Mechanicum Vultarax Stratos Automata

A bit of an odd one out this week. As some of you may know, I have a bit of a backlog of Mechanicum automata for the Horus Heresy. Well, I decided to start making some headway with it! First up, the amazing Vularax Stratos Automata.

It's just so damn cool!

I just love the Mechanicum units; they're similar enough to the 40k Adeptus Mechanicus stuff that they look good alongside it, but they have a really ancient, mysterious feel to them. The Vultarax shares a lot of cues with the Nurgle drones but with a more streamlined, less pustulent aesthetic. Basically, I think it's awesome!

Sorry about the glare.

The Vultarax did prove tricky to photograph though. No matter how I positioned it I couldn't get rid of the annoying glare on the hull. What you see here is the best I could manage.

Did a bit of water effect on the base.

It was a delightful thing to paint though. I'm really happy with the hazard stripes on the front canopy. So much so that I think I will make them a repeating motif across all my 30k units. That should allow them to look distinct from my 40k stuff whilst still remaining a unified whole when together.

The rest of the scheme is my normal green/brass/pink which I'm sure you're all sick of by now. Special mention has to go to the lenses however; the Vultarax is absolutely festooned with them and I really loved painting each and every one.

Profile shot.

Now, to address the slight stumbling block of this project. These days I pretty much only play 40k; I don't really have the time to commit to other game systems (much as I would like to) and the Vultarax only has official rules for 30k. Hopefully Forgeworld will release some rules for their Horus Heresy Mechanicum range for use in 40k in the near future. For now, there are some excellent fan made rules available online which my gaming group has agreed to use to allow me to field this thing from time to time. Thanks a lot guys!

Anyway, that's about it for the Vultarax. I'm hoping to crack on with some more Mechanicum units and get a few more painted up very soon.