Witcher themed skirmish army, which faction?

[Lightbox]

Hey folks, I'm kind of wanting to do a skirmish project based on the wild hunt from the witcher games (because I absolutely love the look/style of them, frost and malevolent armour ftw) and considering using one of the AoS elf types but I'm unsure what sort of ones might have the best units for this project. Whilst dark elves likely have the best feel for marauding evil horsemen they are all on cold ones and alas lack some of the sorts of units I might want to try.

I am thinking possibly a mixed elf force, but would be looking at what sort of units might be the best bets and make a fun little force that can work. I'm thinking backstory wise to have them hail as mortals from shyish hence the potential bones on the armour and more malevolent style.

 

I'm looking at possibly high elves as they have some horsey cavalry (can always do conversions for non horse riders if needbe though as have a couple of spare brettonian horses) and white lions have the nice two handed axes but will likely do a mix of elf units.

Drakespawn, dragon blades or wild riders will likely be my choices for mounted riders, possibly dragon blades due to the slightly better stat line. White lions or Wildwood rangers could form good melee units with the nice two handed axes and blades though the white lions have more armoured models which is nice, phoenix guard are also a possibility.

 

I'm not very familiar with elves or how they play alas hence my wondering about what might be good options. Obviously this project will feature heavy conversions and bringing it together with the paint scheme but getting an idea of fun units could be fun, bonus points if the force is capable of being upgraded into a full army later down the line.

[Overread]

Honestly right now if you want a varied mounted army Sigmar is actually shaping up to have the best mounts in terms of species and variety, especially with their latest wave adding pegasus with hyena jaws and dracocats (I think they are liondragons or something). It somewhat annoys me as, rather like yourself, I'd love a beast/animal heavy army to use. 

If you don't want Sigmar then each of the elf groups generally has good access to mounted units; but you'll have to convert things to make them fit  theme for your army (some conversions are easier than others - eg many of the new Sigmar mounts are actually al ot wider in body than many like Cold-Ones and traditional GW horses; so the riders might not fit easily from other forces). 

[Guest]

Can you share a picture of the wild hunt? I haven't played the game so I don't have any reference from which to offer suggestions.

[Overread]

Also a further thought - Sigmar armies can basically ally with anything in Order Grand Alliance. So you could pull in the stag riders from the old wood-elves and the coldone riders from the dark elves and have them run alongside the other beasts of a Sigmar force.

 

 

 

[Lightbox]

2 hours ago, Jamie the Jasper said:

Can you share a picture of the wild hunt? I haven't played the game so I don't have any reference from which to offer suggestions.

That's a good idea check the gallery section of this: http://witcher.wikia.com/wiki/Wild_Hunt

 

They're basically elves who wear armour fashioned in a skeletal fashion, have warhounds and use a lot of ice. Reckon they'd fit in very well as aelves in/from shyish. Since mortal races have spread to all the realms / free cities trying to take land / warrior group potentially stranded and then pledged themselves to nagash. Many ways I could go lore wise. It's also why I'm looking to elves. I haven't played huge amounts of the Witcher but absolutely fell in love with the looks and ice theme of these guys, hence why I'd love to try some conversions to get a similar theme going. Also really good practice for odd conversions.

 

2 hours ago, Overread said:

Also a further thought - Sigmar armies can basically ally with anything in Order Grand Alliance. So you could pull in the stag riders from the old wood-elves and the coldone riders from the dark elves and have them run alongside the other beasts of a Sigmar force.

 

 

 

I could do, have a mix of rider units but not sure whether they'd really work together in an army? Would presume they sort of fill the same niches. Though one heavy cav option and one light cav would work well.

[Aezeal]

The only thing that heavily armored are stormcasts I'd say... maybe with the right paint job, helmets and or head swaps?

Though from the pictures in your like I'd say proxying with vampires might be a good option.

[Swooper]

10 hours ago, Lightbox said:

Whilst dark elves likely have the best feel for marauding evil horsemen they are all on cold ones

So you're just ignoring dark riders, then? ?

[Aelfric]

Doomfire Warlocks are good, esp in skirmish.

[Lightbox]

6 hours ago, Swooper said:

So you're just ignoring dark riders, then? ?

I have considered them. Models are nice and may use some though for the main cavalry they seem a bit lackluster. The bravery debuff fits nicely though!

 

5 hours ago, Aelfric said:

Doomfire Warlocks are good, esp in skirmish.

Hmm possibly, models are rather unarmoured though.

 

7 hours ago, Aezeal said:

The only thing that heavily armored are stormcasts I'd say... maybe with the right paint job, helmets and or head swaps?

Though from the pictures in your like I'd say proxying with vampires might be a good option.

I'm trying to avoid stormcast if I can, the models are just too big in comparison. And vampire models could work, I'll have a look at some of them.