Legion Rising

[Marshal Rohr]

Now that I'm more familiar with your background I can definitely see how you take a professional approach to these conversions and it really does pay off.

[Evil Eye]

Oh wow, that is neat. I do love that armature for the cannon; it gives it a distinct "real robot" feel, which contrasts nicely with the otherwise "dark super robot" aesthetic of Chaos war engines.

 

As for the hand weapons, I have a few ideas (in no particular order).

>A drill, be it an exaggerated conical drill (for piercing the heavens), a more realistic slim drill (perhaps made from an actual drill bit) or an upscaled version of the multi-bitted Siege Drills mounted on some Dreadnoughts (so more of an auger than a drill).

>A massive flail/demolition ball...thing, either one big head or multiple smaller heads.
>On that note, a kind of upscaled Power Scourge, with multiple prehensile mechandrites tipped with all manner of cutting equipment.

>If you were feeling adventurous, how about a big pile-driver doohickey? The arm could have a multi-fingered claw for grabbing onto a foe/victim, and once they were appropriately gripped, the spike would shoot out of the arm assembly and impale the poor sap, before retracting for the next victim. For a rough idea of what I'm thinking, here's a few pictures of a figure of Dai-Guard (a hilarious and wonderful anime, for the record) with its own piledriver weapon. Obviously yours would be somewhat more in proportion, but the concept is similar.

[Subtle Discord]

Thanks everyone, I'm having fun with this build and I'm glad people are enjoying it. I'm really liking the feedback I'm getting and it's giving me much food for thought. Not to discourage any suggestions, please feel free to offer an idea or three if you're so inclined, but in the end only one or two designs can happen, so it's going to be a hard call to make, and lots of great ideas will have to wait for another opportunity.

 

So, that said, because of the improved Initiative and Attacks of the Kytan (I see your Knight, and raise you a Knight Killer! *insert evil laugh*) I'm leaning more towards weapons that convey the idea of some speed, agility, and also working as a pair. I'm still not sure if the pair will match or be different, so I'm still exploring the ideas, as it were. While awesome ideas, flails, whips, and major grappling contraptions were considered, and I don't think I want to go that way; a little too slow and not the feel I'm going for. I was considering somewhat slim chainswords attached something like 'punch daggers' and giving them a scissor-like configuration; a little like this - |V|. The outside edges running up the forearm can be used defensively as well as offensively in a chopping/slicing action, while the blades can also stab/pierce. Plus, with a counter rotation on the chain blades it would grab and pull anything caught in the middle of the blades towards the center of the 'V', shearing it in two like a giant garden clipper. Or, at least, that's what I see in the still-a-14-year-old section of my brain that considers some of these ideas very carefully.

[JeffTibbetts]

 I've always liked the configuration of chainsaw teeth or saws combined with crushing elements, a la Ork saws with little 'thumbs' or the many Khorne weapons with chain teeth on articulated fingers or pincers. I think that's exactly what you're going for, and I'm confident you'll be able to give a non-Khorne spin and become something unique. I love the idea of an implement that not only grinds, but crushes as it's grinding. It's the ultimate in over the top destruction, IMO. 

 

It goes without saying the new shoulder arm is much better than the original. The only minor thing I'd tweak is to remove the lower set of 'c' shaped tubes that match the upper ones. They look a little silly being upside down, as gravity should at least cause a little sag. That, and since they exit and enter the same casing they seem to serve little function other than adding a bit of detail, which your design no longer needs. 

 

Really love the optics on the helmet and I don't think the positioning is problematic at all. Elements like that harken strongly to Mechanicum as opposed to the always-brutal-and-rugged Chaos stuff, so I think it's a simple nod to the creators' mindset.

[Subtle Discord]

Now, a brief moment of procrastination, by Subtle Discord. Ongoing iterations and experimentation with options for the Mechanicus Militia that will fill the ranks of my future Renegades Platoons. My new muse is proving very hard to ignore; spring can’t get here fast enough. Must… build... more… models! I’ve got a serious itch to take my new Mechanicus infatuation in a few directions. For now, I want to explore some solutions that I can use to easily produce large numbers of Renegades with ranged weapons.

 

Left – My original idea; bash Autoguns from various sources. Right – A new idea; bash some more of the Skitarii kit into the build.

 

With the release of the new Genestealer Neophyte Hybrid kits there should be no problem getting Autoguns to bash into these squads; which is good, because harvesting them from the Chaos Cultists is not an ideal source. Cleanly removing the Lasgun from the right arm of the IG model is also a bit of a pain, but I really want to use something other than Lasguns, to give them a unique look. I like the mass-produced utilitarian result that the Autogun gives, buuuut…

 

… the Skitarii Vanguard/Rangers kit provides an interesting counts-as option that I didn’t consider at first. I’ll be using the Radium Carbines with the actual Skitarii models, so that leaves lots of the Galvanic Rifles in my bits box. After some test fits, I’m surprised how well many of the arms fit on a regular IG torso; even the sleeves don’t look too bad, given that they’re wearing a tunic under the Flak armour. I’ve taken a section out of the rifle to shorten it (All hail the power of Tamiya Extra Thin cement to do super clean joins and seams!) and the final result is really starting to grow on me. It takes the models in a different direction, being more elegant, and the extra detail isn’t a bad thing. Hummm… Decisions. Decisions.

 

Oh well, that’s all the time I have for now. More scraps and bits of ideas to come, until spring, when I can really get started on some projects! *Subtle’s eye begins to twitch a bit, a bit of froth forming in the corner of his mouth* Just five more months… 

Edited February 4 by Subtle Discord
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[cephalopod]

O.O Holy crap *Thumbs up*

[JeffTibbetts]

Hmmmmm. I do like the shortened rifle quite a bit. And the sleeves look decent as well. I think the three-fingered augmetics might look a bit out of place, though. There aren't too many arms with actual human hands in the kits, but I'm not even sure if this is a real concern for you. I think they both look fine, to be honest. 

 

I also know how much you like a unique force, though, and I've seen just a couple too many guard/skitarii bashes. I'm eager to see what you could do with the 'Stealer cults, personally, as they have utilitarian and civilian written all over them. Frankly, I mix of all three would probably be mind-blowing. I wonder how just mixing the cults with the skeets would look, leaving out the militarium altogether... Hmmm... 

[Teetengee]

So, why not a giant impaler for one of the kytan weapons. It could represent the extra initiative because the target is getting pulled into combat before they expected to be. It would also match up well with a big chain sword type thing for slashing, or a stabby faster type device, or even a flail/net type thing for a sort of spear/net feel.

Just thoughts.

[Marshal Rohr]

I personally use the shortened galvanic rifles as lasrifle analogies for my gryphonne tech guard militia. It's a great look.

[Subtle Discord]

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++ Modulating…
++ Re-scanning…
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++ Signal Detect…
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++ Comm-Link Authenticated…
++ Decrypting…
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++ Primary Explorator Mission ++ Planned Duration: 1,826.25 standard cycles ++ On Schedule ++
++ Hard Data Harvest Complete ++ Acquisition of information, skill, experience… Successful ++
++ Resistance Encountered - Moderate ++ Combat Asset Casualties - Within Parameters ++
++ Discovery + Experimentation + Iteration + Simulation ++ Construct Template… Repaired ++
++ Return Protocol Active ++ Estimated Transit Duration: 104.1 standard cycles ++ On Schedule ++
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++ Message Repeat ++
++ Return Protocol Active ++ Estimated Transit Duration: 104.1 standard cycles ++ On Schedule ++
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Final semester of the final year, with ~12 weeks remaining. Still much to finish (finally!) followed by so much to start to figure out. But, things are about to get... interesting. I've got so many ideas bouncing around in my head, it's almost giving me a nosebleed, but I must... remain... focused!  I can see the end, now for the final sprint. As always, so much more, starting soon... and this time I mean soon! *Subtle's eye begins to twitch, and a bit of froth starts to form in his mouth, as he starts to shake a little* I'm one part excited and one part petrified; is that a good thing? [/size]

Edited February 4 by Subtle Discord
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[JeffTibbetts]

You beautiful man, you. I love everything about this post. You also changed up your Avatar image for once! Those kitbashes are fantastic, and I'm glad to see you've fully embraced the Dark Mechanicus. 

 

Oh my god, I just saw the way you replaced the cultists' icons. Your updates are always awesome, dude. 
 

Hang in there and get 'dat degree so you can rejoin us in earnest. 

[Augustus b'Raass]

Oh man, that post is amazing. First off: congrats on the educational progress! Second: those Dark Mechanicus  dudes look absolutely fantastic. Your very subtle kitbashes and alterations really make them seem pristine as kitbashes go, but suitable distorted in their mechanical representation. They're almost Borg-like. Resistance truly is futile when it comes to this thread. :tu:

[Subtle Discord]

Since I forgot to add the pictures of my kit-bashed counts-as Rogue Psykers for my R&H Dark Mechanicus to Legion Rising, and I’m looking for an excuse to procrastinate a little…

After playing with the Electro-Priest kit some I came up with three combinations of Fulgurite and Corpuscarii arms that I think actually work quite well.
 
A few of the hands need a bit of file work to shape them some, but nothing really serious. Either of the ‘dynamo backpacks’ can line up the cables that lead to the gloves with just a bit of modification. I also shortened the staves-made-maces a bit to give them a better proportion. Finally, the Ruststalker heads simply work better with the concept in my mind and they were easy to add; they only needed a small shim of plastic to get them in to good position. A straightforward but effective kit-bash.
 

Astounding psychic powers! Amaze your friends! Curse your enemies! **Some side effects may include dry mouth, loss of appetite, nosebleeds, daemonic possession, and agonizing death.
 
With daemonic possession a regular occupational hazard I’ll need some models to represent the outcome. I wasn’t sure how I was going to pull it off until I saw the Revenants. With a little bit of file work to remove the leaf elements and a bit of green stuff to fill any undesirable details and I think they’ll do well to represent a demonic entity tearing in to reality through a tasty mortal host. I’m going to try and keep a bit of the tech, mangled and destroyed, and graft the Revenant from the waste up; as seen in the quick Photoshop cut-and-paste.
 
Ten weeks, and the hobby sabbatical can finally start. More more to come. I can't wait to start building and painting with less constraints again.
 
01001110 01000101 01010100 01000011 01001111 01001101 01001101 00100011 00110001 00111010 01001100 01001111

Edited February 4 by Subtle Discord
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[Vairocanum]

Excellent work on the rogue psykers, but the daemonic possession models are just WOW. Amazing idea, looking forward to seeing the completed version!

[Augustus b'Raass]

"NETCOMM#1:LO" ?? I don't get it.

 

Nice kitbashes!

01110111 01101000 01100001 01110100 00100000 01100001 01110010 01100101 00100000 01111001 01101111 01110101 00100000 01110101 01110011 01101001 01101110 01100111 00100000 01100010 01101001 01101110 01100001 01110010 01111001 00100000 01100110 01101111 01110010 00100000 01100001 01101110 01111001 01110111 01100001 01111001 00111111 

[The Traitor]

Amazing work on this, using Revenants for daemonic possessions is an awesome idea!!! Also the sicarian head totally works with the electro priest body, they look suitably grimdark now!

[Subtle Discord]

"NETCOMM#1:LO" ?? I don't get it.

 

Nice kitbashes!

01110111 01101000 01100001 01110100 00100000 01100001 01110010 01100101 00100000 01111001 01101111 01110101 00100000 01110101 01110011 01101001 01101110 01100111 00100000 01100010 01101001 01101110 01100001 01110010 01111001 00100000 01100110 01101111 01110010 00100000 01100001 01101110 01111001 01110111 01100001 01111001 00111111 

 

It's a vague reference to the first message ever sent on the internet October 29, 1969.

 

"UCLA student Charley Kline attempts to transmit the text “login” to a computer at the Stanford Research Institute over the first link on the ARPANET, which was the precursor to the modern Internet. After the letters “l” and “o” are sent the system crashed, making the first message ever sent on the Internet “lo”. About an hour later, after recovering from the crash, the full text of “login” is successfully sent." (Cited Source)

 

I see now that I guess it should actually be 'lo' and not 'LO' to be more accurate. For my purposes, I'm considering making it an element to the background and/or name of my Mechanicus. I could easily see something like that, tossed 30,000 years into the future 40k universe, being considered a sacred first word of the Omnissiah and revered in some way. The binary was just to tie it to Mechanicus in some other way.

 

Thanks as always to everyone for the feedback and those who just quietly lurk; sooo much more to come! With college ending just as GW seems to be making a bit of a paradine shift, I can't wait to get back to building, bashing, and painting. Sooo hard not to be distracted.

[Augustus b'Raass]

WOW! Now it makes so much sense. That is so cool! Thanks for taking the time to share this. Isn't it fitting that the first word ever communicated on the internet is Lo? :D

[Subtle Discord]

Hello. My (nic) name is Subtle Discord... and I have an addiction... to plastic.

 

While I have dabbled in ABS and pure Acrylic (I prefer my Acrylic in liquid paint form), I have become a Polyholic, with my plastics of choice being Polystyrene and Polyurethane. I started in my early teens not even considering it could never happen to me, and I've kicked the habit a few times over the years, but it always returned. As I observe my current plastic hoard grow more elaborate and extensive then ever, I see now that this time the condition is here for good.

 

So, while I'm now comfortable with my addiction and have come to accept and embrace it, I just wanted to provide fair warning that such a condition can develop. To illustrate, pictured below is just one of my 'stashes' of high quality Polystyrene, ready for my next several binges of scratch building. I suspect I'm going to need a good stockpile with some of the things I have planned, so this is just a portion of my preparations. *Insert maniacal laugh and mood lighting here*

 

After working with some of styrene rivets made by Tichy Train Group in 2016, I was so pleased with the ease-of-use and final results I invested in rounding out my selection.

 

I've tried to used micro-beads in the past to do round rivets, and I was completely frustrated by the process; it's just too difficult to get really clean consistent results, and with the huge number of rivets I can put in one build, it made the process all but useless for me. After using these Tichy rivets, I'll be hard pressed to consider another solution. They do have a tiny bit of flash, but I've found its so small that it simply melts away when the solvent is applied to the part.

 

They are easily worth the cost for the time savings from ease-of use, and results they give. Simply drill a tiny hole, cut a rivet free from the sprew, and use some tweezers to drop the post into the hole; touch it with a tiny bit of solvent glue, apply a tiny bit of pressure, and it will fuse into a perfect round rivet every time. The larger rivets are a bit too big at 28mm scale as actual rivets, but they make a good solution for optic lenses if you place them in a small tube/ring of plastic, and that's the main reason for me getting some that large.

 

The smaller ones (0.035" and lower) come in packs of 200, and larger one (0.04" and higher) all come in packs of 96. (Note: there are additional 'odd' sizes in the full line, between the sizes pictured in detail.) Large projects can quickly use large numbers of rivets, so naturally mileage may vary; but if you're scratch building is more modest in scale, a small investment can last a long time and make adding rivet details to something an easy endeavor, instead of something that might be a daunting challenge.

 

Ok, *sigh* ... that's enough procrastination for me. Back to work. Just 9 more weeks until my freedom from higher learning, and I'm practically climbing the walls in anticipation. So soon. So very soon... *Insert ominous music here*

Edited February 4 by Subtle Discord
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[KBA]

Awesome work on your Dark Mechanicum. The adage of the best conversion work looking like it's not conversion work holds true here -- especially with your Feb 4th post. Also, very clever homage to the 69' lo. So, so, SO fluffy!

[Augustus b'Raass]

What a.... riveting update!

 

Edited February 12, 2017 by Augustus b'Raass

[Eldrick Shadowblade]

::tappinf on foot, Looking at watch:: Spring is coming....looking forward to a restock!

[Subtle Discord]

Trust that there is nobody who wants to get back at it, and get things really started, then myself. *Shakes his magic 8-ball* "Look to May for what you seek." But in the mean time...

 

Another small entry in my Dark Mechanicus project arriving soon. Spare bits made useful; the Auto-Cannon Heavy Weapon Team.

Edited February 4 by Subtle Discord
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[Eldrick Shadowblade]

Trust me, I finished my Ph.D. , too and know how much work it takes. I'm just ready to fund your next project! ; ) Very cool mechanicus figures btw.

[Subtle Discord]

I can't even imagine what a Ph.D. must be like. I'm just trying to get a Bachelors, that the professors are happy to inform us is actually closer to a Master's in the work required, and I'm starting to wear quite thin. After five years, I'm quite happy to finally be finishing. It's been very rewarding and fulfilling, but I'm done.

 

With a tiny window of time available, I took a brief moment to procrastinate and explore an idea I had to make some Heavy Weapon Teams for my Dark Mechanicus themed Renegades & Heretics. I had first thought of using the Cadian Heavy Weapon kit with my obligatory Skitarii backpack and head-swap; I was considering ways I could modify or replace the weapons to make them more Mechanicus, but the idea was falling a bit flat with me.

However, as my modest IA:13 Dark Mechanicus project has since grown to include a collection built from the Skitarii and Cult Mechanicus codices, this little idea quickly took form. I have an affinity for the Ironstrider models, and plan to build some Dragoons to start; in an army with so many wonderfully exotic ranged weapon options, equipping them with Auto-Cannons or Las-Cannons seems a bit underwhelming. I get the mobility of the weapon platform, but it still doesn’t resonate with me like Dragoons with their Taser Lances. And since the model doesn’t lend itself to magnetization, I’m left with these excellent weapon bits looking for a purpose.


The armour plate doesn’t play nice with the normal heavy weapon tripod, but I devised another idea with a few of the other bits.

Just a couple of tiny scratch-built parts was enough to create some connection points, and it’s as simple as that. For now it’s more of a proof-of-concept really; I like the solution, but I want to create something from scratch that is purpose built for the task and refines how all the parts come together.



It’s a wonderfully simple idea compared to some of the other concepts bouncing around inside my mind, so it’s kinda’ refreshing.

Naturally, Heavy Weapon Teams can’t take twin-linked Auto-Cannons, but the rule of cool always takes precedence. Considering how straight forward the solution is, this little kit-bash is all but impossible to pass it up. I can’t wait to have a closer look at some of the left over bits in some of the other Mechanicus kits, and see how they might prove useful.

Ok, with that small hobby itch scratched… a tiny bit… for now… I’m forced to return to other matters that require my attention. Thanks, as always, for reading. *Sigh* Soon my little plastic minions. Soon.

Edited February 4 by Subtle Discord
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