Tac and Assault squad pics

Once again apologies for the pics. Taken with my iPhone. I have not worked out a good way of using my SLR and getting the lighting right yet. Sadly this way tends to wash out the highlights completely. I need to set up some sort of amateur light box.

Jump Pack Chaplain

OK I will start to post up some photos of my Blood Angels over the next few days time permitting. Starting with a rather poor camera phone photo of the jump pack chaplain that I have mostly finished bar the fiddly bits.

Filler update

Hello there my loyal 3 followers. Sorry for the lack of updates recently. I have actually done a fair amount of painting. I have one tac squad of Blood angels pretty much finished as well as a 5 man assault squad, two rhinos and a ball pred conversion. Will do my best to get some pics posted over the weekend of progress.

Dante WiP 2, pretty much complete

After a fair bit of painting activity this weekend Dante is more or less done. Pics aren't that clear I am afraid. Still need to get a decent camera so relying on iPhone for snaps at the moment. Anyway, Dante almost done. A few bits and bobs need tidying up, the holster, pouches and grenades but the jump pack is done and varnished.

Corbulo WiP errr 4 I think....Dante WiP 1

Getting to the end stages of Corbulo now. Started work on the med vials around his waist which should be finished tonight whilst the missus watches Big Brother (yay only one more year to endure the nightmare!) . Also started to get some base colour down on Dante. I am using Jawaballs Youtube vids as a guide with him as I have not had a lot of practise with metallics over a large area.

Corbulo WiP 3

Feeling like I am entering the home stretches now. Finished the Narthecium last night (more or less, I want to do a little bit more fine detail). I have also made a start on the vials around his waist which will hopefully be finished tonight. 

Corbulo WiP 2 redone

Was looking at the chest eagle and really wasn't happy with the job I had done. Same with the eagles on the leg guards (gleaves?) so went back and redid them without a wash as I felt this left it looking too dirty. I did an undercoat of shadow grey, a first highlight of space wolf grey and then an extreme highlight of skull white (their vallejo equivalents, I forget the names at the moment)

I think it looks much better. Finished the grail chalice as well which I am quite happy with.

On a note I have noticed that the quality of the finish on my Corbulo mini seems pretty poor. A fair bit of the fine detail casting seems quite poor.

Corbulo WiP 2

Bit more work done this afternoon. The main armour highlighting has been done but doesn't come out very well on my iPhone camera. I would have taken one on the regular camera but my lovely fiance decided to drop it. Done most of the grail cup and now working on the fine detail. Still need to redo the face but I am currently reading up on face painting techniques.

Corbulo WiP

Really enthused about getting a blood angels list off the ground. Started and got a fair bit of the base layering and some detail done on Corbulo last night. Quite happy with the way the face has turned out although I imagine Blood Angels to be much paler skinned so I will probably try and tone it down a little. Bit. Not sure on the technique I would use for that so a bit of research is required. To be honest I have not had much practise painting face so am quite pleased with how this one is turning out at the moment.

OOO a painting update!!

OK Well I have been quite busy painting this week. Finally made a decent start on my Howling Banshees. They are progressing on quite nicely. Using foundation paint undercoats with a wash on top and then filling with Vallejo game range.

I have also stripped down all of my Dark Angel tac squads and transports to convert them to a blood angels list. I found I was only using my Dark Angel Deathwing and Ravenwing so wanted something to make use of the rest of them. The Rhino has been undercoated white then several thinned coats of Vallejo Bloody Red. The edges where then sort of blend highlighted with Vallejo Hot Orange followed by a liberal wash of Baal Red. Then a fine edge highlight of Vallejo Orange Fire. I will use the same technique (big thanks to Jawaballs YouTube vids where I got this technique) for painting the tac squads up

Fresh start

OK, as the three followers out there will have noticed I have dropped off the scene for updates for quite a while. The tale of four gamers fizzled out somewhat and my energies where diverted away from 40K after joining a paintball team (see http://duppypaintballer.blogspot.com/) for details.

I still have a keen interest in 40K and still game every tuesday at my local GCN club. So this blog will metamorphose into something more than my eldar. I will start to include the other armies I play and am working on and share the trials and tribulations of a decidedly below average gamer!

Conceeding defeat :(

Well it is the 1st of July and you will all (all 4 of you) have noticed that updates have been somewhat reticent this month. Due to business travelling and other stuff going on I have made little progress in my 500 points worth for this month. After speaking to one of the other TOTGers who is in a similar position we have decided to scrap the idea. I will paint the remaining 500 points and they will be my GT army if I can get tickets with the inquisition chaps.

Oh well. I will be posting pictures as I complete what is left to paint and will use this blog as a means of charting my success with eldar over the coming months so stay tuned (all 4 of you!)

Month 4 update

OK well after last months stumble at the finishing line there are 500 points to paint this month to bring us up to 1500 points. At the moment my 1,000 list is roughly

Farseer + toys

5 Man seer council

2 x 6 Jetbike Squads

6 Fire Dragons mounted in Wave Serpent.

For 1,500 points I want something that should be competitive in tournaments so some careful thinking has been had and I have made a decision to drop the harlequins I was originally thinking about. In a mech list I just cannot find a way of making them work. The test games I have played with them they have been mown down before really having a chance to do anything even with a shadowseer. So after a rethink and some list bashing for my last 500 points I have come up with

10x Dire Avengers mounted in Wave serpent

8x Banshees mounted in wave serpent.

The Dire avengers give me that much needed 3rd troop choice and the banshees give me some nice close assault options. I ummed and ahhed between banshees and scorpions and settled on the banshees on the basis that I am playing necrons so combined with Doom hopefully they will go through those undead metal fiends like the proverbial hot knife through butter but we shall see.

In the mean time outside of my 1,500 point list I have started to paint my Eldrad model to fit the theme of my (as yet unnamed) craftworld.

Month 3 late points update

Wave serpent is almost finished. Got the turrent painted (pictured with star cannons but I also have scatter lasers painted), just need to finish the highlighting. I have started on the leading fins but am not really happy with how they are looking so may go back and redo them tonight. 

Month 3 failure :(

Oh dear well due to some (really rather fun!!) social commitments I ran out of time for my month 3 painting deadline. Only had the highlighting and weapon turret on my wave serpent to do but instead I spent the weekend surfing, enjoying the sun and my best friend's 30th birthday so time better spent :)

Hopefully finish the wave serpent in the next couple of days to claim my late points. 

Month 3 Update - No 4

OK well the wave serpent saw a bit of action last night. The main hull is assembled and base coated with the gems picked out in Mechrite Red for the moment. The first two pictures are of my fire prism that I have been working sporadically on for the last couple of months. The second two are the wave serpent as she currently stands. Tonight hopefully I will get the panel seam highlighting done on her and hopefully the gems. 

At this point I think I have to concede that I will be unlikely to make this months point deadline as tonight is my last available night of painting before I am away until Monday which will be the 1st. Never say never but I think it will take a painting miracle to get what I need to get done on the wave serpent tonight.

Month 3 Update

OK I have been very reticent in updating recently so here are a few snaps of how my fire dragons are turning out. My 250 points for this month will be 6 fire dragons, with no exarch (I can't see him as a good use of points) mounted in a wave serpent. Here are the pretty much finished pics of the Fire Dragons. Just need to do a few bits of detail on them and they are done. I think they are table standard as it is and count for painting points but there are a few little bits I want to do on them. Their wave serpent has been partially assembled, undercoated and then the main blue colour layed down on the individual pieces. No pics yet but hopefully after tonight it will be all assembled and I will have started highlighting. I am assembling the wave serpent and painting it in sections to make things like the engines easier to drybrush. 

Month 3 update - some painting has been done!

OK I have pretty much decided on the Fire Dragons in a Wave Serpent as my points for the month. Here is the WiP shoot of the Fire Dragons.

Month 3 Update

Well I should probably post another update given there has been nothing for 2 weeks. 

I am currently umming and ahhing over my 250 points for month 3. My initial fancy is some Fire Dragons in a wave serpent. I can use these to whizz about and soften up monstrous creatures prior to any assaults or get round that pesky "we'll be back" rule. I can use the Wave Serpent to contest objectives at the end of games so seems like a good choice. 

However I have also managed to get hold of some war walkers which I am assembling. I am wondering whether 3 war walkers with scatter lasers might be nice as well. That would be 24 S6 shots per turn coming out of them....hmm decisions decisions

Month 2 ....done!

With slightly less rush to the midnight deadline here is month 2's list done

1 farseer

5 locks

2 x 6 Guardian jetbikes

I'm not very happy with the finish I have got on the warlocks. The yellow looks very dirty up close. They will do for the purposes of the painting deadline but I will probably strip and redo them with a different technique at some stage

Month 2, nearly there but there has been a small balls up!

OK, as month 2 comes to an end my 4 locks are starting to come together, just need to paint the spears and swords I have pilfered from my High Elf spearmen which where resprayed this morning and should be done by tonight. Unfortunately I have made rather a balls up on something. To quote myself "my 4 locks are starting to come together"

Yes I needed 5 for my seer council.......oops

Thankfully I have a tester bike that I tried a few colour schemes out on. It is currently in some fair power spray so hopefully will be ready to strip and prime tonight then will have to nail the painting in one session tomorrow to finish on time. 

Quick Update

Quick update with the work done on the warlocks. These guys at the moment look like stock Iyanden guardians. The left arms will be taken off and replaced with spears and swords pilfered from my High Elves stuck in a box somewhere and I will try my hand at some hand painted runes on them to give them 'lock status.  Hopefully they will come out reasonably well. With 2 full painting days left, yet again I am going right down to the wire!! Really must stop doing that!

N.B sorry the photo is really over reflected from the flash so it drowns out most of the highlights. Will try and take a better one

Month 2 update

OK after not a lot of activity recently here are some updates on this months work. Thankfully I only have 7 models to paint this month. 3 more jetbikes are done except for the gems. The yellow and blue jetbikes at the back of shot are going to be for my warlocks. Again the bikes are pretty much done except the gems, hopefully I will start the warlocks tonight.

Month 2 update

Errr as some of you who follow this (all 4 of you!)  might have noticed I have been somewhat slack on the updates this month. I would love to tell you that I am almost finished on this months quota of models and have merely forgot to take any progress photos but it would be a massive shamefaced lie!! 

My girlfriend (should really get the hang of using the word fiancee) has had her Easter break (she is a teacher) so I have had some holiday and a chance to spend some time with her. Still back on the job now. I have the models for this month assembled except warlock conversions. I have started another 3 jetbikes to take me up to two six man squads and then I will get the seer council done. I have 4 jetbikes I have started conversions on with 10 days to finish them. This one is going to go right down to the wire.......again!

Month 1 Complete

OK, month one finished on time....just.

Not arranged the month one games but so far everyone has full painting points. I will be facing 500 pts of nicely painted bugs and undead robots!

Month one pretty much done

OK there hasn't been an update for a while. Anyway here is my farseer done. Just needs a base done for him and he is ready to rock. If I had had time then I was hoping to freehand something onto the hull but that will have to wait for a bit. He still counts for painting points (well once his base is done). Apologies for the bad photos. My point and click seems to have done a runner so this is a camera phone effort. Will re post once I have better pics.

Vyper, done!

Latest update, the vyper is pretty much done. Some frantic gem painting late last night and finishing the starcannon. I still need to do the electronics panels on the chassis but they are 5 min jobs. I would also like to go back and paint a yellow stripe over the front in the same fashion as the guardian bikes but he counts (once his base is done!) for painting points so I am happy!

Vyper 75% done, Farseer started

OK well with 11 days left to go now I thought I would share how the vyper is looking, I have been painting it unassembled for ease of access. I thought I hadn't made much progress on it but once I put together everything I had done I was surprised how much is done. The weapon is still only undercoated (I am going to paint up the starcannon and scatter laser for it) and the rear gunner just needs the yellow done for his helmet and the gems highlighting. I will prob add a yellow go faster stripe to is as well so it matches the bikes

Have finally started on the farseer conversion. At the moment it just stands as the Autarch from the Windrider host box I bought to start this off. He has been beheaded and I am trying to green stuff a farseer head out of a warhammer fantasy high elf mage head but it isn't going so well. I think I will end up buying a farseer and hacking him up for bits. Still time is of the essence so whatever I do I need to do it fast. I have started on his bike however. I wanted him to really stand out so have gone for about the hardest colour there is to paint....yellow. So far I have highlighted up in stages the bike so it is nearly done. I am then prob going to freehand some sort of design or detail onto the front but I need to sit down and do some sketches first. Anyway wip below of the highlighted yellow (again big shout out to all Imperial Fist players....yellow is not fun!)

Bikers done!

1st squad of bikers done and dusted. Bases finished this morning. I will at some stage work out magnetising the bases for easy transport and less likely hood of breaking them but in terms of the challenge they are my 1st completed squad. The vyper is coming along nicely although no pics up for it yet. I am about to start my farseer conversion. With 12 days left for month one's painting points I am leaving him a little late!

Bikers nearly there

OK, last night saw some frantic painting of gems. Each bike has 8 gems, 9 bikes = 73 gems!! God I am bored of painting them! Not very happy with the way they look either so I may have to go back and do them again....not looking forward to that! Also started the go faster stripes on the front body of the bike. I marked off a 4mm wide line with masking tape and used foundation Iyanden Darksun as a base coat because of its opacity over the blue. I have then put a couple of thinned down layers of Vallejo Sunblast Yellow. Tonight I will start highlighting up the top of the band with Vallejo Model Colour Deep Yellow and Light Yellow.