Rust Crons

[BowlingShirtJerk]

I'd like to share this Necron army that I've been working on these past few months/years...

I was a fan of the metal models back in the day but never made a commitment to start collecting them. Besides, there were like four units... and four units does not an army make. When the plastics and Codex were released I bought up a bunch of stuff, and in a fit of over excitement, I just slopped some Boltgun Metal on the models.

Fast forward to 2008 when I discovered an box of Warriors I hadn't built, and decided to try something characterful with them.

I'm really trying to follow the theme of this pic:
Necron 1

Here are a few of the first warriors I built:









I went for the old broken robot look, which I think allows for a more interesting interpretation of the Necron's fluff (I hate that "we hate all life... just because" nonsense). Necrons can now be 40k Tomb Kings or a more sinister Lovecraftian horror army.

[BowlingShirtJerk]

Before settling on having a Shadow over Robotic Innsmouth I did a few over silly modeling projects...





The Monoskiff was a model I started working on before True Line of Sight as a fun 'Tomb King' styled monolith stand in. It was a mix between the Egyptian Funeral boats, and Robots! Fifth edition really but the last nail in the sarcophagus for this model. Lately I've been thinking of using it in a terrain project.

Also worked on this little guy...





I still plan on reposing all of my Pariahs...
Anyways, even with nothing painted and and some models still half built, I put the army aside. I had better more interesting things to work on!

[BowlingShirtJerk]

Fast forward to 2010.

All the Necron rumors had gotten me excited (Dunno why Daemonhunters didn't do the same. Maybe because it's mostly Grey Knights. Cool, but not what I'd like...anyways...). Decided to actually paint up my warriors, two squads of ten.





Basically I just did three drybrushed coats. Browns and stuff, the layers don't really show up in the photos.









To get the two squads of ten I actually went back and butchered some of my old, stale, stock warriors from years ago. The above twenty warriors, arranged proudly on the Kitchen counter, are all done (besides basing).

[BowlingShirtJerk]

WIP Wraiths.

A lot more rust than the warriors because of sheer surface area. A lot more highlighting work because of all the spines and vertebrae! In this picture they still need a wash, metallic highlights, the final greens on the eyes. I think I'm going to cover their claws in 'dried blood'. I'm thinking just mix brown and red and then highlight up. Maybe even with dry brushing to a get a more splattered effect.







Eventually I finished all nine of my Wraiths and moved on to the next portion of my army: Heavy Destroyers.







I painted four of these guys, and unfortunately they're stock for the most part. At some point I may get a bunch of Tomb Spyder legs and make them a bit more creepy crawly, but they look fine for now.

[Gonders]

Nice 'crons! I love you warrior conversions, they're alot more inventive than normal.

And that art work it cool, definatly keep that in mind!

Gonders

[BowlingShirtJerk]

Finally about a week again I finished my Tomb Stalker. This is where I finally and ultimately settled on a creepy horror theme for the models. I would set the army in an old, backwards Imperial city, falling apart not because of war but of neglect and misuse. The Necrons would be those creepy monsters that crawled out of a little hellhole near the shore, summoned by odd priests, to seek out... whatever. At the end of the day nothing says Lovecraft like shambling horrors who obey aloof and terrible gods. Anyways...

Forge World lost a little piece of the Tomb Stalker model... so I got a greenstuff mold to replace it...



I really wanted the Stalker to be a centerpiece for the army, the big Monster at the end of the video game, and honestly the only breath of fresh air in this stale army.



Sorry about the pics. The model is pretty big and it's tough to focus on just one part of it!

I wanted to capture that Lovecraftian disuse that all of his haunted towns go through, so I mounted the stalker in the town square. It's got some statue to some saint that slid of it's base.





I realized I couldn't keep the statue intact and completely on the base because it would both squeeze the Stalker out and also overpower the focus of the piece. I also didn't want the statue to be in pieces or destroyed, as if it was bombarded. I like the idea that the uncaring passing of time is more sad & detrimental to architecture than any sort of war.

After a bunch of painting I was left with this...





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So this is were I'm at! I'm currently working on a Lord, some Flayed Ones, and I've been debating whether to incorporate Immortals into the army...
Anyways, thanks for looking! Comments, questions, & critiques are always welcome.

[harlekin]

Wow, your necrons are a amazing, I fully agree with Gonder about your conversions/repositioning of the warriors. All in all they look way more ghostly like souls of the dead, roaming through the lone streets of a city (however those souls might actually look) - not just like robots. Your painting seems also very effective, next to the rough drybrushed areas of old metal, the fresh green eyes are excellent.
All in all great work

[The_Dark_Lord_Obsidian]

The Tomb stalker is awesome, love the model, love the paint job, good stuff!

[DapperAnarchist]

I think you should go back and re-do the warriors - the Wraiths, Heavy Destroyers and Tomb Stalkers are all amazing, but the distinction between rust and metal on the Warriors is so stark, it looks like rust has been painted, not developed - while the other ones are all very natural, which suits the Lovecraftian idea - nature deformed and wronged.

[Hadriel Caine]

Jeez. I wasn't convinced by the early pictures but damn, this log is incredible. I love your rust effect. It works wonderfully in contrast to the green of the gauss weapons and other details. The base for your tomb stalker is excellent too. I will be watching this with interest.

[HereBeDragons]

I agree. Most of your stuff is absolutely top notch! The warriors would really benefit from going back and re-doing them in the same style as the rest of your collection. Would make a massive difference to the army.

Btw I love the stalker crawling down that statue! Great image

[Souleater]

Tombstalker = Fantastic!

I like the way you've pushed the decayed metal theme without going into the usual 'huge wires coming out of broken limbs'

[Radical]

Wow, I saw the title of the log and thought, oh no, just another person starting crons with no new ideas, or even skill at all, but you have thoroughly surprised me. The poses are amazing, and the guiding focus is awesome. Keep it up!

[Darnok]

Can you give a recipe for the rusty metal? The results are simply amazing.

[Pekel]

Very rarely do I get into Necron plogs, but this one looks great! The rust on the Tomb Stalker is perfect! The strong silver highlights on the Warriors are a bit much though - are you going to tone them down so they're more in line with the Heavy Destroyer and Tomb Stalker?

Awesome work so far!

[BowlingShirtJerk]

Thanks for the comments and kind words everybody!

About the warriors... I totally agree! After I finished the Wraiths, I took another look at the warriors and noticed the slight differences in style. I repainted a few things here and there to put them more in line with my newer stuff. The pictures were from before the adjustments!

Can you give a recipe for the rusty metal?

Sure! Here's a little tutorial on my rust. I initially used a recipe in an old White Dwarf (US 314), but later added a few extra steps here and there. Anyways here's the technique on my Tomb Stalker.

Basecoated Black.


I used a big ass brush to dry brush Dark Flesh onto the entire model.


Next I did another drybush with equal parts Dark Flesh & Vermin Brown.


Finally I did another light drybrush of just Vermin Brown.


These three stages give the Model it's general color, and begins to give that gritty, spotted brown/orange scheme.

Next every edge on the model is lined with an equal mix of Boltgun Metal & Chainmail:

[BowlingShirtJerk]

Then to get that really molted, layered rust effect I do a few things. First I give everything metal a thinned down wash of Devlan Mud . Watch out when this stuff gets old and you mix it with water... my wash got pale and 'crusty' after use resulting in a lot of extra painting!


I do a heavy spotting/stippling of Vermin Brown as well as one with a 1/3 mix of Black and Dark Flesh. Over that I paint/stipple a bit of Boltgun Metal.



It takes a bit to get looking right. Too sloppy and the model looks like **** (my first few layers), but you also can't be too precise or the rust looks way too artificial. You might also need to repeat the above step a few times...

I finally do some Chainmail highlighting on edges, and paint the green areas of the model. The eyes and power areas are just Dark Angels Green and White with lots of layers.



And that's basically it! I've been meaning to try it out on terrain.

Thanks for looking guys, and stay tuned for my Necron Lord!

[Fable]

Your army totally looks amazing. I love your work on the Necron Monoskiff. Rather than (just) making it terrain I'd suggest making rules for it for friendly games or apocalypse games. Other than giving you a good reason to field a cool model it might also breath some fresh air into a stale army for both you and your opponent. Be sure to post whatever rules you concoct for it!

[Darnok]

Thanks so much for that tutorial!

As I said, the results are spectacular. And it fits the models, even though your usual Necron army is "living metal, silver stuff with colors". Yours is a perfect example of how to do it differently.

[rev]

yeh that's a great rust recipe, simple, bold and effective - I really like tips like this that I'll actually steal use myself.

Great looking crons.

rev