Aeldari Rangers

I've decided to work on some of the Aeldari figures I've collected up over the last few years. Though I've been meaning to get working on them for some time, the impetus for this was seeing all the other people playing Imperial forces at the Battle of the Abyss last weekend. I don't think there was anyone at all playing Eldar, so the likelihood of me having to play "blue-on blue" games at any local events I happen to attend should be greatly diminished. Also if I have two full-sized opposing forces I'll be able to set up games, with narrative scenarios, that no one has to bring minis to.

I think the Eldar were my first 40K love. I can't say they were my first 40K miniatures, as those would be that original box of plastic "beaky" marines - the very first 40K minis that were available at the Wizard's Corner - my FLGS in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada in the late 80s). I also bought a few Space Orks - a few Gretchin that were produced under license by Rafm at the time (which I think were the first METAL 40K minis I saw at Wizard's), the box of space Ork raiders and I'm pretty sure I had a buggy and a wartrack/flamer at one point - they were mostly picked up to have an opposing force - and because my first Warhammer Fantasy Battles army had been Orcs (though that force was composed of almost  entirely of Ral Partha miniatures). But the first real force that I but a number of units for , and thought of as MY force for this game, was the Eldar.

It was pretty much all Guardians - as that was all that was available at the time - and a Wraith Lord (though it was called an Eldar "Dreadnought" at the time) and a tripod mounted lascannon. Later I think I picked up a few Rangers and Dire Avenger-like figures as they were the first Aspect Warriors to make it into the store. Actually, a couple of these Rangers I'm painting up are ones I've had for 30 years and stripped and am repainting to match all the others I've picked up more recently.

(Oh, I also had some Harlequins - which I still have, original paint jobs and all - but nowadays they're sort of a separate faction - I'm talking about the Asuryani - the Craftworld Eldar - here).

Over the last decade or so I've been re-collecting up Rogue Trader era Eldar. It started when I was putting together a few sci-fi forces to play with Savage Worlds: Showdown. The force got a considerable boost when I acquired a number of Aspect Warriors in a trade with my friend Cory. And I've continued to pick stuff up - especially when I could find a really good deal on them (there were a LOT of good deals around the time 7th Edition was winding down... not so much since 8th kicked off though). The only stuff I've picked up over the last year were a small handful to complete units that were a figure or two short.

Taking stock of this mountain of unpainted lead, I figured I have enough to, once it's all painted, field a rather large "Brigade" detachment of about 100 Power Level/2000 points - and two Auxiliary Super Heavy Detachments totalling another 92 Power Level/1900 Points (If I just picked up one more Lord of War, I could field a complete Super Heavy Detachment....?).

In the meantime, however, I am trying to put together a 1000 point force for the upcoming Battleforce: Recon tournament coming up in April - just five weeks away! I had hoped I might be able to squeeze in a Brigade detachment, like I did last year with the Tallarn (using the cheapest possible options - minimal unit sizes ). But it just wasn't possible with Eldar, so I'll be fielding a "Battalion" detachment with a Farseer, a couple of Warlocks, two units of Rangers, single units of Dire Avengers, Swooping Hawks,  Warp Spiders, and Dark Reapers, and two Wraith Lords... I have NO IDEA if it will be any good... but I think it required the least number of minis... and it looked like fun... the Rangers, Warp Spiders and Swooping Hawks are all "deep striking" units - they can be set up in reserve and brought on after the first turn anywhere on the board that isn't within 9" of any enemy units. Although, last year we played on extremely small tables (3'x4' - half of a 4'x6' table) and there wasn't much space that a unit could deep strike INTO!



This unit is made up of old metal Eldar Ranger figures from Citadel Miniatures/Games Workshop.

These Rangers I actually started about a month ago. I was painting them in case they were needed for player characters in the Wrath & Glory RPG Weekend - y'know, when I foolishly thought we MIGHT actually get through all five adventures... ha... ha... ha....



Rather than some sort of terrestrial coloured camouflage I went with something far more alien. The smocks are reversible (on a few you can see an alternate reddish/warm colour camouflage pattern peaking through) - the next unit I'm working on will have the reverse side on. I have a third unit that I will likely paint in an altogether different scheme (probably yellows and browns...?).

If I could find a few of the metal versions of the newer Ranger models I might like to pick up a unit of those, just because I think they look interesting.

Coming Soon to Tim's Miniature Wargaming Blog:

The Redemptionists are still on the workbench and very nearly complete - as are a pile of Ratskins... but I have a feeling it may be the second unit of Rangers that get finished up next.

I may try and sneak in a game of 40K or Kill Team with Finnegan on Sunday...? He figures he'll be finished all his course work for the science class he's working on later today, so I thought it would be fun to play some games together before he launches into his next class on Monday or Tuesday. I've been toying with the idea of playing full-sized 40K games with the Kill Team turn sequence - with some alternating activations - just to shake things up a little!

Also The Girl has finished painting her Wraith Knight - she just needs to finish up painting the base. When she gets that done I'll likely post pics of it here as she's done a really good job on it.