Tactical Commands is launching a “Tale of Epic Gamers” event where each participant commits to painting 500 points of models each month. More information at: http://www.taccmd.tacticalwargames.net/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=18753
This is just the right thing to get me motivated to dive into my Epic collection again.
Unfortunately, I have a major limitation at the beginning of the project: Travel will keep me away from my painting desks until the last week of August. Thus, the first 500 points chunk of models better be fairly quick to finish. I will use the early weeks of August to decide on army, unit and paint scheme choice.
I paint armies in batches to maintain consistency across the paint scheme of all models. As a result, I have completely finished armies (IG, SM, Orks, Chaos*) and completely unfinished armies. The latter constitute the options for the ToEG project: Tyranids, Eldar, Losts and the Damned (LatD). All my Epic armies aim to achieve “the book” in the sense of having every available unit type with reasonably multipliers for core units. With this approach most armies come in around 10000 points under Epic Armageddon rules. The Nids, Eldar and LatD are no exception.
I have no special motivation to prefer any one of the three armies so I will ask the crowd to select. Let’s introduce the contestants:
Tyranids
Overview: Tyranid models are long out of print so the collection is somewhat lopsided along lines of EBay availability: 2 each of the big critters (Dominatrix, Harridan, Hydraphant and Hierophant), a dozen each of the synapse creatures (Hive Tyrants, Tyranid Warriors, Nodes), around 10 each of the critters (Genestealers, Lictors, Carnifexes, Zoanthropes, Raveners, Gargoyles, Hormagants, Termagants, Spores), and between 6-10 each of the “vehicles” (Haruspex, Exocrine, Trygons, Malefactors, Dactylis). I will need to find some kind of conversion solution for Hierodules and find some Biovores to purchase somewhere.
Pro: I have a paint scheme already worked out for the Tyranids and am happy with it. Also, most of the models are based and primed already.
Con: Nothing major really other than that I will need to convert a few models. It will be a bit boring to punch out hundreds of models with the same paint scheme but 6mm models are an endurance sport anyhow.
Eldar
Overview: The Eldar army is fairly big, mostly because of the wide range of unit choices. In total it has a full unit of 8 models with exarchs for each aspect (Dark Reaper, Dire Avenger, Fire Dragon, Howling Banshee, Shining Spear, Striking Scorpion, Swooping Hawk, Warp Spider), 6 Guardian Hosts with a handful of all the upgrade options (weapon platforms, Wave Serpents, Wraithguards, Wraithlords), 4 Jetbike Troupes including one with Vypers, 3 Ranger Troupes, 3 Warwalker Troupes, 3 Falcon Squadrons, 2 Nightspinner Squadrons, 1 Fireprism Squadron, 1 or 2 of each of the flyer formations (Nightwing, Phoenix, Vampire), 2 each of the Engines of Vaul (Cobra, Scorpion, Storm Serpent, Void Spinner) and one each of the titan options (Phantom, Warlock, 2 Revenants).
Pro: Eldar models are fun to paint and offer a lot of variety due to the aspect warrior colour schemes.
Con: The army isn’t based yet. Basing 6mm models is something like 75% of the workload so this will require a major time investment up front. I also don’t have a good paint scheme for the Eldar yet. I would like to mimic the scheme of my 40k Eldar (purple with blue accents and bone coloured wraithbone). Unfortunately, a straight translation of Liche Purple into the 6mm scale comes out to dark. I will have to experiment with different ways to achieve purple. Maybe a white undercoat followed by coats of Purple Wash would work?
Lost and the Damned
Overview: The LatD are a way to use all the left-over models from my Black Legion and Imperial Guard collection. The army list doesn’t have a lot of choices so this is slightly smaller collection (though it cross-uses the already painted daemons from the Black Legion collection). The bulk of the army comes from about 20 each of Mutants, Cultists, Plague Zombies and Big Mutants plus assorted command models. The only other “fixes” part are the Daemon Engines: 1 Lord of Battle, 6 Doomblaster, 3 Brass Scorpion, 1 Tower of Skulls, 3 Cauldron of Blood, 1 Deathdealer, 1 Blood Reaper, 1 Plague Tower, 2 Subjugator, 6 Slaneesh Knights, 1 Firelord, 4 Doomwings, 2 Silver Towers, and 6 Hellfire Cannons. I am missing Contagion Towers and Questors (and two Silver Towers to make a legal sized formation). For the rest of the army I have a few bags of assorted IG equipment: 8 Fire Support Squads, 6 Chimeras, 3 Hellhounds, 3 Demolisher, 2 Leman Russ, 5 Basilisk, 6 Rough Rider, and 50 or so assorted 300:1 GHQ army trucks to be used as Transports.
Pro: I recently (almost) finished the Black Legion collection with only three models left (Magnus the Red, Mortarion and a Lord of Change) – hence the little asterix above. So I am sort of “in the groove” with respect to the colour scheme for chaos armies.
Con: The collection is far from completed model wise. I will also need to convert up a bunch more armoured vehicles and find proxy solutions for things like Chaos Hounds and Spawns.
So, help me decide by voting below. Thanks.
Wargaming Workshop 