Missing "Necron" Located

Necron unit NW-0012 (Necron Warrior #12) turned up unexpectedly during a "man cave" clear-out session. He (or rather it) appeared from behind a stack of shelving (yes in bits, two to be precise). Obviously NW-0012 had been blown there by the Space Marine high explosive that "killed it" ( .. we all know it was a five year old trooper/recruit that did it):

The unit was reactivated (boy does it look angry) and has successfully joined up with its parent unit:

The said Necron unit is hiding in a "secure and safe bunker" from the Ultra Marine menace (now a six and a half years old veteran model crusher. I lock my kit up when he comes round to play!)

Attack of the "Inquisitive Six Year Old Children"

Hmm, parenthood, I didn't read this in the manual. I returned home to a concerned wife (well she was hiding her humorous interpretation of the event under the mask of concern) who remarked that while she was on the phone my son had shown his "friends" my room. Alarm bells began to ring at once. I investigated and found that a furious fire-fight had taken place. Thankfully the "shiny decoys" (GW 40K) had done their job beautifully, soaking up the hits and saving the more valuable, or rather more serious, wargaming toys from collateral damage. After a detailed scan the "body count was":

• Two "Necron Warriors" down (after the action reports seems to suggest they were taken out by an energetic thumb action, one at the ankles and the other at the midriff, by expertise akin to a Space Marine Veteran)
• One "Necron Warrior" MIA (transponder not showing up on screen, it could be anywhere in the known universe, possibly abducted by a six year old blue eyed boy and now sitting in a bedroom next to a Power Ranger or Bakuman) 
• One "Necron Warrior" managed to evade capture and I undertook a successful SAR mission retrieving it from underneath/behind a set of draws
• Two "Necron Scarabs" were "de-based" from their stands
• A "Necron Destroyer" suffered the indignity of a broken stand
• Two "Guant-type" Tyranids were debased cleanly at the ankles 

Despite the protestations of my son saying "he liked them better that way", the superglue made its way from the toy medical kit. All apart from the MIA Necron have been restored to a semblance of their former glory. My wife thought it was "karma" payback on me (she was now giggling at me) for actions to my older brothers Subbuteo figures (when I was aged fifteen months old, some forty plus years ago and the damage was to six teams of the the then, "First Division"). Personally I just hope I can attain a maturity consistent with my age, rising above the obvious hurt and "forgive and forget". The alternative Would be a revenge commando-style sabotage mission on the next "school parent's evening" (aka "taking out" two specific art models from Year One's work; I hope I have sound 'Intell' and they are clearly labelled).

No photos as I found the sight of my dead/mutilated models too distressing, despite their obvious "media copy" value. This episode has renewed my philosophy of distributed series of "model-kit caches" to the vaults of friendly wargaming clubs in the area to avoid a nuclear "lose-it-all" incident. You cannot under estimate the destructive power of six year old boys once they have a taste for it! Thank goodness they were oblivious to the location of my 20mm WWII plastics ;)

The Necron Warrior Hoard

Necrons don't come in ones and two they seem to spring up in large bunches of Alien robotic killing machines and swarms of tiny friends.

Here they are rotated ninety degrees:

One hundred and eighty degrees from behind, is their armour any weaker I ask?

And finally two hundred and seventy degrees

What next?

Well I have looked over the other offerings in the Games Workshop Necron range and I have to say the cash stayed firmly in the pocket. The only exception perhaps being the quirky Tomb Spyder, but no rush to get one of those just yet (the GW shop is thankfully too far away for frequent visits)

So back to those WWII 20mm Russians from Revell methinks. That will help clear the painting desk so I can get a crack at the Fairey Battle.

Return of the metallic Terminating machines: Necrons

Spurred on by their relative ease of painting and the avid interest shown by my eldest (though still very young) son I attacked a batch of Necron Warriors.

A metallic killing machine advances:

Assembly Tip:

For the Green Plasma Tube, I avoided the plastic cement trap of smearing the clear plastic, but was again unimpressed with the GW PVA recommendation (that won't last methinks). I used the thick and gloopy Humbrol Clearfix I use for aircraft canopies, applied not with a brush but a cocktail stick, I kid you not.

Painting

The paint job thankfully ebbed away at my thinning stock of Games Workshop paints. I will keep their "three shade" painting guide but but transfer my alligiance to the Vallejo like-for-like alternatives over time (a cheaper price and half again of the amount of paint).

Painting Note to Self:

The undercoat was GW Chaos Black, then mixing in varying amounts of GW Mithril Silver, wet brushed on with a final dry brush of pure GW Mithril Silver. Not that hard to remember after all ;)

A close up:

I was relatively unimpressed with the GW painting guide, over complicating (using more paints than are really necessary) something that looks good essentially in "rotting silver" (from the depths of "Dead Space") with grime and gunk clinging to it. Necron forces are to be viewed from a distance before they get up close and kill you.

Painting alternatives do exist though:

An Indie Way
The GamesWorkshop Way

The bases were PVA and rough sand, then a very watery mix of Anita Acrylic's Dark Earth mixed with Anita's Acrylic's Metallic Black (a bit of a hidden experiment here) to let shiny bits reflect of the red planet dust.

Another Painting Note to Self:

Then followed the GW Terracotta wet-brush, with a GW Bubonic Brown 50:50 mix, followed by a GW Bubonic Brown wet-brush and a final GW Bubonic Brown dry-brush. Not quite satisfied with that so I gave it a GW Skull White wet-brush highlight. All the above GW paints were in their "gelling stage" and needing to be used up. Attrition continued with a a bottle of GW Kommando Khaki being thrown into the bin, solid and useless (a third of it unused).

The little 'bots', for scurrying around, disassembling and repairing 'things' I found quirky and cute. I decided not to use the GW big bases and have them rather as individuals (I'll get better generic use out of them that way in SF RPG games, I may or may not ever play). Painted identically to the Necron Warriors.

Future work: Maybe red/green eyes and perhaps a selective darkening wash with Anita's Acrylic Metallic Black.