Continuing a Love/Hate relationship...

 o/

I haven't even cracked open the book yet.

I bought this on a whim as the FLGS had it discounted. I also got the free mini that came with it, that of Medal of Honor recipient Francis S. Currey. I may pick up the new and finally in plastic winter US infantry, or give the Quar another shot at Weird War II. I still have a handful of metal Quar including a universal carrier, as well of my newer plastic Royalist minis that I haven't done anything with. I mentioned this idea to a few folks at the FLGS and the idea was pretty well received. 

We shall see I guess...

Not dead, just distracted...

 o/

Ready to Avenge all things Dire...

Just letting you know that I am still alive. Shortly after my last post, when I spoke of needing a break from painting my Il-Kaithe, I played a game of Battletech, my first game played here in South Carolina. Two days later my Battletech Kickstarter minis arrived and all of my attention has been over on my TBAGers blog since. 

I got a cheap squad of 10 Dire Avengers on eBay, sans targeters. Nobody has those bitz available however and well, they'd inevitably just break anyways. As such, I got some Corsair backpack bitz to use in their stead.

That all said, yesterday I needed a break from painting mechs and tanks and so painted this guy up. He came out a little darker than anticipated, but isn't too bad for a 1-day turn around. Also of note (and I am sure that Neverness will no doubt notice), is that this mini is the first to debut a new shade of my alien 'aquarium plant' colored tufts. 

Oh yeah, mold lines-still got 'em!

I have a mix of 13 Dire Avengers and Dark Reapers still on my desk yet to paint. Meaning I haven't forgotten about this project. Its just that 40k has fallen onto the back burner. Several of the folks that I've met in the local Battletech crowd also play 40k. Neverness has also inquired about the next time I'll be in Tennessee in hopes of a game. So 40k will come back around to the fore after a bit I'm sure. 

Il-Kaithe Guardian Defender Squad is complete!

 o/

All ready to get obliterated at the enemy's earliest possible convenience!

Well, I milked this squad for all they were worth, now didn't I? (4) posts till completion equals 2.75 models per post (counting 11 with the separate model for the star cannon). It sounds paltry, and indeed it is compared to some folks out there. For me however, I'd call that about average (well, aside from the Covid quarantine Tau painting extravaganza of early 2022). 

The Final Four. Their Bayonets have been bloodied, though given how effective these guys are in close combat, they were likely bayonetting some Mon'keigh civilians or something similarly verminous.

Still, these weren't the slog that I expected them to be, Indeed I even managed to get a lone Dark Reaper and Farseer painted in along with them. Currently, I have the other four Dark Reapers and a full 10-Strong squad of Dire Avengers left to paint. All told these will bring me up to 400 points. Thus I've been searching eBay for a deal on something cheap to round out the first 500 points.

Yet another Guardian frolicking amongst the Venusian fly traps. 

I really like the pickaxe style bayonets!

Note the forked bayonet, much like an Eldar's tongue!

This one is in my favorite pose of the squad. This was originally a gunner model that I rearmed. 

That said, I have a partially painted Ogryn bodyguard and mortar team for my PHIGs on the table that I am thinking of shoving to the front of the line, before tackling some more Eldar. 

Il-Kaithe Dark Reaper

 o/

Death from afar!

Progress was a little slow this past week. I caught a little 24 hour bug, I turned 49 which was unrelated to feeling ill (no, seriously), basically the typical real life stuff. Nonetheless there has been some painting progress. As you can see above, I painted the first of my five Dark Reapers. 

I was trying to recall and the Il-Kaithe are shaping up to be my fourth...or maybe fifth (?) Craftworld Eldar army. Surprisingly (or maybe oddly), this is the first time I've ever had any Dark Reapers other than Maugan Ra. I never liked the old metal sculpts which is the cause of that. The current minis look alright though, thus I finally have a squad.

The last four of the Guardian Defenders are in progress. 

This week will include a really quick trip back to Tennessee to take care of some personal matters. I don't plan to be 'back home' for even 24 hours, however with about a dozen hours of round trip driving (it would take almost the same amount to fly as there are no direct flights), I don't foresee these last four getting done this week, but ya never know...

Il-Kaithe Farseer

o/

There's some witchery in-progress!

Moving right along, I finished up my Farseer. I got this 'Warlock' off of eBay for a grand total of $11.19 with shipping and sales tax. When it arrived, I realized it was a Farseer (which was a nice trade up). As such this is my fledgling force's warlord. Not that that wouldn't have also been the case were it actually the Warlock I thought he was.

32mm base and greenstuff aside, this is how it looked when it arrived in the mail, conveniently it was already based coated in Il-Kaithe colors.

It even arrived with the spear's shaft intact,

but that wouldn't last for long...

Shortly after this guy arrived and I started painting on it, I dropped it and the singing spear's shaft snapped as I caught it. Yay. It broke at about the midway point and while fixable, I figured that future breaks would be inevitable. 

A spear no more.

While the spear is superior to the blade, this isn't a guy I want that close to the enemy anyways. 

I'm really pleased with the drybrushed highlights on his coat. 

Thus, I trimmed the shaft down to a hilt, and turned the spear into a more durable witchblade. I'm sure he also has a shuriken pistol concealed somewhere. Under his coat, bag of holding, portable hole, something like that. 

As you saw in the eBay pics above, I trimmed the 25mm base down as far as I could and glued it onto a 32mm base to match the rest of the army. I then green stuffed the gap. Once painted, sand and the tufts were applied, it all blended together nicely. 

Perfection! 

This was a fun one to paint, now back to the rank and file I guess.

I already have two guardians and one dark reaper partially base coated using excess green and purple paint from my little paint palette. I'll likely paint those as a batch to break the monotony, especially as they have similar color schemes (well ok, the Reaper has a lot black as well). 

Guardians of the Storm (pt. 2)

o/

Four more on the finished list. 

Well the storm has past us (mostly, its North Carolina and above's problem now). We even saw a bit of sunshine yesterday! Downtown Charleston and the barrier islands saw some bad flooding. A brief tornado took out an Arby's about 20 minutes from here, and another came ashore and damaged several houses on Edisto island. All told we got about 12-14" of rain, but our neighborhood stayed dry. We're very lucky as they were forecasting upwards of 30" of rain!

This Dark Eldar bayonet allows for the catapult to be swung like a pickaxe. 

The token Guardian, frolicking thru the fly traps!

The extended, bejeweled antennae mark this guy out as the squad's comms specialist. 

This one is looking a bit concerned at that little red light on the top of his catapult.

As you can see above, the inability (or rather the lack of desire) to go outside provided me with the opportunity to finish the four guardians from my prior post. These bring me up to a total of six. Before tackling he final four I'm working on my Farseer instead. I also (re)assembled the Dark Reapers that showed up during the deluge. The 'quality' packaging from a cut rate eBay seller was more to blame I think, than the Postal Service.  

Just four more to go!

As I build up this fledgling force, I thought I'd run the numbers and see just what this game costs. I just snagged (10) Dire Avengers off of eBay bringing the 'army' up to 415pts. All told, my 26 Eldar (and Starcannon) have an MSRP of $247.50, $270 including tax, or about $1.53 per point. 

Such an insane hobby we have. 

That said, this force came off of eBay, where I've spent $114.51 and inside that space of time I sold $38 (net) in unwanted, old minis. As such, this army has cost me $76.50 tax and shipping included. Still feels like too much and that's almost a $200 discount! 

Guardians of the storm

o/

We're fine (so far). We still have power, internet, everything. However, Jim Cantore is in town which doesn't bode well, so there is that. Today we got about 5" of rain and tomorrow we're forecast to get about the same, and probably the day after that, and then the next day too...

Nonetheless the painting continues. 

Not the best photo, but you get the idea.

I've been batch painting Guardians since basic infantry is always a slog to paint in my opinion. These four blokes have just been inked, and are ready for the next stage where I drybrush the base colors over the inking to mitigate the heavy spots of it. Basing follows thereafter and they'll be close to done at that point. No idea when the weather will cooperate well enough for clear coating though. 

I also picked up a dirt cheap squad of Dark Reapers to accompany these guys. Those are scheduled to be delivered Tuesday, so I guess we'll see just how persistent the US Postal service is given the weather. Personally, they can wait in my opinion. Given their price, they'll likely need a little love like this squad did. 

I've also sold some unwanted minis here of late which has mitigated the cost of the Dark Reapers and my $9 dollar Warlock Farseer. I thought I was getting a warlock, but it turned out to be a Farseer, damned false eBay advertising! Conveniently, the Farseer was base coated in Il-Kaithe colors.