Aurum Lucanum Athanor Locke

Took a bit of a break, while I waited for Locke to get here in the mail, to completely my Convergence casters. I know Aurora2 exists, but I'm not a fan so I won't be picking her up. Locke on the other hand is a great looking model and was a joy to paint.

Aurum Lucanum Athanor Locke

For her Crucible Guard armor, I used the same oxidized copper looking teal that I use for my robes, and the same brass as I normally use on my armor. The effect sort of makes it look like an inverted scheme and it fits really nicely with the rest of the army.

Locke, side view

I also needed to get creative with the materials she has strapped around her. Can't use my normal teal for the cloth for example, that's the armor. And I didn't want a ton of earthy browns either, so her main satchel there is a black leather bag, with some colorful vials of something or another.

Locke, back view

I had painted her with the head off to really get good access to her face, and the armor behind her head. It honestly made the whole model easier and much cleaner, and will be something I try to do more often when the option is there.

Locke, profile

 

I tried at making her a bit ginger, trying to get a natural looking red hair, eyebrows, and even some freckles.

Locke, face

Definitely turned out to be one of my better faces, I'm glad I didn't bother with the iris color this time. That's a waste of time I think, these models are too small for those extravagances.

 

Locke with Axis

 

Finally, just wanted to show her next to Axis to give a sense of how well trying to follow the studio scheme, just slightly shifted, worked out for army cohesion.

Aurora, the Numen of Aerogenesis

 I'll be honest, I have no idea what a Numen is. Aurora and Mortenebra are both Numens of something. Wikipedia says it's something Latin. 

I play Aurora1 a couple times when I first got the faction, and during the first attempt at the Oblivion campaign and couldn't quite get the hang of her. This never bothered me much before because lots of people said she was the worst caster in Convergence, so maybe I wasn't really missing anything. But now she's one of the best casters, not just in Convergence, but in Mercenaries too. So for that, and for completeness, I'd better paint her up. 

You may have noticed that Convergence doesn't have many faces in it, which may or may not be a reason I chose it. In fact, there are exactly two, one of which is a shared model between two factions. Faces are hard. And take ages. And, at least when I paint them, often turn out looking goofy. So, with all that being said, here's Aurora's.

Aurora1, face

I may have tried to do too much as once here. I wanted her to have darker skin and magneta irises. The skin tone was difficult, and took a lot of mixing, but I think it turned out pretty good. Very dark skin is easier, as is very pale skin. These in-between tones are more difficult to imitate without it looking flat. 

Unfortunately, when I look at her face though, I think of that Dreamworks movie How to Train Your Dragon, because she looks like the dragon in that movie. Whoops.

Aurora, the Numen of Aerogenesis

The effect is much nicer when we zoom out though. Here the North African/Egyptian look comes through much better. The irises were probably a waste of time, it's hard to see them even this close up. The "feathers" on the wings I tried to make look more golden to contrast with the brass, but I don't know if the effect came through or not.

Aurora1, front

She has just a few glowing baubles, but they help to break up the metals a bit. She's supposed to have four distinct and distinguishable metals (copper, brass, gold, and iron) which might be too much.

Aurora1, side

That said, I am happy with how she came out. I'm glad I tried to do an 'Egyptian' look, I think it suits the model better than the studio 'pale girl' that they nearly always do. 

Aurora1, back

And now I've done all of the warcasters I own. There's only one more in the faction (Locke) and I don't know when or if I'll be getting her. Here's a quick group shot of the six together. Despite them never able to be in the same army together, I think they look great as a group. Oh, I probably didn't mention, but I rebased Directrix's servitors.

Convergence of Cyriss warcasters

Axis, the Harmonic Enforcer

 Got another warcaster finished, and he's looking great! If you don't know, this warcaster is actually alive, in a meaty body and everything. He's just in some steampunk magic power armor. And his two hammers are named Action and Reaction.

Axis, the Harmonic Enforcer

I particularly love how the brass came out here. I may have mentioned it before, but it's not easy making brass not look like gold. And I'd probably say it's not easy making gold that doesn't look like brass either. But I think I really go it with him. And like Orion last week, and teal and pink glows really pop.

Axis, front

I'm also looking forward to putting him on the table too, he is a very aggressive caster. He has speed buff and can make my warjacks charge on my opponent's turn. He's always been considered a strong caster, as far as I remember.

Axis, side

Axis, back

No gaming pictures this week, but will hopefully have some next time. Since I've done one living warcaster, I may as well do the other one next.

And here is the list I plan on using him with (as always, feel free to offer any tips):

Convergence
[Theme] Clockwork Legions

[Axis 1] Axis, the Harmonic Enforcer [+30]
 - Conservator [11]
 - Corollary [0(5)]
 - Diffuser [0(5)]
 - Galvanizer [0(5)]
 - Inverter [14]
 - Inverter [14]
Algorithmic Dispersion Optifex [2]
Algorithmic Dispersion Optifex [2]
Enigma Foundry [4]
Enigma Foundry [4]
Enigma Foundry [4]
Frustum Locus [4]
Eradicators (max) [13]
 - Transverse Enumerator [3]
Obstructors (max) [11]
Optifex Directive [3]
Perforators (max) [16]

Axis of course gives his five warjacks countercharge, which can be quite a lot of area control but I need to be careful to screen them with the Obstructors so that my opponent can't just run up and engage them, negating their countercharge entirely. With two Inverters and a Conservator with native pathfinder and some extra speed, it should be getting a lot from countercharge. Plus Hand of Vengeance should always be up because of all of the infantry. Then Engimas for a lot recursion. Not sure about the Perforators yet, but a little range can't hurt, same with the Frustrum. I haven't tested this list yet, but I have a game coming up that I can try! 

Eminent Configurator Orion

 I think it's about time for another caster.

This time I wanted another floating stick warcaster. Orion is supposedly really hot right now, especially with a lot of tesselators. So far I've found him to be really good against Hordes because of his feat, similar to how Directrix is really good against Warmachine factions, though both are ranged warcasters.

Here is one of the new bases, with a little modification.

Base for Orion, Micro Art's Industry

And here he is on that base. I'm really happy with him, I think he's one of my best so far with this army. The contrast between the brass, the teal ribbons, and the pink glows really pop.

Orion, back

Eminent Configurator Orion

I thought I'd start including a few shots of actually playing the game too, because I really do play!

Game vs Minions

 

Here is my list:

[Theme] Destruction Initiative

[Directrix 1] Iron Mother Directrix [+27]
 - Assimilator [14]
 - Cipher [13]
 - Corollary [5]
 - Diffuser [5]
 - Mitigator [6]
 - Monitor [14]
 - Prime Axiom [34]
Accretion Servitors [2]
Algorithmic Dispersion Optifex [0(2)]
Algorithmic Dispersion Optifex [0(2)]
Algorithmic Dispersion Optifex [0(2)]
Attunement Servitors [0(3)]
Elimination Servitors [0(3)]
Elimination Servitors [3]
Optifex Directive [3]
Optifex Directive [3]

Happy to say that this list is fully painted too! I know a lot of people aren't happy with Directrix right now in Convergence, but I really like the buffs she offers to the list and that backlashination threat does have an effect on the opponent. Feel free to give your own thoughts if you have any, I'm open to list criticism.

Vector, servitors, and obstructors

Alright, let's see, where did I leave off...

Ah! With Lucant! Perfect, I have a bit more to show now. First is another tetrapod vector, this time I was smart enough to actually magnetize it for some extra flexibility in game. I'm glad I did too, because even though I mostly wanted a second Inverter, the Monitor has been pretty great in games! True Sight plus the Ricochet shot really makes my opponent keep their distance.

Monitor

Inverter

Cipher

I have to say though, I'm getting tired of always using the same 50mm base, so I started exploring other designs for resin bases that are "close enough". 

Here is a mixture of old and new bases, with a little modification to try to tie them together nicely. Obviously it's for another half dozen Eliminator Servitors for my gimmicky Iron Mother backlashination list. Because why bother have Directrix without 9+ puncture bots? I also ended up painting the servitors themselves, but they're nothing special.

More bases

Another shot of the bases, this time with done servitors

Elimination Servitors

I've had these guys since I got my first set of Convergence minis. Obstructors aren't exactly "good" but they're not the worst single wound infantry in Convergence! And that's something. Don't know what, but.... something.

They can be pretty fun with Lucant, but I think to really capitalize on that you need at least 30 of these, and I'm not going to paint that many. One unit to get toward faction complete is enough for me. 

Obstructors close-up

All ten Obstructors

Unit leader back

Unit leader front

 Alright, I have more to post next week.

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.