Don't Forget To Scream "You Are Inferior!" On The Charge

Hello!

Grimdark update for Space Elves and 8th Legion fans!

As usual, the majority of the Grimdark WIPs are not on Patreon anymore.  But community members can still access the latest WIPs as mentioned in previous posts.  Just to be thorough, community members will receive an email with the access information as well.

This time we have the Phoenix Lord Jain Zar also known as the Storm of Silence. She is the founder of the Eldar Howling Banshees, Aspect Warriors who specialize in melee combat.

I touched upon Jain Zar's origins in the Asurmen post so I won't go too deeply into her backstory here. But her original name was Faraethil and she was one of Asurmen's first students to follow the Path of the Warrior. As melee specialists, Jain Zar and the Howling Banshees are famed for their speed and grace in combat as well as their banshee masks that can emit a psychosonic barrage. Not only does this blast stun their foes but it can liquefy their brains in the process.

Besides being incredibly lethal in close combat, I've always seen Howling Banshees as the Eldar mouthpiece for their ingrained superiority complex. Their warcry in DOW 1 is "You are inferior!" after all. 😅

So for Jain Zar and the Banshee proxies, I wanted to give their armor more Wraithbone like qualities as per a community member's request. I also experimented with helmet variations to resemble an actual banshee. Wargear wise, she'll get a fancy polearm and throwing star like she wields in the lore. Howling Banshees will come with two handed sword combinations but I'm also thinking some sort of spear for the Exarch.

Now I should probably address the elephant in the room and by that I mean Jain Zar's comically large hairdo which appears to have more mass than her actual body. There are some impractical hairstyles in the Grimdark universe but Jain Zar definitely wins the trophy for most hilariously absurd.

Just looking at her concept art makes me ask questions like 1. How the hell does she move...at all? 2. Does she get extra attacks with that thing? 3. Can she use her hair as a portable bean bag chair? 🤔 Truly important questions in 40K that deserve the utmost scrutiny. 😄 My working theory right now is that Jain Zar has somehow tapped into the Ork belief system that the red ones go faster. So her titanic beehive isn't a massive paperweight but some sort of in universe cheat code which allows her to move like Sonic the Hedgehog.

But the answer is probably that it just looks cool and I do think that Jain Zar has the most potential to look badass among the Phoenix Lords. In Japanese folklore, there is something known as a Harionago, a woman with extremely long hair tipped with thorn-like barbs. I think that sort of works with Jain Zar's kind of aesthetic so I fashioned her hair as something that can actually be lethal in combat.

And as promised, I've also been working on some Night Lord units with their preferred collection of...accoutrements. 😅 My 8th Legion proxies will come with different poses, helmet and weapon loadouts. As has become customary with my monthly releases, I'll try to give modular options to mix and match wargear. But here are some versions I've come up with. I'm also thinking about making a jetpack for havoc squads and some heavy weapon loadouts but I'll see how things go.

Fantasy voting will be up in a few days, please have your suggestions submitted soon, thanks!