Monday 5 January 2015

Epic Eldar.

I'm pretty terrible at remembering to take decent photos of the minis we use in games, concentrating instead on doing a bit of creative writing which is one of my favourite parts of blogging. However, in order to appease the unsatisfied hordes out there I will promise to try and rectify that in 2015! Here are a few posed shots of my 6mm/epic Eldar army, hopefully I will be able to organise some photos or links to photos of the other two armies in action on the 3rd (see previous post).


I use my epic stuff to play Future War Commander more than any other rules set (because if you are going to play in 6mm then it has to be 'go big or go home' and that means the slickest, funnest rules have the advantage. FWC requires you to have command stands, some examples of which are in this photo.


This is a closer view of my army general, Farseer P'aul.


I like my Eldar to be very mobile and tricky to pin down so I use loads of these old Falcon models as APCs in FWC. They are still useful in 'Space Marine' too.


Of course, the APCs require lots of guardian infantry, the backbone of my army, to be effective.


Though artillery and air support can be used effectively from off table it is considered a poor show amongst experienced FWC generals to not have the models painted up and displayed in a corner somewhere. Allowing opponents to use imaginary artillery pieces is a slippery slope and that way lies madness.


My air cover, Nightwing fighters. In FWC you use special command stands as Forward Air Controllers and Forward Artillery Observers and these guys call in the strikes based on what they can see.


It never hurts to have a fast, mobile reserve in any game so I use my Jetbikes often.


These scouts are usually my recce units in games of FWC but can easily operate as snipers if needed.


Swooping Hawks. This unit keeps in with the theme of mobility and speed and are unparalleled when it comes to capturing remote objectives.


Sometimes, even if you're Eldar,  you just have to dig in and weather the storm. These inexpensive anti-tank guns help the infantry do just that.


The hammer to the infantry's anvil, heavy tanks!


I have to choose my specialist infantry wisely as a Farseer because there are never enough points to get everything you want. I make sure to bring as many Wraithguard as possible as the heavy infantry are invaluable when spearheading an assault.


Death from afar. The Dark Reapers have broken up many an enemy thrust without ever endangering themselves which allows my own attack to be pressed home elsewhere.


One of my titans, the cherry on the cake. No game of epic is complete without one of these monsters pacing the battlefield with thundering footsteps!


Thanks for stopping by!

22 comments:

  1. Great looking army Paul, basing does seem a little tad large for my tastes though. But least you won't lose stands this way hehe

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    1. Bah, everyone's a critic. :P

      The base sizes are taken from the rules (which I admit is not really that essential) and I find the hordes of mono-pose 6mm figs a bit repetitive so I look at ways of making the bases mini-dioramas because of the extra space provided. My Orc infantry are all fighting through ruins!

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  2. Great stuff man looks really great. Not enough epic in the oldhammer movement. I must get round to the space marines at some point, and check out the FWC rules

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    1. Thanks very much. I agree that we don't see enough epic on the blogs, though there was a very large multiplayer game that lasted all of Sunday at BOYL '14 so it's a mystery why. I heartily recommend FWC.

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  3. I so rarely see painted Epic stuff - this is definitely a treat!

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    1. Thanks very much, happy to have provided a little pleasure!

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  4. I like the basing because its given you lots of room for built-in, eye-catching terrain -- which is one of the virtues of epic, in my view. Really great stuff.
    Stupid question - how do you get the nice white-with-dark-outline effect? Is it with a wash, or do you hand paint the dark recesses?

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    1. I'm with you on that point Matthew. Glad you like the force. I spray black then drybrush from mid-brown through bone to stark white. If you take you time and use only very delicate drybrushing you get this effect. I then paint in a second colour and a few details taking care not to lose the lining effect. I've tried a few other techniques like washing but at this scale I was happiest with the light drybrushing.

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  5. Nice pics of a great looking FWC force, Warlord Paul! Glad to see that Future War Commander is getting some attention. I am a big fan of the Commander games - Coldwar Commander is my favourite and the one I probably play the most, but FWC is great for getting poor old neglected EPIC minis into action and giving them a fun, smooth-flowing game.

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    1. My thoughts exactly, I couldn't have put it better myself. I am pretty sure I won over Thantsants and Ollie with the demonstration too. Thanks for the compliment!

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  6. Really beautiful pieces you got there! The visuall effect is great!

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    1. Thanks Suber! I am quite pleased with the overall look of the army when it is in action.

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  7. These look great, thanks for sharing! The titan looks especially impressive.

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    1. Glad you liked the results, thanks for reminding me to do it!

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  8. The Eldar for second edition Epic was the very first full army that I properly painted and properly gamed with. You never forget your first.

    Thats a great army Paul, it has a really nice look. When did you paint it? Is it a recent affair or a beautiful relic from the old days?

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    1. Thanks very much indeed. I have some very close early ties with the Eldar myself, though I didn't paint them so much back in the day because I got it into my head that doing so was difficult and for masters only. This army was assembled and painted in early 2010 I believe (my war-diary says the first games I used it in were in the second half of that year (what do you mean "what's a war-diary?")). I remember doing what is now known as Oldhammer in isolation back then and collecting several of the pieces for next to nothing.

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    2. The force has a more recent style of painting to it, if you know what I mean. Its all the better for it too, its great.

      I am familiar with Isoldhammer from the grim dark days of the noughties. Its over a decade since I played a game with any Epic. Ho hum. Some day.

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    3. Thanks very much. Shame you haven't dusted off your army in a while, maybe a game of epic would be a worthy target for BOYL one year?

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  9. Nice work, and nice to see Epic figures brought back to life with FWC. There are a few guys at my club who are doing this. I started without Epic figures and mainly used minis from Plasmablast Games, but over the last year or so, several have fallen into my lap.

    FWC is such a great game.

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    1. Hi Spiro, couldn't agree more about FWC, so much fun. Thanks for the compliment, much appreciated!

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