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Hi all, first post here on this great site. Since this is my first post here, a bit of intro is in order. For the past few years, I had been playing Warmahordes and a slew of other, smaller skirmish games. About six months ago, I joined a Mord heim group and really loved my first forays into kitbashing and minor conversions. I think it may be turning into an addiction...

Anyway, I'm starting a 40k army and have chosen the Necrons (although, I have a small Space Wolf group I'd like to get to one day). I really dig the ancient-techno look and I plan on using a little color in the scheme which seems all the rage these days. When coming up with a list of models, I realized quickly that I was going to need a lot of Crypteks. Since I already had the Finecast version and really didn't like it, I knew my first real conversion project was inevitable.

I had no idea where to start, so I googled and found this site. What a wealth of knowledge! How have I been so interweb-blind to have missed this place?!? Well, thanks to all you very talented converters out there, I was able to find many cool threads and articles that gave me a great start. Last night, I gathered up my bits, popped open a box of Lychguard/Praetorians, and set to work. I have a couple practical questions, which I'll list after some pics:










C&C welcome--I'm a total newb at this stuff. I still have GSing and a few missed mold lines to clean-up, but I'm pretty happy how my first guys came out. The Ideas abound now!!

Also, I need some advice. I want to make my initial court of Crypteks look different from each other, especially the staves. Is there anything, rulewise, I need to adhere to? What I mean, for instance, is the dude I made with the Empire wizard staff-head, is he going to cause problems with future opponents? In that vein, how crazy is one allowed to get with conversions while keeping them playable? I understand WYSIWYG, but is there any set standard on what that Cryptek wargear looks like?

Well, thanks for looking, thanks for the great site and I apologize for my quite long, first post.

He looks awesome to me, and since GW doesn't supply cryptek wargear, you can pretty much do whatever you like with the cryptek conversions. It's going to be very difficult making all the crypteks WYSIWYG without having the "proper" wargear bits, I say.

Those are very cool. Very unique, the way Crypteks should be.

Consider those ideas stolen!



Welcome to Dakka!

They're looking great, as mentioned about their is no real WYSIWIG with the cryptek staves, best thing is to go with what you feel is right for each of them, paint scheme can also help (Harbinger of storm with a blue lightning like tip to staff(

Very nice conversions, can't wait to see them painted!

Excellent, excellent work! I look forward to seeing what else you can come up with.
Also: welcome to Dakka, enjoy your stay, you can never leave, yadda yadda yadda.

Welcome to dakka. Great job on those conversions. They arecall very clean looking, like they came that way. And really what more can you ask for?

Can't wait to see the finished paint job. Hope you can do them justice. I might steel a few ideas when I start on my crypteks.

What kind of paint scheme are you planning on going with? Will you be using an e misting dynasty or fluffing up anew one?

**SKIP DOWN FOR NEW PICS IF YOU DON"T LIKE READING**

Wow, thanks for the comments folks. As for anyone 'stealing' ideas--imitation is the purest form of flattery (and how do you think I got started with these?).

My Necrons are getting very near to seeing some paint. I have some basing to do before priming, then it'll be a metallic fiesta for a while. Eventually, I'd like to use some color--a very simple main and secondary color that will look good with some tarnished metals.

The idea for this army is sort of coming together as it is being built. I love the Flayed Ones fluff (I am making ten more today out of Cron warriors and VC ghouls) and also enjoy the 'lost' feeling of the Necrons overall. I imagine the overlord (I'll get to him eventually) and especially his court Crypteks can remember their past lives, want to be pissed and sad over it, but just can't figure how. Amoung the lords and Crypteks, it has become fashion, for reasons they can't even explain, to seek out the 'unique'. They express this with little beards and decos, but in the end, they will end up looking very themed, as is their robotic nature.

Another aspect of the army will be its 'dirtiness'. I want these guys to look like they have spent 60 million years in stasis and then woke up and started fighting. I may gouge some battle wounds throughout the army. The dirtiness will also work well with the Flayed Ones. I want the whole army to look as if it is starting to suffer from the effect of the flayed one's virus, without going overboard or obvious.

Again, sorry for the wind, here is some more pics for your trouble (and please, if these are too big, lemme know and I'll resize them:






Group shot, the court is now in session:

No complaints about the size here. Nice clean photography.

Are you going for any particular theme on the bases or just a simple gravel/flock approach? What did you do with those bases anyways? They don't look like GW standard.

You've got me tempted to work on crypteks next. I was going to focus on troops for awhile, but it looks like you had some fun with these.

riplikash wrote:No complaints about the size here. Nice clean photography.

Are you going for any particular theme on the bases or just a simple gravel/flock approach? What did you do with those bases anyways? They don't look like GW standard.

You've got me tempted to work on crypteks next. I was going to focus on troops for awhile, but it looks like you had some fun with these.

The bases are GF9 magnetics. Not super pretty, sort of like working with a tire. Once the paint and flocking goes on though, they look fine. I like carting my stuff around in a metal toolbox(es) without putting it into foam or even touching anything. I also like randomly leaving minis attached to the fridge or lamps because it pisses the wife off. Lol.

For basing, I am going to put down some gravel spots, busted tech and gory bio bits before painting, then hit any empty areas with some burnt grass after painting. Should look decent in a nondescript way. We'll see.

Btw, what size army do you folks usually paint for 40K. I have about 1,500pts going and want to get that painted before moving on. Although, there is a small part of me that wants to build it into 2,000+ first...

Funny, in my house it is the wife sticking her magnetic orks on everything. Rare earth magnets are another easy way to magnetize things. Just glue one onto the bottom of the base and they stick to anything.

I should warn you, if you are intending on going to any tournies in the future, official GW tournaments have a rule about using the original base. That is why you see many people magnatize their troops to swap between scenic bases and GW bases, because some of the more anal retentive judges have issue with non-standard bases. Just a heads up.

Personally I like to aim for 15 least 1500 points before allowing myself to move on. By the time I get there I am really fighting the urge to try something new, so I've never hit the 2k mark. Soon though. I'm getting interested in my marines again since I discovered oil washes.

The only one I don't like is the center one in the group shot . Imagine.

Well, I started this guy last night while still tipsy from a New Years evening gathering. I had read a blog where someone had done something similar to the shoulders and that guy credited an image of Jack Skellington as inspiration. I liked the idea and still needed an Overlord to go with my new court. Here is the conversion (his name, when translated from Necronese means, "The Tallest"):





I still want to work with his skirt. First, I want to somehow join the front. Second, I plan on using bits of thin plasticard along the back to give some more deco. I'm not sure what the device in his left hand his, but who cares? Something that small can't be good! Any suggestions from you folks?

What bits did you make the head of this staff from? The ring looks familiar but I can't place it. I really like this design!

Repeter wrote:

You should consider using some greenstuff to fill the joint between the "beards" and chins...some of them look very stuck on, almost like an after thought. IMO they should be a little more integrated.

Overall looking excellent though.

@JohnCS: The staff head is from the WHFB Empire wizard box, which I borrowed heavily from. I love that wizard sprue...

@Mad4minis: No worries, every model will get its share of GS. I like to do it batches, however, as I loathe mixing it. In fact, I am big on the assembly line thing; this army is going to see paint soon, as it is almost at my 1,500pt goal.

I can't wait to see these painted!

Those Crypteks are Fantastic!

Very nice work. I'm not that familiar with the new Necron kits but all of the models you have done so far look like they were supposed to look like that. I would also recommend a dab of GS at any rough joints.

Also if you Overlord is the Tallest, where do Zim and GIR come in?