Dark Eldar: Kabalite Trueborn

High Elf Shadow Warriors integrate nicely with  Dark Eldar warriors.

For the next installment of my quest to build a Dark Eldar army, I want to show my initial efforts to convert a unit of Kabalite Trueborn. At this point I have finished the the majority of a single Trueborn and wanted to get any feedback or suggestions for completing the model and converting newer members of the squad.
My initial thoughts were to make a pretty standard Trueborn squad, simply swapping their heads with the sleek domed helms of the Reaver jetbike pilots. That idea has been utilized by a whole slew of hobbyists and I still quite like the look, that faceless mask embodying the persona of soulless murderers. I even went as far as buying all the components to make such a squad, four blasters and a collection of the Reaver helmets. Somewhere along the way however, with all the other hobby projects and models that I am working on (it is so easy to justify buying more models...), the squad got sidetracked and never went anywhere.

The recent release of the new High Elf plastics, in particular the new Shadow Warriors, got me thinking about revisiting my Trueborn project. Their high-collared cloaks and plain helms emanating a kind of sinister perfection, suitable for representing Dark Eldar’s highborn killers. Excitedly I acquired a box of Shadow Warriors and set to work integrating the cloak and high-collar of one onto the torso of a Dark Eldar warrior. I have seen several Trueborn conversions utilizing a similar concept, using the Dark Elf Corsair cloaks instead of the new Shadow Warrior cloaks.

After a little trimming, you can pretty easily replace the Shadow Warrior torso with that of a Dark Eldar warrior. Before gluing the body to the cloak, I cut the high-collar from the Shadow Warrior (removing all traces of the rest of the body) and glued it inline with the rest of the cloak. With the collar in place, I glued on the Dark Eldar torso and carefully filled any gaps with greenstuff. From here I needed to do something to complete the warrior’s shoulderguards. For any of you who have assembled Dark Eldar warriors, you will remember their shoulderguards come in two halves, one on each half of their body. Fortunately, the Dark Eldar Hellions actually come with separate shoulder pads that fit perfectly overtop the warrior’s half completed shoulderguard. For the Trueborn’s legs I was able to use the standard ones from the Dark Eldar warriors after flattening the model’s  posterior, removing much of the detailing (toxin vials, barbed chain, etc).

By retaining the Shadow Warrior neck, you can easily attach the Dark Elf Corsair heads.

The first work in progress Trueborn.

The aspect of converting these new Trueborn that concerned me the most was finding suitable heads for the models (that can easily make or break a model). After sorting through and test fitting a collection of different heads, I settled on one from the Dark Elf Corsairs. Overall, I think the high-collars are best complemented with an unhelmeted head (but I would be interested in hearing other options on the matter). I was surprised to find that the Dark Elf Corsair heads are directly interchangeable with the Shadow Warriors (both of the kits have the model’s neck molded onto their torso). Importantly, I have found that if you cut out the model’s neck, the standard Dark Eldar heads (warriors, wyches, hellions, etc) slot in quite nicely with minimal trimming. I am currently in the process of making a second female Trueborn where I removed the model’s neck and have been toying with using either a Hellion or Wych head.

By cutting out the neck of the Shadow Warrior you open up room to use other Dark Eldar heads.

These are some of the heads I am considering, thoughts or other suggestions?

The only other thing I am unsure about with the models is what to put on their backs. The Shadow Warriors are modelled with a harness on their back to hold either a quiver of arrows or a sheathed sword. Thankfully neither of these options are actually molded on the models, saving me the trouble of having to shaving them off. Currently I am considering using the sheathed swords from the High Elf Dragon Princes to mount on their harnesses. Does anyone have any other suggestions of something suitable to put on their backs? Or would I be better off having nothing?

Any suggestions what could be placed on the Trueborns' back,  Dragon Prince sheathed swords? 

Hopefully you like the start of my Trueborn squad! I would be glad to hear of any suggestions or ideas to modify the Trueborn I have already made or enhance future squad members.

- Harlon Nayl