Engel's Eldar - Primary Color Army No.3

[Fable]

Now you guys get to pick the pose!

Pose 3:


Weird thing - FW sells the Shadow Spectres as a unit of 5, the unit size is 3-5 and the Exarch as a single model, so you end up with a totally spare Aspect Warrior. I figure I come out ahead.

My vote is for pose #3 as it is hyper aggressive.

As a side note, in IA:11 you'll notice the squad size has been changed to 3-6 (and with the way the guns stack if you intend to use them as Spectres you'll want a full squad as it's the only way to hit str 10).

[Hendarion]

The Unit-size is 3-6 accordingly to IA11, isn't it? But imo 3-5 by selling 5 per bag is the more logical thing - now you might want to field 6 normal Spectres without an Exarch and you actually need 2 bags to be able to do that.

Pose #3 though is awesome, the others are... medium. Really, #3 is really great. GW should start thinking of these kind of dynamic poses instead of the weird ones they mostly offer (Harlequins... oh really?). Yea, you can build such poses yourself - sometimes - but less often than you can't.

[Karlon]

I think 2 is going to mark him out better as an Exarch. Plus its the most dynamic.

[greenmtvince]

I'd say 3 if you had to pick between them but I would try for something a bit more commanding or with intent to kill.

The first two poses strike me as being very American Football. Pose 1 is "QB about to Pass," and Pose 2 is "QB decided to run with it." By complete contrast pose 3 conjures up visions of competitive figure skating...

Great looking rangers by the way!

[Inquisitor Engel]

Thanks all!

Looks like the Number 3's have it.

[Inquisitor Engel]

Quick update:

I grabbed some Army Painter Pure Red spray to do some Guardians with. Managed to find the old 'battle-squad' boxes NIB for $20 on eBay!

On the left is one hand coated in Blood Red, on the right is the Pure Red.



The Pure Red is a little bit brighter, just a shade, but they're close enough to where after a Badab Black wash, I don't think you'll be able to tell the difference.

[tundra]

This comparison is very interesting. Can you make some other shots after the Badab Black wash???

[Inquisitor Engel]

This comparison is very interesting. Can you make some other shots after the Badab Black wash???

Good call. They're as near as makes no difference as far as I can tell. (Ignore the arm on the guy on the right, I missed that)



During experimental highlighting, I have found that a second wash of Baal Red works really well to make the red pop a lot more. There's certainly a colour difference between plastics with the Blood Red/Badab Black formula and the Finecast Rangers, I'm definitely happy with the result and it bodes well for jetbikes and vehicles, though I'd much rather find a paint that was that tone already, than worry about washing such massive flat areas...

[Son of Russ]

That's pretty awesome. I used Dragon Red by Army Painter for my Fire Dragons. I use Skeleton Bone by them for my Craftworlders which make my tanks a doddle. I now have 23 Grav Tanks for my Craftworld Warhost. Admittedly, with the wash process, the tanks are more dappled but that's part of their character. It'd probably be a lot harder to get a smooth colouring through washes or inks without an airbrush though.

Saying all of that, the Guardians look great in your experiment! Can't wait to see more.

[Inquisitor Engel]

Here we go! Took a good few hours to get him to where I'm happy with the test Guardian. I am... super happy with him, not super happy with the standard of having to make all of my Guardians look... like this. Le sigh.

The red is:

Army Painter Pure Red Spray
Badab Black Wash
Blood Red/Baal Red mix Highlights
Baal Red Wash
Straight Blood Red highlight

Very pleased with how he turned out, very pleased.

[Morthai]

The guardian looks great. Personally , I think a black face mask (as on previous pictures) would look even better but that's me. Cheers

[Son of Russ]

I think he looks fantastic! Well worth the work!

[Hideous Loon]

Good job, using red, green and white without making him into a Christmas Guardian.

How about some black face markings? A rune on the forehead, that kind of stuff.

[Inquisitor Engel]

Thanks for the kind words guys - I really am happy with the result, just not happy with the amount of effort that's going to go into doing a single squad... I'll be mixing some red face-plates, as well as some black and grey ones into the mix (one of my Rangers has a red face plate) as well as runes denoting squads. My only concern about doing so is that it will spoil the solid white look of the helmets, the included transfers within the Eldar transfer sheet are a bit big for my taste.

I'll probably be printing my own transfers anyway (I have a vector PNG of the Saim-Hann Serpent, which I'll be twisting and moving into differing serpents for the tanks and jetbikes) so small squad icons shouldn't be an issue. Just need to get the right icons!

[Hendarion]

I think the pure white helmet is just fine. It fits the design and is well executed.

[Inquisitor Engel]

A brief update!

I finished the other test Guardian. Can you tell which had an original hand-coat of Blood Red and who got blasted with the Army Painter Dragon Red? Honest thought please! (I still need to highlight the one on the left's Shuriken Catapult)



Side note - There's a marked increase in the quality and detail on kits designed in 1999 versus today. The details on the old Eldar faces are quite shallow and lacking compared to the faces of today. I may be seeking out some WFB Elf heads instead, as they may be easier to paint. Went through three of these to even get one I was satisfied with for a line-level model! Any suggestions?

[Serpent]

I can't see which one is sprayed. But the white on that helmet looks really nice!

I'm not entirely sold on the bases, though. Just wading through grey macadam gravel won't do these guys justice.

[Son of Russ]

They look fantastic! I can't tell which is which and I used Dragon Red primer! Love, love, love the white faceplate!

[Starchild]

I'll probably be printing my own transfers anyway (I have a vector PNG of the Saim-Hann Serpent, which I'll be twisting and moving into differing serpents for the tanks and jetbikes) so small squad icons shouldn't be an issue. Just need to get the right icons!

hmmm I wonder if you could make the twin helix saim-hann rune? A sheet of those transfers were included in the wild riders of saim-hann five jetbike boxed set from 2nd edition. They were never printed again but I always thought that was the best rendition of the cosmic serpent rune.

[Radium]

Can you tell which had an original hand-coat of Blood Red and who got blasted with the Army Painter Dragon Red? Honest thought please!

Based on the slightly rougher looking texture of the Guardian on the right I'd say that's the one that got the spray. Colourwise I can't tell though.
I really like the red you've used though! Nice and solid colour.