TOEMP #8 - A (Strength 10) Blast from the Past... And some other random nonsense.

Well, after a couple rather non-productive weeks and a failed challenge, deadline-wise on #7, I wanted to get back in form. The challenge this go-round is fairly open as far as unit types to paint, so I decided that I'd crank out one of the final Heavy Support choices for the Mordian 7th - It had been too long since I'd painted any guard, after all!

Although no longer available in the current Guard codex, the Rapier Laser Destroyer is a quad-barreled lascannon mounted on a tracked unit. In the original RT-ere rule set it was rather deadly, and the fine folks over at the Tempus Fugitives website have created a set of rules for it that my local opponents don't seem to mind playing against. I decided on a more red-dominated scheme on this, to represent it being provided to the army and maintained by the Adeptus Mechanicus forces that are part of the 7th.

Speaking of the Adeptus Mechanicus, I ended up re-primering the Archmagos Veneratus after a disappointing initial paint scheme, and I have gotten the base reds back on to the model. I'm hoping to get it finished off over the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday, if all goes according to plan. Of course, as is my modus operandi, over the last week or so I did hare off on another small side project as well...

Now before anyone goes into shock about the non-GW models, rest assured that they will be put to use in the 40k universe. These models are the next batch of adversaries for my upcoming Rogue Trader campaign, which I'm planning on kicking off over the new year. These six will represent the group's main villains - Haderach Fel and his group of cronies. I did finish up one model so far, as the fluffy bustled dress and sniper rifle combo was just too much fun to resist! The models are from Fantasy Flight Games Anima Tactics range, with a few 40k-stule weapon swaps here and there. Scale-wise they're all a touch taller than the standard 40k model, but not egregiously so. Well, the one guy in the back on the 40mm base is about 7.5' tall apparently, but I'm going to work that into the story, so it'll work out just fine.

This model will represent Lady Irina Demephon, a mad noblewoman with a penchant for dashing ship's captains. ...Dashing ship's captains brains out with high-calibre rounds, to be more specific!

Lastly is the first of several Battlefleet Gothic miniatures in the works - One can't play Rogue Trader without a selection of spacecraft, after all! This will be the player's initial vessel, the Eclipse Du Normandie - a Dauntless-class light cruiser.

I'm looking forward to running the game of Rogue Trader, as I think there's going to be a lot of good crossover opportunity for modeling and painting between that game and 40k. For example, the Eldar Corsairs that I'd built will be pulling double duty - As a Troops choice for the Eldar army, and as members of the Stygian Reavers, a group of Eldar pirates that will be a thorn in the side of the players in the RPG!

TOEMP #7 - All Hail The Omnissiah! Part 2

I managed to finish off the Tech Magos Cabal over the weekend, but haven't made much forward progress on the Archmagos Veneratus - I'm not entirely sure I like where the paint scheme is going on it and may start over. However, I'm fairly pleased with how these five turned out:

On the other hand, after painting up three sets of these over the years, I just now figured out that what I took to be an odd little aspergils in the right hand of the Magos Prime is actually supposed to be connected to the little port on the back of his cherub. Of course, I didn't come to this realization until after I'd finished painting them. Argh.

I've had the Magos Biologis and the two servitors that are part of the set painted for several years, so it's nice to finally have the whole set painted up and ready to use!

It looks to be a relatively quiet weekend coming up, so I'm hoping I can get some brush time and finish off the Archmagos Veneratus. After that I really need to get back to painting the guard...

TOEMP #7 - All Hail The Ommnissiah! Part 1

Well we're coming up on the deadline for the 7th TOEMP challenge, and unfortunately it looks like I'm going to fall short on this one by a day or two. The last couple weeks have been chock full of long hours at work, houseguests, band shenanigans and other distractions and I haven't had a lot of time to put brush to model. However, I wanted to post what I have gotten done thus far! After building and painting the Knight Paladin I was all enthused about the burgeoning Adeptus Mechanicus army that's been lurking on my shelves for years. Using the codex from the Tempus Fugitives website I figured the old Skullz-era models would work well for a Tech Magos Cabal, and I started work on the faces, armor and robes:

I still need to do the metallics, power cables and the yellow/black hazard stripes on them, but they're approaching completion. These have always been hands down my favorite tech priest models, and over the years I've gone through three sets of them. Once I get these five done I'll take a picture of the whole set (several of which have been painted for years).

Next up is the other HQ choice - the Archmagos Veneratus. As described in the codex: "One of the original Tech Priests who codified the Mysteries and Warnings of the Cult Mechanicus over ten millenia ago. As age and technological enhancement stripped them of their humanity, so they became more detached from the day-to-day affairs of the Mechanicus and spent longer periods of time in solitude musing on the destiny of humanity. Occasionally, an Archmagos Veneratus will arrive without warning to take command of a Skitarii Legio. They are answerable to no one, not even the Fabricator General. Their word is Lore and their reasons for involving themselves are unfathomable, much like the exotic battlesuits they pilot into battle."

The model was based on the work of a friend of mine who sent me a box full of Ad-Mech goodies. I ended up rendering it down for parts, but kept to the spirit of the original build - a half-machine torso attached to a massive four-legged walker and armed with a mix of archeotech weaponry. In this case, a Conversion Beamer and a Multi-Melta.

I took advantage of a warm day to primer it and started thinking about how I wanted to paint it - though I only got the basest touch of paint on it before I had to do something else.

Definitely a fun model to build, the Ad-Mech are second only to the Orks in conversion potential, which is one of the main things that draws my interest in the army. Many a bits box delve goes into making the models, that's for sure!

It appears that I have a relatively free weekend coming up, so I hope to be able to finish these off in the next few days. A little short of the deadline, but when push comes to shove, Real Life(tm) must take precedence over the hobby (much as I'd wish otherwise at times)...

Imperial Knight Paladin - Complete!

I'm a big fan of the larger war machines available to the Imperium, Leviathans, Hellebores, and the various Titans - Over the course of my hobby carreer I've owned a number of super heavy vehicles and titans, though for the most part they rarely take to the field. It's hard to justify a 600+ point model in a 1500pt-2000pt game. I think this stems from cutting my teeth on the 6mm systems back in the day, and at the time there were a number war machines that have yet to make their appearance either in the new Epic system or from Forge World. One group in particular I really enjoyed, the Imperial Knights - one-man versions of the mighty Titans, though much smaller and more lightly armed. Back in the Epicast/Armorcast days, there was a prototype knight though I never had the opportunity to purchase one.

I ran across a resin knight analoge on ebay that I had to have as soon as I laid eyes on it. The package arrived and I quickly sorted and washed all the pieces. It came with a number of arm weapon options, though for now I'm just building it out as a Knight Paladin, armed with a closr combat weapon and a battle cannon. I also decided that for storage and weapon swap options I'd magetize the Knight.

I added a little extra cabling here and there, and used a leftover banner for the 'loincloth'. I decided that the Knight would be predominantly red to go along with the rest of the Adeptus Mechanicus. However I also wanted to hearken back to the fluff in adding some quartered 'heraldry' to the model as well.

 

I still need to go in and finish the banners and scrollwork, as well as add some waterslide transfers, but I'm not 100% sure what I want to add.

All in all a very fun model to build and paint. Eventually I'd like to build two more and do a Knight Household, with another Paladin and a Lord of some variety (either a Knight Errant or Lancer). The spare arms that came in the package means I can create a Knight Errant already, though making a Lancer will require a bit of scratch building.

Adeptus Mechanicus Land Crawler, part 1

As I've mentioned in the past, I'm slooooowly working on putting together an Adeptus Mechanicus Explorator army based on the fine work over at the Tempus Fugitives site. One of the heavy support options in their Cult Mechanicus army list is the Genetor Biologis Land Crawler - "Based around the same STC that Arkhan Land used when developing the Land Raider, the Land Crawler is built as a mobile Genetor Biologis laboratory. Usually it collects samples from various subdued populations; however in time of open conflict its large manipulator claws are quite capable of collecting samples in multiple parts rather than wholly intact..." - Codex Cult Mechanicus, S. Mackaness

A friend of mine made a decent start of a Mechanicus army at one point, and had subsequently sold me a large chunk of the models. One of which was the beginnings of a Land Crawler, utilizing several Forge World wall panels and symbols.

I've cleaned it up a little bit, and I'm gathering bits to finish it off - I've built a pair of claws (though I'm still figuring out how and where I want to mount them), and I'm working on a dissection table to go in the rear area, using various servo-arm bits and greenstuff. Not super high on my priority list of things to work on of course, but as I was fiddling around with it a few days ago and was taking pictures of the guard models, I figured I'd start documenting the build process...

If you can't make it good, make it big.

In addition to the upcoming Leviathan, I have another superheavy project in the works. I should probably seek counseling...

What will eventually end up being the centerpiece of the Adeptus Mechanicus Ordo Reductor army that waits in the wings is an Ordinatus Minoris crawler. Significantly smaller than the true Ordinatus superweapons, the Minoris crawler is nevertheless a fearsome war engine. The length of three Leman Russ tanks and sporting several sponson-mounted weapons such as Conversion Beamers and Assault cannons, the Ordinatus Minoris' main armament consists of one of several titan-scaled weapons systems. Cradled within a lattice of supports and attended by numerous tech-priests the main gun is designed to annihilate opposing superheavy vehicles and titans. I felt that it was my duty to try my hand at building one (especially since one of my main opponents is in the process of building a pair of Warhounds), and the rough shape is starting to come together:


The rules and inspiration for this monstrosity in the making comes initially from the old days of Adeptus Titanicus, and more recently from the excellent Cult Mechanicus army list available on the Tempus Fugitives site. I decided on building a Volcano Cannon variant, if only for the simple expedient that I had one left over from building the Stormlord! My plan is to craft the main gun as an homage to the Macro Cannon illustration in the Rogue Trader rulebook. It is not currently attached to the vehicle, merely sitting on the back until such time as I build the superstructure.


The true Ordinatus platforms, while an intriguing project possibility in their own right, would likely be simply TOO big to use on the 8x4 table I have at my disposal. I actually like the idea of the smaller versions, and I'm currently in the process of gathering useful bits to use in the project and experiementing with various ideas. I'm still figuring out how I want to do the superstructure - I'd started with some Cities of Death panels, but felt that the result completely obscured the cannon model and ended up looking fairly bland. I'm now considering using some of the old Necromunda bulkheads which would give plenty of open space to allow a view into the gun carriage and attending tech priests/servitors.

The Adeptus Mechanicus is the next army up on the workbench once I finish the Mordian 7th regiment, so expect to see more of this soon!

By Your Command...

I figured I'd get some placeholders for the other projects I've alluded to - Since I was up in the hobby loft painting and the light was decent, I snapped a couple shots of a few models from each of my other minor projects.

The one I enjoy the most, but is the least completed is the Adeptus Mechanicus. Along with the Guard, I've always been a huge fan of the Adeptus Mechanicus - When I think of 40k, the robes, bionics, and techno-sorcery is the first thing that comes to mind. While I've never had what could be considered an entire army I have been slowly gathering Ad Mech figs for the last 20 years. At this point it comprises a significant number of models. That being the case, the priests of Mars are a common sight in my army lists, unsurprising due to the number of tanks I tend to field.

Just as a teaser, I recently finished stripping, re-basing and re-painting one of the two Legio Cybernetica Robot Maniples containing a Colossus, two Conquerors and two Castellans:


I'm slowly putting together what will be a full Adeptus Mechanicus army, based on the fantastic ruleset created by the folks at Tempus Fugitives. Great site, their 40k campaign packs are absolutely, jaw-droppingly good - tons of ideas for great conversions, as well as lots of new rules for those old, old, ooooold models that have been out of the picture since Rogue Trader.

The second robot maniple consists of one each of the five robot types, and I'm trying to keep them as 'original' as possible. This maniple I decided to 'modernize' a little, though I attempted to remain as true as possible to the original weapons loadout options.


What I'm keeping my fingers crossed for is the confirmation of the long-rumored plastic stormtroopers. If I can get my conversion-obsessed mitts on a couple boxes of those, I'll have my Skitarii and the Legio Reductor will be well on its way to being a stand alone army...