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Hi everyone!

I couldn't figure out how to edit my old post to show photos directly in the post, so unfortunately have to remake this topic. Can a moderator please delete the original thread.

I have been playing Eldar for 10+ years and have put countless hours into my saim-hann dragon themed army, however at some point you just get sick of painting red. As a result I decided to build a seperate Eldar force that goes against the grain of the serpent spam of this new codex, and needed something I could paint quickly because I have much less time to commit to this hobby now.

I have been working on this Ulthwe Eldar army over the past 8 months and thought I would share it with everyone. I hardly get a chance to paint anymore, but am luckily an extremely fast painter and spend 20-30 minutes per model. Despite suffering through assembly lines of models to get this finished....I am fairly happy with how everything turned out and am glad that I now have 2 distinct Eldar forces: foot (ulthwe) & mech (saim-han). I have a feeling people will bash me for my funky bases, but I think they look cool and add colour to an otherwise dull paint scheme (just need to make some terrain to match now).

What I managed to "finish" was:
3 farseers
40 guardians
20 dire avengers
23 warp spiders
3 war walkers
2 wraithlords
1 wraithknight
3 hornets
10 wraithguard (wraithcannons)
10 wraithguard (d-scyth)
10 wraithblades (axe+shield)
10 wraithblades (swords)

Thanks!

























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part 2.

As I said in the other thread, the models look great. Still not 100% on the bases. Especially since the grass is such a natural color while the rest of the basing is a bright, unnatural purple. If the entirety of the basing was either alien or natural, it would work much better, I think.

Looks like you got the pictures sorted. Very nicely painted force you have there. Thanks for sharing! As above, I am not entirely sold on the pink bases. Any particular reason you chose that colour?

For what it's worth I quite like the bold, original basing scheme. And the Eldar! I'd love to face this army across a battlefield.

The paint scheme works well with the base but as you said the grass looks natural. But still a great job honestly.

I love the color schemes and paint job. Very nice!

My only issue (and this is just my opinion) is the pink bases. When I stare at your models, I spend more time trying to figure out "why pink bases?" Than admiring your color scheme.

Naw, the pink bases are awesome! The colour really plays off well with the yellow and blue, and it screams 'alien planet' in a great way.

Really fantastic stuff, while I do like the bases, don't think the green grass works, and they may look a bit odd on most peoples boards.

nice.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Really fantastic stuff, while I do like the bases, don't think the green grass works, and they may look a bit odd on most peoples boards.

nice.

When I painted my first guardian in this colour scheme, I used an ash style base with grey dirt. At this point, I was comparing the model 2 an alternative model colour scheme of bright blue with orange helmets, and just though the models needed something more to add a punch of colour. I figured that I could try making an alien world style base by using a bright colour. I have scene blue bases before, but I am a big fan of the warlock / (warlord purple) so tried it out and thought it added a lot to the overall effect I was going for. I clearly am more of a fan of the over the top paint schemes, so this army is not subtle in anyway.

I do see where people are coming from regarding the grass. In my opinion the grass is a brighter green in real life, and one of the more vibrant static grasses I have found. I kinda wish I had used lichen instead to make it seem more alien (perhaps white?) but couldn't get a hold of any easily. I wonder if there is a simple way to alter the effect of the grass to make it more fitting. Any thoughts?

Great work! Would love to see this army on the table!

Your work is amazing! And personally I love the bases... I think it has great contrast to the color scheme and is very eye catching. Also I don't think pink is particularly unnatural for a xeno race...

I love the bases too. I like how the minis pop off that neon pink. It works with being very alien and yet, staying in cohesion with the theme and color palette.

Excellent work overall. The only real gripes I have are that the warp spiders don't look nearly as good as the rest of the army, coming off unfinished, and that with all this hobby skill there's still no major conversions present. Aside from that, this is a beautiful army.

@bossfearless

You are totally right about the warp spiders. I really am not a fan of the models, so just skipped over them a bit because I wanted to start painting my wraith units. At some point I am going to go back and paint the eyes & other details on these models.

I have never really put much effort into converting models. It is something I don't utilize as much as I could make my army unique like some of my friends. I think with my time frame here I was more concerned with having a painted army than individual showcase models. However I hope I can get around to doing some nice conversions in the future as I have seen some very inspiring work over the years.

The closest thing to a conversion I have done is posing my first wraithknight (painted in a different scheme) in a running position. Which I almost regret because it is way to fragile and I am terrified of transporting it or people breaking it for the 3rd time....

I really like these. Brilliant paint job.

Don't listen to the negative comments about the bases, I got a lot of flak for mine too. It's a preference thing and if you do get a pink table/terrain built it'll be their models that look out of place
Gooooo pink bases!

Everything else looks really solid and clean too. Great job.

I think the bases are great! The grass is a nice shade of green to complement the vibrant pink. I don't think it looks "too natural" to be alien at all. Anyone who thinks static grass of that color looks particularly natural doesn't spend very much time outside.

For me the issue with bases is not the colour nor the grass, but the fact that the base rim colour is not smooth. Black showing through the base rim colour gives a sloppy impression regardless of how well the model itself is painted.

I love how the yellow and blue work with the grey-ish black. Yellow could benefit from smoother shading and some highlights, but with army of this size I can understand your shortcuts.

Thanks everyone!

I really appreciate all the comments - both positive and negative!

While my full eldar army has been years in the making to help distribute the cost..., this sub-army was a thorough experiment in making a force on a budget. Pretty much the entire army was purchased at a massive discount, picking up almost all the guardians/avengers/spiders & wraithlords used for dirt cheap. I got the 40 wraithguard and wraithknight for only $165, which is less than I paid for those 3 hornets from forgeworld. So for those of you who are terrified of the high GW prices (which have tripled since I started playing this game), if you keep an eye out for deals you can save a ton of money in this hobby!

The problem for me now is figuring out how to store and transport everything.....

@ jullevi,
Most of the rims have 3 coats of purple which sadly still wasn't enough... It probably will take 2 more coats for it to be perfect. I was working with an OLD pot of warlock purple for 70% of this, and was running very low which is why I didn't put on the extra coats at first. I was worried I would run out and never be able to find the same colour again. The new GW purples don't come close to that colour, but I was lucky to find that WARLORD purple from vallejo (the only paints I use now) is almost identical to warlock purple, and if you ask me, even better (more vibrant/warm)! I will put finishing the rims on top of my to do list, because after you pointed it out... it is all that I can see :(

I struggle to highlight yellow because I find once you start adding white, you lose a lot of the warmth in the colour. I instead tried to focus on shading with green, the extent of which varies from model to model.

When I started painting this army I didn't use blue at all, however after painting the tubes of the dire avengers guns blue I was convinced that it added just enough visual interest without changing the overwhelming yellow/grey/black look. My gems were also originally purple (as can be seen on the war walkers), but I will eventually paint these blue because I think the blue gems look so much better).

@ eohall,
Thanks! I never really thought of bright green static grass as natural either, but perhaps if I had more options I could have come up with something better. The pictures make the grass look worse.

@ Alex Kolodotschko,
I knew there must have been others out there as crazy as me!! Thanks for your support! I am currently planning up a pink table, mainly because I need a break from painting minis (in those 8 months I also painted another 20 guardians and my first wraithknight which took me an eternity to finish)

Pretty in "Pink" and black

Looking great, I love the colours and vibrancy that you have managed to get across the whole army well finished and I love the basic look jewels

Young Logan

I
Love
Them.
LOVE.

I love your Bases!!!!!! Sooooo Sick. Also I love how you did all the wraith units

Very cool army, I really dig the color scheme. And the pink bases!

Really cool, I'm loving the bases myself!

Thanks for the comments!

I didn't expect so many people to like the bases!!

For those who wonder why I didn't go with the typical black and bone... it is because I had previously painted so much bone in my other Eldar army that I needed a change. I kinda went with a "Monster" energy drink colour scheme.. even though I have never had one or care for energy drinks. I am just a sucker for extreme colours.

My original plan was to make a swarm Eldar list with 80 black guardians & 20 dire avengers as its base (unfortunately 40 guardians are still painted in other schemes), but then one thing led to another and I have a huge wraithguard swarm.... (totally strayed after picking up the awesome models at a bargain). This weekend, I finally get a chance to play my first game with these guys .

Today, I started work on some terrain to match the army's bases. I am not sure how long it will take me to finish a full tables worth.. but I will definitely share it all once I am done. I will also try to get around to sharing my other Eldar which is very different.

Very nice clean painting! Although the prominent yellow and blue with blue gem stones makes me think of this army as more of an alternate Iyanden paint scheme rather than the White/Bone and black with red gem stones that is Ulthwe.

Bizarre scheme but it works fine. Bases are the best part. Dont change them. The subtle green glazes in the yellow does help tie them in with grasses too. EDIT: i just noticed the green is not subtle on the DA and G squads lol. In those cases its a little much. But on the warwalkers its a softer blend and that looks nice.