With another squad completed another source of shame passes behind me.
I’ve had these Dire Avengers since long before the 4th Edition Codex came out. While my painting skills have improved considerably since I got my first Eldar miniatures, I did not want to spend a lot of time on these guys. What I wanted was a squad that would look good on the table and would fit in well with the rest of the army. While they are pretty standard in color selection, this is mostly because I liked how the standard colors contrasted to provide a pleasing image. I did not go crazy on details for two reasons. First and foremost was time, but also, I was concerned with the miniature being too busy and distracting the viewer from the main details, as can been seen while playing. I’ve seen some nice minis with all sorts of detail, but as you add colors, you detract from the harmony of the mini in my opinion. I also knew I would be using my gloss coat and took this into consideration.
The first picture is from Jun 2006, and you can see not much progress was made, other than being primed white, and some enchanted blue and black guns.
The second picture is from May of 2009 and you can see that very little has been done. This is the state they were in this week when I started on them. You can see two more squads behind them that look virtually the same today. In front are the Guardians who have finally escaped the three color shame.
And here they are in their full glory.
The Dire Avengers of the Storm of Vengeance Shrine are known for their extensive use their bladestorm ability. They will often run from ambush spot to ambush spot while they reload and let their Avenger Catapults cool down. Their Enigmatic Exarch has them train tirelessly to remain vigilant for enemy assaults, so when they bladestorm, they stop just before the weapon would be completely empty and therefore retain the ability to fire into the faces of those who would try to assault them. Since these shots are taken with overheating and nearly empty Avenger Catapults they lack the accuracy of their normal shots.