Eldar Pirates and Backworld Guardsmen

The flavor of the day is thin and wiry and colorful and exotic and, most importantly, without power armor!  In the last few days I've developed a sickness for power armor (or is it "powered"?).  I have an abundance of marines, too many, and I have plans for them in various guises and chapters, even down to loyal or chaotic.  But they're all the same!  Or very nearly.  I've kind of tired of them, both on the painting table and the gaming table.  These past few days I've been thinking of how much more fun I'd have using Imperial Guardsmen or variations of Eldar.

Leafing through the July 2012 White Dwarf has helped.  Check out these Impie pics stolen from there.  I would love to make a vast Guard force taken from various places across the cosmos, or maybe from the same backward system with different governments and primitive cultures that all contribute to one warlord's dream of serving the Emperor.  I'm imagining a lot of conversions using fantasy Empire models and beastmen and maybe some chaos marauders for rough riders (of course it'd be cool to ride cold ones too, but I like the idea of having horses on the battlefield of the 41st millennium).  I'd have a nice combined infantry platoon commanded by a scar-faced gasmask-wearing lieutenant; 2 squads of penal baddies; some vets and storm troopers (and maybe a flyer to deploy from); rough riders; a psychic choir; at least one ogryn (Deddog the bodyguard), if not a small unit of them; sentinels outflanking; and of course a few tanks and hydra batteries.  My Guard force would be a hodge-podge of misfits all rounded up and dropped on-planet, expected only to keep the enemy busy while the "real" Guard come around from behind.  Won't they be surprised when we not only die well but take the enemy with us!

I'd also like to make a pirate Eldar force that combines Craftworld and Dark Eldar forces using the new ally rules.  But my force would meld so smoothly that it'd be hard to tell which was from which codex -- they'd all be of the same pirate clan, a shadowy sect from a lost craftworld too long in the Webway.  I'd likely use the DE warriors as the basis of most models, throwing in aspect colors and details to make Dragons and Scorpions, as well as straight venomous DE Warriors; use wych models for Wyches as well as Banshee chasis and maybe even to build Harlequins; give incubi big, wicked-looking guns to make the Dark Reapers; have graceful monsters that can double as Wraithlords or Parasite Engines; winged Scourges who could double as Hawks; maybe some homemade Warp Spiders; etc.  And jet bikes, lots of jet bikes.  I love this idea, as the Eldar were my first love back when the aspects came out in '91, and the new DE models are about the best GW has ever put out.  I also love that there'd be great variety, lots of details, plenty of personal conversions and tastes applied, and NO POWER ARMOR.

Ahhh, that sounds so sweet.  Of course implementing these plans would take a lot of money and lot of time, neither of which do I have....  So I guess I'm stuck with what I've got, for now.  Don't get me wrong, I love my marines too but...  how much powered armor can you paint before it gets old?