Lupa15’s Imperium Magazine

With the official launch (not just the trial period) showing up in February I felt that it was time to revisit this project.  I took another shot at the blue stuff and had way more success. However I think I need to take another approach to adding runes, fur and the spears as I found those were still lacking details.

I recently received the limited time model of Lord Hasmoteph The Resplendent. I spent two weekends painting him up and starting to finish the remaining two necrons from the initial release.

Well I tried…

I learned a few lessons after watching the Gerry Can video and attempting my first blue stuff mold for the first time.  I definitely did not get the blue stuff hot enough as it was going stiff after about one or two minutes of working with it.  It was almost pushing back on the piece I was pushing into it.

From the images I attached below you can see how the greenstuff casts weren’t really crisp enough, had a lot of flashing and in one case wasn’t really well aligned.  I am going to try again from scratch but everything is a learning process.

I decide on painting my Necrons in a version of the Novokh Dynasty colors.  But instead of using the Warhammer TV scheme I researched for a lot of fellow painters takes on it.

In the end this is what I think the color scheme will be:

Metal Body

Undercoat the miniature with Citadel Leadbelcher spray before using Citadel Leadbelcher thinned to ensure a smooth coverage.

Wash the metal with Citadel Basilicanum Grey Contrast and Citadel Contrast Medium at about a ratio of 1:3.

Red Armor

Use Citadel Mephiston Red on the skull and shoulder pads before washing with a 50/50 mix of Citadel Agrax Earthshade and Citadel Lahmian Medium to wash the areas.

Finally highlight with both Citadel Evil Sunz Scarlet and Citadel Wild Rider Red.

Gun Casing

Basecoat the gun casing with Citadel Corvus Black before washing with Citadel Basilicanum Grey Contrast and Citadel Contrast Medium at about a ratio of 1:3.

Finally highlight with Citadel Dawnstone.

White Armor

Base the tassels and other white armor with Citadel Corax White.

Wash the white armor with the same mixture as the metal body which is Citadel Basilicanum Grey Contrast and Citadel Contrast Medium at about a ratio of 1:3.

Use Citadel Corax White to leave the wash in the recesses before highlighting with Citadel White Scar.

Gold Trim

Base with Citadel Balthasar Gold.

At the same time as the Red Armor use a 50/50 mix of Citadel Agrax Earthshade and Citadel Lahmian Medium to wash the areas.

I haven’t yet determined an exact highlight but I am leaning towards using Citadel Gehennas Gold and dots of Citadel Stormhost Silver.

Orange Energy Glow

Base with Citadel Jokaero Orange.

Layer with Citadel Fire Dragon Bright leaving the basecoat in the recesses.

Highlight with Citadel Pallid Wych Flesh before using a wash of Cassandora Yellow with a 50/50 mix of Citadel Lahmian Medium.

Initially I had narrowed the list down to the Celestial Lions, Astral Knights and Emperors Spears.  All part of some of my favorite Black Library fiction.

The criteria I mainly focused on was coolness factor, conversion opportunities and the paint scheme.

In the end I decided that the Emperors Spears were the Chapter that fascinated me the most.  I guess its time to learn how to sculpt fur!  Additionally I think I am going to get the Primaris Space Marine Captain and make a mold out of the crest.  This will be used on all the characters such as the Lieutenants and Captains.  Next I am looking at some Space Wolf bits to make fur from and make some rune trinkets.

And finally I am going to dig out my copy of White Dwarf 460 as a reference material with the Index Astartes for the Chapter.

As mentioned in the last post I took inspiration from Duncan Rhodes and made a version of a Tomb World base.

I bought both small and medium resin crystals from Greenstuff World.  Additionally I tried the Greenstuff World hobby sand thick and thin.

I sprayed this with the Citadel Chaos Black spray to help seal it down.  Then I thinned Abaddon Black with water at approximately 1 part paint to 3 parts water.  This took about three coats to effectively cover the base.  Don’t worry about the crystals as those will be painted later.

I then drybrushed the base with Citadel Dawnstone and followed that up with Citadel Screaming Skull.

The crystals were a little trickier…  I started painting them with Citadel Troll Slayer Orange. It wasn’t really covering the miniature effectively and wasn’t really a color that I loved. I wanted something a little brighter.  So I switched to Citadel Jokaero Orange which was then edge highlighted with Citadel Fire Dragon Bright and Citadel Pallid Wych Flesh before Cassandora Yellow with a 50/50 mix of Citadel Lahmian Medium.

The hobby god Duncan Rhodes has struck inspiration yet again!  I love his Tomb World bases and think that they will look amazing with only a little amount of work required.

Additionally I can use Green Stuff World’s Crystals in Small and Medium to achieve the same effect that he does with plasticard.

First things… I need some inspiration so I went looking around the interwebs for some dynasties that I would love to paint.  Here are some of the front runners…

Mephrit Dynasty – I like it but not on Necrons to be honest…

Nihilak Dynasty (sp?) – A classic alternative scheme that is just different enough while remaining simple enough to paint.

Novak(?) Dynasty – Honestly a front runner. Easy to paint and stands out. I may do an orange glow.

Szarekhan Dynasty – The new main scheme with a lot of brass. Tempting but maybe not enough.

Zathanor Dynasty – Another front runner but I may change the glow to a blue glow instead.

Tsarakura Dynasty – I like the Turqoise look another front runner

Unknown O Dynasty – Pretty much all copper instead of just highlights. Interesting but I want some color.

Unknown T Dynasty – Really different with the black armor but might be too difficult for the rank and file.

I left all the models unglued from the bases and left the Space Marine Lieutenant in a sub-assembly.  These models are very easy to assemble but I was hoping that the Necrons could be left in a sub-assembly but as they are snap fit (I used glue) that was not possible.

The first two magazines have arrived! So it begins!  But unfortunately this will be all there is until 2022 as the first two were a limited run.  Well I can’t wait until 2022!