Warhammer 40,000 2nd Edition Painting Challenge Introduction
Folks, I'm back from the black tar pits of school to bring you more Carmin-centric hobby content; and what's more Carmin than biting off more than he can chew? That's right, it's another painting challenge. I've technically* only finished one in my whole damn life, but I have the verve required to meet every potential painting challenge with a wild "of course, that sounds like a lot of fun."
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This one is a bit unique. An oldhammer blogger by the name of Dr. The Viking is hosting his third Warhammer 40,000 second edition army-painting challenge. There are full details at his site, along with the contest intro, but the gist of it is that the participants create a 1,000 point army list using 40k second edition codices, the grey list, or White Dwarf articles from that period (1993–1998), break that army into five "slices," and paint each "slice" over the course of a month for five months. There will be featured write-ups and pictures over at his blog, but I'm also going to post my progress here.
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For this challenge I'm unearthing my eldar collection, which I've amassed over the decades. Much of it has sat primed and unpainted in storage, set aside in favor of newer sculpts. You can see from the below picture that every model is from that era, and is all pewter (or lead… Honestly, I'd rather not know). This picture is also annotated to show each "slice." The painting begins now, so I have until January 1st to finish "slice" one.
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I built the army based on a few factors, the first being legality. I did actually build this army to be a legally-playable 1,000 point army were it 1997 and I was popping down to the local Games Workshop to play a few games on a Friday night—albeit without much wargear, because my copy of Dark Millennium is still in storage. Secondly, I chose models I've been wanting to paint for a while (guardians), models I love painting (howling banshees and warlocks), and models I've never painted before (swooping hawks). The wraithlord (née dreadnought) just felt good to throw in, kept with the pewter exclusivity, and would be quicker to paint than a falcon or fire prism.
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The color scheme I'll be attempting is one I hope to use on all my future eldar miniatures. I've waffled on various color schemes for my beloved eldar throughout the years, going from Biel-Tan to one of my own devising (purple and blue; what was I thinking?), to finally something that looks along the lines of this:
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For the aspect warriors I'll be following the painting guides in the 'Eavy Metal Warhammer 40,000 Painting Guide by Mike McVey, using the old paints to do so.
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Finally, I just wanted to put this out there that I will not be painting Goblin Green bases. I know, I know, I hear the wailing and gnashing of teeth through the Internet, but it will not be done! I actually have enough armies that have Goblin Green bases from that era, and while I don't hate the look of it, I do want these models to integrate somewhat into a newer color scheme. These will be based on ice world bases, which do mesh with this throwback look. If you crack open your Epic 40,000 Battles Book (1997) you'll see that some of the Space Wolf stands had an ice world look, while the impressive pictures of the Valhallans facing off against the all-purple Tyranids in the Warhammer 40,000 Third Edition Rulebook (1998), also had a basing scheme that went against the 'Eavy Metal standard of the time.
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So keep your dials tuned to this blog, as well as my Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook (sure, why not?). You should also keep tabs with the host's socials to see the other participants' entries (Instagram, Facebook, Twitter). I'll be posting work-in-progress photos, as well as final submissions. I'll also be re-blogging the write-ups I send in. Here's hoping I have the gumption to finish a challenge this time!
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