"Technoarcheologists are seekers of divine mechanical arcana, driven to uncover that which is hidden, and to analyse its capabilities. Hardened to life on the Imperium’s dangerous frontiers, these priests employ cogitative instincts to detect approaching foes and awaken their servitor guardians to effective modes of attack. Even in the midst of battle, Technoarcheologists guide their servants through vital procedures with a machine-like focus."
A pair of Voyagers, seeking out the Technologic in a method Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger than anyone else, all Around The World. Face To Face with with the worst the galaxy can throw at them, these Superheroes remind those in the Admech that there's Something About Us that remains Human After All.
Some Technoarcheologists done up as my favourite robot duo. A datasheet I dont tend to find much use for, but I'm hoping to gain an appreciation by leveraging their look and the new Servitor Battleclades.
Pretty happy with the kitbashing, never did like having the same guy twice, think I did a nice little variation here and mirrored the line of action quite nicely if I do say so myself. Was aiming for a "Same Job, Different Guy" look, so I'm very glad the Omnispex Skull stuck together as well as it did.
'“Understand?" Orikan snapped. "To understand is not in you, Trazyn. You're a bird making a nest with shiny things. A child with a rock collection. You want things simply to have them. Their true meaning, their use, is lost on you.
“Slave to the past? A lack of vision? Perhaps, my dear astromancer. Perhaps." Trazyn tossed the puzzle box in the air and caught it again, delighting as Orikan's monocular widened in distress. The casualness was feigned. He'd plotted the object's arc two hundred times before making the throw, and put it gingerly into his dimensional pocket. "But you are a slave to your visions, with no sense of the past. I suppose it is in our natures, yes? My lot is to preserve, yours to predict.”'
Orikan the Diviner and Trazyn the Infinite. Two curmudgeonly old men who for sure, absolutely, definitely hate each other very much. That's why they spend so much time foiling each others plots and sneaking into each others homes. Yup. Mhmm.
Painting these up in secret for a pal, shh no telling. Tried to make em look half decent and I've had some fun with the music as ever (see if you can spot the the whisper in the code). Did a slight kitbash with Trazyn to give him a little Tesseract and got them both a more necron-y base. Trazyn also has some little buddies, since he's been left behind somewhat in the model releases.
"A Mutilator is a vile Chaos Space Marine dedicated solely to the visceral thrill of melee combat whose intense lust for battle has warped his physical form until he fuses, body and soul, with his melee weaponry.
The hulking monstrosities are born when a mind obsessed with slaughter and butchery falls victim to one of the many supernatural techno-viruses that gestate within the Warp. At first their symptoms are subtle, manifesting as a compulsion to constantly clean and sharpen weapons or a refusal to be parted with their favourite blade, but soon flesh and armour begin to knit into one impossible whole as the host Chaos Space Marine's mind decays and their body swells.
Transformation into a fleshmetal abomination is not without its perks, as Mutilators find themselves eager to absorb Daemon Weapons and add their power to their own. Such finely-honed killing tools can then be manifested out of the warrior's own mutated body, ensuring they'll always have the perfect weapon on hand to kill whatever is in front of them.
Much like their similarly mutated Obliterator counterparts, Mutilators are a common sight in the ranks of the Iron Warriors Legion, who are rumoured to go so far as to intentionally infect their own recruits -- though this is not to say they aren't found in almost every warband to some extent."
The new Mutilators! VERY cool kit, minor issues sticking them together. Very much enjoy that all the weapons are swappable.
Felt the need to Iron Warriors the scultps up a smidge, so I swapped out the heads (lots of cutting and greenstuffing) and scraped as many of the Eye of Horus off as I could. Quite happy with how they've ended up!
I think these lads mixed with the Saturnine kits from Horus Heresy could look VERY neat as like an IW Daemon Prince, so that might be on the eventual horizon.
Pic with Boy for Scale under the cut.
Secret message for the curious, hope you're all keeping well and that the year, despite everything, is treating you as best as possible.
"Kravek Morne stands out as an unrepentant monster, even amongst the callous and barbarous ranks of the Iron Warriors. He has served Perturabo with fanatical devotion for almost two millenia. For one and a half of these, he has held the title of Warsmith and has brutally crushed any who challenged his position. A hulking warrior of corded muscle and infernal augmetics, he has become a living siege engine in his own right. Morne wears an adapted suit of Terminator armour he calls his 'Iron Mantle' with which he wields the monstrous thunder hammer 'Last Argument', a weapon of his own masterful craft, that can pulverise the mightiest foe or sunder adamantine-sheathed fortress gates with equal, contemptuous ease.
Morne has razed scores of mighty fortresses to the ground, indiscriminately slaughtered countless foes and - at the head of the 17th Grand Company - reduced entire civilisations to scorched earth in his Daemon Primarch's name. Not for nothing has he earned the moniker 'Architect of Ruin'. He is a blunt instrument with nothing of subtlety about him, and yet within his narrow field of strategic expertise he is an undisputed genius. If the enemy's defenses have a weakness, no matter how slight or hidden, Morne will identify and exploit it. To his mind, only the fortifications built by his Daemon Primarch will stand eternal: all else is merely rubble and ruin waiting to happen."
Got this guy done as quickly as possible, the FIRST IVth named character and he's a good 'un. Read his escapades in the sourcebook and he's nothing to sneeze at. Had a little fun with the base, since he matches up against Ursula Creed and her Cadians for a while before the Imperial Fists dare to show their faces.
Looking forwards to trying this guy out, it's a nice feeling to have a real named character for a change. This must be how ultramarine players feel all the time! Pic with boy for scale under the cut.
"Renegade Command Squads are forces of the Lost and the Damned. Consisting of a Renegade Demagogue and his group of immediate Disciples, in the press of battle the charismatic presence of their leader keeps often undisciplined masses of renegades from fleeing at the first sign of defeat."
A Vraks Renegade Command Squad, with some kitbashed Blessed Blades to use as another Dark Commune with a more industrial look to them. Not a huge fan of how religious and Word Bearer-y the current set is, so went around and got something more inkeeping.
Quite liking how the Blessed Blades have come out, combos of the old Renegade Enforcer torso with the Orlock Arms Master kit from Necromunda. Suitably industrial and menacing, and believable as a power weapon substitute I think. Will need to sub out one of the models for a psyker, but I'm planning on getting that necromunda bounty hunter that is just a reprint of the old Malefic Lord and using him eventually.
"Defilers are Daemon Engines possessed by abominable entities – towering creations that stomp across battlefields, slaying enemies with claws capable of cutting a Space Marine in half. Foes are not safe at range either, as the Defiler inflicts a trail of carnage with its cannon and other heavy weapons.
Standing on six piston-driven limbs, the Defiler's hull supports a massive turret, which houses the main armaments of the infernal machine. The Defiler is capable of wielding a large array of weapons, with its primary being a chest-mounted Hades Battlecannon or Ectoplasma Destructor. Its torso can mount twin Excruciator Cannons or Magma Cutters, while its arms can be armed with Heavy Reaper Autocannons, Hades Lascannons, Heavy Baleflamers, Heavy Missile Launchers, Havoc Launchers, or an Electroscourge.
In addition to being able to lay down a barrage of heavy fire, Defilers are also terrifying close combat opponents. When a Defiler arrives on the battlefield, the technosorcery keeping the bound daemon peaceful is released, allowing the daemon to truly enjoy the battle. As daemons are immortal and unconcerned for the survival of its machine host, Defilers ignore hits that would kill normal tank crews and continue on rampages of destruction that would otherwise be impossible to proceed with."
New Defiler kit! I bought it BEFORE it started wrecking every tournament in existence and ONLY because it looks cool. It's a very nice update to a classic but AGING model. Also I'm fairly sure this is the first model to have the symbol of the Dark Mechanicum on it? So that's maybe a nice teaser for upcoming lads. I kinda prefer the old claws for looks more than the new ones, look a little less industrial, but a small complaint really.
This bugger was a LOT of work, lots of trim, lots of flesh, lots of warpy stuff and lots of guns. Managed to get them all optioned though, with magnets (for the chest side guns), pinning (for the electroscourge/offhand weapon arm) and some actually pretty nice design considerations from the model itself (chest cannon options just popping in and out of place, a chest plate for each cannon, the pegs used to hold the arm gun barrels in place). so well done GW on that front!
Pictures of all the options (aside from the Hades Battle Cannon & Excruciator Cannons, Heavy Reaper Autocannon and Electrosourge in the video), a comparison to the old model (I'll be using both as and when I feel like it, though it might be a squeeze with them being 300 and something points these days) and Boy For Scale under the cut.
"The Leviathan Dreadnought, formally the Leviathan Pattern Siege Dreadnought, was crafted in limited numbers in the latter days of the Great Crusade of the late 30th Millennium. Developed in secret on Terra, away from the pervasive oculars of the ancient Mechanicum, as savagely powerful siege and hunter-killer units.
Its massive frame incorporates hybridised technologies, some dating back into the dim past of Humanity. Towering over later Imperial combat walker patterns, this heavily armoured Dreadnought is savagely powerful. It was designed for siege warfare and primarily armed with close combat and heavy fire support weaponry that can rend asunder buildings, vehicles and flesh alike; though it is no less effective when armed with the powerful and esoteric short-ranged weaponry uniquely developed for it.
Those few Leviathan Dreadnoughts that survive into the 41st Millennium are ancient and terrible relics, rarely spoken of and rarely deployed, dreaded as much as they are revered by those that possess them. The tormented and ravaged minds of those interred within are driven to the edge of madness by the little-understood mechanisms unique to the Leviathan, trapped in dreams of the Heresy which haunt the machines themselves, and soon suffer a final dissolution owing to the terrible strain the Leviathan inflicts on those who would dare to master it."
After waiting a bit for some upgrade kit pieces, finished up a Leviathan Dreadnought for the IVth. I know their 40k rules aren't great (though having 3 hunter-killer missiles could be very funny if the dice like me) but I love how they look and so will shove it in lists regardless. Had a bit of fun with the music as usual.
A few extra bits and pieces to IVth it up a little (helmet and chest plate), and some from the CSM vehicle decorations (chains and iron halo/trophy rack). Think it's looking not too shabby.
Weapons all magnetised, both the arms and the chest rigs. So will be able to slot the ranged weapons on fairly easily should I ever decide to get some (not super interested currently, as per previously mentioned 'meh' rules, melee is cooler anyway). Pics of the chest weapon options under the cut and pic with Boy for Scale as usual.
"Tech-thralls are a source of expendable labour on many forge worlds, typically created from those poor souls who transgress against their Tech-Priest masters. In times of war, this same fate befalls many in order to quickly raise a form of disposable militia, known as the Adsecularis. The organic human bodies of the tech-thralls, already altered to lift heavy loads and function in hostile environments, are fitted with basic weapons systems and bodily protection. On the battlefield they serve as expendable troops, unskilled but relentless and indefatigable – an army of the alive-yet-dead, puppeted by the magi who command them."
20 Tech-Thralls from the Mechanicum Battle Group to use as Secutarii in 40k (cause I doubt anyone at my local will ever play HH and I dont like the actual Secutarii upgrade kit, very boring.) Pleasantly surprised by how well they go together and the variety available of heads and arms for being 4 sets of 5 models.
Had to frankenstein together some close combat weapons to set apart the Alpha stand-ins, but it looks not too bad imo, as ever I really enjoy how puppet-esque all the poses are. tried to make the bodies very drab, but the weapons more ornamented, since we all know which the Mechanicum values more.
Nice to get the GIANT BLOB of 20 lads out of the way, just bigger lads left now. No need for scale pic, as they're all person sized.
