Mechanicum: Moirax

As with all my Mechanicum, I have stuck wll sorts of nonsense to them.

This Moirax is no different.

There wasn’t much kitbashing with this chap but I have attached a lot of scale barbed wire and some plasti-card armour panels.

Its known that vehicle crews on prolonged campaigns end up attaching desperate additional armour to their vehicles or crudely patching damage by welding/bolting sheets of metal on.

 Examples of this can be seen on the right thigh and Lighting Lock shroud.

As Xana II are known for being unpleasant individuals, some barbed wire has been added to the weapons barrels.

Not sure on the effectiveness of this but it sure looks grim/intimidating.

Underneath the Knights chin, I’ve put some Mechadendrite for reasons I’m yet to understand myself. Maybe they can hold stuff for the tech priests while they service the Knight.

The Chassis Number can be spotted along side an honour marking on the from left of the carapace.

The Gory Crow likes some order in the chaos

House Malinax Knights progress 14/07/2018

Hi all. 

So after my false start I have finally got the armour plates all done. I have done it as per the original instructions that our reader Commussar Ibram Gaunt shared, and I am happier with the results. The reason why the lighter less colourful stage came before the more colourful step is that it was a pre-shading layer. I tested this by trying to miss Step 2 Completely and go to step 3 straight from step 1, but as you can see in the image below (on the right half of the Carapace) the effect is completely different from the Carapace on the right which I did steps 1-3 in order on). 

The colour actually looks a lot more like this in reality:

Colour scheme: 

Undercoat choas black

Metal:

- Basecoat leadbelcher

- wash 50:50 nuln oil and seraphim sepa

Armour plates:

- base tamiya flat earth

- layer wood deck tan

- layer 50:50 wood deck tan and desert yellow

- highlight previous layer with a little white scar

Armour trim:

- base 50:50 leadbelcher amd adeptus battle grey

- wash nuln oil

- drybrush edges leadbelcher

- stipple edges randomly with typhus corrosion 

Entire model

- wash 50:50 of nuln oil and seraphim sepia

- thin ryza rust using lahiam medium and flow into creases, joints and recesses as desired

So here is where I am up to with two Knights. 


Coming on slowly but surely. 

Drake

House Malinax Knights start (almost)

Hi all

Well I couldn't wait to paint another big miniature after those damnable Siege Walls I have been working on for months. So I decided to start my next project; a House Malinax Banner!!

Now this Knight House is a perfect choice for me as they marched with Mortis and the Rout on Prospero. Also the new Adeptus Titanicus game pairs Mortis with Malinax on the transfer sheet. 

So I ransacked my house looking for Knights and found around 7 Questoris Knights and 4 Cerastus pattern Knights. I have decided to start with the Questoris Pattern Knights as they are a bit more simple to do. 

I followed a scheme which reader Commisar Ibram Gaunt put up a long time ago in a comment as it is impossible to get it from FW now. 

Colour scheme: 

Undercoat choas black

Metal:

- Basecoat leadbelcher

- wash 50:50 nuln oil and seraphim sepa

Armour plates:

- base tamiya flat earth

- layer wood deck tan

- layer 50:50 wood deck tan and desert yellow

- highlight previous layer with a little white scar

Armour trim:

- base 50:50 leadbelcher amd adeptus battle grey

- wash nuln oil

- drybrush edges leadbelcher

- stipple edges randomly with typhus corrosion 

Entire model

- wash 50:50 of nuln oil and seraphim sepia

- thin ryza rust using lahiam medium and flow into creases, joints and recesses as desired

So as you all should know by know I am a lazy painter, so I have chosen to leave all armour plates on the sprue prior to painting. 

I painted the beetlebacks with the first 3 steps in the Armour Plates comment above. Before I did this I tested how the 2nd step would look next to the 3rd step. I thought to myself; "hmm. Why would you layer with a darker colour, maybe Commissar Ibram Gaunt got the  steps muddled up? I know, I'll look at how they look on the webstore!" There I found the Atropos and it's plates look like this:

So then I thought "Yeah he must have muddled them up as that colour is so pale bone, ok I will swap them round :)"

So here from left to right you can see Step 1, Step 3 and Step 2. 

And I was pleased with myself :) 

Then after I finished all pieces and packed away for some late night browsing, I had a look at the Porphyrion. . . 

Now I feel I went too bone pale . . . Soooo I have ordered more paints and am going to layer it up again and do steps 1-3 in order, with maybe just a little bit of step 2 to finish it off again before Step 4. 

Drake Seta

Hector Cephas - Non-legion projects

Hi everyone,

Much like Castiel, I'm going to write about some projects that are in progress and what is to come in 2017.  For this post, I will cover some of my non-legion projects for Horus Heresy - my Imperial Fists deserve their own post!

Legio Custodes (Talons of the Emperor)

As you are probably all aware, I have got my hands on a few Custodes sprues and have built 20 of them all in all. My plan for this army is pretty simple - build an allied detachment of Custodes to play alongside my Imperial Fists for the Siege of Terra (hence needing about 20 as opposed to just a one sprue of 5 for a small warband attached to the legion for whatever reason).

I plan to have these painted up by the end of January so this will be the first project I'll be taking on next year. I do not intend to expand any further on this army as it is only really intended to be a small force.

Questoris Knights

Ever since the plastic knights were released for 40k, I've wanted a knight household army - I just love the different backgrounds behind the different houses. I have some already, just haven't done anything with them yet - I even have a Knight Castigator! I hope to at the very least make a start on these mid to late 2017.

Scenery

This is very much an on-going project - I have plenty of buildings and fortifications that are unfinished, a realm of battle board that is base coated and plenty of spares and cool ideas for more stuff for my board. I've got most of the chassis of a Baneblade, I wonder what I could do with that... and a land speeder, it would look cool if I had a crashed one on the board... etc etc.

All in all, plenty to work with and a lot for you all to look forward to during 2017.

Until next time!

Hector Cephas

House Atrax and the Forge World of Cyclothrathe

Howdy Guys and Girls!

Today I want to give you a little overview about the sinister Forge World of Cyclothrathe and the Slave House of Atrax.

I already painted Archmagos Draykavac for my Dark Mechanicus force, and may add some Knights of Atrax in the future! :)

Cyclothrathe - the Scourge of the Coronid Deeps

Type: Forgeworld (Tertius II grade)

Planetary Governor: Synod of Archmagos (Tribunal)

System: Cyclothrathine Holdfast

Sector: Coronid Deeps

Segmentum: Segmentum Obscurus

Status: Traitoris Perdita

Used forces: Taghmata Cyclothrathe, bounded Knight Houses (see Knights of House Atrax), Cyclothrathine Skitarii (probably)

The Cyclothrathine Mechanicum has always been an insular and aloof brand of the Mechanicum, even when it was still counted amongst those loyal to the Imperium, few were those who readily trusted them. Born not of ancient history, but rather some of the darkest and most horrifying conflicts of the Great Crusade and long withdrawn into secret ways and the study of the arcane, they were recognised by their strange arachnid symbol and their robes not of Martian crimson, but of deepest hearts-blood and sable, and by the fathomless storm-cloud hues which adorned their servants and engines of war. For years they had garnered a reputation for ruthlessness and aggression, both in defence of their domains from any xenos that crossed the frontier, and in pressing any claims they made to resource rights and territory. Imperial law and the intercession of Mars had been called upon on more than once occasion to keep Cyclothrathe's expansion in check. Bellicose and arrogant, the black-clad Magi of Cyclothrathe kept their distance even from others of their own kind, and where they walked, they walked alone.

During the Horus Heresy, Warmaster Horus played on the jealousy and ambition of the Cyclothrathine Mechanicum to whom Mars was at best an unwanted and distant authority. The future would decide for this world an infamy seldom matched in the ranks of Forge Worlds. During these years, its name would become a byword for infamy and atrocity amongst the entire Imperium, as was its position within the Dark Mechanicumand the reputation of its dire Warlord, Archmagos Draykavac, were cemented in the blood of countless planets ...

Archmagos Draykavac

Warlord of Cyclothrathe, Sovereign-Prelate of House Atrax, Bringer of Perfection, Heretek of the Dark Mechanicum

Though he would become one of the most reviled of the Dark Mechanicum, Draykavac was an all but unknown figure before the civil war of the Warmaster's betrayal sundered the Imperium of Mankind. This bestially masked and black-robed Magos served as the chief military emissary of the Forge World of Cyclothrathe and the formost field commander of its Taghmata, answerable only to the sinister and hidden tribunal which rules his lightning-wracked world. As part of Draykavac's command, he also held the rank of sovereign-prelate of the Knight House of Atrax, which was fully oath-bound to Cyclothrathe which, while nominally it still had its own seneschals and master, was in reality little more than puppets of the utterly callous and inhuman Archmagos Draykavac.

With the outbreak of war within the Coronid Deeps, Draykavac was at the forefront of the campaign of invasion and conquest. Cyclothrathe carried out in the name of the Traitors, swiftly amassing a tally of atrocities and massacres to his name that set him apart as one of the most hated of his kind ...

Painting this guy was pretty fun - he is an awesome model - I love the animals head, a great drawback to early Dark Mechanicus artworks! I will use his scheme for all my future Dark Mechanicus Techpriests and Magii. The fading effect was achieved rather simple - using thinned down Nuln Oil to blend red and black together.

House Atrax

Title: The Knight House of Atrax

Patent: Sidon Protocols

Warden Domain: Arrian 

Sovereign-Prelate: Archmagos Draykavac

Allied Forgeworlds: Cyclothrathe

Allegiance: Traitoris Perdita

Bound in servitude to the grim Forge World of Cyclothrahte, the once-proud warriors of the House of Atrax suffered much since Archmagos Draykavac blasted their home world into submission. The Household of Atrax survived all the horrors of Old Night through stubborn force of arms, but over two decades under the direct control of Draykavac had left them hollow and distorted reflection of their former glory. 

Systematic and bloody purges of those scions who displayed any hint of rebellion had left the scions of Atrax a grim and brooding people in whom their Mechancium overlords had fostered a disturbing hatred of those who had escaped the fate that had befallen them. The poisoned husk of House Atrax's home world, Arrian, now served the Magos of Cyclothrathe as a source of raw materials for their wars of conquest and expansion, with legions of imported slaves tearing the ore from the blackened rocks. 

The remaining scions of Atrax were confined to the armoured vaults that lay beneath Arrian's scorched surface, released from this virtual captivity only when Draykavac summoned them to war. The Knight armours of the House were kept separate from the scions, ministered to by Cyclothrathe-trained Sacristans as hostages for the scions' loyalty, for in the case of any armed revolt, the Archmagos of Cyclothrathe could destroy all of the House's Thrones Mechanicum with but a word.

With Cyclothrathe pledged in tactic supports of Horus' treacherous campaigns in the northern reaches of the sundered Imperium, Draykavac unleahsed the warriors of Atrax on the worlds of the Coronid Reach. There, the twisted scions took a measure of revenge by slaughtering those who had not suffered over the years as they had, exulting in the freedom to stalk the surface in their armour before Cyclothrathe caged them once again ...

Paint Scheme - I'll probably go with a metallic scheme, similliar to Forgeworlds Vyronii one - using clear black and clear red over a metallic basecoat.

Playing an army of House Atrax gives you some interesting options - first, you can use Archmagos Draykavac as your HQ choice, which is perfect if you just want to paint one Knight. Another cool perk about this guy is that he can repair your Knights in battle since he has the Battlesmith special rule, and he also grants you access to Castellax as non-compulsory troops and Vorax as fast attack - perfect if you want an army featuring Knights and robots!

My recommended loadout for a force of House Atrax would be a good mix of Megaera, Styrix and Atrapos Knights, marking them as slaves of Cyclothrathe - I imagine Draykavac would give his Knights some nasty things!

Thanks for reading :)

Regards,

Lady Atia

Sons of Nostramo #7 - Do they know it's Christmas time?

Good morning sports fans!

Welcome to another installment of those clad in midnight blue.

So as with the other Bunnies I've spent the last week or so busily prepping my forces for the Battle Bunnies Xmas Bash at Warhammer World.

I had a great time bashing loyalists even if the mayhem caused by the Lords of the Night was minimal.

So this week I managed to square away two Terror Squads, a unit of Night Raptors and my Praevian unit.

There are still bits and bobs I'd like to touch up and transfers to add at some point soon.

One of the biggest jobs was to re-base models and replace heads, whilst getting new models done as well.

Here's a little painting guide I put together whilst doing the painting this week.

Night Lords painting


Grey primer from Halfords


P3 exile blue base coat
Drakenhof Nightshade wash
Kantor Blue wet brush


Lightning - 50/50 Kantor Blue/Dawnstone wet brush
White Scar or Ceramite White wet brush

Metals - Leadbelcher base coat
Agrax Earthshade wash

Reds - Mephiston Red base coat
Agrax Earthshade wash
Evil Sunz Scarlet wet brush


Skulls - Steel Legion Drab base coat
Agrax Earthshade wash
Karak Stone wet brush
Ushabti Bone wet brush
White Scar highlight

Steel Legion Drab base coat

Agrax Earthshade wash

Karak Stone wet brush

Ushabti Bone wet brush

White Scar highlight with helmet backs painted in as blue armour

Flesh - Dawnstone base coat

Nuln Oil wash
Ushabti Bone wet brush

Hair - Storm Vermin Fur base coat
Several Nuln Oil washes

A little more on the battle then...

The two Terror Squads did very little (even with the inspiring presence of their Praetor)  - they wandered up the river bank for a while and then one squad was decimated by a Deredo's missile pods as it sought cover in a ruined out building.

Terror Squads of the Night Lords legion advance out of line of sight.

The Praevian unit killed one lone Thudd Gun operator and spent the rest of the game getting in the way of rampaging traitor Spartans.

Sons of Ultramar target the advancing Praevian and his Castellax bodyguard.

But the saving grace came in the shape of five angry young psychos with jump packs and lightning claws, jumping across the battle field to decimate a Dark Angel Devastator Squad and then  wiping out the vast majority of a 20 man tactical squad of the same legion. With their use of cover they were able to make it into combat, which frankly, they excel at. Their losses and kills ratio perhaps would have also been different if I had remembered their Fear special rule.

Night Raptors move to intercept the Dark Angels for the second time.

Lots of lessons learnt from the battle, more transports are needed and larger units to weather incoming fire, also I need some serious anti-tank to deal with all those Spartans kicking around.

Having said that...

A lone Knight Lancer from House Krask in support of the Night Lords
attracts more fire than he can comfortably manage

So to this end I'll be looking at adding some transportation and anti-tank units to my arsenal over the Christmas period.

Happy Hobbying

KF

Saturday Knight: House Vyronii

Hi all. It's been a while since Knights were first introduced onto our gaming tables (and my 8 are still boxed - though for hopefully not much longer). Choosing the Knight house that is best for you to is like choosing a pair of new shoes. 

So here I aim to give you the following information; what suits they favoured, colour scheme, Segmentum, Homeworld, Loyalty, Lord and most importantly the Legions they may have quested with. 

House Vyronii

Homeworld: Damaetus III/II. From a towering Keep over the planet called the Felweather keep. A planet of Marshes and forests, in the shadow of their green gas giant star. Were regularly invaded by Orks and Eldar Slavers during the age of Strife. A race called the Mitu almost totally destroyed the House Vyronii (last on the planet) with only 200 suits active, and would have succeeded were it not for the intervention of the 1st Legion who scoured the surrounding stars of the alien menace. 

Segmentum: Obscurus

Lord: Grandmaster Jahk. (Cerastus Lancer) at time of Great Crusade. Later at onset of Horus Heresy in 005 M31 Grandmaster Gios (Questoris Magaera suit "Dei-Phagia" after being grievously wounded after the Betrayal by Forge World Cyclothrate). 

Discovered by: 1st Legion recon force. They then felt bound to the Imperium by a debt of liberation they could never repay. 

Allegiance: In Great Crusade when discovered by the Dark Angels they joined the Great Crusade believing in the nobility of the cause. 

They fought throughout the Great Crusade with Word Bearers, Imperial Fists and Dark Angels as Legions of note, as numerous Imperial Army formations, always remaining respectful and humble. They painter their Armour Emerald Green realising how dull their unpainted suits truly were under alien stars. 

 

They were supported by the Forge Worlds of: in 005 m31 Cyclothrate was the Forge World Grandmaster Jahk eventually after winning much reknown, decided to swear fealty to. It was a poor choice as unbeknownst to them the Forge World had sided with the Warmaster Horus in the upcoming civil war. Gios (Grandmaster Jahk's eldest son) arrived home just before the delegation from Cyclothrate arrived bringing news of Horus' Heresy and the destruction / pillaging that Cyclothrate and Knight house Ærthegn were about to undertake on their world. 

Forewarned they managed to repel the Taghmata from Cyclothrate and the rival Knight House but Grandmaster Jahk was killed. Gios took command of the Knight House of Vyronii and joined the forces Forge World Mezoa and struck back against Cyclothrate. 

During the Horus Heresy the House was spread out, with many fighting alongside a Chapter of Blood Angels and and the Emperor's Children Death Eagles Menial (Contact was lost at the time of the Isstvan 3 atrocity). 

Materiél strength. 

During the Great Crusade Vyronii had 200+  working and fully maintained suits, but at the onset of the Horus Heresy they were just below the 100 mark, they did receive some new suits from Forge World Mezoa. Advanced Chassis such as the Cerastus suits were very common as were Questoris variants.

Recommended Loadout;

Great Crusade ratio: 2:3 Questoris Chassis to Cerastus chassis. Lancer, Archaron and Paladin should form base list. 

Horus Heresy: 2:3 Questoris Chassis to Cerastus chassis. Lancer, Archaron and Magaera should form base list. 

Official scheme from Forge World. 

The model is airbrushed with a base coat of Tamiya flat aluminium over a black undercoat.

Make a thin wash from equal parts Seraphim Sepia, Nuln Oil, Lahmian medium(or Tamiya klear) and water, this wash is brushed over the entire model 2 or 3 times, allowing it to dry between coats. 

Or 

The metal works was done before any of the armour Panels were done or stuck on. It was army painter spray can (can't remember the name but something like chainmail mid silver range). To create the aged worn look an oil wash using burnt sienna massively thinned with white spirits was washed randomly over exposed areas. More burnt sienna was applied near in random patches. Then pure white spirits were used to flood it and drag it down. Leaving some slightly dispersed speckles which create the look of rust patches and running rusty water streaking down the model. 

The colours of the armour plates are tamiya gun metal airbrushed, airbrush blend tamiya flat aluminium, several thinned coats of tamiya clear green.

 

The gold is Balthasar gold highlighted with auric armour gold followed by valejo air range gold(with a paint brush). 

Wonder wash was used in dirty areas as well as oil washes using burnt/raw umber. Chipping in all bar green areas was done with charadon granite and on green areas with valejo air range gold using sponges). 

The army painter spray is very textured. Which worked fantastically well on this  model with the oil washed on them as it made it look very worn and old. 

Hope you enjoyed Vyronii. Tune in next week for another. 

Drake Seta