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Hello,

I recently bought some Eldar with the hopes of painting a blue army and really fell in love with the Alaitoc lore. I read/watched some painting tips for Alaitoc but was hoping to get some advice here, as well.

This is a photo of what I've got:



I've ordered some Ultramarines Blue spray primer and plan to pick up a dark blue wash. Does anyone have experience painting blue guys? I've done plenty of red and have experience painting "dirty" chaos color schemes, but I've never tried to paint anything clean or smooth, like Eldar.

Also, random question, anyone know anything about the yellow Alaitoc heads. Like why? It feels kinda difficult to be stealthy with a bright yellow helmet.

I believe GW or Duncan has done a tutorial on it, actually.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UsziEzfcGIY

I'd probably us ea sponge myself, and use a simple bone spray for the underside of vehicles, etc.

Despite Alaitoc being known for Rangers, fluffwise it is still a typical Craftworld. Form over function. Rangers aren't members of Alaitoc (while being Rangers), so needn't have a yellow helm.

Remember that you don't need to be Alaitoc to use Alaitoc rules. You don't need to be any pre-canned Craftworld. You could be Cotiala, and be yellow with blue helms, if you really wanted - or anything else. So you could do a blue base and a green helm. Or orange & pink. Or pure silver (although CWE tend to avoid metallic base colors). You could even do Black & Bone and play as Biel-Tan if you wanted. They're your models, you pick the scheme. Any consistent theme would be fluffy.

You could even do some (or all) units in camo if you wanted, but I don't see CWE doing that. Camo - that's what holofields are for. If you need to not be seen, CWE would rather not be see-able, not just blend into the background. Remember, these are fancy pants Space Elves, full of arrogance and superiority.

Also, if you want to do Alaitoc, you could have a variant color scheme. Your battle force could be led by a specific hero/prince/autarch/seer/randomguy, and as a force, adjusted the scheme because of prophecy/force's history/leader's flair/heraldry/reasons. Under this line of thought, the scheme would likely be only a minor variation (such as no-yellow-helmets) instead of a complete overhall.

 Elbows wrote:
I believe GW or Duncan has done a tutorial on it, actually.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UsziEzfcGIY

I'd probably us ea sponge myself, and use a simple bone spray for the underside of vehicles, etc.

Yes, that is the video I watched. I do plan to do that splotchy scheme for the wave serpent and jetbikes when I get them. I don't plan to do any blue camo for the footsoldiers, though. Bone spray? I don't use an airbrush, but are you saying to paint the underside a bone color? Why? Is it made of wraithbone, and if so, is wraithbone a bone color?

It should be wraithbone in material. I don't agree that CWE would leave it unpainted, though.

Most CWE materials are assumed to be (off-)white raw. But the odds of it not being colored/painted seems small.

(I'm glad you're not doing blue camo for the footsoldiers. I look forward to seeing what you do, and would think that'd look dumb.)

Bharring wrote:
Despite Alaitoc being known for Rangers, fluffwise it is still a typical Craftworld. Form over function. Rangers aren't members of Alaitoc (while being Rangers), so needn't have a yellow helm.

Remember that you don't need to be Alaitoc to use Alaitoc rules. You don't need to be any pre-canned Craftworld. You could be Cotiala, and be yellow with blue helms, if you really wanted - or anything else. So you could do a blue base and a green helm. Or orange & pink. Or pure silver (although CWE tend to avoid metallic base colors). You could even do Black & Bone and play as Biel-Tan if you wanted. They're your models, you pick the scheme. Any consistent theme would be fluffy.

You could even do some (or all) units in camo if you wanted, but I don't see CWE doing that. Camo - that's what holofields are for. If you need to not be seen, CWE would rather not be see-able, not just blend into the background. Remember, these are fancy pants Space Elves, full of arrogance and superiority.

Also, if you want to do Alaitoc, you could have a variant color scheme. Your battle force could be led by a specific hero/prince/autarch/seer/randomguy, and as a force, adjusted the scheme because of prophecy/force's history/leader's flair/heraldry/reasons. Under this line of thought, the scheme would likely be only a minor variation (such as no-yellow-helmets) instead of a complete overhall.

Alaitoc Rangers are painted with yellow helmets in the book, though?

Form over function???!

I wanted to paint the guys blue, and I'd still like to keep the aspect warriors in their appropriate attire. But I see, so the yellow helmets don't matter because the Eldar holofields just make them more-or-less invisible? My Alaitoc force is led by an Autarch and a Seer Council. I do plan to field an Autarch, Farseer, and Warlock conclave eventually when I reach 2k.

I guess, mainly, I'm wondering how to get that nice deep blue color.

https://www.games-workshop.com/en-US/Illic-Nightspear

GW's armor color for Illic is exactly what I'm looking for. I'd like it to be very dark, like navy blue, at the darkest and then fade to that brighter blue. Instead of or in addition to the camouflage marks on the vehicles. I'm wondering if I should wash my models in nuln oil or just a dark blue.

Bone, or wraithbone is frequently used by Alaitoc painters. Probably just to break up the monotony of dark blue camouflage (remember this is wargaming and we're painting to make stuff look more cool, than effective).











It's pretty common as an accent colour on Alaitoc. Now, no one is telling you how to paint your Alaitoc though - and if you go "old school" you'll feature far more yellow than you see on most current ones. Many Alaitoc players have all but abandoned yellow for bone (much like Ulthwe which went from Black/yellow/red to black/bone regarding painting)

Yeah, I think I want to do standard Alaitoc with the dark blue bodies and yellow helmets.

What I am unsure about is how to get this color. The rangers in the most recent photo have very dark blues in the recessive areas and the photo I linked of Illic seems to have some black in it. How should I get this dark blue? Is a black wash going to be too intense?

I guess I'm wondering I should:

Prime ultramarines blue -> wash with black -> drybrush blue -> highlight light blue
or
Prime ultramarines blue -> wash dark blue -> drybrush/highlight

The best thing for me to do would be some experimenting... maybe I should paint something I probably won't end up using in the end (looking at you Mr. Footseer).

Have you heard of the Citadel Paint App? It's free and gives loads of example miniatures, one of which is an Alaitoc Guardian.

According to the app, base of Kantor Blue, wash with Drakenhof Nightshade, edge highlight of Alaitoc Blue and another edge of Hoeth Blue.

Basing in Kantor blue and then washing with Drakenhof Nightshade sounds so dark! I based with Alaitoc Blue and washed with Nightshade. Now I need to go back and highlight edges with Alaitoc Blue and the other blue I bought (it wasn't Hoeth).

I like how my guys came out. I think I need to replace my orange wash with a yellow wash for the head, though.

Kharneth wrote:

 Elbows wrote:
I'd probably us ea sponge myself, and use a simple bone spray for the underside of vehicles, etc.

I do plan to do that splotchy scheme for the wave serpent and jetbikes when I get them. I don't plan to do any blue camo for the footsoldiers, though. Bone spray? I don't use an airbrush, but are you saying to paint the underside a bone color? Why? Is it made of wraithbone, and if so, is wraithbone a bone color?

Alaitoc vehicles seem to have often been painted with a wraithbone undercarriage.
Instead of a sponge I just used a larger and smaller sized brushes.

Kharneth wrote:Alaitoc Rangers are painted with yellow helmets in the book, though?

Form over function???!

I wanted to paint the guys blue, and I'd still like to keep the aspect warriors in their appropriate attire. But I see, so the yellow helmets don't matter because the Eldar holofields just make them more-or-less invisible? My Alaitoc force is led by an Autarch and a Seer Council. I do plan to field an Autarch, Farseer, and Warlock conclave eventually when I reach 2k.

I guess, mainly, I'm wondering how to get that nice deep blue color.

https://www.games-workshop.com/en-US/Illic-Nightspear

GW's armor color for Illic is exactly what I'm looking for. I'd like it to be very dark, like navy blue, at the darkest and then fade to that brighter blue. Instead of or in addition to the camouflage marks on the vehicles. I'm wondering if I should wash my models in nuln oil or just a dark blue.

I did my Rangers with a white helmet just to make their colouring more in line with camo.


My Aspect warriors got the traditional treatment, I just made sure that I added Yellow to the plumes to make them fit with Alaitoc.


These bikes have the dark blue ink wash over a regular blue. I did not do the scatter pattern due to the size.


My two cents,

CB

The plumes on your Dire Avengers seem to be black and yellow, not blue and yellow. Why? Are they always black and a color? Why yellow and not blue for Alaitoc?

I did the camo color for the War Walker and was not pleased. It looks fine, but I'm not really into it. My Wraithlord will be painted flat, like infantry, like the Wraithguard, because I don't consider the Wraithlord a vehicle. The Wave Serpent I'm not sure, yet. I might use a sponge or I might try to fade from blue to black and keep it just flat (with the fade). I really love the wraithbone colors and definitely plan to use that color for anything that looks like it would be metal or unpainted on an imperial model.

Dire Avengers - should I use the same blue scheme I use for Alaitoc or should I make their blue color unique? They'll be notable with white heads and plumes, but I'm wondering how to do the blue (I want my aspect warriors to be appropriately colored).

Which gemstones should I paint and which should I not? I know that they have a spirit stone on their chest, but do they have multiple spirit stones or always just 1? Are the other gems painted like gems but just empty?

 Kharneth wrote:
The plumes on your Dire Avengers seem to be black and yellow, not blue and yellow. Why? Are they always black and a color? Why yellow and not blue for Alaitoc?

"Always" no, but the "traditional" scheme has black and yellow stripes (regardless of Craftworld).

 Kharneth wrote:
Dire Avengers - should I use the same blue scheme I use for Alaitoc or should I make their blue color unique? They'll be notable with white heads and plumes, but I'm wondering how to do the blue (I want my aspect warriors to be appropriately colored).

They will stand out enough with just the different hats in my opinion, but there are a number of different ways you could do it if you did want them to be more distinct from Guardians - you could have the undersuit a different shade, or the armour plates a different shade, and still have them be blue.

 Kharneth wrote:
Which gemstones should I paint and which should I not? I know that they have a spirit stone on their chest, but do they have multiple spirit stones or always just 1? Are the other gems painted like gems but just empty?

Generally only that Eldar's waystone will be an actual 'stone', as carrying around the souls of dead Eldar into battle is needlessly risky. Exceptions in the case of Phoenix Lords and certain types of weaponry (Dire Swords). Generally 'stones' will have a 'lip' round the edge (that usually gets painted silver). A good example would be The Visarch, because all those stones are actually soulstones, and each has a rim.

Anything else is just a 'simple' gemstone or bump in the armour - whether it gets painted or left as the armour colour is very much up to the player / painter. A good example is the GW DA's - note the number of things that look like gemstones but are just left the armour colour.
(I've put them in spoiler tags as I haven't worked out how to shrink images yet).

Oh, I thought it said the Dire Avengers color their plumes to match their craftworld.

Nope, there is no "correct" plume colour for Dire Avengers.

The earliest artwork in White Dwarf featured several types (white and black, black and yellow, and blue and yellow). Later codices featured red and yellow, black and red, etc.

That's the advantage of painting Eldar. An Aspect Warrior shrine may include nothing from the actual Craftworld's colour scheme. The Shrine itself dictates the colour of their armour and the patterns, etc. The Craftworld's actual colours would apply mainly to Guardian and Wraith based units. This gives you plenty of freedom to do whatever you want on your Aspect Warriors.

The most I do is tie the occasional squad in with a purple or lylac sash --- my Craftworld being white/purple. This is an example of one of my Dire Avenger squads, note the Exarch (helmetless) is wearing a purple loincloth with my Craftworld symbol on it. That's it.



Each of my Dire Avenger squads is painted similar but has a different helmet/etc. to show the different Shrines they come from.

Oh, all right. I'll paint mine with the same blue bodies, but give them white heads and yellow/black plumes.

Here is the Wraithlord. I really liked the picture in the assembly instructions where it had the heavy weapons attached to the arms. I decided not to go with the sword.

 Kharneth wrote:
The plumes on your Dire Avengers seem to be black and yellow, not blue and yellow. Why? Are they always black and a color? Why yellow and not blue for Alaitoc?

I did it for the contrast, and to make certain the plume did not disappear into the helmets. The blue of the Dire Avenger armor was enough to make them similar to my Guardians.

 Kharneth wrote:
Dire Avengers - should I use the same blue scheme I use for Alaitoc or should I make their blue color unique? They'll be notable with white heads and plumes, but I'm wondering how to do the blue (I want my aspect warriors to be appropriately colored).

I did mine the same blue for both as I felt it tied them together in an Eldar army that often has loads of contrasting colors. Helmets were different as the Guardians had yellow and the Dire Avengers were white with black and yellow plumes.

 Kharneth wrote:
Which gemstones should I paint and which should I not? I know that they have a spirit stone on their chest, but do they have multiple spirit stones or always just 1? Are the other gems painted like gems but just empty?

Eldar Exarchs are said to have multiple spirit stones from past Eldar who have worn the armor before them. I treat extra gems as just that, extra decoration. I noticed I seemed to paint most (if not all) my spirit stones green and my other jewels as blue or red or as Quanar mentioned, left them as just raised armor in the same color.

My two cents, hope it helps.

CB

I made the Dire Avengers in the same blue as the Wraithguard. I'm worried about their helmets, though. I'm not sure how I'm going to get a flat coat of white or yellow on their helmets.



How do you guys paint wraithbone? I was going to wash white with seraphim sepia and then highlight with white.

 Kharneth wrote:
I made the Dire Avengers in the same blue as the Wraithguard. I'm worried about their helmets, though. I'm not sure how I'm going to get a flat coat of white or yellow on their helmets.

I have found a thine layer of a sand color (I use Bubonic Brown...but that is an old GW color name), almost like a primer. Then you can paint white or other bright colors.

 Kharneth wrote:
How do you guys paint wraithbone? I was going to wash white with seraphim sepia and then highlight with white.

I use Bone, then a wash of brown ink and then build the colour back up to Bone then a highlight of Bone/White with a final edge of White.

Hope that helps,

CB

 Kharneth wrote:
I'm worried about their helmets, though. I'm not sure how I'm going to get a flat coat of white or yellow on their helmets.

For the white...

God, how the hell do they do that?

I just bought a paint pallet yesterday so I could water down and mix my paints, but it still dries very quickly and then gets gloppy. Maybe I need more colors because I've just been doing 2-3 layers of white in order to get that white color.

I tried to do the edging highlights on the dire avengers last night and it went poorly. I ended up just drybrushing it because I can't seem to get any of the little edges with a clean highlight.

I build up my white by starting with Dawnstone over black primer, and follow that up with multiple thin coats (probably 3-5) of Ulthuan Grey. Then, hit the recesses with Nuln Oil, and finish up by tidying up with more thin coats of Ulthuan Grey as needed. Getting the Nuln Oil as thinly as I want it is still tricky (really depends on the features of the model), but the process works pretty well. Here's a WIP Shrike that I did with this method (my most recent mini).

That guy looks really nice! I'm going to keep at it. The heads are already white so I'll add another layer of white on today.

I have an army of yellow heads ahead of me, so I'll have to figure this out. I think I'll start with screaming skull and then add my yellow over that.

For yellows, I've had good luck with Averland Sunset layered with Yriel Yellow, with Seraphim Sepia in the recesses. Don't have any pics, but it produces a pretty nice lemony yellow.