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08-06-2012 - Updated! 1st CREEPY CRYPTEK! (page 2)

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In anticipation of the re-release of the Necrons, I am working up some basics. Since Warriors are unlikely to be re-done, and since I want to hammer out a basic color theme to be ready for the new stuff when it is released, I am working on Warriors and Scarabs. And, since I am notoriously ADD, I am doing some conversions to bother spice up the identical Warriors and Scarabs, and also to squeeze a few extra models out of the limited supplies I have.

One way I am doing this relates to the name "The Arisen." I am having Warriors coming up out of the sand of a tomb world desert. The way I was inspired to do this was that one set of legs I had was broken, and I was loathe to trash a full fig just because one piece was busted. So I decided he'd be coming up out of the sand - I cut off the busted foot, and repositioned the legs, and voila! Unfortunately I can't show a pic of him, as he got broken in the paining process :( But when I repair him, I'll post pics.

Here are some other guys who I've been working on though. First, a group shot:



The first "conversion" I completed, which is just a Destroyer arm reaching out of the sand. I had a few of these arms laying around...



A few Scarabs crawling out of the sand:



Another swarm:



A Warrior buried up to the chest:



An objective marker. I plan to make the crystals and rods all red:



Some painted Scarabs to give you an idea of my planned scheme:





and some WIP Warriors (I've been very slow... and purposeful?)



Would love any comments, advice, feedback, suggestions, praise, scorn, or attention of any kind

Oh if only the new Necrons would get here sooner! I've got summer vacation, and need more excuses to not do work!

Love the modelling on the Scarabs and Necrons.
The colour scheme is nice as well, it might be the photo, or you might still be working on it, but the Warriors white doesn't quite look perfect yet though.

Shiny...
Warriors need a bit more work however.

Oh, the Warriors are barely begun. I just wanted to give an idea of what the rough paint scheme will be. The Scarabs are done, so that's a better example.

Love the scheme, and the conversions. Will follow this one

I can see the stages on painting on your warriors, and if the same attention to detail is paid to them as you did on the scarabs, then they'll look sick.

The only small gripe I have is the obvious one of the possible "modelling for advantage" argument. Great ideas though, and a really cool scheme - very original for Necrons.

If you want rods go to miniwargaming I think they carry red but im not 100% sure

thanks for the compliments guys. i am really looking forward to getting the scheme finalized and mass-painting some warrior squads.

as to "gaming advantage, are you suggesting that the low profile will make them easier to hide behind cover/harder to get LOS on? i can see where you're coming from... maybe i should have some extra dudes around if anyone objects.

Khorne Flakes wrote:If you want rods go to miniwargaming I think they carry red but im not 100% sure

i already have some! but some rumors have the new 'Crons with multiple rod color choices. i'm not sure i believe it, but i know they can be obtained if not. thanks for the specific suggestion!

-C6

>THE ARISEN< are back baby! With the new (totally awesome-looking, IMHO) Necrons on the way (already pre-ordered!) I am turning my attention back to my rising Tomb World project. My head is swimming with ideas, and I thought I'd share a few in advance of some pics to come shortly.

First off, I wanted to develop a leader. It seems like everyone is gonna go with the Storm Lord, because he sounds like a beast, rules-wise, and the model is rather cool-looking. Me, I wanted to go in a different direction. I began to develop a concept for my lord (that is, the absolute top-dog, not necessarily the guy leading the troops on the battlefield or engaging in melee combat). I had the idea of coming up with a guy who is more of a behind-the-scenes, Godfather-like figure, whose influence and power is immense but mostly unseen.

With that in mind, here's a basic expository sketch of An'Elra-Koteph

When the Necrontyr were still flesh, An'Elra-Koteph was already ancient - many believed him long dead, and that those regions of the Necrontyr empire under his control were merely ruled in his legendary name by lords who used his mythic reputation to buttress their own power. None ever saw An'Elra-Koteph in the flesh, but he was still very much alive and very much in control of his empire, through a complex web of lieutenants and subordinates with varying knowledge of who really pulled the strings. He excelled at wielding his power from behind the scenes, and the mystique of his presumed non-existence was just another stratagem in his diverse arsenal.

When The Silent King (perhaps one of the few who had any real knowledge of An'Elra-Koteph's continued existence and influence) decided to put the race into slumber following their disastrous war with the Old Ones, An'Elra-Koteph was already well-prepared. His strategies had always been geared toward achieving long-term goals, and the long sleep of the Necrontyr was just a longer-term version of this. He slipped in and out of the slumber over the untold aeons to assess the progress of his various machinations and adjust them as necessary. Consequently, when the Necrontyr as a whole began to awaken, An'Elra-Koteph's forces began to swiftly and efficiently organize and consolidate themselves as per their ultimate master's painstakingly crafted plans. Lords, lieutenants, armies and servants rose up in the ancient, dead worlds, and began the process of reconstituting the empire of their unseen master...

-back to modeling/painting talk-

I took a long look at the advance order pages over at GW's website, and was absolutely salivating at the conversion possibilities. I LOVE their 360º rotating views of stuff. And the high-quality sprue pics... man, I already got plans. For example:

-The "Godfather" of the army, ol' An'Elra-Koteph himself, will be made from a VC Corpse Cart driver, with a head from one of the new sets. probably just an Immortal head, since the head-dresses of the Lychguard, etc. would get in the way of the hood/cowl of the CC driver, which I want to retain in the conversion. An'Elra-Koteph, if and when he is seen in the army, will probably be cruisin' around on the Catacomb Command Barge. Gonna have to pimp that out bigtime--or maybe not, seeing as An'Elra-Koteph is not about showiness...

-Since An'Elra-Koteph is kind of the Vito Corleone of >The Arisen<, I will need some notable lieutenants to fulfill battlefield command and actual melee combat roles. I like the new finecast Necron Overlord model - very dynamic with a nice amount of accessories and such without being too "blingy." The Lychguard and Immortals box sets seem to have sufficient bits and bobs to make a good Overlord/Lord model too, and I love making characterful and complex conversions entirely from plastic. The new line will definitely enable me to do that

-The Cryptek is a little pricey at $18, and I'm not in love with the false beard (I like it conceptually, but think that it's over-sized in relation to the head overall, making it a little unbalanced). I might get one Cryptek (to use as a Cryptek, cause they seem like neat upgrades for units), but I plan to convert the rest of my Crypteks from Lychguard/Praetorians.

-I don't really like the Praetorians' ribcage-esque jump-pack things, so if I plan to take any flying space skellies, I am thinking that the square-ish flying vents (like the ones on the new vehicles, which are similar to the Destroyers) would make better ones. I'm going to pick up some extra Destroyers for this purpose.

-As you can see from the above pics (mainly of the Scarabs) I am going with a Red/White/Black basic color scheme. In light of the more baroque decorative details of some of the new line, I think I'm going to accent that with Gold, especially since that is the color of the decals, and it seems that GW at least has made good use of the decals in the vehicles, and I plan to try to do the same. Warriors will get little to no Gold, the Immortals maybe a little (and Deathmarks perhaps none, as Snipers don't want to call attention to themselves--I'll probably actually make them mostly Black with Red accents), Lychguard/Praetorians more Gold, and Lords/Overlords the most. The Command Barge and to a lesser extent the Transport Barge will get some Gold accents too.

Ok, back to the real reason I'm on my laptop here at the Starbucks: working on Japanese-English translation! I just couldn't help sharing some of my thoughts on the new 'Crons an my plans for them.

-C6

Good stuff

Thanks Ascy! Since I lined up the (assembled) Monolith from you, I am thinking of maybe devoting the on-sprue one I have to jazzing that up, as well as beefing up a couple of my other vehicles, as well as using for terrain, objective markers, etc. If An'Elra-Koteph does get a Command Barge, I want it to be at least more impressive and intimidating, if not more "blinged-out" as such.

I've also been developing my ideas for An'Elra-Koteph's chief Lieutenant: Al-Rashah. I think that the new Finecast Overlord will be the basis for him, though I plan to replace his staff with a sword of some kind, just because it seems like every single Necron (old and new) is carrying around a staff. A sword seems more dynamic than a staff, which is how I want to characterize Al-Rashah (the in-the-thick of battle, lightning tactician to serve as counterpoint to An'Elra-Koteph as big-picture, master strategist).

Keep an eye on this space, for more arising Necrons!

Khorne Flakes wrote:If you want rods go to miniwargaming I think they carry red but im not 100% sure

They do.

NosDrovia wrote:

Khorne Flakes wrote:If you want rods go to miniwargaming I think they carry red but im not 100% sure

They do.

Awesome! I actually might need a few more, particularly different sizes (like for my Monolith, etc.) I'll go check them out!

-C6

Finally I've had some time to take pics of my first full unit! I started some of these Warriors months ago, in anticipation of the (then upcoming) Necron re-release. (Some of these are the same guys in the pics in the first post). But I filled out the unit, with a couple more of the emerging-from-the-sands converted guys, and more regular guys. Also, using bits mostly from the Lychguard/Praetorians set, I converted a Cryptek, to be attached to the squad, as ersatz leader.

On to the pics!

The whole unit:



Another group shot:



My first CRYPTEK:



A little closer up:



On the march:



Any commentary, suggestions, critiques etc. welcome!

(More to come - next up, Immortals and HQs...)

Would it not be more fitting to use the Rod of the Covenant staff-head for the Cryptek? Concidering that what you now have is highly visable as a Warscythe (a piece of wargear the cryptek can't have) and will probably lead to your opponent players confusing it for a necron Lord armed with just a Warscythe.

STC_LogisEngine wrote:Would it not be more fitting to use the Rod of the Covenant staff-head for the Cryptek? Concidering that what you now have is highly visable as a Warscythe (a piece of wargear the cryptek can't have) and will probably lead to your opponent players confusing it for a necron Lord armed with just a Warscythe.

Hrm, that is a good point! I just liked the look of the scythe better than the staff head. I need to take a closer look at the Cryptek's wargear options, and probably convert a staff top to reflect whatever I want to equip him with. Thanks for pointing that out!

I've been working on my "Godfather" Overlord guy, and have finally settled on all the parts and how I'm going to put him together. It's pretty complicated, with bits from new Necron sets, Vampire Counts, Tomb Kings, Empire, and more. This is the guy who I wrote that fluff about up above

Thanks for the feedback! Look for a revision of this guy soon too.

-C6

The red and white looks good on the scarabs, but on the warriors it feels like clown make-up.
I like the conversions.

They look really nice; loving the conversions! I'm not sure what to make of the colour-scheme yet, but I'll wait 'til I see a finished Warrior (I'm surprised people haven't realised they're NOT the final product) before I can really make my mind up...

Love the conversions though; particularly the downed Warriors (LoS shenanigans too!) and the Cryptek. Looking forward to seeing more!

I love the cryptek, even if he does look a little over-lord like

These are so cool man. You've somehow given the horde of identical bare-bones robots a lot of character.

So, in light of the fact that in the new 'Dex Scarabs are just so ridiculously worth their points, and essential for chewing up and spitting out vehicles, etc, I have been working on beefing up my complement of the little buggers. I've got somewhere in the neighborhood of 30 bases (give or take a few), and am trying to acquire more (without paying the ridiculous prices of places like Spikey Bits - $6 or something like that for only 3 Scarabs! No way! ).

I have been modeling my 'Crons with the idea that they are just rising up from beneath the sands of an ancient Tomb World. Furthermore, I thought it's be neat to have the detritus of ANCIENT battles littering the sands as well. Since the Eldar are the main ancient enemy of the Necrons, I've been collecting various and sundry Eldar bits for use in this way. I've been trying to track down as much Rogue Trader era Eldar as I can, since the look is different enough from the present range to suggest that they are old Eldar Helmets, technology, etc. Such stuff is a little hard to come by, so there will be some more current stuff mixed in too. I'm also putting in some bits and pieces of wrecked Necrons and their vehicles, as well as some Egyptian-themed bits (mainly Tomb Kings stuff) and even the rare Lizardmen bit (to suggest The Old Ones, and occasionally just a big dinosaur/monster skull).

Without further ado then, here are my critters in all their glory!

The swarm of swarms advances!



I'm particularly proud of this little minor detail: the skull in the ancient pilot's mask:



This is the body of a Dire Reaper. I have skeletal feet and a skull exposed, and tried to cover any cloth/non-metal parts with the sand, to suggest that anything not made of Eldar super-metal long ago disappeared:



This rear shot highlights a Guardian helmet with the top blown off (which I also hollowed out):



Scrambling over some ancient Eldar tech (and a poor Necron Warrior's head):



You know it just wouldn't be GRIMDARK without SKULLS SKULLS SKULLS:



Commentary welcome! I will be making more posts of stuff I've been working on - mainly Cryptek conversions Keep on Dakka-in!

-C6

Not really important, but Eldar use 'wraithbone' which is technically a psycoplastic bone not metal... wierd crap really.

But get your point.

Try looking for old Harlequin models - they seem easy to come by (there's always tons on ebay) and have the old-armour styles.

Ovion wrote:
Try looking for old Harlequin models - they seem easy to come by (there's always tons on ebay) and have the old-armour styles.

Thanks for the advice! The Harlequins do have a nice old-skool look, and a very different feel from the current Eldar range, but the downside is that they're at least 75% cloth - most everything except their weapons and masks. I'd be better off scouring eBay for old metal Guardians (I've looked a little, but the price didn't seem justified for models that are just going to be scenery...)

Love the Cryptek. I hadn't considered kit bashing Necrons.

Thanks FSU!

There are SO MANY possibilities with the new plastic sets. Add in my ridiculous collection of bits (beefed up lately for this project) and the models practically convert themselves! Well, not really, but it's pretty easy to make cool Crypteks for a fraction of the cost of the mono-pose Finecast version. And cooler, I think (though the GW Cryptek isn't bad)

I put together a scenery piece/objective marker yesterday that I thought I'd share. I've had the old-skool metal Fire Prism cannon crystal for ages, picked up in a random trade. i never thought I'd use it, but always thought it'd make a neat Eldar ruin/shrine-kinda thing. With the Eldar-oriented ancient ruins scenery that I've been doing for my Necrons, it seemed like the ideal time to finally put together the objective-marker that I'd idly planned for these bits.

Without further ado, here it is:



Unfortunately, two of the statue-looking things were already primed black, (more trade-acquired stuff) so you can't really make them out but for sillouhettes.

A higher vantage point:



A closer shot with detail of the GS-cast Wraith shoulder plate:



And in both of these close-up shots, there is a bit of GS-cast Warhammer Fantasy High Elves scenic base bit, to further the "ancient Eldar ruins" theme:



I have another piece/objective marker already made, composed mostly of wrecked Falcon parts, I'll post that later.

Also! I have finished the conversion for the leader of my army, The Godfather himself! Pics of that soon as well...

Thanks for looking and commenting! Go ancient-undead-space-mummy-robots!

-C6

I acquired some really neat Rogue Trader-era Eldar bits from the gentleman trader Porkuslime recently, and immediately put the bits to use in some more scenic bases for my Scarab Swarms. I love the old-skool Eldar stuff for the appearance of super-ancient Eldar tech. Here are some new bases I've made with the parts:

Scarabs crawling over an ancient Wraithlord leg:



More Scarabs scuttling past another Wraithlord leg:



An ancient dead Scarab (belly-up!) and an ancient Lasgun on a slap of ancient marble, covered by eons of sand...



No Scarabs on this base yet, but one ancient Fusion Gun:



Laspistol and the leg of an unfortunate Necron Warrior who neither phased out nor was self-repaired:



Advice, comments, criticism, etc. welcome. And thanks again to Porkuslime for providing me with a bunch of great ANCIENT-skool Eldar bits for this project!

-C6

Long time, no update, but the biggest reason for that is that I am now the proud father of a healthy baby boy! I've only been able to sneak in a little hobby time at odd hours while I keep an eye on the baby and try to keep him asleep so his mother can get some rest.

The latest conversion project that I've been doing for >THE ARISEN< is my "counts as" Flayed Ones. There are two main reasons that I decided to convert these guys. The new Finecast models look terrible. 'Nuff said. And while the older metal versions look pretty cool, but to me, simply having someone's skin on your back wasn't all that intimidating. It could be the flayed skin of a farmer, or a bed-ridden old man. Not too hard to kill. I wanted to make my Close Combat Necrons REALLY intimidating. How to do this? Deck them out with trophies/armor/weapons of truly fearsome opponents. Ork Nobz, Elite Space Marines, Dark Eldar Wyches, Eldar Aspect Warrior Exarches, etc.

So without further ado, here's some pics of a couple WIPs I've been toying around with. There are several more in the works as well, and I'll post more pics when I can.

First off, "Colonel Cron":






And a Necron who's taken down a Chaos Terminator or two:



Close-up:



Comments always appreciated. Also, look forward to a Necron "Nob," "Wych," "Dire Avenger Exarch," "Grey Knight," "Death Company Blood Angel," and much more coming soon...

-C6

Looove the Draugr Deathlord-cron, looks awesome. Your scheme is also interesting, definitely a departure from the average 'cron.

Hehe, there's lots of fun conversions in there. I love the guys crawling out of the ground!