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As the Call to Arms 2023 Challenge is getting close to its end, I will share here some family portraits of my contributions. In the Xenos Stronghold - running for Aeldari Forum - A Saim Hann War Host. Except the Wraithlord (Edit) and the red WS that have been painted prior to the Challenge but that I cannot leave away from their amtes, all the models have been painted in 2 distinct vows. Special note of the converted Venom, that is enlisted for Master of the Forge. Still in the Xenos Stronghold - running (as a proxi) for the Leagues of Votann Forum - a lone Squat trike Enlisted as a single and lonely vow In the Imperium Stronghold - running for Space Wolves SubForum - a column of Rhinos All belonging to 2 distinct vows In the Imperium Stronghold - running for Astra Militarum - some isolated SW auxilaries investing an abandoned outpost All belonging to 3 distinct vows And, finally, still in the Imperium Stronghold - running for Adeptus Mechanicus Forum - Part of an Extermination Maniple This vow was initially planned to be my main contribution to the Imperial Stronghold, but, because of shipping delays, it happened being the last one, the rest of the Imperial troops being the activated contingency plan. In total this represent a Grand Total of 201 Points: - Aeldari - 102 pts - Votann - 2 pts (but so far accounted as 2 extra points for Aeldari in the List of vows) - SW + Astra Militarum (as they are all included in SW vows) - 58 pts - AdMech - 39 pts Nota: Ruins and Scenery are inc. in the Imperium related vows.

This one was not on the rooster of mine. Yet, because of an unexpected event (need to find a cardbox to ship a sold item on Wallapop), I encountered a small platic bag, full of lead and white metal scrap. Among these scraps, an SCT! By SCT I meant a never assemblied Squat Guild Trike. So, here is my third vow: assemble, paint and base this piece of hobby´s history. I guess it will be enlisted for the Leagues of Votann. The molding is quite detailled and faces are really better than anything in plastics, Only Resins models can get that close. Yet design is worth its 30-35 y.o. Respect of scale is, lets say respectfully, non existing. And the set of plastic arms on the standard sprue are anything but adapted to the model. I will have to recut I guess, just to get at least one hand on the gas throttle... It will not be as dynamic as the genuine illustration, but it can be a nice small project to spend the week-end. It will mainly be dry brushing after all.

This WE overall progress for my second Vow is reflecting important progress - weathe rhas been bad so I had time to kill...: - 10 Storm Guardians - 10 pts - on-going - 10 Dire Avengers - 10 pts - done - 1 Skyrunner Farseer - 5 pts - 2 Vypers - 6 pts - done - 1 Falcon - 6 pts - done - 2 Warlocks - 10 pts - done - 1 Autarch - 5 pts - done - 3 Shining spears - 6pts - Full repaint job - done - 1 converted Venom - 3pts to be placed into the list of contestants for the Master of the Forge sub challenge - done The Warlocks are not strictly compeletd as basing is missing but they will receive their rocks and snow at the same time as the Guardians. The latter have already received most of the base colours and shading, time to go the detailing accesories and gems. I will optimize to get the retouches on the Warlock where some paint spots may require being corrected The StarWeaver/Venom.... or whatever it is, used to be my first convertion 20 years ago. It remained almost untouched ever since and received finally some love under an Harlie paint scheme that required a lot of time and patience for all these free hand losanges. Result is not perfect, but Okish, or enough for me, let´s say it liek that, Trying to improve will ruin the result achieved so, one in one, let´ssay it is done and satisfying for my own painting standard: Overall Vow 2 progress has superceeded the imitial plannig - I was thinking into completing it by end of August but I will probably end for 15th of August. Next models are Guarrdians (you can see them uin the background with their burgundy livery) and the Skyrunner Farseer (converted).

This unit underwent a total repaint, except the Eagle pet of the Exarch that remained as it was when I painted in in the early 2000´s. We went from this initially : ... To that now: The exarch bears a converted Bright Lance (When I bought this unit it was a popular tooling as mobility and sheer lethality used when hitting rear armour of tanks). There are a couple of green stuff extra gems and an eagle pet from the ooP Warmaster Range. Chevrons remind of the belonging to Saim Hann Craftworld although the temple colours indicate the shared alligeance beyond the Clan. I still haven´t receive my red paint, but I encountered a pot forgotten in my modelling supply crate, sorry, Shoebox. I will resume with guardians and keep on paint Warlocks robe this week End. Vows 2 looks like bieng quite well on track!

Today Photo Log includes the latest completed minis, under the form of 2 vypers. The paint scheme ihas been inspired by the VOid Dragons schemes from IA: Doom of Mymeara. The Vyper with personnalized gunner is inspired from a head swap published in WD (I guess it was a Golden Daemon Entry) and in Codex Eldar for 3rd Ed. It comes from an Escher Gunner. Some more pics can be found in my Gallery for Call-To-Arms Challenge: Do not hesitate getting a tour and commenting either in the Blog or in the Album. At the moment my overall progress for this second Vow is he following: - 10 Storm Guardians - 10 pts - 10 Dire Avengers - 10 pts - done - 1 Skyrunner Farseer - 5 pts - 2 Vypers - 6 pts - done - 1 Falcon - 6 pts - done - 2 Warlocks - 10 pts - on-going - 1 Autarch - 5 pts - done - 3 Shining spears - 6pts - Full repaint job - 1 converted Venom - 3pts to be placed into the list of contestants for the Master of the Forge sub challenge I will have to slow down a little bit for lack of Mephiston Red, hoping it will come soon. Next step will therefore be either the repainting of the Shinning Spears - this requires mainly white and blue - plus getting a hand on the Venom - which will be modified to become a proxy StarWeaver instead Now, back to the workbench!

This is the top militia warrior that leads my Saim Hann Cadre. A former Banshee Temple adept that now guide the Guardians in agressive warffare tactics. In the right line of fierce and brutal clans from the most savage Craftworld! This conversion is done with the old Drazzar body (White metl) with a Banshee Exarch head and executioneer. Plus details and stuffs fron the Guardian´s sprue. The week end has been very productive. But I will have to slow down - I am out of Mephiston red paint and the reference is currently unavailable in most sites. Let see how long it takes to get it.

This conversion comes from the bottom of my Minature Closet. It had been designed and preassemblied a long long time ago, when rules for Harlies were only available in the Citadel Journal. A time with almost no internet but instead Xerox machine and a very popular lad in the club that owned copies of this Journal´s issues. I xeroxed the pages, lost them and though that it could instead be a steed for a converted Nuadhu Firehearth mini (That I never completed) when rules were available in this Codex: Past is in the past and I feel like it is a good thing. No excess of nostalgy here. But I regret Nuadhu never got a model. I will start painting the model soon, but now that the Venom is part of the Drukhari arsenal and that the comparable model in Harlies is the Starweaver, I wonder if I should not try a more "acrobatic" paint scheme. As you see the model has been left in its juice up to now. Here are some pics of its main parts: Some might recognize that main parts for extended tail and large fins/wings are coming from a BattleFleet model. some small green stuff here or there, mainly for additional waystones, and a modified hull weapon supposed to be a fusion gun (the optin was available to Harlies´ Venom at the time) I will try to reach to a decision between Starweaver and Venom. So that I might take a potential turn to Ynnari or get to think about adding a pair of Shuriken cannons to the machine before starting the paint job...

The Falcon was the last eldar, perdon, Aeldari, Tank chassis I had left in my Xenos´ Pile of Shame. I have always liked this model was was the first one issued by GW that was not a bulky shoe box, Something with elegant lines and curves. The model aged quite well IMO for such a venerable sculpt. Yet there is something that always left me a little bit uneasy: don´t you think it is a little bit squt? it looks like the balance of the scuulpt is missing something. At the rear. The Wav Serpent´s extended passengers´ compartment does not left the same impression. Anyway, time to paint. Nor something too fancy. I will stick to the main red hull I used for the test WS. Some stripes to stick to the common Saim Hann iconography, and that´s it. Here is the result, painted in parallel to the Dire Avengers of my second vow. Truth is that painting such a tank took me less time than painting an infantery squad... As for other models of the challenge, decals willcome in extra latter on, awaiting for the whole bunch to be completed... The turret of this model really needs something on its flat panel.

I made this leap of faith/Gambit that I would be able to paint and repaint all the rest of my Aeldari´s Pile of Shame before closing date of the Challenge. I bet that the high painting yield I had over the past 3 weeks could be maintained up to the end of Sept. We will see if it proves to be a reasonable assumption or a fools game. Anyway, from the list of units set in my second Vow, I decided to treat in priority the Dire Avengers. Wishing to shift from red/burgundy to blue for more variety... I also made some extra trials wish Slap Chop. Previous attempt was a deception. Let´s see if this time it goes better. Comparatively the test results are giving very contrasted results: Base case is NO Slap Chop and Thalassar Blue on white primed model - to flashy - Talassar blue is a very bright and vivid colour. Too bright to migh taste, needs to go darker Standard Slap Chop - Black primed model, dry brushed in grey (administratum) and white plus Thalassar Blue - too dark to my taste. I rpobably did not insist suficiently on the dry brushing Intermediate Slap Chop - Grey (administratum) primed model, dry brushed in white plus Thalassar Blue - not too bad but still dark. Administratum grey is cnaceling most of the nuances that a Contrast paint can bring "Reverse" Slap Chop - My very own añmost genuine denomination - Grey (dawnstone) primed model, dry bruched in Gery (administratum) plus Thalassar Blue - interestingly this one is the one I like best. Do not ask why. So, conclusion? Let´s go with the fourth one. The resulting paint scheme I define is the following: - The blue recipe Nº4 - The helmets in red with white peanant - more or less like Asurmen model, with the red doing the natural link with the rest of the army - Some Wraithbone coloured weapons - Some touches of white on back pack, paultrons and chest plates, to adjust visual impact. I was not decided initially between the white and black, but it ended being white, which is more visualy contrasting than the black. What is the result? Well see by yourself:

Week 3 is on-going and I have some substantial progess to report. A. HQ My vow includes a Farseerand a Skyrunner Warlock that have been completed Here are those two boyz. While the Farseer is a clasic model, the Skyrunner is a converted one based on the ooP jetbike, a torso from a metal warlock, backbanner from ooP Shining Spear and executioneer from olf Jain-Zahr model. I have been inspired by the colour scheme from Void Dragons as per the IA book (Doom of Mymeara) even if I revisited it to fit to the Saim-Hann cannon B. Jetbikes All seven jet bikes are painted too. Also based on oop model with some accesorization with haed swaps and CC weapons from the Storm/Black Guardian metal sprue of Eye of Terror Campaign. Bikes weapons and number account is not aligned anymore with the Index trends (too few Shuriken cannons, odd number count...). I will have to look for 2 more models on Ebay to reach the account of 9, ideally both with Shuriken cannon. I aslo have some scatter laser parts somewhere so maybe converting something is a ay to go? Logo is from the Dark ELves ooP shield sprue. I do not know if I still have some in my bitz box in case of fielding 2 more bikes in the future. But, WAIT! It means that my first vow is now COMPLETE!

After a small attempt with slap chop technique on the Guardians I finally made a step back and used a more basic and standard painting approach using the recioppe of colours previously tested. I must confess that painting these models has been a kind of revelation: it is refreshing not having to paint purity seals.... Anyway, the Guardian plastic mini (the previous kit now ooP) is not necesary the smoothest surface and arms tend not to stay glued properly. some repairs jobs were needed on the run. The second revelation of this paint job is my deficience in maths. apparently i am not able to count furtehr than 10. I listed in the challenge 10 guardinas and the platform but in fact they are 12 plus the platform... Anyway I will try to correct or use them into a second vow if I go this way. Here are some pics of the chaps, WIP, but almost on the finish line (basing in progress): The squad leader is a convertion made out of the bottom of white metal Banshee Exarch and upper torso of a plastic guardian. Head is from the ooP metal conversion kit for Storm/Black guardians from 13th Black Crusade Campaign era. A tad blurry, but you get the idea. Once gravel sealing will be dry, I will complete the base to give the frozen aspect and the Snow. As for other models of the vow, decals will wait for a final session with all the models together.

My first post on B&C started with this sentence: "long time lurker, first time poster". As far as painting models is concerned I could be considered as a lurker too. Indeed I barely demonstrate creativity for my paint schemes. What I like above all is being guided with some suggested colour pallets and paint schemes. I suppose it comes from long long time ago, when I was passing hours reading on books about liveries or camos & unit paint schemes of WWII troops. Anyway, as far as my Saim Hann stuff is concerned, the seed for inspiration for the Wave Serpent included in my forst vow came from here: A pic of a a half painted WS put on Ebay. The kind of stuff screaming out "SAVE ME PLEASE". Yet it brought me into thinking that it might fit quite well with the Night/Day theme I wanted to apply for the my two starchildren´s chariots. The initial idea raised when I saw these two badges of the Falcon Decal sheet - one with a sun and one with a moon: OK, it is may be not so obvious, that the concept might match when you look at the Ebay pic, I may agree. Yet I though that a darker tone (to be understood as a WS model painted with a sufficient amount of black) WS pairing with the other one I painted to test paint schemes (the red mono colour, fitted with bright lances from a previous Blog entry) was a good idea. Aditionnaly, up to now, I have been used into applying for all my armies some very uniformed / standardized paint schemes - uniforms and armours a very similar from one unit to another and the distinctive features are limited (except eventually on personalized vehicles). I am a little bit feded up wit it. I feel refreshing fielding an army that may align units of various colours and schemes into a single force such as Aeldar can offer through ASpect Warriors, Harlies and Corsairs... If I complete my first vow I will expand the challenge with some aspect warriors as a second vow, just to align Dire Avengers painted into a blue/with dominant scheme... Anyway, here is the result for the "night" WS: And a close up on the blue gems of the field projectors with their touch of glossy varnish. Next step will be setting the decals. But for this one i will have a batch session with all the rest of the models once the vow will be fully painted and based.

After a well deserved rest of 1 week in a cabin in the woods, I finally started working on my first vow. Progress has been relatively satisfying with two of the units pledged at a completion stage of 75%: 1. The first unit I focussed on is the Wave serpent, for which I had great expectations. Indeed it is the first time I try a bicolor scheme (black/red) on a model so curvy. So a kind of new challenge for me. I worked with masking tap which in the end was globally satisfying even if it might be tricky positionning it in some places. Highlighting and shadding proves to be be quite critical to ensure a good outlook for panel transition even if it is not so obvious on the pic. Here bellow a WIP pic of the stripped hull 2. The second unit is the Defender squad. Although I initially tried a painting recipe (see previous Blog entry), before starting, I decided to give a chance to the Slap Chop technique. Yet the results were not very convincing. In fact comparing the guardians obtained by direct Contrast applied on Grey Seer base vs. Slap Chopped model the difference did not justified the extra time needed by the latter technique vs. the former one. It might be a theme related to the covering grade of Flesh Tearer Red? Is it too opaque to allow a good resolucion of the speed Shading/High Lightning that Slap Chop is supposed to bring? So decision is to stick to the initial painting recipe of Blood Angel Mephiston Red base, washed with Flesh Tearer Red and high lighted with Wazzdakka Red.

And here is my first vow for the Xenos Stronghold. The equivalent of a Patrol box, changing the Wraithlord for a skyrunner Warlock. Primed and assemblied, except the Wave Serpent that will be painted hulls and chassis separatly before being glued together. But where did I put the canopy??? All minis are ooP ans have seen for some of them conversions or modifications/swaps: - Wild Riders logo from Dark Elf shield sprue (WFB) - A Dark Elf (?) pole as icon on a Wild rider bike - Some weapons swap and heads from the 13th black crusade storm guardian kit - Skyrunner warlock from a jet bike, warlock torso and weapon from old Jain-Zarrh model The Wave Serpent is a genuine Forgeworld model with twin linked Elder missile launcher. So here we are at day 1. With something like 41 pledged points to be painted.