Great Eagles

These are my two Great Eagles.  Purchased way back when the 4th edition woodelf army book came out these used to be a staple in every army.  However when they moved to being a rare choice and had to compete with treeman and waywatchers for the slots they stopped being an automatic choice.  When I painted them I was very happy with them though they look a bit old and tired now.  This was not helped by lending them briefly to a local gaming store who wanted great eagles for something and new I had some.  They came back with their wings and stands broken.  I repaired them but it’s never quite the same again.  If you look close to the swooping one you can see the fracture line around the wing has started to open up again.  It’s also not really helped by being on these tiny bases which are too small to support such a large model.  They frequently topple over further damaging the models.  I’m going to buy some of the new wide bases, or place the stems of the stands (which I have plenty of) into 40mm monster bases like the warhawks that I have.  Then at some point I’ll probably strip them pull them apart, reassemble and paint them again.  Whether or not they’re effective in 8th edition I don’t know but certainly finding room for them in the army when they only cost 50pts is not much of a problem. But hey … do I look like I care?

Griffon

This is my Griffon, not technically a Games Workshop model, if memory serves it was produced by Harlequin or some such.  I have a few models of theirs, some woodelves and an orc.  Anyway this was bought I think before I got the 4th ed Wood Elves army book so back when you could field generic monsters.  Anyway when the rules changed and I couldn’t anymore I still painted it up and not long afterwards I was half heartedly collecting High Elves who could and still can field griffons.  Regardless of whether or not I can field it or would want to field a non-gw minature even if I could I still think it’s a nice model (looks like what I understand a griffon to look like, ie a lions body with eagles head and wings, not like the new gw one which looks like an eagle with a lion sticking out of it’s butt.  Which to be fair I haven’t seen other than a couple of photos but it’s not how I would have modeled it, regardless of how nice a job or not it is.)  Anyway very boring paint job, vomit brown I think with brown wash and then bleached bone dry brushed but I think it’s quite effective.  Need to remount it at some point onto a nice base.

Ork Defkopta

Here is the first of three defkoptas (the other two having not been painted yet).  Kinda fiddly thing as it comes in two halves which you stick together.  Unfortunately there are a few patches where it doesn’t really fit together all that well so you pretty much have a seam running the length of the model which you have to putty up.  Not to much of a problem but there is a lot of detail also which can be a bit of a pain to not obscure with the putty.  Also on this model I glued the Ork in place  (no mean feat in itself as it’s very fiddly to put his arms (a single peace holding the handlebars and instruments) and head on in the small space.  You feel very fat fingered.  Of course this means it’s even more difficult to paint.  I’ve learnt my lesson for the other two.  Otherwise it was pretty easy to paint.  Only problem is trying to work out what bits to paint silver, what brass, what to leave black etc.