40k Harlequins - Troupe complete!

Continuing on with the "pulling random old stuff off the shelf" plan I've been working with, There's been a small troupe of Harlequins quietly gathering dust for well over a year. But no longer!

 

Originally intended to be part of a Dark Eldar army I started and eventually shelved ages ago, these clowns got the Mardi Gras scheme of purple, yellow and green - always an eye-catching combo! Freehanding a zillion little triangles and polka dots was an exhausting exercise!

 

The troupe's Skyweaver got the same scheme to tie them together, and I am considering adding some further triangles or polka dots along the front of the fuselage - I think it could stand a little more flair!

Overall however I'm fairly happy with 'em, definitely was fun to break out some eye-twisting colors!

40k Harlequins - Tricolor shenanigans!

Managed to get some more brush time in yesterday, and started blocking in the green and purple sections on the Troupe and Starweaver. Starting to come together nicely now!

Still need to brighten up the purple a bit, but I'm pretty happy with the contrast between the green and yellow. Once the base colors are laid in, the next step will be to go back in and add stripes, checks and polka dots for full clownishness!

Rather happy with how the Starweaver is coming along as well, it's a rather cool model with the riders hanging on. That all said, this paint scheme is surprisingly slow compared to my usual batch painting cadence. Probably taken as long to get this far on these models as it had to bring all the recent Orks to completion!

40k Harlequins - Choosing a color scheme

Got some decent hobby time in last night after it had cooled off a bit and started off by putting together the Starweaver transport for the troupe - First time assembling this kit and it was a bit of a fraught affair! I think I got the measure of it though, so the upcoming Voidweaver should go together a bit easier. Hoping to keep the painting simple I left the two passengers separate, but getting them posed properly was certainly a struggle!

On the last go around with the killer clowns I'd gone for the full chromatic assault on the senses, which was fun but exhausting both to paint and to look at afterwards - it was almost TOO busy. This time I thought I'd be a little more restrained and pick 3-4 colors - Garish though they may be! Decided to go with Mardi Gras-esque colors for the initial Troupe and Starweaver, and started laying in the yellow on various areas, and trying to envision where the subsequent purples and greens will go.

Falling back on the recipe that I'd used on the Imperial Fists which is a bit more of a mustard yellow than the canary brightness of the recent Orks. Depending on how it ends up contrasting with the upcoming purple and green, that gives me some room to brighten up the yellow if needed.

 

For the Starweaver, I'm intending to to half yellow, and half green-and-purple diamonds. Should look neat I hope, but to start it was just a matter of laying down some painter's tape to get a nice crisp line. The passengers are just sitting in place for the photo, really happy with how it's coming along!

40k Harlequins - Cegorach's Jest

What with all this Ork business of late, it's got me thinking that it might be fun to do an army of Xenos filth again. I wanted to do something very colorful, and when it gets right down to it there's no force more colorful than the Harlequins! Poked around in the codex and picked out a Formation to do as a little side project - Cegorach's Jest.

It's a compact little force that includes a bit of each unit type in the Harlequin book aside from the 3 characters, so should be just a little bite-sized project. I do plan to add a couple more Skyweavers to the force, as 2 jetbikes do not a viable unit make in my estimation (but the local shop only had one box in stock)...

Started off by building up the Troupe. The models are actually somewhat awkward to photograph - they have a beautiful dynamism in-hand, but somehow always seem to look silly in the pictures. I had built this kit once before so I knew what I was in for, however I have never built the Skyweavers or Starweaver kits previously, so that should be an adventure! Definitely have to be cognizant of building the models in separate pieces to facilitate subsequent painting...

Masque of the Dance Without End - Troupe painted!

Managed to get in a fair bit of brush time this weekend, and tore into the new Harlequin troupe boxes that I'd ordered up from my FLGS. I've been feeling pretty burned out on the samey-same paint scheme I've been working with on the Thousand Sons of late, lets just say I don't feel so monochromatic now!

I really wanted to go with a riot of colors on 'em, so I picked out six (red, yellow, green, blue, purple and white) and just started painting areas at random, one color at a time. Surprisingly time consuming compared to the usual batch painting method, as I found I was continually having to backtrack and touch up colors here and there.

One all the main colors were on, certain models got lozenges and polka dots to clown 'em up a bit more. I think I may need to add polka dots to a few more models just to jazz 'em up a touch more, but that's for another day - I was starting to get chromatic whiplash working on them! Hah!

Definitely a fun little project!

Masque of the Dance Without End - Or, don't you have too many projects already?

The upcoming release of the new Harlequins has me rather excited - they look like they'll be a blast to paint! Got a couple Troupe boxes on order along with the new Solitaire and have been poring through the old compendium for inspiration. That led me to an old pic, suitably demotivatored:

...It's not crazy to consider spending $130 on a Proteus Land Raider for a joke paint scheme, right? Hah!

In other news, I've finished off all of the Thousand Sons I'm planning on taking to the Las Vegas Open coming up in a few weeks, and following the work on the Shadowsword recently I was a little burned out on painting crimson and gold. As a quick palate cleanser (or should I say palette cleanser, har!), I'm taking a run at a few Malifaux minis I'd picked up at Feast of Blades last year. ...Heresy for sure!

Still a ways to go with 'em of course, but I'm pretty happy with them so far!

TOEMP #5 - Complete! ...Also, Clowns!

It's been a rather productive week painting-wise, and I managed to polish off my entries for the Tale of Even More Painters challenge - On the troops side a unit of Pathfinders, and a Warwalker for the heavy support choice.

I wanted to incorporate some of the tips and tricks that I've picked up from the other participants in the challenge, and I tried out a couple on the Pathfinders. I felt that the bases for the Eldar definitely needed a bit more 'zest' than what I've been doing for most of the 7th, and as such I've added a bit of turf to the bases, and I think I'm going to experiment with some static grass, once I get a chance to swing by the FLGS. I also tried my hand at a more intricate camo pattern on the cloaks, taking a cue from several exellent examples. I'm not 100% pleased with the final result, but it turned out okay for a first try - I know a little bit more than I did before!

The Warwalker's mottled camo turned out somewhat muted following the sealant, but I kind of like it. I realize now that I missed a number of gemstones on the weapons, so I've gone back and rectified that situation. Definitely a fun model to assemble - I'm looking forward to building two more to round out the squadron.

I'd picked up a unit of Harlequins back when the new set was released, and had painted up three for use in a 40K:RP campaign I ran a while back. Since I had enjoyed painting the other Eldar models so much, I dusted off the remainder of the squad and set to painting them. Three painting sessions and 36 colors later I basically had to say enough was enough!

I have to admit for as arduous a process as these were, it was rather enjoyable nonetheless. I found myself actively trying to find the most clashing colors I could, and worked to ensure no model had exactly the same mix of colors. The three 'Characters' all have more distinct schemes; The Death Jester is of course primarily bone and black but I added some green and purple panels on his sleeves to give him a splash of color. The Troupe Master has a horribly clashing checkerboard pattern on his jacket, and is the only model to have all of the various colors on him. On the Shadowseer I decided to go a bit different from the 'feel' of the other models - the bodysuit is a solid deep blue with small star patterns (sort of), and I spent some time working on blending the hood and sashes in a red-orange-yellow scheme that turned out more or less as intended. I was trying to capture a more 'otherworldly' look to go along with his obscurement powers.

I picked up an Eldar battleforce on ebay which arrived today, which gives me a little bit more to build and paint. With that in mind, I made a painting chart for the budding army, which also helped me decide exactly what the final army was going to contain. Only this, and no further!

...Well, maybe a little bit further - I would like to pick up a FW Nightwing Fighter. Alas, that way lies madness!