Shattered Oath - Ongoing Dark Eldar Log

[semper_fi]

Hi all,

After taking a break of 3 years from 40k I decided to go back to the army I enjoyed playing most. My Dark Eldar.
I used to have a rather big army of those little sadistic buggers but sadly my ex girlfriend went daemon on them and they where all lost.

Ever since the new Dark Eldar came out I really like the models and vehicles and since i got plenty of time on my hands - had a major operation in the nether region- I got a few nice presents from my wife to keep me busy for the next few weeks.

• 2x Dark Eldar Battle force
• 2x Dark Eldar Hellions
• 1x Dark Eldar Incubi
• 1x Dark Eldar Raider
• 2x Dark Eldar Ravager
• 1x Dark Eldar Venom

So the next problem I had was "what colour to use". I made several test models ranging from classic red (my old army colours) to the new standard green and even did a purple and blue variation of it.
Still the old Red/silver was itching so I finally decided to give the red/silver a more updated look.

Yesterday evening i finally could sit up straight without to much pain, morphine really works! So started to work on my first unit of kabalite warriors:
I'm building 5 of them painting them and repeat the whole thing.
I'm keeping the bases pretty simple this time, just some rocks and sand with grass. As I want the focus to be on my models and not on the bases. EDIT: After looking at these bases for a week they really started to annoy me so i went for other bases scroll down to see which.
since a mate of my is building a new city table i wanted to make my bases fit his table.


sorry no picture of undercoated models and i already been busy with the model at the far right.


Keeping the arms of the models gives me a chance to paint the chest pieces


Detail shot of my fist painted model (wip). As you can see the red still needs one more layer and an edge highlight but the colour is coming on nice and strong.
Also notice the barrel of the cannon totally missed that when undercoating.


Another detail shot of my fist model but with a 3rd (could be 4th) layer of red. In my opinion the red is good enough now.

Well that's it for this post now. I really would like to hear what you think of it!
So don't be shy and hit reply!

[meddy]

Looks great! How are you getting that red man? Looks Awesome

[semper_fi]

small update:
==========

Female kabalite warrior


Male Sybarite, he should be female

Planning on finishing the first 5 models of my 10 man squad today.
==========

@meddy: Still free wheeling the red, but im using browns as a base colour which seems to work pretty good, Will post a recipe as soon as i have a stable formula for it.

[semper_fi]

Yet another update tonight:

Tonight I have been busy finishing my first 5 models. The armour took a lot longer then expected but it looks ace (if you ask me)


Group shot

Also i have been working on the flayed skin:

Detail shot of the flayed skin and warrior 1


Detail shot of the Sybarite


Yet another shot of the Sybarite


Warrior 3


Warrior 4


Warrior 5

Well that's it for me for tonight

[semper_fi]

Finally got around to finish painting the first 5 of a huge army.
I didn't do the bases yet since i still don't have a clue what to do with them.

I was planning on going for a simple silver look of the metal parts, but after painting them that way i discovered that it just looked to plain and it made them look to "nice".
Also i left out the line highlighting, not because im lazy but to give the armour a flatter and more soft appearance.


warrior1 finished


warrior1 finished other angle



warrior2 finished



Sybarite


the heavy weapon guy


heavy weapon guy other angle


warrior5


warrior5 other angle


group shot

Also got around constructing the next 5 warriors these will be standard. Note that i left the arms off again

Groupshot

[semper_fi]

after fiddling around for a while i made the following choices

1:

I'm keeping the bases pretty simple this time, just some rocks and sand with grass. As I want the focus to be on my models and not on the bases.

nope, couldn't resist i made some nice urban bases with plasticard.

Groupshot


2 by 2


2 by 2


2 by 2


2 by 2


2 by 2

2:

I was planning on going for a simple silver look of the metal parts, but after painting them that way i discovered that it just looked to plain and it made them look to "nice".

Well that idea is also out of the window, so discard the last few images of my weapons. since they got an upgrade im finally happy with.


splinter guns


more splinter guns


oooh blaster


also to close for today i leave you with some dark eldar humor
"

[Ormo]

Not to Shabby sir! I would have a crack at making the red pop a bit more by highlighting it, otherwise good job and keep it up!

[semper_fi]

Let do some highlighting then :P

[semper_fi]

ok done some quick highlights on a test model -in fact the whole unit seems to be test models-
let me know what you think of it.


highlight front


highlight front 2


highlights side

and ok ok the silver parts now also need a highlighting now :P

[semper_fi]

Did some painting last night and here is the progress i made. I got some requests to put in a little highlight on the armour so i did. and to be honest it does make the models seem more standing out. Also i almost finished my new bases they still need some finishing touches.


almost completed bases, still missing grass tho


this is how its going to look


Sybarite on his new base


Sybarite & Warrior on their new bases and highlighted armour

[semper_fi]

Finally after a good weeks painting the first squad of kabalite warriors is done!
here are some pictures for your enjoyment :






and some more





feedback is really much appreciated

[Fle]

This is a really impressive Dark Eldar log. I really like the way you have modeled the poses of your warriors.

The bases look really cool and I think you have chosen a very sinister looking colour scheme. I cannot wait to see what you do with your vehicles.

Keep up the good work!

[d6juggernaut]

Interesting, your color theme is almost a reverse of mine ( blue armor with red eyes ), the black helmet goes very well with the blue glow. Nicely done

[semper_fi]

After having completed a full squad of Kabalite warriors -who all went to be my test models instead of just one or 2 models i usually do- i got stung by the red virus. my main colour in my army.

I spend the majority of today setting up a planning of how im going to paint all the things i have. Ill be working from the top down Working trough the current models i currently have. So first up are my Archon his Incubi retinue and their venom transporter (of which a bit more later on).

Since i had freak box of incubi warriors. Only had 4 of them in a box with all accessoiries for a fifth but missing its body, i mailed GW customer service and got a nice finecast box to compensate the loss of my fifth model. How verry nice, THX GW!!
This gave me some roon to fiddle around with my Archon.

Since everyone is using the standard one i decided to build my own.
result:



model is complety WYSIWYG having a Phantasm Grenade launcher and an agonizer the left hand i just gave the flaming thingy for fun. Also i didnt really want to give him a cape. I noticed that all "high level" mini's in the GW range have capes, so mine doesnt have one!


This is a picture of the complete squad, metal meets finecast and i have to say it works perfectly together.



As i said the venom will be something special... here's a sneak peak of it


yes you guessed it right, the crew will be incubi instead of the standard wyches !

fluffwise it might be up for debate but since im a big fan of "hey i dont even trust my left hand in my right pocket" principle of the Dark Eldar it makes more then sence to me to let it be crewed by only his most trusted warriors.


well thats it for now, im off undercoating some incubi's


==========
@Fle: thx !

@d6juggernaut: just checked and indeed its complete reverse of your army :P

[kharandhil]

Seeing how much work you put on simple bases, I would at least clean your models, before even priming them. Mold lines, ect... look at lot better, when they're not there, models feel more natural.

I also advise you to check out Highlighting tutorials.

I clearly see some potential here, but still needs some more help and advice.

[semper_fi]

Seeing how much work you put on simple bases, I would at least clean your models, before even priming them. Mold lines, ect... look at lot better, when they're not there, models feel more natural.

I also advise you to check out Highlighting tutorials.

I clearly see some potential here, but still needs some more help and advice.

thats the first constructive comment i had in years! thx for the tips... can you help me out with a good and simple highlight tutorial ?
as fir the mold lines on my incubi i will give them a closer inspection

[semper_fi]

After receiving the comment from kharandhil i decided it was time to clean up my act and dont cut to much corners. After all this is n army im going to display in my livingroom where a lot of pretty decent painters come.

The last batch i did -my warriors- where highlighted in a bit of a hurry and then washed with a good splotch of baal red i didnt even bother to highlight the black!!! So its time for a change:

From now on im going to highlight almost every detail on my models starting with Archon:




Tho i wont go as far as orange. simply because it will tone the red to much down and giving it an orange glow.


My kabalite warriors will have another detailed sweep and im planning on doing some edge highlighting there also simply to bring out the edges of the plates a bit more.

as for the mold lines....... mold lines happen

[semper_fi]

Didn't do to much painting today since i was running sickbay. The whole family -including me- has a rather nasty flue.
but got some work done on my Archon. I really wanted to concentrate on my blue. so i got painting and this is the result:




Also went for his agonizer in the same colour, making it a nice triangle of spot colours


I wasn't to happy with the cloth, the purple was to "unnatural" and didn't fit in the scheme so i went for brown, since brown is my base colour (deepest recesses of red) i think it really does fit in.

let me know what you think of it......

[Ormo]

I like the highlights, makes the models stand out a lot more and the bases look fantastic!

I would however either make the H/L finer or if you leave them like that, do another, really fine highlight of an orange or vomit brown to really make the model stand out. It's how I did my DE armour and I think it looks thy bomb diggety. But great work all round and I'm excited to see the Incubi/venom all done.

Crack on sir!

[semper_fi]

So i had a little insomnia today again and to combine the good with the bad i decided to build me some nice custom haemonculi.

Since i dont like the new one from GW i had to make some myself since GW decided not to keep the old two in their collection. You remember them the cone heads……
Man i loved these models.

But anyhow, back to the topic.
I really wanted to do something different then the ” easy way” out using wrack legs or other legs, so i broke out the green stuff once more and started sculpting me some robes.

A sharp onlooker might find out that these models actually dont have any feet, and yes thats true. It are basically “torso’s on a stick” (not related to oscar halapenjo btw)


[Haemonculus 1]

For the arms i only had alot of spares from my raiders- and venom kits so i got a bit to happy with them.

Both have a liquefier gun which i made from a two left over Dark lances cutting them down and slapping them on a cut off arm part (ode to the old coneheads)
the drill-bits are pieces of spears found on the raider/venom kits with a sharpened point.



Ill be making a tutorial for this soonish so keep checking back and save a buck! since they are super simple to make