Heavily Themed Eldar Army Log

[Pekel]

If any of you are familiar with Lego's Bionicle line, I'm making an Eldar army based on it. First up is Farseer Vakama:



Based on this character.

Here's three models, including Warlock Nuju:



As a simple explanation, Bionicle villagers are called Matoran and come in six elemental variants. Fire (represented by Fire Dragons), Earth (Warp Spiders), Stone (Dire Avengers), Water (Howling Banshees), Air (Swooping Hawks), and Ice (Rangers). Each Eldar model conveys a certain trait of the Matoran they represent, from the hunchbacked Warp Spiders to the cloaked Rangers and female Howling Banshees (all water Matoran are female). Matoran are all identified by their colors and the masks they wear. Though the masks will be sculpted onto the Farseer and Warlocks, every other troop will wear a loincloth with their mask painted on it (as shown in the last picture).

Now, what I need help with: I'm going to make an Exo-Toa from a Wraithlord. Should I use the new or old Eldar Wraithlord for this? I drew this quick picture on Photoshop to show how I'd modify a standard old Wraithlord to become an Exo-Toa (the big head is flipped and becomes the torso).

Sorry about the lack of pictures at the moment - this weekend I'll get home and give you some actual painting to criticize.

[UnRiggable]

Can you include the pics in the posts rather than a link, it gets anoying to keep clicking after a while. I gotta say though that you sculpt well.

[Pekel]

I added the pictures. And thanks for the compliment. Here's some more models:


And a second Swooping Hawk (but blurry picture, my camera was dying.)


And the base for the Vyper. The brightly-colored thing is a kraata.


The paint scheme is supposed to be bright and almost cartoony - they're based off Lego sets, after all.

[Ziljin]

wow this is awesome

[Punk_in_Drublic]

Can't say I care much for the theme, but I really like your painting style!

Later,

-Punk

[UnRiggable]

Agree, the green on the hawks is amazing!

[Pekel]

Thanks for the positive feedback.

The bases are a real pain in the posterior to make, but they're easy to paint and they look nice. Shame they take away valuable time during which I could be painting...

I'm not going to have any new models up for a while, since I've been back at college and working only on commissions (SoB and Beastmen). I'll try to finish 2-3 more Eldar models over Thanksgiving break. Probably another Dire Avenger, a Warlock, and hopefully the Vyper.

Right now what I really need for this army is composition advice. After realizing that I really didn't want Guardians in my army now that Dire Avengers are much better (even though a weapon platform based off Pewku the Ussal crab would have been fun to make) I figured I'd write up a final army list before buying anything more. Also note that, like any real Bionicle fan, I hate all the movies with a passion.

Anyhow, here's the current army list based on the old Codex (I just moved units to fit properly into the new Codex's FOC slots and switched the Guardians for Dire Avengers):

HQ 1/2
- Farseer: Close Combat Weapon, Shuriken Pistol, Guide, Mind War (87)
-- Warlock: Close Combat Weapon, Shuriken Pistol, Conceal (33)
-- Warlock: Close Combat Weapon, Shuriken Pistol, Embolden (23)
-- Warlock: Close Combat Weapon, Shuriken Pistol, Enhance (28)
-- Warlock: Close Combat Weapon, Shuriken Pistol, Destructor (28)
-- Warlock: Close Combat Weapon, Shuriken Pistol, Destructor (28)
-- Wave Serpent: (110)

Elites 2/3
- Howling Banshee: x8 (128)
- Fire Dragon: x8 (136)

Troops 3/6
- Ranger: x8 (153)
- Dire Avengers: x12 (144)
- Jetbike: x2 (70)
-- Jetbike: Shuriken Cannon (55)

Fast Attack 3/3
- Swooping Hawk: x8 (168)
- Vyper: Bright Lance (65)
- Warp Spider: x6 (132)

Heavy Support 2/3
- Wraithlord: Flamer, Flamer, Missile Launcher (125)
- War Walker: Shuriken Cannon, Starcannon (85)

= 1547 points
Model Count – 62

This puts me 47 points over my 1500 point limit, and I want to buy Exarchs for the Swooping Hawk and Dire Avenger squads (Skyleap and Bladestorm!). I know some units got cheaper and some got more expensive, but I'll probably wind up dropping the War Walker... shame. It was going to make a nice Boxor. I'll probably wind up expanding to 2000 points, adding an Avatar, two War Walkers, and filling in extra points with more infantry in the squads.

But yeah... any advice to increase tactical efficiency and/or bring the army more in list with the new Codex? I know it's illegal to give out points costs, so I'll do that myself once I get the Codex. Just general advice.

[Andy_The_Nerd]

Thats very cool.

The green on the hawk is very cool, how did you do that?

[Kyte]

Cool. Are you going to include Toas too?

[Boss_Salvage]

Wow, those look great! I've always liked Bionicle, and you look like your pulling the theme along really well.

What colors did you use on the Dire Avenger? Really like that muted brown scheme a lot ...

Luck with school, hope to get some updates when you've got the time

- Salvage

[Pekel]

The green's just Scorpion Green base, then a mix of SG and Skull White to highlight. Extreme areas like the gems and wingtips got another go, with a tiny bit more white.

I wanted Toa in this army, but they'd have to be Avatars or Wraithlords. And the FOC limits that. Though I could do two squads of War Walkers... Tahu/Onua/Pohatu and Kopaka/Gali/Lewa. Use the Wraithlord models but tell people they're War Walkers. Hmmm....

The brown on the Dire Avenger is Vermin Brown, highlighted with a mix of VB and Bleached Bone.

Working on these at the moment.

[Pekel]

Working on the Exo-Toa. I've got more progress on the arms and head (trimmed down, headshield being sculpted) but I need help bulking out the legs without losing the Wraithlord look. Any advice?

[Ziljin]

If you want to keep the same leg look, your best shot is just to extend the leg armor with greenstuff.

[Pekel]

What I have now:



And I think I'm going to use greenstuff and guitar string to run cables down the sides of the legs, blended in at the top and bottom with greenstuff. Here's a quick photoshop to show that and the colors.

[tinfoil]

I don't really know much about Bionicles, but speaking just from a 40K point of view, I love where this army is going. It's close enough to the style of the Eldar to fit the army/fluff/rules, but it with a unique style of presentation. The design of this army "feels right." Great job so far.

[Pekel]

tinfoil, that's exactly what I was aiming for. Eldar beyond any doubt, but enough Bionicle homages for those fans to know exactly what's going on as well.

Question: I made a sunken base and plan to use some sort of water effects in it. Here's a (terrible) picture showing it:



I'll also be adding the cardstock 'stones' to the ground and adding some wire/greenstuff cattails to the shore. But would it be okay to use Elmer's Glue as the water? I think it'd look okay on such a small scale, since it dries clear. Should I mix in a bit of blue paint or ink to tint it or leave it clear?

Also - I'm going to be gluing some large quartz crystals to one base. They're clear/white and I'm going to want them yellow. Should I paint over them or ink them yellow? I want to get as much of a glowing effect as possible, so I can't decide between a painted glow or natural translucence.

[Quin 242]

Amazing way to carry out a thought out theme.
I've never seen any bionicle shows/movies but this is VERY well done in homage.

I like the tings you've done so far and look forward to more.

[Pekel]

Just a little greenstuff smoothing out, then painting. I know I should have waited on the crotch armor, but I want to paint it...



The things he's standing on are going to be cut to look like they're made of stones, and the trench under his feet is going to be filled with lava.

[sanctusmortis]

Subscribed - I really want to see how this turns out...

[Pekel]

It looks sloppy now, but I got really sick of painting it and rushed it. I'll neaten it up later.