Mars Ascendant

[Heliomanes]

Agios O Omnissiah, fellow adepts.

As mentioned in another thread, I'm in the process of merging over my 30k Mechanicum to a 40k list - and field them together with my knight house and their bonded skitarii clans when the promised FW book of milk and honey finally descends from the binaric purity of the FW servers and into the catholic manifold.

Here's a few pictures I found lying around. These are pretty old, and barely cover 10% of my current force, so I'll try to get some better ones in a while.

http://i.imgur.com/1GuDqKO.jpghttp://i.imgur.com/QNWqNRM.jpghttp://i.imgur.com/ybnsjju.jpghttp://i.imgur.com/F1eveDr.jpg

[Ammonius]

That Acheron is Terrifying! Excellent work on these dark and gritty deliverers of Motive Force!!

[Magos Takatus]

That's an awesome faceplate for the Acheron. Is it a custom one? It doesn't look like a Forge World one to me. The weathering on the Onager is pretty nice too. :)

[Heliomanes]

Thank you, esteemed adepts! Greatly appreciated.

The head on the Acheron is actually a Khemri sphinx bit with just a few very simple green stuff additions. I thought it worked quite well. Ever since I read Abnett's "Titanicus" and his depictions of the feral skitarii there I've wanted my own Titan Legio and Mechanicus elements - and I really liked the fact that they had really different cultures and visuals attached to them. So I tried to mimic that in some small way by adding a lot of golden animal skulls to my Skitarii and Knights.

I had a few more pictures taken. Maybe you'll spot some more changes in that vein.

http://i.imgur.com/J0F8Q9v.jpghttp://i.imgur.com/nbe55pv.jpghttp://i.imgur.com/I3D0snL.jpghttp://i.imgur.com/x2PcWi4.jpghttp://i.imgur.com/4QVfI32.jpghttp://i.imgur.com/AuxaV6y.jpghttp://i.imgur.com/tHx9fH1.jpghttp://i.imgur.com/d2DtONf.jpg

[Ammonius]

Okay. Those gold Peacock eye feather decals are blowing me away. Where did they come from? Are even decals or super fine laser cut brass?

 

And truly, you have built an astounding force. Be proud!

[Heliomanes]

You are very kind, sir! Actually, those are really cheap fingernail decals bought for like a buck per package from a chinese salesman on ebay. Work like normal decals and are absurdly hardy. No chance of hurting them without actually trying to.

[Yoda79]

Awesome army. Well done sir

[Heliomanes]

Thank you! Very happy that you enjoy them. Will try to get some more pictures of my Mechanicum heavy support section soon.

Ammonius: I actually found a link on ebay for you. Not the same seller, but they seem identical. http://www.ebay.com/itm/3D-DIY-Nails-Art-Feather-Zipper-Tips-Sticker-Decal-Fingernails-Beauty-Decoration-/232201688855?var=531413001902&hash=item36104c9717:g:a1wAAOSwo4pYdIWO

[Bjorn Firewalker]

I like the dark colors your models are painted in. By the way, where did you get a bird mask for the Imperial Knight?

[Heliomanes]

Thank you! I actually use a lot of whites and often highlight all the way up to white. I just make a point out of diluting most colors with grays, blacks and whites to get what I think is a bit more gritty and grimy feel to things. That way you can have a lot of colors hopefully without them tiring out the eyes and making the models look garish or too cartoony. Wild speculation, subjective taste and rationalizations, of course.

The bird head for the knight paladin is actually made out of putty. Never tried it much before, but thought it worked out neat. The lines were drawn by using a knife, and I hollowed out the eye sockets and nostrils using a sharp pencil.

[Reyner]

Everyone is going mad over your awesome Knights but damn I love the Thallax faceplates! Cylons! 

[Vel'Cona]

I love how each Dragoon has unique heraldry.  I've not seen it done before and it really adds a sense of unique "knighthood" to the models.  Excellent work, brother!  :)

[Heliomanes]

You guys are very kind! Really motivates me to get some more work done, both on new models, and getting some pictures taken of old ones. Hope you enjoy them.

http://i.imgur.com/RhwaG6I.jpghttp://i.imgur.com/Uqv9WmY.jpghttp://i.imgur.com/rMxRI0V.jpghttp://i.imgur.com/Yb2SDwb.jpghttp://i.imgur.com/NNqsEUp.jpghttp://i.imgur.com/KrzT8tG.jpg

[Bjorn Firewalker]

Excellent work on the Siege Automata.

[wamphiry]

Agios o Omnissiah

Agios Isxyros! :p

[Heliomanes]

Agios o Omnissiah

Agios Isxyros!

Agios Athanatos!

[Shinespider]

Not sure if this is what you're going for, but the Sicarian with the porcelain mask is a really neat idea. 

[wamphiry]

 

Agios o Omnissiah

Agios Isxyros!

Agios Athanatos!

 

It seems we are from the same Forge brother. Omnissiah be praised!

[Vel'Cona]

So many scary robits . . . it just keeps getting more awesome with each update!  :D

[Heliomanes]

We are blessed by the presence of the hallowed engines of the Auxilia Autokrator. Vanguard skitarius added for scale. Those Triaros tanks are massive.

http://i.imgur.com/ZBoXmTu.jpghttp://i.imgur.com/E3aAJC5.jpghttp://i.imgur.com/KvFzWu2.jpghttp://i.imgur.com/wt6ZcNl.jpg

[Luna707]

Wow, some really creative stuff on here, I especially like the banners on the Dragoons 

[Bjorn Firewalker]

The Martian tanks are well-painted. I find fault with Forge World's failure to mount their main weapons in turrets- or to give the tanks either grav-plates or legs, so they can simultaneously shoot a flanking enemy target while moving forwards (or turn to shoot that enemy while moving sideways to continue their previous course, in the case of grav-tanks and crawlers).

[Heliomanes]

Been a while since I posted - here's some of the stuff I've painted up since last time. Let me know what you think! Have I been a good little tech-adept - perhaps even worthy of an expensive resin gift from the Omnissiah during the annual Feast of the Motive Force that is just around the corner? Should I hang up my paintbrushes in shame? Tips on how to improve the models from here? I tend to never "finish" something, just add to it or redo parts now and then - so all criticisms and suggestions are more than welcome.




I was really surprised by the sheer massive size of this thing. Here's a comparison shot next to a knight paladin.





I've decided that I didn't really like the look of the UFO-heads on the Sicarian Infiltrators, so I added some golden animal skulls to them too. I think it really fits their hunched gait and reverse jointed legs. Doesn't come off as well in this image though, I'll try to get some better ones done in the future.







Finally, I decided to simply base and paint up the objective marker kit from GW. This was really fun and simple to do. Highly recommended kit.

[Magos Takatus]

Very nicely done. I like the Cylon-like decoration of the robot faceplates. They look pretty intimidating as 50's space robots go. I also think the Infiltrators look really good and hope to see some close-up images soon. finally, your knight has some really nice chipping and the bracing pose looks good. Sometimes people go overboard with FW Knights and they can look over the top, but I think the pose you've got works. The only mild criticism I can come up with is that the rust looks like it's all more or less the same colour. If you blended some slightly darker rust into it I think it would look better but I think you could leave it as it is and it would still look superb over all.

 

As for a reward, the only way is up. How about an Ordinatus engine? :p

[Azekai]

How did you do the murky green glass on the genestealer specimen tank, Heliomanes? That looks great!

The skull-stalkers look much more imposing and creepy, and I am a big fan of the weathering and rust across the army. Fantastic.