Take me to your toaster

Many years ago I saw a Gary Larson cartoon with an alien carrying an English-Martian dictionary, saying "Greetings, Earthling. Take me to your toaster". Apparently the internet never noticed this particular cartoon, so I can't include it here. So I guess you will have to take my word for it. Guess you had to be there, eh (if it's not on the internet, did it ever really happen?)...

Aaaanyway, I have painted a couple of Dark Elf bolt throwers. As October has not yet begun, these will not count towards Duelling Paintbrushes. But I wanted them done and I've been sitting on them for so long that it felt like they were due. The bolt throwers are of the old 4th edition "toaster" variety, due to their being shaped a bit like 2 bits of toast having popped out, side-by-side. I always preferred these models to the newer version, although you'll notice that I've used the more recent crew, as the original ones were the old Marauder miniatures (and for all that Marauder Dwarfs are the best things ever, they never seemed to get the hang of Elves and they all look a bit goofy with big, bulbous noses). 

Relatively new crew manning antique bolt throwers.

A better look at the side.

As is often the case with some of these older models, the bolt throwers had areas where it was difficult to tell where the metal ended and the wood (or whatever they're made of) began. And it also seems that my method of painting the bone colour on my Dark Elves (Bleached Bone base, Gryphonne Sepia wash, Bleached Bone highlight) doesn't stand up all that well to large, flat areas. The scheme on my Dark Elves was always intended to be relatively quick and easy, so this is probably not a huge shock. I'm not trying to win painting awards with this army - I just want them to be done and look presentable. I might talk a little bit more about this in another post soon.

In other news, Duelling Paintbrushes is about to kick off. Owen has gathered a list of the likely participants over on his blog. You will notice a new arrival on the blogging scene, Nick Strength 2.5 (of The Dwellers Below podcast). His High Elves will be the opposition for my Dark Elves once all is said and done, and the Warhammer World Series kicks off. Make sure you go and hassle him about getting some pics up to give his blog a little more razzle dazzle...