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Tedious war walkers and vypers? Naww they weren't tedious at all... is what I would say if I was willing to lie through my teeth about the truth of how mind-numbingly tedious it truly was to paint the war walkers and vypers.

Lovin the death guard look you got going on, the cream is looking particularly tasty.

 Inevitable_Faith wrote:
Lovin the death guard look you got going on, the cream is looking particularly tasty.

Cheers! I think I'm beginning to get the hang of cream, should only take me another thousand or so to really nail it.

= = =

It's been a bit since my last update. I was procrastinating from working on the next couple jetbikes (and still am, by posting this update), and did some various other bits and things. You can see them over here on my hobby tumblr or if you go to my instagram but I've been clogging up this thread rather too much with not-Dark Eldar material, so I might cut back on that for a bit.

Anyway, here are some WIP photos of the jetbike pilots. I'm hoping to finish these today but it's slow going, mostly because I keep reading INQ28 and Oldhammer blogs instead.

Riders look great, the skin tones came out nicely.

 Inevitable_Faith wrote:
Riders look great, the skin tones came out nicely.

Thank you! I'm still not great at skin tones, but I'd cautiously like to think that I'm improving.

And, hey, I did manage to finish the ladies off. NO MORE ORANNNNGE*



Light's a bit dodge but here are the new two. Note the ceramic heat lances.



Here they are with the first one I painted, whenever the heck that was.



~ dramatic ~


*until i do the Succubus. and their Raider. and maybe I could do some elites at some point and

Squad looks aces man, a fitting addition to your force.

 Inevitable_Faith wrote:
Squad looks aces man, a fitting addition to your force.

Thank you! I still haven't gotten photos of the full squad/s together BUT I did paint the Archon of the Kabal of the Sun Betrayed:



Much better than I did at 15, yeah?

Here's a WIP shot from earlier today:



My lighting situation does nobody any favours, I know. Bah.


When I was 15, the Archon was Mordred the Black of the Kabal of the Dark Sun.

He needs a new name. The project is trying to keep in touch with my angstier* teen self in a lot of ways, so (as with the colour scheme), the fluff is going to look back to the earlier stuff. The Kabal is now the Kabal of the Sun Betrayed, so ol’ Mordy needs a new name in keeping with the new, cooler** Kabal name.

It’s one in the morning, let’s brainstorm with these tabs I have open on Welsh*** colours.

Names:

Mewn’du
Me’draus

Epithets:

Sunkiller
the Eclipse
lliw golau leuad (lit. the colour of moonlight, apparently)

* who am I kidding
** seriously, who am I kidding
*** I do not speak Welsh.
**** also apparently the usual bbcode for lists doesn't work on Dakka, which is weirding me out.

Bikers are coming along, really liking that old Archon mini the skin on the mask looks great. I am going to vote for Me'draus the Eclipse.

While I can't say I'm a fan of the old metal Archon models (that is Vect right?) I do really like the paint you threw on him. The right mix of sinister and flashy for a DE model and the blue on the pistol is a great touch. I agree with Yorkright, Me'draus the Eclipse is my vote as well.

Yorkright wrote: Bikers are coming along, really liking that old Archon mini the skin on the mask looks great. I am going to vote for Me'draus the Eclipse.

Me'draus the Eclipse does look pretty good on the page. Love me a good mid-name apostrophe.

And thank you!

Inevitable_Faith wrote:While I can't say I'm a fan of the old metal Archon models (that is Vect right?) I do really like the paint you threw on him. The right mix of sinister and flashy for a DE model and the blue on the pistol is a great touch. I agree with Yorkright, Me'draus the Eclipse is my vote as well.

No, it's just the straight old Achon. I loathe Vect, both as a concept and as a model,so I never got him. I try to pretend that he doesn't exist, which GW writers make very difficult.

Thanks for the kind words even if you dislike the sculpt. The blue on the pistol is standard for splinter weapons across the army, but I did give him a shiny bronze casing. I'm also pleased with the icky mask; when I was 15, it was just flat Bronzed Flesh. Much better now!

Editing to note: I'm excited to see what Ynneadwraith is going to do with those eyeless Idoneth Deepkin...

Succubus! Back in the day, this model was just a Dracon, but these days she’s definitely the Wych leader that I always used her as. I think my model had a name, but I forget what it was, so I’ll just straight-up take suggestions. Bonus points if it sounds vaguely Welsh and/or alludes to the Matter of Britain.

I don’t really like the sculpt much. The backs of the arms are weird and the glaive design is odd - the beaten, textured parts tend to sort of blend into the rest of it a bit easily. I do really like the weirdly organic splinter pistol and her haircut is rad.

Fun fact: My model from 1998 had a damaged glaive and some ill-considered plastic spikes glued all over it, so this lady was sourced from ebay about the same time I started the project. I still have the damaged original, and will probably turn her into a statue or something at some point.

I also just realised I forgot to paint the soft material at the back of her knee there! back on the table with you!

Great work bringing another older model to life there man. I think the nails were a nice touch. I do like some of the baroque stylings of the older DE models, that pistol being a great example.

She is looking good, but those shoulder pads remind of a girl I used to date they were all the rage in the mid 80s. The green nails are a nice touch as IF said, really happy seeing some of these older models painted to such a great level.

Yup, those nails are killer. Great job on a classic model.

Thank you so much, everyone! I'm surprised you liked her so much. I'll try and get a photo of the two in more natural lighting soon.

Inevitable_Faith wrote:Great work bringing another older model to life there man. I think the nails were a nice touch. I do like some of the baroque stylings of the older DE models, that pistol being a great example.

I wish I could think of something cooler to do with that pistol than giving it a dull bronze casing, but I can't, so here we are. It deserves some John Blanche treatment.

Yorkright wrote: She is looking good, but those shoulder pads remind of a girl I used to date they were all the rage in the mid 80s.

You're a bit older than me, but yes, they are a bit overwhelming. Mag Uruk Thatcher would be proud.

The green nails are a nice touch as IF said, really happy seeing some of these older models painted to such a great level.

Thank you!! I was really excited about those. If I ever get around to getting some gloss varnish, I reckon that would help them pop just that bit more.

youwashock wrote:Yup, those nails are killer. Great job on a classic model.

Thanks! I'm glad the nails are such a hit.

= = =

So, today I spent WAY too long dealing with these terrible Finecast Incubi. Jes Goodwin did such a gorgeous job on the sculpts and then Citadel has to go and mess with it by using this godawful material. I've got thirty-year-old lead miniatures in my collection that have less flash on them. At least one shoulder pad is no longer the right shape, and I think at least one or two spikes have vanished, while I'm sure I've missed at least a dozen small mould lines.

Anyway, I did get them assembled and here's a b&w shot:



Four because they'll ride with the Archon in a Venom. Chap on the far right will be the unit leader,

Aside from the one small crystal one of them is standing on, I'm just going to have uneven rocks on these bases; the miniatures are already quite busy and I don't want to distract from them too much.

This is an exciting part of the project because it's the last not-vehicle thing that I currently own, so from here on it's either vehicles (and crew, of course) or I procrastinate with other projects. But I'd really like to have a game for the first time in something like ten years, so let's try for vehicles, hey?

I got challenged to a game this Saturday, and my opponent says he's fine with assembled-but-unpainted vehicles, so I should get on that. But instead I spent tonight freehanding a banner for the nurgle cultists I'm definitely not doing for the Death Guard I'm also definitely not doing, and while I said I'm trying to avoid posting non-Dark Eldar in this thread, you all got a kick out of the oldhammer-esque shields I did a few months ago, so here ya go:



It is based on a 3rd edition orc device:



Based, uh, loosely. I'm not great at freehand, but that's why we practice.

I've also quickly fixed that weird red slash that was actually nearly invisible on the miniature but looks SUPER OBVIOUS in the photo.

No apologies for the blurry photo. My hands shake!

Awesome throwback piece. Looking forward to those Incubi, too.

Thanks. It's set a little low if you account for the tearing at the top of the banner, but let's all just pretend that the daemonic face was wearing a crown or something and that's what's been torn away. Yeah. Yeah, cool.

I'm keen on the Incubi! They were such a bloody pain to assemble, so I really want to get them done.

guys guys guys I played a game

You can read all about it here: https://andallhisausterenhost.tumblr.com/post/172439607404/after-action-report-kabal-of-the-sun-betrayed-vs along with lots of photos that I don't really feel up to re-uploading here on Dakka.

I lost, obviously. but it was loads of fun. Still not convinced about this 'vehicles are big infantry' shtick but Reavers are hard as nails and it was fun watching my Archon run about with his big claw, squeezing Primaris marines.

Apparently I neglected to comment on the Archon. He rules. He looks every bit the 3rd edition DE badass he is.

Glad you had a game! Just in time for the new codex to drop Win or lose though it's all about having fun. I was iffy about the transitions to vehicles having a toughness value but I must say that after some games in 8th and you look past the toughness value vehicles are a million times mechanically more fun to both play as and against.

youwashock wrote:Apparently I neglected to comment on the Archon. He rules. He looks every bit the 3rd edition DE badass he is.

He squeezed to death a squad and a bit of Primaris as well as a Primaris Lieutenant, even though I otherwise played very badly, so he acts like it as well.

Inevitable_Faith wrote:Glad you had a game! Just in time for the new codex to drop Win or lose though it's all about having fun. I was iffy about the transitions to vehicles having a toughness value but I must say that after some games in 8th and you look past the toughness value vehicles are a million times mechanically more fun to both play as and against.

I'm anxious about the new codex! Especially the part where it is significantly more expensive to buy here than in the US or UK!

Anyway, the game was good for a lark. I need to get some big brushes and finally paint those vehicles though and so far I am successfully procrastinating from it.

I know the feels man, vehicles are so hard to get pumped to paint.

It warms my heart to see an Archon cutting a bloody swathe through a battlefield.

It's like they spend their entire, vastly extended lifetimes scheming and struggling and politicking and finally they can cut loose and just enjoy themselves hacking Numarines to pieces.

A blood-soaked Archon is a happy Archon

Oh, and I hate painting vehicles. There's a very good reason 90% of my models are on 25mm bases...

Have you had a chance to look thru the new codex? I recently played against it and there is a whole lot of good in there, points reduction and a few new rules means a lot of the units are viable and fun to play.

Hello, friends! It's been a while. My sister got married, I didn't want to paint these Incubi, vehicles are intimidating. And continue to be intimidating. But you all said some nice things while I was gone, so let me reply to you. And, then, an update!

Inevitable_Faith wrote:I know the feels man, vehicles are so hard to get pumped to paint.

They're just scary. It's okay. Deep breaths. I can do this.

Ynneadwraith wrote:It warms my heart to see an Archon cutting a bloody swathe through a battlefield.

It's like they spend their entire, vastly extended lifetimes scheming and struggling and politicking and finally they can cut loose and just enjoy themselves hacking Numarines to pieces.

A blood-soaked Archon is a happy Archon

Totally agree. Oh, hey, you done anything weird yet with the eyeless fish elves?

Yorkright wrote: Have you had a chance to look thru the new codex? I recently played against it and there is a whole lot of good in there, points reduction and a few new rules means a lot of the units are viable and fun to play.

I've looked at it, and I like some things. I like the idea of tripartite army construction - except I dislike Haemonculi and don't really want to paint up a faction of them, which renders it a bit moot for me. I do like that so many Kabals and Cults and what-not have cool new fluff and specific rules (some of which are brutal. I really, really, really hate Asdrubael Vect and how absolutely gut-wrenchingly awful the writing around him is. I'm pretty sure I can't swear on Dakka but Christ on a cracker. They need to delete both him and all his fans from all of time.

Also why would you take out Trueborn? what the heccck

= = = = = = = = = = = =

Eldar mercenary sub-cult, Ordo Xenos codename “Incubi.”

Pict-captures display members of the Shrine of Shadowed Waters. Known affiliates of the Kabal of the Sun Betrayed; serve as bodyguard to Kabal ruler Me'draus the Eclipse [cf. The Trial of Seven; the Sunkiller; the Three Unrestrained Ravagings of the Crooked River star cluster, the Vral'wern'a, &c.]; serve as bodyguards and advisors to the presumed successors of Me'draus, + + + FILE ERROR: NOT FOUND + + +



I hated painting these so much, despite the beautiful sculpts. Finecast is a <censored> nightmare that ruins even Jes Goodwin's work. I've seen higher-quality recasts.



Top-down view.



Top-down view as bodyguards.



Family photo, including the lads who ride with the Trueborn.

Looking very good.

Hello, friends. It's been a while again! I went on holidays to Europe, I've fought two more games of 40K (both with my Mantis Warriors) and one of Necromunda (with Squat Venators) and even a game of Gaslands (with Hot Wheels cars), and I've painted several vehicles and other things. You can read after action reports of the games over on my tumblr blog and you can look at photos of my nerd face in Bulgaria and Bavaria over on my Instagram (although it's mostly miniatures).

In terms of Dark Eldar, I've finally painted three raiders. Two are for the Kabal of the Sun Betrayed, and one is for the Cult of Splintered Sight. So I'll show you those first, then I'll talk about some other things.

Radier Gyntaf





I used some of the 1998 period heads on these two to help tie them into the squads, which use mostly older Eldar.



I did use Micro Sol/Set on this, but it didn't quite work out. Did okay, although I destroyed the rune intended for the second raider's sail. I'm out of practice with transfers!







The riders aren't glued down. In theory, I can remove them to indicate when a squad has disembarked. In practice, I'll probably wind up gluing them down.





Here is a freehand glyph to represent the Kabal of the Sun Eclipsed. A lot wobblier than I'd like. It is based loosely on the symbol for the Rogue Trader-era Sunblitz Brotherhood:



= = =

Raider Ail









The Sun Eclipsed symbol turned out much better on the second go around, I think.





I had way too much fun with the weird buttons and things. The driver's head is from a Dark Elf kit. You have to use putty to create a neck, but you can barely see it anyway.

= = =

Cult Raider



I actually didn't hate the oranges as much this time!





I vacillated over which marine chapter to paint the helmet - my partner pointed out that none of the options I was considering helped with the bold colours of the vehicle itself, and then it clicked that pink was the best option. So here is the head of some pathetic fool dedicated to She Who Thirsts, now a trophy for the Wych Cult of Splintered Sight. Note also that this vehicle does not carry racks of splinter rifles, instead having more knives and bio-trophies.



Quite pleased with the freehand on the shield, although (as ever) it looks better from three feet away).



The raider pilot only has three fingers on his left hand, perhaps indicating why he is relegated to raider duty rather than glorious arena bloodshed.







This raider was only finished last Friday, and so is pretty much the most recent addition to the army. Except....

= = =

Coven

I said at the beginning of the project that I never cared for Haemonculi or their background material. That hasn't changed, not really, but I still had one lying around, along with six Grotesques from 1999. I'd bought them, undercoated them, and then had no idea what to do with them, so they'd just rattled around for twenty years:



However, the new Dark Eldar codex pretty strongly encourages you to use all three factions together, and so I thought it might be fun to paint them up in a Blanchitsu kind of style, using lots of washes and maybe a bit of drybrushing. I've also seen some really interesting conversions done with bits from other GW ranges that I'd like to use as proper modern Grotesques (these old lads are better as Wracks, I think) and I have an idea for a way to make the modern Haemonculus kit more interesting. So, I sat down with my partner and we discussed some ideas on colour schemes for the Coven, looking at some of John Blanche's artwork.



I was also considering Robert Chambers's The King in Yellow, probably due to watching True Detective too much a few years ago. A google image search for 'king in yellow' turns up amazing art like this:



Working with this material, we eventually settled on a dirty yellow for the robes, but thought that a grimy, streaky bone would be striking for any eventual Raiders that the Coven used. Some of my ideas for Grotesques will also use twisted bone - having said that, you probably can immediately guess what I have in mind, as it's a fairly popular kitbash. If not, watch this space!



Here we have the test model, situated between (L-R) a Kabalite Warrior of the Sun Betrayed, a Wych of Splintered Sight, a Trueborn of the Sun Betrayed, and a Klaivex of the Shrine of Shadowed Waters.

I then managed to paint another five in a single night, giving me a squad of six. I'll take a group photo after I've finished stripping and re-painting the old Haemonculus. For now, I'll use him in his current rank, but eventually he'll be demoted to a member of the Wrack squad.

The same chap who gave me the first game of 40K in fourteen years (and several other games since then) has finished his own Dark Eldar project and challenged me to a Kabal-on-Kabal game next week. So I haven't shared these photos on either Instagram or Tumblr, as he follows me on both platforms, in the hopes of giving him a nasty shock next Sunday.

So, lads, what do we think? The new Coven look good? Anyone got any fun ideas for names? What should I run them as?

Hope you all enjoyed my first post here in months. And if you want to check out how the Mantis Warriors are going, don't forget to check out the Tumblr or the Instagram. Some fun Oldhammer stuff has been added lately...

I've been away from my painting station for a long time but I love the work you put into your raiders. They all look fantastic but the orange one is definitely my favourite. Great job and it was well worth the wait.