Stephen's Songs of the Damned - Post-OWAC V Wrap-Up Musings (1,411 points) - "The Eldar"

I've tasted poison
When I drank the wine of Fate
But fear was in my heart
I realized too late
The house of spirits call

For the Eldar
I'm trapped inside this dream
Of the Eldar's
Song of Doom

Blind Guardian
"The Eldar"
Nightfall In Middle-Earth
Virgin/Century Media 1998


That's A Wrap!

Nerdy, Tired-Eyed, Obsessing Prince of Space Elves, Stephen, 

with his Minimum-Requirements Ulthwé Army

Past the finish line! Somehow, I made it. I was not at all sure I would, and there were times I nearly succumbed to the urge to find a place of rest in yonder Field of Bones. That time will surely come...but not yet.

'Old metal models,' indeed

This is the first time I've participated in any sort of large-scale, long-term painting challenge. I'd already started on "Project: Full Metal Ulthwé" back in early 2021, as my actual time spent playing hams-related games had (for understandable reasons) dropped off precipitously.

For over a year, our hams group was meeting up weekly over Discord to paint and chat for a few hours, which I found to be a real morale booster, to say nothing of the effect such support and encouragement had on me, spurring me on as a hobbyist, seeking improvement, however incremental, every week.

'The Retro Guy' 

I am definitely more of a grognard these days (at the local I'm starting to be recognized as 'the retro guy'), as far as my love for old models and classic painting styles goes - I like to think I keep an eye towards the new, though, and look forward to applying what I've learned over the last six months on my next project, a more modern Biel-Tan force. With plastic models, even. Heh! Man, what a scene!

After finishing up with my last entry, I decided I wanted to throw some classic-looking scenery together for the final display. A hectic weekend later, I had several stacks of rocks, and forest templates with trees ready to go. 

"Maiden world.  Those words!  Imagine the mysteries, the memories that lie waiting..."

I thought I'd be pretty burned out on painting for awhile after the last six months, but if anything, I feel almost eager to get back to painting, like, energized.  

So, at last, here is my completed army for the Old World Army Challenge, a sonorous dirge echoing from an ever more distant past, into an uncertain future.

The warhost moves out through the sun-dappled woodland

Eldrad and Council

Yaisanehtar on the hunt

Scouts, doing what they do best

Autumn's Rage prepare to unleash hell

Bright Shards ready their lasguns for a deadly fusillade

The Storm of Retribution have razor-sharp payback on their minds

The Three Dooms shall fall upon the enemy from afar, tearing reality itself asunder

Ulthwé Warhost Baradlhinni ("The Songs of the Damned")

Eldrad Ulthran w/The Staff of Ulthamar - 220 points

Tenrith Star-Splinter (Warlock Master with Singing Spear) - 152 points

Yrlla the Implacable (Warlock Champion with Force Sword) - 97 points

Tamishar of Eldrion (Warlock Champion with Witchblade) - 97 points

The Bright Shards (8 Guardians with Lasguns) - 88 points

Autumn's Rage (8 Guardians with Shuriken Catapults) - 128 points

Storm of Retribution (8 Guardians with Shuriken Catapults) - 128 points

The Wandering Kin (9 Scouts plus Leader with Power Sword) - 236 points

The Three Dooms (3 Distort Cannons on Anti-Grav Platforms with Crew, 60 points each) - 180 points

Yaisanehtar ["Steel-Slayer"] (Eldar Vyper with Lascannon and Shuriken Cannon) - 85 points

Total: 40 infantry, 3 characters, 3 artillery pieces, 1 vehicle, 1,411 points


(Bonus shot here of the larger army including the models I painted in 2021)

But Wait

I mean, would I paint all of these rad 90's-era metal 40K minis without actually playing a game of Warhammer 40,000: Dark Millennium?

Well, what do you think?

IT'S HAPPENING

The boyz is mustered and spoilin' for a fight

Ghazghkull Mag Uruk Thraka, giving his customary pre-battle pep talk to the ladz

Boar Boyz ready to give some weedy gits "da business"

Checks out!

The forces arrayed - 1500 points for each side

The table is set, it's krumpin' time!

No Ghazghkull, no problem - the Orks advance with reckless abandon 

Close combat Guardians follow the implacable march of the Wraithguard

Guardians rush forward to buy time for the Distort Cannon crew

Please, stop roasting my Guardians

This was exactly as crazy a game as you'd expect it to be - from a Guided D-Cannon immediately sending Ghazghkull and his Battlewagon into the Warp (but leaving Makari behind), to a Splatta Kannon tearing through a squad of Wraithguard, to a squad of Storm Guardians getting krumped relentlessly by a Dread that I couldn't even scratch the paint on for some reason...Eldrad and the Ulthwé forces won the day after four turns of incredible slaughter on all sides.

The game didn't make a lot of sense, but it was thematic, fun as hell, and looking back through the lens of over 25 years of playing 40K, getting to play the game I started with again, fielding the army I've always wanted to see in action...it was extremely satisfying, I highly recommend it.

In Closing

I'd like to congratulate my fellow Challengers on completing their forces. It has been a great honor to participate alongside such a company of extremely talented painters, and I am proud to stand among those who completed the Challenge - thanks to one and all for your words of encouragement and praise.

Thanks to Jes Goodwin for his timeless design of the Eldar range and aesthetic - I started with these models in '96, and remain solely an Eldar player and collector to this day, no other faction in the game will ever hold the same appeal to me.  I will continue to Stay Pointy!

Thanks also to Mike McVey and the Citadel 'Eavy Metal studio for the endless font of inspiration that is the 2nd Edition Codex Eldar 'Eavy Metal section - the power of the colors and the skillful application on display baffled me from the start, but remained a constant challenge to improve myself as a hobbyist.

I also want to thank the folks of the FRIENDLY! gaming group, whose encouragement and advice were a huge help in staying on task every month, y'all are great, and I'm very proud to be a part of our group.

Extra-special thanks to our Overlord, Iannick, for welcoming me into the Challenge from the wait list, and for all his hard work and diligence in making possible this presentation of our shared passion to a larger world.

Most of all, I want to express my sincere appreciation and gratitude to my partner, Jen - this is by far the most time I've ever consistently dedicated to a hobby project. Her support and understanding has been tremendous, especially in a time that was personally pretty turbulent for me healthwise. She's the best, and I love her forever.

Until we meet again, I wish you all shade and sweet water, long days and pleasant nights.


~Stephen

...


Oh, wait, I almost forgot!


July Playlist (some of the music I've been listening to while making terrain, taking endless photos, and writing this entry)

Blind Guardian - "The Eldar"
Rammstein - "Zeit"
Alice in Chains - "Over Now"
Soundgarden - "Superunknown"
Dream Evil - "Heavy Metal In The Night"
Bolt Thrower - "...For Victory"
Beck - "Lord Only Knows"
Chemlab - "Rivet Head"
Contagion - "Scratch"
Garbage - "Hammering In My Head"

Phew!  Nearly jinxed the whole thing.  😉

Stephen's Songs of the Damned - Rank and File #4 (230 points) - "Last Things"

Constative voices preach
Talk of truth in their political speak
Carry on 'til they're blue in the face
And my point of view has lost its place

Last things

Did I give nothing in return?
Stand up for a cause?
Give permission to a mute war?

4-3-2-4-2-Code-1!

Troops move forward let it all be done
Beginning of the end soil has been tread
Mother daughter father son sky burns death
Premonition, television, stuttering indecision
We the people citizens lies are being force-fed
Money power cruelty blood is shed in our streets

When

where 

does the sacrifice end?

KMFDM
"Last Things"
WWIII
Metropolis Records 2003

Here I am, at the end of my first Old World Army Challenge, which has definitely lived up to its name - it's really been a challenge to maintain enough of a painting cadence to meet the monthly entry deadlines.  This has been a great experience, and I feel like I've made strides as a painter during the last six months, and started breaking out of my comfort zone in the hobby. 

So, without further ado, here are the "Wandering Kin," a team of Eldar Scouts who have returned from their sojourns to aid Ulthwe' in a desperate hour.  

The Wandering Kin

To achieve a similar look as the Scouts in the codex, at least for the cloaks, I did what felt like a ton of glazing, probably for the first time applying this much to a unit of models, and I think they came out pretty close to the studio scheme - my transitions are definitely not as smooth, but it's a start.  

Lantari Wind-Strider with their power sword

Morrovan Starglade

Celasya, Watchful Eye of Kurnous

Osuhyn Rune-Touched

And with that, only one thing remains, the final army assembled - I am hoping to get an appropriate terrain layout together to set things up for the photos.

10 Scouts, 1 with Power Sword - 230 points

230 points for June 2022 (1,410 points painted)


June Playlist (some of the music from my painting sessions this month):

Love and Rockets - "The Dog-End Of A Day Gone By"

Spittin' Cobras - "All The Way"

Chris Cornell - "Preaching The End Of The World"

Dead Can Dance - "Don't Fade Away"

Leonard Cohen - "Dance Me To The End Of Love" (Kate Gibson cover)

Blur - "To The End"

Pailhead - "Man Should Surrender"

VNV Nation - "Endless Skies" 

Nitzer Ebb - "All Over"

Chris Connelly and The Bells - "The Long Weekend"

Bonus Content - someone decided she wanted to be extra-helpful:

Stephen's Songs of the Damned - Rank and File #3 (188 points) - "Ornaments of Gold"

Silver couches to recline upon
And ornaments of gold
Silver moonbeams dance in fountains
Below shining citadels

Surrounded by silver gates ascending silver stairs
Eureka on angelic prayer wafts in and scents the air
With ornaments of gold

To warm my soul from the growing cold
Ornaments of gold

Siouxsie and the Banshees
"Ornaments of Gold"
Peepshow
Polydor 1988


May was in fact better, if not any less busy. The army I was able to put together for GW's Narrative event was a lot of fun to play, even if it was a wonky build, I ended up going 4-1 over the course of the weekend. More importantly, the army looked cool on the tables, and for maybe the first time in my hobby life, people were coming over specifically to look at my work, which was weird, but gratifying.

So, I got it in my head that it would be real fun when this project is complete to actually play a game of 2nd Edition Warhammer 40,000, and sure enough, I have a match planned for later in the summer with a fellow gamer from our local - he's hard at work getting a classic Ork army put together, and we're planning to write a White Dwarf-style battle report, Eldrad vs. Ghazghkull.

I finished up the last squad of Guardians this month, as well as the final Distort Cannon out of three.

The Storm of Retribution prepares to unleash a hail of razor-sharp shuriken

Detail on the squad leader

Detail on the squad veteran, I'm having fun with the free-hand 'war masks'

Detail on the standard bearer

The Third Doom and its crew

Khaine stirs the hearts of the assembled citizen-soldiers

One more month to go, I've been saving the 10-elf Scout unit for last, as a 'treat' for getting through the Guardian units.

8 Guardians with Shuriken Catapults - 128 points

Distort Cannon on Grav Platform with Crew - 60 points

188 points for May 2022 (1,160 points painted so far)


May Playlist (some of the music from my painting sessions this month):

Jarboe - "Red"
Pearl Jam - "Black"
New Order - "Everything's Gone Green"
Book of Love - "Yellow Sky"
Siouxie and the Banshees - "Ornaments of Gold"
Eels - "Rotten World Blues"
The Sisterhood - "Finland Red, Egypt White"
King Crimson - "One More Red Nightmare"
Nine Inch Nails - "Branches/Bones"
Public Enemy - "Fear Of A Black Planet"

Stephen's Songs of the Damned - Leader and Command Group (566 points) - "Mind Riot"

I was slipping through the cracks of a stolen jewel
I was tightrope walking in two ton shoes
Now somebody is talking about a third world war
And the police said this was normal control

Candle's burning yesterday
Somebody's best friend died
And I've been caught in a mind riot

Soundgarden

"Mind Riot"

Badmotorfinger

A&M Records 1991

Pushing it to the very wire this time.  

April was even tougher than March, I had to scale back the command group from my original plan for 7 Warlocks plus Eldrad.  Not much to say other than I wish I had put more effort into these guys than I did, but my state of mind was all over the map this month.  May is looking better, at least.

Eldrad Ulthran and a small Warlock Conclave

Eldrad in detail

A look at his cloak runes

Warlock Champion Yrlla the Implacable

Warlock Champion Tamishar of Eldrion

Warlock Master Tenrith Star-Splinter

I'll be taking these to a GW event in the near future - with the units I completed last year in the same style, I'll just be able to field a weird but functional Ulthwe' army in a series of Narrative games, so that's pretty exciting.  I wonder if anyone will get what I'm going for with this project.

Eldrad Ulthran w/Staff of Ulthamar - 220 points

Warlock Champion w/Force Sword - 97 points

Warlock Champion w/Witchblade - 97 points

Warlock Master w/Singing Spear - 152 points

566 points for April 2022 (992 points painted so far)

April Playlist (some of the music from my painting sessions this month):

Pixies - "Where Is My Mind?"
Pigface - "Mind Your Own Business"
Information Society - "What's On Your Mind (Pure Energy)"
Skee-Lo - "Never Crossed My Mind"
Them Crooked Vultures - "Mind Eraser, No Chaser"
Spittin' Cobras - "Criminal Mastermind"
Die Krupps - "Odyssey of the Mind"
Soundgarden - "Mind Riot"
Duran Duran - "A Diamond in the Mind"
The Prodigy - "Mindfields"

Stephen's Songs of the Damned - Rank & File #2 (188 points) - "Fait Accompli"

Every day there is some kind of darkness
That just won't go away no matter how hard I try
It crawls into your system while your guard is down
Becomes the ball that you drag around to

Every party
To every function
To give to people with written instructions
Don't try to get away
I'm here to stay
My name is Fate

Curve

"Fait Accompli"

Doppelganger

Anxious Records

1992

Tough month.

Struggling to deal with work stress, personal health anxieties, the state of things in general, while preparing for my first tournament participation in 3 years and trying to understand the new book well enough to not embarrass myself...I lost focus for a couple of weeks in the middle of the month, but at least managed to get paint on models.  I am not 100% satisfied with my level of effort, but Perfect is the enemy of Good, you know?

Anyway, here is my entry for March!

A second squad of Guardians, accompanied by a second Distort Cannon.

Just the squad, I think the banner came out pretty okay.

A closer look at the Cannon and crew.

Detail on the squad leader, very happy with how the transfers and the symbolic 'war-mask' came out, this veteran citizen-soldier once walked the Path of the Banshee.

I really like working with transfers, as you can probably tell, and I have a ton of them that I've accumulated over time, probably more than I'll ever use.  This unit also has the first DIY back banner I've ever attempted, I tried to distress the edges to give it a more weathered, battle-distressed look.

Here's hoping for a better April, at least Spring finally seems to be getting here.

8 Guardians with Shuriken Catapults - 128  points

1 Distort Cannon w/Crew - 60 points

188 points for March 2022 (426 points painted so far)

March Playlist (some of the music from my painting sessions this month):

Demons and Wizards - "Path of Glory"

Curve - "Fait Accompli"

Blind Guardian - "The Quest for Tanelorn"

Consolidated - "Friendly Fa$cism"

Meat Beat Manifesto - "Psyche-Out"

KMFDM - "Paradise"

Rammstein - "Rammlied"

Laibach - "Message From the Black Star"

Ibibio Sound Machine - "Protection From Evil"

Revolting Cocks - "Attack Ships on Fire"

Stephen's Songs of the Damned - Wild Card (85 points) - "Snake Dance"

Take my hand said Cleopatra
Take me to the fires to burn
Save your passion and your kinship
Take me to the flames the flames
The flames the flames

The March Violets

"Snake Dance"

Natural History

Rebirth

1984

Back again, in this short month of February, with a project I felt I could accomplish given an insane workload and, well, you know...:: gestures around wildly ::

The Vyper holds a special place in my heart, as it is the first plastic kit that I purchased from the Citadel range, right when it came out - until that point the unit was only something I would see as  conversions of metal or plastic Eldar Jetbikes chopped up and fused together with epoxy and good wishes, to mixed results.  

I think "mixed results" is also a good description of the unit's tabletop performance over its checkered history - in 3rd Edition, when the mission was to get as many starcannons on the board as you could, they were everywhere, slagging power armor with ease and panache.  

They kind of languished after that, having a minor resurgence for me in 5th when the lethality of the game meant it didn't matter what I fielded, so I found some success in using them at extreme range to harass my opponents with missiles and give them slightly less good choices in what to kill that turn.  

Since then, their fragility has meant they've only shown up in my themed lists, and rarely even then.  The imminent Codex:  Aeldari (😏) has me looking at them again, as they may be more fun to use than in recent years - not having the option for a second shuriken cannon is a little upsetting, as I'll have to remove them at some point.  Ah, well - fingers crossed!

Pretty happy with how the eyes/waystones came out

Couldn't decide which 'glamour shot' angle I liked best

Close up on the crew details

The original Vyper I bought in 1997 is still in my collection, but it's already painted up, this particular Vyper finishes out a squad of three for my overall Ulthwe' army.  In working on this unit, I've been experimenting with darker skin tones as well, which is something I haven't done a lot of with my Eldar to-date, it's technique I'm looking forward to learning/improving.

1 Vyper Jetbike with Lascannon and upgraded Shuriken Cannon - 85 points

85 points for February 2022 (238 points painted so far)

February Playlist (some of the music from my painting sessions this month):

The March Violets, "Snake Dance"

Stoneburner - "Lisan Al Gaib"

Concrete Blonde - "Sky Is A Poisonous Garden"

Stromkern - "Stand Up"

The Prodigy - "Poison"

Soundgarden - "Get On The Snake"

The Jesus and Mary Chain - "Snakedriver"

Skinny Puppy - "Tin Omen"

Bassnectar and Kraddy - "Snakecharmer"

Stabbing Westward - "Falls Apart"

Stephen's Songs Of The Damned - Rank and File #1 (153 points) - "Praying for Time"

And it's hard to love

There's so much to hate

Hanging on to hope

When there is no hope to speak of

And the wounded skies above

Say it's much, too much, too late

Well, maybe we should all be praying for time

George Michael

"Praying For Time"

Listen Without Prejudice, Vol. 1

Epic Records  

1990

First steps on this journey down the nostalgia trail, barely finished in time for the deadline!  

When planning my monthly entries, I was trying to remain conscious of my glacial painting cadence - things are wildly busy at work after the start of the new year, as well, which wipes me out even when I do have freetime...I was able to get an hour or so a day in on most days this month, even with all that, but I really had to cram this weekend to get it all to a point where I can consider it 'done.'  

So here they are, the second half of a lasgun thicket (the first was already underway before the Challenge started), seven Ulthwe' Guardians led by the iconic Guardian hero with chainsword held high (a recent and extremely exciting find in a used miniature section of a FLGS in my area).  

They are accompanied by a fearsome Distort Cannon on Anti-Grav Platform manned by a Guardian gunner and crewman.

7 Guardians w/ Lasguns - 77 points

1 Guardian w/ Shuriken Pistol and Chainsword - 16 points

1 Distort Cannon on Anti-Grav Platform and Crew - 60 points (incl. 1x Shuriken Catapult)

153 points for January 2022

Next month is a shorter month, so I am using that for my Wild Card, which is 'just' a Vyper, a classic kit that I feel has aged well - I really like them and wish they were a better choice on the tabletop than they have been for quite some time (here's to a remedy in the new codex!).  Hopefully this will give me some time to get a head start on Rank and File #2, more Guardians, this time with shuriken catapults, and another Distort Cannon.

January Playlist (some of the music from my painting sessions this month):

George Michael, "Praying For Time"

Pop Will Eat Itself, "Def.Con.One."

The Fair Sex, "Not Now, Not Here"

The Damage Manual, "Sunset Gun"

The Cult, "Sun King"

Stromkern, "Nightriders"

The Beta Band, "B+A"

Beastie Boys, "Eggman"

White Zombie, "Blood Milk and Sky"

Tones on Tail, "Lions"

On with the Challenge!