Space Elves or Eldar, Mercenaries or Corsairs

Back when I first played Warhammer 40k, in the days of that first edition, Rogue Trader. The Eldar or Space Elves as we knew them, where a bit more flexible in their equipment. Though the rules where mostly designed so that you could work with what models you had, and kit bashed from other scenes, models or imagination (Zoids tanks!). This means those early Space Elves had a bit more varied equipment, that was until the 'Fall of the Eldar' came about in around 1990. This meant the range got a more formal army, and then from what I saw in the much later 7th Edition it wasn't that flexible. That is apart from Corsairs, or as I will be using them Mercs. Looking at the Eldar rules for Corsairs in 8th it seems even more is possible, meaning I won't just have to keep to RT rules to enjoy their pointy little faces on the tabletop.  With that in mind, I've started painting a band of Mercs. The paint scheme has take its inspiration from the original 'Alai Mercenary Corps', mentioned in Rogue Trader and the White Dwarf Compendium.

As you can see, a very bold scheme. From which I can make use of my favourite colour at the moment Citadels Titillating Pink. Something I have lavished on a number of figures and now some more join those ranks:

So first we have my favourite of all the figures I painted, not that it started this way. I was rather apprehensive about painting a banner, as I've not done one before and the front was not as I expected. So I added a image to the back, and wow, I must say, I'm very happy. From the initial pencil sketch to this, I'm surprised at the impact it gives.

 

You can see from the images above my initial work and the size, based on the 2 pence coin. I did mistakenly paint the outline first, and had the challenge of adding the skin colour and background afterwards, but it has worked out very well.

 

This chap is the leader, though I think the easiest to paint. The sculpt on his face was very clean and tidy, meaning the detail came out well.

Then the group champion, he was more difficult, with his odd shaped head, due to the face mask, and some really large eyebrows. Not decide if that's a webber or Shuriken he's holding, as it has a very wide opening.

One of the Troopers, with a either a flamer, or multimeta, though I think he's Captain in the original images.

Then another trooper, with a Laspistol and Shuriken. This one was too had a very nice clean sculpt on the face making it much easier to define the features.

Finally the completed squad, just another 5 more to paint, and then some plans are a foot in relation to an old RT image with flying Elves.

All the bases have been painted in a 'sandy' brown, then a violet and brown wash with some gold flecks. Added a little sand that I've coloured with the violet wash, then some bit of plastic to look like crystals/rock formations.