Looking for help with a Paint Scheme

Some time ago, I started my Dark Eldar Daemons project.

When it came to painting, things went reasonably well (at least as well as can be expected for my painting skills) with my HQs:

Spoiler:

However, it was only when I began painting my other units that I came upon a problem. With my HQs, I'd mainly used a simple black contrast for their clothes (notwithstanding a few details), as it contrasted well with their pale skin and I didn't want their armour to be the focus.

But then I got to this chap:





Black armour isn't really practical here, as it will just blend in with his equally black skin. White or grey would blend in with his hair, and blue would blend in with his mount.

I'm not actually very astute when it comes to paint schemes, so I was wondering if anyone had some suggestions for what colour to paint his clothes/armour? I'm really not sure whether I should be aiming for something like purple (which is different but not too far from the already-present blue), or go for something like green or red to create more of a contrast.

Also, on a semi-related note, do you think the weapon should be a basic metal, or something more exotic? I went with the latter for the HQs, but I wasn't sure whether or not I should leave that as 'their thing' and give the others more normal-looking weapons.

Any advice would be most welcome.

i don't know why, but Orange or Red would look great with this combination of color.
I know this will not look ''Dark Eldar'' but more ''Flashy Eldar'' but the mix of color would be pleasant for the eyes.
Otherwise, purple seems of good choice.
Or a pale Grey for the armor would also be nice, it would make it stand out while mixing well with the already chosen colors.

Kalmah wrote:

i don't know why, but Orange or Red would look great with this combination of color.
I know this will not look ''Dark Eldar'' but more ''Flashy Eldar'' but the mix of color would be pleasant for the eyes.
Otherwise, purple seems of good choice.
Or  a pale Grey for the armor would also be nice, it would make it stand out while mixing well with the already chosen colors.  

Oh, that's interesting. I hadn't considered mixing in some red.

Okay, I'll give that a go. And if it doesn't look right, I'll try the grey and then the purple (simply because I think the latter will be better at covering up the other colours ).

Thanks for the input.

always a pleasure! can't wait to see the result as i'm pretty sure it will be bad ass!
And congrats btw for the crafted models you have, they look really nice! i personally love the clawed hand with the mix of the long hair, it give them the look of a wraith or a banshee, something like that.....something you don't want to mess with!

Kalmah wrote:

always a pleasure! can't wait to see the result as i'm pretty sure it will be bad ass!

I'll definitely post the results in my Project Log thread when it's done. Assuming it doesn't take too long, I'll post the pics here as well.

Kalmah wrote:

And congrats btw for the crafted models you have, they look really nice! i personally love the clawed hand with the mix of the long hair, it give them the look of a wraith or a banshee, something like that.....something you don't want to mess with!

Thank you.

I wanted to have a strong Mandrake theme for this army, but it's a little tricky when there are only 3 different Mandrake models.  

Hence, I've been using a lot of figures that are similar to Mandrakes (in this case, Sylvaneth Tree Revenants), and mixing things up a little. Incidentally, as you can see above, some of my HQs are Mandrake torsos, but cut off and placed onto Scourge legs (to give them more dynamic poses and also to help them stand out from ordinary Mandrakes). This has left some free Mandrake legs for me to use here.

But yeah, I thought I'd also try and add a little more variance to their forms. And since the Sylvaneth set included a *lot* of claws, that seemed a good place to start.


Anyway, thank you very much for your interest and your input.

really inspiring!
note: i know i'm crazy as i just started this game and i'm still building my Drukhari army, i already have some boxes for a future Thousand Sons army, but if i were to play Age of Sigmar, the Sylvaneth would definitely be the faction i would play! I intend on buying some boxes just for their look (and maybe give them a shot one day if my friends follow me in Age of Sigmar)....not right now as my Drukhari are swallowing all of my wallet....but in a near future!

Dumb question: knowing that some players refuse to play (or hate to play) against a player who uses proxy weapons, models like yours, are they legal to play in matched play? do they follow the regular rules or you customize them? i mean, being on a Screamer, do your unit fly or not?

thanks for lighting my lantern!

Kalmah wrote:

really inspiring!

Thank you.

Kalmah wrote:

really inspiring!
note: i know i'm crazy as i just started this game and i'm still building my Drukhari army, i already have some boxes for a future Thousand Sons army, but if i were to play Age of Sigmar, the Sylvaneth would definitely be the faction i would play! I intend on buying some boxes just for their look (and maybe give them a shot one day if my friends follow me in Age of Sigmar)....not right now as my Drukhari are swallowing all of my wallet....but in a near future!

One thing I'll say is that I'd definitely check out the Sylvaneth Tree/Spite Revenant kit. You get an absolute ton of spare bits from it - including a lot of weapons and such that can easily be adapted to fit DE models.

Kalmah wrote:

Dumb question: knowing that some players refuse to play (or hate to play) against a player who uses proxy weapons, models like yours, are they legal to play in matched play? do they follow the regular rules or you customize them? i mean, being on a Screamer, do your unit fly or not?

No problem!

Well, it will probably depend to some extent on who you're playing with. Some groups, and tournaments in particular, might be a little more strict. However, at least in my experience, most people go with the 'rule of cool'. If you've clearly put a decent amount of effort into converting something, they'll likely be happy for you to use it.

That said, I'd suggest some guidelines that might help get proxies/conversions accepted:

- Try to use at least 50% GW parts if you intend to play in GW stores or tournaments (if you're not likely to be playing in either of those, then use whatever you like).

- Be consistent. 'All the Shredders are actually Blasters' is likely fine. As as 'These Wraiths are Mandrakes, okay?' However, if you start saying 'These Shredders are Blasters, except for this one which is actually a Shredder, also this Blaster is a Blaster but this one here is a Dark Lance...' or 'These Wraiths are Mandrakes, whilst these almost-identical Wraiths are Incubi, and these other Wraiths are my Archon and Court...' your opponent's patience may well wear thin.  

- If you've converted different models, try to use either the right weapons or reasonable facsimiles  of such. Though, as far as characters or units with no options go, I'd be tempted to just do whatever the hell you want.

For example, my Death Jester has a big gun:

Spoiler:

One of my Archons has a stand-in Huskblade (albeit no pistol):

Spoiler:

But then I've also got models like these, where their weapons don't really conform to the normal standards:

Spoiler:

Broadly, they could be thought of as having melee weapons and very unusual pistols, but that's about it. However, I think most people would have little issue with me using them anyway.

Oh, and regarding your question about my Screamer-surfing guy, he's actually going to be used as a Harlequin Skyweaver  (I'm using Harlequins for some of my daemon-type models, due to their natural invulnerables and such). Hence the converted Haywire gun sticking out of the Screamer's mouth and the Glaive weapon the rider is holding. Obviously these aren't exactly right (the Glaive is technically a Sylvaneth one, not a Harlequin one), but I think it works perfectly well to let an opponent tell what weapons he's meant to be armed with.

Anyway, hope this helps.  

big thanks for your time and clear answer
if i get it right, as a simple rule, try to be clear and constant in the proxys, that goes the same for conversions.
Anyway i try to a maximum to avoid proxies, but some times, especially after some rules changes, you can<T escape it! (unless using magnets for sure)

Kalmah wrote:

big thanks for your time and clear answer
if i get it right, as a simple rule, try to be clear and constant in the proxys, that goes the same for conversions.

No problem.

And yeah, being clear and consistent is definitely the way to go.

Kalmah wrote:

Anyway i try to a maximum to avoid proxies, but some times, especially after some rules changes, you can<T escape it! (unless using magnets for sure)

My general policy is to avoid proxies where I can, except with regard to wargear. Because I don't want to spoil the look/theme of my HQs, and trying to magnetise basic infantry sergeants and special/heavy weapon guys just seems like a tremendous faff for minimal reward.

I mean, maybe you're different but when I look across the table at Tau, Admech, Marines, or any other army that I don't play, I have absolutely no clue what 90% of the weapons are to begin with. I just trust that my opponent knows what his stuff is armed with, because (proxies or no proxies) I certainly won't.