Kabal of The Ebon Fire [Updated on February 10th - I've decided on a paint scheme!]

Hey there,

Here you will be able to follow the development of my army, consisting of the Kabal of The Last Laugh Ebon Fire, Cult of The Bladed Hand and the Coven of The Twisted Host Enlightened.
I'm a perfectionist and put a lot of thought into every one of my models; basing, posing, converting and personalizing are paramount to my army. As a result, however, I'm very slow in producing finished units, and as I'm a poor student as well, there has been neither the time nor the money to actually paint any of them yet!
But if you'd like to see a unique army of Dark Eldar grow, one model at a time, share your thoughts about it with me and even learn a thing or two, then please, feel free and join me on this journey of pain, spikey spikes and plastic crack.

Let's begin with my latest creation, the Cronos Parasite Engine. It says in the DE codex that the Cronos is very insect-like, clicking and buzzing while it shares the pain it causes with his masters. Therefore, I tried to move away from the very Talos-y look of the original model and tried to make it more serpent/insect like. Deeply inspired by the Cronos of 'Power Hungry Monkey' over at WarSeer, as well as the general appearance of the Tyranid Venomthrope, I decided to build this little darling:





As you can see, it uses the Talos torso and the Cronos arms, but instead of mounting it on a flying base, I stuck it on a Necron Wraith tail thingy. Believe me, it's as if they were made to be used together! I shaved off a few metal nubbings on the back and replaced them with Raider thorns and shoulder plate blades, to tie them in with the DE theme. The little spheres on the sides of the upper part of the tail will be painted like transparent poison containers. I cut off the too techy looking blade at the tip and replaced it with the Spirit Syphon needle to create a kind of DBZ Cell-esque feel.

The head I used is actually the 'hand' of the Talos Ichor Injector, but it blends in so seemlessly with the back armour and looks so appropriately insectoid that I had to use it as its face. I accidentally cut off the tip of one of the mandibles and then went on to repair it by glueing in two Kabalite shoulder armour blades. It looks even better now!

The secondary arms are shaved-down versions of Chaos Horror arms, nicely suggesting the mage feel of the Cronos - in the background to my Kabal, this Cronos used to be a Chaos Sorcerer! Muaharhar... har.

I finished off the model by adding a lot of fragile and spikey, buzzy and clicky bits to it, as visible on the back armour and the second and third pairs of vestigial arm sockets. I then added the spine cluster thing as a secondary tail in order to visualize movement; as if it just turned around, noticing a new victim.


Tell me what you think!


EDIT:
Okay, I don't believe this. Can someone please tell me how to upload pictures? I've actually done so multiple times before, but now I don't seem to be able to anymore? I don't want to embarrass myself again!

See my PM. Gob.

EDIT:
Thank you!

Alriiight!
Sorry for the double post, but it finally worked and you should be able to see the pictures now. The problem was that I can't upload pictures from the public PCs at my university. I currently don't own a PC myself and am always only posting via my phone (which doesn't allow uploads either...)
Now I'm at a friend's place and will try to upload as much as possible so stay tuned for the next hour or so!

Excellent monster

Moving on from my latest model to my first model ever: the Master Haemonculus of The Twisted, inspired by this picture and also found in your Dark Eldar Codex on page 37. Maybe already known to some of you from an old thread of mine (linky), but I thought I should present it here in my plog, too.



The parts I used are all described in the thread I've linked to, but feel free to ask, remark and point out whatever you like, especially as I've done some modifications and obviously still have to model the legs!

Speaking of The Twisted, I'm not sure about the name. What do you think?
I really like the symbol of the Prophets of Flesh (DE Codex p. 86), as I find it suitably freaky, but I don't like the fact that it's led by Urien Rakarth. I want my own Master Haemonculus to lead my Coven... Hmm.

Aaand moving on! Here's my first Kabalite Warrior squad. It is designed to be playable as two five-man squads riding in Venoms, or one ten-man squad, riding in a Raider, while still keeping all the options I need:

Squad A (scouting). Note the way the leader points somewhere for the Blaster guy, who listens dutyfully, while a rifle guy turns around quickly, having overheared the information and eager to fight. It's almost like a little diorama when the models are put into the right position! Note also how I've given a sinlge model a runic helmet, so it can be a Sybarite without upgrades when used in the small squad, but also a normal rank-and-file warrior, when in the big squad.


Squad B (firing). This one was tricky, as you can't really position all the individual models in different poses, when they're firing. I tried to differentiate them as well as I could, though. Note the squad leader here, too.


The real Sybarite, complete with back banner, close combat weapon, Phantasm Grenade Launcher, trophy-hand and awesome topknot. He will be the squad leader in the ten- or twenty-man unit. The heavy weapon guy has had his arms magnetized, so I can switch between load outs as I see fit. Believe it or not, I actually managed to put him in a pose that looks good with both weapons, even though they have diferent firing angles. Note also how I've shortened the barrel of the Dark Lance, because it was ridiculously too long, in my opinion. I refit the chain of the gunner, too.




The Venom for Squad A. Not much done here, except for the thorns on the hull and the different legs of the gunner. Now it really looks like she's leaning into the movement! Also, she's magnetized to keep her removable in case of a "Weapon Destroyed!" result.




And the whole crew together, minus one squad leader and one blaster. Note how I made every helmet look different, sometimes by cutting details off of one and glueing it onto another. All the female wariors have helmets with little 'tear-like' dents under the eyes, as I thought they looked make-up-y.



As you've certainly noticed, there's still another Venom and a Raider missing, in order to complete this unit. Fear not, they are under way, the second Venom is even all but finished, with only the base missing. Geez, my bases take so long to do! >_<

My questions to you:

- Do you think I should replace the left arm of the Sybarite? I don't really think it looks natural, but I didn't want another pointing hand or that typical "LOOK AT MY HUGE SWORD!"-pose. The close combat weapon is already implemented into the rifle, so maybe a relaxed arm, hanging down his side? But I already cut off the knife grip at his waist! Maybe an arm that is relaxedly holding a knife? But why would he do that? Argh...
- Do you think a schematic design of my units like this is appropriate? Like, "this unit is firing" and "this unit is scouting", etc? I sometimes feel like restricting myself too much by doing this.
- I accidentally destroyed the ball joint part on the venom. Because it wasn't a snug fit anymore, I then intelligently proceeded to cut the ball joint thing off and replacing it with magnets. It didn't work. Now I've pinned and glued it to the base and it holds nicely, but I wonder if this was the right decision? What if the Venom gets Wrecked or Immobilized? Don't I take away my own cover with this, as I'd have to remove the model from its base and place it on the table, thus hiding infantry behind it? What could I do?

Oh and by the way, I would really appreciate name suggestions for troop champions and HQs!

My last finished unit (sad, I know): a Reaver Jetbike squad.




Nothing fancy here, the bases took the longest to do. Every Reaver has a different looking jetbike with different arrangements of blades, chains and thorns. The Heat Lance guys are wearing glasses because a) it's cool and b) lances are supposed to be 'a little' damaging to the eyes. They also have the Cluster Caltrops things and huge blades underneath, because they can! In order to show the movement of the squad, every model has long, flowing hair.

That's it, no time to write more for now. Stay tuned, there's something big underway!

Kinnay

Oh, I am certainly digging that Cronos!!! Hot damn, and well done sir!! I really like the use of the ichor injector for the head. Plans for paint on it soon?

Rules-wise, if a wrecked or immobilized skimmer is glued to its stand, you are allowed to just leave it as-is. The vehicle is considered to be floating in the air while damaged/wrecked, so it still uses true line of sight for cover.

Like all models a lot, looking forward to see what paint scheme you chose

You have great models! I really like the effort you have put into your kabalites, trying to make them all different. The Sybarite with the PGL and banner combo is killer, I am curious how you did it. Also, I really like the magnetized heavy weapons kabalite. I also love Reaver jetbikes on bike bases, glad to see to not be the only one who likes them much more than tiny, fiddly clear bases. There's simply no way to properly pose a Reaver when you can't tell which way he is supposed to be facing.

I agree with the above sentiment towards the bases, I'm hoping to replace all flying stands with proper bases just like above!

The only thing I'm a bit worried about is that the bike bases might be a bit cumbersome in-game, 9 Reavers on biker bases will be considerably harder to pack tight than 9 Reavers on small flying bases

Back from the dead but no pictures as of yet. I still don't have a PC and always post from my phone that doesn't allow picture uploads...
Still wanted to give a small update as to what I've been building. I built and fully magnetized a Razorwing, finished the second Venom, kit bashed ten Wyches, built five Scourges and, well, cleaned Lelith.

Pictures will come soon!

@ESE and Setomidor:
Thanks! I'm glad you like them. Unfortunately I don't see myself painting anything in the near future, as I don't have any colors nor the money to get some. I just hope my converting, posing and basing makes up for it in the meantime of me saving up some cash?

@Siticus:
Thank you! Funny you should mention the Sybarites back banner as that was a pain in the bum to build and stabilize, but snapped right off in my first real game... :<
I'll probably just put a normal banner on him instead and figure out some better way of combining both pieces for the super Sybarite used in 20-man squads.

@Setomidor and Siticus:
Really happy you share my view on Reaver bases. I love designing bases and those have a lot of free space to use. Also, you're right in that posing is so much easier! The positioning issue on the board is less of a problem to me, as I don't see ultra fast moving jetbikes to cuddle in absurd angles and facings just to gain a mechanical advantage. They usually are kind of spread out, but the room those bases give me always suffice.

Good lord, has it really been almost 3 years since my last update?! Geesh. Sorry about that, but I guess I got stuck in trying to decide for a paint scheme and have been focussing on other things in life after kind of giving up on painting.
As to my modelling: mostly everything is done and I will be slowly showing the built models when I paint them, because yes, I'm finally painting! It has been a decade since I last put paint on a model (I was freaking 15 and the results were horrible), so let's see how it goes from here!

Here you can see four test models for my Kabal's scheme. Please help me decide!

A:


B:


C:


D:


My first idea was model A, very strongly inspired by the Kabal of the Dying Sun over on WarSeer (I think) and the scheme of which many other people seem to have liked and adopted. It is very nice, but in the end it didn't quite fit with what I had in mind for my minis.

Model B is a 1:1 copy of the Kabal of the Keening Blade from Raiders of Commorragh. I love the scheme with it's cool colors and it is loads of fun to paint (pink is a dream to put on a model!), but the more I looked at it, the more comic-y it seemed to me. It is a striking color scheme from the distance, but upon closer inspection it has too broad strokes and a very high contrast. Hmm.

Model C is an evolved version of model B. It basically combines the scheme of GW's Militarum Tempestus and the new Skaven scheme, both featured and explained on their YouTube channel. It is much more realistic and I like that a lot. The further you move away from the model, though (like when it's on the table top), the more the lines seem to blurr together and it loses a lot of its character and definition.

Model D was my attempt to keep the realistic look while raising the contrast again, but then ended up looking too comic-y again, I'm afraid. While the armor on model B looked like some Tron-esque alloy and the one on model C like painted metal, this armor here almost looks like some sort of stone, maybe lapislazuli? I was heavily inspired by our very own @Sizzly with his Kabal of the Malfean Dawn.

---

Maybe you can understand my indecision. If I was really honest, I'd actually love to try out the other paint schemes in Raiders of Commorragh (Flayed Skull and Iron Thorn), as they look SUPERB, but I know I'll end up being even more confused so, yeah...

Please tell me which paint scheme you prefer and why! Different parts of the schemes in combination with others could work too, like "the skin tabard and eye color of model B with the armor color of model D and the bodysuit of model C!", etc.

Thank you.

Nice to see another return from the shadows Kinnay. I know the feeling painting-wise, I'm currently trying to convince myself that it's okay to have a grey army of nuts conversions.....

In any case the four potential schemes look awesome, firstly I should say that I'm often in the dark scheme camp, apart from some notable exceptions and I'm in agreement with you that A isn't quite right. There's something there that could be used, but I'm not sure what yet.

B & C are actually my favourites however are probably a more 'normal' Dark Eldar look, so if you're wanting something more unique you might want to add a certain something to them. I can see why C can lose its detail from afar and you're right that D is more comic-ey. I wonder if it's the contrast with the red and the blue, it look fantastic but maybe by using the flayed skin from B where you've got red fabric it might considerably grim it up. Also you might find that for models without the wych leg and arm that it'll look more uniform and less comic-ey anyway - I do very much enjoy the wych arm and leg.

Could you add some form of patina effect - like you've used in C - on D to make it less 'clean' and add an additional darker tone? to the model as well as then the flayed skin from B. Then it would be bright, but 'moody'? ((Apologies I seem to be having an adjectival confabulation today)).

That might be less than helpful... finger crossed and all.

Just my opinions.

I like B most.

A is great, but I think the blue clashes with the orange (being opposite sides of the color wheel and all). I really like the orange, and the orange-black scheme, just not with the blue.

C is too primary colors for my taste (though in fairness there's no yellow).

I love the effect of D's armor, but it's red and blue again, only this time with red skewing towards orange, so there's that contrast as well.

I love model C, the blood absolutely makes the model. Dark Eldar are supposed to look dark and evil so.. yeah. Also I know it was years ago but that cronos is amazing, consider it stolen

zizza1400 wrote:

Also I know it was years ago but that cronos is amazing, consider it stolen

*Scrolls up.* ....Oh. Oh man. Well, that made it considerably more likely that I'll be buying a second Cronos, so I can run Scarlet Epicureans and a Dark Artisan at the same time.

Beautiful stuff Kinnay. I'd go with the last pic you posted. It has almost a blue marble effect which looks phenomenal... also reminds me of the style I did my DE back in 3rd ed. I think the blue and gold is a great look for Dark Eldar. Can't wait to see where you're gonna go from here!

Thanks for stopping by and trying to help me decide for a scheme. I appreciate it very much!
Thank you all for the nice compliments too, especially from you, @Cavalier! Your army is a shining example (pun intended) for us all.

PartridgeKing wrote:

Nice to see another return from the shadows Kinnay. I know the feeling painting-wise, I'm currently trying to convince myself that it's okay to have a grey army of nuts conversions.....

Tell me about it... But your army is great and was also an inspiration for my conversions! Keep up the good work!

PartridgeKing wrote:

I can see why C can lose its detail from afar and you're right that D is more comic-ey. I wonder if it's the contrast with the red and the blue, it look fantastic but maybe by using the flayed skin from B where you've got red fabric it might considerably grim it up. [...] Could you add some form of patina effect - like you've used in C - on D to make it less 'clean' and add an additional darker tone? to the model as well as then the flayed skin from B. Then it would be bright, but 'moody'?

zizza1400 wrote:

[...] the blood absolutely makes the model.

I agree that D looked a little clean and maybe therefore comic-ey. I have tried to grim it up a bit and added battle damage and blood to the mini. Also, I've repainted the loincloth to be flayed skin. How's this:



I went a little heavy on the blood so I'm afraid the battle damage isn't quite as visible. Here's a shot from her back, where there's much less blood (I used a stippling brush and flicked in on the miniature from the direction of her knife):



Now it does look a bit more worn and realistic, but the thing is, the nice marble effect is gone. :-/

What do you think?

Edit: mood shot.

Wow I can see where your going with this. I want for more of a fresh from the webway look for my kabal, but I like your much grimmer vision. Of the original choices I was in the B camp but the flayed tabard looks great on this lassie so now I'm sold on D! Keep up the good work I'm looking forward to seeing more.

I really like the new one.

How are you doing that blue?

Kinnay wrote:

Tell me about it... But your army is great and was also an inspiration for my conversions! Keep up the good work!

Thanks very much Kinnay, really appreciate it. I shall have to sit down and finish some more because a fair few are almost done. My wife has agreed to let me convert up her Dark Mechanicus so I'll see what I can do to post some of that in the long run too.

In any case as to the modified paint scheme. I think it looks awesome, and I don't think it loses as much of the marble effect as you think - though it could be that it's not as clear in the photos as on the model - but if you're concerned about it you probably could get away with less battle damage on the armour. I think the blood splatter and the much more grim flayed skin loincloth does a huge amount to do away with any comicey-ness, and there's still nice contrast between the different skins, the armour and the bronze plates which really works to my mind. Also I forgot to mention it previously but extra points for the lack of silvery metals, iron being inimical to fae creatures and all.

punk possum wrote:

[...] Keep up the good work I'm looking forward to seeing more.

Thank you, I will! Glad you like where I'm going with this.

Calyptra wrote:

How are you doing that blue?

I'm still in the process of finding the right recipe and technique for me, but for this particular model it's been just a basecoat of Stegadon Scale Green (base), followed by a generous layer of Sotek green (layer), then a heavy drybrush of Temple Guard Blue (layer) and a light to medium drybrush of Ushabti Bone. Afterwards I've washed the whole miniature heavily with Agrax Earthshade (shade) and Guilliman Blue (Glaze). I guess the seemingly random mixture of techniques used to apply the different paints turned out beneficial to the marble effect! I'll have to experiment a bit with it to see what else can be done.

PartridgeKing wrote:

My wife has agreed to let me convert up her Dark Mechanicus so I'll see what I can do to post some of that in the long run too.

Oh yeah, definitely do so! The Dark Mechanicus just screams for the sick mind of a Master Haemonculus; I'm looking forward to seeing what you can come up with!

PartridgeKing wrote:

I think it looks awesome, and I don't think it loses as much of the marble effect as you think [...] but if you're concerned about it you probably could get away with less battle damage on the armour. I think the blood splatter and the much more grim flayed skin loincloth does a huge amount to do away with any comicey-ness, and there's still nice contrast between the different skins, the armour and the bronze plates which really works to my mind.

Thank you, I appreciate the compliment.
Yeah, the more I look at the model in real life the more I'm beginning to really like it. I've tested out some effects on this particular model and may have gone a little overboard with some of them in the process. I'm working on another (hopefully my last) test model with a little more subtle battle damage and blood splatter. That being said, I'm very happy with the results so far, too! I'm definitely sticking with this scheme now.

PartridgeKing wrote:

Also I forgot to mention it previously but extra points for the lack of silvery metals, iron being inimical to fae creatures and all.

Huh, I wish I could say it was planned but in reality I didn't even know this.
If you look closely, you can even see that the knife in her hand is a dark silvery metal with a subtle green shade and that the pistol grip too is a silvery metal, but with lots and lots of Nuln Oil on top.
But you know what, you gave me an idea. I will try out avoiding silvery metals on the next miniature and play around with different hues of bronze, copper, brass and gold!

Good plan! I'm doing the same on my own models - when I get to painting - specifically using bronzes and the like. My Tantalus does have large silver vanes, though that was painted elsewhere so I will either do a light bronze wash on it at some point or continue with my explanation that the blades are pure silver.

Kinnay wrote:

Oh yeah, definitely do so! The Dark Mechanicus just screams for the sick mind of a Master Haemonculus; I'm looking forward to seeing what you can come up with! Smile

I shall do! And thank you, I shall endeavor not to disappoint!

And I look forward to seeing the continuation of your scheme.