Trans-Segmentum Sol station Artificer project log

[MagicHat]

Trans-Segmentum Sol station Artificers is an unusually large space station usually found lurking the edges of the Sol system, acting as a way-point for re-supply, repairs and rearming of Imperial Navy ships. Its engines are capable of small warp jumps, allowing it to, at least theoretically, relocate where its forges and armies are most needed. In practice, it will almost always appear decades, or even centuries after promising its help, whether civilian or military in nature.

 

 

The station is nominally under the command of Archmagos Johanna Bruksmästare, although much of the power is shared with a council of Magos, most prominently Magos Huskarl, belonging to a Reductor Ordo that have used the station as a permanent base of operations since the heresy.

 

Due to the usual tardiness of the station, it will either appear to a conflict already resolved and start to enact repairs and bring a planet back to working order, or to find a war locked in attrition and sieges. In battle, the armies of the Artificers will thus consist of 3 primary forces.

The most numerous of these are Skitarii Legion, made up mostly of Vanguards ready to support their more powerful allies in close quarters.

The second most common are the Thallax of the Ordo Reductor, and various other siege specialist from that Ordo.

Seldom appearing in numbers greater then three are the Knights of house Forge Kaisers. Though few in numbers, they are almost always deployed to battle.

 

In addition to the main armies, the Artificer can deploy other forces, such as armies of Kataphrons, or the fanatical murderers of the Myrmidon Ordo Burning Promise.

 

And that is the introduction. Every Ordo or Branch have their own colour traditions. Reductor is black and red with white trims, Skitarii are White with red trims and so on.

Right now, I am working on expanding/finishing Skitarii, Cult Mechanicus and my Fortifications.

In time (probably with the release of 40K rules for the Taghmata) I will finish my Thallax, Myrmidons and Tempestus Scions (Tech-thralls).

Bases is based on the Sector Imperialis basing kit.

 

The quick links to my posts in this thread:

 

Imperial Knight Paladin Nii.

Skitarii Rad Beta Arc

Skitarii Ranger Alpha Suranic

Ruststalker Alpha Claw

 

Currently working on:

Skitarii Rad Alpha Plasma

Edited April 3, 2016 by MagicHat

[MagicHat]

Imperial Knight Paladin Nii. First Knight bought, and still not finished. Still needs to work up the Carapace hatch and banners. Remember kids, transfers are for losers and quitters that want their models done quicker and looking better!

 

Here he is in all his stompy goodness, along with his faithful brother, Bob:

 

Next one is serious, I promise. Googly eyes are affixed with blu-tack, and obviously represents occular augmetics. Please don't hurt me.

 

Assembled from the front.

Knight Nii's shield shows a herring and a tree, alongside his family creed, "Just and Fair". The helmet was made from plasticard, green stuff, a CSM chainmail tabard and Dryad branches.

The base is was made from a Fantasy movement tray and the servitor with dice is the HP tracker made from an old GW special dice kit. At some point I wish to add a shrubbery and Sentinel Yeomen but that is still a far way off.

 

Disassembled

Regrettably, Nii was made before the Warden kit, so the arm magnetization leaves a lot to be desired. At the time, it was made for ease of transport.

 

Armless, other helmet, from the front.

Rather happy with the way the checker pattern turned out on the Knee. The face has magnets behind it so I can go with the helmets or bare without the magnets being visible.

 

The Cannon.

The cannon was altered with plasticard, greenstuff and 1mm beads so I could switch which arm had the cannon with no problem. I have never used the cannon on the left side however, so that was a complete waste of time...

Magnetized the pistons and put a metal piece in it so the weapon could be fully mobile.

 

The Chainsword.

Herring, Nii's reaper chainsword and favorite gardening tool.

 

Nothing to see in the next spoiler.

Nosey aren't cha

Edited December 3, 2017 by MagicHat

[MagicHat]

Skitarii Rad Beta Arc.

Has my Warlord, since i am still painting up my plasma squad.

 

Group picture!

 

Specialists of the squad.

 

The body shields and a Vengeance Weapon Battery.

The battery weapon is magnetized, but its brother and alternative weapons are not at home right now.

 

Omnispex trooper.

White robe, red inside and trim.

Blue weapon power sources and most of the cables.

Green lenses.

 

Warlord

The more red, the more important you are.

Warlord is all red with a white trim to show his significance. The other alpha are half red half white instead.

Edited December 3, 2017 by MagicHat

[MagicHat]

Skitarii Ranger Alpha Suranic

 

The whole squad.

 

Alpha and Troopers back.

Hate painting the backpacks. Who makes a leather case for a metal backpack in this style.

You can also see the difference in the trims here that I started doing midway through the squad. New style is longer cog teeth.

 

What does the R stand for?

No idea, I just thought it looked cool.

 

Sector Imperialis basing.

Really liked the way this turned out, using two parts of the Sector Imperialis, the head and hands holding a sword hilt.

Also, trooper Dissappointment 1.

2017 edit: Also, no longer a disappointment! They actually performs okay in 8th!

 

Trooper disappointment 2 and 3.

Used piano wire for the power cables on the ground.

Edited December 3, 2017 by MagicHat

[MagicHat]

Ruststalker Alpha Claw

 

Group picture

 

Alpha

Just realized I made the eyes blue when they should be green 

He have a blade instead of razor for cool factor. 2017 edit: And now that he can have blades, I should probably give him the other one as well.

 

Trooper

I liked the way the armour looks, but they are so hunched over that nobody see it

Edited December 3, 2017 by MagicHat

[HackedDuck]

Very nice!!!!! I love how they are based and how the alpha has more red on him, very fluffy. Brilliant paint job can't wait too see more

[Dread0]

Love the scheme on the Rangers with the reverse for the Alpha, they look great. Has Paladin Nii finished his quest to locate a Shrubbery?! 

[MagicHat]

I think you will like the plasma squad. As veterans, they have all earned the half red cloaks, but on the opposite side of the way my Alpha has it.

 

Very nice!!!!! I love how they are based and how the alpha has more red on him, very fluffy. Brilliant paint job can't wait too see more

 

My thanks. When GW stopped selling the Sector Imperialis I bought 7 kits from Wayland IIRC, as they are a really nice kit all things considered. 

Makes me wonder why they don't produce plastic bases though. The superglue occasionally fails my Skitarii and even though I have something like 80 bases left I would buy plastic if offered.

 

Love the scheme on the Rangers with the reverse for the Alpha, they look great. Has Paladin Nii finished his quest to locate a Shrubbery?! 

 

Alas, shrubberers are rare nowadays, and the crazy coconut people I sent have yet to return. 

When I made the model, I thought I could buy a shrubbery at a local model train shop that I remembered, but it turned out that they closed in around 2006.

At some point, I will get to it.

[Vel'Cona]

Great theme and I dig the paint scheme!  The basing really does tie the models together, but I think the whole force is gonna look awesome.  Speaking of, how about a group shot?

 

Also, who got tricked by the "empty spoiler"? 

[MagicHat]

Great theme and I dig the paint scheme!  The basing really does tie the models together, but I think the whole force is gonna look awesome.  Speaking of, how about a group shot?

 

Also, who got tricked by the "empty spoiler"? 

 

I will put up a groupshot, including my Scions and fortifications on thursday.

[Xisor]

Really gorgeous lot in here. Love the coats on the skitarii, a really striking scheme done brilliantly! Edited April 5, 2016 by Xisor

[MagicHat]

Took the following pictures at the club and thought that 3 lamps were enough light. It wasn't.

Ah well.

 

Tempestus Scions/Tech Thralls

with carapace, Rite of Pure Thought, Induction chargers.

Their colours are black as main and white trim. Very low in the Hierarchy. 

The medic have yellow, which I use for Lachrimallus aligned units.

Front of the squad.

So, when they were first released, I thought "Hey, add some robes and I can totally have Skitarii count as! YAY!"

Now I have 3 kits and real Skitarii are out with much better kits for cheaper per model. Don't regret it that much though, my greenstuff skills have become better and I will make it so I have 20 of them, primarily for Tech-thralls, maybe for Deathwatch: Overkill and maybe even as actual Scions, with Inquisitor. I like the kit, but I hate weapons that also have cables. Not as bad as Thallax I guess.

 

Tempestus Scions back.

As you can see, some of them have buttoned back their coats for ease of movement. Think it was a neat detail.

 

Tempestus close up on 2 of them.

 

December 2017 edit: Lost the fortification pictures.

 

Group picture

I am not good with a camera. Apologies.

Base defenders, with my Aegis. Poor Aegis, I haven't used it since I bought the Firestorm.

 

What is next?

Half the plasma squad is almost done. Just need to wash, base and highlight them. So, not really almost done. I also found my test painted Thallax and in a fit of creative frenzy rebuilt my Myrmidon grav lord for I think the fifth time. Don't really intend to put up any unfinished stuff in this thread (Except the Knight, the Aegis wall and the Vengeance of course, we don't talk about them) but the Lord is more kitbashed/converted and greenstuffed then most of my things so I will make an exception for him.

Edited December 3, 2017 by MagicHat

[Tiger9gamer]

How do you like the fortifications?

[MagicHat]

Haven't used the aegis with my skitarii, as much of the force scouts forth and the rest can usually get cover anyway.

Firestorm I don't think I have used with skitarii, but I will try one in a higher points game for keeping some kataphrons safe. We have some good mobile long range that could use los blockingas well, like onagers.

 

I have used at least one Vengeance in every game with the battlecannon, and it has almost always been worth it. 85 points is cheap for AV14 and a large blast s8 ap3.

I have used it to trick my opponent to deploy their AV14 across it, huge amounts of firepower have been absorbed by it and it has reaped a bloody tally on the enemy. Very pleased with it. I could probably do similar with a firestorm, but then I would feel compelled to add a void shield and the cost spirals away.

Best result: exploding a warboss' battlewagon T2, pinning the unit.

Worst: weapon destroyed T1 by 3 piranha. Sole surviving model in the army. (Frikkin broadsides and their missile macross mayhem)

[Vel'Cona]

Pretty rad looking group shot!  I really dig how the fortifications are scheme compliant with the infantry, making everything look super coherent (it's OCD-friendly!). 

 

Have you had a chance to take the whole fortress into combat yet?

[MagicHat]

Pretty rad looking group shot!  

 

Not really, I only have one squad of vanguards in the pictures. The Scions really feels the rad-ness standing behind them though.

 

My group usually frowns on bringing more then one fortification, and I generally only brings 2 detachments, so can't have all 3.

If I brought both my batteries and firestorm, I would have to use 2 quad las, and they always underwhelms me. 

Maybe when I have more rangers, I could bring 2 skitarii maniples with neutron laser onagers, CM with grav and arc kataphrons, all my fortifications and dare my opponent to come to me.

[MagicHat]

Yay, after 11 months I actually finished painting something.

Fascinating what working 12 hours shift in another city will do to your hobby time. Hopefully, I will get stuff done faster now.

 

So yeah, plasma squad. The Alpha in the earlier picture is meant to lead them.

The Alpha in this squad is a preview of what the third vanguard squad will look like, red armour and a single thick red line at the bottom of the cape.

The Alpha for the Arc squad is not done, because I forgot I was meant to make him. Whoops.

 

 

Half red capes for the regular members to signify they are the command squad. (Also, sneak peek of a Dominus and Lacryamaerta Techpriest)

 

The back, showing of their cape colours better.

 

The plasma guys. Despite using the same hands I think they ends up different enough thanks to the bodies and way their heads are facing.

 

So, coming next. Dominus and Onager first, since I already started painting them.

Probably Kataphron Destroyers after that, or terrain.

Edited December 3, 2017 by MagicHat

[MagicHat]

So, finished painting a Dominus, then realized that the base was not done and despite owning the resin and plastic Sector Imperialis kits, there is not a single 50 mm base. 

 

For shame GW. 

 

This is Venerable Enginseer Dominus Alan Vedav. Equipped with Eradication Ray and Phosphor Serpenta, he have mostly hanged out with Destroyers and occasionally the Start Collecting formation.

 

Front:

 

Left side:

 

Right side:

 

Regrets the Red Ink I used, made his cape shine to much. I could explain it with it containing metal I guess?

 

EDIT 2017 December: Well, he has a base now, but nothing special.

Edited December 3, 2017 by MagicHat

[Bjorn Firewalker]

Good job. I wonder if the fortifications' turret-mounted weapons can be fitted to the Knight's arms, or the Onager's turret?

[Battybattybats]

Regarding shiny cloak, a lot of novels describe the Mechanicus using rubberised robes!

Still if you want to reduce the shine you could give it a coat of Lahmian Medium. I use it to remove gloss from the protective coats i give decals. It takes a few thin coats to take all the shine off and sometimes there's kind-of tide-marks to even out, but as you can see from my signature thread it gets the job done.

[MagicHat]

Bjorn Firewalker, I can take some pictures at Saturday. 

 

Battybattybats, a nice reminder that I should go to the Forge more often, I have never seen your thread before!

[MagicHat]

Good job. I wonder if the fortifications' turret-mounted weapons can be fitted to the Knight's arms, or the Onager's turret?

 

December 2017 edit:

 

Had pictures of how modular the fortification weapons was, lost the pictures. Probably wont bother taking new ones.

Edited December 3, 2017 by MagicHat

[Bjorn Firewalker]

You did good jobs on the modular armament.

[MagicHat]

What, MagicHat is updating his pictures to a new hosting site AND POSTING NEW PICTURES!? TORILLE TAVATAAN!

 

"Kastelan robots are unthinking automata, only working within the programming of their currently inserted data-wafer. All levels of Cybernetica adepts knows this simple truth. All Cybernetica adepts also knows to be cautious when working with Alef-1. No other Kastelan can rack up kills as quickly or brutal. No other Kastelan has inflicted as much friendly fire or  happened to crush as many hapless servitors. When it powers down the targeting reticle is the last system that goes black.

Alef-2 is by comparison sluggish and rigid, allowing the accompanying Datasmiths to concentrate on not getting killed by Alef-1."

 

Group front. Working on a new base for Alef-1

 

Kastelan left side

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Kastelan right side. Unit marking is based on the Hebrew alphabet, the symbol "alef" being synonymous with "a". Thought it would tie them into the Golem story a bit.

 

Visor. Going for a taregting reticle on one side and a smiley face on the other. Kinda messed up Alef-2 a bit, but I like how Alef-1 turned out.

 

Datasmith. 

I must say, I regret not painting these earlier, such a nice kit. First I wanted to go wild with freehand, but then I remembered why my marines never progressed anywhere so this will do fine. They are getting cog teeth somewhere on the model though.

 

Onager Esel, front. I have magnetized Neutron, Icarus and Eradication Beamer, but haven't painted the latter. Base is being greenstuffed.

 

Esel side.

 

Esel Icarus

 

 

So, what is next?

I have an Enginseer that I haven't taken a photo of. Actually the first AdMech I painted, rebased him recently and have used him for battalions. 

The tournaments that our club attends are supposedly Highlander, so that is what people want to practice with. This means I need Kataphrons painted so I don't need to blue-tac them all the time.

So, sneak peak of what is coming next:

John Woo Kastelan, yeah!

Tried painting Destroyers, hated it. Will finish another group of Kastelan instead and put up a magnet tutorial for onager and Kastelan next.

[Bjorn Firewalker]

The Onagers look great, but why are the Kastelans half-bright red, half-jungle camouflage? Are you a Suicide Squad fan, and want to create a robotic equivalent of Two-Face as a Suicide Squad member?