Lockdown 2.0 Project Log Day 37: Warzone Eternal Update

 Hi!

I had hoped to have some more painted miniatures to show today but alas the big guy I'm painting at the moment isn't finished yet so I thought I'd take a bit of a peek at Warzone Eternal.

Res Nova Games have released their first update with regards to the new version of Warzone and thus far it's sounding quite an interesting, skirmish based game.

Here's  a bit of what we know for the present in no particular order:

Warzone Eternal will be a small unit skirmish game featuring 5-10 elite troops duking it out on a 3'x3' board with approximately 60% coverage of terrain. For me this is really good news as I haven't got much space for a big board and my painting approach is best described as super slow but painting five to ten figures for a force shouldn't be too difficult.

The scale will be heroic 32mm and heavily inspired by the original Paul Bonner artwork but modernised sculpts (we've seen an early render of a Blood Beret already).  

The game takes a nod to the original 1st edition so it's likely to use D20 dice but is doing away with templates, instead giving area of effects to weapons. This is an interesting choice as previous editions have had loads of templates but it's been stated that they don't want to force folks to buy templates or print out stuff or worse yet, cut up their books!

It isn't going to be a single shot kill sort of a game, instead troops become injured which makes them less effective so things like medics will become more important. I like this approach which seems to be reflecting a small scale firefight between covert operators rather than a big battlefield.

Also each squad member can specialise in different things, with some being experts with heavy weapons whilst others are close combat trained and still others are more like basic grunts. This is going to be interesting to see and could lead to very interesting squad creation options but the designers have already stated that all models will be useful so there won't be the traditional must haves or never take options.

The initial release is going to have squad boxes with the troops and modular weapons options so you can field different weapon loadouts. I think it's been stated somewhere that one box may well be Blood Berets and Golden Lions which will further add to the options as both are Imperial special forces but are differently equipped. 

As of launch, the figures will be special forces types so no Trenchers or Hussars initially so it's going to be interesting to see what comes out. Similarly, there won't be an initial release of the big guys like Ezoghouls for the followers of Algeroth so I'm guessing they'll get Undead Legionnaires and Necromutants. This is quite an interesting decision but it will allow for some really iconic infantry units to see action and apparently as the game grows the basic troop types will appear along with bigger stuff.

The original plan was to have a kickstarter in Q1 2021 but due to the Covid lockdowns this has put a bit of a delay in things but they do plan to have all the figures, rules books and whatnot ready and made for the kickstarter and aren't promising things they cannot deliver. Essentially we've got no definite date of being able to get our hands on the game or figures but Res Nova are being more prepared than other kickstarter games makers who promise loads and then don't deliver.

It's still early days but its sounding like Warzone Eternal is going to be a really interesting game and if the miniatures are half decent, well worth a peek.

I also contacted Res Nova direct and they are aiming to have the figures available in the UK and Europe as so many of the Warzone fanbase is this side of the Atlantic which is good news as I loved the look of things like Darkage but it only got a US release. 

Here's a link to the WARZONE ETERNAL facebook group which will hopefully start giving us more information soon, especially artwork, miniature previews and some idea as to when we can expect the game!

Tomorrow will hopefully se me having the big guy I've been working on finished followed by some scenery, some of which may even be Warzone themed as the assorted planets of the solar system could be quite a good fun project and eminently usable with my other, Rogue Trader stuff!

In the meantime, All the best!

Lockdown 2.0 Project Log Day 36: Retro Terrain Part 4

 Hi!

I'm really enjoying making terrain at the moment and it's been a good way of avoiding getting bogged down with figures too. Again these were inspired by the old How to Make Wargaming Terrain book!

I made some simple boxes using mounting board and then added lots of small decorative elements with cereal box card and a piece of plastic I had lying around. I'm really pleased with how they turned out, even if they are rough and ready as I feel they are meant to be played on and as such are robust and act as good objectives, cover and targets to blow up.

Shed 7 and 5 are prefab containers turned into hab buildings by the excavation team on Genos XV, a death world in the Farpoint sector. Their sturdy construction comes in handy to protect their inhabitants from the unwelcome attentions of the denizens of Genos.

I went for a similar paint scheme to the previous box terrain and grotted it up a bit with lots of washes of various browns. Add a few little gem effects for com panels and whatnot and I've got some handy gaming terrain!

Inquisitor Frost's party encounters an Ork warband.

In Warzone news, we now have a name and a Facebook group!

At present, there's not much on it other than 300+ excited Warzone fans but there's hopefully going to be short stories, previews and all manner of other exciting bits and bobs. At present it appears that Res Nova don't have any other web presence but I'm hoping that as we get closer to the games release, we'll start seeing all sorts of exciting stuff.

In the meantime, All the best!

Lockdown 2.0 Day 35: Down the Warzone Rabbit Hole and Orks!

 Hi!

Despite myself I seem to be getting increasingly hopeful for the rerelease of Warzone by Res Nova and have spent quite a bit of time re-reading my old 1st edition rulebooks.

It's possibly a bit daft as there's no website, no art, not even a tentative release date but despite all that, having watched several videos of the games designers and the folks of Res Nova I'm finding more and more elements of what they are hoping to do just what I'd hope it to be.

There is something pleasingly retro about the feel of Warzone with it's Megacorporate powers, small forces of over the top units and characters who were capable of wading through entire armies with one hand tied behind their back. 

Having re-perused the original rules, I was struck by how good a skirmish game it is, troops can fling themselves onto the ground to gain cover from incoming fire, the three action system allows for all manner of interesting tactics and each force has a noticeably different style of play. 

Coupled with a really fascinating setting that is both sci-fi, fantastic and pleasingly recognisable, being it is our solar system but largely either terraformed or at least colonised by the megacorps. Each planet has a different theme to it, be it Mars and it's arid deserts, Venus's lush jungles, Mercury's subterranean labyrinths or even Earth's irradiated wastelands, it's a setting that really lends itself to playing small, narrative scenarios, campaigns and an immersive sort of game that I've been really looking for.

Despite coming out in the mid 90's, Warzone feels like a love letter to the action movies of the 80's with corporate greed and shenanigans dialled up to 11, shoulder pads that can take out an eye and horrors from another dimension seeking to invade our reality. 

Yes there are similarities with the Mutant Chronicles universe and 40k but having picked up the book for the first time in years I'm absolutely hooked on the struggle for supremacy between the Megacorps and the Dark Legion, the Brotherhoods enigmatic manoeuvres and the heroes and villains duking it out across the solar system. 

Is the new endeavour for Warzone going to be able to keep the essence of everything that was awesome about the original and update it for a 21st century audience, and more importantly will it be a success following the curse of Warzone? I really, really hope it is and am finding myself really rooting for it! Certainly it seems to be trying to appeal to fans of the original from what I've read thus far and I am super excited to see how things develop over the coming months.

If it gets a release this year, I will absolutely be picking up a copy, if for no other reason than to get the figures that will allow me to play the original but hopefully the new rules will be just what I'm looking for too, especially as they are supposed to feature a couple of squads a side, a 3'x3' board and can be played in about an hour. If this pans out, it would allow me to play a mini campaign in an afternoon and that is exciting! 

The only downside to all this Warzone enthusiasm is that I don't have any of the figures to paint at the moment apart from a single Wolfbane. I'm thinking I may have to proxy up a couple of units and play out a game of 1st edition to see if it's as good as I remember it being.

But enough of my Warzone enthusing! There's only a whisper of what it's going to be like yet! I've got some Orks to look at:

Ork Boyz

Some of these are from my last Lockdown Project but have been rebased onto the lipped bases I've settled on using and I've added a new Boy and a Grot to bulk out the numbers a bit. I've got a fair few more old and new Orks still awaiting a coat of paint and will keep plugging away at them (I'm not sure I can cope with painting all the mono pose Gretchen but we shall see how I get on!). 

Tomorrow should see some more scenic gubbins painted and I may have a couple more odds and ends done but we shall have to see how things go.

In the meantime, All the best!

Lockdown 2.0 Project Log Day 34: Inquisitorial Agents and Eldar

 Hi!

As promised, I've got a few more miniatures finished for my ongoing Rogue Trader project.

First up, there's my next Inquisitorial agent, this time a Mechanicus Adept:

Adeptus Mechanicus Adept Vash Hammersworn

Vash Hammersworn is a youthful tech adept and was born on Farpoint and learned his skills at the mining settlements and forges that litter the world. He is impetuous and hot headed but usually sunny of nature but has the ability to draw chaos and mayhem wherever he goes. He wears partial carapace and has a conversion field built into it. His primary weapon is a powerhammer of his own design, Foe Smasher and he also sports a trusty Paxbringer stub pistol.

He was recruited by Inquisitor Frost when she met him in Freeport City, the capitol and spaceport of Farpoint when she visited his workshop in search of repairs on one of her security droids. His skill impressed Frost and she offered him a job on her staff then and there. They have been working together for six months and despite almost constant bickering, they are an effective team.

 

Vash is originally another Warmachine caster who had lost his sword so I sculpted new hands and gave him a spare hammer from the Mantic Dwarf sprue. He got his name after my wife pointed out he bears a passing likeness to Vash the Stampede from Trigun.

Next up, theres the first of my Craftworld Eldar:

I ended up going for a Iyanden colour scheme as I have lots of walkers and it fits in with the background. I gave him lots and lots of thin coats to get as smooth a finish as possible and like how he turned out and will need to get some more of his kin painted up.

I've spent a bit of time over the last couple of days working on my Goff Orks too, be it rebasing some of the older stuff or painting up more gubbins that I've had part done since the last lockdown so should have some more to show tomorrow. 

I've also got some buildings under construction which I'm hoping to finish off this evening too which I hope to get pictures of when I've got it sorted too but in the meantime, All the best!

Lockdown 2.0 Project Log Day 33: An Ode to Warzone

 Hi!

I was going to be posting up more Rogue Trader gubbins today but have discovered that there is a new team working on bringing back Warzone: Mutant Chronicles for a new wargame so thought I'd wax lyrical about one of the best games I've ever played!

Back in the mid 90's I'd drifted away from Warhammer and 40k, and had discovered Macs Models in Edinburgh which stocked all manner of interesting stuff that was non GW. On one such visit, I saw Warzone being showcased with a rack of awesome and very cheap miniatures. I picked up a squad of Imperial Blood Berets, and a squad of Woldbane Commandos, a Hedgehog Necromower as well as the rulebook. If I recall correctly, the squad pack was £4.99 for four figures, the sergeant and heavy weapons dudes were £1.25 each. The necromower was £4.99 and the rulebook was £10.

Upon my return home I took a proper look through the rules and was utterly blown away. Here was a lavishly illustrated and full colour rulebook with a fantastic background and really great, skirmish level forces. It was utterly different from the black and white paperback 2nd edition 40k rulebook I had been used to and I was hooked.

Over the ensuing years, I collected all manner of bits and bobs, initially from Macs Models and when they closed, Ral Partha Europe which is where I got all the expansion rulebooks from. Eventually 2nd edition came out and I was a bit saddened to see it went from small units duking it out in a very characterful way to more of a 40k clone with forces getting bigger and the art style changing as new illustrators were brought in but it was still a great setting and the miniatures were chunky and painted up remarkably well. 

There were some real stinkers in the range but it was slowly getting updated so the Brotherhood troops didn't have massive heads and some of the other, rather iffy sculpts got replaced. As with so many games, it promptly went pear shaped and the company ceased trading and I drifted off to other things but I still fondly recall the setting, the book, the art (especially Paul Bonners stunning stuff!) and the characterful forces.

Fantasy Flight Games had a brief stab at the license but utterly butchered it by making it something like 54mm scale and collectable and Warzone went quiet for over a decade. Then a new company called Prodos announced that they had picked up the rights and were doing a kickstarter for the game. Excitement built but misgivings sneaked in when the first sculpts were showcased. 

The figures were created digitally and a lot of the character of the originals went out the window. Following a lot of feedback, and not a little huffing, the designs got reworked into something closer to what folks remembered and the game was released with some excitement but again the curse of Warzone struck and Prodos seemed to at first all but abandon the range and then implode spectacularly thanks to licensing issues. If I recall, I actually posted up a big ragefest here when the kickstarter happened and deleted it after re-reading it and thinking it was out of order...

I never picked up the figures for this latest version of Warzone as I was at uni at the time and hadn't warmed to the figures or Prodos and it seemed that any chance of reliving the glory days of 1st edition was gone for ever as the original range was either unavailable or expensive to get hold of. They are still available from Prince August in Ireland but I remember placing a large order for Chronopia from them and being put off by getting the figures utterly ruined by leadrot. (Apparently this was an issue that many of the Chronopia figures suffered from and not Prince Augusts fault but it still irked me!)

Now we have Res Nova, a small company I must admit I've never heard from before aiming to succeed where ell else have failed in 2021. After a bit of research, it appears they've got a team of folks who were fanatical fans of the original game and more importantly keen to keep to the original design aesthetic of Paul Bonners work with somewhat over the top shoulderpads, big guns and who seem very keen to go with that, something that seems to warm the hearts of lots of old Warzone fans.

Thus far, there's only been very scarce information on when we can expect the game, or indeed what it's going to be like but there is an early draft of a Blood Beret sculpt floating around:

I'm not 100% on it but he does have the exaggerated, heroic proportions of the more traditionally sculpted figures but obviously digitally sculpted. Having listened to a few Youtube videos from the designers of the rules, it's sounding quite promising and aimed to be played on a 3'x3' board with lots of cover. If they can combine the retro joy of original Warzone and make a go of it, I will be picking up a force, if for no other reason, to play 1st edition again!

According to the designers, the aim is to release the five megacorporations and Algeroth in the initial kickstarter with the Cartel, Brotherhood and other Dark Legion forces in subsequent launches. There is supposed to be two troop choices and I'm guessing a character or two for each of these planned which would be enough to get folks going. 

What I really liked from the videos I've watched is that there is a love of the original game but a desire to keep the forces true to the game without bloated armylists (ie the dozen or so Blood Beret unit variations you could choose back in the day!) and to make every unit or individual worth having in your force. 

Sadly to date, there's not much more information wise but I really, really hope Res Nova do a good job on it and I will be able to get some retro gaming in. If not, I think I'll test the waters with Prince August and see if I can't get my original Imperial force back at the very least!

Only time will tell but I'm quite excited about the prospect of Warzone making a reappearance.

In the meantime, I will need to rummage out my old and battered copy of 1st edition and see about posting up a bit of a rulebook review!

All the best!

Lockdown 2.0 Project Log Day 32: Retro Terrain 3

 Hi!

I spent a bit of time yesterday playing around with cardboard and have built some properly retro ruins based on the How to Make Wargame Terrain book!

Made from a double layer of corrugated cardboard card for the walls and the floors and base being made with mounting board. I sealed the edges with a thin piece of masking tape to make it look a bit more solid.

Whole they're not the most exciting, they're dead handy and I had lots of fun making them and they really look the part as a retro terrain must. I departed from the original guide a bit by using the mounting board base as it's a bit sturdier than the original design suggested. I also used a double layer of corrugated card, taped together with double sided tape to give them a bit more heft. I also used some cocktail sticks to represent bars or girders.

Given a suitably grungy paint job, they will give me some much needed cover for my games and are quick and easy enough to make a decent amount in very little time. I plan on using some similar techniques to make a settlement! 

Looking at the ruins, I think I'll add some vegetation to the bases to give a bit more interest and liven them up. 

Looking forward, I need to write up some of my background and crack on with some more painting. My Imperial Inquisitorial retinue is slowly coming together and I'm also eyeing up some Ork boyz that I have lying around...

Hopefully in the next few days I'll have a ton of ruins to explore and some more odds and ends painted up too and may try to play another game or two. Thus far this year, I've played a couple of solo games, one of Void 1.1 and the other of Rogue Trader but they've been more about reacquainting myself with the rules so haven't been worth posting a report but hopefully I'll be able to get some more exciting games done in the coming weeks.

In the meantime, All the best!

Lockdown 2.0 Project Log Day 31: Make it Your Own!

 Hi!

I've tried to put together todays update twice now and have waffled a great deal of nonsense but on re-reading them, decided to delete them as they were utter guff.

Instead, I'm going to take a quick peek at some inspirational baddies that I'm planning on importing into my alternative Imperium!

The Pharon

The Pharon hark from the pocket dimension of Vor and are one of the big bads from the setting. In Vor, the Pharon gained immortality but at a terrible cost with much of the population turned into decaying mummies but the nobles being rather better preserved. They have a lot of similar vibes to the Necron from GW so I can see combining elements of both into my own version of the Imperium.

As my own version of the Imperium is heavily based on Greek and Roman mythology, the Pharon will symbolise a different pantheon to allow me to incorporate Egyptian gods, goddesses and monsters into my own setting with the Pharon being the ruling caste but also allowing for human and other, xenos races as followers.

The Kryomek

The Kryomek are an awesome concept that comes from the game of the same name and incorporate elements of the Aliens movies and the Tyranids. I've been tempted by a bio-organic alien race for some time and love the style of the utterly alien species and want to get these guys infesting abandoned ships and overrunning settlements on the border!

The Dark Legion

The Dark Legion are the villains from Warzone and hail from another dimension and seek to destroy humanity and rule supreme! I plan on having these monstrous types as the followers of The Titans, the ancient gods who the first Emperor chained forever but whose followers seek their return. I've never been a fan of the whole evil chaos of GW and far prefer these insidious bad guys with their bio-tech, zombies and all manner of other dimensional horrors!

They will allow for cults to destroy the Imperium from within too! Elements of The Dark Legion will be representing the assorted Warp Entities from the original Rogue Trader book too and I've got lots of ideas for tying them all together in the Alternate Imperium.

The Plague

The Plague are created by an alien pathogen and tinkered with by unscrupulous megacorporations in Mantics Warpath and Deadzone games. I like the idea of hordes of infectious zombies with some big tank like genetic monstrosities rampaging through frontier settlements. Alternative Imperium wise, are they going to be unleashed due to an ancient pathogen, a punishment of the gods, genetic experimentation gone horribly wrong or a sinister scheme of the Dark Legion? Only time will tell!

I hope to put together some more background fleshing out in the next few days as well as show some more completed miniatures and terrain so until then, All the best!

Lockdown 2.0 Project Log Day 30: Imperial Inquisitor

 Hi!

As promised, here's my first Inquisitorial agent, Inquisitor Fisher:

Inquisitor Fisher

Inquisitor Fisher has been despatched by the Inquisition to follow up on rumours of rebellion fermenting on the frontier and plans to delve into the settlements of the Farpoint sector to root out any pockets of rebel scum with extreme prejudice.

A powerful fighter, Fisher wields a power sword and master crafted las pistol. It is rumoured that she joined the Inquisition initially as a hired gun in her early teens from the hiveworld of Abraxus but has proven her skills in the last several decades, eventually rising to the rank of Inquisitor. 

Inquisitor Fisher leading an Imperial kill team

Originally a Privateer Press Warmachine Warcaster, I've had her amongst my leadpile for almost fifteen years but never painted her. I had managed to break her big hammer thingy and was going to replace it with a normal power sword but having watched The Mandalorian, I gave her a light sabre instead!

While not a traditional Old School figure, a bit of bodging and a fresh coat of paint and she works quite well as an Imperial citizen.

I'm currently working on the first of her retinue, an Adeptus Mechanicus adept who will be supplying tech support and hope to have him finished in the next day or so and have got the first of my Eldar completed and just need to get the base completed.

Tomorrow I think I'll post some rumination on my version of Oldhammer and some of the other miniatures ranges that have caught my eye so we shall see how things go.

In the meantime, All the best!

Lockdown 2.0 Project Log Day 29: Retro Terrain 2

 Hi!

Here's the next additions to my retro scenery collection!

First up, I've got a simple, boxlike terrain piece, be it a storage or shipping container or high tech generator, its handy for blocking visibility and can make for a useful objective for tiny troops to fight over in the far future!

Constructed from an old mobile phone box and lots of pieces of cardboard, I went for a rather brighter colour scheme than the more usual Grimdark grey. I found I had a blue that reminds me of some of the old terrain from 40k and it was a real pleasure to work on (not to mention simple too!). To be honest, most of the detail is painted on and I think I'll need to use some thicker cardstock in future to give my terrain a bit more depth...

Next up, here's the first of my Jungle bases inspired by the old How to Make Wargames Terrain by GW:

Made from twisted pipe cleaners, paper and some cheap aquarium plants. I really enjoyed putting it together but it took a bit more work to get it finished than I'd expected as I had to wait for glue and paint to dry repeatedly but I think it was well worth the effort. 

Next time, I'll do a whole load of them done at once so I can set up a bit of a production line to make the process a bit quicker!

Along with the other odds and ends I have, I've got enough to cover a square foot of board which is good, but I have still got loads to do to give me a fully covered wargaming table!

Speaking of which, I have been rummaging my terrain stuff and found the old Phantom Star Wars Rebels ship that I picked up for £4.99 from Tesco quite a few years back. I had originally planned to use it as a 15mm scale dropship but I think it will make a rather fun lander or cargo loader for Rogue Trader.

I need to give it a more beaten up colour scheme and add some guns on to it to give it a bit less of a toy look to it but I'll leave that for another day as I'm currently working on the first of my Eldar and Inquisitorial Investigators.

Hopefully I'll get the test pieces done over the next day or two and will have lots more completed gubbins to show for my next update!

In the meantime, All the best!

Lockdown 2.0 Project Log Day 28: Guard Squad Leader

 Hi!

I've been finishing off an assortment of odds and ends today as well as working on some new scenics which I'll be posting up tomorrow. 

In the meantime, I've finished an Imperial Guard squad leader that I've had for ages. 

Squad Leader Turnoch

He's originally a Grenadier Future Warriors trooper but I picked him up from a wargames show quite a few years ago now and he recently got cleared of a frankly rubbish attempt at painting him I made last year. Sadly the handle for the top of his gun broke off but he's otherwise ok!

I added a little graphic to his body armour to liven him up a wee bit and quite like how he's turned out!

Scale wise, he fits in pretty well with the rest of the troops I have but has better detail but is close enough to fit in with the rest of the squad.

I've also finished a couple more pieces of scenery to add to my Deathworld collection and will show them a bit better tomorrow when I have some better lighting. 

My board is slowly but surely starting to fill with terrain which is really good to see and I have a fair amount of odds and ends primed and ready for paint so we shall see how I get on in the next couple of days!

In the meantime, All the best!

Lockdown 2.0 Project Log Day 27: Flintloque and Inquisitorial Investigators

 Hi!

As promised, I've actually got something finished for my daily update in the form of Sergeant Harpy for my Flintloque project:

Sergeant Harpy

I'm really pleased with how the Bog Orc turned out, with quite a few happy accidents paint wise and he's another figure done for the Flintloque project!

In other news, I've spent a bit of time rummaging my leadpile and getting it into some sort of order and have discovered I have a surprising number of Ork boyz lying around, ranging from Rogue Trader to 2nd Edition and more modern stuff too so I should have plenty of goodies to work on once I have my Eldar out of the way.

I also happened across some random odds and ends whilst sorting through stuff and have decided to paint them all up as an Inquisitorial Investigation team (plus Xenos tech slave!) They should make for an interesting leadership for my orange overalled guardsmen and make for an interesting mini project!

There's a 4A miniatures alien (missing an arm with the replacement being a Grendel Talos arm), A Kryomek trooper, two Warmachine Warcasters minus their weapons (replacements are being put together) and a Warzone Wolfbane Commando. Whilst they are a disparate group, I think they have some real character which will be fun to paint.

Lockdown 2.0 Project Log Day 26: Space, or the Lack of...

 Hi!

I find myself with about half a dozen odds and ends almost finished but not quite ready to post up here so I decided to dust off my gaming board and see how my old school gubbins look on the table.

A Board Forsooth!

As I only have a 3'x3' board, there's no way I'm going to be able to play large games and I think I'll need to limit terrain item size to about a 1'x1' footprint maximum. The board itself is one of the artificial grass mats available from Aldi from time to time (I could only get dark green but will try and keep my eye out for bright green next time they're available!). In an ideal world I'd have a 6'x4' board and plentiful space to put on awesome games but that's just not an option for me.

Looking at the state of play, I really need to make loads of scenic gubbins to make a decent battlefield and have lots of places for my troopers to hide behind!

What it will allow for is small skirmishes, possibly of a squad or two of figures per side along with a smattering of characters and the odd small vehicle which I will need to keep in mind when it comes to painting and eventually buying gubbins.

Speaking of which, I have decided that it's going to be a hard rule for me to not buy any more miniatures this year as I've got tons of stuff to paint and keep finding more! I'm having quite a bit of success in painting through the stuff I do have though which is great so hopefully I'll make a decent dent in my unpainted pile throughout the year ahead. While I'd love to go buying lots of ooh shiny goodness, I just don't want to spend any more than I absolutely have to during furlough and beyond. 

Tomorrow should have some more interesting pictures of assorted gubbins but till then, All the best!

Lockdown 2.0 Project Log Day 25: Eldar Inspiration

 Hi!

I had hoped to be able to show my first completed Deathworld palm trees today but they are taking a lot longer to dry than expected (I suspect I added a bit too much water first to the glue and then the paint like a noob). Instead I thought I'd post up a few inspirational old school Eldar photos that I've found whilst perusing the interwebs.

First up, there's some classic Eldar armies from 1st/2nd edition from the pages of White Dwarf:

I vividly recall gazing at this particular warband for ages and bemoaning the fact that I couldn't paint that well back in the early 90's.

It's interesting that in both these armies, the lowly Guardians have been largely replaced by Aspect Warriors. I'm a big fan of Guardians and want to have a few more than are shown in these examples though and love the old grav platform heavy weapons. 

I suspect that folks love Eldar because you can really go to town with colour choices though...

Next up, there's the army centre pieces, the Dreadnoughts and War Walkers:

I love the dark blue and white combination but shudder to think about how to get such a smooth finish but the contrasting colours look fantastic, especially with the many sigils and runes!

War Robot! I remember having one of these back in the day, which came with one of the smaller drones! I think I have the bits to make another and may have to make it a priority for a sense of retro charm. I am tempted to see if I can get some of the new Eldar Dreadnought arms to make it a bit more dynamic though as the gun arm is a bit clunky compared to the sleek robot...

Aspect Warriors! I love the darker finish on some of these chaps as it gives them a more aggressive, sinister look to them which is rather different from the more usual dayglow style of Aspect Warriors.

I love the black/purple/red combo of the guy second from the left and may have to steal it for some pirates! 

Remember when the assorted 40k races had musicians? I think I've got one and will need to add a bard to my Eldar nobles retinue to record his exploits in heroic verse!

As with my other 40k stuff, I plan on shoehorning everything into my own version of The Imperium and having perused one or two other rulesets over the last couple of days, I have loads of ideas on how I can put together some interesting warbands so I'll need to see how I get on with this first batch and flesh out my existing stuff as I'm painfully aware that I've got lots of odd figures but nothing much to mesh them together into cohesive forces yet.

As it's just been announced that the lockdown is going to be running until at least mid February, I suspect I'll have a bit of time to get on to bulking out forces a bit but in the meantime, All the best!