+ inload: Primed and ready to go +

+ Guardians ready +

'When there is no other way, the perilous path is the only road to salvation.'

 +++

The Alaitoc Eldar army progresses, and so I thought I'd share what I've got so far. Before getting stuck in, however, I'd like to draw your gaze to a precious relic from the early days of the Internet, and still going strong, David M. Donachie's wonderful Eldar language guide  [+noosphericexloadlink+]. It's a wonderful example of fandom done right – a really useful, free resource quietly created and maintained by someone sharing their enthusiasm. (Go buy his books!) It's proving very handy indeed in helping me to create authentic-sounding Eldar terms and names, so the squad names etc. gratefully draw from this resource.

+++

+ The Guardians +

Craftworld Alaitoc appeared as one of the example schemes on the back of the Eldar Guardians boxed set (RTB17, according to Stuff of Legends), but there was very little written about the Craftworlds in terms of how they differed from one another. That would develop organically over the next few years, but fundamentally there wasn't anything special about Alaitoc at this point. They were a blank slate, created to help provide an example of the broader Eldar background covered in White Dwarf 129.

+ The back of the RTB17 Eldar Guardians set – complete focus on the colour schemes, rather than any background lore. +

... which is actually really refreshing to approach. Today it seems like every corner of the 40k galaxy, massive as it is, has been thoroughly mined and developed and explored, pushing the sense of exploration and mystery to the very boundaries. For the record, I don't think that is the case – the galaxy, after all, is a very big place... but either way, it's nice to look at an army that is more concerned with the core Eldar concept than a particular niche within that.

On with the show! The original army list has four squads of Guardians in, and I've now got three up and running, with the bits for the last one on their way:

+ Guardian squad 1: Catu Dyann Erathi +

Translating as nothing more notable than 'First Guardians that are purple', Dyann Erathi are a basic Guardian squad, with their default lasguns. The squad leader has a shuriken pistol and laspistol, and the last member has a melta gun. 

As explained in earlier inloads, in translating things to the modern period I've tried to evoke the poses and a few key details, while adding some extra little touches. In particular, the streamers and sashes of the originals are minimised on the modern sculpts, appearing only as little arm bands. These will take the purple colour of the originals, but in a more subtle way. The squad leader's top knot/tuft will make a nice new place to pop a little of the colour.

+++

+ Guardian squad 3: Tirtu Ionandyann Arithi +

The caption on the original text says pretty much what I was going to, and also hints that the name translates to 'Third Guardians of Battle'. I toyed with using the prefix 'Jov'a' (better) as a tongue-in-cheek nod to the fact that Shuriken Catapults were clearly the better choice for Guardians in the early editions – probably why Battle Squads were limited – but thought the phrasing above rolled off the tongue better.

The squad leader has had a gender swap here, mostly owing to parts available: the new Guardian box has proportionally more female members than the metal hybrid box. Still, I think this change is a good one as it saves us having two identical squad leaders – the same sculpt was used as the leader for both this and the close combat squad below, so I thought I'd tweak one a little further to bring in some variety. However, to balance this, I've tried to get the pose evocative of the original, while making the most of the increased dynamism. I think the use of the old weapons helps to sell this, too.

I just want to note how pleased I am with how the old shuriken catapults work on the new models. The smaller size goes a long way to giving them a slightly more realistic, retro feel.

+++

+ Guardian squad 4: Kantu Ukendyann Addani +

The 'fourth proximity-Guardians in white' are the squad that diverges most from the originals, and that's due to me wanting to make these close-in specialists more mobile and dynamic. Nevertheless, I hope that some of the poses still evoke the originals. It's more of a loose riff than the others.

The new Guardians kit come with lots of variation in poses, so I was spoiled for choice here. Hopefully you'll spot some similarities with the originals.

+++

+ Characters +

I also took some time to build Warlock Lorith, the name coming from a quote in the 3rd edition Codex:

The original, alongside the as-yet unstarted Farseer...

... and the update, alongside the Dark Reaper Exarch I started in this inload [+noosphericinloadlink embedded+], who now revels in the name Marithiyon, which literally translates as something akin to 'Skull removed from'; a very loose translation of the orginal 'Skulltaker'. He now has a proper web of skulls, taken from the original model and pinned into place. I bent the chain a little to add some more dynamism.

For the Warlock, I used parts from the new Warlock kit (this torso matches the original lead figure) along with a head, staff and pistol from the Corsairs Kill team. Some of the details from the psyker match the Warlock very closely – from the details on the helmet to the hand holding the staff/spear.

+++

Bubbling under, we have these gunners and support platforms. A bit undecided on how to approach these, I shall have a think...

+ inload: Alaitoc Eldar +

 + Visions of the past +

+ Refreshed by a visit to the Metalican Titan-forges, I've found myself on a bit of a hobby buzz at the moment, and have started afresh on some older projects. I'll look in some closer detail at these over the next few inloads, so today a simple overview. +

+++

+ Alaitoc Eldar +

A slow-burning project, my Alaitoc Craftworld Eldar [+noosphericinloadlink embedded+] have received some love recently as I finally got my hands on the last few bits and bobs I needed for the next two Guardian squads. Coupled with that, my old Skumgrod Bob Hunk and I have been tinkering with some 2nd edition 40k gaming, so the fires are up.

The project as a whole is unapologetic wallowing in nostalgia for me, and a personal modelling and painting exercise rather than anything else. As with my Blood Angels, these are an homage to a particular studio army (WD138 this time), and the aim of the project is very similar: to answer the question, 'What would the army look like using modern materials?'

+ Resizing Dire Avengers +

As the Dire Avenger below demonstrates, the overall answer is 'not that different'. I've mentioned before how Jes Goodwin nailed the Eldar look and feel first time. The conversion work for my plastic Dire Avenger was centred around getting the older Dire Avenger kit to fit alongside the more recent releases. While subtle, the new Eldar gain some height through longer abdomens, and have broader and deeper chests than the older plastic kits (Guardians and Dire Avengers).

The retrohammer update

The original

I therefore took the new Guardian as the basis, using the combined torso and legs piece and back piece. These had the shoulder pads removed and replaced with the larger, pointier ones from the Dire Avenger kit. The other bits are either simple kitbashing or very minor trimming and fiddly bits, like the back targeter vane and taking the sights from an Avenger Catapult and popping it on the Guardian Shuriken Catapult. 

This last detail is worth noting: I've used the original (now very small) Shuriken Catapult on the Guardians, so decided to use the new Guardian Shuriken Catapult in place of the larger Avenger Catapult in order to minimise the apparent jump in size.

The result is a nice proof-of-concept, though I'm tempted to use the Dire Avenger arms for subsequent models, as they've got some additional forearm detail. The whole process reminded me a lot of what I try to do when 'truescaling' Space Marines, as my aim there is to end up with a model that doesn't draw attention, because it doesn't look like a conversion. My hope is that the Dire Avengers will fit in right alongside the rest of the army (which otherwise uses the new sculpts), and be a cohesive, coherent part of the army as a whole.

+++

+ Updating Guardian Close Combat Squad +

The first couple of these were polished off two years ago [+noosphericexloadlink embedded+], but the squad is now finished. As elsewhere, I've tried to evoke the originals through parts choice and pose, but have made some slight changes to take advantage of the modern materials. 

The originals are lovely models, but being identical to the other Guardians, they've got the same rather braced, static poses. I decided I'd use the running poses from the new kit for this close combat squad, which helps distinguish them from the Guardian squad (with lasguns) and Guardian Battle squad (with shuriken catapults). 

This obviously changes the poses quite considerably, but I hope the choices I've made with the arms mean that the individual models are still recognisable one-on-one when shown alongside the inspiration. It's a tricky balance. There's homage, and then there's being slavish. I want enough freedom to change things for the better (or at least more to my personal taste) where I can. Otherwise, I might as well go proper oldhammer and just source the original models. A fun collecting endeavour in itself, but not what I'm after here.

Annoyingly, I remembered – after priming the first three – that I'd intended to trim the side vents on the helmets to give a slimmer profile and get closer to the originals, and so you can see how I've had to go back and scrape them off. The new members have since had their base texture added, and a coat of primer (Wraithbone) applied to the complete squad, so they're all ready for paint.

+++

+ inload: Alaitoc Craftworld Dark Reapers +

+ inload: Reaping, Eldar style +

+ It's looking like the new Epic Legions is going to be delayed – sad face – but to find a silver lining, that means there's space for something a bit different. Enter the swift-striding Eldar, who were first to the front of the queue. +

+ An overview of Rogue Trader army number 2 – my Alaitoc Eldar project – is  found in this inload: [+noosphericinloadlink embedded+], and while it's been slow going, it is creeping along. +

+ The Guardians, detailed here [+noosphericinloadlink embedded+], were relatively involved conversions, but the Aspect Warriors have thus far been very minimal, because the aesthetics of the latest plastics hew fairly closely to the Rogue Trader-era originals. +

+ With a small squad size of three, I could have tackled a little more  involved conversion work, but to be honest I think that would have been making unnecessary work for myself. Both the original and modern sculpts are lovely, so beyond the helmets, I left the modern iteration unconverted. I have nodded to the monopose look (perhaps a deliberate choice, perhaps simply owing to scheduling and available casts) by angling heads and arms to evoke the 'ranked fire' look of the original squad, but couldn't resist including the cool reloading option. +

+ The helms are the only major change. The modern ones are quite distinctive, and very different from the cone-headed originals. While I don't actually dislike the new ones, I wanted to capture the pointed helm with the frowny-eyebrows look, so used Storm Guardian helms, and attached the rangefinder vanes (the big 'ears') that were carefully trimmed from the Dark Reaper helms. +

+ Conspicuously missing from the Guardian faceplates are the distinctive nose and teeth markings; I'll be painting these on. +

+++

+ The aim of the project is not so much to replicate the original army so much as create a modern spin on it – as with my Blood Angels [+noosphericinloadlink embedded+], I want to use the opportunity of modern materials and models to evoke the atmosphere of the period. One of the things that I really loved from Jes Goodwin, Andy Chambers and Rick Priestley's original lore was the warpaint. +

+ Beyond conversions, this was never explored in miniature form at the time, so I'm quite keen to include a couple of bare-headed Aspect Warriors in the force. With only three in the squad, however, I didn't feel the Dark Reapers were the place to start; besides which the facepaint itself is fairly predictable. I think I'd rather the impact of the three red helms.  +

+++

+ Dark Reaper Exarch +

+ With just three Dark Reapers needed, I was left with two bodies from the plastic kit. Perfect for converting the Exarch 'Skull-Taker' (not the daemon!):

+ Exarchs have changed quite a bit since Rogue Trader. Where nowadays they're effectively just squad leaders with access to special equipment, in their first appearance, they were relatively high level personalities with access to a range of special abilities and equipment, and like any independent personality, could work as an individual, rather than being tied to a squad. +

+ A snippet from WD138 – these four models make up a whopping third of the points of the initial 'block'. A five-strong Guardian squad, for comparison, is 70pts all-in. +

+ Skull-Taker here is a Dark Reaper Exarch, but unlike the modern version he's armed with a shuriken pistol and an Ancient Weapon (an Exarch-exclusive wargear option) 'Web of Skulls'; a sort of bolas. +

+ Being the default of the original model, the Web of Skulls was for more familiar than any other option for most players of a certain vintage, and was thus a must for inclusion in my conversion. While it can work in melee, I felt that the original pose was perhaps a bit static, and since one of the new bodies is in a moving pose, I opted to use this to help bring a bit of attention to Skull-Taker. +

+ My plan is to drill three wires into the hand and sculpt on small skulls to the ends of each. Head-size skulls would look far too clunky, and fortunately the lore suggests these are crystal skulls rather than literal head-innards! +

+ The new kit is interesting in including a hand clutching a skull; likely a nod to the original. Unfortunately for me, it was in the model's wrong hand, so I had to trim it away and attach it to the new arms; both taken from the new Guardian kit. The big skull is going to form the 'pommel' of the Web of Skulls. A real bolas, of course, doesn't have a pommel, but I'm keen to avoid the weapon looking like a bunch of flowers. A final flourish for this arm is to carve out the shoulder pad and replace it with the Exarch-specific one. A minor (and awkward to do!) touch, but every little helps. +

+ For the rest of the conversion, the pistol arm has had a cable trimmed from the Rogue Trader-era arms, just like my Guardian conversions. Rather than using a RT-era shuriken pistol, I've kept a modern shuriken pistol for a few reasons. Firstly, practicalities. The RT guns are hard to come by, and I'm struggling to equip even the Guardians with them. Secondly, the additional size will help to bring balance to the visuals. Finally, it seems appropriate for the long-ranged Dark Reapers to have a variant gun that has a comparatively long, fluted barrel. +

+ In an inversion of the heads for the standard warriors, I've trimmed the rangefinder vanes off the Exarch's helmet and attached it – though I'm in two minds as to whether to try a bare head here. For the moment, I'm erring on the side of keeping the helm. While I don't love it, I think paint might bring it to life (particularly the red faceplate). Besides, the change in pose is already going to make him less recognisable, so I want to keep as many details of the original as I can. +

+ Speaking of details, I'm going to try adding a necklace of skull-beads. It's a cool and distinctive feature of the original. +

+++

+ The name Skull-Taker is perhaps a little unfitting these days, so I'm open to any elfish-style translation ideas for his name; I'm currently playing around with Gaelic translations and ending up with Neach-gabhail claigeann (Scots Gaelic); Glacadóir cloigeann (Irish Gaelic) and the reconstructed proto-Celtic [+noosphericexloadlink embedded+] Krāsjano-tagat (or 'skull-thief'). All rather wordy! +

+++

+ inload: Playtesting the Eldar and Legio Nikator walk +

+ Legio Sumer-Nikator fight Alaitoc +

Not want you want to see marching towards your lines...

+ I brought the Sons of the Temple out to Walk. In my defence, they are on my list of priorities this year, as they've lurked in a state of just-complete-enough-to-be-put-to-one-side-but-not-quite-finished for more than a year now. +

+ Coropedion +

+ Initial playtesting +

+ With 2023 being Alaitoc's time to shine, I thought I'd run a very quick playtest of the Eldar Titan rules [+noosphericinloadlink embedded+]that I've been working up. This test was simply 'does it work mechanically?', so I set up the Phantom 8in away from a Warlord – Coropedion doing the honours – and set them blazing away at each other. +

+ The first problem I found was identifying which weapons were which! After some consultation with the PCRC, we decided that the weapons were, from top down: Wraith Glaive (a simple one, this), Heat Lance (based on the similarity to Eldar fusion weaponry), Pulsar (as it shares design features of the Eldar laser weapons), and D-Bombard  (based on the vanes). +

+ That means the Titan I'm working on [+pictcapture below+], is armed with a D-Bombard and Wraith Glaive. +

+ I fought for three rounds with this set up, and while both were heavily mauled, they were still standing at the end. Mechanically, the Phantom works. The lessons I took away from this very limited test were: 

• It was quite fun using the holofields – the mechanics worked quite smoothly, involved the location dice early one, and seemed to give roughly similar overall protection against attacks as I'd expect from void shields.
• The Phantom doesn't have much to do with its plasmaweave (though note there was little movement here), and generally felt a bit 'Imperial'.
• A 'Special' result disrupts the vanes, but it's not clear where the damage itself should be applied. 
• The D-Bombard is awesome. The first shot scattered, but only enough that the hole on the template missed – and that caused a Devastating Hit to the Warlord's body. The second shot hit and caused a Critical to the legs – but then a lucky shot from the Macro-Gatling Blaster hit the vanes and disrupted the holofields. This let the Warlord target the D-Bombard and knock it out with its Laser Blasters.

+ I then repeated the process with Pulsars, and then decided to try out melee against Ipsus Granicus, the Manifest Law [+pictcapture below+]. Here, the Phantom strode in happily avoiding the Manifest Law's attacks for two rounds, but was unable to do very much at all before the Manifest Law finally laid it out with an uppercut! +

+ Overall then, a quiet success. In concert with some feedback I've had from comments here, on the Bolter and Chainsword and Facebook, I'll be making some tweaks. These will be functional and aesthetic changes at this stage (i.e. to make sure things work mechanically and don't break the game), rather than 'big picture' changes (i.e. a different design philosophy). That's largely to ensure that the rules get a proper test; I know from experience that it's very easy for things to get derailed by making too many changes too early on. +

+++

+ Change log v003 +

• When a Special result is rolled on the location dice, the damage should be applied to the Body. This is consistent with the mechanics for Imperial Titans, and so immediately familiar.
• The 'Plasmaweave' – a term I've never been too happy with – will be replaced with a Spirit Stone/Infinity Circuit-themed panel. Rather than a literal Plasma Reactor heating up, pressure on the Titan and crew will be reflected by stress on the Infinity Circuit.
• While it will operate in much the same way as a Plasma Reactor and use the same mechanics, it also opens up future options for things like the Titan's Conclave (that is the Maniple equivalent) potentially sharing 'stress'; and/or partially replacing/complementing the repair mechanic*.
• Visually, It'll be nice to have gem-shaped icon on the Terminal, rather than a circular light.
• Add backs to the weapon cards.
• Move the Quake (Draining) special rule on the Sonic Lance to the front, for clarity.

+ On the 'sharing stress' across a Conclave, this was an idea that came from various sources – thank you all for the feedback. My gut instinct is to be slightly leery of the idea – in the original background, the Titan's infinity circuit is limited to the Titan itself, so it seems odd to extend it beyond the Titan. On the other hand, the lore is fairly vague, and the idea of a sort of Conclave-wide 'communion' is fitting with the psychic nature of the Eldar. Perhaps most importantly, it helps to differentiate the Eldar from the Imperials while keeping the fundamental core mechanics intact. +

+ *On the repair mechanic, a lot of comments have included suggestions for improved repair for Eldar, on the basis that the Bonesingers can sing the damage away. I've decided not to pursue this because I don't feel like this is a 'battlefield repair' sort of thing, lore-wise – and unlike Imperial Titans, where the techpriest and servitor clades are on board, there's no suggestion that a Bonesinger (or equivalent) is part of the crew. More importantly, it closes off the design space for other races. To me, Eldar war machines should feel tough but brittle – or well-armoured but squishy, to put it another way. I hope that explains the design approach. +

+ And a final note, I've also had comments that state a Phantom is better equated to a Reaver than a Warlord. I don't necessarily disagree with that, though I've deliberately using Codex Titanicus as the core inspiration, which explicitly states the Phantom is the Warlord equivalent. I certainly don't want to exclude anyone – I think there are at least as many very good arguments for a Reaver-equivalent as a Warlord-equivalent. Happily, I think this is a problem that has two good solutions – why not both? +

+ In much the same way as Warlords used to be divided into Eclipse, Nightgaunt, Nemesis etc. types – the distinction being forced on for commercial reasons (GW couldn't afford multiple plastic Titans, so the studio had to make do with tweaks on the one model they had), so the Phantom originally had two types: The slightly slower, heavier Spectre and the slightly faster, lighter Shade. +

+ While my preference is for the Warlord-equivalent (the Spectre), it seems good to be able to add a little variety to the force by giving the option for a Shade. As they're so closely related, my intention is to keep both called 'Phantom', simplifying the interactions of mechanics, weapon cards etc., using the same naming convention as the 'Warbringer Nemesis', for example. We'll thus see the Phantom Spectre and Phantom Shade in v003. +

+++

+ Arty stuff +

+ Painting the model is ticking along, too. Last night I polished off the upper legs and knees, the shoulder pods and started work on the arms. While I'm very pleased with how it's coming along – a lesson, if ever I needed one, that sometimes there's no replacing simply spending more time and effort on a model  for the best results – I am annoyed with myself for not cleaning it up more carefully. +

+ Lesson learned, and so for the second Phantom (being sung into existence as I write), I've cleaned up the components much more carefully. The vanes [+pictcaptureref above+] were nerve-wracking to clean as they are so fragile. +

+ I'll likely build some more weapon options soon – I'm waiting for an additional set of mirrored arms so I have access to ranged weapons on the left arm. +

+++

+ On the Catwalk +

+ A few glamour shots of the Titans as they stand. +

+ Gaugamela (with alternative head) +

+ Senex Codomannus – 'Old Spiteful' +

+ One of the Amber Kings – Legio Validus +

+++

+ inload: Eldar in Adeptus Titanicus +

+ inload: Alaitoc is Ready +

'Eldar Titans are great, bipedal combat walkers produced by the Craftworld Eldar, the Asuryani.

Similar to the lumbering Titans that are the greatest war machines of the Imperium of Man, Eldar Titans combine grace, speed and deadly firepower.

These tall, slender war engines are built to be aesthetically pleasing as well as fully functional, like all Eldar technology, and possess a grace and beauty rarely seen amongst the deadly implements of Mankind.

Eldar Titans move with a smooth agility and grace unachievable by the Imperium's Titans.'

+++

+ There have been a few different approaches to creating rules for Eldar in Adeptus Titanicus. Here are a couple I've stumbled upon. +

• Captyn Bob's approach
• Xanthier's approach

+ Both look good to me – and the reason I'm interested in 'em is that, in the absence of GW's own version, I've laid my hands on a couple of 3D prints that I've started to build and paint. +

+++

+ Building the Phantom +

+ The model came in five parts – head, torso and groin, back piece and two legs – plus weapons. There were six upper arms plus a variety of weapons. While fragile, the model built up quite nicely. +

+ I've magnetised the arms at the shoulder using 5mm x 1mm magnets, though at the moment I've only built the following arms. I needed to use a spot of greenstuff to make a flat surface inside the socket, and trimmed the shoulder joint flat to attach the magnet. +

+ As you can see from the comparison shot above, the figure's slightly taller than I had anticipated, but that might simply be unfamiliarity with the current Phantom sculpt (and the pose of this particular Warlord). However, I don't think it's far off at all – here's the only shot I could find of a comparison of the 28mm Phantom and a 28mm Warlord (taken from The Independent Characters' Facebook page). + 

+ Whether the proportions and scale are 'correct' doesn't really bother me here. I rather like the exaggerated alien proportions of the sculpt, and when – hopefully – GW come out with their own plastic version, these will likely be around the right size. While variety of standardised tanks or too much dissonance between the scale of infantry can be a bit of a bother, perhaps it's fitting that the organically grown artwork-warmachines of the Eldar vary a bit. +

+ Anyway, enough preparatory apologetics. Here's a shot of the rear. I think the space between the legs is ripe for a banner, don't you? +

+ Another scale shot, against the Reaver Titan 'Old Spiteful' of the Legio Sumer-Nikator. +

+++

+ Painting the Phantom Titan: theoretical +

+ Work in progress +

+ Eldar Titan background hasn't had much of an update since 1988(ish), when the Eldar rules came out for the original Adeptus Titanicus. Back then, the Craftworlds were very loosely-defined, and Titans were organised into Clans (the equivalent to Imperial Legios). Their relationship to the Craftworlds was fairly nebulous and ill-defined, but the implication was that the Clans lived aboard Craftworlds, but had their own colour scheme etc. +

+ There was a later Epic expansion called Swordwind that had some tiny snippets of Eldar background, and this only touched on Titans fairly lightly. When the modern 40k-scale Phantom was released, it was accompanied by the Doom of Mymeara, an Imperial Armour book that had a little bit of 'modern' background for the Eldar Titans. The Clans weren't mentioned – though absence of evidence isn't evidence of absence – and the rules mentioned 'Conclaves', which may be GW's then-equivalent to Clans. As far as I'm aware, that's as much as we've had. +

+ Anyway, the space is pretty open for paint schemes, and I think you could quite happily paint your Eldar Titans in Craftworld colours, or a completely unique scheme. I decided I'd use this as an opportunity to play about with the Alaitoc scheme, ahead of working on my 40k army. + 

+ Painting the Phantom Titan: practical +

+ Having built the model, I textured the base in a similar  way to the Epic basing tutorial here [+noosphericinloadlink embedded+]. This was allowed to dry, then I sprayed the base with Halford's brown spray from their camo range. Once dry, I used a piece of kitchen paper to protect the base, took the (magnetised) arms off and sprayed all of the components using GW's Wraithbone spray. +

+ Knowing that this was going to be a fairly involved painting project, I then painted the base – this is a little psychological tactic I use to help make me feel I'm making some progress. Having something finished can help! +

+ The weapons +

+ From there I started with the basecoats, laying down a thin coat of Army Painter's mummy robes on the weapons and internal joints. Once dry, these had a coat of Seraphim sepia. I did the same with blue, using Vallejo's Prussian blue – though I didn't even finish the blue before moving on to the yellow, as time was ticking on and I thought I'd like to tackle the focal point of the head. +

+ The yellow +

+ Here I used a base coat of cadmium yellow (Golden, but any equivalent, such as Phalanx yellow or Yriel yellow, would work) as the base coat. +

+ After that, I used lots of very thin glazes of Liche purple to build up the shadows. Next, I added white (Vallejo cold white, but again any white would work) to the yellow for the highlights. +

+ A few glazes of Lamenter’s yellow (or thinned yellow ink) went over the whole thing to enrich the yellow, then I repeated the shading and highlighting in finer areas to reintroduce the contrast. I went back and forth a bit here as I was enjoying the process. +

+ At this stage it was looking good to me, but I wanted to help give it a bit more of a sense of scale. I'm also in two minds whether to leave the 'blister' on the forehead or repaint it as a gem. +

+ A few little marks and scars were added with the same Liche purple and highlight yellow, and I felt this subtle weathering was enough. Less is more for Eldar, I think. +

+ The blue +

+ With the head in place, I went back and completed the base coat with thinned-down Prussian blue and allowed it to dry. +

+ Working outwards from the head, I started with the chest panel. Using a wet palette (a piece of damp kitchen paper wrapped in baking parchment), I mixed a Teclis blue into Prussian blue and began gradually highlighting. +

+ To get the placement of the highlights right (this is the part I find tricky for curved surfaces), I simply held the model at a consistent angle under my modelling light, then put very thin paint where the light fell. With the positioning correct, it was then a case of layering to blend, blur and soften the edges of these stark, basic highlights back to Prussian blue. +

+ With the three-dimensional highlighting done, I pushed the extremes by adding white to the Teclis blue/Prussian blue mix, and picked out a few edges. Reflected light – that bouncing back off the environment back onto the model, rather than directly from the light source – was added with a more blue version of this mix, to ensure the brightest highlights faced the light source. +

+++

+ Here's how the model currently stands. I'll continue to work outwards, I think, tackling each area as I come to it. 

+ Alright there, shorty? +

+++

+ inload: That Rogue Trader taste – Alaitoc +

 + More Guardians +

+ It's not just lasguns that Eldar were armed with in Rogue Trader – half of your squads could have the rightly-feared shuriken catapults, and that's how my new Alaitoc project [+noosphericinloadlink embedded+] is progressing. +

+ Guardian Battle squad +

+ Squads armed with shuriken catapults (as opposed to lasguns) were termed 'Battle squads', something that I think went the way of the dodo in second edition – though as I never played against an Eldar army in either Rogue Trader or second edition, I'd take that cum grano salis. +

+ The Mike McVey original above, and my homage/update below. As with the other squad in the previous inload, I've tried to evoke the pose, armament and details while making the most of the lovely modern sculpt. I'm struck with how naturally the old weapons, despite being much less bulky than their modern counterparts, still slot into the hands without any modification needed to the shoulders or elbows to accommodate it. In fact, the only conversion needed is a fiddly bit of cutting, trimming and drilling to get the gripping hand off the new shuriken catapult – after that, the old guns slot right in. +

+++

+ Guardian Assault squad +

+ ...and just as there were other terms for Guardians with shuriken catapults, so what are now called Storm Guardians were simply 'Guardian Assault squads', which were armed with pistols and swords, or dual pistols. The GW studio army had five armed with power swords and laspistols (eat your heart out Howling Banshees), with the squad leader wearing a power glove. +

+ The old eldar power glove is one of those peculiar bits that I absolutely adore. I've always, always liked it, and never had a chance to use it. Perhaps there's a similar particular piece of equipment in your bits box, that you've been saving for years but never quite commit to using? +

+ Well, here was the chance – where better? +

+ My interpretation uses the original equipment – a power sword and power glove – but I've opted to update the pose. Part of this is laziness – the new kit includes much more dynamic options so it was an easier choice than paintstakingly converting it back to the standing pose – but it's also a nice way to update the model. The old Guardians didn't have a great range of poses, but I can take advantage of the modern sculpts to make a more dynamic mobile-looking assault squad. +

+ Baldness and topknots weren't nearly so de rigeur for the Eldar in the 90s, so I also took the opportunity to add a little hair with a spot of greenstuff. +

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+ Greenstuff +

+ As with the Blood Angels [+noosphericinloadlink embedded+], I wanted to keep the conversion work fairly minimal for the bulk of this Alaitoc army – time, space and inclination all work against more involved conversions for everyone – and in this, I think it fits with the spirit of the inspiration, which (refreshingly) encouraged you to put down some very basic colours and then get playing. +

+ With that said, that has to be balanced against creating something specifically 'retrohammer' – a rather nebulous term that I use to mean something 'feels right'. I mentioned in my previous inload that part of that involves the banners, and I'm pleased to say that I've now sourced some pins ready to get those sorted. +

+ The other part was the backpack vanes. These are absent in the old guardians, but quite prominent in the new. I took the plunge and trimmed them away, which I think goes a surprisingly long way to changing the silhouette. You be the judge. +

+ Of course, I couldn't leave ruddy great gaping holes in the back, so I prepped some greenstuff and popped them in place. Using the point of a rat-tail file, I then added a few dots to emulate the 'tea strainer' vents of the originals. +

+ Here's the result – and I'm please with them. As usual, I'd love to hear your thoughts. +

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