paint schemes with kabal to cult relations...

So with my new army I am planning i have the color scheme for my Kabal nailed down, but the wych cult is killing me, do i paint them the same scheme as the kabbalists as the wyches are 'sponsored' by the kabals, or do they have an offshoot color scheme, or even their own?

On that note, what unit is considered what? where do reavers lie with relation to the kabals and color schemes? i am trying to keep to the fluff and i don't want them all to have the same scheme if they wouldn't in the 'real world' not my home made fluff.

I hope this all makes sense, thanks a bunch!

I've always used something different for the wyches and warriors, but this time I'm just going to flip the main colors.

Reavers are an offshoot generally, as are hellions and scourges; but they'll all be "roosting" in my kabal's spire, and have adopted their colors.

There is some question about the various relations - I'll muddle into that in a few moments.

The quick answer is: There is no hard fluff rule, and you can use every option you mentioned and be within the fluff.

The long answer is like this:

Kabals (Archon, Warriors, Trueborn, Court)
Cults (Succubus, Bloobrides, Wyches)
and Covens (Haems, Grots, Wracks, Pain Engines)

Each of these three are big groups and have their own color scheme and markings.

Hellions - functionally these are a gang, and are hired, they would tend to keep their own unique markings.

Incubi - they are part of Temples and are hired, officially that should suggest they have their own markings as well. In the old fluff they were hired as elite loyal bodyguards (this is how I still tend to view them) and that means their markings would probably change to reflect whoever they were currently employed by (to prevent any "accidents" of friendly fire, if nothing else)

Beastmasters - again, this is a sub-group. In the old fluff they were part of Wych Cults, and in the new fluff that still seems to be suggested, but they are also a touch different. I would tend to suggest they are sort of like a religion within a Cult (imagine maybe the warrior lodges of the Space Marines during the Heresy - if you will) But, you can either connect them directly to a Cult, or again make them their own seperate group with independent markings.

Mandrakes - both new and old fluff agree that these guys are their own thing - and there's even a debate if they're still really Dark Eldar. WHat is clear is that they are mercenaries, and work for the highest bidder or for their own purposes. Whether they actiually have any internal organization of their own is also a mystery...so, mark them as you wish.

Harlies - almost needless to say, these guys are their own deal.

Scourges - again, they are their own deal and are hired mercenaries, they could easily have their own markings.

Reavers - the fluff gets (real) iffy here. Basically these are either Wyches...or are some yet additional seperate group (this is made more awkward because Reavers are specifically cited as becoming Razorwing pilots...which suggests all Razorwings are Cult units...or all Razorwings are their own seperate arena group...neither explanation makes a lot of sense as that means no Kabal owns airplanes...derp?)

I tend to personally call Reavers all part of a Wych Cult - and tend to suggest that either the comment about them becoming Razorwing pilots is not an absolute, or that Razorwing pilot's loyalties are bought and they leave their previous Cult ties behind...as I said, this one is a muddy one.

===========================================

Okay, so, wow, how to approach this?
I think there are a number of ways, and I'll outline those I've seen that managed to look cool.

1. Every faction is working within a raid.

I knew a player down in Miami who actually embraced the idea that the DE were crazy different groups - he had a central Kabal and scheme, but they had allied Coven and Wych units, each witht heir own distinct theme and markings, and also his Scourges and Hellions both had yet another distinctive color scheme. It was a very wild looking army, but very fluffy and it allowed him to play with the cool models by trying lots of different color combos.

2. Unified Look

My own army is run with the idea that my Kabal is one of the old noble houses. I don't see my Kabal trusting a lot of hired help, so if they want Wyches they sponsor and start a Cult. They have their own group of Haems who work only for them. They have allied Hellion Gangs that specifically work for them. All of my units have matching colors and symbols because no archon would try to hold all those different groups together unless he was a dolt, and my Archon isn't a dolt.

3. Combined for a Raid

This seems to be the "common" solution. The idea is that all these groups got together to do a raid - as such there is a unifying color scheme - but otherwise the individual paintjobs vary (often seen in switching the primary and secondary colors for Kabal/Wych units - so the Wyches would be red with black highlights, and the Kabal would be black with red highlights - make sense?)

But, I think that's about the long and short of how to do it - unlike Marines, and even a number of other Xenos species, the DE are not very 'codified' in how they should look, so you have a lot of freedom while staying within the fluff.

well thank you for that, and thor, i like the first one you mentioned, i may have to play with that a bit for my army.

on an aside, thor you live just south of me! i am in south sarasota, we should get together sometime!

Totally - do you play at Dark Side in Sarasota, or somewhere else?

I paint my Kabalites, Cult units (ie. Wycthes, Reavers and BMs) and Coven units as different colours, as well as my Hellions and Incubi. To tie the army together a bit used the Kabal's colours as a detail colour for the Cult units (all my Wytches have blue hair and Reavers have blue markings, blue being the colour of my Kabal's armour) and Incubi (the models have a pice of cloth tied around one of their arms, and I painted that with that Kabal's colours to show the Incubi are currently working for them).

exactly nomic, that is roughly where i was going.

and yes, i play at dark side, thor.

chaplaincliff wrote:

and yes, i play at dark side, thor.

Cool, I'm usually there every Thursday around 6pm to game, and can potentially be lured there at other times for an arranged game.
Hit me up with a PM sometime.