No School like…

When collecting and painting an oldhammer army, there is a lot to be said for how you paint and base your force, especially as late 80’s GW was a wild, ever changing place. Every new publication brings about a new way to paint a certain type of mini. 

Talking with my opponent he asked how old school I would be going, with this era of Eldar being iconic for striped helmet decoration. Well, while there is a helmet design, I told him I would be showing how things used to be done in a very different way;

Hexbases!

I don’t know why, but these bases please me, they were the shape used in all of the Rogue Trader rule book example images, they let you ‘rank up’ your units without looking like a fantasy regiment, and I feel they are a woefully forgotten part of gaming. I went along, made a small bend in all the tabs, so they pressure fit into the slots, and got to work texturing the bases;

Starting with a texture paste (usually a pot of AK, but it’s gone missing somewhere in the tower, perils of many projects, so a pot of Astrogranite will do), and mixing with two different types of larger pieces to give a nice ‘rocky’ feel. Yes, the mixing pot is a ketchup pot from a well know food place, and the tools are coffee stirrers, useful materials are everywhere.

With a spray undercoat, we are ready to bring this force into reality! And I’m sure you’re wondering what scheme these pointy eared miscreants will take on, well, looking at the Eldar section of the main rulebook, you get a few suggestions;

The bright red of the Sunblitz Brotherhood, with the sun design looking so much cooler than the pale yellow and blues or the random wavy stripes, but there was nothing showing the rest of the scheme until the Epic 40000 Eldar Legions box set;

There’s a little mistake here, can you spot it boys and girls?

Yes, the images for the Eldar warrior in the Black Sun and Sunblitz entries gave been swapped in printing somehow, and searching for the relevant schemes has had issues because of this, but the infantry description is clear.

Red Helmet (with Sunblitz design). Black Bodysuit. Yellow Accents. This is how my Space Elves shall be adorned, and I also now want to find that style of grav tank in the correct scale. No I am not buying a 3D printer.

No.