All Present and Correct

Many happy returns of the day to General Kas! Here, have a unit of painted Cold One Knights. It's on the house.

These are very nice models, I'd say. Elegant and mean in one package, and it's going to be very hard to get through this whole article without writing some kind of Clever Girl joke. They are, however, not the best Dinosaur Riders in the world.

When I grow up, I'm going to be Dr McNinja. Fact.

I went for an ususual step (for me) with this lot. I painted the mounts first, even though they were pre-assembled.

Probably could have just left it here, to be honest. Simple, effective and purple, everything a Dark Elf unit should be.

This put me in conniptions for the rest of the week. Having done a fairly elaborate paintjob on the dinos, I was constantly worried I'd go and daub black or brown (the key undercoat colours of the knights) over a bit I'd already finished. Agony.

Building up from the shot above, I've put the stripes and belly in at this point

But totally worth the freedom of a fast, multi-levelled drybrush effect on the scaly steeds using my largest and quickest brushes. Getting the whole army complete in time for the owner's birthday took a little extra painting this week, I didn't think I was quite going to make it until a mammoth session this evening!

The details went over the top, with things like tongues and jangly saddle bits going on very late

The paint scheme leans heavily on the Executioner unit. The brown and dark blue worked well there, and I thought I'd go with something that was tried and tested.

Not so with their banner and shields, which aren't ideal. The idea was a striped banner with jagged yellow tears, like a velociraptor had been at it. Then I'd copy those yellow tears on the shields behind the bosses. The main reason it's not worked as well as I wanted is that I'm shit all the yellow paints I've got are very old, watery and crap. Hey ho, it's still not terrible enough to redo.

The stripes need a bit more definition and the red ink inside the bolts is too neon. Nothing that Blood for the Blood God can't fix, mind.

One of these chaps has a detachable Cold One, so he can go and sit elsewhere if he wants. He's a Battle Standard Bearer, granted the Banner of Massive Painting Space that comes with the Corsair sprue. Another image from my Deck of Many Things here, a big snake-wrapped skull.

The BSB also has a fancier hat than the others, and a nasty-looking shiny green sword that you can't see here

Lovely though the models are, they cannot form ranks at all. Those saurian tails, you see, very characterful and give the model a great sense of movement and poise. But stick right into the maw of the beast behind you, sadly.

Meep Meep

The champion has a slightly different paint job, more focus on brass and shiny blue. This means he can be fielded as a Master (or higher) if he wants. He knows this, and has thus removed his helmet in accordance with the GW Battlefield Survival Manual.

Everyone knows that heroes don't wear helmets. Just ask Sly Stallone's Judge Dredd. 

Painting Guide:

• Dinos - Snakebite Leather undercoat, drybrushed with Zandri Desert Yellow (it's late, I'm tired, I have a cold, I can't remember any paint names just now, so none of this is particularly accurate), then a heavy Pallid Wychflesh drybrush on the underneath. The stripes are Goblin Green, building to Catachan Green in the middle, then washed with Nuln Oil
• Riders - Abaddon Black, with Rhinox Hide leatherwork. The black bits got layered up via Deadly Nightshade to Etherium Blue round the shoulders, or given Mithril and Runefang drybrushes for metal. XV88 highlights over the leather armour and reins. Purple cloth trim, yellow gems, a bit of Polished Blue chain. Plain black lances with a tiny touch of Archaic Gold drybrush
• Brasswork - Brass Scorpion, Agrax Earthshade, a bit of Gold edging as above
• Faces - Yes, they have faces in deep helms, the bastards. No, I didn't do the eyes very well. I used the usual mix of Flesh Wash and Elf Flesh colouring, and skipped any eyes that were too deepset to be plausible

And a late character, sort of!

Must be a character. No helmet!

Many months back, I painted a Supreme Sorceress with a magnetic rump. Here is her Alt Horse - an albino Cold One. She's a bit legs akimbo on it, but in fairness, I wouldn't put my legs any closer to a bloody dinosaur than I had to either.

Yeeeeee-Haaaawwwwww

And that's the lot! All current Dark Elves painted and repacked. I'd say 'Job's a Goodun', but that's for orks. There are a few odds and ends left to do, but they aren't around to be painted yet. I'll get a better army shot (plus my usual rubbish photoshopping) up over the next few days. For now, I have purple blotches swimming in front of my eyes and am going to lie down for a while.

Let's call it a round 6000 points. Did it really only take me three and a half months? When did I find time to eat?