Dark Eldar Daemons

A while back I took an interest in the Kabal of the Wraithkind. One of the things that intrigued me was that their Archon is described as having courted daemons.

It seems like an army made up of Dark Eldar and Daemons could make for a fun theme, but there's the obvious problem that actual daemons can't be used. The only thing we get are Mandrakes (which are fun but kinda one-note, given their lack of wargear, options, HQs etc.).

So what I'm looking for is ideas for other DE or Eldar (or Ynnari) units that could be refluffed as daemons of some sort of other.

Any suggestions?

The easiest one to include would be the Yncarne repurposed as some sort of daemon.

Another would be the avatar of khaine brought in via CW detachment (maybe auxiliary if you don't want any other CW units).

Perhaps counts-as beasts. or counts-as pain engines/grots.

too much horror

krayd wrote:

The easiest one to include would be the Yncarne repurposed as some sort of daemon.

Well, that's certainly doable. I'd quite like to give him a go anyway, even if he is overpriced.

Though, given that he has the 'daemon' keyword, I'm not sure he even needs much re-purposing.

krayd wrote:

Another would be the avatar of khaine brought in via CW detachment (maybe auxiliary if you don't want any other CW units).

Ah, good idea.

Anyway, I'm open to other Craftworld units, just not sure how many would fit the bill.

If I'm using the Yncarne, I could maybe have a Ynnari Farseer with Word of the Phoenix (fluffed as summoning reinforcements), but obviously that's only useful if I have some Eldar "daemons" for him to use it on. Maybe Striking Scorpions (they can deploy like Mandrakes and I could substitute a Slaanesh claw for the Exarch's Scorpion Claw)?

Alternatively, Harlequins are at least similar to daemons in that they have invulnerable saves on everything. Maybe I could do something with the Troupes?

krayd wrote:

Perhaps counts-as beasts. or counts-as pain engines/grots.

Beasts might work but I'm a little wary of using Grots. Seems like the army would just end up as 'a normal DE army but palette-swapped'.

newtonEmma wrote:

too much horror

Hmm?

I'm pretty sure at one point khymerae were fluffed as dream daemons (and had the daemon keyword until 7th edition if I remember right ... ) And they certainly look the part so you could look at them too ... But i think you could also just make a non competitive Daemon/Druhkari army for something like narrative play, I'm sure you'll find players that'll be happy to have a fun game like that, I've done Tau/Druhkari in my play group for fun narrative reasons and those are usually the more fun games, in my opinion

They definitely were dream demons at one point. That fluff has been tweaked somewhat, but I still like it.

I'm a big fan of the old style. I have a pack of them made from Dreamblade minis. (A mini game about gang warfare between packs of nightmares...so very appropriate.)

Archon_91 wrote:

I'm pretty sure at one point khymerae were fluffed as dream daemons (and had the daemon keyword until 7th edition if I remember right ... ) And they certainly look the part so you could look at them too ... But i think you could also just make a non competitive Daemon/Druhkari army for something like narrative play, I'm sure you'll find players that'll be happy to have a fun game like that, I've done Tau/Druhkari in my play group for fun narrative reasons and those are usually the more fun games, in my opinion

Perhaps but I'd prefer having an army that's usable in Matched Play games.

Still, you might be right. On reflection my idea probably wouldn't work anyway.

Thanks for the input, all.

Oh, one other question - rulewise, which Kabal (including Ynnari) do you think would be most appropriate for representing the Kabal of the Wraithkind?

Going by this source:
Link

There isn't too much information on them, but from mainly the last paragraph, about rather violent venting on the other races, and their mandrake-ness, I'd probably say kabal of the poisoned tongue.

The re-rolls to hit in combat would make sense with their outbursts, and you could fluff the strat as them using the same travel method as mandrakes.

I considered doing a similar project (Kabal of the Wraithkind really interested me!) and settled on doing a Kabal from Shaa-Dom at some point.

https://wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/Shaa-Dom

The plan if I ever get round to the project is to have The Wraiths (Kabal), Shades (Cult) and Revenants (Coven) of Shaa-Dom mixing in bits from daemons and sylvaneth with ethereal/black armour to show that the survivors/spirits of Shaa-Dom have broken the seal to exact revenge against Vect.

Sarcron wrote:

Going by this source:
Link

There isn't too much information on them, but from mainly the last paragraph, about rather violent venting on the other races, and their mandrake-ness, I'd probably say kabal of the poisoned tongue.

The re-rolls to hit in combat would make sense with their outbursts, and you could fluff the strat as them using the same travel method as mandrakes.

Ah, good catch on their violent venting. Makes me wish Kabal had some actual combat units.

Anyway, Poison Tongue is fine. I could probably refluff the Soul Seeker as a wraith weapon (since it ignores cover and LoS).

Thanks for the input.

Gizamaluke wrote:

I considered doing a similar project (Kabal of the Wraithkind really interested me!) and settled on doing a Kabal from Shaa-Dom at some point.

https://wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/Shaa-Dom

The plan if I ever get round to the project is to have The Wraiths (Kabal), Shades (Cult) and Revenants (Coven) of Shaa-Dom mixing in bits from daemons and sylvaneth with ethereal/black armour to show that the survivors/spirits of Shaa-Dom have broken the seal to exact revenge against Vect.

Ah, I like that idea.

Yeah, I've been trying to think how to best approach this from an aesthetic perspective. Having more demonic armour and weapons - especially on the higher-ranking Kabalites - could be a start.

I was also wondering about doing some part-swaps to make some of the Kabalites or Wyches look partially daemonic. e.g. having Sybarites or Hekatrixes with tentacles to represent Agonisers, daemonic flames for Blasters/Blast Pistols, claws for Hydra Gauntlets etc.

I'd also like to try and do some conversions to make my Archons look more Mandrake-ish. I'm thinking along the lines of head or body swaps, to try and give the impression of Mandrakes wearing Kabalite armour. Ideally, I'd like to add horns to my Warlord Archon, so that he closely resembles the Wraithkind symbol.

Not sure how far I'll get, but that's the plan at least.

This guys mask looks kinda wraithkind

Oh wow. What model is that?

Loon Curse Arch Revenant

Gizamaluke wrote:

Loon Curse Arch Revenant

Nice. I might well try and acquire one (or at least some of the parts) when it's released.

The head already looks very Archon-y.

Thanks for the idea.

That model has tons of conversion potential for an Archon as-is, the weapon and helmet in particular. But it's a spitting image for the Wraithkind, I agree

Yeah, really makes me wish we had some winged HQs, as it would be great to use more of that model.

That aside, the regular Sylvaneth Tree-Revenants also seem like good conversion opportunities for Mandrakes/Wraithkind.

I might also try and find some CSM stuff to augment my Kabalites and such with.

I love everything about what you just said, it would be dope to have flying HQs or even just dudes on dope skyboards that aren’t useless...

Bit of an update, guys and also a question. I haven't managed to get an Arch Revenant yet (he's currently selling for £25-30 on ebay, which is more than I'm comfortable paying for a single, small model when I mostly just want the head   ). Hopefully I'll manage to get one at some point.

In the meantime, I got a pack of Tree Sprites/Revenants so I'm currently messing around with those.

I'd still like to have at last one Archon who looks part Mandrake (or part daemon).

I was initially thinking of using a Mandrake with Scourge legs:

Spoiler:

(If you're wondering why the legs are painted it's because I borrowed them from another model).

However, I'm not sure how well it works. What do you think?


A possible alternative would be to use the 'spare' torso from the Tree Sprite set:

Spoiler:

I know the it's an awkward comparison but do you think one works better than the other?

I prefer the mandrake version, I'd reposition the legs though and have the bale flame arm reaching out as if hes lunging forward like the tenebrael shard

With the spare mandrake legs you could position them like he has one foot up on a rock with sword pointed to the sky urging the daemons onwards like this;

Oh wow, those are some fantastic looking models.

Yeah, I'll definitely give that a go with the spare Mandrake legs.

I think I've still got some of the other Mandrakes, so I'll try one of the other torsos (probably the one with the outstretched arm).

I was hoping to use those scourge legs because I liked the claws instead of feet. However, I think there might be another pair of legs with clawed feet in a more aggressive position, so I'll give those a look.

Really appreciate all your input on this project, Gizamaluke.

No worries mate! I live for cool DE projects like this. You could still use those scourge legs, it's kind of finicky but you can separate the foot from the rock re pin it in a more aggressive manner, I've done it with both my Archons

Oh wow. That Archon looks fantastic. I love how well you've got the cloak to fit the motion of his legs.

Regarding my own Archons above, I might actually end up making both.

I was going to abandon the second one, until I noticed that the raised Scourge knee seemed to perfectly match one of the long-haired heads:

Spoiler:

(Don't know how he'll turn out but I can always use him as a Dracon or maybe an allied Ynnari-Eldar/-Harlequin HQ).


That aside, I've taken your advice and will be using the more aggressive legs for the Mandrake one.

I was also wondering about using one of the Tree Revenant claws, in place of the normal fire arm, to make it even more aggressive (and also more different from the standard Mandrakes). I was thinking of painting it as though his hand was turning more to shadow or something like that.

Spoiler:

(Obviously I'd need to cut the join down a bit to get it to fit nicely. Currently it's just held on with blu-tac to give you a rough idea.)

Think it could work or is it too oversized?

Nah I think they both look cool and the claw arm is reminiscent of the old archon with his giant claw!