From ByronM - 30k Adeptus Mechanicus - Burch's Bluff (100 points)

As I continue to explore challenge island, I am starting to really realize that I probably should have planned ahead for this!  I thought about it before the challenge started, and really meant to, then got distracted with work and then the challenge started and with it holidays, and here I am 2 weeks in and no real plan other than I wanted to follow that path that my own space was on.... but past that, I have NO idea what I am doing...  So it's kinda like a choose your own adventure book for me, where I don't know what is coming next until I get there.  At this point, I think I am going to keep it that way, and just look and plan one move ahead.

 So, on with the show....

My next space was Burch's Bluff and with it having to do something 30k related.  Well, at least that is easy for me, I have piles of 30k stuff kicking around.

So, I pulled out a few giant robots from the Adeptus Mechanicus force that I started during last years challenge and set out to expand it.

These beasts are HUGE.  The largest one is on a 120mm x 92mm oval base and stands about 130mm tall!  The largest one is a Thanatar Calix Siege Automata and while I could describe it, GW and Forgeworld do a far better job than I could:

"Combining arcane and secret technologies, it carries a twin-linked mauler bolt cannon alongside a rare solex pattern heavy lascannon, whose beams of coherent light can reach far across a battlefield to lethal effect. The Thanatar-Calix's most destructive armament though is the graviton ram, a weapon whose origins are lost in the Dark Age of Technology. The ram's crushing waves of gravitational force can pulverise infantry and vehicles alike, and it can be utterly devastating at both range and close quarters."

The two smaller ones are Domitar Battle automata and are nasty pieces of kit for close combat.

The Domitar Class Battle-automata was a sophisticated variant of the ancient Conqueror pattern. Larger than the more common Castellax alongside which it would serve, the Domitar was also swifter, designed to cross the open battlefield at speed, and built expressly to crash into the enemy with shattering force.

 To this end the Domitar’s shock-protected and armoured frame was itself a weapon, while its blows were amplified to colossal proportions by the Battle-automata’s inbuilt gravitational hammers, allowing it to pulverise battle tanks and, as it would later prove, even Legiones Astartes Dreadnoughts in combat. As a line-breaker, the Domitar was unparalleled in the Mechanicum’s arsenal, and its tactical flexibility was further augmented with a missile launcher armed with a variety of munitions.

While I tried to keep the colours the same as the ones I did last year, I believe they shifted a bit, but since they are different than last years, it will work.

I love painting these guys though, they come out amazing looking (in my own opinion, which is hard since I am normally pretty hard on my own painting and think most of it is crappy as I only see my flaws, not the good parts) and especially so given the time this scheme takes.  These are so simple to do.  I simply airbrush 3 shades of red to form the highlights and shades, then paint the silver and copper, 3 shades of ink over it all, then decals, then weathering powder, and they are done!  All told less than 3 hours per robot, which to me is super fast for the outcome.  Maybe I should just do 2-3 colour schemes all the time???

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Hello everyone - Greg B stepping in here as a guest minion at Byron's request, as he did not wish to "minion" his own post.  And note - "minion" is now a verb :)

And I'm happy to do so! It is always fun to see more amazing stuff from from Byron - and super-cool 30k stuff to boot - and also to smile at the (at times) scathing self-analysis he provides of his tremendous painting abilities. We are all our own worst critics, after all. It is also extra entertaining to see airbrush jockeys describing their process as "simple". My my own mind recoils in horror at all of the fiddling around with the pointless and fiddly airbrush kit these efforts would require just to put down one piddling colour layer.

Byron, these bad boys will fit perfectly with your impressive, terrifying and unstoppable Mechanicum 30k forces!  I'm particularly excited to see that Siege Automata up close, preferably rendering some clueless loyalist opponents down to component particles which would promptly be put to better use in support of Horus's glorious vision of positive change for the Imperium.  Certainly these monsters will carve their own quality viewing spot out on Burch's Bluffs - the Mechanicum are not the sort to let a little thing like "geography" get in the way! Well done.

For points, well, let's see...I would count these as "vehicles", but given the overall size of these beasts, I shall allot some bonus points...together with the bonus for a "Challenge Island" location, let's make it a nice, even 100 points for you.