Coven Mandrake Conversion (Flesh Friday)

Remember this guy?

He was my attempt at my first coven-ified mandrake, based on the idea that if there was a soul-sucking Cronos Parasite Engine, there must—therefore—be Cronos parasites somewhere who were bred up to Engine size/capability. I figured what better place for these soul-sucking parasites to live than in the slot reserved for mandrakes.

Anyway, he now has a whole posse to terrorize the neighbours with:

Including a spooky Night Haunter that is emerging from the shadow of an Eldar Guardian:

A Proper Parasite Engine

That's no parasite.

THIS is a parasite!

Okay, so, the Talos model is phenomenal. I love the damn thing, which should be apparent from all the bits from it that I've used in my Wracks and Grotesque conversions. The only reason I haven't modeled a Talos yet is that, for me, there is no challenge to it; nothing needs to be improved. You take that model out of its box, assemble it, bog-standard, and you've got a work of art!

The Cronos Parasite Engine, however, is another story. I understand that they needed a secondary model to build out of a Talos kit, but for me the fluff doesn't match up with the suggested model that is built off the Talos kit. You've got this PARASITE that feeds off the SOULS of its victims, repackaging the unused lifeforce and beaming it out to other nearby Dark Eldar models. This thing, as far as I'm concerned, is the single GRIMMEST unit in the Dark Eldar codex. It gives me chills up my spine the same way the Doom of Malantai did when I first read its fluff.