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What a terrific looking army group- nice balance of forces and colors- really well done!

Loving those army shots. Fantastic looking force, man.

That really is something to be proud of!
They look really good together. I can only imagine how it looks if and when you get them all done someday

Impressive army, really something to be proud of!

Thanks everyone, I'm really pleased you like them, it adds just that extra touch of motivation to my painting knowing that you guys are here.

I'm very proud of this army and the effort that has gone into them. I'm definitely sacrificing speed and any chance of getting through the pile at a reasonable rate, but I wouldn't be happy with myself if I let the standard slip. It's got to the point where the pile has grown to be rather daunting. I don't really regret buying it all, but at the same time I recognise the psychological pressure of having so many models still to finish. To list them all out:

Finished:
- 3 Farseers
- 3 Warlocks
- 1 Bonesinger
- 10 Dire Avengers
- 10 Howling Banshees
- 10 Striking Scorpions
- 10 Swooping Hawks
- 10 Warp Spiders
- 10 Fire Dragons
- 20 Guardians
- 5 Wraithguard
- 1 Wraithlord
- 1 War Walker
- 1 Falcon
- 2 Wave Serpents
- 3 Windriders

On the painting bench right now:
- 3 Windriders
- 10 Dire Avengers
- 5 Dark Reapers

Built/Primed:
- 10 Howling Banshees
- 10 Striking Scorpions
- 10 Swooping Hawks
- 10 Warp Spiders
- 14 Fire Dragons
- 1 Crimson Hunter Exarch
- 5 Wraithguard
- 1 Scorpion Type II
- 1 Avatar of Khaine
- 5 Farseers
- 4 Warlocks
- 1 Spiritseer

Unbuilt:
- 3 Wraithknights
- 2 Wraithlords
- 2 War Walkers
- 3 Vypers
- 15 Dire Avengers
- 30 Guardians
- 1 Falcon
- 9 Windriders
- 10 Wraithguard
- 7 Farseers
- 2 Warlocks
- 1 Farseer Skyrunner

Yeah. That's a lot of stuff to do. Pretty much double the number of Aspect Warriors that I've done already, and even more of everything else. The huge number of Farseers is because I've been deliberately collecting the old metal ones, as well as buying multiple boxed sets that have the current plastic one in them. By the time I'm done, I'll have pretty much every metal farseer they ever did, and a bunch of kitbashes off the plastic one. I'm very much looking forward to finishing this ridiculous seer council!

The scary thing is that even with all of these models there's plenty of things in the Codex that I don't have yet.

One or two models at a time Bellerophon...one or two models at a time.

Cheers,

CB

Nice work, Bellerophon - this blog is one of the reasons I'm looking at putting together a small Eldar force with some old school models...

Captain Brown wrote:One or two models at a time Bellerophon...one or two models at a time.

Cheers,

CB

Indeed. I tend to do two or three squads at a time, jumping between them, like when I want the same colour on all three or when I'm waiting for a wash to dry or something. It often leaves me going a few weeks in between getting anything finished and feeling like progress is slow, but then there's a rush of completed stuff.

At the moment the next batch of Windriders are nearly done, and the Dire Avengers and Dark Reapers are up to the stage of edge highlighting.

Dysartes wrote:Nice work, Bellerophon - this blog is one of the reasons I'm looking at putting together a small Eldar force with some old school models...

Glad you like it!

Looking forward to seeing those Reapers.

You're definitely a contributing factor in me painting my own old Eldar. Even have me mulling over whether or not I want to slide a few Fire Dragons onto the table.

 youwashock wrote:
Looking forward to seeing those Reapers.

You're definitely a contributing factor in me painting my own old Eldar. Even have me mulling over whether or not I want to slide a few Fire Dragons onto the table.

Thanks very much, it's humbling to hear that I'm inspiring anybody to paint some Eldar.

As for the Reapers, it's been a while since the last update, but I've got them done along with the Dire Avengers and Windriders. I've just slotted them into the "points total of all totally painted models" army list spreadsheet, and the total is now approximately 3K points.

First, the Reapers. I've picked a scheme very similar to the studio scheme. These are the only Reapers that I have, and they were among the more expensive of my ebay purchases, presumably given that they're somewhat in demand this edition. So I was keen to own some in metal, but not keen to buy more than a squad at elevated prices. The batch that I won actually had the Tempest Launcher and the AML with it. I chose to equip the Exarch with the Tempest Launcher not for any game reasons, but purely because it's a weapon unique to the Reaper Exarch and I can get AMLs elsewhere if I want them.



Next, 10 Dire Avengers. I built my first 10 DAs as MSU 5-Eldar squads with dual catapults, which I suppose was a nod to the meta-state of the best way to run these guys. Even though I've never once played a game with the army. I sometimes wonder why I pay as much attention to the rules as I do. Anyway, having got that out of my system I wanted to build a 'classic' squad - 10 strong with a Diresword on the Exarch. My previous ones had been painted in a dark blue body/white helmet scheme, so I wanted to do something different and decided on a red helmet with a white faceplate, somewhat inspired by Asurmen's studio scheme. I was going to make the hair crests striped, maybe white and black, or white and green. I was going to paint them white and then add the stripes iater, but after I painted them white I realised that I quite liked the way they looked so I left them like that.



And my second batch of Windriders - nothing particularly new here, they're pretty similar to the first 3 I did, even down to the same selection of Biel-Tan rune decals on the jetbike bodies. Once again they're magnetised for all 3 weapon options and I've photographed these with scatter lasers.




Finally, about two weeks ago I was alerted to the fact that the Shadow Spectres Exarch was back in stock on the Forgeworld webstore. I'd fancied a squad of Shadow Spectres before, but I hadn't wanted to get any if I couldn't get the Exarch to go with them. I don't even know how long that one model had been out of stock (it felt like a couple of years), or why. I mean, it had been so long I wondered if they'd broken the mould or something and hadn't got around to making up a new one. But it was back, and perhaps a little irrationally I wondered whether it might be there for a day and then disappear for another year. So the same day it reappeared, I ordered a squad, the Exarch and Irrilyth. To my horror the postie left the box out the front of my house behind the bin, but luckily it was still there and in one piece when I got home from work.



Not much more to show on those. I've just been cutting and cleaning the pieces this afternoon. With getting my hands on these guys, the only Aspects that I don't have are Shining Spears. I think I've said before - I'll look to convert some on the current jetbikes if I figure out a conversion I'm happy with.

Lovely new additions. Reapers are always good to see, and I really like the deep red on the Avengers' helmets. Never owned Spectres. Looking forward to seeing what you do with them.

That really is an army shot to be proud of. I am really looking for to seeing those spectres too.

Love the new additions!
Really looking forward to the spectres. I think you can do them justice!

Thanks guys. I'm definitely looking forward to doing the spectres. I expect it will take me quite some time to get them done (there's so many things to work on!), but I'll probably work at them a little bit here and there. So far I've cut and cleaned all the pieces (fresh blade in the hobby knife and stabbed myself at least twice in the process...), but I haven't got as far as bending the prism rifles straight yet.

I've been doing a bit of building, and I've got another batch of Seers WIP on the painting bench that I should be able to get finished reasonably soon, to add to the ridiculous Seer Council. Also started putting some paint on my Avatar.

Bellerophon,

The army is progressing quickly.

Love the vine effects on the Wind Riders.

Cheers,

CB

Time for another update. I’m trying not to take too long between these, but I’m also not really into sharing WIPs. I guess that just means I need to finish models faster.

Today I’ve got Phase 2 of my planned *Ridiculous Biel-Tan Seer Council*.

First off, another pair of Warlocks. I’ve got one of the older ones with the antlers and singing spear, and one of the newer ones with witchblade and shuriken pistol. Although of course ‘older’ and ‘newer’ are relative terms in this instance since the first is Rogue Trader 1991 and the other is 3rd ed 1999. Huh, I guess that means the 2002 Seer Council Box Warlock is the only one newer than 20 years old! Nothing spectacular on the paint schemes, just what you’d expect for Biel-Tan and the same way I've done my previous warlocks.



Two more Farseers – the pair from the 2002 Seer Council Box. I’ve actually got another pair of these, so I’m contemplating whether to convert them. Anyway, these first two I’ve done as-is. Farseers are one of the models so far where I’ve used some additional colours than just green and white (see the red, black and ochre on the cloaks on my first batch), since I figure their gear will be a bit more personal rather than standard issue. In that same spirit, I decided to give one of them a purple cloak. So that it didn’t end up looking too much like an Il-Kaithe scheme, I made the cloak lining white to tie in with Biel-Tan. The other one is pretty standard white/green.



Finally, the current Spiritseer from Wake the Dead. Nothing special done to this one, just built according to the instructions and painted in my standard scheme. It’s a nice model and I was pleased to see Craftworlds get a new release, even if it was just one mini. I was also happy that it was a proper Craftworlds themed model, since I’ve been a bit worried that GW might start making all new Eldar releases Ynnari, much like Primaris taking over from classic marines. Of course they might still do that, but we shall see.

As it happens the Finecast Spiritseer is one of the few that I don’t actually have, just because I’ve been avoiding Finecast. As far as I know that one was never metal, so I suppose I should pick up the Finecast one while it’s still around – they could quite easily decide to ditch it once the plastic one gets a separate release, and I don’t want to go buying second hand finecast on ebay. Metal’s fine because I can just dunk it in acetone! If I'm trying to get every seer model then that one needs to be part of it. I also may convert one of my many identical plastic Farseer sprues into another Spiritseer using the spare head from the Hemlock kit (I built the Crimson Hunter) and some High Elf bits. Maybe. Eventually.



On to group shots.
I’m going to repost my photograph of *Ridiculous Biel-Tan Seer Council* Phase 1:



And *Ridiculous Biel-Tan Seer Council* Phase 2:



All the Warlocks:



All the Farseers:



Finally, *Ridiculous Biel-Tan Seer Council* Phases 1 and 2 together:



I expect there will be at the very least a Phase 3 and Phase 4, just to get through the psykers that I already have, let alone any others that I may acquire along the way. Of course nobody would ever need that many for playing a game, but then this has always been more of a collection than a tabletop army.

As for other progress, I’m partway through painting my Avatar, and I’ve just started on 5 D-scythe Wraithguard. I’ve also built another 10 Guardians, and a War Walker. The Shadow Spectres are all washed and cleaned, just waiting to be stuck together.

Wow, that post was absolutely psykotic.

But seriously, they look really good. That white is nice and crisp, the green rich, and that purple cloak is a nice splash of extra color. Can't wait to see the Avatar!

That is really awesome!

I am soon going to post photos in my blog of my ten strong Warlock Conclave that I am going to paint next. I converted a few warlocks slightly so I have ten unique models. I hope I can make mine look as good as yours!

Also, that finecast farseer was available in metal. I know, as I own one. Sadly only one though, or I'd let you have one cheap. Look out on eBay though.

That's a good looking Seer Council, dude - will you be doing a mounted group as well?

That warlock in the middle, the fella with the sword in two hands, that's my guy!

What a great classic sculpt. You did him proud.

You did 'em all proud. Great job as ever.

:edit: aaaand I just realised I totally gave you the whole "squee I'm a total THAT-warlock fanboy" bit on page one. Haha, well great job on the whole collection anyway. It's an impressive amount of Eldar character minis.

Thanks everybody! I'm pleased with how they look, especially as a group. I already think the group looks like total overkill when posed together and there's plenty more of these guys still to do. I'm tempted to keep going on seers to keep dialling up the absurdity, but I feel I should paint a few other things first.

youwashock wrote:Wow, that post was absolutely psykotic.

But seriously, they look really good. That white is nice and crisp, the green rich, and that purple cloak is a nice splash of extra color. Can't wait to see the Avatar!

Cheers, I appreciate it. I've fallen in love with my own green recipe on these guys, haven't got tired of painting it yet.

Fifty wrote:That is really awesome!

I am soon going to post photos in my blog of my ten strong Warlock Conclave that I am going to paint next. I converted a few warlocks slightly so I have ten unique models. I hope I can make mine look as good as yours!

Also, that finecast farseer was available in metal. I know, as I own one. Sadly only one though, or I'd let you have one cheap. Look out on eBay though.

Thanks! 10 Warlocks sounds great, just my kind of collection. I look forward to seeing them. Do you mean the spiritseer? I've never seen it in metal, to the point that I'd largely accepted that I'm going to buy it in finecast. It can't be that bad, right?

Dysartes wrote:That's a good looking Seer Council, dude - will you be doing a mounted group as well?

I plan to. I probably won't do more than 3 or so, just because the price would add up rapidly buying many of them, and I've only got one so far (still on the sprue). The old start collecting with the farseer skyrunner, windriders and fire prism was pulled just before I started buying up eldar in earnest, otherwise I might have grabbed a few copies.

theCrowe wrote:That warlock in the middle, the fella with the sword in two hands, that's my guy!

What a great classic sculpt. You did him proud.

You did 'em all proud. Great job as ever.

:edit: aaaand I just realised I totally gave you the whole "squee I'm a total THAT-warlock fanboy" bit on page one. Haha, well great job on the whole collection anyway. It's an impressive amount of Eldar character minis.

I don't mind a second round of gushing - in another repeat of the first page, I love that sculpt too. Very purposeful and poised, a total classic.

I've been waiting ages for that Exarch to come back in stock! Hopefully it's still there next week! I've missed a few updates but those Dark Reapers are really nice!

Digging the Seer Council too, My collection is very much going the same way, although I don't have as many Warlocks. I think you're correct about the Spiritseer, that one was always resin. I'd have picked it up otherwise!

Hey, sorry, misread. I mean the Farseer. Don't know about the Spiritseer, sorry. Dumb me.

Very nice work Bellerophon.

Cheers,

CB

Thanks everyone.

 Tyranid Horde wrote:
I've been waiting ages for that Exarch to come back in stock! Hopefully it's still there next week! I've missed a few updates but those Dark Reapers are really nice!

It appears to still be available now, so I guess it's back for good rather than briefly like I feared. They must have needed a new mould or something.

---

Something new!

After working so much on my Seer Council, I figured it was time to do what I consider to be the iconic Biel-Tan HQ – the Avatar of Khaine! In my case - the Forgeworld version with the sword.

I bought this chap the first time I visited Warhammer World about this time last year. I went into the Forge World shop with a few models in mind but not totally sure what I was going to buy. If you haven’t been there, they have display cases all around the store with the models assembled and unpainted so you can see them in person before picking one up. I picked up the Avatar on my first pass through the store. I knew I wanted it. I felt like I wanted to buy more things and spent the next half hour or so going round that store looking at the models trying to decide what else I wanted. I couldn’t make my mind up – there was plenty of stuff I liked but perhaps not quite enough to want to buy it then and there. But the Avatar was never in question, so in the end that was my only purchase that day. And I’m so pleased that I got it when I did since it went OOP something like a couple of months later.

It was unassembled for quite some time, then assembled but not primed, then primed but not painted…

Then I bought the Shadow Spectres, the Exarch and Irrilyth, and realised that between those, the Avatar and the Scorpion I was acquiring quite a lot of £’s worth of Forgeworld models and I hadn’t painted a single one of them. The Avatar was the first in the queue, so I decided it was about time I got painting.

Given that’s it’s one of my favourite models and a thematic centrepiece to any Biel-Tan collection I’ve put a lot of time and effort into this one, and I’m really pleased with the result. My only regret is that the sword is ever so slightly bent, and I wish I'd realised and straightened it a touch before assembling it. Never mind though, I'm still really proud of the model otherwise.

Oh, that is the MONEY right there.

Love it. He even has the traditional green/white Biel-Tan plume. Too good. If you are feeling adventurous, a soft touch with a hair drier (very soft) may help you with your sword.

Now that is gorgeous!

The green looks fantastic and has a nice contrast to all the other colors.

Excellent Avatar - love the paint work!

Surprised that it is no longer produced though - sad as it is one of their best figures...

Absolutely stunning paintjob, I'm disliking how Forgeworld aren't keeping their models in stock, sure, they're a little older and may not sell, but if the moulds are in okay condition why wouldn't they keep them in stock?

You're really tempting me with forgeworld models!

youwashock wrote:Oh, that is the MONEY right there.

Love it. He even has the traditional green/white Biel-Tan plume. Too good. If you are feeling adventurous, a soft touch with a hair drier (very soft) may help you with your sword.

Thanks! I thought that maybe I could have a go at bending it now, but I don't want to make a mess of things and it's close enough that it's not a major annoyance - so I figured best to leave it alone.

Ezki wrote:Now that is gorgeous!

The green looks fantastic and has a nice contrast to all the other colors.

Thanks very much! I've been enjoying painting green on this army, I've fallen in love with my own green recipe.

petrov27 wrote:Excellent Avatar - love the paint work!

Surprised that it is no longer produced though - sad as it is one of their best figures...

Cheers. Yeah, I think this one disappeared from the FW store with pretty much no warning. I don't know why because I agree with you - it's one of the best models they produced.

--

The other thing I did yesterday was finish making the new base for my scorpion. The one I'd done a few pages ago was an oval, but I realised that meant that screwing it on and off the mounting on the tank the weight of the base wasn't centred so it was going to put stress on the mounting point. I decided to make a round one instead. Like the other one, it's a 6mm 'frame' MDF bottom part and a 2mm MDF top, laser cut. I stuck a bolt in the middle and held onto the bolt while holding my Dremel (with sanding attachment) against the outside edge, allowing it to spin the base. So I got a nice, symmetric sanding to even the base out and give the edge a touch of slope to be a bit more like regular 40k bases. It's a little rough so I may have a go with some finer sandpaper by hand. Not the best photo, but...



I'm still tempted to do a bigger base (I've already lasercut one) and put a longer bolt on it, to be more of a display base. I've 3d printed a Dreadnought wreck I found on Thingiverse that might make nice basing material with a Scorpion soaring high above it...


Edit:

 Tyranid Horde wrote:
Absolutely stunning paintjob, I'm disliking how Forgeworld aren't keeping their models in stock, sure, they're a little older and may not sell, but if the moulds are in okay condition why wouldn't they keep them in stock?

You're really tempting me with forgeworld models!

Thanks! This Avatar isn't even out of stock - it just vanished entirely. I'm quite miffed because it's one of my favourites but at least I got one before it went. I wonder with some of them whether they just get to the point where the mould is worn out and decide that it's not worth it to make a new one?