Dark Eldar Grotesques

[MaltonNecromancer]

Once again, 40K players get shafted - while WHFB players get plastic kits for every "large" model they like, 40K players get a single goofy finecast Grotesque at a cost of one hundred million pounds. Just like Ogryns. So, just like Ogryns, I've made some of my own...

http://i206.photobucket.com/albums/bb183/MaltonNecromancer/Dark%20Eldar%20Grotesques/P7190323.jpg

http://i206.photobucket.com/albums/bb183/MaltonNecromancer/Dark%20Eldar%20Grotesques/P7190321.jpg

http://i206.photobucket.com/albums/bb183/MaltonNecromancer/Dark%20Eldar%20Grotesques/P7190319.jpg

http://i206.photobucket.com/albums/bb183/MaltonNecromancer/Dark%20Eldar%20Grotesques/P7190317.jpg

[MaltonNecromancer]

Rear views of spinal sculpts...

http://i206.photobucket.com/albums/bb183/MaltonNecromancer/Dark%20Eldar%20Grotesques/P7190324.jpg

http://i206.photobucket.com/albums/bb183/MaltonNecromancer/Dark%20Eldar%20Grotesques/P7190322.jpg

http://i206.photobucket.com/albums/bb183/MaltonNecromancer/Dark%20Eldar%20Grotesques/P7190320.jpg

http://i206.photobucket.com/albums/bb183/MaltonNecromancer/Dark%20Eldar%20Grotesques/P7190318.jpg

[Necron_Lord]

Nice! It looks like you used bits from the Talos/Cronos kit and Rat Ogres. Sure, you're using plastic, but a $40 box only has 2 Rat Ogres and a Talos/Cronos kit is $44.50. In other words, where is the money you're saving? The conversions and painting look great, however!

[energongoodie]

Really nice work.

[Astartes]

The money he's saving may be negligible, but he does have a point with the lack of individuality amongst Grotesques. One sculpt is super lame. His may not be all that much cheaper, but at least they're not all in the same doofy pose.

[isotope99]

If you can get the rat ogres online cheap as IOB components and the Talos bits online or as leftovers from an actual Talos/Cronos model you already want there should be some savings in here for a squad this size.

I like the spine detail, it looks just right. May have to borrow that when I update my grotesque raider.

[fuzzbuket]

wow very nice conversion work: and youve not just reposed them but each pose is very charecturful! i really like the guy with massive fists: probably created after the harmoculs watched too many hulk cartoons :P

[DrLove42]

Simply brilliant. How did you do the spines?

[snikrot]

holy crap those look soo mich better than the official model which completly sucks, overall i was very disapointed with the Haemonculus,Grotesque, and Wracks i felt they could have been much better.in fact i might actually have bought some Grotesques if they looked like that.

[DrLove42]

Personally I lvoe the Wracks models. A little more movement would be nice, but they not supposed to be fast. So it suits them

The Hemon is also really nice, a few different poses would be good, as it really tricky to get him armed as you want with 2 of the arms already fixed

[Bigthunda]

Amazing work! Rats off to ya, this is the best grotesque conversion I've seen

[MaltonNecromancer]

It looks like you used bits from the Talos/Cronos kit and Rat Ogres. Sure, you're using plastic, but a $40 box only has 2 Rat Ogres and a Talos/Cronos kit is $44.50. In other words, where is the money you're saving?

Well, for a start, I don't shop at GW! I would hope that much was obvious. There's also this amazing new thing called the Internet, where people will sell you bits of stuff from kits without you having to buy a £60 box set of cack you don't want (Skaven? High Elves? Yuk.)

Now, as for the money, 1 officical Grotesque = £12.50

4 rat ogres off eBay (because I haven't bought anything except paint from GW since they stopped doing Apocalypse kits) = £12
and I bought the Talos kits (@£22.50) for the Taloses (Talosi? Talosae?), so the masks and gauntlets I used were essentially "free".

So, four Grotesques for the price of one.

Also, I now have 2 spare Skaven blokes, who (when given Wargames Factory octopus heads) make for very nice Shoggoth tenders.


How did you do the spines?

Green stuff and a pencil. You basically put a thin line of GS down where you want the "spine" to be, then use the tip of the pencil to make indentions along it where the vertebrae would be separate. You then use the tip to push down either side of these indentations.

I'm not explaining it very well, but it's really very simple.

[Necron_Lord]

Well, for a start, I don't shop at GW! I would hope that much was obvious. There's also this amazing new thing called the Internet, where people will sell you bits of stuff from kits without you having to buy a £60 box set of cack you don't want (Skaven? High Elves? Yuk.)

Now, as for the money, 1 officical Grotesque = £12.50

4 rat ogres off eBay (because I haven't bought anything except paint from GW since they stopped doing Apocalypse kits) = £12
and I bought the Talos kits (@£22.50) for the Taloses (Talosi? Talosae?), so the masks and gauntlets I used were essentially "free".

So, four Grotesques for the price of one.

Also, I now have 2 spare Skaven blokes, who (when given Wargames Factory octopus heads) make for very nice Shoggoth tenders.



Green stuff and a pencil. You basically put a thin line of GS down where you want the "spine" to be, then use the tip of the pencil to make indentions along it where the vertebrae would be separate. You then use the tip to push down either side of these indentations.

I'm not explaining it very well, but it's really very simple.

I have heard about the Internet. I usually get my stuff off of E-bay as well, and if not, I can get it from a discounter at 75% Retail with no tax and free shipping and handling if the order is large enough, so I order in bulk.

I got enough Rat Ogres from the old Skaven Battalions (75% of a discounted box meant that it was about half off, which was better than you could do for all those units on E-Bay piecemeal) and from IoB. Soooo, I didn't know how much of a discount one can get for them on E-Bay. Trying to get Necron Immortals or Pariahs on E-Bay typically isn't much different from getting it at GW or the FLGS. It depends on the unit.

Nice work on the conversions and painting. How did you do the spines?

[Asymmetrical Xeno]

wait...stop...right now...

Shoggoth tenders?

so you're going to have a big gribbly shoggoth in the army? :D I'd recomend the Infernals from Red Box Games, they make perfect shoggies - i posted about them on my blog : http://outsidetheuniverseitself.blogspot.com/2011/07/red-box-games-infernal-horrors.html


holy crap those look soo mich better than the official model which completly sucks, overall i was very disapointed with the Haemonculus,Grotesque, and Wracks i felt they could have been much better.in fact i might actually have bought some Grotesques if they looked like that.

completely agree, I was totally psyched up and ready to start dark eldar - but the models were really underwhelming to me. This guys grotesques actually look like how they should do and at a fraction of the price lol

[MaltonNecromancer]

Nah, a friend runs Call of Cthulhu and likes models (and most Cthulhu models are just dreadful).

Though something Shoggoth-y would be a nice idea for a replacement for the Clawed Fiend. That stupid blue thing looks like a six-nippled Sully from "Monsters Inc". Whoever thought that "more nipples = threatening alien" really has some Freudian issues they need to sort through.


Trying to get Necron Immortals or Pariahs on E-Bay typically isn't much different from getting it at GW or the FLGS. It depends on the unit.

True dat. Much easier getting new/popular units (hence why Marines are easily the best army to get into from a 2nd hand point of view), though when it comes to real bargains, I find the key is to look for people who either a.) don't have a clue what they're selling so they've labelled it all wrong and no-one elze has noticed (rare, and difficult to spot, but glorious when you find it) or b.) horribly wrecked with inches of cack-handed painting. Which a day in Dettol clears away quite nicely. Most of my Marine army has been reclaimed from people who clearly had no idea what they were doing and obviously didn't want to learn. A few weeks back, I bought some Marine bikes for pennies, because they were under about seven layers of paint, and when I got the paint off, the guy had glued the bolters on back to front (so they were pointing at the cyclist). Once Dettolled and sorted out, they look quite spiffy now. :)

As for how I did the spines, I'll see if I can put up a tutorial...

[Irongut]

Simply Amazing- nice job!

[Drew da Destroya]

Really nice. I really like some of the subtle conversions you've done with the weapons, like combining that hook blade with the giant Talos blade... looks really good.

Whenever I get to my Grotesque Project, I'm stealing your spine technique!