Don't Cross the Bows

First twenty done! 

Trying to calculate this as a percentage of the total job is too depressing to contemplate. There's at least one unit of pretty much everything Dark Elves have to offer in my cupboard right now. Some of them are forty strong. 

The only way to get through a lot of big units is to plough madly into it, I reckon. That way by the time the inevitable fatigue sets in, you don't have a massive pile left to do. So I'm aiming to get at least ten a week down, maybe more, and I've started well by getting all the crossbows done.

Dark Elf Fashion Law 1 - If in doubt, Skulls

Two units of ten, slightly different compositions. The first ten are mostly old models, adapted from the original Fantasy Army box set. As seen on a previous post, it's not a bad model actually. The new heads give it a slight lift, and the musician and champion stand out all the more.

The next ten are the models that were around before the current lot. Several of them have a leather thong ending in a hook dangling from their belt, which is a black mark for the sculptor. They clearly got as far as researching 'that's what crossbowmen might have' without realising it's the winding apparatus for a Stirrup Crossbow, rather than an elaborate mechanical repeater like these guys have. Honestly, what a rookie mistake. It's like their teenage life didn't consist of reading endless books on medieval weaponry. Probably went to parties instead. Loser.

Anyway, despite that glaring error, not bad models at all. Although they look more like High Elves with spikes on to me. That's something I feel isn't quite right about the current Dark Elf list, actually. Although the fluff is there to set them aside, it really is very similar to the High Elf army.

Now, I guess that's fluffily appropriate, so fair enough. It's just looking at the recent Dark Eldar 40k stuff, with their weird surgical abominations and jet barges, I feel like the opportunity to go wilder might have been missed. Captialise on the beast training, for example, with massive packs of evil war cats with trainers as unit champions. Or how about something to represent the ships they raid from?

Anyway! Before I talk myself into painting conversions I can't make, I need to finish this lot. They're going to be Slaaneshi cultists (which gives Kas good options if the supposedly forthcoming list for such an army allows him to field demons in it), so lots of pink and purple.

The massive bayonets on their crossbows may be all well and good in melee, but they can't form two ranks for toffee

Purple is the new Tau Light Ochre. They're all undercoated purple, in fact, which saves heaps of time. It's not, in all honesty, the best colour for undercoating, sadly, especially on the bases. But I'm very glad it's there.

Painting Guide: -

• Purples - Whatever colour the undercoat is, washed with Nuln Oil, layered with Xereus Purple and highlighted with Lucius Lilac
• Blues - Stegadon Scale Green, Deadly Nightshade Wash, Aldorf Guard layer and Skink Blue highlights
• Pink - Emperor's Children with a Changeling Pink drybrush
• Browns - Either Rhinox hide with a lick of Tyrant Skull for the bow, or XV88 with the same drybrush for leather
• Flesh - Ungor Flesh, diluted Flesh Wash, Ungor Flesh again, Pallid Wych Flesh highlight
• Metal - Either Abaddon Black with Mithril and Runefang Silver layers, or Mithril washed with Nuln Oil and drybrushed up to Runefang again, or Brass Scorpion with Ancient Gold highlights