Does anyone remember the old Beast Masters & Shape Changers from way back in third edition Warhammer Armies?
Well, I certainly do! I also have all the figures and the original animals. I completely forgot about them until recently when I was opening boxes looking for miniatures for the Wood Elf Spear unit I am currently updating.
I thought to myself, what a cool idea to bring them back as proxy units for Kings of War. The beast handlers existed as miniatures, but the shape changers did not. So I opted to use different were creatures to represent them.
The only problem with this approach is that such creatures are rare where miniature representations are concerned. That means I could not create units of were-creatures with different poses, without a nightmare of extra work! So I opted to combine these two old unit types into one unit.
I already had a were-bear, and I found miniatures for a were-boar and a were-cat with a company called Otherworldly Miniatures. The following is a break down of what I am going to do in the coming weeks after I finish the Wood Elf Spear unit.
The Bear Clan
The first unit I will put together is the Bear Clan. Initially, I was going to proxy all these units as Hunters of the Wild, but that would require putting the unit on a 20x20mm multibase. They seemed way too cramped, so I opted for a large infantry horde multibase. Therefore, I will have to proxy this unit instead of tree shamblers horde.
The Boar Clan
These figures are probably my favourite. The elven boar handler just looks so badass and feral! I can't believe I forgot all about him! This unit will be a proxy for the Hunters of the Wild unit. I will build them up as two troop units. This way I can use them as troops or combined as a regiment. Flexibility is always good.
The Cat Clan
I will approach the Cat Clan in the same way as the Boar Clan, that is as two troop units and as proxies for the Hunters of the Wild. The were-cat is probably the coolest of all my were miniatures. I remember seeing this model for the first time on Beasts of War. It is actually a were-tiger, but that wont do for a wood elf army. The dynamic pose and ferocity was burned into my memory. When I started looking for figures to represent my were-creatures, it was the first mini I went looking for.
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