Grotesque Enough?

Hello everybody!

Just a quick one this week, nothing massive of note being finished in relation to tabletop gaming (the other thing I have been painting I might show off next week) so here are the Dark Eldar models I have been working on over the past 7 days...


So firstly we have the painting of my second Wrack unit, part of the Scalpel Squadron formation, in advance of these pictures I am waiting on the wash over the robes to dry before continuing with the heads.

 Secondly we have the beginnings of Talos #2 for the Corpsethief Claw formation.As you can see the parts for this conversion are very minimal, which my wallet thanks me immensely for.


Finally here we have something a little different. I want to have different looking Wracks for each of the Haemonculus formations and here is me trying out ideas for one such unit. I like the Electro-Priest models and wanted to see what they would look like if the were "wracked" up so this one I put a slightly exposed spine with some rough flesh either side, I also want to try out putting some needles or something in it along with some barbed wire but will see how it goes and when there is more development on this one I will let you know.


So the last thing I want to muse about before closing this post is a problem I have been turning over in my brain for a while now, and it is to do with the Dark Eldar Grotesque. The Grotesquerie is one of the main formations in the Haemonculus Covens book (hell my blog is named after it!) and I currently do not know what to do in relation to them. GW only has a single (yes single) Grotesque model and whilst it is pretty nice it is in a set pose, no alterations, expensive and you need 4-6 of them in a unit. This is a problem for me.
Now what many people have done to alter this is to use other models as a base, the most popular of these (and by most popular I mean 95% of Dark Eldar players) is to use the GW Crypt Horror models that I shall put below.


And whilst the end results are usually very nice (there is a reason most people use them, you have Google look it up yourself) I feel they are done too much, it is almost like that is the official model for it now, and this is something I do not wish to follow. The problem therefore is what do I use as a replacement? I want mine to look...well...grotesque...the name kind of gives it away really. Like with the rest of my army I want them to be gross and make people look and go "that's disgusting/disturbing....I love it!" and these, well don't do that for me. It is hard getting this from GW models with their whole trying to make things friendly for children angle and I want to use GW models as a base so I can take these to official events (the overall plan is to potentially get them ready for a Throne of Skulls run next year) so it is turning into quite the conundrum.

I have SOME ideas for what I would want them to look like but they are just so out there and waaaay beyond my skill range that I wouldn't possibly do them justice. The thought of commission work springs to mind sometimes but with a commission that is currently happening....well...that is a long story for another post entirely...

Anyway that is enough of me prattling on about the insanity in my brain.

Next week I will hopefully have the infantry part of the Scalpel Squadron done and just need the second venom painted up for that to be all clear.

Until then, take care everybody!

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