Craftworld: Aryllon

[Aryllon]

This is my main project, a Craftworld I began in 2008 and resurrected in 2010. I thought it would be a good idea to keep a log for motivation.

Edit: I've added contents so that you can skip WIP shots and comments, straight to the interesting bits (below).

I’m a collector & painter more than a gamer, but I prefer the aesthetic and lore involved in collecting armies rather than individual models (which, to me, can feel a bit devoid of context).

Hope you enjoy - if you have anything to suggest just feel free to contribute!

Contents
Craftworld Aryllon - Background / Lore (part 1)
Army List

Psykers - Farseer conversion & two old warlocks
Autarch - original
Wraithlord 1
Wraithlord 2
Dire Avengers
Fire Dragons (for sale)
Rangers / Pathfinders

Basing tutorial
Other Eldar projects

[Aryllon]

First up, a few of my HQ choices...

Psykers
Ok so here is my converted and base coated Farseer, along with two almost-finished Warlocks for the Seer Council (6 Warlocks in total).

I need to touch up the Singing Spear where it got bent in transition (shafted?!) and am considering adding some simple freehand to the back of the robes but I'm not so good at that yet... practice makes perfect!

The Farseer is based on the limited edition bonesinger. Simple headswap, banshee weapon swap, Shadow Spectres Exarch 'casting' hand and Archon back vane. The twisted xeno treetrunk is just the original model with a little green stuff.











Soon to follow - almost finished Wraithlord, plus some WIP Dire Avengers. Criticism & tips always welcome!

[terradax]

Love the "Creamy" colour on the robes!! Nicely done!

[Monsterzonk]

Looking great! Care to share your recipe for the blades?

Cheers,
Monsterzonk

[Aryllon]

Of course - Hawk turquoise with either chaos black or skull white to go darker or lighter respectively. Simples!

[Student]

Looks good. I like the smoothness for your painting.

[Aryllon]

Cheers
I'll finally be able to start on this tomorrow, so I should probably outline the project idea.
Basically, Aryllon are a Craftworld of alliances, they try to let others do the fighting (which makes the new 6th rules amazingly helpful!).

Lore

Aryllon craftworld was among the first to flee the Eldar homeworlds before the fall, founded in secret by a prominent noble house who long predicted their race's demise. For no obvious reason other than to facilitate an early exit, they quickly constructed a small craftworld no bigger than a provincial city. However, rather than being a weakness it's diminutive size was wholly deliberate. It is small enough that powerful disruption fields and psychic shielding make it near-invisible to scanners and psykers alike, keeping it both figuratively and literally out of sight and out of mind - exactly the desired effect, a necessity of the secret it holds. Aryllon's founders were curators and custodians of Eldar heritage, keepers of untold knowledge and guardians of ancient technology. In order to preserve their race's assets so that their true potential may one day be harnessed again, the craftworld remains hidden even from their own people. Few Eldar know of Aryllon, and those that do know only of a small craftworld which lies somewhere in the Eastern fringes, not far from the Tau home system. However, within this elusive world-ship is a concealed webway gate which leads to the real Aryllon, a much larger craft of unique design suspended within the webway. This is the true home of Aryllon's people, built before the larger gates collapsed, a place they survive and prosper in hiding from the wider universe until the day it is safe to share their secrets once more.

Very few Aryllon engage in direct warfare; a single shrine of Dire Avengers exists as a standing army to protect the small realspace city-craft, while civilians almost never serve as guardians or even vehicle crew. They do however maintain a huge standing council of powerful psykers which enables the craftworld to influence events on a grand scale. Conflict is therefore for the most part avoided, or the brunt redirected. If they are drawn to war, Aryllon use every available resource in order to minimise their own risk, bolstering their lines by steering fate to ensure that rangers, Harlequin and corsairs are always at hand to take a leading role. If this is insufficent, Aryllon then turn to other craftworlds for support - or even other races if the portents are good.

This reliance on other factions is reluctant however- the path of penance is well walked upon Aryllon, the sacrifices of their allies a burden of guilt. Aryllon loathe the loss of any Eldar life, hence their ghosts hold a unique and vaunted postition within the craftworld's culture; spiritstones ensure that Eldar souls are rarely lost on the battlefield, merely the vessels, so Aryllon Eldar feel it is much better to lose a wraith construct, a mere tool not beyond their skilled bonesingers to replace, than a living being. All Aryllon are therefore granted the mercy of a long and constructive life in return for the likelihood and honour of being called on to protect their people after death.

This combined reliance on external support and wraith constructs simply reinforces the welcome perception that they are a small outpost with little millitary might to call upon. It is for the best that other Eldar do not know of the scale of their arsenal, the size of their true population, the immeasurably rare and lovingly maintained weaponry and vehicles which they possess, or the existence of the fully-functional ancient craftworld within the webway. Millions of precious Eldar lives have been lost while Aryllon watch and wait, able yet unable to intervene.

Aryllon is a craftworld within a craftworld, a place of librarians and curators, psykers and diplomats, where bonesingers master the ballads of old, where ancient technology sees everyday use, where the light of Eldar superiority over the natural universe has merely dimmed, and where knowledge is preserved for the greater good of the Eldar race... yet all of it unseen, detatched, and hidden.

[deathwing_marine]

Great job on the lore Aryllon, much better than certain codex writers. I'm really liking your purple and witchblades too.

[Whitetip]

Yeah, your background is really interesting and well written. Lots of nice little details without being over the top. I'm looking forward to seeing more of your painting and modelling too. That converted Farseer is lovely. The only thing i would do differently would be to maybe make the purple on the Warlocks a little darker or the cloth a bit paler. But that's just my personal preference. Keep it up mate!

[eldargal]

Nifty fluff and interesting paintjob, look forward to seeing more. Always nice to see another Eldar plog.

[Hendarion]

Clearly painted, I like that. I'm just not a big fan of the metallic gold though.

[Aryllon]

Thanks guys, really appreciate the compliments

Wraithlord #1

@Whitetip - See wraithlord below. The lighter bone colour works a bit better as I was previously using reddish 'martian' basing. I may revert to the old basing and then lighten the robes a little. The old basing was just distracting attention away from the models a bit too much, but maybe I'll try to find a way to tone it down it a little.

@Hendarion - yeah I just have a thing for not using NMM gold, it's become a bit 'me too' recently! Maybe when it's retro

[Aryllon]

Army List

Ok here we go. I'm keeping it consistent with Aryllon Craftworld's 'get anyone to fight but us' background.
Bear in mind it's a playable concept army rather than competitive. Plus I like to have as few models in a project as possible, so I can focus on the painting. Subsequent projects (harlequin & corsair) will plug-in to this craftworld to give me a full FOC, even though I'll be creating each of the three projects as standalone FOC-legal entities.

Farseer + Seer Council
Wraithseer
Rangers
Dire Avengers
Wraithguard
Wraithlord
Wraithlord

Plus allies TBC. Maybe a heavily kitbashed mercenary force using 'counts as' IG.

[Whitetip]

Really loving the new paler off-white colour. Makes the rest of the colours seem much more vibrant. Would you mind sharing the recipe? The grey/purple gems are a neat touch too. Always interesting to see new or under the radar Craftworlds.

[stiltjet]

Really like the lore for the Aryllon craftworld. The wraithlord looks brilliant. Good luck with the painting..

[chandrila]

Some good looking stuff there - nice Bonesinger conversion and the painting you've done so far looks great

[Aryllon]

Thanks for the compliments guys

Basing
Ok for the last few days I've been trying to sort out the basing. The warlocks above have newer 'bleached desert' basing while the Wraithlord has martian / aussie outback style.
I felt the reddish outback basing was too powerful, but the newer basing was too similar to the craftworld colour scheme so the models were getting lost in it. Needed to find a happy medium (which would also save me from repainting half the wraithlord, argh). Results below...



I tried 4 different versions and completely discarded the first. The second (with the black trim) works ok, but not for this army. Which leaves two.

The left-hand one looked ok but I felt it might still be too 'bright', while the right hand one was in danger of being too dull, so I did both again on a larger scale. I also used non-GW bases to see if the rim / trim was affecting my opinion.

Long story short, I've decided to go for the right-hand one (with the skeleton). It's muted enough to do it's job without detracting from the mini, the reddish colouration means I only have to repaint the wraithlord base rather than the model itself (hopefully!), yet it still provides enough contrast that the miniatures will stand out. I also decided that the rim colour will be the lighter bone shade.

I'll lighten the warlock robes to match the bone on the wraithlord at some point, but probably at the same time as I'm painting the rest of the warlock unit. No point in doing a job twice and that way I'll keep the chosen shades identical across the whole unit.

Back home to the UK tomorrow, for a few weeks including to see Team GB Olympics football at Wembley, so will update this again when I'm back!


Edit: Basing recipes as follows...
Black trim = white > gryphonne sepia wash > baal red wash > Eldar Flesh drybrush
Bone trim = zamezi desert > baal red wash > zamezi desert drybrush > balor brown light drybrush
Brown trim = zamezi desert > 50/10/40 baal/zamezi/water wash > bleached bone light drybrush (twice)

They all use GW texture paint as a basecoat (any shade will work due to so many layers, but I use mourn mountain snow), plus GW dead grass & skeleton resin piece from GW fantasy basing kit.

[Aryllon]

Holiday is over, so time to get back on the plog...

Dire Avengers
These guys are fresh off the paint station. Standard colour scheme, except I went for a more natural looking hair-crest and plain wraithbone weaponry. Spiritstones and lenses use turquoise, other gems are craftworld-standard purple-grey. Hope you like









Next job: start on the second wraithlord (will upload pics when assembled, converted & basecoated) and fix the bases on the old wraithlord & warlocks...

[Hendarion]

Nice. Real modern 'Eavy Metal style, really clean work. No offence, but even better than your Wraithlord and Warlocks! I can't even say: "Part X looks best", because it is consistently well. Very good work. Lovely bases too.

Rated 5 stars by me!

[Aryllon]

Hey thanks, really appreciate the compliments
Yeah I'm a slight perfectionist so really want to nail the core skills before skipping to advanced stuff. Have played around with NMM turquoise blades and a bit of dirt-weathering, but wasn't satisfied with my highlighting or paint consistency to really move on and explore those tools fully.
But after one more Wraithlord & some rangers I'll only have seer council & wraithseer left in this project, can really try to go to town with those guys