The Ninth Circle - Blackstone Fortress Rein & Raus and Traitor Guard

 

I wish regular old Cadians looked even half as good as these scum.

Traditionalist Radicals - Blackstone Fortress Black Legion

I've painted lots of red & gold & black, and I'm personally a fan of jade, so I decided to do my own take on Black Legion, that heralds back to their Sons of Horus days, which I just find so much more stylish.

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.

The Faithful - Taddeus the Purifier & Rogue Psykers

Taddeus is... probably my least favorite of the Blackstone heroes. I don't really like playing cleric-type characters (I actually often do

, trying to make it work, but it rarely does), and I think his face is, well, one that only a mother could love.

Flame and Shadow - Pious Vorne and Ur-ghuls

Pious Vorne is one of my favorite recent models.

(Already on?) the Bandwagon - Vindicare Assassin

Okay, I'm going to admit it: the leaked White Dwarf rules were exactly what got me painting my Vindicare.

Starting Small - Test Tyrant's Legion / Death Korps squad

My first Imperial Guard collection was the original Armageddon Steel Legion released in third edition the regiment raised to defend the system's central world, and I guess I'm finally returning to my roots.

Definitely Human. Definitely. - Genestealer Cult Magus and Acolytes

The Genestealer Cult Magus is one of my favorite updates on a 40k model in quite a long time.

Who's Laughing Now?! - Harlequin Wraithknight Conversion

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

Opening Salvo - Astral Claws Lieutenant and Tactical Squads; battle report

So, I have something to admit: I've actually only been on the sidelines for 8th edition, rebuilding my 40k collection for a while since I'd purged it maybe 15 years back. That means this is my first 40k fight to return to in a long time (I think I played two heavily proxied games in 7th when we were starting to test the GW waters).

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 6: Dark Eldar Ravagers

Honestly, the Raider/Ravager redesign some years back had me extremely sorely tempted to start an army for my personal collection. I think the vehicles are just fantastically well-designed, as a mix of the original design and an updated, more explicitly pirate-themed look that evokes classic sailing (mostly) without feeling out of scale.

These are, of course, painted for the Mandrake army I've been adding to for the last while; I was going for pretty much as sleek and stripped-down look as I could get, while letting that teal really pop. I repurposed the "squad" look, with helmeted captains/pilots (heads from misc. dark elf kits), and, with a little tweaking, got it so the sponsons are actually replaceable.

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.

Angels of Death - Deathwatch Blood Angel and Dark Angel

Zameon Gydrael has a pretty classic Dark Angel sensibility, and really gave me a bit of nostalgia- I hadn't thought about my collection in years, but they were one of my two Marines armies when I was a young 'un.