Harlequins

Harlequin Troop

I decided to do the Harlequins in the Mymeara colors rather than in the traditional patterns.  Mostly because I don't think I'm good enough of a painter to do the patterns, but also to let the army have a cohesive look.  I did use a lot of red and purple to have them stand out.

100th Post - Two Painted Armies

Too celebrate my 100th post on the blog, I figured I would get both of my armies out on the table I built and get some pictures. This is less than two years worth of painting. I'm really proud of what I've accomplished and it's great to have a couple decently painted armies. I still have a lot of Eldar to finish, and have a bunch of detail work left on the Lamenters, but I'm pleased with my progress.

 

Tau Battle Suits

Was out of town this weekend but was able to finish up two Crisis Suits I started a while ago. They were actually very simple to paint up and look pretty good. I also got a Pegasus Hobbies Technobridge and sprayed it last night. Not sure if I will do more to it, as it looks pretty good as is. Nice inexpensive piece of terrain which will work great for the large river running through the middle of my table.

Riptide WIP

Riptide Front

Riptide shield arm

Riptide with Ion Accelerator

Riptide with Heavy Burst Cannon

I picked up a Riptide over the weekend and manged to get most of it done.  Still need to go in a do all the lenses with purple, and I might add some more black and white on the body to provide some contrast, but I'm really happy with how it's turning out.  I've magnetized the weapons so that I can take either of the main weapons or secondary weapons.  Still need to do the little support system bits that come with the kit which will also be magnetized.  The kit is great and it was a lot of fun to build.

Game - Eldar versus Tau/Necrons

Eldar deployed

Eldrad and Fire Warrior in close combat with Riptide

So I managed to play a game today.  I dropped by Mugu games and got a pickup game of 1850 against a Tau/Necron player.  I  got absolutely smashed, but it was great seeing the army on the table.  It was also fun seeing the new Tau and how disgusting they can be.  I loved seeing the new models though and picked up a Riptide for my Tau allies.

My list:

HQ: Eldrad

Troops: Guardians w/ Warlock (spear,embolden) Missile Launcher

Troops: Guardians w/ Warlock (spear,embolden) Missile Launcher

Troops: Dire Avengers w/ Bladestorm, Defend, 2 SC

Troops: Dire Avengers w/ Bladestorm, Defend, shimmershield

               Wave Serpent w/ Brightlances and Cannon

Troops: Rangers (Pathfinder upgrade)

Troops: 4 Jetbikes (Cannon)

Elite: Fire Dragons w/ Exarch (Tank Hunter, Crack Shot)

Heavy: War Walkers with Scatter lasers

Heavy: Fire Prism (Cannon)

Heavy: Falcon ( Bright Lance)

Fortification: Aegis with Gun Emplacement

His Army (roughly)

HQ: Commander suit, 2+ save, drone controller, ignore cover, kitchen sink

HQ: Necron dude that makes Night Fight and Lightening

Troops: Fire Warriors

Troops: Fire Warriors

Troops: Immortals (I think, they never did anything)

Elite: Riptide with Ion gun and drone

Elite: Riptide with Ion gun and drone

Heavy: 3 Broadsides, 10 bajillion missiles, ingored cover

Deathmarks in Flying Croissant

I'm sure I missed stuff in his army, but pretty much the main threat was the two Riptides and then the Broadsides with the commander.  He dropped a lot points into them and all I know is they could all shoot different things, they all ingored cover, and whatever they shot,  they deleted off the board.  I thought they were all toughness 5, but it turns out that was only the commander.  I kind of ignored them after they took a full War Walker broadside (guided) and didn't take a single wound.  I found later the broadsides were only toughness 4 and 3+ saves.  In the end game I dropped Fire prism small templates on them to double them out and killed two.  If I had realized that earlier, I would have focused fire on them with the bright lances and other 8+ strength weapons and that might have given me a chance at the game.

I also forgot that the mission type was Big Guns Never Tire, and I could have scored with my Fire Prism at the end to at least make the game closer.  It ended with all of my troops dead, two of his troops dead, but the Necrons untouched to claim his objective.

Highlights and Low Lights.  Rangers are awesome.  They put most of the wounds on a Riptide which I managed to bring down turn 2.  The pathfinder upgrade is totally worth it, giving those ap2 shots and awesome cover saves.  The Fire Prism also preformed admirably and I would definitely take it over a Falcon.  The War Walkers didn't kill anything, but they drew a lot of fire, and thanks to a 4+ Invul from Psychic powers it took a lot of shots to kill them.  Eldrad charged the Riptide with one Fire Dragon and held him in combat for two full turns.  If I had any sort of counter attack in the list, I might have been able to come in and finish him off, but he kept the Riptide locked up and not shooting my army from turn 3 - 6.  

The bad.  Guardians are crap.  They were really only there for objective holding, but with all the cover ignoring weapons the Tau had, they got slaughtered (even with a 4+ Invul from Eldrad).  Everything is so freaking expensive in this codes for how it performs.  Wave Serpents either need a 4+ invul or drop 100 points in cost.  The Falcon couldn't hit the broad side of a barn with BS:3.  All the troops are so fragile and expensive, it's just too easy to shoot them off the board.  I might try a list with 3 squads of Rangers and 3 Jetbikes.  Also aat 1850 the Eldar need two Farseers.  I also need Fortune. So one take book powers the other Eldar powers.  Overall it was a fun game but the cover ignoring weapons he was shooting me with were just too much to cope with.

Mymeara army so far

Mymeara Eldar Army

I have about 1700 points painted up.  I do need to finish up some bases and a few details but it's really coming together.  I have a few thousand points more to paint, but this is a nice core.

Mymeara - Wave Serpent #1

Mymeara Wave Serpent with bright lances

So had some serious insomnia issues last night, so I worked on one of the wave serpents.  I really hope these get fixed in the next Eldar codex.  While the speed is nice, they are just way too expensive for how easy they are to kill.  That said, I love how they look so will continue to paint the rest of them up.

Mymeara - Fire Prism

Mymeara Fire Prism

Finished up the Fire Prism tonight.  I absolutely love how it turned out.  The red/orange/yellow crystal with the cool jade and turquoise just really stands out.  I tried to do something similar with the gems, but without using the airbrush it just didn't look very good so I went back to the purple gems.  I need to figure out how to build a better base for them though, as the metal turret makes the model extremely top heavy.  Also did a bit of free-hand with the fire prism rune on the wing.  I wish the Mymeara logo was a little less complicated.  I might have to see if I can get it on some transfer paper and try that way.

Skimmer WIP

So I pulled out all my old Eldar skimmers to repaint.  One falcon needs some repair work done on it, and both Falcon turrets are need of some TLC before they get painted.  The Wave Serpents all had their guns removed so that I can figure out a good way to magnetize them.  I decided against stripping the paint, as I found it doesn't come off evenly, and with thin airbrush coats the texture comes through.  They are not perfect, but considering that I got them for extremely cheap second hand, I'm not going to complain.

I used all Vallejo paint at this point.  White primer through the airbrush (only way to prime here in Seattle with the weather), followed by Vallejo GC Jade Green, Turquoise both thinned out with Matte Medium and a little water/flow aid.  The Fire Prism crystal is painted with Vallejo Model Air Yellow, Orange, and Scarlet Red.  Next step will be to varnish it and start on black lining.  

Models ready for a new paint job

Primed

Jade Green applied

Turquoise

Ice World Terrain - Hoth Inspired

A few updates. So I watched Return of the Jedi again to see what else I could steal for cool ice terrain and started on a few more pieces. Laid everything out to see how the terrain density would be. I have about 25% coverage including the pipelines which can't be removed (not counting the giant iced over river). I need one more solid piece of terrain to feel comfortable with the table, and will build a few beyond that for varieties sake. One thing I definitely will do, is make a larger island with a nice piece of LoS blocking terrain. I'm thinking a pumping station, to go in the middle of the board. Maybe a couple of small islands to go in the river to not always have the middle of the board open. Sorry about the image quality but this was just a test setup in the kitchen. Also these are all work in progress. Pretty much just primered and textured at this point.
 

Hidden Base Blast Doors

Defense Laser Tower

Shield Generator

Board Laid Out to check terrain Density

Terrain in one corner

Aegis Defense Line for Lamenters

Lamenters Behind Aegis Line

I haven't forgotten the Lamenters.  Here is an Aegis Defense Line with Quadcannon upgrade on the ice board.  Painted up really quick and easy.  Not sure how much I'll ever use it with them, as I like to play them fast moving and have very little shooting.

Frozen River

Cracked Ice

Close up

Models on ice

I finally found an affordable solution for making the frozen river for my ice board.  Ceiling panels for florescent lights to simulate the ice. This is a translucent cracked ice type and runs about 10 bucks for a 2x4 foot section.  Two of them will be enough to do the large river on my table.  Certainly better than the estimated $100 bucks worth of resin I thought I was going to need.  I had thought about trying it, but saw it in action here and new it would be perfect.

The one problem I ran into is that the panels are actually 23.5 inches vs 47.5 inches.  So for one of the panels I needed to use multiple pieces.  Rather than have a straight seam, I cracked and broke it into pieces and then used Woodland Scenics Realistic Water to make it look like the water was flowing up through the crack.  The water seeped under the plastic to give a really nice looking effect.  I'm really happy, I just need to do some snow banks along the edges to cover up the rough cutting.

Land Raider WIP

I started repainting the second Land Raider trying to use the airbrush to a better effect.  I picked up some more Vallejo Model air colors and can do a decent shading effect now.  I'm pleased with how it turned out and it ends up being a more true yellow versus my prior scheme.  Still need to do all the detail work and black lining, but it's moving in the right direction and my quality is improving.

Lamenter's Land Raider

Top View

Side View