RT Harlequin, Squat and Marines

[dijit]

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  
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)


And some close(er) ups. The first four with Troupe Leader


The last five


And my WIP Wraithlord (main block colours finished, now it needs detailing and the base finishing)


Hope you like. C&C very welcome - especially with ideas as what design to use on the wraithlords 'head'.
Duncan

[Commander Vyper]

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

[dijit]

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.

[Skratch]

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

[Faust23]

Love 'em!   Harlequins have been on my 'to do' list since they premiered in the late eighties.  One day!

[KeyanSark]

Fantastic!! Oh, the memories... 

[Blue in vt]

 

Just Awesome!

Blue

[Dr. The Viking]

;ice! Splendid work! I love colours - the more the merrier!

They could even battle my Nightlords using a yet undisclosed gaming system.

[inkwell]

I have always loved those figs Great job!

[Lowtardog]

No brings back memories of my Space marines getting hammered...camn those Shurikin catapults

very nice

[Westfalia Chris]

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".

[Blackwolf]

Dijit,cracking stuff! Your painting is great (love the subject too).

[dijit]

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 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

[vikotnik]

 
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.

[dijit]

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