Mechanicum Darkfire Castellax Maniple - Completed

With just a couple of days until the end of the 'month' for the Heresy Challenge I'v got 'The Triplets' finished up:

I'm glad I pushed ahead and converted darkfire cannon for them as I'm still awaiting useable replacements for the miscast ones from Forge World - the added bonus of that though is that they're uniquely mine - in fact these Castellax have 'Lacedaemonem Pattern' cannons.

It's not much of an update but I also got around to highlighting the hair on the Hasslefree 40mm Artemis I started around Christmas time as well:

And as Rictus correctly guessed I'll be working on an Aeronautica Imperialis squadron shortly. I'm still waiting on two miniatures arriving before I start working on them properly but in the mean time:

Mechanicum Darkfire Castellax - Update

I've made quite a bit of progress with the triplets over the last week or so:

So they should hopefully be finished up before the 15th in time to complete this months painting challenge. This will then clear the deck a little for some 'specialist games'... here's a sneak preview of what one of them is:

Mechanicum Taghmata Omnissiah Darkfire Castellax Maniple

Newly inspired to add to my Mechanicum forces by both a local surge of interest in Heresy gaming and the new Forge World Scyllax models I thought I'd add some anti-heavy infantry punch in the form of a maniple of three Darkfire Cannon armed Castellax. The triplets should be able to put down what the Mauler Cannon armed maniple cannot:

Unfortunately upon eagerly opening the models when they arrived from Forge World I discovered that the resin in two of the Darkfire Cannon hadn't cured properly while the third had suffered irreparable mould slippage. I contacted Forge World to organise replacements but then resolved that rather than wait for them, I'd kitbash some suitably arcane looking weapons to take their place. A quick bitsbox rummage and some cutting and sticking yielded three 'Lacedaemonem Pattern Darkfire Cannon':

Which were then added to the assembled Castellax who have been primed and base coated silver ready for painting:

I'm aiming to get these done by mid April and then move on to either a second Questoris Knight or a unit of Scyllax, keeping things firmly Mechanicum.

Back on the Hobby Wagon...

It's been a wee while since I properly updated so here's what I've been up to this month.

The week before last saw a fairly speedy paint job on this Primaris Lightning Strike Fighter for my Mechanicum army:

I've also made a little progress getting Lorgar ready to paint:

Finally I've got some paint on one of the awesome World Eaters Red Butchers Devoured mini's from Forge World:

Crimson Hunter - House Taranis Knight Errant

Well, it feels like I've had this forever but it's only been around a month since release. Slowly but surely I'm getting there though, this is a truly epic kit!

Even using spray paint to do most of the work on the chassis, this is a huge model and painting it by hand takes time...

Mechanicum Manufactorum Production Line - more Mechanicum WIP's

This week I'm bringing the Mechanicum army smashing through the 1500 points barrier by adding two new units, the aforementioned Archmagos and a small unit of Icarian Thallax with a Multimelta to deal with pesky flyers and/or deep strike behind armoured vehicles:

The Archmagos is nearing completion:

While the Thallax are still in the initial stages of painting:

But with luck I'll have them all finished up early next week.

Archmagos Iacton Lacedaemonem - Second Iteration

After seeing the weapons that came with the Myrmidons I couldn't resist adding a second Magos Donimus to my Mechanicum army to better represent it's leader:

Mechanicum Myrmidons - Completed

Got these fantastic mini's finished up today ready for gaming tomorrow evening. I plan on adding another 3 to the army with a different weapon load out at a later date.

Dark Eldar Dhow, Mechanicum Castellax and Inquisitor - Playing Hobby Catch Up

With only a few hours to spare I've managed to complete the Dark Eldar Dhow for a painting/modelling comp themed on vehicles at my local GW:

I've also decided to add a little more colour to my Mechanicum Castellax in recognition of their recent outstanding performance on the tabletop (I'm also waiting for a 4th one to arrive from Forge World to add to the maniple):

And finally as the conclusion to the campaign that we're playing up here in Inverness edges closer one of the pivotal 'good guys' is getting ready to begin making appearances:

Mechanicum Thallax Cohort - Redux

With the Horus Heresy Book Two: Massacre looming ever closer with the rules for some very tasty Mechanicum units in it I decided to do a little more work on my Thallax Cohort (although I should really have been working on my Astartes for the HHE 'Time of Legends' challenge).

 Firstly I decided that in order to create a playable, if small army, that I wanted two 3 Thallax Cohorts as my compulsory troops choices with a Magos Dominus (that has been dispatched from Forge World this afternoon) as my HQ and if I can scrape together the money a Castellax Battle-Automata as well.

With this in mind I've secured a 6th Thallax so I can create the two Cohorts and re-based the existing 5 so that they can actually be gamed with and added a little more colour to them by repainting some of their armour plates to match their pauldrons

Alpha Cohort:

Theta Cohort:

When the 6th one arrives I'm going to set about converting his Lightning Gun to a Photon Thruster Cannon, a very nasty Mechanicum weapon that fires disintegrating beams of howling blackness that tear their screaming targets asunder, even armoured vehicles offer scant protection from their wrath. I'll also be getting the Magos Dominus assembled and painted as soon as I can as well.

Mechanicum Thallax Cohort - Completed

Got these fellas finished up today as well. I've gone for a deliberately simple colour scheme so that it can be easily replicated when the new Mechanicum units are released by Forge World and because I think the Mechanicum would favour form and function over aesthetics.

Mechanicum Thallax Cohort - WIP

I couldn't resist grabbing some of these when they were revealed by Forge World earlier in the year:

The Thallaxi Cohort has access to some nasty weapon options in addition to their already formidable armaments. After a fantastic brainstorm chat with Ead Brown at Forge World I decided to go with the phased plasma fusil to give me the ability to tear up more power armoured Traitor Astartes. As there's no 'official' version of the weapon yet I converted one of the Thallaxi's lightning guns (left most model in the above image).

And here's the Cohort part way through being painted up:

I decided to paint their face plates glossy black as I wanted them to appear as inhuman as possible. I've also deliberately restricted the colour palette so that it's easy to replicate and because I don't see the Mechanicum as adding embellishment where it's not necessary. In the picture below you can see the glowing cores of the atomantic arc reactors that power the Lorica Thallax as well as the various thrust nozzles that make these heavy infantry scarily manoeuvrable:

This is but the first unit of a Crusade/Heresy Era Mechanicum Army that I plan to build up slowly as more units are released by Forge World.