Hello again. It’s year bloomin’ 5! Can you imagine that? Five whole years of hammering the backlog. Well, four whole years done, and on to the fifth. Since new years are usually when the biggest number of new readers come on board, let me briefly introduce myself and the project.
I am Mick, and I am the one who hammers the backlog. Although I am a man of great depth and many facets, the only one that really matters here is that I spent about 25 years, from the mid nineties until 5 years ago, buying, starting and then abandoning mini painting “projects”. This ranged from individual boxes of models that I thought I “really wanted to paint” (I didn’t), to whole, huge army projects that I had every intention of finishing. (I barely even started them).
Five years ago, after a change of job, I was introduced to the idea of an “operating system” to running a company, as well as ideas and structures around productivity and accountability. Realising that time is our only finite resource, I decided to use these ideas, heavily adapted for an individual doing a hobby instead of a company making a profit, to get my models painted.
And here we are at the start of year five, with more models painted than I ever thought possible, a decent social media presence and an app to use to keep it all on track! Each week I hold a weekly roundup on Thursday where I check in on the progress on quarterly targets, weekly goals and any issues that pop up. Then I present that to you, the reader, in the form of this weekly accountability blog. Let’s get it.
SCORECARD
All in the “green” for week one of Year 5. Green is in scare quotes there because we obviously haven’t got quite as far as making the numbers show in green on the app yet!
But how exciting is it to have even a simple version of the app to start working from! Big shout out to Harry, who is probably modified that the wip interface is starting to show up in public! But huge thanks anyway Harry!
So week one off to a flying start with five models painted. But which models? Well, let’s check in again for the start of the new quarter but looking at the new quarter’s goals.
So by the 10th of September, the new goal is to have:
One tray of Retro Dark Eldar painted, photographed and online
Let’s break that down and make sure it is SMART.
Specific
Measurable
Achievable
Relevant
Timebound
Specific – 10 Warriors, 5 Scourges, 4 Incubi, 7 Wyches, Archon, Drachon, Drazzar and a Raider.
Achievable – 55 Hammer the Backlog Points (History shows I can do 65 in a quarter!)
Relevant – It’s a blog about painting models!
Timebound – by the 10th of September 2026
This is feeling like a very achievable one this quarter, with nearly four weeks unaccounted for. I’ve decided to leave those blank for two reasons. Reason the first is that the Dark Eldar are in terrible condition. Terrible. The worst of any models I’ve done in Hammer the Backlog. If they need more time and energy to repair to a decent standard, at least I have it.
The second is to allow for a summer break of a week or two with my lovely lady wife.
Reason the third is to give time for a bits and bobs week. I have had that third Grail Knight unfinished for a loong time now!
THIS WEEK’S MODELS
So this week’s models are the first 5 Dark Eldar warriors that I bought in 1996 when I was an edgy teen. It feels great, like really great, to have these painted up pretty much exactly like I imagined them back then, when my lack of skill and the less advanced technology of the time made it more or less impossible.
I went with the classic scheme of dark red/burgundy helmets over cool black armour, with bronze details and metallics and a tiny spot of green here and there. This is the exact scheme I tried back then, based on these models from the codex.
I was never quite able to get the burgundy right. I could get the right base tone, but the highlights moved it into too bright red or pink.
I started this project by messing about with some of my modern, primed dark eldar to settle on a colour. I was pretty sure I was going to mix screamer pink and khorne red, but then a trip into Warhammer Dublin revealed that Gal Vorback Red is a thing, and the perfect undercoat. In the end, this was the helmet scheme.
| Primer | Mechanicus Grey |
| Basecoat | Gal Vorbak Red (it’s fucking purple mate) |
| Wash | Drakenhoft Nightshade |
| Base | Reestablish Gal Vorbak |
| Glaze | Highlight glaze of Khorne Red |
| Edge Highlight | Wazdakka Red |
| Fine Edge Highlight | Cadian Fleshtone |
The armour is my standard cool black of
| Primer | Mechanicus Grey |
| Basecoat | Black Templar |
| Edge Highlight | Thunderhawk Blue |
| Fine Edge Highlight | Fenresian Grey |
| Dot Highlight | White/Administratum Grey |
And the shiny “latex” undersuit is
| Primer | Mechanicus Grey |
| Basecoat | Black Templar |
| Specular Highlight | Dawnstone |
| Fine specular highlight | Administratum Grey |
| Dot Highlight | White |
I am particularly pleased with these two models.
The first is pretty much exactly what I imagined when I closed my eyes and saw these models in 1996. Classic Dark Eldar in a classic scheme with a classic pose. I’d argue this model even holds up well against the modern models, although not all of them are as lucky/timeless. My wife named him Nasty Peter.
My second favourite is the helmetless unit leader. She is not exactly sexy. But she is not exactly unsexy either. She reminds me of the weird sex weirdos that I would meet at the parties that Ben used to take me to. You know the ones. My wife named her PhiloMEANa.
Her skin is basically pallid wych flesh (appropriate), with some increasingly dark blues mixed in for shadows. Of course, it was the 90s, so only the female torsos have exposed midriffs. I knew there was something that drew teenage me to these models.
I don’t want to throw too much shade on the studio painters from the 90s, but I think these models have gone down unfairly as some of the worst models from the period. If you take a look at the first, and only, dark eldar codex that featured these models, everything about it feels very very rushed.
They only have five or six fully painted units. Half of the units don’t have models yet, even though they would come out a few weeks to months later. The models that are in there often feel a little bit amaturis in terms of conversion and finish. Most look like they possibly weren’t even painted by the ‘eavy metal team, if the concept even existed at the time.
And then, presumably because they weren’t that popular, they never got a new edition with more time for the painters to really lock in on the models, until they were completely replaced in the late 2000s. I actually think I could mix a few of these into a mixed Eldar force and they would look fine.
I decided to take a lead out of the modern Dark Eldar and corsairs and leave any and all of the out of scale, chunky, blunt “blades” off of these models. Any that I glued on in the 90s will be getting them removed over the next few weeks.
I was really torn about bases. When these models came out, it was pure goblin green all the way. So that is what I decided to go for. I do, however, reserve the right to switch to darker bases later in the project if I think they work better.
YEAR 5 PLANNING
By the time you are reading this the Year 4 Planning Video should be already up and ready for your perusal.
Best eggs!
Hammer the Backlog 
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