Eldar objectives

A while back I mentioned having purchased some new objectives for my Eldar army. Well, I’ve finally managed to get round to painting them. The models are ‘Space Elf Bunkers’ and were sculpted by James Rossillon (aka semajnollissor) from over at the Tactical Command forums. What I really like about these models is the fact that they fit in with the aesthetic of the Eldar army without being direct copies of Games Workshop’s designs.

I don’t believe that the Eldar wage war from fortified positions in the same way that the Imperial Guard do. Instead I imagine that these bunkers form part of a listening post designed to keep tabs on the movements of other races and report back to the Craftworld. In order to add to this feel I slightly converted the ‘Tower Bunker’ by attaching a sensor array to the tower made from part of the backpack of an old Eldar artillery crew model.

Landing Pad Objective

Bunker Objective

Sensor Array Objective

Painting

The Wraithbone structures were painted Dheneb Stone and washed with Devlan Mud to shade them. I then highlighted them by adding increasing amounts of Skull White to Dheneb Stone all the way up to pure white for the final highlights. At this stage they looked rather boring but this is where the fun begins: painting the glass effects.

I really enjoyed painting the gemstones and windows on these models. The gems were painted Scab Red followed by highlights of Red Gore, Blood Red, Blazing Orange and finally Vomit Brown. I’m sure you’ve probably seen articles on painting gems in White Dwarf or on GW’s website but for those who haven’t I’ll briefly explain the process I used here. When painting gems you need to highlight the underside of the gems away from the imagined light source. This produces the effect of the light shining through the object rather than simply bouncing off it (as with an opaque object). Hold a coloured glass bead up to the light and you will see what I mean. The effect was them completed with a dot of Skull White on the top of the gem were the light would strike it followed by a coat of gloss varnish to add a nice sheen.

For the windows I used the same technique, ignoring the window frames at first. This time I started with a base of Regal Blue followed by Ultramarine Blue, Ice Blue and finally Space Wolf Grey. As you can see from the close-up below, I added white reflections to each of the three top window panes that would catch the light rather than just to the top as on the gemstones. I then went back and carefully painted in the window frames with Dheneb Stone before gloss varnishing the glass.

The models then had a mixture of different flocks and clump foliage added to the bases to match my Eldar army.

All the best,

Andy.

More Aspect Warriors

I have been working on some more Aspect Warriors. Here are my Howling Banshees and Fire Dragons. As with my other Aspect Warriors I painted them using their traditional Aspect colours in order to make them easily identifiable on the battlefield. I have also tried to work red into each of the colour schemes to tie them in with the rest of the force.

I painted the Banshees Dheneb Stone washed with Ogryn Flesh. This gave then a reddish brown tint. They were then highlighted using Dheneb Stone followed by Dheneb Stone and Skull White. I painted the Exarch red to match the 40k scale version painted by the ‘Eavy Metal team. I used Mephiston Red shaded with Baal Red. This was highlighted with Mephiston Red followed by Blood Red.

The Fire Dragons were painted the same way as the Banshee Exarch but with an extra highlight of Blazing Orange. The yellow was painted using my technique for painting yellow. However, I omitted the stage where I shaded them Dark Flesh because of their small size.

I have also painted some temporary objectives. I say temporary because, after having used them in a few games, I have realised that they are too small. I have an idea for something special for my objectives but I’ll keep that under wraps for now.

All the best,

Andy.

I have also

Jetbikes & Rangers

In my previous post I mentioned that I played a game against Gus’s Steel Legion Imperial Guard on Friday. Since then Gus has posted up some pictures of the battle on his blog. You can see my army in action here.

I have finished another Windrider Host. Well, I say finished, they are still in need of some freehand on the canopies. The ideas was to use different designs on each of my formations in order to distinguish them from one another. My previous formations use the two symbols commonly associated with Saim Hann: the cosmic serpent and the two entwined serpents. I have yet to decide on what to use for the third unit. Has anyone got any suggestions?

Here are all of my jetbikes together:

That’s a lot of jetbikes but then it is a Saim Hann army.

In addition to the jetbikes I have also painted up some Eldar Rangers. These have been finished a while now although I have yet to field them in a game. I put fewer models on each stand and tried to make them look as though they were moving through dense terrain, hence there are more ruins and bushed on the bases than on my Guardians.

I only have three grav tanks to go and I will have finished my first 3,000 points…

-Andy.

Return to Saim Hann

On Friday I had a game of Epic against my regular opponent, Gus  from over at Epic Addiction. I faced his Steel Legion and even managed to win (although I can’t boast too much given that this is, to date, my only Epic victory). This, along with some encouragement from Gus, has inspired me to paint up the unfinished formations in my army. For these models I tried a different approach to painting than I did with my earlier formations. The main reason behind this was the new paint range and a desire to try out a few of the new colours. For the red I used Mephiston Red which is an absolutely fantastic paint. Before painting these models my interest in this army was waning because of the difficulty of painting red, which was quite an ardous and time-consuming colour to paint. My previous grav tanks took around six coats of paint in order to build up the colour. However, Mephiston Red covers brilliantly and is a really nice, deep red colour (trust me, as soon as you’ve tried it you’ll be waning to paint an army of Blood Angels or Saim Hann). These vehicles were very quick to paint (the Vyper only took a couple of hours from start to finish).

The vehicles were first basecoated using VMC Black Red. I then layered Mephiston Red over this avoiding the recesses. This was then highlighted Blood Red followed by Sqig Orange. The whole thing was then glazed using Baal Red with a little Lamian Medium. This added depth and richness to the colour and toned down the highlights. For the Falcons I decided to use white stripes as a contrasting colour simply for a bit of variation (my other grav tanks use black). The inspiration for this came from White Dwrf 366 which shows a 40k Night Spinner painted in a similar  colour scheme.

The Farseer riding a Vyper is from the Epic 40k ‘Supreme Commanders’ blister pack which contains Farseers mounted in Vypers and Falcons. Although in the current incarnation of the game there are no rules for these units they are nice, characterful models which add a bit of diversity to Epic formations.

I have also painted some test models for various  Aspect Warrior units. I intend to paint up stands of Aspect Warriors from each temple in order to allow me to adapt my formation to different roles. Here are some  Dark Reapers, Howling Banshees and Fire Dragons:

In terms of what’s next, I have ordered some more grav tanks in order to complete my Falcon formation. I also have a formation of jetbikes to paint and then I will have completed my first 3,000 points.

More soon,

Andy.

Inaugural games of Epic

I deploy my forces on one of the club's tables

 

Last week I played my first couple of games of Epic: Armageddon, one at the local club and the other at my friend Gus’s house at the weekend. I must say, I certainly am impressed. The game flowed smoothly and, despite being unfamiliar with the rules, was quite fast-paced. The rules are very intuitive making them easy to pick up. There are also a number of original and interesting rules that make the game very different from anything else by Games Workshop that I’ve played. Aspects of the game that I particularly like are the activation sequence and the way blast markers work. For me, both of these rules are simple differences which really influence how the game is played. The alternating activations is more fun than the ‘you go-I go’ turn sequence of 40k as both players are involved at all times rather than having to wait ages while your opponent moves every model in his army. It also makes the game more tense and tactically challenging as you cannot be certain what is going to happen in the turn. Blast markers are also a simple but effective rule and represent the psychological aspect of battle without being overly-complicated.

The initial set-up for our game at Gus's

 

The second game was a 6,000 point Eldar vs Chaos game played at Gus’s apartment on his work-in-progress board. The Eldar force was made up of 3,000 points of Saim-Hann contributed by myself and 3,000 points of Ben’s Eldar. The game was great fun but ended in a 0-0 draw after turn three owing to time constraints. Although neither side had achieved its objectives, the Chaos force had gained the upper hand and had more formations on the table at the end of the game. I think if we had continued Gus would probably have won. Overall this was a great gaming experience but I still have a lot to learn about Epic: Armageddon and fielding Eldar in particular.

I’ll leave you with pictures of some highlights from our game.

Gus's Slanneshi marines move into position behind an oil pipeline

 

My Guardians take up position in some ruins

 

Wraithguard move out of the webway and open fire on a Landraider formation

 

My Wave Serpents move into some ruins supported by Ben's jetbikes

 

 

The phantom menace

Here is my Phantom Titan. The model itself is from the Epic 40,000 era. Although it is a little clunkier than other iterations of the Phantom I really like it and think that the model has real weight and presence. I tried to assemble the model with more dynamism than you get from the stock model and this involved turning the hips slightly and positioning one leg in front of the other.  A lot of pinning was needed in order to get it all to hold together but this should have the added bonus of providing the model with plenty of durability in play. The angle of the head reinforces the sense of movement as though the titan is striding forward over some ruins and turning to face a new target.

Painting wise I tried something a little different and applied zenithal highlighting with an airbrush. This adds to the sense of size by providing shadow. I’m not sure how noticeable the effect is in the photos. The ruins on the base are also there to provide scale.

Seeing red

Just another quick post to share my progress on the Eldar. As you can see, some are more finished than others. All of them have been airbrushed with Red Gore followed by a Red Gore/Blood Red mix in order to get the basecoat and initial shading. The ones on the left have been highlighted further with a brush using pure Blood Red. I have also painted the helmets, gemstones and started to add some freehand designs.

This time I have opted for the slightly more complex twin serpents motif. At first I was worried that this looked a little too fussy on models of this size but after completing a few I think it looks really effective. The idea behind using different designs on the jetbikes is to distinguish the different formations from one another on the tabletop. I’m not sure what I’m going to do for the next troupe as I’ve used the two characteristic designs of Saim-Hann already. I might use the ‘Guardian Jetbike’ rune from Codex Eldar but I’ll have to give this some thought.

Expect more and better pictures when they are complete.

On the desktop

My thesis has been keeping me very busy at the moment but here are a few of the projects currently occupying my desktop along with my books. Hopefully at least some of these guys will see progress over the course of the weekend. Stay tuned.

Eldar reinforcements arrive

More Eldar reinforcements burst from the webway (or my painting table anyway). Here is my formation of Aspect Warriors along with my Autarch. When it came to painting, using the Aspect colours was an obvious choice. For models of this scale it made sense to use the traditional colours in order distinguish them on the tabletop. It also afforded me the opportunity to take a break from painting red.

Autarch

Here is my supreme commander, an Eldar Autarch. I wanted to do something a bit special with this stand and so I added an entourage to accompany him into battle: his personal standard bearer and a Farseer adviser. I chose to use the old Exarch model for the Autarch as it nicely matched the 40k scale Autarch model with the wings. In fact, I wonder if this old Epic model was the inspiration behind the newer sculpt.

I decided to add my Autarch to a unit of Dire Avengers (for those of you unfamiliar with Epic, an Autarch is purchased as a replacement for an Exarch and must be added to an Aspect Warrior stand). This was so that he would benefit from a ranged attack and would be less likely to be killed in combat. Initially I was worried about having the blue Dire Avengers on the same stand as models painted in the red of Saim-Hann. However, the red on their crests combined with the blue on the Farseer’s gemstones and spear help to integrate them. The symbol on the banner is the Autarch rune copied from Codex: Eldar. The other side of the banner bears the symbol of Saim-Hann.

Aspect Warriors

The Dire Avengers were painted Regal Blue and highlighted using Enchanted Blue followed by Ice Blue. The Striking Scorpions were painted Dark Angels Green and Highlighted using Camo Green. Unfortunately the Striking Scorpions don’t stand out all that well against the green of their bases when viewed from a distance.

Wild Riders of Saim-Hann

Over the weekend I managed to finish my jetbikes. These are such an emblematic unit of the Eldar, and Saim-Hann in particular, that I just had to include some. To mount them I clipped off the chunky plastic flight stand that is attached to the model and, after filing the area smooth, drilled a small hole with a pin vice and inserted a length of brass rod. Not only is the brass rod less obtrusive than the original plastic stand, but it provides the opportunity to add a little more dynamism to the models by changing the height or the angles at which the jetbikes are flying. I chose to add only two jetbikes to each stand as I thought any more than this would look too crowded (the rulebook suggests using between two and four models per stand).

For painting all of my Eldar I started with a black undercoat over which I applied Scab Red. This was then highlighted using Red Gore, a Red Gore/Blood Red mix and finally pure Blood Red. For the jetbikes I added a few details such as the freehand ‘cosmic serpent’ emblem and the blue gemstones. A few simple touches like this really makes the models stand out.