+ inload: Speak not its name, for it is Xenos +

+ Speak not, think not, know not of  Xenos. Its very nature is a lie + 

+ Long buried beneath new exciting projects for the best part of a hundred millenia two years, the Necrons were understandably miffed about being left out of plans for 2023 [+Ref: prev inload+], and while they're unlikely to be taking centre stage for me, I thought it only fair to exhume them for a bit. You know how these enthusiasms take hold. +

+ Designation Samaritan [+noosphericinloadlink embedded+], pictured above gathering his forces, remains the sole fully-painted model in the force – though they have progressed a teensy-tiny bit since this one, in that they're now accompanied by considerably more friends (for whatever value of friends eternally-trapped and technologically-mangled souls can have). +

+  Designation Samaritan is the herald of his master, himself a thrall of the enigmatic Ur-dimmu; and since I already had one stock model of a Lord, I thought it'd be nice to use the duplicate sculpt to convert up a more unique Lord. +

+ Forget about me, would they? Well, they'll pay – Just you wait... +

+ The new (well, relatively) Necron range is quite extensive now, so things have opened up to make converting a lot easier. The range's design consolidation means that parts from the larger Lords and Nobles can be more easily interchanged. Whether this chap will prove to be the Overlord (I suspect not...) is up to fate, but you never know. In either case, it'll be nice to have some fun converting new models. +

+ Standing beside the partially-resurrected Lord is a Cryptek. He's a special character whose name I definitely remember, *mumblemumble* the Crooked. I trimmed off the odd forearm cloak/decoration, as I felt is rather hid some nice internal details. The Crypteks in general have very much grown on me. I wasn't all that fond of them, but there's a surprising amount of character in these peculiar advisor/priest/scientists sculpts. +

+ A Destroyer Lord, converted to have a Dawn of War-style helm/headpiece/face stands beside some underlings. +

+ Said underlings have received a lick of paint. The new Necron warriors have a lot of character for such zombie-like sculpts. Regular inloaders will know I like masses of infantry, so some variation in their detailing will probably go a long way to keeping me involved. +

+ The scheme is a simple one that emphasises contrast and texture. I want my troops to look properly ancient! +

+ ...and to close out this inload, here's a picture of a Gatebreaker besides a big mech-skeleton and a little mech-skeleton. Best wishes for a great Christmas, all! +

+ inload: War in Heaven +

+ War in Heaven +

[//Eldar Guardians converted from Van Saar+]

+ For reasons that will hopefully soon become apparent, I've been getting enthused about the Eldar and Necrons. If the title's not a clue, the 'War in Heaven' is another of those 40k background events – this one an ancient battle between Necrons and Eldar. The PCRC have mooted a weekend of small games between these two foes, and I thought that sounded awesome. +

+ Christmas has also been lovely, in that I received kits of the Necron special character, Illuminor Szeras and an all-caps-all-the-time CANTOPTEK DOOMSTALKER:

+ I haven't tackled Szeras yet, as most of my hobby time has been focussed on the Isorians for Beyond the Gate of Antares, but the DOOMSTALKER was a really quick kit to put together. In fact, it's a push-fit – though I did secure mine with glue. A very fun model! +

+ Eldar-wise, my plan is to recreate the WD138 Eldar army to complement my WD139 retrohammer Blood Angels force [+noosphericinloadlink embedded+] – hope you'll follow along! +

+ To that end, I picked up Artel W's definitely-not-Fire Dragons. A lovely (if expensive) set of sculpts. Since the army only required six, I sent an email and Artel W kindly offered to let me sub in some of the alternative female sculpts (I like the gender balance present in the Eldar). +

+ inload: Necrons, Eldar and Krell +

 + Elder races +

+ Dread species abound in the grim darkness of the far future; many of which pre-date (and predate upon...) humanity. With the Blood Angels polished off, it's time to have a look at some more xenos. Some will join the Alien Wars project, others will be coming into conflict with the Gatebreakers in the Endworlds. +

+ Necrontyr +

+ Primary antagonists of the Gatebreakers, the Necrons from the Indomitus boxed set will be serving as a subserviant group under K0rdhal's Urdimmu. My ones will be very straightforward – a typical zombie robot horde, to provide some contrast with K0rdhal's awesome conversions. +

+ Some of the unpainted Necrons are shown more clearly in an earlier inload [+noosphericinloadlink embedded+], and I'm pleased to say that they're painting up both quickly and effectively. Starting from a black undercoat, the batch above was cranked out in an evening using the following process:

• Place small pools of black paint, dark brown paint, silver paint, pearlescent ink and sepia ink on your palette.
• Muddle the colours together in the centre, leaving some areas of the pure colour still available.
• Use a large brush to paint the figures semi-randomly. The idea is to create a varied underpainting, with some areas of brighter silver and duller browns and blacks.
• Once dry, layer with Agrax Earthshade (or other dark wash).
• Once dry, use a fine-tipped brush to selectively apply Stormhost silver (or other bright metallic) to the armour plates; emphasising the edges and leaving gaps and interesting shapes.

The scribbly, patchy effect that we're looking for.

+ This is a variation on my method for painting Iron Warriors [+noosphericinloadlink embedded+], though the result is brighter and cleaner – which suits the more high-tech aliens. +

+ The effect will be further refined with touches of green, yellow and purple washes, as per Designation Samaritan [+noosphericinloadlink embedded+], the Cryptek that's raising all of these warriors. After that, it's down to painting the purple that will – I hope – make everything pop. +

+++

+ Eldar +

+ Having built and painted an homage to the WD139 Blood Angels, it was all but inevitable that I'd end up creating the opposing force, wasn't it? I'm not anticipating these being ready anytime soon; but equally I'm hoping it won't be years and years before they're fit to grace the table. +

+ The modern Banshees are lovely models; and I hope to see the other Aspect Warriors receive updates in a timely manner. My prognostication/supposition-augurs suggest that Eldar infantry have been particularly slow to transition into plastic because of the distinctive background of the Aspects: offering alternative weapons etc. goes against the background principles of the units; and creating new units that share the same base body would dilute the supposed uniqueness of each aspect. +

+ The details above mean that Aspect Warrriors don't fit into GW's dual-build box structure. That's a problem, as I suspect the reason behind GW's decision to have most boxes building two distinct units (e.g. Ogryns and Bullgryns, Deathmarks and Immortals etc.) is twofold: minimising SKU codes and maximising shelf space; and helping to insure against a flop gaming release – if one unit is seen as uncompetitive, the other might still be worthwhile from a Match Play gamer's point of view. With the exception of the Dire Avengers, they're all specialist units, and therefore are unlikely to be taken multiple times in an army. All of these points weigh against the likely commercial success of a launch of an individual Aspect box. +

+ Part of me wonders if the Ynnari background is GW's way to sidestepping this issue. By making units like the Banshees available to two in-game armies – Craftworld and Ynnari, you're broadening the number of potential buyers – in the same way as having the same plastic kit serving multiple Space Marine forces, or allowing the Leman Russ tank to be taken by Genestealer cults. Having a 'year of the Eldar' or something, in which both Craftworld and Ynnari are released, would allow all the remaining aspects to be brought out in swift succession – but not so close together than they cannibalise each others' sales. +

+ To be clear, I don't have any insider knowledge on this – I just find it interesting to speculate, based on what GW have done in the past. It's not beyond the bounds of reason for an army to receive half a dozen kits at once – just look at the Sisters of Battle or orks – but I think GW are slightly more wary of the Eldar. They could easily go back to being hugely popular, but as-is, they strike me as in a uniquely awkward position in terms of the armies. + 

+++

+ Krell +

+ 40k, like a lot of sci-fi, has a lot of fairly similar protaganist species. With the exception of the Tyranids, almost all of the main factions are humanoid. Also known as the Enslavers, the Krell are the perfect example of a non-humanoid alien species that hasn't really been seen since Rogue Trader – and they're a species that, frankly, I think are pretty much the coolest thing since sliced bread. +

+ I created the Alien Wars project with the idea that it'd give me a space to play around with less familiar forces, like the Saharduin and the Fomn. The project stems from a simple concept: what would X model/faction look like if it were released today? +

+ The weird, warp-based, gribbly, mind-eating tentacle monsters have had some cool hints as to their continued existence in 40k – they appeared as the Psyren in a couple of short stories, and some concept sketches and conversions appeared in a Creature Feature article in White Dwarf. Had you asked me a few years back, I'd have said there's no chance of seeing GW re-release them; but we've now seen the release of models like the ambull and zoats. I don't think it's beyond the realm of possibility that we'll eventually see official GW models. +

+ For the moment, however, I'll be using the rather delightfully grotesque figures from Tagged Events [+noosphericexloadlink embedded+]. Drawing heavily on the White Dwarf concept sketches I mention above, I got these as part of a Kickstarter, and the quality of cast is lovely – judging by the box they arrived in, they were cast by the excellent Artel "W" [+noosphericexloadlink embedded+]. The design is slightly awkward, requiring quite a bit of hot water work (I'll try to get some shots when I build the remaining two), but I'm delighted with the results. +

+ The models are very fragile, and I'm very sceptical that the delicate tentacles would last any time at all in storage, let alone play. To help avoid (or at least minimise) damage, I've used wire to connect them to the bases to relieve the weight and pressure. I've also shifted them from the 40mm bases with which they were supplied to large 50mm bases. As well as helping to avoid overlapping the base edge, it also gives them a bit more table presence – fitting for these creepy invaders from being reality itself! +

+ As mentioned, I love the design. The only reservation I have is that there are no options, and the head on the portal/gate figure. I trimmed it off mine, and I think its loss is a substantial improvement. Other than that, it's classic 50s style B-movie monsters from space, and I'm really looking forward to painting them. +

+ inload: Thoughts on the 9th edition rulebook +

+ Indomitus +

+ The new edition of Warhammer 40,000 is out, and I've been quietly beavering away building things from it – mostly the Necrons, which I'm assembling as standard. Lovely set of kits that go together very cleanly and easily. +

+ There are lots of reviews popping up about the rules; and that's quite out of my wheelhouse, so I'll stick with the visuals: the new rulebook looks gorgeous. The artwork and layout are lovely, and there's some clever design choices to make distinguishing lore from rules intuitive and simple. From a usability point of view, it's a big step up. +

+ I'm also pleasantly surprised with how the background is dealt with. I was very sceptical of the move from 40k as setting to 40k as ongoing storyline, but the way it's presented in 9th edition feels familiar. It's not a character-led space opera, and the changes in the setting – the first since, well, ever – have been integrated nicely. As an example of what I mean, consider the flagship Space Marines. The Primaris are mentioned, but their importance is understated; almost downplayed. Their appearance is a single paragraph at the end of the spread that introduces space marines. +

+ As a long-time fan, I found it unexpectedly refreshing to have all the various 'new things' that have happened in terms of background/lore since 8th edition collected together. Not having bought any of the chapbooks (like the Psychic Awakening series), it was actually quite nice to have something new to read. I'm more used to the rulebook being lightly paraphrased from previous editions. +

+++

+ Onto models +

Gatebreaker posed next to the Royal Warden and a warrior of the line.

+ But all that's for naught without cool models, eh? Just as the rulebook pleasantly surprised me, so too the Necrons. I was expecting to tear into the marines, but it's the space zombie-robots that demanded their place on the cutting mat. +

+ The Cryptek Designation Samaritan [+noosphericinloadlink embedded+] has clearly been busy exhuming the servants of his mysterious masters. +

+ The Space Marines weren't completely sidelined, of course – so once I'd put together the figures above (which took two evenings), I started on the Gatebreakers' reinforcements. These took longer, as it involved a lot more planning and some minor conversion work. +

+ ...Although of course it's also fun to convert, so I ended up giving the big Necron Lord a mask, intending it to evoke the Dawn of War series of games, if you're familiar with those. Double dustgruel rations for anyone able to tell me what the helmet was called, for I've not the foggiest idea.

+ inload: Necron Cryptek +

+ Designation Samaritan finished +

+ Fifteen minutes last night finished off this Necron Cryptek – see yesterday's inload [+noosphericinloadlink embedded+] for the broader info on painting. I won't repeat myself too much here, so this inload is mainly a loomscreed of pict-captures, and some musings on plans for the Indomitus set. +

+ As a test piece, I think this is a success – and very quick, too. I reckon it's reasonable that I'll be able to crack through five or six Necron Warriors in a session, which is about at the limit of the time I want to spend on them. Don't get me wrong, I think the new models are lovely, but I don't want them to become another distraction from my main projects. The poor dwarfs, Legio Nikator and Gatebreakers – not to mention my Blood Angels – don't need the competition! +

+ The staff was painted black, then painted with a mix of black and Russ Grey (the modern iteration of Space Wolf Grey, my go-to cold highlight). I then added white to the mix for highlights, not working quite up to pure white. The reason for this subtlety is that I was really concerned about drawing attention away from the Necron itself, and metallic schemes are by their nature quite neutral. Some warm gold details and a purple gem (again painted in a deeper, less eye-catching hue to the Necron's eye) finished it off. +

+ This figure turned out to be a nigh-perfect test piece, as it included all sorts of bits that should prove useful for the broader army. I've now got a stippled style for non-Necron constructs (like the Plasmacyte), a look to aim for with the Warriors and similar, and some flashy bits for characters. +

+ I'm undecided on whether to develop the basing a bit. Having it bare reinforces the dead world feel of the Necrons, but also looks a bit unfinished. I might try dead grasses and similar to add some texture – or perhaps switch gears and go for full-on swamp. Pools of goo, greenery and perhaps bits on the models themselves might be a cool image. +

+ The bits I'm most excited to paint are:

• Necron Warriors  Basic troops are my jam, and I've long held a secret soft spot for the Necrons. I held off the older ones due to their posing, the green rods and their complete uniformity; three issues neatly resolved with the new generation. 
• Overlord and Royal Warden  Likewise, the 'normal' Necron commanders have the same appeal of the troops, along with being an opportunity for a little more experimentation and variation.
• Scarab Swarms  These promise to be quick, easy and rewarding, and a satisfying way to practise the stippling.

+ Let's see if I'm right, eh? In concert with the Cryptek here, that'll give me a force of around 25 Power; just right to have a small test game with my orks, or the Gatebreakers. +

+ With that core of the Necrons done, I'll turn to the Gatebreakers and get them Battleforged-ready, by building and painting a Lieutenant, Assault Interecessors and a second HQ – likely a Chaplain. +

+ inload: Painting 9th edition Necrons +

+ Designation: Samaritan +

+++

Wind, endless wind. As though some cyclopean being had been petrified in the throes of a final, everlasting exhalation, the wind coursed urgently across the dead surface of the world.

The tortuous spires of black rock did nothing to impede the howling progress of the wind, nor the abrasive sand that it carried along with it.

There were no local people to raise legends of the Samaritan; not any more. The world was lifeless; the Imperial tithesmen aboard the Rogue Trader's fleet reckoning it extincta summa summaram. As the human vessels turned away, the tithesmen granted the bleak, empty sphere the dubious honour of changing it from a mere dead world to an official Imperial Dead World; tithe grade: Aptus Non.

Even as the eyes of the Ẹtì Alubarika, flagship of Taiwo's fleet, turned away, something moved against the wind. A single lithium-pink eye turned in a socket.

Not all life, it appears, is alive.

+++

+ Painting the Samaritan +

+ The imminent release of Indomitus, the big 40k boxed set, has got me psyched, and while I'm most excited about the Astartes inside, I'm determined not to leave the Necrons lurking in the cupboard of shame opportunity. To that end, I thought I'd see what I could achieve quickly – I'm hoping that I can get good results without investing huge amounts of modelling and painting time. +

+ An hour or two last night ended up with the following Necron looming large on my desk. He's not finished – the staff is still plain black undercoat, and I'd like to poke about a bit more to tidy things up a little – but I'm pleased with the result, particularly given the speed. +

+ Not having tackled Necrons before (at least, unless you count Chaos Androids from Space Crusade), I went with a variant on my approach to painting Iron Warriors [+noosphericinloadlink embedded+]; black undercoat, muddled metals, then repeated layers of inks and washes before bringing back the highlights. +

+ This figure, a Cryptek that I bought on a whim a few years ago, proved a good tester, combining as it does elements of the more humanioid infantry with the beetle-like details of the Necrons' war machines. +

+ The front's fairly unadventurous; but given the level of sculpted detail, that's unsurprising. I picked out a few bits here and there in gold, but other than that, I kept the scheme simple to ensure speed. I picked the eye out in a very pale cold pink, aiming for maximum contrast. +

+ The back's a bit more fun. This cryptek is joined to a creepy spider-thing (must look up the background!) by an immense carapace/cloak device. I used  lots of short fine lines of varying lengths in a uniform direction for the highlight on the edge of the cloak 'scales'. This gave it a sense of texture, and hopefully helps distinguish it as equipment/clothing, despite the shared palette with the Necron's own body. +

+ Metallics are very forgiving, so they're a great place to experiment with texture. You'll see here that I've used clean, plain brushstrokes for the Necron, stippling on the less sophisticated spider-thing, and drybrushing on the base details alongside the sharp lines technique on the cloak. This – hopefully – translates to the different areas reading as different things, rather than all blending together. +

+ This shot shows the discoloration and patina on the Necron (the shoulder plate on the left is a good example). I found it tricky to balance a sense of it being simultaneously aeons-old and super high-tech, so getting the contrast between the clean, bright eye and the age-patinated armour plates was the challenge here. +

+ Characters and testers are both great places to play around, and there's a balance to be struck between having a plan beforehand and having a response to the figure once it's in hand. The cloak here is a good example. I planned to distinguish it from the Necron's body, but didn't really go in with any strong ideas of how to do that. I ended up giving it additional layers of inks and washes to build up the patina more, and then using starker highlighting with the parallel lines described above. +

+ I initially tackled the large glowing region in the centre – a gem? A power pack? Mysterious hypertech? – as a simple light, but the more I looked at it, the more it looked boring. It was screaming out for some freehand, but I couldn't bring myself to just paint a boring logo on it: that just seemed too 'human'. In the end, I looked to the setting – the Endworlds of the galaxy's rim – for inspiration, and painted a simple representation of a nebula in black, edging it with white to help it stand out. +

+ The semi-abstract result isn't entirely successful – it could equally well read as a crack! – but there's something of interest there, and it looks deliberate. I'm chalking that up as a win. +

+++

+ Painting Necrons +

+ Since this was as much exploration and experiment in speed as anything else, I'm afraid I didn't take any work-in-progress pictures beyond those you see elsewhere on this post. I did, however, decide to document the paints I used, and will post up a proper step-by-step once the 9th edition 40k box lands. In the meantime, here are the ingredients for the recipe. +

_1: Undercoat black.

_2: Combination of Balthasar Gold and Ironbreaker. Note that this is not a thorough mix, but used wet-in-wet. By this I mean that I transfer a little of each paint to my palette and lightly muddle them together, so I have areas of each pure paint alongside an area where the two mix. I then apply this roughly to the whole surface, giving a mottled result. 

_3: Once dry, I apply Seraphim Sepia and Leviathan Purple, dipping in and out of each pot and letting them mix and muddle on the surface of the model. Before they dry, I use the brush to prevent pooling and steer the wash into recesses, before switching to a clean dry brush to lift out excess from highlight areas. You just touch the dry bristles to the area, and they'll draw up the wash, leaving the surface bright and clean. 

_4: Next up we build the contrast. A mere hint of Warlock Purple is added to white (I used Arctic White from Instar) and used to pick out the glowing bits – eyes and so forth.

_5: With the model completely dry, I switched to using a pair of favourite inks; Sepia and Payne's Gray. These add depth and richness to the shadow areas, and can be used to help develop the patination. Usually I'd stick with Payne's Gray for a cool effect, and Sepia for warm. Here, as the scheme is essentially neutral, I used both to add interest and variety. +

+++

+ How will the Gatebreakers fare when they encounter the Samaritan? Hopefully we'll find out soon... In the meantime, I'd love to hear your thoughts, and if you have any ideas for what you'd like to see done for the step-by-step. Just a regular Necron warrior? +