A Study in Purple - ABF 2013 Begins

Battle Focus, Bladestorm, Serpent Shields, Holo-Fields; these are just some of the many things that came to us via the release of the new Codex: Eldar two months ago, and as a long time Eldar player I was ecstatic reading to book and confident in taking my army out of storage. Given that the army had been in a box for about two years and with the NWG tournament, which focuses heavily on painting, coming up in only a few weeks, I decided that the army would get a whole do over paintwise. I also added a couple of new models to modernise it.

Over the next two months leading up to NWG on September 28th, I am going to be chronicling my Eldar army as it progresses and prepares for two days of battling enjoyment, and the yearly Anyone But Frank (ABF) challenge. For those that may not remember since last year, Frank is one of the players on this side of the pond well known for his dynamic and enthusiastic painting projects, which happened to be winning him the painting prize at NWG year in and year out. Last year somebody claimed that it would be great if 'Anybody But Frank' won this year, and so Frank and the organisers came up with the ABF challenge. The challenge consists of a pledge to paint a new army and the standards include conversions, themed basing, and display boards. Last year I rocked out with Draigowing Grey Knights and actually won the challenge, so this year me and my space elves are back to try and take two in a row.

So enough talking, let's get to the actual painting. I decided on a purple colour scheme (shocker right), since doing my Eldar was putting my CSM on hold, and let's face it, I LOVE painting purple for some reason. I went and found an online painter and came up with this.

What you don't see here is the complimentary colour to the purple which will be added via weapons which is a Snakebite Leather based bone colour. So in order to show it to you I've had to go ahead a finish a model ahead of the pack so SPOILER ALERT, here is the first finished model (minus basing). On that note, the basing theme will be Eldar runes, so they will all be in greys with more green flock for similar contrast to the Spirit Stones, and will have plenty of ruined bits added.

Of course this is now, but I actually started a few weeks ago while working on my original list (it has changed a bit since then; will be posting the list in progress next time). At that pointed I decided to not lag behind on progress this year and just lined everything up, sprayed, basecoated, washed, and highlighted, all at once, so here are some progress shots of the last few weeks to tide you over while I get back to work. Stay tuned for my updates.