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I was wondering about the green on the base. Part of me liked it, making it easier to see where the base was, but I was wondering about the distraction as well. At the time I decided to leave it as is, because my lunch time was running out and I couldn't change it.

I also did the same to the Farseer, so most likely after the weekend I'll try changing the base on the Farseer to brown to see how it looks.

Thanks for the advise and criticisms.

For a Friend

So a friend of mine was asking me about how things were going on a few of my projects since I haven't updated anything here in a while. I've managed to get a few shots of the cockpit and the fuselage of the plane. The cockpit actually looks pretty good. It looks even better through the canopy (which I haven't shown here).



I took a tip from a modeling magazine on the canopy. It was looking pretty ragged, and scratched up, and you could barely see through it, but a little bit of Future Floor Polish and the thing is shiny and see-through. I might have to give it another dip in the polish, to take care of one last little scratch. For those of you wanting to keep the canopy see through on your Eldar vehicles, I would definitely recommend using Futures to get rid of scratches.

A Little Something

Here is something new I started on today. I'm not planning on getting much more done in the immediate future. I just wanted to have something basic that I could use in a game this weekend. My intention was to make a diorama piece, that would combine well with Illic Nightspear. Illic Nightspear would be in the foreground with the Wraithlord standing behind him. I also have a plug piece created, for when i'm playing, I won't have to worry about there being this big emply hole in the base. I'm also going to use more of the destroyer on the base, to tie the two together.



Let me know what you think.

Thanks,

brown base for Illic

Brown Base, and pink sight lenses.

Also matt finish over the whole model, with gloss finish on the gems and the sights.

it all ties together really nicely - the red is nice and strong, but doesn't overpower, and considering you have quite a lot of red and green it's not clashing, nor does it look too Xmas-like! Good job, you should be really pleased with it.

Truth be told, I love it. One of the best models I've ever painted. I just hope I can keep it up with the stuff I'm currently working on. It's weird but it just seems easier with smaller models compared to the crimson hunter. Then again, since he is an HQ, I shouldn't feel so bad if my troops don't look as good.

The release of the lizard men has given me a great idea for how I'm going to do the red on black that I first did on a jetbike. I should test it on one oft other models first though. Perhaps I'll redo the jetbike.

Papercraft

So I had a nice weekend, getting to play two games, both against my Tau friend. He changed up his list somewhat, bringing a Commander Farsight list, with Tau Allies. WOW that list is impressive. He won the first game, and I won the second game. I only won the second game because his Warlord was still in reserves when time ran out. I came away with some very interesting thoughts about what I have been bringing into games recently.

1. As much as I like Illic Nightspear, he sucks on the battle field. The guy needs to be able to fire his gun more than once a turn, or his weapon should have been master-crafted, twin-linked.

2. Rangers are way to squishy, with all of the ignores cover that Tau can bring.

3. Scorpions need to stay off the board... I think I need to figure out a replacement in my army for them. I have yet to get them into CC.

4. I need to bring a lot more high strength weapons. Most of my weapons were strength 6, which does nothing against 13 armor. More Brightlance and more Wraithcannons.

5. The Wraithlord could use some extra wounds, but seems cheaply priced. If I had my Spiritseer close by, I could have used his renew psychic power.

6. I really like the Wraithlord and Wraithknight. I'm probably never going to buy an actual Wraithknight, but I did get some compliments on my 'scratch build proxy'. I'm not sure if it is actually tournament legal per-say, but I'm not using him in a tournament.



I just took an image from online, printed it out so it was about 9 inches tall, mounted it on a bit of cardboard that attaches to a flying base. Worked well as a proxy even if he is only 2D. And I didn't spend $115 US on it for just one game. I'll probably keep him around in case I want to use him again later.

Looking Ahead


With that in mind, I think I'm going to be bringing the following as standard:

Farseer
Spiritseer
2 squads Wraithguard in wave serpents (ScL, ShCn, Halo)
Crimson Hunter/Hemlock Wraithfigher (I like the Crimson Hunter, but I keep getting him in on turn 2 :( ).
Warp Spiders
Wraithlord

Possible add-ons:

Nightspinner/Fireprism
1-3 Jetbike squads with Shuriken Cannons
Guardians in Waveserpent with Warlock/Dire avengers in Falcon Grav-tank
Warwalkers/Vypers
Wraithknight

Other than the list, I really need to focus on making better tactical decisions. I think my deployment could have been better, since my Spiritseer wasn't able to spirit mark anything after the first turn. I should have had more wraith stuff close to him. In the first game I made a wrong decision with my Wraithknight in focusing on the Riptide standing in front of him, rather than going for the troop squad hiding in some ruins to his side. The thing was a beast and took out a tank in nothing flat.

I'm thinking with as much wraith stuff as I'm bringing, I need to look into the rules of the Iyanden book, at least until they get a book out for Aliatoc and make Illic and his rangers/pathfinders better.

On a painting/modeling note: I should see how well the Spiritseer will look instead of Illic on the Wraithlord base.



It doesn't look to bad, but I think I still like the look of Illic on the base. Oh well.

As always, any questions, comments, criticisms are welcome.

Progress

Here is a quick post with progress shots of my Crimson Hunter/Hemlock Wraithfighter.



The base is coming along nicely. I don't think I thinned down the bleached bone enough as it's streaky, but a few more thin layers should fix that. The bottom shot is kind of a before shot, comparing it to the after shot of the top. The top is the part that I'm not sure about. I'm thinking that it looks better in comparison to the previous way I was doing the effect:



But I'm not sure how I feel about the amount of it on the plane. I have a feeling that I need more of it, bigger swaths of it, similar to the nose of the plane.

Let me know what you think.

Thanks,

A Realization!

So I've been busy with my son's upcoming birthday, and I haven't had any time to put paint to models. I have a ton of models in the pipeline that I want to work on, but right now it's just been sitting at my desk at work. I can't do anything with them, since I've been having to go places during lunch in order to get stuff prepared for his party.

The one thing that has been nagging me has been my crimson hunter's paint job. The current pattern that I have on it just wasn't sitting right with me. I had rushed putting pencil onto the hull of the model, and now the pattern that I painted doesn't sit well with me. I think I'm finally going to go through and start over. I know it sucks having spent all that time putting it on, and now having to start over, but I would rather do that, then have a paint job that I didn't like. Luckily, I didn't put any pattern on the underside yet, so I only have the one side to redo.

On the flip side, with all of the traveling that I've been having to do during lunch, I managed to make it to my local gaming store, and do some more trading (I love that he does that), and picked up a few things for my army.

First I got A box of Dire Avengers. I think in a big enough game (1850 to 2000), I'm going to start running these guys in a Falcon Grav Tank. I'm just debating on whether or not to pull out a guardian and use him as an Exarch, so that I can have 6 Dire Avengers once I'm done. Obviously the Exarch will be slightly different, but I can live with that.

Second, I picked up the new plastic Eldar Farseer. I was thinking of running the Iyanden Codex suppliment in games, and I might have the need for a second spiritseer model if the points are high enough, so I was thinking of using him as a second Spiritseer. The main reason that I got him instead of the actual Spiritseer is because I hate the look of the Spiritseer (someone really screwed up in green-lighting that concept artwork). Plus being plastic rather then resin doesn't hurt either.

Third, I got two additional metal Warp spiders, to round out my squad to 8. Yes, I know it's not a full squad, but 8 is a round number... it's two circles, one on top of another.

Once I'm able to get some paint onto some more models, I'll get you guys some pictures. To bad it probably won't be until next week, as I'll be busy doing birthday stuff until Monday.

Thanks,

I actually like your jet, but I know how you feel on the whole restart deal. I have done that.


Anyways good job on the model pick ups!

Ps, happy b day for your son.

Here is what I picked up:



It seems that I forgot that I also picked up a weapons platform for my Guardians. I don't know if i'll ever use it, but now I have it if I do. But for $11.75 out of pocket (as well as the trade stuff that I wasn't going to be using), I'm pretty happy.

I'm working on the base for the Farseer/Spiritseer, so that I can have him as the diorama piece with the Wraithlord.

Insacrum wrote:
Papercraft

So I had a nice weekend, getting to play two games, both against my Tau friend. He changed up his list somewhat, bringing a Commander Farsight list, with Tau Allies. WOW that list is impressive. He won the first game, and I won the second game. I only won the second game because his Warlord was still in reserves when time ran out. I came away with some very interesting thoughts about what I have been bringing into games recently.

1. As much as I like Illic Nightspear, he sucks on the battle field. The guy needs to be able to fire his gun more than once a turn, or his weapon should have been master-crafted, twin-linked.

IIRC, Illic is BS9, which means he gets to re-roll his failed "to hit", and BS9 means it's then on a 3+. Not "master-crafted" per se, but close to it anyway... I however agree that he's not the best around... His "special" rules rely too much on luck to be really anything more than frustrating... I guess you'd be glad if you had taken down a Riptide or a vehicle with a 6 on the to-wound / penetration roll... But it statistically should occur no more than once per game, as he gets one shot per turn (as you said...)...

As for the fighter, I liked your scheme that way, but... If you feel like you need to do it all over again, then it's probably the best thing to do !!

 Yggdrasil wrote:
As for the fighter, I liked your scheme that way, but... If you feel like you need to do it all over again, then it's probably the best thing to do !!

In reality, the paint will look very similar to what is already there, just the patterning will be different. It'll end up with more red than what it currently has, but the technique will be the same.

I hope that explains what I want to do.

Also, I've been dry fitting the Farseer/Spiritseer base. I have everything for the base set, I just need some sand, and then I think I'll prime it this weekend.

As for Illic, I think the mastercrafted part works on to wound rolls... but I'm probably wrong. [Just looked it up. Yep, I'm wrong.] I just think that the guy needs something that allows him to reroll failed to wound rolls.

So I Might Have Lied

I originally said that I probably wouldn't have any time for modeling or painting with all of the work that I've been having to do for my Son's Upcoming Birthday party. I was wrong, and I managed to get a bit of modelling done on the Wraithlord, Images below. Right now this guy is in a few pieces out in my garage drying some black primer.



I was trying to go for a bit of a dynamic pose, showing the start of motion, but not a full sprint. I also wanted a wraithglaive, but I didn't want to use the standard (AKA boring) stock "hand gripping sword" provided. I tried to be as clean and crisp in my cut as possible. Also, in the process of test fitting the paperclip that was going to join the pieces together, I found that I was using the wrong size bit in my pin-vice. Now with the bit that I have, I don't have to worry about forcing the paperclip into the hole, and possibly splitting the plastic.

Yay me!

What I showed above was a dry fit version of what I hope the final pose will be. I also took the time to fit in the base that I'm going to be working on for my new Spiritseer (Farseer) that I just got. Sorry, no photos :(. I might have to turn the arm that is holding the singing spear, but it should work to make sure that neither of the two models are hitting each other once the Spiritseer is on the Wraithlord's base.

If you have any question, comments, or criticisms, please feel free to post them.

Thanks, as always!

So I seem to be at a bit of a dilemma. I just received a bonus check from work, and I'm torn between getting a Wraithknight ($115) or starting a Farsight Enclave allies detachment ($50 FS & $65 CS). They both cost the same as far as money goes, while the Farsight team would be slightly pricier game-wise.

Any suggestions?

After discussing things with a friend, I think I'm going to to with the Wraithknight. Since I'm not all that sure about how to kit out a Farsight Enclave, or how it would work as allies with Eldar, I'm going to stick with the WK, and perhaps playtest Farsight later, and see if I want to use him.

So I now have a Wraithknight in a box that I'll eventually get around to building, but there is something that I'm noticing about it. When I look around online, no one has gone out of their way to give the thing a pose other than just standing or running, which seem to be poses that are easily made with the model as is. Not many people have gone out of their way to make it look different (as far as my perspective goes). With that, I think I've found the pose that I'm going to try and mimic with mine.



Since I'm planning on using the suncannon/shield, and scatter laser, I think this pose should work, having the shield in front of him, actually trying to shield himself (what a novel concept), with the gun aimed out as a sniper rifle.

Too bad I have so many other things on my plate before I get around to this one.

Realizations!

So I realized something the other day. As much as I have been modeling and painting things, I have 1 figure done that counts as a troop choice in my army. 1 jet bike compared to two HQ units done. I think I need to put some of the other things that I have going on the back burner and focus on getting my troops done, so that I can actually field a properly painted army. I need to focus on the things that I'm going to be using game in and game out.

That includes 10 Wraithguard (old school), 5 Dire Avengers, 10 Guardians, 4 jet bikes, 2 jet bikes with Shuriken Cannons. I sometimes swap between the 5 Dire Avengers in a Falcon Grav Tank, and 10 Guardians in a Wave Serpent, so I'm not sure which to focus on there, but it’ll probably the Avengers. I also sometimes take either 1 or 2 squads of jet bikes. I also sometimes take a squad of rangers, but I already have those painted from my olden days, so nothing to do there.

So, even though I know what I have to focus on, here is what I have been getting painted and modeled. Below is the base for my second Farseer/Spiritseer; the one that I will have on my Wraithlord. I dry brushed around the runes on the base with snot green, and highlighted them with Jade green, in order to make it look like he is drawing power from it. Perhaps I can call that the Wraithstone Forge that I'm planning on using.



I've also gotten around to doing a lot of work on the actual Wraithlord, with his legs attached to the base. I have to do a bit more dry brushing with the purple, and pink. I don't think that the pink is popping enough off of the Necron gem, like it does with Illic Nightspear.



I've actually also started on building my Wraithknight. It's glued in certain placed, pinned in others, and stands up pretty when on its own. All I have are the legs build, just like the Wraithlord. I ended up having to buy new primer, since I ran out of my old GW primer. It's great having a new can. I'm looking at several nicely primed models: Wraithlord Torso, Spiritseer, and Wraithknight base & legs (I'll try and get a photo or two of it up).

In the end I'm actually really happy with how the models look, I just need to do a better job of photographing them, to make them look better on screen for you guys. As always, critiques, compliments, and questions are always welcomed.

As Promised:

Here are images of my pose of the Wraithknight. I've very tempted to paint the whole thing silver and call it a day.



I was very tempted to not even do the different pose, until I saw someone else online do a change to the legs. Normally the legs kind of look like a dogs, in that they bend from the back, if you switch them around, you get a normal bend, like a humans.

Thanks,

Farseer/Spiritseer 2

So I've noticed that I haven't been posting as often as I want to. I guess I need to take more pictures of what I'm working on and posting my progress as I go. Below is my progress on my second Spiritseer, or Farseer. Since I'm planning on running a few games with the Iyanden rules, I figure that by having this one still standing on the glowing runes, I would have that count as the Wraithforge Stone.



I've also change a bit how I'm doing the red. Instead of putting down a layer of Graveyard earth first, I've switched over to using Khorne Red base. Also, instead of using an old bottle of Gory Red (Red Gore) from Vallejo Game color, I'm now using Carmine Red from Vallejo Model Color. It isn't doesn't have as much of an orange hue as Gory Red (Red Gore), but it still a vibrant red that I can use to highlight the Bloody Red (Blood Red). It's a more subtle highlight, but I really like the end result.

Next I'll be working on the grey cloth. I'll probably put some purple OSL on the front, for the purple necron gem, and some green OSL on the back for the Wraithforge Stone.

As always, QCC are always welcome.

Thanks,

WIP: FS/SS2 - 2

Here is the next batch of pictures from today's work. Not much change in an overall sense. I managed to get a lot of depth onto the gray skirt, as well as add it a good amount of highlighting and OSL from the Gem and the Wraithforge Stone. I'm progressing to where I want to model to look. I'll be getting some washes on the Singing Spear soon, and then also working on the rest of the small packs, pouches and trinkets.



I'm planning on playing a game this weekend against a Tyranid player. We decided to play one of the new missions that are in the Iyanden Codex Supplement. I had to monkey around with the list that I wanted to bring, in order to bring Prince Yriel. I also decided to include a squad of Harlequins in order to bring the special Shadowseer.

I'm hoping that this will be a fun game!

This is all greatness! Altansar best craftworld. Subscribed!

 BladeTX wrote:
This is all greatness! Altansar best craftworld. Subscribed!

Thanks for the praise.

Great. Now I have to rethink my farseer color scheme.

Thanks a lot.


And great job, btw. Seriously, it looks really cool.

WIP: FS/SS2 - 3

So I think I'm almost done with the body of Farseer/Spiritseer 2.



I think I'm most disappointed in the result of the spear tip. I used Drakenhof Nightshade, and while it looked really cool at first, once it dried, it lost a bit of its 'Umph!'. It also doesn't look as good as the spear tip of Farseer 1. I think I'm going to end up redoing the spear tip, and not use the Drakenhof, but use a glazed electric blue. I really want that spear tip to pop. The rest of the body is awesome though.

Here is a little blast from my past. These are obviously some old metal harlequins. I think my painting of them is circa 1996 - early 1998.



I'll be using them in my game this weekend, with the addition of a dark reaper exarch to represent a death jester. From left to right you have a Shadowseer with lightning claw and laspistol, a Flamer with powerfist, A H-Kiss with shuriken pistol, and a Powerfist with shuriken pistol. Obviously, tomorrow they won't have those items. It's amazing to think how far I've come in my approach to painting in almost 20 years.

Thanks for ready, and as always keep the CCQ coming.

Battle Report

So I know this is a Painting and Modeling Blog, but every once in a while I actually manage to play a game. Yesterday I played a game using the Iyanden Codex scenario: Return of Yriel. It was interesting playing against Tyranids, when my list had 33 models total, while the Tyranid player had 108.

For the first two turns I only had 3 models on the board: 2 Wave serpents (both carrying a squad of Wraithguard, and a Spiritseer), and a Wraithlord. I was debating on whether to have the Lord initially out there, or the Knight. I decided on the Lord, so I could deep strike the Knight into play on turn 3.

I ended up setting up the two tanks with the Lord between them in one corner. While he had almost his entire deployment zone filled. Since I had to wait for half of my army to come in on turn 3, I decided to play stay away, and just keep the three model group just within range of the weapons they were carrying (24 inches).

Turn 1A: I moved into initial position, and focused fire on a Tervigon. I got first blood, and one kill point.

Turn 1B: He moved forward, and wasn't able to cause any damage. My Wave serpents managed to Jink off all damage.

Turn 2A: I decided to move a little and Take out the majority of a gargoyle squad.

Turn 2B: Hey managed to get both of his reserves in, and tried to deep struck a Trygon behind my tanks. Luckily he scattered to their side. He also brought in another squad of Gargoyles. He did cause a glancing hit and a penetrating hit on one of the Wave serpent.

Turn 3A: I tried deep striking my Knight, but he mishapped, and couldn't come in this turn... sucks for me. On this turn, the Wraithguard made an appearance, and destroyed the Trygon (distort for the win!) I also cause a lot of damage to the two Gargoyle squads, leaving one in the first squad, and more in the second squad.

Turn 3B: He managed to destroy one of the Wave serpents, and kill off some Warp Spiders (but not the whole squad). His assaulting of my Wraithlord with both of his gargoyle squads did not go so well. The first squad was destroyed due to overwatch. The second squad lost combat, and was destroyed due to sweeping advance.

Turn 4A: At this point I managed to move my remaining Warp Spiders into his deployment (simply because we didn't have much time left and I wanted line breaker). I also killed off a squad of Termigaunts.

Turn 4B: He was in the hole at this point, and needed to make up a few kill points... given the low number of models in my squads this was actually possible. Unfortunately, he only managed to destroy the second Wave Serpent. The warp spiders, had 1 man remaining who made his save. The Lord had 1 wound left. And the Knight only took 1 wound. Yriel never even got out of the falcon he was in, with his squad of dire avenger wound takers.

In the end, I had Linebreaker, first blood, and neither of us had slay the warlord. Final score 7-2, I won.

Only my second win playing with Eldar in Sixth Edition. I think if this game had gone on to 5 or more turns, I would have had an issue with squads of Wraithguards being in close combat, and he would have managed to get someone into my deployment zone. I think I won this game more because of a time constraint, and effective early strategy.

I think I'm learning a lot on how to play this army effectively, but I also haven't won against an army that has had a 6th edition codex upgrade. I'm sure if I play against my Tau friend again, I'll have more issues to deal with. Plus, I wouldn't be using Yriel (although maybe I should look into using him just to see what he can do).

FS/SS2 WIP 4

Here is the finished Farseer/Spiritseer.



He was really fun to paint, and only took me about 6-7 hours to do in total. I think my painting of infantry is getting faster, while at the same time keeping good tabletop quality.

With all of the games that I have been playing something interesting occurred to me: I have no units of troops painted. The main part of everyone's army now a days, and I don't have any of them done. Sure I have 1 Jet Bike almost complete, but a Jet Bike does not make a squad, or an army.

So right now I have decided that the Wraithknight and the Wraithlord, are officially on the back-burner. In their place, I have these guys to work with.



You should remember them... they just now have new 40mm bases, Instead of the original 25mm bases I had previously. It'll be interesting doing 10 guys at ones. I might do it how some of the other painters I read do it, and only work on 3-4 at a time. As of right now I have all 10 of them primed, and ready to start on painting the bases.

Along with them, I'm still going to finish building and painting the crimson hunter. Sooner or later, I'm going to come home and say "TADA!" to my wife, just so she knows that the father's day gift that she got me, did get finished. Right now I have most of the parts to make him a crimson hunter out and magnetized. I just have to add a few more magnets in order to make sure that I can still swap it to a Hemlock Wraithfighter.

For now, enjoy!

Weekend Work

So I have a few updates and a few insights that I learned this weekend.

First I'll start with the insights. I found out that working with magnets is not as easy as I first thought. Especially when the magnets don't line up perfectly, and then you have to remove them and fix them. I ended up doing a lot of Dremolling on my Crimson Hunter's tail fins this weekend. I was not happy in having to do so! But now they fit perfectly on the model, and are easily removable. All I have to do is get the inclination to set up the Hemlock Wraithfighter parts.

The important thing that I learned his morning is the importance of cellophane wrap (CW)! I'm not sure how many of you modelers out there prefer to use Zap-a-Gap, or some other form of CA+ glue, but I do. I decided to try something to keep my fins from accidentally sticking to the plane while getting the magnets to stick to them. I laid down CW where the fins would be going, put down the magnets, then glued the fins to where the magnets were seated. Interestingly enough, the glue didn't stick to the CW. So while the magnets were firmly held by the fins, the CW peeled right off, leaving just a little bit of excess glue for me to clean off with a razor/file/sandpaper.

On to the updates. So I've decided to start a new army this weekend. It's actually been on my mind for a while, and I just decided to go ahead and do it. I have a friend who might be buying a lot of my Space Marine stuff off of me, but I'll have a lot of it left over that I'm hoping to be able to trade in at MLGS and get a few of the pieces and parts that I want for the army.

I'm not going to give you any clues yet, you'll just have to wait and see what I'm cooking up, and be completely flustered with what I'm doing until I finally reveal what it's going to be.

On top of that I decided to offer up my services to the my friend (the same one from above) to paint His new army's General. I'm doing it as a belated birthday present to him. I have the model on hand, and just need to do a bit of cleaning on it, as well as add some sand to the base, and then I'll be off to prime the little sucker. It's going to be a Space Marine Chapter Master for the Mantis Warriors. It has 5 right arms, a jump pack, a normal backpack, a left arm with Shield, and a standard. It should be fun painting up something a little different then Eldar for once.

No pictures today, but I hope you enjoy the little tidbit about the CW.

Until next time, keep the CCQ coming (I don't feel like I get enough of them).

Thanks!

Teaser

Here are some images of the new army project that I talked about in my last post.





Have fun guessing what I'm building!

I made a few purchases today. I picked up a box of Warriors of Chaos; A Valkia the bloody finecast; 10 40mm bases, and 14 bike bases.

I'm really hoping to have a lot of fun with this army on the table top.