Showcase: Eldar/Aeldari Howling Banshees of Craftworld Ulthwé (incl. paint recipes)

Anger rises. Death wakes. Painting… calls. I just finished a small squad of the new plastic Howling Banshees in a Ynnari-themed Craftworld Ulthwé scheme inspired by the 2nd Edition era ‘Eavy Metal models. And holy Emperor, these death-dealing ladies take a while to do them justice. Check out all the pictures plus the complete list of paint recipes.

Here is the whole squad I painted. It’s the content of a complete box, plus a sixth model, which is based on the alternate build of the Exarch. Make sure to check out my detailed review of this kit if you want to learn more about the build options and find out how these models scale with other Aeldari infantry. The paint scheme is based on the black manes, red helmets and sashes paint scheme in the 2nd Edition Eldar codex that could be related to the Crimson Scream shrine. However, I chose a more crimson red, as I did with my version of Eldrad Ulthran.

Crimson is also the colour of the Ynnari, and I also added enough turquoise spots so that the models don’t look out of place in my Iybraesil collection. Here is my Iybraesil Banshee squad for comparison. I really like that in an Eldar army, each Aspect Warrior squad can be from a different shrine and thus look slightly different, for there are many different shrines of a single Aspect on each Craftworld. Going forward, I want to branch out my Iybrasil collection and add some more Ulthwé and Ynnari units, but keep the colour palette consistent to keep a certain degree of cohesiveness.

Paint recipes

When painting these models, I started with a Corax White primer and used a combined approach of Contrast and regular paint basecoats. I’d then layer a matching base colour over the contrast paint to smoothen the result and proceed adding highlights.

Primer: Corax White

Bases
Basecoat sand: XV-88
Drybrush sand: Terminatus Stone (or Wraithbone)
Basecoat ruins: RMS Polished Bone
Recess wash ruins: Seraphim Sepia
Drybrush ruins: VMC White
Wash: TAP Strong Tone Ink
Trim: Steel Legion Drab

Bone armour
Basecoat: Rakarth Flesh

Recess shade: Wyldwood
Highlight: RMS Polished Bone
Edge highlight: VMC White

Black manes
Wash: Black Templar
Wash: VGC Black Ink
Wash: Basilicanum Grey
Highlight: VMC Dark Grey (only where needed)
Highlight: Dawnstone

Black weapons
Basecoat: VMC Black
Highlight: VMC Dark Grey
Highlight: Dawnstone

Scarlet sashes and helmets
2x Wash: Blood Angels Red / Volupus Pink 1:1
Layer: Wazdakka Red
Highlight: Pink Horror
Highlight: VGC Squid Pink
Yellow freehands: Flash Gitz Yellow
Yellow highlight: Dorn Yellow

Brown leather
2x Wash: Goregrunta Fur (or basecoat VGC Dark Fleshtone)
Wash: TAP Dark Tone Ink
Highlight: OOP Vermin Brown
Highlight: Deathclaw Brown

Turquoise ribbons
Wash: Akhelian Green
Layer: VGC Hawk Turquoise / Stegadon Scale Blue 3:1
Highlight: VGC Hawk Turquoise / VMC White 4:1
Highlight: VGC Hawk Turquoise / VMC White 2:1

Turquoise gems
Basecoat: Stegadon Scale Blue
Layer: VGC Hawk Turquoise / Stegadon Scale Blue 3:1
Highlight: VGC Hawk Turquoise / VMC White 4:1
Highlight: VGC Hawk Turquoise / VMC White 2:1
Highlight: VGC Wolf Grey

Turquoise eye lenses
Basecoat: VGC Hawk Turquoise / Stegadon Scale Blue 3:1
Recess shade: Stegadon Scale Blue
Highlight: VGC Hawk Turquoise / VMC White 2:1
Eye dot: VGC Wolf Grey

Brass
Basecoat: VGC Brassy Brass
Wash: Seraphim Sepia
Recess shade: VGC Brown Ink
Highlight: VMechaC Light Steel

Silver
Basecoat: VMechaC Steel
Recess wash: P3 Turquoise Ink
Recess glaze: Guilliman Blue (OOP)
Highlight: VMechaC Light Steel

Scarlet gems and trinkets
Basecoat: Khorne Red
Layer: Wazdakka Red
Highlight: Pink Horror
Highlight: Emperors’ Children
Highlight: VGC Squid Pink
Highlight: P3 Carnal Pink

These models took a lot of time to get right, must have been around 8 hours per model, even with some Contrast paint corner-cutting. For example, I used three layers of wash to establish deep black shadows and some highlights on the hair strands, so I only needed only a single highlight of Dawnstone most of the time. Yet for this single highlight, I spent about 45 minutes per model to get the lines as thin and consistent as possible. Hope you agree it was worth it in the end.

How do you like my Howling Banshees, any questions or advice? Leave a comment below.