Finished Units!

This is a momentous... um... moment? Anyway, I've finally completed some minis! Right down to spraying them with Testors Dull Cote, these guys are done. There are some details that I might have liked to have cleaned up a bit... but I had to stop the endless cycle of fiddling with stuff or I'd never be done. So here we have the first of my finished Eldar minis.

Here we have a family photo of two squads of Eldar Guardians. There are ten Guardians in each squad with a heavy weapon platform. The platforms have Eldar Missle Launchers on the right now, but being magnetized I'll have plenty of opportunity to try them different ways and see what works best for me.



The Guardians get a little overwhelmed sometimes, so I have brought in their reinforcement. Also finished is my Wraith Lord. He carries a huge scythe which is also a trophy from his previous life as the Autarch of Craftworld Altansar. He will likely get his own blog post with full fluff story included, but I'll summarize here. Being stuck in the Eye of Terror for the last ten thousand years, Altansar has had to repel many attacks by daemons. There was one greater daemon in particular who lead attacks on Altansar relentlessly. Each time the attacks were repelled. Finally in a duel of epic proportions the Autarch took on the greater daemon in single combat. After a long battle they slew each other, but not before the Autarch cut one of the long bladed appendages from the daemon. The Autarchs soul stone was taken and placed in the craftworld where his soul could rest, if only for a short time. The weapon of the daemon was worked into the scythe by the craftworlds Bonesingers. Now when the craftworld goes to war that Autarch marches with them still. And enemies, especially daemons, who see the greater daemons bone enslaved within the wraithbone weapon are filled with dread.



And another shot just for good measure. I think the Wraith Lord looks best with matching weapons, but in game play, it would probably either be two different weapons, or just one. But for photos, I like him to be extra menacing.


Hope you've enjoyed this update. The Dire Avengers are almost done, as are the three War Walkers. Pictures of those finished and ready to rock should be up by mid next week. Maybe sooner? Then it's on to the first twenty Storm Guardians which are primed and ready to start being painted. I'm thinking of a third Heavy Choice. A battery of heavy weapon platforms might be nice, but another squadron of War Walkers sure sounds shootier and more flexible. Any thoughts, comments, criticisms are welcome. Thanks for stopping by!

Quickie, too cool not to share!

I've been a big fan of Dawn of War since the original beta. Now with Dawn of War II on the horizon I'm getting pretty excited about that too. A friend of mine found this video from G4 featuring the newly announced third race Eldar!

Enjoy!

Updates and Storm Guardians...

Time for an update!

The table is filling with almost finished models. The Wraithlord is a hair away from being finished, so watch for that announcement coming soon. The Dire Avengers and Guardians (not pictured) are also, just almost finished. The War Walkers still have a bit of work to go, but they are definitely well on their way too. Also not pictured are the heavy weapons. They have all been magnetized and are ready for a spray of Testors Dull Cote to protect them and they will be ready to rock.


Note the limited edition Space Marine Sergeant in the foreground. That little bastard keeps taunting me, trying to get me to succumb to the distraction monster!

Pictured below are the first twenty of the eventual forty Storm Guardians! These are the guys that are driving me crazy with Super Glue. Thanks to several tips from the awesome blogger community I'm getting a tiny bit better with Super Glue... though I still hate it. In particular, adding a tiny bit of toilet paper to the joint seems to have a positive effect for me.


That's all I've got for now. The army is coming along pretty well. My anti-distraction campaign continues, but I do want to stop and paint the counters from my Gamers Edition I picked up this weekend. I understand the bright green is meant to make them easy to spot, but I think I'll tone mine down a bit with some paint. Also, at some point I may have to stop and try a game with them... no really...

Thanks for stopping by, and as usual, feel free to leave comments or critiques.

Dire Avengers!

Finally an update! These guys are almost finished. I still need to highlight the weapons and do work on the eyes. Of course, the 'jewels' are not done yet, I'm waiting till I have a ton of Eldar finished so I can assembly line those bits.


Also in progress but not pictured... The Wraithlord is almost finished, just need to finish the paint on the scythe and a few touch ups. The heavy weapons are almost all done, I've added a lighter gray color the rearward 'base' part of each heavy weapon to break up the blackness. And, some (not much yet) assembly has begun on the Storm Guardians. Unfortunately, the three War Walkers have remained at a standstill, though they are based and primed.

Thanks for taking the time to check up on me. As usual, all comments and/or criticisms are welcome. Also, check out the folks on my blog roll. They are all great folks with great blogs... otherwise they wouldn't be there!

News, Updates, and Off Topic too...

News:
Reinforcements have arrived! 40 Storm Guardians have arrived! I'm not just tickled pink that the way they are packaged you HAVE to give two out of every 8 a special weapon, but I'll see what I can't come up with to get something assaulty into the hands of those who need it.

The side affect of this is that the order size qualified me for a free Space Marine Sergeant mini from direct order. He looks really kewl. In fact, there maybe a timeout called from Eldar long enough to paint him... no.. no... MUST stay on track...

Updates:
The Wraithlord is coming along pretty good. The heavy weapons platforms and crew are almost done too. I have the prototype Dire Avenger almost ready to snap a pic and put up. Work has been slow this week for reasons in the off topic section...

Off Topic:
My progress has been impeded quite a bit this week (and will continue to be) because of family needs. My grandmother, who is 93 this year, recently had a double stroke. She was in the hospital for several days and has now been shipped to a "nursing and rehabilitation" facility. I have been taking turns with my father going to visit her. It's really awful to see her in the condition she is in, but I know it lifts her spirits when we visit. She had lost her vision and her speech after the strokes. She has regained her sight and, thankfully, still mentally very sharp. But, she still can't speak and writing is difficult for her so she gets frustrated trying to communicate. I'm sorry to be such a downer on my 40k blog, but I needed to get it out there I guess. If you have older relatives, enjoy them. You never know how long you'll have them for.

Now go paint something! That's what I'm gonna do!

Work In Progress Update...

Despite the lack of updates this week I have in fact been working. I even have a tiny bit to share this evening...

First off is the Wraith Lord I've been working on. He's converted a bit and now in the midst of being painted. Here are a couple pics of the work in progress.


And a close up of the head showing what passes for translucent flames in my world...


This next pic is a prototype for the Dire Avengers I'm working on. The blue is quite dark, but I want this army to have a dark feel, so this is actually pretty close to a success on the blue armor as far as I'm concerned.


As you can see, my digital camera is still on the outs with me. I think it wants a tripod or a better photographer or some such garbage. Who cares what a camera wants though!

Thanks for stopping by and as usual, feel free to drop a comment with complaints, critiques, or whatever you like!

War Walkers!!!

Yes, finally they are ready (almost) to prime. I've taken a pic, but it would appear that today my digital camera hates me. After trying several settings and more than a dozen pics, I finally gave up and settled for the least blurry. Here they are thus far.


As per usual with this army, the heavy weapons are interchangeable. I'm not sure how I would want to load these guys out in a game... but I'm leaning toward anti vehicle. Of course, they could make horribly nasty infantry harassers too. I've snuck in another High Elf head to break up the monotony. But other than that, these guys are pretty standard. Any advice on how best to use War Walkers is always welcome as I'm way out of game practice and have never played Eldar anyway. Thanks for stopping by!

Wraithlord Progress

Some progress on the Altansar Wraithlord... finally! He is assembled and his pose finalized. Here is a pic or two!


Note the spiffy change of weapons thanks to all heavy weapons being magnetized in this army!


I have three War Walkers coming up. I'm debating whether to hold the primer and paint on this guy till those are done, or just go for it? The War Walkers won't be heavily converted... at least I don't think so... yet. But they will be magnetized as well.

I've given the weapons platforms and crews for my Guardians as well as my Dire Avengers a coat of primer, so they are on their way too! Which brings me to a question. Since this is the Altansar Craftworld, I had considered going with a non-standard color scheme for my Dire Avengers. They might not have the same traditions of color for Aspect Warriors that other Craftworlds have. I have been considering a scheme that is the opposite of the Guardians, black armor with red helms. Set them apart, yet hold them together. Or maybe traditional blue armor but black helms with red crests... or red helms with black crests? Hmmm. Any Eldar aficionados out there are welcome to weigh in... as well as any one else with an opinion!

Random thought for the day, "two wrongs don't make a right, but three lefts do".

Guardians Update... with Pic!

Here they are. Not 'complete', but pretty close. I still have to do the jewels and certain other little details, but they are table worthy (in my opinion) now.


I still have to get the Weapons Platforms and crews for these guys done. I'm magnetizing all the heavy weapons... that is a new skill I'm learning... slowly. I also still have the ten Dire Avengers ready to prime... could be primer in my near future. The Wraithlord is on hold while I make some decisions about positioning. So, I think it will be primer and War Walker building for this evening.

And of course I can use the time to catch up on 40K radio... check'em out if you haven't before. They have some Baltimore Games Day coverage up right now. Good stuff.

Skin Tone Dilemma

As my Eldar are to be from the Altansar Craftworld I've had this idea about how I want their skin tone. I would like them to be very pale (even for Eldar) and downright "guant". They are described looking haunted or ghostly so I figured extra pale would be good. I've tried a couple different skins here and I'd like to share them. Both pictures are the same, just slightly different angles and light. The mini on the left is just too purple in the skin. The one on the right I think might be close to the target. I know the obvious answer is to use more helmets, but I'm going out of my way to include heads from the High Elf range just so as to show off their paleness.


Strangely, the armor is quite different on these too also with the right mini being a good deal more bright red. I'll have to think on the skin tone further. Any comments or criticism would be welcome.

Real Progress!

Well I finally got some work done. And some pictures to prove it!

Here is a prototype for my Altansar scheme. There isn't quite enough depth in the red for me yet. I am going to try again with a different paint progression. This one is black primer, mecharite red, blood red drybrush, then baal red wash. I'm going to change the drybrush to blazing orange and I'm reasonably sure I'll still get a good red with a bit better depth. The black parts will eventually be black parts.

I also did a couple of test minis for my Plague Marine scheme. I really like the lighter pus colored marines compared to the greener marines. This paint progression is black primer, tau sept ochre, rotting flesh, then a wash of thrakka green. I like them so far, but we'll have to see what they look like after the trim is done. I will probably do the trim in a metallic, then wash it all with something to tone down the metal and tie it together. Something like a rust colored wash perhaps.

Bases have all been done for what I have primed. I'm still trying to decide which will be easier/faster. Priming black then hand painting the base (foundation) colors. Or priming black then spraying on the foundation color. Option one puts the bases at my starter color for bases. Option two will see me having to go back and hand paint every base black then build up the color and probably retouch the legs of each mini. But, it may still be faster in the long run.

Here is my current workspace. (Note the ghetto photo area) Like a goldfish, my hobby kind of grows to fit it's environment. Luckily, I have a very supportive and understanding sweetheart, not to mention gorgeous and smart (she reads this you know!). Any workspace this messy must mean that real work is going on, right?

Update!

I've not forgotten my blog. I will return and I will return with pictures! I've been getting good progress done on my Eldar. Twenty Guardians with one scatter las platform each are done and based. Ten Dire Avengers with Exarch are also ready to prime. The Wraithlord is coming along, slowly but surely. I even have seven Death Guard ready to prime... yea don't know how those got in there... but I feel a 'Theories of the colors of Chaos' blog post coming up soon.

Priming is happening when I get off the computer in a few minutes. I may even break out the paints and my new set of Citadel Washes soon!

Altansar Wraithlord

Well, one of my many irons in the fire is a newly purchased Eldar army. The story behind the Altansar Craftworld really appealed to me so I said why not. I actually think I felt the overwhelming urge to start a new 40K army because I was desperately close to making actual progress on my Imperial Guard... which were probably a diversion from my Space Marines. In any case, the trigger hath been pulled.

I found a post on the DakkaDakka forums by a fellow who was converting an Altansar themed Wraithlord. It is, in my humble opinion, awesome! So I quickly absconded with his idea and began my own conversion. The image of a scythe wielding Wraithlord just really does something for me. I only hope my foray into Wraithlords turns out half as good as his.

I'll update as progress is made. I'd like to have this guy mostly done this week. Paint will be another matter. I have plans involving foundation paints and the new wash set coming out this week, but less impressive minis will have to take the first plunge.