Spring cleaning Challenge: Blanchitsu Aeldari

The version of kill team we are playing is the first edition one, but we play it at quite high points so it more like a striped down version of 40k but with odd models rather than units. This seems against how the game was designed but it works for ourselves. So does it really matter. If both players are enjoying it and it works is there an issue?

I may have got distracted with Medieval stuff but this is far from over.

So since I last updated this project I’ve added to the force.

First these fellas, metal wrathguard. They were painted in exactly the same fashion as everything else. Been solid wraithbone though does add to there appearance those.

To lead them I picked up this figure from Mirfield Miniatures

Time is ticking though. I have a game booked in for Friday.  My usual opponents has picked up some more models for his tau and want to play a larger game also using the Elites expansion book. So now I can field Wrathguard and after the last game, my plan is to field 4 wrathguard. So I’ve two more to make up.

So I played my first game with the Eldar. We decided to use the first edition of Kill Team, mainly because it’s a rule set we both had. I wanted to keep with the eldritch raiders feel so I substituted Dire Avenger model for the farseer mainly because I like the models

I enjoyed the game but I had my arse handed to me. I’m not going to write a battle report.. Mainly because I was drinking and didn’t keep enough notes, but my mission was to assassinate his leader and it ended like this.

There were some very enjoyable moments like the guardians rushing to the gun platform which was pointing at the Tau leader but been shot in the street

So where to go from here… I’m not sure.  I’ve really enjoyed this projected but as the nights begin to draw in and the wheel of the year turns, painting eldar seems wrong. Almost as if this Spring Challenge was what it was and the Eldar just feel unseasonal. I am probably writing bollocks but that’s how it feels some how.

What I need to do is get the last models stripped so I can get them finished, and try to get a proper game of 40k organised to see how they do.

So I failed. My great plan to get the eldar finished and in there first game by the end of August never happened.  I just didn’t get organised and never got the models full stripped.

@avernosity. Sorry I never saw your comments about detol. I’ve had quite good success with Poundland nail varnish remover though.

So what have I been doing. Stuff mostly. I’ve been to a Plague Village, stayed in room 13 in whitby and even been to Wembley to watch AEW..

Also for some reason painting some Admec models. I really enjoyed doing these at in almost tempted me to use my voucher on the Starter set, but I’ve decided against it, but I will by a couple more for Mirfield just to finish it as a Kill Team

So where now for the eldar.. Well they have there first game on Friday. They will be playing Kill team which is what they originally were created for, but then aim to get them finished at least by the end of the year.

Somehow this project born out of a dark place has won. I’m don’t really believe it.. I had to rewatch the weekender just to make sure I had heard it correctly.

I would like to thank people like Ben, Jerry and Sundancer for featuring this silly idea on XLBS and the unofficial Hobby Hangout. Your comments made it feel like there was a point to what I was doing.

It has been a hell of a roller-coaster. I was really made up when I won the Golden Button, I thought that was the peak of the project.

But I can’t stop here. It would feel a failure to all of the support I’ve received and with myself. Another half finished army.  So I need to cracks on. It’s the school holidays now so this project will either fly along or slow up, but it will not end.

There is a local 40k in 40 minutes tournament, and I plan to enter it with the eldar. I need 500 points, so the jet bikes, the fire prism and the wraithguard all need finishing.

The first unit has been completed. Not a massive achievement, especially since the bases haven’t been done, but still they are ready to go.

Doing figures with out helmets brought up a challenge that I never originally thought about and that is the issue with hair. The ink ran light mad, so I had to first figure out how the paint would flow down the figure, before doing it. Most people will say this is pretty obvious, but I have never encountered this problem before. I’ve played sisters of battle for the last quarter century but it has never been an issue with them.

The other, unit near completion is the first jet bike squad. The riders are still on the table, and I need bases, especially when squad 2 is finished.

Other development is I have aquired a spiritseer, from Mark at my favorite shop Mirfield Miniatures. Although strictly not my miniature to start with, it is second hand and with need stripping before I can use it… Just need to work out how to strip finecast.

So with the new 40k rules and points out I have a design and a possible end point.

I’ve used the fancy app and created a force using the models I have and like.

A farseer

A spiritseer

Seer coincil

A squad of guardians

A squad of howling banshees

2 squads of jetbikes

A squad of Waithguards

A falcon and a fire prism

I have no idea of this army is any good, but it’s pretty much taken from the models I have, and like and fit to the corsair aesthetic I have been working with.

So I have this box. It’s full of random spruse, and parts of models. Theres unbuild falcon and a few guardians, and since I need units, its time to built more guardians.
I like the idea of the guardians having a wild corsair feel so I wanted them to have most of them without there helmets. Alas the kit is that old it has only one head option. Luckily one of my staff has built aleldar force with the exact opposite vibe so had loads free. So one morning I discovered a stash bag on my desk filled with decapitated elf heads.

So I started work on the guardians. To keep with the wild look I wanted to give them musicians and horn blowers in the unit, so I dug out a couple of dark elf musician arms.

Hopefully I can start painting them tomorrow

Since I forgot to do a step by step for the falcon it only feels right I write down the process with the windriders (although I’m very old school I love the romantasim with that name over jetbikes).

Hand undercoating was done with the genestealers originally out of necessity with the eldar it needs to be done by hand for it to work. The undercoat can not be even. Instead you need to dry brush the white down so it flows with the model. This is what does all the work later on.

Once I apply the stain, the patterning becomes more pronounced, and it starts to resemble bone.

Because there is varnish, in the stainer, going over with a thinned down black wash, and a light white drybrush just brings out the detail.

It’s been too hot to do anything recently. The heat has just been sapping my will to do anything.  So rather than do anything I have just been sat reading about what to do

With the new army list and points been finally released by GW I have a bit more structure about where I am heading.

From what I have read on the Facebook groups eldar are seen as over powered and even banned from some tournaments (not they I have played in any for 10 years). The weird thing is this army that was designed with what I have and fits a early 90s art aesthetic has become viewed as a top tier army.

I’m sure most people have stripped models back especially if they are doing this challenge. My method though is hardly fool proof and is having mixed results so I’ve written this post on what I’ve done, so if anyone has better ideas and can use them.

These are some of the metal models I have to strip. Most are lead and have had paint sat on them for just under 30 years (jesus I feel old)

I got this stuff out of a UK store called Poundland

After leaving it in a sealed jar I’ve had mixed results. Some stuff the paint just fell off, others in seems to have stained the plastic and others have patches still stubbornly holding on.

This could be down to my old toothbrush been a bit too old. My plan is to pick up a cheap one from sainsburys tomorrow.

I still need to have a go and stripping back the plastic Guardians. I’ve been recommended the paint stripper you can get from Wilkinsons. Has anyone has experience with this product or others that are worth looking at?

So with 40k been in vouge, it is time to scale up the accidental kill team to a bigger army.

I still want to keep the theme and look of a kill team, but with bigger units.

Before I put the effort into all that I need to have a crack at a tank.

I’d inherited a falcon from somewhere that had been painted in two separate schemes by different people. So this was the tank I chose to do.

I would love to show how the falcon was stripped, but I wasn’t there. A mate of mine is through it in with a load of jungle fighters he’s working on, and it came back nearly new.  The alcohol had stained the plastic slightly green but other than that not a problem.

So I painted the falcon in exactly the same was as the guardians and it worked

It took a little longer to dry but the process was the same. I was slightly worried by the flat panels but I teased the stain as it was drying and it just added to the overall effect.

It’s been a couple of weeks since John Blanche announced his retirement, and I thought it was a bit remiss of me not to put something on here.

Blanche’s art has been a big influence on my life.

This image had me hooked on 40k. The full insanity of this picture made me get a sisters of battle force and I’ve played them since I was 16.

His art work hasn’t just effected my love of warhammer but has also influenced my other work.

His busy landscapes, saturated with colour and extreme contrasts has also influenced by photographic work too.

(shameless plug) If you are interested prints and cards are available of this picture and a range of other images.

A friend of mine is doing a Vietnam Imperial guard army and has been buying lots of old models from ebay and has offered to strip some of the more complex models in this ultrasound cleaner he has. So as a test he has taken a falcon and the jet bikes to have a good with.

Also one of my staff has given me a load of helmetless eldar heads that he had in his bita box.. This should help me with the corsair look I’m hoping for.

This project has won a golden button…

I’m really not sure I deserve it, and it was really surreal listen to my highly stylised painting been discussed on XLBS.

This project started life as a kill team idea, which was fine. Paint a couple of eldar models but keep on with the Ultramarines. Then all the 10th edition stuff started to drop and the people I play started planning armies again.

This left me with two options. Either give up or go big. I’ve gone for the latter.

Ive no idea how eldar play in 40k and no idea how to build forces for this new edition. On the plus side nor does anyone else. So I’ll keep cracking on with what I’ve done so far. A full squad of banshees and guardians first and then the big challenge how will this method translate to big flat panels on the falcons and jetbikes

To expand the force away from just guardians, I dug out an old Howling Banshee.

I’m not going to go through all the stages as its identical to the guardian, but the she came out well

The worry at the back of my mind is how will I do other aspect warriors that don’t fit the bone scheme.

It’s been a bit, but I’m starting to feel upbeat about this project, in a way I never felt with the Giger project. The Genestealers were only ever intending to be 8 models, but it felt like a mountain to climb. Whilst this project feels far more inspiring to the point I’m contemplating continuing to make it a full 40k force for this new edition.

As a weird aside I found the codex I bought when I last played the army

As a default I went with my defacto basing method.  This wasn’t done more out of habit rather than thought…but if I’m going to go with this Blanchitsu theme surely the bases need to fit.. But then what would a Blanchitsu Eldar base be.

The issue I’ve had with stain is photographs.  To the eye the model looks fine, but the gloss varnish in the stain plays merry hell with light on photos. Also I’m a bit chuffed with how this army is looking so I think it is time to have a go at varnishing.

I went over the farseer with a vailaho matt varnish. Hoping that that it would knock some of the shine off the model…. And it worked