My Slow/Fast Eldar Blog (in a White/Black Scheme)

[SteelTitan]

Hey people,

This is the story: after leaving my country, the Netherlands, about a month ago and thus forcefully putting an end to my death guard army expansion, I decided to start a new army in my new country of residence: New Zealand.

Why did I move to the other side of the world? Because I am doing my MSc exchange here and I expect to be back in Holland somewhere towards the end of this year.

So, why the odd title?


Slow, because being on exchange is a huge financial drain and I simply cannot afford spending lots of money on toy soldiers. Secondly, the local toy store has a limited offering of GW products. However, most things can be ordered and delived within 1-2 weeks. Another limiting factor is the return flight. My suitcase has limited space and the maximum of 20 kilos that you can check in will be better spend on things other than warhammer.

Fast, because I will try to do a very simple yet effective colour scheme with the primary colour being white and the secondary colour black. Both of which can be applied by simply spraying the model with standard GW spray. I always thought that the most striking armies (on the tabletop) are those that use high contrasting colours (something i also noticed with my own Tyranids but considerably less with my Death Guard) so white/black will fit that idea nicely.


I'm still playing around with some ideas for a third colour for the gems that most models have so many of. I'm leaning towards a bright blue right now which might contrast nicely with the white/black. Any ideas are welcome!


So what about the actual army?

Initially, I wanted a pure jetbike army. After looking over the army list and seeing which models in the range i like and dislike i altered my idea slightly. Instead of the 'jetbike' theme, I will now go for a 'mobility' theme.

I haven't decided yet if I want to work on any metal models during my stay or postpone that part of my army after returning home (because of 1. the cost of purchasing both the models and the glue and 2. the fragility and relative weight of (painted) metal models when transported).

The 1000 point list I will try to work towards will be something like this:


1x Farseer on jetbike

6x Jetbike w/ 2x Cannon
6x Jetbike w/ 2x Cannon
6x Jetbike w/ 2x Cannon

5x Pathfinders

1x Vyper

3x Warwalker


While the jetbikes and the vyper will provide the mobility, the pathfinders will act as an harrasment unit that will try to draw away both attention and fire from the more valuable jetbikes. Ultimately, the vyper is an expendable fire support unit, just as the war walkers that provide their mobility with their scout move (and possible an outflank if appropriate...which will be unlikely considering the rest of the armies vulnerability).

I don't claim this army to be the most effective one in what it does but it does include some of my favourite Eldar units/models, which (at least for now) is my primary interest.


Apart from buying some stuff at my local store, I ordered some supplies from Maelstrom (gotta love their free shipping!) which arrived in the mail this morning

Let me provide you with the current state of affairs:




First thing I will work on is the jetbike. Here are some WIP shots:






Anyway, I am really looking forward to working on this new army and will try to keep my followers updated as much as possible! So subscribe if you please, and until next time!

[FraustyTheSnowman]

Woohoo! I'm the first!

Looking good so far man. I've been tinkering with a jet bike heavy force for a few years, though most of my eldar are ending up being canibalized by my dark eldar force. Not a big fan of warwalkers as far as how the unit works in the game, but they are a beautiful model, and this being primarily about what you think looks good, I look forward to seeing what you do with them.

Any thoughts on how you'll do your farseer?

Really looking forward to seeing how you do the white. One of the hardest colors to pull off in my opinion. My dark eldar were going to be largely white, but that got turned to more of a wraith bone pale tan...I'll do something white...eventually.

[MOMUS]

xenos scum!

So far so good, i was going to suggest a 'brilliant' blue for the 3rd colour also maybe a drybrushing of 'electric' blue on the armour to offset it against othe black elements of the models.
NB shining spears would fir in very well with your colour scheme.

keep up the good work, MOMUS

[SteelTitan]

Hey guys, welcome to my blog!

Brilliant blue? I was thinking of Enchanted Blue with a bit of Ice Blue. That is probably what you were thinking of too?






As far as the white is concerned

The thing is, if i want to do anything with the white (e.g. a wash) it will add substantially to the time it takes to paint any model (because I would then have to paint all non-recesses white again) which is against the whole idea to start this army in the first place. Now skull white is just sprayed on and that is it. Because I still highlight the black, the model will still look nice overall...that was the idea anyway. Feel free to comment/criticise.

I know I am being a tad lazy here.

I have been following a blog by Thud, who (i think) uses Gryphonne Sepia washes. It looks good but is not the effect I want to go for. I guess that is sort of the same thing you have, Frosty? Another option would be a Badab Black wash, again followed by skull white applied to all non-recess areas.



Something that just came to mind, especially in combination with the mentioned 3rd colour, is an Asurmen Blue wash (and then skull white for non-recess areas).



This will link the 3rd colour perfectly to the rest. However, I'm concerned that this will take too much emphasis away from my white/black scheme and that blue will become too dominant in the army's overall appearance.

Feel free to help me out.

I don't have any ideas about my Farseer yet. It will probably be one of the last thing I do because I will need to kitbash stuff and also greenstuff. I havent figured out yet wether I want to convert a basic jetbike set or go the way of the Eldrad/Autarch kitbash.

[razormasticator]

You ought to buy guardians and swap out those horrible squid heads for guardians. I think they look better and add a bit of customization to your models.

[SteelTitan]

...being on exchange is a huge financial drain and I simply cannot afford spending lots of money on toy soldiers.

uh, this, buying other stuff just to swap heads that don't bother me anyway does not work well with being on exchange

[Pherion]

Looking good so far! For the white, I'd suggest a sepia wash, then drybrush bleached bone, then drybrush white. Very quick and dirty, but looks great on table top. You could payer it on if you had more time and it would look better, but the drybrushing will suffice for a fast paint job.

[MOMUS]

sorry yes enchanted blue, its been awhile since i last held a GW paint. If you go down the route of washes you will change the whole visual dynamic (which could be good) and take alot more time- i thought you were going to just use it as the spot colour.
A way to add variation while keeping the minimalist palette would be to add 'graphics' to the jetbikes like chevrons etc this could be done very quickly using masking tape and your spray gun.

[SteelTitan]

Ive been thinking hard about the white and I think Im gonna stick with plain white for now, or as MOMUS says the spot colour. Any other combination of paints/washes is not going to give me the clean crisp white I am looking for. Or at least not without spending a LOT more time on painting (by e.g. giving the model a wash and paint skull white over it until everything looks clean again). Drybrushing might seem like a shortcut but will never give that crisp look. So plain white it is.

My mind is still set on that light blue for the gems as it will probably contrast nicest with the white and black, without falling back on red again (have red in my other two armies and looking for a change).

Here is another picture of my WIP jetbike. The model is 99% finished, only the gems need to be painted (don't have blue paints yet).

[MOMUS]

subscribed, can we see more of the war walker?

[ChrisMurray]

Subscribed. Looking good. I like the idea of the army very simple yet still fun. The black and the white look fantastic and very clean.

[SteelTitan]

I'm very happy that you like it! Very simple and very fun was exactly what i was going for. I tried to do simple schemes before to speed up the process and accomplish "lets finish a 1500 point list within 1 year" plan but it always got too complicated because i wanted to add yet another touch...so mission failed with both my Nids and my Death Guard (how could I think that greenstuffing things onto every model would be a fast way to complete an army?)

I'm happy that i decided to leave the white as it is because i would have failed yet again

I will start working on my war walker today so will post wip pictures of him asap. At the moment he's nothing more than a 98% white (sprayed) model anyway.

I will also head to my local supplier today and buy the blue paints that i need so that i can finish my jetbike.

[warboss tweed]

hmm. i'm looking forward to seeing how it is painted.

[SteelTitan]

Here is what my war walker looks like now. I'm currently working on the base, that is why it is half-done/grey.

[ChrisMurray]

Everytime I see a warwalker in a log it reminds me of how beautiful the model is. You paint scheme is going to look amazing on it.

[Zerlion]

Looks great.
Must say Im impressed of someone doing a white colorscheme tbh.
Tried it once and it looked terrible, realised white wasnt as easy as one would think

[Aetios]

While I like the White/Black colorscheme, I'm wondering if you're going to put any kind of patterns/decals anywhere on the models? Especially the larger surface areas. The jetbike just seems like it needs something else, and I just don't know if painting the gemstones alone will be enough. Maybe even just a tiny bit of bleached bone/kommando khaki shading down around the edges of the white to really give it some feel. Are you going to paint the lines on the War Walker in black? I think if you did that plus the stones it would give it some real pop. Just my opinion.

[warboss tweed]

it's a cool idea, but he's right, it looks kinda plain, and honestly i think just painting all the little deatils would be enough.

[SteelTitan]

I decided against any patterns. This for two reasons; (1) Painting decent patterns (and I'm very critical) is not gonna make the model look better , and (2) I really like the clean/plain look

I just finished the model by painting the gems.








@Aetios: What do you mean with the 'lines on the war walker'? I haven't done anything on the WW yet...i just sprayed it and glued things together...i will probably start working on that model tomorrow! So rest assured...it's gonna look more exciting

[Inso]

Very nice and clean paint job on those but I think the white looks a bit flat to me...The recesses on the helmet and the division between the jetbike wing and engine nacelle could use a little shading maybe?

The black is nicely highlighted and I think that this makes you notice the flatness of the white more.

Black and white suits these though .