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I first got into playing 40k in 2011 when my friend (also a store owner) gave me a set of GW paints and asked me to paint up some PAGK for him to display in the shop; I do a lot of artwork on MtG cards and worked as a tattoo artist for quite some time so I think he just went with the most artsy person he knew for the task. I was unsure of how they would turn out or even if they would be able to be displayed but I went ahead and did it anyways. When I got them done I though they looked pretty cool (so did he) and I really enjoyed the process. I dove right in to watching videos and absorbing as much as I could to try and learn to do it better. There was also an escalation league starting up at the LGS and I figured this would be a good time to get into it; I traded or sold all of my high ticket MtG cards (I was falling out of it after playing since 97) and got into Space Wolves. No one at the shop had picked them up and my main concern was not playing the same thing that everyone else was playing. They were hard to get into painting at first with all of the small details and then I started to get frustrated because I wanted to put all the cool looking weapons on them but didn't want to play those weapons, most people didn't mind it. I really liked the way they played and was happy that I wasn't getting rolled every time I put them on the table, I especially loved casting JotWW against the many Necron players. I never really got tired of playing them, I just wanted to explore other armies too; I ended up getting a Tau army and realized they weren't for me. I've been furiously trading and flipping armies ever since I learned how easy it was and ended up with my current set now. I play SW, Nids, and Eldar; I'm also into Malifaux and Warmahordes but I think I do it just because I like to paint and model things.
Most recently I've enjoyed playing Eldar with Dark Eldar allies and that's what I'm trying to paint up for a tournament on the 20th of October. I really want to play with a fully painted army; my collection has gotten so vast that I fling my attention wherever I fancy to the point I can't get one thing done. This project is to help me tone down and focus a bit. I hope you all enjoy it and can offer me tips or an uplifting statement here and there. I plan on posting just about everything I do here as sharing the things I do is very important to me. I also feel that finally posting this project log has offically made me a part of the Dakka community instead of the random lurker who doesn't come out very often in any of the other topics.


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This is the first part of my Eldar army that I want to share. I went with the Ulthwe Craftworld because I love Psykers in this game and I feel like a giddy little girl when I cast them; I might often squeal when Doom goes off in an epic way. This is also the first time I've really done something this big and worked my airbrush as much as I did. The masking went well for the first time as well, some of the edges are really sharp. I just need to finish the base and I've got some neat plans for that one. Hope you enjoy it.

Here's the Wraith Guard unit I have for now. They were pretty fun to paint but I was sad when I realized that a tumble one of them had nicked up his helmet a bit. I think I can be comfortable in saying that this is my favorite sculpt for the Warlocks.




Up next is a Wraithlord. I picked this guy up secondhand and the model was hanging out in a bits bag forgotten. I pulled it out and decided to breathe some life into it. I ended up changing the position of the hands to make it look like he's actually doing something. I enjoy it but the new ones still look better. I was thinking of adding a huge loincloth to him to make it look more contemporary.



My DE Archon... I was really bummed when I found that someone slipped me one of these in a trade when I was sure I was going to get the cool looking FC one. It was rather unappealing to me; the hanging face thing just made him look ridiculous instead of menacing. I did a lot of chopping and smoothing and did my best to reshape things. I think he turned out pretty well for my first big conversion; I learned a lot and look to apply it to the next thing I undertake.






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[img]http://images.dakkadakka.com/gallery/2012/10/11/420449_md-Archon%2C%20Dark%20Eldar%2C%20Eldar%2C%20Ulthwe.jpg
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Last up for this update is my Avatar; I can say that this was my least favorite model to work on; everytime I put a layer of paint on him I just wasn't happy with it. I think it could be the abundance of red on him. I was thinking about changing his sword to a glowy blue (stereotypical power sword) just to break the red up a bit. He doesn't look bad at all, just not a model I was fond of working on.

[img]http://images.dakkadakka.com/gallery/2012/10/11/420446_md-Avatar%20Of%20Khaine%2C%20Eldar%2C%20Ulthwe.jpg
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That's where I'm at so far. I have a few more units to go and the 20th is getting closer and closer. I think I can get it done if I just focus; I already lost a bit of momentum today when I started thinking about my Space Wolves again and how it would be neat to field them right now.


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Not sure why those guys won't post. I'll try again later or someone can give me a tip on how to make it happen.

The flyer is very well done and I love the symbol. That was masked and air brushed on?

That's how I went about it. Some of the tape didn't hug as well as I thought it had but it's hard to notice (I hope you get the chance to see it). I'm really trying to focus and use this project as a learning experience and it's going well. I just really need to get a better camera because the one I'm using (or the way I'm taking them) is taking a lot away from the paint job. Thanks for your comments, good words always help me move forward.


[img]http://images.dakkadakka.com/gallery/2012/10/11/420449_md-Archon%2C%20Dark%20Eldar%2C%20Eldar%2C%20Ulthwe.jpg
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***got one of em ***


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Also just noticed that his "earring" is unpainted.

There is actually a FLGS in Reedsburg now (VanGuard Games). So it will be easier for me to get pickup games. You should check it out when you are back in town.

I have to say the Archon looks pretty impressive considering what that old thing used to look like. Keep up the good work man, and hopefully we will see some impresive stuff come the 20th.

Thanks a lot, the Archon was a big deal since I was so disappointed when I got it (should've asked which one it was first) but I like what happened and he fits the theme as an Eldar ally since he is wearing some of their war gear.

Got my Eldrad Squad done this morning. I've been toying around with different ways to take photos and here's where I'm at. If you could check my gallery, I have three other photos of this same squad all taken differently; any suggestions would be appreciated.

Best to compose multiple views of the same model into a single pic.

I also have problems with the photo taking, I have read that a neutral background (grey) is useful because it doesn't reflect much light like white does and it doesn't absorb light like black does.

I doubt that was helpful, but some data is better than none.

Also the fig are looking sweet!, the scheme seems to be working really well!

The photos seem a bit too bright.

Lokks great, love the take on the Avatar and the hand on his base

So how did you do in the tournie? Did you ever stop by the store in Reedsburg?

Looking good mate. I am liking the colours you've got for your Ulthwe Eldar, looks slightly blue-hued to me. Nice work, can't wait for more.

I did really well in the tournament; once I get some extra time I will go through some of my match highlights. I went 2-1 with losing to Daemons in the final round. I did win best painted though. It was great being able to play a fully painted army and also be able to do well with a very out dated codex. I look forward to trying to finish off all the rest of my Eldar.

I did stop in the Reedsburg shop and it's a really nice place and the owner is a good guy. I will be trying to get some games in there soon.

So Shannon won?

No, I got paired down to Shannon. Both Tyler and Andy were 2-0 going into the third as well. Andy won since Tyler made a fairly large play mistake (misinterpretation) and lost with Andy holding one objective while Tyler held none. It was a heated match to say the least.

Glad to see these went to great use! They look awesome.

Here I am trying to get a handle on photo taking. I will post an army shot of the army I played as soon as this starts working for me. This is just a WIP of a Grey Hunter I had sitting around (the Eldar went back home) so let me know how this image is compared to my other images. After the images I will give a rough battle report of how my Eldar army did at the Labrynth Games 40k Tournament.



http://images.dakkadakka.com/gallery/2012/10/30/426370_md-.jpg


Here was the list I played:

Eldrad; 2 Warlocks (Destructorx2); Spiritseer (Enhance); Archon (Shadowfield, Venom Blade)
Avatar of Khaine

5x Wraith Guard; Warlock (Destructor)

10x Guardians (Bright Lance)
11x Guardians (Eldar ML)
10x Kabalite Warriors (Splinter Cannon)
3x Eldar Jetbikes

3x Eldar Warwalkers (2xScatterlaser each)
3x Eldar Warwalkers (2xScatterlaser each)
1x Voidraven Bomber (2x Shatterfield Missiles)
Wraithlord (Bright Lance, Scatterlaser, 2xFlamers)


My first round I got to play against Chaos Space Marines. He was a player that wasn't very experienced with them in 6th so he was fielding a lot of Rhinos and assaulty guys with Obliterators. He had a Helldrake hanging out too and this would be my first time playing against it. This was the killpoints round to those Rhinos were looking mighty tastey. I played pretty conservatively (movement wise) since I knew those Rhinos would get up the field quickly. I focused my walker attention to some Obliterators coming up the side (vanguard deployment) and at one of the in range Rhinos. The Avatar started making his was to a Predator that was threatening my Walkers, the Wraithlord followed. All the troops just sat on secondary objectives and took no casualties at all (minus the kabablite warriors that ran off the table after a bad roll after a shooting phase). On his turn the Rhinos came towards the middle trying to stay away from the Wraithlord and Avatar but strolled into Walker fire and Eldrads unit; in one turn I popped 3 tanks. Our fliers came in on turn two; my Voidraven Bomber took out a unit of Cultists with it's void mine and missiles and that attracted the attention of the Drake (he knew I couldn't do it again though) and then I ended up getting a pen on it with the voidlances so that just got him to follow it around trying to take it down (it seems like the drake is more of an infantry killer though if I'm understanding the model correctly) so it wasn't a huge threat. When it came to the end I had him on kill points 6-2. The best scene was Kharn tying up Eldrad, Warlocks, and the Archon for 3 rounds of CC; they were just hanging out and I wasn't failing my 2++ reroll. Was a fun game although I feel like I smashed him and I'm not a huge fan of shutting people out of the game, it isn't fun.

Round two put me up against another person running a 5th ed Blood Angel list (3 land raiders, tons of terminators) and I was worried because I had so little things to break a landraider and almost his entire army was rolling in them. This was another game where I hung back and placed my walkers in the best cover spot to try and shoot out the two tac squads he had; they ended up doing their thing. This time we were doing victory points (total points of models killed, I might be getting these names wrong) and I was losing troops left and right; my Wraithguard bit the dust after being charged by Terminators with SS TH but they did manage to insta kill three terminators on Overwatch and then Guardians were getting mopped up like made (especially after the Bright Lance popped one) but the Avatar and Wraithlord were doing some work. THe voidraven came in on turn two and took one landraider as well. When the Terminators came out, they would wipe a unit and then the Walkers would shoot them apart. I won this game by a large margin (it was something like 380 to 1400); I was getting pretty stoked that I was 2-0 with a 4th ed codex even if I was playing against armies that were not really made for this edition.

The last round was rough; I got paired against a Daemon player who was running 4 troops, 1 flamer unit, 2 Daemon Princes, Lord of Change, and Fateweaver. He decided to try and get everything on turn two and they showed up. They were in my face and ripping me apart, I did nothing other than wipe the Pink Horrors and Flamers off the board. My one personal bad moment was when I got a bit ey over the Avatar not being immune to Breath of Chaos. Otherwise, I got stomped hard. If he hadn't have gotten all his Flying MC Daemons in play (along with 6 Screamers) I think the game would've been different.

All in all I played well (other than forgetting to Fortune once) and I took home best painted; it was a good time and I got really close to first with an army that most people would've written off.

So 2 out of 3 missions were effectively KP rather than capturing objectives...that isn't 6th edition at all.

I am guessing you also played 5th edition area terrain rules...ie no mysterious forests or rivers.

None of that but it was stated that we could do so if we wished. The last game was table quarters but it really was "stomp Eldar in the face". I'm not trying to run to the TO's defense but he has been a busy person and is at least trying to keep things running. Realistically, I wish 6th edition things were incorporated into the game a bit more. Mysterious forests would be fun and the relic would be a good time as well. It would make people use troops more wisely or just use them period. Right now you can just gun people off the table with big flying things because the objectives just aren't that important. More time needs to be devoted to doing the next event.

Get that full army shot up!

In terms of the lighting I think, yer getting close to where you need to be. The light is a little bright, are you diffusing with anything like wax paper or is it just raw?

As for the tournament stuff, the TO is running a game where random elements are minimized. Allowing players to use strategy more effectively without worrying about a forest trying to eat them

That said I would love to see more of the 6th stuff incorporated. Perhaps we can have another of the players step up to running a game of "Pure" 6th ed (or at least fortifications) I am now playing chaos and would love to field a defense line/quad gun

So another tournament is coming up in Baraboo come the 29th of December and I've decided to try and take down a Tyranid army that I've had sitting around for a while. When I got it, it was in bad shape; a lot of the models had no faces since the paint was on so thick. After stripping them I found out there were about three different paint jobs on them. I did the best I could and I think I've brought this model back to glory.

Well isn't she a tasty little morsel!

Here's a Brutal Effigy I finished not too long ago. I'm trying out a new camera and I like it so far compared to the other photos I've taken but I just need to get the lighting figured out.

Still working out the bugs with my photo taking but here is the whole 1850 list in all of it's doneness.

Photos are much better and how did you do the slime effects on the Tervigon's base?

I went with a mix of green stuff and milliput to sculpt the waves, the bubble, and give it some bulk. After it cured I painted it with Dark Angels Green and Scorpion Green; then I finished it off with some gloss varnish. That army is coming together nicely too and I'll have more photos of the completed things soon. Thank you for your interest.