Skål's Dark Pirate Raiders

 Another OWAC in the books. Let us take a moment and toast all of those that took this challenge on and over came all of their personal obstacles. Each of us face challenges throughout the year and at times we forget that we need to spend a little me time as well.

This month I had a little bit of time and really wanted to get a little more painted up, so I knocked out 10 Banshees/Wych's to add a little more variety to my force.

This OWAC I had a goal to make a playable Dark Eldar army for 3rd edition but also make sure that I could fit my miniature selections into a Eldar Pirate army for 2nd edition. 

I also wanted to to add a few missing elements to my Eldar army. Wraithguard and Dire Avengers have been on my list to paint for a while now and being able to finally play them is awesome.

The Incubi and the Talos are going to be beasts on the table for the Dark Eldar and will be fun to field in a Eldar Pirate force. I am excited to drop the Talos on the table as a Dreadnought/Wraithlord.

I had this vision for how I wanted to do my Hellions. I really wanted a Green Goblin vibe to them. They needed to have that dirty smoke plume holding them up instead of the clear flight stand. My buddy Brian (you are the man) printed these off and I am super stoaked with the way that they came out.

Points wise I kept it basic. I matched up the Dark Eldar models with how I would use them in a 2nd edition Eldar Pirate army. The break down is below to include points as well as what I would use them as.

• Archon/Farseer: 170
• Warlock: 51
• 10 Dire Avengers: 220
• 10 Wraithguard: 350
• 10 Incubi/Striking Scorpion's : 260
• Talos/Dreadnought: 160
• 5 Hellion's/Warp Spiders: 205
• 10 Wyches/Howling Banshees: 270
• Grand total: 1686

Till next OWAC I will leave you with a toast

“Here’s to a long life and a merry one. A quick death and an easy one. A pretty girl and an honest one. A cold beer and another one.”

Skål

Skål's Swooping Fluorescent Blacklight Death (rank & file 140 points)

This month was AWESOME! I finally was able to get half of my Hellions painted up. I love these figs. They give me the vibe of the Green Goblin from Spiderman so I went full in with that feel by giving them all smoke trails. I went a little extra by using fluorescent colors that pop under a blacklight. This is hard to photograph but I think it looks really cool in person.

Game wise this unit will be used as Swooping Hawks in 2nd edition games for my Eldar Pirate army and in 3rd they will be Hellions. I think the bummer is in the Dark Eldar book for 3rd edition you are only allowed one unit of these which sucks as I can see painting up a bunch to have them go crazy across the table.

Next month the fun part, the group photo. I am looking forward to putting everything on the table to see how far I have come this year.

Till next month.

Skål

Skal's Hello is it me you are looking for? (Leader Month)

Eldar Pirates are the wildest of all the Outcasts. They are quick tempered and unpredictable raiders whose ships are fast and well armed. Eldar Pirates fight and trade with other races, and will even hire out their services for a price. Throughout Eldar history the Pirates have lived apart from other Eldar but on occasions they have come to the rescue of Eldar Craftworlds or Exodite planets. To the vulnerable human worlds of the galactic rim they are a terrifying curse, plunderers and destroyers who appear at will and leave nothing behind but ruin. Pirate squads are always led by a Pirate Captain, represented by either a Champion, Hero or Mighty Hero.

For my leader month I had to paint up my Pirate Mighty Hero or Dark Eldar Archon for 3rd edition. I had been waiting awhile to paint this nasty dude up. I loved that he is wearing some pour souls face on his helmet to bring about fear in his enemy's. 

This fig was a lot of fun to paint and another step in being able to have a nasty little Eldar Pirate addition to my 2nd edition force as well as being well on my way to having a very fierce Dark Eldar force for 3rd edition.

Hang in there OWACV crew you are almost there, don't give into the pull of the field of bones.

Here’s to the great artistic genius, Pablo Picasso. His last words were “Drink to me.” Who am I to question genius?

Wise words. Till next time Skål.

Hello darkness my old friend (Skal's Troop month 266 pts)

In restless dreams, I walked alone

Narrow streets of cobblestone

'Neath the halo of a street lamp

I turned my collar to the cold and damp

When my eyes were stabbed by the flash of a neon light

That split the night

And touched the sound of silence There was always something so badass to me about the Dark Eldar Incubi. These dudes were not even elite's, these were the cream of the crop, the most murderie or the murderie (is that a word?). These were the personal retinue of the Dark Eldar Lord! Oh hell yeah bring on the murdering cause thats what these elves do.

                                         

I wanted this unit to match the Archon that I will be using as the Lord of my force so I went with the Kabal of the Black Heart colors that I used for my warriors. I ended up making the weapons pop so that this unit would be easy to find on the table.

I painted up eight of the of the standard two handed power weapon the "Punisher" and than one Shredder and one Blaster for further options.

These are going to add some much needed armored troops as well as some murderie power weapons to my growing Eldar "Pirates". They would work well if I wanted to use them as Howling Banshees or even Striking Scorpion's if I am playing a "Pure" 2nd edition game with my Dark Eldar force.

And the people bowed and prayed

To the neon god they made

And the sign flashed out its warning

In the words that it was forming

Then the sign said, "The words on the prophets are written on the subway walls

In tenement halls"

And whispered in the sound of silence

Till next month

Skål

Skål's Eldar Pirate Intro post

 Another year and another goal. OWAC has been a great way for me over the past few years to paint up playable force's for both Warhammer Fantasy and Rogue Trader/Warhammer 40k. Besides my Dwarf army from 2019 my main focus has been Elves. 

My Wood Elf army was a throw back to my first Warhammer army when I first started playing back in second edition. 

The Dwarf army has been a project I have wanted to do for years and the final result fit what I was imagining. 

Last year I painted the hell out of classic Eldar and threw in some 3rd edition Dark Eldar as Pirates and had a great time working on the various parts of that army.

This year I wanted to add more to my Eldar/Pirate force. So I will be diving into more Harlequins, Wraithguard, Warlocks, more Dark Eldar troops and transports, Eldar vehicles, some Scourges, Hellions, Wyches and as always I have something a little special planned for the final month. 

I learned during my first OWAC that the best plan for me in no plan when it comes to painting. I know I will hit the minimum requirements for each month so I tend to go with what I am in the mood to paint. So with that in mind here is a rough look at what I am thinking of painting.

 For my flying troops I wanted to do something a little different so my buddy Brian printed up some sick smoke contrails to give my Dark Eldar Pirates that Green Goblin feel and I can't wait to paint them up. This is a test fitting to see how the Hellion boards would look and I am pretty happy with the result.

Last but not least is my offering to the great Overlord. When I saw the suggestion of pink and blue I knew I had only one style of figure to paint up. I searched through my pile of metal Harlequins and chose that lass. A splash of primer, some proper mix's of bright colors and flurry of paint later my offering was done.

  So no list in my intro post. Sorry, not sorry. To all of the new participants, good luck and I hope to not see your shattered remains on the field of bones. 

To all of the returning Veterans I raise a toast:

“May your glass be ever full.
May the roof over your head be always strong.
And may you be in heaven
half an hour before the devil knows you're dead”

Skål 

Darkness Falls (Skals Eldar Troop month 526 points)

Rank & File #3

 Chaos, darkness, confusion, loss of time, mad rush the last three days. No I'm not talking about the Grim Dark I am referring to the craziness that was March. I built and painted 20 Pirate Dark Eldar in two days. Yep two days. I have to say it was like opening a time machine when I dove into the Dark Eldar army box. It was pretty awesome, I had some great music playing and I was simply focused on building and cleaning the Dark Eldar. I had already worked out my paint scheme so that was the easy part once I sat down to paint.

While picking up models for this army last year I stumbled across a lot of Dark Eldar Raiders and Ravagers. While they were already built and painted the price seemed to be worth the effort. Below you can see a before and after the new paint job. I was pretty happy with the way the Raider turned out and it fit the feel I was going for (you may see a few more over the next few months)

The color scheme for the Eldar "Pirates" was an easy decision for me. I always remember the Cabal of the Black Heart. That striking black armor with that high contrast green edge highlighting was always the scheme I wanted to do if I ever did Dark Eldar.

The last addition to my force this week was a Harlequin Solitaire. The stories of how these lone Harlequin roam the universe living amongst other races was something I always wanted to see. So I figured why not have this one join the raiding party of these pirate Eldar.

Points wise for this month we will call the two units of Pirates and two Pirate Captains 188 points

The Raider will count as a Falcon at 198 points

The Solitaire will clock in at a base of 140 points

Total for this month 21 troops and one tank for a total of 526 points

Till next time

"They speak of my drinking, but never think of my thirst."

Skal