HORUS HERESY - The Mechanicum - Hammer of the Omnissiah

I know that a lot of you have already checked out the raffles for the NOCF this year. We have literally dozens of raffles running in order to raise a ton of money for wonderful causes (Doctors Without Borders, The International Rescue Committee, The Breast Cancer Research Foundation, and The Fisher House Foundation). 

Among the offerings is this wonderful Mechanicum army. Designed by Marc Raley, one of the 30K event leads at NOVA Open and AdeptiCon, this army is a walking and crawling, and hovering edifice to the Machine God. 

First up is the Arch Magos on his Abeyant. He is ready to lay low the enemies of the Omnissiah and take their technology for further study. This beautiful model was painted by Jake Landis.

The elites of this force are the deadly Myrmidons. This squad are equipped for ranged combat with a variety of dangerous and esoteric weaponry. Painted by Andrew Gray.

This is a very elite, compact force, and the Troop slots are filled by these deadly Thallax. Two units, both painted by Joel Moon.

Such a small, elite force, needs to be able to meet a lot of opposing threats head on, and this Krios can certainly pack a punch when pointed in the right direction. Model painted by Max Dubois.

The leader of the Mechanicum team was Marc Raley, the man who devised the lists for the 30K armies, and the guy who is doing so much to raise extra funds for the NOCF and their causes. He also contributed to the army by painting up this excellent Vulturax!

 

The massive Thanatar Automata, with its mind-blowing, shoulder-mounted plasma mortar, stands ready to stride across the battlefield and get stuck in. This one was painted by newcomer to the team, David Sampson.

And finally we have the wonderfully towering Cerastus Knight Atropos, able to lay down some heavy firepower from range against the enemies of the Mechanicum. Veteran team member John Steining applied the paint to this big project.

So, there you have it. I hope you love this as much as I do, and will click on the link HERE to buy some (more) tickets in the raffle to win this army! Things are looking very good so far this summer, let's help them look even better : )

MECHANICUM - A few more Knights

Around the same time as I bought my Warlord Titan last year, I also bought the Questoris Styrix Knight. He has sadly languished in the FW bag for almost a year, but now he stands tall (well, kind of hunched) and ready for paint.

And some of you might remember this guy. A couple of years ago I built this Knight Warden, an homage to the Epic Knight Wardens of ancient times. My conversion was based on the excellent work of Clarence Harrison. But some folks weren't too happy with it. I took a number of suggestions on board, and decided to add a few things that people hadn't suggested.

I wanted to get the feet and legs feeling a lot more like the original, although not a direct copy). I spoke with my friend (and long-time follower of this blog) Jake Schneider, who digitally sculpted the toes, footplate, and greaves that you see in the photos. Jake sent me the files, and it took a little while to get printing sorted. Once I had some great 3D prints (thanks to another friend, Joe) I sent everything off to be molded and cast. I received everything back from the casters a few weeks ago, and now I have started the process of working out how to attach everything : )

This is not the final arrangement of all pieces. I have a few more things to do. I just felt like letting you know that things were finally progressing : )

Cheers
Dave

Mechanicum - The Knights of House Taranis

Continuing my "clearing the decks" approach to my hobby recently, I have finished off another three Imperial Knights to now take my 30K House Taranis Knights up to five (also known as a "Half-Rudge" of Knights*). Just a quick post today, as I have to run soon, but please post any questions you might have in the comments below : )

Above is my Baron Prime - Forge Master Tacitus Agrippa, riding his Knight Gallant, Olympicus Rex. 

Baron Agrippa's bodyguard is Ser Baledin Lange, riding his Cerastus-Knight Lancer, Shield of the Omnissiah.

This is Ser Maarku Radcliff, riding his Knight Crusader, Torrent of Fire.

I have also made the battle cannon of Torrent swappable for a thermal cannon, incase I feel the need for additional close range devastation ; )

In this shot you can see my 30K-era House Taranis crest. I've described the retro-creation of the crest in an earlier post, but can't seem to find it at the moment. I'll link to it when I can find it.

And here's the Torrent's right shoulder markings. Again, the Taranis icon has been retro-fitted for 30K use. These two 30K decals are both custom jobs from Fallout Hobbies. They arrived on Thursday, and I'm very pleased with them indeed (although Ron is probably cursing me a little). Anyway, head on over to the Fallout Hobbies site and check out everything they have to offer!

Here is Ser Vadik Faustino, riding his Knight Paladin Deus Malleus. This was actually the very first Knight I painted for myself : )

And finally, you can see Ser Tanner Malcom, riding his Knight Errant Ignis Mechanica.

I hope you like them : )

Cheers

Dave 

* Paul Rudge was the first person to put together a collection of one of each of the Knight patterns available, caused the Internet to dub such a collection or gathering a "Full Rudge" of Knights. 

Mechanicum - Tech-Priest Dominus

This cool model was released just after I hit pause on my Adepts Mechanics plastics purchases earlier this year. With all the work I had coming up, I knew I wouldn't be able to get to him in a timely fashion. More recently, I have been reading through the Skittari and Cult Mechanics background in their respective codexes and admiring this mini more and more...

...so I bought him.

Although he is incredibly detailed, the painting didn't take too long at all, and I think he looks great skittering across that Dragon Forge Tech Deck 50mm base  (not yet available, but coming incredibly soon).

Cheers
Dave

Mechanicum - A little distraction, if you will...

As a distraction from the enormity that is the Warlord Titan Build, I recently finished off these crazy dudes. The Scylla Guardian-Automata Coven are so incredibly Blanchian that I knew I had to have them as soon as I saw them. It is surprising, therefore that it took me this long to paint them. In order to stop them lingering, I rushed the details a bit, but they still fit in solidly with the rest of my Mechanicum/Adeptus Mechanicus forces. Here's a look at them individually (two views per automata). And yes, they will be a pain in the butt to transport!

I also located the mechadendrites for my Myrmidon Destructors, so these guys are now wrapped up too.

I have a couple of other things to show this week, and hopefully there'll be time to put together a post about the Warlord : )

These bases, as always (for my Mechanicum forces) are from the Tech-Deck range by Dragon Forge.

Cheers
Dave

Mechanicum - The Myrmidon Destructors

It wasn't too long after they were released that I received a surprise package from a friend in Florida. Richard sent me a pack of three Myrmidon Destructors. He had received them by mistake in an order from Forgeworld and decided they would be painted if they made it to my painting table...

...well, it has taken almost a year and a half to get them to this stage (almost finished). They sat on my desk with just a Tinny Tin dry brush over the metal for close to a year, as I couldn't find the little pack of mechadendrites. I finally found the pack the other day, so I launched into finishing them off.

Of course, as soon as I did I promptly lost the mechadendrites again. Once I find them, bend them, and paint them, I'll dust the bases and post a final pic for you all : )

More posts to come this week!

Cheers
Dave

Mechanicum – Three more Knights are close to walking

I’ve decided to take a little break from my Mad Max cars for the moment, and try to clear a few other projects from my plate. The Vorax were the last project I cleared, and now it’s on to the next three Imperial Knights.

I assembled them all at the same time, or at least put them into their various sub assemblies, so that I could go for a little batch painting on their various sections. First were the legs, with my standard drybrushing: Tinny Tin, Gun Metal, and a light drybrush of Vallejo Model Air’s Aluminium, my new go-to bright silver. This was followed by strategic shading with my super secret wash. Certain parts (typically on the pistons) were hit with some Brassy Brass for a bit of pop. The cables were then painted black and given a light drybrush of grey.

The second step was to complete the metallics on the torsos, heads, and weapons. I followed the same process as for the legs, finishing up with the various cables etc.

After the torsos I busted out my airbrush - a tool I still don’t have a lot of experience or confidence with - and started working on the armor plates. Rather than present identical panels on each Knight, I decided to mix it up a little bit. I think they will still have a nice unified look while each has their own “personality”.

Since that stage I’ve been focusing on the individual Knights, and the first two are almost complete. After I wrap up the painting on the last Knight  I’ll be able to apply the final decals.

I’m expecting a nice little envelope from Fallout Hobbies to arrive this week with my updated (and white-underprinted) House Taranis crests and emblems to arrive. I’m very excited to see how Ron’s decals compare. After seeing the detail he can get last week at the NOVA Open, I think I’ll be in great shape!

More soon…

Cheers

Dave