Clowning around

 

This has been an absolutely amazing project: back in 1991 a friend left the hobby and gave me his box of original lead Harlequins. I've been eyeing them occasionally since getting back into the hobby but finally plucked up the courage to paint them...and (decided to try to match the original box art too.

I started off with some "easy" ones, i.e. ones that were mostly one colour and avoided complex stripes and checks. 

The Death Jesters also met that test and are very cool too, so my third model was my least favourite of the three sculpts in the box.

I didn't want to paint all the Death Jesters at the same time, so had to step up. This was was tough, but I'm really pleased with the teeny tiny heart on the side of her head and the details inside the stripes on her legs.

Next was the first Avatar (unit leader):

Then the first Warlock (independent Psykers), probably the equivalent of Spiritseers in modern lists:

More Troupers:

This was the second Avatar and one of the minis I'm most proud of across all the ones I've done. I don't quite know how I painted the amazingly small checks on her face!

Another Death Jester:

Second Warlock:

Trouper:

I should have held this one back, but the Solitaire is one of my absolute favourite sculpts so I couldn't resist any longer. I'm really pleased with how he turned out:

The last two Troupers:

The last Death Jester; incidentally, I'm very pleased to see that modern Harlequin lists can take three Death Jesters given that I have three of them!

Alongside the Solitaire, the High Warlock is my favourite sculpt from the box and again, I took some time to do him some justice.

I left the High Avatar to last; he'll play as a Troupe Master in games:

And that's the lot! Or at least, that's the original box of 18. There were another 16 lead Harlequins released in the late 80s and I've managed to buy ALL of them on eBay...ooops!