Galadriel & Lothlorien Wood Elves - Skarloc's Archers, Wardancers, Druids Ent

Buddies,

At last, those pointy eared elves have mobilized their forces.

Here are the Wood Elves of Lothlorien.
Rumors that the Dark Lord Sauron has moved his headquarters to Dol Goldur across the river from Lorien has reached Galadriel Evenstar - Queen of the Elves.
And while the Elf Queen has great hidden powers of perception... she seems more concerned with events happening in Moria.
Does she know that Frodo the Hobbit has the One Ring and is under the care of the Dwarven Kings?
Does she fear that the Ring will fall into their stuntied fingers?
But the Dark Lord of Mordor is close and she must shield her mind lest Sauron glimpse her thoughts.
While the idea of the Ring falling to the Dwarves is terrible, Sauron regaining his Ring is still infinitely worse.

Onwards to the Golden Wood of Lothlorien...


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The Elven army emerges silently from the woods.

Wardancers!
They will battle the enemy... in dance!

The musician is Zamfir, master of the pan flute
The champion has a pet hawk for scouting enemy movement.

Wardancers carry a variety of different weapons and get to choose between different attack modes in battle.

The champion of the Wardancers is this fellow named Ren McCormack.
Even when he was a young lad, his mom nicknamed him "Footloose".
He always carries an Orc head around, he has been known to talk to it from time to time...

Ren:  From the oldest of times, people danced for a number of reasons. They danced in prayer... or so that their crops would be plentiful... or so their hunt would be good. And they danced to stay physically fit... and show their community spirit. And they danced to celebrate.  And that is the dancing we're talking about.

These guys are serious about their dancing, you can tell by their fancy masks!

The elf on the left was told to break a leg out there, but he broke an arm instead!

And here are Skarloc's Wood Elf Archers, a regiment of reknown.

The champion in the center is Glam the laughing warrior.
The musician is Araflane Warskald.

In the center is Skarloc, the hooded One, his sword has Runes of Swiftness, Armor, & Protection.
On the left is Kaia Stormwitch who is both a hero AND the standard bearer!
Kaia carries the group's standard, which incorporates a heart-shaped casket holding the ashes of a legendary Elven Hero, Kern son of the goddess Torothal. It adds 2 points to the unit's Ld, rather than the usual 1. Her magical dagger can cast up to three Lightning Bolt spells per day.

The Story of Skarloc's Wood Elf Archers
The sun had barely risen as the group of Elves made their way through the forest. At last they reached the clearing, and moved into position around its edges, casting a loose but deadly net around the edges of the glade.
Scarcely a leaf stirred as they took up their positions, and scarcely a shadow moved to betray their presence.
In the clearing, the Orcs went about their business unaware. Crews were busily cutting down the smaller trees, and fires had been set about the bases of the larger ones. Animals of various types hung over the several smaller fires most showed signs of having died slowly and painfully, and a piteous squealing betrayed that at least one was still alive.
Skarloc's eyes grew hard beneath his hood, and he raised one hand. Araflane Warskald lifted his great bronze horn to his lips, and its harsh bellowing note echoed around the clearing. The sound took the Orcs by surprise, and they froze for an instant and in that instant, half their number died as the first volley of arrows slammed across the clearing. One Orc, larger than the rest and scarred by time and many battles, began bellowing orders. Two arrows buried their heads in its hide before it picked up a shield, but with no visible effect. With much shouting and cuffling, it managed to form a dozen or so of the Orcs into something approaching a fighting formation, and they backed against one of the great piles of fallen trunks to protect their backs.

From one side of the clearing came a piercing, ululating scream, and a weird figure flew through the air, somersaulting over a stack of timber three times an Orc's height. The figure an Elf, with his body garishly painted and a great mane of impossibly red hair ran towards the Orcs, whooping and laughing in ferocious joy.
The Orcs were transfixed by the strange apparition, which charged towards them unscathed through the hail of arrows. He dodged and twisted past their blades, and whirled along the entire length of the front rank leaving a trail of cut throats and lopped arms in his wake before leaping over the three ranks of Orcs with another flamboyant somersault, which landed him atop the woodpile with the Orc leader's severed head in one hand.

As the Wardancer brandished the head, the rest of the Elves broke cover Skarloc with his bow on his back, brandishing his great runesword, Araflane with his horn bellowing over the confusion, Kaia Stormwitch with the group's standard held high and lightning crackling from the bluesilver blade of Herathame, and Elves all around charging into the clearing with swords drawn.
The death of their leader, coupled with the surprise of the attack, broke the Orcs' morale, and they ran blindly hither and yon, looking for some escape from the clearing but finding only redbladed death. The battle was a short one.

This is Quickbeam the Ent who has come from Fangorn Forest.
While the other Ents are still debating whether to help the rest of Middle Earth in its wars, Quickbeam has gone ahead and is ready to help its elf allies to the north.

While I endeavor to keep this blog's minis to be all metal and all Oldhammer, I gotta say this modern-ish plastic kit is pretty awesome.

Finally, here we have Galadriel and her Dryad Guards!

You can tell that Galadriel has magical powers because she is constantly floating about.

If she gets ahold of the One Ring...
"In place of the Dark Lord you will set up a Queen. And I shall not be dark, but beautiful and terrible as the Morning and the Night! Fair as the Sea and the Sun and the Snow upon the Mountain! Dreadful as the Storm and the Lightning! Stronger than the foundations of the earth. All shall love me and despair!"

From this angle she eyes kinda looks like Eva Green, who from her name would make the perfect elf!  Get it, cause green...  ba dum pshhh!

You probably saw Dryads in a previous post, but they have been reinforced with these autumn-y / cherry blossom type of plant-girls.

Summer Dryad vs Autumn Dryad

Galadriel:  Minions!  Are you ready for war?

Ren McCormack:  Milady, my Wardancers are ready to march and breakdance too!

Skarloc: Clouds of arrows will block out the light of the sun at your command!

Quickbeam: My leafy canopy is a bit bare, does anyone have some Miracle-Gro?


~~~


Will the forces of Lothlorien march against the ruined fortress of Dol Goldur, fortify the Golden Wood, or march to Moria?
And if they do march to Moria, will it be to help or hinder the Dwarves?
As a wise Dwarf once said...  Never trust an Elf!!!


Cheers,
Mar