With the imminent arrival of a new codex for the followers of Cegorach, it’s time for me to revisit my favourite of all 40k forces… the Eldar Harlequins.
The killer death clowns from outer space hold a special place in my gaming heart – they were my first army for 40k way back in the days of rogue trader –using the Regiments of Renown box set from 1988 – though I didn’t get these minis brand new. My best guess is somewhere around 1990 or 91 is when a good friend of mine sold them to me third hand. If you had told me those 18 models would get me that hooked on this game that 25+ years later I would still be playing the game let alone running events and writing stuff about it I might have called you mad!
I’m not going to wax lyrical about the various editions of the harlequins – if you go back through my past harlequin articles I am sure I’ve already covered that at length. What I will do is explore my latest experiments in painting and what my next Harlequin force might be.
Recently I picked up a bunch of the fantastic Metallic Colour Shift paints from Greenstuff World. You can check them out HERE. I also picked up some stencils from Anarchy Models – the high speed ones that don’t stick down – you can see them HERE.
With these new tools and 3 Starweavers that had yet to be painted for my last Harlequin army I decided it was time to kill 2 birds with 1 stone – test my new tools and finish the last of my harlequins before I kicked off a new army!
I live streamed a bunch of these experiments HERE but the results are these –
I learned a lot with these tests, for one – you need to spray these over gloss black. You get a much better transition with them over gloss 100%. You also need 4-6 coats minimum to get a clean transition in the colour shift though just 2 (on the first example) seemed to work ok with the right lighting.
You also need to consider the base colour of the colour shift paints – several have a clear base for the pigment which means when its applied to white – you get a cool pearlescent finish on the white. The coloured base versions obviously give you a metallic colour over white but still no actual shift in colour. I have yet to actually apply these paints on a model but the test results are promising.
Emboldened by these tests I did the other 2 starweavers up…
Between the Tamyia masking tape and the fantastic stencils, I was able to put 3 very different vehicles on the table together that still looked similar enough to be part of the same force. With some extra work with a brush to finish the pilot, the canopy and so on, I had 3 new vehicles ready for flight.
So what does that have to do with a new Harlequin codex?
Well, the book should be in hand in the next week or so and it’s a great opportunity to apply all these new tools so the infantry match the vehicles. That test is up next… right after I pick a masque I like!