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For the past 10 months or so I have been logging the progress of my Snakebite Ork army here on Dakka Dakka, My Snakebite Ork Blog . Like with most great plans, I got myself distracted temporarily. This however, I blame on the flgs. They are hosting an escalation league that I really wanted to take part in. Knowing that my current pace will not be fast enough to complete the league with my orks, I have instead decided to pursue another army that I have wanted to build. I played Eldar back in the second edition days and have always wanted to go back and rebuild the army.

The escalation league will give me a chance to take a quick break from the snakebites and crank out a Harlequin themed Eldar army. I tend to play a very Saim-Hann style army which I think will meld well into the harlequin theme, with the high mobility and speed representing the harlequin's sudden appearance from the web ways... Who know, I was getting tired of the grim and dark paint scheme of the orks and brightly colored eldar are a good distraction. Anyway, here is the army as it stands now. Ready for the the 500pt Combat Patrols (which, by the way are a pain for Eldar players!).


And some shots of the individual squads.

First up the Jetbikes. As I don't foresee using any guardians in the 2000pts of the escalation league, I opted to use the guardian sprues I had on hand to update the jetbikes. A simple upper torso swap. The squad on the left has magnetized heads. The thought is to some how magnetize them further to be used as either jetbikes or singing spears. If I can get my hands on enough wave serpent and falcon blades, I intend to fit all the bikes with fins like the cannon bike on the right.


The Rangers are fairly straight forward. As the eldar army has been one of my favorites since first getting into the game, a lot of the miniatures are the old 2nd edition metals.


Warp Spiders. Although the aspects are very similar for every army, each warrior in this army will have a single knee guard painted in the harlequin check. This was a far better idea before I started "checking" every models knees Let me tell you, its a great way to practice your harley check, or to lose your mind...


Fire Dragons.


Dire Avengers. Another straight forward unit, with a minor conversion for the twin catapult Exarch.


You might be wondering what, aside from the harlequin checked knee pads, makes this a Harlequin themed army? The overall theme will become more apparent as the army grows in size, but for know I will leave you with pictures of a few WIP models that will eventually join the force.

The Laughing God Avatar. I have always wanted to do a conversion of the avatar. It made sense that a harequin army would be joined by the Laughing god rather than khaine. I can't wait to get paint onto this model, but it may take some time as I had to drop him from the final 2000pt list.



My Counts-as Eldrad. Again, being a Saim-Hann 'ish harlequin army, it seemed wrong to use the currant Eldrad model to lead the force, but I needed his abilities. So, a conversion was in order. Having the left over body of the shadowseer from the avatar conversion, I thought it fitting to make a Solitaire counts-as Eldrad. Nothing better than an all powerful, damned soul wreaking havoc on the battlefield. I still need to work out his staff of Ulthamar. The harlequin models are a bit smaller that the old Eldrad and the staff head looks enormous on this body. I an thinking about trimming all the extra runes off the head, which should slim it down a bit. He will receive a considerably Slaanesh style paint job and join in on the fun at the 1000pt stage of the league.



Thats all for now, stay tuned for regular updates, the league starts on the 11th and increase by 500pts every month.
-Patrick

Awesome theme, i like the decvi....eldrad, yes eldrad. Nice overall i look forward to seeing more.

Ok love them!!!

The purple freehands on the jetbikes are awesome, good luck on your escalation process!!

LOL THAT GOD SURE MAKES ME LOL

Awesome work.

I look forward to seeing more.

Cheers,

Jack.

not bad honestly, the color pallet is light and should fit in well on a table. Will really make it stand out.

Loving the freehand and most of the colours being used, though the grey/cream on the jet bikes could be a bit creamier in my opinion, but that is just personal taste.

Otherwise great stuff... I can't wait to see this build up.

@ everyone - Thanks for the comments. I am really having a lot of fun with this army. It's great to read your comments.

@ SilverMK2 - The jetbikes are actually painted in a wraithbone style. The color may come off a bit in the grey as I have yet to build a truly proper light box and only do a quick color adjustment in photoshop. They start with a white primer and get a quick and dirty wet blend of Khemri Brown, Dhened Stone & Dove Grey. when that dries I do a watered down Devlan Mud wash.

I Finally figured out what to do for my counts-as Eldrad's staff. One of our locals at the flgs brought out his deamons last night and showed me his chaos sorcerer model. He raised a brilliant point, if the Solitare is meant to play Slaanesh, why not give him a staff from the chaos line! heres the model I'll be using.

The staff is perfect and I went ahead and put in the order from the shop, so it should be here in a week or so.

Thats all for now,
-Patrick

Ah, fair enough

I have to say, I like the wraith colour in real life, so I guess it is a combination of light and computer screens messing with the colours. As I said, everything else looks fantastic.

And I think that staff will fit in great. Good find.

great stuff!

are those Fire dragons 2nd ed?

they look good........

DC

deadly chicken wrote:great stuff!

are those Fire dragons 2nd ed?

they look good........

DC

Yes, the vast majority of this army will include 2nd ed figures. More for nostalgia than any other reason.

Speaking of Fire Dragons, I got to working on a few of the Wave Serpents today. I've pretty much finished the top of the fire dragons personal ride. I also began work on one for the Dire Avengers.




Something just doesn't seem right about the dire avenger wave serpent. The remainder of the blue will receive the check pattern. Perhaps adding the Avenger symbol to the blank side would balance it out? Though I'm not sure if I want to dedicate all of the serpents to just one squad. Any thoughts or ideas?
Thanks,
-Patrick

I don't think just adding the dire avenger symbol will balance the other side out, the stage left side is pretty heavy with detail. I think just having a different color of check would be the best way to go. Its kinda hard to tell at the moment, the pattern you are doing with the red and blue one looks really different that the yellow and orange one.

Finally got around to building a proper light box today. As a reward you all get a few cleaner photos of parts of this army, plus a sneak peek into what the future holds!

First up a better representation of the wraithbone cowls on the jetbikes.


Here's a shot of the Fire Dragons. You may even be able to make out the harlequin check on their left knee.


And for being such awesome Dakkadites, I'll give you a sneek peek at the beginning stages of my Harlequin Jetbike Seer Council! Only 3 models so far, I was trying to see if the concept in my head was plausible. I don't care for the current warlock models, they seem a bit static and more on the defensive then the hard hitting beast that they truly are. So, with sudden inspiration from my Shadowseer to Eldrad(Solitare) conversion. I thought why not use Harlequins to represent my seer council. Rather than riding into battle, the harlequin poses allowed me to convert the squad diving into the thick of melee I think it will work out with a bit of green stuffing to make them more council'ish.

Here is a warlock preparing to use the destructor power.


The second is preparing to leap from her "bike."


Finally a group shot. Although the last model is to dark to really make out, this shot helps to show the movement I am attempting to capture in the squad. The guy on the left will eventually be the farseer.


Although most of the harlequin models come with swords, I opted to replace them all with wood elf swords to help them stand apart as witchblades. (plus I get all the harley weapons to convert other models!) I'm still trying to figure out what else to add to make them look more Harlequin seer council and less harlequin jetbikers. Possibly green stuffing some rune armor wherever possible, or adding the wraithbone crests to all their heads (not particularly sure what its called, but its the piece coming off the back of Eldrad's helmet).

Thats it for now, let me know what you think,
-Patrick

It's been a little over two weeks since the last update, the league is going very well. I am currently holding second place and glad to say, second to another Eldar player. I got a chance to test out a few 1000 pt lists and realized it was probably better to play it safe and throw the seer council in as soon as possible. As I had planned to use the seer council to really draw out the harlequin theme in the army, these next few updates will be some of my favorites. I have been working on a custom built jetbike seer council. After using them in a test game against a good friend and amazingly talented painter, he request that I let him take a crack at painting one. I handed him the farseer and this is what he handed back to me last night at the flgs...



He captured the concept of my modeling perfectly. Now its just convincing him to finish the whole squad off for me.

Freed up from needing to paint the farseer, I decided to put my time to good use and make some more detailed scenic bases for the squad.


I also finished of an objective marker for the army. The plan is to eventually have three objective markers that tie into a single scene. The first is a downed grav-board. The plan for number two will be the downed rider, complete with soul escaping to join the laughing god. The third will be a tome of knowledge that the rider was after before his 'accident'.


Got a little more work done on the Counts-as Eldrad. I just need to finish up the sword arm and base, as well as the staff arm.


I liked the results of the mounted seer council so much that I decide to play around with an alternative Shining Spears unit. This is just a quick concept model to see if I like the idea. If I go through with it, the final unit will use dire avenger legs and be a lot more dynamic in posing. What do you all think? I feel the grav-boards are a lot more interesting than the 'harley-davidson' style jetbikes.


Only problem with doing the shining spear conversion is that after I do it, I know I'll want to switch the standard jetbikers over to the boards as well,
That is all for now, two weeks to finish the seer council!

Wow on the farseer, Eldrad, bases (I love these kind of bases that all tie in together like that) and objectives (I like the thought behind them).

Not so sure about the shining spears though. Not sure if they balance right with such a large weapon. They might be better with the standard bikes and leave the boards to the more elite units.

I also think that you can have too much of a good thing

Those bases are fantastic. Great work on the warlocks. The movement in them is quite nice. Your friends paint job is stunning as well.

I really like how you've done the water effects on the three bases with it, especially the ripples. It just brings them to life.

And yes, attempt to get your friend to paint the others. It's an important unit, it'd work well to have them stand out; his style of painting seems different enough from yours to really emphasise that, and yet close enough that they all mesh together.

Loving this army. I think it would be a real shame to retire those jetbikes. They look great. Your free hand is pretty damn good. Your bases are ace. I do kinda think the harlies should be the ones with the crazy hover boards.

Also the detail on the spiders helmets is top notch..

Follows thread form now on.

I think the Shining spear idea is really cool, I would assume your going to make them look more harlequin and flashy than what the test model is. So I think once we see the final project everyone will love the idea.

Seer council, Fire Dragons, Avatar, Jetbikes?

Shouldn't you have some Harlequins in a Harlequin army?

Stunning!
Now im not one that knows tons about armies.
But the painting skill is brilliant

Truly excellent. This is a really inspiring themed army, the seer council really captures the feel of the harlequins. I like the hover boards but I agree that they don't suit the shining spears, they look too unbalanced. Maybe you should try two-handed weapons along the lines of those used by those Dark Eldar models riding hover boards.

Your friend is a very talented painter and has produced a stunning paint job on the harelquin model which is suitably jazzy without being too over the top.

@ Everyone
Thanks for all of the comments. I really appreciate them and they do wonders to keep me on track. Plus all of the positive feedback from the farseer has inspired Frank to keep on with the council and I was just informed that the first warlock w/ destructor was finished (pictures up as soon as I can get him back).

@ SilverMK2
I wanted a simple to construct base that still looked fairly exotic. Well, that and even though I understand the argument, I just can seem to give up flocking my bases. So the 'lost city' style really does well to make the brighter colors of the eldar pop while not overpowering the scene. The only problem is, now I want to use this army for Adepticon and all the bases prior to the Council were just mass produced and attached to the models. All fine until I go to make the display board. When a squad lines up based on the tile grid, they will all be facing different directions not to mention the random switch from tile to grass. Well, we will cross that bridge when we get to it.

@ SilverMK2 & The Lost Hobbit
I totally agree with the boards for elite units, but I also classify the shining spears as such. The plan is for more extreme posing, so none will look as wobbly and unbalanced as this test. I have images in mind of a 'charge' stance assumed by the riders before striking. Feet towards the rear of the board with the front elevated and the lance cradled, a single hand gripping the nose of the board for support. This would lend more to a greek style spear formation. The board effectively becoming a shield to the rider. I'm concerned about re-equipping them ala the DE hellions (for tournament WYSIWYG reasons), but perhaps I could slim down the bulkiness of the rider by switching over to lances made from the wood elf standard bearer arm (arm used for the farseer's singing spear)?

@ ArbitorIan
Harlequins in a Harlequin army? Are you crazy? why would I want that? Well the original plan was to have them but as you can see from the jetlock council, the best laid plans... Actually, as much as I wanted them, the army was for a league, so I had to build a list that I could play. As the army is effectively Saim Hann, the Harlequin play style didn't match the high mobility of the remainder to the army. No fears though, the army will continue well after the 2000pt mark, so rest assured that one day Harlequins will play a better role than bits for the bits box. Not to mention the small pile of harlequin kisses I've made from the Warlock conversions!


Again thank you all for the C&C.

Ah, a kind of Green Goblin pose?

That could work

Also, good luck retroactively designing a board/basing for your already constructed units

immense!

DC

Really, really nice stuff, from the linework on the guardian jetbikes and DA helmets to the poses on your "Warlocks". I look forward to seeing this splash of color all together when it's finished.

Oh, and loving the aspect symbol worked into the Dragon's Seerpent paintjob too.

I love this army! Not sure if the colours are dull due to the lighting but either way I like. The bases and markers finish it off nicely too. Keep up the good work.

I'm loving this army! You've pursued a themed eldar list very effectively and elegantly!

Something just doesn't seem right about the dire avenger wave serpent. The remainder of the blue will receive the check pattern. Perhaps adding the Avenger symbol to the blank side would balance it out? Though I'm not sure if I want to dedicate all of the serpents to just one squad. Any thoughts or ideas?

What if you did the same kind of enlarged symbol you did for the Fire Dragon's Wave Serpent using the DA rune in blue checker or solid blue?

Great stuff. With the risk of sounding repetitive, the freehand on the jetbikes is amazing and I love how the bases complement the army.

What did you use for the tile on the bases?

SilverMK2 wrote:Ah, a kind of Green Goblin pose?

That could work

Also, good luck retroactively designing a board/basing for your already constructed units

I'll admit, many people had used this reference and I had to go and look it up. Yes, it is generally a similar pose, though it was a bit harder to accomplish as the two sides of my board don't swivel independently of one another.

covenant84 wrote:I love this army! Not sure if the colours are dull due to the lighting but either way I like. The bases and markers finish it off nicely too. Keep up the good work.

Call it the side effects of painting too many orks. I am stuck in the concept of a grim dark army, war torn and dusty. Though I am getting better, my eldar are starting to brighten up a bit as I paint more of them.

Gavin Thorne wrote:I'm loving this army! You've pursued a themed eldar list very effectively and elegantly!

Something just doesn't seem right about the dire avenger wave serpent. The remainder of the blue will receive the check pattern. Perhaps adding the Avenger symbol to the blank side would balance it out? Though I'm not sure if I want to dedicate all of the serpents to just one squad. Any thoughts or ideas?

What if you did the same kind of enlarged symbol you did for the Fire Dragon's Wave Serpent using the DA rune in blue checker or solid blue?

I actually didn't realize that I never posted finished shots of the wave serpent cowl. You almost hit it dead on. I incorporated the DA symbol on the blank side and am fairly happy with how it came out. I'll be sure to post some pictures in my next photo update.

McNutty wrote:Great stuff. With the risk of sounding repetitive, the freehand on the jetbikes is amazing and I love how the bases complement the army.

What did you use for the tile on the bases?

No big secret here, its just tile textured plastic card. I'm forever amazed at how simple basing can be (read: my tiny modeling brain can't wrap around the concept of intricate basing technique)

Onto the good news, The 1000pt jump starts monday week, so its crunch time. Still have 2 jetbike warlocks and 4 shining spears to finish for the list. I plan to crank out the shining spears tonight. I finished the modeling yesterday and tested them out last night (fun fact: adding a farseer to the shining spears squad will in fact negate your 'hit and run' ability. oh well, you live, you learn! still managed the tie in annihilation versus new nids).
I'm meeting up with my buddy Frank on Friday, so expect a great photo update on Saturday or Sunday. That's all for now,