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Have you thought about modding some of those bikes into shining spears?

Not for this set of bikes but the plan is in place for a squad of Shining Spears using both Shining Spears Box Sets and the Wind Rider Box Sets, I have the same idea for an Autarch Skyrunner Modded onto a new Wind Rider bike.

Second group of Wind Riders complete.

With the second Wind Rider sqaud complete it’s time to move onto the next three Vypers and with that’s its also time for another Oder to be placed, Let me know what guys want to see in the next order.

Wow... all this in 8 days. Amazing work. Time for the heavies? Some fire prisms would be good

Some shining spears, fire prisms etc.

Or just go all out and get the eldar titan


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If not a titan, at least do a wraithknight. This is apocalypse!

 Flinty wrote:
Wow... all this in 8 days. Amazing work. Time for the heavies? Some fire prisms would be good

I agree that this is a amazing level of work in a short amount of time. Also, that it’s time for something larger.

As an alternative to a Prism (which I’d also recommend), maybe a Crimson Hunter or Hemlock Wraithfighter? They both add some punch, and keep the theme of “full throttle, all the time” that fluffy Saim-Hann armies strive for.

From a practical POV, you need some HQs.


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 McMagnus Mindbullets wrote:
Some shining spears, fire prisms etc.

Or just go all out and get the eldar titan


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If not a titan, at least do a wraithknight. This is apocalypse!

On the point of super heavies/centerpiece models:

If you are grabbing something big, I’d lean towards the FW flyers, or the SH grav tanks. No idea what the rules are like for them, but they are some very nice looking models. But I think they would make a more cohesive looking force then a single giant walker surrounded by zippy fast things. Not that the Eldar walkers are ponderous and slow, but they aren’t jetbike-swift.

There was a Saim-Hann apoc formation in the last apocalypse book. It might be a decent template to strive for. I’ll try to remember to dig out my book for details if you are interested.

I’m looking at putting together a Skyrunner seer council, perhaps build it up over time. Yeh I’ll look at adding a HQ and some heavies although I won’t be looking to add a Wraith knight until at least the 1500 mark and I really want to stay away from Titans as I really dislike game’s that involve them. Not to bad for 8 days work thou I do have a bit of time off work so my pace will slow when I go back I’ll be away for a week as of tomorrow so I’m putting in a bit extra time to try and get the Vypers finished by tonight but it’s a bit of a push, I’m currently finishing up with the base coating so I guess we will see.

With the Apocalypse books does the formations work with 8th Edition? If so I’ll look at putting together some formations. If you could throw in some details on the formations that would be great I just assumed the old Apocalypse books would be out of date as of 8th Edition unless there was a new release that I haven’t came across?

18 bikes and 3 Vypers brilliantly painted in a week. I hate you

Super heavy wise the scorpion mark 2 is basically the sexiest grav tank ever devised. Also it is lots of space for lovely striping

Great work, and great productivity. I would argue the army lacks a lot for handling the actual game, but it sure looks pretty and is a very solid base to start with.

Game-wise you'll definitely want some HQ's. You need some hard-hitting anti-tank stuff (so almost any tank). Are you wanting to stick to solely grav-based vehicles/units?

The old apoc book rules are obsolete, but a good place to mine for old fluff. I think there might be new apoc rules in the chapter approved book.

Hell yeah nothing says Saim Hann to me like jetbikes backed up by Vypers.

Nice work

Second group of Vypers complete.

Force so far...


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With the Second set of Vypers complete I’m ready for the next order.... care Package inbound!

I’ll be away for a week so I’ll start posting again when I get back.

Brilliant work, nice to find another player excited about apocalypse. My projects are tyranids, tau and imperium.

The old Apoc formation required an Autarch, 1 Vyper squad, and 2 Windriders. You then added 3+ units from farseer/warlock councils/windrider/vypers. It gave everyone scout and let them re-roll wounds/armor pens for shuriken weapons within 18” of the autarch.

Digging farther back, in the 3rd ed craftworld supplement there were specific rules for Saim Hann Wild Riders. They used a modified FOC chart. 1 HQ, 2 FA required, +1HQ, 1 Elite, 3 troops, +4 FA, 1 HS optional. Swooping Hawks were swapped to Elite picks (rather then FA). They had access to 2 new units. One was a Wild Rider Chief, which we would just call an Autarch today. But back in 3rd, those were not available; all eldar armies were lead by a Farseer, the Avatar, or a special character. The other unit was like a CC command squad (Wild Rider Kinsmen). They were bikes with +1 WS/A/Ld. One of them could take a banner.

There was also a special character (Nuadhu ‘Fireheart’) who fought from the back of a Vyper.

None of these have modern rules, but might provide some direction to how you build your army, or inspiration for conversions. For example, if you wanted to field a second autarch, you could make him the standard bearer, or put your warlord on the back of a Vyper. (Which might be slight MFA, but probably OK under the Rule of Cool)

Some army structure questions for you.

Are you keeping everyone on bikes, are are you going to include some infantry mounted in tanks? (I’ll assume not footslogging)
Keeping this pure Craftworld? Or are you willing to branch out into Harlis a/o Dark Eldar?

“Come brothers, follow me, we hunt across the skies!
Come chosen of Khain, and see how our prey, the gangly humans flee! There is no place for them to hide under the pale face of Lileath the moon nor under the sun, the face of Asuryan.
Feel the rush of the wind against your skin and hear her keening cry in your ears. Listen to her call well, for are we not the Wild Riders, the children of the storm?
Enjoy the hunt brothers, let sword swing and blood spill. Feel the beat of your heart in your chest and know that you yet live.
Fear not death brothers, for she is old and slow, and will not catch the Windrider host. It is our enemies who are afraid, for each kiss of our weapons brings the sweet oblivion that they crave by opposing us.
Follow me, brothers, battle awaits!”
--Nuadhu ‘Fireheart’ (Codex Eldar, 3rd ed, pg. 41)

Wow, that's some rapid progress. Would be nice to see some close-up photos and different angles on some of the models. From the photos you've given us they look very neat and clean - well done!

I'll be interested to see what's in your next package. Presumably it's time to add some HQ so possibly the Farseer/Warlock Skyrunners? I think that's the way I'd take this now, some Jetbike HQs and Grav Tanks to expand into the other sorts of skimmers. If you're up for Forgeworld I reckon Hornets and Warp Hunters would look really cool in a Saim Hann army.

You're making me want to post my Biel-Tan project up in this section. Maybe I will, but it won't be moving anything like this fast!

You're making a bit too much work due to that black prime job for what could have been done easier. Prime models light brown, light grey or white. Then paint them red, paint little details black, and then you can attach tape lightly and paint the stripes in some ways, either lining them first with tape or painting them between the tape. Unless you like darker red ofc. Brown wash works best with red.
Also put lahmian medium or any matte varnish on before applying decals, then apply decals and paint them over with lahmian medium/matte varnish again, if you haven't yet.

Speed Force be with you.

In terms of new models, you may want to begin thinking about getting extra CP & vehicles.

For CP you can go with 3x5 Avengers or 3 boxes of Rangers. If you go for Avengers might buy box of Dragons too then to completely fill transports. Rangers would add mortal wounds and ability to snipe characters and they're pretty fluffy for exodite loving saimhanni. DA's don't add much but CP though.
You can buy 2 Wave Serpents. You can put anything into them you want.
You can also buy Crimson Hunter/Hemlock and/or 2 Fire Prisms.

You'll also want a Farseer, it's an important unit for all eldar armies. To fill that Battalion, you can grab 1 foot Warlock/Spiritseer model for variety and because you might want Quicken power later.

If you don't hate old models, you might want some Shining Spears, 2 boxes at least.

>>>warlock skyrunners, hornets, warp hunters
Yeah, these are not good now. Might buy 1 warlock for some particular combo with Spears or if they will get drop in points. Hornets are not good and WH is hilariously overpriced now. Basic Fire Prism is best damage dealing tank (with Stratagem, so take 2+), Falcon is OK and Wave Serpent is very durable & versatile.

>>>swooping hawks
These are good but when you run all-bike you invest in anti-infantry (shuriken fire) already so they don't really fill anything you don't already have.

>>>Nuadhu
How is it two most prominent Craftworlds still lack special characters in codex I don't even.

Well I’m back refreshed and ready to go, Let me recoup and I’ll put together reply’s to your comments


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Thanks Nevelon, direction from the Apocalypse books are welcome, I will be keeping everyone mounted so any infantry/aspects will be mounted in either falcons or serpents. Custom building an Autarch fighting from the back of a custom Vyper sound like an awesome project, it’ll take a bit of time and planning but I’ll look into it. I’ll be sticking to Craftworld so I won’t be branching into Harlequins or Dark Eldar although it certainly doesn’t mean I won’t fight alongside them in the future.

Excellent name Bellerophon, son of Poseidon! Have you read the book HMS Bellerophon? Yeh I’ll be throwing in some HQ and Firepower elements next, you should put together a blog of your Biel-tan ide be interested in following the progress.

Shadenuat yeh I’m liking the darker red, i agree thou the brown wash works a lot better, I started off with the nuln oil but it was to dark and gave off an ugly shine so I’ve moved onto Agrax Earthshade for the bikes which looks a lot tidier but the the nuln oil works a lot better with the Vypers as the Earthshade wasn’t visible enough on the Vypers. With the Shining Spears I’m thinking of converting them onto the new bikes, it’ll be expensive as it’ll need both kits to make work but it’ll be worth it to have them blend with the rest of the Force.

Spreelock it’s excellent to see a well painted Apocalypse size imperial guard force.

Farseer Skyrunner and Three Fire Prisms.

Good choice for the next stuff, that's a good base of firepower. I always like seeing a group of Fire Prisms together. Are you doing them all as Prisms, or any Night Spinners?

 Stevo221 wrote:

Excellent name Bellerophon, son of Poseidon! Have you read the book HMS Bellerophon? Yeh I’ll be throwing in some HQ and Firepower elements next, you should put together a blog of your Biel-tan ide be interested in following the progress.

Thanks! I haven't read it, but the history of the name in the Royal Navy is one of the reasons that I picked it. I'm fond of both the Third Rate from 1786 and the Dreadnought that bore the name. I'll stick a blog up once I've got some bits finished - I've got a few squads all in the stage of painting where they seem almost finished at a glance but finishing off all the little bits takes far longer than I expect it to!

 Stevo221 wrote:

With the Shining Spears I’m thinking of converting them onto the new bikes, it’ll be expensive as it’ll need both kits to make work but it’ll be worth it to have them blend with the rest of the Force.

I'm pondering what to do for Shining Spears too, given that I'd like to have some (need all the Aspects) but I also want them on the newer bikes and want to totally avoid Finecast. I'm not making that easy for myself by doing Biel-Tan! I've scoured ebay for metals of the infantry aspects, and have managed to gather up enough of those for now. I feel that since the Shining Spear bodies aren't drastically different from the regular windriders that I'll probably just use the regular windrider kit and come up with some laser lances. A couple of options in mind, having a go with greenstuff to get them as close as possible to the official laser lances, or using fantasy elf lances and having them a bit more 'lance' and not quite so much 'laser'. It would still be obvious what they were supposed to be and could easily say that it was a stylistic/traditional thing of that particular Shining Spears shrine, decorating their weapons to look like the lances of ancient legend or something similar. Going down that sort of approach would at least save having to buy two kits!

You could always use Dark Eldar jet bikers with a few Eldar bits to make the shining spears. The difference in jet bikes would set them apart.

I couldn’t recommend the book more, one of the best I’ve read of that period with Lord Nelson’s fleet against the French and Spanish fleets. Very hard book to come by thou.

Dark Eldar bikes... hmmm I’ll look into that, might be a good idea

I’ll be putting them together as Fire Prism’s as this will grant an outstanding output of fire power with the possibility of six S12 -5AP D6 damage shots which will allow me to take on the heavier units I’ll inevitably face off against.

Base coating is finished it’s time to start painting

Starting off with the first coat of Mephiston Red

Well the first fire prism is more or less complete, I think I’ll add more details such as Gem stones etc later down the line as I go but as it is just now I’m very happy with how it has turned out, the first is complete and the other two are currently at around 60% complete. What do you guys think? Is there anything I should have done differently or do you like the finished model?

I am and always have been in love with the shape and style of the Eldar grav vehicles, I really hope that GW stick with them and never change them, I have enjoyed working on these three kits so much so that I’m thinking about Falcons with Aspect warriors or Serpents with Guardian squads for the next Care Package.

I’m currently looking into taking better quality pictures, I’ll try and set up a solid white area with better lighting to give you guys better upclose images.

Very nice looking tanks! I think doing the stones would really finish it off, but even so, they're looking great.

The Biel-Tan in me says go Aspects in Falcons, but Guardians in Serpents would be better for Objectives.

Coming along nicely about 90% of the way through prism #2 and about 70% through #3

One thing you can do is use ultra fine sand paper carefully on all the vehicle after priming it, since it would make coat surface smoother.