Using the Interwebs for Hobby Purposes - Mechanicum

 

Hi All,

Doc here with the start of a semi regular series called 'using the interwebs'.  Whats that all about I hope you ask?  Well like most hobby modelers I use the internet to pick up tips, see great paint jobs, understand battle tactics, watch video bat reps and video tutorials.  In honesty just about anything. Over the years of doing this I have bookmarked, followed  and linked to a number of quality sites which I go back to time and time again.

This series aim is to create a mini resource for a theme of my choosing providing you guys the reader with a ton of links which will be helpful to the chosen topic area.  I hope by doing this I can direct people to some of the internet's hidden gems.

For the first theme I have deliberately chosen something I have no personal involvement in but have just watched from afar the Mechanicum.


So where to start, yes I know youtube...  Personally I have found I go to youtube more than ever before, for tutorials it is amazing and actually seeing things up close with live explanation is difficult to beat.  For mechanicum one channel I follow instantly jumped to mind, and that is Winters SEO.  A video battle report channel in the main but also has painting and collecting videos.  Here is a couple of links to some mechanicum content on winter's channel:

 





Dark Artisan is another channel I would recommend for wide ranging geekness another link:


In fact a quick search will find you 100's of videos to watch on the mechanicum but the two channels above would serve you well for quite a wide range of topics.  Ok so what about blogs...  Well again without searching and just going from my reading list a couple jump out.

The top blog I would have to recommend for mechanicum is Forge Mechanicus.  Yes its a blog almost entirely dedicated to the topic.  I have lifted a couple of the cool pictures below but go on check out the link above.

                         


Another great blog and a fellow (40k addict member) is 30K plus 40K and is now up to 32 mechanicum posts!  I also have to shout out for Rob's 30k unit reviews which I have found most helpful in the construction of army lists.

If you like the gothic side of the mechanicum then you must check out the Convertum.  A John Blanche inspired site I must say but the ideas on here are so cool.

                        

Ok so what about the fluff DOC where can I immerse myself in some mechanicum background?  The obvious place to start is black library and I recommend Mechanicum by Graham McNeil.  You can also check out some basics at the lexicanum.

I guess I am just starting to realise this is just a little toe in the water to what is out there but I encourage you all when reading new blogs to look at the blogs they follow and so on.  I am also thinking eek I am going to get lynched if I don't mention our own Code40k members work on the mechanicum field.  This link takes you to the mechanicum articles on this blog including Luko Dakka's stunning Thanatar.

The last direction to take you in is facebook which has become a rapidly growing medium for our hobby with so many hobby related groups.  Personally I am already in a dozen or so.  I would like to point you towards our very own Dark Bristles commission painting service (Battered Bristles) where you will see some personal collection Mechanicum painted up with some crazy themed bases.  In addition a quick facebook search brought up some mechanicum groups with a couple of the code members being part of this mechanicum themed group.  I guess the conversation might be a bit robotic and monotone though (Groan)!

On that note I hope you enjoyed this first article in this series.  I guess and hope this kind of article lends itself to readers posting up links to more cool mechanicum stuff in the comments below.  It would be also cool to hear some suggestions on topics I should cover in the future?

Cheers

DOC out..............................................