Forge World's Eldar Lynx Painted

Time for a few shots of the painted Lynx and a quick summary of how it played in Apocalypse at the weekend.

I wanted a predominantly white paint job for this Biel Tan tank. After priming, I sprayed an even coat of Astronomicon Grey all over, then preshaded the recessed areas and bases of plates and surfaces with Regal Blue and pre-highlighted with pure white on raised areas and edges. I then covered this with a further basecoat of Astronomicon Grey, then built up the white by adding Skull White into the mix in several layers. Even though my airbrush is extremely basic, it is possible, particularly on such a large model as this, to get some good gradation from dark areas to light, and some strong edge highlights.

The white worked out so well, I was then left with a bit of a dilemma - as this is Biel Tan, I need to add some green, but how to do that without covering up all the work I had donepre-shading and -highlighting? I went with the panels you can see and the vanes in green and most of the gem shapes in red.

Adding some vines helps break up the large white areas a bit more, but the tank still looks overly pale and is not super-interesting to look at. I think I need to change the colours on the weapon assemblies; my first thought it to make them black to break up the space between the two forks, but a friend suggested making them green, or even just making the tip of the pulsar green. I might have to play around with a photo editor before making up my mind.

As for fighting, well this thing was great in a 6k a side game last weekend. As my side was going second I had to keep the Lynx in reserve to make sure I got the Titan Holofield save when it came on. It went toe-to-toe with a Baneblade and won :) The Lynx costs more than the Imperial tank and has one less Structure Point, but its destroyer weapon and Holofields meant it destroyed the Baneblade with two shots, survived all the return fire and Blood Angels and their Stormraven shooting it at point-blank range with meltas from the rear.

If you're looking for Eldar Apocalypse on a budget, the Lynx is a great investment. Serious firepower and survivability make it a threat to any enemy :)

Forge World's Eldar Lynx Build Guide

One of my local gaming clubs has a bunch of Apocalypse games planned for the summer so I picked up this Eldar Super-heavy at Salute.

It is not the heaviest of heavies. Its slightly smaller and less expensive, both in points and currency, than a Cobra. But it still packs a mean punch, with a choice of either a two-shot Destroyer cannon or an apocalyptic template D-weapon. It only has two structure points, but its Titan holo-fields give it a decent Invulnerable or Cover Save each time it moves. But what's it like tto build?

Turns out, pretty easy. Its a nice straightforward kit with a minimum of parts, most of which are easily removed from their sprues. There's lots of big flat surfaces to glue together as well, so you end up with a fairly solid little tank. Apart from the antennae, but we'll get to them later. Also note this is the Pulsar version of the Lynx. Construction for the Sonic Lance version might vary, but likely only in the shape of a couple of the components.

So it looks like there's a lot of stuff in the bag the Lynx comes in. And clearly some of the parts are likely to be warped. Boiled water does the job of straightening out things like the cannon barrel and wing tips, so no big deal.

 You're probably going to start with the main fuselage. Its three large chunks of resin and they all slot together nicely.

 I recommend adding the weapon power plant and the engines next, before the control flaps/jets on either side. This is because when you are applying pressure to the engine parts, waiting for the glue to dry, you will likely be tempted to brace your fingers against the side of the tank, making pulling those flaps off again if the glue there isn't perfectly dry.

When you glue the engines on though, the two long ones go in the inside positions on each side, the shorter ones on the outside. There are tabs at the base of the engine components to guide their alignment, though you may need to trim them a little for a smooth fit. And yes, I did cut my thumb open while making this kit ><

 Here's the control surfaces at the left side of the tank. You can see the shorter piece goes to the front, the longer at the rear. Mine were a little warped, something I didn't notice until I had glued them on, so check yours and heat-treat if needed.

 The main weapon comes in two parts. A power plant type thingy for the back end. Again, there is a tab that may need trimming.

And the main pulsar barrel at the front. Another tab to make sure it is aligned properly.

 The kit also comes with four warp vanes/antennae. There are two long and two short. I suppose you could put them pretty much wherever you want and there's probably some scope for artistic interpretation there. I prefer to just stick mine on like the ones on the Forge World site though, so its the long ones in the middle and the short ones on the outside surfaces.

Make no mistake though; these vanes are tied for worst part of this whole kit. As they are resin, they are almost guaranteed to be warped when you get them and furthermore brittle and incredibly prone to snapping. I mean really prone to snap. I've definitely snapped three of them with only light pressure. Its going to make transporting this thing a pain in the bum, :( So be very very careful with them, or use spare plastic ones if you have them.

The only part of the kit that rivals the vanes in the Bad Design awards has to be the stand. For this large chunk of expensive resin you get: a standard 40mm flying base. There is a hole drilled in the base of the tank, but if you insert the stand into it the tank does not balance and just lists to one side. Maybe I got unlucky and got a Lynx with an over-drilled hole, but I doubt it. I have instead magnetised the base and the stand so its now nice and solidly attached.

Thats it for the construction. I forgot to take a picture of the secondary weapon mount, but its fairly obvious where it attaches below the cockpit. You only get the shuriken cannon option in the kit though, so, if you're playing a really strict game of Apocalypse, where WYSIWYG is observed, you might want to mod this bit before deploying.

Next: the painted model and battle report.