My Necron Dynasty begins

[tvih]

Like so many others, ended up starting Necrons thanks to Indomitus. For now, I have just the contents from that box. I hope I don't end up regretting selling the necron half of the second box... at least looks-wise I already ended up thinking more skorpekhs would be nice. Oh well!

Anyway, painted my first necron mini, the first filthy non-ork xenos I've ever painted:



Alas, it seems that flash photography doesn't agree with this particular painting style so had to make do without. As you'd guess from looking at it, it's basically just black spray with leadbelcher drybrush. I figured it might give the "ancient and gritty killing machine" look a bit better than leadbelcher or silver spray that's then just washed over, but I'll probably make another test mini to compare. Sadly it seems I bought the tesseract glow paint for nothing, because I found it's just way too watery to work with for my liking, and I could've just as well just used moot green all the way to begin with (even the glow would've worked with moot green + contrast medium)... as it is, it's at least 90% moot green.

And I think I'll just go with the silvery sautekh for now, since I like the idea of 14" double-tap range for the gauss reapers, which I like the look of more than the flayers (though as per the discussion in the weapon thread, I'm keeping the weapons swappable). Easy enough to do a different coloring on top later if I want to. I did consider using some slightly color-altering wash/glaze on it to make the dynasty a bit more "custom", such as Reikland Fleshshade or even Guilliman Glaze (which would be risky if it runs out since it's no longer made), but undecided as of yet.

Finally, decided to try this new and quick basing style (with some rocks added for variance later on) for necrons, it's basically just Agrellan Badland painted black and drybrushed gray. Works decently even if the result is quite monochromatic now given the necron's similar coloration. I originally intended to base all my armies in the same style as if they're fighting on the same planet, but at least the original scheme is more work and such so I never seem to get around making the bases. So I'm thinking that at least for both my xenos armies I might switch to this type of base. Orks going lootin' a necron tomb world that just happens to wake up at the time? Boyz, we just found us a nice metal supply for our choppas...

[tvih]

I've been compiling a list of stuff I want for the army, mainly to reach 2000 points at first and largely via rule of cool.

 

It won't fully materialize before early next year at the earliest most likely, and it's of course subject to change with the new codex and new models, but currently I'm thinking of adding:

 

Monolith

Immortals (for the third troop slot)

Annihilation Barge

3x Heavy Destroyers (so one box I guess, at least to start with - admittedly not that much of a fan of the models, so this is more a list-building necessity for heavy firepower)

Ghost Ark

2x Doom Scythes (nightmare fuel from when I last fought them in 6th edition)

 

Especially between the Ark and Monolith though, I'm not sure if 20 warriors is enough? Beforehand I heard from some locals that warriors don't get used much, but especially when the list isn't meant to be competitive anyway extra warriors would've been cheaper money-wise. And codex may change things further. Of course as lamented in the first post I already went and  sold the second Indomitus necron half. Though I reckon in addition to possibly the warriors, the only thing I would've likely wanted was indeed the extra Skorpekhs. The Elite starter set would include some of both and is cheaper than any other means of acquiring them post-Indomitus, but still more expensive per model than it would've been to keep the Indomitus. Oh well, at least the other half went for a "good cause" - to a local guy who would've been left without any Indomitus necrons otherwise (at least barring made to order).

Edited August 7, 2020 by tvih

[Dread]

Welcome to the wonderful world of robots! I love your thinking on the scheme, gritty. I've enjoyed seeing your orks and now going to necrons, great. Also thanks for the heads up on the glow paint, I've picked up and held it but keep putting it back, so thanks for securing my thought on it. As for bases, I know what you mean. I bought the sector imperialis for my necrons, the 32mm set and have been customizing the other base sizes to match, finding I wish I'd just stayed simple. Anyhow, can't wait to see more.

[tvih]

Well, I finished the second warrior with leadbelcher spray as base. It's not a huge difference, indeed mostly the drybrushed one looking "grittier" as expected. They're close enough that you could run models made with either method together without it looking "off", but I'm not sure which looks better, as such. Drybrushing takes a bit longer, but then again is still faster by a factor of about ten compared to any of my other 40k armies.

 

Ah well. I suppose I'll try making a skorpekh with the drybrush style next. I reckon the difference might be a bit more noticeable with a bigger model. Also I want to try and see making the power weapon(s).

[tvih]

Well it's gritty again I guess. The power blade didn't turn out quite as good as I hoped, certainly nothing compared to GW's official models have, but usable at least. Though I need to refine the process, took me an hour with just the one blade. Though of course at this time I only have there more models with such blades anyway.

I was considering adding some rust, but man... if they were made from a metal that actually rusts, I reckon they wouldn't have lasted 65 million years, stasis or not!

[NTaW]

One of us! Welcome to the Tombs :tu:

 

Your models look great, which really is in part the beauty of this collection. You really don't have to go all out to make some excellent murderbots (my scheme is the same but with some black armour and blue energy).

 

As for the question about amount of Warriors I'm holding off for now. I don't see any incentive to play a Battalion unless you need more than the two each Elites/Fast Attack/Heavy Support a Patrol offers and the requirement there is only 1 Troop choice. Depending on how large your typical game is you may not really need the extra bodies just yet so long as you have the ability to nab and control objectives with the other units you choose.

 

I can see how you're looking for another colour that's easy to add in and maintains the gritty look and I agree rust is sort of weird for the same reason you brought up. Have you considered doing a third colour on the shoulders or adding some of that bright green glow to some spots on the model like the ribcage, wires, and various orbs? I'm not really sure you need it but three colours is a nice minimum. I'll echo your comment on Guilliman Glaze as well. It's a great paint and the cornerstone of my Dynasty's paint scheme but once your pots are done that's it. I researched alternatives pretty extensively for a bit and came back with "close but you have to measure and mix inks from Vallejo". I have seen some great effects created with various Contrast options over silver, could that be of interest?

[tvih]

There's definitely several options to go for if I choose to go toward a custom dynasty. Many wash or glaze added on top of this existing base in numerous enough layers would provide nice results, or of course just straight up metallics. I reckon I won't go with any non-metallic look though. But for now, Sautekh silver will do in all its simplicity.

 

For the energy color I was thinking about blue as well, but I figured since green isn't really seen in any of my armies except ork skin, and blue being in Imperial plasma weapons as well as some power/force weapons, might as well go with the classic green for Necrons. Plus I really like the classic "black with green highlights" Doom Scythes for example. Properly ominous!

 

I was wondering about a Necron kill team as well seeing as I might not get the full army running just yet, but alas, with Skorpekhs etc not being available there (at least yet), all I would have that qualifies for it would be the warriors. And even then only with the gauss flayers! A list consisting of nothing but 8 warriors would be rather... monotonous. Bah.

[Debauchery101]

There's definitely several options to go for if I choose to go toward a custom dynasty. Many wash or glaze added on top of this existing base in numerous enough layers would provide nice results, or of course just straight up metallics. I reckon I won't go with any non-metallic look though. But for now, Sautekh silver will do in all its simplicity.

 

For the energy color I was thinking about blue as well, but I figured since green isn't really seen in any of my armies except ork skin, and blue being in Imperial plasma weapons as well as some power/force weapons, might as well go with the classic green for Necrons. Plus I really like the classic "black with green highlights" Doom Scythes for example. Properly ominous!

 

I was wondering about a Necron kill team as well seeing as I might not get the full army running just yet, but alas, with Skorpekhs etc not being available there (at least yet), all I would have that qualifies for it would be the warriors. And even then only with the gauss flayers! A list consisting of nothing but 8 warriors would be rather... monotonous. Bah.

I'm no master at energy blades but I've figured out a few nice tricks that make it a lot easier

 

If you have black and white paint those large blade areas are pretty easy to wet blend on. Do a light coat of each color that meet each other in the center of the transition area. Then reinforce the the farthest parts of each color with thin layers until you reach max opacity. Mix a heavy gray, water it down and start in the White and brush towards the black. Before it dries take some pure white, water it down..start in the white and drag it into the gray areas. Doing this with 2 or 3 models at a time i feel works best you won't have down time between drying. After getting a transition you're happy with..doesnt need to be perfect...do a thin edge highlight on the darkest area with a light grey using the side of your brush. Once you get to this point you id varnish the blades with matte varnish. Then use a color with glaze medium or a contrast paint thinned out a bit. Start your first coat far into the white area and brush towards the back tk finish the layer. Now clean your brush and leave some of the water in it. Go to the start of the glaze and drag from there to the end of the white

After you get the desired saturation from 1+ layers you can use pure white on the edges of the light area for max pop

 

Alternatively if you have an airbrush this process takes seconds vs minutes lol

 

Sorry if the text is too much im sure there's tons of videos saying the same thing with a visual aspect. I like to read steps then watch videos personally because sometimes its hard listening to voices and watching what others do.

Edited August 8, 2020 by Debauchery101

[tvih]

I suck at making any color blends/transitions/etc unfortunately. And I do have an airbrush, but I suck with that too for anything beyond basecoating or big camo stripes for my Steel Legion vehicles.

[Debauchery101]

I suck at making any color blends/transitions/etc unfortunately. And I do have an airbrush, but I suck with that too for anything beyond basecoating or big camo stripes for my Steel Legion vehicles.

Well the easiest thing you can do is start with Zenithal technique with your airbrush. Dana Howl, Next level painting, Squidmar, Marco Frisoni and Vince Venturella all have some really simple tutorials

For this. Its just spraying white over your black prime from an angle to catch the areas that will be brightest from the sun. You just paint over it with glazes or paint semi thinned. Its noticeable compared to a model without the added white paint.

 

For metals you can use gun metal->silver/aluminum, copper->gold, gold->silver

[tvih]

I tend to paint with thick enough paints that zenithal highlight would be invisible. I tend to find that normal lighting already provides natural shadowing and highlighting on models like these, even if everyone else always seems to disagree  To the naked eye even these few models I've made so far have a lot more "depth." And after all, the plan is to keep it simple and quick to do for once, instead of like my imperial and ork armies where it's hours per model (not that you'd think so based on the meager end result) and thus I never have the energy to even start!

 

Although for this skorpekh specifically, I actually tried a bit of "undershading" for the blade but it just didn't work. It's part of why I took me so long to do the blade. Next time I'll just probably paint it fully moot green, then Biel-Tan wash or two and if need be a moot green highlight.

[MithrilForge]

honestly, I really liked your blade   if they all looked like that i'd say awesome job, quick n easy the necron is..supposed to be   but it never is...

 

look forwards to seeing the army get done !

 

Cheers, Mithril