[Dark Eldar] Converting un-released models?

Hey everyone,

I've been looking at the Dark Eldar stuff for a while now, with a massive increase in interest (obviously) from the new models and Codex. It was the basic DE Warriors that put me off ever starting them. Now, with a new range of minis and a lot of talk about them, I fancy getting myself a raiding force of them.

But,  a lot of the stuff I'm interested in currently have no models... which is obviously a bit of an issue. Those regular readers and friends of mine, will also note that I don't use metal models. Which then gives me another issue in trying to convert items already available in metal, into plastic models.

So - what's on my mind? Bear in mind I haven't actually read the codex, just gauging all my info from what's available online, until my pre-ordered Codex arrives.

Wracks:
These guys are what the old school Grotesques were. Standard infantry sized experimental freaks. I've not seen the artwork from the codex, nor the rules for them but everywhere online seems to be discussing models kit-bashed from 2 or 3 different sets. Meaning that for a standard squad of 10, you're looking at 3 boxsets to make one unit. Big no-no in the Badger rulebook.

My initial idea was Warhammer fantasy Ghouls, with their hunched over, mutant look about them. Plus they're pretty cheap and noticeably different from the other Dark Eldar kits to make them stand out as experimental test subjects.

Then, whilst looking for Grotesque ideas, I thought about making the Wracks a multi-use unit. Wracks in my Dark Eldar army, Plaguebearers in my Nurgle Daemon count-as Hrud army. So the options were Skaven related, Plaguemonks being the stand out. Even with the tail removed, they could still pass as some kinds of hideous mutants covered by their robes. Plus, these guys still come in boxes of 16 or 20 for £18 - score!

Grotesques:
Making these guys kinda relied on how I made the Wracks, and there were 3 options for this. From what I'd been told, they were now Ogryn sized beasties, so the initial candidate was Ogre Bulls from Warhammer Fantasy. Then I started thinking... maybe they'd take too much conversion work to turn into mutants. It'd rely on a fair bit of green-stuffing and to be fair, I'd rather spend the time painting them and getting them on the table.

The next option were Minotaurs. They'd double up as my Penitent Engines for my Brotherhood of the Forge army, but at £30 for 3 models, they're way too expensive for me to warrant.

The last step were the new Skaven Rat Ogres from the Island of Blood Fantasy set. Shopping around eBay can get you 2 of them for £7 - £9, meaning you can have a full unit of 6 for less than £25 with P+P. Winner!

Haemonculi:
Now, these guys are similar to Sanguinary priests from what I can understand. They come as a HQ unit of 1-3 and you can split them up during the game. These guys had to appear more Dark Elfy than the mutants varieties, but also different from any Warriors or Wychs. Problematic for sure...

One option is to buy a box of Fantasy Flagellants for the legs and bare torsos, then mix this with Dark Eldar heads and weapon arms. I'd get 10 legs and bodies, plsu plenty of spare arms and weapons from the Warrior boxset. I think that's the way to go to be fair!

I've also then got bits for an Ancient Haemonculus and a Urien count-as.

Venom:
Now we get onto the tricky stuff when you start messing around with vehicles. The Venom is a light vehicle, with a heavy weapon platform and a transport capacity smaller than a Raider (IIRC it's 5 or 6).

There's 2 options with this, either "Dark Eldar-fy" a vanilla Eldar Vyper jetbike or trim down a Raider in some way.

Personally, I'd go for the second option, leaving me with plenty of weapons and spare chassis to put towards making one of the Flyers in the codex.

Cronos:
I'm not even sure what this fella looks like, all I know is it's similar to a Talos but walking, but the name "Parasite Engine" makes me think of some walking Nurgle robot. Now, in fitting with the Skaven slave theme, it would have been easy to go with a Doomwheel and be done with it.

But, whilst looking around I found this chappy in the Warmachine range: http://privateerpress.com/warmachine/gallery/cryx/warjacks/reaper

He fits exactly what I want to do, but it'd mean non-GW parts to an army, something I'm not adverse to doing (with my D&D bloodthirsters and Daemon princes) but considering what it may cost for the Warjacks, the extra quid or two could be used on GW parts to make it fully usable always.

I need to look at the stats before making a decision, obviously, but I think the Warmachine figures are gaining a foothold in my mind.

Bombers:
The first option for these were modified Raiders. I'd seen a cool conversion someone did as a Void Stalker for Battlefleet Gothic. It looked really good, but at the moment I can't find the picture of where it was. Plus, I would imagine a fighter or bomber seating a single pilot, would be similar in scale to a Raider.

The second option is a surprise I'm going to keep until I get hold of the codex... Mwahahahaha!

Do you guys have any ideas? Or any units from your codex you want ideas with modelling?

Peace,
SB