Why the hell am I working on Striking Scorpions right now?

I'm working on my Striking Scorpions right now (the ones with the Warp Spider foot and the nearly-impossible-to-remove mold lines) instead of things I actually need like my Dire Avengers. I don't know why.

What's nice, though, is that I finally busted out my airbrush. You know... the one I got back in May... and gave these guys a few squirts. Know what? It WORKED! I shouldnt be so surprised, but seriously... I just mixed Scorpion Green with Flow Improver, lined 'em up, and fired away. I love the results!



I'll be painting bone armor over the armored parts, but this makes a really nice basecoat, I say.

Warp Spider Foot

Eldar players know what I'm talking about: Warp Spiders have feet that curl up at the end. You gotta actually use the end of a paintbrush or the handle of a pair of side clippers to push them down. If you don't, it looks like they have excited toes that point up to heaven. It reminds me of Mad Magazine cartoonist Don Martin's work; he'd do these pictures of people whose toes would jut up in the air like magnets pointing due north.

The reason I mention this is because the new Striking Scorpions from Games Workshop? I'm working on a bunch tonight. They have Warp Spider Foot.

March of the Dire Avengers

The new Eldar codex has one new factor that I really support and am glad to see: Eldar players must now take troops, just like everyone else. I don't mean "troop slots". I mean troops; not Wraithlords, not Vypers, not non-Dire Avenger Aspect Warriors. Real, honest-to-goodness troops. The new codex goes a long way to try and sweeten the pill, and we should be grateful: Storm Guardians, Defender Guardians, Rangers, Pathfinders, Dire Avengers, Jetbikes and, in some cases, Wraithguard. This sounds pretty good, but it's still an adjustment for those who have been juggling the Force Org Chart to suit their whim for years with the 3rd Ed Craftworld Eldar codex. No more all-Banshee Scorpion armies. No more Wraithlords as troops (freeing up heavy support slots for 3 Falcons or whatever). No more mass-Vyper attacks. It's simple, straight-forward troop choices.

Just because I am all for this change in the new codex doesn't mean that it's a walk in the park for me to get my troops ready. Like a lot of guys, the new codex hit me with no real troop choices on hand. Rather than try to put it off and somehow force the stuff I have into some sort of list (I did give two squads of 10 Wraithguard some thought, but the 800 point total or so put me off), I decided to bite the bullet and start getting a healthy contingent of Dire Avengers together. I've scored a nice infusion of free Eldar models lately (don't ask how; you wouldn't like the answer), and I have 3 units of Avengers now.

All are assembled (save the arms, which go on after the body is painted). 30 of them. Exarchs and all. Here you go:



God, that is one crapload of painting I have ahead of me.

*Long exhale* ...back to it. Talk later.

Painting List

There's this thing that happens when you acquire a whole bunch of models at once: You put them all out on a table and look at them and feel a swell of joy. Soon, however, your smile melts away as you realize that you have to assemble and paint them, and how much work that's going to be. I took a good look at what I have to paint right now, and I think I've come down with a case of hives just from reading my own list.

HQ
To paint:
Limited Edition Autarch
Farseer
Prince Yriel of Iyanden
Eldrad Ulthran
3 Warlocks
Farseer on Jetbike

Troops
To paint:
9 Dire Avengers, 1 Exarch
7 Jetbikes
7 Rangers
1 Heavy Support Platform

To assemble and paint:
18 Dire Avengers, 2 Exarchs
3 Jetbikes

Elites
To paint:
8 Howling Banshees, 1 Exarch
5 Wraithguard
9 Fire Dragons, 1 Exarch

To assemble and paint:
9 Striking Scorpions, 1 Exarch

Fast Attack
To paint:
9 Warp Spiders, 1 Exarch
9 Swooping Hawks, 1 Exarch

To assemble and paint:
3 Vypers

Heavy Support
To paint:
Wraithlord
2 Fire Prisms
2 War Walkers

To assemble and paint:
Wraithlord
1 War Walker

Will I get them done? Of course. Will I enjoy it? 75% of the time I'll enjoy it very much... the other 25% Well, you know how it goes.

What I'll do is make up a lit and then paint what I need to fill it. Over time as I adjust lists and change my approach, I'll paint more.

Yep. That'll work.

(Good Lord)

Cow Walkers

Games Workshop has released the new War Walkers in a three-pack splash release (single War Walker boxes will be out soon). I got mine yesterday and, instead of posting all about sprues and bases and other things which are typical celebrations of new models, I'm going to link you to something else: This is a screenshot of a post I made at Warseer when photos of the new War Walkers were just starting to emerge. I have to show you a screenshot because, oddly enough, the original post was deleted.

Wonder why.

I'm Semi-Sorta-Kinda Micro-Famous

I was interviewed by Games Workshop Ottawa. Wasn't just me, though; it was my trusted and respected compatriot, Bill Dullemond (who is far, far more knowledgable about Eldar than I am). In my usual, inimitable way, I blather on and on and on every time I answer a question and use ten words where one would do... but those of you who follow this blog should be used to that by now.

Anyhow, I sorta feel a bit like a coat-tail rider by being on the same marquis as Bill, but it was fun all the same and, for the record, if you're not too up on the current Eldar stuff then you might get some new info from this interview.

Poor Derek

So I was at the Bayshore Games Workshop last night, and I ran into my old pal Derek. He's a huge Ultramarine fan and has tons and tons of models, and we always end up talking about our respective armies when we get together. I decided, for the heck of it, to ask him about how he likes to transport his models, and he said he likes the Games Workshop cases a lot. I asked him which cases he had. He said this:

"I really want the big hard one because right now I only have the big soft one", and then went on to explain why sometimes the models don't sit right in the big soft case because the walls move and sometimes let the models drop to the bottom.

"What was that you just said?" I asked him.

"I want the big hard one because I only have the big soft one" he replied.

I called Red Shirt Adam over.

"Now tell me again," I said to Derek. "You really want the...."

Derek, who had already figured out what I was doing, murmured through his teeth... "big hard one", he said.

"Cause you've already got... what?"

"The big soft one" he replied.

"I think I've heard enough." I told him.

Poor Derek. He needs better friends.