Tuesday 24 March 2015

Melnibone Begat Bethmoora Begat Eldar...

After painting a fair few Ash Waste Nomads, I decided I wanted to paint up something entirely different last night (a change is as good as a rest, right?!). On examining my shelf of pending figures, I realised that I hadn't yet painted my Eldar Prince I converted up for the Inq28 movie character challenge over at the Ammobunker forums. Given that the deadline was the end of March, I figure it was high time that the figure saw some paint.
 
As a reminder, my figure was based on Prince Nuada - the villain in Hellboy 2: The Golden Army:
 

 
 
Here's my fully painted 40k interpretation, Eldar Corsair Prince Eldric Nuadra:
 


Formerly hailing from the Saim Hann craftworld, Prince Nuadra is the younger brother of Wild Rider Chieftain Nuadhu 'Fireheart'. Embittered at becoming overlooked in the shadow of his brother's leadership, Nuadra became disenchanted with Saim Hann clan politics and the constraints of the craftworld. He drew to him a group of mainly young Eldar, filled with wanderlust.

Nuadra and his band took to the stars in search of mythical Eldar constructs known as the Golden Army. It was foretold that this hidden army was hidden, inactive, awaiting the wearer of an ancient crown. Once risen, the Golden Army would bring war and death to the human plague infesting the galaxy.

Nuadra and his followers still seek the crown.


I painted Nuadra as a close match to Prince Nuada. Happily, the colour scheme is a match to both Moorcock's Elric (pale skin and hair, black clothing and armour) as well as fitting in nicely to the Saim Hann colour pallette. I reinforced the Saim Hann link by adding a bright red cloak, which I think frames the black quite nicely.


I think he looks pretty nice alongside his Saim Hann bodyguard. Of course, I probably need to paint another 8-10 or so of these figures so he actually does have his group of followers to search for the Golden Army!

Prince Nuadra and his bodyguard



21 comments:


  1. The conversion and painting are each really nice. As I think I mentioned before, Nuada is one of the best representations of elves of any kind in cinema in my opinion and so an excellent choice of subject.

    Its the mash-up background that particularly appealed though. Loosely tying 40k from a couple of eras with the movie is the sort of thing that easily feeds into narrative when playing.

    In this context the Golden Army is Wraith Constructs, surely :)

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    1. Cheers cheetor! I probably need to weave an Eternal Champion thread into the narrative to be fully rounded and draw on all 3 sets of source material. But yes, I have visions of painting up some gold wraith constructs at some point in the future ;)

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  2. A great emo character as this is a must !
    I like how your version is slightly less "fantasy Marylin Manson in the future" and more "Noble eldar gone rogue"

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    1. Thanks JB - a self-indulgent, petulent and pale character in dark clothing is a core requirement ;) I think the transition to rogue Eldar is a necessity, unless I had gone down the Dark Eldar route.

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  3. Wow!! I love this miniature! The attitude, the look, the colours, and the fact that he seems ready to flit in between realities and realms like any good Moorcockian Eternal Champion. Really nicely done!

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    1. Thanks very much! Pale skin, black and a splash of red seems pretty timeless and striking to me too :)

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  4. Beautiful work!! You got a real character here! I like the approach and how you faced this one, pretty nice!

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    1. It's funny that sometimes having to work within a set of rules can produce the most interesting results I think :)

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  5. I like how the hair and skin are both so pale, and yet distinct.

    And yes, now you need some various wraith constructs.

    Although you could get the wraith knight's head as bitz and have him posed to look at it. Would make for a nice scenic base (and with current prices, cheaper than some wraith guard!)

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    1. Scenic basing...I should look at doing that sometime ;) I was actually thinking of using the old Eldar Ghost warriors - I have 5 or 6 or so of them sitting around. Not quite the Golden Army though ;)

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    2. Somehow I assumed you had some ghost warriors. ;)

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  6. Very nice work. A nice conversion and the painting looks great too.

    I look forward to seeing more eldar from you :)

    Warburton

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    1. Pre-2010, I almost exclusively did Eldar. Sadly it was all batch painting for tournaments, and they're pretty ropey. I'd like to refresh all my RT era Space Elves though - maybe Prince Nuadra will be the launchpad?

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    2. Well, he will get very lonely by himself...

      W

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  7. This is excellent. Both concept and execution. I think the piping from the gun is the part of the conversion that ties it all together, and the bayonet is a nice touch.

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    1. Thanks David :) The piping was important to tie it all together as you said. There is precedent in the RT Space Elf range too, even though things are a bit more sleek now ;)

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  9. I think the prince was the only thing I liked & remember about the movie, he was a great villain!

    I'm not sure what else to add to these comments, just wanted to chime in with some unabashed adoration of your work. Unique characters will always add something intagibly awesome to a game.

    Great work :)

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    1. I'm not sure the movie would make my top 10...or even top 100. But it was an OK popcorn movie, and I agree - a memorable villain!

      Thanks for the kind comments... getting the feedback is a big factor in motivating me to do more!

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  10. I just stumbled on this and I love every part of it. Not just the model, but the entire thought exercise. Can i ask, what models were used in the conversion? How did you get that MAGNIFICENT RT era laspistol so cleanly converted? I'm redoing my 1992 Eldar Pirates, Mercs and Adventurers warbands myself.

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    1. Thanks for the comment and really pleased that you like it! There were only two models used - the Elric figure from the Eternal Champion range and a laspistol that was cut from one of the early Eldar (off hand I can't remember which one!).

      The torso armour, skirt, sash and bionic eye were all sculpted with greenstuff. The laspistol blade was from the plastic Dire Avengers I think, and the cable was a length of wire-wrapped cable from Zinge Industries. Hope that helps 🙂

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