Kabal of the Red Sand

[Col_Festus]

Hey guys, so I decided to finally take the plunge and start a Xeno force after being a Imperial player for as long as I can remember. I just couldn't resist the fantastic new Dark Eldar range.

I decided I didn't want to go with the stock scheme and wanted something a bit more sinister. I just finished up 2 test models last night. Let me know what you think.

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y213/Festablo/d87377af.jpg

I have a battle force and an Archon I picked up last week to get my Kabal going. I'll be adding a 2nd battle force late next month. My goal is to have this one painted up and ready to go before I get it.

[A Barb]

They look great!

[fuzzbuket]

very nice ! sharp and crisp, and red guns remind me of old marines :)

-fuzz

[Emerald Rose Widow]

I love the red to black contrast, it is very stark and awesome. I see a few spots that look like they need touch ups, but other than that love the look. Can't wait to see your raider.

[Astartes]

Very nice. Now all they need is some red sand on the bases

[pauljc]

Personally, I'm not a mega fan of big red guns, but that's a nice paintjob mate. Nice and clear, with good, contrasting yet subtle bases.

[Slug]

Very nice, especially digging the black and the highlights, good effort, but I got to agree some red sand would be cool if you could pull it off well, maybe do a wash on it so that it looks like blood or something could do it pooling around the guys feet, I reckon that would go well both with DE and the name for the kabal.

[Col_Festus]

I should probably clarify the name a bit. The reason I went with Red Sand is because they are going to be focused heavily on gladiatorial games. After watching the pod casts from Jes and Phil about the DE and their comments on the Kabal structure I had the image of this Kabal being the one that people join to try and become famous in the games.

The archon himself will be obsessed with putting on spectacular shows, drawing in the most influential people to try and help raise his status. The army will have a heavy focus on Reavers, Wyches, Beast Masters and the like. All the type of stuff you might see in spectacular games.

In particular the archon loves to take his top performers on real space raids to supercharge them before specific events. For a price he will also take wealthy nobles etc on real space raids so they can witness first hand some of the best gladiatorial spectacles available in the dark city. So The Kabal of the Red Sand is kind of a twist on the old "Blood and Sand" saying of the Arena's of Rome.

[lattd]

Why not try adding some blood splatters to the ground then to add to the gladiatorial theme. other than that they are plastic crack at its best

[Col_Festus]

I took the advice of some of the folks here and went with black guns. I tested it out and I really liked the look of it a lot. I got a bunch of work done on the first Kabalite Warrior Squad. I also had to test out the flesh scheme I wanted to use last night. Here are the results.

Warrior Squad WIP
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y213/Festablo/850ff681.jpg
I managed to get through the base coat of red, skin, and black highlights. I'll go back on my final step and sharpen up the black highlights so they are a tad more crisp.

Close Up On Skin
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y213/Festablo/99aad1dd.jpg

[Col_Festus]

Squads just about done. I made it through most of the red work. I got caught up in painting just the Sybarite and finished him up before the rest of the squad. I should have the rest done early next week.

Sybarite
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y213/Festablo/a342d263.jpg

[Tynskel]

fantastic use of black

[Fellend]

I for one prefered them with red guns, either way they are very pretty though

[Firebird]

Those looks really nice i especially like the flesh .

[Bigred]

1) Wow Colonel, so crisp and clean. Really impressive results for such a purposely limited palette.

2) What camera setup are you using, your shots are sharp as a tack - I have a good Canon rig and have trouble getting that kind of sharpness reliably.

[Col_Festus]

Thanks guys!

My actual SLR (Nikon D50 with a tripod and stock lens) is out of commission right now. I need to get a lens, my old one broke. I'm using my iPhone 4 right now to take some demo shots. I'm going to get the new lens this week I think so I'll get some professional pictures up and running soon.

[DrLove42]

Have you worked out how your scheme is going to work on vehicles? Cos the warriors alone look awesome. Want to see an Archon as well!

[Col_Festus]

Thanks! I'll actually be painting a raider next!

I'm planning on doing the same scheme, with black being the dominant color. The floor of the raider will be bronze, and the sails will be red. I will also probably do red runes on the hull of the raider somewhere to help tie it in with the rest of the force.

[Col_Festus]

Just finished up Kabalite Warrior Squad 1

Unfortunately I'll have to wait until next month to get the new lens for my SLR so for now I'm stuck using my iPhone. Once I get my lens replaced I'll retake all the pictures with a professional back drop and edit them with photoshop. Anywho.. where we go!

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y213/Festablo/4f3dbd50.jpg
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y213/Festablo/968adf39.jpg
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y213/Festablo/e819fe47-1.jpg
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y213/Festablo/2222027f.jpg

[Col_Festus]

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y213/Festablo/9700d6d2.jpg

For whatever reason the phone really washes out the flesh.. which im quite proud of.. this is the best shot I could get.
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y213/Festablo/99aad1dd-1.jpg

[Col_Festus]

Archon is complete!
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y213/Festablo/3ef9f3c3.jpg
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y213/Festablo/a1d331e3.jpg
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y213/Festablo/9aeb08d7.jpg

[zutoniac]

mines a dark eldar army too and i really love the colour scheme but im unsure on the red fur. A grey or dark brown might have work better :)

but i love the grey and black! x

[HarlekissofDeath]

I like it, a nice simple color sceme that is clean and crisp. Good job, and keep up the posting, it is good to see your army coming along.
I've got Dark Eldar too. Mine is a mix group but the main army is a Wych cult called the Crimson Blade. I've posted a few pics of my guys. You paint alot faster than me though.

[ChrisA7X]

very nicely done army so far , can't wait to see the rest when they are done

[Firebird]

That is truly awesome!

[DjDaMode]

They look great. The red really stands out. I bet they look great on the game table! BTW can i ask what color you used to highlight the black?

[Brymm]

The color scheme is great! I think black is hard to make look good on the table top and you've managed to pull it off. I love the purple flame on the archon. That purple vs the black reminds me of a Chaos force I saw years ago where the painter used black armor with purple SKIN and it looked amazing! :D Good work!

[Col_Festus]

Thanks for the the feedback guys! It keeps me painting! ;)

I finished building and basing my Wyches last night. Ran out of primer though so I have to make a trek to the local hobby shop tonight to pick some up.

The black is actually fairly simply. I use Adeptus Battle Grey to apply the darker highlights which if I need to I then go back and touch up with chaos black to get a nice crisp line. When those are done I do the extreme highlights with codex grey.

The reds are fairly simply too. I use P3 Skorne Red as a base, then I wash it with Devlan Mudd, and then go back and highlight with Skorne red followed by Blood Red. When that is all said and done, if I need some deep shading like on hair, or fur, I'll take my old school Brown Ink and put ever so little into cracks and crevices.

The sword on the archon is simply Deneb stone washed with Devlan Mudd followed by a deneb stone highlight.

The purple was Warlock purple highlighed up using white and then washed with leviathan purple and extreme highlighted with a warlock purple and white mix.

Any other questions feel free to ask!

[Nosmo75]

I agree with zutoniac, I think the fur would look a lot better if it was grey or brown. Other than that, a fantastic job, Colonel! ^-^

P.S. Have you considered adding some Dark Eldar runes in black on the Archon's pennant? I think it would look very striking. =)

[Cpt Codpiece]

really nice work.

making me want to get my long languishing DE battleforce out of the drawer and built up LOL

the black and red is a great combo the skin looks awesome too, dont worry i can see it ok :)

just wish i could decide on an colour for mine :p

[Smashotron]

I saw these on the front page and just had to pop in a say, great great job! I really like how you've done the black armor. All the models seem so crisp. Keep up the great work!