The Wild Hunt - 40k Harlequins

The Wood Elf models for Blood Bowl are really cool and athletic:

You know who else is cool and athletic?

Harlequins!  When I first saw the BB Wood Elves, my first thought was they would make some cool Harlequins.  Perhaps they could be Exodite Wardancers, or have a particular obsession with the Aeldari legends of Kurnous, god of the hunt.

I converted up my first box of BB Wood Elves a couple of years ago:

They then sat in a box for a good long while as I alternated between other projects and losing interest in painting.  Recently though I dug them out and got some paint on them:

I’ve chosen a very simple (some might say lazy) painting process: a zenithal undercoat (AP Fur Brown, GW Zandri Dust, GW Wraithbone) followed by GW contrast paints.  It gives me some shading, midtone and highlights with one layer of paint.  Masks and weapons get a few layers of highlighting and shading since they are focal points.  Character models may also get some highlights.  I went with an autumnal colour scheme since it is autumn here.

Around the same time I built these models, I also built some characters:

From left to right we have:

• A Troupe Master, based on the Forge World  BB star player Eldril Sidewinder
• A Solitaire, who was built along with the regular troupers
• A Shadowseer, based on a Dark Elf Sorceress
• A Death Jester, who I just gave some horns to match the theme

Asides from the Solitaire, who is already painted, these are currently being painted.  I guess they will be my next update!

Once I started painting the troupers, I got the itch.  What had initially been one box of models for Kill Team started to seem like a plausible army.  And I had my eyes on some other fantasy models to convert as characters.

First up is a Shadowseer, who is based on the Lumineth Scinari Cathallar.  Then there’s a Death Jester, my favourite model of the whole lot so far, based on an Idoneth Akhelian Thrallmaster:

He has a cane because the Harlequins are nothing if not fancy weirdos.  But if anyone asks, it can be reconfigured as a tripod for his gun.