Oh Dear... What has Old Man Chaos Done Now?

Well, Old Man Chaos is back and he's got a bit of a confession for you, dear readers. As you may be aware, I recently participated in a tournament at my local. It was a lot of fun, and I enjoyed myself quite a bit. I did see a lot of people using various Lords of War- Eldar, Imperial, Necron... Sadly, Khorne's Lord of Skulls is just too darn expensive to use in a 2K point game.

As I watched people field their various super-heavies, I thought of my own Imperial Knight- Veritas of House Dilabor. I have, sadly, never actually used him in combat. I have loaned him to my friend Brian for a couple of games, and I have been on the receiving end of my Imperial Knight. It is a great model, and a tough foe to handle (not impossible, but very tough nevertheless). And yet I haven't used it.

Even before the tournament, my eyes have been drawn to the forces of the Mechanicus. Truthfully, there are a few models that I don't care for in the range, but there are some that I really love. Chief amongst these are the Kastellan Robots. I think they are fantastic- bulky robots with big guns and/or power fists. They just look massive and formidable. The fluff behind them is great too- relics from the dark age of technology, tightly controlled by the tech priests so they don't run amok.

Well, I think you can figure out the rest. After the tournament I decided to take the plunge. I bought a box of Kastellan Robots, as well as a Tech Priest Dominus. I will be picking up other things from both Skitarii and Mechanicum (I love the ironstriders, I must say). So, yes, my plan is to build a 2-2.5K point list, which includes my Knight.

So, what to paint them... While I know in my story Veritas is a Freeblade, I really wanted to tie these forces together. And after all my Khorne work, I simply could NOT do another red army. Plus, in my mind's eye I really want to see a unified Mechanicus army bearing down on their foes. So, I decided to paint them with the same colors (mostly) as my Knight.

For their armor, I used  Stegadon Scale Green for the majority of the plates. I then used Thunderhawk Blue for some contrasting plates. I did an edge trim/highlight in Russ Grey. That part took the longest, but it came out really well and made the models pop.

For the mechanical parts, I did Leadbelcher with a Nuln Oil wash. Then I drybrushed Ironbreaker over chunks of it. For the symbols and the like I did Balthazar Gold with a coat of Hapshut Copper over that.

For the helms, I decided that I truly despised the silver/metal look, so I decided to try something else. I painted the visor black. Then, with Warpstone Green, I painted a cross hair and smaller, lighter horizontal lines. Then I added some Moot Green to brighten the lines. Then, I did a coat of gloss varnish. The effect worked in my opinion. The "visor" is a video screen- target reticule indicates that it is in "combat" mode. I think that the visor completes the entire look of the Kastellan Robots. They look as bad ass as I had imagined them when I first saw them.

To complete the look, I drybrushed Dryad Bark onto various parts, then some light lines of silver. Finally, I added a few patches of Typhus Corrosion. Thus, the Kastellans look worn and used. However, I didn't want to over do it. I imagine that the Mechanicum would upkeep these relics with particular fervor. Indeed, the stripped paint job GW shows are a bit too messy for my taste. So I made them worn without going overboard.

The Cybernetica Datasmith is also a cool model in his own right. I painted his robe Stegadon, then washed it with Nuln Oil for the folds/recesses. I then touched up with Stegadon, and then highlighted with Thunderhawk Blue, with a lighter highlight of Russ Grey. So it matches the armor of the machines, but still looks cloth-like. The machine parts I did, obviously, with various metals. I also did a few wires yellow/black chevron style. The flesh I did Rakarth with a cammoshade wash (thinking ahead, I'll use the technique on the Kataphrons later on too- so they'll all look consistently sickly).

So- what can I say? I am weak. GW is my crack supplier. The truth is I enjoy painting and building, and doing the Mechanicus will be a new challenge for me- no Chaos elements at all! I am looking forward to building up this army. I'll show you more when I get more. Please don't judge me too harshly. I will still slay for the glory of Chaos. But now I can do something different if I want to. So There.

01010101 01101110 01110100 01101001 01101100 00100000 01001110 01100101 01111000 01110100 00100000 01010100 01101001 01101101 01100101 00100001

(Translates as "Until Next Time!")