Butcher1 Painted

 I've been holding onto this model for a long time now. I've heard that Butcher1 was the first model for Warmachine Privateer every made (though this is a resculpt). I think this is a fantastic model and I loved painting it, especially as a little break from brass and pink. 

Butcher1, face

I experimented a bit with stubble, since I didn't want his whole head to be one color, and I think I nailed it. This may be one of the best models I've ever painted. 

Butcher1, back

I painted him up in the 5th Border Legion theme colors, which is how I'm transitioning all of my Khador to look. Butcher actually has some history with the 5th Border Legion, at the battle where he got his name if I remember correctly. I did a very blue cool-tone fur coat to tie in the base (which isn't really finished yet), and many different browns for the leather cape. 

Butcher1, top

I really like the scale of him too, it has a great balance of details, and the details that are there are large and easy to paint. 

Butcher1, front

So even though I haven't gotten out my Khador in well over a year (two years?) I may have to soon just to show his off. I also recommend the novella that Dan Wells wrote, The Butcher of Khardov. It's probably the best fiction that I've read from PP's IP. 

Okay, now back to sea green robes and porcelain masks. 

Iron Mother Directrix and some support models

 Time for a second caster, and she's probably my favorite, especially after the updates earlier this year. 

Iron Mother Directrix, and servitors

I think she's the first model since my test model with the sea green cloth and I still love it. It's a nice cool-tone to match the glows and contrast the warm brass. And the white face really pops on her, maybe more than the other models so far. 

Rules-wise, Directrix is great at a gunline. Privateer giving her Facilitate, letting everybody have her RAT, actually makes her as much of an infantry caster as a battlegroup one now. Unlike Orion who has very little to offer ranged infantry units (like my perforators), she can now get servitors and reductors up a point of RAT all the time and up to 8 on feat turn (perforators would go up to 9 against models with boxes) and give them Reposition 3" to get back out of harm's way. She may even make reductors useful, but I'm not sure of that yet. And her Imperiling servitors cannot be ignored either, remember: Imperil is model/unit not just model, so she can help other completely destroy heavy infantry. Her assassination run is still fun too if you're against a warmachine army (going against Hordes negates two of her spells).

Optifex Directive

I also got some support models painted up. First being two units of Optifex Directives, since I take at least one unit in every list. They're the only units available in Destruction Initiative, and still quite useful in Clockwork Legions too. 

Optifex Directive

Their pathfinder and magic weapons abilities are now RNG 1 instead of base-to-base, so you can position them to have options now, though Repair and Iron Sentinel are still B2B. But being able to give out 6 pathfinders to infantry OR vectors is always worth their cost, and the magic weapons can negate some list gimmicks.

Optifex Directive

I'm not a fan of how I had to lean some to one side or another to get them to fit on the bases. I know better now than to get highly textured bases like this again, they're so rigid in where models can be placed, which is especially a problem with single-piece metal ones like these. 

I got a bit lazier with the cloaks, but I did some blue glass for the eye goggles (they're actually living models, not soul vessels). I'll probably do a colored striped on the back to tell the two units apart. 

Attunement and Accretion Servitors

These are super quick to paint, I think I spent longer on the bases than on the models. I will say though that these clear base stands are a PITA. I wish I'd used metal rods painted black or something instead of have to drill into these on both ends to pin. Oh well. Really like how the attunement servitors in particular turned up though, and they're my favorite of the servitor types. That 3" AOE -2 DEF can be really clutch, it's a shame I have to bring Axiom to get them into a CWL list.  

Family portrait of recent progress

So here's all the recent progress. I should probably be focusing on either DI or CWL for fully painted, but I'm having fun just painting what I like in whatever order.

Perforators painted

Back on track with another unit painted up. This time it's the Perforators, which until relatively recently I don't think were considered that good.

Convergence of Cyriss, Perforators, front

But now they're the same price as Reciprocators, with Assault and Predator Protocol. So their armor piercing shots are effectively POW 7 or 9 against models with boxes at an effective RAT of 7. I think these guys are going to be great with either Orion or Iron Mother, who both do different things for them. 

Convergence of Cyriss, Perforators, back

Plus their models are pretty cool. I gave their helmets a cool steel look (or at least I tried to) by mixing in some flat light blue in with the iron color. And then I'm happy with the lettering on the back of the bases, using the same font as the cards. 

Really excited to play with these, soon my heavy infantry will be all painted up and then I can run some sick Clockwork Legions lists. 

Convergence Update

 I actually have gotten a bit of painting done over the last year, though I haven't been very good at posting them. It looks like I'm getting my first post of 2021 in right before the buzzer on it. First is finally a warcaster, Forge Master Syntherion:

Convergence of Cyriss, Syntherion, top

Convergence of Cyriss, Syntherion, side

Syntherion, face

I really am proud of how he turned out. He was my first Convergence 'caster so I figure he gets the first paint on him. I'm continuing to use the 'porcelain' masks on the models with Soul Vessel, and I think it's turned out the best on him so far. I'm not the biggest fan of his model though, just like everybody else says, he just looks like a Swiss army knife. But I tried to make him a bit dynamic. 

So let's talk thoughts on the rules. Syntherion has gotten a couple 'buffs' lately between the CID and the recent dynamic update which essentially let him give out more focus. This is interesting but not really welcomed from me, as the entire gist of Convergence is that you don't need these things. With Empower, Resourceful, Convection, and his feat all there seemingly to help newer players of Convergence to recover when they make induction mistakes. I think he's still a great first caster for Convergence, but I doubt I'll be playing him much at his current state. Maybe I'll pull him out for some Brawlmachine, we'll see.

Family portrait so far

I've also finished the bottom half of my Prime Axiom. This is a lot to paint and I'd be lying if I said I was looking forward to painting another huge base model. But I still think Axiom is one of the best collosals in the game, so I'm happy to make painting progress on it. 

Prime Axiom, bottom

Prime Axiom, bottom

Alright, that's it for now. I'm going to be posting weekly for a while now that my schedule is pretty relaxed over the holidays, and soon I'll have a pretty sizable chunk of the army painted.