Some Newly Completed Dark Eldar Stuff

Welcome back to yet another kinda exciting edition of Chaos Corner. Old Man Chaos hopes that you had a good holiday and New Years. I have been steadily working on several projects at once- certainly enough to keep me busy! I finished some Dark Eldar stuff, so I figured I'd show a few pics...

With the publication of the new Dark Eldar codex, I got the bug to do more DE. Unfortunately, I have not had good luck with my DE yet- the games I have played with them so far have not gone too well. However, I refuse to give up on them, and I'm continuing to work on them.

Raider:

First up is my newly completed Raider. It is basically the same as my other two, nothing fancy here. I did the same Khorne Red edge work for the armor (both the vehicle and the DE on board). It fits in with my other DE well enough. Like I said, no crazy conversion work. The DE on board are Kabalite, though, so it'll probably be a transport for the Kabals or Trueborn.

Reaver Jetbikes:

Here are three more Reaver Jetbikes that I have completed, so that means I now have 6 of these bad boys- at least, they were bad boys till 7th- now they aren't AS good, but they are still a solid choice. The one thing I have been doing to the Reavers is to have them all helmeted- no bare heads at all for them (as we all know, DE are nothing if not safety conscious ;-) .

I put the brass rod holding them up (the clear plastic ALWAYS break so easily on me). The rod was placed at odd angles, to make them look as if they are banking or swooping or something. Just being a little bit dynamic.

Hellions:

And now, some Hellions. Once again, they are much weaker in 7th. So I have like 15 of them or so by now. I have some that I can use as beastmasters if I want though, so if I take those out I have 10 or 11.

Again, same as my previous DE stuff. Khorne Red edge work, pale flesh colors, blue hair (the blue hair is weird, but it adds a bit of color to otherwise dark models. Again, I used brass rod to hold them up again. 

Venoms:

Last up, I have completed not one, but two Venoms. Now, I was never one for Venom spam at all. Until recently, I only had one Venom (I made it for my Kabalite Archon to ride in).  I received two more Venoms as gifts in the past, but I never quite got around to putting them together. Once the new book came out, it got me into a Dark Eldar kick, so I decided to work on them.

I created a Venom for my Succubus to ride into battle with some Bloodbrides. So, all the riders were made to be Wyches. I made it look very much like the other Venom, so there's not too much to brag about or explain regarding this one. Its a fully functional Venom that goes with my other DE vehicles.

The second Venom is a little different though. I decided to do a dedicated Haemonculus Venom with the bits from the new Wrack box. I really like the idea of being able to customize your Raiders/Venoms with the new Wracks. I was really inspired after looking at the Haemonculus Covens supplement. Now, I will never play an all Wrack/Haemonculus army, but the book has some great fluff and it was visually inspiring.

I painted the vehicle the same way as I did my other vehicles: I didn't want it to look too starkly different. So, its the same Khorne Red  edge highlight that the others are. The only thing I did to set it apart was the flag and symbols- I ditched the usual red flag and decided to go white instead (I loved the look in the supplement, as I said).When I was thinking of the symbol, I had no idea- as you can tell, I'm not great at drawing symbols, writing, etc. So, I stole the Triforce. Yes, I know... but it could be a weird pentagram or something... Look, it works, OK? Don't give me a hard time (in case you can't tell, I'm not thrilled with it, but it's done now- I am pretty good at knowing when to call a paint job a day, otherwise I'd still be painting my first Plague Marine in my search for perfection).

The absolute DUMB thing about the new codex is that Wracks come in squads of 5. That means that a Haemonculus can't take a bodyguard of 4 plus him in the Venom- ugh. Why did they do that? It is so damn annoying. So either I put the Haemonculus with 4 Trueborn/Bloodbrides- oh wait. THey come in 5s as well, so I guess that's out too... Ugh. GW- what were you thinking?!

Well, at any rate, that's all for now. I'm putting the finishing touches on a few more things, and I'm starting a whole bunch of other projects too- indeed, my wife got me something VERY big for Christmas, and I can't wait to finish it and show it off here! It's going to take a while to do, but when it's done... whew!!

Until next time...

Newly Completed: Hekatrix Bloodbrides

Hey there Chaos fiends! I hope you're all doing well. Have you been keeping up with all of those Chaos rumors? Hahaha! I don't quite know what to believe, and honestly that's just fine. I like seeing all the rampant speculation- it's a bit of fun. I do wish that everyone would just take a deep breath though- look I get it, since Chaos (and Plague Marines in particular) is my favorite 40K army, I want the book to be just right. But I see lots of people getting upset and they shouldn't be, as none of it is confirmed AND we are aren't getting a full picture at any rate. I also would like to see the trolls take a hike- if you hate 40K, why are you commenting at all? If you loathe 40K and GW and all- why bother even taking the time? Find something else to do and leave those who do enjoy it to their own devices. I used to watch WWF, but I don't anymore... I don't go onto their sites and trash people who still watch or root for a particular wrestler... Trolls make no sense to me...

Well, that's enough of the rant. Now on to business. I just finished my 10 woman Hekartix Bloodbride squad. I have just recently completed my Kabalite Trubeorn, so I decided to turn my attentions to the elite Wyches now. One of the toughest things about making these lovely ladies is just how to make them...  With the Trueborn it was a bit easier- they all had heavy weapons, and they don't have helms. I also gave their Dracon a banner that was painted white instead of red, to denote their difference. I didn't want them to be too different from Kabalite Warriors, just in case  I decided to field bigger squads with more heavy weapons than I currently have now.

The Wyches posed a more complicated challenge. They need to look like Wyches, but since they are the "Bloodbrides", they need to look suitably different- I wasn't planning on blending them into a bigger squad potentially. So, I would need to really make them look unique, yet still be Wyches. Thus, I gave them all kinds of vicious weapons- they've got the Razorflails, but I also gave them the Hellglaives from the Hellions- no, its not "tournament legal"- I just wanted them to look dangerous. I gave some skull trophies dangling off their armor and weapons. Finally, I gave them all helms from the Jetbikers- their dangerous beauty would be hidden behind masks. I thought there was something cool about taking these beautiful killers and making them faceless...

In painting, I painted their armor plates the same as the Wyches- Khonre Red. Their skin I painted with Rakarth Flesh base, a violet wash, and then successive highlights of Pallid Wych Flesh (again, a great color). Their loincloths of flayed flesh I did with Bugman's Glow, red washes, and then Caidian Fleshtone highlights. The weapons I did with Warplock Bronze, Leadbelcher, and some Runelord Brass, Brass Scorpion, and Gehnna's Gold. I must say I've been impressed with these metal paints- the gold and brasses in particular- they have great coverage and they are all sharp looking. I love how they made the Hellglaves look, in particular.

Now, as for the helms. I thought about doing them silver, or perhaps red. I tried it on one, and I wasn't thrilled. It looked too bland. So, I decided to go and do something a bit different. I painted a base of Ceramite White. On those helms that had eye-slits, I did a wash of Carroburg Crimson to make it red. Then, I painted the whole helm Ulthuan Grey. Over the white, it appears as a really, really light grey. I then hit it with gloss varnish. The result is that it looks like an opaque helm- my brother compared the look to Mysterio... Haha. The idea is that they are ghostly white, mostly obscuring the Bloodbride's face within.

Overall, I am pleased with how they came out. The helms really set them apart from the rank and file Wyches, making them look fearsome in their anonymous masks. The dynamic poses of those weapons give the Bloodbrides a sense of fast and dangerous movement. I think they'll make a great looking retinue for my Succubus or perhaps Lelith herself.

Well, I hope you enjoyed this look at my latest Dark Eldar creations. Until next time, my friends...