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Hey everybody! Just making another blog for my current project to get some feedback as I go and to keep me honest! This time around I'm coming back to one of my first 40k armies, the Dark Eldar! My very first was Black Templars but it was chosen before I had actually learned how to play so the fact that I very quickly swapped to DE after learning how to play leaves them pretty near and dear to my heart. My previous P&M blogs run fairly close to what ill likely be showing here, lots of greenstuff and hulking maniacs.

My last project was Tau where I wanted to learn more plasticard and non-organic modeling techniques, and it went pretty well. My Crisis suits made it into Visions so that was awesome. I feel like this project will be a pretty good mesh of the two worlds bringing some non-organic form into the organic, at least on the Coven side of things.

Enough talk though, Ill dig into concept a bit later and I do have a small update to kick things off.

Grotesque 1:
I loved the pic in the Coven Codex of the Grots and Wracks fighting Guardsmen, theres one in the middle that doesn't have too many modifications but looks even creepier because of it. I wanted to emulate the aggressive upper body with the flowing lower body. Obviously it's WiP so the lower hasn't been started but the upper is ons it's way. So far just blocking off basic musculature and ill be going back and plugging him in and such but i feel like its a good start fort what i set out to accomplish. Right arm is way off from complete too.




Flesh gauntlet is pretty standard as far as conversions I've seen, just a talos bit grafted on and some sinewy cabling running into it. Cut/drilled some IG tank aerials for the hypodermics. More work to be done there but I like how it's going.


Plan is to do a unit if them, of varying sizes shapes weapons etc. I plan to go a little wild with them so I thought it best to get a "control" model so this guy will be pretty basic. Hopefully quality in the end but nothing game changing. Plus i need to experiment and shore up my meshing of the various textures.

C&C and Q's welcome as always. It's good to be back posting!

Small update today, got a bit more work done last night.

Filled out his back muscles a bit more which allowed me to add his spiny growths. Ill be doing one more pass on his back flesh but ill likely add the tubing and vials first then go back. I was also able to add the transition from his elbow/forearm to the talos blade. Im not sure what if anything i want to add to that arm. I need to fix up his hand a bit and was thinking of adding one or two more blades around his tricep but ill likely reserve the final call until after i add all the plugs and see how it looks.

Not much done on the lower body but i may get to start it up in earnest tonight or tomorrow.

Looking great! Loving the hands inn particular. They make me feel unsettled in just the right sort of way.

Hey Hey!

Got a bit of work done but its still sort of slow since im in the middle of a move. It'll be all good again in 2 weeks when im all setup and have access to all my normal suppllies and such. Anywho...

Added a detail layer to the Grotesque:






And a scale shot, no banana but i figured a wytch would do.


He's coming together nicely though I feel. Im a little unsure about the Talos "Guyver" blade as I'm unsure how it'll play out with paint. Lower body still needs a boatload of work but the upper will only need a few details and transition work.

I'm already excited to do more outlandish creations and play with the proportions and stuff. Let me know what you think!

The big guy is looking grand, and I appreciate the 'big wrack' style skirt & corset (and helm and in general ). Particularly impressive that you're basing him around the old plastic ogre, certainly a lot of cutting down and building up required!

- Salvage

Thanks Boss! Yea the ogre I like as a scale/size check. The Wrack look was totally what im going for on this guy. In regards to the fluff I like the idea of having a few Grots that were Wracks who failed the Haemy at some point and are going through the various "experimental" stages.

This guy just being in a rather basic "Bane" phase. It's possible he may represent the Aberration when needed as he's like to be the most intelligent or "in-control" looking one. Too early to tell though!

Hooray the moving is over and my hobby room is all set up. Lest my nerd cred be judged you should know it was set up before the kitchen or bathrooms, wife aggro be damned.

Thought it'd be good to get some Warriors done to finalize my paint choices plus the heads i ordered came:





The heads are the Spellcrow space elf heads and I'm super happy with the result. They all come bald, so i have to add any hair i want but i think it will be pretty striking once completed. The idea is with the coven theme i want them looking a bit more menacing then the current range of 90's punk haircuts etc. Ill be getting some paint on them tonight so ill be able to experiment. The painted bits are remnants of my previous paint scheme tests but none of those are going to be the final product.

Pale skin and head tattoos abound...

Bit of painting done last night:



Im happy with the tattoo and general tone of the skin, pretty happy how the colors turned out but i need to tweak the paint thickness or get a new thinner medium. I just need to fire up and practice on the airbrush I think to lay down smooth thin base coats. Saving final judgement until the armor gets more than just a base color. Planning on blending out with a bit of grey, with a sharply highlighted bronze on the bits. Hair id like to highlight to that blue/black and the undersuit will likely be black(gloss?) nothing crazy though.

Let me know what you think!

Nice looking stuff so far, good start on the Grot.

So I'm kind of at a loss, I'm having trouble finding the balance between wanting them dark and creepy, which will be important for when I get more into the coven side, and someone that will look striking on the table. A little bit of progress below:



So the blending is quick and dirty because I just wanted a proof of concept for color on the armor and the metals are basecoated and washed but it still gives me a decent idea of an end product.

I don't know other than the face he just looks boring...which makes me think the army will be boring looking. Even if this warrior isn't too bad i just think the color on the vehicles is going to be pretty bland.

Should I try a more graphic or brighter color and let my modeling make it creepy? Find a secondary color? Any ideas or thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

Stream of consciousness edit:

Retried out my original blue idea and like it much better...


My original concern and why I changed up was that I didn't think the lighter color would mess well with the pale skin. That color is just the base again, no wash/blend but I'm already happier woh the result. You can sort of see the final armor in the pre-primed warriors on one or two of them.

The grotesque is looking really good, I'm not sure on the armour, I kinda like the first one but I think, with a few washes and some damage that the lighter one would look cool.

Thanks for the feedback! Yea I was able to add some more details to the lighter armor and I think it looks good. I'll post pics tomorrow so people can form a more solid onion as you say. I also want to try it on a "fresh" model with less paint on it so it looks nice and smooth.

I also like the darker armour; good contrast from the pale skin to the dark armour.

The facial tattoo is pretty sweet as well.

Thanks! Yea I like the idea of the darker one too but the green may be whats bothering me. Too military and not enough alien maybe. Anyways here's a blue woh some more shading. Again I want to make a fresh one besides this guy who has like 4 schemes undeneath before making a final judgment.

Small update and new title! Got some more painting done and all 10 warriors are now in various states of completion. I tried to use my airbrush for the first time and while failing miserably it wasn't anything I didn't expect and no damage was done. In the end at my current familiarity with it, I have a nice basecoat machine... I do already feel ill be pretty good for blending large areas on vehicles which had been my previous pain point on vehicles so I'm pumped for that. Anything smaller and ill likely still use my brush since I feel pretty good with them.

So as I have been thinking about my color palette and flip flopping what I want, its helped to really flesh out what i want the theme of my army to be. Originally the intention was just to revamp my old army which was mainly what now would be a reaver heavy kabalite army. Ill post pics of my old army for kicks later but it was the old regal blue with pale blue edge highlights on the basic stuff and (terribly) blended on characters. So the idea was that i wanted an old school DE feel in the new book, which as far as old school goes, back in the day i had basically no desire to use grots (crap models at a time where my conversion skills were pretty poor) and wracks didn't even exist.

NOW however I love the idea of converting my take on the various gribblies and creations but I still love the kabalite models and fast playstyle. I really wanted it cohesive though since I think there can sort of be a disconnect between the coven and kabalite forces visually. Thats why I got the Spellcrow heads in order to make them a bit more sullen and dour to hopefully match the coven units.

I also wanted the ability to include corrupted wraith constructs, mostly for the modeling opportunities, but I thought it would be a fun fluffy ally that would add some "umph". Now i suppose we'll see how bad people hate the new codex and i may just model some for funzies.

So my story is thus:

The Spiritseer Lah'zasyr is obsessed with his research on the spirit stones and the nature of souls and the body. He is led to attempting to restore "true life" to many ghost warriors by fusing flesh with wraithbone but the subjects are driven mad. The council exiles Lah'zasyr and the subjects and their stones are destroyed.

Many years later in the webway a rag tag band of Eldar pirates are hired by an mysterious and unheard of fleshcrafter for the procurement of "stock" and exotic items. They start off small and are able/needed to raid almost constantly, which has the effect of allowing them to sate their nature that would normally begin to point internally and actually develop bonds between the crew. Their leader Captain Khar'Ivall grows in power and influence due to this partnership and his fleet grows to be a power on its own. The success of the raids also has the effect of the the Haemoncules' power growing drawing acolytes and apprentices as his odd methods and creations draw attention. Many in Commorragh have underestimated this odd insular force, thinking them weak for forswearing the politicking and backstabbing common within the dark city but nothing could be further from the truth. This symbiotic relationship of Kabal and Coven with a singular focussed goal is a terrifying this to behold, quickly dispatching and absorbing the assets of any challengers, nothing going to waste...

The reports warn of lightning raids on targets of seemingly little strategic value. By the time reinforcement arrives all that is left are ghostly areas where the population down to stock animals and indigenous wildlife have mysteriously disappeared.

Not even the dead are found despite the obvious remnants of carnage earning the mysterious raiders the monicker of the "Carrion Corsairs"

So here are the 3 that are the closest to a finished state:



Lots of touch ups to do in various places especially the black undersuits and i still need to highlight the hair. I haven't decided how i want to do it, i think blue is the most common to keep that jet black look so i have to play around. Also I thought they looked ok as i was going but once photographed they really need another highlight layer. The original guy need his rifle redone to bring it in line with the others. Given they are just warriors Im pretty happy, but it's pretty rough getting this rust off.

I think this scheme is going to look sweet on the vehicles too which ill get after once I stop making scratchy blends...

Any thoughts on how I should paint the power swords/agonizers? An orange shade would be the triad, I was thinking maybe trying to make it look like cooling superheated steel, so black/grey, orange, yellow?

Got a lot of painting done so I thought i would reward myself with a conversion!



I love the "new" dark elf sculpts so damn much, theyre just so animated and dynamic. So what better way than to pretty much kitbash all the cool ones! She's the lower half of Shadowblade with a witch elf torso and wytch arms.

Major to do: Ill be making an archite glaive that will be held behind her and i need to convert the base a bit to look more in line with a ruined city. Needs a loincloth front and back as well that will get sculpted. Not sure if i want to do leather to keep it in line with my coven theme or cloth.

Minor to do: Hair need to be sculpted to the face where the crown was removed, torso needs to be cleaned at the join, and the current arm need to be thinned as cloth is implied where i don't want any.

Please please C&C always wanted, thanks!

All the dynamic in that pose!

Dig the warrior paint scheme, looks particularly solid in that group shot

- Salvage

Thanks again Boss, I appreciate the kind words!

I was looking again through the comments and was wondering about weathering and damage:

 Calibanite Lion wrote:
The grotesque is looking really good, I'm not sure on the armour, I kinda like the first one but I think, with a few washes and some damage that the lighter one would look cool.

I figured the vehicles would get some paint damage but what are peoples thoughts about how it would look on the rank and file? I added a bit of blood effect on the first guy that i think you can see but I'm torn between the alien looking "clean" or weathered veteran look. Also what would look good? On my Tau I used black and added ascending grey tones but i wanted a more ceramic material look:



The black and grey i think would get lost in the lighter blue no? Browns maybe?

A bit more done last night!







The shadowblade cloak was do great not to use as a skirt! Still need to transition it smoothly on her waist but i think it look pretty damn great and is going to be a simpler sculpt. It also saves me the "What are you doing?" moment when my wife walks in and I'm just sculpting butts...

Arm, waist, and neck needs more green stuff still. Need to sand out the pistol grip too, as I mentioned before I'm a sucker for old school dark eldar and i like the old designs better. It's a good thing i have like 1,000,000 spikeys from the old stuff to use.

My other idea for her to is to fill the hair out a bit with fly aways so its less rigid(I guess?) but i think im going to try and work in either some hook lines a la Lelith or some of my left over secret weapon razor wire i have from a previous project. The archite glaive needs some extra details too.

Anything I'm(she's) missing?

This is very epic!

Thanks Iliu, I'm glad you enjoy it!

So it's come to my attention that I'm basing my stuff poorly. I really enjoy basing and making cool worlds, on those tau i posted i had based them to match my wastland board, lots of warm tones. As you can see my tau are also a farsight enclave inspired scheme so also wamr tones. You can see my issue, and im doing it again. Best practice is to compliment the model and I really should have based them for my urban board and used that for my cooler toned DE.

I'd like to try to keep my DE on my urban track but need some help of suggestions on how to not make the models get lost in the base while making a nice base. Some ideas:

1. Keep the blacktop but add a decent amount of rusted scrap metal to warm it up a bit. I like this option since it would allow for some creativity on the larger bases.
2. Keep the blacktop but add some red earth dust.
3. Total setting change. I really really don't want to do mars red...
4. Something totally different, post some suggestions!

I'd still like something grimdark, autumn bases crossed my mind but i think its too cheery. That said Im leaning towards a 1/2 combo but what say you creative masses?

Thanks!

Got as bit done on my first Venom! Trying to get him finished as part of the monthly painting challenge "Fast and Furious". So far just mocked up so i can paint it more cleanly but the sails are looking how i wanted, just need some cleaning/smoothing once its cured. I also plan to add some rigging to it but I think that may happen after the bulk of the painting.

Idea is the sails will be painted as flayed skin/leather. Raiders will be done in the same way and with extra sails, I'm hoping this will make for a really cool and intimidating fleet look.







Let me know what you think, thanks!

Very nice! An exalt for sure!

This is one of the most interesting DE blog I've seen the last years. Carry on! This is great stuff!

Thanks guys! I seriously appreciate that

I was able to make the gunner last night but the pic i snapped was complete garbage, she needs work anyways. So the above pics don't really show it but I plan on having it banking pretty hard which I've modeled on the pilot with a head tilt (ooh so clever). But this meant which I realized later that it would look stupid to have the venom gunner standing at a 45° angle like a physics breaking weirdo.

So given that wytches need love and im in no rush to make a ton i cannibalized a few parts to make an appropriate stance. It wasn't my intention to tease it like this but I figured a finished pic would be better this weekend anyways.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Here's the gunner!



Just need some GS cleaning once it's all cured and I'll probably start painting! Sails are just tacked on and the gunner is held by the splinter cannon mount so can be painted seperately.

Eh?

The sails look good, I really like the stitching you added, makes them fit more with the de aesthetic.

Love this army so far.

Beautiful stuff.

I've recently caught a deep DE modeling bug and am seeking to make as many conversions I can. My current insane notion is to build every unit ever listed in 5th and 7th edition codex's. And today while tidying sand flock on 40 units I dreamt up a "beachhead" theme for the 3 Armies. My Kabalites are Jade Mantis themed, my wyches just shades of purple, but I thought maybe I could do Talos/Cronos in a Spotted lobster pattern. Then maybe use the recent Skaven for Pirate-like Grotesques... It really went a bit mad and beyond my wallet.

I'll eventually make my own thread for them, but right now I will live vicariously through your stunning work.

I also want to do skin/flesh sails. What did you use for the staples? Pen worked fin on green stuffed cloaks for me, but when I tried it on sails it was off-scale and harder to mirror.

Nice! Lobster constructs would be pretty weird looking in an awesome way!

For the sails I drew the pattern on that I wanted then cut it out with my dremel and knife. After that I ran a thin line of GS sort of as an outline to each section then smoothed it down to make that sort of puckered edge. For the stitching I used thin brass wire curved and cut into tiny "U" shapes then pressed into the curing GS. Ive use floral wire before but the brass is so much easier to use. It clips more cleanly so you get a more consistent result.