Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

Hi Tzurk

Thank you for your encouraging words. Making these models and writing this blog been a fun project, maybe an addiction.

Oldmanronald

Skopekh Destroyers – The Destroyer Cult

The Indomitus box includes three Skorpekh Destroyers, one with a hyperphase reap-blade and two with hyperphase threshers. These are also fun models to build and paint. Below is the Skorpekh Destroyer with the hyperphase reap-blade.




Skopekh Destroyer – Hyperphase Reap-blade - Front




Skopekh Destroyer – Hyperphase Reap-blade – Right




Skopekh Destroyer – Hyperphase Reap-blade – Right Rear




Skopekh Destroyer – Hyperphase Reap-blade – Rear




Skopekh Destroyer – Hyperphase Reap-blade – Left

First Skopekh Destroyer with Hyperphase Thresher

The Indomitus box includes two Skorpekh Destroyers with hyperphase threshers. This is the first.




First Skopekh Destroyer with Hyperphase Thresher – Front Right




First Skopekh Destroyer with Hyperphase Thresher – Front




First Skopekh Destroyer with Hyperphase Thresher – Rear

Second Skopekh Destroyer with Hyperphase Thresher

The Indomitus box includes two Skorpekh Destroyers with hyperphase threshers. This is the second.




Second Skopekh Destroyer with Hyperphase Thresher – Front




Second Skopekh Destroyer with Hyperphase Thresher –Right




Second Skopekh Destroyer with Hyperphase Thresher –Rear

Canoptek Plasmacyte

The last Necron model in the Indomitus box is a Canoptek Plasmacyte. I only have one picture of it but this may be enough.




Canoptek Plasmacyte

Lokhurt Heavy Destroyer

I added some Necron models not in the Indomitus box to round out my army. This is somewhat difficult at this time since Covid-19 has impacted Games Workshop. Some of the models I wanted are unavailable even online and when available, shipping is much slower than it has been pre-Covid-19. I bought some models because they were available rather than they were optimal for completive play. One such model is the Lokhurt Heavy Destroyer. I built three of them but when I finished my 2000-point list, I left them off.




Lokhurt Heavy Destroyer – Right Side




Lokhurt Heavy Destroyer – Right Front




Lokhurt Heavy Destroyer – Rear




Lokhurt Heavy Destroyer – Left Side




Lokhurt Heavy Destroyer – Left Front




Lokhurt Heavy Destroyer – Front


I have mixed feelings about this model. Some models I play because they are effective during matched play. Other models I play because they are cool looking. In my mind, this model is only okay looking and is over-costed for matched play.

Technomancer

The technomancer is another model not in the Indomitus box.




Technomancer – Left Front




Technomancer – Right Front




Technomancer – Rear




Technomancer – Right


This is a fun model, both good-looking and effective on the battlefield. I really like this model.

Catacomb Barge – Part 1

The Catacomb is another model not in the Indomitus box. This is one of my favorite Necron models and I took too many pictures of it.




Catacomb Barge -- Right Side


The different types of paints each have their own characteristics. The easiest to use is the mixture of silver, steel, and coal black for the steel metal portions of the model. On the wet pallet, I have a dab of coal black, a dab of oily or natural steel, and a dab of silver that I wet blend both on the pallet and on the model. This coat easily covers the model in a single coat. In part because the paints are reasonably thick and go on easily, in part because I have already spray-painted a base of GW Chaos Black highlighted with Corax white. Thus, I am merely adding a reinforcing metallic sheen to the base coat.

The bones at the base are also easy to paint with wet blending of ochre paint highlighted with titanium white. This also takes a single coat.

The most difficult is the reddish purple Turbo-Dork Miami Sunset which requires a least two coats and usually three, four, or even five coats to get right. This was especially difficult with this model since the Turbo dork Miami Sunset is closely intermingled with the green lines. Oddly enough, the Turbo-Dork Pearly Gate on the Necron heads required only one or two coats and went on fast.

The green is also challenging. The fluorescent green needs a white undercoat so I had to paint a white undercoat before adding the fluorescent green paint. Usually, I needed two coats of the fluorescent green.




Catacomb Barge – Front


The resurrection orb in the Noble’s hand is fluorescent yellow. I used some indirect lighting (OSL or object source lighting) to make the orb appears to glow.




Catacomb Barge -- Left Side




Catacomb Barge – Rear


Several years ago, I bought a primed, unfinished, and broken Tyranid model from a used model dealer. It was a great purchase. I take a saw and cut bits and pieces off it for bones for my bases.

Catacomb Barge – Part 2

I tend to take pictures of my models from the side. This, however, is not how players view the models during a game. I have taken these pictures from a game player's point of view. This view show some of the features of the model missing in the side views.




Catacomb Barge


This view shows the resurrection orb in the Noble’s hand. The orb is fluorescent yellow. This and the next picture show the highlights created by the object source lighting (OSL), here the resurrection orb.




Catacomb Barge – Upper Left Side




Catacomb Barge – Upper Right Side

Nice OSL coming from the Orb in this one!

Hi Gwyn chan’r Gwyll
Thank you for your complement on the OSL.
Oldmanronald

Catacomb Barge – The Base

Although Games Workshop makes great models, the clear plastic bases for their flyers are flimsy. Below is a picture of the typical plastic bases, here on a Land speeder. The clear plastic spindle that holds up the model easily breaks. The clear plastic base is okay but I like GW’s standard black plastic bases better since I can more easily finish it.




Flyer Base on a Land Speeder




Flyer Base on a Land Speeder


I now replace these clear plastic flyer bases with standard black plastic bases and use for the upright holder, plastic rods and the magnets I bought from Magnet Baron. These are much studier and look better.




Base for Catacomb Barge

The Silent King

In normal times, I purchase and build a model based on three factors. First, how does the model look? Second, how does the play in a game? Third, how much does the model cost (in real money)? Now, however, there is a fourth factor. Is the model available? Normally, if my local hobby store or my local Games Workshop store does not have the model, I order it directly from Games Workshop and have the model within a week. Lately, either because of Covid-19 or Brexit or both, many Nectron models are unavailable. Moreover, even if the model is available, it is now taking Games Workshop almost a month to ship it.

I found The Silent King in a local hobby store. I might have passed on it because the model is expensive, $150 US, and because the model is boring looking especially for a model that should be the centerpiece of a Necron army. But since it is hard to find enough Necron models to fill out a 2000 point and because The Silent King is on many competitive Necron lists, I bought it.

Why do I find the model visually unappealing? In my mind, it has too many divergent themes or parts that don’t seem to flow together. Of course, many Games Workshop models have details but most of the models have a central theme or focus. The dominant feature on this model is the caged shard of the C’tan star god at the top of the model. The second most dominant feature should be Szarekh in the center of the model but the figure is lost in a maze of surrounding detail.

In the sample model that Games Workshop displays in their ads, the painter has used dark or black paint to remove some of the background detail and has used light paint to highlight Szarekh. I have included a copy of the picture of The Silent King found on their webpage.




The Silent King – Games Workshop

Notice how the painter has used dark or black paint to create negative space surrounding the figure of Szarekh in the middle at the top of the stairs. The helps bring out the figure of Szarekh. Still the figure of Szarekh does not pop. In addition, by painting all the foreground black, including the front steps, the model lacks depth except for the two “candlesticks” or pillars at the top. I tried a different paint scheme to bring out the important details and push back other details to give the model more depth.




The Silent King – Front


Like the painter at Games Workshop, I used black and browns to create negative spaces. I also used contrasting colors, here blue and orange on the bottom half of the model; and, red and green on the top half of the model to bring out the details in Szarekh and the C’tan star god. Mine is a more colorful than the Game Workshop version.

Finally, I broke the arms holding the candlesticks above Szarekh’s head and re-glued them so that they are further apart. This moved the candlesticks so that they blocked the weapons on the two Phaeron figures on the left and the right of Szarekh. To display these weapons, I switched the two Phaeron figures placing their weapons closer to Szarekh and further from the candlesticks.




The Silent King – Left Side


This side view illustrates another technique to give depth to the model. Notice that much of the middle portion of the model is painted burnt sienna. This middle portion of dull reddish brown behind the glowing turbo-dork of orange Multipass and reddish Miami Sunset makes it appears that these colors are continued in the shadowed interior of The Silent King’s Dais (or throne) of Dominion.




The Silent King – Right Side




The Silent King – Rear

The Silent King – Mesophet

The Silent King has four figures mounted on the Dais of Dominion. According to the Necron Codex, Szarekh elevated Hapthatra the Radiant and Mesophet of the Shadowed Hand to form his Triarch. It is often hard to match the figure in the model to the fluff in 40K, so I had misidentified this figure as Hapthatra. After reading Gwyn chan 'r Gwyll post and checking the internet, I realized that this figure is Mesophet. Mesophet is also known as the Phaeron of Blades and wields the Scythe of Dust.



Mesophet of the Shadowed Hand - Scythe of Dust – Close-Up




Mesophet of the Shadowed Hand - Phaeron of Blades.

Think you got it backwards. That weapon looks like a Warscythe, while the other Triarch's weapon looks like a Staff of Light. The statline of the Staff of Stars looks more like a Staff of Light, which would be the other guy. I think that's the Scythe of Dust, which would make this guy the other Triarch.

 Gwyn chan 'r Gwyll wrote:
Think you got it backwards. That weapon looks like a Warscythe, while the other Triarch's weapon looks like a Staff of Light. The statline of the Staff of Stars looks more like a Staff of Light, which would be the other guy. I think that's the Scythe of Dust, which would make this guy the other Triarch.

I did a little more research on the internet and you are correct. I did get Hapthatra and Mesophet backwards. I will correct the prior entry. Thanks.

The Silent King – Hapthatra

The Silent King has four figures mounted on the Dais of Dominion. This figure is Hapthatra the Radiant with the Staff of Stars. He is also known as the Phaeron of Stars.




Hapthatra the Radiant with the Staff of Stars – Close-Up





Hapthatra the Radiant with the Staff of Stars


Normally, I assemble the model first and then paint it. This is different from many modelers who paint the pieces on the sprue and then assemble the model. There are advantages of painting first but I find it harder and less satisfying. I like the model assembled first because I can paint it as a whole, darkening the shadow regions and brightening the highlights as they actually appear on the assembled model. Painting after the assembly does make it more difficult to get details into recessed portions of the model but generally such recessed portions are hidden in the shadows and don’t need painted details.

Still, on certain models, I will assemble portions of the models, paint the subassembly, and then finish assembling the model as a whole. I do this for bareheaded models where I paint the head separately from the rest of the model so I can really focus on the details on the head. I don't do this for the Necrons since their heads are so simple. In this model, however, I assembled and painted the figures of Hapthatra, Mesophet, and Szarekh and his mantel separate from the Dais of Dominion. I glued them on after they and the Dais of Dominion were painted.

The Silent King – Szarekh

Szarekh, also known as The Silent King, Supreme Ruler of the Necron Dynasties, Last of the Silent Kings, Shatterer of the Star Gods, Defender of the Old Ones, Bringer of Unity , Master of the Final Triarch, Wielder of the Scepter of Eternal Glory, and a few other minor titles, is the top dog of the Necrons. Apparently, he is kind of a smoothie who can talk or trick most Necrons into supporting him.




Szarekh with the Scepter of Eternal Glory


During Thanksgiving weekend, I was at Atlantis Games & Comics in Norfolk, Virginia, and found some Turbo-dork paint, this time Blue Steel. I really like this color so I used it for Szarekh and his two sidekicks on this model. To bring out the blue in this figure, I also used Turbo-dork Multipass, essentially an orange color complimentary to the blue steel, to paint the stairs and railing. I had to use several coats of the Multipass but it did bring out the steel blue.




Szarekh with the Scepter of Eternal Glory


Szarekh’s mantle is also steel blue. According to the fluff, this mantle is from a C’tan’s flensed necrodermis, which is his living metal skin so the Turbo-dork steel blue is a perfect color. I also wet washed shadowed the inside of the mantle with orangish-brown burnt sienna to bring out the steel blue of Szarekh's body.

This model is the only one of my Necrons that I used the Steel Blue and Multipass so it has a somewhat different color scheme than the rest of my Necron army. This fits the fluff since The Silent King is a dynastic agent and is a separate dynasty from the rest of the army.

I really like the Turbo–dork blue steel but it needs its complementary orange color to make it pop.

The Silent King – Caged Shard of Nyadra’zatha

The last of the four figures on The Silent King is the Caged Shard of Nyadra’zatha. According to the fluff, this captured C’tan star god is the power source of the Dais of Dominion, sort of like a super-doper solar panel. This was a fun figure to paint. I played with the fluorescent green with patches of fluorescent yellow as highlights on this glowing figure.




Caged Shard of Nyadra’zatha

The Silent King would be a hard model to put together and paint quickly, but because I found it hard to get some of the supplies I needed for my other models, I was “forced” to concentrate on this model alone for several weeks. Since I was unrushed, I could focus on each portion of the model for a few days. It still is not one of my favorite models but was fun to build, paint, and photograph each of the parts and try to match the figures to the fluff. Actually, knowing the fluff also helps me to understand the rules for playing the Silent King.

The Silent King – Triachal Menhir

A pair of Triachal Menhir hang around the Dais of Dominion. These were easy to paint.




Pair of Triachal Menhir




Dais of Dominion with Triachal Menhirs – Player’s View

Ghost Ark



Pair of Ghost Arks


The Ghost Ark is difficult to make and paint but is a beautiful and for this Codex, a useful model for the Necrons. I made and painted the Ghost ark and the wounded Necron passengers separately. The Necron passengers were somewhat difficult to place in the already assembled model but it was a lot easier to paint the passengers and the Ghost Ark separately and then glue them together that it would have been to paint the Ghost Ark with the passengers already mounted.




Pair of Ghost Arks with the Left Ghost Ark without Passengers




Ghost Ark without Passengers


Notice in these pictures the arches on the Ghost Ark need another coat of the Turbo-Dork Miami Sunset. I added more coats of Turbo-Dork after mounting the passengers.




Ghost Ark with Passengers

First Ghost Ark

The ghost ark looks like an ancient Greek Galley with the Gauss flayer array looking like a row of oars. This is a distinct and beautiful model.




Ghost Ark – Left Side




Ghost Ark – Front



Ghost Ark – Right Side




Ghost Ark – Base

The only way I could tell the pictures of the first ghost ark from the pictures of the second ghost ark was that this first ghost ark had the two rib like bones on its base. The clear post and magnet on the base are from Magnet Baron.

Second Ghost Ark


If one Ghost Ark is good, two should be better.

The first and second Ghost Ark are almost identical. Actually, I was only able to determine the first Ghost Ark picture from the second Ghost Ark picture by looking at the base for each. The first Ghost Ark’s base has white-rib like pillars while the second has a reddish black crab-like claw.




Ghost Ark – Close Up of Pilot




Ghost Ark – Left Front




Ghost Ark – Right Side




Ghost Ark – Front

Ghost Ark – Player’s View

I usually take my pictures with my camera mounted in the same plane as the model but in actual play, the players are looking down on the models, not from the side. The pictures below are more how the players would see the models on the table.




Ghost Ark – Player’s View – Front




Ghost Ark and Catacomb Barge – Player’s View




Ghost Ark – Player’s View – Side




Ghost Ark – Close-up of Ribs

I really like the feel of these necrons. To me, their look evokes age.

 Warboss_Waaazag wrote:
I really like the feel of these necrons. To me, their look evokes age.

Thank you. Necrons are fun to assemble and paint. In some ways they are easier to paint than Marines.

Washington D.C. Ruins

Several years ago, I bought some tokens at the NOVA convention. These were for the 40K narrative, an invasion of Earth with the battlefield in Washington D.C. These tokens represent the various ruined remains of prominent D.C. landmarks. Although I had them for years, I just finished painting them.

The individual tokens are not in scale to each other. For example, the FDR Roosevelt dog token is the same size as the Jefferson Memorial token although the Jefferson Memorial is much bigger.




Tokens - Washington D.C. Ruins


I used pigments and dry brushing with dull earth tones to color the tokens.

Statue of Freedom

The Statue of Freedom is on the dome of the U.S. Capitol Building. It is bronze so I may have to repaint this token since I treated it as stone. I guess I should have researched this before I painted it, not after.




Statue of Freedom Token - Front




Statue of Freedom Token - Side




Statue of Freedom Token – Top




Statue of Freedom Token – Top




Statue of Freedom Token – Player’s View


I took more pictures of this token than any of the others even though it isn’t my favorite and I should have given it a ancient bronzed look. I may repaint it.

Alternative you could repaint the ground it's buried under and then the statue itself is heavily verdigris'd. I think it works.

 Gwyn chan 'r Gwyll wrote:
Alternative you could repaint the ground it's buried under and then the statue itself is heavily verdigris'd. I think it works.

I agree. I may do a little dry brushing or some washes on this model to bring out the statue.