First on the menu are the other half of the Corsair squad, these are all the special and heavy weapons and the leader. Check out the first article for the other half. I'm rather taken with these chaps, especially the heavy weapon troopers. The models look so much better in the flesh than on the Forgeworld website. Let's check out the heavies first:
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| yikes, the camera really chopped through the blending on the shoulder, looks better in real life. |
The special weapons are likewise lovely and elegant. I tried to get a hunched, furtive look to the meltagunner (on the right). I envisioned him creeping up behind some armoured target to take it out with the critical shot.
With the leader you can see the backpack form nicely, that sword is lovely too, classic scimitar given an Eldar tweak. I had thought to put the Void Dragon's glyph on the vanes of the backpack but the transfers are too large. I'll pick through some of the smaller icons and see if there is any that would be suitable. They look great as plain red though so if nothing works it won't be a complete tragedy.
Speaking of tragedies... no, just kidding. For those who read Today I've Mostly Been the saga of these Dire Avengers has been a long one. They've had two different blue shades, three different greys, the details at the back are cast soft and so are tricky to pick out cleanly - essential for Eldar - and so over the course of weeks of trying to get them right they became something of an albatross. Purely a psychological one though because now they are finished I think they look all right! It's important to acknowledge that these things happen and to try and find strategies to get past them. For me it is usually to stick them back in a box, paint something else and wait for a day where I am feeling full of get up and go in order to attack them again. It works out in the end.
The Exarch, who is armed as all sensible Dire Avengers must be with paired Shuriken Catapults, is one of the better sculpts in the box. The sword especially is nice as is the pose which doesn't pretend that you can aim and fire paired weapons but rather empty one and then bring up the next. Massive firepower, minimum reload. The loincloth really helps balance the odd, bum-wrap too so it doesn't look as weird. On the subject of that bum wrap:
The model pictured is one of my favourite poses from the box, but. The sculpts are really showing their age and have one really, really odd choice. There is a sort of bum-wrap hanging down like a reverse loincloth. This seems to wrap around the armour plate covering the buttocks... despite the fact that no Eldar model has such an armour plate. It seems to float, attached to the buttocks for no good reason, are Dire Avengers inflicted with some horrible diarrhoea that necessitates nappies? I suspect, given the samurai overtones in a lot of the Eldar range that it is intended to be a sort of pseudo-Obi (Obi are the broad silk belts worn around the kimono and through which the sword scabbard is worn). If this went around the waist it would be a lovely Japanese stylistic touch that would reinforce some of the designs. Having it just floating there just makes no sense whatsoever. Because of this it just melts into the undersuit and creates problems choosing where the belt ends and the undersuit begins. Ho hum, a rare Eldar mistep there. Probably a tech-restriction from back whent they were molded.
Well, that's all for today! I'm returning to vehicles tomorrow and trying to get the two Night Spinners finished nice and quickly. 'Till next time;
TTFN
Super. An'lovin' the night spinners, too.
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