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While working on my Harlequins I quickly got bored of fiddly details and three colours (black, white and red) so fancied a diversion. My Eldar force isn't massive, but it is sizeable and the majority of it is still unpainted. I was unhappy with the old colour scheme of ivory with crimson accents so I changed to something completely new for me. I haven't deliberately chosen the Alaitoc/Iyanden colour scheme, but it does suit the Eldar models quite well.

So far, I've only finished the left leg (the one nearest) on this War Walker. I might have to make those gems more green since they're darker than I'd like and I'm wanting to put some freehand work on the blue of the leg, I just don't know what yet.

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I have a second War Walker which is partially converted, I need to get on and finish constructing that one at some point.

I've always been a fan of that nifty sword in moon or some kind of rune thing if you're
looking for freehand. Thorns always look cool, but I know better than to actually
try to paint it...

Really nice paintwork there, especially on the gems. If you're doing a Harlequin force, maybe freehand some coloured diamonds on, or even paint a skull like the Death Jester's?

sorry if this sounds mean but that walker is fugly.

the painting looks nice though.

DC

AG09 wrote:Really nice paintwork there, especially on the gems. If you're doing a Harlequin force, maybe freehand some coloured diamonds on, or even paint a skull like the Death Jester's?

I am painting a Harlequin force alongside this, but this model is for my normal Eldar force instead, so Harlequin motifs would be out of place I think. Mind you, it gives me stuff to think about as an option so I welcome the suggestion.


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deadly chicken wrote:sorry if this sounds mean but that walker is fugly.

the painting looks nice though.

DC

Compared to a lot of the new Eldar range, the old War Walkers do look a bit ugly, but I still think they look nicer than the new War Walkers. Bear in mind this one has bits missing since it's mid-painting, there's the antennae, weapons shields and weapons to paint and fit yet. Glad you like the painting so far though, even if I do feel a bit like I'm polishing a turd now XD

I've got another one of these Walkers that's partially converted with a view to making it look more elegant and deerlike, which is what I think the designer was originally trying to do with these.

cool!

can't wait for more,

DC

(p.s. THATS A SHINY TURD!!!)

Update on the War Walker. I've done everything but the base, pilot and pilot's chair here. I've done a bit of freehand in the form of two tiny yin-yang symbols (that's old school 'Eavy Metal Eldar right there) and I'm still working on ideas for the legs. I have a notion of using some blue interference paint and some ghost lines in a cross-hatch or crystal pattern on the blue of the legs, the antennae and the weapon shields (not fitted here).

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If I get another night to work on stuff I'll have this finished pretty soon. This new colour scheme is so much easier and looks so much better than my old colour scheme, so I'm definitely sticking with it.

How's this for ancient technology? This is the first of my two war walkers, the other is currently in bits partway through conversion to a less static pose. This model has secured my colour scheme, my new craftworld choice (Alaitoc) and the style of the freehand work I intend to carry throughout the warhost.

I don't want to have to build another one of these, they're a nightmare to fit together at all, let alone well, and are extremely heavy with a proclivity to fall over when nudged. Still, I prefer how it looks to the new Eldar War Walkers which look strangely patchwork next to the rest of the Eldar range.

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Latest addition is this second generation Guardian in my Alaitoc colour scheme. Some freehand work to tie it in with the War Walker. All gemstones are green with the exception of the large soulstone, all of which I've decided to paint purple. I just hope I'm not setting the bar too high for the painting quality of this army, it could well take me forever.

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Note on the helmet marking: standard Guardian symbol of the triangle with a stalk to tell what he is, while the dot denotes his squad. I'll add an extra dot as I get to the second squad, a third as I get to the third squad and so on and so forth.

Awesome gems! I'm having such a hard time painting those right now. Maybe you can speed up the process by painting some of gems as metallics instead ? I dunno.

That is an amazing guardian. I hope that I can do half as well when I get around to painting my Eldar...

Just so you all know, I've not abandoned this project I've just not photographed anything lately. Been a bit snowed under with other work, but I'm still poking at the Warhost as and when I can.

@ laterDays - using metallics for gemstones is fine if you want a quick splash job, otherwise it looks lazy and tacky.

@lasgunpacker - you won't know until you try, just take your time and use an itty bitty brush

Nice to see some retro minis. I had some of those guardians for my first army (Biel-Tann). Wish I hadn't thrown them out...

Great paint job too, going to having a stab at Iyanden, so it's useful to see your 'yellow' technique.

@Flashman - I actually prefer the old miniatures in a lot of cases. While the new Eldar stuff is pretty it seems to be missing a certain something that the old stuff has, I'm not sure what.

As for yellow, just so you know how I've done it, I start with a white undercoat, about a billion coats (well, 3-6) of yellow to get a nice flat coating and then rather than a wash, blend in orange and then a reddish-brown for the shading. Highlight up through bleached bone and into white. The big trouble with yellow is that it's really easy to wander off yellow and into yellowy-green and yellowy-brown or just orange when doing the shading thing.

Good luck with your Iyandens though.

Great tip, thanks

Just some works in progress, to show I am indeed working on my Eldar Warhost. I've got some time to devote to it since I'm off work (woot!) next week.

First up is this new Wave Serpent model. I traded in some unwanted stuff for this miniature which was already glued together and unpainted. I've got some bits and pieces to fix on it and some small conversions to do that shouldn't be noticable when it's painted. So far, I've only finished that yellow stripe on the right hand side of the hull. The blue fade work is done on the hull on the right, but not on the wing things. I still need to highlight the blue on the right hand hull plating too. Quite pleased with the colour scheme, even if the designs took a while for me to finalise.


Secondly, some ancient Guardians. Of note are the old Shuriken Catapults and the Guardian Captain. Still a fair bit to do on these four except for the guy with the finished face, he just needs his base and varnish polishing off.



Let me know what you think, I like feedback

Finally finished the half squad of Guardians I've been working on. I always seem to have trouble finishing the first squad of basic troops for an army, I don't know why.

Eldar Guardians of Alaitoc.
Of note here are the old miniatures, I've got a mix of new and old and some of these are some of the oldest Eldar out there.


I was never in the hobby when it first started with Rogue Trader (I arrived a little late to that particular party in 1993), but I've learned that there were some things we don't get any more, like Captains... and Musicians and Standard Bearers. I've got a Musician I'm going to paint, can't remember where I got him from. Anyway, the Guardian Captain, to stick with my theme of the tertiary colour being green I gave him a jade mask, to make him stand out as more important he has gilt armour in place of the yellow of the other Guardians as well as more freehand work than they do. He has a yellow crest to keep him visually tied in since he looked like a lot of blue and green without it.


Finally (picture wise, at least), a little family portrait of the army so far.


While I was waiting for paint to dry I decided I should probably furnish you with an army list. Bear in mind that this army was built according to the much older rule set, I think it was second or third edition rules actually, before I wandered away from the hobby for a few years. Now I'm back, I know for a fact that this army is out of date and probably not legal. So, I'd appreciate your help on making it more legal with what I've got. Worth noting that some of these units were never completed too, so this is just a list of everything I have in the Warhost.

Special Characters
1 - Phoenix Lord Jain Zar (Howling Banshee)
1 - Phoenix Lord Karandras (Striking Scorpion)
1 - Phoenix Lord Maugan Ra (Dark Reapers)
1 - Phoenix Lord Asurmen (Dire Avengers) - just waiting on him arriving in the post from the land of eBay
HQ
1 - Avatar of Kaela Mensha Khaine
(I want to put the next two as Psykers XD)
2 - Farseers
3 - Warlocks
Elites
2 - Dark Reapers
1 - Dire Avenger Exarch
10 - Dire Avengers
9 - Howling Banshees inc. 1 Exarch
4 - Shining Spears inc. 1 Exarch
3 - Striking Scorpions
7 - Swooping Hawks inc. 1 Exarch
Vehicles/Heavy Weapons
1 - Executioner Class Ghost Warrior (very early Wraithguard, never found another)
1 - Wraithlord
2 - War Walkers
1 - Death Spinner weapon platform & crew
1 - D-cannon weapon platform & crew
1 - Falcon
1 - Fire Prism
1 - Wave Serpent
2 - Vypers
Troops
1 - 10 man Guardian squad
1 - 10 man Guardian squad
1 - 6 man Guardian squad inc. musician and heavy weapon (this is cobbled together, not really a proper unit)
7 - Rangers
Miscellany
1 - Spotter (spare man)
1 - Guardian Captain (in addition to the captains in the other squads)

Been cataloguing my miniatures and sorting out a few things to sell, but once I got bored of that I decided to work on my second War Walker. I still prefer the old War Walkers to the new ones, they don't look as patchwork to me as the new plastic kits but I know that my opinion is not shared by many, if any.

I've had the parts to convert this one kicking around for a while, which is a standard War Walker and one of the wings from an Eldar Epic scale Titan of some description.



As you can see, I've changed it quite a bit from the boring static pose that these come in as standard. Interestingly, I've seen a few tutorials over the years saying that this pose isn't possible due to balance issues and that the metal isn't strong enough... clearly this is a lie since as you can see this miniature isn't falling over. Best of all, I've not strengthened the joints yet where they need filling (raised hoof, hips and the crest) so it can only get better.

For the body
-Turn the body the right way up, this is upside-down for normal War Walker configuration, but necessary for this pose to work as well as it does. Attach the weapons, weapon shields and pilot as normal (or rather, upside-down, but you know what I mean).
For the raised leg
- using firm but gentle pressure, slowly bend the leg until it is almost straight. Be sure not to just bend the thigh portion. Cut the hoof 'toe' off and file it so that you can reglue it folded back against the hoof 'heel'. You can pin this part if you want, but I've chosen not to. Fill afterwards.
For the standing leg
- using firm but gentle pressure, slowly bend the leg until the thigh is perpendicular to the calf. The standing leg is the one with the peg on the bottom, this helps give extra stability to the model rather like the keel does for a ship.
For the crest
- a bit of filing to get it into the right shape and spot-glue it to the back of the body. I'll fill the gap in afterwards to give extra strength and to improve the look of it.

I'm quite pleased with how this turned out, I'd be interested to know what you think too.

p.s. the scatter laser on the left is drooping because it's not glued in. Both guns are slotted into place to check the balance was correct. This miniature is a lot more stable than the stock configuration (on right, fully painted).

Scatter Laser and Brightlance is a bit unreliable on War walkers, with their BS 3. I prefer EML and Scater lasers, because you can normally fire Plasma missiles and SL at infantry, and STR 6 still makes people nervous of their vehicles in conjunction with the Krak missile.

The painting looks awesome, and keep in mind that Dire Avengers are troops

This continues to be amazing. Shows that a good paint jobs can do a lot for a miniature, no matter how dated (although I do still like some of the older minis you've used anyway).

Jimi Nemesis wrote:Scatter Laser and Brightlance is a bit unreliable on War walkers, with their BS 3. I prefer EML and Scater lasers, because you can normally fire Plasma missiles and SL at infantry, and STR 6 still makes people nervous of their vehicles in conjunction with the Krak missile.

The painting looks awesome, and keep in mind that Dire Avengers are troops

Well, GW changed the rules twice since I last played anyone and this army was built on 2nd Ed rules (I worked this out the other night) so I'm guessing most of my Warhost just won't work. I should really investigate if there's a club nearby running regular games... and buy a whole world of Codices since I'll need rules, Eldar, Chaos, anything Slaanesh specific and Harlequin (though they're probably not a separate army now). So yah... I wouldn't be surprised if my lascannon heavy force no longer works, and I've never really used Scatter Lasers in game, I just like them aesthetically.

Thank you for the compliment on the painting. I'd forgotten Dire Avengers were taken as troops, sort of like expensive Guardians, unless they've changed that too.


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Flashman wrote:This continues to be amazing. Shows that a good paint jobs can do a lot for a miniature, no matter how dated (although I do still like some of the older minis you've used anyway).

Thank you, I'm glad you think so, hopefully I can continue to amaze. I'm currently partially repainting the old Swooping Hawks and Dire Avengers to match the Alaitoc colour scheme (crests, flight feathers, guns, that sort of thing) so I suspect that will be the next Eldar update.