30K Mechanicum armies certainly bring the pain when it come to firepower! However, they do suffer from a real lack of SkyFire. They're only serious skyfire option is Thallax Cohorts with the Icarian upgrade which gives them Skyfire when stationary. Not bad, but it costs, and it moves them around the FoC (Heavy Support for Icarian I think) which is a problem for me.
So whats the solution? Well, fight fire with fire and bring your own flyers! For me this will be a trio of Avenger Strike Fighters.
A lot of people will prefer to go with the Lightning for this role, but for me they're better suited for tank hunting and anti infantry roles with they're ridiculous amount of weapon options. All i wanted was simple, reliable mid-high strength weaponry that would be effective against flimsy flyer armour. An Avenger Bolt Cannon, twin linked Lascannons and missile launchers will provide exactly that.
Its also a great model!
As you''ve probably noticed I've made a few modifications to try and make it look more 'Mechanicumy'. Please excuse the finger, glue and putty marks that cake the thing at the moment, i did go through quite a few ideas with this one!
I completely boxed out the cock-pits with card and replaced them with a new canopy. The clear canopy section is a 1/72 scale airfix aircraft canopy from eBay. Got a mixed pack of 5 for about £5. The reason for this is to try and get a visual link between the Avenger and the rest of the Mechanicm force.
I added a load of green stuff cabling, again to mech it up a bit. Truth be told, it also helps cover imperfections with the build!!
I used 'Green Stuff World's' tentacle maker, which i highly recommend. As far as tentacle makers go, its not reinventing the wheel, but the small touches like the removable roller guide on the side and 3 size options clinched it for me. Low cost at £12 as well. Find their store on eBay.
The rear cockpit presented me with e few issues, as i couldn't really decide to replicate the front cockpit, or do something completely different. As the Mechanicum are somewhat different themselves, i opted for the latter! A few cables, generator coils and armour plating did the trick.
The cabling connections/brackets were made by cutting off the tip of a raw plug. This was a bit of a eureka moment for me, as i was really struggling with modelling this part of the build.
The generator coils were made in the same way by cutting off the tip of a plastic screw.
The base is ready to go as well, and will be given the same treatment as the rest of the army.
Hopefully a bit more on the Avenger soon!
The GunGrave
