Hello and welcome to my P&M blog which chronicles the ongoing development of my Dark Eldar army, The Kabal of the Downed Gardens. I've put my thoughts and some fluff at the end of the post, but first some pictures!

The first squad I completed for the army, really pleased with the way these turned out:



Closeup of my favorite Hellion out of the squad:



A Hellion ready to jab someone:



Another Hellion:



A Ravager:



and a Venom:



I'll be updating this blog with new photos as other things get done / I manage to get decent photos of them! Finally a photo of some Hellions in action:

Death came swirling down...



Has a color scheme ever inspired you to start an army? It happened to me, but I ended up with a completely different scheme that the one that got me into the army!

I was resisting the pull of the new Dark Eldar models until I saw a Reaver Jetbike done in crimson and gold, oozing arrogance. I promptly bought some Reavers and Hellions. But it was only when I began painting a test model that I realized I was tired of painting red since I had just spent two years on an Admech army! Time for a rethink.

A few days, color schemes and a Hellion that had been stripped a few to many times later and I was still struggling. I loved the models but nothing I tried really clicked. So, I spent a few more days noodling around with different color schemes without much success before I found a short description of the Kabal of the Dying Sun in the Dark Eldar Codex. In particular the line, "renowned for their overweening pride and disdain for anything that has not endured for millennia," that put me on the right track for both the background and the look of the army.

The central theme for this army is of a Dark Eldar Kabal that treats old, chipped and tarnished equipment as a mark of pride because its level of craftsmanship is so high that it literally takes thousands of years to become a weathered and worn.

This Kabal has come to regard what we would see as objects impossibly perfect in form and function as merely the results of tedious “manufacturing” exercises. After all, the Eldar race has had the skills to produce such things for millennia. Instead, arms and armor are only truly coveted once they exhibit the patina acquired in countless battles and the residue of untold deaths.

One I had the background, the color scheme just sort of popped into my head in the form of a bright blue Hellion skyboard streaked with orange rust.

Those look fantastic. The colours really pop on the table and are much more exciting than red would have been. I can't wait to see how the rest of the force looks in these colours

The chipping is looking good, though adding in some lighter chipping before the darker stuff will help make it pop and look even more realistic

wow! those sure are some nice models! I'm really impressed on how realistic those look and feel! The eyes of your favourite just fit 100% Really like the colors too! blue/turqoise is such a strong color! Eager to see more

Thanks for the comments! I've actually finished a squad of Reavers as well, I'll try to get some photos uploaded tonight.

I really like these. I think you selection of colors is amazing as is the paint job.

Today's update is a big unit of Reaver Jetbikes, I still need to paint gloss varnish on most of the helmets:



and at a slightly different angle:

I'm loving the color scheme. Different, refreshing and looks fantastic IMO. Nicely done.

Some other angles of the Ravager.





And a closeup:



I'm quite happy with the way the runes on the hull turned out. I've been using Google image search and the Dark Eldar transfer sheet for references. It's odd that the new Dark Eldar book doesn't have a page on runes!

Anyone know of good sources for runes?

O.o

Ok i quit warhammer.... I was going to do a DE army but this is sooo amazing... whatever i make will feel like a fail...

Good job though....

Built some more scenic bases for my second unit of Hellions. These were made pretty much by following the slate basing tutorial by Brushthralls. I thought I'd share a brief tutorial since it's surprisingly simple and effective.



First roll out a flat pancake of putty, black Milliput in this case, let it dry. Then you can use pliers to break of small pieces until you get the shape you want. I use the small pieces to form the first layer. Then I make a larger piece and drill a hole in it for the flying stand to put on top. The whole thing is held together with more putty.



I'm also trying this technique for my regular infantry bases, but I'm not sure exactly sure how high I want to make them yet.



That's it for today!

My favorite is hands down the Ravager! Gota get myself some new pants. Sorry but thank you ;P

Wow they look amazing ! your paint scheme is just epic keep up the great work ill be keeping a close eye on this thread

Thanks for the comments, keeps me motivated to post! A little bonus on what I got done tonight between the last post and this one. Took me about 30 minutes or so to break up the "pancakes" in the last images. I'll be putting them together tomorrow.

Big fan of Dark Eldar armies that shy away from the expected dark colours. This one is great so far and loving the weathering

I've decided to differentiate my Trueborn from regular Warriors by having them all with a back ornament and without helmets. Since Trueborn think of themselves as superior due to their "natural" breeding, they would probably want to show their faces!



I've seen a lot of really cool conversions online using Corsair cloaks, but I really liked the idea of having them carrying around trophies on giant bronze spikes! If I do any regular Warrior Sybarites they'll use the back banner bit.

The back ornament on this model is actually the leftover trophy rack railings from the Venom kit and the body is one of the riders leftover from the Ravager.

Not sure if I'll paint them any different from the rest of my army, any ideas? I'm toying with the idea of reversing my original scheme to give them copper armor and a turquoise bodysuit.

Making progress on the Trueborn:





I'm starting to really having a small unit of Trueborn sitting at the back of the board in cover. People tend to ignore it for a while so it usually get to shoot for most of the game.

That colour scheme looks really great. And is done to perfection.
The bases look quite nice as well, pretty simple but definatly effective.
I like that piece of scenery that you have taken a photo of the Hellions in, could you get a photo of that on its own?

I love the color scheme, great work.

These are AMAZING! I really love that original color scheme you have going on. Can't wait to see more!

_Tim?

Credit where credit is due, the terrain was made by our resident terrain wizard in my local store. I'll get some pictures of it the next time I'm in the store.

The dark eldar technology is really looking good these days. Makes me glad that I sold my dark eldar before the latest release, other wise I would be buying new models.

First Trueborn done! It's the same model as the upper model in the post above. It's amazing how much difference a few highlights and weathering effects makes. I'm still not totally sold on the basing though. Might have to make some taller stone "stacks" to fit in better with the flying bases.

The trueborn looks amazing.

This is pure gold, I love your painting on these DE, best i have seen tbh. Keep up the work, would love to see a razorwing in these colours

Looking really good!

I like any DE scheme which deviates from the 'black with coloured edging' as preferred by GW.

Three things which I really like in particular; The sail/banner scheme. Really good juxtaposition with the blue. Also, the markings on the hulls, - very nicely done. Finally, I like your distinction between trueborn and warriors. Might have to pinch that!

I'd also love to see a Razorwing in these colors...

and a Talos...

and Incubi...

and Scourges...

and a whole fleet of Raiders...

and Wracks...

and the Baron with 30 Hellions...

and stuff I've not bought yet such as...

Grotesques converted from rat ogres like I've seen on Dakka)...
and a slowly developing project with Beastmasters and converted beasts...

That's the problem with the Dark Eldar range. Just about everything is a fantastic model

Everything look amazing. A job well done sir! I love the feel of the models, reminds me alot of Fallout, all that armor with chipped paint...delicious

Great work all round; simply stunning painting that does fantastic models justice.
At first I was unsure of the scheme, but now at least I really love it; you've done a fantastic job here man - I can't wait for more.

These are absolutely incredible mate, it's been ages since I've got my paints out but you've just sinspired me to crack back on! Thanks for that!

Love the helliarch and how he's choosing his next victim - like everyone else, would love to see how this colour scheme would work out on the haemy models if you were planning on fielding / getting any? Not sure if they'd fit with your theme but if you do please get pics up asap.

Model appreciation momentarily suspended, I love your skill with a camera too, the angles you're pulling out really accent the excellent paint scheme and modelling that you've done.

Well done pal - that's me subscribed!


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Ps, the stone stacks idea for the trueborn would work really well with them hanging back in cover as you say. I like the mental of them just sniping with DL's from cover - stone stacks would really bring that out. Just don't hide too much of the detail is all I'd say!

The image of Truborn sniping tanks from cover is really appealing. It just seems so in character. A bit like a bunch of bored noblemen going big game hunting, except with no animals harmed and much more entertainment. You not only get to compete to bring down a Land Raider or two, but can also look forward to watching the Hellions tear apart whatever bails out.

The fluff really makes everything come to life. Since when I think about it, in gameplay terms there's really not much of a difference between a small squad of Trueborn and a combat squad of Devastators, and I've never found Devastators to be that compelling (although the Heavy Bolters in Dawn of War are pretty cool).

Mechanicum Jon wrote:The image of Truborn sniping tanks from cover is really appealing. It just seems so in character. A bit like a bunch of bored noblemen going big game hunting, except with no animals harmed and much more entertainment. You not only get to compete to bring down a Land Raider or two, but can also look forward to watching the Hellions tear apart whatever bails out.

Oh god yes - that's genius... the Hellions could be the 'eagles' launched by a noble that then hunts out the smaller prey that they take back to feast on. Your HQ option could be based on a trueborn just to keep the feel going...

Gaming wise you could keep the Helli's in reserve, destroy as much armour / heavy hitter as you can with TB and raider, then pounce and mop up with your fast moving, strength modified, drug fuelled dare devlis.

Like that a lot


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Ravager - not Raider. I do know my army choices, honest!

Quick update showing what's in the queue! Not sure what to start with after the Trueborn. The Scourges and Incubi are calling, but I should really paint some Raiders.



The weight of unpainted plastic...is...crushing...me... What's that? Don't buy anything until you've painted it all? That would require utterly un-Dark-Eldar-like self restraint!

Jealous...


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It'd have to be the scourges for me, I hate painting raiders and qould love to see the scourges in that colour scheme

Dayum. 2nd that jealousy.

I'd go Scourge > Raider > Incubi > Raider...
Have Incubi or whomever as a 'reward' for painting the raiders, but the Scourges have such nice models...

Nice haul. Excited to see the awesomeness unfold.

Just outta curiosity, how long have you been painting for? I wasjust moaning to my gf that my DE don't look anywehre near as good as yours and she asked.

Any new pics?

Seriously great looking minis. Keep it up, i'm looking forward to seeing more. Gotta say, its one of the most original and yet suitable colour schemes for a DE army iv ever seen. Just wish id thought of it. Great work, consider me subscribed.

I really like the colour scheme
Much brighter than you normally se with DE, its refreshing

Cheers// Tobi

Awesome scheme, your flesh tones make me jealous.

Love the Ravager, I'm adding that to my motivational folder when it comes time to do mine!

Subscribed!

great looking army, and wow... that's one hell of a purchase.

I'm almost done with the rest of the Trueborn squad. I'm painting the bases right now. I'll put some photos up later today.

Amusing (for me at least) anecdote from a game I played last night. My Reaver Jetbike with a Heat Lance was definitely the man of the match.

Turn 1: Moves up the left side of the board with 5 other Reavers, Heat Lance wrecks a Baal Predator.

Turn 2: 4 Reavers remain after getting flamed by Landspeeder. Heat Lance kills Landspeeder.

Turn 3: 2 Reavers remain after being shot by Assault Squad. Turbo boost to the upper left corner of the board.

Turn 4: Last surviving squadmate killed by Assault Squad shooting. Turbo boost to upper right of board.

Turn 5: Survives Assault Squad shooting. Moves towards lower right quarter and immobilizes a Baal Predator.

Turn 6: Turbo boost to lower right table edge.

Turn 7: Turbo boost to lower left table edge back to where he started the game after making a complete lap of the table, contesting the table quarter and winning me the game!

I am so jealous! LOL

Pics as promised. Really pleased with the way these turned out!

Took me a bit longer than I expected to get the pictures taken and uploaded since I got an unexpected game in at the shop today. A hard fought draw against the Eldar. The Baron managed to survive a torrent of about 50 shots (about 10 of them instant death strength), Shadow Field ftw!

FIRE!

Wow. Amazing work man' the colour scheme looks as good on the vehicles as it does on the basic infantry; more awesome work man, I'm really impressed. The bases are impressive yet subtle too.
My only criticism/suggestion would be to make the hair a different colour so it doesn't blend in as well with the armour, but then again, that can also work too; whether it works better than a contrasting colour I can only speculate.

Lovely work man; the Trueborn on the right with the Dark Lance is my particular favourite with the open-mouth and braced position of the legs. Great work.

Great work, imo far better than the neon GW schemes.

Just love a gritty eldar army and this is by far the best ive ever seen.

Keep it up dude

Kitch102,

I've been painting and playing 40k for almost eight years. I started when I was 14 or so but dropped out of the hobby for about 5 years around college. I've probably been "seriously"painting (i.e. at least one good session a week) for about 5 of those years.

I've got to admit that the GW foundation paints and washes have improved my models tremendously! I remember the horror of trying to paint red and silver Boltguns for my Dark Angels because neither the silver nor the red would cover the other in one coat.

Just Dave,

I take your point about the hair, but then again, I can't really think of another color that would work well. Now that I think about it, I picked the blue-ish white because I painted the Hellions first. They don't have as much of the blue on their body so the hair helped tie them into the skyboards.

I also like the white hair as a nod to the Drow.

Today's progress, basing them took a surprising amount of time since I had to integrate the poses with the rest of my army's bases.





I LOVE the models but have no idea on the color scheme for the wings! The current front runner is the standard GW black with purple and blue accents...I'm thinking there must be something more creative. Any suggestions?

Well according to the colour wheel an orange/yellow colour would best contrast to the base turquoise so you could go for a fleshy colour?
I'm wondering about white wings to contrast with the rust or something? Could always reverse the colours and have turquoise wings?
Take my suggestions with a dollop of salt however as I'm really not a modelling expert.
I must say that those Scourge models look beautiful however; can't wait to see them painted up!

I think white wings would look great, nice cool yet bright colour to go with the light blue.

Trueborn look good too, and Dark Lance Scourges is always a win in my book

Thanks for the suggestions! I did some research on bird wings and thought I'd try a more naturalistic look as well to see how it looks. Thoughts?

Thoughts?

... I freakin' love it! Looks very natural and goes well with the rust whilst contrasting to the blue/turquoise. Great.

It's probably just a WiP on the wing, but even so the paintjob looks excellent.

Ooh, those wings are really nice! They need maybe just a hint of the turquoise your using on the tips, and they will, IMO, be perfect.

_Tim?

The hair is really well done on those hellions, I also like the wear and tear on the vehicles.

Love the wing, nice light colours, very realistic looking

Are you going to be including the bat-wing style mixed in with your squads? If so, maybe look at moth wings or similar, I think you could pull of the patterning

Excellent work, man. I think you really captured the "dark but bright" concept of the DE.

On the wings: That's the same concept I was considering for (most of) my scourges. You just do it way, way better than I will...

Great concept for your paint scheme, it works so well!

What a great army.....and its only the tip of the iceberg.

The blue is a lovely and the natural looking scourge wing is perfect.

Peter

Legend... did you use a spray gun on the wings?

Got in about an hour of painting tonight and did the other side of the wing. I've included a base coated wing to show how the colors are built up. The armor and cables aren't painted yet.

I actually really like the idea of bright red or blue-white wings as well but they didn't seem to fit in as well with the army.

This scourge squad will be all feathered wings. I bitz ordered the two extra pairs. That's the only (minor) gripe I got with the Scourge box. The bat and feathered wings make them look like two separate squads. I'd have preferred it if they had either only included one type or had all five models with totally different wings to show how creative Haemonculi are....great, now I've got the image of a Scourge floating along with party balloons tied to its back...



Special thanks to the lovely lady above who seems to have become our top wing model.

looking great ... keep it up!

Hey Jon, how do you do your battle damage effects? I really, really like the way they look, I just am baffled as to how you got such a nice look.

_Tim?

Glad this thread is getting more comments and views now; so deserves it. Looking great. I'm pretty confident there'd be plenty of people in the swap shop etc. after the bat-wings so you could always trade them (potentially for more feathers)...

Really nice weathering, and those wings look very nice!!

How I paint my vehicles and armor:

1. Basecoat with Tamiya Coral Blue spray.

2. If you’re painting glyphs on the model do that now since all the weathering will go on top.

3. Spray with flat matt varnish (Tamiya, Mr. Color or Mr. Hobby).

This step is important because it lets me wipe off the weathering easily with a bit of rubbing alcohol if I make a mistake. Typically the mistake is to overdo the weathering.

4. Mix up a dark gray color (I use Adeptus Battlegray + Chaos Black).

5. Use a piece of foam or sponge with “fine grain” to sponge on splotches of the dark gray to simulate paint chips. A detail brush is also useful for touching up and adding smaller chipped areas.

I use the foam from Sabol pluck and pick trays since I’ve got lots of it. It looks best if you can make it look semi-random. I concentrate a bit more on edges and places where I think more wear and tear will occur (like the handrails of the Ravager).

It’s surprisingly hard to get the semi-random look right. On my first Ravager I found I had lapsed into a regular pattern of “blotches” about 2 cm apart. That was when the coat of varnish helped since I could actually just wipe off the mistakes or even just scrape parts off with my fingernail.

6. Once all the chipping is done, paint all the other parts of the model as usual.

I do the chipping first since it’s a waste to get everything nicely painted and then find out you’ve put a gray blotch over your nicely painted white hair.

7. Highlight the edges of the model with skull white mixed with a tiny bit of blue.

8. Spray the model with flat matt varnish again.

I usually don’t do this for infantry since I don’t usually mess up the next step on them.

9. Mix up some weathering powders (I use MIG Old Rust and Rust) with odorless mineral spirits (found in most art stores).

I’ve tried all kinds of weathering powders but have found that the MIG ones work the best. Their depth of color just seems to be better than anything else I’ve tried. If anyone knows of a good online store that carries the MIG powders and ships worldwide please let me know. No one sells them here in Hong Kong.

I bought mine in the Yellow Submarine hobby shop at the top of the Radio Kaikan building in Akihabara, Tokyo. Those powders are probably the most useful souvenirs I’ve ever bought. This is in contrast to the box of Chessex dice I bought in Paris which seem to have an aversion to rolling hits for Dark Lances…

10. Dip a brush in the mixture and touch it to a join between armor plates. It’s like using a wash. The capillary action will naturally draw it along cracks. Also paint on some streaks parallel to the direction the vehicle travels in. Again, the varnish lets you wipe off any mistakes.

11. Apply a final coat(s) of varnish to seal everything in.

12. Enjoy one turn (or deployment phase at least) of glory on the tabletop before a stiff breeze (or two twin-linked psybolt autocannons) explode your open-topped paper airplane!

I once had two Raiders, a Ravager and a Venom exploded in Turn One even though they all had Flickerfields and/or cover in a 1250pt game. It was those French dice again…

Thanks for the tutorial! I can really see how the coat of matt sealer would help a LOT, especially when you are doing weathering over white, and any mistakes mean you have to spend HOURS reapplying white paint...(I'm bitter because I tried the sponge effect on my Hammmerhead, and went a little crazy, so now I have to go back and re-apply white to a lot of it...)

Cheers!
_Tim?

Glad the tutorial was helpful!

I got less done tonight than I had planned, got caught up playing Persona 3 instead of painting. I did get the other wing finished though. I'll wait until I have some more progress to put more pictures up. This wing looks just like the one I put up earlier. Just imagine it mirrored!

On an unrelated tangent, I've been getting some complementary PM's on my Mechanicus army that I put up about a year ago. PM's instead of comments since the thread has been locked. They made me regret not blogging that army as I built it. This way is much more fun and motivational. Good thing I got off my ass and started this Dark Eldar blog only four months or so in!

Cheers,
Jon

Awesome, I saw these on display at fun artelier. Infact, this army inspired me to start dark edlar! Hope you win the golden deamon HK! once again, amazing army. Also, when is the tourny on?

Very nice!

Any chance of a step-by-step picture tutorial? It'd be really good to be able to see how the model progresses from each stage to the next.

Tonight's progress. This is one step from completion (apart from the base), shows how things look before the rust is applied. I'm liking the scheme and I think I'll go ahead and get the rest of the squad started!

Looks great as ever man; love the helmet and the wings contrast beautifully to the rusted, grubbier armour of the Dark Eldar; beautiful work as ever man. The little black sprues behind him really bring out his eyes too.
Apologies I can't provide anything constructive!

When I first saw the paint scheme, it looked so....well, in my eyes, bad! But, then again, when I clicked on the link, the first picture was the trueborn before the wash and highlights, bad example.

Looking back over the army as a whole...I love it. Especially with the whole "showing off the craftsmanship by the time it takes to rust" thing. The whole thing looks twisted and tribal, very angry and still the kind of...almost unregistered sadness that I love about the Dark Eldar. They are the very evil they hate, and this scheme almost shows that they ignore even simple ideas if it meant getting in the way of their arrogance and hatred. They are cold and brutal and overall, competitive. Even though their competition drives them further into oblivion.

Heh, got kinda philosophical there near the end, sowweh. Great job dude, love the original feel to the whole thing...

I've finished my first Scourge! These are probably my favorite GW models to date!

Yeah, I loves me some scourges. You make me sad.

I guess I'd better get off the computer and learn how to paint.

That Scourge is offically one of my favourites now, I love the wings, contrasting but not excessively so.

The squad is going to look amazing

I actually saw your army in the flesh
Looks amazing
Thanks for the inspiration

Again, thanks for the comments! I know how easy it is to just lurk or click away into another thread, I was doing it for years on Dakka. This thread and my previous Mechanicus army thread are sort of my way of giving something back to the community after just taking inspiration for so many years. Its still kind of weird (but also cool) to see some of my stuff on the first row of the first page of the Gallery when you search for "Dark Eldar" there though!

I got a bitz order in this weekend, got distracted by the new shinies inside and so didn't make any progress on the Scourges. Instead, I converted and mostly painted a test model for another squad I wanted to try out. I'll put up some photos next week. For a hint, let's just say I'm not too thrilled with the GW beasts models, neither the limited variation in the sculpts nor the price points.

To flamingwalnut if you find those aspects of the Dark Eldar compelling you might enjoy the Prince of Nothing series by R. Scott Bakker. Here's an excerpt that could be used to describe the fall of the Eldar, basically how some went insane as a result of living for millenia:


"their memories of mundane life fade first, leaving only archipelagos of spectacle and intensity, the confusion of a soul hanging without foundation. And how their redemptive memories gradually follow, stranding them more and more with disconnected episodes of torment and pain, until their life becomes a nightmare lived through mist, until all love and joy sink into oblivion, become things guessed at through the shadows cast by their destruction."

- The White Luck Warrior, R. Scott Bakker, 2011


Emo space elves indeed!

All of your Dark eldar Look fantastic, especially your Raider and Jetbikes

The background on this conversion is the Dark Eldar experimenting on Tyranids. The idea here is a Haemonculus is fascinated with Genestealers' ability to infect living creatures and is experimenting with it in a "safe" manner. i.e. After some early out of control infestations the Archon decided to ban infections on anything that:

a) Had an intelligence above a certain level, i.e. pretty much anything that was self-aware; and
b) Didn't have a "kill switch"and a strictly limited lifespan if the "kill switch"didn't work.

In this case the Haemonculi wrapped the muscles and nerves of an infected wolf-like creature around a metal skeleton. When they aren't fighting on the battlefield the bones are taken out and they're kept in nutrient vats. Even if they go berserk on the battlefield or in the arena, they don't have stomachs etc. and can't survive for too long outside the vats.





Admittedly kind of disgusting, but I had fun thinking it up! I deliberately made it look like a Khymerae so it would be clear what it was in game terms.

Wow, some fantastic job from top to bottom...

That blue hue is amazing...

I am less enthusiastic about the Khymerae, but everything else is among some of the best things I've seen lately!

I really love the conversion (musn't steal the idea, musn't...) but I'm not sold on the bright blue of the arms, it seems a little out of place to me.

I like the Khymerae, especially the fluff. Did you scratch build any part of it? The head looks a little... flat, maybe (?), in the last picture but overall I think it's a damn good conversion.

Nice work again pal.


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One thought, maybe you could add the second 'claw arms' from the 'stealers just behind it's front legs to add a bit more to the tyranid feel. I don't think it'd detract from the model, but it could enhancethe background that you're putting across.

Just a thought - hope you don't mind it

Beautiful.

FTL

Your army is beautiful! I'm absolutely subscribing to this! Could you make a tutorial on the bird wings? or maybe just the colours used?

I like kitch's idea of a second pair of claws behind it's front legs to add a little bit more to the model. Maybe you could freehand a design on it's forehead? It's small, but there looks like there's enough room and it would help to break up the brownish skin color some. I like your story for them though. Don't get me wrong either: overall they look great and the army in general looks fantastic.

Great ideas! I don't have any Stealer arms right now, but I'll try to trade with some 'nid players down at the shop. I'll definitely be including a second pair of arms on some of the pack. The head isn't scratchbuilt the flat heads are just a flaw in the original Dire Wolf models. I cut down a Warrior head carapace and found that it fits pretty well!

I've also repainted part of the torso to make it look like the infection is slowly spreading into the skin and muscles. The bronze bones also weren't quite fitting in with the rest of the model so I repainted them in a more standard scheme. The model hangs together much better now! What do you guys think?

Not sure if it's in-character for DE to have equipment in such a shoddy state, but great paintjobs regardless!

That looks a thousand times better in my opinion. The infection breaks up the brown skin color and the carapace addition on the head looks awesome too. My favorite addition was what you did to the eyes; it gives them a really wild, experimented on look.

Awesome work.

YES! waaay better. Those nid arms make sense now.

Looks even better now, great job!

Absolute - f*cking - legend!! That's brilliant, and I love the "infection spreading" thing, that adds so much to the background and really ties in with the killswitch that you were talking about. Truely Epic my friend \m/ :-D

Yep, new Kymerae is great, breaks up the flanks of the beast well.

Can't wait for even more crazy hybrids

I hated the Khymarae. I really did. It made me sad how much worse it was than the rest of your army...then you modified it...and it is so, so, so good.

Nice save

The wings on that scourge are beautifull. Great job on the weathering effects as well.

It looks rather fantastic. The background is very good aswell. Will you be doing background for all your other units aswell ?

Glad to have won people over. Actually I had to win myself over too! Hearing people comment on what wasn't working helped me refine the concept. These are the first conversions I've done in a long time where I've tried to meld such easily identifiable bits. I find that the eye tends to pick out all the iconic parts and the mini just doesn't gel. I think I've just about managed to pull it off though!

Had some time after work this week and put together two more of the beasts! I'm running out of 'nid bits fast! I was going to stop at one and work on the Scourges but it's been raining everyday which has kept me from spraying stuff.

They look cool, though I think you might want to vary the angles of the 'nid arms a little more. Maybe rotate them forward?

I apologise for when I eventually pinch the design dude... much prefer these to the actual mini's! That cool?

I'm planning on having at least eight of these Khymerae so there will be a bunch of different poses. That being said,I did rotate one of the arms on the "lower" Khymerae forward to match the outstretched paw.

Go right ahead and pinch! I'm not the first one to come up with the idea after all, found it on Google images! Although I think that the use of the Tyranid Warrior head crest is original.

Just wow.

Colour scheme, weathering, execution, everything.

I am deffinatly going to use that Khymera idea, can i also use the idea for having a 3 man trueborn squad with 2 dark lances.

Back to the Scourges! Got the basecoats done over the weekend. That was quicker than I expected. The lighting was a little wonky on these photos so the color is a bit off!

The one lucky Scourge who already has her wings is probably lording it over the others. The rest of the squad might have to "encourage" their Haemonculi to work a bit faster (I've got them undercoated already I swear!)

Looking good! This unit will be ace when it is finished!

_Tim?

Awesome blog! What color(s) did you use for the teal?

I drank what must have been an extremely over-caffeinated cup of tea today after lunch. Was feeling pretty productive at work. Managed to detail up two heads after dinner and then couldn't concentrate anymore!

Fatigue + caffeine = good for writing reports, bad for hobby?

ph34r, I wrote up a tutorial on the paint scheme on Page 3 of this thread. Hope it's useful! The blue is a Tamiya coral blue.

Wow. Scourges look brilliant man; the wings look really natural (then again, I'm not a birdwatcher) and go nicely with the rust-effect, whilst contrasting nicely to the blue-turquoise. Love it.
The pose on the right-most DL guy I'm not a fan of tbh, but I love the pose on the left-most DL in the pictures.
Cracking job as ever.

Were they as fun to paint-up as they looked?

It took a surprising amount of effort to paint the feathers and hair on the Scourges. As soon as you get a little bit sloppy everything loses definition and the whole head starts looking like a mess. Especially since I decided to detail the individual feathers! Also did some highlighting on the bodysuits and painted the feet on two of the models. Really pleased with the result though! Now I just need to highlight the armour plates and rust everything and it's on to the wings.





@Just Dave: In the unpainted photos you can see that I originally had both Dark Lance models staring down the scopes. But after looking at the squad I thought they looked too similar. The new "landing" pose is a bit of a call back to the original Scourge models. I think the pose will hang together better once I get the wings on...or I might have to wrench his head off again! I'd say the squad it more rewarding to paint than fun actually, every time I finish a step I find myself admiring the models mode and more! Of all the Dark Eldar models I've found the Venom to be the most fun to paint!

Beautiful paint scheme and the beginnings of a beautiful army!

If I'd make one suggestion, it'd be to have a little bit more rythm and accuracy in applying the chipping on the infantry. On the vehicles it works gorgeously, but with the models I think less could be more and concentrating on armour edges a bonus.

But a stunning force in the works! More!!

I love these models and your paint scheme. If you don't mind I think I might steal the idea and make a similar scheme for the DE that I will one day have.

Simply stunning, I absolutely love the aged feel and the color scheme and I think you did a brilliant job defining the different parts of the hair!
I shall be following this quite closely...

Still a bit shiny since I haven't varnished them yet. The matt varnish also dulls down the rust a bit so these will look a bit less rusty once I've sprayed them. That being said, looking at the photos some spots look a bit too rusty so I'll probably be cleaning them up slightly.

I'll be painting the wings this weekend. Need to buy a new drybrush first. I've been painting so regularly these few years that I'm actually going through brushes fairly regularly!

@migsula: I've been admiring your Crescent Guard on your site for several years now, they're actually what inspired me to start trying weathering on infantry! I'd agree about the infantry paint chips but it already takes me about two or three weeks to paint a squad so I need to take some shortcuts somewhere

@justhuman: Steal away! It's one of the reasons why I put this blog up.

Fantastic models and a wonderfully different color scheme - great work!

The scourges look really great, and should look even better with the painted wings on them. Keep it up!

Jaw dropping, simply jaw dropping

Really, just a pile of wings today! Only a few more details to go and the squad will be complete!

This is one of those threads I'll come back to so I can get better at painting. Great work man, I love it. Are there any Tutorials that you have used to help you get to that level?

Those wings are fantastic. Very nice natural color.

What color are you going to paint the tube things on the wings?

May I ask how did you paint the redish brown cloth on your true born, and other stuff.

The Scourges are DONE! I'll post pictures tomorrow. The squad looks brilliant, some of my favorite things I've ever painted.

@Tech Guard

How I paint the Kabal’s bodysuits:

1. Undercoat black.

2. Mix up a pot of dark brownish red color, call it Bodysuit Brown.

The mixture is of Mechite Red, Scorched Brown, Scab Red and Badab Black. I actually don’t know the exact recipe which is a mistake on my part. But I have mixed up a second pot by eyeballing it and it looks reasonably close. This took me a lot of trial and error to get the color right but the key bit is the Mechite Red (I used Vallejo Hull Red instead of Scorched Brown for my second pot).

3. Basecoat with Bodysuit Brown.

4. Paint a second basecoat with mixture of Bodysuit Brown and Mechite Red (about 3 to 1 ratio) everywhere except for recesses and where shadows would fall.

5. Highlight raised areas with mixture of the Bodysuit Brown and Mechite Red (about 1 to 1 ratio).

6. Highlight sharp edges and wrinkles with mixture of Dwarf Flesh and Blood Red.

I got to admit these look amazing. I am curious how to you paint the metallic color?

Whoa that's some really beautiful stuff! Keep it up, i'll be watching!

That wasn't meant to sound creepy. You know what i meant.

Thanks mechanicum Jon, might have to try this out on my dark eldar. what are ypu going to paint next?

Photos, as promised. Comments and criticisms very much appreciated as usual! Took me a couple hours to take decent pictures and get everything uploaded but I think it was worth it!

Just gorgeous! The time it took you to finish was totally worth it.

Amazing unit!! Very very nice.

A bit of bleached bone or tan shade drybrushed on the grass might work? Have you tried MIG pigments for basing? They give such great texture and naturalism. I usually do some brownish washes on grey to add depth and a more natural feel.

Looking forward to more!

Looks absolutely amazing. Seriously beautiful unit and you've done some great models justice.
Sadly I can't offer any suggestions for improvement - unlike migsula - as - unlike migsula - I'm a rubbish painter!
As I've said before on this threat and will say again, beautiful models man.

Next?

Been simultaneously watching finnan's blog in which he was also working on Scourges. It's been really interesting to see the two different takes on them. Two fantastic sets of miniatures. Well done, great work!

Really clean and crisp blue and body suit brown. I agree with migsula about the base though.

Oh and i think some weathering/damage on the wings would really bring the model together and finish it off! Just my two cents though, i'm no painter, i just think it makes sense. Seriously great work though!

The wings are fantastic, the squad as a whole looks gorgeous!

@Moltar, migsula, Just Dave, LostSoulCasey'sLaw, Tech Guard and Vanq: Thanks for the kind words and suggestions!

Coming up next is some bread and butter. I'm going to buckle down and paint 20 Warriors.

I'm going to see how quickly I can get through them so expect something closer to "tabletop quality" than the rest of my stuff. That being said, I think the scheme is strong enough that they should still look fine.

Also, I''ll just be me skipping some of the more subtle steps so it's nothing I can't touch up later. Although I don't know how likely that is given all the other fun stuff I've got to paint!

@BraveRifles: I'm assuming you're asking about the copper color. It's really simple:
1. Basecoat Foundation Calthan Brown.
2. Two thin coats of Dwarf Bronze.
3. Wash with a thinned Vallejo Turquoise.

@migsula: Any suggestions on which MIG color would work well with the bases? I actually tried some rust early on when I was experimenting but it didn't look quite right. I'll probably finish painting the army before I start improving the bases though.

Thank you Mechanicum that is exactly what I was looking for.

Man those Scourges look sweet! I think they are your best yet.

_Tim?

The Warrior marathon begins. I've just glued them together, still need to clean off the flash and mold lines. These will be joined by four Blaster Warriors to make four squads of five in Raiders. Is it just me or does this look like a class photo?

Kabal of the Downed Gardens, Class of 2011

Great blog, I've been enjoying it. I may borrow some ideas for my own dark eldar force.

Question though..do you think gluing the arms in place will make painting the torsos quite challenging?

Fantastic work! Wow. The turquoise really work with these figures.

I reacon that you should take splinter cannons instead, and pute duke slisces (think thats how you spell his name) in the unit. but other than that they look awsome!

Finished cleaning mold lines and sprue connection points. All set for undercoat and basecoat tomorrow. I'll put some pictures up tomorrow night to show how the paint job is built up from a very turquoise starting point.

@AesSedai: Although a lot of the Warriors look like they're holding their guns quite close to their chests, there's actually very little obstruction of their torsos. It's fairly easy to get a brush in there. Also, since my color scheme doesn't rely on being crisp and clean I can fudge things a little in places I can't reach with a few more paint chips and a bit more rust.

I may have missed this, but did you use like liquid mask or something to get the weathered look on the armor?

Also, those wings are fantastic! so realistic.

@ Jon

Well, you do have a point there

I'd like to get your advice on my own dark eldar project (see sig). I like your weathering technique, but your scheme is light whereas mine is a very dark green blue. Any thoughts?

Keep up the good work!

The Warrior project is coming along nicely. Finished the undercoating and paint chipping stages. I'm now working on the reddish brown basecoat for all the bodysuits. I thought it would be fun to line them all up in roughly the same poses for each photo. It'll make it look like I painted them all in one go with them lying down. Too bad it's not actually that easy!

@Alfndrate: I posted a tutorial on Page 3 of this blog but I'll be posting pictures as I complete each stage of these Warriors to illustrate the process, starting with the first couple stages below:

Undercoated with GW Skull White Spray and then Tamiya Coral Blue (the Skull White probably isn't necessary but I had a spare can lying around that I'll never use otherwise and it seems to make the blue go on slightly better).


Paint chipping applied with some Sabol pluck foam discards. It may look a bit heavy here but a lot of it will get covered up when I paint the other colors on.

So here's a potentially golden noob question, do you bluetac the models to the sprue there and if so, do they stick on well enough for you to paint without falling off all the time? Never thought of doing that before but it could make things so much easier!

It's really nice to see a squad in these stages, gives me motivation to finish some unshinished squads!

@kitch102: I superglue the models to the sprues to paint them. Funnily enough, the brittleness of the superglue makes it a really good temporary bond. It's easy to break the finished models off the sprue one you're finished painting!

No photos today but I managed to finish basecoating the reddish brown bodysuits and start on the copper parts.

I went through the blog again from page one...

Amazing work mate. The superglue on a spue is the trick of the day. I pin all my models to my resin bases with .5mm brass rod, so during painting I have a different "hands free" method (pinned to a wine cork). I wish I had seen your trick years ago!

AesSedai wrote:I went through the blog again from page one...

Amazing work mate. The superglue on a spue is the trick of the day. I pin all my models to my resin bases with .5mm brass rod, so during painting I have a different "hands free" method (pinned to a wine cork). I wish I had seen your trick years ago!

I too will be shamelessly stealing this technique.

That sprue trick is awesome!

The Warriors are looking promising! Can't wait to see 'em finished.

_Tim?

what an amazing blog those are some of the most inspirational Dark Eldar around on the net, keep it up!

Today's update is the beginnings of the basecoat. The Calthan Brown isn't quite done on all of them.



Wow, that was an unexpectedly enthusiastic response to the superglue tip! Now that I think about it, I've been using some of these sprue bits for years. I'm pretty sure some are from a 2nd Edition Rhino!

Another neat idea I recently saw someone use in my local shop for pre-based miniatures was to duct tape small alligator clips to cocktail sticks. Then you use the clips to grip the bases and hold the cocktail sticks while painting the miniatures.

Thanks for stopping by for this installment of the Sixteen Warriors!

16 Warriors is an odd number, any particular reason why?

You mentioned a tournament in HK in your first post...what is your list like?

@AesSedai: I'd like to keep this thread focused on P&M and refrain from detailed list discussion. I'll send you a PM with lists instead.

In general, I've got two lists in the works that I've been playtesting. One is mostly a Hellion/Reaver list while the other is a Warrior/Beastmaster list. Both lists have Trueborn and Ravager fire support.

The sixteen warriors are for four units of five. I still need to add in the blaster warriors to join them.

Could you by any chance PM me a list as well? If it's not too much trouble

joshoftheforest wrote:Could you by any chance PM me a list as well? If it's not too much trouble

Yeah, I'd love to see it too

Hate to say it MJ, but I think you'll get a few "me too's" on this! Count me in for a third, lol.

me 2 please. Quite curious because of how many warriors you are painting.

This is actually the largest group of miniature's I've ever painted using the batch painting assembly line method. Do you readers paint things in large groups or one by one? I usually paint in groups no bigger than five because I can't wait to see how they look when they're done!

Basecoating is often boring, but I find it's the most important stage to get right. Now I can get on with the fun part! I'll post the next update over the weekend to show how washes and details tie everything together.

You really do do a good job of getting a clean, crisp basecoat down. Always a sign of an experienced painter, as a good basecoats means the finished figure will look really excellent!

_Tim?

Thanks _Tim? ! I've found that it for me, the key to a good basecoat is a steady supply of podcasts and audiobooks. Listening to good content helps keep me engaged and painting at a good pace. Although, I've sometimes found that I've stopped painting because of a really engaging action scene or because I get the urge to do an internet search on whatever's being discussed!

Only got a little painting done today because I had a game against mech IG after work. Turned out to be a really close game with me just pulling it off with two surviving Hellions on an objective! I've got to say that the Hellion/Reaver looks very visually impressive on the tabletop, even with some stuff still unpainted. My opponent mentioned that it was the first time he had seen so many flying bases together!

Finally stumbled across the thread and I'm glad I did. The simplicity of the paint scheme makes for a striking appearance when you see the units together. And I love the turquoise color.

I was trying to hold out from putting together a little DE force, but this may push me over the edge.

Great work.

Will you be writing up a battle report from your guard encounter?

On my painting method... I don't really have one... I bought some warriors on new years eve that are still only part painted (had a long while of getting annoyed and stopped painting entirely!). I just got soem wracks though, so we'll see if I do a better job of painting them in batches of 5 instead of a full 10.

Also got a jet fighter, really enjoying painting that, though the cockpits a bit daunting fsr

Couldn't resist finishing one up first! I was going to leave these at a tabletop standard but I spent a bit more time on the highlights than I intended. The other fifteen might be a little rougher. Let me know what you think!



@kitch102: I didn't take pictures during the game so I'm not sure I can remember everything! The main takeaways were that Manticores are murder against Dark Eldar (he had two until the Reavers blew one up and the other ran out of ammo) and that I'm now firmly convinced that you need at least 16 lances (or their equivalents) @1750 pts, 20 if possible. 11 Chimera hulls is tough work to get through, I just managed to disable or destroy 8 in 7 turns! I only had 2 Hellions, two Scourges, three Trueborn, two Reavers, two Ravagers (didn't manage to get out of reserve until turn 4 which probably saved them) and a Venom left!

@McNutty: Cooooome to the Daaaaaaaaaark Siiiiiiiiide!

Really nice job!!

Awesome job... The small chips on the armour look... 'right to scale', if I might say so?

Only the eyes would benefit from being a bit more highlighted, maybe, so that they stand out more?

Beautiful job man; the other 15 are going to look amazing which is ridiculous considering these are just the average-Joe in your army! Looks great, I really love the palette you're using and the weathering which I really like too.
Cracking job as ever.

About the title. I have a weakness for alliteration it seems.

Steady progress on the Warriors. The turquoise wash over the copper is tricker than you might think. I just slop Deneb Mud over the leather parts, but the turquoise needs to be just the right consistency so it doesn't completely dull the metal. You'll see two warriors completely done in the photo. The blue really looks totally different once the rust goes on.

Wow! What a wonderful wealth of washes! Which washes were washed where? Jolly good job, Jon.

Wonderful!

More than inspiring.

Hello Readers! You're seeing the Warriors with their final highlights (minus the eyes) just before I apply the rust. I''ve found that the rust tends to seep into the eyes so I paint them afterwards.

@prime12357 & LostSoulCasey'sLaw: Amusing attempts at alliteration are always appreciated!

They look really good. Are you going to base them the same as everything else?

Just wanted to give you a shout out and thanks as i totally used your sprue stick painting method. Works splendidly!

Keep up the awesome stuff!

Really spectacular final effect. Probably one of the best DE schemes I've ever seen.

I wasn't specifically painting these on a schedule, but I just checked. The first post I made where I had the squad assembled was exactly 15 days ago! So I've just about managed to paint an average of one warrior a day. Too bad my basing method can't be done quickly or I'd try to get them completely done tomorrow. I briefly still entertained the thought of trying but I'd rather get a game in tomorrow after work. Happy with this rate of progress regardless!

Right after I post this I'm going to re-download the images from the Dakka gallery and look through them in a slideshow. Should be fun to flick through.

Feedback and kind words over these two weeks much appreciated!

They look great finished, along with everything else. What's next to finish?

Looking really nice man! May I be so bold as to request an army shot when the warriors are done?

holy mother of.. they are sooooo awesome !!!

Next in the pipeline are probably going to be all the special weapon Warriors so I can have completed squads. Then it's time to paint some Raiders. Or I might work on the Beastmaster packs for something fun. We'll see what grabs me!

The full army shot is planned but I'll get a few more things painted and based first. Also, I need to work out how best to take one of those. Any tips?

The special weapons sounds the most sensible option, however from a viewers perspective I cannot wait to see the Raiders or Beasts(masters).
For the army shot, obviously a suitable lightbox is the best bet, however if you look in the tutorial section or articles by Yakface, I'm confident you'd find a suitable guide. As ever though, great work and I look forward to more!

Wow, really amazing. You might be the first person I have ever seen use teal in such amounts, much less make it look so awesome.

Keep it up!

That's a really remarkable color scheme.

Hello Readers!

Something a little different today. I just opened two boxes of Finecast Incubi. Nine were pretty much as advertised by GW (I accept the bent Klaives and lots of flash as fixable). One of them was not. I don't want this to become a Finecast bashing fest, but wanted people to know that you can't count on all the models being ok. I'm still reserving final judgement until I see how GW Customer Service deals with this. If they replace it right away then no harm done.

*UPDATE* August 20th, 2011: GW have offered replace any models I have issues with and I don't even need to ship the faulty ones back to them! I now consider the situation to be fully resolved.

Looks mostly okay in this pic, a little rough in places:



But a lot rough underneath:



I know you don't tend to look underneath a model much but this is pretty poor:



Also big hole in one leg:



Missing bit of shoulder pad. Also don't know if you can tell in this pic but the whole mold seems to have been misaligned slightly:



Coincidentally, one of the Klaives that fit this model was also broken during shipping (I don't blame GW for that though). That's it for today's PSA.

I love your army. I've been looking for DE inspiration, and I think I finally found it, thank you. Especially the bases. Thank you for sharing!

Mechanicum Jon wrote:I'm still reserving final judgement until I see how GW Customer Service deals with this. If they replace it right away then no harm done.

I recently purchased a box of Wracks from GW.

When they came in, 1 was well cast, 1 needed some filling, 2 were in need of almost a complete resculpting and the last 1 needed more work than my poor sculpting skills were capable of.

I called GW US customer service and they sent me a new package.

In the new package, 3 were well cast, 1 needed some trimming and a small amount of filling, and the last needed a lot of trimming and some filling.

But in the end I had 5 good looking minis, 1 that still needs a bit of work, 2 that might pass and 1 that will be chopped for bits.

But customer service was very cood, as usual, the replacements made it to me within 3 to 4 days.

I'm not overly impressed with the finecast line in general, but at least customer service stands behind the replacement policy.

Geez, the frame of the sprue even looks like a disaster.

Exactly how my incubi came

That sprue just screams mangled girder terrain piece! Looking forward to seeing these guys painted up, I think these could be a real challenge (in a positive way) what with them being the elite and all, any thoughts on how you'll do them?

My incubi were in a similar state. I cleaned it up as best I can and went with it.

When I bought some vanguard vets, some of the vets had massive holes in there faces. Looked as though they had been shot in the face

GW responded to my email complaint very promptly, offering to replace any faulty models. I don't even have to send back the faulty ones. This is the first time I've dealt with GW customer service and have to say that they've raised GW's image in my mind!

I'll have to think about what to do with the spare rough models now, probably something involving objective markers. Or they could make cool 3 Pain Token markers if I paint them up like bronze statues.

Quick pic I took of the to do pile on my desk today. I'm amused by the bundle of fully painted Warriors for some reason:

I think that's half of why finecast is tolerated, GW is usually pretty good about replacements and things. If they weren't, the quality issues would really be a pain in the butt.

Have you considered flower arrangement? The warriors look good

Personally, I can't stand painting the ravager / raider chassis (any one else?) enjoy that to do pile buddy!

Just a heads up on your future finecast purchases, if the bach number is 000000, it is most likely a miscast ( as I toss a 6th Urien Rackarth in the trash )

That handful of Warriors looks ace! Looking forward to seeing a new batch of vehicles all painted up.

Are you planning on doing any Wracks? I would love to see what you would do to them!

_Tim?

Completed the Warriors today! Tried out a Warriors-for-troops list yesterday against mech IG. Ran them as 4 squads of 5 with a Blaster (unpainted) in Raiders. Realized it would have been a better idea to paint the Blaster Warriors first since they would be the last to be removed!

More individual pictures are coming soon.

Beautiful work Jon...

Excellent project log. I absolutely love the colour scheme, and the weathering.. Oh my!
Really inspirational stuff, got some great idea's for my own Dark Eldar.

The latest finished squad looks spot on, keep em coming!

Fantastic, I only came across this doing research for a DE army.

This is awesome and I tip my hat to you sir !

Nice! So good to see DE out of their purple/green Tron box!
Between you and Fin my resistance to DE is eroding fast.

perhaps I'll just get a box of Warriors...just to paint... yeah...

Do iiiiiiiiiit.... Buy the warriorssssss.... doo iiiiiiiiittttttt.

Excellent work as ever Jon, though I can'thelp but look at my guys and call them pitiful excuses for painted minis - all thanks to you

Would have taken more pictures but the camera batteries ran out and I haven't got any more in the house. Tried to scavenge the batteries out of a Wiimote but those were dead too! I even tried the clocks but none of them use AA batteries.

More pics tomorrow then I guess!

Is that a blue dot I see on one of the kabalites feet. on the back of the foot.

It's bird poo. Alien bird poo. I'm sure it is.

Must be good luck

They look great as usual Jon. I still cant get over how original the scheme is

Cleaned up the bird poo.

That little blue spot on the Warrior's foot is exactly why I've moved to painting in a more "weathered" style. It's much more forgiving of little mistakes. If you do a perfect blending job on a mini except for one small spot, your eye will immediately be drawn to that imperfection. I still try to do a crisp neat paintjob but also include a generous amount of weathering to help the suspension of disbelief.

This all goes back to one of the most useful general principles I learned in a cartography class in college. I found it applies pretty well to any design work:

Make everything look like you did it on purpose.

If you can't paint a straight line, then change the design to be deliberately wiggly. If you make it just slightly wiggly people will tend to think it was a mistake (even if you intended it to be that way).

I still think it was a sign of good luck!

Mixed grab bag today:

I converted two extra Blasters out of Shredders, good enough that I can't tell immediately which are converted when they're on the tabletop:



If you look at the picture of the 16 Warriors I posted earlier you'll see that there are 4 Warriors in each pose (aiming, rifle pointing up, rifle pointing down, knife out). I converted each of the Blaster Warriors to match one of those poses so I would be able to tell the squads apart. e.g. the firing squad below:



Another picture of miscellaneous Warriors. The poses on the two knife wielding Warriors worked out nicely.



Painting up some Raiders. The lighting I've got at home doesn't work well with larger models. I'll take these down to the store for some photos once their done (see page 1 of this thread for a better idea of the colors).





I like the rune design on this one:

Looking awesome, John! Keep 'em coming!

Ha, I did the exact same blaster conversion, great idea! I love your posts, keep them coming.

Blaster bits = money I dont have. I did same conversion. Not skilled enough with a modeling knife to have kept the handle part. Runes on the raiders look great!

Gorgeous weathering dude. Love the runes on the vehicles, as well.

Great work on the raiders

Any tips on painting those runes? Did you sketch them out first or free hand them? I'm heading back to my raider this weekend, not looking forward to it!

Finished up the highlights and weathering on the main Raider hulls:





Glad to hear that this blog seems to be doing it's bit to get people painting! All your comments are a big help in motivating me to keep me painting and posting!

@kitch102: The runes are painted freehand while looking at a reference picture on my computer. Spray varnishing the hull before you paint the runes makes it easy to rub off any mistakes with alcohol (or scrape bits off with your fingernail). I've gotten confident enough in my skills / gotten lazier and tried to cut corners that I didn't do the varnish step for these Raiders. I just changed the design a little to cover up any errant brushstrokes. I've got to admit that Raiders aren't my favorite thing to paint, but I do really like the "flying boat' look of the finished models. I just wish that the optimum deployment strategy for them wasn't just to put them in a big clump with the ones in front turned sideways!

On a related topic, I've been watching the recordings of the NOVA Invitational tournament matches while I paint. Watching people play with fully painted armies really helps make you want to get your guys done and out on the tabletop!

Just been through the entire thread, wow! all your models are amazing and the weathering is superb, keep up the good work!

Moltar wrote:Looking awesome, John! Keep 'em coming!

This, but with your name spelt correctly.

Again, absolutely great work man, does the wonderful DE models justice with a really characterful and great-looking colour scheme; I would LOVE to see this on the table across from me; beautiful work as ever.
I'm glad your blog is getting the attention and compliments it warrants.

Painted up a sail for one Raider. I can do a step by step guide with photos for the other Raider's sail if there's interest. It took me awhile to come up with how to make the sails look good without needing do blending on a large flat surface. Basically it's just a lot of dots in different shades of red and orange! I'm having a hard time getting a good picture of the effect with my lighting at home. So again, I'll ask you to take a look at a better photo of the sails on the Ravager on Page 1 of this thread.

My son is really enamored with the way you do your sails... if you wouldn't mind doing a tut on your technique... it would be greatly appreciated. I think they're fantastic as I can imagine them catching particles of the solar winds & each particle hit "lights up" a section of the sail for a millisecond.

Fantastic work!

Count me in for a tutorial buddy

Please post a tutorial, it looks great and I may use it to make a flat surface look like it had scales.

Very well done sir, the sails look leathery yet techy at the same time... it's odd, but it really works!

Both the pattern and the color work fantastically with the rest of the army, it provides a wonderful contrast to the (also awesome) teal of the army. Everything looks so good, it's almost criminal. Keep it up!

Please stop, you, Gits, MajorTom11, and Eggroll are making me jealous :(

Wrote up Part 1 of a detailed sail painting tutorial during during lunch hour at work. Forgot to bring it home. So Part 1 of the tutorial will go up tomorrow.

Here's something else to look at in the meantime. I've dug up a couple of photos of one of the Raiders I painted several months ago but never got around to posting. I remember not posting them because I hadn't glued in all the spikes. I still have not glued in the spikes. So I figure it's time to post them anyway! I think the sail in these photos is the first one I tried as a proof of concept. You can see that the effect is much more subtle than the recent sails I've been painting. That's mainly because I spent a lot more time on the first one with a lot more layers of colors. I probably spent an hour and a half on just the sail. The way I paint the sails now takes about 35 to 40 minutes instead and the effect is almost as good on the tabletop. On the plus side for the new WIP models, I think that I've gotten better at painting runes!

Great work man, but a weee bit of blue on the driver's ear

This is one Army that will really turn heads once in force and on the table the paint scheme is catcing and thent he detail level is excellent top marks matey keep em coming!

@Alfndrate: The bit of blue on the driver is actually a turquoise earring! On a semi-related tangent, I've been playing with this model in games for months now and up until today when I looked at the photos again I forgot that I had a female Raider pilot. It's funny how you spend so much time on the details just to have them recede into the back of your mind during a game because you're concentrating on other things!

So the tip of the ear is supposed to be an earring of sorts? I know the blue below it is an earring.

Alfndrate wrote:So the tip of the ear is supposed to be an earring of sorts? I know the blue below it is an earring.

It's OSL from the hair, you know because combat drugs have side effects too.

btemple0 wrote:

Alfndrate wrote:So the tip of the ear is supposed to be an earring of sorts? I know the blue below it is an earring.

It's OSL from the hair, you know because combat drugs have side effects too.

I just wanna make sure its intentional, this stuff is top notch, and it could just be my eyesight.

Alfndrate wrote:

btemple0 wrote:

Alfndrate wrote:So the tip of the ear is supposed to be an earring of sorts? I know the blue below it is an earring.

It's OSL from the hair, you know because combat drugs have side effects too.

I just wanna make sure its intentional, this stuff is top notch, and it could just be my eyesight.

Don't worry I was joking, I do not really use the orkmoticons but I do see what you mean.

Paint edited it poorly to maginify.

Wow! Glad to see my work is getting examined so closely!

You realize that this is the type of thing they do to the Mona Lisa or a Van Gogh!

You guys are right of course, it seems like I got a bit of white on the ear when I was painting it.

OR maybe I'm hiding clues to a lost treasure/true meaning of female Warrior's expression/identity of the descendants of Jesus in my miniatures that only show up under extreme magnification!

I'll be posting the sail tutorial later today.

Lol, I can't wait for that tutorial, and I only noticed it because of the shading, the beginning part of the ear was creating this shadow, and all of a sudden... bright light! lol

Here are the first few steps of a quick tutorial for all you aspiring sail makers out there.

STEP 1: Paint the base color of the sail. I’ve used a mixture of Mechite red with a little bit of Scorched Brown and Chaos Black. I don’t pay too much attention to the exact shade since I don’t mind having slightly different sail colors across the army. The Dark Eldar aren’t known to be strict conformists after all! You might also notice some visible brushstrokes. This also isn’t a big deal since we’ll be covering up most of the basecoat in later stages. The lighting is strange in this pic. But hey, it’s a basecoat.



STEP 2: Paint a random pattern of big dots in a brighter color. I use a mixture of Mechite Red and Blood Red. The consistency of your paint is important for this step and the next. It’ll be easier if the paint is at the consistency where you just have to touch the brush to leave a “dot” without actually having to make a stroke with the brush.

Painting the scattering of larger dots helps make sure that your final pattern isn’t too regular. When I was first testing out the paint scheme I tried painting dots by working from one end of the sail to the other. I quickly found myself painting in regular rows and had to start over again.



STEP 3: Fill in the space between the larger dots with smaller dots of varying size. Again, I find it easier if you work by randomly dotting some medium sized dots around, then some smaller dots before finally filling in the rest of the space with whatever sized dot you need to fill a space without overlapping a previous dot. I use a Basecoat Brush for all the dots just because it holds more paint and I don’t have to keep going back to the palette.



STEP 4: Mix up some Dwarf Flesh, Blood Red and a tiny bit of Mechite Red. Apply this color over some of the existing dots making sure you keep at least a semi-random pattern to the highlights. Again, I realize the photo isn’t the best. But hey, it’s just some dots.



STEP 5: Mix up some Dwarf Flesh and Blood Red. Repeat STEP 4 except don’t go over as many of the dots with this highlight.



STEP 6: Varnish with matt sealer. Gloss might give a cool effect too but I haven’t tried it.

I’d recommend painting the spars before you paint the sail itself since then you won’t mess up the finished sail with stray paint and rust. That’s not what I did here though. Here’s the finished sail!



Now get out there and paint some dots!


@Gitsplitta: Great fluff idea for the sails! Consider it yoinked. Put some pictures in your P&M thread if you or your son try out the method! Although I'm not sure what you would use it for on the Mantis Warriors!

@_Tim?: Missed your question about Wracks earlier. I do plan on including some in the army and think that they’ll look great in “Mechanicum Jon Colors.” The one thing I haven’t decided is whether I’m going to paint the skin in a healthy color with discolored bruises in places or in a pale purplish white color more in line with the official scheme.

The current iteration (changes every week) of my tournament build uses two squads of 3 Wracks in Venoms. Was hoping to use them as Objective holders (go to ground for the whole game), but ended up playing a KP mission against Mech Guard. I found they still did reasonably well. One squad killed a squad of guard in close combat before getting shot to bits. The other squad went to ground in his deployment zone for the last 3 turns and managed not to give up a KP. Really great game, I just managed to scrape by with a 12 to 11 KP win.

Actually, they boys each have their own armies and I think the little one is eyeing your sail pattern for the wings of his tyranids.

Will be a fun technique to learn in any case... thanks for the tutorial!

There's so much awesome here, totally amazing...
Quick question though.
I love your skin tone that you've been using whats your secret, if youy don't mind?

I'm declaring "job's a good 'un'' on these Raiders. No crew yet, but I'll just put some of my painted Warriors in the driver and gunner's places during games. Actually it might turn out to be a good way of keeping track of which Raiders still have passengers on board. I'll get back to the crew after I get some of the more critical parts of the army painted (mainly the Blaster warriors and Beasts).

I agree!
Job's a good 'un!

Truly epic stuff here Jon,i think the sails rock and i love the weathered look to the vehicles.I can't imagine dark eldar meticulasly painting there vehicles when bloodshed is so much more gratifiying(to them).

@ashtekka: Can't remember if I posted a skin tutorial earlier in the thread, here it is again anyway:

1. Basecoat Deneb Stone.
2. Ogryn Flesh wash.
3. Ogryn Flesh wash again in the crevasses.
4. Highlight with a mixture of Ogryn Flesh and Deneb Stone.

It's the easiest method I've found for painting flesh so far!

@Gitsplitta: I could definitely see the method working for Tyranid wings! I think you'd just need to add a couple final step of washing the wrinkles and doing a few edge highlights and it should look great!

Fantastic work! The scheme is tops! Very aquatic feeling

just read the whole blog

i have this horrible urge to buy a lot of DE and paint them bannana yellow

your Aqua blue is such a happy colour

You guys know the drill. More Warriors on sticks! These are at about 60%. I'll try to take a whole army pic once I've got these guys done.



It's really cool hearing about all of you who are taking the time to read the thread from the beginning! A lot of the good stuff is on Page 1 since I held off so long on starting the blog!

Your blog holds pure awsomness! i look to it for inspiration during painting lulls. Keep up the great work!

I love the golds on the guns! How did you do that?

I don't have anything constructive to say but very good work

The Warrior contingent of my army is ready for action! Finished painting the Blasters today and was real excited to get the squads all lined up. I'll try to get a full army picture taken next weekend. Most of my Kabal is on display down at the local FLGS so I don't have access to it right now! Well, in a pinch you could technically call this picture a whole army shot. That is, three squads of Warriors and a rather under-equipped Archon with four Trueborn!



@joshoftheforest: The "gold" is done by using my standard method of painting weathered copper. 1. Basecoat Calthan Brown. 2. Paint Dwarf Bronze. 3. Wash with diluted Vallejo Turquoise.

Next week's plan is to generate some forward momentum towards getting the beasts converted and painted! I'm still not exactly committed to my "Genestealer" Khymerae scheme. I've been thinking of trying something a bit more "earthly" and feral to fit in with the rest of the army better. The main problem I'm having is trying to integrate the teal better. Time to paint up a test model and see how it's received.

Thanks for reading and goodnight!

Your Dark Eldar are really looking great! I've always assumed that stuff like battle damage wouldn't work on Eldar models, but you've proved me wrong. A great army so far. Looking forward to the next update!

Cheers,
Monsterzonk

They're looking fantastic as ever. Really looking forward to seeing everything laid out together.

As others have said; these are all looking amazing as ever. Great work man. I really can't wait to see the army-shot, individually they've all been great works, so together they should be inspirational.
Keep up the good work!

Awesome job indeed... I can't get enough of them...

Painted up a new color scheme for my Khymerae. Took me several days of trial and error (and buying new colors of paint) to work it out! After looking at the pictures I'll probably give the model another coat of matt varnish to get rid of the glossy look I tried. I'll sleep on it and see how it looks in daylight.





Here's the original color scheme as a comparison:



Although I do like the Genestealer infected look of the original scheme, it just isn't in the same style as the rest of the army. I see my army as having much more of a "noble savage" or "proud mountain tribe" feel which doesn't really mesh with the bio-engineered horror scheme. What do you all think?

I much prefer the muted colors of the original when it comes to the flesh/muscle/bone. It's not the same model though so it's hard to make a direct comparison. The genestealer parts look incongruous to me and the blue on both models doesn't feel right.

Sorry Jon... love your work, but these models just miss the mark for me. Could you perhaps consider using demonic parts rather than genestealer parts?

What about seeing if you can't find displacer beast models from DnD/Chainmail figures



http://www.reapermini.com/OnlineStore/Phase%20Cat/sku-down/02664#detail/IG_1232_2


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Unrelated note:

Grats on making into "Whats New Today"

http://www.games-workshop.com/gws/content/blogPost.jsp?aId=18100003a&utm_source=VoxCaster&utm_medium=twitter&utm_term=new-blog&utm_content=new-blog&utm_campaign=VoxCaster-New-Blog-Posts

Again, congrats on getting on to whats new today, I did a double take when I saw them lol - "What the? COOL!"

For me personally, I preferred the original torso colour, especially how the infection was spreading through the body which you could see by the trail of purple, though I do prefer the shinier muscles and tissue - just a little extra thought, perhaps you could paint some bloody foot prints to show that these creatures are literally melting their entire bodies away with every step and breath they take...?

Alfndrate wrote:
Unrelated note:

Grats on making into "Whats New Today"

http://www.games-workshop.com/gws/content/blogPost.jsp?aId=18100003a&utm_source=VoxCaster&utm_medium=twitter&utm_term=new-blog&utm_content=new-blog&utm_campaign=VoxCaster-New-Blog-Posts

Congrats Jon!

Just how does that happen anyway? Did you submit your stuff to them or do GW spies scan the interwebs for interesting bits??

They look at the interwebs, their flickr pool, and if you or your local store submit the photos.


Edit: I just checked the GW Roma's facebook page... Someone attached the photo with a question wondering on the reds used... >_<

Have to say that this is a real lol Alfndrate it correct, it looks like someone found my models on Google image search or whatever and posted them on GW Italy's website to ask how the reds were painted. There's some comments in the Facebook page in Italian that seem to correctly identify that the models were credited to the wrong person (using Google Translate). Well, I'll just act according to the old adage that all publicity is good publicity and email GW to see if I can get a proper credit!

Defo mate, send em more pictures of the rest of your force too, you'll probably be invited to do a how to blog post!

One thing I love about your work is that in the early stages, it doesn't look all that great lol! Then all of a sudden everything comes together at the end and you tie everything in magnificently.

If anything I think it's a testament to a very effective workflow. The scheme itself is also something I never would have thought would work on paper, but then there you are again pulling it off brilliantly.

Lol I hope the above reads as a big compliment and not an insult!!!

Amazing looking minis, this would make me want to start a Dark Eldar army, keep up the good work

Haha, that would figure that you make the front page, and someone else gets credit I wouldn't be shocked if they did a more full spread if you email them your info.

"I knew him back before he was famous"

whalemusic360 wrote:Haha, that would figure that you make the front page, and someone else gets credit I wouldn't be shocked if they did a more full spread if you email them your info.

"I knew him back before he was famous"

I knew him back when he was Mechanicum Jon, and not just

Just stumbled upon this stunner of a thread thanks to the Dakka front page link and it's making me very thankful for that feature.

Your colour is vibrant and a breath of fresh amongst all the DarkDar mostly black schemes floating around. Most of all though, I'm really happy to have found a use for those Reaver Blaster tips that were piling up in my bitz bin.

Subbed and exalted for the great work. Please keep up the inspirational work.

Argh, too many awesome people on Dakka are on GW's site! This is like the 5th one I've seen this summer!

Could it be that the Dakka community attracts such a high level of hobbiests? Looking at some of the long-standing P&M blogs we have going on here, I think so.

Wow. Definitely have to subscribe to this.

Saw your models on GWs page today. They look fantastic!

Well done, on getting on to GW UK!!
Love your work!

These are amazing I love scheme and the bases are really nice to. It's actually inspiring me to finish my Dark Eldar.

GW answered my email and said that they would definitely be interested in showing some more of my mini’s!

I’m going to arrange to have some higher quality photos of them taken down at the local shop over the weekend. In particular, the whole army shot which I’ve been promising meaning to take since last week.

They also asked for some fluff, tactics and painting text to accompany the photos. Fortunately, I’ve got this whole thread of material available to cull something decent out of. I’ll try to see if I can get DakkaDakka a mention as well.

@Gitsplitta: I appreciate the criticism as well as the complements. Both can give me ideas and help me refine concepts! This time though I’m going to stick with the concept. I’ll admit that it doesn’t look quite as good as my other stuff close up. But I think the scheme and silhouette of the claws will give the beast pack a nice visual pop on the tabletop.

I actually did originally plan on using Daemonette claws for the conversion and ordered a bunch. I had no idea they were so small!

@MajorTom11: I can honestly say that I did take what you said as a complement! I definitely tend to “frontload” a lot of time on projects trying to develop the right color scheme and painting methods. Often, things don’t work out and out comes the paint stripper!

Cool Jon, stick to your guns. Some times you've got to go with your instincts in spite of what others think. I'm sure they'll look fantastic when you're finished!

Congrats on making what's new. I look forward to seeing your whole army pic!

This blog is SO inspiring! I'm gonna steal a lot of ideas from you

Seriously, I bought two pots of Jade Green from Coat D'Arms (GW discontinued it some years ago) to paint my DE as the old DA green / Jade green scheme. A couple of weeks ago I decided that my colour scheme was going to change to a solid Jade Green, as I really love that colour and the old school scheme doesn't really show it very much. I also decided to use purple as secondary colour, for the sails and other stuff. I didn't know how to paint the sails. Now I know. And I will use some metals too so... It's going to look like a total cheap and badly done rip off of yours. Even in similar colours LOL

But hey, it's gonna look awesome! Thanks!!

"When it comes to hunting prey, Khymerae seem to know the secret: Divide and Conquer! Watch as the Khymerae pack encircles the herd of Mon-Keigh. One rushes in to panic the herd, attempting to isolate an individual..."
- National Kabalgraphic

Finished converting up my Khymerae pack. Still fiddling around with the color scheme though. The sort of patchwork looking one in the middle is the latest iteration. I rather like it. I'll probably add some greenstuff stitches to them at some point once I finish painting up the majority of my tournament army.

Yes.

The Khymerae look awesome.

What are your plans for Razorwing?

Those look awesome, the tentacled ones in particular!

_Tim?

They do look great Jon, tentacles are awesome.

Been following pretty regularly for a long time, but I think this is my first posting.

Thank you. Thank you SO VERY MUCH for sharing your talent and vision with us. It's truly awe-inspiring to see such brilliant work. It helps inspire me to get stuff done and get to work on my own army(ies).

I feel the need to tell you to keep up the good work, but it is painfully apparent you don't need any goading in that area. BRAVO SIR.

Mechanicum Jon wrote:"When it comes to hunting prey, Khymerae seem to know the secret: Divide and Conquer! Watch as the Khymerae pack encircles the herd of Mon-Keigh. One rushes in to panic the herd, attempting to isolate an individual..."
- National Kabalgraphic

I can't imagine I'm the only one who laughed at this.

Great work as ever Jon; particularly on your new found fame!
Liking the look of the beasties, but I can't imagine they'd be able to hold a candle to your excellent (actual) Dark Eldar, who I can't stress enough how well they're done.
REALLY looking forward to the army shot as well as more detail on whats new today. Great work man, seriously brilliant. Still.

I think you need to do something crap, as I'm just coming to expect constant awesome from you lol.

So this competition you're off to, what're the details there, and is it really just a 1750 point list as this all looks to add up to so much more?

So, I've painted up the first tentacled Khymerae of the beast pack. It's looking suitably gribbly. I also repainted the other two to match the finalized color scheme. Can't wait to see how the whole pack looks together when completed, but these miniatures take a surprisingly long time to paint!







@Alfndrate: Cool model, but I've already bought these!

@kitch102: Not everything on the blog is going into the 1750. These beasts are going into the tournament build, the Scourges and Hellions aren't. The problem with the Dark Eldar is that there are so many cool units that I find myself with painted elements of three completely different builds that don't mesh. For me that's a Hellion/Reaver build, a Warrior/Beast build, and a Scourge/Incubi build.

@Markillius08: Thanks for the kind words. There are a lot of blogs on Dakka that I regularly "lurk" in too.

@Warboss Gutrip: I'm going to order the Forgeworld Flying Ripper Swarms to use as Razorwings. I might add some little vials from the Talos/Cronos kit to imply that they're being drugged.

@Erasoketa: Feel free to steal, loot, plunder and pillage. Just don't forget the shameless plug of my blog.


On the army photo status, I forgot it was Mid-Autumn festival tomorrow and that some people take a long weekend to travel back home to China. In this case it was my contact (actually the owner of my FLGS) with the photography equipment! They'll give me a call when he gets back, so watch this space!

*Edit: Whoops put up two of the same photo!

Those look fantastic Jon. Much better without the blue and the gene stealer parts blend right in now. Excellent work!

I'm lovin' the Khymerae The razorwing/rippers will look cool, but I think it might take a bit more work to pull them away from the tyranid silhouette that they have. In any case, I'm sure they'll look cool.

Cooler than your avatar?

That's iffy, but if anyone can, it's Jon!

Hey Jon, this is going to sound like an odd question but any chance of getting a picture of the underside of your raider and venom?

I am curious how you did the ribbing on the underside of the hull.

Thanks

The long awaited full army portrait! I didn't plan for it, but everything I've got fully painted so far actually fits into a decent 1500 point build! I've got ten more fully painted Hellions but they aren't based yet. Oh, and the beasts are all basecoated now too.



@BraveRifles: The undersides of the vehicles are painted in the same way as all the other copper parts. Calthan Brown, Dwarf Bronze, wash with Vallejo Turquoise. I'll put a photo up.

Congrats Jon, that is truly a force of beauty!

Incredible! Congratulations are in order for the great results after so much hard work. Thanks for sharing.

Stunning looking army, the choice of colour is perfect. A lot of Dark Eldar that I've seen, can end up looking like something out of Hellraiser, these still have a real Eldar feel to them, just more fallen than freakshow. Love it.

That's a fantastic shot mate, what amazes me is how each model looks equally great to the one before it, you've not lost any enthusiasm for your paint scheme and that shows in the quality of the army as a whole. Brilliant work mate.

One question, and sorry if you've already addressed it, who's leading the force? Archon? Baron Sathonyx?

Wow, and thinking that you only started this a few weeks ago...

That could almost make me cry !

Awesome job, Jon...

I hope you paid due credits to GW Italy

Must be one of the best armies ever, good job.

I'm beginning to realize that taking good photos of mini's is just as much of an art as painting them. Posting photos in this thread has also made me think about buying a new digital camera, something I haven't even considered in the last five years. I get the feeling that some people's iPhone cameras are even better than what I'm using!

These pictures are a bit big. I normally re-size them before I post but didn't in this case because they are the most accurate impression of my paintjob I've been able to capture so far.





@kitch102: Baron Sathonyx is leading the army, I haven't converted him yet so typically use a normal Hellion model with a clear flying stand (sort of representing stealth).

Great work, the basing and color scheme really set it apart.

Simply stunning... fantastic testament to your creativity, skill and effort Jon.

Too magnificent to be true...

Simply beautiful

Mechanicum Jon wrote:
@BraveRifles: The undersides of the vehicles are painted in the same way as all the other copper parts. Calthan Brown, Dwarf Bronze, wash with Vallejo Turquoise. I'll put a photo up.

Thanks Jon, I figured it was copper I am just really curious what it looks like.


As always the army looks amazing.

Great stuff.

Im pretty sure i'm repeating myself, But........ truly original colours, all work so well together and are finished you a very good quality. Up there with the best painted armies iv every seen.

keep it up!