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I'm tired of painting the same colors again and again, so I'm thinking of doing the following:

1. Eldar, where we have units from the big 5 original craftworlds.
2. If a unit is know to be from a specific craftworld, I'll paint them in that scheme. So yellow wraithguard/lord, Red jetbikes, Blue Rangers, Black Guardians, and Green Aspects.
3. A second unit of the same type could be from a different craftworld.
4. Where possible, a second unit is a different scuplt. I have lots of old metal, so I'd use that for second units. Third units might be from a secondary company or etsy.
5. Every vehicle would have a unique paint scheme. Just for fun.

The idea is that each unit is unique from a model and paint perspective. It would be very easy to tell units apart. But it would be a rainbow on the table top.

I'm a solid 7-8 of 10 painter, so the quality wouldn't be bad. So would you like or dislike playing against this?

With the aspects, craftworlds can already look like someone puked a rainbow up on the table.

As long as you have some unifying themes and bases, it would probably look fine.

From a lore POV with ynarri recruiting from everywhere, it should not even be an issue there.

Mechanically, 10th has divorced paint and rules, so no problem.

Go for it.

Mauleed! That's a name I haven't heard for a long time. I used to copy your space marine army lists back when I cared more about winning.

I would enjoy playing against such an Eldar force. I have painted my tyranid army in a similar fashion.

 Nevelon wrote:
With the aspects, craftworlds can already look like someone puked a rainbow up on the table.

Hey! I like rainbow puke!

 mauleed wrote:
I'm tired of painting the same colors again and again, so I'm thinking of doing the following:

1. Eldar, where we have units from the big 5 original craftworlds.
2. If a unit is know to be from a specific craftworld, I'll paint them in that scheme. So yellow wraithguard/lord, Red jetbikes, Blue Rangers, Black Guardians, and Green Aspects.
3. A second unit of the same type could be from a different craftworld.
4. Where possible, a second unit is a different scuplt. I have lots of old metal, so I'd use that for second units. Third units might be from a secondary company or etsy.
5. Every vehicle would have a unique paint scheme. Just for fun.

The idea is that each unit is unique from a model and paint perspective. It would be very easy to tell units apart. But it would be a rainbow on the table top.

I'm a solid 7-8 of 10 painter, so the quality wouldn't be bad. So would you like or dislike playing against this?

I have a (very) long term project to create a huge cross-craftworld Rhana Dandra army, so I'm doing pretty much the same as you, but potentially more expanded, with a mini army for each craftworld based around their signature troops - aspects for Biel Tan, jetbikes for Saim Hann, rangers for Alaitoc, etc. etc. Plus, I'll have troops from more minor craftworlds, too.

I'm a similar skill level to you painting-wise (maybe more towards 7 than 8...) but I paint extremely slowly, so I'd certainly love to see your project completed - it's bound to be done waaaaaay before mine is! As Nevelon says, though, Eldar are already able to field a riot of colour within a single Craftworld. Aspect warriors each have a traditional scheme that doesn't necessarily have anything to do with the craftworld colours (though when I'm painting them, I usually try to at least have an element of the craftworld colours in there), and each aspect also has multiple shrines within a craftworld, who can potentially have completely different colour schemes.

Don’t get me wrong, I also love the rainbow.

But many of the tricks that keep an aspect heavy list looking like a cohesive army could be done to make a mixed craftworld army.

For example, have all the ribbons/wires/hoses match, and guns use the same colors, and bases the same. Despite all the differences in armor and bodysuits, it will click.

Yep, totally agree. The way I'm doing it is with the blisters on the calf guards painted black and all the tags on the wrists painted a deep blue/sea green. It's small, but I think it's effective at subconsciously telling the viewer they belong together.

I've been thinking about doing this with space marines, too, like one unit from one chapter, another from a different chapter. I think it would be fine to do this with eldar

BanjoJohn wrote:
I've been thinking about doing this with space marines, too, like one unit from one chapter, another from a different chapter. I think it would be fine to do this with eldar

The Imperium actually does that occasionally:

https://wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/Crusade

To Chapters of the Adeptus Astartes, the contribution of Space Marine forces is a matter of honour and can see a squad or two of troops deployed when they are called upon to take part in a Crusade. Once won, the Chapter will add the battle honour to their standards as a mark of achievement and loyalty.

All participating units, vehicles, and everything else tend to have a crusade badge:

https://wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/Army_Badge

Whatever form it takes, an Army Badge is typically worn on the leg plates of a Space Marine's power armour, above the boot but below the knee joint.

Here's an image of a few examples (image on the right):

https://warhammer40k.fandom.com/wiki/Honour_Badges_(Space_Marines)#Army_Campaign_Badges

It's basically some relatively simple geometric shape as a background with a contrasting icon on top.

As for Eldar, maybe something like that could work too? Using a specific rune (or eldar-ish icon) as the "campaign badge" and using in on every unit in a way that feels organised. For Eldar a good option might be the helmet (one side of it?) as those tend to at least have some flat surface area (so decals might work too).

I did exactly this, making a (illustration shade) yme loc + lugganath combo force, makes sense considering both are heavily invested into the warp and added harlequins to them to seal the deal.

I'd love to play against this! At the end of the day this is a hobby and nobody can tell you the right or wrong way to go about it.

If you painted your entire army in one colour, or chose to paint each individual marine in a different chapter's colours, I wouldn't mind. I like seeing creative armies on the table. And importantly, you want for your hobby to be fun.

I paint my guardians, bleu with yellow helm, aspect warriors in there aspect colors. Vehicles i do in the bleu and yellow colors with white weapons.