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Having a long standing obsession with steampunk imagery, I've eyed the Convergence army for Warmachine ever since it has been announced. Having almost finished everything I really wanted to add to my druid army of Orboros I now turn to their total opposite - the clockwork army if logic and wonder and clockwork bodies for enlightened minds!



As a test of "clean Convergence" I chose Clockwork Angels - and immediately failed miserably. See these horrible mould lines? My fault to forget about them. :( Other than that - neat little models, only problem being tiny contact point for their wings. Well, pinning is the name of this game...



I like Vallejo acrylic metals. Very easy to use and after their black metal - who needs black wash? I wonder how long they will stay in one piece, though and how soon they'll start chipping... And how will they prove themselves on the field of battle...

Staying on target - a pair of very convergetic solos, enigma foundries. What can be more useful than a constant recursion of Your troops that fall in battle? First, Your army gets vengeance after enemy kills someone, and then that someone is brought back to fight again. Superbulous!



Very miscast bodies, as if the mould was worn heavily, producing not only slips but bubbles too. Pewter bubbles. never seen one before, thought they are for resin only. Well, I suck at fixing... In case anyone wonders what is happening on that pase - the foundry is picking up a soul essence chamber left by a not so small explosion.

Still ticking...err - painting! Painting to the logic, reason and science! Sure, Convergence has plenty of means to repair stuff on the battlefield, but these directives... I like these little guys and gals, looking like victorian deep divers in their lead and brass suits braving the dangers of open warfare to fix and improve... and maybe live to see another day or be transferred into clockwork bodies as an ultimate gratitude for their actions.



Terrible, terrible little things I want to forget about. Not even an early Mantic kind of quality.

Convergence is all bout support - or at least it looks like. And when You need that extra casting range or an extra "oomph!", these selfless priests come forward.



Apparently... Not all living Convergence is born equal. These solo and unit attachment models are more or less the quality I've come to expect from Privateer Press. Really, that is quite a relief after long slugging fight that was enigma foundries or the directive unit. Almost stick to the base and start painting.

Unfortunately, now it is back to a difficult stuff. Multimedia kit - resin, metal and some sort of transparent soft plastic. Blearghh!

Staying with support - here is a little bot (vector to be precise) Your caster should never march to battle without. This little flying bulb accumulates focus points and allows to run Your other vectors with almost no effort from warcaster, who can cast spells - or even fight if so it goes...

Crappy resin body with pewter bits. I think there were some resin or dust left in the mould, resulting in a very uneven surface. But it was fun to paint nevertheless...



Unfortunately, I've added to its woes by dropping it before resin base has fully cured. Frantic repair followed but too late to fix everything. It is forever leaning to one side. Sigh.



Maybe I should stop with Convergence for a while. This stuff is pulling at my nerves...

As year draws to a close, I still have a few miniatures in various stages of paintwork. This week I've managed to finish my first warcaster, Father Lucant (Gil Lucant while he was still living?). And what warcaster (on a large base especially) would risk his hide under enemy fire without some sort of bodyguard to sacrifice? Here enters the steel soul protector!



I am being told that Privateer Press again try to push up their quality control... but these miniatures were made before that. Nevertheless they are very fun to paint and play with. Good old metal... lots of pins but after resin I am all for it.



Health, weather and other things allowing I'd really like to finish this year two more warcasters, Aurora and Orion. Maybe a few support solos too...

Depending on health and maybe a bit on other factors, this is the last miniature for the year - and a good illustration of the fact that soon I'll have to start looking for a different hobby, if any at all. Aurora, I like You but I've totally botched the paintwork...



A bit difficult miniature to work with, some really questionable design choices and very top-heavy - solid metal! While assembling I've added more defects to already present, so I'll stop here. Lovely sculpt, bad cleanup and assembly, terrible painting.



Period.

Let me restart this sore thread. Nothing new painted yet, but I am slowly working through the heap of PVC (hate!), assembling a unit and a pair of light vectors.



Terrible stuff, and I plan another unit and a heavy vector for this week...

Never been a warmachine fan, just something about the art style, but I like the Cyriss models.

Keep up the good work.

Plus side, once you get it assembled, prepped, and primed, it should paint up like any other. Just...gotta get it assembled painted and primed. One step at a time, with lots of steps on more fun things in between.

Couldn't prime them - too damp outside and I am not willing to sit locked in a flat smelling canned primer for half a day. maybe tomorrow... But I've got another unit assembled and everything washed in industrial soap, so as soon as weather pauses the rain and wind I'll have a lot of things to paint.



Unfortunately, Convergence is a physical proof of everything that went wrong with Privateer Press and even with all recent improvements I am unwilling to test the water deeper than a random model or two. PVC, of the worst kind. Soft detail, mould shifts, terrible break-up into pieces. Heavy warjacks/vectors, that usually are the most significant pieces after warcasters (not counting centerpiece models like engines)... When I am looking over these kits I have a strong feeling that starting from scratch - from paper-scissors-glue, would produce better results, as 3D printing should. The design and reuse of parts in other kits... they just take all the inspiration away.

Well, if Privateer Press gave me an expensive toilet seat - I will make a toilet seat with rocket grenades and "pull to flush" sticker.

Terrible little things, but they still need to be painted. Three possible schemes... which one is better... or maybe I'll go bananas and paint them all in different colors?



I am less and less satisfied with washes. Maybe it is my skill - or lack of it, but I don't like it much anywhere except metal parts. Mixing darker and brighter shades of paint and then blending it feels much more satisfying.

I rather like the middle one, but I'm a sucker for shiny brightly colored things. Also, kinda gives off a cop vibe when I look at it more that you may not want.

Vejut wrote:
I rather like the middle one, but I'm a sucker for shiny brightly colored things. Also, kinda gives off a cop vibe when I look at it more that you may not want.

Well, I've decided not to decide - and split them next half a dozen evenly between grey and blue scheme, but with a little more highlight. They spot enough bright metal to not look like dirty clumps of plastic they are... They definitely deserve the title and mantle of "the worst product of Privateer Press". Having sat this week through a box of first KoW restic troops - same experience. Good design - -bad material - horrible quality assurance. And the story is not over - I still need to build a replacement arm for the last trooper. And make bases proper, with sand, stones and tufts of grass.



Next week - large infantry, with shells probably in sandy colors, pink or yellow.

Still look decent, amd at least they're done, or at least done the hard part. Look forward to the infantry. Small restic/PVC before they really figured it out is kinda annoying.

Minis are looking good, you can't go wrong with turquoise I also quite like the right color scheme from your test models, it gave a nice old sci-fi vibe.

I like how you've done the group- nice old-timey sci-fi with a splash of color. And, to paraphrase an earlier poster here: the best painted mini is the one that is done (or at least started )

Looking good Wirecat!

Vejut wrote:Still look decent, amd at least they're done, or at least done the hard part. Look forward to the infantry. Small restic/PVC before they really figured it out is kinda annoying.

Yep. Right now there is the whole timeline before me. Mantic KoW 1st kickstarter, Mantic Deadzone, CMON WoK kickstarter, Mantic ultimate dreadball. PP Convergence definitely goes to the very early league, quality-wise. I've set myself a goal to finish all PVC in my house this year and never get more - and I am (so far) sticking to it.

Viterbi wrote:Minis are looking good, you can't go wrong with turquoise I also quite like the right color scheme from your test models, it gave a nice old sci-fi vibe.

Thanks and... Then You will like this company, Viterbi. I've decided that the sandy armor could look better on bigger infantry - more chances to use all the similar shades. Haven't done chipping on them, though. First, I am waiting for a time when I can work on bases and this delays giving them all the finish like gloss on lenses and matt varnish on shells. Second - I need to try everything on a test subject. Meanwhile - they are "mostly done".

Meer_Cat wrote:I like how you've done the group- nice old-timey sci-fi with a splash of color. And, to paraphrase an earlier poster here: the best painted mini is the one that is done (or at least started )

Looking good Wirecat!

Oh, don't You tell me... I already have more unpainted things than I would like (for my sanity, not for my hoarding instinct) and I am adding more to that pile almost weekly. And the weather forecast gives us another rainy week. That will help me through the last undercoated minis (health allowing) and then what? Gluing together even more unpainted plastic?! Arrgh!!!



I'll manage, I think.

Last trooper finally got his knife - from Mantic enforcer! As a bonus I've given him a few more brass parts than his brothers. And I've finished PVC light vectors, maybe except their optics. Maybe I will make them lenses blue or purple, can't even pretend they are lenses with mould lines running right across them! Such fun design, such terrible execution. :(



Tried less washes, more cartoonyhighlight. On the blue one it shows... a little. On the pink one - not so much. Heavily washed AV metalls are... OK, I think. Now to get the sand on their bases.

Good to see the other scheme on those bigger models, they are looking really good! Excited to see, if you try some more methods on those models.

 Viterbi wrote:
Good to see the other scheme on those bigger models, they are looking really good! Excited to see, if you try some more methods on those models.

Since next models are all medium-to-big - probably. Although a warcaster and a walking toilet will be mostly white, I don't know how else to paint them except "brightening the sand to white". But there is a big flying robot coming, maybe I'll think something up!



Having tried new sand, the small infantry is finally based and done. Could have been brighter... But I don't currently have white undercoat. Plus, with all the metallic parts and new lights they should be bright enough for gaming. Now, the bigger stuff needs some more specific scatter for their bases. Plus chipping, I really need to try doing chipping. This will likely delay them until mid July. * sigh *

Looks good, and done mid July is still done.