Cult Colors and Design - a Prelude to a project.

On order right now -

Succubus

Corpse Thief Claw

18 reavers

Void Bomber


Colors

Right now, I'm working on a color scheme. My brain has been digesting a theme, mostly for my Taloi that are coming, but we'll get into that later.  The colors that I am proposing are the following, they are subject to change.

Main - Red or orange, not sure.

Fade into - Purple or deep rust.

Third color - Black

Accent color - Unknown, thinking a neon.

Glass fluids - Purple




Thematic additions

These are the things that I feel are going to be added to give it the appropriate flavor.

Chains
Ribbons
Flags
Streamers
Jewelry
Bones
Captives - Alive or dead


Army List

I can't say this is a "wish list" but rather a goal to get and include in the project. These things will be purchased when I am done with parts of the additions I already have.

20-30 Hellions
18 Reavers - on their way
40 Wyches - On their way
Bloodbrides? - They might have new models, will wait.
2 Beast Masters - Debating what kind of pack
4-5 Venoms
Incubi - Got a squad of 4
4 Succubi
Lelith
15 Scourges - Check
5 Talos - CTC - Check
4 Raiders
2 Razorwings - Check
1-2 Bomber - ! bomber
3 Ravagers
Tarantulus
Reapers?
2 Raven Fighters (Already have, waiting to see new forgeworld rules.)

You can always vote to see what gets painted and assembled first! Make suggestions!

Bases
I am completely open to using nice scenic bases that fit, I'm just not sure what to buy or where to browse, help here would be fantastic.


Gameboard

Both a place to play and to display, I want terrain ideas!

Curst had the great idea for a bone-pit for a crater which lead more into a wych theme area for a board complete with animal carcasses, wreckage, and all sorts of gruesome bits for cover and the likes! I like this idea, probably going to be doing some browsing to find the things to make it work...



This will get placed into project log when everything is settled in and I have a direction and an update~!

Firstly, good on you for starting a project based on collecting what you like.


Second, an important consideration in your palette will be the skin colour of your cult. Wyches like to show a bit of it, the new style Talos is covered in it, Lelith is all over it... it's going to be a feature.

Now, if you were planning to use a caucasian skin tone or typically pale elf skin tone (like GW's Elf Flesh), it would provide another orange-yellow hue to your palette. As it happens, this could combine quite well as a triad with the red-orange and purple colours you've identified you want to use already. Eg:



This also suggests a bright magenta colour as a possible accent colour, matching your desire for neon but tying it into the theme. You could also add a soft jade green as a complementary colour, although I'd steer clear of the blues and other greens to keep the scheme consistent.

Black, of course, goes with everything

An advantage of this triad is that the colors are quite warm, which ties into your background conception of cults and their link to passion. Your cult could look like a rush of blood to the head as it charges across the table!

The final consideration is of course the bases. You'll want to keep to theme while also allowing your models to stand out; a light Martian red might be effective? Battlefield debris or dried, yellowish grass might help to break it up visually, and of course rocks and pits.

Hope that helps and good luck!

Oh my! I'm absolutely tickled that someone responded. Honestly, this is VERY close to what I had come up with when I was doing some of my own palette testing. I'm going to take some of the extra models I have on hand and do a basic paint test soon and post it in here, however, I'd like to pick your brain a bit more, if that's okay ( I promise to be gentle...ish?) about the bases.

If I'm going to be using a pale skin color, which is the plan, as well as bright colors, a dark base with solid accents on the colors would make the model itself "pop' and make it seem alive while the base is sort of a way to "ground" out the color. For instance, Curst, a friend of mine I chat with often on here, suggested an Arena for terrain and now I have bits of that arena in my head and am thinking of bases that fit!

The Citadel woods are a spooky terrain feature in the making with the Curst suggested crater of bones and bits and skulls and cover being provided both by the remains of exotic beasties and buildings, I was thinking of mimicing that for the bases...but my major worry is that it would look strange, maybe, when taken out of the "board" I'm going to be making.

What do you think?

Yep, dark base if you're using light colours for your model. Possibly desaturated by adding grey, so that if you use a strong colour on the base it doesn't distract from the model.

Citadel woods seem like they'd be fine - you mean the rocky, broken ground parts of the wood base being adapted for your own model bases? In general, I think it's more important for your bases to be consistent and appropriate within your army than compared to the table. I based my DE with gravel (greyish) and my Necrons in black painted sand, but never notice it even when playing on my grass-flocked terrain. Your mileage may vary of course

Good point!

I'm working on my fluff right now, but, I'll be finishing up my projects and moving onto some test models shortly for critique.

Colors: http://40kunorthodoxy.blogspot.com/2014/10/my-new-dark-eldar.html

Skin - Main - Fade - Accent - Accent , in that order.

Theme - Flair for the over-dramatic, Cat-like predatory tendencies, favoring speed and brutal ambushes.

Leader - Succubus Ahlriza Drehzkryss



The Cult of Bliss Bereaved is one of the newest cults that have risen to power in these times of change and conflict. From gutters of Commoragh they climbed into the spotlight through brutal and well executed subterfuge. Like Phyrr Cats they stalked their prey from the shadows, killing off those who challenged them, who slighted them, who scoffed at them. They seemed to materialize one day from the stagnant puddle of lower Commoragh and settle in with an astounding amount of confidence that drew Kabul to hire them, sure these cocky no-ones would fail in the most amusing of ways. Those who hired them were pleasantly impressed with their willingness to both surpass expectations and how they killed with a passionate flair. How they ended life was what made them, the dark kin, live to the fullest. They killed cruelly, with elegance, with total superiority to those that they snuffed out.

Before anyone could blink they had traded for an Arena and were drawing crowds in for viewing their private hunting grounds. A new spectacle was offered where unlike the Soul a dozen high speed and high flying slaughter focused arenas this new one specialized in building up tension until it was as savory as any dish. Prey was stalked, toyed with, eviserated with cruel contempt without it even knowing what killed it. Dangerous stealth predators were pitted against the occupants, deadly hide and seek thrillers, and of course, hair-pinned chases through the shadowy arena and it’s dangerous terrain were it’s held.

This caught the eye of a rival cult. Like most of the dark kin, they planned, they plotted, and then they were simply…entertainment. It’s hard to stalk up on the largest predators in this area of the jungle, this shadowy realm of lethal undergrowth that we call Commoragh. Such were the enemies of this cult’s fate. They warred, they battled, but in the end, they all ended up bringing in the crowd on the Bliss Bereaved’s behalf. Some say that to speak ill of them is to invite glowing eyes that stalk the shadows, a predators gaze that stalks you until you too are snuffed out. If this is true…who knows? If you ask anyone belonging to the cult they’ll simple ask you in return “Who lived to tell the tale?”









Ahlriza believes that there is a purity and elegance in how the beasts she keeps live. They want not, they worry not, they are assured of their place. They stalk and hunt as ghosts in the shadows, killing prey both to eat and thrive but also for their amusement, something that she feels reflects their own darker nature. This theme is heavy in how the Arena is run. Both an exotic and exciting spectacle for the denizens of the dark city and also a sort of “wild-life” preserve for the exotic and uncommon creatures that she raises and deploys on raids and on the helpless contenders in her own private reserve.


Ahlriza Drehzkryss spends her time much like a alpha predator. Sometimes she can be seen lazing around with her exotic pets as serene as you’d ever seen a wych be but it’s soon known that the laid back attitude is simply how comfortable she feels with the ability to kill any who attempt to so much as slight her and she will spring up like the large cat-like aliens she keeps and disembowel her offenders sometimes at slights that would be ignored even by other dark kin. Her rule over her cult is without question and walks the fine line between almost being gracious, for the selfish beings Dark Eldar are, and harsh. Rewards are given almost on her whims to those who excel beyond their normals while the sung praises of the already accomplished seeking praise for another typical performance is met with ridicule and punishment. This creates a system where her most faithful are always trying to please, to astound, and it shows in the arena.

Those that please her are her personal guard of blood brides, members of the highest order in her cult. Like lionesses of a pride they enjoy the fine things that their hearts desire while maintaining order. On the other side of the coin, those that disappoint usually end up as food for not only their own enjoyment but for her pets and those that end up at blood brides are held to the highest of standards. To be one of the chosen and to fail her is to be humiliated and replaced.

The typical rank and file share their quarters with the beasts that are kept for their raids. Her cult heavily uses beast packs in their conquests, feeling that their bond with the large predators and their own ownership of them is gratifying beyond some of the other company Commoragh can offer. It’s not uncommon to see wyches sparring, eating, sleeping and having a large xeno sprawled close-by or even interacting with them. They eat, sleep, and live like a pack and they hunt like one. Their Dark Kin pay heavily to accompany them on “safari” a small incursion upon a Hive World or Maiden world where Phyrr cats hunt along their members, stalking prey, saturating them with fear, and killing them with a natural and fascinating efficiency that borders on feral.

The Cult of Bliss Bereaved’s biggest supporters is the Coven of the Glass Heart, a coven that specializes in the superficial aspects of their society. Ahlriza loathes that their largest supporter is the equivalent of a beauty boutique in Dark Eldar Society and she simply hates the overly-friendly attitude of the head of the coven, but she cannot deny a haemonculus in your pocket is worth more than the annoyance she might be caused. Her members enjoy the coven’s attentions in their spare time, both for medical and beautification alike which results in eye-catching hair colors, scars erased, maims mended, nails sharpened and tailored and prized fighters brought back from the brink. They also enjoy access to some of the Coven’s more powerful beasts, having a fondness for Taloi to accent their more natural monstrosities.

Cool, I'll look forward to seeing some models

I got three "wych" models primed in red, orange, and "yellow" and am going to be doing some fades later tonight. For funsies I'm also going to do a model with Grays fading to purple with brighter highlights, still orange probably.

I'll have a basic update tonight - no brushes right now for doing real work...but I can try!

Well, I learned important things about yellow. You need shades of yellow pre-mixed because adding black and white to yellow is a good way to end up with browns and pastels. Anyway, I have no paint-brushes at the moment, so, I just decided to slap some airbrush colors on as a sort of "Will it mix" gradient slapped onto a model...

https://imgur.com/a/oibQe