Saturday 26 March 2016

Dark Eldar Carnival Warriors

Good evening ladies and gents. I have been working hard on completing painting the last 5 warrior conversions so I can finally field a full squad of 10. I am pleased to say I finished them on Friday, varnishing and basing them when the weather was clement (a rare occurence here in the UK).

These 5 models have been sitting in my cabinet for over 1 1/2 years waiting to be painted, but I could never bring myself to get them finished. I did start 8 months ago, applying the red basecoat for the armour sections, and then I abandoned them again. I was just not in the right frame of mind to get them finished. My mojo was telling me to leave them, and I did :).

This year I vowed to myself I would paint enough of my DE to bring to a tournament. I am immensely proud of what I have achieved with this army so far, and would like to finally bring them into the limelight, playing games and hopefully get more inspired to continue working and painting on the project. Well, I have now bought my ticket for a 750pt tournament run by Alex over at 'From Fhe Fang' called Double Trouble. I only needed a few more units doing to run a viable list, and these 5 warriors were one. (I need 1 more venom and then I am ready). Also on the agenda is Hero for a Day in August, which I hope to get even more done for (stay tuned for my plans for that). Having a goal really is helping me push along to a finishing point, and completing these milestones, no matter how small, is really satisfying. The monthly hobby vows is really helping me focus too, and keeps my painting motivation fresh.

Enough jibber jabber. Lets talk about the models. As usual I started with the batch painted elements on all 5. Doing all stages of the red armour (base, medium highlight, wash, highlight), then moving onto the metals, pouchesm vials etc. Basically anything that is the same across all 5 I batch painted. This really speeds things up but is a tad tedious, as I do take an age to paint anything (I am very meticulous, but also just generally slow at painting). Once all those were done I moved onto the colours. I had no fixed plan for each, just picking colours from my paint rack, seeing if they worked with the model, then following the first colour choice with more and more, until all areas had a colour choice. I then started on the highlighting stages (I apply the base colour for each before I do the wash and highlights, to see if they work together). When all 5 models were completely coloured I then went onto the patterns, deciding if the model needed it or not (there is a danger of overcomplicating or ruining a paint job by adding patterns sometimes) . I enjoy both this stage all the colour work as I can have a little fun. This is where the models really come alive to me.

Below are the pics of the 5, followed by a group shot with all 10 together at last :)

 

NafNaf :)

 

23 comments:

  1. Love them chief, great work and strong play for pushing forward with the project. Full faith in you getting it all together.

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    1. Thanks dude :). I am pretty stoked to be so near a small completed force. The end is in sight!

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    2. We are all looking forward to seeing that force together man.

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  2. Your cavalcade of pain is coming along nicely :)

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  3. Stunning as always, I especially love the flames on the drums and the one with the impaler.

    Can't wait to see them in the flesh!

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    1. Cheers Nick :). I enjoyed painting the flames alot. The colours worked well together, and it added a nice bit if character to the model too. I am hoping for a fully oainted army for hero for a day (I have a few months yet so it is def doable :) )

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  4. Awesome! They really look fantastic, man - love all the little conversions, and the paint scheme is epic. The end result is tremendous!

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    1. Cheers dude :). They have been alot of fun to build and paint (when I eventually stopped procrastinating on them). I am looking forward to seeing a fully painted (albeit small) force on the table

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  5. I dream of getting to see this whole force in person and sitting and talking shop with you. Shame we are so very far apart. Keep up the great work.

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    1. Thanks aruki. That would be very cool. The world is a surprisingly small place sometimes, so you never know when our paths may meet :)

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  6. Please. Full army. Go to battle with the Space Marines and wipe the floor with them in the most comedic game of hit-and-run possible.

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    1. Ok, soon I promise :). Those pesky space marines do need a good beating. I can always give them a balloon as compensation when they lose ;)

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  7. As always, my absolute favorite themed army ever.

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  8. Great work mate. Im looking forward to facing this army again soon!

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    1. Cheers dude, we will def have to book a game in for some 40k action soon. So many games so little time to play :)

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  9. Awesome work as always. I really like the basing you do on these guys. What is it you're using for the flowers? I assume those are flowers?

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    1. Cheers Thor. I am really pleased with my basing, and I look forward to doing it too, which helps as it is the final stage on them.
      They are orange leaves on the base. They are basically dyed seed pods (birch possibly?). Picked them up from eBay I think

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    2. They look great on there either way. A nice burst of color that ties in with the models.

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  10. I am enjoying seeing how the army is coming together. I know what it is like to have half finished projects sitting on the shelf for a while. Units from my Carcharodons have been half finished for a while too.

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    1. Cheers dude. I have had to force myself to start again sometimes, but once I get going my motivation increases, and seeing the core force coming together is really encouraging

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