Forge World Obsidious

[Tyriks]

Not sure yet. There's tons of symbols used in alchemy, so I'm looking through them and tying to find some that would be easy to freehand, that look cool and that their meaning lines up at least somewhat with the army's goals.

[Tyriks]

I think this will be the icon for the Forge of the Forgotten Truth. It's corruption of a symbol used in later alchemy to represent mercury. I also toyed around with some based on the Greek letter psi, the modern symbol for psychology, but I couldn't even draw one on paper that looked good, so that meant trying to paint one was definitely out!

[Tyriks]

Progress has been slow due to holidays, but the Onager I've been recovering is starting to look okay, so I thought I'd put up some pics. I want to do some metallics and maybe some reds on the undercarriage to break up the monotony but I'm not sure what yet. Everything needs cleaned up, washed and highlighted, but it's looking just a little bit better every day. I also am really digging my scheme here on this. I think it looks menacing but also neat.

Side shot. I might change up the copper on the barrel, but I think the longer I leave it like that the more it grows on me.

Front shot to show off the ubiquitous stripe. That stripe really adds to the presentation of the onager, I think. The forge logo will go on there somewhere, but I'm not sure where yet. I'm thinking I'll put it on the front and the squad/unit markings on the sides or rear. After all, the enemy doesn't need to know that stuff, but the guys trailing behind will. I'm not sure if the forge logo will look good in red there (since I'll be free handing it I'm worried about it looking sloppy) so I might do it in silver instead. We'll see.

[Magos Takatus]

Progress has been slow due to holidays, but the Onager I've been recovering is starting to look okay, so I thought I'd put up some pics. I want to do some metallics and maybe some reds on the undercarriage to break up the monotony but I'm not sure what yet. Everything needs cleaned up, washed and highlighted, but it's looking just a little bit better every day. I also am really digging my scheme here on this. I think it looks menacing but also neat.

Side shot. I might change up the copper on the barrel, but I think the longer I leave it like that the more it grows on me.

Front shot to show off the ubiquitous stripe. That stripe really adds to the presentation of the onager, I think. The forge logo will go on there somewhere, but I'm not sure where yet. I'm thinking I'll put it on the front and the squad/unit markings on the sides or rear. After all, the enemy doesn't need to know that stuff, but the guys trailing behind will. I'm not sure if the forge logo will look good in red there (since I'll be free handing it I'm worried about it looking sloppy) so I might do it in silver instead. We'll see.

I like how bold your colour scheme looks on the Onager. I think your forge logo would look better in red because in silver it might be hard to see from some angles. Also, what do you mean about recovering your Onager? Was this one second hand? If so, I am sure the Omnissiah respects your decision to bring neglected machine spirits back to working order. :)

[Tyriks]

It wasn't secondhand, it was just one of the first models I built and the first model I painted, so I made a ton of mistakes (and used crappy paints and brushes) so it looked like crap (and the paint dried a vastly different color...). So I've just been correcting that and trying to get the old paint off due to very obvious brush strokes, and trying to recover some detail I lost from too much paint on it. You might be right about the silver logo, I'll have to see.

[Tyriks]

Tried free handing the logo on the onager... disaster.  I'll wait until I can pick up some transfer paper for my printer, haha!  Also, once I went to put it on, I realized the front of the cab doesn't really have a good spot for it unless I had it inside the red stripe, I think (if I put it on the other side it'll be hidden by the gun) so I could maybe try it in black there, or just try it on the side, maybe in white to make it pop a little more.  

 

Also thought through another aspect of my fluff.  Since they are all about the mind, I think they'll be more willing to let skitarii act of their own volition.  So, I think as they serve they will be periodically tested, to see how they function without overhead interference.  Those that do well will be given more of their own free will back in the future.  To signify this, I'll paint their helmets copper, but as they have more free will the helmet will have more silver on it to reflect that.  So a new recruit would have nothing but copper, an alpha or princeps will have fully silver helms.  Everyone else might have something in between.  

 

Further, they will view permanent loss of their mind (either going crazy or becoming a servitor) as a form of guaranteed damnation - no chance to achieve salvation/enlightenment/skitarii heaven.  Need to decide more what that looks like.  As a result, they hate their servitors, the way medieval priests would hate people who violated churches.  They view the mind as holy space, so doing something to lose that is a capital sin.  But becoming a Skitarii is voluntary (on the surface, they manipulate people into viewing it as their only choice) so it is a temporary relinquishing of it, not the same as destroying it.  So they would look at that the same way as a medieval priest would view tearing down a crumbling church to build a better one.  

[Vel'Cona]

Tried free handing the logo on the onager... disaster.  I'll wait until I can pick up some transfer paper for my printer, haha!  Also, once I went to put it on, I realized the front of the cab doesn't really have a good spot for it unless I had it inside the red stripe, I think (if I put it on the other side it'll be hidden by the gun) so I could maybe try it in black there, or just try it on the side, maybe in white to make it pop a little more.

 

You do need an extremely steady hand for this on most models.  I for one am a huge proponent of custom-made transfers, and they're really much easier to do than you'd imagine.  Recoloring them for your paint scheme is a snap, too.

[Magos Takatus]

 

Tried free handing the logo on the onager... disaster.  I'll wait until I can pick up some transfer paper for my printer, haha!  Also, once I went to put it on, I realized the front of the cab doesn't really have a good spot for it unless I had it inside the red stripe, I think (if I put it on the other side it'll be hidden by the gun) so I could maybe try it in black there, or just try it on the side, maybe in white to make it pop a little more.

 

You do need an extremely steady hand for this on most models.  I for one am a huge proponent of custom-made transfers, and they're really much easier to do than you'd imagine.  Recoloring them for your paint scheme is a snap, too.

 

I can vouch for this. I haven't tried printing my transfers myself because working with white transfers is a real pain. I asked Fallout Hobbies to print my Forge World markings for me and I was happy with what they did. Thankfully my design scaled fairly well for different sizes. You could fire off an email to them and see if it works for you. There's probably other good companies for decal commissions but I can only vouch for the one I tried. 

 

I used to paint the insignia for my Crimson Fists by hand and I think if I'd been more patient with with waterslide decals I would have got a more consistent result. 

[Tyriks]

Printing my own seems easy once you get the paper (from what I've seen on YouTube) so I'll have to give that a go!

 

RL has been a :cuss the past few weeks, so my armies have made no progress. But I have a few days off now, and the wife just surprised me with a Knight Warden kit, so it looks like I need to start working on a knight house sooner than expected! I've got the legs done so far (still not certain what loadout I want, and need to buy appropriately sized magnets). This model is honestly amazing to work on! Nothing too fiddly or complicated (yet, at least). Makes me want to build the whole house, haha!

Edited January 8, 2017 by Tyriks

[Battybattybats]

I used existing decals layering one atop another, and in the case of my Knight House cutting the yellow cog off the Krast decal. You have to seal each layer before doing the one before, and microsol is your friend for flattening the layers. I just posted a quick description on my signature thread as i'm doing the decals of my Rangers currently.

The alchemy symbol you plan to use is IIRC in the strips of archaic writing on the large mechanicus, skitarii and forgeworlds new mechanicum decal sheets, though likely not in the kind of numbers you need. Same with the greek letters.

From what i've heard the big difficulty with printing your own decals ios that printers rarely are able to print White.

[Magos Takatus]

 

From what i've heard the big difficulty with printing your own decals ios that printers rarely are able to print White.

Very true. It is possible to get white decal sheets but then you have to cut perfectly around every decal so I've not taken that option seriously.

 

I also agree with using Micro Set and Micro Sol. I have had better results with my Mechanicus army now I have started to use them.

[Tyriks]

As much as I wanted to just slap the Knight together and start painting it, I've made myself magnetize it. Once the glue dries I'll have chainsword, gauntlet and avenger done, melta can wait til tomorrow (I don't want to do it the hard way to get melta and reaper, so I choose melta. Seems way more versatile than having avenger and reaper). I bought 1/4" magnets, thinking my 3 sets of drill bits one would have to have one that size, but none did, so I used a 3/16 on one size and then slowly scraped the hole bigger with my hobby knife. That was stupidly tedious!

 

For Knight House fluff, is there any evidence of knight organizations beyond the household? Like do they have a registry of all the families or do they have conferences, stuff like that? Obviously Astartes chapters keep tabs on other chapters in some capacities, do knights do that, or would it be entirely situational? I guess I'm wondering if a knight pilot in, say, Terryn was badly disgraced, would Hawkshroud know?

[Vel'Cona]

I suppose it would depend on the level of disgrace.  I imagine if the Knight did something truly heinous (like swear himself to Chaos) they'd want to make it known to warn the rest of the Imperium, but there again if it's something truly shameful they'd also probably want to keep it a secret, especially from rival Knight Houses.

[Tyriks]

Alright, the Knight is progressing slowly now due to a lack of time on my part.  Hoping to get it painted more this afternoon (the skeleton is painted and washed, I think it needs a heavier wash and then brightening some of it pack up).  But I've been able to think of the Knight House more.

 

One of the worlds in the Obsidious system will have been a Knight world long ago, with the forges springing up to support them.  However, the house went extinct and the Knights were lost.  There have long been legends about the house, but nothing more (in fact it's been so long no one even knew which world in the system they had called home).  

 

So, maybe 2 or 3 hundred years ago, an expedition discovers a fallen Knight suit, long dormant, buried beneath a tide of dead greenskins.  They take it back to Obsidious in secret, repairing it and nurturing its machine spirit back to relative health.  They find a suitable pilot (a "long lost descendant and heir" of the extinct house) and triumphantly announce the rebirth of the knight house on Obsidious III's second moon.  They simultaneously buy some free blades off (with whatever was necessary) to join the knight house.  The magi involved thought they would have a pet Knight house, but the pilots have sworn off Forge World politics and are intent on proving to themselves and the galaxy that they are honorable and noble.  The current High King is the son of one of the free blades brought in, everyone else will be a grandson/daughter, and his guilt at their secret will lead him to push the house on to do great deeds to try to "earn" what they've been given.  

 

I'll post a WIP shot of the Knight later if I can!

[PaperBob]

For Knight House fluff, is there any evidence of knight organizations beyond the household?

 

I believe the Imperial Knight codex states that the human expansion during the Age of Technology has yet to be fully discovered (conveniently leaving room for player created houses and the like). At work currently so I can't look up what page that's from. You could create your own fluff about a small warp storm dying out and discovering a Knight world within the solar system. They could be in dire need of repairs and supplies and pledge their support to your Forge World upon discovery.

[Tyriks]

It's shameful how long it's been since I updated this...

 

When 8th dropped I did not like AdMech, and when the codex came out I was underwhelmed by it. But a friend wanted practice against a knight so I have been dusting them off and I'm pretty happy with what we have. I've been priming and basecoating a ton of stuff so I might have pics to post soon. I've played a few games so far, and a lot of my favorite units have gotten weaker, but I think overall we have way more flexibility nowadays. Onagers are also maybe my favorite unit in the game right now, haha. I honestly wish I had like 3 more to play with. My most recent game, I brought out my knight for the first time in 8th, and I feel like it is much easier to include one nowadays, though that might just be because Skitarii and cult are unified so we aren't getting so many "tax" units. I'm currently wrestling with how to move my AdMech forward. I have a lot of painting to do but most of my models have been through several paint jobs already, which I think makes me more hesitant to start painting. I am going to be adding models soon but I don't know what to focus on. Since everything is at least somewhat viable now it's so hard to pick!

[Tyriks]

I played a game this weekend. It was a ton of fun. I wanted to bring both my Knights, so I built a kind of goofy list around them I intended to refine before the game but then had no time for. So, my list was two Wardens, one with Thermal Cannon and one with RFBC. One had a stormspear pod but the other had ironhail or whatever. Then I had a Battalion with a Dominus and Enginseers, 5 squads of 5 naked rangers and one ten man plasma squad, then three neutron Onagers. Stygies dogma. I meant to move points around with the Onagers and maybe rangers but just never had time and forgot.

 

He brought marines, nothing too fancy. I think it was 3 tac squads in razors and a command squad in another razorback, 3 Dev squads with 3 las and one missile each, an assault squad with a fist, captain and lieutenant. Then Vulkan and melta devs in a drop pod. He got first turn.

 

So, we played ITC Version of the Scouring, where your deployment zones are quarters of the board. This lent itself well to castling up so that's what I did. Two knights dead center with priests there to heal, rangers spread out to prevent his deep strike, Onagers out of sight as much as possible. The ten man squad was infiltrating with stratagem.

 

Turn one he did almost nothing. I think he killed 3 rangers total out of two squads and put a wound or two on an Onager. Razors drove up and missed badly a lot, assault marines landed outside my lines to try to charge and start clearing rangers to bring in melta, failed the charge.

 

My turn one was brutal. Plasma squad came in. Onagers and Knights Wrecked 3 razors, wounded the 4th. The squads in them were almost all wounded. His assault marines lost a few to shooting. His Dev teams on the board all lost their extra bodies and I think one lost the missile launcher too. At this point we were both fairly certain he was going to lose badly.

 

Turn two he put some lascannon wounds on Iron Unvanquished, the RFBC Knight. He brought in the melta to attack an Onager that exposed itself to shoot on my turn, thinking if he waited until my bubble wrap was gone it would be too late to make a difference. That Onager blew up. Things still looked firmly under control for me.

 

My turn two is where I lost the game, I think. I got two "kill a unit" objectives which I swapped for kill 3 total. I wasted his melta devs, but rolled badly several times so it took too much firepower. This left Lux Augustum, the other knight, to kill two tac squads. There were three within reach, and statistically he should have killed all three, but my dice betrayed me. Since I had to declare shooting all at once I put Thermal Cannon and ironstorm into one squad and the avenger into another. The thermal cannon whiffed entirely and the ironstorm killed one I think, and on the charge Lux Augustum left a single survivor. I got no points and had exposed my Knights!

 

With his lascannons able to hit more, he ripped up Iron Unvanquished and some rangers, and another onager. The plasma squad got tied up by his hqs who worked their way through them over a few turns. He scored both objectives again, meaning it was 6-2.

 

My turn, I finished off a lot of his squads but it wasn't enough. I had little that could touch the lascannons left, and all those guns apparently too the day off. I conceded when Lux Augustum fell. It was a brutal game; he had a barely running razorback and two wounded Dev squads, I had a dominus, a wounded Onager and 7 rangers in 2 different squads. Tons of fun to play. I think this list could actually be somewhat competitive if I fixed it up, like swapping an Onager or two for kastelans to deep strike his lines instead of rangers. We both felt if I had done that he wouldn't have had those lascannons anymore. I also told him ahead of time I was bringing both Knights or he wouldn't have had so much anti armor. My own anti armor weapons were overkill and I could have swapped some rangers out for other units without losing bubble wrap. All in all though, really fun game, I definitely look forward to getting my knights on the table more now! I'm definitely liking our codex more and more.

[Clingy]

Sounds fun despite the loss. I brought my knight out to a game versus blood angels recently. It all went well until I realised I left a gap for deep strike. Suddenly his character went toe to toe with my Crusader and a 6w model shredded a 24w knight....RIP

 

Lol