There are only a few weeks before Armies on Parade, but there’s still time to put together your entry! Check out the Armies on Parade website for more details, as well as yet another particularly inspiring entry to prompt you in your own creations. Andy’s thought process on how he picked his army is an insight into how looking into the background (or at your friends’ collections) can lead to thematic armies and interesting narratives! It’s a beautifully painted force, too, making great use of the distinctive colour palette of the Metalica forge world.
The Host of Metalica
Adeptus Mechanicus, by Andy Dunn
Andy is a veteran when it comes to Armies on Parade, having entered several times over the last few years. One year he painted a Hive Fleet Leviathan Tyranid swarm. Last year, he was back with an Adeptus Mechanicus task force. “I play a lot of games against my friend Steve’s Blood Angels and Iyanden Aeldari,” says Andy. “I normally use my Tyranids, but one day, after a brutal battle against his Eldar, I decided to start a new Warhammer 40,000 army – one that was resilient, relentless and could go toe to toe with his army of wraith constructs. It also needed to fit in with the story arc that we’d developed over the last few years, which is based on the Shield of Baal campaign. I picked the Adeptus Mechanicus as they have a slightly strained relationship with the Blood Angels – I thought that would make for some interesting stories for our battles. That Armies on Parade started at the same time was a happy coincidence, and the perfect motivation to help me get my army painted. “Choosing which forge world my army came from proved pretty straightforward. I already own two Imperial Knights from House Terryn, so I looked at a map of forge worlds and found that Metalica was relatively close to Voltoris – the homeworld of House Terryn. The two forces would work really well together.” Andy’s Ironstrider Cavaliers form the vanguard of the force, the Sydonian Dragoons supported by the Ironstrider Ballistarii. You’ll notice that the armour plates on the walkers are darker than the robes of the Skitarii, but they’re actually painted the same colours – Rakarth Flesh and Pallid Wych Flesh. The only difference is that the armour has a wash of Agrax Earthshade between the two layers to give it an oily, weathered feel. 
Andy’s Skitarii Rangers wear the cream-coloured robes of Metalica forge world. “I find the colour scheme really striking,” says Andy. “It’s a break from the traditional red of Mars and it really makes them stand out on the battlefield, too.” 
Tech-Priest Dominus Epsilon-Theta 13 of forge world Metalica leads a pair of Kastelan Robots into battle. The Eversor Assassin next to them was a late addition to the force. “The four Assassins were really fun to paint,” says Andy. “I gave their bodysuits a layer of ’Ardcoat to make them look shiny and sleek.” 
Andy’s Ruststalkers lead the advance towards the enemy. “I wanted to have one of every unit in the army,” explains Andy. “Now I’ve done that, I want to have one of every weapon option for every unit. An army is never complete!” 
Andy chose blue as the spot colour for his army, using it to represent lights, power nodes, energy packs and the ominous glow of dangerous weapons – in this case, the heavy grav-cannons on his Kataphron Destroyers. We can only imagine that they’ll be put to good use against poor Steve’s Wraithguard. Or his Blood Angels… 
A Vindicare Assassin – one of the four Assassins hidden on Andy’s board. “I completed all four in one evening,” says Andy. “I like how they each have their own traditional temple colours to distinguish them from each other.” 
The Livery of Metalica Having picked Metalica as his forge world, Andy needed to figure out his colour scheme. “There are painting guides for forge world Metalica in both the Crusaders of the Machine God and the Legions of the Omnissiah painting books,” says Andy. “All I did was pick up the two books, find out what paints I needed, and set to work. I built all the models in the army at the same time and basecoated all of them (except the Kastelan Robots) with Leadbelcher spray.” Martian Red The Skitarii of Metalica wear red armour as a symbolic reminder of Mars, the homeworld of the Adeptus Mechanicus. To keep his colour palette consistent across his board and army, Andy has also painted the ruined manufactorums on his board red, too. This article was first published in the December 2016 issue of White Dwarf Magazine. Subscribe to get more brand new hobby content like this each and every month.