Necrons - Then and Now

[Kawauso]

Greetings modeling and painting forumites.

I've been around the BoLS forums for quite a while now, but I've never actually posted any army pics, it would seem.

Well, that's about to change. :)
I've made off with my fiance's old camera and started snapping up some pics of my Necrons.

I've always liked 'crons. They were my first army when I started WH40k about 4-ish years ago, inspired by my experience with them in Dawn of War: Dark Crusade, and I'm overjoyed with their recent update. Suffice to say, I've been modeling and painting Necrons like mad lately (well, for me - I'm still pretty slow at it, really).

One thing that makes up for my general lack of speed with regards to painting, at least, is that my skills have come a long, long way! When I took another look at my Necrons to start updating the old, underused army, I had a lot of work cut out for me. Not only did I want to revamp my army's paint scheme to show off some of my new skills and make them look better overall, but I never even used to properly clean mold lines! So in addition to assembling and painting all sorts of new models, I've been prepping all my old ones that I intend to hang onto for re-priming and re-painting.

To give an idea of how truly bad my army looked when I first started the game, I figured I might as well snap a picture of some of these models before they get a makeover. So I'm going to kick off the thread with those and work up towards the ~1000-odd points of 'crons I've got painted up to my current standard.

Critique and criticism welcomed - let's get started, shall we? :D

[Kawauso]

Old models out of the way...let's see some shiny new ones!
Well, newly painted, at least...some of these models are pretty old.

Not these ones in particular...but you get the point.

I just finished off a unit of Lychguard yesterday, to safeguard my new Overlord in battle.

[Kawauso]

Now some older models that will allow for an easier comparison with the truly ancient ones I started off the thread with.

Unit of 12 warriors (re-painted) accompanied by a new Finecast Necron Lord, and of course a Ghost Ark.

Now, don't get me wrong, I love the look of the Ark-chassis models. But words cannot describe how much I loathe assembling/painting them.

I don't know if this holds true for anyone else, but the way mine are painted at least is such that I can't finish assembling them until they are fully painted. And painting them takes me a very. long. time. I hate them for it...but at the same time I love using them and I'm very happy with the end result I've achieved, at least.

Still have one of these *******s left to paint/build, though...

[Kawauso]

Whoops. Reached the attachment limit.

Here's the Ghost Ark.

[Deadlift]

well at least when you 1st started you didnt take the "undercoast, drybrush chainmail and im done route" so kudos to you there :)
So how you intending to re-do the old guys now ? are you looking at stripping em back and starting again ? my crons back in the day were all rusty and weathered much like the ogre kingdoms weapon scheme and although I saw these new funky paint jobs upon last years release I stuck with the way I had already painted but tried to improve it with weathering powders etc, The exception were my Deathmarks which took ages lol. I see you did the same and improved your models a great deal

Good luck and keep us posted mate

[Kawauso]

Next here's a unit of 10 Immortals with carbines - I was all too happy to get rid of my old metal models. I've always hated metal. I've got 10 blaster-Immortals as well, but I decided to paint the tesla squad first because I like the way they look.

They're accompanied by a Harbinger of Despair with a Veil of Darkness, allowing them to keep opponents at their optimum 24-inch range while blasting away and try and capture objectives late-game.

The Cryptek is painted differently from the rest of my army for a very specific reason.
Seeing as the fluff basically depicts them as viziers-for-hire, I decided that the Crypteks in my army are not part of my Necrons' dynasty. As such, I plan on painting all my Crypteks uniquely with colours determined by which sort of Harbinger they are. Harbingers of Despair, in this instance, being purple. :)

[SotonShades]

Fantastic work mate. You really have come on no end! Great example of a simple but strong and effective colour scheme, and subtle OSL. I really like how you've done the green crystal weaponry. It is also probably the most distinctive ghost ark i've seen to date.

Very very well done.

[Kawauso]

Lastly for now there's my Doomsday Ark. With extra glow to distinguish it from the Ghost Arks even further!

God I have a love/hate relationship with this vehicle chassis.

[Kawauso]

And to finish things off for now, a shot of the whole force as it stands at the moment.

A little over 1000 points of ancient space robot goodness!

[Deadlift]

The colours on reflection remind me a little bit of Tron

[Kawauso]

well at least when you 1st started you didnt take the "undercoast, drybrush chainmail and im done route" so kudos to you there :)
So how you intending to re-do the old guys now ? are you looking at stripping em back and starting again ? my crons back in the day were all rusty and weathered much like the ogre kingdoms weapon scheme and although I saw these new funky paint jobs upon last years release I stuck with the way I had already painted but tried to improve it with weathering powders etc, The exception were my Deathmarks which took ages lol. I see you did the same and improved your models a great deal

Good luck and keep us posted mate

Hehe, yeah, I had to do something different - the Dawn of War army painter was helpful for figuring out what!

I've gone back to the army with the intent of simplifying the paint scheme.

My goal is to incorporate some of the bare metal look that is signature to the Necrons, but retain the blue-orange colour as the heraldic colours of my own Necron dynasty.



The benefit of this is that not only will it look nicer, but it will make painting go a lot faster - particularly for horde units like Warriors.

The amount of 'colour' on a given model type is going to be roughly indicative of their place in Necron society, particularly in my dynasty. So the warriors have the most bare metal showing, with only heraldic colours on their shoulders to designate them as property of my Necron Overlord.

Immortals have more colour because they hold a more important place within my dynasty's hierarchy.

Models like Lychguard, who essentially have their personality intact and are charged with protecting my HQ choices, have a lot of heraldic colouring on them as befits their position.

Vehicles and constructs, like Scarabs, etc., are going to have a lot of blue and orange on them because they are valuable artefacts (much more so than Warriors), and my Overlord will want to make sure there's no mistaking which dynasty they belong to.



To keep things interesting-looking (and help keep me interested in painting), I'm also going to have a number of unit types with unique colour schemes. For example, my Deathmarks are going to be very monochromatic - my Overlord doesn't want his dynasty being associated with dishonourable assassins...but he still wants to employ them, of course.

Praetorians, when I get around to them, are going to be all metallic with a lot of gold, and white face-masks. They're part of my dynasty, technically, but only answer to their own codes and laws, so they will be painted to represent their aloofness.

Destroyers, as the outcasts they are, are going to be painted differently. My Cult of the Red Harvest is going to be red-and-gold.

Since Flayed Ones join Necron forces in combat more or less unbidden, I'm going to keep them bare metal with lots of lovely gore on them - no telling which dynasty they originated from.

Finally, any Crypteks in my army are going to be painted differently depending on which sort of Harbinger they are, to represent the fact that they're technically mercenaries and not really part of my dynasty.





I have no idea when I'll actually get -around- to getting all of these models painted, but I hope to keep this thread going as long as I'm keeping at it.

Thanks for the interest! I hope this turns out to be worth your while. :)

[Kawauso]

Fantastic work mate. You really have come on no end! Great example of a simple but strong and effective colour scheme, and subtle OSL. I really like how you've done the green crystal weaponry. It is also probably the most distinctive ghost ark i've seen to date.

Very very well done.

Hey, thanks for the compliment!

Hopefully there will be plenty more to come in the future and you'll enjoy that just as much. :D

[Kawauso]

The colours on reflection remind me a little bit of Tron

I'll take that as a compliment. :D Thanks!

[Kawauso]

I figure while I'm at this I might as well include a recent conversion I've done, and see if anyone's interested in me creating a tutorial or something.

Here's the thing: I like Heavy Destroyers. I want to use them.
However I hate metal models (did I mention that? :P). And I hate hybrid models even more. For some reason, the update Necrons received did not see the death of the horrible hybrid model kit that is the Heavy Destroyer. :(

Fortunately the new Necron kits offer a distinct advantage over older kits: tons of extra bits! With these at my disposal, I decided to convert some all-plastic Heavy Destroyers and rid myself once and for all of the two official models I had.

So with the help of some leftover Immortal and Praetorian bits, that's exactly what I did.

Take a look for yourself and let me know what you think.

[Jive Tyrant]

Are you a Denver Broncos fan by any chance?

[Kawauso]

Haha, nope. :)
I don't follow sports of any kind so I actually had to look them up to see what their uniforms are like - the colours of my 'crons are pretty much spot-on, though! :p

I just know my colour theory, and blue's my favourite colour. This being the first army I started, I wanted them to be blue in some way, so I wound up going with blue and orange. Now those are the heraldic colours of my Necron army - the Cephren Dynasty! :D

[Kawauso]

Finally finished my second Ghost Ark...
Good riddance to this vehicle chassis! I don't have to paint any more of them! After the 2 Ghost Arks and Doomsday Ark, I'm feeling pretty good about that...these things were starting to become a real chore.

Got a handful of pics this time, including some more close-up shots on detail. I've gotten better at the OSL techniques I'm using on my Necrons, I think...and yes, every individual little repair scarab on the Ark is fully painted, complete with glowing, glossed eyes. :)

Also tried to use these pictures to show off the warriors inside a bit better. They're all battle damaged, so that includes the paint job as well, where I applied paint chips and scouring to their bodies. It's difficult to see in just the photos, but they also get progressively more damaged the farther back in the ark you go. One of the guys up front is fully repaired, and you can even see the little glimmer in his eyes as he re-activates.

This took longer than expected, but thankfully I think it's all downhill from here. The vehicles I have left to paint ought to be simpler (a Monolith and an Annihilation/Command Barge), and aside from that it's just loads of infantry, which seem to go faster/easier/more enjoyably for me.

Though I do have a FW Tomb Stalker awaiting painting before assembly...



Comments and critique always welcome.

[SotonShades]

Another stunning job. I really like the way you've arranged the broadside guns. Are they permenantly glued in that poistion?

Can't wait to see that tomb stalker!

[Brymm]

These guys look great! What an amazing job, its wild how much better we get with time and practice. That paint scheme is brilliant and allows lots of freedom in painting. I will get some of my guys up, you've inspired me!

[damnthevalley]

I love the way your models look, especially the Arks. I personally hate Arks though, since putting them together and painting them is so damn time consuming, haha. Took me forever to get my first one done since I had to paint it in a couple dozen pieces and then put it together...

[Kawauso]

Wow, I really had to dig to find this thread - I guess it's been longer than I thought.
Started a new job about a month ago and as you can imagine it's taken a toll on my painting.

Thanks for all the comments!

Soton: None of my flayer arrays are glued, but they're very snug fits and the join between the mount and the weapon is quiet flimsy, so for all intents and purposes the way they are is the way they're going to stay. I too am happy with how the last ark came out. :)

Brymm: Thanks! I'll poke around and see if I can't find your models somewhere in the forums!

damn: Thank you. I can safely say I agree with you 100% on the ark models. Great to look at, fun to use, but one huge pain in the *** to assemble. I had to fully paint mine before putting them together, which meant painting about 40 individual components...not fun. Well, I mean, it was fun, but it was also tedious and irritating.

Anyway, since I'm reviving my thread, I might as well show something that I've been up to lately. Progress is slow, but it -has- been made!

First up, there's my second squad of 12 Warriors (for the second Ark I posted a while back). Accompanying them is a Lord. No orb on this fellow, but I really love the model, so I had to get one when it came out in Finecast and paint him up! It's a little hard to see, but his eyes are painted like the Warriors - his sockets are just very deep-set.

[Kawauso]

But wait, there's more!

One of the more time-consuming things I've been up to with my modeling/painting time has been a Tomb Stalker. This guy was, like the Arks, a big pain to get painted and assembled.

That being said, now that I have him all together...I love him. I think he makes a fantastic centrepiece model and I can't wait for a chance to field him.

[Kawauso]

And to finish things off, a couple more shots of the Tomb Stalker.

One showing the terrified/shellshocked IG Stormtrooper on his base, and another giving a model's eye perspective of this monster from the front, again.

I like to think the Stormtrooper was knocked flat on his *** by the 'Stalker bursting through the building/ruin on the base. He's dazed and injured, and looking up at this monstrosity, terrified. The Tomb Stalker just passes by, however; it's not that it doesn't noticed the 'trooper - it does - but one lone, disoriented human is beneath this fearsome construct's attention.

[Toaster36]

I'm impressed! You're 'Crons certainly are unique! You seem to have come a long way from when you first started. How long have you been painting?

[Hokiecow]

The IG was a nice touch, great job!

[MatthewTiger56]

That Ghost Ark..... yum...

[docbungle]

So great stuff.

But that Ghost ark is just superb

[Kawauso]

@Toaster: Thanks! I started 40k in...2008, I think? So 2008-2009 is when those Necrons at the start of the thread are from.

@Everyone else: Thanks a bunch! Especially for the remarks on the Arks. They were certainly a challenge for me, so seeing them together as they are now and receiving compliments on them is rewarding. I think after I get a few more batches of models done I'll probably be due for another full-army picture or two, so hopefully in a few more weeks I'll be able to show off all three Ark chassis together.

[Irongut]

Best color scheme I have ever seen for your ghost ark- very well done!

[Kawauso]

Oookay. Been a while (work, work), but I finally have some updates!

6 more Warriors (to fill out the Ghost Ark squads to 15 each, or make 3 groups of 10) and another Lord with an Orb.

[Kawauso]

Additionally, I'm also finally redone my Monolith in my army's new paint scheme.

Now I know the construction is a little shabby...but it was the first vehicle I ever assembled (back around 2008, I think?), so that's why. I think the new paint job goes a long way towards making it look better, at least.

Tried everything to get the silvering down on the decals (the new Lhamian Medium is pretty awesome), but the ones on the big rear...spar...thing over the crystal were kind of a pain in that regard. They're not too bad in real life, at least, but the photo makes them look pretty shiny.

And now for a bit of a project log update...

---


So this post brings the total count of painted models in my army to:
Overlord with Res. Orb
Lord with warscythe
2x Lords with Res. Orbs
Cryptek Harbinger of Despair

5x Lychguard with warscythes

30x Warriors
2x Ghost Arks
10x Immortals with tesla carbines

Doomsday Ark
Monolith
Tomb Stalker

It might be time for an updated army photo shoot soon. :D


---


In-progress right now I have:
10x Deathmarks
8x Scarab Swarms


---


And yet-to-be painted there's:
Overlord with warscythe
Destroyer Lord with Res. Orb
2x Lords (one with Orb, one without)
6x Crypteks of various disciplines
Trazyn the Infinite
Imotekh the Stormlord

C'tan Shard of the Nightbringer
8x Lychguard with sword/shield
5x Praetorians with caster/blade
10x Praetorians with rods
20x Flayed Ones (old pewter models, none of the Finecast skin-ponchos)

20x Warriors (might do these as typical wash/drybrush models with no heraldry, to denote Warriors owned by no dynasty in particular)
10x Immortals with gauss blasters

9x Scarab Swarms
6x Destroyers
4x Heavy Destroyers

Annihilation Barge

And whatever else I might pick up from the new wave when I've time/money.
So there's plenty more to come. :)

[Kawauso]

Best color scheme I have ever seen for your ghost ark- very well done!

Thanks very much. :) I'm glad the reception for my paint scheme has been so positive!

[Emerald Rose Widow]

while this is not a colour scheme I would do, I love how unique and interesting it is, and the colours really go well together. I especially love the vehicles, the colours really come together on those, just gorgeous.

[Kawauso]

Thank you, ERW. :)

[Kawauso]

Small update today: finished off two 5-man squads (or one 10-man) of Deathmarks.

Now you'll notice that these Deathmarks are not painted in the heraldry of the Cephren Dynasty - and rightly so! No honourable Cephren noble would employ such base and vile assassins. How it is, then, that these ghostly snipers come to materialize on the battlefield in the wars of expansion waged by the noble houses of Cephren, well, they cannot fathom.

I really like the look of the Deathmarks painted up in the Necron codex/on the box, and I was looking for a few units to spice up to differentiate from the rest of my army, so this was a perfect opportunity. Their bleak, monochromatic look should distinguish them, but the glowing green (and the grey weapons) will tie them back in with the rest of my forces (I hope). The white skull mask was impossible to resist - I'd thought of saving it for my Praetorians but I've figured something else out for them, so the Deathmarks got to keep it. I even decided to give them a glossy finish to make them stand out a bit more. Oh, and I also removed the weird ball things on the top of the rifles because I thought they looked a bit silly (and there were already enough glowy spheres to paint on these guys to begin with), and it helped keep the front of the models darker...which they should be if they're going to at least try to be stealthy (once they phase in, that is)!

Really love the look of these models. I think I might have to pick up another batch of 5 just so I can max out my Elite slots with small units of these if I choose to - all of them benefiting from their 'mark' thing seems like it would be pretty useful.

As always, comments, critiques, etc. are more than welcome.

[Kawauso]

Finished off a squad of Destroyers (3 regular, 2 heavy)!

Another deviation from the blue-and-orange livery of the Cephren Dynasty. That's because these Destroyers technically aren't part of it (being that those with the Destroyer 'curse' are ostracized). Rather this is the Cult of the Red Harvest which is often an ally of convenience with my Necron dynasty.

They're a separate sort of mini-dynasty with their own lord and everything (which I've converted as well). A lot of them (including the lord, when I get around to him) used to be Praetorians, which is why I opted to go with the gold trim. That and it worked out with the transfers and looks pretty nice with a good, deep crimson paintjob.

I also went for a little bit more individualization with the models - I plan on making sure no two Destroyers in my cult look identical. They'll all have slight variations on the pattern of their gold trim, which hieroglyphs they sport, etc. Reason being since Destroyers are a sort of aberrant group of nihilists with an individual streak, who have no compunction about altering their physical forms (which is something most Necrons would never do, according to the fluff), I figured they might as well go for as much customization as possible (or as much as their undying minds can fathom).

The Heavy Destroyers are conversions, obviously. I was eager to rid my Necron army of as much metal as possible and had no idea the upgrade pack was coming in resin. Just threw some Immortal/Praetorian bitz on there and it was pretty easy. Also gave them a bit more colour (red faces) to make them stand out just a little more.

Comments and critique always welcomed.

[Brymm]

:eek:

Looks great! I love your line highlighting. I think if you use that technique, you need to use striking colors like you use. Looks good, keep it up!

[Emerald Rose Widow]

I love the deathmarks, and the destroyers are just stunning, how did you do that linework, were those decals or did you paint those buggers on by hand?

[Kawauso]

Thanks for the compliments. I have to say the red-and-gold came out better than I was hoping for.

ERW: Those are decals from the newer Necron decal sheet. I will now swear by the 'official' GW way of applying them, as I've gotten the hang of it and won't ever look back. Makes them go on easily and the finish is damn near seamless.
In case you're wondering, the trick is: apply a layer of 'Ard Coat (I cover the entire surface that will have the transfer applied); when dry apply the transfer and make sure you get it nice and flush with the model surface; when dry apply a layer of Lahmian Medium.
Brings the gloss right down and eliminates silvering on the decals. Also somehow the matte finish doesn't affect the normal gloss of the paints (the rear shot of the Destroyers is especially good at illustrating this). I swear the results are like magic.

Also since the Destroyers seem to be well received, here's the paint scheme for any who are interested (I used old paints so I'll include new paint names in brackets; can't speak for how close they are though).
A- 2-3 thin coats of Scab Red (Khorne Red)
B- Heavy wash of Ball Red (Carroburg Crimson)
C- Gold trim via 2-3 thin coats of Shining Gold (Gehenna's Gold)
D- Edge highlight of gold trim with 1-2 coats of Burnished Gold (Auric Armour Gold)
E- Edge highlight just inside the gold trim on the red with 1-2 coats of Red Gore (Wazdakka Red)
F- Fine edge highlight just inside the gold trim on the red with 1-2 coats of Blood Red (Evil Sunz Scarlet)

[Emerald Rose Widow]

I need to find a good way to do thin lines without needing the decals, so I can do more custom made things. free hand with a detail brush would be difficult, wonder if there are some sort of fine tipped metallic pens I could use.

[Kawauso]

Would be nice to be able to do that, but even with a micron pen I'm pretty sure I don't have hands steady enough to freehand detail like that. =/

Though I have done some pretty nice freehand scrollwork on Marine models before...so I dunno. I'm pretty timid about doing freehand stuff for the most part, hehe.

[Emerald Rose Widow]

Would be nice to be able to do that, but even with a micron pen I'm pretty sure I don't have hands steady enough to freehand detail like that. =/

Though I have done some pretty nice freehand scrollwork on Marine models before...so I dunno. I'm pretty timid about doing freehand stuff for the most part, hehe.

I have trouble with freehand due to my Arthritis causing the hand shakes, but I have found ways to get around that and be pretty steady when I wanna.

[JBMallus]

My problem is creating good freehand Necron circles...

[Kawauso]

Circles, perfectly straight lines and line ends that don't just taper are the big things that keep me away from freehanding where I can avoid it.

I'd going to be unavoidable whenever I get around to any of my SM models with banners, though...

[Kawauso]

Nothing special this week; 8 Scarab bases, or half of what I have at this moment.

However, I did recently order some wicked-looking resin Scarab Swarms off of ebay (they look rather like the Ripper Swarms from FW but with the Scarabs from the Warrior kit), so I probably won't be using these models as Scarab Swarms. Rather, I'll be using them to represent the scarabs spawned by Tomb Spyders (or Canoptek Spyders...whatever).

Think I'm going to take a bit of a break from my Necrons to recharge a little. Maybe work on some Astartes for now.



When I do get back to my Necrons (and when a few packages arrive in the mail), here's what will be left on this army's to-do list:

HQ
2x Necron Overlord
1x Necron Lord
7x Cryptek
1x Destroyer Lord
Trazyn the Infinite
Imotehk the Stormlord

ELITE
C'tan Shard of the Nightbringer
2x Triarch Stalker
5x Triarch Praetorian w/ void blades
10x Triarch Praetorian w/ rods
8x Lychguard w/ shields
20x Flayed Ones (pewter)

TROOPS
10x Immortals w/ blasters
20x Warriors

FAST ATTACK
6x Canoptek Wraiths
18x Scarab Swarms (resin swarms)
8x Spawned Scarab Swarms
3x Destroyers
2x Heavy Destroyers
4x Unknown Destroyers (unassembled; will probably go 2 regular, 2 heavy)

HEAVY SUPPORT
2x Annihilation Barge (or Command Barge)
2x Canoptek Spyders

MISC
Objective Markers (3 modeled, with plans for a 4th in the works)

[Meph]

Wow, somehow I missed this thread until now. Great stuff, man. That a really nice colour scheme you've got going on. Onwards and upwards, huah!