Dark Elf Conversions

[mozz]

First post...

I'm a longtime table-top gamer and I recently tried Blood Bowl via Cyanide's xbox port. Not the best way to meet the game, or so I hear, but I really enjoyed the rule system, which is an unusual occurrence with GW. Anyway, liked the Dark Elves a bit and want to get a team together. Here's the first attempts using a the new witch elf kit as a base.







So, for those interested, those are Cadian infantry helmets with all the details sanded off, reposed legs and arms with supplemental pads made from greenstuff using instamold.

I'll make the Witches from this kit using much less armor and whips but I'm stuck with what to do with the Linemen. I'd like to find male elves but all the models that match these girls are in heavy armor and I like mine to look somewhat like football players, not knights without swords.

C & C welcome.

[snakees]

Good body concersion but the helmet look wrong for dark elves.

[axiom]

Nice looking figures! The positioning is great, although I agree the elf helmets look good a little more conical in shape.

As for the male elves, what about looking at Dark Eldar wyches? There's several nice teams using them as a starting point.

[Shteve0]

These are utterly inspired... congrats! I absolutely love the armouring, I think these'd make exceptional Amazons. Would you be able and willing to post up a tutorial next time you make some of these pads? I really want to plagiarise you, but I don't know where to start

I'll second the idea of mixing in some Wyches parts for the male players. Worth looking in to, perhaps?

[Axtklinge]

Welcome aboard, and congrats for those models!
The poses are great!
Cheers
A.

[mozz]

Would you be able and willing to post up a tutorial next time you make some of these pads? I really want to plagiarise you, but I don't know where to start

Ask nicely and ye shall receive. Besides, I always enjoy the sincerest form of flattery, so to speak. To begin, I roughed out flat sculpts of the pads on an old blister pack I had lying around.



Notice they aren't particularly crisp or well formed. I was aiming for a padded leather armor look reminiscent of old football gear. This stuff isn't pretty so don't bother too much.

Then I got some Instant Mold (https://www.coolminiornot.com/shop/tool ... -mold.html).



I boiled some water, melted up a chunk or two of the mold and pressed it around the pads and... voila:



Now the trickiest part of the bit, using the molds. In order for these pads to fit the models well they need to curve around shins, forearms, knees and shoulders. I tried a couple different methods that I won't bore you with here and finally settled on applying the duplicates to plasticard tubing to set before gluing them to the models. You get a tube that looks somewhat like this:



I press the greystuff into the mold, then roll the mold across the side of the tube. You can see that you'll get a bunch of variations from the same mold as the transfer is tricky. Personally, I like the variation but if you want things super uniform this will be a trial.

Afterwards, I just trim each one up with a fresh razor blade and then peel them off. Coat the back with super glue and apply to your model. The greystuff is flexible enough that you can flex it around limbs and the superglue will hold it.

That's the business, hope it helps.

[Tritex]

If you can add some spikes or maybe spines to the helms I would say they would look perfect. the shield/blades are really nice and practical for the game too.

[mozz]

Thanks for the suggestions, I agree that these helmets aren't the proper shape for GW DE's but I want more of an obvious football look than and obvious DE look. As for spikes, I tried to include more on my new figures and I am considering how to add them to the helmets without being too fragile for storage and play.

Anyway, enough talk,I've got some more pictures to show you all. First up, 4 linemen and a runner:







These male linos are Dark Eldar Wyches with Shadow Elf legs and the female lino and runner are chopped up witches with extra padding just like the blitzers were.

Finally, the easiest of the bunch, 2 witch elves:







I tried to vary the armors a bit just to keep them more distinct. The AV7 runner and witch elves have much less armor than the AV8 Linemen and Blitzers. Also tried to keep the weapons to a minimum but keeping a few on there seemed fluffy and more more interesting visually.

I've got another line elf and a line elf/assassin on the workbench now and most of the parts for two more line elves.

I've settled on a theme of historical/mythological female warriors for the ladies and will pick something similar for the men. I want stuff a little obscure so no Artemis or Joan of Arc. Names I have so far are:

Brittomart
Boudicca
Yael
Yehudit
Penthesilea
Sichelgaita
Tomyris

I've got Europe and the Middle East represented so far, would like to pull a couple from other regions of the world.

As always, C&C welcome.

[velvet mark]

Really nice. Ive been wondering what these witches would look like prepped for the BB table. The helmets are spot on. Looking forward to seeing a splash of paint on them:)

[Norse]

love everything except the whips on the witches.. I'd prefer them to be weapon-less and have the Assassins as the only player on the pitch with a weapon in hand.

that said, it's personal taste and I really like what you've done here.. unique looking team!

[DixonCider]

can't wait until 3d printers are widely available and our customs will be available for everyone

[Darkson]

I love the figures, especially the movement in them (though I'd second the whips aren't needed).
I hate the helmets. Just look oversized and non-Dark Elf - make the team look like a lightly armoured human team.