WiP - Wyches in Progress

The Wych squad is proceeding quite well - they are however much more time consuming than the Warriors with all the skin and such.


Pair of Hekatrii:


Both have a blast pistol and agoniser (I'm using the swords instead), but one has a phantasm launcher.

Group shot of the squad:



As opposed to the warriors I'm giving them yellow tabbards rather than black, mostly so they're visable at a distance rather than looking like a black smudge.



Hope to have them done in the next couple of days, then on to some Reavers.

1st Warrior Squad Complete

Here is the squad:

They have an extra Sybarite due to my fiddling around with the kits. First Sybarite:

I painted the skin under her fringe as if it had been badly scarred (and addd some scar lines on the right side of her face) - I'm imagining she wears her hair like that to hide her disfigurement, like Meg Ryan in Captain Planet.

Second Sybarite and Splinter Cannon dude:


This Sybarite is made from a Raider crewman body.


Warriors:

Warriors... come out to play!

Very happy with how the colour scheme turned out. I obviously went for black tabbards with yellow stripes - I tested the reverse and it was too overpowering for the purple. Next up I'll be doing a Wych squad and finishing off my Lelith counts-as.

Dark Eldar II

Captain Loressha is just about done - only need to do her back banner.


First time using line/edge highlighting, pretty happy with how it turned out. The coulours are Hormagaunt Purple drybrush over black, followd by a Liche Purple drybrush, then a 60/40 Liche / White mix edge highlight, purple wash, fine tentacle pink edge highlight and lastly a black wash.


Dassanta is coming along nicely now, though she was giving me serious headaches - the colours weren't working and no matter what I did the detail wasn't coming out well defined or crisp. It was getting to the point where I was thinking I'd have to strip her back to metal and start agian honestly.


But, fortunately it didn't come to that and all is well. It was only around the Gryphonne Sepia wash of her skin that it started coming together.
I'm thinking of giving her tattoos down her arms and back, Yakuza style, but I'm not 100% sold on the idea. Well, I like the idea... I just don't know if it'll look any good.

Who got da butt? Brak got da butt!
I couldn't find a clip of that, so have some Sisqo linkage instead.

With this army I'm trying lots of new techniques - heavier shading, line edging and a 'rougher' style. This is partly inspired by Ron From The Warp's Deathwing and Space Hulk minis (who also inspired me before) in terms of not having 100% paint coverage - by which I mean they're wearing purple armour, but the model isn't fully based in it, leaving the shadows black.

I've also been more immediately spurred on by THIS POST (read it, it's awesome) by Dave_G over at Wargaming Tradecraft. I'll just be lazy and quote my comment there here:

"I sometimes have to remind myself as a painter to not get stuck doing the same things with my models and to try new things rather than just playing it 'safe'.
It doesn't always work but when it does it is certainly more rewarding seeing the job done than simply going the tried and true."


So I'm pushing the envelope, thinking outside the square, going fastermax, reaching over the top and mastering the ass. I'm also using Dave_G's posting of the 'alternative styles' of Sketching and Outlining for a bit of inspiration (I liked Borderlands art style, pity I didn't like the game itself) - I'm being rougher and more carefree with the shading and highlighting. That's not to say lazy or haphazard, but focusing more on the feel of the model than getting it 'perfect'.
This could also be to do with getting back into drawing again as I tend to be rather sketchy there, so it's probably bleeding over into my painting.

Dark Eldar

As with everybody else it seems I have been constructing some Dark Eldar, though I'm using them as pirates / mercs rather than Commorites (more on that at the bottom). First up, some Wyches:

This lady was a fun one to make - I simply glued the two bent legs together (they fit fine without chopping) and turned her plait around 180 degrees. She's mounted on a paperclip secured on the underside with some greenstuff.


Mixed in some Hellion parts:

I know kung-fu

Hekatii:
I'm using the power swords as Agonisers - everyone with a special CCW has an Agoniser, so they won't be mixed up. I just don't like the whips.


Raider and crew:

Hangin' tough.

Get some! Get some! Get some!

And now, young Jedi, you die... *scratches on invisible turntables*

I used the leftover Raider pilot body to make a Sybarite:


A warrior squad:


My Archon, Captain Loressha (Sliscus stand in):


Wych head, and Banshee Exarch arms as the twin poison swords.


Dassanta (Lelith/Succubus stand in):

Changed her left forearm to the chain weapon from the Wych kit - it's functionally the same as another knife.


Their colour scheme will be a mix of purple, black and yellow - similar to the Archon on pg66 of the codex.


The basic inspiration is the RT era Eldar Pirates and corsairs, namely these guys:





So they're technically Craftworld alligned and I won't be using any of the wierder stuff like Haemonculi, Mandrakes or other gribblies without some re-working/counts-as. Talos might get a Wraithlord standin depending on rules, and if the Scourges look as awesome as their artwork they'll be in.

The colour scheme will be purple as the main colour with yellow and black accents. The yellow will also get tiger striping. I won't be doing the whole helmets as the guys above though, but the shoulder pads and tabbards.

Basically they're a group of piratical raiders based out of a Haven Spire, using Eclipse class cruisers - mostly because they look the coolest. Another reason for the name is I was giving them an Imperial designation of The Eclipse Corsairs. A thought was to have that name come from their use of the cruiser, as well as their logo.

Rough idea:


The logo is based off the Sunblitz Brotherhood icon and one of the old forms of the Eye of Horus. It is a symbolic representation of an ecliped star on the horizon - something like this cut in half:




Loosly translated from the quenya (in Tengwar Annatar script, to make it a little eviler) the text reads :

"i hecil ciryamo halda firinva"

which loosly translates to "The outcast mariners hidden from the sun's rays". The idea is to have them coming from Luganath craftword, who's namemeans "Light of fallen suns".
As Lugganath is of the opinion of escaping into the Webway Dark Eldar style and has aided humanity in the past I was thinking my crew would be of the more millitant members of the Craftword - those who think giving up is a terrible idea, the Eldar should be trying to restore their glory and that humans/Tau/Ork/whoever else are insects etc etc... ie they wish they'd been born on Biel-Tan
In addition to this noble, if misguided, group there are assorted ne'erdowells, criminals, kinslayers and such who have sought sanctuary after exile.

They leave as Outcast corsairs, but raid colony worlds and are generally very aggresive in their manner (wiping out existing colonies rather than just preventing new ones). This doesn't sit too well with the Craftworld who cut them off, but they still need supplies so they trade with their Dark Kin and later copy their designs.
Lugganath's interest in the webway also gives a reason why they'd be as adept as the Dark Eldar in using it (ie why I can use portals and such), as well as the trading.