The Poisoned Claw Returns

Soldaan swept from No'ki's audiance chamber out into the halls of the main Palace, his blood was singing. He could still here his fellow lords, Hellspite and Viraki, arguing in the main chamber. But Soldaan could care little for their arguments now.

When Archon No'ki had called them to her audiance chamber he had felt today would be a good day, and he hadn't been disapointed. The master of the Poisoned Claw had declared her intent to launch another real space raid, and she had appointed Soldaan to be her Herald. It was Soldaan and his warband who would be the first to bathe in slaughter. Too many times had he been left to pick up the scraps after Hellspite, left in the void hunting metal lethians. But this time...

Hi guys and gals.

So here we go again, hopefully this shall be my little project log for a while now as I update the Poisoned Claw's ranks with fresh new shinny models. I don't confess to be a great modeler or painter, I just aim for "table top" quality and try to tell a bit of a story with my models.

When trying to decide what to buy and build first to expand my army I decided to try and work in stages and work around certain characters in the Kabal's back story. This way I could focus and not get too distracted between the different elements.

So the honor of being the first stage in this expansion goes to Soldaan Darkclaw, Lord of Port Dali. Soldaan controls the Poisoned Claw's main port and holds the largest number of vessels in the kabal's fleet, second only to No'ki herself. Anything entering the dark city through Port Dali passes through Soldaan's hands, often claiming interesting additivites for the Claws work from the lesser Kabals who use the port, as "payment". Rumor persists that Soldaan retains some of the best toxins for his own warband, holding back parts of the Archon's full due...

Soldaan is a character who has been condemed to text for a long time, but with the new codex there is a set of rules which represent his individual skills rather well. Soldaan acts as my Counts as Duke on the table top. I think that's enough rambling for now, so onto the pictures.







(Having a couple of connection problems so I will try and upload more pictures later).

Preacher wrote:

When trying to decide what to buy and build first to expand my army I decided to try and work in stages and work around certain characters in the Kabal's back story. This way I could focus and not get too distracted between the different elements.

I wish I would have done that... I did learn a lot about army building with my old Chaos army though... I had built roughly 400pts of marines and 200pts of terminators before I came to the realization that while they looked cool, they weren't legal.

Preacher wrote:

Soldaan is a character who has been condemed to text for a long time, but with the new codex there is a set of rules which represent his individual skills rather well. Soldaan acts as my Counts as Duke on the table top. I think that's enough rambling for now, so onto the pictures.

I love the dual agonisers. That's really sweet. I can't wait to see more pics.

I understand being condemned to paper. Dark Eldar have always been my first 40k love fluffwise. When I looked at the model range, back in 2004-2005, I was appalled at the hideousness of over 98% of the model line. I read countless fanfics, blogs and re-vamped fan-Codices. And now... now we get to revel in the best model line Games-Workshop has ever produced.

I can't wait to see (and read) more, Preacher. Keep up the good work.

Xelkireth wrote:

I wish I would have done that... I did learn a lot about army building with my old Chaos army though... I had built roughly 400pts of marines and 200pts of terminators before I came to the realization that while they looked cool, they weren't legal.

I just had so many ideas floating round my head I thought breaking things down into their own areas would be a good idea, and then it leaves my mass of old warriors and raiders (I used to run floot slogging DE. I miss my cheap 20man squads ), as my Archon's personal household. So hopefully this should help me concentrate on solid ideas.

The dual agonisers are definettly a favourite of mine as well and I think it gives him a good feel of the "pirate" lord that he is. I still chuckle with glee at the image of him stepping down from his venom and ensaring some poor unfortunate with one whip whilst striking down another with the second. I am hoping in the future to add a small "familiar" to his base as his pet.

I've updated the above post with a couple more pictures so hopefully they give a bit of a better idea of the model. I'm also including the second Syberite and a warrior of his warband in this post (the first is rather standard as I just built the first squad from the box). This second unit should hopefully portray the speed and "piracy" theme of Soldaan's warband.

I love the kitbashing potential of the Dark Eldar.

"My lord, you seem in high spirits." Stepping out of the shadows Syberite XanChi, a true born, welcomed Soldaan as soon as he arrived in the hanger bay.

"I trust your audiance with Her Highness went well?" XanChi fell into step behind his lord as Soldaan set a brisk pace across the hectic landing bay. The main hanger of the Palace of the Poisoned Claw was a carcophony of noise, the screaming jets of Raiders and Venoms nearly drowning out any conversation.

"Yes, quite well indeed XanChi. Assemble your squad, we leave for Port Dali immeditaly."

XanChi quickly dodged an incoming Venom bearing the colours of a neighboring Kabal, warriors no doubt coming to pay homage to the Lady of Poisons. "Sire? Why? What did she say?"

"Because," Soldaan rounded on the Syberate, tired of being questioned, "We are to lead the next raid into real space. Now assemble your men before I leave you here to rot!"

In a single bound Soldaan lept onto the deck of another passing Venom, this one baring the markings of his own Sundered Venom warband.

"And make it quick Syberite, I hunger!"

Sorry about the little snippets, I'm trying to get my hand back into writting at the same time.

Not much to add this time but I've got a few pictures of XanChi's Kabalites. They're only blu-tac'd in these pictures but they're now glued and waiting for the Wyches to be finished so they can be under coated. I'm also trying to get a picture of one of my painted warriors to give you an idea of the colour scheme I'm using for these guys.









Ok, so I can't find any pictures of the new models I've painted and I don't have time to take them and upload now. However here's some pictures of my classic warriors to give you a bit of an idea.

A truce born, huh?

Nice poses on your warriors. I loathe static looking models. Especially on Dark Eldar. Yours have a nice fluidity of motion.

Ah yes, Syberite XanChi, one of a select few members of the Kabal to be born at a time of peace between the Poisoned Claw and their great rivals the Kabal of Rushed Typing. These rare individuals are known as the Truce Born.

Cheers for pointing that out Xelkireth, fixing it now.

I always try quite hard to get some motion into my models, as you say especially with the new Dark Eldar kits, they seem to want to move themselves. But believe me my girlfriend gets hours of entertainment watching me pose my models as I normally end up trying out the poses myself to see if it feels natural.

Preacher wrote:

But believe me my girlfriend gets hours of entertainment watching me pose my models as I normally end up trying out the poses myself to see if it feels natural.

I do the same thing! Abbie finds the hobby interesting but always arches an eyebrow when I bust out some ridiculous looking pose.

No intro story today I'm afriad as I've taken a quick break from Soldaan's raid. With all the infantry models assembled for the army I sprayed them on my day off and had to find something to do while I waited for them to dry.

My unit of Mandrakes have been sat on the back of my painting table for a while starring at me in all their undercoated blackness. They were a box I picked up when the DE were first released as a fun project, I knew I may not use them but quite frankly the models are too cool to ignore. I was trying to decide between new Incubi or Mandrakes and Tien decided for me that the Mandrakes looked cooler. So there we go, never argue with a woman. Evil Shadow ninja evles are cool.

But once they were assembled and undercoated I couldn't decide how to paint them. The standard heavy metal schemes all look to dull and samey for my taste. Oooo big veritaty their flame is a different colour and their robe a slight different shade of skin. So I'd looked around but nothing really inspired me...

Until Tuesday, when out of the blue something hit me like a blast of balefire. Having a crazy idea I began to experiment with one of the Mandrakes and I must confess I'm rather happy with the result. (I also managed to take a better picture than normal, woop woop).









So as you can see I went in the opposite direction to heavy metal and made my mandrakes as light as possible. The rest of my army is quite dark anyway so I think this scheme should work as a nice contrast but still gives them that evil shadowy feel. They might not slink from your shadow, but they'll ghost through a wall to rip your guts out.

I'm not sure how well you can tell on this picture, but the bale fire is a similar colour to his skin, but just more extreme. (A darker green in the recesses and stronger highlights). My aim was to make it look less"fire" this guy is throwing at you, but more that he's projecting himself the distance, and then chasing you down.

Edit: There we go, new Mandrake pictures up.

And just for the sake of completeness, because the scheme has changed slightly I've managed to get some pictures of my updated colour scheme on the new warriors. Hopefully they give the idea of how the Mandrakes constrast to the rest of the army, but still are visually linked.

He double posted, Quick get him!

Updated the above post with new pictures as promised.

Have I told you I love purple?

It's such a nicety to see A, a purple army and B, a non-red army. There's been so much red lately.

they're looking good preacher.

Xelkireth wrote:

It's such a nicety to see.....a non-red army. There's been so much red lately.

bugger - mine's dark red.... i might not post by WiP now.... lol!

Not at all Rider. I personally don't like the color red. *shrug*

Haha don't worry Rider I consider the colour of my Kabalites to be "Maroon" which is kind of a halfway house between red and purple.

It also helps that the primary colour I paint them with is RedGore, which then gets a very liberal wash of Purple Ink to turn them Maroon. Or as I prefer to see it, the colour of veinous blood.

mine are a mix of black and scab red for a base (nicer coverage and deeper colour than mechrite) which highlights over 4 or 5 layers to an almost blood red edge highlight.

once i think of a name and more solid theme, i'll start the project log.

*A beautiful symphony of screams finally reaches a crescendo as the last drop of energy is torn from a "pure heart", the only thing to bring the truly dead back from beyond the veil. The crystal sarcophagi hanging all around shatter, shards of glass tinkling to the ground like rain drops. The Log of the Poisoned Claw was reborn*

Well that was all quite invigorating wasn't it? About as invigorating as my Chemistry Lecturer getting all excited about Tritium...but that's beside the point. (For those wondering, I'm procrastinating and writing this rather than a Chemistry assignment). So it's been a long long time since I last posted in this log so I thought it was time to bring it back.

I've rambled enough for this reintroduction so I guess the first question is where to start? The army has been growing in fits and starts, and my photographing has been sporadic at best so lets see...

When I first started this thread I was working on the warband of Soldaan Darkclaw, my counts as Duke. If you've been following the Archons' Challenge you've probably already seen the finished Soldaan but here he is again for the sake of completeness.





I'm not completely happy with the finished product but he is likable. If I can I'd like to alter his position on the base slightly as he looks like he is leaning back more than he does in the photo. I'd also like to add some more depth to the twin agonisers he's wielding as they look quite plain in the image (although they don't look as bad in real life).

Whilst we are on the subject of Lords I've been trying, and failing, to come up with ideas for a replacement for my Archon. I've tried a few ideas, but nothing so far has worked. For the past umpteen years the female Dracon model has served as the Lady No'ki Van'kar, and whilst she still looks the part I wanted to update her. The problem is nothing seem quite right to replace her. So here's the old model:

(Wow you can tell it's an older picture with a proper camera)

Now as I've said I have tried a couple of ideas on how to replace her. I've made a couple of scratch builds from spare plastic parts, but they've always looked too "low ranking" to be the Lady. When it was first released I also tried using the new Succubus model for her, and although I like the model it wasn't No'ki.



That Succubus model has now been appropriated to form the base of the "Dracon" in Soldaan's True Born bodyguard unit. (More from them in the next post hopefully). But I still find myself being drawn back to the challenge of Lady No'ki. My current idea is to use the succubus model again (I'd have to get a shinny new finecast version, which my wallet doesn't like the idea of (curse leaving a full time job to return to education)), however this time combine it with a Hellglaive, with a huskblade replacing the blade and find an appropriate head. The problem then comes down to trying to fashion her a cloak of some sort. Any thoughts on this would be appreciated.

That about raps it up for the HQ section of this post. Urien is glaring at me from the back of the display case waiting for me to repaint his flesh but he can wait until another time. Instead I'd like to leave you with a few teaser images, mainly to get your feed back and encourage me to take more pictures. Enjoy...

The Sybarite Atheris Short-blade...


The Sybarite Xan'Chi...


Hekatrix Xanthina...


The Solarite Tenuirostrix...

I really likie your archon, reminds me quite a lot of the whip wielding wampire from the end of the first underworld film. Nice colour scheme too, and two very enthusiastic thumbs up for naming your characters, don't see enough of that for my liking.

Cheers for the comments Burning Eye. I'm quite proud of Soldaan, I'm not quite sure how effective using dual whips would be, but it presents a nice athesthic and something a bit different to represent the Duke's weapons. As for the names, its something I always try to do with some level of success. For example I don't like Hekatrix Xanthina's name, so it may well change in the future. That said I classify myself as a fluff gamer, so the more background I can squeeze in the better. I'm currently working on yet another rework of my Kabal's backstory.

So onto the developments. I want to say before we get going, sorry for the dire pictures, between bad lighting and a camera phone I had to try and save what I could. On top of that, I paint to "Table Top" standard and I never think close ups do them any justice.

I left you last time with a few teaser shots of some unit champions so to start of this post we'll have a bit of a better look at some of those units.

The Short-blade Kablities- Atheris Short-blade is one of the "true believers" present in Soldaan's own corsairs. Whilst she joined the Kabal of the Poisoned Claw along with the rest of Sundered Venom corsairs she was quickly taken in by the teachings and promises of the Temple of Van'Kar. Now she stands as a somewhat irritating thorn in Soldaan's side. Whilst she and the unit of raiders she leads by virtue are some of the best in his employ, her loyalty now firmly lies with Archon No'Ki, rather than Soldaan. How he can remove such a problem is something Soldaan is steadily working on...








The Short-blades were the first unit I built from the new range, and as such are rather "standard". I noticed once I'd taken the pictures that they're missing one of their number but I think you can get the feel for the unit. Their bases are no where near done, but I will probably wait to do them until I've finished this section of the army.

Xanthina's Hekatari- Xanthina and her Wyches are one of the bands of Mercenary Hekatari employed by the Poisoned Claw. Holding no particular alligance to any faction within the Poisoned Claw, Xanthina is happy to work alongside any of the lords who are willing to pay. With that said, in recent raids it has been noted that her warriors are beginning to show signs of swaying alligance; certain trinkets and colours suggest a growing following for the High Executioner Draco Hellspite. For now however they seem content to follow Soldaan on his frequent raids into real space.






I always used to struggle with painting the old Wyches, and as such avoided painting them as much as I could. These new ones were a farsight enclave easier to paint. I wanted them to stand out from my standard Kabalites, but still to fit in well enough. After a few goes I settled on their purple scheme, with the green and a few flashes of red to tie them in. I really do have to appologise for how washed out some of these pics are.

The Necrosyrtia- *Information Currently Unavailible*


Not alot of pictures of the Necrosyrtia yet because Photobucket decided it didn't like me anymore. She is my first Razorwing, and I've fallen in love with the model. There's also no fluff on her yet as I haven't been able to use her. I suppose she should belong firmly to the Sundered Venom Corsairs, but part of me says No'ki would like to keep the big big toys to herself...

That about wraps it up for the "Complete" section of the post, so onto the "Coming Soon"...

Along with my Ravager for the Archon's challenge and some Stern Guard for my Astral Claws I've been working on updating my Reavers. Here's the test model, before and after...

Before:

After:

Again, bad lighting...

The next post should hopefully contain some of my more "specalist" units, such as these Incubi with a fresh new look...


Until next time, have a good sin.

Really like the razorwing, that looks great!
I like the green theme running through all the models as well, i think DE have the potential to look quite disjointed on the tabletop with cults, shrines, kabals, covens etc all potentially having different colour schemes so having a unifying colour is important.

I like the old jetbikes, good job on the new paint scheme. I'm in a similar boat with trying to update my army. 90% of my army is old school…

Heyhey kids! Struggling to write this post thanks to my neighbor's music, I feel I should introduce him to some of my Heamonculus props. I haven't got too much to post either as I'm afraid my Astral Claws have grab me again for the moment, just finished my first Stern Guard unit and am now considering repainting my basic troops to match their new darker scheme.

Thanks for the comments guys, keeps me going with the log.

To start off with, here are a few more pictures of the The Necrosyrtia. I'm still trying to decide what to do with the base, so I'd welcome any suggestions.




As I said last time I absolutely love this model (although I did have a problem with the tail fin). I'm already planning out how to mash two together to build a Void Raven. I'm not too keen on some of the "longer" conversions I've seen (although amazzingly well done I'm just not keen on the shape). My plans involve two sets of wings, although I'm still unsure on how to fit in a second cock-pit.

Keeping to the Heavy Support section for the time being, here are some pictures of the sole Ravager currently in my force. It's also my entry into Stage 3 of the Archon's Challenge. A bit of history on the model, I originally built it back in 4th Ed after I'd got tired of the huge metal side plates falling off my Ravager. (I still don't know who had the bright idea of heavy metal additions to a light plastic kit).


Lhilitu Class Ravager- The Kabals of the Dark City employ a spectrum of different designs for their pleasure crafts, most produced and modified at the whim of their pilots or Archons. Whilst some designs occur over and over again, mass produced by the factories of the lower city, some are rarer, involving personal modification or individual designs. The "Lhilitu Class" Ravager, heavily employed by the Poisoned Claw, is one such design. Based upon a design of Raider now falling out of fashion within the city, the Lhilitu compromises the space of side gunners for larger, more ostentatious shielding for them.




Moving slowly towards the promised Incubi I've just about finished their transport. There's no fluff on this thing yet, as firstly it swaps between my Incubi and the Duke, and secondly I'm not sure about adding history to transports.



The base is yet to be finished and I'm tempted to repaint the canopy in a similar style to the Razorwing.

And finally, the promised Incubi.

those new warriors look wikid. the more i saw the more i liked.

These minis are looking awesome. I really like the combination of the different purples and greens in the colour scheme. Its also great to see some of the classic minis as well.

Your duel whip Archaon is really well done. The pose and bits selection is top class.

As always thanks for the replys, shows someone is enjoying this stuff beyond me. I don't get a chance to get down to my local GW with the army much at the moment so the feed back I get here is very much appreicated.

@Kizzdougs and Burning Eye- Cheers. The green had originally been only in the hair of my clasic warriors, and then their weapons in my 4th Ed redux army, slowly it seems to be seeping more and more into other places in the army. That's not a bad thing because as you say I think it works to tie them all together, no matter which sect their from. The purple is another colour that has started to creep in for one reason or another. I just hope it doesn't detract too much from the main colour scheme.

So after our brief Heavy Support and Elite interlude of last month it's back to something a little more basic this time. Lets have a look see...I still owe you folks the squads of Xan'Chi, Tenuirostrix...

A brief thing before we start, I've tried to get some slightly better pictures by playing with some settings on my camera phone and putting a WHS carrier bag (I paid my 1p for it, I'm going to use it) over my lamp to diffuse the light. So let me know if you think my fire-hazard has helped.

Xan'Chi Corsair Kablities- Xan'Chi Valkir, Dracon of the Sundered Venom corsairs. Xan’Chi served Soldaan long before the Corsair band found permanent “sponsorship” within the Poisoned Claw. As such he is a “loyal”, as far as the term can be applied to the dark eldar, member of Soldaan’s inner court. Ever eager to prove himself to his master Xan’Chi can be found at the forefront of any raid, the Kabalites under his command being experts in boarding assaults. But blind ambition does not go un-noticed and Soldaan is well aware of his Dracon’s ambition. Whether through sheer recklessness, or by a manipulating hand, Xan’Chi rarely returns from a raid completely unscathed but for now Soldaan continues to insist on reanimating his lieutenant. .







XanChi's Kabalites were the second of the new units I assembled way back in June of last year, but I've only recently got round to actually painting them. I used a mixture of bits from the Kabalite, Wyche and Hellion boxes to make them look as "piraty" as I could. I knew when I was building these guys that they were going to be part of Soldaan's warband and as such had to look a bit more like "Space Pirates" than your average Kabalite. I really do love having such an adaptable range nowadays.

The Unkindness of Tenuirostrix- Hailing from the eyries of Eridanos the Solarite Tenuirostrix, often simply called Tenu although never to his face, is currently enjoying a particularly lucrative contract with the Poisoned Claw. Unlike the eyries of upper Commorragh those in Eridanos exist out in the larger “shoal spires” beyond the upper city, where Scourge flocks constantly squabble over their preferred perches. Along with his brother, Baalan’Tioteryx, Tenu and his Scourges have only recently joined the direct employ the Poisoned Claw and due to their position remain relatively neutral concerning the internal politics of the Kabal. As far as Tenu and Baalan’ are concerned they serve whichever of the lords agrees to their ever shifting fees.







I'm just going to come out and say it. I love the Scourge models. Not just to look at in pretty pictures, but to build and paint, they are a joy. I may have to up both my squads to ten men just so I can paint some more. My only complaint is I strugle to paint flesh, so the bare feet are a pain. What more can I say? I think the models speak for themselves, I really did enjoy all the little extra "poison" vials and stim-packs.

These scourges where the first place I introduced the purple purple (as opposed to my maroon colour) into the army and I think it's grown from here. I tried to get in some variation in the colour on the wings with a natural pattening so I hope that paid off.

Thats it for another update, hope you enjoyed it. Any comments and feed back (on painting, picture taking, or fluff) is greatly appreciated. Hopefully next time I can show you some of my recent experiments into Wrack flesh, New/Old Hybrids and the new paint range.

Enjoy.