loren, at the very start of the Secret War, that the Glade of Poppies was ruined, as the glade became the site of one of the bloodiest battles of all those fought in the Meadows of Heaven. Hearing of the Glade of Poppies and its splendour filled The Corruptor with rage and hatred, and the creature sent a titanic horde of Beastmen and terrible monstrosities to raze and despoil the province. Massed rank upon rank of Eternal Guard stood against the onslaught, supported by hundreds of elven archers. Initially the battle went well for the Wood Elves, who struck down thousands of Beastmen and their vile allies. But still the horde pressed on, seemingly without number. The decisive turning point of the battle came when the strange shamans that accompanied the horde managed to work a great and horrific spell. With tremendous power fueled by the carnage and bloodshed unfolding around them, they managed to tear a hole between worlds, and from it poured a host of creatures born from nightmares, directly behind the elven lines. Caught between the two forces, the Wood Elves were trapped and the battle was lost. The elves fought on with the courage of true heroes, and slew scores of Beastmen and Daemons alike, but the combined forces arrayed against them were too large to fully overcome, and eventually only twenty Eternal Guard warriors remained, the tattered remnants from different regiments banded together for a final stand. They fought back to back against the overwhelming tide until all became blood and darkness. 

When dawn broke the next morning, they awoke in the centre of the Glade of Poppies, surrounded by blood, bodies, ash and destruction. The horde that had assailed the place was gone, but the Glade of Poppies was devastated. Countless trees had been cut down, burnt, or torn apart. Spites lay pinned up with nails and spikes of hell-forged black iron, their forms broken and mutilated. Sacred stones lay toppled and desecrated. The air was thick with choking cinders. And every single one of the great poppies from which the province gained its name had been cut down and stamped on.
As the survivors saw the desolation, their hearts were filled with despair and grief for their once beautiful home. And so it was that they vowed that never again while they still drew breath would the poppies be allowed to be cut down again. 

Since those dark times the Glade of Poppies has been healed, and blood red poppies once again grow free within it, though none have yet reached the height they once were. But the damage wrought in that fateful battle has left lasting scars amongst the Asrai of the Meadows of Heaven, and it is unlikely they will ever forgive themselves or the minions of Chaos for it. 

The Defenders of the Glade of Poppies were first formed from the original twenty survivors of the battle of the Glade of Poppies, formally grouped together as a single fighting unit. In the years since its ranks have been filled from a combination of their descendants and other Elves of the Glade of Poppies who have survived terrible battles. trained by the remaining original twenty not lost to attrition. 

The Defenders of The Glade Of Poppies typically carry into battle one of two banners. The Banner of Poppies is the only banner that did not fall in the battle of the Glade of Poppies, and was waved defiantly at the heart of the defence until the bitter end. The Banner of Vengeance was created to the same design in the aftermath of the battle, woven by the widowed maidens of the Glade of Poppies and given the most powerful enchantments to help their warriors in their quest to defend the Glade of Poppies forevermore. 

The Forest has not forgotten the promise that the Defenders of The Glade of Poppies made so many years ago, and wherever they step foot blood red poppies, of the same variety that grow in the Glade of Poppies, are known to spring up and grow, seemingly in reminder of their duty.

Since then the Defenders of The Glade Of Poppies have served with distinction, proving themselves to be one of my deadliest units and the star performer of the army by far. They don't always carry the game, but for every time they've been decimated by a wave of gunfire and boiling lead or scattered by Fanatics, there's two more times they've ripped the throat out of the opposing army by routing the opposing centre almost single-handedly. 

Needless to say this has made me awfully proud of them. 

On Chastity

 "And from that gaping maw of darkness there roared and seethed a great stinging wind that choked at the lung and burnt the eyes and skin, and NONE could hear themselves within the terror! And the great wind roared and reared and swelled unto a vast and fearsome whirlwind that did dower beyond the highest reaches of the sky, blocking it out with burning smoke and brimstone, and the whirlwind howled and raged and tossed them about as dust before the storm, WHIPPING them round and round within the burning tempest until they all at once SCREAMED, SCREAMED with all their might that the pain might end, yet NO SOUND did leave their broken bodies that was not lost amongst the roar of the tempest an' the lightning! 

Then did the lightning crack and split the tempest that it might send forth a great rain, not of water nor of blood but of BOILING OIL, and their skin was lashed and scared and seared 'til red and black yet still the rain of boiling oil did not cease, raking across their wretched frames again and again and as one they cried forth in begging that 'EMPEROR is LORD! EMPEROR deliver us from ruin! EMPEROR deliver us from darkness!' 

And all them that were knew in their hearts that the END OF DAYS was at hand, and all them twisted and quaked with almighty terror at the judgement of the fire! 

YET! 

Yet it was not the end. 

For at once there came from on high a vast and awesome blast of trumpets, clear as the dawn and clarion to smite all sound before its ring! And the heavens broke, and before the pit did usher forth a great host of glorious golden light that split the eye and drove back the darkness in fear, and the lightning and the tempest did part and scatter! 

Then did there come a glorious voice speaking, 'I shall salve thy wounds and raise ye all unto the highest of heavens, where the clouds do not reach and where light is everlasting, 

I shall strike down thy foes with fire and fury and plunge them to the blackest pit, there to wail in horror as their flesh rots before them forevermore, 

I shall raise you up, all ye who are my chosen people, and carry you beyond pain and death, beyond heaven and hell unto a great shining kingdom of gold there to stay at my table in the eternal glory of absolute purity, if you will but honour my name in deed and word and body and soul!' 

And their shame was washed in the fire, and they did KNOW in their very hearts that they heard the word of their MASTER, the once and forever KING!" 

And such it is that when the night is darkest and most terrible, when all that is good and noble seems lost, does the most glorious and radiant of LIGHT shine through the filth and the storm to smite away the lighting and the tempest! 

Take heed and remember all you here today, that it was only when the men were lost in the very deepest and vilest bowls of the pit, only when they were utterly broken, hanging before the very precipice of DAMNATION, that it was at last that the EMPEROR did come to their aid, and it is this that is His covenant to mankind that in our darkest hour HE SHALL RAISE US FROM PERDITION! 

I will not lie to you. I have no doubt we are all aware these are dark days before us, the direst of signs are there for any with the eyes to look. It's true, times are harsh, the struggle before us is immense and it will only get more savage and terrible before the end.

But! 

That is precisely, PRECISELY, why it is now more than ever than you should take heart, and have FAITH, and fortify yourself with the TRUTH that is the GOD EMPEROR OF ALL MANKIND! For just as He reached down His hand in salvation for those fearful men in the pit, so too shall He again deliver the ultimate victory of man for all those who hold loyal to him NO MATTER THE COST! 

I was like them once. Once I too was lost and alone, cast adrift in the empty Babylon of progress, my body numbed by the false promises of comfort while my soul screamed out in excruciation yet I WAS SAVED! I opened my eyes to the darkness and corruption around me and opened my eyes to the TRUTH of the gospel of the God Emperor our once and true Lord, and when I gave myself unto his most sublime mercy I was DELIVERED from my torment, my sin was NAILED to the wheel and my soul was washed anew white as snow by the blood of my scars! 

Now I stand before you to tell you all to take heart, for all we need do to find our way to the Emperor and His Kingdom Of Gold is but to let go of our doubt and commit ourselves utterly to His word, in mind and deed and body and soul, and give unto him our ultimate loyalty unto death my brothers it is NEVER too late to renounce the darkness and cast yourself into the shining radiant purity of THE LIGHT! 

Let all who would stand with Him then behold the very face of His Light now, in the radiant purity of His Angels who walk among us, those personally saved by the Spirit Hand of The God Emperor, His most beloved Sororitas, keepers of the faith! 

Tremendous news! After so much hard work and loyalty to The Emperor my keeper, my faith has been rewarded with the first actual unit for my Witch Hunters. 

Squad Chastity is one of three planned 'assault' units of Battle Sisters. Much like my Tau, I'm building this army with a distinction between offensive core troop units equipped for going out and attacking the other side and defensive core troop units intended for locking down important sites and guarding against the other side coming out and attacking me (the key difference here of course being the total absence of a third force of flexible tactical units that can be used for either mission as needed). 

As alluded to earlier, this army represents my first ever clean sheet colour scheme, not reverse-engineered from any GW studio examples. Instead it comes from my own real life experience, being lifted directly from the school uniform of a Catholic Girls' School that some of my friends went to. In particular some goth girls I knew from there largely hated the place with a passion, and their horror stories about it left me with plentiful inspiration for grim dark religious horror about grim dark religious horror 40k factions. 

(One particular tall glass of gothic brooding with a fondness for fire and blood curdling threats left an especially strong impression on me, and ended up inspiring the basis for one of the characters in this army and a number of other villains across the Warhammers and beyond as I processed the apocalyptic fallout of an attempt to date her, but that is not a story for this blog) 

Most notably, ever since I have always seen the Sisters of Battle as Catholic Schoolgirls In Space. Forget that nuns with guns nonsense, they are absolutely Catholic Schoolgirls with rocket guns and power armour (right down to actually being Schola Progenium brats in the codex lore), not least because that concept is SO MUCH MORE BRUTALLY GRIM-DARK, between the child soldier connotations and the implications of them being bound to and bossed around by an order of sleazy old beardos with near unlimited power and near zero oversight or accountability. The Ecclesiarchy is supposed to be all the worst parts of organised Abrahamic religion thrown into a telepod and given half a space empire to do as they please, and I am here for that as the nemesis for my grey Supermarionation Space Wellsians. 

Anyway, this all culminated in one fateful evening after school when I had the sudden divine vision to try and take the uniform colours of this Catholic Girls' School and see how they looked on the Sisters of Battle in Dawn of War: Soulstorm. The final result was a lovely blue-white-gold colour scheme that I was so delighted with that I knew then and there that if I ever got the chance to do a Witch Hunters army on the tabletop that would be the colour scheme for the Sisters of Battle in it. The rest, as you can see, is history. 

This particular incarnation of the colour scheme takes full advantage of the total freedom of colour combination in real life model painting to introduce some colour-coding for the different ranks. Thus, the regular Battle Sisters have lighter medium-blue robes (the source material's colour for junior-year students) while the veterans like the Superior leading this squad wear dark blue robes (the source material's colour for senior-years). 

For those playing at home, the robes are respectively: 

Medium Blue - Regal Blue base, layered with Caledor Sky Enchanted Blue and highlighted with a 50:50 mix of Caledor Sky Enchanted Blue and Lothern Blue Icy Blue 

Dark Blue - Abaddon Black Chaos Black base, layered with Regal Blue and highlighted with a 50:50 mix of Regal Blue and Caledor Sky Enchanted Blue 

The white armour was built up in drybrushes starting from Mechanicus Standard Grey and then working up to Dawnstone Codex Grey then a 50:50 mix of Dawnstone Codex Grey and Administratum Grey Fortress Grey, then pure Administratum Grey Fortress Grey and finally White Scar Skull White. After some sage deliberation I settled on the grey-based white palette rather than blue-white palette, both shown in the painting guide featured in White Dwarf #292(UK). 

I also decided to use red lenses on the gunsights, both to act as a nice spot colour among all those blues and whites as well as to act as a perfect visual contrast to the green gunsights on my Tau. 

The Sisters themselves received a range of hair colours, including a few skunk stripes for maximum 2003 gothic energy, and as a throwback to one of my favourite 40k art pieces - a corner vignette in Cities of Death featuring a Battle Sister blasting away with her bolter through a ruined window while incoming fire impacts all around her. 

This illustration alone is a big chunk of why I rate Cities of Death equal to Codex: Cityfight. I just wish the PDF scan I got this from hadn't literally cut it off at the knees. You can feel the Evanescence and Within Temptation radiating from it

The same artwork was also major factor in my decision to go with dark grey urban rubble for the bases. From the outset I knew I had to base these models in a Witch Hunter army's natural habitat - sweeping through a dark gloomy Imperial city, wiping heretics and deviants away like the vermin they are with holy fire and blessed bolt-shells! This was also done with an eye towards building up this army with a central focus on Cityfighting for similar reasons. 

Ironically for being inspired by a Catholic school, all these blues and whites and golds ended up being wonderfully reminiscent of Orthodox Church aesthetics (which I have always deeply and openly loved), which ended up being the genesis for the army's backstory as being rooted in the Eastern Ecclesiarchy, a de facto third Convent/Synod of the Ministorum responsible for managing and enlightening the Ultima Segmentum and Eastern Fringe; in theory a subordinate offshoot from the main branches on Terra and Ophelia, but for all practical intents and purposes an equal and autonomous branch, a status quo accepted by all because of both the logistical difficulties of directly managing the galactic east from Ophelia in the galactic south and Terra in the galactic centre-west, and because much like Ultramar it ensures the Imperium has a solid power base on the other side of the galaxy from its capital worlds. 

In turn its primary Order Militant of Adepta Sororitas, the Order of The Crux Celestas that these Battle Sisters belong to, is technically an Order Minoris (though no-one is quite sure anymore whether it's supposed to be a subsidiary of the Convent Sanctorum or Convent Prioris, such information being long since lost to the ages), but has grown large and independent enough to be a full Convent in its own right, easily a match for any of the original six Orders Militant in size, equipment and significance. 

And of course all this puts the army in the perfect spot to get into lots of fights with my Tau. 

Unfortunately despite my best efforts the camera still seems to hate this colour scheme, stubbornly refusing to get the colour balance on the blues just right and leaving them appearing much lighter than they actually are in reality. The only exception so far has been this work in progress shot of the squad collected together in a corner of my painting space. 

But such matters are of little concern in the Emperor's divine plan! Now here, take plenty of these pamphlets and be sure to share them with all your family and friends. And remember we'll be meeting to discuss and study the Emperor's Holy Creed every Tuesday night, Thursday night and Sunday morning. And be sure to stop by our first community pot-luck next Saturday! 

I Lied

 I don't have Netflix. 

Die, Heretic.

Intelligence Report - Eyes Only

--TO: Shas'O'T'au Kais'ka'Eoro'Da'Anuk, Aun'El'T'au Or'res'Cea, Gue'El Santiago, Penros Coalition Command--

--SENT: T'au'Il'fannor'Vre'Shi'B'Ko--

--AUTHOR: Por'Vre'T'au Bentu'Doran--

--SUBJECT: Intelligence Report: Bandit Group S-- 

-- CROSS-REF.: Penros Campaign, Pirate Activity, Mont'au'Gue'la, Terror Activity-- 

Tau'fann, 

As part of our ongoing efforts to monitor the various adversarial groups present in this system, I have been working in conjunction with Kor'Vre'T'au Sa'Kunas to compile the activities of the unidentified Mont'au'Gue'la terrorist group currently labeled BANDIT GROUP S. Bandit Group S is of course the most recent Mont'au'Gue'la faction to have been observed in the Penros system, and while we have little experience with them on the ground Sa'Kunas's teams have done a commendable job of tracking and observing them from a distance, giving us considerable data to work with. 

Most recently one of Sa'Kunas's teams was able to capture an incident involving Bandit Group S on the surface of Penros's seventh world, which represents the first confirmed combat action of the group within the system. 

1(a). BANDIT GROUP S 

(i)

Based on extensive analysis of image data provided by Air Caste surveillance assets, we can confirm that Bandit Group S is the same terrorist group that raided the O'Leath'Elan'ro'Retha weapons complex some two kai'rotaa ago - visual profiles and markings match those observed on the units involved in that attack. 

It would appear that after escaping from the O'Leath'Elan'ro'Retha complex these Mont'au'Gue'la were by means unknown able to remotely access the long-range matter transmitters located in the Penros system. This would explain their sudden appearance in the vicinity of Matter Transmitter 3, some time after its seizure by Ar'cea militants. It is not known at this time whether the Ar'cea assets around Matter Transmitter 3 were eliminated by Bandit Group S or abandoned the site before their arrival, though orbital imagery of the site suggests the latter scenario is more plausible. 

We can also confirm that the terrorists of Bandit Group S are affiliated with the larger Es'Mont'El'Da terror group (or "Night Lords" in their native Gue'sia), and as such are formed largely of a core cadre of former Gue'la shock troops. As with similar Mont'au'Gue'la terror groups, these former soldiers have lost nothing of their considerable skill at arms and maintain much of their equipment including powered exoskeleton armour and a range of high-end Gue'la weaponry (see below). 

It is noteworthy that despite their clear affiliation with the Es'Mont'El'Da group, Bandit Group S does not appear to conform exactly to the standard operational and political doctrines associated with Es'Mont'El'Da cells. It is speculated that Bandit Group S may represent a splinter group or dissident element and indicate some kind of ongoing schism within the wider organisation. 

Despite this, it should be kept in mind that the differences have thus far been observed to be relatively minor in practical terms, and Bandit Group S still exhibits a lot of activities and agendas aligned with Es'Mont'El'Da, including their infamous campaigns of sickeningly excessive atrocities and crimes against sapient life. 

The assets of Bandit Group S that were identified during this incident were as follows: 

1(b). ORDER OF BATTLE (CONFIRMED) - BANDIT GROUP S

COMMANDER (Ass. Warlord): Gue'Va agent, observed directing local cells in combat and believed to be present commanding warlord of Bandit Group S. Currently given priority tracking with surveillance and observation assets. 

Observed equipment includes: 

-powered energy gauntlet 

- Gue'la medium bolt-driver with flamethrower attachment

- full complement of Gue'la manufactured grenades including fragmentation, shaped implosion charge and thermo-molecular reactive explosives. 

Subject was also observed to be equipped with powered battle armour that appears to be some kind of advanced prototype model, or at least features extensive modifications. Capabilities observed include: 

- greatly enhanced armour protection 

- greatly enhanced user strength 

- onboard shield generations 

- cosmetic intimidation modifications 

- defensive spike appliques 

Subject has been observed displaying notable skill in the following areas: 

- Fieldcraft (incl. battlefield infiltration and negotiation of adverse terrain) 

- Close quarters shock assault 

CELL 3: Five (5) Gue'Va shock troop operatives specialised for close assault. Significant EM distortion detected around this group indicates probable etheric enhancements. 

Observed equipment includes: 

- Five (5) heavy polearms with motorised blades. Believed to feature etheric enhancements to enable greater armour penetration capabilities 

- Five (5) suits of Gue'la manufactured powered battle armour. Believed to feature etheric enhancements. 

- Defensive spike applique, observed on armoured suit belonging to suspected cell leader 

- Cosmetic intimidation modifications observed on armoured suit belonging to suspected cell leader 

- Portable etheric interface device suspected present on suspected cell leader

Communications intercepts indicate the operative believed to lead this particular cell holds deep theistic beliefs venerating a deity-like figure known as 'Nurgle'. This particular religious practice has been observed consistently across a large (approx. 20% of all groups encountered near Tau Space) section of Mont'au'Gue'la terrorist and pirate groups, but has thus far been rare among Es'Mont'El'Da operatives. The other Gue'Va cell members appear to share these theistic tendencies. 

CELL 0: Three (3) suspected Gue'Va shock troop operatives trained for heavy assault, suppression, intimidation and demolition missions. 

Observed equipment includes: 

- Three (3) Her'ex'Yi heavy battlesuits with full weapons complement

CELL 1: Five (5) Gue'Va shock troop operatives trained for general combat, intimidation, subterfuge and sabotage missions. 

Observed equipment includes: 

- Four (4) lightweight handheld motorised combat blades 

- Three (3) Gue'la light plasma accelerator pistols (Identified as Type 36 models) 

- Two (2) Gue'la light bolt drivers (Identified as modified Type 3 models) 

- full complement of Gue'la manufactured grenades including fragmentation, shaped implosion charge and thermo-molecular reactive explosives. 

- Five (5) suits of Gue'la manufactured powered battle armour. 

- Defensive spike applique, observed on armoured suit belonging to suspected cell leader 

The operative believed to lead this particular cell has been observed with extensive genetic bio-augmentation. This includes: 

- Facial modification for intimidation 

- An augmented arm converted into a jaw or tentacle-like appendage. This appendage appears to have been gene-edited for use as a weapon in hand-to-hand combat, and appears to feature greatly enhanced physical strength and attacking speed. 

Operatives belonging to this cell have been observed displaying notable skill in the following areas: 

- Fieldcraft (incl. battlefield infiltration) 

- Close quarters shock assault 

CELL 2: Ten (10) Gue'Va shock troop operatives trained for general combat, intimidation, subterfuge and sabotage missions. 

Observed equipment includes: 

- Seven (7) Gue'la medium bolt drivers (Identified as modified Type 5 MOD-B models) 

- Two (2) Gue'la medium plasma accelerator rifles (Identified as Type 36 models) 

- One (1) Gue'la light bolt driver (Identified as modified Type 3 model) 

- full complement of Gue'la manufactured grenades including fragmentation, shaped implosion charge and thermo-molecular reactive explosives 

- Ten (10) suits of Gue'la manufactured powered battle armour. 

- Defensive spike applique, observed on armoured suit belonging to suspected cell leader 

The operative believed to lead this particular cell has been observed with extensive genetic bio-augmentation. This includes: 

- Facial modification for intimidation 

- An augmented arm that has been greatly expanded in size, far beyond even Gue'Va proportions. This limb appears to have been gene-edited for use as a weapon in hand-to-hand combat, and features enhanced strength directly comparable in effect to a Gue'la powered energy gauntlet, as well as increased attack speed. 

Operatives belonging to this cell have been observed displaying notable skill in the following areas: 

- Fieldcraft (incl. battlefield infiltration and negotiation of adverse terrain) 

CELL 4: Five (5) Gue'Va shock troop operatives trained for motorised combat, shock assault, intimidation, sabotage and demolition missions. 

Observed equipment includes: 

- Two (2) Gue'la medium flamethrowers (Identified as modified Type 32 models) 

- One (1) Gue'la powered energy blade of sword-type configuration 

- full complement of Gue'la manufactured grenades including fragmentation, shaped implosion charge and thermo-molecular reactive explosives 

- Defensive spike applique, observed on armoured suit belonging to suspected cell leader 

- Cosmetic modifications for intimidation observed on armoured suit belonging to suspected cell leader

- Five (5) suits of Gue'la manufactured powered battle armour 

- Five (5) Gue'la manufactured light motorised combat platforms, single-seat bicycle configuration, with full weapons complement 

The operative believed to lead this particular cell is believed to also carry a defensive energy shield generator somewhere on their person. 

Operatives belonging to this cell have been observed displaying notable skill in the following areas: 

- Advanced vehicle piloting 

- Close-quarters counter-assaults 

Note that in addition to the additional combat skills listed in the individual breakdowns, all elements of Bandit Group S have been observed displaying notable skill in night fighting conditions (common with Es'Mont'El'Da units) and strongpoint attack and siege assault operations - it is suspected that Bandit Group S has had significant history in urban warfare actions prior to their arrival in the Penros system. 

Also note that in addition to listed equipment in the individual breakdowns, all cells of Bandit Group S have been observed carrying standard tactical knives, breaching and cutting equipment and similar devices common to Gue'la shock troop forces. A complete inventory of all identified equipment and its quantities can be found in attached data file BANDIT GROUP S - EQUIPMENT INVENTORY AND TABLE INDEX. 

(ii)

In addition to the elements outlined above, decrypted Air Caste signals intercepts indicate at least two other key figures in Bandit Group S's command structure. Based on available surveillance data and mission data from Air Caste attacks on the group, it can be safely assumed that Bandit Group S contains at least one specialist in metacreative warfare, likely one of the aforementioned high-ranking command figures. Surveillance data also indicates the presence of one Class-8 lifeform among Bandit Group S forces. Finally, Surveillance data has identified at least one additional cell equipped with heavy powered combat armour. 

Mission data from Air Caste sorties performed as part of Operation KIR'LA-6 shows confirmed kills on Mal'Caor heavy combat walkers and Elan'La medium combat walkers belonging to Bandit Group S. It is believed that these confirmed kills represent the entirety of Bandit Group S armoured assets, and that the group now has no dedicated heavy support units. 

Note however that despite the apparent lack of dedicated heavy support assets, Bandit Group S still possesses at least one elite cell equipped with Her'ex'Yi battlesuits which are directly comparable to our own XV-88 armour in mass, mission profile and performance capabilities (and can indeed be considered superior to the XV-88 unit in some metrics - for more information see attached data file XV-88 VS HER'EX'YI - TACTICAL COMPARISON AND THREAT EVALUATION). 

(iii)

It is also worth noting that decrypted communications intercepts indicate that at least one high-ranking element of the Bandit Group S command structure appears to hold the same theistic beliefs as observed by the terrorists in Cell 3, centred around the same monotheistic deity figure 'Nurgle'. This indicates the possibility of a potential political schism between these figures and the otherwise atheistic elements of Bandit Group S - additional investigation into efforts to exploit this opportunity may be merited. 

(iv)

In all other areas the makeup of Bandit Group S appears to be archetypical of most Es'Mont'El'Da networks observed by the Tau Empire thus far, a decentralised raiding force optimised for unconventional warfare, covert actions and terrorism. Damage inflicted to the group as part of Operation KIR'LA-6 has caused the group to further decentralise and disperse, both from losses sustained and to better avoid the worst damage from aerial attacks. 

2. INCIDENT REPORT - OUTPOST 515 

(i)

As part of Operation KIR'LA-6 the Air Caste Command Penros has been using continuous application of aerospace strike assets to shape the advances of various hostile elements on Penros 7 - which remains the current focus of coalition operations in the system - employing targeted attacks to not only screen coalition forces on the ground and disrupt hostile operations, but also to channel and redirect the advances of the various pirate and terrorist groups active on the surface in such a way as to bring them into direct confrontation with each other. Thus far this strategy has brought coalition forces valuable time and breathing space, and the fighting around Outpost 515 represents the first such instance of Bandit Group S being drawn into conflict with other armed groups in this manner. 

Outpost 515 itself is located some 1200 Tor'kan from the current coalition evacuation zones and is a disused supply base originally constructed by the former Penros Security Forces, or 'PDF' in their Gue'sia. The site is primarily comprised of a small overhead landing pad, a few above ground stockpiles and some modest underground facilities, and is one of a number of such sites deliberately left untargeted by Air Caste forces in order to encourage hostile armed groups to converge on it. 

As best as we can determine, the primary objective of Bandit Group S was to reconnoitre the immediate vicinity of the site, with an operational goal of capturing and securing the outpost for both shelter from our Air Caste assets and for a more permanent base of operations on Penros 7. During Recon operations however, the assets from Bandit Group S dispatched on this mission ran into a force of armed fighters from BANDIT GROUP M - a more established Mont'au'Gue'la terror network active on the planet - also attacking Outpost 515 in Cadre level strength. 

The Bandit Group M Cadre observed in the incident was primarily comprised of : 

- two (2) cells of genetic-augmented Gue'la 

- one (1) cell of Gue'la light infantry (incl. heavy missile armament)

- one (1) cell of Gue'Va shock troops operating on foot (medium bolt-driver armament)

- one (1) cell of Gue'Va shock assault troops (mechanised) 

- one (1) cell of genetic-augmented Gue'Va shock troops (mechanised, suspected etheric enhancements)

- one (1) Mal'Caor autonomous heavy combat walker 

- undisclosed number of Mont'au'Gue'la command elements 

(ii)

As best as we can determine, the operational-tactical plan employed by the Bandit Group S force was to employ Cell 1 and Cell 2 as spoiling elements, infiltrating the combat zone ahead of Bandit Group M's advance to forward-deploy into positions that would disrupt and slow down Bandit Group M's progress. While Bandit Group M was thus disrupted, the motorised Cell 4 would use their speed and mobility to hunt down and engage the genetic-augmented Gue'la cells at the core of Bandit Group M's formation in coordination with Cell 3 - it would appear that the local commander determined these units to be the weakest element of Bandit Group M and concluded that their destruction would rob the force of their advantage in mass, allowing the infantry cells to mop up. Destruction of hard targets, including the heavy combat walker, appears to have been assigned to Cell 0. 

(iii)

Initial deployment of Bandit Group S assets in the area seems to corroborate this, being focused around a reverse-slope defence of one of the hills surrounding Outpost 515. Our aerial surveillance assets were unable to detect the presence of Cell 1 and Cell 2 until they broke cover at precisely D-Dec + 01:00:00, appearing in spoiling positions on the flanks of the outpost. 

Fig. 1. Bandit Group S initial deployment

(iv)

The key decisive point of the incident came at D-Dec + 02:30:00. Multi-spectral data indicates that Cell 0 attempted a medium-range insertion via matter transmission into close proximity with the Mal'Caor heavy combat walker - presumably they meant to destroy the machine with thermo-molecular impulse attacks at close range and seize the high ground it was occupying in one single stroke. However, for reasons unknown the matter transmission beam appears to have deviated off-target, instead causing the Cell 0 operatives to materialise in the midst of Battle Group M's centre battle line where they were immediately swarmed and overwhelmed by genetic-augmented Gue'la units. 

This in turn allowed the heavy combat walker to survive long enough to target Cell 4 and open fire with its main gun. The shot was a direct hit and caused heavy losses among Cell 4, ultimately causing them to be overrun by gene-augmented Gue'la forces after their advance was stalled. From there on Bandit Group S was left unable to effectively counter the considerable mass advantage of their adversary. 

Fig. 2. Bandit Group S forces in contact

(v)

A second critical point of the incident occurred at D-Dec + 03:15:34. Multi-spectral data indicates a second matter transmission, though EMR analysis indicates more similarities with space-based ether drives than with conventional matter transmitter technology. As best as we can determine from available data, the (presumed) leader of Cell 3 managed to activate some kind of etheric interface device either hidden on their person or integrated into their armoured suit. 

Immediately after activation we were able to identify the arrival of no fewer than five (5) Type-7U Etheric Lifeforms. The Etheric Lifeforms appeared adjacent to Cell 3 and cooperated closely with the Gue'Va of Cell 3 for the rest of the engagement.

The arrival of and coordination with the Etheric Lifeforms allowed Cell 3 to inflict heavy casualties on the genetic-augmented Gue'la they engaged in close quarters battle with, and canny use of these alien allies allowed Cell 3 to effectively double its manpower during combat. It is suspected that this combination is likely to become a staple fixture of future combat operations Bandit Group S engages in. While only five (5) Etheric Lifeforms were observed during this incident, we cannot rule out the capability of Bandit Group S to call on the support of greater numbers of these allies. 

The presence of Type-7U Etheric Lifeforms affiliated with Bandit Group S also represents an opportunity for further study into the connection between Mont'au Gue'la terror groups and these lifeforms. Based on historical data there appears to be some kind of link between Type-7 Etheric lifeforms of all kinds and those Mont'au Gue'la practicing 'Nurgle' type theism - current hypothesis is that the Type-7 Etheric Lifeforms have somehow managed to persuade the Mont'au Gue'la to adopt their own cultural practices, forming a strong basis for a practical alliance. 

The presence of Type-7 Etheric Lifeforms of any kind also indicates a strong possibility that Bandit Group S may seek to employ biological warfare attacks against civilian targets. It is imperative that additional medical supplies and equipment are adequately distributed to the civilian populace, and that additional quarantine and screening measures are prepared to be implemented at the earliest notice. Mass distribution of vaccines, anti-viral treatments, antibiotics and immune supplements among civilian concentrations should be given high priority. 

(vi)

Additional note should be made to Cell 1, which while largely immobilised by the swampy terrain they deployed in did succeed in tying up Bandit Group M forces far disproportionately larger to themselves. In this respect the restrictive terrain was less of an obstacle than it may otherwise have been and appears to have worked as an acceptable strongpoint all factors considered. 

Fig. 3. Bandit Group S Cell 1 in combat

(vii)

Ultimately following a protracted Six Dec engagement the remaining elements of Bandit Group S disengaged with high casualties. Outpost 515 remains nominally in the hands of Bandit Group M, though Air Caste assets continue to interdict Bandit Group M assets around the site. 

CONCLUSION 

Although Bandit Group S has sustained considerable damage thus far, it remains a formidable force that is rapidly adapting to the operational conditions on Penros 7, and is likely to recover quickly. It is likely that the group's leadership have learnt key lessons in their initial combat engagements on Penros 7, and the group retains both unknown numbers of Etehric Lifeform allies and credible biological weapons of mass destruction. 

They should not be underestimated. 

--FILE CLOSED--

Yesterwynde

 Fortune can be funny sometimes. 

I started this year fully expecting to quietly abandon Warhammer altogether, my energy to resist the Sour Prudes spent and resigned to seeing the boot of the Sour Prudes stamping on the face of one of my favourite tabletop game forever. Wherever I looked on the internet it seemed that all that was once green and good in Warhammer was gone, and bothering to defend or cherish it was a lost cause. 

Then one of my 2004hammer buddies returned from a Battletech sabbatical with a mighty need for some fantasy action, and after a couple of small scale games I trapped them in a castle. And ever since then I've had more games of Warhammer in the last four months than I've had in years. And it turns out that none of the Sour Prude attitudes seem to have reached across the ocean to here. 

It would seem that the wider world is scarcely aware of the existence of Warhammer players in Aotearoa... for which I am very thankful... 

At any rate, it means that my love of Warhammer has been resuscitated from oblivion for a second time (or third, depending on how you're counting), and that has me thinking back to how it all started. After finishing the Scouts, my first ever unit for Warhammer, work started almost immediately on the rest of the archers (save one of course) from the Battalion box set, the 16 chosen to become a band of Glade Guard and my first ever ranked line regiment for Warhammer. 

These would however prove far more challenging, and ended up becoming the longest and most difficult model project I had ever done to that point. Looking back the actual time period was still not very long, about 3 or 4 months or so, but at the time it seemed to last an eternity. 

What made things so difficult was the ranking nature meant all the models had to line up flush together side by side in base contact. This is not too much of a challenge in and of itself, but Glade Guard are your classic hooded and cloaked rogue archer types, which means two things: 

1) They have arms thrust directly forward in shooting poses, which project forward. 

2) They have dramatic billowing cloaks, which project sideways. 

These two features mean that each Glade Guard model occupies extra space, and makes it very complicated to line them all up next to each other without their cloaks pushing into the models next to them and their bow arms poking into the models directly in front of them. 

I am not a total dumb-dumb, so I had anticipated and planned for this when I first started the project. My plan was to mock up the poses and positioning of the models by dry-fitting their components together with blue-tack, allowing me to test out how to set them up so they would all fit together nicely. It seemed like a sensible idea, but it had two fatal flaws. First, the blue-tack I had available was not particularly strong, causing the model pieces to fall apart far too quickly and left the models collapsing into each other in a sticky pile of model bits right when I had finished lining them up. The other flaw was that since blue-tack is soft and elastic, the pieces attached to it would bend if they had any pressure applied to them, causing the cloaks in particular to get squeezed into their attached models in ways they never would when glued. 

This left me with no other option but to work on the unit model by model, painting up one or two at a time, assembling them, and then positioning them not to bump into each other, which was effective but took a very long time and gave very little sense of real progress. But even after all the models were painted and assembled, the problems still did not stop. 

See, when I started the Wood Elf army my budget was not limitless, and certain things had to be sacrificed in the name of procuring the models and rules needed to start - specifically basing materials. For the first couple of months, I had none of the basing materials I had planned to get, and the 'completed' Wood Elf models were blue-tacked to their bases while they waited for them to arrive. This was part of the plan, because I had always planned to paint and assemble the models apart from their bases and then decorate the bases separately, gluing the models down only once their base was finished (this was of course done to avoid the problem of models' feet getting covered in a layer of sand and flock which I had encountered with my first attempts at basing many years earlier). But it also meant that when the basing supplies finally did arrive it required another month or so of going back and individually basing all the models one by one, which ended up almost doubling their time to completion. 

By the end of it I was utterly burnt out on painting Warhammer models. But I also had my first ever ranked unit of troops. 

Doubtless you will immediately note the hooded heads. As I mentioned in the last episode all the archers in the army, both Scouts and Glade Guard, use the hooded heads that come on the Glade Guard sprue. This is because I had been playing hundreds of hours of Diablo III as a Demon Hunter and loved every second of it, and wanted to play Warhammer with an army of hooded rogues carrying missile weapons. Seeing the first ranked mass of hooded cloaked elf rogues put together was all the vindication I needed for my proof of concept. 

While this was going on the identity of both this unit and the wider army was starting to take shape, nourished by a steady stream of Nightwish and shooting demons in the face with crossbows (I did also dabble a little in smashing demons in the face with an axe and devouring demons with an army of spiders, but they just didn't quite do it for me the same way as shooting them in the face with crossbows did). It was also influenced by research into the Wood Elf army book itself and my first glances into online tactics guides, because at this time I still had no real idea how Warhammer was supposed to work and had not yet learnt that online Warhammer tactics guides were all largely written by Sour Prudes Who Hate Fun. 

Having looked at the various unit options at my disposal and worked out what ones I wanted to use most of all, I had already settled on a core of no fewer than four Glade Guard regiments. This was a good mirror of the four Troops units that were a common fixture of the small 2000 point Warhammer 40,000 armies I was already familiar with, had a nice visual symmetry and seemed like a nice round number of basic troop units to hang other stuff off. What's really important at this stage however, is that it was very quickly apparent that this was also a perfect number to theme each Glade Guard unit around a different season - four Wood Elf archer kinbands, four seasons, it all lined up perfectly. 

Having looked at the various tactica guides I had... been told that most of the stuff I liked most was a pile of oozing hot shit garbage and that I was a shit munching limpdick baby who should kill himself for bothering with it at all and honestly was a nancyboy fake fan for not just investing in a bunch of manly meatbread guzzling Chaos Warriors and a Bolt Thrower album instead. Because apparently there were only three Warhammer factions that you were allowed to like, and the rest all just existed to have mean things written about them. And that pattern repeated down to the scale of army 'builds' within each faction too. That was what the Warhammer Khomunohteh was like in 2013. Who am I kidding that's what it's still like in most parts today too. 

But I digress. I had also learnt amongst the digital jock posturing that one very good combination for a Wood Elf army was a unit of Glade Guard joined by a Spellweaver with a Resplendence of Luminescents. This gave the wizard a unit to hide in, and the Luminescents made the archers' shooting attacks inflict Magical damage, and the range of a lot of the Spellweaver's magic spells were about the same distance as the range the Glade Guard wanted to be at when shooting stuff, so it was a nice symbiosis all around. 

I already wanted a bunch of Glade Guard, and I also already knew I wanted a Spellweaver, and I did like the sound of the Resplendence of Luminescents because the name Luminescents sounds a lot like the name Evanescence and I was finally starting to become more open about loving that band after years of keeping that to my chest in high school. And it resulted in my Glade Guard shooting Enchanted Arrows dealing Arcane Damage! HELLS YES! 

So it did not take much convincing to get me on board for that particular photocopy special. 

But the most crucial part of all this is it brought me to the first role of one of these Glade Guard units - a regiment of bodyguards to watch over and protect my mages as they travelled the land getting into adventures. 

Painting my first ever ranked Warhammer unit also meant painting my first ever command group. 

This was a daunting prospect inside the already daunting prospect of doing justice to such beautiful model sculpts. The first challenge was in getting in one of the Spites that came on the sprue as a base doodad. Initial mockups quickly showed that the Spite would not fit with the Champion on the same base, so it ended up getting moved to the archer next to the Champion, placed so that it was still adjacent to the unit leader. 

The Lord's Bowman herself was scary to work on but ultimately became a very successful experiment. She made use of all of the fancy Champion bitz, and while experimenting with placement to fit her billowing cloak in amongst the rest of the unit, I stumbled upon the idea of standing her atop two leaves to both give some extra presence and some extra clearance for the Spite that slips in under her bow arm. 

The biggest challenge of all, however, was the standard bearer. 

Up until this point my experience with adding markings was almost entirely based on transfer decals. I had made precisely one single attempt to freehand unit markings on some of my Tau, and the results were so crude and ungainly that I immediately swore off ever trying to add them again and stuck exclusively to decals moving forward. But to my horror I discovered that there was no GW decal sheet for Wood Elves, meaning that all of those delicate intricate elven runes and pseudo-Celtic border braids on the GW studio banners were in fact freehanded and my only chance at replicating them was to somehow freehand them myself. 

The first attempts tested out the method that would become standard for freehanding all my Wood Elf banners - blocking out the basic outline shape in white (for maximum visibility against the dark green background), then filling over it with black, and then finally painting in the actual details with gold leaving a black border. There were numerous points where the whole thing was wiped and started over from scratch, but eventually I reached a point where the end result was at last acceptable.

The banner here would become a typical example of all my Glade Guard banners, and is divided into three main parts. The first part, the top flag, has most of the elven runes on it - for this one I carefully selected some elven runes from the Magic Item section of the army book based on which ones I planned to use on the Battle Standard Bearer so I could practice them here. This flag is also asymmetric, with only one side decorated because painting those tiny elven runes on one facing was difficult enough already. 

The second section, the middle flag, is the most important for the unit because it is the middle flag that contains all of the unique iconography that identifies the unit. In this case there are a couple of extra elven runes, because I wanted the extra practice, some attempts at the infinity spirals that are the de facto faction logo for the Wood Elves, and the main icons themselves. Two are the same as would eventually go on the army Battle Standard (again done here as a practice run). Two mark the first pair of Nightwish shout-outs to be featured in the army. The rest are all fairy magic symbols; a flower, a butterfly, and a field of stars. 

Finally, the bottom two flags were given what was supposed to be a lightning motif (lightning bolts being the classic magic effect after all), but never quite managed to live up to my original concept because I have never quite been able to draw or paint lightning properly. 

This iconography then came back into contact with the growing concept for where my particular elves came from and the culture behind them, specifically the centre of magical knowhow in my woodland empire. This was beginning to shape into one of the more obscure Nightwish references in the army backstory. 

By this point I had started to grow increasingly familiar with the online Nightwish Mythos and was fairly familiar with most of their album covers if not the songs contained within. And one of those album covers stuck out at me when it came to magic and fantasy. It was a simple piece, with none of the fancy paintings that were a staple of its sister albums. Instead it was a humble photograph, containing a lonely moon looking out across a lonely hill with a single lone tree on it, the whole thing lit up with a brilliant twilight sunset. 

The album was Angels Fall First. 

Shut up this could totally be in the middle of an enchanted wood I'm not listening to you I can't hear you

The deep dark twilight sunset, the nearly full moon, the lone ancient tree on a desolate rise, the whole thing screamed faerie magic to me, and I knew that my Wood Elf wizards had to come from there. 

Thus was born the Celestial Heath, at the heart of the Fey Glades in the Meadows of Heaven, and the home of Summer Lightning. 

Summer Lightning 

Deep within the Meadows of Heaven, just beyond the crystal pools of the Maiden Falls, lie the secret Fey Glades. They are mysterious otherworldly places, where nymphs dance with faerie sprites amongst gardens of flowers that shine with radiant colour amidst the gloom of the wood. At the very centre of the Fey Glades is a large clearing surrounding a single desolate hill, atop which stands an ancient lone tree. This is the Celestial Tree at the heart of the Celestial Heath, and from beneath its leaves one can read within the wheeling stars the ever-winding path of destiny with wondrous and terrible precision. At other times, when the green moon rises, its baleful light casts wonderous many-coloured auras across the sky above the Celestial Heath, and from their hues and pathways one can discern how the winds of magic are blowing across the world. 

These attributes make the Celestial Tree a valuable site for any who wish to study the arcane way of magic, and so the area has drawn magi to it since the Meadows of Heaven were first settled by the elves. To this day the Fey Glades remain the focal point for arcane study and practice in the Meadows of Heaven, and most of the mages of that realm hail from there. The Asrai of the Fey Glades have a long tradition of supplying the rest of the Meadows of Heaven with skilled magic practitioners and by longstanding tradition the warrior kinbands of the Fey Glades and Celestial Heath are dedicated to their protection. 

Summer Lightning has always been the largest of the warrior kinbands hailing from the Fey Glades, and was the only one to survive the terrible battles of Cyanathair's first invasion of Athel Loren. Since then the kinband has grown in size and incorporated numerous Asrai households into its fold, and today it can almost be considered a full kindred in its own right. All those elves dwelling within the Fey Glades who are bound to serve their part as Glade Guard are inducted into Summer Lightning, and collectively form a loose network of warrior kinbands united by a common home and common purpose. Each of these Summer Lightning kinbands is responsible for guarding the Spellsingers and Spellweavers from the same household they belong to, and the bonds of trust and kinship between each mage and their attendant guardians run very strong indeed. 

Wood Elf mages are commonly tasked with acting as envoys to foreign lands, and the mages of the Meadows of Heaven are no exception. It falls to the Glade Guard of Summer Lightning to keep watch over them during these travels and ensure their safety while abroad, and because of this the warriors of Summer Lightning learn much of the world beyond Athel Loren. Though not as well-traveled as the Wood Wasps, most elves of Summer Lightning are nonetheless knowledgeable of at least a few corners of the world besides their own and often grow fluent in foreign languages and customs. 

Where the warriors of Summer Lightning truly excel however is in knowledge of the arcane and especially in how to battle forces of magic and sorcery. They share much of the training and study of their mage kin (albeit applied to a more martial bent), and put it to use in understanding and fighting the magical enemies of the Meadows of Heaven, especially creatures born of unnatural powers such as malevolent sprits and daemons. Their studies extend to most magical creatures however, and most Summer Lightning Glade Guard have at least some understanding of how to face down nearly any given monster they might encounter in their adventures. This knowledge is put to especially deadly practice when their arrows are enchanted by the Luminescent Spites that are common to the Fey Glades and which readily befriend the elven mages from there. 

The warriors of Summer Lightning make use of the same wargear as the other Glade Guard kinbands of the Meadows of Heaven, especially the legendary and much feared Glade Guard Longbow. Each Glade Guard warrior by tradition fashions their own longbow, so that it is perfectly matched to their own unique needs and fighting style. All such longbows share a common general design however, one which is heavier and bulkier than the cheaper Scout Bow but offers much greater stopping power at close range, able to match a dwarf crossbow in punch while being more precise and manoeuvrable, making it ideal for use in direct battle. 

As well as their traditional longbows Summer Lightning warriors carry elven fighting knives and short swords common to all the Glade Guard of the Meadows of Heaven, and are trained to be as proficient in hand to hand combat as they are at archery. Also in common with much of the warriors of the Meadows of Heaven they wear hooded cloaks of Lauralinae, enchanted to keep out rain, keep in warmth, breathe away summer heat, blend with foliage and snow and to never snag or tear. The banners they fight under are also fashioned of Lauralinae, to make them easy to craft and repair and so that they can be draped across branches and camouflaged amongst the trees when the kinband is hiding or waiting in ambush. Finally in common with many of the other warriors of the Meadows of Heaven Summer Lightning Glade Guard wear comfortable yet sturdy wearing leather boots and gloves and frequently collect valuable items and treasure while travelling in their adventures. 

In the years since then the Glade Guard of Summer Lightning have had a fairly solid career across numerous battles and generally making a good name for themselves. True to their backstory even when they fumble all their shooting attacks they usually make up for it by shredding whatever it was they were shooting at in melee, and recently have begun to rake up a fairly impressive count of slain monsters (no less than two Giants*, two Trolls and an Ogre or two). They also have an excellent track record of keeping their attendant Spellweaver alive - but she is a story for another day... 

*one of these 'giants' was actually a pair of giant Mangler Squigs, but I no longer remember if they were being used as a Giant or actual Mangler Squigs and since I'm a 6th edition Oldhamerer I decided to err on listing them as a second Giant. Still an impressive feat either way.