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IrisadoThank you Iris, happy to hear you like the skimmers!
I didn't paint those white stripes by hand though. What I did was this:
1) first I primed the whole vehicle white then airbrushed some blue-grey shades onto the most prominently recessed parts of the hull
2) then I cut the stripes out of paper masking tape using sharp-tipped hobby knife and some curved stencils that I bought in an ordinary stationery store
3) I applied the stripes to the hull, then airbrushed blue all over
4) once the blue was complete, all I had to do was to carefully remove the stripes, revealing white pattern underneath.
The only thing I painted by hand were those small shades at the line crossings, to create the illusion of one stripe going under the other. It was really much simpler than the end result might suggest
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magenbThanks Mage! Glad you noticed the fins. Initially I was planning to leave the base parts in the colour of the hull, but it didn't look quite right, so I decided to paint them bronze - and it proved to be just that last bit that made the overall look not only of the fins but also of the whole vehicle to just snap into place.
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dog_of_warMany thanks! Those white patterns were initially sketched on paper by my lovely wife, who is the one true artist in our family
I only did some small adjustments to the pattern to make the stripes better fit the overall shape and the details of the vehicle. The result did exceed even my own expectations )
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CavalierThank you Cav, as always your high praise makes me blush
Also super-happy to hear that my custom scheme is recognisable as such! And of course looking forward to your article on FLG, sounds really interesting )
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MyenTalThanks! I'm sure you will achieve great look on your bone colour too.
It's not that hard. I start mine with a basecoat of 1:1 mix of Tau Light Ochre and Ushabti Bone, then progressively highlight it up to pure Ushabti Bone then Screaming Skull, and finish it off with sharp edge highlight of Pallid Wych Flesh. Airbrush is great for this, but handbrushing works perfectly well too, particularly on smaller details. Tau Light Ochre is the key ingredient here, as it gives the bone the nice warm tone that looks very pleasing to the eye.
And now... it's time for some army composition!
I've been thinking to dedicate one of the updates to that, and the moment feels just right to do it.
So... as I mentioned above, now is the time to once again decide what to paint next. And the decision is neither easy nor obvious, because to make this decision I need to decide where I want to go with my force in a more long-term scale.
But every decision requires a thought process, and a thought process has to start somewhere, right? So, let me start with assessing the assets that I already have available right now.
At this point I already have three kinds of units in my Eldar collection:
- pure Saim-Hann, painted in distinct Saim-Hann colour scheme, which I'll only ever use under Saim-Hann rules and no other;
- my new blue craftworld (the name that keeps ghosting through my mind sounds like
'Thirinnair', roughly translated into mon-keigh tougue as "Following the true sight" or "Clarity of vision"), which I can use with any craftworld attribute;
- Aspect warriors, which I can use with any craftworld due to them all wearing their traditional aspect colours.
So, with this in mind, I have the following units painted and battle-ready.
Pure Saim-Hann- 1 Farseer Skyrunner
- 1 Autarch Skyrunner
- 1 Warlock Skyrunner
- 10 Warlocks on foot
- 9 Windriders w/scatter lasers
- 1 Wave Serpent
- 1 Wraithknight
New Craftworld- 1 Farseer
- Illic Nightspear (he's obviously aligned to Alaitoc, but I'll put him here for now)
- 5 Rangers
- 2 Wave Serpents
Aspect Warriors- Maugan Ra
- 15 Dire Avengers (including 1 exarch)
- 11 Fire Dragons (including 1 exarch)
- 15 Warp Spiders (including 3 exarchs)
- 6 Shining Spears (including 1 exarch)
- 5 Dark Reapers (including 1 exarch)
- 3 Crimson Hunters
This collection of units seems to give a feeling of distinct prevalence of highly elite, expensive points-wise and low model count units - something that is not at all unexpected from a hobbyist with with a seriously slow painting speed like myself
. However, even though WK and Spiders aren't really playable now, even excluding those I finally have enough units to build lists of up to 2250 pts, even with some flexibility. This means I can finally stop worrying about the "points/painting hours" ratio of each new unit I add to my collection and just paint what I want/need most. Such a great feeling! lol
Just for example, the latest list that I made out of these units and that did quite well at the tournament last weekend was this:
Battalion (Alaitoc)
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
HQ 1: Farseer (Witchblade) (Doom, Fortune)
- Falochu's Wing (relic)
HQ 2: Maugan Ra
Troops 1: 5 Dire Avengers (Exarch, Dual avenger shuricat)
Troops 2: 5 Dire Avengers
Troops 3: 5 Rangers
Heavy Support 1: 5 Dark Reapers (Exarch, Tempest launcher)
Transport 1: Wave Serpent (Spirit stone, Shuriken cannon (upg.), Twin shuriken cannon)
Transport 2: Wave Serpent (Spirit stone, Shuriken cannon (upg.), Twin shuriken cannon)
Air Wing (Alaitoc)
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Flyers 1: Crimson Hunter
Flyers 2: Crimson Hunter
Flyers 3: Crimson Hunter
Outrider (Saim-Hann)
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
HQ 1: Farseer Skyrunner (Witchblade) (Doom, Executioner)
- Warlord, trait Fate's Messenger
HQ 2: Warlock Skyrunner (Witchblade) (Protect)
Fast Attack 1: 3 Windriders (3 x Scatter laser)
Fast Attack 2: 3 Windriders (3 x Scatter laser)
Fast Attack 3: 6 Shining Spears (Exarch, Star lance)
Elites 1: 7 Fire Dragons (Exarch, Dragon's breath flamer)
Transport 1: Wave Serpent (Spirit stone, Shuriken cannon (upg.), Twin shuriken cannon)
Total: 2250
This is a huge list though, not suitable for casual games (makes them too long!), and besides a couple of upcoming tournaments are 1750. So this has to be scaled down to 2000 and then further down to 1750.
Now, let's think of the key bases that need to be covered.
Firstly, I have just enough Troops (15 DA and 5 Rangers) to field a Battalion, and a squad of Rangers provides me with some tactical flexibility due to the option of forward deployment. Initially I was planning to have 3 squads of Rangers, and even purchased the models. However, with the new beta rules prohibiting 1st-turn deep-strikes the importance of Rangers as tools for area-denial and screening has all but disappered, and their damage output is critically poor - so I realy don't feel like adding any more of those at this point.
Anti-tank duty is covered very reliably by the trio of Crimson Hunters supported by a squad of Reapers, and an option to bolster the AT section even further by taking some Serpent-borne Dragons. This area doesn't feel like it needs any special improvement atm - although it seems that I'm not opposed to painting some more Reapers, provided there are some strong arguments in their favour.
Anti-infantry duty is where my lists kind of feel lacking. Currently, my main source of anti-personnel firepower is obviously 3x3 scatter-bikes, followed closely by the Shining Spears (24 shots from shuricats is pretty respectable). With addition of up to 27 shuricannon shots from serpents and a bunch of shots from DA, my force can destroy about 30 chaff models per turn. This sounds seriously at first, but then you realise that it will still take you well over 6 turns to destroy a horde of 200 models. Besides, in my games Spears usually die first and very early, and scatter-bikes tend to follow them pretty soon - so there's no way in hell my main anti-personnel units will survive long enough to keep shooting for 6 turns. Even judging purely by experience, I usually do quite well versus mechanised Astra Militarum or SM where I have to deal with multiple tanks, while new Tau repeatedly steamroll over me - facing them I have to grind through some 25 shield drones before getting to any decent target, and my army just fails to do that quickly enough. This also kind of proves the fact that my anti-tank is good while my anti-infantry is not so good.
BTW, the latest list of 1750 pts that I used against Tau just yesterday (and got pretty much wiped out by turn 4) was this:
Battalion (Alaitoc)
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
HQ 1: Farseer (Witchblade)
HQ 2: Maugan Ra
Troops 1: 5 Dire Avengers (Exarch, Dual avenger shuricat)
Troops 2: 5 Dire Avengers
Troops 3: 5 Rangers
Heavy Support 1: 5 Dark Reapers (Exarch, Tempest launcher)
Flyers 1: Crimson Hunter
Flyers 2: Crimson Hunter
Transports 1: Wave Serpent (Spirit stone, Shuriken cannon (upg.), Twin shuriken cannon)
Transports 2: Wave Serpent (Spirit stone, Shuriken cannon (upg.), Twin shuriken cannon)
Outrider (Saim-Hann)
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
HQ 1: Farseer Skyrunner (Witchblade)
HQ 2: Warlock Skyrunner (Witchblade)
Fast Attack 1: 3 Windriders (3 x Scatter laser)
Fast Attack 2: 3 Windriders (3 x Scatter laser)
Fast Attack 3: 5 Shining Spears (Exarch, Star lance)
Total: 1747
So, let's say one important topic is set - it would be great to improve the anti-personnel capability of my force.
Now, in terms of expanding my collection further, in addition to improving specific lists I also always strive to increase variety and flexibility of my forces in general. And of course I also prefer to work on things that are interesting to model and paint as well as aesthetically appealing! Aren't we all
This means, among other things, that I much prefer painting units that I don't have.
The units that lately have been hovering at the fore of the list of things I'd love to paint and play with are:
1) Guardian Defenders
2) Swooping Hawks
3) Hemlocks
Guardians: I've been avoiding these guys for a long time, not the least because painting 1 Guardian would take me about as much time as painting say 1 Dark Reaper, with over 4 times difference in points
Now, however, I feel I can afford it
And besides, no Eldar collection would be complete without at least 20 of these.
Swooping Hawks: I would never even consider painting the classic GW Hawks as I find them as ugly as nuclear war. However, recently I purchased 2x5 alternative 3rd-party Hawks which are really beatiful (they come from the same russian guy sculpting under the label "Ghost Miniatures" who sculpted awesome - and pretty world-famous - alternative Warp Spiders a while ago). Now these guys are high on my priority list.
Hemlocks: I love the Eldar flyers, and since I already have a full complement of CHs, it would be great to bolster my air wing with a couple of Hemlocks. I proxied them a couple of times at the very beginning of 8th and they proved both powerful and really interesting to use.
One other thing that makes Guardians and Hawks particularly attractive is that both units are good anti-personnel specialists. Another overall very strong addition to my anti-personnel section would be more Shining Spears - but I already have a squad of these guys, and, as I mentioned above, I'd rather paint something new. I might consider painting some more Reapers though - the only squad I have was painted over 3 years ago and so they'll feel almost new and fresh again, if you know what I mean ) Also, painting 20 guardians would give me even more flexibility in terms of filling up Troops section (I might even field 2 Battalions!). Hawks at the same time would work as a direct replacement of scatter-bikes, being more points-efficient, better at using cover and getting a great additional benefit from Alaitoc trait.
As for Hemlocks, their steep point cost keeps me hesitant about them. Effectively, I'll be replacing 3 CHs with 2 Hemlocks in my lists, and I'm not 100% sure it will work well.
And finally, one other option I've been toying with lately is adding a small allied detachment of Drukhari to get me access to CP farm based on "Labyrinthine Cunning" trait. After all, a Patrol detachment of a cheapest Archon and a unit of 5 bare-bones Kabalites clocks in at mere 102 pts, which is comparable to the cost of an Autarch. Choices, choices...
So - if you somehow managed to read through all of my mumbling
- what would you do in my place? What would bring most benefits - both short-term and long-term - to my current forces? Would you start with Guardians, or jump straight to Hawks? Or perhaps start with securing more reliable competitive build by adding some more Reapers and Tempest Launchers? ALso, what do you think of Drukhari allies?
Any and all constructive thoughts and suggestions would be greatly appreciated!
To be continued...