40k Exodite Eldar - Wraithblades complete and army complete!

After a loooong hiatus rife with technical difficulties uploading pics to my website galleries, I'm happy to report that the Exodites of the Tanelorn Wood are complete! Finished off the final unit of wraithblades (pics below), then schlepped the whole force down to the local GW shop for a family photo!

This was the first time I had them all out at the same time, and I gotta say I'm well pleased with how the colors flow across the army, it's cohesive and contrast-y without being too garish (or as least as subdued as purple, yellow and green can be)!

While I was about it I broke out the lightbox and re-shot the whole force for a final record before they wing their way to their next destination (more to come on that front).

HQ - Avatar, Spiritseer and Seer Council, all got the ghost-green treatment to help denote their mystic connections.

TROOPS - The Glade Guardians and the Rangers are more in the orange hues, in a somewhat ham-fisted attempt to make them autumnal. May have over-corrected into hunting-season blaze orange!

ELITES - The surprisingly-simple-to-convert Wraithguard and Wraithblades add some punch to the force, and the addition of an old-school Bonesinger to help keep 'em up and fighting can't hurt!

FAST ATTACK - The second-creepiest models in the force, the Wasp Assault Walkers are a natural counterpoint to the big-ass spider coming up in the next section!

HEAVY SUPPORT - The conversion that started this whole silly idea, the wraithlord is probably my favorite conversion of the bunch. That said, the Nightspinner is by far the creepiest!

Where would a project-complete post be without some spreadsheet porn? It always feels good to turn that last box green!

Next up, back on the Heresy train! With NOVA coming up in just a few short months, I need to finish off the force intended to travel out to D.C...

40k Exodite Eldar - Rise of the Bark Eldar...

A terrible pun, I know. Couldn't wait to get some paint on the models and try and see whether my hands could do what my brain was picturing!

One should always use a big centerpiece model as a tester, right? Actually started with the Branchlord for a reason, it had the widest range of textures and colors in my head that I needed to get down onto the miniature. I knew that the wood, bark and wraithbone would all be very neutral colors, so the addition of the yellow on the hives and red/orange on the leaves warmed it up somewhat. From a color theory perspective that meant it ought to get some purple/violets and blue/green tones as complimentary colors, so the beetles got the purple while the waystones and other creepy crawlies get the green.

The base got a slightly different brown shade from the rest of the wood, and then a fair bit of static grass and leaf litter was added to bring the colors up a bit and give the model a bit more 'pop'. All in all I'm pretty pleased with the scheme and I'm looking forward to applying the colors to the other models!

As part of the planning process I broke out the trusty painting chart and have been trying out various units to make a ~2000pt force. Still have 100 points or so to play with so there's some wiggle room as inspirations strikes. Put in an order for the kits to make up the next few models - A Spiritseer, a Warlock Conclave and a trio of counts-as Vypers. Much more to come!

40k Exodite Eldar - Wait, what?

You ever have one of those ideas that just won't quite let go of ya? Ever since the Sylvaneth line dropped, I have always thought that the Treelord model would make for a great Exodite-themed Avatar of Khaine. I mean, just look at it!

Er, yeah - That may be one that I bought and built over the weekend. I've been mulling over how to do an Exodite army for years and thanks to a wonderful Christmas gift I was able to pick one up. Of course, that got me in the store and suddenly a couple more boxes sort of accidentally got purchased.

This included a kitbashed counts-as Wraithlord comprised of the standard kit, the Drycha Hamadreth kit, and a fair bit of greenstuff. This got me thinking about the general aesthetic I wanted to go with and I'm going to veer away slightly from the usual Lizardman and Dark Elf bits and use more of the High/Wood Elf and Sylvan kits. Wood and bugs instead of stone and dinosaurs - Maybe a little unconventional, but it seemed like it could be a fun way to go!

As the plan is to build a force that is a direct counts-as craftworld force, I knew I needed some guardians. I'd done the Black Ark Corsairs method with their lizardskin cloaks a little while back for the dark eldar army and didn't want to just repeat that, so after a little consideration settled on the Shadow Warriors kit as a basis for what I'm calling "Glade Guardians" (oh so poncy, just like the pointy eared gits tend to get). Haven't built up a heavy weapons platform for them quite yet as i think it ought to be mounted on the back of a beetle or spider of some variety. Gotta find the right critters!

As far as it goes, they went together pretty easily. One of the gotchas is that both the Eldar legs and the Shadow Warrior torsos have sockets, but a little ball of greenstuff and they fit together nicely. Any unsightly joins are covered by the equipment belt off the guardian sprue, and with the addition of some bugs and critters here and there they read as guardians but with a naturalistic bent which I think fits the force pretty well!

Still penciling together lists and pondering further kitbash combos to represent other units, but I do know I am going to keep it to a tidy little 1500 point force. Each unit is going to be comprised of two or three kits, so things will have a tendency to get pricey real quick if I just go whole hog on the project. Still, these have been a black to build so far and I'm looking forward to building more crazy Bark Eldar. Hah!

Eldar - (subset of) The army going onto the auction block

With GenCon rapidly approaching, and the unexpected cost of a new pair of glasses cropping up last week, it's time to put the Eldar up for sale. I'd been waffling about what exactly was going up on the block as I did want to keep a small allied contingent for my guard. I finally settled on what that would be (Bonesinger, Wraithblades, Corsairs and the Crimson Hunter) but the rest is getting the chop. I went through and snapped a new set of pics of what all will be up for sale over the next couple days, and figured I'd share 'em here:

HQ

Farseer

 

Spiritseer

Warlock Council

 

ELITES

Fire Dragons

Striking Scorpions

TROOPS

Dire Avengers

Guardian Defenders

FAST ATTACK

Warp Spiders

 

HEAVY SUPPORT

Falcon

 

Wraithlord

  

Wraithknight

  

DEDICATED TRANSPORTS

Wave Serpent 1

 

Wave Serpent 2

 

APOCALYPSE

Tempest

 

All in all I really had a blast painting this army, all the various color schemes helped to stave off Army Painter's Fatigue and it was surprisingly easy to stay on task and keep cranking them out. Expect to see a lot more Hobby ADHD over the next few months as I ricochet crazily around the half dozen other projects that lurk within the Closet of Doom!