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Progress and to prove I'm actually doing something. I'm finding the magos a hard slog, for some reason. I'm also regretting not replacing Ikit's Claw. Anyhow a press moulded Mechanicus Symbol (I think I need more practice) I added to his back pack....a ridiculous close up shot.



I'm not wasting time posting this, I'm waiting for ink to dry. Honest

I'm not sure if i should I black line the join between bone and metal?

Cheers Neil. Indeed there are a lot of nice Vostroyan conversions about at the moment.

Peter

Nice touch ,it looks like it has a line around it already , but i would make it more clear. And try doing 170 press molds in one sittin and then you will be pretty dappa with the press molding.

I would say the issue is that you're posting a "ridiculous close-up". I'm sure it looks absolutely fine from a normal perspective. Sometimes we on the internet get too myopic, not realising that the models we're criticising are four or five times bigger than real life!

yeah , its always nice to see the models from distance you actually play a game , but hey thats what group shots are for right

Peter, Peter, Peter, you lazy git. Feeding us such a tiny teaser...
I agree with the others. The black line could be more visible, but in the end nobody will look at it anyway, it's tiny and on the back of the miniature.
And now get back to the painting table and make us happy. So will I do now...

Slightly confused by the non-standard Opus Machina colours.

neil101 - 170!!!! Christ that must have been a fun sunday morning! But when you want a swarm of Scarabs what you gonna do.

Molotov - It looks ok from a distance...but I think I may want to go darker on the metal side of the skull. The ridiculous close up was just for fun and avoidance. I'm getting to the stage where I'm trying to put off doing a cog symbol round the bottom of the cloak and the hood (in bleached bone) and glowing effect lenses from the face and the shoulder mounted lasgun.

Baiyuan - Ha Ha Ha you caught me, I even saw a friend last night.... I'll go paint now . I though of all the people on dakka you'd enjoy the tiny teaser the most

Vitruvian XVII - I used the image below for reference and think I may have gone a bit bright on the metal side of the skull. I'll rework that a little this morning (see anything to postpone painting the cog symbol). Otherwise I think its close enough or am I missing something?



Peter

I definitely vote for darker metal and be sure to give it a blue steely touch.
And yes I appreciate a teaser, I'll make sure to post preview pics of toenails in the future, just to get back at you.
And by the way I was lazy myself yesterday. I changed the varnish on Adalhard, then started redoing the skin tone on my Delaque, got frustrated after 20min and went on to play DOW2:Retribution. Damn games...

I've given it a Chaos Black and Badab Black wash. Followed by Asurman Blue Wash and re-highlighted it.

It was so tempting to give you a pre-emptive strike toenail shot. But its a lot of effort to get the camera off the table behind me. LOL

Peter

Yeah, the skull should be the same colour as the background, but metal (exactly like in that picture! )

Just felt a bit bright next to the white side thats all.

First up Molotov -

Vitruvian XVII - indeed you were right.

Magos Militant Helexus Spur

Magos Spur has worked his way up the ranks of the Mechancius to the peculiar rank he currently holds. It was during his time as an Enginseer, attached to the Gelthan 8th Mechanised division, that he came to the attention of the Mechanicus Militant. The Gelthan 8th were part of a campaign to bring the Forge World Velt back under Imperial control. The 8th were cut off from the main offensive with malfunctioning comm gear. Using his knowledge of Mechanicus facilities Enginseer Spur liaised and advised the Galthan’s commanding officer. A sustained and underground war was fought within the factory temple complexes. These successful guerrilla raids were able to disrupt the enemy’s production of war machines. During the final stages of the battle Magos Militant General Grul and a force of Skitarri reinforced the supposedly doomed push into enemy territory, knowing the enemy were in disarray. Spur had secretly managed to contact Mechanicus forces. For the remainder of the campaign Spur was taken under the wing of Grul, who saw real potential in the young tech priest for hunting down cells of hereteks. With the campaign successfully ended Spur was apprenticed to Grul.

Grul, being a war general and not an investigator, posted Spur to a number of Magi Militant of more clandestine sects over a number of years. During his apprenticeship Spur learnt his trade of protecting knowledge and methods of pursuing rogue tech priests and hereteks. On completing his apprenticeship Spur was given the title of Magos Militant. Whilst holding the rank of Magos, Spur is not actually part of the Mechanicus hierarchy; it is more of an honorary title but he still welds its power, useful in his specified task: the protection of knowledge. His actual ranking would equate to Tech Priest Secutor. Spur has no desire to improve his rank as he has found his niche, besides the power he welds is immense. Magos Spur is often used as a trouble shooter and a preventative; he is often employed by Forge World Fabricators to eliminate nuisances, before they become problems, or to rescue knowledge from forbidden groups, cults and places.

Magos Spur is widely travelled and thinks nothing of using whatever tool is required for a given task. He is known to use both un-augmented humans and bionically enhanced warriors in his entourage. Unlike others of his ilk he seems to understand that the Mechanicus are often feared by humble Imperial servants and those outside Imperial rule. He often employs local humans as liaisons but for investigators he has a core of un-augmented who have proven themselves (to an extent as they are only made of weak flesh).

His methods range from precision strikes to blanket bombardments, whatever he deems the best technique. During one investigation he had a whole factory of indentured workers turned into servitors to root out the heretics. When the heretics became known he did not countermand his previous order for he saw it as a dire warning to others, with ideas outside their station. The servitors brought a profit to the Mechanicus, even after the factory was restocked with workers.

Magos Spur and his retinue are currently investigating the destruction of Forge City Talrem Iota’s - Laboratory Delta Six by suspected heretechical Dark Mechanicus forces. This investigation has led him to the Agri-World of Argzin.





Praetorian Battle Servitor 985626

On completion of his first unaccompanied investigation Spur had the cowardly tech heretic Vys sentenced to servitude. His mind was wiped of all knowledge and his proscribed bionics were removed and destroyed in the blessed plasma furnaces of Forge World Estaban III. The remaining flesh sanctified in blessed machine oil. Newly forged uncontaminated bionics were grafted to the flesh and his mind installed with combat algorithms. Praetorian Battle Servitor 985626 marched from the Machine Temple.



Thanks to Molotov for his inspiring work and website. Thanks to Neil101 for the turquoise because I was totally stumped.

Well I finally finished them. I'm quite happy how Spur turned out, through towards the end I kind of lost interest. During the painting stages I realised there were areas I wish I'd done differently, eg replaced the power claw. This could quite easily be Mk1 (but MK2 is no where near the horizon). I'm really happy with the glowing green lenses, the head in general and the skull on the axe. The attempts at glowing white plasma not so great and I'll go back to it, perhaps. The cog lining to the cloak is good in general but I've messed up the angle on one of the recesses. Oh well

The Praetorian Battle Servitor on the other hand is imo just perfect. I'm very happy how the accidental model turned out.

So whats up next I need to paint the Skitarri. I've also found some bits in my bits chest to build a servitor or possible some sort of mech gladiator (this depends on just how much character the miniature has when built). The torso is the old chaos marine havoc squad champion with Bad Moon Warlord Nazdreg's power pack. So far I'm stuggling for legs...flagellant legs were my first choice but don't look right. The arms will be Ungor with the forearms unsurprisingly replaced with an ork chain sword and perhaps an electro flail.
The best pics I could find with a quick google search.


Peter

Both look great!!

What dont you like about his claw? I agree about the head, cant get over how awesome that is

The finished Spur looks fantastic Peter

The claw looks fine, it really works with the character's pose. Very nice painting, as per usual, like the hazard stripes on the babt claw, and the head is way cool

Kudos Peter, Love both models and the story too, its really nice to get a grasp of him ,i can just imagine him turning up on Praxus to purge out some Imperial Vulgus Reformationists. Omnissiah forgive them, for they know not what they do.

The green eyes on Spur work really well with the dark red cloak ,mechanicus cloak and the Orange bone and gold are also great complimentary colours too. The turquise really gives the back some focus , and leads the eye to both the left and right equally, i cant fault you on your colour choices they are perfect , the detailing around his robe is a nice touch , i especially like the way it frames his face on the hood. Also like the way you mixed up the metals with the nmm black, something i may steal for my Actaeon model. the only critiques i can mange are the plasma glow and the mithril silver of his rounded gun case. the silver seem a bit bright compared to the rest of the model, but i guess thats because he cleans his weapon , like a good idolatrous heretek. He is a rather complex model , so congrats on getting the impetus to finish him , those tiny wires look a bitch!

and his sidekick Praetorian Battle Servitor 985626 is just fantastic , the palid skin tones and gun metal grey of his mechanical body augments make for some subtle highlights that work a charm, lifted ever so slightly and made even more industrial by his hazzard stripes. Rounded off with the great metal chipping on the red paint . cool basing on both . and you managed to keep them unified through the muted colour scheme and hazzard stripes .
Really nice looking pair, i bet Spur and 985626 look cool on the table top. fantastic work on the basing too.

very nice work .mite have to take a look at the I.O.B skaven to use as my tech preists.

Vitruvian XVII - Cheers. Its not that I dislike the claw. I just wish I'd replaced it with something else. It reminds me too much of Ikit...Claw (who'd have thought it )

monkeytroll - Thanks. The hazard stripes were a on the magos. I repainted the large claw plain because I just couldn't get them to work. The bady claw just seemed like the right option... since I doubt he can carry much in a lightning claw/plasma gun combiweapon lol.

neil101 - I'm sure he would....hmmmm more servitors....mmmmm Praxus Mk32 Servitors would raise a lot of cash for the Omnissiah.

Green eyes work on all tech priests having looked at the Dark Heresy books. I'm happy with the detailing round the hood, its folded back and that design is actually on the inside, hence its facing the wrong way. Since he is in a combat stance I imagine he has folded it back so not to block his line of sight. The NMM are actually just grey I'm afraid to say. I wanted the plasma barrel to look different, hence bright sliver (Mithril and White), it could probably do with some blackening/soot staining. The wires, lol, each one is a different colour and chosen from a good old google search for wire bundle....
lol

The Praetorian was simple and fun. The chipped metal technique should look good as it was taught to me by a GD winner. Paint the whole thing in metal, highlight etc and then paint the chipped coloured paint over the top.

Neil said:
i can just imagine him turning up on Praxus
Really nice looking pair, i bet Spur and 985626 look cool on the table top.

I really don't see why not...you only live what two hours away and I bet the train would only cost about £15-20 advance day return (£17.80 according to the train line). I reckon he'd look good fighting over your Praxus terrain. We'd have to do a battle report for Dakka though. Oh and I'm CRB checked too

CURNOW - Cheers. That is a nice model...I'd say the spherical warp generator would need replacing/modifying. I was looking at it the other day as a possible apprentice for Spur.

Peter

Oh boy, I'm torn...
First of all, great work. The painting is good and you've included some nice ideas, that make the magos very special.

That being said, a short list of things I particularly like/dislike:

Robes (nice red, muted yet powerful)
Armor (could do with smoother blending, but black is a pain in the ass, I know and probably wouldn't do any better)
Gold parts (nice tone, not too shiny, not too dull)
Cog lining (great contrast, neat execution)
Green lenticulars (great color, solid effect, the OSL imo could be more intense though, I'm thinking of your avatar)

Normal metal parts (especially on the claw, they look a bit flat, almost like drybrushed and could use some more shading)
The turquoise (Generally love the color, but it's too much in combination with the rest, other people will like it, for me it's very distracting and lacks highlighting)
Yellow parts and hazard stripes (Why no hazard stripes on both claws, the plain yellow looks out of place to me and I've seen better hazard stripes from you, they look like you were loosing your patience)
The red on the gun (yet another color and a bit flat too, the shading looks good from front left, but it looks like there is none from the right or back)

More positive points than negative ones. My overall impression is: very good, but too colorful.
The gothic and sinister touch of the robes and armor is lost to the brighter colors of his weaponry.

I hope you can handle the nitpicking, it's no doubt a good paintjob, but we're here to strive for more right? Feel free to pay me back on my next paintjob, I'm looking forward to it.

Edit: Oh and the fluff was very nice! I like to have some fluffy foreplay before shoving in the pics, it adds to the athmosphere.

Thanks, mate! I do appreciate it. At some stage we'll have to coordinate for a battle report too!

Just remembered the three test tubes round its waste are full of sacred machine oil....I was rather happy with that idea and how it turned out. Because to begin with it looked like poo.

Baiyuan - Cherry picking through your responses for bits that need replies. Thanks for the nit picking I do appriciate it. The model is very busy and that is why I felt he needed quite a few colours, to give it a "real life" feel as in to show off some of his personality:

Armor (could do with smoother blending, but black is a pain in the ass, I know and probably wouldn't do any better) - was a on the magos. It turned out much better on the larger surface areas of the servitor.

Green lenticulars (great color, solid effect, the OSL imo could be more intense though, I'm thinking of your avatar) I couldn't do it like my avatar because the surfaces were not there to have the light reflecting off. I wanted a slight glow not a million candle power, which would make him a sitting duck.

Normal metal parts (especially on the claw, they look a bit flat, almost like drybrushed and could use some more shading) No dry brushing and the final highlight I did on both the silver and gold parts disappeared when I varnished it. Bloody varnish - sometimes it helps sometimes it doesn't. The mechadendrite holding the large claw is already chipped

The turquoise (Generally love the color, but it's too much in combination with the rest, other people will like it, for me it's very distracting and lacks highlighting). I'm fond of the colour and I like it on this model, it breaks up the monotony of red and grey. I don't see the magos going round thinking oooh the pipes on my back pack don't match my robes etc. As for high lighting it is subtle and lost on the picture. I promise its there in the flesh.

Yellow parts and hazard stripes (Why no hazard stripes on both claws, the plain yellow looks out of place to me and I've seen better hazard stripes from you, they look like you were loosing your patience) - guilty as charged, I lost patience with the model at this point. The large claw naffed me off something rotten. The little claw is actually just ok. I just couldn't get the lines to work. I really should go back and redo the large claw. The little claw doesn't look that bad when you're not massively close up.

The red on the gun (yet another color and a bit flat too, the shading looks good from front left, but it looks like there is none from the right or back). Again there are highlights on it but not in the picture lol. The "extra" red on the shoulder mounted lasgun is important. It is the same colour as the red on the servitor. I didn't want to paint the cloth robes and the metal in the same colour because I felt it would be unrealistic.

Molotov - That sounds like a great idea. I've always wondered what it would be like to have a Campaign where agents of the Inquisition etc on other planets effect the story line. eg Inquisitor A raids a cult head quarters only to find that three months previously a group left the planet to perform some ritual on the other side of the galaxy. The inquisitor is too far away to catch up so has to entrust members of the ordo elsewhere etc. Depending on the success of Inquisitor A will affect how much Inquisitor B knows about the ritual etc. Hmmmmm thats got me thinking I may have to flesh that out.

Guess I'd really better get on with painting my actual gaming table then....its desert theme MDF at the moment. I want one side to be industrial grey.

PDH wrote:

Green lenticulars (great color, solid effect, the OSL imo could be more intense though, I'm thinking of your avatar) I couldn't do it like my avatar because the surfaces were not there to have the light reflecting off. I wanted a slight glow not a million candle power, which would make him a sitting duck.

Makes sense, I'm not a big fan of too bright lenses too. I've always found it ridiculous to put on night vision goggles that make you become a lighthouse (I'm thinking Splinter Cell and the likes.) But just like in Splinter Cell it looks cool normally.

Normal metal parts (especially on the claw, they look a bit flat, almost like drybrushed and could use some more shading) No dry brushing and the final highlight I did on both the silver and gold parts disappeared when I varnished it. Bloody varnish - sometimes it helps sometimes it doesn't. The mechadendrite holding the large claw is already chipped

gak happens!

I'm fond of the colour and I like it on this model, it breaks up the monotony of red and grey. I don't see the magos going round thinking oooh the pipes on my back pack don't match my robes etc. As for high lighting it is subtle and lost on the picture. I promise its there in the flesh.[/list]

Yeah, subtle highlighting is an ungrateful thing, people tend to complain about it because they are harder to perceive.
What you call monotony one could also call limeted palette and in my book would have added to his overall impression of being a badass mofo.
The color is a matter of taste of course, as long as you're happy with it it's fine.
The point about him not thinking of matching colors is a bit difficult, with that reasoning you could have painted him lemon green and lip gloss pink. Setting such a small contrast is more an artistic decision, than a matter of fluff reasoning. But again, you did it for good reason and you're happy with it, so I'll shut up.
Also I have to admit that it's the zoom that makes one be that hard with a paintjob. The turquoise works much better when zoomed out.

Yellow parts and hazard stripes (Why no hazard stripes on both claws, the plain yellow looks out of place to me and I've seen better hazard stripes from you, they look like you were loosing your patience) - guilty as charged, I lost patience with the model at this point. The large claw naffed me off something rotten. The little claw is actually just ok. I just couldn't get the lines to work. I really should go back and redo the large claw. The little claw doesn't look that bad when you're not massively close up.

Hah! Gotcha. Leave him alone for a week or two and then consider giving the stripes another try. You might decide to leave it as is, which wouldn't be that bad either.

The red on the gun (yet another color and a bit flat too, the shading looks good from front left, but it looks like there is none from the right or back). Again there are highlights on it but not in the picture lol. The "extra" red on the shoulder mounted lasgun is important. It is the same colour as the red on the servitor. I didn't want to paint the cloth robes and the metal in the same colour because I felt it would be unrealistic.

I've expected a similar answer and it makes sense.

Baiyuan - he will be left well alone until the Skitarri and the mech gladiator are completed....he may even be left alone after than. But having looked at the pictures (and listening to you ) I really want to:

re-hazard stripe the large pincher

add some scorching to the plasma barrel

redo the glowing plasma in the barrel

re highlight the metal.

Hmmmm lemon green and lip gloss pink...make me think of some bloke called Max, ahem. I actually thought about the colours and I actually see it as background reasoning as well as an artistic decision. I was stuck for the colour but really didn't want to do black. It would have been grim and dark but I really don't think colour combinations would be considered by a tech priest, they are beyond it. Anyway as you said you'd shut up so will I too

Thanks for the comments though I really appriciate them.

Cheers

Peter

You're welcome Peter.
*un-shutup* I would have gone for dark (angels) green. *re-shutup*
Maybe I'll take a picture of my 54mm arcoflagellant tomorrow. He is a good example of how I don't practice what I preach, he has light blue skin, wine red armor, bright green lenses and dark green wiring...

Stunning. I actually like the turquoise - I think the colder colour breaks up the warmth really well! I do agree about a few touch ups on the metal and the hazard stripes, but it's really just final touches on an absolutely mind-blowing piece of work. You could call it finished now and still drop everyone's jaws Inspirational as always, PDH!

PDH wrote:Molotov - That sounds like a great idea. I've always wondered what it would be like to have a Campaign where agents of the Inquisition etc on other planets effect the story line. eg Inquisitor A raids a cult head quarters only to find that three months previously a group left the planet to perform some ritual on the other side of the galaxy. The inquisitor is too far away to catch up so has to entrust members of the ordo elsewhere etc. Depending on the success of Inquisitor A will affect how much Inquisitor B knows about the ritual etc. Hmmmmm thats got me thinking I may have to flesh that out.

Hmmm... interesting concept. Will definitely have to give that some thought. Whereabouts are your Inquisitors based?

Well I'm still struggling to find legs for the mech gladiator. His face has too much aggression for him to be a servitor. So any suggestions for non power armoured legs, that will fit a small space marine torso, would be appreciated. Preferably with the left leg forward. I'm really open for suggestions.

Baiyuan - lol. Dark Angel Green would have been good too. Ooooo arcoflagellant....go on get your camera out.

Scarper - Thanks. Man, I'm feeling guilty now. I'm going to have to rectify all the little things before the final group shot.

Molotov - That would be cool. My chaps are based in the Segmentum Ultima....to narrow it down a bit they are in the region of the Maelstrom. I've kept it loose so it does not get in the way. Spur is currently en-route to the Phrell Sub Sector (yes I made it up for his back story. I was listening to NERD at the time too). Where are your guys based?

Peter

Scout legs? Goliath legs? Strigoi vampires? Necron immortals? Pariah legs?

what about an old oop inqusitor
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/FORCES-IMPERIUM-Inquisitor-Rogue-Trader-1987-/230607459051?pt=UK_Toys_Wargames_RL&hash=item35b14692eb.

and as for gaming , well if your ever in the region matey , it would be fun for sure , but bear in mind i havent actually played properly before And i think i would have to build build a custom board for whatever you had in mind. then pub afterwards everyone invited oh and i guess its me thats not crb'd then

Loving the Magos, keep up the good work.

PDH wrote:Scarper - Thanks. Man, I'm feeling guilty now. I'm going to have to rectify all the little things before the final group shot.

Don't get me wrong, I absolutely love it. I don't think I would have noticed anything if Baiyuan's eagle eye hadn't caught it first. It really is work to be proud of

Baiyuan - Hmmmm Goliath legs might actually do the job....the boots are awesome. The Strigoi vampire got me excited for moments - then I remembered just how hideous the model is (I don't believe those models are still on sale). Oh my god I also don't believe Immortals and Pariahs which are just "troops" cost £8.70 per model...somethings not quite right!

neil101 - I reckon that model will be too small. Its quite interesting though.

As for playing.. my mum won't let me come because you're not crb checked. Not having played before isn't really an issue...its easy(ish). I played with myself in the privacy of my own bedroom...that is to get the hang of Inquisitor . It looks harder than it is. It would be a good excuse to finish some models and actually do something with them (for both of us). As for what I have in mind all we would really need would be about three foot square and the terrain you've been showing off would be much more than adequate . Mmmmmm pub. No rush mind, since I'm no where near finishing Spur's warband and we'd have to come up with scenarios etc. We can continue this discussion at a later date.

superspud - Cheers mate. I've not spotted any new Orkes from you recently.

Scarper - Yeah Bloody Baiyuan's Bloody eye for detail . Bet he doesn't sig that one I'm proud of it but I'm feeling guilty because I should have persisted and got it right...rather than made do.

Peter