Eldritch Raiders the Army - Beginnings

I can't remember exactly when I build my last actual army. I know it was for a tournament in the mid-2000s. I know it was Eldar, and I know it was when the plastic Dire Avengers had just been released. I know this because I built lots of them.

Since then I have focused solely on skirmish level games. Blood Bowl. Necromunda. Inquisimunda. Shadow War Armageddon. I have not desired making or playing with an army in any way shape or form.

But then some of the Oldhammer folks started doing the Old World Army Challenge, and I wondered whether a small army might be feasible. Whether it might be fun. Whether I should actually make one of the armies I've always wanted. At the same time Asslessman over at Leadplague was having similar thoughts. So we made a gentleman's agreement to each build and paint a 40k army over the course of 2018. In fact Asslessman has already made a start with his fabulous chaos squats. Check them out. I on the other hand, will be building a delicate, refined, classical Space Elf force using the Eldritch Raiders list from the Book of the Astronomican.

Heavy Resin: That's Not a Knight Titan, This is a Knight Titan!

Cast your minds back to the early 1990s. Giant walkers shaped like beetles, men on stilts or even horses bestrode the battlefield. Human and aliens formed 'Houses' with these walkers, called them 'Knights' and they fought intense battles. Correction, this was the case only if you played 6mm games. Here's a memory refresher:

Horse thing alongside a Beetle thing

Then, along came the talented Mike Biasi in the good old USA, and said to GW...can I make some of those Beetle things in 28mm scale? And lo and behold, a licence was granted and giant walkers did indeed bestride the battlefield, but this time in God's Own Scale.

 

Actually the Armorcast version, but it's the same thing, right?

Heavy Resin: The 'Tempest' Mystery

Earlier this month I splashed out on something unusual. This ebay auction from The Wargaming Trader listed a model I didn't recognise, but something clearly repurposed in the style of an Eldar Tempest. Given that the price wasn't too bad, I decided to take a punt and buy it - after all, it would fit nicely along with the rest of the Heavy Resin collection!

Just what is this mystery model?

Heavy Resin: Eldar Tempest Super Heavies from the 1980s and 1990s!

Let's imagine we're back in the late 1980s & early 1990s. For most people, the largest thing they'll ever see in a game of Rogue Trader is probably a metal Land Speeder or plastic Space Marine Rhino or perhaps a Land Raider tank. Some ambitious folks might build a Baneblade using Tony Cotterell's templates in White Dwarf 132, but that's probably your lot.

Enter then, Mike Biasi from the USA. After upscaling an Epic Titan to 28mm, Mike secured a licence from Games Workshop to produce a range of 40k vehicles based on the Epic designs under the trading name Mike Biasi Studios. Soon, other companies were in on the act, with Epicast, Armorcast and Forgeworld USA holding licences for various vehicles until Games Workshop set up its own in-house, large scale resin casting unit (Forgeworld).

The Eldar Tempest is unusual in that not only was it one of the largest non-titan kits produced, but that Mike Biasi's original sculpt was reworked and put into production no less than three times (Mike Biasi Studios, Forgeworld USA, Armorcast), over a period spanning at least 6 years!

Eldar Tempest