Eldar Dire Avengers

Shrine of the Lilac Thorn

The very first of my Dire Avengers to be painted were from the Shrine of the Lilac Thorn. This shrine shows its allegiance to Craftworld Miruaun by including purple detailing, which is one of the accent colours for the craftworld colour scheme. Originally I painted ten squad members, but no Exarch; in 2025 I repainted several of the models to represent other shrines and finished the Exarch for the squad.

Date: 2007 - 2025 (complete)
Components: 4x Dire Avengers, 1x Eldar Guardian female torso, 1x Eldar Dire Avenger Exarch tabard, Green Stuff
Colour scheme: Dire Avengers Shrine of the Lilac Thorn colour scheme (PDF), Basing colour scheme (PDF)

Related:

1. I created this female Dire Avenger using one of the torsos from the Guardian kit; the pauldrons were carefully swapped for those from a Dire Avenger, as they are a different shape.

2. Although this Dire Avenger is still a standard squad member, I added a tabard to represent that he may be further along the path to becoming an Exarch than his comrades.

3. Using a paint scheme template that I created, I experimented with several different colour schemes in Photoshop before settling on this one for this squad of Dire Avengers.

4. This Dire Avenger was the first miniature to be painted. The colours used at this stage were Astronomican Grey, Chaos Black, Liche Purple and Regal Blue.

5. At this point the Dire Avenger has been roughly basecoated, with shading, detailing and highlights still to follow.

6. Most of the painting has been completed at this stage. The armour has had a wash of Blue Ink, followed by a further layer of Regal Blue, then highlights of Ultramarines Blue and a 1:1 mix of Ultramarines Blue and Space Wolves Grey. The black areas have been highlighted with Shadow Grey only. The white areas were built up with thin washes of Skull White. The purple details have been highlighted with progressive mixes of Space Wolves Grey and Liche Purple.

7. A view of the Dire Avenger test mini from the rear.

8. Another angle of the Dire Avenger test miniature.

9. The completed test miniature. It has been painted, a transfer applied to the right kneepad, varnished and based. I have also applied gloss varnish to the gems and lenses.