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.

Hola! I've been a player of the Great Primed-Black Swathe army for a goodly while, and in several incarnations. Painting has just never hit the spot for me; I don't see myself as very good, i'm a perfectionist, so I tend to worry and stress over bits that may, in the grand scheme of things, be unimportant, and I have a tendancy to try and correct errors whilst at the same time ruining parts that are perfectly fine, usually due to an unintentional muscle spasm.

I also have shaky hands, so all in all, I find it pretty tough to feel proud of anything I paint, and usually give in after realising it's taken me several hours to get the basecoats done on a small handful of models, and that i'm STILL not happy with anything about them.

I'm also a stranger to techniques like drybrushing (dabbled in it before, never could get the hang of it really) or highlighting (my highlights usually wobble thanks to the shakes, and ranged in can differ wildly in thickness).

So, in order to try and get a little better, and because my Eldar is the first army to break 1500pts in an actual balanced list that isn't just made up of what I have lying around and seems to be going to more tournament, i'm going to try and keep a P&M blog going...

...That was the part where you applaud... ...Or not... Y'know, i'm not that bothere-JUST APPLAUD DAMNIT!

Ahem, now that's out of the way, my first model is a Farseer:
Farseer Thaniel is the youngest, yet also one of the most accomplished Farseers on Dras'Scur. His psychic abilities not only in prophecy and foresight, but also guiding the warhosts when the Craftworld goes to war, have propelled him to rank far beyond his years, even by the standards of the Eldar. He does, however, continue to suffer from his youth; he is rash and quick to make decisions, which have concerned his fellow Seers, and have forced Farseer Tariya - the eldest and most experienced Farseer on Dras'Scur - to keep a close watch on him. Although, despite the concerns of the other Seers, Tariya seems perfectly comfortable with sending Thaniel upon missions with the various sections of the Craftworld's military, to aid and oversee their operations. Perhaps she sees something in him that the others do not.

Thaniel's militaristic ties have made him a close friend and ally of the Dire Avengers, for they alone have the honour of escorting him to the battlefield, and looking out for his safety. In honour of this unqiue bond, Thaniel chose to bear the rune of the Dire Avengers upon his Witchblade, and also has a shuriken pistol affixed to his wrist like the wrist-mounted catapults wielded by the Exarchs of the Avengers. Not only does this symbolise the relationship between Thaniel and the Dire Avenger Aspect, it also allows him to focus his psychic power through his hand at the same time as utilising his ranged weaponry; making for deadly combinations of psychically Guided shuriken, a focussed psychic attack upon the mind of an enemy leader as shuriken keeps his comrades pinned down, or a blast of eldritch energy over a specific spot with the pistol effortlessly gunning down those attemtping to flee its crackling talons.

My latest model that has seen paint. The first model i've painted in months, and still a work in progress. Not much else to note really.

WIP 1 - Basecoat and a few details - Front:

WIP 2 - Basecoat and a few details - Back:

Completed (bar base) Farseer... or would have been had these photos not revealed the full extent of the mess an Asurmen Blue wash made the cloak into. Since I had to mix to get the tones for the cloak and its trim, i'm considering just re-doing it in regal blue and the trim in enchanted, as they're the nearest I can get to those colours. In any case, I hate Asurmen Blue now. I'll just stick to Devlan Mud (or whatever it's called now with the new and unnecessarily large paint range) for washing now. Also noticed a patch of silver between two of the rune branches on his helm which'll need correcting; thankfully the blue on the helm, robe and arms is simply Mordian Blue, so no mixing involved.

WIP 3 - Almost complete... sort of... - Front:

WIP 4 - Almost complete... sort of... - Back:


I'm hoping to have Thaniel finished by Thursday night, perhaps early enough for my to get started on basecoating some Avengers. I've got 20 that are primed blue, but it's too light for Avengers, and in any case, I want it a darker blue if possible, to keep it more Dras'Scur themed.

Decent start Avatar, Good fluff Also. The colour scheme looks like it might be quite interesting. Looking forward to more.

Would recommend painting the faceplate white. Or indeed the same silver you have used for the runes.

Thanks Perk

The faceplate has me baffled; nothing I paint onto it seems to be visible enough, so I might end up going with silver on it like you said.

What's your opinion on redoing the cape? Will Regal with Enchanted trim be a close enough copy?


Automatically Appended Next Post:
I've got two Hornets pretty much put together, and the Warp Hunter is coming along, but for the amount I paid, the work i've had to do cleaning the stuff, trying to make it stick together, and trying to bend back weapons, i'm not pleased.

Needless to say, i'm less than willing to buy any more FW stuff now, but we'll have to see.

Some small progress was made yesterday, but you'll have to wait until later for pics; it's 4:50am and i'm tired enough to go to bed now

Unsure how good it'll look in unnatural light, or how much damage the devlan mud wash did, but I guess we'll see. Might not wash it all if I have to do it again, all it seems to do is make a mess of the paintjob.

Updates!

Well, i've laboured for as long as possible and here he is. Minor mistakes are visible at very close ranges, but from slightly further (even some of the other photos don't show some things) he's fine, even moreso from the tabletop. I consider him complete to the best standard I can muster. Some things like the faceplate look bad, but i've tried to make it look decent in several different colours and the texture remains bad, so i'm chalking it up to a bad casting of the faceplate, since the first colour I tried produce the same texture and look with a thin layer of watered down paint.

Farseer Thaniel 1:

Farseer Thaniel 2:

Farseer Thaniel 3:

Farseer Thaniel 4:

Farseer Thaniel 5:

Farseer Thaniel 6:

I got my Autarch with Fusion Gun earlier, and after ditching the Scorpion Chainsword it comes with (saving for another far-off project) and dry-fitting a spare mirrorsword, I came up with this:









Need to get him primed and ready for painting at some point.

I want to get painting some Avengers over Easter too, perhaps some Fragons as well, so i'll get some photos up when I can.