KABAL

 In this post I'm going to show how far I've got on my Kabal element of my Dark Eldar army, now some are what I already had, with maybe the odd update, and the rest is what I've got finished recently to try and complete this army. So where to start, well let's start at the beginning, these first two units were done for my tournament army, and their Raider transports, both transports have had an update with the Kabal symbol added to the prow, the Kabal of the Bloodied Claw. The second squad had heads from the Maiden Guard to help differentiate the two squads.

Here is the Ravager that was part of the Tournament list, which I also added the symbol to thgis week.

Next up is the Incubi, these were also done for the tournament, the Raider has also had the symbol added to it, the trophies on the back of the raider is a record of the opponents that this army has beaten, it looked a bit weird when I started this army, being a lot of empty sticks, but is a bit more interesting now.

Last bit from the tournament, is the Archon, I'd still like to find a way of sculpting a shadow field, which can be removed once it's gone down during a game.

Now we move onto what I've managed to finish this week, this first warriors squad was made using Dark Elf Warriors from the fantasy range to add more variation to my squads, and I also did the same for the crew of the raider, which I also finished this week.

Last today, is the current Dark Eldar warriors box, out of all the latest kits, this is my favourite, and enjoyed painting them, even though they have loads of extra details. I can't say the same about the new style Raider, as they have even less area than the original for troops to be on, instead now, they are supposed to hook themselves to the outside edges and hang on.

So I still have a few bits left to finish for this army, including 3 vehicles, and a unit of Trueborn, which are elite Kabalites, plus there is some squads for the Wych army to finish as well, but these will now have to wait as tomorrow see's the start of the latest challenge. Now I can't find ayone running Zomtober at the moment, so I will take that on board as well as Apocalypse Me, so you still have time to sign up. That's all for this post, so until next time stay safe and have fun !

Cheers Dave

TYING IT ALL TOGETHER

 With a Dark Eldar army, there is 3 main sections, the Kabal, the Wyches, and the flesh army. The Kabal has a splinter faction the Scourges (was part of the Kabal in the first codex), the Wyches have 3 splinter factions, the Hellion Skyboarders, Reaver Jetbikers, and the Beastmen ( all counted just as Wyches in the first codex), while the flesh cult has no splinter factions ( had very limited options in the first codex). So coming up with a colour scheme that ties it all together could be quite tricky, especially if you want them to tie together as well. So I went with 3 main colours bone, red and dark green, and depending on which faction had a different dominating colour.

As you can see above they all look different to each other, but use similar palettes, to tie them together. I'm currently working through the Kabal squads that need finishing, and hoping to get as much as I can finished before I start work on challenge models in October, but I have got the start of a Court of the Archon done, it used to be that you stuck your Archon into a unit of Incubi, but by codex 2 you could take a very eclectic group to guard your leader instead. First up is a Medusae, this is a Finecast model produced by GW, and suffered with a lot of holes in the model, this is what 40K has to say about them :

Medusae are strange creatures of the Webway that often find themselves as servants within an Archon's court and are quite sought after by the denizens of the Dark City of Commorragh.^[1]

Medusae are known to be highly empathic parasites that appear as a collection of brains and spinal cords that are stacked on top of one another. These creatures seemingly float across the ether like jellyfish where they feed on the dreams, as well as nightmares, of sentient beings. They can also latch upon a living host, allowing them to feed upon the emotions of their host directly and through this process, provide the power they require to manifest in realspace, thus becoming hybrid creatures of both the material world and the Immaterium.^[1]

In combat, their empathic abilities are weaponised: a simple gaze from a Medusae can lead to instant emotional hemorrhaging by exposing their victims to raw anguish, potentially putting them into a coma from which there is no recovery. In addition, they are also able to absorb extreme sensations, which are highly prized in Dark Eldar society. The brain fruit of the Medusae are capable of being consumed and allow an individual to re-experience the vivid and anarchic emotions of a raid all over again.^[1]

Next we have a Lhamaean, this is what 40K has to say :

Lhamaeans are courtesans that frequently are seen among an Archon's Kabal and are one of the most desired in a Dark Eldar Lord's Retinue.^[1]

These women are members of the mysterious sisterhood of Lhilitu who are well known for being extremely imaginative lovers and are skilled poisoners who know no equal to their art. They are believed to be descended from the original Cult of Lhamea who in turn drew much of their knowledge from Shaimesh, the Father of Poisons. As a result, their skills in the art of poison craft mean that an Archon with a Lhamaean in their court benefits from a steady stream of virulent toxins that they willingly share with their lord before a raid into realspace. Such is their reputation that it is said that a kiss from a Lhamaean into the air is capable of killing beings within seconds.^[1]

In battle, Lhamaean wield Shaimeshi Blades which can cause their enemies to die in nonporous agony with a single scratch.^[3]

A quote I read in the codex inspired this conversion, as it said that even a kiss blown upon the wind by a Lhamaean can kill in seconds

Last today I have an Ur-Ghul, this is a model I sculpted before GW released a model, and then it's just sat until now, this is what 40K has to say about them :

Ur-Ghuls (Ghala Troglodytes)^[3] are a Xenos species that are native to the labyrinth ziggurats of the Dark Eldar city of Shaa-dom.

Their nature means that they are one of the many atavistic beings that can be recruited by an Archon for his court. These creatures are noted for being the most hideous of all the creatures that a Dark Eldar Archon can summon. Being sightless, yet quite agile, their tracking abilities are quite renowned and once a prey has been caught by the beast's quivering scent-pits, it is known that nothing is able to escape these whip-thin horrors. Ur-Ghuls are also known to inhabit Blackstone Fortresses.^[3]

Ur-Ghul migrations are periodically purged by the Deathwatch, most notably one led by the Dreadnought Xenomortis on Plenitia.^[2

That's all for today, hopefully I can get some more finished this week, so until next time stay safe and have fun !

Cheers Dave

APOCALYPSE ME 2022

It's time again for another challenge, and this one is all about an Apocalypse, now the meaning of Apocalypse is :

an event involving destruction or damage on a catastrophic scale.

"the apocalypse of World War II"

So this could be WW2 as mentioned above, or a Zombie Apocalypse ( which means if your taking part in Zomtober, you get two for one) it could be an Alien Invasion, or even Post Apocalyptic, like Mad Max, Judge Dredd, or Fallout.

So what models can you include, single figures, vehicles, and scenery as well, as long as it fits with your chosen Apocalypse, it can be part painted models that just need finishing, or completely from scratch, as it's all about getting models finished. Here are some examples from last years challenge.

If your feeling really adventurous, you could convert a model to represent yourself in your chosen setting, like the model I did of myself at the top, or the one Guru Pig did below ( Still think he's going to get hot in that clown suit ! LOL)

The start date is the 1 st of October, and will run to the end of October

If you'd like to take part, just let me know in the comments below, and if your blog isn't one I normally comment on, please leave a link, so I can find you easily. I hear some zombies calling my name for this challenge, or at least they will after their elocution lessens, as they tend to just groan at the moment, so until next time stay safe and have fun !

Cheers Dave 

ARMOUR IS NO SUBSTITUTE FOR SKILL

 Lady Vickatrix the Succubus of the Wych cult of the Crimson Veil, stood watching the new recruits being put through their paces by the newest Hekatrix, she was being particularly hard, and had already maimed two, and killed a third, there was no room for weakness after all ! She took a sip of the rejuvenating fluid, to help heal her new face, she would have her revenge on that She Bitch Lilith, before she drew her last breath.

An adjutant ran into her observation box.

"Mistress the armourer has arrived, and requests an audience with you"

"He better have what I ordered, if he likes breathing !"

Vickatrix entered her throne room, where the armourer bowed deeply before her.

" Do you have what I ordered ? "

"Actually I bring something new, which is all the rage with the other cults, Even Lil . ."

" Choose your next words carefully before I dispatch you with my bare hands!"

"I meant no disrespect, just highlighting how the other cults are enamoured with the latest design I have"

" I have no respect for any of those curs, as they pollute the purity of their cults allowing males to join, so hurry up and show me what you've brought, before I tire of your prattle !"

"As you can see, I've increased the area that is covered in armour to increase protection."

" Extra armour is no substitute for skill, you buffoon, GUARDS, take this wretch from my sight and feed him to the menagerie !"

" Please wait mistress, accept this as my gift to you, and I will bring what you ordered later today, free of charge"

"Very well, but you fail me again, and I will throw you in the arena, and let my bloodbrides, have their way with you!" 

"I won't"

" Give this new armour to the new recruits, they may last a little longer, until their skills develop"

So why the short story, well I wanted a reason for the different styles of armour in my Wych army, and all will become clear as I show you the different units. This first unit was originally part of my tournament army, but I've had to change a few models, as the second addition codex, removed the option of taking a blaster, it also changed the number of specialised Wych weapons in a unit from 3 to 2, and then changed Hydra Knives to Hydra Gauntlets, and a Falchion and razor snare, to Chain Flails, the Shardnet and Impaler stayed the same. I also added a new Hekatrix (Squad leader) as the original model would be better in a different unit.

Below is the raider for this unit, and has converted models for the crew.

This next unit was all converted from Witch Elf models, as there was very few models that were female for the Dark Eldar Wyches.

And below is this units raider, also with converted crew.

Now we get to GW's plastic Wyches, as you can see, they have a lot more armour than the original models, now I could have gone down the GW route, and replace my squads with new models, but after so much work, converting and painting, I thought a short story was better ! LOL

I still need to do a raider for these models, and may do a new style one, as fitting the new style models.

This last squad is my Hekatrix Bloodbrides, these are an elite unit of Wyches, and can have three specialised Wych weapons, instead of the normal two, the models are all converted from the original Mandrake models, which I've included a picture below to show what they started as. The bloodbrides, according to the codex, smear the blood of their victims over themselves, to strike fear into others. I still need to finish their Raider.

Next is my converted Succubus Vickatrix, the model started off as Jain Zar from the Eldar range, she has no markings on her as she doesn't like to cover her beauty, plus as she's in charge who is going to argue with her ! LOL

Last today is my Venom, which will be the ride for my Succubus, I still need to do four blood brides as a retinue for her.

Bit of a long winded post today, but may highlight why my posting has been a bit small recently ! LOL That's all for now, so until next time stay safe and have fun !

Cheers Dave

SICK & TWISTED

 Over the years I have fallen prey to the "Look Shiney !" syndrome that many wargamers suffer from, one of the earliest cases of this was during 2 nd Ed 40K, when the new Chaos Codex came out, with lots of cool characters within it's pages, later on I realised that special characters weren't the way to go, with their massive points cost, and more expensive models, but at the time, collected up most of the character releases, Abaddon which I painted up straight away as my entry for Golden Demon ( made finalist) and the other two, then sat in varying states until now. As I'm clearing old projects I decided to finish both as a break from units I'm currently working on, up first is Fabius Bile, here's a little information on him, if you don't know who I'm talking about :

Fabius Bile, also called the "Clone Lord" and the "Primogenitor," is a Chaos Space Marine Apothecary, originally the Chief Apothecary of the Emperor's Children Legion, who has repeatedly attempted to use his extensive knowledge of cloning and genetic engineering to create superhuman beings under his control.

The goal of his quest for knowledge is to match and then exceed the Emperor of Mankind's original scientific achievement in creating the primarchs and the transhuman Adeptus Astartes, in the hope of creating a truly perfect Human form.

Travelling the galaxy more widely than any other Chaos Lord of the Traitor Legions, Bile has earned a number of epithets and aliases from those who have suffered the affects of his vile experiments. On Dimmamar, Bile was known as the "Chem-master", for there he changed the atomic composition of the air until the population was forced to ingest his transformative serums or slowly suffocate. On Arden IX and in the Bray System he is "Manflayer," for there he would wear the skins of those who opposed him as a great stitched cloak, forcing the skinless survivors to carry the garment behind him like a bridal train. To the wretched tribes living among the ravaged hives of Paramar V he is the "Clone Lord", for he vat-grew obedient twins of every firstborn child and replaced them with their doppelgangers the better to guide the planet's descent into darkness.

To Bile himself, there is only one title that does his magnificence justice -- the "Primogenitor". He believes that in him is the Emperor's boundless artistry reborn. He claims he has unlocked the secrets of the Emperor's earliest replicae experiments during the creation of the primarchs and the first Space Marines. Bile's twisted alchemical knowledge and skills at genetic manipulation can be attested to by every planet he has had contact with, for he has left a trail of foul deviants and twisted abominations wherever his ships have landed.

His name has become a curse to the High Lords of Terra and those of the Adeptus Astartes' Apothecarion who have learned of his legend. Many believe that he has irrevocably tainted Mankind's gene pool, polluting it with hidden growth strains and lurking corruptions. Some scattered Chaos Cults even worship him as Pater Mutatis, father of all the mutants that skulk in the underbelly of the Imperium. It is a belief that Bile does nothing to dissuade.

Fabius Bile is accursed throughout the galaxy and a Renegade even from his own Legion. Formerly of the Emperor's Children, Bile's fascination was always with the mysteries of life, not death. Amidst the carnage of the Horus Heresy, Bile aided the Emperor's Children in their inexorable journey into the embrace of Slaanesh. He altered their brain chemistry to sharpen their senses and connected their pleasure centres more directly to their nervous systems so that every stimulus would bring them unholy joy.

Bile left Terra before Horus' defeat, accompanied by a retinue of altered followers. He moved through the war-torn Imperium like a shard of glass through an intestinal tract, selling his services to rebel commanders for prisoners, genetic samples and ancient technologies. Many ambitious overlords came to rue the day they let Bile experiment on their armies, until his acts of genocide and other atrocities sickened even the most deranged maniacs. He eventually found his way to the Eye of Terror, where he offered his services to the highest bidders, promising the Champions of Chaos vile cures for their problems. There he set up a new base of operations upon a Crone World. Once, it had been home to the best and brightest of the Aeldari civilisation; now it was a darkened, twisted place of crawling madness.

Most of Bile's experiments end with his subjects dead or so horribly deformed they might wish for death. Yet the altered specimens of Bile's efforts exhibit strength many times greater than the human norm. These are Bile's proudest creations, the New Man that forms the pinnacle of his foul art.

The shattered Traitor Legions making their home in the Eye of Terror have particular need of Fabius Bile's skills. His augmented warriors and bio-magicks can give a warband of Heretic Astartes a vital edge, and cloned warriors and slaves are put to good use on a hundred battlefields. Yet it was the skills Bile once learned as an Apothecary of the Emperor's Children that are most precious to the lords of Chaos. The Traitor Legions still need the ability to extract the Progenoid Glands of the fallen in order to create new Chaos Space Marines, and in this strange art Bile is undoubtedly preeminent.

Without such skills, the Long War would slowly grind to a halt, and the fires that Horus had lit would go out forever. With so much influence at his behest, Fabius Bile has negotiated cunning if fragile bargains with the Daemon Primarchs, selling his secrets to each of them but refusing to aid one more than any other. In this way the Primogenitor ensures his position at the heart of a web of influence that spans across the Eye of Terror and beyond. Since the birth of the Great Rift, he has used his leverage to a singular end -- the capture of the Primaris Space Marines sighted across the galaxy. His fondest desire is to harvest the genetic bounty of Primarch Roboute Guilliman himself.

Due to the original infection of the III Legion's gene-seed by the virus known as "the Blight" which still affects him, Bile's gene-seed organs soon sprout tumors that result in his rapid physical decay and death. He has managed to sustain his life over the long Terran centuries by creating clones of himself and transferring his own brain into them, one after another for millennia.

As far as the model goes I've gone for the more modern scheme for him, with the armour still being in Emperors Children colours ( pre heresy) no conversion, just getting it finished.

Next up is Ahriman, also a standard model, this is his background :

Ahriman, whose full name is Ahzek Ahriman, is a Chaos Space Marine and the most powerful Chaos Sorcerer of the Thousand Sons Traitor Legion after their Daemon Primarch Magnus the Red himself. Ahzek Ahriman was once the Chief Librarian and first captain of the ancient Thousand Sons Legion.

Ahriman has always sought to better comprehend the nature of his patron Chaos God Tzeentch and of the force of Chaos itself and gain the unrivalled power such knowledge will bring.

His action in crafting the Rubric of Ahriman, perhaps one of the greatest works of sorcery in history, would ultimately result in his banishment from the Legion he had hoped to safeguard. It is his intense need to find a way to undo the effects of the Rubric upon his beloved Thousand Sons that first drove Ahriman on his quest to seek out the deepest knowledge of Chaos. He remains a wanderer across the galaxy, forever searching for any knowledge that will allow him to finally grasp the greatest of all enigmas in the universe -- the true nature of Tzeentch himself.

Across a thousand worlds, Ahriman has sought the keys to save what he has already destroyed through his own hubris among the Thousand Sons. The scars of this obsession found across the galaxy have made his name a curse in the mouths of Humans and aliens alike. Scraps of arcane lore, artefacts both obscure and profane, and rare but psychically powerful souls draw him like a raven to a corpse.

To the Craftworld Aeldari, Ahriman is the carrion scribe who eats the souls of their dying race for secrets; to the Inquisitors of the Ordo Malleus he is the lightning rod which brings a storm of Daemons; amongst the servants of Chaos he is a flame of power and trickery as likely to burn those drawn to his light as to illuminate them.

A master of subtle manipulation, Ahriman has seeded Chaos Cults on a hundred worlds, and bent the desires of the powerful to achieve his ends. With conspiracies and plots spread across the galaxy, he coils between them, a puppet master pulling invisible strings. When such subtle means are impossible he wages a sorcerer's war, forcing armies to kneel with visions of terror, shattering war machines with invisible forces, and ripping the souls from mighty heroes.

Ahriman knows the True Names of Daemons, and possesses pacts which can bring daemonic armies flocking to his call. Worlds have burned at his command, billions have fallen to the hunger of the Warp, and reality has bled at the fury of his power.  

Ahriman refuses to acknowledge either Tzeentch or Chaos itself as his master. Across the ensuing millennia he has become a scourge of the Imperium, raiding ancient museums, librariums, scholaria and reclusia, places of learning, religion and contemplative thought. He seeks to acquire artefacts, data, or even persons he believes can lead him to fully master the way of the sorcerer.

He fosters Chaos Cults on dozens of worlds at a time, providing the cults' chosen magi with sorcerous power until such time as they have acquired some antiquarian trinket or satisfied another of Ahriman's demands before turning the wrath of his Thousand Sons' warband of Chaos Space Marines, the Prodigal Sons, upon them and seizing all they have for himself.

Paint wise I've gone for the newer colour scheme again, and even done some freehand on the cloak.

I hadn't planned on doing these models, but found them while I was looking for some Death Cultists, couldn't find them, but may well have given them to a friend to help out on their army, or they're just hidden somewhere I haven't thought of looking yet ! LOL That's all for this post, so until next time stay and have fun !

Cheers Dave