Unrestrained Ravagings: A (mostly) Dark Eldar Project Log [20/90 three raiders, coven]

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**goblinpaladin**

Fellas, you're both great.

@I'Faith: I appreciate the support either way. At some point I'll feel ready to take on eyes, but I don't think it's going to happen with this project. Not too many faces with eyes anyway - the Wyches and a few Warriors here and there.

@Y'Wraith: Oh, that's a great Google search. Thank you! BUT now let's talk about your Death Guard because - what - are you doing a Heresy project?

**goblinpaladin**

I'm really busy at the moment with end-of-semester assignments - or I should be busy but am too stressed to paint as procrastination, anyway, which means it might be a while before a 'finished some more guys' update. In the meantime, here are some things I've worked on in between downloading journal articles. All tablet photos, I'm afraid.

This is the rest of the squad of Wyches. Really looking forward to these gals (and guy).

Mocked up my squad of Shredderborn with blu-tack. That splinter cannon is going to be a pain to glue, I can tell.

Also mocked up my Blasterborn.

Going to add some knives and such to the Trueborn without fancy backpacks to give them more individuality. I think I found a craftworlder chainsword in my bits box for one of them.

Bit worried about how looming those old-school Incubi are next to 'em, but I'm sure it'll all work out.

Bunch more Space Marns, mostly because they're so much easier to pose and mess about with. These are mostly glued but a few bits are just resting. At some point with this project-that's-not-a-project, I'm going to have to find a replacement for Gretchin Green. That's going to be a pain.

**Inevitable_Faith**

Always good to see more Wyches, Razorflails are just such an exquisite weapon, I love them. Shredderborn is an interesting concept, I've never seen them before, people always build blasterborn. What made you decide to build a shredder unit?

**Ynneadwraith**

Nice! I'm loving the Trueborn with Reaver helmets. It's such a good look

I wonder whether Shredders will have a bit of a resurgence with 8th doing away with blast templates large and small...

I think I have enough projects going on without a Heresy one too! It's not really captured me for some reason, although I am drawn slightly to Death Guard. There's something neat to be done with sort of Anglo-Saxony Terran Dusk Raiders and native Barbarans.

The Death Guard chap is very much post-Heresy, and part of the Blightdar flock

**goblinpaladin**

Inevitable_Faith wrote:
Always good to see more Wyches, Razorflails are just such an exquisite weapon, I love them. Shredderborn is an interesting concept, I've never seen them before, people always build blasterborn. What made you decide to build a shredder unit?

I know you have a bunch of Razorflails and I can't say I blame you. They're so neat. I tried to imagine what a pain they would have been in metal. ugh

A couple of reasons. First was that everyone was all BLASTERBORN SPAM IS THE ONLY WAY TO DO DARK ELDAR and I am an extremely contrary person. Second is that I'm cheap and wanted a way to use the spare shredders I'd get by building some blasterborn, as well as the other of the two old Incubi I had. Third was that I thought plopping down four blast templates would be hilarious. 4 x d3 hits or whatever they do with shredders in 8th will also be pretty fun, I'm sure.

Ynneadwraith wrote:
Nice! I'm loving the Trueborn with Reaver helmets. It's such a good look

I spent a fair bit of time looking at other people's projects before I started this, and this was a consistent look I saw that was always impressive, while requiring few bits and little expense. I like the Dark Elf Corsair dragon cloak look as well, but I'm so fond of the 2010-era Dark Eldar that I basically didn't want to move away from it too much.

Of course, after I made that decision, I came across your techno-barbarian space elves and was seriously tempted to buy a billion Hellion torsos, but I'll hold off on that until I decide to go insane and do an Exodite project.

I wonder whether Shredders will have a bit of a resurgence with 8th doing away with blast templates large and small...

I was thinking that as well, actually. I'd hate for my dumb little unit I made for fun (see above) to wind up being part of the ~meta or whatever. #hipster

I think I have enough projects going on without a Heresy one too! It's not really captured me for some reason, although I am drawn slightly to Death Guard. There's something neat to be done with sort of Anglo-Saxony Terran Dusk Raiders and native Barbarans.

*innocent whistle*

The Death Guard chap is very much post-Heresy, and part of the Blightdar flock

Still keen. I like what you've done of the Blightdar so far.

Hey what do we think of Drukhari?

**Ynneadwraith**

I fully endorse going insane on an exodite project

Personally, I think the 'Drukhari' are more copywritable

From what I've heard though it's giving DEldar their speed back which I'm absolutely for, and I've also heard of Dark Lances being pretty mean again. Better than Lascannons in more situations than not

Oh, and someone else mentioned that the new to-wound mechanisms benefit T3 dudes and dudettes more than higher toughness models, which although I don't understand myself yet does sound very promising

**Inevitable_Faith**

You had me at " I am an extremely contrary person", I totally get this mentality, the constant fight against the meta. That's one of the reasons why I stopped working on my Craftworld army and swapped to DE in the first place. Shredderborn sound like a great idea, especially with the advent of 8th (I'm loving the new blast weapon rules) and even now they'll be something you may be able to catch your opponents off guard with. The shredder is rather cheap after all so that squad isn't too expensive.

I initially liked the name "Drukhari" but then someone said that it sounds like Drew Carey and NOW I CAN'T UN-HEAR IT!

As for the rules I feel like our faction focus article didn't pick on the right topics to show us, particularly with our Wyches and Incubi. Objectively both those units are "worse" in that article than they are now but we can't say for sure since we don't know the whole picture. I won't go into major details but the article didn't put DE in the best light. Having said that I'm still hopeful that we have a solid army in 8th, I have my faith in the play testers and New GW™ to have actually done the Drukhari justice so I'm very excited for 8th.

**goblinpaladin**

Exactly. I always like minor armies that nobody else likes, too. Which has been the case for Dark Eldar since they were part of the third edition boxed set.

I was also thinking that they'd be really effective against Orks or other infantry-heavy armies with large unit sizes. Especially now that they're randomised hits instead of templates.

Yeah, I liked where that article was going but "you can now tie down units!" doesn't work quite as well when everyone can withdraw from melee. I do like the idea of tying down flying units, though. That'll be interesting. I mostly built the Wyches because they looked fun, though, not because I thought they would be especially effective.

Ynneadwraith, you would endorse an exodite project.

I initially thought Drukhari sounded ridiculous but it really is no worse that Druchii, come to think of it.

As for Dark Lances, I think my Raiders will have Disintegrators - more flexible, especially if they cause two wounds a pop. They can take out Terminators and still smash up some vehicles. Plus, I don't like relying on single dice rolls. It's been a while, but I've never had anything better than terrible luck...

**Ynneadwraith**

I definitely find that Drukhari is much more palatable if it's pronounced 'Drook-ha-ri'. Less like a well-known actor

And yes. Yes I would endorse an exodite project. Now get cracking

**goblinpaladin**

Sadly, I'm too busy reading about open government initiatives to do any dragon elves. :(

**EmberlordofFire8**

I love those true born, the helmets definitely make them stand out

**goblinpaladin**

im back baby. It's good again. Awoouu (wolf Howl) (x)

I finally got those reports behind me and have finished off the last eight Kabalite Warriors. It's a good bloody feeling, my lads.

Like I said earlier, these include a couple of the 'new' helmets, as well as three Warriors made entirely of the 2010 release. I think they mix together pretty well. (more images in my gallery, as usual)

Let's have some full squad shots:

Squad Gyntaf:

Squad Ail:

= = =

Hey, thanks, Emberlord! I've seen quite a few other people do the blank helmet thing with the Trueborn and I love it every single time so I knew I had to do it here as well. Currently thinking I paint them perfectly, smoothly white, because I apparently enjoy suffering.

= = =

COMING SOON:

The undercoat is drying on the second half of the Wyches squad as well as the first two jetbikes (one '90s spikes, one '10s sleek), so I can figure out paint schemes for those. I also have a Raider partly assembled, so that once I've figured out how I'm doing engine gubbinz, I can get cracking on the first of those. I also have a few bits from a half dozen other projects and I did get a whole mess of very cheap, very badly treated Space Marines recently. And those corrupt Death Guard models look really cool...

**Ynneadwraith**

Those look really good dude! The basing really works for them, and you're right the new and older kab models do blend together nicely when you mix up the parts on some of them. No hair-metal dudes yet though?

Love that last pic with the filter. Something about darkening the picture just makes it seem very 40k

also looks slightly like they've been spotted through a viewfinder.

As for pure white Reaver helmets I think that'd look excellent

to reduce your pain/make it look a little more realistic I'd probably go for Pallid Wych Flesh rather than pure white. I've tried pure white a lot and it just looks a little wrong as a solid colour. Slightly off-white just seems more realistic.

Oh, and a gloss coat

gloss coats on visors are excellent

**goblinpaladin**

Thanks, Ynnead! I love how you run about and comment on all the ~eldar projects here. Us pointy ears got our own team.

Do you mean the '90s bare face with the hair loose and enormous? I used to love that face but I think it's a bit..... much. I've got some oversized hair on some of these helmets, though. Look at the chap firing upwards, for instance. I've also tried to create a mixture of different hair colours for the non-Wych models, although my favourite is probably the white-with-blue-undertones.

I'm okay with things looking slightly off/unrealistic. Eldar should feel unnatural and alien, just a little bit. My standard formula (from my white-and-blue Bretonnian project) is an off-white base coat, black wash, light grey, then pure white; straight out of the GW textbook. By adjusting how you layer the white, you can create different shading effects. Here's an example on the caparison of a Questing Knight:

I'll probably work from that for the face masks, but altered a little bit. The Incubi will have white masks in pretty much the same way, probably. Trying to tie into that old-school scheme from back in the day, after all.

I keep going back and forth on gloss. I'm tempted to try it on the helmet lenses but I also think they look good right now? My initial plan was to have a source glow effect as well, but I'm scared to try it and they look okay at the moment. I do want to push my painting a bit, but all this edge highlighting and use of different washes is already doing that, to be frank.

EDIT: Oh, yeah, I love the ~fancy shot. My partner says she got bored while editing, but I think it's the best.

**Ynneadwraith**

Haha! Pointy ears represent

Yeah that's the one. It's delightfully bonkers, although I agree it's a bit much to get it to blend into any army post 1990

works for Necromundan Gangers, but that's about it!

I was thinking 'if he's managed to make that head look at home then he's definitely a wizard'.

Man that Brettonian looks nice

such a shame they don't make the kits anymore. I'll defer to your expertise with white as that looks great to me! Will look phenomenal on Incubi masks coupled with the dark purple armour

I know how you feel with not wanting to fix what isn't broken

pushing yourself painting is one thing, but it is easy to end up with something you don't like quite as much. If you're pushing yourself already then I wouldn't worry about it

it's always something you could do at a later date if you fancied it

**goblinpaladin**

Yeah that's the one. It's delightfully bonkers, although I agree it's a bit much to get it to blend into any army post 1990 works for Necromundan Gangers, but that's about it!

I mean technically the old DE are from about 1998, but yeah. I definitely have a few of those heads in my bitz pile now, but I just don't think I'm that magical, I'm afraid. I do have one of the old ponytails but the rest are all from new kits.

(keep saying new, but they're seven years old at this point)

Man that Brettonian looks nice

Oh, thanks so much! Most of my tumblr blog (link in signature) is that project. I started it about six years ago, then dropped back out of the hobby completely. Restarting it last year is what got me back into painting plastic soldiers, although I haven't actually had any games with them yet. I halfway organised one with a chap at the Mantic Forums and then got crazy busy and never followed up. Oops.

I really like the Bret kits, but honestly I think that the Perry Twins have done a much better job with plastic medieval soldiers. I've also heard really good things about the Firestorm guys, but I already had nearly everything for my project when they started releasing stuff. One day I'll do the twin undead-Russians and crusading fantasy Teutonic Knights project I have in my head with them, after I get the other 900 projects I want to do out of the way.

Will look phenomenal on Incubi masks coupled with the dark purple armour

Actually, I'm thinking of doing a different colour scheme for the Incubi. They used to be straight-up black, but since they revamped the fluff to emphasise different shrines,* I'm considering having mine be from the Shrine of the Shadowed Waters (or something) with dark turquoise armour. The Incubi leaders for the Trueborn will be a good place to experiment...

*Which is fun and neat, emphasising the 'dark aspect warrior' thing nicely.

**Inevitable_Faith**

Them Kabalites look ace dude, the paint scheme came together nicely and mixing the new and old parts made for a beautifully unified look.

For white lense helmets I suggest using Ulthuan grey as the base then highlighting using white scar to give it a shine. Using ardcoat to make it glossy would look good too but just be careful cause gloss over lighter pigment paints tends to show the imperfections in the layer more so than gloss over black. Just make sure the ulthuan grey and white scar layers get put on heavily thinned.

**goblinpaladin**

Thanks, 'Faith. I'm pleased that the scheme blends them all together so nicely.

That's basically my technique for white, yup. It's also how I did the white hair, except with a blue wash in the middle stages.

Last night and today I spent a frustrating little while trying to figure out a new green for the Mantis Warriors, with no success. I don't know why GW bothered to release that old/new matching chart - few of the shades even come close.

**goblinpaladin**

+ + + AGAINST DEATH + + +

More angles here.

For my own notes as much as anyone else, here is how I did him:

Spoiler:

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

Automatically Appended Next Post:

Looked at the new Index Xenos: 1 and realised that the new system does a little bit screw my plan over. Unit leaders are now automatic, and they can't be given special weapons - so the Shredderborn have to lose either a shredder or the splinter cannon, and I'm going to drop the splinter cannon. The big problem is that Incubi come in units of 5+ now, so the Archon can't ride with them in a Venom. Everything is also Well Expensive now, so instead of an 1850 list, let's aim for a 2500 point Battalion Detachment:

Spoiler:

Additions:

Raider, Medusae, Sslyth, Lhamaean, Succubus, 5 x Bloodbrides, another Razorflock swarm. Everything else is shifting things around.

Vague Thoughts:

Getting together a Court of the Archon which, if riding with Incubi, is a very expensive "unit". I could give them their own Venom instead of all riding together in a Raider, or they could ride with the Bloodbrides while the Incubi are off on their own. This would let the Succubus offer some synergy to her minions, something that's otherwise a bit hard to do with minimum model counts but also wanting all three Wych weapons in a squad.

I could also demote the new Bloodbrides back to Wyches, or get rid of them entirely (saves me having to buy the squad).

I need the Succubus or a similar HQ for the Battalion Detachment, and I'm not keen on a Haemonculus (feels like the army is too 'busy' with three sub-factions), and if I'm going to have a Succubus then I'd like to have a second unit of 'ordinary' members of the Wych cult, if that makes sense (not more bikes or what have you). Another squad of 10 Wyches + Raider is just too expensive, unfortunately.

Likewise I'd love to add a Voidraven but I can't see the points sacrifice without losing something I really like, such as a Ravager. Having only one Ravager seems risky.

ANYWAY HELLO FRIENDS ANY THOUGHTS WOULD BE SUPER

**goblinpaladin**

I aten't dead. Here follows a quick update on the latest models.

Terrible tablet photo of three Wyches and two Reaver pilots that are nearly finished. Just need to do the blacks and touch ups. The, uh, photo isn't great.

Experimenting with colours for the jetbikes. This is an old '90s-era Reaver, all covered in spiky bits. On the left is a finished Wych to compare the armour.

As you can see, using the same technique as for the Wych armour (Jokaero + XV-88 basecoat, Fuegan Orange wash, Wild Rider Red layer, Troll Slayer edging) leaves me with a significant redder finish than I get on the armour. Wild Rider actually looks....... kinda red. It surprised me too. The photo is a dodgy tablet shot, so you can't really see the Troll Slayer, but it does help tone down the reddish effect. Towards the back, you can see where I've just left the basecoat + wash on, and it's much orangey-er, if a bit blotchy. I could try going for a Jokaero layer instead of the Wild Rider, but that might also wind up too orange when put next to the Reaver armour.

Open to suggestions, remembering that my colour eyesight isn't the world's finest, so mixing isn't the best plan of attack.

More to come. Stay tuned, star raiders!

**Inevitable_Faith**

Wyches are coming out great. Loving the scheme. As for the Reaver I know paints work differently on smaller more detailed bits than they do on flat surfaces, it's a bit of frustration that caught me with my craftworld Eldar.

As I hate mixing paints as well my suggestions would be as follows:

1) Instead of edge highlighting the reaver in troll slayer you could water it down and blend it more over the plates to bring the orange over more surface. Since it's more watered down it'll still let the wild rider show through and then you finish with an edge highlight of troll slayer. Brings out the orange and will have a nice blended effect over the body but it'll be more work. Won't be the exact colour of your wyches either but it'll be more orange than red at least.

2) Do a freehand design on the body of the reaver to distract from the colour mismatch. Some sharp designs that the DE are famous for (lots of people paint them on their raiders) in a blue colour (to tie in with your Wych hair and guns) would look stellar. This is also more work but could be a lot of fun if you enjoy some freehand.

**goblinpaladin**

#2 is actually my current plan, sis the best way to bring out the secondary colour of the Cult, and it'll look great on the modern jetbikes. I'm not great at freehand but I'm sure I can do something.

**goblinpaladin**

I haven't been feeling the Dark Eldar lately. Sorry, lads. On a slightly related note, though, I spent tonight experimenting with some freehand shield designs, inspired by some Oldhammer blogs I've been reading lately. If you really want, you can read all about it here on my wargaming tumblr, but I figure you just want to see what I did. Here you go:

Mixed results, but this sort of thing is very much outside my comfort zone, so... yeah. Anyway, thanks for lookin'.

**Inevitable_Faith**

Hey dude those look great! I especially love the bottom two, the bug and yellow checkers. All in all very neat line work on some tiny shields, good job, I like them.

**goblinpaladin**

Thanks! I'm actually less pleased with the red bug - the red isn't as striking as I wanted, and it was supposed to be a spider. Dang it.

I do love that skull though.

**Ynneadwraith**

Ooh I like the eye and the checkers

the skull's great too

**goblinpaladin**

Thanks, dude! That eye was fun.

Did some more:

Want to figure out a bit of weathering on the shields that've been beat up over the years.

The green shield has all these lovely bubbles blistering it, so I'm not sure what to do with it! Any ideas?

**Ynneadwraith**

Ooh nice

Nurgly Plague Shield for the green one? Those bits at the bottom are crying out to be open sores to me

**goblinpaladin**

Definitely!! but how

**Ynneadwraith**

Hmmm, here's what I'm imagining.

At the top of the shield (and for most of it) it's a regular shield with a freehand of the Nurgle 3-circle sign. Then, as it approaches the tip sort of blend it into pinks and fleshtones as if the shield itself is turning biological. Splash of Blood for the Blood God (or any dark red and a gloss coat) inside the 'sores' and you're away

Bonus points for doing little red spots in the smaller dimples and a tiny bit of flesh colour around them, as if it's the sores themselves that are turning it biological