State of the Desk; Snow Testing and Characters

So my first focus this week has been making my Mechanicum a bit more durable in their basing as I left my Imperial guard in the car for a week, and the vibrations shook loose a lot of snow. So I have a to get tougher with the snow product I use. Cue testing.

I wanted something that would retain the finish of the snow, but lock it better in place. I tried out Woodland Scenics Water Effects, but as you can’t really dilute the product without diluting the effect, it was a fairly wasted endeavour. I will be using it for footprints however and maybe on some tank hulls as this stuff looks fun.

Used liberally it did give the snow an icy look. Hmmm, not good for this scenario at least.


On to adding an additional layer of PVA/Water mix. This again didn’t really make enough of a difference without over-diluting the PVA, or under diluting. I was still reasonably able to scratch clear some of the fallen snow.

On to Varnish. This was probably the better choice. I diluted a leftover pot of Tamiya clear gloss with a large amount of water and tried a few bases. Much better. A little sheen to each and some of the detail of the snow is lost, but vastly worth it. Much tougher, much harder to scratch clear. I’ll keep the pot and add in ‘Ardcoat for the guard.

Got all that?

Good, guidance done. Now onto Painting.  

I loved painting Archmagos Draykavac, a really great model to paint. The black tones that FW used were fairly bleak and brassy, so to match my theme I wanted to have red-robes instead, and more silvered/metallic armour segments too.Little things like I enjoyed painting a tiny vial on his leg too, the first I'd painted with any competence.

I used some blue-sheened metallic on the power fist/claw thing. Some simple OSL on his 'carrying skull', and some really simple (read; lazy) drybrushing on his dreadlocks. There was the temptation to colour his base differently, but in the end it needed to match the Abeyant, so I left him alone.

Combined, the model looks great.

The Biologis Majoris came out worse than I'd hoped and I had to accept that sometimes that happens. Obscured detail on the face due to the glue used meant that I had to focus on his red robes instead and his big veiny arm.

Anvil Industries Convict representative was also fun to paint, though in scale and complexity as an Infinity mini.

The 'Combat Adept' was also fun to paint, lots of detail and contrasts.

Finally the Remnant. Mr leftover. Conversion Beamer equipped Adept on an Abeyant. Some OSL. Some funky cabling. Done.

All in all, a nice little line-up of leaders. The intent will be;

Draykavac buried in the Adsecularis chewing through deathstars.
The Combat Adept Jetting around with the Thallax and smashing heads.
The Biologis as a (Lacraemerta Adept) and the Convict as an Enginseer in the Tech Auxillia.
And Remnant at the back fixing any Thanatar, shooting when necessary from try something new.

Also the army is moving along nicely as a whole.

Next, the Adsecularis!