ByronM - Pointy Ear Pansy Space Elves - Warhammer 40k in 15mm

Normally I like getting an entry in the first day of the annual Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge, but this year I have been laid up sick for almost 2 weeks and haven't been able to focus enough to paint at all, so here is is over a week after the start of the event, my first entry.

Recently a group of friends here have started playing Warhammer 40k (old 5th edition since the newer versions SUCK BALLS) in 15mm true scale, and of course I had to join in!  Being true scale means that everything is sized to the lore, rather than to what GW had sized things.  This means Imperial Guard stand about 18mm tall (or real 15mm scale), while things like Eldar and Space Marines stand 22-24mm tall (20mm scale) since in the lore Eldar are 7' tall but have huge poncy helmets and Space Marines are 8" tall.  This scaling makes everything look so much better on the table as it makes more sense and looks better.  Also being 15mm fixes (or minimizes) so many of the issues in 40k being 28mm scale, like having lots of HUGE tanks on a table, ranges being ridiculously short and more.  It's still 40k at its core, so it's still not perfect, but it is better!

That said, the armies we play with are therefore mostly 20mm scale even though we call it 40k in 15mm.  The Falcon and Wave Serpent here are almost 5" x 4" so pretty damn big for what we would call 15mm scale.

Most of the models here though are actually 6mm STL files from Lord Chronos on Cults and are meant for use in Epic Armageddon.  As you can tell from these prints though, the guy is a genius sculptor and there is more than enough detail on the models to stand up when scaled up 260% to be about 20mm scale! 

The few models I could not find for my force were the Warlocks and Farseer models!  This would be a problem for most people but I have a friend that is a great sculptor and an even more helpful person which I asked for some help. He had me buy some files that had eldar helmets and weapons in 28mm per-sculpted and then bodged them up and modelled them onto some bodies and cloaks for me in like 2 days!!!  Thanks a ton, amazing work!!!  Before you ask though, no the warlock files are not for sale they were for personal use, and his name is not listed here as he wants nothing to do with GW and their insane legal team! 

These are the first batch in what will hopefully be a 2000 point Eldar army within the next few weeks.  I have been jonesing to paint these for over a month, but wanted to leave them for the painting challenge to start... so here they now are!  Much more to come...

I am sticking with traditional aspect colour schemes for these, but since the Eldar are space elves and therefore a bit light in the loafers, I needed a kinda pansy colour for the transports, so I came up with a kinda pale blue green that I think is almost the colour of corroded copper.  I think it works well, but had no idea how to actually highlight anything on it, luckily it looks ok as is I think.  I just need some magnets to come in so I can attach them to the flight stands and have them off the ground as they should be.

This entry should also count towards my "Squirrel Challenge" and as the first planet on the challenge map Vulcan where I have to paint something either logical or with pointy ears.  Eldar seemed to fit the bill, so I used them. 

The vehicles should each count for 15 points (30 total) and then the 10 Dire Avengers and 7 Farseer/Warlocks each count for 4 points (68 total) and 20 points for completing the Vulcan planet challenge for a grand total of 118 points!  Not a bad start!

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I've been looking forward to seeing this project come to life, ever since you mentioned it a few months ago. They look great, Byron, and I really enjoy the whole contrarian, not-GW aspect of the whole endeavour. I also enjoy the project's ancillary objective of having all the various factions to be in 'true scale' to one another, as per the 40K fluff. The other bonus, as you mention, is that the ground scale and weapon ranges look a bit more believable (if you can say such a thing with 40K), so it's possible to have a few large vehicle on the table without the whole thing looking ridiculous.

Wonderful work Byron! I look forward to seeing more of this project over the coming months!

- Curt