Sirrob01

This is the second set in Darkfast series released by Okumarts. As the numbering for the Darkfasts series starts at zero this set is labeled as Set Two: Wood Elves. You can read about the size/scaling and background information in this post to save on repetition.

As you can guess from the title of the set this set contains Wood Elves. Before I proceed any further with build review a little bit of disclosure, I’m a wood elf fan, they are one of my favorite races in any fantasy setting so be warned this review might be a little biased due to my Wood Elf tinted glasses. The Elves are drawn in what I would describe as classic D&D elf style, the elves are slightly shorter and of a thinner build than your average human.  There are a total of 18 unique miniatures in this set broken up into two sets. The first twelve you see when you open the PDF are warriors and these are printable in four colours with white hair; green, red, blue and white with an extra green set with brown hair. The second bonus set of six (turn off the five warrior layers) are available in the one colour however Okumarts has really raised the bar with them, there are four Buck (Deer) Riders and one male & one female wood elf Druid/Mage. Below are photo’s of the various miniatures avaliable in the set in various colours:

Elf Sword (M), Elf Sword (F), Elf Archer (F), Elf Archer (F), Elf Archer (M), Elf Archer (M)

Elf Archer Chainmail(M), Elf Spear (F), Elf Spear (M), Elf Spear (M), Elf Sword Heavy (M), Elf Sword Heavy (F)

Elf Buck Rider Archer (M), Elf Buck Rider Archer (M)

Elf Buck Rider Spear (M), Elf Buck Rider Spear (M)

Elf Druid/Mage (M), Elf Druid/Mage (F)

This set is stunning and extremely versatile, again the colour selections for the miniatures and the dynamic poses Okumarts has selected look really good on the tabletop. I can see a lot of uses for the miniatures in this set:

• There are six special looking mini’s that would make good PC’s or important NPC’s, Elf Ranger Sword (M), Elf Ranger Sword (F), Elf Sword Heavy (M), Elf Sword Heavy (F), Elf Druid/Mage (M) and Elf Druid/Mage (F).
• Both male and female variants of every miniature, except the Buck (deer) riders.
• Extremely dynamic poses.
• Deer Riders, great idea and well executed.
• Lots of different troop types.

The outlines on this set are slightly more complex than the previous two with a few deer antlers, cape ends and hair spikes, however overall they are not difficult to cut out. The back to front alignment on the first twelve miniatures and the Druid/Mage is as usual excellent. I did however notice that on a couple of the buck riders there wasn’t quiet enough black border on the rear side, this was easily fixed with a black marker. Do keep that in mind when cutting the miniatures out as you will need to cut out the miniatures from the front side (face side).

The set contains a good number of figures that can be used across an RPG from PC’s, NPC’s down to simple forest border guards. It would be a great set to use to play out an encounter with elven border guards as the PC’s try to enter Wood Elven lands.  Depending on how the initial encounter played out you could have the PC’s being pursued by ardent Buck riders across the rolling plains away from the forest.

There are more than enough figures to make up a very nice and varied Warband for Song of Blades and Heros in fact with the varied figures in the set you could do up themed lists; all mounted, all ground  or a mixed wood elf warband. Elves are contained in the main Song of Blades and Heros book on page 26, I plan on using the stats for heavy cavalry with the Buck Spears and have made a new profile for the Buck Archers (see below). All the other miniatures equate out reasonably well with the stock list, with a few double ups:

• Elf Warrior (SBH) = Elf Spear
• Elf Archer (SBH) = Elf Archer
• Wood Elf Warrior (SBH) = Elf Sword
• Wood Elf Archer (SBH) = Elf Archer or Elf Archer Chainmail
• Elf Wizard (SBH) = Elf Druid/Mage
• Elf Hero (SBH)= Elf Sword Heavy or Elf Archer Chainmail
• Elf Commander (SBH) = Elf Sword Heavy
• Wood Elf Commander(SBH) = Elf Sword Heavy
• Elf Sneak (SBH)= Not really one, Elf Spear (F) is close
• Elf Cavalry (light) (SBH)= Elf Buck Rider Spear (better fit below)
• Elf Cavalry (heavy) (SBH)= Elf Buck Rider Spear

Wood Elf Buck Archer (Bow and Riding Buck)
Points 50   Quality 3+  Combat 3
Special Rules Mounted, Shooter (Medium)

Being a bit of Wood Elf Fan I also had a quick look over at Wargames Unlimited – No Quarter and they have a Wood Elf Army list already (cue squeal of delight). There are not enough miniatures in this first set to have a different miniature for each profile avaliable in the wood elf army list. There are however more than enough different miniatures to put a reasonably well rounded fighting force onto the tabletop. I went through the avaliable miniatures and matched them as closely as I could to those avaliable on the list, As there are a number of duplicates don’t forget to use different cloak colours and different hair colours to represent different unit types if you need. I also added a few idea’s from other papercraft manufacturers (all free):

Individuals and Leaders

• Elven King – none that are really special enough
• Woodland Noble – Elf Sword Heavy or Elf Sword
• Clan Leader – Elf Sword Heavy
• Totem Bearer – none
• Elven Warlock – Elf Druid/Mage (M)
• Elven Witch – Elf Druid/Mage (F)
• Elven Sorceress – Elf Druid/Mage (F)
• Elven Sorceress on Unicorn – none

Core Units

• The Wild Born – Elf Sword
• Beasts – none (potential subs – Deer – hoard 38 and wolf – hoard 22)
• Fae Lorn – Elf Sword, Elf Archer,
• Schiltrons – Elf Spear
• Wood Folk – Elf Archer
• Lesser Tree Spirit – none (print all options at 2 to a page 60% – Onemonk Halloween set tree  or WorldWorksGames Halloween tree or eddnic’s Treant)

Elite Units

• Greater Tree Spirit – none ( Onemonk Halloween set tree  or WorldWorksGames Halloween tree or Eddnic’s Treant or HannesX’s Treeman)
• Border Gaurd – Buck Riders (Spear or Archer)
• Levy Nobility – Elf Heavy Sword
• Woad Warriors – none
• Eagle Riders – none
• Huntsfolk – Elf Archer
• Clansfolk – Elf Sword

Remembering you wont ever field every troop type in every army list that you field for a particular battle. Below I’ve put together some quick army lists as well as the number of times to print a particular page to field the army of that size(2 Okumarts miniatures only, 1 mixed list):

500 point Army

1000 Point Army

1500 point Army

For me this set is a winner, one of my favorite fantasy races and usable across all three types of games I enjoy playing for a very reasonable $2.50 (USD) . I’d recommend  buying the set, no matter what game your going to use it for you will get good use out of the set.

Overall I have been very impressed with the Darkfast series and will pickup any more miniatures that Okumarts releases in this series to add to the ones above.

Have fun gaming