Heresy Era Mechanicum - Zhao Arkkad Cybernetica force complete!

With NOVA bearing down on me, I had to take stock of what remains to be done - As I'd been working on the Castellax recently (who are pulling double duty in both the Thousand Sons and Mechanicum forces) I figured I ought to pull out the rest of the Zhao Arkkad force and get all the waterslides, glossy faceplates and so forth complete. Once that was done it turns out the whole Cybernetica contingent is ready to go!

1500 points doesn't go very far in a Cybernetica force! This army will form half of the team game force, and will take the field alongside 1500 points of Thousand Sons. Should be good times! They're currently hanging out on a very cool gaming tray made by the inestimable Zab over at Almost Perftec.

I wanted to do something a little different for the Archmagos Dominus, and dug up an old "Telepathica Emancipator" model from the Tempus Fugitives days. I kind of like the "canopic jar" look, I'm envisioning the Magos as being a mummified husk inside (or perhaps it's just sacs of organs)...

Quite happy with how the Castellax Achea turned out - the transfer sheets from Forge World included a couple rather cool banners, and I really dug this one in particular. Added a little touch of the wyrdlight green to help tie them in to the rest of the Thousand Sons force, as they are controlled via a psychic link.

Nothing really new with the Thallax, they were pretty much done already and just needed their faceplates given a going-over with the brush-on gloss varnish.

Similarly the Vorax just got the shiny eye treatment, and the addition of a small Thousand Sons nova in white. Helps to tie them in with the rest of the force, all of whom have the white nova on one shoulder or another. Still my favorite of the new robot re-imaginings from FW, I adore these models (fiddly though they are to assemble)!

The big guy got a similar large transfer on his shoulder as a callback to the imagery on the Castellax banner, and the shiny faceplate treatment. They're all ready to be packed up for transit to the event!

While I was about it I updated the Thousand Sons painting chart. Very close to the finish line now! Trying very hard to stay focused on this project so I don't have to worry about models for NOVA, but have been entertaining thoughts of which project to pick up next - Both the Genestealer Cult and Dark Eldar/Harlequins appeal as a way to dip my toes into 8th edition (which I still haven't had a chance to play), but on the other hand I do really want to start that Sons of Horus army... Decisions, decisions!

Heresy Era Thousand Sons - Castellax Achea painting begins!

Happy 4th of July to our stateside readers, and I suppose a happy Tuesday to everyone else! Just a quick hit between BBQ and relaxation on the day off - I managed to squeeze in a fair bit of work on the unit of Castellax Achea this morning:

Basic gold, red and blues laid in so far, but heck, that's more than halfway to the finish line, right? Pretty happy with how they're turning out so far, hope to have them done by the end of the week!

Heresy Era Thousand Sons - Osiron Dreadnought and Castellax-Achea Battle Maniple built!

Some reinforcements arrived from Zhao-Arkkad, and since I've managed to get a fair bit of painting done recently I decided to reward myself with some time gluing my fingers together and cranked out some new models for the force, starting with the Castellax-Achea Battle Maniple:

In the sorting and cleaning process I managed to lose a couple of the claw talons, so in order to hide a bit of a bodge job, one of the Castellax is carrying a legion banner. Doesn't do anything in-game, but thought it could be a neat look and a good focal point for the unit!

  

Next up was an Osiron Contemptor. My original Great Crusade era Thousand Sons force included a Casteferrum Dread armed with a force weapon and a plasma cannon, so as an homage to that old model I present Seraphis, Revenant Primaris of the Khamasiin's cohort of the dead. I have plans for a further pair of 'vanilla' Thousand Sons Contemptors who will act as Seraphis' bodyguards, though I'm unsure how I'm going to arm them just yet. I sort of want to come up with some large Heqa staffs or the like...

Heresy Era Mechanicum - Zhao Arkkad Legio Cybernetica begins!

Wait! Put down the pitchforks and torches, it's technically part of the Thousand Sons project, I swear!

One of the things that I rather liked in the book A Thousand Sons were the Legio Cybernetica robots embedded with psycho-reactive crystal matrices, allowing Khalophis to direct them on the battlefield. Turns out the folks at FW liked that idea as well and worked that aspect into the rules, and showed off some rather cool Castellax variants at the recent Heresy Weekender. They are going to be a must-buy as soon as they're released!

Of course, that just means I am going to have to do an entire army of allied Mechanicum, right? There is a method to the madness - At NOVA 2017 there's a 1500 point-per-person team event, and a friend of mine who is attending and I are doing a bit of a collaboration. He'll been helping me out with the airbrushing of the metallics, and I'll be doing all the traditional brushwork and modelling. On the up side, with the recent sale of the previous incarnation of the Thousand Sons I was able to add in pretty much all of the models for the force in the recent order - all that remains are the yet-to-be-released Castellax, which I sincerely hope will be made available in time for the event...

I did spend a little time assembling the two Thallax cohorts, I really dig these models and was looking forward to building 'em. Next up on deck is the Belisarius Cawl model, who I think will make for an excellent Archmagos Dominus. He's about half built at this point, but is all in sections to facilitate painting - managed to restrain myself from building it all only to find it becomes nigh-impossible to paint fully assembled!

When all is said and done the whole force will be 15 models, which should hopefully make it reasonably easy to build, paint and (above all) transport to the event!

Adeptus Mechanicus - Thanatar painting complete

Managed to sneak in an hour or painting last night and snapped some pics this evening after I got home. Thanatar ready for deployment!

  

Not a whole lot of change from the previous post, got the shading on the gold and blue, managed to get the sealant on in a break in the surprisingly rainy weather, then applied the gloss coat to the faceplate. I'm thinking that it needs a little battle damage/weathering, now that I'm looking at it. I do like the 'fresh off the factory floor' look though - the tech priests would endeavor to keep their charges in peak condition, after all!

Pulled out all the Castellax and Thallax for a little Legio Cybernetica family portrait - quite pleased with how they all tie together!

Adeptus Mechanicus - Thanatar Painting begins!

The drummer in my ridiculous band's wife just had their second child, so my usual sunday afternoon schedule of drinking beer and making a racket band practice has been curtailed for the next several months. That means a few more hours of painting time a week instead! Since I had all the reds and golds out from working on the Thousand Sons, I decided I'd make a start of the Thanatar:

Had to pull out the Castellax to ensure I matched up with the existing scheme, which worked out pretty well - the Thanatar is essentially just an overgrown Castellax. Trying to carry through the "shiny black faceplates" as I've done on the Castellax and Thallax, as well. Still plenty of work remaining but the heavy lifting is done at this point!

Adeptus Mechanicus - Castellax complete! ...Well 99%

Took advantage of another reasonably warm day to finish off the Castellax and get 'em sealed:

Added a bit more gold trim here and there, I'd considered painting the weapon housings in white but in retrospect I'm glad I didn't - think it would have made them a bit too bright. ...And Christmas-y. I'm going to gloss-coat the black faceplate to match the Thallax, but apparently I didn't screw the lid on tight last time I'd used it, and it was a solid gloopy mess. Gotta pick up a new bottle!

Added the cog-tooth pattern to the left shoulder guard to match the Thallax unit from earlier, always nice to have a common theme running through the various units to tie 'em all together!

Oh the ammo feeds. They were most definitely not the right shape to fit straight out of the bags. Mush hot water bending and a modicum of cursing preceded their fitting!

Similar to the left shoulder guard, the right got roman numerals. The scattering of static grass on the base sets off the red and gold on the models fairly well. I wish I'd made the bases a bit more interesting (or had gone with resin terrain bases), but the rest of the Ad-Mech I have are on this style so I'm sort of stuck maintaining the method. Nevertheless, quite pleased with how they turned out! Seems like they have the potential to be rather nasty on the tabletop as well, though I have yet to give them their first trial by fire!

Next up, more Iron Hands...

Adeptus Mechanicus - Castellax painting continues

Been fiddling around with ideas for lists for the upcoming Betrayal Weekender in Memphis in mid-January at the Memphis Battle Bunker. Definitely looking forward to it! One of the list options I'm pondering is the inclusion of an Adeptus Mechanicus allied detachment - seems fitting for the Iron Hands after all!

Very nearly done with the Castellax now, just needs a little more gold trim here and there and some static grass. Unfortunately it's been bitterly cold here of late (lows of -12F with the days getting all the way up to a blistering 10F) so they're not going to get a sealant coat (and gloss coat on the black faceplates) for quite a while. Brr!

Been knocking out a bunch of Iron Hands as well, pics to follow soon!