Lots and Lots of Eldar Guns

 At long last, I've assembled (almost) all the Eldar mounted guns that I've got bits for. It was something of a process of trial and error, but here we go.

First up is a very old d-cannon, as advertised in Rogue Trader, with what seem to be the appropriate crew. This looks quite unlike the other Eldar big guns, and could be just a generic sci-fi weapon. I suspect that it comes from a time when GW hadn't quite got the look of the Eldar figured out yet.

I had the gun itself and the bottom of the stand, but I'd hacked up the connecting part many years ago. So, I improvised with bits and pieces. As ever, converting is a matter of working out the shapes that you need, rather than the actual parts: Eldar stuff is sleek and rounded, so I used bits that suggested that, largely left over from the plastic guardians kit. I recommend keeping any leftover parts from kits, especially bits of plastic tube like gun barrels that could be used for connecting things.

Next we've got the old metal plasma gun, as seen before on this website. I reckon looking at hovering laser cannons is what Eldar rednecks do in their spare time, when not driving their grav-pickups (more on this in a later post).

The third gun is called Mary Lou - no wait, it's an old metal d-cannon. Unlike the gun at the top, this one looks much more Eldarish, with the elegant gun-shield and base with engines at the back and a curved prow. This one also dates back to Rogue Trader days.

Now we've got the starcannon from the guardian plastic set. Nothing to see here, just two space elves with a huge laser gun, whooping in a sophisticated manner.

And finally (at last!) I made up a brightlance (that's an Eldar lascannon to me). You get a lot of big guns to choose from in the guardians set, along with a spare gun shield. It seemed a shame to waste them, especially since I had so many crew, so I bought a spare metal base from ebay for a few pounds.

However, connecting the gun and its base was harder than I'd expected. I built a connecting piece out of sprue, which is good for adding bulk to conversions. By pure luck, it happens that the base piece had a hole in it, where the gun mount would fit if I had one. The hole was just the right size for one of those little cylindrical pegs that you get on the top of some bits of sprue (I think this is where they cut it out of the moulds, or something like that). I added little bits and bobs to the sprue to make it look more Eldar-esque.

And here it is painted!

So that's my high-tech Napoleonic cannon-line finished! 

Lots and Lots of Eldar Gunners

 The trouble with these projects of mine is that they start off with me deciding to repaint some old models and then I buy a ton of new ones. Or new old ones. Anyhow, owing to wild enthusiasm, I've ended up with a load of Eldar gun crew. They range from dinky Rogue Trader era models to larger modern ones. I like them all.

These two guys are really old. All the pictures I've seen of them have them next to a massive and chunky D-cannon, which doesn't look Eldarish in the slightest. Anyhow, they're great models; really sci-fi and oddly elegant. They'd look appropriate in a Moebius picture or a Yes album cover. I think the more recent Eldar have lost a lot of the simple sleekness of the old metal sculpts.

Next up are two more recent crewmen. I think they're specifically from a bigger mounted gun. They've got odd antennae. You can see what I mean about the armour becoming bulkier: the sculpting is nice, but they're less elegant (and they've still got a crap armour save). I didn't make a great job of the bare-headed guy's face, but otherwise the armour has come out pretty well, for me.

And finally, here's an absolutely wacky dude from the strange days of Rogue Trader. This chap has taken time out from playing bass for The Damned to operate the weird organic aiming device sprouting from his shoulders. I like the idea that Eldar field crew might be a bunch of random types who show up wearing whatever they like. 

And here they all are - apart from the two plastic gunners who came with the plastic set. I just need to make some guns for them! Maybe I should get on ebay again...

Eldar Warlocks and the Complete Guardian Squad

 This week I decided to paint up two converted Eldar warlocks. I converted both of these a long time ago, for reasons now lost. I stripped them both and gave them a repaint.

The first was a simple arm replacement. I cut the arm off the model (it was originally holding a pistol) and replaced it with a pointing arm from a set of high elf archers. This didn't take much tidying up and was ready for painting pretty quickly.

The second warlock was a more complicated conversion. She has the arms and lower body of a warlock, but her head and torso were cut from a metal guardian model. I completely dismantled this model, cleaned the bits up and stuck them back together again. It's not perfect but it is neater than my original attempts. I gave them both purple-red hair: presumably, this is the colour of psychics.

And I've also finished off the guardian squad! I found another couple of guardian models, one of them a very old push-fit plastic miniature, and added them to the unit. I'm really pleased with these guys. They're slightly unexciting grunts, but they look good in a group. I'm particularly pleased with the shading on their support weapon. No idea what it is, though. A heavy plasma gun, perhaps?

This bit is weirdly pretty.

Free This Weekend!

 

Just a quick post. My fantasy novel Up To The Throne is free this weekend on Kindle and Hello Books. Here's what it's about:

Giulia Degarno returns to the city-state of Pagalia with one intention: to kill the man who scarred her and left her for dead. But Publius Severra is no longer a mere criminal, and has risen to become a powerful politician - and perhaps the only man who can save Pagalia from anarchy. Now, as Severra stands poised to seize the throne, Giulia must choose between taking her revenge, and saving her home.

And here's where you can get it:

https://hellobooks.com/fantasy

Happy reading!

Eldar Dreadnought and more Guardians

 This week, I've been painting a few more Eldar. I started with a very old dreadnought. I went with the usual colours, but for a change I painted his head green and faded it up to blue at the back. He was based on a Sedition Wars base. I really like the model, but it's amusing that in the year 40,000, the wise Eldar build huge robots and send them out to punch the enemy to death.

I also painted some more plastic guardians. They're not bad sculpts, but the definition on the casting is quite soft, and it's hard to tell where some of the armour begins and ends. I tried using a thin purple wash, which I'm not sure I like. One of the models - a woman - has a Dark Eldar head, but otherwise they're unconverted.

They're quite enjoyable to do, but for models that are pretty much one colour, they're surprisingly tricky to paint.

Eldar Test Models

 As threatened, I've stripped some very old Eldar models and given them a new paint job. I was recently bought a box of Eldar guardians, who have a certain spindly charm, and it seemed a good time to revisit the other space pixies. Some while ago, I painted some Privateer Press Scyrah elves, which have a slightly Eldarish feel, so it seemed good to add to them.

First up, here's a test model for the guardians. He's got a high elf head, for a bit of variety. I quite like the colour scheme, although it does make him look a bit like a superhero.

And here are some really old models. One of the first bits of 40k I ever saw was a battle report between the Blood Angels and the Alaitoc Eldar. The two armies were really bright and appealing. Among the Eldar were some rather garish mounted guns. Here are some gunners:

I really like these guys. The bloke wearing what seems to be an armoured swimsuit and carrying a lunchbox, and the chap in a Wild West coat and some kind of bio-mechanical periscope are pure Rogue Trader. They've got a certain goofy charm.

On which subject, here's the other lunchbox twin and a robot. The robot is actually an old Epic-scale Eldar knight titan, but I think it would work well as an extra guardian or maybe even a wrathguard.

And here is the field gun itself. It's actually a plasma cannon - I'm not even sure Eldar still have those - and it's from a bunch of models that I bought when I was 14. There's a subtle fade on the gun-shield, but it might be so subtle as to be invisible!

More Eldar to follow, I think!