Craftworld Ronnach'latha - Halandaar's Aeldari

[Halandaar]

At long last, the runes have been cast, the stars have aligned and most importantly of all, GW has finally consigned some more dated finecast to the bin. The bandwagon approaches and I'm ready to jump aboard, albeit with my dog-eared 2nd Edition Codex in hand. I really have been waiting a long time!

The first ever models I bought for myself as a kid were Jes Goodwin's classic Striking Scorpions and I ahve had a real soft spot for the Eldar ever since. Throughout my various abandoned attempts at starting a Craftworld army back in those days were forays with Biel-Tan, Alaitoc, Saim-Hann and a homebrew purple and yellow job which called to mind Cadbury's caramel wrappers. Typically of my teenage years, I found it very difficult to pick and stick to a theme, and eventually I ditched the hobby altogether during Uni, although I kept in touch with the setting via a thoroughly unreasonable amount of hours spent playing Dawn of War Soulstorm.

It was several years later when I was tempted back to the tabletop game by my cousin, and I put myself together and painted a High Elf army for WFB 8th Edition. My love for all things pointy-eared rekindled, I recovered that old 2nd Edition Codex from my parents' attic and although I was invested in the lore, other factors kept me from diving in to a new army. Having had so much variety of recent, all-plastic kits for the High Elves, and having seen the huge Dark Eldar reboot of 5th Edition 40k, I found the still very daunting amount of metal kits (and sculpts still kicking around from 2nd Edition) in the Craftworld range to be a major downer. Ultimately, I opted to start Dark Eldar instead and wait until the Craftworld range caught up.

Some time later I ended up with a handful of Eldar models from various box sets; the Spiritseer from Wake the Dead, Jain Zar and the Banshees from Blood of the Phoenix, and started to think whether that was the time to revisit the Craftworlders. With a few pushfit Guardians for test schemes, I once again tried and failed to come up with something I liked, so the idea was benched again.

Then at the end last year with the rumours really ramping up, on a complete whim I picked up a very dusty looking Support Platform kit from my FLGS, figuring that as well as the Guardian crew, the platform itself is enough like a Falcon that it could serve as a mini-tester for vehicles too. While house-bound with Covid after Christmas, I just started mucking about with some colours, and this happened pretty much by accident:

For the first time I felt like something had clicked, and I had the basis of a colour scheme! In many respects it's similar to the Iybraesil scheme with the turquoisey blue and white, but I'm going to lean quite heavily on the "wave" patterns and a greater amount of black to differentiate a bit. So far, this is what I've come up with:

Now I've got something to work with, I'm going to be starting a small Crusade force for a campaign this year to finally get going and build the Eldar army I've always wanted!

[Captain Coolpants]

Nice. Gives a very ice tribe vibe to it

[MithrilForge]

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Edited March 30, 2023 by Mumeishi

[Tyriks]

This is really very cool. I considered trying to steal it but I don't think I could pull it off. I can't wait to see more!

[Dread]

Very nice indeed! Nice work. The colors are elegant. Cant wait to see what you do on a falcon.

[Doctor Perils]

The patterning works really well. If I may make a critique, I think you need another spot colour to make it pop - whether that's changing the colour of the gems to a warmer colour or if it's adding another purpley-blue somewhere to make a true analogous colour scheme (or whatever other option you can think of) is up to you, but I think the turquoise and green sort of wash together atm

[MithrilForge]

The patterning works really well. If I may make a critique, I think you need another spot colour to make it pop - whether that's changing the colour of the gems to a warmer colour or if it's adding another purpley-blue somewhere to make a true analogous colour scheme (or whatever other option you can think of) is up to you, but I think the turquoise and green sort of wash together atm

 

The Good Doctor is Correct   - Purple Gems would pop more vividly, even Red would work too, as stated the blue green are on the same side of the wheel ... 

 

Mithril

[TrawlingCleaner]

Loving this paint scheme Halandaar! As a Craftworld Iybraesil collector, it reminds me of the colours I use. The monotone basing really helps to make the blue pop, great job.

I'm looking forward to seeing more

[Halandaar]

 

The patterning works really well. If I may make a critique, I think you need another spot colour to make it pop - whether that's changing the colour of the gems to a warmer colour or if it's adding another purpley-blue somewhere to make a true analogous colour scheme (or whatever other option you can think of) is up to you, but I think the turquoise and green sort of wash together atm

 

The Good Doctor is Correct   - Purple Gems would pop more vividly, even Red would work too, as stated the blue green are on the same side of the wheel ... 

 

The green not being a true contrast is sort of intentional; I wanted to really kind of sell the "ocean" feel with lots of blues and greens that sort of merge together. That all said, I will try out purple gems on a future model and see how it looks, because my Drukhari army is purple with blue accents and I'd like to have visual link between the two forces, even if it's a relatively small one.

 

Loving this paint scheme Halandaar! As a Craftworld Iybraesil collector, it reminds me of the colours I use. The monotone basing really helps to make the blue pop, great job.

I'm looking forward to seeing more

 

Thanks! I definitely feel that proximity to the Iybraesil scheme so I'm trying to make sure it's not exactly the same, 

[MithrilForge]

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Edited March 30, 2023 by Mumeishi

[Halandaar]

Prior to the whole purple gems discussion I'd pretty much finished these guys, so here they are with green!

[Doctor Perils]

https://www.sessions.edu/color-calculator/

 

Before experimenting straight on your models, I'd recommend having a look at the above site (or other similar interactive colour wheels) - play around to see if there's an accent colour that could work in your opinion. Remember, there can be a lot of colours in the ocean when taking into account wildlife and corals and such - perhaps a pinky-orange might suit your style better?

 

I would say, I think the gems themselves are fine being green, I think you might want to experiment more with patterns, a bit like biel-tan's vines. Perhaps tentacles or algae themed patterns could work for these guys, sticking with the ocean theme but still providing a bit more contrast :)

[MithrilForge]

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Edited March 30, 2023 by Mumeishi

[Tyriks]

I personally don't feel they NEED more contrast. I think they look great, especially with all the grays and whites. The green doesn't jump out but it does add to the general sense of cool watery vibes. I think replacing the green with a higher contrast color could look good also, but I don't think it is needed, I would love it if my models looked like this.

[Captain Coolpants]

I think they look fine!

 

If you wanted to experiment though. Maaaaby try your theme gradient thing on the shoulder pads maybe? Might be too much. But mighty be nice.

[Halandaar]

https://www.sessions.edu/color-calculator/

 

Before experimenting straight on your models, I'd recommend having a look at the above site (or other similar interactive colour wheels) - play around to see if there's an accent colour that could work in your opinion. 

 

This was very interesting; the "complementary" colour it recommended was a sort of burnt orange/brown, which I don't think really matches what I'm after, but the "monochromatic" and "analogus" suggestions match pretty well with what I've got already, including a green. The "triadic" suggestion does point to a purple so I'll bear that in mind for future minis. Maybe some soulstones in this kind of colour could help.

 

Remember, there can be a lot of colours in the ocean when taking into account wildlife and corals and such - perhaps a pinky-orange might suit your style better?

 

Really interesting thought there. One thing I'm trying to work out at the moment is how I'm going to approach my Aspect Warriors when I get around to them. I'd like them to keep a strong visual tie to the rest of the force without completely ignoring their "traditional" colour schemes, so as an idea my Dark Reapers might be a much darker shade of turquoise, rather than black. Fire Dragons is one that was stumping me a bit, but maybe a pink/orange coral type colour is exactly the solution and seeding that colour elsewhere across the army would make it feel a more natural fit.

 

I would say, I think the gems themselves are fine being green, I think you might want to experiment more with patterns, a bit like biel-tan's vines. Perhaps tentacles or algae themed patterns could work for these guys, sticking with the ocean theme but still providing a bit more contrast

 

That is a super cool idea, although based on previous attempts at that kind of freehand stuff I think it's probably beyond my ability; I'm not convinced I'd be able to make it look anything other than naff. Perhaps I'll give it a practice go at some point and see how it pans out!

[Halandaar]

Right so I've been working on my Farseer Skyrunner and tried out a splash of purple, have to say I quite like it. Thanks for the tip!

[Doctor Perils]

Right so I've been working on my Farseer Skyrunner and tried out a splash of purple, have to say I quite like it. Thanks for the tip!

It's looking great, congrats :tu: also glad you kept that green gem on the spear, together they work really well!

[MithrilForge]

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Edited March 30, 2023 by Mumeishi

[TrawlingCleaner]

Echoing what the others have said, the scheme really works! All the colours compliment each other and don't clash. Great work!

[Halandaar]

I've posted a bunch of finished models in other threads around the forum, so collating them here now with one completely new one to head it up, finished Banshees and Jain Zar!

Autarchs:

Rangers and Shroud Runners:

Bonesinger and Farseer Skyrunner

Farseer Skyrunner and Windriders

[Tyriks]

Those colors work so well with the Banshees!

[Dwango]

I'm liking the group shots. I'm also liking what you've done with the flight stands. The farseer is particularly well posed!

[Halandaar]

I'm liking the group shots. I'm also liking what you've done with the flight stands. The farseer is particularly well posed!

 

Thanks, I was particularly happy with that. Just tilting it to the side gives it a much better feel of moving at high speed! 

[TrawlingCleaner]

The colour scheme works so well with the basing and makes the whole thing pop really well, great work Halandaar!