Less than 16 days to WargamesCon and despite my best efforts I still feel that I’m a bit behind.
Right now I have 7 wave serpents bodies on the table about a third to half way completed (I hate painting white!). All that is left on the tank bodies, is the chainmail for the metal bits, washing the metal bits, jeweling and cleaning up. I’ve still yet to reassemble and prime the turrets and shuriken cannons.
What I have painted in Biel-Tan style
Note: I do have a ton of Guardians & 6 Vypers in an old paint scheme.
Also Note: This is not the list that I’m taking, this is all that I have painted.
- 15 Fire Dragons
- 3 Fire Dragon Exarchs
- 40 Dire Avengers
- 1 Dire Avenger Exarch
- 6 War Walkers
- 3 Fire Prisms
- 12 Eldar Jetbikes
- 10 Howling Banshees
- 1 Howling Banshee Exarch
- 1 Jain Zar
- 1 Converted Eldrad
WOW – 93 models!?!? I didn’t think I had that many painted already
To be painted
- 7 Wave Serpents (on the table now!)
- 12-13 Striking Scorpions (depending if I want to add Kanandras to that squad as I did Jain Zar). The banshees took me 3 nights, I’d expect about the same for these.
- 3 Fire Prisms (2 of which I have all the parts for, still waiting on Brent for the remainder parts — no rush I have other things to paint this week and maybe next week 😉 ). It took me only 2-3 nights to paint my first 3… should be about the same for these.
- 6 Objective Markers (low priority, but I’d still like to get them done). This should only take me 1-2 nights — if that.
That’s an estimated 8 nights of painting – not including my Wave Serpents that are on the table now (another 3-4 days for them).
If I complete my goal (it’s still looking good), I’ll have 116 (+6 objective) models painted in Biel-Tan fashion – a strong mix of infantry and vehicles. I can’t wait to take a picture that army on the table!
There’s a good chance I’ll be done with the Wave Serpents by Thursday evening (maybe Friday evening). I’m really wanting to have the bodies of the vehicles done tonight or mostly done tonight and then dedicate all Wednesday or Thursday evening to the 7 turrets and weapons (Shuriken Cannons, tops and bottom).
However, I honestly only need 4 Wave Serpents now, (if I’m taking a Sunstorm Apocolypse formation and I get the last 3 Fire Prisms assembled and painted) but I’ve already got the other 3 as done as the others so I’d rather spend the extra time and knock them out while I’m “In The Zone.”
For most folks this would seem like a lot (and it is!), but although the pressure’s on my 8pm-11pm times have been quite dedicated to finishing these out.
At this point I have well nearly 3000 points of Biel-Tan eldar painted, but it’s not quite what I planned. As soon as these serpents are painted, I’ll be well over that mark.
Possible painting projects if I have time
IF (wow that’s a big if!) I get done in time I’ve got a few more Dire Avengers Exarchs and a couple of Autarchs to paint up just in case I want to change my list up while I’m down there.
Looking to the Future
Although the Eldar codex is ‘meta weak’ and terribly over costed compared to most of the other codeces, the army is my first Wargaming love, and still my favorite model series of all time. It’s true that the Falcon design is older than some wargamers (1997), but it holds its age very well against the current models.
What will I paint next? I’m not sure. It will probably depend on what 6th edition has in store for the Eldar. I’ve planned on getting a gaggle of Vypers ready for painting (I think I have 4 on the Sprue and 6 which can be stripped and painted). I’ve also got a whole bunch of Aspect Warrior squads that could be painted (3-4 full squads of each aspect if I recall).
I’ve intentionally not touched Guardians as much as possible due to all the white I have to paint. I’ll get over that trepidation once I’m not so much in a crunch for painting and I can take a bit more time to help them look a bit better. The white that I have on my War Walkers is terrible, I’m not ashamed to admit it, but they’re painted and they look fine “on the table.”
I’m done with Jetbikes (unless I convert an Autarch on one, which that idea has been floating around in my mind) until new ones are released. My conversion is simple yet effective and I’ll bet it’ll blend well with the new ones when they’re released.
I’ve been tempted to purchase a big Forgeworld model as a reward to myself for all the work that’s gone into this army. I’m torn between a Revenant Titan and/or a Cobra class Super Heavy. It’ll probably be August before I do such a thing though.
As usual you can keep up with my progress by clicking here the post will become non-sticky as soon as Wargamescon has started.