Iron and flesh

The mechanicvs truly is the coolest thing GW has put out in a long time - and that's saying something considering their relentless release-pace these last two years. I'm in hogs heaven just mixing the new kits with stuff in my bits box and see what comes out. 

Here's two new ones - both based on old abandoned kitbashes:

To the left is a sinister splice-seer genetor based on a haemonculii concersion I never really liked. To the right the beginnings of an Iron Hand Ironfather - the Iron Hands feel like natural allies to the mechanicvm so I wanted to include at least one in the warband. 

Judge and hunter

Managed to squeeze in quite a bit of painting this weekend. Finished up the arbitrator and, as a bonus, a test skitarii ranger. The skitarii are amazing models - though, it has to be said, a tad detailed for rank and file models. Painting 20-30 of these guys is quite a daunting prospect. But the plan is to at least do a small squad of five or six and use the rest of the bits for conversions. 

Arbite:

Ranger:

I also finished converting the Explorator Magii who will serve as the leader of the warband. I really tried to conjure up the archetypical image of the classic cowled adeptus mechanicus prelate. Something strangely lacking in the new mechanicvm range - the new Dominus is of course an amazing model but a much weirder beast altogether. 

I am The Law

Finally got round to buying the skitarii troopers. It is, as you all probably have realised by now, an amazing kit with lots of conversion potential. 

The first model to come out of it is - perhaps surprisingly - not a mechanicvm character, but rather one of the most iconic imperial servants in the 40k universe. The Arbitrator - upholder of the Pax Imperialis.  

As someone who grew up reading Judge Dredd I've always wanted to take a swing at kit bashing one of these, and finally the skitarii provided an appropiate helmet. 

I'd also like to say thanks to Kraut Scientist, who provided valuable inspiration with his recent take on the subject. Cheers buddy!

Merc of Mars

My growing mechanicvm warband is bolstered by shady mercenary Latronicus Pugnus.

Hailing from the unforgiving hiveworld Croenen Prime, his loyalty isn't as much to the God Machine as to monetary gain and the access to advanced tech the mechanicvm provides. 

The Magos and the Merc

Here's what's on the workbench right now: 

A sinister Explorator Magos to lead the warband - based on the trusted chaos sorceror (my third sorceror conversion within one year...). He's flanked by a mechanicvm affiliated mercenary - the perfect operative for those less official archeotech-gathering missions...

Skeletor

After a brief hiatus - due to a quick trip to Prague - I managed to finish up the Sinistro-pattern assassin (now nicknamed "Skeletor" for obvious reasons...)

As some have noted this guy could have easily been made into a mhorrigotii character, but in the end it felt more interesting to do a really sinister imperial gribbly...

Here's the whole gang. More to come - an explorator and a mechanicvm-affiliated mercenary are some of the minis being worked on... 

Assassin in progress

Painting of the assassin servitor has commenced.

He looks like a happy gorilla in this picture for some reason.

Snikt!!

Here's my second take on the sicarians. I call this chap the sinistro-pattern assassin servitor. Apparently the few failed eversor prospects who still remain alive after the trials (though in smaller bits) get turned into these things. 

It is not a very nice creature at all. 

Crusader of the Machine God

The Bellator Sanctorum Sicarii is finished and ready to join the ranks of my machine cult warband. 

The shield was of course destined for some freehand heraldry. The checkers turned out a bit bigger than planned but apart from that I'm quite happy with it:

Bellator Sanctorum Sicarii

Here's my first take on a Sicarian. I wanted a crusader type character for the retuine - albeit one with a distinct mechanicvm look and feel - and this was the result. 

I'm thinking about adding a banner of some sort. Other than that he's pretty much ready for paint. 

The sicarians are a fantastic kit with tons of cool bits. 

They are extremely spindly though and the very fine brittle legs are a pain to remove from the sprues without them snapping. They're also slightly tricky to assemble with the legs separate from the body and flat joins without connecting pins. Well worth it though. 

-EDIT-

Added a tabard and purity seals:

Delta-Secundus

The plucky little astro-mechanicus automaton is finished! 

I'm pretty happy with how this mechanicvm retuine is shaping up. I'm especially pleased with how well the now two year old Adept Prokifiev fits in with the more recent minis:

The Man Machine

A lone machine cultist stalks the radiated wastelands of the long abandoned forgewold Rossum Secundus. This wandering minister preaches the gospel of the Omnissiah and the promise of salvation from the bonds of flesh to the few scattered tek-tribes living out their short lives in the shadow of rusting cyclopean machinery. 

=][=

Bleep. Blop. Whistle. Bleep

Well, I suppose this was inevitable.