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Ynneadwraith wrote:

How does anyone paint up a full 1850pt army? It feels like I've been painting for yonks and all I've got is 10 counts-as Guardians, a support weapon, a warlock, 8 scorpions, 5 wracks and an autarch!

For me, an airbrush for base coating and pre-shading is a big part of the answer.

Looking very good. Are you aiming for the craftworld warhost formation? Or are you only going to use a homebrew codex? or something else?

 Inevitable_Faith wrote:
The guardians look fantastic, really great conversion and execution. It's real satisfying to see the whole force all together, you've got a really stellar collection coming along.

Painting takes tons of time and practice like many great hobbies. Sometimes it can feel like it's taking forever to get your projects completed, that's how I feel about my DE force. To me though at the end of the day it's not about having them done fast it's about being happy with the work you've put into them.

And happy b-day dude! Hope you have a good one.

Thanks man!

I'm really happy how these have turned out Much more unified, yet still irregular, than my previous attempt at exodite guardians (using Glade Guard torsos makes them look a bit skinny and unarmoured).

Very good point about the time invested in getting them looking good. They cost enough money and time to put together! Shouldn't rush the final stage...

 gummyofallbears wrote:
Happy birthday!

Again, I think that once you get those initial 1850 points painted then its just adding stuff on and theres a lot less stress there

The guardians look amazing, I love the support weapon!

~Mikey

Thanks dude I'm really pleased with how they turned out

Yeah once the army's all there I can do other cool things, like making a display board or something I've got a bit of an idea for a forest zone-mortalis style thing which I want to try and make.

Bit of a long way off though. I've just totted up what's left to paint/build for 1850pts:

6x Cult of Faolchu/Swooping Hawks
11x Terradons/Scourges
5x Raptors/Khymaerae
1x Beastsinger/Beastmaster (got a really cool idea for him)
4x Dragon Riders/Windriders
17x Hunters/Kabalites
3x Aetherskiffs/Raiders
1x Wyrdlord/Farseer
1x Daughter of Khaine/Succubus
1x Massive Vicious Carnosaur/Talos

Quite a ways away! Less if I don't mind allying in my CWE or Corsairs

 ColonelFazackerley wrote:


For me, an airbrush for base coating and pre-shading is a big part of the answer.

Looking very good. Are you aiming for the craftworld warhost formation? Or are you only going to use a homebrew codex? or something else?

Hmmm, I'll look into that. If anything, it'll help with the acres of Balor Brown I've got to put down under every armour piece...

The army itself will use a Dark Eldar CAD with a Craftworld Eldar Allied Detachment (or two full CADs, depending on warlord trait choice).

So far I've steered away from formations as there aren't many that I can keep fluffy with the counts-as units I've come up with. The few so far are the Grotesquerie (if I can come up with a convincing Haemy counts-as. Maybe a 'Boneshaper' or something like that...) and the Scalpel Squadron from the Covens supplement, and maybe an Aspect Shrine.

Also, the last time I played a game being 5th (I think), I'm slightly skeptical of the whole 'formations' thing. Strikes me that it would be less broken if they either cost points to unlock bonuses, or did good old fashioned FOC reorganisation...

I am not a fan of formations, I think they should cost points because I really like some of them but others are just stupid powerful.

Keep chugging, I can't wait to see the windriders!

~Mikey

Second that vote of massive approval for your guardians. They look smashing and that they're your core troops makes it even cooler. Often the core troopers don't get the love they deserve and are the sadly neglected looking shabby cousins of your cooler elites. But you'll have them out for every game and they deserve to be great. So kudos just for those.

Some good advice on painting metals there.

Also, don't be so eager to get completed. I'm sure I'm not the only one enjoying your journey here. Take your time with these and enjoy the ride. Seems like we're all here right alongside on some kind of Eldar worlds tour. Journey is the destination man.

Thanks man getting there

I did pass on painting this evening in favour of a little modelling though

Thanks to the fantastically generous Drakheart here on Dakka gifting me some 2nd ed. Eldar Fusion Guns I've been able to finish the last two Fusion Reavers for the Khaine's Ravens



I must say they've been fantastic fun to convert. Real commendations to the people who designed the Eldar and Dark Eldar kits. The level of interchangeability is phenomenal. Aside from the arms (Dark Eldar have flat joints, Eldar have ball and socket) which is easily corrected, everything fits together. Heads fit onto torsos fine, and torsos onto legs. Even the front and rear portions of Kabalite Warrior and Guardian torsos fit together!

Really cleverly done

Love it, especially the way that wych legs look on shooting toros.

I think I might steal that idea for my soon to be DE army...

Amazing stuff as usual!
~Mikey

 gummyofallbears wrote:
Love it, especially the way that wych legs look on shooting toros.

I think I might steal that idea for my soon to be DE army...

Amazing stuff as usual!
~Mikey

Thanks dude! I really love the Wych legs. Really dynamic-looking. Great little piece of modelling.

Steal away! Would make excellent looking Kabalites or Trueborn. Looking forward to what you come up with

Nice to see those bits put to good use.

 Drakheart wrote:
Nice to see those bits put to good use.

Absolutely the last one of the three I'm going to have a go at re-casting with. It'll be great if I can make loads of them rather than use up OOP bits!


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Had a big shipment of bits arrive today, the upshot of which is i've doubled my dino count!

First off, my Beastsinger (counts as Beastmaster).



You can't see it, but the little chain that normally holds the hellion legs to their skyboard sits neatly on the Pterradon's crest nice coincidence

But, what's a beastmaster without her beasts?



My thinking is that i'd have to do something to represent the khymaerae's 5++ save, so i thought little shield generators would work nicely mirrors their bigger brother too:



I've settled on it being a Talos. Partially because it's not quite tall enough to be a Wraithknight, and partly due to philosophical reasons (why has Apocalypse corrupted my skirmish-level infantry game?).

So, i chopped up a Talos tail, mashed together some Hellion legs with a Wych torso and the weapon arms from a Raider and got this dude



Lord knows what he's aiming at, but he seems happy enough. Also, took a closer picture of his companion (made from a Raider hanger-on, a Dark Elf Corsair cloak, a Wych head and a Sylvaneth Tree Revenant arm

Beatsmaster, khymarae and the Talos conversion all look great. I especially love the attention to detail when modelling the Khymarae to explain their 5++

 Inevitable_Faith wrote:
Beatsmaster, khymarae and the Talos conversion all look great. I especially love the attention to detail when modelling the Khymarae to explain their 5++

Thanks man I do try and cover the rules queries when it comes to counts-as conversions.

I'm currently thinking up something to do counts-as Mandrakes. Based on the fluff of Carnac from the Necron Codex and the Carnac Campaign books, I'm thinking that the rules for Mandrakes would do well for a roaming band of mercenary survivors of Carnac. Shrouded and Infiltrate are both perfect for that, and I can explain their Assault 2 S4 AP4 Soulblaze weapons as modified shardcarbines designed specifically to fight Necrons (solid armour-piercing projectiles, laced with those cool wraith-spider nanites that police the Infinity Circuits. These nanites break down the electrical connections between cells and robotics, causing extra damage after the initial shot has been fired, explaining Soulblaze).

Now it's just S4 to explain. Maybe Scorpion Chainswords?

Ynneadwraith wrote:

 Inevitable_Faith wrote:
Beatsmaster, khymarae and the Talos conversion all look great. I especially love the attention to detail when modelling the Khymarae to explain their 5++

Thanks man I do try and cover the rules queries when it comes to counts-as conversions.

I'm currently thinking up something to do counts-as Mandrakes. Based on the fluff of Carnac from the Necron Codex and the Carnac Campaign books, I'm thinking that the rules for Mandrakes would do well for a roaming band of mercenary survivors of Carnac. Shrouded and Infiltrate are both perfect for that, and I can explain their Assault 2 S4 AP4 Soulblaze weapons as modified shardcarbines designed specifically to fight Necrons (solid armour-piercing projectiles, laced with those cool wraith-spider nanites that police the Infinity Circuits. These nanites break down the electrical connections between cells and robotics, causing extra damage after the initial shot has been fired, explaining Soulblaze).

Now it's just S4 to explain. Maybe Scorpion Chainswords?

I haven't read the carnac campaign books but that sounds like an awesome way of explaining things. Scorpion chainswords are a great way to easily do S4 aswell.

Amazing stuff. I approve of the talos

After digging out my DE stuff and starting a P&M blog your stuff is even cooler, very inspiring.

~Mikey

Thanks guys I haven't read the Carnac Campaign books either, although they're on the xmas list as they might have some cool sources of inspiration for exodites

[spoiler]I know however that the exodites/eldar lose eventually, and a very small number of exodites escape with their king Mawr to Alaitoc. My thinking is that the free-thinking and wild exodites wouldn't last long in the strict culture of Alaitoc, becoming wanderers in the webway seeking out and fighting the Necrons.

Plus, I think 'Carnac Wanderers' has a nice ring to it

 gummyofallbears wrote:
Amazing stuff. I approve of the talos

After digging out my DE stuff and starting a P&M blog your stuff is even cooler, very inspiring.

~Mikey

I spotted that looking forward to seeing the army come together

Thanks man!

No real update, but it turns out that Prisma works really well for little toy aliens



I've finally got an avatar

I've been dying to try out prisma on some of my minis...

I am very excited to see how you will do the avatar!

Cheers!
~Mikey

That's a great looking model. What exactly is prisma though?

 Inevitable_Faith wrote:
That's a great looking model. What exactly is prisma though?

Its like an app that makes your photos look different, mainly like with different artwork designs and stuff, its sorta cool normally but really cool for models

 gummyofallbears wrote:

 Inevitable_Faith wrote:
That's a great looking model. What exactly is prisma though?

Its like an app that makes your photos look different, mainly like with different artwork designs and stuff, its sorta cool normally but really cool for models

It does look good. I guess it is what is giving it that slightly cartoony look.

Can we see a pre-prisma pic for comparison?

Yeah it does look cartoony I especially like it because it covers up my slightly sub-par paintjob

Here's the pre-prisma pic. It's only a subtle effect (there's a sliding scale that you can use to dial up the effect. I think it was ~50% I used).



I used the filter 'Mononoke' which seems to work very nicely for fluid, organic shapes like Eldar. For more angular stuff like IoM vehicles and suchlike, I think 'Dreams' would work really nicely

 gummyofallbears wrote:

I am very excited to see how you will do the avatar!

Cheers!
~Mikey

Me too! Some of the bits I had to order from Germany (no UK-based ones had it in stock) though so they might take a while to get to me. Might sound ridiculous ordering a 35p bit from Germany, but it still saves money over buying a £35 kit for a 35p bit!

I get that, I very rarely order bits online, but when I do I don't really mind coughing up the extra money, especially because my excitement always covers up my guilt

~Mikey

Hah

I don't think I've ordered anything in a box more than a squad of Scourges and 2 squads of Wyches for the whole of this!

Probably still worked out vastly more expensive though. If only because I buy bits, forget one thing I needed, buy some more and pay postage twice :S

Well, I got bored of painting tonight so I decided to make a little photo booth. Started with a cut up piece of cardboard box...



...cut up some celotex foam I had lying around...



...forgot to take pictures of the next couple of stages, but cut chunks out of it and roughed up the surface, painted it with some cheapy acrylic craft paints I had and glued some sand and static grass to it



Really pleased with how it looks in photos so I took loads of them!








I also spent a while sticking little tufts of static grass to my bases, which really helps to make them look like the finished article

Love them as usual.

The photobooth idea is pretty neat, I might steal it

~Mikey

Photo booth is nice. Some suggestions

- put a light diffuser on the top.
- round off the internal corner somehow, or hide it. (twisted tree perhaps?)
- use cork dust painted as sand instead of sand. I know i would knock models over on it and scratch them. cork powder is used to make floats for fishing, and is cheap.

 gummyofallbears wrote:
Love them as usual.

The photobooth idea is pretty neat, I might steal it

~Mikey

Thanks again, steal away

 ColonelFazackerley wrote:
Photo booth is nice. Some suggestions

- put a light diffuser on the top.
- round off the internal corner somehow, or hide it. (twisted tree perhaps?)
- use cork dust painted as sand instead of sand. I know i would knock models over on it and scratch them. cork powder is used to make floats for fishing, and is cheap.

Thanks man

A light diffuser is a great idea, and I was doing a bit of thinking about how to mask the joining-line between the two panels. A tree's a great idea. I originally tried to glue the two together to bridge the gap, but it didn't work very well. Hiding it would probably be better than just gluing it together as you rarely get right-angles in sandstone...

If only you'd told me that before I based everything with sand!

That does sound like a good idea, but I'd have to re-base all of my models which is a faff :S I'll just have to touch-up any models that do get scratched.

The scenic booth looks great. Adds an element of reality to the model photos that's really nice. I agree with ColonelFazackerley, a light diffuser and lamps would help to bring out the colours on your models a bit crisper and give your photography that next little edge to being truly professional. Great work Ynneadwraith, keep it up.

 Ynneadwraith wrote:

If only you'd told me that before I based everything with sand!

That does sound like a good idea, but I'd have to re-base all of my models which is a faff :S I'll just have to touch-up any models that do get scratched.

I only think this matters for terrain. The model standing on a base will usually stop other models falling onto the sand on their base.

Thanks guys I'll try and sort out some better lighting, and maybe some sort of creeper or something running up the cliff face to break it up a little and hide that joining section.

As for this evening's work, does anyone remember the old 3rd ed. Craftworld Eldar codex supplement? I think it was the third 40k thing I ever read, after the 3rd ed. BRB and the 3rd ed. Eldar codex.

I remember being captivated by one of the special characters in there, Nuadhu Fireheart, a Wild Rider chief that fought from the back of a modified Viper. It's one of the images that really stuck in my mind. I've always liked the idea of Saim-Hann since then, and the image of wild tribal Eldar is probably what got me into making Exodites in the first place.



Fast-forward a decade or so and I was having a conversation over on The Dark City forums about Corsairs and how their Void Dreamers couldn't take jetbikes. It occurred to me how odd the idea seemed of a Farseer casting fiendishly difficult psychic spells, where mucking up even slightly will cause a daemon to erupt from your brain, while piloting a jetbike at breakneck speeds across the battlefield.

Then, a lightbulb moment.

Isn't there those Harlequin bikes with a pilot and a rider?

So, a little eBaying and rooting through the bitsbox and here we are! My jetbike Autarch!



Heat lances from a Talos represent the Fusion Gun, and that kickass glaive thing from Dire Avengers is the Power Spear I'm just missing a Windrider helmet to craftworld it up a little, but I'm really pleased with how its turned out

I've got an idea for a Farseer as well, which should materialise at some point soon. Also, all of the new Eldar jetbike models are simply beautiful. Really capture the essence of sleek, alien speed that they should have. At some point I want to make a craftworld/corsair scene with some civilian jetbikes.



Also, had some more Glade Guard legs turn up which meant I could finish the final Hunter of the squad



I've really enjoyed making these. Loads of opportunity for making each model unique, and really fits the 'techno-barbarian Eldar' image I had for exodites. Also, massive thanks to theCrowe here on Dakka for the veritable mountain of Wood elf bits. The tons of little daggers were prefect for masking the join between the Glade Guard legs and the Kabalite torsos thanks dude!








I need two blaster Hunters, and maybe a Huntsmaster/Sybarite so I can run them in any setup I want I've also had an idea for personalising their Hunting Skiff/Raider based on any games that I play (must get out and do that really). If the squad makes any cool kills, I can add some heads as hunting trophies onto the skiff