Patriarch's Epic Eldar!

[Patriarch]

OK, it's about time I stopped ogling everyone else's minis on this site and posted some of my own.

All comments welcome. Bear in mind I've been painting longer than I've been taking photographs...

These are from my epic Eldar army, which is in the green-and-white of Biel-Tan. Some of these are re-paints of minis I've had since Adeptus Titanicus, others are from Specialist Games, and the rest from Ebay. As you'll notice, I prefer the old fashioned square bases for my infantry.

Since the army is finally nearing completion, seems like a good excuse to make me finish it off.

First up: Guardians. I've got two formations of these guys, which are each based around 1 Warlock, 3 Heavy Weapons, and four stands of Guardian Defenders. These formations have the option of being upgraded with 3 Support Weapons, 3 Wraithlords, and 3 stands of Wraithguard.




Farseer:

In Epic, the Biel-Tan army gets a free Avatar, who turns up to wreak havoc for a single turn before disappearing. Unfortunately, the only way he can appear is if a Farseer summons him...and you need to buy a Guardian formation to get the Farseer. To me, this is the only reason to bother with them, otherwise I'd rather spend the points on aspect warriors.

[Patriarch]

Next up: jetbikes.

Jetbikes are fielded in formations of up to six units. These units can either be a stand of bikes, or a single Viper. Eagle-eyed viewers will note both formations consist of 8 units- I can have all-bike, or replace with vipers for flexibility.

Ever the old git, my bike stands consist of 2 models to a square base.

[Epoch]

Great to see more epic here. I love the support and heavy weapons. The painting on them is very clean.

[CaptainSenioris]

That army is loking pretty sweet. The level of detail on such small models is very impressive.

So whats next for the army?

[Patriarch]

Great to see more epic here. I love the support and heavy weapons. The painting on them is very clean.

Thanks Epoch. Epic seems to be a growing thing...either oldies like me getting back into it, or WH40k players looking for something a bit different.

Right, last update for tonight...the Swords of Vaul.

These are Falcon formations, which are properly nasty in Epic. Fast and shooty, but with all the protection of a wet paper bag. At least no one will accuse you of cheesy holofield falcon spam at 6mm scale. Just to be safe, I have made 3 squadrons.

Each squadron consists of 5 grav tanks, of which two are upgraded to Firestorm anti-aircraft units. Nearly as nasty as a Falcon against regular vehicles, each has multiple shots against any aircraft formations which fly within range.

Also bulking out this particular "wing" are a trio of Fire Prisms; these are long range anti tank units, which can also perform AA duties.

Falcons/Firestorms:


Fire Prisms:


All Swords of Vaul together:

That army is loking pretty sweet. The level of detail on such small models is very impressive.
So whats next for the army?

Ta CaptainSenioris! Coming very soon to this log will be the Titan wing, Engines of Vaul wing, Aspect wing, Sky wing, and a big spaceship!

[Serpent]

These pictures made want to read the rules and start an army. Damn you.

[torgoch]

Those are gorgeous - and make me rather regret i painted my Eldar in a day...

[dancingmonkey]

Very tasty sir. A great level of detail...

So good to see a lot of Epic love starting to take root... A number of epic logs are starting to appear. Nice to see old school bases also... I kinda miss them.

Whats next? A titan maybe... Whoops, just noticed you stated your intentions... I was distracted by the pictures

If only we could find a middle point to all get a game or two in...

Cheers.

Jon

[daemonkin]

Lovin the log so far Patriarch. Now that Warhammer 25 is over I can get back to my Epic Thousand Sons, Raven Guard, Imperial Guard, Saim Hann Eldar... Oh god the list goes on.

Lovely details on the swords of vaul.

Great work.
D.

[Patriarch]

Thanks everyone

@Serpent: join the dark side, you know you want to!
@Torgoch: I'm the world's slowest painter, I envy anyone who can bash out an army in a week or so...the advantage is you can keep your enthusiasm up.
@dancingmonkey: a Titan (or two) it is! If I only spent a fraction of the time playing that I spend painting...
@daemonkin: I know the feeling. I've got IG, Chaos, Tyranids and a few GK to do in Epic alone. Bite-sized chunks...

OK, as promised, here are the titans. First up, the Revenant titans:



With titans, I like to scale them by having human-sized minis sharing the base. As it turns out, the feet on the models are very delicate - the joint can't support the weight of the model above it. So I had to use a large pin through the lower leg down to the base. In both cases the base needed more substance for the pin to grip, this was provided by a wrecked rhino and an Imperial bunker, with a Ranger (and one dead marine sergeant) for scale.



The armour finish is left deliberately "rough"; these are giant wraithbone constructs, so I imagine the raw material is rather bone-like in appearance. The Eldar probably wouldn't put a smooth finish on anything that large. Also, it adds to the model's "ghostlike" appearance, the pale look giving a sense of distance and therefore large size.

[Patriarch]

Next up is the completed Phantom titan.
I bulked out the pulse laser (which is a bit stubby for an Eldar weapon these days) by replacing the barrel with a metal 40k brightlance.

Eldar titans are lovely models, most 20 year-old minis haven't fared as well; my only issue with it is that the legs are in a static position. I wanted to convey movement and agility, fortunately the legs are long and spindly enough to allow some repositioning. I raised the titan's foot to have it resitng on a spare Leman Russ tank. Scale came from a squad of guardians rushing forward to occupy some feature which the Phantom has just cleared for them.

[CaptainSenioris]

Wow again it's the little details that make these awesome.

I love that wee guardian model who looks like he's shooting the downed marine

EDIT: Damn I always seem to catch you between updates, that phantom Titan is just amazing, you've done a great job re-posing an otherwise static model.

[Patriarch]

The last Titan is the Warlock. As well as its psychic abilities which allow it to buck Epic's order turn system, it's psychic lance makes it a monster in close engagements.

To emphasise its psychic nature, I used a Farseer and his Warlock bodyguard on the base; the titan's legs repositioned to have it striding over/past them.

[dancingmonkey]

Still looking very good. I love that purple you are using for spot colour, really helps set the model off. Loving the mini dioramas too. (poor L..Russ)

Right, enough trolling, I'm off to chain myself to my desk for a serious bout of painting... whilst watching (listening to) Azumanga Daioh, possibly one of the cutest random anime/mangas ever...

(Its about school girls, (minds out of the gutter folks, its cute not raunchy) not what you expect to listen to whils painting tanks...)

[Patriarch]

Thanks CS & DM!

(Its about school girls, (minds out of the gutter folks, its cute not raunchy) not what you expect to listen to whils painting tanks...)

Yeah, yeah, we believe you...thousands wouldn't...

[CyberShadow]

That is some inspiring work. Well done indeed. I will be following this with interest, and it is great to see another Epic painting log here.

[StugMeister]

That is a very nicely painted army you've got there sir!

Great job.

[orangesm]

Very nice, I like the little details you have on your titan bases.

[firestorm40k]

Really, really nice Eldar Patriarch; they're the one epic army I have no plans or desire to collect, but they're always the one Epic army that brings out the best in people's painting abilities. Well done!

[Patriarch]

Thanks all for the kind words.

Right next up: Objectives.

The standard Epic game is based on objectives; you can win by wiping out the enemy but this is difficult in the short number of turns you have. You are much more likely to win by capturing objective markers, of which 3 are placed by each player.

An objective marker can be anything - it doesn't contribute directly to the game except as something to be fought over. The standard objective is an Imperial bunker, but I thought an eldar army will want something more unique to try and capture or defend.



The first objective is a shrine of Khaine. This is a kind of "Stonehenge" affair set around an old school Avatar model. The henge is made from wooden skewers with milliput slabs on the top.



Next up is the wraithgate, which is included with the current Avatar model available from SG. The wraithgate allows the Eldar to use it as an entrance into the game, so is a nasty surprise for an enemy who thinks he has claimed an easy objective with no defenders. Apart from a cavalry base, I gave this the same wraithbone treatment as the Titans.

Last of all is a crashed Waveserpent, with its precious cargo of a Farseer. The Eldar will sacrifice many warriors to keep him out of the enemy's hands.