The Future is Bright

And it certainly will be bright when I can nail this colour scheme. It's looking good and I'm really pleased with it. The latest delivery from Alchemists Workshop landed yesterday so now I have all of my initial force here and being put together. As you will have read in the previous posts there were a number of models in the Necron range that I was REALLY excited about assembling, painting and having in my army. It doesn't take long to realise that all of those models were newer sculpts; the Tomb Blades, Annihilation Barge and the Night Scythes are gorgeous models and are all in my first 90-100 power army list. A list that I've basically formed around those favourite models. In my head the list should play very aggressively, and fast but I can't help planning which units will be added in next. But which?

Necron Lord.jpg

I'm very excited about the possibility of a pre Christmas Necron Codex and along with wondering and coming up with rule and wargear ideas, I have been thinking about new sculpts.

The Necron warriors are rather dated now, having been released nearly twenty years ago with their basic 'squating' single pose and minimalist detail does nothing to hide their age. You've only to compare them with their fellow troop choice, the Immortals, to see the difference but also possibilities both model wise and within the rules. For starters it would be awesome if we could upgrade a model in a warrior squad to have a special weapon, or a Warrior Chosen that could then equip a Hyperphase Sword or similar. I'm just brain storming but that's what my head has always done, even when playing Tomb Kings back when we only had Ravening Hordes. 

Speculating a little on which models may get some updated sculpts and my choices are most likely not very surprising at all. Warriors I feel have to be redone but the other models that in my opinion are looking a little dated are the Destroyers and... yes there's an and here... the Monolith. 

I must admit to never really having liked to Monolith model, but in its alternative, the Obelisk, you can sense the possibility that a new sculpt could be phenomenal. I like the Obeslisk and given a spare £95 I'd happily convert one in to a Monolith if I thought it were worth it. A conversion would be made a little easier because it only has one weapon choice (an annoyance of mine throughout most of the army, a lack of wargear choice) but then you could speculate that that could be rectified with a new sculpt and a Codex. Gauss flamers anyone? 

You could also convert warriors out of the later Immortal plastics if you so wished but the Destroyers? There's not really any 'easy' comversion work you could do with these outside something like a Canoptek Spyder with Destroyer parts spliced on to it. 

All of this is irrelevant if new models come out, but I'm in a position where I'd rather not waste any more model purchases, I have just got to be patient.

Trying to future proof my next army choice is probably rather easy anyway. Just pick anything other than Destroyers, Warriors or a Monolith. Yeah, great I'll do that from now on, however my army already has twelve Necron Destroyers in one form or another, eight regular Destroyers, two Heavy Destroyers and two Destroyer Lords, and it was before I assembled my second HQ Choice, another Destroyer Lord, that I stopped and doubted it. If they release new Destroyers then I realise I would have to suck it up and replace them. I'm fine with that and there's no way I wouldn't get them. The models would no doubt be stunning and throw in the possibility of being able to take a Tesla Cannon or a Particle Shredder instead of/as well as a Gauss Cannon and you've suddenly made it essential to buy them. But the Destroyer Lord I was about to assemble could be considered a little differently?

I could take the easy route and put together the other finecast version I had bought but I never seem to pick the easy option and in the back of my head I hated the thought of putting him together and then him becoming obsolete in a few months when, hopefully, a new Destroyer Lord model is released. There was another option; convert one.

So that's the direction I went. If I converted one, even if a new model was released mine would hopefully be cool enough to still hold some weight and presence as a Destroyer Lord (or Destroyer Overlord... please Games Workshop? 2+ WS/BS Destroyer Overlord would be appreciated).

So that's where I went.  

A Destroyer chassis and the Lord body from the Annihilation Barge along witha tonne of parts laid out ready

A Destroyer chassis and the Lord body from the Annihilation Barge along witha tonne of parts laid out ready

The easy part was getting a tonne of parts out and having a look to see what could be done. One of the 'issues' that I have with the Destroyer is the lack of detail across the model, something that is abundantly clear when you compare them to the Tomb Blade weapons shown in the photo above. The body and chassis look like blocks of playdoh in comparison and I wanted to address that with whatever I did. First up was the blocky Lego-like repulsor engines. The Tomb Blades Particle Beamer and Tesla Carbine added some options so I mocked them up.

Tesla Carbine and Particle Beamer bodies mocked up as reulsor engine cowlings

Tesla Carbine and Particle Beamer bodies mocked up as reulsor engine cowlings

Hopefully you'll agree with me that the more pyramid shaped particle beamer body looks better as that is the option I went with and cut and cleaned up five more to fit on the chassis.

IMG_6511.JPG

The way I glued the upper body on to the chassis also lengthened the whole model a little, too, and some Tesla cartridges were added in the gap just behind the engines. A spine from the Lychguard sprue was added for some finer detail at the read and REALLY shows up how blocky the original sculpt is. Just look at the difference between the two spines next to each other.

That's the engines taken care of in terms of some more detail, but that plain stark carapace across the top of the body is calling out for something. The Canoptek Spyder is a great example of what might happen with a possible Destroyer resculpt showing the Necron lines and runes separating the panels.

Necron_Canoptek_Spyder_5.jpg

I certainly didn't think I'd be able to carve those lines in to the body, and I wasn't going to buy a £20 model just for the carapace either (although I did check eBay and all the usual bits websites to see if any had one in stock).

The other option would be covering it up.

And on that note, I'll leave it there as I've nattered on enough for tonight. Along with covering up the bland body there are some other options and ideas I am addressing as I finish up the Destroyer Overlord, a model that will hopefully be cool enough to hold its own against any future new models. Granted he'll probably still be relegated to a lesser Lord but hey, I can hope!

Until next time.

Chris