Knights of House Cydonia, Taghmata Omnissiah and Skitarii

[GhostMalone]

Ha! Mate I get distracted so easily with my ADHD so I'll be fine for a long gives me time to inspect every inch of your Army

[Battybattybats]

Well finally my opponents managed to take down Quod Erat Demonstrandum in a game. Deathwing Knights were the ones to do the job. I lost the game by 1 victory point and it was quite a bit of fun.

I was asked ages back what my list was, but back then i'd barely started working one out well this is the one i've used for the last 3 or 4 games.
* Archmagos, Macrotek, Paragon Blade, Machinator Array, Melta Gun, Abeyant
* 3 Thallax, 2 chainblades, 1 mulitimelta
* 3 Thallax, 2 chainblades, 1 photon thruster
* 1 Castellax, 2 flamers
* 1 Techpriest, Enginseer Techno-Arcana, Cortex Controller, 4 servo-automata, 2 heavy bolters, 2 servo arms
* Knight Paladin Quod Erat Demonstrandum

1490 points

The Techpriest Auxila follow the Castellax repairing it and providing fire support, the Archmagos does the same for the Knight when the Knight is sensible enough to let it. (I like to play my units 'in character' so the Knight has a tendency to charge forward recklessly at times, which definitely contributed to the defeat this time)

Now that 1 Knight has been shown to be able to be stopped i'll be working to get the Errant The Betrayed ready for the table with the Styrix following on. Though i do need to finish those Servitors and my Archmagos too.

[Battybattybats]

And the coming up leak from the next white dwarf is in binary....
Well clearly i will have a new codex to add to the lists i already have and even more unfinished models.. oh and there will be spare parts in dual-kits! they may help me with the Styrix interior. Oh this is all sorts of exciting!

No major progress, had some very busy weeks so just done a little basic paint on the pilot of The Betrayed and a little sub-assembly of the Knight. Nothing worth showing yet. Still searching for the bits required for my Styrix interior, so far no luck on the right sized clear tube or container, so i'm contemplating more just cramped machinery but i haven't dropped the possibility of a tank entirely yet. I'm pondering ideas, it'll be a slow piece of work but i want to get it right.

[JeffTibbetts]

Yeah, all this talk of a 40K Skitarii army just makes me excited to see what you do with the kits. ;) I wouldn't mind picking some up, but I really need to finish my marines. I can rest assured that I'll get to watch you build a new army, though, and I don't even have to spend my own money! 

[Battybattybats]

I hope they are good, but unless utterly woeful i'll get some anyway. I do hope they have stuck with Mars-pattern style curved armour plates and not the boxy style

The rumoured walkers certainly are exciting prospects. My progress will be slow of course, i still have lots of pieces i need to finish and I'll get all distracted by shiny things. That and i'll try and get the limited edition codex if there is one and that will mean taking a little longer to afford the kits (assuming i manage to get one in the nanosecond before they sell out!). But as long as you are patient i should end up with a pretty cool force before too long :)

[depthcharge12]

Toowoomba...is that like Chumbawumba?! :P

 

Beautiful stuff as always! Are you planning to get the Scyllax automata soon?

[Battybattybats]

Yes as soon as i can afford to i'll definitely get the Scyllax and i've been wanting the Vorax too (and the Secutors!). But that will depend on when they hit Forgeworld's stores as there's no events here for me to get them from early (alas Gamesday Sydney, you are fondly remembered), as well as how long it'll take to recover financially from the Skitarii release and of course the pesky $AU to pound exchange rate.

Some of them may not end up always on my table though, as i do need to keep my model-count low in games because of my CFS. So i'll likely make several themed variant lists. I'm thinking the Vorax will end up in a kill-team sort of small force (especially after the Short Story 'Vorax' from Black Library), and perhaps taking the role of hunting hounds for The Betrayed when i run it without Quod Erat Demonstrandum and the Styrix.

The Scyllax are still a bit of a mystery, with just a few fragments about their roles coming from word of mouth from the weekender, but from the sounds of things they are radioactive troops, and the miniatures are too good not to get. I will need better ways to transport than just sitting in egg cartons though for all those long fragile mechadendrites!

[JeffTibbetts]

Maybe you should start doing the magnetic bases and putting them on metal sheets. They would be a real bear to pack in foam, from the looks of it.

[Bjorn Firewalker]

Well done.

[KBA]

And the coming up leak from the next white dwarf is in binary....

Well clearly i will have a new codex to add to the lists i already have and even more unfinished models.. oh and there will be spare parts in dual-kits! they may help me with the Styrix interior. Oh this is all sorts of exciting!

 

No major progress, had some very busy weeks so just done a little basic paint on the pilot of The Betrayed and a little sub-assembly of the Knight. Nothing worth showing yet. Still searching for the bits required for my Styrix interior, so far no luck on the right sized clear tube or container, so i'm contemplating more just cramped machinery but i haven't dropped the possibility of a tank entirely yet. I'm pondering ideas, it'll be a slow piece of work but i want to get it right.

 

Thought of you and this blog when I saw the binary WD stuff. Pumped to see what you can do with those kits! Love your mechanicum.

[Battybattybats]

Maybe you should start doing the magnetic bases and putting them on metal sheets. They would be a real bear to pack in foam, from the looks of it.

That is an idea worth considering. Currently i transport my knight on my lap when my friend picks me up to game, so i will need to do something about transport by the time i have a 2nd ready to use.

 

Well done.

Thanks :D

 

 

And the coming up leak from the next white dwarf is in binary....

Well clearly i will have a new codex to add to the lists i already have and even more unfinished models.. oh and there will be spare parts in dual-kits! they may help me with the Styrix interior. Oh this is all sorts of exciting!

 

No major progress, had some very busy weeks so just done a little basic paint on the pilot of The Betrayed and a little sub-assembly of the Knight. Nothing worth showing yet. Still searching for the bits required for my Styrix interior, so far no luck on the right sized clear tube or container, so i'm contemplating more just cramped machinery but i haven't dropped the possibility of a tank entirely yet. I'm pondering ideas, it'll be a slow piece of work but i want to get it right.

 

Thought of you and this blog when I saw the binary WD stuff. Pumped to see what you can do with those kits! Love your mechanicum.

 

Thankyou. It really is exciting. I'm very keen for the background information to see what gets kept and what retconned to see how it will fit with my House Cydonia and Taghmata St Hoagland. If the Skitarii end up being a specifically Mars-controlled force rather than attached to each Forgeworld and Legio that will add one lot of narrative, and if they are Forgeworld Based it'll mean exploring St Hoagland much more whereas if Legio based then i will have to finally decide on the markings and name for St Hoagland's Titan Legion, that's been influenced by the culture of House Cydonia.

 

For the legio, which alas as i'm poor will likely only be represented by my ancient 1989 Adeptus Titanicus miniatures one day stripped and repainted though maybe one day a warhound in 40k scale, I'm thinking of having probably the same scheme as the House (which is almost the same as the original Fire Wasps but a darker red) and for the emblem i was thinking of the same cog halo but over the apex of a pyramid rather than a skull, to represent that they are the ultimate defence of the sacred pyramids and the forgeworld as well as being the apex of the man/machine interface and embodiment of the Omnissiah in the aspect of war.

 

I've decided that many of the Titan Crew are descendants of the Knightly houses of New Ares, from a special generation of larger families allowed at the founding of the Forgeworld specifically to create a stock of candidates already with the necessary neural architecture natural selection (and carefully managed bloodlines) had refined for high-demand MIU integration from which the Forgeworld could draw upon. And who took their arrogance, noblesse oblige and superstitious occultism with them.

 

Already i've put the Legio Titanicus emblem on Quod Erat Demonstrandum to show that it has served with the Legio, and while my old decals last i'll likely do so on the other Knights. After training on Mars (or on St Hoagland during part of the Heresy or times where Warp Storms impeded travel to Mars) and then a period battling the cybeasts that roam the deserts from the ancient sacred terraforming ship resting on the far side of New Ares looking for metal and flesh with which to keep the vessel maintained, the Knight pilots and Sacristans of House Cydonia will usually do a period of training and/or fighting circumstances depending with the Titan Legion of St Hoagland, keeping both united culturally, before being assigned in household groups to the Taghmata, to defence of the region and to Explorator Fleets.

 

Ah but what to name the Titan Order? That i have yet to decide.

 

So yeah, the Skitarii might need a whole new extension of narrative or build on one of the bits i've already thought up. So it will be interesting in that way as well as with models!

[Kongou]

reading your title, I was reminded of this.... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knights_of_Sidonia

[Battybattybats]

reading your title, I was reminded of this.... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knights_of_Sidonia

You aren't the first to mention that, but i'm yet to watch or read it. I should at some point though.

[Battybattybats]

And Scyllax are up for pre-order http://www.forgeworld.co.uk/New_Stuff/SCYLLAX_GUARDIAN_AUTOMATA_COVENANT.html
With experimental rules here: http://www.forgeworld.co.uk/Downloads/Product/PDF/S/scyllax.pdf
But with all appearances being that Skitarii are coming next Saturday i may have to wait on the Scyllax that little bit longer.

[Atia]

And Scyllax are up for pre-order http://www.forgeworld.co.uk/New_Stuff/SCYLLAX_GUARDIAN_AUTOMATA_COVENANT.html

With experimental rules here: http://www.forgeworld.co.uk/Downloads/Product/PDF/S/scyllax.pdf

But with all appearances being that Skitarii are coming next Saturday i may have to wait on the Scyllax that little bit longer.

tbh, i guess we will get a seperate FW skitarii list for them with tempest (like the legio cybernetica list), and the skyllax are awesome, you can't have enough automatas :P can't wait too see what you do with the skitarii and the onager though :P 

[Battybattybats]

 

And Scyllax are up for pre-order http://www.forgeworld.co.uk/New_Stuff/SCYLLAX_GUARDIAN_AUTOMATA_COVENANT.html

With experimental rules here: http://www.forgeworld.co.uk/Downloads/Product/PDF/S/scyllax.pdf

But with all appearances being that Skitarii are coming next Saturday i may have to wait on the Scyllax that little bit longer.

tbh, i guess we will get a seperate FW skitarii list for them with tempest (like the legio cybernetica list), and the skyllax are awesome, you can't have enough automatas can't wait too see what you do with the skitarii and the onager though

 

Thanks :D

I think you are right about the Heresy Skitarii, depending on how far the book is along and how much GW worked with FW on them. If not Tempest by the book following that i'm sure. I could even see them doing a preliminary skitarii conversion-list online.

 

As for the Skitarri and Onagar Dune Walker models I have no idea if i'll be plundering my bits box on them and going nuts with the tentacle maker (still haven't tried it out yet) or if they'll suit as-is, which is very exciting. I think i'll be in dire need of house raven decals to cut up for house cydonia emblems soon (especially as the Stryrix didn't come with any decals!) and if the Skitarii come from the titan legion of St Hoagland then i'll need to come up with their name and a way to make their emblem.... i'll be nervously checking the rumour sources a ton this week. My awesome local game store is already well prepared and i'll be at peak-anxiety trying to get a limited ed codex if there will be one.

 

Oh and today i bought a gw mixed-colour dice cube just so i had a red scatter dice to use with my mechanicus bombardment dice :)

[Battybattybats]

First pic leaks have kit of the Skitarii and the Onager Dune Walker.

http://www.bolterandchainsword.com/topic/302401-rumours-mechanicus-skitarii-vanguard-pictures-and-wd-leak/page-11?do=findComment&comment=3985041

I think the Skitarii look fantastic, much as i want to keep the model-count of my army low these i must buy.

The Onager at first dissapointed, i was imaging something much more outre especially when they have forcefield protection for armouring so i was imaging something more exposed and less tank-like. And the lack of banding on the body armour when it's on the legs looks a bit off. Still the design heritage relation to the Chaos Defiler of the Dark Mwchanicum is clear and it's steadily growing on me. With a few dreadnought scrolls, some purity seals etctera and a skull or two it could tie-in with my force i think.

[Battybattybats]

Well so much for my low model count!
Sydonian Dragoons... The Ironstrider.. the Rangers and Vanguard....
I'll need one of each for sure minimum.

I mean, how could i say no to a lance carrying Sydonian Dragoon?

[Kierdale]

Very much looking forward to seeing what you do with the new models!

[Battybattybats]

Also here's what i've been working on lately.

The pilot of The Betrayed, the most obstreperous of the Knights of House Cydonia with a glorious and tragic history smiting hereteks with a wrath both holy and personal.

http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f250/supreme_martian_overlord/DSCF0007_2.jpg

Shadows are done but highlights on the pilot are still to go as is the MIU cable.

http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f250/supreme_martian_overlord/DSCF0010_1.jpg

And the Knight itself?
Well i roughly sat what's built so far together to get a sense of the pose.

http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f250/supreme_martian_overlord/DSCF0015_1.jpg

Sword thrust forwards charging with gun held ready to fire seemed appropriate.

http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f250/supreme_martian_overlord/DSCF0016_1.jpg

I'm quite happy with the very extensive kill banner on the chainsword, a truly ancient machine like this (not that many components are still original) accrues a lot of honours.

http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f250/supreme_martian_overlord/DSCF0018_1.jpg

I got the banner when i got the parts for my Cydonian Sister Assassin, from the same Dark Elf set.

http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f250/supreme_martian_overlord/DSCF0019_2.jpg

As part of it's history and declaration of loyalty to the Imperial-siding Mechanicum... and personal tragedy, certain skulls replace the Imperial Eagle Head on half of the Knight... the sons of the Knight Pilot who had been training as a Knight and a Sacristan on Mars at the time of the Schism being amongst them.

I am re-using that part a bit, but the halo and eye could be a standard piece of equipment. I think i may remove the cables, but the Incense is there to help soothe the perpetually enraged spirit of the machine and it's vengeance-hungry ghosts.

http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f250/supreme_martian_overlord/DSCF0020_1.jpg

So that's The Betrayed at present.

[Battybattybats]

Some painting progress on my wounded Knight Pilot objective marker

http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f250/supreme_martian_overlord/DSCF0010_2.jpg

Still lots to do, his boots, his gun, weathering on the ruins and i'm thinking of blood soaked through the bandage too.

http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f250/supreme_martian_overlord/DSCF0008_1.jpg

I'm very happy with the 'heroically taking shelter' cinematic pose, not very practical but looks good from multiple angles like an objective marker should.

http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f250/supreme_martian_overlord/DSCF0005_1.jpg

[JeffTibbetts]

Very nice updates. That new knight is looking hot. I love the movement in that banner! I also dig the servo skulls, but I agree that it could lose the cables, depending on how it's going to be mounted. If it's floating but attached with a cable, I'd keep them. If hard mounted, lose them. I don't know why I associate them with, er... floatiness. But, I do.

[Battybattybats]

Thanks, i want to add a kill-banner for the melta too but i'll have to see if the part works ok with the other. I'll try and get another pic up soon. Cables on the skull are now chopped and it's now hard-mounted a little higher than in the pic. As it's not an accompanying servo-skull but rather made part of this machine by being part of it's decorations so definitely not meant to be floaty in this case. Putting your dead son's head onto your machine? Weird for us but makes perfect sense with vengeance in mind let alone the Mechanicus way of looking at things. :)

[deathspectersgt7]

Really Dig the Marker. 

[Battybattybats]

Alas the day is very overcast so these pics aren't so great.

First some update on the wounded knight pilot objective.

http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f250/supreme_martian_overlord/DSCF0015_2.jpg

He must have recently got that bandage on, or recently exacerbated the bleeding as the blood hasn't soaked through the strap of the sling yet.
Rust on the mesh grating and some on the interior walls are yet to do.

http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f250/supreme_martian_overlord/DSCF0006%202.jpg

While he is foolishly leaving his head exposed at least he has some cover and the wisdom of all that red is made clear.

http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f250/supreme_martian_overlord/DSCF0008%202.jpg

I'm quite happy with how the ruins have come out, though painting the rest of the manufactorum building this way will take a long time. (especially if i get several more and the streets for them to stand upon!).

http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f250/supreme_martian_overlord/DSCF0009%202.jpg

Ok so back to my Errant. I'm wondering if the melta kill-banner works.

http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f250/supreme_martian_overlord/DSCF0001_2.jpg

As the angle of the other banner is from movement not wind my brain is saying 'yeah it works' but i'm not entirely sure

http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f250/supreme_martian_overlord/DSCF0002_1.jpg