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Miniatures Adventure => Future Wars => Topic started by: dijit on 25 October 2011, 06:51:43 PM
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When I first started gaming back in 1991 I played Squat - loved them, but not good with them (I reckon it was probably through my efforts that they got annihilated from the 40k universe), so for my next army I went for something wild and totally opposite - Eldar Harlequins. It also had the bonus of being from the same Compendium :D
Well for many years my 30 to 40 Harlequins have lanquished in early teenage years paint jobs - not a pretty sight. Fortunately I've got better with time, and this spring I started stripping a few of them and re-painting them. I've now got 9 finished and started on a Wraithlord. You never know I might actually end up painting them all and have an army of them (not that it's really possible any more >:( ) They're quite nice to paint in the old style garish colours without too many fiddly details like people seem to paint the newer ones, it seems a case of closing your eyes and picking a random colour for the next part of the clothing - the more random and garish the better they seem to look.
The Troupe (minus a Death Jester who hasn't been 'upgraded' yet)
(http://i932.photobucket.com/albums/ad163/dijit80/IMG_0021.jpg)
And some close(er) ups. The first four with Troupe Leader
(http://i932.photobucket.com/albums/ad163/dijit80/IMG_0025_2.jpg)
The last five
(http://i932.photobucket.com/albums/ad163/dijit80/IMG_0027.jpg)
And my WIP Wraithlord (main block colours finished, now it needs detailing and the base finishing)
(http://i932.photobucket.com/albums/ad163/dijit80/IMG_0030.jpg)
Hope you like. C&C very welcome - especially with ideas as what design to use on the wraithlords 'head'.
Duncan
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Lovely harlies there, the dread, (for that is what I will call him in keeping with the RT flavour...wraithloard indeed! ;)) has a few very nasty mould lines that would be good to get shot of before you continue. One running around the head, (follows the edge in parallel down to the sensor at the chin then runs across, one on the shoulder mounted weapon and also on the powerunit fins. Pain in the arse but do them now save spoiling a nice PJ.
Advice on a look??? Well a popular conversion was the harlequin jetbike nosecone in replacement of the head, (the laughing god) which always looked nice, paint wise, diamonds, swirls, split the head lengthways and mimic the avatar's paint job? Also banners, pendants and flags always look nice. The problem with the old dreads is that their so static, they don't suit the image of a fluid whirling clown dancer of death, the later plastics are very easy to give that dynamic vibe too, but totally appreciate the need to keep it RT, (I've got six dreads/wraithlords (I think) straight RT to a mixture of metal and plastic and a few total plastics, all work well and interchanging the parts helps with that too.
Let us know what you come up with.
The Commander
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Thanks Commander! I'd hoped the mould lines weren't too visible as I was painting it, but then today when I took pictures I thought the same myself. I'll have to go and fix that I think before I paint further - thanks for pointing it out, now I have to do something with it.
I've got a single jetbike (still unpainted), but this spring when I was looking for more on Ebay, they were typically going for £20+, which is a little out of my budget unfortunately.
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Nice job. I also have a number of old RT-era harlequins I've been cleaning up for quite some time now. I really should continue working on them
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Love 'em! :-* Harlequins have been on my 'to do' list since they premiered in the late eighties. One day!
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Fantastic!! Oh, the memories... :-*
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:-* :-* :o :o :-* :-*
Just Awesome!
Blue
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;ice! Splendid work! I love colours - the more the merrier!
They could even battle my Nightlords using a yet undisclosed gaming system. lol
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I have always loved those figs :-* Great job!
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No brings back memories of my Space marines getting hammered...camn those Shurikin catapults ;)
very nice
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Great stuff there! I agree that the few visible mouldlines let it down a bit, but if you fix that, it should look great. As for the head colour scheme, I think that given the various colours on its body and limbs, you might want to stick to a white scheme; maybe you could paint the left half in a checkerboard pattern, and leave the other white, but paint a black outline around the targeter thingy to emulate the classic "harlequin" face makeup. Just try to avoid having it look too "emo". ;)
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Dijit,cracking stuff! Your painting is great :-* (love the subject too).
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Thanks for all the comments. I took a few minutes out this morning to file down the mould lines - They should be much better now. The missile launcher was quick to touch up, but the head carapace will take more painting. As much as I love the old Dreadnoughts, there really isn't much you can do with them without requiring a lot of cutting and greenstuff, and I've got 2 other waiting. I'm liking the idea of a chess board pattern of half of the head, that'd work really well and considering leaving the other bit blank and a little sinister.
And Thorbjørn name the rules and I'll be along :D I really could be tempting to dig out RT and giving it a spin, though Following Fire weapons may need to be toned down a little ;) I remember having a plasma cannon crewed by Eldar that mowed down roughly a squad of marines a turn.
Duncan
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:o
Really like the paint jobs on the Harlequins-the pink trousers of one of them really freak me out!
I have a leftover carapace lying around here somewhere and absolutely NO use for it. PM me your address and I'll send it over.
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Thanks Carsten - a PM coming your way! It'll probably go on my next Dreadnought (I'm sold Vyper - dreadnoughts they are from now on). I must admit I think the one with the pink body suit is one of my favourites too - just goes to show the more outragous the colour scheme the better they seem to look.
Duncan
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Good man! ;)
Eldar are another of my 'stash' projects, with loads of RT metal, and a stupid amount of metal jetbikes back in the day when GW did sales, bought a blister box of 10 for £10 and got one free! :o (well it was 1989!). Harlequins were an especially guilty pleasure of mine.. pucker up marine! Time for a little kissy kissy!
:D
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11 for £10! Back when you could afford a GW army!
I think the cover art for the Harlequin box set is a lot to blame.
(http://t2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTXzCiW1tgYMIp-Tf6yl1OAiSCKTo1c6wqW9O87YpUiacpPXKZBLw)
Plus psychotic clowns are just really scary for a bizare reason.
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That was ONE BLISTER BOX.... so 20 jetbikes! :o My best friend the other half of the deal. Sadly he was killed on a bike in '93, not sure where all his figures went I think his sister's little boy now has them. RT projects are very special to me as we used to spend hours squabbling and playing during that period, them's were the days soley missed.. :(.
Anyway.... thought anymore about flags and bunting? :D
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Funnily enough, I was thinking about digging out my 'quins earlier and seeing what I could do with them. Selling off the rest of the Eldar, but the Jesters are a keepie.
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Flags and bunting will definately be a part of the finished model, probably in an excessive volume. I tried to fit a few to my Avatar (Troupe Leader), but couldn't work out how to without them looking daft and amateurish.
Found a video by a guy who's made a Harelquin army for one of the more recent editions of 40k, which is quite interesting, but seems to lack some of the essential fluff, but most centrally Solitares.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w5hcjZodqa4 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w5hcjZodqa4)
Duncan
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Well I've now put the finishing touches to the Dreadnought, with mould lines filed down, 'head' repainted and checker pattern added and last but not least some streamers and bunting to give it a more 'organic' look.
(http://i932.photobucket.com/albums/ad163/dijit80/IMG_0059.jpg)
And from the left:
(http://i932.photobucket.com/albums/ad163/dijit80/IMG_0061.jpg)
And from the right:
(http://i932.photobucket.com/albums/ad163/dijit80/IMG_0062.jpg)
Hope you like it.
Duncan
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Absolutely splendid!
Have you tried highlighting the checkerboard pattern? I have seen it on som models in the past, and it can look fantastic when done well.
Are we going to see your troupe in the flesh at Horisont?
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I have highlighted the checker board pattern, but since you're asking it's obviously not enough!
Unfortunately I have to work the same weekend as Horizont, so I can't make it :(
Duncan
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I have highlighted the checker board pattern, but since you're asking it's obviously not enough!
Unfortunately I have to work the same weekend as Horizont, so I can't make it :(
Duncan
Ah, sorry - when watching more closely, I can see the highlights in the upper left corners - the light in the photos just played tricks with my aging eyes :)
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Don't worry constructive criticism is part of what makes LAF so good. I'm going to add some more highlights I think just to make it a little more obvious.
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Don't worry constructive criticism is part of what makes LAF so good. I'm going to add some more highlights I think just to make it a little more obvious.
Maybe just a slight accentuation towards the the corners will be necessary - subtlety is called for to not 'ruin the model'.
One question: Do you use wet-blending or 'just' layers of thinned paint to achieve the gradient (on the green leg, for instance)? I'm particularly interested in the dark green, as I have a bunch of Firstborn in my collection, and now, after starting to play In the Emperor's Name, some of them might even be used often enough to justify a better paintjob ;)
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I don't use wet blending as can't seem to get it to work properly, and if anyone knows of a good video tutorial on it I'd be very gratefull. I mainly use a series of thin colours (sometimes adding a little 'sfspændingsmiddel' to break up the surface tension, though it sometimes leaves a slight glossy sheen, so not only a touch) and slightly increase the highlight colour through the layers. On the green I used GW's Orchide Shade, then highlighted with yellow, before adding a touch of white towards the end.
IIRC aren't the Firstborn the renegade Dark Angels? And they left before the Dark Angels changed the colours to green so should be in black?
Duncan
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No, the Firstborn are the Dark Angels per se (first chapter of the First Founding) - the renegades are the Fallen, and they should be black, as (per the fluff I know) the DA changed their colour to green after the Horus Heresy. This change was decided quite late in GW history, though, as when I bought Space Hulk 1st Ed. they were still black (actually that was the reason why I chose them as my chapter - didn't know much about the 40K universe back then). Suddenly they turned green and replaced the Salamanders as one of the 4 most promoted chapters (I suspect that a member of the GW staff had a Salamanders army but wanted to play Dark Angels because of the Deathwing supplement for Space Hulk or something like that...).
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Ah, ok thanks Niels. I still remember back to Rt days and get confused now with all the different versions. Then they had some proper marine chapters like the Flesh Tearers and Flesh Eaters and let's not mention the super cool chapter - The Rainbow Warriors :D
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Ah, ok thanks Niels. I still remember back to Rt days and get confused now with all the different versions. Then they had some proper marine chapters like the Flesh Tearers and Flesh Eaters and let's not mention the super cool chapter - The Rainbow Warriors :D
I have a soft-cover version of Rogue Trader. Still love to flip through it and read the odd rulle here and there. I think that ItEN does much to recreate that feeling of 'anything goes' from those days. Also the reason that I like NR a LOT - extreme freedom to build your small force with the minis you want, and the possibility to find just the right stats for your weapons of choice... :)
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Yeah, where's a good solid conversion beamer when you need one these days eh? ;)
Nice work of the dread bud, looks very in keeping with the Harlequin theme, good job.
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Now conversion beakers they were a weapon of choice for me for a while. Together with auxiliary grenade launchers on my squat
Las guns.
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Well over a year later, I've now painted a few more of them!
First up two Great Harlequin (one one is a Guardian, but I think he works well in this paint scheme as a Harlequin). A big thanks to Karsten for these two:
(http://i932.photobucket.com/albums/ad163/dijit80/IMG_0001.jpg)
Two (identical) Death Jesters. I've got a couple more being stripped at the moment:
(http://i932.photobucket.com/albums/ad163/dijit80/IMG_0002.jpg)
And lastly some more backing singers ;)
(http://i932.photobucket.com/albums/ad163/dijit80/IMG_0003-2.jpg)
Duncan
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The old Harlequin minis are among my favorite from any of the 40k editions. They are quite hard to paint though but you have done a beautiful job on these.
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Nice Duncan!
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Very nice :)
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Good to see you're still at it with the masque. Any jetbikes going to make an appearance?
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Edited to remove missing images! :?
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Those were some nice conversions Elbows.
I've been busy painting still. I've added 3 more Harlequin to the Troupe.
(http://i932.photobucket.com/albums/ad163/dijit80/IMG_0087_zps51c5600c.jpg)
(unfortunately the blue on the righthand one isn't up to standard, may go back and revisit it and I realised I forgot to highlight the red on the central one - opps)
And here with the Troupe so far:
(http://i932.photobucket.com/albums/ad163/dijit80/IMG_0089_zps12a95da4.jpg)
We're having a 40k 2nd edition tournament in a few weeks time, and I'll be playing with these. We're playing 1000pts, which really doesn't buy you a lot of models when they're Harlequin.
Then I was lucky enough to be able to buy a huge collection of unpainted Squat (roughly 70 squat, 5 Exo armour, 8 bikes, 2 trikes, 4 thudd gus and 1 Rapier). So they of course had to be revisited and painted too. Anyway, here are the first 16 of them done.
(http://i932.photobucket.com/albums/ad163/dijit80/IMG_0086_zpse70b7adb.jpg)
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VERY nice.
Squats really, really need to come back into the GW production line.
I sometimes wondered if they took them out of production for politically correct reasons after someone who may have been "height challenged" voiced a complaint? I could see their lawyers doing that for risk management reasons. I could also see their lawyers nuking nursery schools if they had Space Marine in the name too...
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Wow! The squats are a great addition? Where did you find such a large stash of them? I'm particularly fond of how you have painted the glasses and lenses...very nice.
I'm trying to resist diving into that range myself...but threads like this make temptation tough to resist.
Cheers,
Blue
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Arhhh very tasty looking Squats, i wish i hadn'tsold off mine as a teenager.. what can i say i wanted beer and fancy new GW bits.
:D
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Your harlequins look spectacular. The colour schemes are spot on and remind me instantly of the artwork! The squats are fantastic little buggers as well, can't get enough of them! Well done! :-*
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Awesome new stuff!!! :-*
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Thanks one and all.
I was lucky enough to have a friend who was selling off some of his stuff that he didn't want anymore. I got the Squat cheap on the condition that they got painted up and used. I had a large Squat force when I first started gaming, over 20 years ago now, but sold them 10 years ago and have been wishing I hadn't since. So when they came up I grabbed at the chance.
I have another 20+ Harlequin waiting to be painted too and a small collection (roughly 25) of old beaky marines. I've had the Harlequins for almost 20 years now. Not quite the collection that Jonas has, but still is better than none! It's a pity, because the quality of he sculpting has improved on GW minis, but they're lost the character and charm of the old RT/2nd ed era miniatures.
Duncan
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What a (really, really) nice collection you have there! :o
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This thread brings back the memories from the good days! nicely painted Eldar and Squat you got there :). These sculpts are much better than the sculpts now a days. someday I will start to collect the old RT era figs...
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Well I've not been totally lazy and have been lucky eough to get my hands on some old plastic beaky marines and a couple of handfuls of metal marines. I've now enough for 2 tactical squads, a full devastator squad, and perhaps a full assault squad. I'm painting them up as Silver Skulls, partly as I'm relearning to use metalics (I'm turning away from NMM, it's just far too awkward), partly because they're a true RT chapter and lastly because you don't see them that often. Here's the start of them anyway:
(http://i932.photobucket.com/albums/ad163/dijit80/IMG_0007-1_zps90c664ae.jpg)
Along with Inquisitor Thingy (need a good name for him)
(http://i932.photobucket.com/albums/ad163/dijit80/IMG_0009_zpse3b14609.jpg)
And Captain Bob
(http://i932.photobucket.com/albums/ad163/dijit80/IMG_0008_zpsfe14d891.jpg)
Lastly I built this dreadnought/robot thingy a few years back and it's finally found it's place amongst the Silver Skulls:
(http://i932.photobucket.com/albums/ad163/dijit80/IMG_0010-1_zpsa4b783f1.jpg)
(http://i932.photobucket.com/albums/ad163/dijit80/IMG_0011-1_zps71feddcf.jpg)
Also a big thankyou to Mr Dee who gave me some helpful hints on painting metals that have made this dreadnought look sooooo much better than it did before.
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Cracking work Duncan :-*
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Great stuff.
Loving that dreadnought/robot thingy!
:-* :-*
Very retro.
8)
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Great work indeed!
And I love to see the 'Dread-bot' having finally found a home away from home (it lived on that paintdesk for, what, five years? :D)
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Thanks
And I love to see the 'Dread-bot' having finally found a home away from home (it lived on that paintdesk for, what, five years? :D)
Yeah, something like that. Just need to finish the tachikoma now ;)
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Great stuff! I look forward to see more marines :)
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Good stuff as always :)
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Aye! That ballbot is simply brilliant! (and the rest is cool as well1)
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A big hurray for all of this! :-*