Greetings from the Frozen North

Hi all! I'm Johan, but you may call me "My lord" and tremble in fear unless you'd prefer I feed you to the razorwings. Jokes aside, I walked into the games store when I was something like 12, saw the Dark Kin, and had to get them. My friend also bought some 40k minis (guard), but we never played the game proper. It was too complex for us. But those cool Dark Eldar...

Fast forward to this day and we've got back into the game with some friends a while ago. Time to get my own army. Which army do I choose - is there a question? I took my poorly painted tin Dark Eldar lord from the closet and let her lead the troops in glorious combat.

I also bought 3 start collecting Dark Eldar! sets and am so far 3-0 vs that very same Astra Militarum army from a decade ago with my collection.

Here's my first fully painted Kabalites... since the last 10 years anyway. I'm tentatively calling my mooks and pawns the "Darklight Raiders" kabal, a bunch of hyperspace-drifting pirates, mercenaries and slave traders working for the highest bidder. Still working on the idea. I'll post a kabal introduction when I have more finished!

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Before getting into this and especially after, I've been a fan of some dudes, specifically Splintermind guys, the Spider wrt/the game and Thirdeyenuke and Picta Mortis wrt/miniature painting. And I really like this forum and have been lurking for a while already, it's great! Thanks!

Hello Lord Johan, and welcome to TDC!

Sounds like you have a good start for your DE collection, and I really like the paint scheme you are using. Nice and dark!

Enjoy your time in Commorragh

Thank you! Before I started building my own army, I played my friends' armies for a while, but my heart is in dark Commorragh.

I think I got lucky today. Thanks to a friend, I was able to buy out a guy who is quitting dark eldar, bought a bag of slightly damaged painted stuff for less than a hundred €. So here's what I am in command of now:

- 1 old style dark eldar lord (played as succubus/archon actually she's been a lhamaean hq every time so far but oh well)
- 20 old kabalites (played as the trueborn of my kabal)
- 10 old wyches
- 1 old raider
- 1 old reaver

- 4 new archons
- 10 new wyches
- 50 new kabalites
- 9 new reavers
- 10 new scourges
- 6 new raiders
- 3 new venoms
- 2 new ravagers (severely damaged but good enough)
- 3 haemonculi
- 5 converted dudes intended to be incubi
- 1 harlequin shadowseer
- 1 harlequin troupe

I plan to play this army for hopefully years and this seems like a good start!

As for the paint scheme, thanks! I want my guys to look as threatening as possible. They're wearing their prey's skin for their loincloth. They're not messing around. But I have been on the fence about whether it's too dark and doesn't make the miniature look interesting enough.

That is a nice collection to start with, and I adore some of the old models. The Raiders and Ravagers primarily. The jagged armour plates look so brutal.

If you feel it's too dark then I have a suggestion for you. It's pretty dark metal in general, which I think really works, but it could do with another colour to catch the eye. So far there are two noticeable colours: the grey of the metal and the skin loincloths. I reckon a slightly brightre colour used in the lenses of the helmets and along the vent bits on the sides of the splinter rifles would be enough to make them pop a bit more.

You can also start a thread in the Painting Discussion section if you'd like a wider range of opinions and advice. Everyone here is pretty friendly, so you shouldn't struggle to get feedback.

Also, out of curiosity, is the old Dark Eldar Lord model the one with the Hell Mask and the really tall hat, or the woman with a staff? The old Archon with hell mask and Agoniser is one of my favourite GW models, although many would disagree.

Cavash wrote:

If you feel it's too dark then I have a suggestion for you. It's pretty dark metal in general, which I think really works, but it could do with another colour to catch the eye. So far there are two noticeable colours: the grey of the metal and the skin loincloths. I reckon a slightly brightre colour used in the lenses of the helmets and along the vent bits on the sides of the splinter rifles would be enough to make them pop a bit more.

You can also start a thread in the Painting Discussion section if you'd like a wider range of opinions and advice. Everyone here is pretty friendly, so you shouldn't struggle to get feedback.

Also, out of curiosity, is the old Dark Eldar Lord model the one with the Hell Mask and the really tall hat, or the woman with a staff? The old Archon with hell mask and Agoniser is one of my favourite GW models, although many would disagree.

I think I should! The models' eyes are actually fluorescent so they can look pretty glowy in the right light. But it just doesn't seem to be enough to bring them to life.

All the old models are the elites of this army and I actually like them too, although the paintjob on these ones is horrible. The Dark Eldar Lord is the girl. I think she's the first model I've ever bought and painted, has blue armor and she looks like she's melting because of unthinned paint. But she will never be repainted on principle unless something horrible happens.

Welcome to the dark city and congrats on your good find!

Flourescent eyes sound fancy! Sorry if I didn't notice them, I'm rather colourblind and fear they may have blended into the metal.

It's nice that you're not repainting the model. A 40k heirloom!

Thanks Adma!

Sorry Cavash! The eyes and chest device have been given a few coats of Vallejo's fluorescent magenta model paint. Wasn't really planned but I saw it on the shelf in a hobby shop so I figured why not.

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I'll be painting a customized archon and scourges next, so I think I'll try adding a bit more glow and highlight effects, compare and then if I'm not happy, make a thread asking for advice

Ah, I see. And there is no need to apologise. I have mutant eyes... not cool enough to make me a member of the X-Men though.

I hope the Archon and Scourges turn out well for you. You could always start a project log to store your progress in. It also helps keep you motivated when you have people poking you with sticks for updates