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Really love your end of year roundups, Nev. Congrats on a massive hobbying lap around the sun. The Soulblight army is a big highlight, but on second pass I also really love how much your Striking Scorpions blend into the base - it's easy to forget sometimes in the world of bright bold colours for Eldar that they're supposed to be stealthy infiltrators but your guys really sell that vibe.

Here's to another big year in 2026!

I did enjoy the scorps. Painting camo in general. I should do more of it.


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cross posting from the competition thread, as I need as much feedback as I can get:



So I need some feedback. First test Necron done. Scheme is not finalized. Looking for that classic look, and table-top battle ready. I need to push out a silver tide for my vision of the army, and that’s not going to happen with a lot of steps/highlighting. So willing to make some quality cuts to keep it quick and easy.

Basecoat white
Leadbelcher over almost everything (barring tubes and wires)
Black Templar on the gun. (bayonet left bare)
Tesseract glow in gun recesses, gun tube thing.
Exposed wires in red, and eyes.
Cable conduits in deadly nightshade
Nuln oil wash over non-gun parts
Pick out pistons, gun coils, chest icon in brighter silver.
Done?

The problem is all the metal details, and not wanting to be pure monochrome. Base will probably be the same green grass bases as my eldar/undead.

I didn’t clean up the tube on the gun before the green. So there is a little slop showing through the tube. Also wondering if I want to pick out the circles on the gun barrel before the green so they pop a little brighter. I think on larger guns this might be required.

Red eyes or green?

Are there enough differences in the metals? I thought maybe going for my normal marine gun scheme for the gauss rifle, which is black with a heavy leadbelcher drybrush. I could have also included it in the nuln oil wash, but had already put the green down. Also the coils on the gun above the grip I just hit with the light silver, green them?

This guy just has an unpowered stabby bit on his gun, but at some point I’m going to have to work out the nasty phase blade things. Might just go with my gloss green power swords.

The obvious statement is; the more steps you add the longer it takes.

I agree that it is just a bit too silver though. Someone made a good suggestion on adding green to the chest vents. I think the gun could do with some differentiation too. It looks like it has some 'plasma coils' on the main housing on the weapon. Maybe pick them out in gold, or glowy green?

Personally I'd do bright green glowing eyes to go with the rest of the green glow on the model. As for breaking up the silver, one thing you could do would be to paint the chest plate black (not the ribs, just the part with the symbol on it), and then pick out the symbol in gold. It would add extra steps and time, but would help break up the sea of silver. I see you said the gun casing was done in black templar, but it looks more gray and doesn't stand out from the silver that much. Maybe do another pass with Black Templar or do a traditional paint black instead of contrast? Again, might slow down the process but would make it pop a little more.

Great work!
Nev, I wanna say keep going. Company isn't your limit. Go for chapter. You can do it!

Zambro wrote:The obvious statement is; the more steps you add the longer it takes.

I agree that it is just a bit too silver though. Someone made a good suggestion on adding green to the chest vents. I think the gun could do with some differentiation too. It looks like it has some 'plasma coils' on the main housing on the weapon. Maybe pick them out in gold, or glowy green?

Doing something to those coils would help. I could do them like I do plasma, or slap the same tesseract glow from the gun barrel back there.

ZergSmasher wrote:Personally I'd do bright green glowing eyes to go with the rest of the green glow on the model. As for breaking up the silver, one thing you could do would be to paint the chest plate black (not the ribs, just the part with the symbol on it), and then pick out the symbol in gold. It would add extra steps and time, but would help break up the sea of silver. I see you said the gun casing was done in black templar, but it looks more gray and doesn't stand out from the silver that much. Maybe do another pass with Black Templar or do a traditional paint black instead of contrast? Again, might slow down the process but would make it pop a little more.

The red eye make a nice callback to the original “I’ll be back” terminator look. Green is more unified with the army. Still on the fence.
I might try a brown ink on the center chest symbol. Give it that brass look with minimal fuss. And use it more over the model on elites/HQs as they go up in rank.
I could pick up the darker black contrast paint. Or hit the gun with the Nuln Oil with the rest of the model before putting the green glow down. I didn’t do it for this test because I already had done the green, and figured the wash on top of it would undo a lot of it’s effect. Going black with a leadbelcher drybrush (like all my marine guns) is not off the table. I just figured with everything already being basecoated silver, darkening it up with a glaze would be easier/quicker then another basecoat/drybrush

kabaakaba wrote:Great work!
Nev, I wanna say keep going. Company isn't your limit. Go for chapter. You can do it!

I’m over halfway there. Yes, I am crazy. I could do the math to estimate how long it would take to get to 1,000 marines, but honestly I don’t want to know the answer.

Looking at you I'd decided build my dream army, entire infantry regiment. So you aren't a single crazy hobbyist here

Necrons feedback. Why don't you try colored metallics? Or at least metallic stippling over some colour? Like you have big armour panels. You should try different base colour. Cause right now you have pretty monochrome skeleton. May be darker colour for armor panels? Also you can make armour not metallic. It shouldn't increase painting time dramatically but solve monochromness issue.

Evening Nev, the Necron is looking good, but I agree on the silverness! How about a light brown wash on the joints and recessed metal, leave the upper plates more silver? Or add some brass as a spot colour on the chest and gun? Using a wash should make it easier to slap on and less time consuming.

For the gun, I think you could consider for the barrel (with the tesseract glow) a lighter brighter base colour, maybe use white or yellow as a base before washing it to act as a contrast. Maybe do the wires the same way to cut out a step?

And what would you think as a snow base rather than grassy?

Red (glowing) for the eyes is a winner for me, although a psycho green would also work!

PS - 20 captains isn’t a problem just an elite kill team…..

kabaakaba wrote:Looking at you I'd decided build my dream army, entire infantry regiment. So you aren't a single crazy hobbyist here

Necrons feedback. Why don't you try colored metallics? Or at least metallic stippling over some colour? Like you have big armour panels. You should try different base colour. Cause right now you have pretty monochrome skeleton. May be darker colour for armor panels? Also you can make armour not metallic. It shouldn't increase painting time dramatically but solve monochromness issue.

I’m aiming for a nostalgic throwback to the original look, which unfortunately is a bit monochrome. So I can spice it up a little to make them pop a little, but they still need to be a silver tide that would not look out of place butchering SoB at Sanctuary 101 back at the tail end of 2nd edition.

JordySteve wrote:Evening Nev, the Necron is looking good, but I agree on the silverness! How about a light brown wash on the joints and recessed metal, leave the upper plates more silver? Or add some brass as a spot colour on the chest and gun? Using a wash should make it easier to slap on and less time consuming.

For the gun, I think you could consider for the barrel (with the tesseract glow) a lighter brighter base colour, maybe use white or yellow as a base before washing it to act as a contrast. Maybe do the wires the same way to cut out a step?

And what would you think as a snow base rather than grassy?

Red (glowing) for the eyes is a winner for me, although a psycho green would also work!

PS - 20 captains isn’t a problem just an elite kill team…..

My current thoughts on the gun:
Buy a pot of Black Legion paint to use instead of Black Templar. It’s a darker black, which should (hopefully) still let a little of the metal show, just tinted way down.
Hit the little circles and maybe the whole recessed area on the barrel with the brighter silver before the green glow.
Treat the coils at the back of the gun the same.
Red the tube thing, not yellow. And don’t skip the basecoat step. I normally go over the wires with grey seer before putting the colors down. Skipped that, regret it.

Also feeling more like hitting the chest emblem with a brown wash for the warriors. HQs will get the same wash over a gold base.

My thoughts for grass over snow was twofold. One, was to have some color. The plain metal bodies might pop better on the green, where silver and white read the same, so they might blend more than I’d like. Second would be to pair them vs. their foes of old, my Eldar. The Ultras and the Tyranids fight over the snowy ruins of Macragge, where the old races can continue the wars started in ancient times together. Once I get the test warrior where I want him, I’ll take some pics of him standing in my tubs of flock to see where I want to go.

Sounds a good plan, be interested to see it enacted on the next test model to see the results!

And I like your logic on the basing, ties it all in to a bigger cinematic picture which appeals to my crazy mind!

Re-blacking the gun will need to wait for the weekend and a trip to the store. Feeling good about the changes so far.

I’m liking the changes you’ve done so far Nev, doing the coils on the gun really helps.

It's not bad. May be a bit of nuln oil to make him darker a little? But any way looks good. I'm suggest add more tesseract on coils. As always all I posted is IMHO

Nailed it. It looks much more distinct.

On the next one I might inlay more silver on the gun so the glow is brighter.

Not done much painting this week. Dealing with frozen junk on the driveway has my back acting up, so not spending time at the bench. Did work on assembling some guys:


2 more to go.

That should be the last of the phobos in the build pile.

Destroyer Lord is going to be a test for how the necron scheme scales up to larger things and characters. Basecoat of leadbelcher down

Congratulations on a very good year Nev!

Hm, Nev, is there somewhere army shot with all new minis? I mean with all phobos guys and intercessors and new tanks?

Gitsplitta wrote:Congratulations on a very good year Nev!

Thanks!

kabaakaba wrote:Hm, Nev, is there somewhere army shot with all new minis? I mean with all phobos guys and intercessors and new tanks?

On my list of things to do last weekend, that did not happen, was to take photos of the to-prime and primed pile. As part of “what’s next in the new year”. Might do it tonight.

That would be great

The test 'Cron looks good, I can imagine its the kind of scheme that would look really impressive on a whole army. Look forward to seeing the destroyer lord painted up!

Right, so a look ahead:



Recent builds. Phobos, Victrix, BGV, pair of characters. Free MotM servator. and all the bits for the tank WIP. In related news, I clipped and am cleaning up the heavy intercessors.



The last of the ready nids. Nerothrope and buddies, 3 Zoes, and 10 devilgaunts. Not bad.
All the built necrons. An indominus box plus a doomstalker. I’ll start building the second indominius after the current projecct clears the bench, which will roughly double that.
Also most of the CC bad guys, 20 assorted skeletons, 10 zombies, Mounted wight king, bits and bobs.



Shining spears, shroudrunners, metal scorpion squad, WS PL, warlock, spare FD and SS.
Spearhead terrain

30k CTDA, volkite support squad, praetor.

Assorted Free MotM, CC heroes.

5 modern terminators
10 sternguard
10 scouts
Tigerius
5 reivers
6 phobos KT
DW inceptor, an old scout, 2 random assault intercessors



Spartan
Sicarian
Gladiator

God-Emperor your wip are larger then my entire collection... How long it should took to paint this bunch?

 kabaakaba wrote:
God-Emperor your wip are larger then my entire collection... How long it should took to paint this bunch?

Years. I generally do 75-100 models a year. Last year was off the charts, but there is a chance the necrons will go just as fast. Most years I paint more then I buy, so the pile does get smaller. But is always churning.

Look at all that potential. I look forward to seeing who makes it across the bench this year.

*cough*Eldar*cough*

The Necron scheme looks good, and the Destroyer should be really cool when it is done.

 youwashock wrote:
Look at all that potential. I look forward to seeing who makes it across the bench this year.

*cough*Eldar*cough*

The Necron scheme looks good, and the Destroyer should be really cool when it is done.

I want to get the Eldar done, I really do. Last year wasn’t that bad for them, but was mostly front loaded. DAs, Scorps, shrines, and the seer. The soulblight ate a lot of my time/effort. I think this year there will be more room on the workbench to have more diverse output. Fingers crossed.

Wow, I had a lotto catch up on after a short time. Awesome work, Nev! Impressive output and accomplishments on the resolutions. For the Necron warrior, I would personally prefer all glowing parts to be glowing green. Do you have any more warriors set aside to test paint schemes on? Or are the rest waiting for a decision to then be batch painted? I'd be curious how it would look if you started from scratch base coating black, then the silver, before details. It seems like you have put a lot of effort into darkening it down. I personally don't like the way my silver paints look over white, and much prefer them on a black base.

One of the issues with a black base is they are already primed white. So getting a solid black base would add another step. And I’m lazy. And don’t mind how they look with the white undercoat. It’s easier to get them a black wash at the end vs. the black base at the start. Plus Nuln Oil hides a lot of sins.


So big guy following the same steps, barring the change in black contrast for the gun. Just got his nuln oil wash. Next step with be to brighten the silvers


I went over the gun with the new black, and put some gloss BftBG on the eye.
The rim will be blacked. Rocks and tufts added. Flowers on the grass.




Automatically Appended Next Post:
Added:
Almost done building the first heavy intercessor. This kit sucks. The parts are fine, but there are multiple parts that have plastic mold related compromises, where you’ve got little bridge bits connecting layers that need to be cleaned and resculpted.

The darker gun was a good choice-- it looks much better against the silver. Will you be basing these guys on grass or snow?

 JoshInJapan wrote:
The darker gun was a good choice-- it looks much better against the silver. Will you be basing these guys on grass or snow?

Leaning towards grass, but looking for feedback