Warhammer: Daughters of Khaine - Color Advice Needed

[Rosie]

Hey there,

Some of you may know me from my previous threads, having done a 120 model Stark project and an ongoing Targaryen one for MESBG. This time however I want to focus on something a little bit different: Warhammer Fantasy - The Old World.

Back in the days, WHFB used to be the only game I played for a longer period besides MESBG. I enjoyed the way it let you bring larger armies, quite liked some of the lore and loved the Dark Elves as a faction. Once WHFB became Age of Sigmar, however, that love died out.

I felt like they forcefully destroyed lots of good lore with the End Times, then tried to make some Space Marines look vaguely Medieval for their new factions, and so stopped playing. Now that The Old World has returned though, I’m digging up some of my old Witch Elves as a side project.

I already have a general idea in mind. Given that they’ve already got somewhat of a ‘burlesque’ vibe to them, I thought it might be fun to push that a little further and take it over the top. That’s why I’ve decided to go with black and red as main colors, adding gloss for a latex look.

Furthermore, I’ll be trying to convert all units in my army out of witch elves or similar models, who will all get red hair. I’ve already started working on a few test models. I’m still undecided on a few details however, so would like to ask for your opinion:



First of all, as you might be able to see I haven’t painted the hilts on their blades as well as the skulls on their ‘bikini shorts’ yet. Which colors do you think would look best for those? Secondly, I’m still not sure how I want to base them. Do you have any creative ideas that would match with the style I’m going with?

Lastly, I’m still looking for some miniatures that look remotely similar to the Witch Elves that carry weapons with two hands. The reason being I want to convert some Executioners, but am not 100% sure I’m skilled enough to turn the original Witch Elf models into ones that are two-handing.

[voltan]

First of all, as you might be able to see I haven’t painted the hilts on their blades as well as the skulls on their ‘bikini shorts’ yet. Which colors do you think would look best for those? Secondly, I’m still not sure how I want to base them. Do you have any creative ideas that would match with the style I’m going with?

Lastly, I’m still looking for some miniatures that look remotely similar to the Witch Elves that carry weapons with two hands. The reason being I want to convert some Executioners, but am not 100% sure I’m skilled enough to turn the original Witch Elf models into ones that are two-handing.

I'm lazy and would just go with a bone look or a basic metallic, sort of coppery maybe.

No idea on bases, mine just end up matching my terrain, again laziness  , as for witch elves with two handed stuff is their anything in the dark eldar ranges that would work, they used to have wyches with two handed weapons, can't think of anything else at the moment.

[FramFramson]

Coppery or golden metallic for the skulls.

Raging Heroes have a lot of not-Witch-Elf stuff with very much the, er, vibe you're looking for.

[HappyChappy439]

Coppery or golden metallic for the skulls.

Agreed, a gold or brass look would be pretty neat for the skulls and hilts!

[Rosie]

Thanks for the feedback guys. From everything I gathered on here I’ll probably either go with gold or ‘back latex’ like on the boots for the sword hilts and gold or just bone for the skulls. As for the bases, I’ve got two general ideas now. The first one would be adding lava, going for a more volcanic look to match the hair. The second one is a bit of a dark temple/dungeon look to match the almost BDSM like aesthetic of my Witch Elves with small streams of blood running here and there. Which one do you think would look better?

[area23]

Very nice colours.

Lastly, I’m still looking for some miniatures that look remotely similar to the Witch Elves that carry weapons with two hands. The reason being I want to convert some Executioners, but am not 100% sure I’m skilled enough to turn the original Witch Elf models into ones that are two-handing.

Ral Partha Europe is your best bet. Chris FitzPatrick (Crocodile Games) who did one edition of Dark Elves (and some dark eldar) aslo did Crucible elves.

https://www.ralparthaeurope.co.uk/shop/crucible-c-69/miniatures-c-69_72/

There's three female archers in the mix:
https://www.ralparthaeurope.co.uk/shop/ral-partha-fantasy-c-37/fantasy-armies-c-37_39/elves-c-37_39_47/

Some of Chris's Crocodile Games figs might fit in too:
https://www.crocodilegames.com/store/itemList.cfm?catID=19&sort=prodID

Also RAFM in Canada I remember did some interesting dark elves.
They were called Vanir but I only found these on their new site. I remember there were others.

https://rafm.com/search?q=vanir&options%5Bprefix%5D=last

[Rosie]

Thanks for the input guys. A few months in, I’m finding two things. First of all, that Dark Elves work better with Witch Elves as the only infantry, taking away the issue of needing female Executioners. Secondly, I finished my first unit:



<a target='_blank' href='https://nl.imgbb.com/'>free images online[/url]


While initially being quite happy with them, I find I’m having some… issues of late. First of all, while the color scheme should work since it’s the classic ‘Succubus’ look, I like it less and less. It might be the somewhat more gray look on the black instead of sharp edge highlights or the slightly tanned skin tone, but I’m finding the colors don’t really stand out. Additionally, the black tiles are cool, but don’t help with this specific issue either.

For a regular army, I would just go on. But since Dark Elves are the army I’ve been a fan of for years, I don’t want this to be one I look at every time thinking ‘I would have done them differently in hindsight’.

I have a few ideas for an alternative scheme. The first one is to have blonde hair, darker black with more vibrant red and lava bases. Basically my Targaryen look. The advantage of that option is I know it works, both for me and in general. The disadvantage is it kinda takes ‘Targaryen look’ away as an option for my Caledor High Elves.

The second and third options go with the same bases, but add on some snow and ice. I feel like that would make them look a lot more colorful, while also allowing for more options to sprinkle around little details. The models would then either be painted the classic Dark Elf purple with either red or blonde hair. Both colors go well with icy as well as purple tones, so should look good together.

Alternatively, the third option would be to go all in on the Ice Queen vibe. Almost Narnia like, it would mean using icy blue with blue edge highlights on the black this time, as well as blonde hair and a bit paler skin. Which of these options do you think looks best? Or do you have any suggestions of your own?

[Belligerentparrot]

I'm terrible at painting, so take this with a large pinch of salt:

I really like the greyish look of the black. It makes the armour look lived in (I mean - worn without looking worn out) like these elves have been on the hunt for some time. I like that a lot more than the kind of just-stepped-out-of-a-salon look you often see with Witch Elves. If GoT is a helpful reference point, in my head they should look a little more Iron Islands than anything else.

So if I were you, I'd be well pleased with the minis themselves and maybe changing the colour of the bases might be the way to go. I can see what you mean, with the bases the colour they are now there is a lot of greyish black.

[robh]

I think that unit looks really good, I like the red/orange contrast against the black, at table distance they are a very striking looking group.

For the dull grey look of the armour you can correct that with ink glazes in a dark blue-green (not a yellow tone green). It will give you a compliment to the strong red-orange.