The Hunters, Predator themed army. Finished Army Update 29/07/12!

Hi,

Well I've finally got around to painting my Dark Eldar that have been sat around while I finished off my Imperial Guard army and thought I'd make a post for them.

Backstory: So a while back I watched Predators and thought it would be really cool to have a predator inspired army. After some thinking I figured Dark Eldar would kind of work. I liked the idea of a feral group of hunters on a catachan style death world, really primal and wild, and almost completely removed from the usual Dark Eldar torture/Clive Barker style.

So my army is made up of the survivors from a Dark Eldar transport ship that crashed on a remote death world. Stranded for years they have developed their own tribal culture, hunting and killing anyone who happened upon their planet.


Archon

Only know as Green Scar the Archon has been infected by some form of alien mutation, making him the strongest hunter and as a result the leader of the tribe. The model is a Heresy miniatures Hurn Headtaker II model. I painted him as close to movie accurate as I could, although I'm thinking I might get another and try a different color scheme.


Kabalite Warriors

The only addition I've made to the warriors is that they all have mandibles added to there helmets to give them more of a predator look. I've also carried over the predator bronze armour / silver helmet from the movie predators.


Mandrake

My first Mandrake, I really like the character behind Mandrakes and I picture them as ghost of the jungle, especially haunting the wreckage of the old Dark Eldar ship.


Let me know what you guys think so far.

I'd like to see you bring forward a more tribal look for the warriors - perhaps some feral markings on the armour? The domed helmets could prove useful with some tribal tattoos on them, like skulls or such forth.

Colour scheme seems fine, maybe some shubbery on the bases could be good?

Some more models finished this week...

Looking good, I like the overall idea of the group. I might say see if you can bring some of the green into the classic warrior as he seems rather bland at the moment in comparison to the rest.

I'd also agree with Sky Serpent about trying to get the tribal look into them a bit more. With my own Corsair styled kabalites (who tend to raid more primitive worlds) I've tried to mix in some Wyche and Hellion parts. I've then tried to bring them back into a uniform look, but I'm sure they could help with the tribal/survivor look.

The lighting on the Mandrakes is awesome.

Look forward to seeing (and hearing) more from these guys.

I dig those kabalite warriors - those shiny greens together with black and dark metal really works. it will be nice to see it continue. Oh and that's right, you're one of the few who has mandrakes; I really like their models.

I really like your army so far, Stuey, two big thumbs up! Very well painted and a great colour scheme, plus you are mixing old and new editions quite nicely.

Your background fluff is a good story and a solid basis to pretty much do anything in the future.

And the mandibles are an excellent touch! Especially as you put them on all your warriors and not just the squad leader.

Looking forward to seeing more as you progress.

Cheers.

Fantastic! I am a big Predator fan.

Back during 4th edition, I made a Predator mini from a DE Wych and the head from a Predator micro machines toy. I used it as a Harlequin Solitaire with my Craftworld army. That little guy chewed through an entire squad of Terminators in one turn. For some reason my friend never let me use him again after that. lol

Anyway, nicely done on the paint job!

How did I miss this one??

Those look really good! I love the metallics!

More please!

Thanks for all the feedback guys, here's a couple more models I've finished...

Incubi

So when I first started thinking about the Predator idea the obvious first choice was Striking Scorpions, cos they're basically straight up predators. I thought they would work well for my Incubi, so there back story is that the Dark Eldar ship was transporting some prisoners, and when they crashed they were killed, but the Dark Eldar salvaged their armour from the wreckage. Took three attempts to get a colour scheme I liked, but I think the black gives it a cool stealth look & I like the weapon swap.




Aberration Prime

I got some of the Confrontation Syhar Sighthound models to use instead of khymera (cos they're stupid expensive) and while I was ordering them from China off ebay I found this model, which I totally love. I figured I can use it as a counts as Talos. Back story is it was a Haemonculus experiment that was being transported on the ship, perhaps a trial Grotesque, but after the crash it escaped into the jungle and mutated and grew...

That aberration is awesome, great model and really well painted, can't wait to see more!

So it's been a while since I updated but I've been working hard on the army.

Beastmaster

Part one of my Beastmaster unit, I really wanted to include them in the army as they're like the predator dogs from Predators. So I definitely wanted some Khymerae, but the Games Workshop models are stupid expensive. So I did some googling and found these Syhar Sighthounds from the Confrontation game which I think work really well. I'm going to add a second beastmaster and a clawed fiend.



I also built some scenery for the army, a Predator jungle pyramid...


More to come soon...

Great stuff SV! I particularly like the more subtle approach to highlighting. So many layers of color that the final effect leaves it anything but flat! I always was a fan of themed armies and this is one of the better ones I've seen.

~T

Luv the use of the Striking Scorpions, they definitely have an edgy look to them.

Your Beastmaster is beautifully done, subtle but very effective - like the rest of your army.

And those Sighthounds are just great, I may have to look into those myself.

Nice job Stuey!

Double plus bonus points for Dirz minis! Are those the plastic ones? I have a few of the metal Tigers of Dirz, which the Sighthounds are cast from, but they are really hard to find and expensive. If those are the plastic ones, they look much better than I had expected.

This stuff is breathtakingly amazing! I really lack any other words to describe it, it's so freaking cool and well painted.

Thanks for the feedback and replies guys.

Drago; Yeah the Sighthounds are plastic, I think they're really nice models. I had to clean up some mold lines and fill some joints but overall they're really nice quality, and the bases they come on are almost exactly the same as GW ones.

I got them and my Aberration from an ebay seller in China, pretty cheap, a box of 3 sighthounds is the same as 1 GW Kymerae. His shipping and service from china was really good and he has a bunch of other Confrontation stuff... http://tinyurl.com/6vdjnlp

Just a little update with some more pictures of my temple. The basis of it was actually a lizardmen temple I made when I was a kid. Put it on a new base and gave it a complete overhaul using a Predator mini bust, the GW skulls accessory pack, some skeletons and a jungle tree set. Think it looks pretty sweet...

Nicely done, ideal for a take and hold objective, but looks very cool even if it's just a normal piece of scenery

Great job on the metallics, and great use of Striking Scorpians! Cool theme, looking forward to more

loving the flayed feller in the tree. Just adds that extra touch of predatornessness!

Very nice. Looking good!

what are you GW staff or something? having trouble finding words. the skill, the colour... and theme. seriosly nice stuff there mate.

So its been a while, but I've been a bit distracted with starting a new job and moving house (plus I've started a Space Marine army themed on the Bioshock xbox game), but I've finally found the time to work on my Predators, and I'm actually really close to finishing my 1000pt army. I'll hopefully have a some final army pics in the next week or two, but in the mean time here's my 2nd Archon.

The model is from Predastore, who are company from Switzerland who make Predator model kits, and also some really cool 28mm Preds. I wish I could have got one of their Bone Hunter Preds, but they're all limited runs and it was sold out. I don't have a lot of experience with resin models, but this seemed really good quality with no flaws and about 100 time better than the finecast models I have. Anyhow, check them out if you want cool Predator stuff.

http://www.predastore.ch/lang-en/11-kits-28-mm

One word:
Badass!

This is awesome manifest in model form. Both the model itself an the paintjob are really well done.

Great job.

o_O

outstanding.

nothing to add.