Preparing the Masque - 3rd Party Harlequin Jetbikes

So by now most of you have heard about the impending re-release of Eldar Harlequins. Buckets of salt or not, this is tasty tasty news. Of the five major sub types of Eldar, only the Exodites remain - and that Forgeworld Smaug model certainly does beg for becoming a mount *wink wink nudge nudge*

What we haven't seen for a long time, and currently being hinted at, is the inclusion of Harlequin Jetbikes. As if Ninja Clowns weren't enough, we've now given them Hell's Angels style futuristic Jetbikes... maniacal laughter ensues.

*Above: OOP Harlequin Jetbikes of 1st Edition Rogue Trader

Meanwhile, i've been sitting on a couple of dozen old style Harlequin Jetbikes, with a view to building some of the new 3rd party ones as well. You may recall back when I had a bunch of Warlocks, Farseers and Autarchs painted, a good friend also gave me some of the prototype (at the time, now production) Harlequin Jetbiker heads.

These heads were quickly bolstered by canopies and became conversion kits.

And the end result? These beauties...

Juicy... to say the very least. So now to prepare the Masque, comprising of over 125 OOP Harlequins, 26 OOP Harlequin Jetbikes, 30 new type Harlequins and 30 3rd Party Harlequin Jetbikers. I won't lie, I feel a little sorry for the commissioned artist who has to deal with these guys (Nigel, i'm looking at you - if you're reading this).

Now all we have to do is hope the rumours are true ;) and pray for Exodites next.

The Second Wave - Corsairs, Wraithguard & Guardians

A new year, a new batch of miniatures to be sent off to Navin and his crew at PaintedFigs.com - These guys do a fantastic job of smashing out the troops and elites component of the Warhost, with  around 1200 miniatures in the total commission - roughly 62%.

*Above: The squad of ultimate bad asses (yep, Aliens quote)

Now that the bulk of the Aspect Warriors are out the way theme wise (with a small batch left to go in the second wave), its on to the bulk of the Guardians, Wraithguard and Corsairs. The remainder to go as part of a new (3rd batch) hopefully in January 2016 will finish up the remaining units of GW Jetbikes, converted Jes Goodwin re-sculpt Jetbikes (Shuriken Cannon variants) and new style Wraithguard (blades).

Next up, Planetscape update, Flyers and completed Phantom Titans.

First of the Sky Generals - Alternative Jetbike Autarch WIP

Ah Monday. What would it be if the dog hadn't crapped under the bed, internet stopped working and the commute to work took an extra half hour... probably a good day. Good thing Vincent sent me something to take away the Mondayitis - The latest WIP of an alternative sculpt Jetbike Autarch, in all its "Nebula" glory!

In other news, the first of the Vampire Raiders has arrived, meanwhile Customs has grabbed my other two Vampire Raider/Hunter class flyers, so now I have to explain why the value is only for painting services... else i'm going to be banged a couple hundred bucks for the "pleasure" of getting them back into the country. Argh. Good thing the work is amazing, which lightens the blow a bit.

Stay tuned!

Jes Goodwin Jetbikes en mass

... Or "field of furious carrots", if you prefer.

Navin from PaintedFigs.com has come back with a shot of the 47/60 Jes Goodwin Jetbike resculpts. In short, that's quite a few twin linked shuriken catapults. The full compliment of Jetbikes and styles are more than I can count on both hands at this stage, from the Games Workshop variety, to custom sculpts and resculpts... of all shapes and sizes.

These new additions will certainly be quite interesting when I swing by the local GW store. The next tricky bit is finding a means of storing them all.

Note: The two shots below were WIP - gems have been coloured in etc beyond this.

Next up, Swooping Hawks!..

Jes Goodwin Prototype Jetbikes

Time for an update!

With a stint of bad health lately, I just had these images turn up in my inbox to brighten my evening, from Navin over at Paintedfigs.com.

I picked up a bunch of these a few months ago and sent them off to Navin's bunch for colouring in :) and I have to say I like the way they came up. Only the gems on the canopy to go (blue/green), and the little suckers will be stamped out en mass. On to the pretty pictures!

Looking forward to seeing these as a group in the near future :)

New Harlequin Jetbike Pieces

So a little Xmas surprise from my good mate over in Russia (You may remember his crazy Jetbike Farseers/Warlocks/Autarch/Shining Spears etc - all sculpted solo). With the replacement missing Jetbike canopy (presuming good ole Customs lost that one), Sergey has put a huge smile on my face in the form of some free sample work pieces - Harlequin Jetbike heads. What a champion! :D

So far the heads and canopies have been created - presumably with the bodies to come! Hmmm, the talent out there seems to keep growing ;)

GW Shining Spears: Sample mock up...

Good ole Navin over at PaintedFigs.com just got back to me with the revision sample for some Shining Spears of the Games Workshop kind. Previously, I had the Non-GW Shining Spears done up which set out the theme for how future Spears were to be painted. Don't pay much attention to the linework at present, keeping in mind this was a mock up model that has had a few layers of paint to make sure the colours were right before being stamped out en mass :)

When these are sorted out (and the stragglers are sent over), there will be 54 (six full squads of nine) Shining Spears, each with its own Jetbike Autarch to lead the spearhead.

... WIP Updates ahoy!...

Well things have been a little slow this last week (work being work and a media server crapping itself during a rebuild to blame), so I thought i'd post an update.

I have updates from 3/4 commissioned artists, each are WIP, so please understand they're not the finished products :)

First up, Vincent (aka Duskfrost) with Farseer number 3 of 20 aka the Frostseer. Each Farseer will have different elements painted on their respective cloak (with the exception of the Whiteseer, that will be something else entirely);

 

Meanwhile, Navin over at Paintedfigs.com has had his lads working on the Dire Avenger concept - the first he admitted was a bit rushed just to see if the colours would work, the rest will be a bit tidier, but i'm loving the theme starting to really come out in the army now;

And last but not least, an update on the Jetbike Warlocks and Shining Spears from Luke & Adam at The Sound of Machines! There are one or two bits left to go (a blue energy stripe down each side of the length on the canopy). I've not seen the finished Spirit Seers yet, however they were much the same as previous Warlocks, so i'll leave them up to your imagination;

And a group shot just for good measure ;)

 More goodies to come in the next few weeks!

... UPDATED: Jetbike Warlock sneak peak...

Early this morning I had an email from Luke over at The Sound of Machines telling me the Jetbikes have been done - along with an MMS sneak peak, top shot of the finished Warlock. Luke has mentioned there will be more piccies to come in the afternoon, so stay tuned for the rest of them.

Very much liking the work on the canopy!

I'm also told the Shining Spears are completed as well, so those bad boys will be posted up here as well; in total there are 27 Shining Spears, 10 Warlocks and 4 Spirit Seers - Bwahahaha indeed.

Can't wait to mount these lads on the stands that turned up from Back to Base-ix . I will note, the nature of laser cutting had the stands smelling like the amazon had been burned to the ground, probably a good idea to throw them into some warm soapy water to help kill the smell and remove the laminate from both sides of the acrylic - if anyone is looking to buy some!

Update: Here is a quick pic of the Jetbike Warlock and Spirit Seer, some very small alterations happening in the next week or so (Shining Spears and a little bronze for the Jetbike Turbines), updates as they become available :)

... Quick update & promos...

Well this week certainly has been eventful!

Luke & Adam over at The Sound of Machines, have been busily working away at getting my Jetbikes (Warlocks, Shining Spears) sorted out, along with a handful of Spirit Seers - Expect piccies in the next few days or so. Luke has also generously offered to do up a wargaming table for regular play that I intend to store at work (for Pizza/Beer nights). One of the lads (Rob H) from back in my home state has also offered to part with three tables worth of terrain for these games - which should see us have buckets of variety! You might say the standard gaming stuff is now sorted out :)

*Plug - If you would like to meet the boys in person or discuss commissions, they will be out at the Grand Opening for Game Traders this weekend at Penrith (see image below);

Meanwhile, in the Northern Hemisphere, Navin over at PaintedFigs.com has had his colleague Anuruddha working on a Dire Avenger sample. Anuruddha is the lad that did the Warp Spider and Fire Dragon samples that I pretty much approved on sight, so i'm looking forward to seeing what he has put together. Also, the Jes Goodwin Jetbike sculpts turned up, so in the next couple of months we may see the sample images of those as well, I have it on good authority that the resin used was the best Navin has ever seen with hardly any cleanup required at all - stay tuned!

Oh and the Warp Spiders and Fire Dragons are on their way home as well - I seriously need to start thinking about foam trays to store these guys in pronto.

Also up North, on a different continent, my good mate Fireman Dave (Yes ladies, he's a Fireman, hold onto your panties though, he's taken) is in packing mode to ship the recent Eldar goodies (and Limited Edition books) Down Under. Big props to you lad :)

Closer to home, Vincent (aka Duskfrost) has just advised me the Scibor scenic bases have turned up, so expect an Avatar and Wraithseer mounted on those bad boys around the end of the year.

I have to throw in a plug for Back to Base-ix having their 50% off sale this week only on acrylic flying stands. They include the magnets as well if anyone is interested in popping over. I splashed out given it was an all in one solution with a choice of plastic colours (I still went clear). The Universe must have been listening as I was browsing their products on Saturday, only to find out this gem following day or so. Life savers indeed. The promo code is facebook001 used at checkout.

At this point it also looks like the Brass Scorpion is in the lead for the Phantom Titan scenic base project, so get your votes in before the timer clocks out :)

The previous poll results have also indicated you want pretty pictures, and pretty pictures you shall have - just need a few days until Adam's Jetbikes are sorted out and the goodies from Sri Lanka arrive... squee indeed.

... Shining Spears & Jetbike Warlocks Underway!...

The boys (Luke & Adam) over at The Sound of Machines have been pretty busy lately. One thing that boggles the mind is how fast they can churn the miniatures out!

As you're all aware (ok, maybe not), Sunday just passed I dropped a bunch of Non-GW Shining Spears and Jetbike Warlocks over to Luke (amongst other things *wink wink, nudge nudge*). What I didn't anticipate was how quickly they've jumped into the squads - The lads are working on a bucketload of Space Marines as well, so perhaps it just helps break things up a tad.

Yesterday Luke posted these piccies up for all to see, however I thought i'd drop them here to showcase how quickly they get stuck into their work - and lovely work it is indeed from what I can see.

First up, Jetbike Warlocks (with a few Spirit Seers in the background who will join the Warlocks);

And the Shining Spears;

... Prototype Jetbikes enroute...

I've just had confirmation that the Prototype Jetbikes are enroute to be painted en-mass. So whilst I await the Dire Avenger test sample (to approve mass painting of the little buggers), these guys will shortly follow up - after the Swooping Hawks and GW Shining Spears are also sorted out.

Thankfully, with Finnan's (from Dakkadakka) blessing, I was able to pinch his colour scheme used - as it uses the same palette currently in effect. Credit of the images below goes to Finnan of course ;)

In short, imagine the following, except with blue/green gems, bone coloured shuriken catapults and a tiger striped pattern on the canopy;

Tidbits and very rare items

Along the way to creating a pretty hefty display army, i've stumbled across some pretty rare goodies that i've been very fortunate to acquire (aside from the Armorcast vehicles).

First up, the customised dice and pouch (the pouch you can see in the mass boxes image further down the page);

More recently, I was lucky enough to acquire all four of the Juan Diaz test sculpts (all originals). Each of these had 12 copies made, so I was very lucky to obtain all four from the Godfather of rare miniatures in New Zealand. The one in the top left is the special character Iyanna, Spirit Seer of Iyanden, from the 3rd Edition Eldar Codex - they never released a production model of her.

And now for some very special Jetbikes, made by a friend overseas. Let's just say they make the 1994 Games Workshop sculpts pale by comparison. These turned up yesterday in the mail I might add!

Jetbike Farseers

Jetbike Warlocks

Jetbike Autarch (with all the extra trimmings)

And some fancy new Shining Spears

Proof of life (heh)