Magos' Progression

Last few days have been great for getting stuck into hobby. Gotta love the winter hols! Really buzzing with this Magos.

Something really satisfying about building your own unique fig, seeeing it really come together and then coming to life as the paint starts to go down. Been a fantastic start to the new year! I've got most of the metalwork done now and have been painting kinda from the inside out. The mechandrites really had to be tackled first as they get in the way of everything and as you can see, painting the meant getting metallics on just about all of the Magos' robes so I've had to leave them to last. I wanted his face to be quite recessed within the hood to give a darker and more ominous/sinister look and character to the figure as well ala a lot of John Blanche's visions of the Mechanicus so natually that also needed to be totally painted and finished before the outer robes.
I've stuck to the livery of his Achlys III forgeworld  and the methods/techniques I used on the other members of the forge I've alreasy finished - kats, dragoon, Dominus etc. However, with the Magos, I wanted to step it up a bit so to make him stand out both as being of a higher order and also much older and more senior to the rest of the collected force, even the Dominus techpriest. I needed something the rest wouldn't have. So I settled on his chestplates as been of a more archaic and rare nature. With the rest I use brass as a trim to thier weapons and armour and don't really use any golds. Here I wanted something brassy but a bit more goldy.....So I've gone with what his chestplates and cog axe now are. Comes out as a nice old, tarnished gold effect but still sits will with the ages metals of the mechandrites and the few brass trims. Very happy with how the effect came out and was very easy to achieve. Anyways - this is where we're at the now. Thrilled with how he's coming out.

AdMech Arch-Magos

I've always really like the fluff and aesthetic for the Adeptus Mechanicus/Mechanicum that GW has produced and the work of John Blanche that so often goes hand in hand with it. The FW Mechanicum models (you'll be seeing a fair bit of them coming up in the next few months here) and now the recent GW AdMech releases are all top notch and great stuff to build and paint. Their TechPriest Dominus is probably my favourite character release of 2015. However, for the Arch-Magos, I really wanted something unique and a model that would stand above and beyond the assembled forces. No two Magi are the same and are very much their own creations as they gradually augment and replace their biological parts as they rise up through the ranks and heirarchies down the centuries - becoming more and more mechanical and more and more aloof and even isolated from their peers as they get closer to their god.
And so I looked for inspiration for my Magos and found it from one of the best kitbashers out there - krautscientist and his 'Legion' model. If you haven't checked out his work yet, then do it. He doe some really amazing and inspiring work especially in the realms of the CSM, Inquisition and of course the AdMech. The 'Legion' model uses a WHFB cairn wraith from the hunched robed look so usually associated with the Mechanicum and it works perfectly. As I say, if you haven't seen his work before - go and check it out and be inspired! The 'Legion' model can be found here https://eternalhunt.wordpress.com/2013/04/13/meanwhile-aboard-the-arrke/  but have a look around the whole site.
Anyways - enough from me, time to get back to the brushes!

Cheers for stopping in and all the best for 2016

Jan