A Search for Knowledge: A Magos Malleus Paint Log

[BitsHammer]

I admit that I'm stepping on some fluff to create Magos Malleus as a thing, but I felt it was appropriate considering the army.

 

Some may know of this project from the Ad Mech section, but for those who don't, I'm working on Forge World Moon Deimos, the Ad Mech who support the Knights of Titan both through supplies, and sometimes in battle. This means they fight daemons regularly enough to make it a point to have Magos who likely specialize in such studies, hence the created title.

 

So the official artwork for Deimos is pretty limited, being just this guy:

http://wh40k.lexicanum.com/mediawiki/images/thumb/8/84/DeimosSkitarii.jpg/220px-DeimosSkitarii.jpg

 

And as we can see there isn't a lot to work off here, but after spending FAR too long studying this picture to try and work out my paint scheme I've nailed down some details: blue-grey coats (following a Space Wolves painting scheme for this, but test models will determine if I stray from it. I tried some flat grey schemes but it lacked something thus pushing into Russ Grey and Ferensian Grey) with off white linings, red armour and underclothes, copper metal accents, and dull silver for the more functional parts.

 

Pretty straight forward, though it does mean some more paint shopping is in order.

 

But I can't start a plog without some painting so here's a 95% completed Cawl (5% being the basing that I'm honestly probably never going to get around to doing since I'm not building a Mars army):

 

The way the colors wash out a little with my camera honestly annoys me but it's almost a decade old and only 10mpx so I'll take what I can get since it does an okay job at least.

 

 

I fully admit that I am more of a fan of subtle effects (that don't always carry over on my camera), so the cables aren't done with strong highlights, nor are the glowing bits going full OSL (I figure if he's outside, which is how I usually base my models, then he's likely competing with stronger light sources like the sun, so I keep a glow but don't take it to full OSL levels). Consider it a style choice to be a little more subdued I suppose.

 

So with Forge World Graia's rules (warlord trait to shoot while locked in combat, and the surviving death or fleeing on a 6) the obvious winners are Vanguard (who like getting close and will likely end up in combat anyways) and Electro-priests (who either like getting close or actually into melee, and turn into a horde of one wound tanks that get a 5++, a 5+ to ignore things that get past that and with Graia another 6+ to avoid wounds that get past that. Basically they're better at tanking wounds than most things in the game, and since they don't care about cover (6+ armour means they won't get better than a 5+ from cover) means they can be used more aggressively). Naturally everything benefits from a chance to not die on a 6, though the way it plays the army will definitely be leaning away from more static based shooting (though running some ranged shooting will still be a thing, it's not going to be a gunline focused army). Only many games will determine if being aggressive will actually pay off, but I look forward to seeing how many armies are properly grounded. ;)

 

That said, here's what is currently ready for paint (and has been washed with Nuln Oil yesterday evening):

 

Not seen are the Skitarii I'm currently building into sub-assemblies. 4 Rangers (1 Alpha with rifle, 1 Ranger with rifle, 1 Ranger with Omnispex, 1 Ranger with Arquebus) and 6 Vanguard (2 Alphas with rifles, 1 Plasma Vanguard, 1 Vanguard with Data Tether, 2 Vanguard with rifles).

 

I may make one of the rifle Vanguard into an Arc Rifle Vanguard since S6 shooting is still good, even if it's not good against vehicles, but I haven't fully committed to that yet. I'm a little hesitant to do it since that does mean 2-3 weapons that can't shoot while running up the board to get into position, but then again it's possible that they may turn out to be effective if I'm dealing with T3 models (wounding on 2s is always good) that I don't want to waste plasma on or light vehicles (Sentinels, Dark Eldar skimmer craft) that I don't want to use a Neutron Laser on in lieu of heavier targets. Basically I'm looking at them as kind of a middle ground weapon for the purposes of a TAC army, plus they look cool (which is always the most important thing, right?).

 

I'm going to try and update at least every few days at least, and with no idea how much will be added to this army (I'm currently thinking of being able to field a full sized unit of every option, but that might be a little much :P), especially with the rumored Mechanicus/Necron box game that may be coming (that is if it isn't just Mars rules).

[Bjorn Firewalker]

Cawl is well painted. How do you intend to decorate his base?

[BitsHammer]

Cawl is well painted. How do you intend to decorate his base?

I haven't decided. I'm avoiding Mars because that much red on red blends together too much. I'm kind of leaning towards either an Agrellan Earth:

or maybe something like Armageddon Dust:

 

For my regular army I'm leaning more towards something like Astrogranite Debris:

 

The last one is because it's fairly neutral and won't clash with either the cool blue-grey or darker reds I'm planning on using while also balancing with the brighter tops that the models will have (since the red armour will draw your attention more towards the top, darker bases will frame the lighter colors without pulling your attention directly to them). For rims I may go with Steel Legion Drab as I like that as a rim color.

[Bjorn Firewalker]

Astrogranite Debris may be best, to provide a sharp contrast between model and base, making Cawl distinguishable. (He's not camouflaged or trying to conceal himself, anyways.) Feel free to pose him on the different bases and rely on your own best judgment.

[BitsHammer]

Astrogranite Debris may be best, to provide a sharp contrast between model and base, making Cawl distinguishable. (He's not camouflaged or trying to conceal himself, anyways.) Feel free to pose him on the different bases and rely on your own best judgment.

The Debris may tie him into the rest of my army too, assuming I find a reason to run him other than taking robots and making people hate me for spamming Wrath of Mars. :P

[BitsHammer]

Still WiP, but I wanted to share my potato quality picture of my WIP Dominus and the color scheme. Probably need to do some color correction in post to fix future pictures so the highlights stand out better.

 

[Pearson73]

The red and gold look great on the Dominus, really rich.

[BitsHammer]

Thanks! It's actually Fulgurite Copper partially over Hashnut to try and get a shiny copper look, but I can see how it comes off as gold. I thought about giving it a wash to dull it down a little but honestly I feel like it looks just about right as is since it's an accent metal and not the main color. Plus it let the Dominus stand out just a little more on the table at a glance (since he'll have more copper than other models roughly his size).