I Hate The Light Of Eltharion

Oh really?

My hobby time lately has been rather busy, especially since I recently acquired the Lumineth Realm Lords collector's box. I've spent my evenings diligently cutting, cleaning and painting my brand new aelves as citizens of Zaitrec.

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A post shared by Happy Heretic (@thehappyheretic01) on Jul 10, 2020 at 8:53am PDT

Last night I decided to tackle the only character from the box, the Light of Eltharion. I can honestly say I had absolutely no idea what to expect with this model. I had read precious little concerning the assembly and painting of this aelven hero from the World That Was. All indications, however, were that this would be a rather challenging project.

First and foremost, let me just say that I absolutely hate the Light of Eltharion. I don't hate the look of the model. The Light of Eltharion looks positively amazing, especially when fully painted. Truly, it's one of the most intriguing kits that Games Workshop has put together. One wouldn't think Games Workshop would be able to figure out a way to create a miniature of a fighting, empty suit of armor, but here we are.

Truthfully, I can't wait to start painting mine.

Why am I hating on the Light of Eltharion then? Simply put, I hate this model because of how positively nerve wracking the assembly was. There are so many extremely thin bits on the sprue, and so many ways they could break during the cutting and cleaning process. Assembling the Light of Eltharion took me just a little under an hour, but my heart was in my throat the entire time.

Pictured: the bane of my existence...

 The fact that one of the ribbons coming off of the back of the Light of Eltharion's helmet was broken before I even took it off the sprue didn't help matters. Luckily I was able to get it back into place with some super glue and a bit (a lot) of patience.

I must admit, however, that I am pleased with the end result. The Light of Eltharion is truly a unique piece, and I can't wait to get it painted up to match the rest of my Zaitrec aelves.

Tonight's project perhaps?

Why Is Warhammer So Invigorating

I love the smell of Nuln Oil in the morning...

Yesterday was a rough day for me. I had been up since about 3:00 in the morning with my autistic son. There was nothing wrong with him mind you. He's (more than) a little hyperactive, and a lot of things cause him varying levels of anxiety. As a result, every now and again he wakes up at an ungodly hour and refuses to go back to sleep. It's not something he can control, but thankfully it doesn't happen as much as it used to.

I spent much of yesterday keeping him entertained and out of trouble because, of course, the schools in my area are closed because pandemic. There was lots of running around, screaming, laughing, playing, etc. All in all it was a pretty exhausting day. Luckily he managed to fall asleep pretty early.

Most people would, quite understandably, want to simply lay down and pass out themselves. I have to admit that was my initial impulse as well. Instead, I hauled out my paint case, grabbed some water, picked up my brushes and set to working on my latest project.

This little guy right here. Look for him in a post later today...

Instantly I felt invigorated. The fatigue of the day melted away and I found myself in the zone. I found myself ignoring everything else around me. The show I was streaming, my wife (just kidding), nothing mattered except putting brush to model. Before I knew it it was after 10:00 at night. I ended up having to force myself to go to bed, and even then I was so wired up I had trouble getting to sleep.

This has become a common occurrence for me. Normally, I'm only able to paint at night after my son has gone to bed, and I frequently experience this invigorating effect. Stress and fatigue fades away as I concentrate on the most fun hobby in the world. Was it always this way, or is this something that's happened only as I've rediscovered the hobby? It's hard for me to say, really.

I posed the question to the Warhammer 40k Facebook group and received a few interesting responses.

Definitely. Warhammer brings me joy and rejuvenation. It breathes me man.

I have to be careful at night because I can get lost in assembly or painting and hours will fly by....then I have to get myself to a place where I can fall asleep since my mind is wired and still active. I usually steer away from the models when it's after hours because of this.

I do but not 3 hours sleep invigorating lol

Mentally restful. I zen out building models or painting

It’s called endorphins from doing something you enjoy.. 😉
... and yes.. you’re not alone.. 😉

It's called addiction.

Endorphins, of course, would be the scientific explanation for this effect. I'm sure there are reams of research on the subject that would be interesting to someone of a scientific background.

No time to read, though, we've got minis to paint!

 Addiction is, quite frankly, probably closer to the mark and the simplest explanation by far. I find Warhammer to be invigorating because, simply put, I am completely addicted to it. I'm sure my wife would agree with me.

Yeah, it's like that.

Hello, I'm the Happy Heretic, and I'm a Warhammer 40k addict. That's something I'll happily identify as.

What about the rest of you heretics (and Imperials) out there? Do you find Warhammer 40k or Age of Sigmar as invigorating as I do?

Finished: Old School Tyranid Terror

Job's a good one!

Last night I showed you the old school Tyranid termagant that I was going to experiment on.

Remember me?

My purpose, of course, was to test a possible paint scheme for an upcoming Genestealer Cults army I was going to be working on. Specifically, the Tyranid termagant's scheme was going to be applied to any purestrain genestealers I would have in my army.

I spent much of tonight finishing up this old school Tyranid, and I have to admit I like the look of what I came up with.

The first step was to undercoat the termagant with some Citadel Wraithbone spray. After that I applied a generous layer of Apothecary White contrast paint as you can see in the picture above. I know the prevailing school of thought with contrast paints is "two thin coats" rather than the "one thick coat" that Games Workshop initially advertised. However, I've found one thick coat to work better on the lighter colors like Apothecary White. The only thing you need to watch out for is some odd pooling that you might get.

Step two was a heavy dry brushing of Army Painter Matt White.

Now, I could have just left this termie as is. There's enough shading on him that the detail pops pretty well. I wanted to take it a step further, however, and get some more defined shading on this bad boy. I don't have any Nuln Oil handy, however I do have Army Painter Strong Tone. Step three saw me hitting the termagant with the Strong Tone like the fist of an angry god.

Now we have a bit more shading and some more definition. I couldn't just leave him that ugly light brown/black color, however. Step four (or five...whatever) saw me slapping another heavy dry brush of Matt White down.

The final steps in this process involved a base coat of Retributor Armor on the carapace plates on the back and the head, followed by another wash of Strong Tone to give it a bit of a bronzed look. Last, but not least, I did some edge highlighting with Auric Armour Gold, and just for giggles I hit the fleshy tubing of the gun with some Blood Angels Red contrast.

At this point I decided to call it quits. I may finish off the rest of this model at some point. Who knows, maybe it'll make a characterful addition to a future Tyranid swarm. The point of this project, however, was proof of concept. I wanted to see if what I had in mind would work. I think the results show that white skin with gold armor plating would work pretty well for Tyranid beasties.

Now I just need to figure out a Genestealer Cult army list that makes generous use of Genestealers.