Well, I finally made the committment and purchased my own copy of the Wood Elf army book. I am going to read it through thouroughly though (a couple of times) before I buy any miniatures.

Loving the fluff though.

I have already started sculpting some Dark Forest terrain pieces (inspired by the new Wood Elves) but these woodland and ancient tree features have been designed in a generic way to be useful to all races; but I am now thinking of specific Wood Elf pieces. I am going to sculpt spiral-engraved 'watchstones' (Protective standing stones) and also my first 'big piece' I am going to sculpt the 'Oak of Ages'... it will in time be available to buy (as a resin moulding) but probably not until the winter... I'll keep you up to date and will soon post some pics of my first tree sculptings in the painting and modelling forum... until then.

'ATHEL LOREN!!!'

Burp!

Awesome sounds good burp. Good luck mate ^_^

Maybe this would be a good thread to keep open with regards to Athel Loren fluff and terrain data and ideas.

For instance, how do you imagine the 'Waystones'/'watchstones' looking. Huge and tall monoliths, or small stones no more than 4 ft tall? I was thinking tall, maybe twice the height of an Elf, and I was thinking of covering them with 'cup and ring' marks, like spirals; if you have ever seen the recumbant standing stone at Newgrange in Ireland you'll know what I mean.

I think that these standing stones are quite an important tabletop feature as it appears that the Wood Elfs have erected them all around the outer edges of Athel Loren as a protective barrier. They have even used them as a cage to keep Coeddil 'imprisoned forever amongst the shadow-glades'... so these stones are very powerful

What do they look like?

Monoliths for sure: Wood Elves make it very clear where their borders are. I don't think the shape of the rock matters (make whatever looks good), just make them big and covered in powerful looking glyphs.

Some waystones can be seen pages 44-45 in the WE book.

And 'How to make Wood Elf Waystones'

Yeah I did see them in the army book after I posted my question... I really dont think that they are very good though. Ok for High Elves but I think that they look too rectangular and civilised to be Wood Elf.

If you look at the black and white map of Athel Loren on page 49 of the army book. Illustrated upon the map, all along the western edge of the forest, waystones have been drawn; and they look huge (maybe 18ft high) and are fat and round; much more earthy and boulder looking. These kind of shapes coverd in spirals, wood look much better and more woodelven than the ones shown in the link above.

Mind you, that is only my personal preference. I'm going for 'wild&spirals' rather than civilised stonemasonry.

IF you really pay atention to the fluff though, it would have been the 'high elves' that built them. They were built long before the WE became one with Athel Loren, in order to protect themselves from the forest. I do think they would have a very HE feel to them, kinda like the teeny pic in the link. Another idea is not of a single stone, but of a central ston, say ~12' high, surrounded ~20' out by a ring of 4' stones.... I really like the visual I get from this idea:D

Hi Lucius

The Wood Elves are responsible for many stones though; erecting them long after the High Elves had gone; I can think of two instances; 1, around the Oak of Ages (which would only occur after the creation of Orion and Ariel as god and goddess, and also 2, to imprison Coeddil... So stone erecting is still carried out by the Wood Elves. (Other races, trying to destroy Athel Loren, may even start by destroying the guard stones, in which case one could easily imagine the Wood Elves creating new stones to replace destroyed ones.

I really like your idea though of many small stones around a single tall one.

I think the stones should come in all sizes, but should keep an ancient feel to them regardless.

Maybe even try for a druid feel. Like what they have at stonehenge, have two boulders holting up a flat one with the top flat one inscribed with many elven runes..

My box of Dryads arrived today

:D :thumb: :D

I'm gonna have me some fun; and yesterday I spent about 5 hours working on the 'Oak of Ages', adding lots of little details, ivy strands, fungus, and kind of elvish spiralling patterns... its looking good. Will definitly be finished sometime over the weekend and then I'll start the mould making phase; its possible I'll have the production line up and running by the beginning of November.

Good stuff burp, enjoy it. And remember, take your time.

Then again, I guess I don't need to say that to an award winner :P