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I succumbed to the charms of the Machine God and started a new army for Stygies. For the moment it is not structured at all. Units are selected on a "I like this one factor" and will not allow anything else than free play. Her is what I have: - Mago on Abeyant - Macrotek with its thralls - Termite - The old "get started box" with another Seer, a squad of Skitarii and the Skorpius Dunerider So far I started with the 2 first from the list and here is the current state: More views in my galleries, so, feel free to consult though my profile and share comments and advises. Thanx

Hi Folks, As a Feb 2025 entry for 12 MoH, I did a speed painting of some Kastelan robots. "Speed" as I got them ready is something like 4 days or so. Truth is that these lads combine several key advantages or features to reach such a productivity: Big models are always faster to paint My scheme is simple and almost 3 colours only I have already painted something like 3 to 4k pts of AdMechs, so I am trained... The main risk was to introduce some hues in the paint scheme for models that are meant to reinforce an existing unit. I needed to reopen some cardboxes already closed for shipping. Fortunately enough I encountered another Kastelan in the first box I opened. Somehow putting labels and stickers with content indication helped... These reinforcements were the occasion to try to pose one of the Robot. I confess it was rather an accident. But I managed recovering my mistake by setting a pose that looks like a mimick of the datasmith attitude. As if he were a puppet master; which he is in fact. OK, I admit this is an excuse. But it ended up being rather OK. And here are the 2 blokkes and their datasmith. It makes me the happy owner of 6 robots, shared into 2 units. A familly portrait of these leads to a unit of Kastelans with fists and flamers used (theoritecally) as hard hiters and 2 Castellans used as proxy full shooty weapons Kastellans for a gunline. I am building my army only on the basis of the rule of Kool - a.k.a what I like the most. I doubt that, rulewise, twin-linked fists are that useful, but I like how these look. Any tricks you may want to share about their best use perhaps? I doubt I will increase the number of models for robots, even if I do not close the door in a definitive manner. But expanding the mob is at the moment clearly not part of my plans. See you later, after moving probably. Unless I share in a close future any free of charge digressions or opinions. But do not expect any model or painting stuff before March and the launch of "Knifes in the Shadows" challenge. I plan a Void Dancers war-band btw. See ya.

Hi Folks, A third fantasy for the "What-if HH minis were introduced in the 40K SKitarii setting" game series. Thsi time with the Axiarch, a Secutarii leader that will probably prove to be of little to no use in most 40k era game setting. It is still a Marshal but with some extra buff, it looks like more to a SM Captain in Terminator armour, so set him tentatively at 95 pts, as the SM Captain... What do you think of this USO (Unidentified Stomping Object)? Cheers,

Hi Folks, After a small painting break due too flu (it hits hard this year...) I finally resumed some work that was on the bench since a few weeks. Here comes some reinforcments for my Admech: A Dragoon, reaching my number to 3 of these lads A third Dune crawler (and last) The Dragoon will either reinforce the 2 other ones to go full hitting force, especially useful againts Superheavies and big knighty stuff, or be wandering on his own. The Crawler was more delicate to tune. I finally went to a second Neutron laser as my attemp to make it modular weaponwise failled pityfully. The Neutron is always good and if you go up to being able to field 3 Crawlers it is probably going a big game with good chances of facing one or two big T targets. And AdMechs lacks anti big T units. Sure Kataphrons with Arc weapons can handle most of vehicles but if you face a big Knight shelling you from the other side of the board, it is eventually not sufficient; Neutron lasers are then the tool to select. 2 units added to hunt down vehicles big T monters and walkers... Did I suffered a trauma againts Knights recently?... Here are some pics of these 2 additions: With a close up of the Crawler: And of the Dragoon: The latter is BTW solving the mystery base question from this entry: Congrat @WAR who got closer... See you soon with the last pledges for 2024 12 Months of Hobby Challenge.

Hi Folks, As first progress report for this months entries on mine in 12MoH, here come the Castellax Automatas. Of course they cannot be fielded as such in 40k setting, but they will be very decent proxies for Phosphor blasters' tooled-up Kastellans. And the model is rather gorgeous, although less bulky than the 40k one... Building has been rather easy even if long. indeed these chaps are set in numerous bitz. the cut might eventually have been made less complex. I am not too sure it brings that much getting the arm made out of 7 or 8 bits. And I am barely caricaturing... My biggest deception was the weapon sprue. You've probably seen in reviews that you get only one set of cutting blades for example. I would have like getting two of these robots view cutting diamonds disks, but I'll have to content myself with chargers... The paint scheme sticks to the rest of my AdMechs little guies. A grey with some touches of red and metallics. But Cqstellax being Castellax, I increased the amount of brass metal for their, how to call it, bulby head canopy? Oh, and BTW, this is solving some of the remaining mystery bases that were disclosed a few blog entries ago. Only one left... Rest of the week end was spent on preparing the rest of my pledge: base coating the 2 resurrected Inquisitorial henchmen, clipping one of Volkus building sprues and making paint tests on the rumbles. I will go to a paint job aligned with my other ruins, although introducing some small variants for windows and floors... We will see how it ends up... See you soon.

Hi Folks, A very rapid update of my progress on my second vow. The Attaché and the plasma containers were completed earlier this month; the same with de Sydonian dragoons. All of these were all done in a quite a decent amount of time. But I am struggling a little bit more with the Serberys units. Yet, after a rainy WE, I've got some time to progress. Mounts are now all done for the Raider and the Sulphurhound units. The cyberhorses were done exactly qs their brothers from the first vow. The Sulphurhounds, well, too... This leads to units that are not so easy to distinguish on the table one from another. I hope that once the riders will be positionned, this will change. Yet, of course, the proper design differences between the 2 mounts (or lack of difference) does not help too much. I expect the pistolier design will bring some visual impact allowing a better definition of the R&R. Close ups make the difference more obvious though. The pounches of the Sulphurhounds are a design detail that I especially like. Riders are at 50% more or less, so getting a full completion of my vow this week is possible. To be continued. See you in a next installement of this blog. Cheers,

Hi Folks, As we reach mid of August soon: it is time to get an update on my pledges for both challenges. Shared pledges in fact, at least partially. I indeed vowed for 12MoH 2 Ironstriders and 2 Plasma Generatorium while enlisting in CTA24 5as a second vow) the very same items plus - Serberys and 1 Attaché. So how does it goes so far? I, of course, started by the stuff pledged for August in 12MoH. I am currently making some paint tests on the Generatorums but it does not necesarilly goes that well. Or at least I am lack of self convinction. But, what else went better? The chickens of course (just in cqse the banner was not explicit enough). I managed to paint both over the last week. And it went not too bad. Just make your own opinion: Once again I globally sticked to my usual paint scheme, except I did not wash the bone coloured legs this time. It makes them less dirty than the Onagers´ones. but it is fine like that. What else could I report? Serberys are all primed: I will go 3 Raiders and 3 Sulphurhounds. But I will start these latter on. The Attaché went fast, I could even have fielded it in the 2h challenge. If I can keep the rythm, I am on good tracks. See you soon with more stuff, hopefully.

I Folks, After a small break to recover my sanity after almost completed Pteraxii decided to take q shades bath (leading to a full stripping and repaint for 2 of these bat-cyborg-men) I finally completed my vow. It took me quite much time than usual in fact. But these Serberys and Pteraxii are really really requiring calm and concentration for... everything - from painting to assembly to detailling... The final result is OK, the models are gorgeous but it is definitively not a Combat Patrol box for people without a decent hobby experience. I painted 69 pts. 1 Admech Patrol box inc. 1 Manipulus (5pts) 3 Serberis (6 points) 10 Skitarii (10 points) 5 Pteraxii (5 points) 1 Master of the Watch (5 points) 1 Archeotechnologist (5 points) 1 Engineseer (5 points) 1 Marshall (5 points) 10 Negavolt cultists as proxi Electropriests Admech scenery inc. 3 small machines (3 points), 2 big machines (4 points) and 1 generator (6 points) I set the Pteraxii as Sterilizors. just for the look. And the idea to get some welding lamp holding bats on the field is somehow attractive. So steampunk. I wonder how they will rend in gaming performance. One sure thing is that they span is so wide that, in respect of other jump pack troops, they have a serious handicap. Screening and COver will be difficult to get. I was eventually thinking into expanding the unit to 10, but this will probably be, for survivability of these mostitos, a bad idea. It is now time for a second vow! I, bouargh, heed the Call to Arms and pledge to paint: 6 Serberis (12 points) 2 Sydonian Drqgoons (6 points) 1 Regiment attaché (1 point) 2 Plasma Generatorums (8 pts) For a grand total of 27 points for the Glory of Adeptus Mechanicus and the Imperium Stronghold on or before 17th September 2024, or bear the badge of failure until years end I learned quite a lot with the 3 Serberys from my first vow, so I think I cqn get these 6 new ones faster done. I will go for 3 Raiders, to complete the previous unit, and 3 Sulphurhounds. I now go to priming station (a.k.a backyard); see you soon with some progress (hopefully)

Hi Folks, As fantasied in a previous instalment of this blog, I tried to play to the "What-if HH minis were introduced in the 40K SKitarii setting" game. I short listed the potential candidates, and, after cooking some rules adaptation I reached a point where some custom datasheet can be shared. Without pretention. The design process has been anything but playtested. I indeed started with a kind of rule of 3, leading to start from the diferencial perfiles from the Mago and Myrmidons (as I will start with these) in the HH rules, and then translating them, with an offset, to the 40k era using the Dominus perfile as a base case. Once done, I went though a small statistic simulation of performance and yield agianst usual standards: the Good, the Bad, the Ugly (a.k.a. the Primaris Intercesor, the fool Fire cast xeno and the Grot); all credit to MSExcel. Result were... Well, just consider that it did not make the cut. So back to the workbench after some key learning: 1. HH is repleted of special rules that are not so easily transposable. 2. Perfiles differences in HH are quite extreme if transposed to 40k just by proportional rating, especially for Mirmydon than would become beastial beasts 3. 40k datasheet Factions and Core abilities, even if they represent a painful amount of info to remember and to manage (as literally every and each unit has something special to claim), are in fact a most rationnal way to balance a set of datasheet without bloating too much stat lines. It is still however impossible to rate pointwise in a smart and mathematically simple way. Result has been a full revision of the design (pompous) philosophy: making the Myrmidons eguals to Mago Dominus but i) working in band and ii) shifting their features for some more cult specific abilities rather than leadership features. What is a cult specific ability one may ask? Well, on the first hand the Myrmidons are probably more heavily augmented with tooling oriented toward war and survivability. Rather than more Svg or T increase I dealt with this through the Feel-no-pain system. On the second hand they belong to sects such as the Secutor (HtH) and the Destructor (kill-shoot-kill). To be reflected in gear and abilities. For weapons, stats were taken or adapted fom baselines of other Admech, Knights or others existing datasheet, adjusting the BS o CS only. The delivered product ended-up (with a fancy Warhammer - Home-Cooked datasheet format (Thank you Paint.net)) as these 2 wannabe-a-40k guy-too datasheets: Point wise I set both at 210 pts. It is not cheap, and it will not really compete with existing legal entries (Kastellans for example). Also, most probably, Destructors as I set these will have a lower battle yield than Secutors. I did not repeat the extensive simulation attempted with my own elected triumvirat for mortality evaluation. Neither did I extend these to vehicles. But It has been a fun stuff to produce at lunch time. What do you think? PS: I also have some dessert slowly cooking for the other units I short listed, maybe, with some extra sugar and colourful topping, they migh end-up in that format too someday. See you soon

Hi folks, I will not make it. My target of completing the last unots of my CTA24 first vow before end of week will not be achievable. Current temp rise and high humidity make any painting or modelling attempt catastrophical. paint dries on the brush and in the pot once opened, gets thick, crackle while drying... Anyway, I have been able to complete the painting of the separated items of the Skitarii just before this hot summer time really appeared, so I have been left this week only with the final assembly and glueing. Which went quick and fast doing it at 6:00 a.m. As one may notice I am well above the number or arc guns than allowed in the dataslate (3 vs. 1!). This is in fact the final step of my legalization/optimization of my Rangers units. I indeed already field 2 units but fitted only with Arquebus and plasma. I will therefore swap 2 mundane gunmen (one in each previously owned unit) with these arc gunners. Et voila! 3 fully kitted Ranger units I also managed finishing the Watch Master - as most of the model was painted already, missing only a few details such as cables or so, fast paint drying has not been an issue there. It is a regular result for the latter. I have been quite demotivated by the news about Imperial Agent and I managed completing this model only because it was pledged. It almost ended up into the waiting list of stuff reprogrammed-to-a-latter-yet-to-be-confirmed date. So here is the updated progess status: 64oo69 pts. Close to finish line. 1 Admech Patrol box inc. 1 Manipulus (5pts) - Completed 3 Serberis (6 points) - Completed 10 Skitarii (10 points) - Completed 5 Pteraxii (5 points) - WIP 1 Master of the Watch (5 points) - Completed 1 Archeotechnologist (5 points) - Completed 1 Engineseer (5 points) - Completed 1 Marshall (5 points) - Completed 10 Negavolt cultists as proxi Electropriests - Completed Admech scenery inc. 3 small machines (3 points), 2 big machines (4 points) and 1 generator (6 points) - Completed Weather forecast is showing an improvement from Thursday afternoon (which is today´s by the way); may be I will have enough time tonight to tresume these Pteraxii... Afterall, most of these is done. But I often need more time for details that for main areas. See you soon.

Hi Folks, It has been a busy week. I managed to progress quite a lot on my pledge, although it is not yet 100% completed. At the moment I can had to the rooster the 3 Serberys and the Manipulus. The latter was supposed to be the last miniature to be painted but in the end it took over the Pteraxii. The Raiders were configured in the standard tooling for a unit of 3: sticking to the manual. I have some others on their way and when I will expand the gang, the 3 additional raiders will be only gunners. The Manipulus has been fitted in the exact opposite of the one I already have. So, the second head option and the railgun/ray of death stuff. Is it all I did? Not really. Most not to say all the other entries are started and at various completion levels. Rangers are progressing and are at something close to 80% finished. Pteraxii have received all their base colours and I am starting the detaling steps. Watch Master is also well engaged, even if I left him aside after publication of the Imperial Agent news. Felt depressed by the dirrecion DW is probably going to... Here is the resulting progess status: 49oo69 pts. So a little bit more than 70% 1 Admech Patrol box inc. 1 Manipulus (5pts) - Completed 3 Serberis (6 points) - Completed 10 Skitarii (10 points) - WIP 5 Pteraxii (5 points) - WIP 1 Master of the Watch (5 points) - WIP 1 Archeotechnologist (5 points) - Completed 1 Engineseer (5 points) - Completed 1 Marshall (5 points) - Completed 10 Negavolt cultists as proxi Electropriests - Completed Admech scenery inc. 3 small machines (3 points), 2 big machines (4 points) and 1 generator (6 points) - Completed I have to amnage to close some stuff this week, as coming August is rather busy and will send back the stuff uncompletetd to a latter date in the month. And if I want to enlist a second vow, it is better trying out to manage the time left as a rare and key ressource... See you soon.

Hi Folks, After 5 weeks of challenge, and a welcomed holiday break, I am back to the brushes since last week. these past 10 days I managed to have some progress, although less lighting fast than it isued to be last year at the same period in the previous challenge. But, hay, it is an endurance run afterall, and I may eventually boost up my productivity latter. I started with the Serberys mounts. I have been excesively enthusiatic and I did not consider prepainting at all. Big mistake. these model require being as much painted as possible befor being glued together. Their sheer complexity makes that many parts are hard or impossibkle to reach with the brush once assemblied. anyway, after a lot of corrective touches to cover paints spots left here or there during the contorsionist´s exercices needed to paint the bellies of the cyber horses, the mounts are done. Next job will be the riders. I also spent time on the 3 minor heros, completing them all. The Marshall and the Technoarquelogist went rather fast, keeping the usual pallet of colours. It makes that the Marshall does not stand out much. But it is a cyborg and is not supposed to have any personality, so I guess it fits the big picture. Getting some more baroque stuff and a cloak is probably much more a sign of the ego of his master than wants a shiny puppet to show to his mates. The last figure is the kit-bashed Mining Priest, with hydraulic claw and mining laser, I previously introduced in a blog entry (May 9th). This one went even faster. 6 hours gran total inc. basing and drying, and a quite long drive to and back from the supermarket to fill up the fridge. Here is the resulting progess status: 38oo69 pts. So a little bit more than 55% 1 Admech Patrol box inc. 1 Manipulus (5pts) 3 Serberis (6 points) - WIP 10 Skitarii (10 points) - WIP 5 Pteraxii (5 points) - total 26 points 1 Master of the Watch (5 points) - WIP 1 Archeotechnologist (5 points) - Completed 1 Engineseer (5 points) - Completed 1 Marshall (5 points) - Completed 10 Negavolt cultists as proxi Electropriests - Completed Admech scenery inc. 3 small machines (3 points), 2 big machines (4 points) and 1 generator (6 points) - Completed Not too bad, but there is still some work ahead. Riders and rangers have received the black and metal drybruch and I will focus on them next. The Master of the Watch is waiting for some attention now that it has his black and his maatal done. but I keep him for dead times. Manipuls will the the cherry on the cupcake once Pteraxii will be done. These look rather complicated to assemble. I do not want to screw up so I am thinking on the best way to do. See you soon.

Hi Folks, I had a dream, a dream where I could enlist different stuff for CTA24 and the 12 Months challenge. It will remain a dream. Time being what it is, a rare and limited ressource, I had no choice than enlist a comon entry for the 2 challenges in July. This common entry is the Negavolt Cultist unit (x 10), to be used as a proxy for Electropriests. I will call them Corpuscarii Zealots. They are designed as something inbetween the electrofists and the power staff, so, upon games they could be used either as one or other unit. As a scheme I have been tempted to add some "variety". I already did it with some Legend Secutarii Hoplite, breaking my Custom Forgeworl Colour scheme. I repeated the process this time again. Afterall, Electropriests are not related to Skitarii Legions. They are rather allied factions within the Mechanicum. So, why should they follow exactly the same painting patrons as the Skitariis and their Leaders? OK, they belong to the same world, so maybe a series on common points could be welcomed? Let´s check - Red armour pieces ? - No, Negavolts run almost naked - Grey tabards - Possible, but I am not convinced - FW Symbol - I cannot imagine where one can fiend enough free spoace available on Negavolts miniatures to put a decal on... Looked like a dead end alley. I finally opted for a distinct way, let´s call it "inverted scheme". Instead of getting a grey major with red as upgrading colour, I went for main dark red with greyish details. "Main" should be understood as Tabards and "Details" as wrist amd anckle bands. It sorted out not too bad. To my taste. The alectric blue coils really help to create the contrasting point these crouching minis needed. As there are only 2 poses, the diversification comes mainly only by mean of disitnct distribution of the Medusae cables and plugs snaking from the heads. Being snap minis, no prepainting was done. Of course it limits accessibility to internal details and an accurate eagle eye watcher with miniatures in hands will see that they are globally one level bellow the other skitarii of my army. Only stuff wrong: Base size. I Ebayed the miniatures without bases and I did not checked which base size comes with the Electropriests. As a consequences these are mounted on 25 mm bases instead of 32 mm. I am not obsessed by this theme, yet it might eventually requires a future correction with diameter extansion rings. Fortunatly, my basing is simple enough to allow that potential modification without screwing up everything. That´s all for the moment. Let´s now assembly Seberii from the patrol box enlisted in CTA24. I feel like this will not be a quiet journey. See you next time.

Hi Folks, CtA 2024 has been launch and it is time to set a first progress report. For the moment, I decided to focus on my AdMech. This New Year New Army project started in 2023 still need to be strengthened. My first pledge is therefore oriented i order to egt some supporting troops that were missing on the rooster. The pledged models are: 1 Admech Patrol box inc. 1 Manipulus (5pts), 3 Serberis (6 points), 10 Skitarii (10 points) and 5 Pteraxii (5 points) - total 26 points 1 Master of the Watch - total 5 points 1 Archeotechnologist (5 points), one Engineseer (5 points) and 1 Marshall (5 points) - total 15 points 10 Negavolt cultists as proxi Electropriests - total 10 points Admech scenery inc. 3 small machines (3 points), 2 big machines (4 points) and 1 generator (6 points) - total 13 points For a grand total of 69 points. Although I usually keep scenery as a "snack" between units, I decided, this time, to start with them. My time table is rather busy and I only managed saving some minutes everyday for hobby. As I treat these models mainly by dry brushing, the perfectly fit in my agandea. When Technicity meets time constraints... Without saying much, here are the first victims of my marginal contribution to this year contest: The sigil of Adeptus Mechanicus is watching you: I sticked to my usual scheme of bone gantries amd greyinsh structure, There is more metallic parts though on this model. More details bellow: The machineries are also from KT set - but these were Ebayed. Once agian I kept it simple and aligned with all myprevious stuff for Sectro Mechanicum: And that´s it for these few days. Next progress report will touch some of these new units. Only stuff I am sure of is how I will assemble the models: - Vanguards - Serberys raiders - and Pteraxii Sterylizors Except Vanguards, all these models will require that I adopt some variant for the paint scheme in order toa dadpt it to the specific features of the sculpts. Same will apply to the Negavolt cultist used as Electropriests proxies... But we will see this in a next instalement of this Blog.

... Or almost one year later, what is the status of my "legalizing" effort to adapt my armies to 10th? This used to be one of my first entries in this blog and I feel like it is worth setting a kind of progress report. Remember, last year, after launch of 10th, the state of my armies was more or less: - AdMech (New Year / New Army 2023) - to be redesigned. - Eldars - requiring a big refresh. - Death Watch, - claiming for love for the Veterans One year (or almost) later, what is the state of the revamp? Let´s start with AdMech - the easy part in fact. At the time I barely aligned 1 and a half patrol box. So "legalizing" was not really the most appropriate term, as, indeed, I could not even pretend that I was able fielding anything playable at the time. Now, the Army has grown in a rather, let´s admit it, significant manner. It is in its maturity time where adjunctions are more intents to diversify the tactical options than required investments. It is still a challenge to face these points drops (see balnce dataslates) every quarter, but in the end I can get a good and stable core at 2000 pts with nice posibilities for variations around. And more to come. Then the Aeldari. They haven´t had any love since 3rd Ed so, anyway, 10th did not bear any guilt into their derelict status... But , hey!, it is easier to borne the responsability on rules reedition, nope? Call to Arm 2023 put me on the way of "redemption" and I managed painting almost everything I had. Then I Ebayed some stuff to get legal Guardian squads and jetbike unit a full strenght. I added everything that was needed so far 2 Serpent platforms and 1 HW platform, plus the 2 bikes that were missing to reach 9 riders. Great, nope? Well, nope. Ebay being Ebay (or rather Bouargh being Bouargh (aka a compulsive buyer)) I bought more stuff. Another HW platform, just in case, as I still have enough legs and torsos for 1 or 2 additional guardians squads, another extra bike (converted into an Autarch), 2 warlocks, a D-cannon and an old ooP Spirit warrior, for a proxy wraithlord. Plus plastic kits for Rangers on foot and on bikes and more guardians. I don´t really know why for the latter. Most has gone to a rejuvenated Pile of Shame and will be involved, hopefully, in the resuming CtA 2024. Finally DW. I did not do anything there. The 2 boxes I would require to redesign the Vets squads are still at GW warehouses. For a good time, at least untill getting a new version of the 2024 Roadmap and entering in sheer FOMO panic... But "finally" was not a real final: I indeed forgot to include, last year, my armoured fist company of Astra Militarum (SW auxilliaries). Legalization was quite small here as it consisted into adding the 2 regimental advisors missing on the rooster (fly guy and blind guy). Ebayed too. It makes me think that I´ll need a command squad may be, and building this HW squad sitting at the bottom of my Pile of Shame ever since before COVID too... I was planning last year a very limited amount of investment, excluding AdMech. I went out of control. Litterally. Eldars saw an increase of some 800 pts, considering what I disclosed here, more stuff and even more if putting into the equation DE stuff affiliated to Ynnari that joined the frey. Astra Militarum also have a potential of 200 pts and something waiting to be converted from GSC sprues I grabbed by "accident" + recycling some of these AdMech bitz accumulated. I largely recomposed my Pile of Shame while on Feb 24 it was reduced to 6 wolves, two kitbashed Rhino and Land raider and 3 ooP Rhinos chassis only. All of these still remain to in the waiting zone of course... A "consolation" I have is that all of the stuff was obtained with discounts between 15 to 30%. Even considering Ebay and comparing what I paid vs. the charged price for equivalent stuff on GW webstore. Let´s say, in a more positive way, that I was preparing myself actively for the CtA 2024 event (without knowing it). So, see you there, for sure.

Hi Folks, It is not really a post resuming my last year´s "New Year New Army" series, but almost. My February vow for the 12 Months of Hobby Challenge came back in the dominions of the God Machine, focussing on 2 miniatures; a Mago Dominus, from a Boarding Patrol set a ooP Reaver Titan from EPIC 2nd Ed., or at least it was the edition available when I bought it And here are the happy painted ones: The Mago is as per my usual paint scheme for my Not-Stygies VIII force. I tooled it with volkite weapon and the blaster in order to amximize number of shots. The eradication ray was more of my taste for its unique character, very AdMechy, but in the end I decided to go optimized game play instead. The Titan machine was all of a challenge, mainly because choosing a paint scheme is not necesarily easy for such a miniature. You want it to have presence, be distinctive from your force, but neither otT. This antique mold does not present the armour plate partying that the recent mini may have, with segmmented area being defined by engraved aquillas of decorations. It is especilly tricky for the legs. I decided to keep it plain yellow there, without stipes or fancy details. The colours are largely inspired from models (4ok by FW) that can be found in Google. Time to think about next month´s entries. In between I will go back to my plodding along entry. I completed all the pillars from the Bheta-Decima set and primed the 2 platform sprues. This part of the challange is going to be complete sooner than I imagined. I am still trying some paint schmes for the Ryza pattern buildings and ruins. But this will be for another episode. See you soon.

Hi there. A small (or not so small as we talk of towering war machines) question regarding Freeblades and/or Knight of the Cog associated to other Imperium forces. How do you recommend selecting the Knight type and its tooling up? Do you foresee a Knight configurated to compensate some weaknesses of the army - for example a HtH oriented Knight into a gunline AdMech? Do you rather foresee a Knight configurated in order to amplify a strong feature of the army - for example a big firing platform supporting an Adeptus Militarum armoured fist company? Something else, like an odd configuration developped to work on its own and do its business independantly of the rest of your main force/cool factor/Unit with a specific purpose-preferred enemy type? I am planning to include a Knight in an AdMech army (or at least I was until I decided to wait and see how it would end up with the 10thEd rules...). I am really hesitating between something like a Warden (Case 1. with gauntler) vs. a Castellan (Case 2.). I see Errant (with missile pod) as a potential mid run between the two. Other option would be a Styrix based on the Category 3. (Others - cool factor, which is by the way how I designed my AdMech force so far). As I also own a qite significan First born SW force, any mutualization option could be great although non mandatory. But seen that I have almost 20k Pts I can literally tool up any game type wity these SW, from Heavy armoured to deep strike only force. So any type of combination would probably fit, even if I play rather Gunline with counter attack in general. Any opinion, clue or advise? Thanks

As the Call to Arms 2023 Challenge is getting close to its end, I will share here some family portraits of my contributions. In the Xenos Stronghold - running for Aeldari Forum - A Saim Hann War Host. Except the Wraithlord (Edit) and the red WS that have been painted prior to the Challenge but that I cannot leave away from their amtes, all the models have been painted in 2 distinct vows. Special note of the converted Venom, that is enlisted for Master of the Forge. Still in the Xenos Stronghold - running (as a proxi) for the Leagues of Votann Forum - a lone Squat trike Enlisted as a single and lonely vow In the Imperium Stronghold - running for Space Wolves SubForum - a column of Rhinos All belonging to 2 distinct vows In the Imperium Stronghold - running for Astra Militarum - some isolated SW auxilaries investing an abandoned outpost All belonging to 3 distinct vows And, finally, still in the Imperium Stronghold - running for Adeptus Mechanicus Forum - Part of an Extermination Maniple This vow was initially planned to be my main contribution to the Imperial Stronghold, but, because of shipping delays, it happened being the last one, the rest of the Imperial troops being the activated contingency plan. In total this represent a Grand Total of 201 Points: - Aeldari - 102 pts - Votann - 2 pts (but so far accounted as 2 extra points for Aeldari in the List of vows) - SW + Astra Militarum (as they are all included in SW vows) - 58 pts - AdMech - 39 pts Nota: Ruins and Scenery are inc. in the Imperium related vows.

A small and short update as the sand from the glasshour is slowly but surely flowing down. As of today, Sept 25th, all the Skitarii are painted, based and ready to be dispatched in their new units. Indeed this batch of 10 was meant to legalize my previous Rangers so that they may fit the new Index rules. To be understood as being closer to legality than they used to be in the past (No more pair of Transurannic arquebus in a single unit of 10, I am afraid). So I painted 2 plasma boyz and I will reorganize the diferent rangers in 2 units. Probably one on the march and one in firing position, at least in terms of majority of poses. This also makes me think that I will not use the numbers on the decals when time will come to set some. Only cogs and skulls, so that Rangers can be reorganized on demand. For example, if I want a datatether and a scanner in the same unit, as the lack of arms holding a single gun prevent you from doing it in all units: so its is not possible to get both options at the time unless getting as much rangers as vanguard units of converting some radguns with the spares left... As far as I am concerned I have prefered using a spare gun to do an Alpha pointing out a vengful finger and spending bitz in convertions, kitbashes and custom scenery during era of 9th Ed... So in terms of progress I have painted so far in my third vow: - Cawl - 10 pts - 2 Kastelans and their datasmith - 11 pts - 10 Rangers - 10 pts - one scrap pile - 2 pts Are still to be completed: - a second scrap pile - 2 pts - a proxy armoured container - 4 pts So 33oo39 pts completed. I guess it is achievable...

This week progress report will be the last one before the conclusive date of the Challenge. I am on the way of closing my third vow, even if the tick tocking of the count down is still present. Todays' issue was getting short of primer. By chance some other comitments led me close to a DIY store where I took the first can I found. It is enough to get the 2 remaining pieces of scenery painted. While it dries, I will focus on the Skitarii. So next (and last) week will probably be a quick and dirty scenery painting. The big achievement is that Cawl is done. A nightmarish model to paint even if it is worth the effort. The final result is not too bad. Or at least it is of the same level thant the rest of the Admech army of mine. Clearly I was afraid that this complex model would be too much for me and would end up being a kind of wart... But I am quite satisfied of the final result. In the background, you can guess the presence of the Rangers - bodies, back packs and heads done. weapons are WIP. Final assembly probably this WE. And as a desert, the pile of tires. What remains, beside of the 10 rangers, are therefore the Proxy container and a sand bag (large) barricade. ....tick-tock, tick-tock...

As a third vow in the Call to Arm 2023 Challenge - Imperium Stronghold, I pledge the following stuff for the Adeptus MEchanicus Sub Forum: - Cawl - 10 pts - 2 Kastellns - 2 x 3 pts - Their Datasmith - 5 pts - 1 unit of Skitarii - 10 x 1 pt - 2 Pieces of scenery/small scrap type - 2 x 2 pts -1 Piece of Scenery/Munitorum Container type - 4 pts Total: 39 pts It´s a lot for just 2 weeks left, but I will try it. Pure Glutony. I count on the fact that the Scenery and the Kastelans can be painted quite fast and that I already defined and developped the paint scheme on previous models earlier this year.

This is the place to discuss matters and post things pertaining to the Mechanicum and Dark Mechanicum as a whole, as well as a place to present Mechanicum units not intended to be limited to a single faction (i.e. Cognis, Abyssii) but rather for use by the Mechanicum as a whole, or specifically by loyalists or traitors

After waiting during some 44* days of anxiety, my order has been delivered ! Hurrah ! (Can you hear angels and sailors singing? Either for joy or booze) Well, in fact the FLGS decided to stop waiting for the pending item to be sent from GW warehouse to his store and proceeded to a partial shipment. So, my epic and entusiatic tone should be eventually lowered as only 50% of my order is now at home**. But what a 50%! a Whole Extermination Maniple forgotten since January on the shelves of the store and encountered by casuality on the FLGS website! I was (initially) planning it for a second vow in the 2023 Call to Arm Challenge (Imperium Stronghold), but I could not wait more time and fielded instead some old stuff that needed a full paint redo + some extra stuff and reforged bitz... It was last Tuesday. Until the situation evolved with this delivery*. So I have to boost up my WIP in order complete my second vow and then see if a third vow will be reasonably possible with this AdMech stuff... Or part of it. It is like walking on a tight rope as I usually paint up to one AdMech unit per week as a maximum... Pressure is growing up now... Will I dare the tentative? Will fate*** and destiny**** help me? You (and I too btw) will know it in a future entry. ... to be continued***** ... PS: the L in FLGS shall be understood as 350km away - Local and Global... * shame that I wasted 3 days to go and recover the parcel at the pick up point because the warning email ended up in my box, which makes that I technically COULD have been able fielding it as a second vow... If only.... ** I wonder how long it will take to GW to complete the FLGS order which include a Combat Patrol for me among a lot of other stuff for its other customers... Just by curiosity of course. *** under the form of 2 bank holidays in the next weeks of Sept. **** under the form of not being able to go anywhere because my van is at the mechanics for the next 10 days which leaves me free time for painting instead of hicking, going to the beach or any other sane outdoor activity. ***** as I have nothing to add for the moment

Hi Folks, It has been a while since I published in this blog. Not so long but longer than the weekly puvlishing rate I defined as a target of mine in January. Anyway, volume does not necesarilly means quality. And as far as quality is concerned, I am still struggling to raise the level of my contents... This blog´s purpose was to follow up the cleaning of my Pile of Shame. Yet it looks like tha, recently, the Pile grew up mopre than it shrinked down. Too much stuff bought here or there beyond the targets of strictly legalizing what remains to be painted. This boarding patrol for AdMech is one of the guilty investment I made earlier this year. Now, 3 months latter, it is fully painted. Here is the result: I decided to boost the HtH capabilities of my AdMechs adding these Breacher, Hoplites and Sicarians. SOme other pics with different angles allow seeing the different units better, even if most can be found in previous Blog entries, individually featured. The Hoplites are the last unit painted. They have been a kind of pain to build. Superglue looked like it did not glu anything except my fingers. But in the end it is rather OK, even if some poses for 1 or 2 minis are a little bit odd. But I did worse before, so, I am rather OK with these. I decided to revise the paint scheme for this unit -being a titan Legion associated unit, they bear their own livery, distinct from my Forgeworld. Cloak is black with red inetrnal aprt and armour darker and fully metallic. I can be eventually better appreciated there: That´s all for today folks. Next steps will be to come back to decluttering of my pile of shame: I bought on ebay some Warlocks and Platforms in order to compleet some old Guardians squads that were on sprues for more than 25 years. Platforms are done and the 20 guardians (10 Defenders and 10 Strom) will be my pledge for 12 Months of Hobby 2024 - April. Let´s see you later.

While looking for Eldar metal bits (see Call to Arms 2023 entries) I casualy encountered 4 bodies of old Necromunda Pit Slaves. They were probably coming from a swap I did years ago and I had forgotten these lads. But what to do with them??? Servitors! It is not that the unit itself ios really worth but at least it has character. So, as I was missing most arms, I refreshed these models´ extremities using spare bits from the Kataphron sprues. In order to stick to an AdMech flavour I set the Plasma culverins. Heavy bolters or Multimeltas are OK but I do not feel like they fit in the aesthetic of AdMech... Here is the result so far, prior to any painting (I decline responsability for the aspect of any prior painting): Plasmas were fitted on Breachers weapon blocks left (as I assemblied mine as Destroyers). The initial gluing was goofy so I added a HH SM back back to give volunme and equilibrate the whole stuff. Cannon fodder Servitors use the spares from the Techmarine´s servitors boxed set. The result is not worth of an art premium but they mostly fit their purpose, for not a single dime.