Warhammer
Wardancers
The shrine glades of Athel Loren are where the Wood Elves perform their arcane rituals. The heritage of the Wood Elves is recorded as much in ritual dances as in Elven runes or epic sagas. Every kindred has a band of ritual dancers who perform in the shrine glades, enacting the tales of the Wood Elf lore and invoking the gods Kurnous and Isha. As well as ritual dances, there are deadly war dances that cab be used in battle. The dancers who perform these dances also fight in battle as Wardancers. They are a select caste, including both male and female Elves, ordained at birth and raised to the spectacular skills that are famed and feared throughout the world.
Wardancers are exceptionally agile and swift, even for a race whose grace and speed is legendary. The frantic dances of the elves are physically demanding beyond Human endurance, often lasting for many days and nights. In battle the Wardancers use their amazing skills to the full, leaping over the enemy, darting away from deadly blows with lightning speed and striking with their weapons before the foe has time to react.
Wardancers decorate their bodies for the ritual dances that they perform and do the same to go into battle, when the body painting and hairstyles become even more savage and ferocious to scare the enemy. Spiral patterns in natural plant dyes are daubed all over the body which may be whitened with lime or chalk to make the patterns show up better. The designs include ritual symbols such as the Spiral of Life, Horns of Kurnous and Eyes of Isha, and many others.
The Wardancers' long hair can be made to stand up in a crest or spikes using lime or tree resins, and is often dyed in outlandish colors. The wild woops and blood-curdling shrieks of the Wardancers, not to mention the weird piping of any musicians that may accompany them, just add to their terrifying appearance.
A troupe of Wardancers, hand picked by Orion and Ariel themselves, have the sacred task of guarding the Oak of Ages. They must guard the Oak through the deep midwinter while the King and Queen in the Wood lie entombed within, awaiting the rebirth in the spring.
| Troop Type | M | WS | BS | S | T | W | I | A | Ld |
| Wardancer | 5 | 5 | 5 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 6 | 1 | 8 |
| Wardancer Champion | 5 | 6 | 6 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 7 | 2 | 8 |
The above information was taken from the Warhammer Armies book on Wood Elves. All of this information here has been copyrighted to Games Workshop Ltd.
