Mehman's Dark Eldar

[Father Mehman]

Welcome to Meh's Dark Eldar Drukhari thread! Please buckle your safety belts and ensure all tables and chairs are in their upright positions: we're about to take off !

It's that time again: new edition, new army. In the past, I've regulated myself to only playing Factions of Imperial bent. No more, I say! It's been a strange decision but it seems the Dark Eldar chose me to lead them to greater glory and nefarious gain. The denizens of Commorragh voted or something - I'm not entirely sure how this happened. I asked for a recount but they just smiled, shook their heads, and poked me with a stick. There was no other option: it was their drumbeat or I was to be poked again with the stick. After that, who knows?

After some thinking, a name came to me for my Kabal: the Kabal of the Left Hand Path. As you may be aware, that already sets them up for some sinister leanings. If you're not aware, "left" is not exactly considered the best direction in metaphysical thinking. For centuries (at least a couple thousand years), the Left Hand Path denoted unwise actions or motives. It also was used to persecute left-handed people for a time but I won't go into that. Anyway, what better name for a Kabal?

Here's a mock-up of their colour scheme:

As you can tell, they're in white armour. I'll try to get a Warrior painted up this coming week but I am in the midst of converting one of my Archons so we'll see. Also, I know some Warriors and Wyches go around with flayed flesh as a belt but the dark crimson is there to show the secondary colour of the army. The lenses are purple, by the way.

Stay tuned for talk about fluff and other backstory about the Kabal of the Left Hand Path. Oh, yeah. I'll also have posts on my Wych Cult and Haemonculus Coven, the Cult of Secrets Revealed and the Coven of the Three-Pronged Way.

Cheers !

[WarriorFish]

The colour scheme looks good, painting white is easier than it was but you still have to work a bit - the price of how striking it is ;)

[Iron Father Ferrum]

That is a rather striking scheme.  White is a real :cuss to get right.  I build up from greys and do multiple thin coats of white and even then it still doesn't come out perfect.  I'm curious to see how they come out!

[Father Mehman]

Lord Commissar and Deus - two of my favourite people on the B&C if not the whole internet. You both had more impact on me, both in the hobby and outside of it, than you will ever know. Thank you both for your kind words and encouragement.

 

I've come up with some shenanigans for painting the white armour that will be a bit of a pain on vehicles but should work out on everything else. I'll just post the recipe for the armour and then make commentary.

 

White Armour Plates:

Celestra Grey basecoat

Pallid Wych Flesh heavy drybrush

Nuln Oil recess wash

Pallid Wych Flesh layer

White Scar edge highlight

 

The models will be undercoated with black spray as I'm a glutton for punishment. No, I joke. Sort of. They're undercoated that way because the rest of the models' colours work better over black. This matters more with the Wyches and Wracks than it does the Warriors but I like to be consistent.

 

After the black has been sprayed, the armour gets a basecoat of Celestra Grey to start the road to white, as Deus advised. I decided to skip layering with Ulthuan Grey because it's too blue for what I want to achieve so Pallid Wych Flesh was to be the main colour. Drybrushing was chosen above layering as the transition from Celestra Grey to Pallid Wych Flesh will be softer. The two colours could be mixed but I'll save that for another army. The wash will be lined instead of an all-over application because, well, white is what is needed in the end.

 

It's important to have the armour plates that aren't in shadow to be as white as they can be so next will be a layer of Pallid Wych Flesh. This has the added benefit of cleaning up any areas that get Nuln Oil lathered over them, too. The last step on the road to white is an edge highlight of White Scar. Hopefully it'll be noticeable enough against the previous colour to give the armour that "Dark Eldar look" - sharp, crisp highlighting - but I'm really not that picky if it doesn't. Actually, I know it will because of Duncan's video on how to paint the Knights Excelsior Stormhost for Age of Sigmar. Those Stormcasts have white armour, too, and that video, along with his video on how to paint Grey Knight Purifier helmets, was a big help for this paint scheme. Well, that and all those old White Dwarf articles from back in the day.

[Beachymike123]

I like the idea of thecolour scheme. Despite their name, Dark Eldar/Drukhari look fantastic in lighter colours too, especially yellows and blues imho). White is also a great colour but it can be difficult to master. Look forward to yoyr results.

To the Kabal of the Left Hand, the Kabal of Dark Blades wishes you the best of endeavours, much success in your slave raids, and may you hoist the flag of Commorragh high (except if we clash blades, then all bets are off

[Iron Father Ferrum]

Mehman, you have no idea how humbling it is to be referred to in such terms.  I'm actually blushing a little!

 

As for the color scheme, the paint scheme you outlined sounds like an interesting path to a nice clean white.  Now I'm *really* looking forward to seeing it!

[Father Mehman]

Mike - You know, the name and the darker colours usually chosen hadn't occurred to me until you said that. I'm a bit daft sometimes ! Anyway, well met, fellow Archon! May your arenas be full-to-overflowing with the choicest souls realspace can provide! Commorragh is a big city so I doubt we'll run into each other anytime soon. Although accidents do happen...

 

Deus - Well, no pressure on my skills ! It should be later in the week for a WiP shot of a Warrior in resplendent white armour. I've got this Archon conversion almost done with just a few mold lines to go on her weapons and then I'll start on building said Warrior. I'll also need to cut away a weapon and add a Blast Pistol to the other hand - pinned, of course. Then there's the matter of getting some pauldrons for her. She should probably have a power unit on her back, too. Come to think of it, there's a lot of work still left to do.

[WarriorFish]

I've been getting good white results with Ceramic White - a few thin coats does well and you can add another White Scar on top if you're feeling fancy :)

[Brother-Chaplain Kage]

If you want a really bright white color, I'd suggest using two rattlecans to do it - prime it black first and then hit it with a white primer and then do a watered down coat of whatever white paint from a bottle you plan on using. It might sound weird, but white paints are generally pretty translucent and the black primer coat underneath will really make the white primer on top of it stand out.

[WarriorFish]

+1 for black undercoat to build a white on, I do it by hand but it leads to a nice white :tu:

[Father Mehman]

BCK - I thought about doing a zenithal highlight when I was first writing the paint scheme down but shrugged it away. I fully agree with what you say about white paint but I like the look of having black surrounding everything as a liner of sorts. That would mean going in after the white has been sprayed and lining everything manually instead of letting the black undercoat spray do its job. Knowing me, though, I'll probably try it out at some point just for giggles - probably for the vehicles. Actually, that sounds like a great idea for the "tanks" now that you mention it. Cheers !

[WhatTheBlazes]

I'll tell you for free that it's a great colour scheme - it is, by chance, the same as mine. 

[Father Mehman]

Blazes - Well, great minds and all that !

 

 

Right, I've got some rather unfortunate news: this army is being shelved for the foreseeable future. Well, I guess all three armies are being put on hold, if we're being pedantic. It looks like I won't have the funds to go anywhere with this idea beyond fluff and a few conversions. I don't need to put another army on my plate, anyway. Luckily, I stockpiled a lot of marines back in the day so I still have models to build. There's enough of them that a new Chapter could be built with nothing else required.

 

I guess the Xenos aren't for me .

[WarriorFish]

No biggie, my DE have been shelved for years Meh ;) The important thing is you have other models to work on currently so you're not getting bored :P