Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you:
No adverts like this in the forums anymore.
Times and dates in your local timezone.
Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance.
Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely.
Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net.
If you are already a member then feel free to login now.
2018/10/28 22:04:02
Subject: Power Metal – Bellerophon’s Biel-Tan Blog - New Army Photos 1st Sep 2024
Hello folks, here I’m going to cover my Biel-Tan collection as it grows. Biel-Tan was my first 40k love back in the mists of time, but I’ve somehow never ended up with a proper army. I’m in the process of changing that now. How did that come about? I’m going to type it up because I find it interesting – the tale of a tween, an issue of White Dwarf and anti-40k parents – but it’s quite long and tangentially related to the topic at hand so I’ve put it in spoiler tags. Read on if you dare!
Spoiler:
I first became interested in 40k when I started secondary school (11 years old) and made some new friends who introduced me to the hobby. This was around 3rd edition era. One of them had rather a lot of Ultramarines due to his very generous pocket money, the other was starting Dark Angels. I decided that I needed to do something that wasn’t space marines and I can’t remember what led me to pick Eldar. Especially since there wasn’t the wealth of information online that there is now, and there was no GW store in my home town. All I remember is that another guy in the class gave me his copy of White Dwarf 236 – which is the issue that covered the release of the 3rd edition Eldar codex. It had various articles and designer’s notes on the codex by Gav Thorpe, a bit of fluff and a battle report – Biel-Tan vs Imperial Fists and Legion of the Damned.
I spent some of my pocket money on a box of guardians and a starter paint set at a local store – not even a game store, but they carried all sorts of model kits and a small selection of 40k. I built them up and tried a few colour schemes that 11 year old me thought would be cool – mainly involving reds, blacks and golds – but in the end I decided that they didn’t look as good as the models in that White Dwarf. So I repainted them as Biel-Tan. Badly. I thought you ought to be able to paint a unit in an afternoon with a handful of paints, no primer and a starter brush – I imagine a lot of us have similar stories.
A few weeks later I decided I wanted a Falcon, so I clutched my pocket money and headed off down to that local store. They didn’t have a Falcon. Disappointed me stared at the shelves for a while. I wanted something new for my army. There wasn’t much Eldar at all. I didn’t want more Guardians yet, so pretty much my only other option was Jetbikes. I didn’t have the Codex and didn’t know what the rules were, and I couldn’t see any guns on the regular jetbikes. I don’t know what would have made me think that there was a model with no offensive output whatsoever, but I did. So I bought two of the Shrieker ones – the jetbike kit with an extra metal shuriken cannon and metal rider torso. When I got them home my mum was surprised to find that I’d bought models that weren’t even the ones I’d gone in for. Perhaps she could see the beginnings of a plastic crack addiction. Perhaps she knew. Perhaps she was horrified at the way I was blowing my pocket money. She immediately banned me from buying any more GW. Nothing I said could dissuade her.
You know how being told you can’t have something makes you want it more? I wanted 40k. My friends at school got bored of it and drifted out. I was annoyed. They were allowed to collect 40k and they couldn’t even be bothered to! I read that old White Dwarf cover to cover so many times. It’s seared upon my memory. And throughout the whole issue, nearly every photo of an Eldar model was Biel-Tan. That issue fixed my idea of what Eldar should be, what they should look like. At the start of 3rd Ed, it was just after the plastic guardians had come out (16 man battle squad, £12!), and the 3rd edition Chris Fitzpatrick spade-head Howling Banshees (£2 each! Phone Mail Order now!). I know a lot of people hate the middle aspect warrior sculpts. I agree on the Dragons and Scorpions, they’re awful. But those spade-headed Howling Banshees were the only Banshees I’d known, so they’re the only ones that look right to me. Amazing the effect that a single issue of White Dwarf can have on a young mind.
Eventually when I went to University – to a city with a GW – I figured I’d start 40k again with my new found independence (but on a student budget). I just so happened to make friends with a guy in my accommodation block who was big into WHFB, and managed to convince me to do High Elves instead of Eldar. I don’t think I needed much convincing really, I was always interested in WHFB too and I’m still fond of that army. Over the years I built my High Elves, added Orcs and Goblins, and Lizardmen, returned to 40k with some homebrew Astartes, did a bit of BFG. But for some reason never returned to the Eldar. I dropped out of the hobby for 5 years or so. Missed the introduction of finecast, and the discontinuing of WHFB. Then I went to visit that same friend, who had just got hold of Death Masque. I sat studying the sprues in detail. The bug bit me again. I decided I was going to do Salamanders.
Another year later and loads of Salamanders and Deathwatch under my belt, I finally started hitting up ebay for metal Aspect Warriors. It was finally time to do Biel-Tan, the army that I’d wanted to do all those years ago. It was going to happen. I was ready.
So, I love Biel-Tan, want to finally build an army, and oh yes, I want to avoid Finecast wherever I can. Not making things easy for myself there, given the state of the Aspect Warrior lines. Over the last year or so I’ve been scrounging ebay for metal versions of the Aspect Warriors. Generally I’ve been buying the metal versions of the current sculpts – with the exception of the Howling Banshees where I’ve been buying the 3rd edition spade-heads. As I said in the spoiler wall of text, they were the current design when I first fell in love with the army, and fixed my idea of what Banshees should look like. At that point in time the other Aspects were all still the original Jes Goodwin sculpts, and since the current versions are essentially updates of Jes’ original designs they’re the ones I went with (honourable mention to the old-timer Warp Spiders!). I’ve also been scouring ebay for old metal seers. Biel-Tan isn’t particularly seer focused of course, but once again back when I fell in love with the army the Autarch wasn’t even a thing and seers look great in green and white. I’ve gathered together a ridiculous seer council of pretty much every Farseer and Warlock model that ever saw a wide release.
Which altogether means I’ve got a pretty good selection of metals to be getting on with. Mix those with the current plastic and it’s a lot of space-elf bodies. What’s the eventual goal? There isn’t really one. I’m more of a collector and painter than gamer (I’ve played exactly one game of 8th edition…) so I’m mostly just buying and painting things I like, while also wanting to be able to make a viable army out of it if the need arises. I also like many of us have the tendency to go overboard and buy far more than I ever strictly need.
Amongst the various things I love about the army is how varied the paint scheme can be and still be obviously Biel-Tan. The official models *usually* show guardians and wraithlords with white body and green head, while seers and wraithguard are usually inverted at green body and white head. Any of those variants can be used at any point. One squad of guardians white body green head, and another green body white head? Why not? Then there’s the vehicles, usually in a much darker green but there’s no reason I couldn’t do some in white, or white with a green stripe, or green with a white stripe, or…
I intend to paint the Aspects in their shrine colours, but those can vary of course shrine to shrine. Some I will paint in the same schemes that GW use in the main photo shoots, others I will create my own variations based on that Aspect’s wider colour palette. Sashes and the like will usually be green or white, to tie them into the army a bit more. Paints will be mostly Vallejo and Army Painter, with a bit of Citadel Tehcnical. Basing I’m going to do a fairly arid tan sort of basing, using AK Interactive Diorama products, to match with my Salamanders and Deathwatch. I know some folks pick a different basing scheme for each army, but I originally created this basing scheme with my Eldar plans somewhat in mind and I like the idea of my armies matching. Eventually I’d like to make a modular board that matches the basing scheme of my armies, if I ever find the time to do it.
So that’s the plan.
I've been working at this for a while already, and I've got a whole bunch of models in various different states of completeness. I'll start the thread off with my first four finished units. What better way to start than with my favourite 3rd ed Banshees? I've painted them in the same scheme as the ones in that very first WD that I fell in love with. A unit of 10 including an Exarch.
Next up, my first squad of Swooping Hawks. Again, 10 including an Exarch. These are painted essentially in the studio scheme. I'll probably craft an alternative shrine for my second batch when I get around to those.
My first completed Guardian squad. I always feel that a Guardian squad looks better when led by a Warlock, especially in Biel-Tan colours, so I've finished my first Warlock along with these guys. The heavy weapon platform is magnetised, even though I barely actually play the game.
And a Wraithlord. He's also magnetised on all four gun mounts and on the wrist to attach the Ghostglaive, so I could run him as any of the allowed weapon loadouts. I've seen some really cool re-posed Wraithlords around here, but this one is fairly standard I'm afraid. I'm pretty pleased with how the gradients came out on the Ghostglaive and the head.
More to follow as and when I get them done!
This message was edited 50 times. Last update was at 2024/09/01 14:40:35
Thanks both! I'm very pleased with how these have come out, though they were very time consuming to paint. I've got a few things in the nearly done stage, so I may well be able to update fairly regularly for a little while, then see how fast it goes once I've got those all finished.
It's largely because I was waiting to matt varnish a whole bunch of them at once, and now I'm just working through the final touches that I didn't want to be covered by the varnish - like metallics and spiritstones. Though having said that, the wraithlord's head still clearly has a bit of a shine to it in those pictures, so maybe I didn't get that much varnish on.
The others close to being finished are some Wraithguard, several Seers, some Dire Avengers and a War Walker. After that I've got plenty of Aspect Warriors and Seers primed and ready to slap some paint on, but so much to do that I suspect it will be a while before I get them done.
Cheers guys. I'll look to sort an army shot once I've got the other nearly-finished models actually finished.
The next ones that I've just finished off since posting yesterday are my first 5 Wraithguard. I considered putting some runes onto the cloth, but I kinda like how they look clean.
Also, because I find it interesting, I've still got those very first Guardians that I got back in 1999, back when the set was pretty new, "Battle Squad", 16 dudes for £12, no weapon platform. I painted them utterly terribly as most young painters do with their first models. I dug them out many years later (2006ish?) and wondered how much I could improve them just by going over and tidying up the paint that was already there. I only did that on a few of them as an experiment. So that means I've still got some that appear as they did when I first painted them, some that appear as when I "upgraded" them, and of course the brand new ones that I've painted recently. I think it makes for a nice image of progress.
I feel like our stories are mightily similar. My first collection was Harlequines and 15 years (7 armies and countless other projects) later I've collected a small force but haven't really finished the project.
I think maybe Eldar just benefit from a tonne of experience and maybe it'll be my magnum opus in my retirement.
You're Biel-tan are looking sharp, look forward to seeing more.
amazingturtles wrote:I like the progress picture, it's kind of funny in that the stance seems to get more determined from one end to the other, too.
youwashock wrote:Decidedly awesome. It is like watching someone's kid grow up.
Thanks both. Young me didn't put too much effort into posing the kit, so there were a fair few funny-looking ones in there. Then when I decided to 'upgrade' the paint on a few of them I think I picked the less-daft ones to work on. As a more *ahem* mature modeller the new ones were much more carefully posed - it does make for a double improvement I guess, in painting and building (the old ones had mould lines to make you shudder).
theCrowe wrote:I feel like our stories are mightily similar. My first collection was Harlequines and 15 years (7 armies and countless other projects) later I've collected a small force but haven't really finished the project.
I think maybe Eldar just benefit from a tonne of experience and maybe it'll be my magnum opus in my retirement.
You're Biel-tan are looking sharp, look forward to seeing more.
Glad to have reached a kindred spirit! I think you're right, all models benefit from more experience but something about Eldar seems like they feel that benefit a bit more than other factions. I can't quite put my finger on why, perhaps the sheer numbers of organic shapes in everything are a bit tougher to pull off well than the harder lines of some other model ranges. I'm still a bit confused about how I managed to go so long without starting a real Biel-Tan army. In a way I'm glad that I waited long enough that I could do it justice, but then on the other hand it's meant that all my metal models have had to come from eBay rather than off the shelf. Swings and roundabouts I suppose. There's something special about going back to your first army, I don't think any others can quite compare to the first one you fell for.
No new pictures for the moment, I've been too busy today to pick up a paintbrush. But when I do I've still got some nearly-finished models which shouldn't take much more time. Having this thread now gives me that little bit more motivation to get them done.
Some lovely looking eldar, and it's cool to see the comparisons to your older models. I tried the Biel-Tan scheme when I was 13, the guardians look pretty similar to your first one. Haven't actually gone back to them, maybe I should give them a tidy up!
Also, that's my favourite Oldschool Warlock miniature. Just dripping with classic Eldar badassery!
Looks great in Biel-tan greens and greys. (Mine's in a Siam-Han red and white)
Look at that stance! He's just poised and ready to strike. What a sculpt!
Awesome. Great clean work. Looking forward to seeing your war walker, massive soft spot for that model. I am tempted to follow you with matte varnishing, but worried my Black Legion will be too shiny
"And what are the achievements of your fragile Imperium? It is a corpse rotting slowly from within while maggots writhe in its belly. It was built with the toil of heroes and giants, and now it is inhabited by frightened weaklings to whom the glories of those times are half-forgotten legends."
2018/11/03 01:09:12
Subject: Power Metal – Bellerophon’s Biel-Tan Blog
Fifty wrote:The progress shots are really interesting. I need to put some comparison shots up too, probably. Biel-Tan is a beautiful colour scheme, I think.
Indeed, like I said in the first post I love the variety and the ability to change around which colour is more dominant model to model. Dominant white with green secondary, dominant green with white secondary both work and are both used in official schemes for various different models. Compared to say yellow and blue, where which one is the more dominant is the difference between Alaitoc and Iyanden. It gives a lot of scope to change things around, keep things interesting and yet still be clearly part of Biel-Tan. Not to mention having all the Aspect Shrine schemes to play with. On the whole not an army I'm likely to get bored of painting.
Tyranid Horde wrote:Some lovely looking eldar, and it's cool to see the comparisons to your older models. I tried the Biel-Tan scheme when I was 13, the guardians look pretty similar to your first one. Haven't actually gone back to them, maybe I should give them a tidy up!
Thanks - the tidy up was a cool process I seem to remember, even though it's years since I did it. It felt like a great way to demonstrate my progress to myself at the time, that I could take something that I think I must have been pleased with originally and make it better.
theCrowe wrote:Also, that's my favourite Oldschool Warlock miniature. Just dripping with classic Eldar badassery!
Looks great in Biel-tan greens and greys. (Mine's in a Siam-Han red and white)
Look at that stance! He's just poised and ready to strike. What a sculpt!
He's my favourite too, which is why I finished him first out of all the old Warlocks I've got. They're interesting models in general since aside from the one holding the sword out in front they're all one piece and you can see the design constraints of trying to get the model 'flat' for the mould. You can usually tell that the pose is designed for the moulding process, but with this one that design constraint doesn't appear quite so obvious, the pose just looks great in addition to being easy to cast.
karimabuseer wrote:Awesome. Great clean work. Looking forward to seeing your war walker, massive soft spot for that model. I am tempted to follow you with matte varnishing, but worried my Black Legion will be too shiny
I'm really pleased with how the War Walker is turning out, and hopefully I'll be able to get it finished fairly soon. As for the varnish, I'm not sure what to think really. I used Army Painter Anti-Shine from a rattlecan, but it doesn't seem to have actually made that much difference to the sheen on the models and left a few stringy bits on the finish that I've carefully removed with tweezers where I've found them. I think I may have to experiment to find an alternative. If I eventually get around to getting an airbrush there's a few varnishes that I'd like to try that way.
So, no War Walker just yet but I have got some Dire Avenger photos. The pricing for a box of 5 annoys me since I'd quite like a fair few of these guys, but I managed to win one of the old boxes of 10 on eBay, new in box, for less than £20 - so that was nice. I built them up as two MSU squads of 5 with dual catapult Exarchs, since I figured if I ever get around to having a game that's how I'm likely to run them. I'd still like to get plenty more and make what I would view as a more 'classic' full-size squad with a Diresword Exarch - possibly with another squad or two of MSU and... well. One unit at a time.
I painted both of these squads in the same scheme. I painted them in a darker blue than I first planned, then decided to give it a more extreme highlight than I might normally, and I think it's quite effective.
First Squad
Second Squad
And a detail of the 2nd squad's Exarch's banner. I know that Aspect Warriors don't normally bear the markings of their Craftworlds - and I've always preferred them in their shrine colours rather than some folks who like to paint all of their models in the same scheme - but I couldn't resist freehanding a Biel-Tan rune on the banner. I think it came out pretty well. I've also tried to incorporate some subtle touches to tie them in, like painting the bit that runs down the middle of the shuriken weapons green to match all my others.
Not sure how keen I am on a big blown up picture though - while I think it shows off the freehand well it also shows up all the little flaws with my painting that you just don't notice with the naked eye - like just now noticing that I've missed the gemstone dangling from the shuriken catapult on both Exarchs. Sigh - I'll do those the next time I pick up a paintbrush.
Steadily working through this backlog of nearly finished models - more to come soon!
Good job on those dire avengers! The freehand on the banner is lovely, very well done and the darker blue is definitely a nice change from the normal shrine you see. MSU is the way to run them these days unfortunately, it's just so much better to spend points on Wave Serpents and Fire Prisms!
I remember when they changed the box from a 10 man to a 5 man and kept the price the same, absolutely ridiculous and it still is. I still have a box of 10 in my pile that I'll eventually get round to. GW chuck 5 man DA squads into a few of the Eldar boxes so that's a reasonable way of amassing them.
theCrowe wrote:Man, Dire Avengers. Still so cool. Your paint job is pretty sharp, and I really like your freehand banner. Nicely done indeed.
Tyranid Horde wrote:Good job on those dire avengers! The freehand on the banner is lovely, very well done and the darker blue is definitely a nice change from the normal shrine you see. MSU is the way to run them these days unfortunately, it's just so much better to spend points on Wave Serpents and Fire Prisms!
I remember when they changed the box from a 10 man to a 5 man and kept the price the same, absolutely ridiculous and it still is. I still have a box of 10 in my pile that I'll eventually get round to. GW chuck 5 man DA squads into a few of the Eldar boxes so that's a reasonable way of amassing them.
Thanks both. I'm very fond of the Avengers and pleased with these. I actually planned to make the blue lighter to begin with, but I started with some darker blue paints and liked how it was turning out so I ran with it. For future squads I think I'll do some variations - I quite enjoy the Sable Helm shrine (dark blue body / black helmet / white faceplate), so I might do something similar, and I also like the idea of a squad with dark red helmets and white faceplates. But that's a while off since I don't actually have any more DAs at the minute and plenty of other things in the painting queue.
And yeah I totally agree on how ridiculous the change from 10 DA to 5 DA in the box was. Despite the fact that I feel like a large number of DA's should be the core of my Biel-Tan collection, I'm not all too keen on buying the 5 man boxes even at FLGS discount, even though I'm often paying more per figure for the metal aspects on eBay. I'm still kicking myself that I didn't snap up some of those Skyblade boxes in early 2017 - the ones with 5 DA's and a Wave Serpent. I reckon I'll pick up at least one of the Christmas Battleforce since all the stuff in there I either don't have yet (Wraithknight/Vyper) or wouldn't mind more of (everything else). I'll see how far my willpower goes as to whether I stick to just one box. It's tempting to max out on discounted stuff, but at the same time I've already got a painting pile that will take me months if not years to work through so adding a lot more to it doesn't seem the smartest move.
Very crisp paintjob so far, very well done!
Biel-tan is not the easiest of Craftworld themes to paint, as white can really be a pain.
Even though I like to paint darker, more muted color themes on Eldar, it's great to see the "official" scheme for aspects done well.
Also read your story and boy did it bring back some memories!
I can remember borrowing some white dwarf - magazines from a library when I was ~12 years old. Browsing them on the floor and dreamt of buying all the cool models "someday when I'm old enough and have some money in my pockets".
youwashock wrote:Great looking Avengers. That banner is a marvelous touch.
Ezki wrote:Very crisp paintjob so far, very well done!
Biel-tan is not the easiest of Craftworld themes to paint, as white can really be a pain.
Even though I like to paint darker, more muted color themes on Eldar, it's great to see the "official" scheme for aspects done well.
Also read your story and boy did it bring back some memories!
I can remember borrowing some white dwarf - magazines from a library when I was ~12 years old. Browsing them on the floor and dreamt of buying all the cool models "someday when I'm old enough and have some money in my pockets".
Thanks both, I'm glad you like them!
For the white I've grown really fond of Army Painter Gorgon Hide. I love the shade, and it goes on better than a lot of their other colours. Just off-white on the cooler/blue side, and lets me highlight up to a pure white if I want to. For the Aspects, I generally plan on having a squad of each in the "official" studio scheme - or close to it - and then for other squads paint alternative shrines - either ones that have been shown officially or ones of my own devising using the normal colour palette of that Aspect. In fact, my favourite look for Fire Dragons is a deep red body, dark red or black helmet and gold fusion gun. That's another thing that stemmed from that old White Dwarf. It's amazing to think back to not having this wealth of online information at my fingertips to a time when all of my 40k knowledge came from one issue of one magazine.
So, I'm going to be busy for a while and probably won't get much of a chance for painting, but I had some seers ready to photograph so I thought it would be a shame not to post those now. Like I said in the first post, I think Eldar seers look great in green so despite not being the most seer-heavy Craftworld, I'm going to paint a lot of them.
First off, three Warlocks. One you've already seen, but I thought it would be a shame not to photograph the three finished Warlocks together.
Next, the Bonesinger that I picked up in the Made to Order run a year ago.
Onto the Farseers. Three of these - the current plastic one, and two metals. One I picked up from eBay and one from the Made to Order run.
All the Farseers.
And finally, a family shot of Seers!
Just the War Walker to go now before that batch of nearly-finished models I mentioned are done. I've also laid down some basecoats on 10 Warp Spiders. But like I said, I'm going to be busy and probably won't get much chance to continue for a while.
Camkhieri: "And another very cool thing, my phones predictive text actually gave me chicken as an option after typing robot, how cool is that."'
Meercat: "All eyes turned to the horizon and beheld, in lonely and menacing grandeur, the silhouette of a single Grot robot chicken; a portent of evil days to come."
From 'The Plucking of Gindoo Phlem'
2018/11/10 13:00:31
Subject: Power Metal – Bellerophon’s Biel-Tan Blog
I am envious of how quickly you seem to be able to turn out clean, crisply painted models with lots of layers of paint. It takes me forever to do something even nearly as good.
I like that one of the seers has a black robe to distinguish him and make him look more important.
Though guards may sleep and ships may lay at anchor, our foes know full well that big guns never tire.
Thanks again everyone. The green was fairly time consuming but I love how it came out. There's a lot of layering gone into it. Starting with VMC Luftwaffe Camo Green, then layering up through VMC Medium Olive, Olive Green and Lime Green (with a few mixes in between), then the whole thing glazed with Citadel Waywatcher Green to add a bit of richness and blend it together a bit better.
Fifty wrote: I am envious of how quickly you seem to be able to turn out clean, crisply painted models with lots of layers of paint. It takes me forever to do something even nearly as good.
Please don't be tricked into thinking I've painted all of these over the course of the last few weeks, some of them have been WIP for months! Everything I'd posted so far I'd gradually got to a 'nearly finished' state where I was just waiting to hit them with a varnish, then finish off the metallics and spiritstones, but it was ages before I actually got the varnish out. I was actually waiting until I upgraded my spraying stick - I had been spraying models by blu-tacking them onto a piece of pine stripwood, but I all my models have magnets under the bases so that I can transport them in a steel toolbox. I realised that if I bought some steel flat bar that I could take advantage of the magnets and dispense with the blu-tac when spraying. The steel I bought was thin and floppy, so I ended up cable tying it to the pine...
Like so!
What I've been doing over the last few weeks I've been posting this thread is gradually finishing off all of those models that I had a headstart on. The only one that's left now is a War Walker, so once I've done that it's back to painting things up from scratch and I'm sure the pace will slow.
Fifty wrote: I like that one of the seers has a black robe to distinguish him and make him look more important.
One of the things that I wanted to do with the Farseers was use some slightly different colours from one to the next since they're all individual important characters and I wanted them all to have some differences, but tying them all together with prominent use of the Biel-Tan colours and making all of the Ghosthelms white with a black faceplate. So one of them ended up with the black robe and green cloak, the others ended up with red and black cloaks etc. I shall have to see what colours I end up picking for the others - because I've just about every metal farseer that ever saw a wide release sitting in the painting queue! Those models in the photo are maybe a third of my total seer council... yeah okay, I admit I have a psyker problem.
---
Today's project has been creating a better base for my Scorpion super-heavy grav tank. If you're not familiar with the Forgeworld kit, it comes with one of the regular clear plastic flying bases just like the regular grav tanks, and a little lump of resin to go between the base and the tank. It's... unsatisfactory to say the least.
I'd already replaced the flying stands for my as-yet unpainted Falcons and Wave Serpents by taking a regular 60mm base and sticking a bolt up through it, then fixing some nuts inside the tank. So rather than riding on that flimsy plastic stick, my tanks literally screw down onto a steel bolt. I posted a thread on it a while back. They look like this -
For the Scorpion I wanted a bigger base, more like Knight size, with a taller bolt so it could sit higher, and I wanted the whole thing to be sturdy and basically everything that the base you get with the actual kit isn't. And I have access to a 100W laser cutter. So I grabbed some 6mm and some 2mm MDF, drew up some files, and this is the result:
I think on the whole a much more suitable base for the size of this thing, and much sturdier. The scary part will be when I actually drill into the Scorpion to fit the nuts!
Camkhieri: "And another very cool thing, my phones predictive text actually gave me chicken as an option after typing robot, how cool is that."'
Meercat: "All eyes turned to the horizon and beheld, in lonely and menacing grandeur, the silhouette of a single Grot robot chicken; a portent of evil days to come."
From 'The Plucking of Gindoo Phlem'
2018/11/14 03:22:38
Subject: Re:Power Metal – Bellerophon’s Biel-Tan Blog
The bolt/nut thing is a really great idea, and I might stand on your shoulders and use it in the future. Is the bolt meant to be that long? When you stated you want the Scorpion to sit higher than the standard clear base allows I thought you meant just a little higher. But, are you going for "soaring through the air" high? Do Scorpions do that? I enjoy Eldar, but I don't know much about the Forge World options.
I very much like the nut and bolt method. Overkill for most models, but I'd rather do that than leave them on that little plastic stick.
CaptainWaffle wrote: The bolt/nut thing is a really great idea, and I might stand on your shoulders and use it in the future. Is the bolt meant to be that long? When you stated you want the Scorpion to sit higher than the standard clear base allows I thought you meant just a little higher. But, are you going for "soaring through the air" high? Do Scorpions do that? I enjoy Eldar, but I don't know much about the Forge World options.
I was more thinking about looking good rather than the practicalities of a gaming piece. There's a Mymaera Scorpion in the Warhammer World exhibition hall that sits really high off its base, and I thought it looked great. I've got a photo around here somewhere, I'll spoiler tag it since it's not mine...
Spoiler:
Fluff wise grav tanks can fly higher than just hovering above the ground, and there's a strategem in the Codex called 'Cloudstrike' which lets you deepstrike vehicles, explaining that they're sometimes deployed in the lower atmosphere rather than ground level, so you descend onto the battlefield to deep strike.
Anyway, I deliberately cut three bases when I had the laser running, because it didn't take that much longer and I wanted some options. First, to know that if I feth up gluing one together and sanding it for a nice edge, I'll have some spares. But I also thought that I could do a high-off-the-base one and also one at the same sort of height as the rest of my grav tanks. Having three bases also means I can be prepared for if I end up buying a Cobra at some point... heh.
Finished Forge World Elysian Army 
Finished Tau Sept Cadre 
Alaitoc Eldar Warhost 
Finished Order of Our Martyred Lady - Sisters of Battle 
Finished Necromundian Imperial Guard Regiment 
