Project log: Torburnides

[The Officer]

Awesome archaeopter! The base is cool, I especially like the skitarii team there. It gives me the impression of a recon team calling in an air strike and getting to see the aircraft fly over on its way to destroy the target, a cinematic moment. Nice work!

[Magos Takatus]

I'd not thought of the two things being linked but yeah, that's a better narrative. :) Thanks!

[Magos Takatus]

This is the calm before the storm. My army is packed up and ready to go, I will be playing a 2750 point game against my old friend and long-time rival. It will be my third game of modern 40k and the second game using my Adeptus Mechanicus army. It is my entire painted army barring two Dominus who will be overseeing from orbit (or more accurately, my figure case back at home).

 

Perhaps learning to play 40k 9th edition with an almost 3000 point army is not wise, but I suppose I am making up for lost time.

 

I will try to remember to take some photographs of the two armies, hopefully a few before my army gets eaten by Tyranids. 

 

My tactics will be to try to kill all the psychic models before I get smited smitten smoten killed by mind bullets.

 

Due to Admech being so difficult to pack properly I am taking two toolboxes, some loose Raiders and my new flyer, all well as using my Wall of Martyrs trench lines for the first line, which takes up another box. I am quickly learning that GW did not consider portability as a variable when it came to modern miniatures design.

 

I will also by reuniting my friend with a small squad of Poxwalkers that I painted for him a while back. I am nervous about the results of the game but more so hoping that my efforts on the Poxwalkers is adequate.

 

Apologies for the fragmented post, my mind is all over the place currently. I will post more details probably tomorrow evening. 

 

Praise the Omnissiah, this one's going to be tough.

Edited October 20, 2020 by Magos Takatus

[Magos Takatus]

Righto, That was a fun game. I lost because I didn't keep the primary objectives defended and I couldn't push the swarm back.

 

There were a few interesting moments though. My Bomber's first game was a bit strange. It started the game bombing a Zoanthrope brood, who took offence and proceeded to hammer it with mind bullets. My friend's (also first game) Tyrannofex shot it down. I used the stratagem to make my bomber explode, who took the last wounds off it, both out newest models disappeared in a fireball in turn one. Whoops.

My shooting for the first couple of turns was so effective I started to feel pretty guilty about the casualties I had inflicted. I had no idea how scary the counterattack was going to be.

I used the stratagem on my Raiders to retreat out of range of the Broodlord and his Genestealers, leaving him floundering for a turn or two. The Broodlord was whittled down but the Genestealers got revenge when I ran out of room to retreat to.

I have a nice picture here somewhere near the end of the game where Old One Eye, Omnom the Hauruspex and the winged Tyrant simply collapsed my left flank. My Dragoons went on a literal suicide mission and exploded in a crowd of Tyranid monsters, doing a little damage.

I had an Infiltrator squad that wiped out a few stragglers with their space uzis putting out a hilarious amount of fire. They munched up some Hormagaunts until the rest of the swarm punished them for their silliness.

 

 

The battle ended with Cawl jumping into combat to stop Old One Eye for the audacity of interrrupting his game-long session of Candy Crush and random castle buffing. 

 

I really enjoyed the game but it was pretty scary. My Robot castle was about all that was left and in the end no amount of Bring It Down or Abhor The Witch could make up for my inability to capture objectives when I needed to. We both hit the cap for our kill-based secondaries so it was a very bloody game. I hope this second loss isn't the start of a losing streak!

 

Edit: How do I get the picture to display as full size? I seem to just get the thumbnails until I click on the images.

Edited October 20, 2020 by Magos Takatus

[Magos Takatus]

I decided to get a Galvanic Servohauler set recently since it wasn't that expensive and would add to the collection of scenery that I own. I decided to make them look considerably more worn than my Mechanicus army so I painted them with a less saturated green and loaded up on the rust paint and oil washes. 

 

I have a small unit of Sterilyzors ready to be painted next, providing I don't get sidetracked again.

[Bjorn Firewalker]

Beautiful work on the construction (engineering?) vehicles!

[Magos Takatus]

Do you think I should bother with a blue glow on the vehicles like the box art or do you think it would look better if they are still dormant?

[Magos Takatus]

 

Hi all, apologies for letting this thread go dark for as long as it has, I recently got my custom decals for my Space Marines and got sidetracked painting a Land Raider and some Tartaros Terminators. I haven't yet started a Space Marine Blog but it's on the to-do list.

 

My most recent project was some Pteraxii Sterylizors. It was a rare occasion but this was a paint job I really didn't enjoy. I had to paint the bodies separate from the wings and I had t keep them off the flying stems so I kept wiping paint off the models by accident and I started off using a gloss black undercoat which made it really difficult to tell what I was looking at. I eventually got them painted and assembled. I don't know if they will ever take to the battlefield since they feel so fragile. 

 

 

 

 

I will admit these are not my best work mainly because I just wanted them finished so there is a bit less weathering and shading than usual. On the plus side the colourshift paint on the wings is actually visible in the youtube link (though sadly the image quality was pretty dire this time though).

 

As for my next Mechanicus Project? I'm getting that Marshal. After that I have some Kastellans and I might get some more Electro Priests. It's in a bit of flux at the moment. I think I should wait to see what the new Codex brings to the table.

[Bjorn Firewalker]

It looks like you put an admirable amount of effort in the Pteraxii Sterylizors, but the images look blurry when I try to zoom in. You should photograph the models under better lighting- ideally with a high resolution camera, but those are expensive, and I'll understand if you cannot.

[Magos Takatus]

I think a lot of my issues with photographs are more myself than the camera I use. I have a tripod for my phone, I have an led light box and the phone is set to a timer. I've been advised to move my camera back slightly and crop the images down. I think some of my older photos are actually clearer than my most recent batch. Clearly I haven't appeased the machine spirit of my most recent camera. :D

 

I will certainly take your advice onboard, I will see what sort of budget I can manage and what sort of camera would be suitable for this work.

[Prot]

I totally understand the hesitation with taking the Sterilyzors out for gameplay as I'm still putting 10 together and all the while seeing all the potential for breakage. Unfortunately most of the new Admech stuff is loaded with break points (I just broke a Fusilave flyer door gun off and I'm pretty careful.)

 

I think yours look awesome. I don't get to see many painted Pteraxii and I think you nailed it. They look great.

[MajorNese]

Resolution is mostly an issue due to cropping the picture or uploading with a lower resolution, rarely of the camera itself. If edited/cropped/uploaded wrong, the source image quality doesn't matter too much either way. If you upload an unedited picture, it might be possible to narrow down the bottleneck.

 

You could also increase quality by increasing the exposure setting a bit - the camera intends an average exposure for the full picture (including the white background), meaning it results in a grey background and slightly underexposed model.

[Magos Takatus]

Resolution is mostly an issue due to cropping the picture or uploading with a lower resolution, rarely of the camera itself. If edited/cropped/uploaded wrong, the source image quality doesn't matter too much either way. If you upload an unedited picture, it might be possible to narrow down the bottleneck.

 

You could also increase quality by increasing the exposure setting a bit - the camera intends an average exposure for the full picture (including the white background), meaning it results in a grey background and slightly underexposed model.

I'll have to look into it. There are good guides on the B&C about photography. I think it's time for a refresher course and a little more research. I have noticed that if one of the LED's finds it's way into the image it will instantly make the rest of the image fade to a really dark scene so I have to avoid that for starters. I watched a Youtube video a few days again that suggest replacing my light box for two similar desk lamps. I would prefer a more portable solution but I'll have to play around with lighting a bit more before I open my wallet again.

 

 

I totally understand the hesitation with taking the Sterilyzors out for gameplay as I'm still putting 10 together and all the while seeing all the potential for breakage. Unfortunately most of the new Admech stuff is loaded with break points (I just broke a Fusilave flyer door gun off and I'm pretty careful.)

 

I think yours look awesome. I don't get to see many painted Pteraxii and I think you nailed it. They look great.

Thanks for the feedback. I've not seen many Pteraxii painted outside of Instagram so I should at least take some better photos. Sorry to hear about the Fusilave damage. I have managed to keep mine safe but it's not on display right now. I need to free up a shelf before I can show it off. Considering how much effort I put into the base on that thing having it hidden away in a box just isn't cricket. :D

[Magos Takatus]

Right, so I've realised that the image scaling to fit on B&C was far too aggressive. I've tried an army shot of the 2000 point army I will soon be mobilizing once the lockdown is over with. It's not perfect but it's a huge improvement over my previous efforts and that was without using a tripod.

I have also figured out how to link the larger images so I no longer have to ask people to click on every image I post.

Let me know what you think of the photograph/painting/army selection/whatever, I'm happy to hear some constructive criticism.

[TrawlingCleaner]

These are very rad Magos, the green works really well on Admech and the bases make it pop even more. I love that you've got a selection of units rather than spamming one type of unit. Great stuff, looking forward to seeing more!

[Magos Takatus]

Thanks for the feedback! I've seen a lot of green Admech turning up on Instagram.

 

I do have a habit of getting a little bit of everything rather than planning a coherent army list but I also own a duplicate Dunecrawler and two Dragoons. I'm planning on adding more Ironstriders/Dragoons and more Electro Priests but I'm going to wait to see what the new Codex bring first. 

 

This army has me experimenting with the MSU tactic, but I don't think my infantry are going to last long against Tyranids. I was trying to fit everything into a single brigade so that might explain why this army might look a bit weird. It's the first battle for my Sterilyzors and the second for my Raiders so I'm not expecting either to last long. My friend really dislikes the Raiders. 

 

It's a shame I'm not bringing my entire army to bear but we struggled with that. My Admech collection is probably a little under 3000 points now by my estimation. This will be the third game of my Admech facing my friend's Tyranids. It would be nice to win one out of three.

Edited May 12, 2021 by Magos Takatus

[Magos Takatus]

I've just come back to my blog, and I must apologise, I didn't relay the results of the battle I fought with my buddy. When the dust settled at the end of the battle there was only a single Tyrannofex left fighting for the Tyranids but I had fallen so far behind in primary objectives it wasn't even worth adding up the scores. Everything I tried to advance or infiltrate with got encircled, doused in acid or otherwise destroyed. Trying to fit my army into a Brigade detachment was a terrible idea so next journey into army building will probably be a Battalion and a Patrol. The Sterylizors were forced to drop into my deployment zone to prevent my firebase being wiped out, so they were unable to drop behind enemy lines to join the Infiltrators. I think they did a pretty good job of torching some Genestealers though.

I've got a new game in the next few days, this time it will be the first time my friend has used his Necrons so hopefully I'll be on slightly more even footing. It's mostly going to be drawn from the contents of the Indomitus box, I don't know how much he's expanded on that collection so I have a fair idea what he's bringing but I'm not 100% sure. I don't know my own army after the codex so it should be entertaining. I am hoping there will be more opportunities to push forward since I'm not facing a nightmarish wave of talons this time.

I am also happy to report a new recruit to my army:

Hopefully my Vanguard will appreciate him screaming dial-up modem noises at them and they get something important done. I am going to have to proxy some models in my Skitarii troops since the changes to special weapons have royally messed up my special weapon allocation. I'll also have to make some Data Tethers in future now that they don't conflict with Omnispexes.

Over all I am pretty pleased with the new codex. I like that there is Rad-Saturated themed armies and starting from scratch I won't be leaning on Mars quite so much so I'll try it out for lore reasons. Unfortunately that means that I will need more basic Skitarii and I thought I was pretty much finished with them. While I love the models I think they are a chore to paint. Now, do I buy a Combat Patrol box? There's nothing I can't make use of in the box but the Edited June 25, 2021 by Magos Takatus

[Bjorn Firewalker]

Excellent work on the Marshal.

[Magos Guilderius Davvarel]

Excellent work on the Marshall ! Can't wait to start mine :D

 

Hope you'll find the time to build a good list against the fool robots ! But more importantly, I hope you'll have loads of fun :P

 

The CbtPatrol box is very good, but like you said, for the same price you could get several other things^^ Good luck on deciding, I couldn't give any usefull advice as I'd probably take everything XD

Edited June 26, 2021 by Magos Guilderius Davvarel

[Magos Takatus]

Thank you for the feedback! He was a joy to paint for me, I only wish that the cog teeth pattern on the rob was painted smaller but I goofed a bit in that regard. Otherwise I'm pretty happy with it. I think the model looks pretty intimidating, it's a shame he's not a bit tougher with a face like that but I digress.

 

I've got started on the two Kastellans I've been holding on to for a while. 

 

 

I intend to magnetise the arms fully but I want to see if it's a common procedure before I start vandalising my models. I'm going leave the shoulder mount weapons as-is because they seem to stay in place fine with friction alone. I think after seeing what my robots could do in the shooting phase encountering two that stomp up the board and try to apply some pressure might be a way to shake up the game plan so it doesn't get too stale. 

[brother_b]

I’m having a game today. I’ve got two magnetized and two shoots only. I’m going to run them all today as full fist bots to see how that goes. Using the solar flare with the data smith.

 

I’ll post some of my thoughts from the game. I love the bots really I want to see which loadout is best for my style. The fist + blaster also looks interesting.

[Magos Takatus]

Good luck! I hope the game goes well. I've got magnets in all the weapons and I just have two arms left to go. It's been relatively painless So far.

[brother_b]

Well my robots did work! Wow, they were amazing. Pricey but amazing. I used the solar flare with the datasmith. Not sure I’d take datasmith unless going Lucius solar flare or making an old school shooty bot line with dominus support. That doesn’t feel efficient though.

 

They took out a primaris dread, finished off some blade guard, and crisped a Phobos librarian with their flamers. They then held the center objective for the remainder of the game. I only lost one robot and that was to his primaris dread blowing up. I hope to write a full debrief this week sometime. 

[Luku]

I’ve had my own punchy boys tank a full Bladeguard squad charge before and then wipe them out in return. Strength 10, Flat 3 Damage is devastating if the dice land right… :)

[Magos Takatus]

Well, my Kastelans are now assembled, magnetised and based so they will be ready for undercoat next time I bring out the airbrush. That shouldn't be that long considering I need to varnish my Marshal soon as well.

 

Good to hear that the fist bots were effective in your game. I am not intending to try out Lucius this time but there is a warlord trait that allows teleportation. Since robots are not core unless there is a Datasmith within three inches and they have not deployed at that stage in the game, does that mean that Kastelans are not allowed to be used with this warlord trait? It would be great if they could but it's not looking terribly likely from my interpretation of this rule.