Benmannens Dark Eldar

What's on Benmannens desk right now: Retro Hellions conversion

Hellions seem a lot better in 6th ed. And the Baron is a great deal so I decided to collect a bunch of old ugly Green Goblin Hellions. It was trickier and more expensive than I thought. They were so bad in the old codex that few played them, and it didn't help that they were considered butt-ugly. If someone used them they ususally had a small unit of five or so. Which means noone actually had a lot of them, they must have been one of the worst selling models in the Dark Eldar range.

They can be found on ebay but go for a lot more than they should... I got my hands on about 16 of them, and started to glue them together. And painted up a test model. It was REALLY uninspiring. They look very similar and the hair is just too much. Ever for a circus army like mine.

So I went back to the old fluff and tried with Wyches glued on instead. It actually looks good! They cannot use Hellglaives though. They are too oversized for them. It looks strange, so I'll just keep them as is and hope nooone objects.

And the Baron is in the works. I've got an old Sybarite that might do the job.

WIP Retro Venom

I haven't posted in ages. Life came in between again but I am slowly getting back to production mode again.

I've given up the list restriction I had for the Retro list. It would be fun to add the new stuff but still try to build it all with only old pieces.

The first one is a Venom. I had an old Raven Strike Fighter with too many layers of paint on it. It's front got sacrificed, same with a built Vyper. Did a head swap on the pilot and magnetsed 3 Warriors on it.

2 will have Splinter Cannons to represent the Venoms Splinter Cannons and the third one is to represent a Warrior unit embarked.

3 Grotesques

Just wanted to show what the finished Grotesques I posted about earlier looks like. I tried different color schemes but as usual fell for a black & white look.

I found 2 new shades of grey that I have never used before: Vallejo Game Color Cold Grey and Stonewall Grey. Cold grey has a bit of dry earth to it and it was perfect. That together with my favorites Black Grey, Dark Grey and GWs Black Wash nailed it. I also gloss varnished those small red tubes on their backs.

What's been keeping me busy lately: Codex Harlequins

I've been quiet for a while, and there's a reason :)

I've been working on a new 40k project that isn't really something for my Dark Eldar blog, but I have decided to share it with you here anyways :) It's using a lot of Dark Eldar minis so I figured it is somewhat appropriate. I hope you have seen lots of the Harlequin inspiried conversions and units below.

But to take it from the start, it started with me wanting to expand my Dark Eldar army with a unit I had never fielded before: Harlequins, as they are an Elite choice and quite pricey I decided to get a bunch of them :) It sucked, you can read more about it in posts below. They end up costing around 300p for a unit of 10 if you tool them to the max. I scaled it down to an almost barebone unit of five for around 100p and that made them awesome point for point.

I got my hands on some old Harlequin Jetbikes and stuck new plastic Reaver riders on them, and my force started to look a bit themed :)

But it ended there, I had an idea of painting up some raiders checkered and making a Talos of the old harlequin Wraithlord... And then all of a sudden I read about the inofficial fan-created Harlequin list.

You can find the PDF linked in the first post here:

http://www.40konline.com/community/index.php?topic=54897.0]http://www.40konline.com/community/index.php?topic=54897.0

Anyway, I read it and loved it. It didn't seem overpowered, had lots of conversion opportunities and I had basically half the army already done! Forgeworld had just released the very cool little Eldar skimmer called Hornet, I ordered one of those. The codex is based on Gavs old Citadel Journal list and so it kept Venoms as transports, from his list, which was a simple purchase, straight from the GW DE range :)

The Solitaire is a must piece, and an old GW classic, mentioned in the current codexes, I made him with parts mostly from Scourges and Wyches.

The paintjob is quite simple. Black and white themed, with some details of red and blue. Mimes have rainbow haircolors, Harlequins have random single colored head pieces.

I'm adding some more Mimes and Death Jesters, am working on them at the moment.

Here's an overview of the force. It's about 30 Harlequins supported by all kinds of goodies :)

That's the Mockingbird in the foreground:

The Solitaire:

Great Harlequin:

Two Shadowseers:

Master Mime:

Mimes:

Harlequins (with Warlock in the foreground):

Death Jesters with Shrieker Cannons:

Mocking Bird:

Venoms:

Harlequin Jetbikes:

Harlequin Spiritwalkers:

That's it so far, you might have seen a lot of of these before below but some stuff is new. As mentioned I am adding more and more. I think the Master Mime has to be left at home, he just doesn't pull his weight.

I am having a lot of fun with the list, am 1-2 in games so far. A good win and two huge losses, but all were fun games. The list is a lot of fun to field and quite challenging to win with. You have a fragile tiny army that packs a lot of punch but struggle a bit with vehicles.

Borlänge Smackdown 2011 1750p tournament list

So another tournament is coming up in a couple of weeks. This is probably this summers only tournament for me, there are quite a few in Sweden this summer for some reason, but this one seemed like fun. It's quite small, 24 or 26 players, they use a komp minimum with no benefits of having a softer army except looking manly when deploying :)

So I'm going to try a fairly simple list. Feels very traditional. Lots of boats and troops, backed up by a Voidraven Bomber and 2 Talos. I am playtesting a new type of Archon (for me), the Djin Blade + Blaster combo. Just got me a Finecast mini and build me a quick Archon with just that setup...

Anyways, here's the list, I'm playtesting it tomorrow night vs a Tau list, so that could be quite a challenge:

1750P BORLÄNGE SMACKDOWN v1

Archon
Blaster
Djin Blade
Shadowfield
Combat Drugs

Haemonculus
Hexrifle

3 Wracks
Venom w Extra Splinter Cannon

3 Wracks
Venom w Extra Splinter Cannon

10 Warriors
Splinter Cannon & Blaster
Raider w Flickerfield

10 Warriors
Splinter Cannon & Blaster
Raider w Flickerfield

8 Wyches
Haywire grenades
Hekatrix w Agonizer
Raider w Flickerfield

8 Wyches
Haywire grenades
Hekatrix w Agonizer
Raider w Flickerfield

4 Reavers
1 Heat Lance
Arena Champ w nVenom Blade

3 Reavers
1 Heat Lance 12

1 Voidraven Bomber
2 Necrotoxin Missiles
Flickerfield

1 Talos
Chainflails & Twinlinked Haywire Blasters

1 Talos 100
Chainflails & Twinlinked Haywire Blasters

Army Total 1750
RT komp 49

8 Pain Tokens (torture style)

Just finished the Pain Tokens mentioned in the previous post... Based them in the same style as my army and moved on to sticking riders on those Harlie Reavers.

What's on Benmannens desk right now: 5 Harlequin Reavers and 8 Pain Tokens

Just a WIP update. I got my hands on 5 more of the good old Harelquin Jetbikes, bringing my total up to 8... I've been trying out 2 units of 4 and it's been pretty good.

I've been trying to come up with a good Pain Token solution and I just realized I had a easy way of making them. An old raider was equipped with Trophy Racks, made out of Warhammer Flagellants and a lone Kroot... I just cut them off and stuck them on small bases, and voila. 8 Pain Token!

1500 War on Hope campaign list

I might play in a campaign soon. It's been really long since I participated in one, and it's usually me that organizes them, but it's hard to keep peoples interest... This one seems promising, quite a few participants and I don't know most of them which will be nice. New opponents, and new lists to face.

So I decided to start the new list based on some fluff, and try out the new units GW just released minis for. Also I want it to be led by a Succubus, since I rarely use those and then of course throw in some drug-using units. I went for a alternate weapon choice for the Succubus, just Razorflails, I figured he-she would only go for infantry and vs Marines she would do about as many wounds as with an Agonizer, maybe a little bit less but enough. I like keeping her cheap and I have a great idea for a Succubus conversion that would look great with Razorflails... So I have to keep her with that. I might after playtesting add a Powerweapon or an Agonizer, but she is keeping the Razorflails :)

A Haemonculus will be needed for a "free" Pain Token, and he will act as an advisor to the Succubus. I also want to try out a 7 strong Scourges Unit, a Cronos and my favorite flyer, the Voidraven Bomber.

The campaign starts at 1500p and can reach 1650 if you conquer territories that confer extra points. I built a 1500p and a 1750p so I can practice the list in regular 1750p games, they are quite similar.

So I'll work on some background fluff, the campaign requires a little bit of writing, and I'll get back to you about it.

Here's the 1500p list, for you that use the RT comp system, it scores really high (well) at 67.5(!!), the 1750 scores 58.5.

HQ

Succubus
Razorflails 10
Haywire Grenades 5
Total 80

Haemonculus 50
Liquifier Gun 10
Total 60

ELITES

5 Harlequins 90
4 Harlequins Kiss 16
Total 106

TROOPS

3 Wracks 30

Venom 55
Extra Splinter Cannon 10
Total 65

3 Wracks 30

Venom 55
Extra Splinter Cannon 10
Total 65

10 Warriors 90
Splinter Cannon 10
Blaster 15
Total 115

Raider 60
w Flickerfield 10
Total 70

8 Wyches 80
Hekatrix 10
Agonizer 20
Total 110

Raider 60
w Flickerfield 10
Total 70

FAST ATTACK

7 Scourges 154
Solarite 10
2 Haywire Blasters 20
Total 184

4 Reavers 44
1 Heat Lance 12
Arena Champ 10
Venom Blade 5
Total 115

4 Reavers 44
1 Heat Lance 12
Arena Champ 10
Venom Blade 5
Total 115

HEAVY SUPPORT

1 Voidraven Bomber 145
2 Necrotoxin MIssiles 20
Flickerfield 10
Total 175

1 Cronos 80
Spirit Vortex 20
Spirit Probe 10
Total 110

Army Total 1500
Komp 67.5

Here's a pic of the Scourges halfway through painting, and the Voidraven Bomber in the background. I made a correct flying base for it, it looks really tall but that's how it's supposed to be.

10 Mandrakes (cast in resin)

Here's my first unit of 10 Mandrakes, some of the first units to be cast in Resin of the Dark Eldar range. There's been a lot of talk about miscasts, and my batch suffers from it a bit too. The feet were almost all deformed. And small clumps had gathered around small detailing. Nothing major but enough to be a problem if you invest a lot in the new resin stuff. I'm so used to perfectly cast Forgeworld stuff that this seem a bit sloppy.

But it's a huge improvement from metal, I've said it before and will say it again. I won't miss the metal. It's so much easier to work with and it's not as fragile as some seem to think it is. I like the switch to resin.

Anyway, here's the first unit and I might add another soon.

What's on Benmannens desk right now: Finecast Mandrakes

So what else is quite bad in the Dark Eldar army?

I tried Hellions, they sucked a bit if you rely on them even the slightest. But the models are great and I won't give up on them yet.

Next up were Harlequins, next weekend is the LinCon tournament, so I shouldn't hand out the verdict not quite just yet, but so far they have been a very expensive investment.

I have a small unit of the old Mandrakes, I tried a small unit in a game or two, aaaaaaand they sucked. So hey, there's my next project! A Mandrakes army! The new models look like they are on their way to a Misfits concert. I saw potential in them if I just could swap out their heads, but them being cast in metal stopped me.

So what happened last weekend, the Stockholm store packed up eeeeeverything in metal and shipped it back to england and filled up the shelves with beautiful resin cast minis instead. It's a big improvement if you ask me. Converting and adjusting will be done in minutes. No more pinning, no more wearing out clippers or breaking saw blades. Nicely done Games Workshop. But you will give us cancer... But hey it's worth it :)

So I got me 2 boxes of Finecast Mandrakes and clipped the heads off, I ebayed a bunch of plastic Daemonette heads a while back for a Slaanesh Chaos Space Marines project, and stuck those on them. Fit perfectly. I boiled some water and stuck them minis in and adjusted the limbs a bit. I'm not sold on the flaming left arms, but I decided to keep them, I might paint them in a subtle way to blend in discretely.

Here are the first six and a bunch of bases getting ready for more. I'll probably build the full 30 of them.

Ravager pics

I found some old photos of what my Ravagers look like. The color is very off but at least you can see what the look like. Forgeworld used to sell a model called Razorwing, that they unfortunately don't cast anymore. I talked to them a couple of years ago about making more and they said that the molds were worn out and the ones that existed in stores were the last ones ever! I lived in LA back then and found one in the Battle Bunker store and had 2 previously so I do have 3 of them but that's it. They are quite rare on Ebay as well, I haven't seen one in a long time.

I swapped out the wings (which look way too small in the pictures, they are much bigger in real life). My version has the front of an old style Raider as wings, other than that it's pretty much the same model. I have cut down the flying base rod so it's a low ridin' Ravager :) True Line of Sight...