Another Drukhari catch-up!

Hey everybody!

Following on from my last major Dark Eldar update, I thought it would be good to take a look at the rest of those units that I’ve been painting up for the tabletop. That last update only covered the miniatures that I’d been painting specifically for my 1000-point Oath challenge at my local store, so I thought it would be nice to collect together all of the other Dark Eldar miniatures that I’ve managed to finish painting this year. There are actually more than I’d thought…

The Ravager is a model that I had looked forward to getting my hands on, but proved a bit more tricky to get finished than I’d initially expected. However, the finished article looks, to me, great, so I’m really pleased! Disintegrator cannons are perhaps not the best choice of load-out in-game, and I have since built up a second Ravager with dark lances, but I’m very pleased by the look of the model, all the same. Style over substance, every time!

This was actually the first Venom that I’d built back in January, but had somehow just left it while painting the others. Of course, the other two were needed for my original Oath list, as I was using one for the Wracks and another for the Archon and Court, so having a third with Wyches in just seemed a bit of a waste while focusing on the core of the army. It’s finished, however, along with a Succubus, who was an absolute beast in close combat the first time I used her! I think she’d work better with different weapons to those with which she’s modeled, but there’s no denying how incredible that pose is, after all!

I think I mentioned it before, but 8th Edition really hampered my build when it came to the Trueborn, as they could no longer take haywire blasters. I therefore set to work giving the original squad dark lances, and have now added two blasters to the line-up, given how Blasterborn seems to be the new way to go with this unit. I’ve not yet managed to try them, but my next game will likely see them jumping out of a Venom…

Again, 8th Edition caused some problems when I had one Kabalite Warrior wielding a heat lance – now no longer legal for the unit. I find it quite odd to think that my original plans for the army involved a massive core of Kabalite Warriors and associated vehicles, with only small add-ons from the Wych Cults and Covens units. Now, however, I have more Covens units than anything, and only just the three squads of Warriors! I think I’m going to work on building and painting more during next year, as I’d like to see just what a legion of Warriors can bring to a game…

Finally for the July update, I painted up some “Mandrakes”! Of course, these are the Sylvaneth Tree-Revenants that look so cool. I’m no fan of finecast, so had no desire to get myself some actual Mandrake models. Instead, I’ve got these guys, and I think they go really well with the aesthetic of Dark Eldar. The bark bodies are painted along roughly the same lines as the Kabalite armour, meaning that they slip into the overall army quite well. The hair has been shaded blue, which also helps to integrate them, though their weapons have a weird purple glow, which I think goes quite well overall!

Of course, I then moved house in August, and painting opportunities were few and far between as I got settled in and all the rest of it. However, I’ve still managed to get some more units fully painted:

I love Wracks! A lot of DE players will tell you they’re no good in this edition, but I  really enjoy fielding my Covens units with these guys running around. My current tally of them is now at 20, along with a Raider and Venom specific to them, and they just look awesome! Notably, this is the first time I’ve actually used the Blood for the Blood God paint on any miniatures, and I think it really helps add to the slaughterhouse feel of these miniatures.

I really enjoy the fact that Dark Eldar kits have these bits that can be interchanged and whatnot to create a very distinctive army. Having the vehicles crewed by the specific type of unit – be it Kabalite, Wych or Wrack – is something I think is very important, and I love the fact that this model came together so well in the end. Definitely one of my favourites of the whole force, I have to say!

Five more Wracks, which I just absolutely love! I think these are possibly the only kit I’ve built that I enjoy building and painting the regular troops…

Finally, I’ve finished a third regular Raider for the Kabalite Warriors that I have now, but more importantly, I’ve finally gotten round to painting the conversion of my actual kabal’s Archon, Aestra Khromys! I built her in July, before I moved house, so I’m really pleased to finally have her done!

So…

This is something that I was a bit wary of, but I knew I’d messed up with Kabalite Warriors along the way because of building Trueborn and the Archon, so wanted to check exactly what I have.

As it turns out, I have 2,395 points of Dark Eldar fully painted right now, which actually blows my mind right now!

Of course, this doesn’t take account of the amount of stuff I have unpainted/partially painted…