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Actually I've gotta say, the Lichguard aren't that bad when you use them right. Granted I've only played against the ones with shields, but they were annoying! T5 is a way bigger problem than it seems, especially with a character in there with a res orb to make them come back on 4+. I see a lot of people compare them to terminators and boo hoo about them, but Necrons have a lot more going on than face value.

Anyways, this army looks great so far! The guard you have done look suitably like royalty. I really dig your deathmarks, and while you might say the immortals are in a boring scheme, there's a lot more there than the flat metal. The detail you did on the heads and shoulder decoration really make them pop. Subdued, sure, but far from boring.

More updates when you have more done! I'd like some group shots of your units to get an idea of army cohesion, and I don't know how much you play but some battle reports would be neat too.

Excellent work!
subbed

Love the work you did on these. The clear resin really adds to their appearance.

OK, here is a progress report.

After I did the first 5 Lychguards with 2 handers, I decided to do 5 more. To get a break, I decided to do sword & shield ones. I don't think it matter which I paint, since I don't know how much I'll play these guys anyway: most times I play against marines, so I'd rather have Praetorians with Rods. But, I do love these models, and Doomface seems to like them..







I think I did a really good job on the shields. I basecoated them, then airbrushed the rims in a green gradient. The shields are really shiny right now since I used gloss varnish on them, in my experience if you don't the airbrushed paint rubs off with handling, and these are not yet done.

The heads are not present because I did all 10 heads at the same time, so I set them to the side so I don't ruin them.

So, the swords. Those, I was not very happy with. I was sure I'd be able to being out some nice effects on the blades, but I was wrong. I think they look kinda like crap.



I considered stripping them and trying again, but to be honest I'm not sure I could get a better effect at them even with trying again.

I looked at the Kromlech swords, which were nice, but to save time and money, I decided to roll my own. I drew out a few ideas:



I decided on the one in the middle, with the hole on it. It would be the easiest to remove from a one-part mold, and I'm not so hot with 2 part molds yet. That's only a minor concern, though, I also thought it looked really mean, and it was my idea, not a ripoff of Kromlechs. So, no one else would have swords like this.

I did a few prototypes:



And again, went with the middle one (it doesn't have a hole in it yet, to facilitate demolding.

Here is a WIP:



I've got 5 of these so far. I plan to add some decals to the lengths of the blades, because I found decal work when done right really distracts you from my crappy painting ties them into the Lychguard, and my army as a whole; as they all have some necron graffiti on their bodies (usually shoulderpads).

That's it for now. I want to make sure the varnish is good and dry before messing with the decals.

Gotta say, I really like where all this is going. Keep up the good work! Reminds me that my crons need work.... ugh too damn busy. :(

Those dispersion shields look stunning! Really great work keep it up, I look forward to seeing more!

Awesome work man, i subscribed hoping your work will motivate me to get back to painting my crons

Awesome looking swords, should look really nice on the crons

Argh, I hoped to be able to post some finished pics today, but I forgot to do their stupid loincloths. Maybe still today, but we'll see.

Fantastic thread, and great work with all the modelling. I do like the paintjob too. The work on your Dispersion Shields, in particular, looks utterly outstanding.

OK, I got these guys done, and I'm pretty stoked. I think I did a pretty solid job on these guys.

New group:



That center guy photographs horribly, I think he's looking too far down.

Individual Lychguards:



The Blood Raven logo on the base: I printed it out, rolled out and baked some Sculpey, used some double sided tape to stick the image to the clay, cut it with an exacto knife, and then recast it.









And all 10 finished Lychguards:

Holy Hell in a Handbag, those look amazing!

This is phenomenal! Keep up the great work. I really like your OSL.

I have to say that these are incredibly inspiring. Don't knock the Lychguard they are better for a necron army IMO more of a defensive close combat unit especially with the shields.
Preatorians are good but with only one attack and a 6" range they are a bit of a one hit wonder or they were in the game I played against my brother. Lychguard are a bit more substantial with 2 attacks and an invulnerable.

May I ask how you made their heads? they look absolutely stunning!

They all look fantastic! Really great work, epecially considering you scratch built those blades! Only guy i'm not too sure about is the central guy like you said, but I think it's because his blade is a little too far forward. As a squad these guys look killer though! Keep up the great work buddy!

ceorron wrote:I have to say that these are incredibly inspiring. Don't knock the Lychguard they are better for a necron army IMO more of a defensive close combat unit especially with the shields.
Preatorians are good but with only one attack and a 6" range they are a bit of a one hit wonder or they were in the game I played against my brother. Lychguard are a bit more substantial with 2 attacks and an invulnerable.

Well, thanks for the kind words. So far as viability, I've really only tried them twice so far, and that was against Daemons. I intend to try them again; I might just be doing it wrong. There is no real siginificant difference between these guys and Terminators, right? Pointswise, profilewise - and no one thinks Terminators suck. So maybe I just need to get a feel for them.

Zomjie wrote:May I ask how you made their heads? they look absolutely stunning!

Sure, the heads are made with blades that I am pretty sure go on rifles from the DE Kabalite Warrior set. You can see them here, and that's where I bought them (I think from that exact seller, actually).

I really like these guys. The paintjobs are fantastic.

The only things I see is that the blades could be better blended into the handle. What I mean is that they just sort of "start" and look almost like you just stuck them on. I think if you rounded the bottom edge the protrudes straight out over the hyperphase sword part so it matched the curve, it would look better.

McNinja wrote:The only things I see is that the blades could be better blended into the handle. What I mean is that they just sort of "start" and look almost like you just stuck them on.

I agree and had considered it. I originally had done them so the bottom edge of the blade, where it joins, was curved, but had a really hard time matching the exact shape of the curve, as well as the angles that made up the edge. I was pretty hot to get these done, so in the end I picked the best I had in hand. I doubt I will revisit these, but I also left myself room to improve if I change my mind later - the blades are pinned, and I used thin-set superglue. Strong enough for casual use, but a slice from the bottom towards the pin will likely smoothly split it right off. I also made sure I could do this for all the blades without breaking the models.

What I really would like to do would be to get that curve right, but also add a very thin layer of styrene sheet to extend the - I don't know what it's called, the gold part that joins the blade to the hilt? I'd like to extend that just a little bit into th blade proper. I think that would tie the blade into the rest of the sword quite nicely.

I also might try priming the blades black, adding varnish, adding the decals, and then doing the airbrushed green glow (over the decals) - I bet that would look better. Man, hindsight is awesome for planning models that you're already kinda finished.

After uploading all the pictures and writing it up, I also realized I hadn't adjusted the white balance in photoshop; poorly done. That's why the first set (with the warscythes) looks so much better than these. Ah well.

So, next up was supposed to be Praetorians, but I think I might move the schedule around. There isn't much difference model wise between the Lychguard and the Praetorians, and I want to try something different.

I have a Necron Destroyer primed, a Destroyer Lord NIB, a primed Finecast Overlord, and the plastic overlord from the command barge. I also scavenged some bitz around to make some Crypteks, and it's the latter item I'm thinking over.

I have an idea for, instead of giving them a warscythe and tarting it up, maybe to represent an Eldritch Lance to add a thin cannon to one arm, similar to the way an assault cannon is mounted on a Terminator, but much, much more elegant. I was thinking the tip (or along the barrel, maybe) would be a translucent crystal. I went through the boxes of beads my wife picked up and abandoned a few years ago, and found some nice faceted ones and cast them in silicone last night. I just got home, and demolded them, and added some tinted resin - some in violet, some in deeper purple, and a few safety ones in green. If I don't like how the cannon comes, I figure I can tweak out the staves with them, anyway.

So, two thoughts here, questions really.

Should Crypteks have any conventional looking weaponry? They are essentially magicians, would staves make more sense thematically?

By adding some color to the elites, am I going to far with the color accents? I have red deathmarks, blue lychguard, gold praetorians... it's looking like Benetton all up ins. Too much? Should I try harder to pick a palette and stick to it, to tie the army together?

No progress for the rest of the week. I'm having an enormous, ongoing, expensive, and ultimately losing battle with my septic tank. Someone is coming by to essentially do some fracking in my back lawn.

The new swords look way better. Nice work!

I really like what you have done with these.

nice!
really liking it

Personally would love to see the cannon arm idea, seem different for necrons and too me that's always good. Have you got any set army list or is it what you fancy on the day you'll fit into a points limit? Would just like to see what your usually play with.

I think all the squads are brilliant but the deathmarks seem to be my favoute, I don't know why they just seem so menacing.

I'm liking the hieroglyphs, helps tie together the green swords to the armours blue

Ouze wrote:

Should Crypteks have any conventional looking weaponry? They are essentially magicians, would staves make more sense thematically?

By adding some color to the elites, am I going to far with the color accents? I have red deathmarks, blue lychguard, gold praetorians... it's looking like Benetton all up ins. Too much? Should I try harder to pick a palette and stick to it, to tie the army together?

Crypteks: Since the main weapon of a Cryptek is generally described as a staff, I would say yes. However, there is not reason why you can't make an eldritch lance or aeonstave something other than a staff if you want your army to roll that way.

Palette: What 'm going to do for my army is have the entire army have the same color body, and change the color(s) of the shoulderpads/chest/both for each different type of unit/each squad. A palette would tie the army together, but then again, if you paint all of your Immortals the same, then all of your Lychguard, and so on, it would be like the more elite the model/unit, the more exquisite the paintjob.

the more elite guys in my army have more of my seconary colour (blue) on them
and then lords/overlors/crypteks use chainmail instead of boltgun for the metal

Man, I am loving this stuff you're building! You truly do the Necrons proud.
So, some questions from me:
the shoulder-guards on the Deathmarks, Immortals, and Lychguard: what do you do to smooth them out with no line? I am trying to use Green-stuff, but it's difficult to work with, so I'm wondering if there's some sort of tip I'm not privvy to.
For the overlord, perhaps you could replace that center pole-thing with another of the green/blue/red rods?
Also, are you ever concerned about the uniform look of the entire army? Don't get me wrong, the models look fantastic, but I wonder if there's some plan you're working towards.
Anyways, keep up the good work! Will be watching with interest.

Dr. Temujin wrote:So, some questions from me:
the shoulder-guards on the Deathmarks, Immortals, and Lychguard: what do you do to smooth them out with no line? I am trying to use Green-stuff, but it's difficult to work with, so I'm wondering if there's some sort of tip I'm not privvy to.
For the overlord, perhaps you could replace that center pole-thing with another of the green/blue/red rods?
Also, are you ever concerned about the uniform look of the entire army? Don't get me wrong, the models look fantastic, but I wonder if there's some plan you're working towards..

1.) I use Testor's Contour Putty, which really sucks. I do not recommend it but it's what I had on hand. I'm going to try squadron putty next, I think, unless others suggest something better (I'm all ears, guys). After I assemble and before I paint, I put a little blob of this crap in the center, then use a wet soft brush to smooth it into place. after a few hours, I carefully file it down. Don't use a knife like you would on a mold line: it will just flake it off in unpredictable ways, such as the entire piece coming off with one mislaid flick, requiring you to repeat again (which I did often). read this thread and do better than I did.

2.) This is already the plan, yes. In any model that has a pseudo-green-rod, I will be removing it and replacing it with my own rod (that's what she said) when practical. Gauss will always be green, Tesla will always be blue, and so on. I'm leaning towards violet for the crypteks, but I haven't decided.

3.) Yes to concerned, no to plan. The closest I have to a "plan" would be way back in the first post or so, when I decided to do all the low level troops in boltgun metal over black and devlan mud, and progressively lighten the colors as I move up the hierachy (which is why the Lychguard & praetorians are/will be chainmail over Army Painter Plate and asurmen blue). But I am concerned with doing different colored pads for all the new guys does make the army look kind of like a mess as a whole. I think I'm going to do it anyway though because I hate painting and it really breaks up the monotony of doing a similar color scheme 40 times. .

I use liquid greenstuff

but you need sereral coat before there's no line...