Eldar Bastion

One of my pet peeves is the lack of Xenos terrain. Xenos fortications are currently lacking as well. Creatively, they can be asset to battlefield both in protection units from withering fire and a great looking display on the table

 

One the hardest to duplicate is Eldar signature design. The Imperial Bastion is a big block of human might, while the Eldar are all about wispy compound curves. So when Alan asked to make him an Eldar Bastion in 10 days, I knew I was in for a challenge

 

Step 1: I found one of many Eldar templates and with some late night inguinity realized I can use it back to back to simulate an Eldar tower support. Notice I use "x" to remind myself where to cut out areas

Step 2: Just like the Center LoS Blocker I did for the 11th Company GT (which is Nov 8-9 at the Murriels Inlet Mall in Myrtle Beach, SC this year) I chose to carve a slot down the middle & create an X pattern to provide structure, strength, and frame to work with

Step 3: If you are looking at this and saying to yourself, "That looks really tall" you would be right. This thing towered of the Imperial Bastion. Since this would be used for Tournament play, I made some changes to keep it as close to the Imperial Bastion dimensions to avoid any modeling for advantage rants

Step 4: I knew I need a way to clearly demonstrate Fire Points, Entry Points, and where the heavy bolters are.I found these foam eggs at the local chain craft store. They were a pain to cut & sand, but they added the necessary girth to my spindly tower without losing the Eldar look. I varied the number I put on each side to reflect the correct number of Fire Points

Step 5: Adding a battlement. Where did I get that cool texture foam? Grcoery store. I asked the meat packing department if I can have one before raw meat touches it. Sometimes saying please is all you need



Step 6: Adding the wall around the battlement started with a block of foam that I cut to the size of floor. I then used a plunge tool to cut out the middle section.

Not bad, just a little too pink

Step 7: Base coat with Behr Airy, closest I can find to Bleached Bone

Step 8: Airbrushed Mournfang brown into the recesses, and Menoth highlight on all the corners. still not sure if I want to add a base put deadline is looming. (Behind the scenes trivia: that is same desk where I record with the guys every week for our podcast)

 

As always, comments and suggestion are always welcome.

Some suggestions I would add:

• lots of Eldar players like the ruined look, so adding vines and ivy is great way to inject some color into this.
• I didn't have the bits, but 4 Shurkien Catapults would have been great to say "Heavy Bolters"
• If I were to add a base,was would extend the entry point in the back to make a warp gate like look using water effects and transparency film