Warhammer 40K - Adeptus Mechanicus Welcome to Mars Chapter 3 Onager Dunecrawler

Warhammer 40K - Welcome to Mars Chapter 3 Onager Dunecrawler

Welcome to Mars!

With my regular foes being Necrons, Imperial Guard and Sisters of Battle, the added fire power of the Dunecrawler is very appealing.

Chapter 3: Onegar Dunecrawlers

   So firstly let’s review the contents of my Adeptus Mechanicus force so far.

The Forgebane boxed set gave me:

1 x Tech-Priest Domiunus (assembled)

10 x Skitarii Rangers/Vanguard

2 x Armiger Warglaives (both now assembled and painted see Chapter 1)

 I then purchased the Adeptus Mechanicus Codex saw the Knights which determined the next purchase, the Renegade boxed set, which gave me:

2 x Knights (now assembled and painted see Chapter 2)

 At this point it dawned on me that when I build up the second Knight and add in the Armigers, I'll also have enough models to field a force of Imperial Knights. Two armies for the price of one - bonus!

 Time to add to the Mechanicus army! I had a look on the webstore site and spotted the army starter box set. This contains:

1 x Tech-Priest Dominus

10 x Skitarii Rangers/Vanguard

1 x Onegar Dunecrawler

 Checking the Codex (spotting the Emanatus Force Field rule) I decided a second and eventually a third Dunecrawler would be essential.

 I decided on buying the starter set and one additional Dunecrawler. I also sneaked in the purchase of the Imperial Knights Codex when no one was looking!

I had some ideas on how I would like to build up my Ranger and Vanguard squads but realised I would need to purchase another box so decided to leave these aside just now and concentrate on the Dunecrawlers.

Oneger Dunecrawlers:

Assembly:

 This process is similar to the Armiger and Knight assemblies as linked above in  Chapter 1  and  Chapter 2). Divide the assembly into legs, hull and main weapons. This allows you to undercoat different sections easily and allows a greater degree of access to parts of the model that would be difficult to get to once fully assembled.

 The armour plates on the legs can also be kept seperate at this point. I'm not a fan of the retractable shoes so did not include these at all.

 The main weapon variants are the Eradication Beamer, Neutron Laser, Twin Heavy Phospor Blaster and Icarus Array.

 The Icarus Array Rocket/Missile Pod attaches to the side of the mounting and could actually be magnetised to attach to the side by swapping out the dome shaped side armour of the weapon mounting. I decided that I would build up one of the Dunecrawlers with the Icarus Array permanently attached but after considering options I would leave the option to swap out the auto-cannon.

 The other weapons and the auto-cannon from the Icarus array can all be magnetised to fit the same mounting position. In order to do this, clip out the top part of the ridge that the main weapons attach to and glue in a 3mm x 1.5mm magnet. Glue in 3mm x 1.5mm magnets (checking that they are the right way round) into the top of the groove of each of the main weapons and that's that done, all the options and only one hull to paint.

 There are also some variations for the hull section and the hatch. I wasn't fussed about which ones I used so didnt magnetise them but you could if you wanted to. These include the smoke launchers, data-tether etc.

Painting:

   Sticking with the Mars colour scheme this turns out to be similar to painting the Armigers and the Knight.

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 Follow the same system as in Welcome to Mars, Part 1 (LINK) Leadbelcher and Mephiston Red being the main colours. Basing is exactly the same method detailed in Part 1, using the citadel texture paint Mars Ironearth.

 Just a couple of pick ups to go over.

The front of the headlights were painted Skull White, layered with Ushabti Bone and then with Bad Moon Yellow. I then painted the grill Abaddon Black and layered Leadbelcher on this taking care not to get any black or leadbelcher on the yellow.

 The energy coils of the Eradication beamer and some of the scope lights were undercoated Skull White then painted with a thin layer of Teclis Blue and highlighted with Lothern Blue. You can also mix some Skull White into the Lothern Blue and apply a second highlight to the edges of the coils and a dot highlight in the top corner of the scope lights.

 Finally, the lenses of the binoculars on the hatch were undercoated white then a thin layer of Waaagh! Flesh then a layer of and old Citadel flip top paint called Woodland Green with a highlight of Skarsnik Green.

 After all sections are painted then complete the final assembly, apply your transfers then give the entire model a light spray with purity seal.

 Completed and battle ready apart from the Skitarii cognis heavy-stubber hatch trooper. I'm saving him for when I paint the Ranger Sniper Team.....Mars, signing off!

Gildoren 

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Post Edit: I have now finished the Skitarii hatch gunner. Further details on him in Chapter