How to commit vile Tech Heresy! A tourists guide to Xana II

[Stray]

Thank you buddy, that's really kind.

 

Further blasphemy is on the cards soon with project 'build a better Armiger'. (Just need to sacrifice a few virgins (they're in short supply around here) in order to get the parts).

[Subtle Discord]

The attention to detail and execution is something to behold; absolutely wonderful work and thanks for the top-notch photography. Yep, you just cemented that I need to get an Atrapos to anchor my future Mechanicus Knights.

[Stray]

The attention to detail and execution is something to behold; absolutely wonderful work and thanks for the top-notch photography. Yep, you just cemented that I need to get an Atrapos to anchor my future Mechanicus Knights.

 

Thanks Subtle.

 

The photography is a bit of an experiment having just received a camera. Need a lot of practice and definitely some better lighting, but we're getting there!

 

The Atrapos is... fantastic. It's a points sink, but I think Renegade lists benefit from it especially. We've no access to wargear like the Paragon Gauntlet, and the Atrapos Las-cutter is the best alternative. You get a cheeky bonus rule on Heretical Atrapos too for a built in -1 Ld aura, which stacks nicely with our Relic for a -3 aura. Slap a 6+++ Warlord trait on it, and you have a powerful, tanky HQ which can also summon any flavour of daemon (which it can provide bonuses to) thanks to counting as a Chaos Character. :D

[Stray]

Little hobby update to cover the time we've been away. Mostly some more photography experimentation (I need a light box really), but a little bit of painting too, including a very very obvious Hellwright on Dark Abeyant...

 

 

 

 

 

[Marshal Reinhard]

Absolutely Heretechal

[Magos Takatus]

I love this blog. :D

 

The Dark Mechanicus chap Scoria looks suitably scary, I like the gradient on the armour panels and the old beaten metal. The Vanguard on the Knight base looks great in those colours too. I need to improve my photography as well but you're getting great quality pictures so far so I'm curious what improvements a lightbox would make. I am tempted to get one myself at some point.

[Stray]

Thanks FB!

 

I think the point of a light box (forgive my lack of photography knowledge here) is basically to make lighting more consistent? I got some cheap lamps with daylight bulbs, but I'm still getting a fair amount of shadow cast on to the taped-together A4 paper backdrop I'm using (no expense spared there!)

 

My impression is the light box helps soften that harshness from the bulbs.

[Magos Takatus]

Ah, see, I'm feeling flush, I have a sheet of A3 paper! :p

 

I'm struggling with the light situation currently since my main light is an led desk lamp that isn't a daylight colour. I also cluster various torches and stuff nearby but it's pretty primitive. I can use the tool to remove a colour cast to fix most pictures when I'm in Photoshop Elements but I understand with a cream coloured army getting the colour accurate is probably a lot more important than with my models.

 

The light boxes that have light built in look really convenient but they don't seem particularly cheap. It might be worth it just to help eliminate shadows from my pictures. Sorry, I've kinda dragged this a bit off-topic. I hope you don't mind though.

 

How long did it take you to build and paint Scoria? It looks like a very fiddly model but like Cawl, very rewarding to complete.

[Stray]

It's fine buddy - I'm keen to learn about the photography side of things as I'm new to it, and it's a hobby blog-type-thing, so I don't think you're off topic

 

Scoria wasn't too bad really. It looks fiddlier than it is. There were fewer components in the kit than I had expected, so the whole thing was put together and painted in 3-4 days, just working on it for a couple of hours here and there. There isn't too many different colours in the Xana scheme, so even the bigger stuff like the Knights I find you can get done very quickly once you've gotten used to the colour scheme.

 

With regard to lighting, the two I'm using were designed for desktop photography, and came as a pair for £20 on Amazon. They're basic, but they seem to work - I certainly can't complain at that price. You're quite right though - normal household lighting is a lot more 'yellow', which means the 'bone' colour get's affected really badly both when taking pictures, and when painting. I really need daylight for the latter :/

Edited October 11, 2018 by Stray

[Charlo]

Oh dude your Scoria is beautiful.

 

Xana stuff makes me wish I'd painted my 40k Ad Mech in the bone...

[Stray]

Thanks Charlo!

 

Honestly though, I think it's more that it's just such a lovely model. I suspect you could tip in tar, then roll it in feathers and that sculpt would still end up looking good!

[Vel'Cona]

Thanks Charlo!

 

Honestly though, I think it's more that it's just such a lovely model. I suspect you could tip in tar, then roll it in feathers and that sculpt would still end up looking good!

 

I'm sure I could find some way to ruin it.  Conversely, your paint job is excellent :D  The subtle creme armour plates with the dull, greasy metal really pulls together that "ancient but functional" feel.  It doesn't hurt your basing game is on point, either :)

[Stray]

Hobby update time cats and kittens.

 

This week, the hell-forges spewed forth a great blasphemy:

 

 

 

 

 

And in the warp, there was much rejoicing:

 

 

 

 

(Daemonettes, we have learned, are not just   on the tabletop... they are   to paint too! Easily the hardest miniatures I've attempted so far to get to a standard I'm remotely happy with :/ )

 

Meow for now! 

Edited November 3, 2018 by Vel'Cona
Naughty words

[Magos Takatus]

Nice work. The led colour is well picked, it gives a really intimidating infernal appearance. Not something to mess with.

[Pearson73]

That Knight is amazing, really high quality of painting throughout this log.

 

I completely agree regarding the Daemonettes, I just couldn't get a good result with mine, all my ideas just ended up looking dismal once paint hit plastic.

[Vel'Cona]

Certainly a tasty dose of heresy, here!  I love the "scarred faceplate" look on Renegade/Chaos Knights and the lighting adds even more to the effect.  I'd also agree that Daemonettes are a royal pain to paint (got a pile for AoS in the wings) but the results are worthwhile.

[Stray]

It's definitely the skin tones that make them such a challenge. I'd love to pick up Zarakynel - the models nice, and the she puts in some work on the tabletop (though I'm not sure she's very healthy in terms of points now), but the idea of painting her terrifies me... O.o

Edited November 3, 2018 by Stray

[Clingy]

What a remarkable paint job on the knight. Simply wonderful. Top marks milado

[Charlo]

Most excellent heresy brother!

 

The Orange LEDs are superb.

[Stray]

HERESY!!

 

Do I have your attention? Excellent!

 

It's been a while, (the humans discovered where I buried the dog, so I've been on dry food for weeks... Seriously, they think they own the place). I figured it was time to show you loyalists the latest horrors that the hell forges have birthed!

 

Behold! The Renegade Warglaive:

 

 

 

 

 

 

[url=https://flic.kr/p/2dBszwx]

 

I can see that you are trembling in fear already. You should know that, our overwhelming technological superiority also grants 0.01 extra damage on the table top (and we don't even clear it with our opponent - that's just how deliciously evil we are). What does this mean in practical terms I hear you cry? Absolutely nothing! But it's still 0.01 more damage than you lot with your fancy strats and household traits have!

 

So loyalists, while sleep flees from you this night after seeing such horrors, remember: Cats rule, dogs drool, and death to the false Emperor!

 

Meow for now.

[Magos Takatus]

Great work as always, the extended glaive looks like it will fit in well with the Lancer knight. I have noticed in picture number three that there is a hair by the knight's engine stack. I suppose I'm surprised there isn't more fur stuck to it in retrospect! :p

[Charlo]

Awesome design. Really builds on the lancer theme. Replacing the shoulder with the gun shield is a great idea.

[Stray]

Great work as always, the extended glaive looks like it will fit in well with the Lancer knight. I have noticed in picture number three that there is a hair by the knight's engine stack. I suppose I'm surprised there isn't more fur stuck to it in retrospect!

 

I too see this hair... clearly some kind of sabotage! Excuse me for a moment, there are beds I need to mistake for litter-trays...

[Stray]

Awesome design. Really builds on the lancer theme. Replacing the shoulder with the gun shield is a great idea.

 

Thanks Charlo. I can't take credit entirely as the conversion partly takes inspiration from parts of other models I've seen around. In combination though and with some other changes, I'm quite pleased with the result. 

 

The gun shield accidentally gives a great kinda 'spear and shield' effect right? Just wish I liked the Warglaive more on the tabletop! :P

[Stray]

While we are on the subject of... What were we talking about? No matter!

 

I have been using all of my feline cunning to craft a devious list, and would appreciate hearing the howls of despair (or you know, constructive ideas to improve it - it's a bit of a rough sketch right now) of any of our lovely community who care to comment

 

 

++ Questor Traitoris Super-Heavy Detachment +6CP (Chaos - Renegade Knights) [79 PL, 3CP, 1485pts] ++

+ Lord of War +

 

Renegade Knight [25 PL, 465pts]: Heavy stubber

. Avenger gatling cannon and heavy flamer: Avenger gatling cannon, Heavy flamer

. Avenger gatling cannon and heavy flamer: Avenger gatling cannon, Heavy flamer

 

Renegade Knight [25 PL, 465pts]: Heavy stubber

. Avenger gatling cannon and heavy flamer: Avenger gatling cannon, Heavy flamer

. Avenger gatling cannon and heavy flamer: Avenger gatling cannon, Heavy flamer

 

Renegade Knight Atropos [29 PL, 555pts]: 3. Tenacious Survivor, Atropos lascutter, Character, Graviton singularity cannon, The Traitor's Mark, Warlord

 

Battle-forged CP [3CP]

Detachment CP [6CP]

 

++ Patrol Detachment (Chaos - Daemons) [27 PL, 375pts] ++

 

Chaos Allegiance: Nurgle

+ HQ +

 

Sloppity Bilepiper [3 PL, 60pts]

 

+ Troops +

 

Plaguebearers [12 PL, 161pts]: 22x Plaguebearer, Plagueridden

Plaguebearers [12 PL, 154pts]: 21x Plaguebearer, Plagueridden

 

++ Auxiliary Support Detachment -1CP (Chaos - FW Heretic Astartes) [8 PL, 140pts] ++

+ Elites +

 

Chaos Decimator [8 PL, 140pts]: 2x Butcher cannon, Slaanesh

 

++ Total: [114 PL, 8CP, 2000pts] ++

 

Created with BattleScribe

 

 

 

Conceptually, it's a Renegade Knight Lance that moves behind a largish screen of reasonably tough to remove bodies. These also create board presence along a wide front.

 

The Knights lay down 48 Avenger shots per turn, mincing... well, most things. While the Atrapos can use it's speed to sweep out from behind the screen and engage the juicer targets.

 

The 'Heavy Armiger' (also known as the Decimator - I have a conversion plan for this guy to make him somewhat more 'Knightly'), shoots first each turn with a pair of butcher cannon, causing a -2 to leadership on 1-2 units. The Atrapos aura also lays down a -3 to leadership for a total of -5. The Bilepiper further enhances that (if in range) as a bonus while defusing morale effects on the screens.

 

I'm thinking, while it's never a great idea to rely on a leadership bomb, this one is incidental enough (and trivial to maintain) that it'll do some additional work - especially on any units hit by that much Avenger fire.

 

The Atrapos additionally has a FNP to work along side it's 4++/3++ against shooting, 5++/4++ in melee and regeneration ability.

 

Thoughts, criticism, and terrified screams below folks :P