We are the Earth-Intruders, We are the sharp-shooters - Amalynn Shadowguide & Spindle Drones

Eldar were actually my first serious army, in any game with miniatures at all, so I wanted to do something special with Amalynn Shadowguide, a model I thought was so close to being awesome, but had ended up a bit flat.

Who's Laughing Now?! - Harlequin Wraithknight Conversion

So, this guy started as just a simple re-pose, but became something far more elaborate.

Black Operations part 8: Wyches

 Expanding the continuing Mandrake army, I've put together a couple new units.

Black Operations part 7: Command

Rounding out the continuing Mandrake army with some command. Two pretty liberal interpretations of Dark Eldar command, they have roughly inverted colors.

Black Operations part 5: Venoms and Starweavers

It would hardly be a Dark Eldar army without some vehicles, right?

Black Operations part 4: Mandrake Scourge Conversions

Another quick* post today, continuing the Mandrake force I've been working on, and wrapping up its infantry units.

Conceptually, these aren't much different than the previous Witch conversions, but I'm still very happy with how I got these wings to look.

* That would be short, not speedy subject matter.... and yeah, probably no one else saw that unintentional pun.

Black Operations part 3: Mandrake Hellion Conversions

Continuing this dark and glowy army, next up are some Hellions, incorporating a fair amount of kneadatite and Doomfire Warlocks' heads and torsos.

Black Operations, part 2: Mandrake army conversions

Continuing the Mandrake army, this is my take on Dark Eldar Warriors for my client's army, in what feels a lot more like a collaboration than many commissions I've done, as it's often a bit of bouncing ideas back and forth for these conversions. It's a little odd that they're segregated by sexes, but, with very similar color schemes, some more obvious visual cues should make an army of little dark pointy elves easier to tell apart. The purple ones are, again, the unit leaders, while the blue ones are special weapon troopers. I went out of my way to find shield and armor pieces for these ladies, to try to emphasize a slightly more defensive mode than the standard Mandrakes.

Unlike my preference for "Drukhari" over "Dark Eldar," I definitely don't prefer GW's switch to calling these base models "Witch Aelves," since, most naturally, that means that the entire race should be being pronounced "Eelves" which just sounds silly. The models are nice, though, and the freehand runes came more naturally than I expected.

Black Operations - Drukhari Mandrake Horde

Or, since they're figurines, would that be "hoard"?

From the Shadows - Dark Eldar Mandrake Test

While I thought a few of the original Dark Eldar kits, like their warriors, the vast majority of the line, especially the metals, just did nothing, and I was quite happy to see the Mandrakes, among others, basically get overhauled from the ground up.

A short one today, the first of those Mandrakes, which I'll be painting in large numbers, to see how the colors go down to be sure I didn't mess up a batch together. He's a mix of mostly traditional painting, with  just a little source lighting effects beyond the obvious bright points.

I Went Down, Down, Down... Forge World Avatar

I think this guy came out looking pretty epic.

Eldar Commission

© GW/Black Library

Game: Inquisitor
Faction: n/a

Notes: While this is a bit of an older one (hence the lack of stellar photography), this was one of the more interesting commissions I've been assigned. The client liked some of my other conversion work, and wanted a specific feel to a model. He was looking for a model with the feel of the female Eldar on the right.

While I'd done as elaborate projects as this one, I'd never needed to do one as clean in form (particularly the armor) as this.

To cut down on work time (this the price of the commission), I based this on an old Inquisitor scale miniature. I dremeled down all of the armor and accessories, which wasn't terrible, as the model started with what was essentially an armored jump suit. However, the original model's torso was probably about 2/3 the length it should have been, proportional to the legs and arms, so, while the model could have just been a little short, to fit the amount of detail, I needed to build that from scratch.

The hardest parts of this mini were the torso and head (the bionic eye (or possibly sci-fi monocle?) had to go), unfortunately, both of which are sort of obscured by my old poor lighting.

My biggest areas of growth were the smooth sections of armor (I was particularly happy with the arms and legs) and the cloak which. While the cloak's colors are mottled from filing to smooth out the form, that won't be visible when the mini is primed, and I think that the shape nicely organic and dynamic.