XLI - Showcase: Dark Eldar Mercenary

"Do you think I'm disemboweling you because I was hired? I have been paid only to kill you, unsavory obtuse human."

Hi readers, I have finally finished my first Dark Eldar Mercenary, after a long (above all in my mind) trip, tracked here, here, and here.

 

I have analyzed my issue with Dark Eldar and I think that my problem is that I love those miniatures, and maybe I think that nothing I do is worth of them, and I have no satisfaction in my work. Furthermore I always thought that DE and Dark Elves (Aelves, that in latin has the same pronunciation ... ae = e like "end": nice joke GW!) are bad but clean: my last projects are not so clean and I like paint dirty and grim miniatures, but with DE-DA I had a block, the must not be dirty and grim (for my standard).

Now I cought the courage to make them more grim and less elegant (for my standard clearly!!!), without exagerate logically, they are not Zombies, and I like the result.

XL - Genesis of a Project: a new painting scheme

Whoa 40th post of the new blog, time is flying!
The Glottkin are put apart for the nice Monster March, so I can continue to torture myself in search of the perfect (read: not real) DE painting scheme.
As you can read, my struggle versus a painting scheme for my Dark Eldar continues. I hate it, I love Dark Eldar, but this is something like the 6th or 7th painting scheme I change. Lets proceed with order.

As always this is a Frankenstein wip, updated during these days.

The ideas on the table were:
1 - a bunch of modified Dark Eldar, not a big Kabal -till now-, mercenaries in the WebWay;
2 - grey painting scheme, because I love grey;
3 - monochromatic;
4 - despite I did it often, my Kabal is not going to be repainted another time.

all those ideas are here, and here.
The point 2 and three are death. Despite I really enjoyed in painting some miniatures with very few colours, and I advice you to try to do it as a great technical exercitation, that does not satisfied me.
Also, I've found some very cool colours, and those damn colours whispered to my ears "dark eldar": the trouble was set.

The laughtable thing is that probably I'll neither use those colours for my DE, because I've found other beautiful colours. I think that you, my English-language friends, could define this situation as "well you are f****d up". Yes, colours are my addiction, I confess, and as a good Dark Eldar, there is a pleasure in the pain of changeing painting scheme!

The walking ones are something like preparing to fight with knives, so I added knives, and so on.

The shooting ones are simplified, less spikes.
The idea of flat faces really enjoy me, so I keept it from the last part of the project
And now paint! Black primer with airbrush: slower than cans, but funny and more precise and light. Than black metal (I..I_ ) and some highlights.
After that, I glaze the metal with w&n blue to keep the shining, I added black to shadows, and painted the red.

I know they are quite similar to my old kabal!
And then it happens. The change.
I love the wabi sabi way of art, beauty in imperfection.
So I have casually found this : forgive the pic cought from the pc - horrible thing but when I cannot save the pic or the link I have to do those horrible thing.

And I wanted to try to get inspiration from that.
Here the result.



And we arrive at today. I have modified sa bit the upper result, I was not too much happy with the blue. Also, I added a bit of shiny to the armour. This is already a wip, but I think that I reached an intermediate result that satisfy me. Maybe.

I think that something is missing but I really do not know what, maybe I ought do blue eyes or something.
Please Monster March help me, take away  from this hell!

XXVII - Genesis of a New Project: grey issue and thoughts

Hi readers!
Second post about the new project I am working on, for those that have never heard of it, I am working on a new painting scheme for Dark Eldar, trying to make quite unique models with meshing up and modifying them.
I started it because I were in a down moment of the hobby, so returning on my comfort zone (dark eldar) with a project that I must confess, I dreamed about it about several years ago, restart the hobby engine.
The today's post's about the working on of it, with some thoughts and progress.

XXVI - Genesis of a New Project, fast start

Hi readers!
It is time to change, it is time to do something different. In these days I was not prolific in the hobby: sometimes it happens to burn out, and you need to find something new to do. I thought a lot about it, and you, you and you have been the source of inspiration, and, merging it with some ideas I got, I can now write down something to make order and so on.
To be precise, the post should be named "probably genesis of a new project", because when I am painting DE, I could never for ever satisfied about a painting scheme: I hope to paint more than one minis before change everything!

This post is written in a quite wide time span, so maybe you can see different lights on pics, some contraddictions etc., because I changed my mind sometimes, and I would like to keep track of this changes. It is a kind of log of impressions, ideas, win and fail to reach a satisfying result. Enjoy the trip!

XXIV - Wip: -Dark Eldar Wyches

Hi!
I am alive but in a down mood in the hobby: I'm thinking about new projects and during this, I  am painting these miniatures very slowly. Must confess, I love DE but wyches are not my cup of tea. I bought them to have the wonderful knives they got, but I hate waste miniatures, so I decided to paint them and use custom blades/knives for most of them, and I like the result.

After finishing the Imperial Knight, I have found my table -and wallet- empty. As said, I found the last components of my Kabal, the Kabal Of the Astonishing Void.
In this post I am adding the pics during the painting, a kind of wip log, with some thoughts about them and other hobby things!

The three already painted.

I was not too much decided to paint them cause after some month of pause, I am not completely satisfied by the painting scheme.

Missing to paint! 

This is a big problem, I have a fully painted army with the old one!

Almost done.

Also, I had written down the painting scheme, but it is not simple to restart something, above all if for the last project you use completely different techniques.

Biggest work to do!

I decided to finish the Wyches and maybe the Archon and the Venom that I have to finish than I think that I'll buy some warriors to paint with the new painting scheme I am thinking.

Finished, only bases are missing!

My idea is to finish the Kabal -the Wyches and maybe the Archon - and keep the venom for the new project.

6/10 done, plus some bases to do!

In the last project I created many custom minis, so I decided to try to customize the new Dark Eldar and maybe create a small detachement of mercenary. Maybe write down some fluff!

If I'll sell something, I can also think to do other "selling" project, Dark Eldar -and Dark Elves are not for sales-.

Well let's hope I'll not change idea!

XVI - Showcase: Dark Eldar Warriors

Showcase: Dark Eldar

This is my first showcase and I want to show you some bad guys of mine.
I've started Warhammer a lot of year ago, then I left the hobby for more or less 10 years: when I was young,
dark elves were my religion. Now I love yet the emo-elves but I love also the cruel eldar! I think that the
old miniature range were cute but not incredible, but the last are (for me) the best  miniature of GW.
Mine is a little kabal, they are not too much rich as the biggest kabals, but they are hungry, and when sharp dark eldar brains meet hungry will, here the key for the success! Ok, I did not spent a much time to imagine the background.

The story of the painting scheme of The Kabal of The Astonishing Void is long and full of suffering (Dark Eldar style).
In three word four-five painting scheme. Do you know the feeling when you've painted 20-30 miniatures and in your bed you think "well, my painting scheme sucks.."?
This is the result of this path of suffering.

As you can see they are not too much gory and they are not dirty: they are eldar, not universe-scum!!!
If you like it, tell me and probably, if I'll be less gelous, I'll post my painting scheme.

XII - Showcase: Dark Eldar Raider

Showcase: Dark Eldar Raider

Hi to all of you, DGD readers! I hope that Our twisted army is growing!
Anyway, you have already seen a pair of my favourite miniatures, my beloved Dark Eldar here.
Today, I'll show my first veicle (ever!!) of The Kabal of The Astonishing Void.
It was a pain to do without an airbrush (I want one, but I do not want one hehehehe) and some parts are not finished because sometimes, when a miniature starts to bore me, I take a pause and then I finish it when the desire reappears.
I use this politics also to the whole hobby: sometimes I paint day by day, then I stop from a bit (till now, pauses from 1 day to 15 years happen!!!).
However, voilà my Dark Eldar Raider.

As you can see there are a pair of conversions and kitbash.
I do not use the "blind helmet" on troops on foot because it is for me the helmet for riders, so it is like a biker walking with his helmet in.
I used one of the hand of the rider on a Kabalite warrior (you can see in the link above): it is perfect to keep a severed head with its fingers into the eye socket so I decided to give to the rider a gun, picturing that he rides the Raider and shoots nonchalantly.

The body of the shooter is perfect for a quiet and threatening pose (used also it in the Kabalite in the link above). So I used a body of the crew and I create an handhold (gory handhold logically) and I use a guitar string to connect the "joystick" to the Dark Lance. I like that pose, it is quiet and arrogant, he seems he is thinking "well lets shoot that annoying bulky coarse Marine because I can and I've nothing better to do".

I decided to not put the crew because someone of them becomes a regular Kabalite and I do not want to change the beautiful line of the Raider.

What do you think?

Next post is going to be a tutorial worthy of this blog!

IX - Showcase: Kabal of the Astonishing Void (wip)

Showcase: Kabal of the Astonishing Void (wip)

Hi to everybody!
 Today I'll show my Kabal, the kabal ok the Astonishing Void.  as you can see it is a wip, because I add miniatures to this Project  slowly. You can also see that there is a Small evolution in the painting scheme  -the last miniatures are more blueish-.
As already say, the resarch of a satifying painting scheme has been very painful -something like 3-4 painting scheme - but luckily I've a very effective method to removed colour from plastic and so none kabalite has been trashed. I think that the best way to choose an army is to look at the common troops: if they are beautiful  you should choose that army because more or less the common troops are the most present in your army  and also they give the the feeling of that Race : if also some special troops are cool for you it is you army!!!! I love kabalite warriors and I think that dark eldar are one of the most loved Race by GW -miniatures , rules I do not know -: the models are superb IMHO.
 Well here the Kabal. When I'll have some hours I'll write some background!

The second on the left is going to have a banner.

These two units count as Trueborn. I like to give small differences to units to distinguish them subtly.

 
Ok I must finish this units! I've bought them for the knives etc. but I do not waste miniatures so I decided to paint them slowly with homemade arms. It is difficult that I have more than two Project, generally I finish one before buy other minis : it is very hard!!!!

The Incubus are a shame-sorry - . When I bought them I did not know the GW policy "failcast= change" and I kept a very failcast unit: some of my favourite minis became a nightmare.  The Klaivex's head is not the original because his was extremely ruined.

Very demotivated I rather finished them -but They are a part of my army so here the pic-.Waiting for the plastic ones mummy GW!

I love the plastic Archon but I was not a fan of the bare head: I'd like to have a helmet so I created one different from all other : he is am archon he cannot stand to have the same helmet of hus troops!

I did not like also the pharaoh pose  (why Mommy GW, why????) so I did a little kitbash. Already not convinced because two I like two parallel arms also but I prefere that weird sword  than a more regular one. Also for the head I'm not convinced .
What do you think?