New (Old) Archon looking to return. Bunch of questions.

Hi there fellow denizens of Commorragh! Archon (insert cool name here) is looking to make a comeback!

This will be a fairly long post so do bear with me, I try to be as neat as possible!

Long story short, got introduced to Warhammer 40k at around 6th edition, started with CSM but quickly switched to Dark Eldar. Those times were tough, I was warned but I stubbornly wanted this army. First games were with poor lists, played against really nasty power gamers and quit the hobby after those experiences.

I'm not a power gamer, I want to be somewhere in between casual and competitive. Meaning that I like playing with strong lists, but also really fluffy lists. I always respect my opponents and play to have fun (winning doesn't hurt

But 4ish months ago, started to look up at Warhammer again (thanks covid), I've always been intriqued by Drukhari. I love to be fast, hard hitting and evil ofc. And with the new codex and tools, it looks even better than ever before.

I went to my local shop+the GW store and after some temptation I picked up: Archon, box of Kabalite Warriors and a Venom. (They had really poor stock due to Brexit and Covid) This was bit before the Combat Patrol rolled up. However, my first time painting again went...horribly to say the least and now I have a load of questions which I need your help, so here we go:

- How to strip the paint from the minis? I haven't painted the Venom yet, but the Archon and Warrios definitely need to be stripped down for another go

- What would you recommend to add to my existing force? Combat Patrol seems _really nice_ though I would want to paint my models that I already have before adding in more. I like Kabals, Covens and Wych Cults, would love to have em all at some point. But shooting is more my style.

- Paint Scheme, honestly this is my biggest hurdle when it comes to hobby. I SUCK at painting so any and all tips would be more than welcome. I understand no-one can decide my scheme but I need ideas. It has to be "Evil and dark" but not too dark meaning like all Black. And I don't wanna copy the GW scheme either. One idea I had (saw this from the internet) was a black armor and red highlights? Perhaps it could contrast well and it kinda gives an evil vibe. And would you use Contrast paints? They look pretty handy but I have no experience with em since they weren't around during my last time.

- Magnetizing, what kits would you magnetize and how? Definitely the guns on the Raiders and Ravagers+the Sails but what else? The troops probably don't need it? I would like my army to be as WYSIWYG as possible (just my personal preference)

- Do you paint the flying stands on vehicles? Was wondering about this with my Venom.

- How do you tune your Wyches/Warrios to field them as Trueborn/Bloodbribes? Any way to make them stand out from the crowd?

That's all for this time, sorry for the wall of text and hopefully I can get back to raiding with better success!

If this post is in the wrong place mods can edit it

Welcome ! May your realspace raids bear much fruit

Regarding Raiders and Magnets...... I'll be the grumpy old curmudgeon and suggest that oftimes magnets are a solution in search of a problem lol. I can pretty much disassemble a raider down to basic parts leaving only the hull/rudder assembly. Center support mechanism doesn't need to be glued. Neither does the sail gate or Aether Sail. Shock Prow doesn't need a magnet either IMO.

I will use two small magnets on the feet of the Helmsman and Bow Gunner to hold them in place.

You can also completely turn a Ravager back into a Raider as well

Happy Hunting

First, Welcome to the Dark City and the True Kin!

CrispyRice wrote:

- How to strip the paint from the minis? I haven't painted the Venom yet, but the Archon and Warrios definitely need to be stripped down for another go

I use Pine sol (or equivalent). It's an American company so I'm not sure if it's available there, but it is a good solvent for paints and presents no risk to plastic models or their bases. Give em a soak for a day or two and an old toothbrush will take the paint off.

[quote]- What would you recommend to add to my existing force? Combat Patrol seems _really nice_ though I would want to paint my models that I already have before adding in more. I like Kabals, Covens and Wych Cults, would love to have em all at some point. But shooting is more my style.[quote]

When you're just getting into the game, I'd recommend largely just sticking to what models you like and proxy other units until you buy them. Basically everything in this codex is good with very few exceptions.

Quote :

- Paint Scheme, honestly this is my biggest hurdle when it comes to hobby. I SUCK at painting so any and all tips would be more than welcome. I understand no-one can decide my scheme but I need ideas. It has to be "Evil and dark" but not too dark meaning like all Black. And I don't wanna copy the GW scheme either. One idea I had (saw this from the internet) was a black armor and red highlights? Perhaps it could contrast well and it kinda gives an evil vibe. And would you use Contrast paints? They look pretty handy but I have no experience with em since they weren't around during my last time.

Edge lining is a pretty common way to paint the army and makes us pop on the tabletop with all our overlapping scale-plate armor. I've got a system for it which is pretty easy to pull off on anything except vehicles:

-Base layer: 50/50 black+whatever color you decide on (I've don't this on red, green, blue, and purple)
-Layer 2 covers every armor edge: 25/75 black+color
-Black Wash
-Layer 3 covers every sharp angle and any edge facing your source of light: straight base color
-Layer 4 covers every sharp angle: 75/25 base color+ghost grey
-Layer 5 covers every sharp angle facing light source: 50/50 base color+ghost grey.
-(Optional) ink of your chosen color

I recommend highlighting with ghost grey over white because white has a tendency to turn vibrant colors into sort of a pastel color ghost grey is a very light shade of blue and does more for the extreme highlights.

Quote :

-Magnetizing, what kits would you magnetize and how? Definitely the guns on the Raiders and Ravagers+the Sails but what else? The troops probably don't need it? I would like my army to be as WYSIWYG as possible (just my personal preference)

Magnets are great. I use them all over. Weapons, sails, flight stands, and I use small ones on squad leaders. Sometimes you have 5 points for a random blast Pistol.

Quote :

-Do you paint the flying stands on vehicles? Was wondering about this with my Venom.

I don't like the way it looks. Since you get 2 flight stands with everything that flies, I glue a stem to the vehicle and insert (but don't glue it) into the base. Then prime and paint/base it all. Then once I'm done painting, I clip the stem off right below top, remove it from the base and throw it away. Then Iput a magnet on the vehicle. Then I cut the top off the unused stem, glue it into the finished base, and glue a magnet to the top.

Quote :

-How do you tune your Wyches/Warrios to field them as Trueborn/Bloodbribes? Any way to make them stand out from the crowd?

I haven't done a Bloodbrides conversion, but when I do, it'll be a mix of Daughters of Khaine from Age of Sigmar and wych pieces. My Trueborn use the scaled capes, torsos, and heads of the old Dark Elf Corsairs from Warhammer Fantasy (I think they still sell them for Aos???) with kabalite legs, arms, and gear.

Good luck!

1.: stripping Minis from paint? Plastic is difficult, but some anti bacterial lotions work. Here in Germany that would be 'Bazillol'.

2.: You cant go wrong with Kabalites, Incubi and Raiders. Thats much shooting and some slashing.

3.: easy painting? My kind of painting, since I have 5 thumbs when using a brush. Try painting a warrior complete grey.
Not too dark. Then give him the black ink. Nuln Oil? After that you need only some highlights.
It really works. Really!!