Showcase: Tale 2014

I did promise to keep updating the blog as I took part in Tale of Many Gamers this year, but it has been a hectic time. After finishing the first check in, I then missed the following two by way of being in Japan. I then got back and had to get 6 units painted in around 2 weeks. Then had to follow that up with further miniatures.

The fourth check in for me contained Dire Avengers, Fire Dragons, Rangers, Illic, Guardians and Wraithguard. Due to the amount of time I had available, I had to make some sacrifices, so Exarchs and Weapons Platforms were left to be painted at a later date. Painting the Aspect Warriors gave me a chance to paint colours other than black, which comes as a blessed relief at times. The Dire Avengers were painted as they are to try and give them a 'Black Guardian' vibe, as there is no current way to represent Ulthwé's finest on the tabletop yet.

Next came the Rangers. I had almost finished these a while back, so decided to finish these off to reduce the workload needed to get back on schedule.
Do I feel like I have cheated? Well, they have never been handed in before, and they weren't completed models before this event. But I was running to a very tight schedule with work and trying to catch up so I was hoping that common sense would shine through at this point. Besides, why would I have Illic on his own without anything to back him up?

I was excited about Illic when he was released, but I have hardly used him in this edition of the Codex. Mainly because of the points that have to be thrown at this small squad to get them on the table, allied to a lot of 'ignore cover' weapons in this day and age and the day of the 2+ cover ranger seems to be over.
I'll probably take him on his own for a few games later, see if his Voidbringer can take down some dangerous, vulnerable targets during the game. As for Pathfinders? I think their day is done.
I enjoyed painting this model, and it only took me a couple of evenings to paint him once I got started.

Another unit that was half finished were these Guardians, so it was a bit of a no brainer that I could finish these off rather quickly and have another unit to hand in.
Also, being an Ulthwé player, you can never have too many Guardians and I will probably be painting a few more squads to get some 20 man strong units on the go.
As I said earlier, the weapons platform, along with the Warlock, were cut due to time constraints, but will be painted at a later date. Probably when the event is finished.

The last unit I added were these D-Scythe wielding Wraithguard. This now means I have all of the weapons options save the axes to hand. The 'guard were painted the same as the Cannon unit, but I painted the gun grey so that there is an immediate distinction between the two units on the tabletop.
With this hand in, I took the win for check in 4, and in doing so I achieved my goal of getting one victory during the event. I was quite chuffed to learn this, but I guess going from 7 units, to 43 had to gain some respect. Also, all of this army so far still clocks in at under a thousand points.

I needed some vehicles on the board at this point as I felt I had gone very infantry heavy (as I usually do). So once again I took to my 'almost complete' pile to grab the Crimson Hunter. This one had been 90% finished a while back, but I had intended to create a bit of a scenic base.
Sadly, with it being Christmas, and just getting back from holiday as well as reduced time, I just lacked the resources to do just that. Maybe it is something I can go back to again after it is all finished, but for now I think it still looks decent on the table.

 Following the Crimson Hunter is a Hemlock Wraithfighter. I was always going to add this at some point as the Manager had mentioned that he has never seen one before.
I painted this one a little differently to my other units as I highlighted with Dark Reaper and Thunderhawk Blue, as well as giving it a blue wash and staining the canopy with blue glaze to give the impression of an unearthly power coursing through it.
For the second hand in in a row I took the win, bringing me up to joint first place (in painting). Overall winning looks unlikely, as the gaming side has spiraled out of control with around 10 points between check ins being gained by those who have the time to play games during the week.

The last check in was showcased earlier as I handed in my Howling Banshees along with some Objective Markers. I'll probably, again, do a better job with the objectives once the event is over. Seems like I'll be painting Eldar for a long time yet.

As a bonus, I have a picture of my next unit. This time it is a Centrepiece unit/conversion, and only one model this time, so what could be chosen other than a Wraithknight? A bit of reposing is going on, and there will be some form of minor conversion going on, but not on a massive scale, it is still going to be a Wraithknight and look like one. I just feel like changing the dynamic of it.

Until next time.