Echoes of Eisenstein - upscaling madness with the XIV

[Sherrypie]

On the modelling front, I finally started making some killer robots. Bloat drones, being fast(er than the footsloggers...) and relatively punchy in combat, have been a thing on my mind for some time now. The Echoes don't use daemons and the default pose is a bit eh anyway, so off to the chopping board it was. With a bit cleaner look, they can be painted up as floating hunter-killer robots rather than daemonic cyber-flies. Now they're more like shrimp, perhaps  :S-

[Sherrypie]

A sideproject for Kill Team, being inspired by the Thousand Sons Warpcoven rules in White Dwarf! A trio of mutant witch kings, leading their thralls and robot servants in a grimy maybe-sorta-ish Unification Wars vibe of non-Imperial human dregs.

 

And so it begins, the first techno-barbarian mutant of the witch coven has been built. I really love the Mechanicus bits, the servitor sprue is really versatile for various weird builds.





With a bunch of dendrites and a suitably galaxy-brained head from a Helbrute, they're a suitably intimidating fella to kick this project off with.

[Sherrypie]

The building phase is done!

This project is starting to get a distinctly radioactive taste of Unification Wars in my mouth. I like it, a dash of the Old Night makes one feel alive.

While the first philosopher king had a staff like the ancient Monkey who feared no man nor daemon, the second is an astute swordsman with power over time itself.





The third, the occult alchemist, wields a flame that burns the soul off of its victims.





Their servants range from the mindless to the devout. First, a barely sentient wretch that's only a scratch above the guns it carries:




The stim-addled thralls, lapping succour at the feet of their masters:








A champion, a courageous fighter who has bested a Null Maiden of the Thunder hordes at the behest of her sorcerous overlords.

[Shovellovin]

Very cool. I love when people create models without a care for rules; much more freedom with that mindset. Looking forward to seeing paint on these models. 

[Sherrypie]

Very cool. I love when people create models without a care for rules; much more freedom with that mindset. Looking forward to seeing paint on these models.

Thanks, hopefully they'll jump the painting queue (poor Possessed, still waiting...). I'm really excited with these!

 

While I love to let the bitz guide the creation, it's funny that you'd say that, as these models were very much inspired and shaped by their intended rules. Let's take a look here :D

 

The Warpcoven can have three Sorcerers, who can represent three different disciplines of magic. Similar, but with small differences. The trio will be armed individually, as only one can have a warpflame pistol while I wanted one, the swordsman, to be armed for melee in particular. I wanted one heavy weapon in the team, but since the Rubricae are just tools for their masters, the gunner needed to be either a robot or a drooling moron that would be just kicked around and look unlively enough to justify All Is Dust against small arms. Likewise, as the thralls are ruleswise Tzaangors, they needed cyber and drugs to make up for having one wound over normal guardsmen etc.

[Majkhel]

Very, very nice creations!  

For a moment I thought the Swordsman had a tail and later saw the mechandendrite is actually affixed to it's belt. Wouldn't you fancy making a real tail out of it after all? It seems to work well with the overall shape of the model but dos not have a 'function' in the same way it has with the first witch-king.

[Sherrypie]

Very, very nice creations!  

 

For a moment I thought the Swordsman had a tail and later saw the mechandendrite is actually affixed to it's belt. Wouldn't you fancy making a real tail out of it after all? It seems to work well with the overall shape of the model but dos not have a 'function' in the same way it has with the first witch-king.

Thanks Majkhel.

 

There's no belt there though (discounting the chain above), the dendrite writhes its way out of his guts ;)

[Sherrypie]

Meanwhile, the crusade campaign continues and I needed one odd figure stumbling around the table so was motivated to start on the failed librarians. Here's some tentative pics of the first laddie who didn't wake up to his best day.

[Monstra Sumus]

The failed Librarian is cool as heck, but that kill team is where it is AT. Those are phenomenal! 

[Sherrypie]

The failed Librarian is cool as heck, but that kill team is where it is AT. Those are phenomenal!

Cheers NP, I will try to see them painted before the year ends for your enjoyment ;)

[Sherrypie]

At the club our Crusade campaign has rolled along nicely, but people have been hankering for some proper narrative missions as well. While reading old White Dwarfs, I was inspired by a four scenario mini-campaign from 2011 where Black Templars were raiding a Necron tomb, intending to destroy the nexus keeping it operational (a free, immobile Monolith with power fields). This struck me as a rather fitting chassis for a battle in the narrative that had developed over our games thus far: my Echoes had stolen reactor technology, supplies and seized ground in order to fix their Falchion, Fourth Horseman, into operational condition. Naturally, our regular Tau enemies would see this not happening and soon, Commander Shadowsun would be leading a raid to stop such nonsense. There is no time limit in the mission, it depends solely on the fate of the fully armed and operational battle sta... tank! Called Operation Halifax by the attackers, it was time to embark. Death or glory!

It was also a wonderful excuse to use these beautiful Necromunda boards at the club! The WD mission was played on a 2' x 8' board, a perfect fit for the four 2' x 2' pieces we had.



Welcome to Under-Kumpula, where the XIV operate their secret garage deep in the heart of the artificial mountain that hive cities are. No tanks or drop troop reinforcements would make it in these depths without full-blown operational war raging outside.

As the first klaxons started ringing, Magister Hektor quickly deployed the proper defences into place.




Soon after, the Tau burst in through the front doors and overwhelm the outer patrols.




Squad Knutzen puts up a valiant fight, taking down one Broadside, but the numbers are too much and they fall under the weight of fire.



While the Horseman isn't moving yet, it's cannons are fully operational and the attackers are soon forced to duck for cover in the abundant nooks and corridors of the complex as a roaring beam of blinding light blasts through the main causeways with the fury of a thousand suns.



Spearheaded by the Riptide, the Tau remind the defenders of their long range capabilities and seriously dent the front armour of the Falchion. Galvanized by this realization, Magister Hektor leads the second line into a counter attack in force. The Riptide must fall and so it shall, eventually punctured by Hertz' Contemptor's lascannons after the drone swarm around it had been torn apart by his Leviathan brother Gödel.



By this point, Captain-Commander Erasmus has snorted his coffee up the wrong way in his office and quickly teleported in with his bodyguard, massively pissed off by this ruckus. As he appears next to the enemy firebase, he is greeted by the enemy suit commander and a faceful of fusion guns. Seemingly fuelled by pure anger, his force fields deflect all of the deathly rays harmlessly.



In return, Erasmus' melta finds it mark and he charges forwards over the smoking ruin of the Tau suit.



Mighty as he is, the Captain-Commander is but one man and the reinforcements are still far behind. Along with his bodyguard he is felled to Shadowsun's double Kay'on, soon followed by Gödel's massive form lit up by big guns.



The Tau force has however been somewhat depleted by this point, dealing with the headlong charge and being raked from afar by Hertz' long range support. Seeing their captain fall, Eberhard's veteran terminators surge forth under Hektor's protective spells and spell doom for the static firebase opposite. Mind-bullets and bolter rounds meet missiles and pulse fire as the terminators push through.



Arendt's linemen are too far to join the assault in time, but their support finds purchase in the Broadsides as they rush through the decrepid corridors.



While Hertz is sweeping the remaining Fire Warriors from the upper platforms, Eberhard's men show once again how the Wall of Stone denies death at every opportunity. Losing three men as they walk through fire, it is still over for the Tau when they get their claws on the suits. While the terminators rip Shadowsun and the last Broadside to pieces, Hektor is psionically throwing bodies around and smearing brains over the walls in contempt.



Though many have fallen and Erasmus needs new bionic organs (again), the Horseman is safe and the enemy threat neutralized.

A victory for the Echoes!

[Sherrypie]

Eyy, why settle for starting when you can paint the whole group in one go instead!

Rise, horrors of the Old Night! Death to the False Emperor, for Terra belongs to the proper philosopher kings!

Whole gang, vibin':



The Three Kings:

















Particularily happy with the psi-sword of the last fella.

 

[Sherrypie]

Rest of the images, then:

 

Dancer of the Apocalypse:






Champion of the Lost:







Pew-Pew XIII:





Atomic Blyat:





Icon of Sin:




I'm very happy with how they tuned out, as well as always loving working with reds. The aesthetic chaos of the Unification theme is... tempting. Though this is only a off-the-cuff side project, it might lure me to continue under its siren song. After all, representing the Thunder Legions with counts-as Custodes teams wouldn't take more than a handful of models...


 

[Shovellovin]

Excellent project that has really made me green with envy. All of the detail and unique character on each of these models is amazing.

[Sherrypie]

Excellent project that has really made me green with envy. All of the detail and unique character on each of these models is amazing.

Thanks Shovellovin! Don't get envious, get building ;)

[Monstra Sumus]

YAAAAS!

 

Wonderful Sherrypie, absolutely wonderful. 

[Sherrypie]

"...And the crowd goes wild!"

 

Thanks for the enthusiasm, NomadPainting, I take it you like what you see :D

[Monstra Sumus]

Oh, I do! Not only are those some excellent miniatures the paint job does them justice! 

[Sherrypie]

Ha, appreciated :D

[Sherrypie]

Was asked to take a few pics in terrain as well, so why not. I don't (yet...) have another Unification team, so enjoy some Crusade era imagery instead as the XIV legion runs into trouble while cleansing a non-Imperial human civilisation.










 

[sockwithaticket]

Cool to see some shots of that wonderful Kill Team in action.

[Sherrypie]

Cool to see some shots of that wonderful Kill Team in action.

Thanks Sock. Turns out the Warpcoven is also pretty fun to play, so it'll probably pop up in some reports later down the line.

 

For now, it inspired me to purchase some bits and start plotting out the next gaggle of sordid cannibals to build next year while enticing a couple of my buddies to create some Unifications stuff as well so that we might celebrate my birthday with a proper Thunderdome throwdown :D

[Sherrypie]

Getting pretty close to wrapping up 2021's hobby time, what with the holiday retreats creeping closer and away from the painting station.

The first feeling would be that I didn't achieve much on the hobby front this year, given half of it was spent in the Defence Forces, but let's tally what did get done. Plenty of gaming happened, though, which is always a plus (especially the very fun Titanicus mega-battle).

Built but unpainted:

- 9 Possessed librarius aspirants (40k)
- Lord of Virulence (40k)
- 2 Bloat Drones (40k)


Finished works:

- 4 Lightning fighters (AI / Epic)
- 2 Thanatars (Epic)
- 1 Vulturax (Epic)
- 10 squads of technothralls (Epic)
- 4 squads of Thallaxii (Epic)
- 7 groups of techpriests (Epic)
- Flagellum Dei, Reaver (Titanicus)
- Delictor Profectuum, Warlord (Titanicus)

- Captain-Commander Erasmus (40k)
- 4 Deathshrouds (40k)
- 18 Terminators (40k)
- Fourth Horseman, Falchion superheavy (40k)
- 10 Terminators, repaint (40k)
- 20 Tacticals, repaint (40k)
- 2 Contemptor Dreadnoughts, repaint (40k)
- Primus Medicae, repaint (40k)
- Plaguecaster (40k)
- Possessed librarius aspirant (40k)

- 8 technobarbarians (Kill Team)

- Royal Guard of Alahan (Confrontation)

Finished models: 98, more than I'd have thought if not exactly large numbers in these circles.

So I got another Epic army (Mechanicum) in working order, brought the older elements of the Echoes up to current standards while adding too many terminators in their ranks (again...), started an Instagram account (@sherrypiexiv) and expanded into Kill Team with a drive into Unification Wars territory that is bound to continue in 2022 with a handful of other such teams as well. At least some Thunder Legion troops with warriors and Null-Maidens, inbred hillbilly cannibals and some robotic monstrosities are already bubbling in my mind, so who knows how that'll shape up!

...so close to a hundred... maybe there is still time to paint a couple of things...

 

Edited December 12, 2021 by Sherrypie

[Sherrypie]

Gee, fine, I had to paint a couple more to bring the tally into a nice and round 100 :D

Testing out some light OSL work and shading flesh purple with a couple more failed librarius aspirants. I think the purple offers some real nice avenues to get better at, especially with such tortured and beat up flesh.













 

[Sherrypie]

Happy 2022, let's hope it'll be better than the previous bastard.

 

The technobarbarian train has no breaks and to contrast with the decrepit majesty of the witches of Ursh, here's some cousin-lovin' redneck greaseball cannibals for a change: