Seeking a Path Through the Void - Eldar Corsairs Decision

[Brother Tyler]

I've been bitten by the Aeldari Corsairs bug.

First, a big "thanks!" to @Ioldanach for helping with the nifty color schemes. Note that some of the images below are from his gallery.

When Ioldanach was working on his rules for using the Aeldari Corsairs in Kill Team, I semi-hijacked that topic starting here as I mused my own fleet. Looking through the old Rogue Trader (1st edition) era stuff, I found a badge that I liked:

The caption reads "Alai-myan Alliance" and it appears to be an alliance between two other groups shown in that picture, the Alai Mercenary Corps and Myan's Agents of Silence. You can see the full image below (click on the image for the full size version):

That image appeared in Warhapper 40,000 Chapter Approved: Book of the Astronomican, which was published in 1988 (and I'm pretty sure that, like pretty much everything else inside, that article was reprinted from an earlier issue of White Dwarf Magazine).

I liked that image, so, after some fiddling around, I updated it to:

(click on the image for a full size version)

Fun fact: After I posted an earlier version of that rune back in September 2019, apparently someone liked it because they incorporated it into their own fan art depicting an Aeldari Corsair, presumably of the Alai-Myan Alliance. If you're interested, you can cut and paste the URL below into your browser to see the image.

https://www.webstagramsite.com/media/B4pYMWrgg1Z

It's cool that someone liked the rune enough to use it.

At the time, I couldn't find anything else about the Alai-Myan Alliance (or the Alai Mercenary Corps or Myan's Agents of Silence) other than something I read on one of the wikis, and, lacking citation, I found the information suspect. So I was working on my own color scheme.

And then it was pointed out to me that the Alai Mercenary Corps did have a color scheme shown back in the Rogue Trader era:

(click on the image for a full size version)

That looks like a kind of sea green with pink - not atypical for the era.

Ioldanach was kind enough to whip up an updated version of that scheme using his Corsair Painter:

(click on the image for a full size version)

I think that the colors he used were Kabalite Green (lighter green), Incubi Darkness (undersuit), and Emperor's Children (pink). He suggested a possible update to turquoise, which I agreed to:

(click on the image for a full size version)

He used Terradon Turquoise for the blues (two different colors from different portions of the swatch) and Magos Purple for the purple.

Something else I'd been looking at prior to learning that the Alai Mercenary Corps actually had a color scheme was orange. There was a picture of a Fire Dragon Aspect Warrior from the Living Flame Shrine in the 6th edition Codex: Eldar, and I've always liked it:

(click on the image for a full size version)

With that, he whipped up the image below:

(click on the image for a full size version)

So now I'm left to decide between the three schemes. If I go with either of the Alai-Myan Alliance versions, then I'll obviously go with the Alai-Myan Alliance as my fleet. If I go with the orange version, then I have the freedom to create my own fleet or use some fleet that we know only by name.

My plan is to create a kill team, most likely using the Asuryani rules (though I'll probably use Ioldanach's homegrown version in friendly games).

I'm being kind of wishy-washy about the scheme, but it's time to make a decision. I'm partial to the last two schemes, so one of them will (hopefully) be shown here on an actual model. Make that a whole Command Roster's worth of models.

[Bryan Blaire]

Nice! Looks like good stuff!

 

That Alai Mercenary Corps looks a lot like how I paint my Lugganath Eldar, which was semi-inspired by the same Fire Dragon image, and it’s also really fitting because the Lugganath Craftworld is known to have quite a bit of association with Corsairs, so my vote is to go with that one. :devil:

[Dosjetka]

https://www.instagram.com/p/B4pYMWrgg1Z/

Direct link rather than link via a third-party site. :)

 

With regards to the colour scheme, if you don't use the first one there's a fair chance I might at some point: :D The orange one looks good, too!

[Brother Tyler]

After seeing the rumors about the Eldar Corsairs being included in the upcoming Craftworlds codex and then seeing the update for the Corsairs that Ioldanach submitted for the new Kill Team, I have the bug [again]. I have no idea if the Corsairs will actually be in the codex, but I'll be thrilled if they are. Regardless, I'll probably still be limited to Kill Team for the foreseeable future, though I may be able to expand into a Combat Patrol later. In a friendly environment I can use Ioldanach's rules (I'm still reading through them to develop the feedback he requested). In more restrictive environments, I'll use count them as Craftworld Eldar. Best case scenario: the rumors of the Corsairs are true and GW will include them in Kill Team (fingers crossed, but I'm not holding my breath). If nothing else, it would be great just to have a fully converted and painted force.

I'm going with the orange scheme, which means I'll have to change the badge. At this point, I'm probably going to create a completely homegrown fleet.

I'm going to look into a magnetization option for the backs. GW hasn't really allowed models with FLY in the new Kill Team (yet), but Ioldanach's rules include options for these as equipment upgrades. The Corsair jet packs are kind of their thing, after all. So having some sort of magnetized back will allow for accurate representation of either straight-leg infantry or flitty Space Elf Corsairs. I'll also have to create some spare minis in the gun platforms (Ioldanach's Corsairs, like their Doom of Mymeara/Forge World predecessors, don't use the platforms). Aside from that, most models have a suitable counterpart in the Craftworld list in the Compendium.

One thing I'm definitely going to do, though, is capitalize on the concept that the Corsairs are not necessarily a force with a homogenous appearance. A lot can be said for the efforts of other hobbyists that have made their Eldar Corsairs look like a rag-tag bunch of Aeldari Outcasts looking into the blackness of space and seeing different things.

 

My immediate effort (after providing some feedback for Ioldanach's Kill Team rules) will be to work on a badge - I'll need to incorporate that onto my minis, after all.

[Dread]

Badges. Badges! We dont need no stinking badges. Haha movie refrence aside...i hope they put the rules and units in our dex for sure. I had a corsair army years back but rekitbashed it back to normal. The forgeworld stuff just too was/is way to expensive. I miss my dark lance jetbikes.

[Captain Coolpants]

I like orange. But I'm a bit biased as my own are orange haha

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[Sarvis]

I like orange. But I'm a bit biased as my own are orange haha

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That looks awesome, what paints did you use to achieve that?

[Ioldanach]

I liked the turquoise, but the orange is in a close second place. Are you going with the scheme as shown above? Or do you have any changes in mind? I look forward to seeing the glyph that you come up with.
 
Right now it looks like you and I are in a race to see who takes longer to get their anhrathe kill team painted up.
 
I'll tell you what - if GW does give us new corsair minis, we should have a little challenge. 

[Captain Coolpants]

I like orange. But I'm a bit biased as my own are orange haha

Hidden Content

That looks awesome, what paints did you use to achieve that?

thank you very much! Honestly.. I cannot remember the names of anything because its been ages since I've even looked at that selection of paints. lol

But I'm pretty sure it was

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a base layer of jokero orange, a wash of carroberg crimson and feugan orange wash mixed together, picked up details again with jokero orange, then a few glazes of fire dragon Bright, starting to concentrate more to the raised bits with each layer. Then I mixed in yriel yellow, and just did the same process with a few glazes until it got bright on the raised bits. I hate painting. And I'm bad at it. But I find doing glazes really slows things down and makes things look better.

Edited December 4, 2021 by Captain Coolpants

[Brother Tyler]

I finished the icon for my new Anhrathe fleet. It incorporates elements from the runes for Yme-Loc, Biel-Tan, and Iyanden. This is deliberate. I'm going to explore some concepts, some of which may be ... interesting ... contentious ... you decide (when I get around to presenting them). As a teaser, one of the issues I'm going to explore is a continuation of when I asked if there "are other types of "Phoenix Lords" possible?" This prompted some concepts that also look at the origins of the Drukhari and bring in some very Moorcockian themes, not to mention shades of '80s and '90s metal. That's enough teasing (for now). Here's the new rune...

(Click the image to see a larger version)

The overall vertical shape was deliberate because I anticipate having to incorporate this on helmets and other features of very thin models. I haven't finalized colors yet - I used orange so that the image would show on both the dark gray and white skins that the site currently uses.

[Brother Tyler]

Today's reveal is very interesting. I'm definitely going to have to hold off in order to see the scope of the Corsairs' "reinvention."

 

One interesting thing I noticed was the use of a new rune on several models. It can be seen painted on the loincloth of the psyker in the image below, as well as dangling from the model's right wrist as a bangle. That rune can be seen on at least two of the other models. The bangle means that it isn't just something that is specific to whatever Corsair fleet the turquoise Corsairs represent - it's something common to all Corsairs.

 

 

It's not a rune that appears in the 3rd edition chart:

 

 

It does, however, look like an inverted and modified version of the "Eldar of History" rune, modified by the addition of the rays protruding from the semi-circle.

 

I'll be interested to read the lore on this new rune and where/how it fits into the larger Aeldari meta-faction.

[Tyriks]

Iirc the "Eldar of history" rune is now the Exodite rune and there are variations on it around, this may be one of them. I will check my books later if I can

[Dr. Clock]

It does, however, look like an inverted and modified version of the "Eldar of History" rune, modified by the addition of the rays protruding from the semi-circle.

 

I'll be interested to read the lore on this new rune and where/how it fits into the larger Aeldari meta-faction.

Also relatively close to the 'Ranger' rune, which lacks the 'rays' and is a half-circle rather than 3/4.

 

I've come to read 'triangle' generally as signifying 'a warrior, their mask or panoply' and for rangers it evoked 'the arrow/archer' for me...

 

As to this Corsair rune, maybe close to that, like 'spear or lance'? The 'shining spear' rune appears to emphasize the 'shining' part, as it's a triangle with 'zig-zags' off each side to form a triskele... And 'mobile/assault' in that kind of triskele is at its simplest in 'storm guardian' which is a simple line from each side of the base triangle:

 

http://eldar.arhicks.co.uk/miscellaneous/eldar_runes.php

 

Cheers,

 

The Good Doctor.