Dark Eldar Diorama

The second Scourge and a test fitting

I've had limited painting time recently and the light has been terrible due to the weather but I've managed a little progress. I've painted up the spear shaft on my Scourge conversion so that just leave the wings to do.

I thought it was high time I did a test fitting for the diorama with the two scourges I've (almost) painted. It's better to sort out any issues now rather than at the end when I've committed to the details. It was a bit of a fiddle and I had to drill quite a few holes to get the positioning right but I like how things are shaping up. The pictures aren't the greatest (crap light again!) but they give an idea of how the diorama is looking.

This just brings it home to me how far I have to go with this project before it's finished. Once all the minis are painted and mounted on the monoliths I'll have to finish off the scenic detailing and add the snow & icicles. 

They say patience is a virtue so I shall have to be very virtuous!

Tomb King's base 1

I've finished construction on the Tomb King's base. I just added a bit more sand & cork and slapped on a base coat. Seeing it in monochrome helps show off the textures and ties everything together. I think painting this base is going to call for lots of dry & dusty looking pigments.

A blast from the (ancient) past

There’s been no mini painting action during the last two weeks as I’ve been to Egypt over the Easter holiday. I’ve had an interest in Egyptology for the last twenty years and it probably comes as no surprise that on occasions my interests in Ancient Egypt and miniature painting come together. 

Ancient Egypt is a rich source of inspiration providing imagery and mythology that many miniature companies have tapped into. I’m most familiar with the Egyptian inspired minis of Games Workshop (Tomb Kings) and Crocodile Games (War Gods of Ægyptus). The Tomb Kings minis take on the exotic imagery of Ancient Egypt and mix it with the more gothic iconography of death to produce a distinct hybrid style all their own and appropriate the Warhammer world. In contrast the War Gods minis present a far more recognisable version of ancient Egypt albeit a highly fantastical one with magic and monsters. 

My first use of Egyptian imagery in my mini painting came back in 1992 when I painted a Swooping Hawk Exarch using the Egyptian Hawk God Horus as a source of inspiration.

In 2007 I discovered the War Gods minis and I’ve had a lot of fun painting a few of them up. 

 

I collect Egyptian replicas and on rare occasions you can come across a decent one in the Egyptian Bazars. Inevitably in order to make it more saleable an enterprising Egyptian will have painted it gold – very gold! On several occasions I’ve called on my model painting experience to put the appearance of a replica back to something more like the original. 

More recently I used an Egyptian style head on my first version of the Dark Eldar diorama 

So much for the past, what about future projects?

I’m normally very bloody minded about only working on one project at a time or I’d never get anything finished and lets be honest the Dark Eldar diorama is taking more than long enough! However my trip to Egypt has me fired up with the urge to go paint a mini mummy and several ideas I’ve had in the back of my mind came together. Rather than store the idea away and probably never see it done I’ve taken a break from my Scourge and begun prepping a Tomb King diorama. 

Something I’ve wanted to try is cutting away a portion of a plinth to create some more interesting terrain for a mini and this combined with a piece of wood I picked up while walking home from work have come together to form the basis for my new base. The mummies are a combination of War Gods mummies (lots of bandages - very nice) and the Khemrian Warsphinx Tomb Guard Crew. The Tomb King (converted) from the Warsphinx will stand atop the rock outcrop summoning his undead legions up out of the desert sands.

So far so good

Dark Eldar Diorama – The second Scourge part 9

I've finished painting the flesh, fabric and armour areas and started the very first stages of 'veining' the wings. 

I'm particularly pleased with the blue tones I layered into the flesh areas. I think the use of ice blue on all the areas of the mini is helping to knit the colour scheme together.