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!

Finished-est?

Well my cunning plan to paint up a whole big Ad-Mech army has fallen apart - turns out I miscalculated and need to come up with some extra funds a bit earlier than I'd originally anticipated (surprise car costs related to the sudden duodecupling of my drive time). So over the past weekend in addition to building the Stormhammer, I also went in and cleaned up the various things on the Ad-mech models that I'd noticed in the last batch of pics, added some waterslide transfers and got the static grass on and re-sealed. Before I put 'em up on eBay however I figured I'd see if anyone has interest in 'em here - pics and prices below (generally retail plus a couple bucks for the build and painting time): EDIT: All sold!


If you're interested in one or more of these units, drop me an email at moonlight at cold-moon dot com, and we'll sort out total costs and shipping on a first-come-first served basis. I figure on putting whatever isn't spoken for onto eBay this coming weekend. As usual once it goes up on eBay they'll be U.S. only, but I'm open to overseas buyers from blog members with the understanding that shipping overseas gets pretty expensive (it hits $30-$60+ dismayingly quickly). EDIT: All sold!

Still plan on building and painting the remaining models on deck, but they're going to have to wait a little longer than I'd originally planned.

Not entirely switched over to the summer schedule yet, so only getting a little painting done in the mornings before work while I adjust to getting up earlier than usual. Nevertheless, pressing onwards and laid in the base colors for the two Magos models!


As envisioned earlier, red robes on the magos dominus and white for the archmagos. I also decided to take a whack at reversing the gold/silver on them as well, with the archmagos being predominately gold with silver trim to go along with the white robes. Still a ways to go yet, but so far, so good!

In other news I'm due to get my main cogitator back at the end of the week, praise be unto the Omnissiah!

Fairly busy weekend, but I did get some build time in where I took a crack at the new Magos Dominus model. Two of them, to be accurate!


I figured I'd do a Magos and an Archmagos, utilizing the various options in the kit - one built bog standard, and the other with the alternate head and weapon options. I also swapped out the servo-skull with the slightly more ornate one from the Scions kit. I experimented with the arms a bit, but the design is such that it would require some serious cutting and greenstuff to change the posing.


I'm thinking I'll do the basic Magos with red robes and white detailing, and the Archmagos with the reversed color scheme to help differentiate them a bit further. Quite looking forward to getting stuck in, this sculpt is absolutely fantastic!

More early morning insomnia has troubled me over the last few days, but as I'd been doing a fair bit of painting I thought I'd reward myself with a little build time instead. I'd received a package o' joy from Forge World earlier in the week and after getting things soaked and scrubbed I started putting together the Archmagos:


In the rules, the Archmagos may have up to four Cyber-Occularis which may go haring off across the table and provide benefits/hindrances to units they're close to, so rather than have them attached to the Abeyant (and undoubtedly snap off) I instead based them separately. I also magnetized the weapon options that attach to the front (though I neglected to get the actual weapons in the picture).


I found his base doesn't fit quite right into the Abeyant, so I'll need to do a little sanding to get a good fit. I'm planning on busting out the Tentacle Maker and adding a few more trailing cables and grippy mechadendrites, and really make it tentacular. The command dias is chock full of cool little details, really looking forward to painting it!


The Archmagos model itself is rather cool, though I took some liberties with the build. Wasn't a huge fan of the mechadendrite dreadlocks so I left them off, and in the build process I managed to accidentally flick his lower left hand off somewhere into the hobby room never to be seen again. So, he got a clamp hand instead. Doh!

While waiting for the bits to arrive to make the Ursarax, my eye fell upon an old model that I thought I'd try to breathe a little life into. As I'm not a huge fan of the FW Magos Dominus model I wanted to come up with something a little different - in the old Tempus Fugitives list there was a unit called the "Telepathica Emancipator" which was essentially a captured psyker stuffed into a nutrient tank and forced to serve the mechanicum. As the cyber-theurgy rules are a bit psyker-esque I thought the model could once again find use on the table as a Magos Dominus instead - albeit with a bit of a re-build:


I wanted to keep him cheap yet as survivable as possible, so an Abeyant and Machinator Array are pretty much required while a cyber-familiar bolsters the save to a 3+/3++. Other than that I figured I'd lay off the extra add-ons so if (when) he does get popped due to his non-independent-character status, it's not a massive point sink. In other news, I'm apparently not going to be getting much primering done any time soon - here's a timelapse picture I found looking out over CU Boulder on Monday:


When I left for work at 530am, it was 67F, by the time I stopped home for lunch, it was 17F. As of the time of this post, it is currently 1 goddam degree outside (or for our friends across the pond, negative 17 bloody degrees). ...and It'll be blue skies an in the 50's on Friday. Gotta love the weather in Colorado!

I wanted to say thank you all once again for all the kind words and encouragement over the years, and the outpouring of comments and congratulations on the 500th post was truly humbling. You folks are awesome, and I'm truly glad that my inane scribblings have provided entertainment and inspiration! I went through the list of commenters and fed them into the randomization cogitator to determine who gets the Rogue Trader rule book and the winner is...


Drop me an email at moonlight (at) cold-moon.com with your address and I'll pop the book in the mail to ya!

In other news, I finally finished up some models I've been sort of dilly-dallying over for quite a while. A whole mess of old models in fact, forming the basis of the Magos Covenant for the ever-growing Taghmata Omnissiah force.


The majority of them are from the old Skullz promotional set, plus a couple old metal tech-priests that had been lurking on the shelves for ages. At this point there's actually a viable painted army taking shape, with HQ and Troops models completed - still quite a lot to do though! I recently ordered up a mess of bits from various companies (Anvil, MaxMini, Blight Wheel and more) to come up with a couple large units of Tech-Thrall Adsecularis - the basic cannon-fodder rabble that gladly give their lives for the glory of the Omnissiah. Forge World has also been showing off a bunch of new Mechanicus models that have my wallet cringing in fear... Might be an expensive 4th quarter!

Howdy folks, finally getting around to assembling some of the minis I got for Christmas - this time it's some further additions to the burgeoning Adeptus Mechanicus army that is slowly growing in the Closet of Doom. We're in the midst of the colder part of winter here so there hasn't been any time to primer anything, so for now it's just shots of bare metal.


First up is a set of miniatures that I have now purchased on four separate occasions - the Skullz Tech Priest set. I absolutely adore this set of miniatures - An Archmagos, four Tech Priests, a Magos Biologis and a pair of servitors, sculpted by Alan and Michael Perry back in the mid-90's and available as part of the Skullz limited promotion series.Very happy to have these again, as I sold my last set several years back as part of an Ad-Mech army and I've been kicking myself ever since.


I also managed to get my hands on the White-Dwarf-in-40k miniature that was available a few years back as a reward for ordering a subscription to WD. It's one of those that I've always wanted but never was able to find for a reasonable price. This one showed up for a song and I nabbed it straight away!

I'm hoping we'll get a break in the cold weather so I can get some primer on these and get stuck in!

Speaking of insectile styling, I fixed up the last few things I missed earlier on Archmagos Standax. The army is going to be filled with Conversion Beamers, it seems!


I'm more pleased with how this one turned out compared to Malevolus. He's a bit more subdued in color and quite a bit more dynamically posed. In game he's also a bit more fearsome - The servo-harness gives him a pair of servo arm attacks, plus a Conversion Beamer (of course) and a plasma burner. His Sagittarii mount makes him Relentless, and the Omnissian Axe is +1S AP2 Unwieldy. Haywire - definitely a vehicle killer at all ranges!


Though I haven't been able to order them yet, Blight Wheel miniatures does another spider-bot which I'm planning to use as the carriage for the heavy weapons teams, which should really tie the whole army together. Got a ten-man squad of Hypaspists up on the painting table next - definitely need to get some Troops choices for the army done!

It's been a little touch and go over the last week so there hasn't been much in the way of hobby time. In fact I've only managed to paint two miniatures the whole time. I did manage to get some pics, though they did highlight the fact that one of the two minis really needed more work - isn't that always the case? Nevertheless, Urtzi Malevolus, the Despoiler of Mars is now complete!


I went with a more muted palette for Urtzi, dark reds, lots of grimy metal, and purplish, unhealthy skin tones. The yellow and blue spot colors help the model pop a bit, and my friend's suggestion to do the mechadendrites in a blued steel ended up working rather well.


In game, Urtzi is armed with a number of servo-arms, mechadendrites, fabricator gauntlets and other esoteric equipment. Not entirely sure how he'll actually work on the table, as I have yet to play a game with the new Tempus Fugitives Codex Cult Mechanicus, but in theory one doesn't want to get within range of all those  snippy-snappy claws!


He also allows for the use of Dark Mechanicus allies, though if he is included the army is not allowed to take certain other 'puritan' Ad-Mech choices such as the Omniscion or Archmagos Veneratus Kane (who was around when Urtzi was condemned for his actions and was forced to flee Mars during the Horus Heresy). I'm eagerly awaiting the update of the Codex Dark Mechanicus, as I'm sure I'll enjoy building a unit or two of heretical machines!

Pics of Archmagos Strandax (the arachno-styled tech priest) will follow soon once I get the last little fiddly bits touched up!

The order from Blight Wheel miniatures showed up late last week and I dove in with a frenzy of building and kit-bashing. Unfortunately I neglected to take any pictures until after I'd already primered them, and black-spraypainted models don't make for good pics. I was finally able to steal a little time to lay down some of the base colors over the last couple days and snap a few pics yesterday afternoon.


First up is Magos Strandax, who will act as the Magos Prime for Explorator Force Psi Phi. Strandax is mentioned briefly in the 2nd edition rulebook as a researcher into lost STC designs, and is a very old member of the Mechanicus - having replaced much of his original organics with cybernetics.


The torso, spider-body and one of the servo-arms are from the kit from Blight Wheel, while the axe is one of the Kromlech bits I'd picked up yoinks ago. His arms are from an eldar biker, and the servo-harness is made from a whole mess of bits including part of a space marine plasma cannon backpack, some old-school plasma pistols, guitar wire and a conversion beamer made from an old "Space Rangers" model. All in all I'm pleased with how it's coming along, suffice it to say it's pinned six ways from Sunday but I'm still very concerned that pieces might break off of it...


Next up is the model that will be representing Urtzi Malevolus. In the Tempus Fugitives rule set I'm using, Malevolus may be included in an otherwise Loyalist force and allows for the inclusion of a handful of Dark Mechanicus units (along with some penalties).


This model was not as extensively re-modelled - it matches up with the artwork quite well as-is, but I added a few mechadendrites like the art shows. He definitely ended up looking a bit more brutal/heretical... Still a ways to go on both of them of course, but they're coming along nicely!

It is (more or less) done! The Knight Errant "Ignis Rex" is now ready for the tabletop! The heavy lifting was all done last update, all that remained was the shading and highlighting, and the various decorative bits.


I went with a scheme reminiscent of the previous Knight Paladin, though in blue rather than green (allowing for the green to be used for the power cables/power fist). The main colors being red and gold will help tie it in with the rest of the Ad-Mech army nicely as well.


In retrospect, I wish I had thought to model a footprint where the left foot is coming off the ground. Never fails that some bit of inspiration will strike long after it being too late to incorporate. Curses!


I used some rather old water-slide transfers that I've had lurking around rather than try and paint a rearing griffon with my sausage fingers. Overall the white transfer over the blue worked well, but the carrier film had yellowed somewhat on the transfer I used on the white power fist. I tried to paint over the worst of it to help blend it in, but there's still a bit around the edges. It's not as noticeable in real life as the picture makes it seem though. I do want to go back in and clean up the name on the scroll, it's a little sloppy. Overall however, I'm well pleased with how the Knight Errant turned out!


On Friday the order I'd made from Blight Wheel miniatures arrived and I set to cleaning them up, so I snapped a couple pictures of the pieces before I started assembly. Overall I'm rather pleased - very crisp casts, and they definitely capture the Ad-Mech feel rather well. My plan is to do one loyalist and one traitor Magos - the one on the left will become my loyalist magos, and will be getting a Servo-Harness, and be toting a Conversion Beamer and Omnissian Axe. The model on the right is going to be used as Urtzi Malevolus, the Despoiler of Mars - the picture below is from the Visions of Heresy book, and it's a pretty darn close match!


Now if it would only stop being 100 degrees every darn day. Paints drying up and my wet palate needs to be topped off every couple hours while working up in the hobby loft. Oof!