Emperor's Children, Raven Guard and Mechanicum WIP

[MorgothNL]

So, summer break is over, which means I've got time to paint again (backwards I know).

I'm mostly moving on with my RG, got the whole army assembled (except for the Raptor). I'll be starting with the infantry and then move on to the vehicles (cause I don't know what I want to do with them yet).

 

As a distraction I'm finishing the last bits of my current EC list. 

 

I've updated the Corax pic, I noticed he wasn't actually finished by a long shot, missing a lot of highlights and details.

Not sure what legion the dude he's killing will belong to yet. By the looks of it, it also seems like he might make a nice diorama with Fulgrim. Fulgrim jumping up while he's coming down. Don't have them both in the same place for a while, so I can't check that out.

 

http://i79.photobucket.com/albums/j146/MorgothNL/IMG_1099_zpswoqc7jnf.jpg

 

 

 

 

And I'll also be painting this guy for my EC. He was supposed to be a Champion, but with the new legion book and my changed listed because of that book, he'll be the Phoenix Guard Sergeant (since there is no good way of telling which one that is in the current squad).

 

http://i79.photobucket.com/albums/j146/MorgothNL/IMG_1034_zpss7y8ruh0.jpg

 

I'm working on my first Mor Deythan at the moment, trying to figure out the look of the cloak, which proves quite the struggle. The models are really nice, but the cloaks don't have so many folds/wrinkles, which makes it hard to shade/highlight, especially if you want them to be black-ish.

Edited January 17, 2019 by MorgothNL

[FoxTrot.]

Loving your RG, how did you paint their armour?

[MorgothNL]

Loving your RG, how did you paint their armour?

Thank you . I've spend quite some time looking for inspiration myself, and did more than a few test models to find I look that I liked. The black is hard to make nice, cause like others have said, it's good shades and highlights that make the best looking models so nice. Luckily I wanted to go for a gritty and damaged look (after reading the books about the droppod massacre.

 

The final look is actually quite simple compared to my other armies like EC:

-Black undercoat

-Drybrush of a very dark grey (I use "raven black" from badger, but GW Skavenblight Dinge is the same I think). I try and do a zenithal highlight like one would do with an airbrush, but use a brush instead.

The model does look quite grey after this, but that look will tone down once the details are painted and the edge highlights are done. In a few cases I give the model some black wash here and there if it's too grey.

- I go for all the metal parts, starting with Vallejo model air black metal (it's basically a black paint with metal chips) and then highlight this up using various metal shades up to P3 Radiant Platinum (I really like this paint for metals, it just looks a bit more realistic than normal silver colours). 

- For the white I just give it a basecoat of a normal white, then give it a brown wash. I then highlight it with Badger bone white and finally a pure white.

- The metal of the shoulder pads is a little bit different from the other metal. I start with the same black metal and then give it 2 layers of brown wash. When it's dry I use a small piece of sponge to apply some P3 Pig Iron (but any medium dark metal will do) and then a sponge of the P3 Radiant Platinum. The studs are highlighted with pure Radiant Platinum and the edges are highlighted with the same. The very subtle brown and the sponge highlighting just gives it that extra gritty look I was going for, and makes it look different from the other metals.

- All the black is fully edge highlighted with the same dark grey that was used for the initial drybrush. You could skip this step if you hate edge highlighting whole models, for you can only see this when looking at a model really up close.

- All the black is then edge highlighted with a light grey on the higher edges (I use Badger Base Grey). 

 

- The whole model is then carefully sponged with Radiant Platinum, paying attention to hit the parts that would see most damage more (hands, feet, elbows).

- These chippings are than given some depth using black and a sponge (this is where the drybrush of dark grey really helps. The parts that are now given black chippings, will look nice and gritty due to the highlight the dark grey seems to give it). You can use this black sponge to tone down areas of platinum where you where to excessive as well. I don't use the platinum on the white parts, just black chippings there.

 

- The weapons are done the same as the model, but I skip the dark grey edge highlight and give all the black edges the light grey edge highlight.

- The eyes are done with red, some glow with diluted red and a white highlight in the middle of the eye or top of the lens.

 

- The sergeants are given the red stripes on the helmet with red, brown and black wash, drybrushed red and edge red highlight.

 

I tend to use a lot of Badger airbrush series paint and vallejo model air, cause they are nice and thin.

 

Extra attention is given to the bases, some shell casings here and there and all kinds of marine bits and pieces really help to give the model that worn and battle feeling. 

 

Hope that helps

 

EDIT:

Updated the Corax pic in the previous post, I noticed he was missing a lot of detail and highlights so I finished him today.

Edited September 17, 2016 by MorgothNL

[MorgothNL]

Finished some more of my Raven Guard

 

I've magnetised the front antenna of the speeder, cause its too fragile otherwise, the bolter is also temporary until my multi melta's have arrived from FW :).

I still need to paint the 'headlight' of the speeder.

All weapons on the Mor Deythan are magnetised. This squad has 5 combi flamer + 2 meltagun, my 2nd squad will have 5 combi plasma and 2 plasma guns.

I'll probably be adding a 3th grav cannon rapier in once I've play-tested the army some more.

http://i79.photobucket.com/albums/j146/MorgothNL/FullSizeRender%209_zpsy1zycwt6.jpg

http://i79.photobucket.com/albums/j146/MorgothNL/FullSizeRender%2010_zpstab5fvfl.jpg

http://i79.photobucket.com/albums/j146/MorgothNL/FullSizeRender%205_zpsind3zkwg.jpg

http://i79.photobucket.com/albums/j146/MorgothNL/FullSizeRender%207_zps35txegtt.jpg

http://i79.photobucket.com/albums/j146/MorgothNL/FullSizeRender%206_zpszbkhjsxf.jpg

http://i79.photobucket.com/albums/j146/MorgothNL/FullSizeRender%208_zpsrfcylwsm.jpg

http://i79.photobucket.com/albums/j146/MorgothNL/FullSizeRender%204_zpsl4l2lvpu.jpg

Edited October 13, 2016 by MorgothNL

[Charlo]

Wow! Such awesome RG!

 

How did you do the weathering? Really makes the black pop :)

[MorgothNL]

Wow! Such awesome RG!

 

How did you do the weathering? Really makes the black pop

Thank you :), I'm quite happy with them myself. It's a whole different look than my Emperor's Children, much more realistic in my opinion. As soon as I have my RG done I'll go back over my EC to just some of the techniques I used on the RG, to make my EC a bit nicer too I think.

 

 

For a full description of the painting, read my post before these pics, but just talking about the black + weathering:

- Black undercoat

- Very dark grey drybrush (I use Badgers' Raven Black)

- Full edge highlight with a grey that is a bit lighter than the drybrush (I used badgers' Coal)

- Sharpest edges highlight with a light grey (I use Badgers' Base Grey)

 

- Weather with a small sponge first (I use P3 Radiant Platinum cause it's a nice metal color that isn't just straight silver)

- Paint some controlled scratches of Radiant Platinum

- Use a sponge to weather some black on the white emblems and on areas where the Radiant Platinum sponge was done too much

- Paint some controlled black underneath the platinum scratches and larger platinum chippings

- Use GW Typhus Corrosion technical paint on the feet/legs and some very small random patches here and there. (I still need to do this step for the RG in the previous pics).

 

- Look at the model and decide if you need some of the light grey highlights to be repainted (the black sponge might have eliminated the grey on some important sharp edges)

[foamy248]

These are absolutely phenomenal! The Raven Guard look really gritty and weathered, which definitely suits your Istvaan theme  Quick question though - how did you do the gold on the Emperor's Children? It looks really realistic, which I find is really hard to pull off using NMM...

 

Anywho, keep up the great work! 

[MorgothNL]

These are absolutely phenomenal! The Raven Guard look really gritty and weathered, which definitely suits your Istvaan theme  Quick question though - how did you do the gold on the Emperor's Children? It looks really realistic, which I find is really hard to pull off using NMM...

 

Anywho, keep up the great work! 

Thank you :). 

 

I should be reunited with my EC in a week, and then I'll redo some of the gold on the vehicles. Large flat surfaces don't lend themselves well for NMM, but that's no excuse for me putting the layering in the wrong angle at some surfaces, so I'll redo those and maybe try to find techniques to make the large surfaces look better. I've actually added some 'real' gold in the lightning model as you can see, and my dreadclaw also has some metal gold in it.

 

They way I do the gold that you see:

- Black undercoat

- Paint the area you want to be gold GW Mournfang Brown

- Layer up with GW Skrag Brown 

- Layer up with GW Deathclaw Brown

- Layer up with GW Tau Light Ochre

- Layer up with GW Bubonic Brown

- Large Edge Highlight with GW Bubonic Brown + GW Bleached Bone

- Sharp Edge Hiighlight with GW Bubonic Brown + White

 

 

With 'layer up' I mean that you basically paint the whole surface, but leave a small bit of the last colour still showing at the higher located areas (it looks better when you highlight NMM the opposite way as you normally would). It looks best when you blend in every layer with the previous layer. Something I'll redo on some of my models where the transition is to abrupt (this tends to happen when you paint too many models at the same time).

 

So when I'd have a rectangular surface in the vertical, the darkest brown would be on top, and the lighter colours are added on the way down, with the last edge highlights added on the very top, This gives a very abrupt contrast between the darkest and lightest colour, but that final step makes it look nice. Up until that final step, it often looks weird.

 

Hope that helps.

[MorgothNL]

Even though the EC are not completely done, for I still need to finish the Dreadclaw and 1 Rhino, and the RG are not done yet either, I've taken on a new project to mix things up.

I got hooked on Mechanicum, I wanted something different, and a smaller project than the other 2 armies. Even the 2500pts list I made, only has 20 models in it, so it doesn't require too much dedication.

Of course the models are much bigger and take a lot more time to paint, but that's ok. The RG and EC will be finished in due time, I just got tired of painting marines at the moment.

 

Some 'bad' pictures of the full army (3 vorax are missing from the group shot):

http://i79.photobucket.com/albums/j146/MorgothNL/IMG_1618_zpsis4qfspv.jpg

http://i79.photobucket.com/albums/j146/MorgothNL/IMG_1617_zpsfemkdxf7.jpg

 

And the first 'finished' model to try out the scheme and basing. I was going for a look similar to House Malinax, but not exactly that (for Malinax is a house of knights) and I wanted a Martian looking base to mix things up from my other armies and to provide contrast to the scheme. This model needs some details touched up etc, but it's 99% finished. I will do the details when the rest is done and I can see what's lacking (maybe I want to give some green/red colours to wires to make it pop more, or maybe I'll like the overall look).

http://i79.photobucket.com/albums/j146/MorgothNL/Screen%20Shot%202016-11-22%20at%2006.40.01_zps1ommiwbj.png

[MorgothNL]

Next up is the Thanatar and a Castellax. I might change the 'head' of the Castellax to the metal color, but I'm not sure yet.

Edit: and I just noticed I'm not quite done with that red light yet 

 

 

 

Edited September 27, 2019 by MorgothNL

[Reyner]

That scheme looks great, works well as a Forge World Xana scheme (where House Malinax get their colours!). 

[MorgothNL]

That scheme looks great, works well as a Forge World Xana scheme (where House Malinax get their colours!). 

Good to hear  . House Malinax was the inspiration for this scheme and the models painted by Mark Bedford were the reason I decided to go for a Mechanicum army next to my EC and RG.

 

However, after doing some research on said house, I figured that it was mostly a Knight house, and a whole army of non-knights couldn't rightly be called a Malinax list. That is why I derailed a bit from that scheme and decided to make a scheme that could be from that same world, but not belonging to House Malinax per se. I decided not to wait for the FW Malinax decals and just go for 'normal' mechanicum decals to avoid direct association with Malinax.

Yet, I'm glad you do associate the scheme with them for it was what I was closely aiming for :), and when the Malinax decals are released, I will most certainly add one or two knights in this scheme that will have the Malinax emblems. 

[MorgothNL]

I've been making quite good progress on my Raven Guard these last days. All the infantry, save 5 Recons, are finished. Just touching up on all the magnetised weapons.

I've painted the Multi Meta's for the javelin speeders and bought some additional units (3 Drop Pods, 1 Deathstorm Drop Pod, 1 Grav Rapier).

 

I'll post pictures of all the infantry when the weapon are finished, but I have to say, I'm really happy with the look. They look nice a gritty and spending a lot of time on all the bases really payed of in the end look of it all.

 

I've just finished my conversion of Alvarex Maun today. He is currently equipped with a magnetised MKIII armour Vox, but I've ordered the MKIV one and I'll be adding the recon vox antennas to it, so this one is temporarily. Unfortunately I didn't have to correct shoulder pad anymore, with the sensor balls, but FW will soonder or later release the real model anyways .

 

Hope you like my interpretation of Maun:

 

 

And some more example of bases that I've put my infantry on:

Edited September 27, 2019 by MorgothNL

[MorgothNL]

Played a small 500pts tournament last weekend, which gave me motivation to paint some more of my Mechanicum.

Still haven't gotten around to painting the weapons for my RG infantry (waiting for magnets and motivation)

 

I hope you like them:

 

 

Edited September 27, 2019 by MorgothNL

[Brother Pheidias]

Huge fan of the Vorax

[MorgothNL]

Huge fan of the Vorax

Yeah, they had to be in the army just for the coolness. The insect-like look is great.

Excitingly waiting for the Arlatax model. 

[MorgothNL]

I have a last 7th ed tournament coming up this weekend, so I decided to go with my Raven Guard.

These Mor Deythan will roll as scouts. I've taken off the magnetised combi-flamers they normally have, and magnetised and painted 4 sniper rifles, 1 combi-melta, 1 heavy bolter and the special RG sniper rifle Nihilus.

My Maun conversion will be my HQ (captain I think), wearing the armour of shadows.

 

Edit: before anyone comments on the load-out, the combi-melta will be the sergeant of a different unit. This unit has the veteran sergeant with Nihilus.

 

 

 

Edited September 27, 2019 by MorgothNL

[Kizzdougs]

They look fantastic, dude! :tu:

[Charlo]

Amazing as always! Beautifully war-torn.

[MorgothNL]

I've got a question for those who've seen most of the models in this topic:

I'm quite happy with my Mechanicum army, I haven't really played with the yet, but they are fun to paint cause they are so different from what I'm used to and it's a low model count, so I will slowly continue paint and expand this army. 

However, I also have my Raven Guard and Emperor's Children. I've played quite a lot of games with both, but I want to expand only one of these 2 armies. My preference seems to go out towards the Raven Guard because they are loyalist, I like the weathering and gritty painting and I like the fluff. However, they are a black armoured legion and therefore I'm afraid most will find them very dull/boring.

 

I am happy with my EC army, but they are a &%$ to paint and I personally think they look too clean. I'm expecting that most of the future EC models (if any) will have deamonish looks, which I don't like. And then there is the fact that my current EC 30k army is very hard to field as wysiwyg in 40k rules, but the RG are perfect for this. 

 

The reason I'm telling this, is because I would really like to participate in tournaments when 8th comes out, and I would like to bring the army that would be most appreciated for it's painted quality besides it's play-style. I know the effort I've put in both armies, and I think the RG are better painted than the EC, but I'm wondering if other people would agree. I'm afraid the Purple vs Black makes people favour the EC.

 

Sooo, if I could get some votes on which army looks better (EC or RG), and some comments on my thoughts on the subject, that would be very nice!

 

 

Anyways, finished another Raven Guard model. This guy will be whatever I need him to be in 30k/40k.

I seemed to have misplaced the additional parchment thingies that he came with, but I'll add those when they surface 

 

Edited September 27, 2019 by MorgothNL

[Arminius_Warbringer]

I would love to see the pics of your RG . Is there any way you could post some of the pics you have on a site other than photobucket? I cannot get the image to load.

[MorgothNL]

I would love to see the pics of your RG . Is there any way you could post some of the pics you have on a site other than photobucket? I cannot get the image to load.

 

Photobucket has 'fixed' it themselves now 

[Charlo]

Having a quick scan through the thread, both armies are obviously beautiful!

 

The EC are wonderfully clean, detailed & in your face whereas the techniques on the RG are a little more subtle.

 

Purely in my own opinion, I prefer the RGs grittier look and it's very impressive seeing GOOD weathering on black armour.

[Pearson73]

Damn those Ravens look the business, great weathering.

 

The Mor Deythan are cracking, especially the one with the Anvil rifle.

[MorgothNL]

Painted up some new guys for the Children, preparing for a 1500pts infantry tourney coming up.

Edited September 27, 2019 by MorgothNL