The Plot Thickens

Coming in low behind Bultha's Rise, Yana Yaya patched through to Inquistor Tylo.

"Tylo, with all the Banksia in this area, getting anything firm with the auspex is a tall order."


"I expected no less.  Yanna I want the 'Hawk running hot, we might be leaving in a hurry.  Now Kekar, it's about time you earned your keep you filthy cruton bastard."

"Inquistor," replied Kekar Kanj in a half-whistle, half-bark approximation of human speech. "You pay.  I deliver.  Always.  Do what?"

"At the top of the rise, at the site of the old generator.  I want you up there and your eye on the Farmstead," commanded Tylo.

In his fashion, the Kroot mercenary crept away from Tylo's Team and headed Southwest in the gathering darkness.

"I don't trust mercenaries," mumbled Petrusch, watching Kekar fade away into the night.

"You don't need to trust them Petrusch.  Just pay them.  And shoot them if they don't perform - why am I telling you this, it's just like your..."

Bells interrupted Tylo's pontificating , "We weren't a moment too late.  The Kroot already has a fix on more Eldar - the holo is coming up... now."

"That's six, no make that seven Banshees inclusive of two Exarchs.  They're frontline shock troops.  Something's afoot."

"Those Banshee have headed toward the far side of the Farmstead.  Now we've got a squad of Warp Spiders... but I don't recognise their markings.  Bells," instructed Tylo, "track them down for me ASAP."

"I also noticed a Dark Reaper... well I expect there will be more on their way, they never operate as independent units - who was accompanied by an individual wearing some range finding or tracking rig.  Unusual."

"Now this fellow I have seen before," acknowledged Tylo.  "That report from E'ilrahc in the Notserp Sector."

"What's the name?" queried Bells.

Tylo powered the holo unit down, and as he turned around to face his team, his curt reply echoed through the confines of the transporter.

"Trouble."

----

This was my second batch of Eldar following my first from around a month ago.  No, I'm not some massive output freak - it's taken me about two months to pump out about 30 models, mainly Eldar.

I replicated and somewhat refined the technique I had applied for my first Banshee on her 7 sisters - they all look suitably similar - and there's no chance anyone wouldn't pick up the fact that they were all painted by the same hand.  I really like them with this particular Banshee being my pick of the batch - Banshees, Spiders and all - I especially liked the extra tassles (?) hanging off her pistols hose and the way the sword looks sharp. A great 20+ year old model that still holds its own today.

I've still got a maybe another 8 Banshees from that particular release (2nd Ed?) that I could strip and paint, plus four from a more recent release (but also metal) that stand much taller thanks to their extra elongated helmet.  I'll see if and when that happens.

Squad-wise, I also managed three Warp Spiders along with their Exarch.  These took a lot of experimentation until I settled upon something that I was happy with - the number of variations I went through on the shell was crazy, even my daughter was getting fed up!  The shell's inspiration came from an actual spider (Orb maybe?) and crabs... mix the two together and that's what you get.  I may work on refining the design + application some in the future - again I've got at least the same again Spider-wise that I could always paint up.  Oh yeah: I used a bedazzler fake red gem and added it to the end of each Spider's gun, it worked and looks a treat!

The Farseer was a challenge. I wanted him to tie into the rest of my collection but given the differences between the (eg) Guardians and Banshees, that could have proved difficult.  In the end I borrowed the technique and colour palette from the Banshees' bodies and the chilli pepper helmet from the Gunners and Guardians, just somewhat restrained (at least this time around).  I like him.

The Gunner largely replicated the previous batch's Gunner - nothing too complicated about him.  I did try a purple on his coat but that just sucked. He's definitely dressed by the same tailor as his mate.

My experimental Dark Reaper.  I'm not totally set on this particular scheme for his brothers, but what I do like about it is the majority of the helmet - that red hot chilli theme/style I applied to last Batch's Guardians and (a somewhat more subtlely) on the Farseer works very nicely indeed. I might try doing the rest of the Reapers with more traditional body colour compositions.

I learned something useful: Using the Citadel Tech Gem paints for the Soulstones might be cheating but they come up a Tabletop standard treat.  I varnish my models with a Testor Matt, and unsurprisingly, that adversely impacts the Gem Paint effect.  So post-varnish I reapplied the Gem Paint and WOW, they came up a absolute treat - just last night people were commenting on how they almost glowed, even within the poor light of our local gaming hall/pub.  That's something that will continue doing and maybe experiment a bit more with the same.

Finally model details (when I remember to record them), are available on my Trello board which you're more than welcome to visit.

Watch this space!