With the release of Kill Team Elites, two more Eldar Aspects get a look-in, namely Striking Scorpions and Howling Banshees. I've especially like the Banshee concept - terrifying, fast attack glass cannons. Kill Team rules provide them with some nice traits and the price-per-unit is relatively low as well. I couldn't help myself I just had to beef up my Banshee collection so I can field a Banshee Heavy Team (including some 'Counts As' choices).These four girls started life as your standard metal Banshees from the early 90's (I think). I already had these particular basic models in my collection, so I had to do something with these to add some variety into the Team. This is what I did:
- (Top-Left) Swapped the sword from right- to left-hand and added a Shurkin Catapult.
- (Top-Right) Swapped a pistol for a second sword aka Mirror Swords;
- (Bottom-Left) Swapped the Sword for a Glaive; and
- (Bottom-Right) Detached the sword from the head/hair and repositioned/bent both arms.
Some little bits of note:
- The Glaive's head is from an extra Jaine Zar model I had acquired. I mounted it upon a piece of wire then wound sports strapping tape to beef it up some. I'll call it passable, not a great success.
- Most all of the models required pinning - their wrists holding the swords are woefully weak - and there was a bit of greenstuff used (rather poorly) to fill in some gaps etc. I mainly used copper wire I rescued from an old motor to pin with and also used a hand pin vice instead of my Dremel - it was actually better. What I could do with is a tiny saw to help with cutting etc i the future... ideas?
- The bases were my usual approach of kitty litter and now sand (I found a jar of builders sand recently), super-glued onto the base before washing and drybrushing.
- The girl in the bottom-right, her base has the pistol that I cut off from the girl in the top-left.
- I used Citadel Bleached Bone on the armour - the previous batch had an additional layer of sepia wash applied over that, but I wanted these models to look a little different. I like it - they look that a tad cleaner and larger for it.
- I'm getting the hang of using the Citadel Technical Gem Paints - these ones look much better than previous attempts. I find using Gloss Varnish over them and other bits, like the eyes, really adds to the look.
- These models are a bit top-heavy and unstable. I've been using a two-party epoxy glue to stick on N50 magnets under the bases - allowing me to transport them easily in a metal-lined case - and I've now taken to adding some further weight by using a two-part expoxy resin-like clay (?) sold at hardware shops. It dries like a rock in less than an hour and really adds some heft to the base.
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| You can see the armour was initially a little darker. |
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| Here are their 8 sisters, waiting patiently for the new arrivals... |