October to July? Really!?!?

Okay, I knew it had been a "while" but I didn't realize it had been many months.

Good grief. Hobby ADD.

Anyway, I really, really need to take pics of these guys. Yriel is almost done, and Maugan Ra is looking pretty bony. Dark Reapers are dark. (That sounds like a lolcat, doesn't it. loleldar?)

The sad fact is the more Eldar I paint the more I want to do my own army. I even broke down and bought a single Wraithguard model. He sits alone on the shelf, unassembled and silver. Honestly, I have a hard time seeing myself playing Eldar... I can't make 3+ saves, let alone actually have some tactics that keep fragile T3 guys alive. Maybe that's why I picked a Wraithguard as my first model.... hmmmm. No Iyandan army though... I'm painting him Biel Tan. I just can't resist thorny vines, I guess.

Soo..... by the end of this week I should have some pics! Really!

As to the build-it-fight-it competition, I got smoked. Eldrad rocks, but when your opponent has a full tactical squad of marines, starts < 24" from you and uses his Librarian to teleport the whole squad right in front of your face and rapid fire you down to ZERO models at the beginning of turn 1 then you don't really have much of a fighting chance.

The most interesting battle was the third one, where the last two models of the game were Eldrad and a Space Marine Commander in terminator armor with a thunder hammer. We went round after round, Eldrad slowly eating away at the commanders wounds, while barely making his invulnerable save against the instant death hammer. In the end, with one wound remainging, the marine landed with the hammer and splattered poor Eldrad across the cardboard terrain. Epic.

The Eldrad Distraction

I know it's out of order, but I painted Eldrad and he looks great (if I may say so.)

It was for a "build it, fight it" event at FLGS. I bought and built a box of Guardians to go with Eldrad, thinking the Starcannon would work well against the many Marines I was bound to face. I got seriously owned in every battle. The worst was the Marine player who teleported right into my face, rapid fired me with every Marine and killed every model I had but Eldrad before I even got to move. Ouch.

The other Marine player got smoked by the Starcannon, but in the end a captain in Terminator armor with a Thunder Hammer was too much for Eldrad. It only takes one invuln miss at S8 to turn the Farseer of Ulthwe into blood paste.

Yriel and Maugan

I've been painting Yriel and Maugan Ra at lunch, and I'm having a change of heart. I've always liked the Yriel figure, but Maugan Ra never appealed to me much.

Painting him, on the other hand, has changed that.

I like painting bone. My Blood Ravens use a great deal of bone colored detail. Maugan Ra has bone. He has tons of it. The "'eavy Metal" studio model has a very cold palette for the bone. I like a warmer one, and I really like Maugan Ra with the bone scheme.

Priority List

1. Yriel (like in the codex: black, bone and yellow)
2. Maugan Ra (Uthwe)
3. Dark Reapers (Uthwe)

after those, the priority becomes
1st troops
2nd Elites
3rd Fast Attack
4th Heavy Support
5th HQ

The batch that I am looking at right now is as follows:
2 x Falcon Grav Tank
1 x Wave Serpent
1 x Fire Prism
3 x War Walker
1 x Wraithlord (I would like to do this one extremely high quality using my new GOLDEN DEMON POWERS!!! (sound of thunder).... 100% gems, freehand, etc.)
3 x Vyper (1 in box, 1 on sprue, 1 primed)
7 x Guardian jetbikes (4 partially assembled/primed, 3 on sprue)
8 x Swooping Hawks (one appears to be Exarch)
7 x Warlock w/ sword (1 missing sword... I will convert something for him)
2 x Warlock w/ spear
3 x Farseer
1 x Dark Reaper squad (5 models)
...and that doesn't even empty the big box!

Saga of the Big Box

More than a year ago I received the big box from a commission customer. I had done two Eldar "army box" sets for him, and he wanted to have more done. A lot more. Over time I was way too slow and had to return all the non-Eldar models that were included (some of which would have been quite fun to paint, but hey you can't have everything.)

This blog will... hopefully... chronicle the box as it approaches empty.