Warbringer Titan 'The Crucible of Terra'

Late this past summer GW reissued 'Adeptus Titanicus', a game which caused a bit of a stir for some geeks of a certain vintage. The new ruleset is great homage to the 1988 version - easy to learn, fun to play and very evocative of the Horus Heresy/Titanicus backstory. 

Perhaps the biggest drawback to the game's launch was the high cost of the models (actually, still very much a problem) and the weird way GW decided to release the various 'classes' of titans. The initial uber boxed set included only the largest, the Warlord, and the smallest unit, the Knights. This  in turn made it virtually impossible for players to fully appreciate the tactical nuances of the game as the hulking Warlords usually just stood in place, trading long range fire while the Knights usually got plastered somewhere in the middle of the table. It took a few months for GW to get its act together and release both the medium Reaver and the scouting Warhounds, but in the midst of that gap many of us Titanicus nerds were looking around for alternative models to fill the ranks. For me Thingiverse came to the rescue as there were several gifted designers who had come up with great versions of the various titan classes, especially the Warhound and alternative Warlord weapon loadouts.

During one of my searches for possible stand-ins I came across Nuclear Shrimp Games, a small company based out of the Ionian Islands in Greece. These talented guys are doing some wonderful stuff with their own 'Black Earth' range, and also creating a few alternate 'not-GW' designs in the margins. On top of some impressive 28mm stuff, they also have two titans which are scaled on the large side of 6mm. One is an excellent Ork Gargant, and the other is an amazingly close rendition of an early 'Mars Lucius Pattern' Warlord titan, reminiscent of the 'Imperious Dictatio' engine from Dan Abnett's graphic novel series 'Titan' (1999).  Loving the comic series, I immediately ordered one of these bad boys to add to my collection. 

'Imperious Dictatio' from 'Titan'

What arrived from Greece was a relatively clean, but complex resin kit. I would say that it's not for the faint of heart, as it involved a good bit of straightening and filling to get it ready for priming (in fact it's has eaten up a lot of my hobby time since the start of this year's Challenge).

In addition to the main titan chassis, I also picked up a selection of optional weapon loadouts. 

'Jeeves, I think for today I'll go understated. Let's have the Apocalypse Missiles, Hellstorm Cannon and Plasma Devastator...' 

I really like the ridiculously huge Power Fist (as big as a super-heavy tank!) and the rather rude looking Void Missile launcher. 

The titan's power fist next to a Falchion super-heavy tank. Silly but fun...

'Accept the Imperial Truth, or I'll fire these honkin' huge suppositories at you...'

Yup, it kinda cracks me up. Each of these weapon options required a some creative trimming, drilling and magnets to allow the ability to swap them in. 

Something a bit preposterous...

...and something a little less ,um, striving.

'Be honest, do the missiles make my @ss look big?'

Byron kindly provided an appropriately shaped MDF base and I tarted it up with some wreckage and a parked Rhino (probably some Blood Angels trying to find a place for a  decent cappuccino).

'I heard there's a guy named Franco that needs sorting...'

So there you have it, my newest, stompiest titan, 'The Crucible of Terra', ready to blow the Arch Enemy to smithereens, or at least punch them hard in the owchie parts.

Thanks for dropping in, folks. Paint hard and have a great week! 

Simple Play Aid for Adeptus Titanicus

Like many in the hobby, I often enjoy modding the games I play. Whether its through custom markers, bespoke player aids, or with special rules to help drive the narrative, I really enjoy adding that little extra gloss to our games. 

Straight out of the box 'Adeptus Titanicus' is a great set of rules. It's easy to learn, fun to play and most importantly (for me) does a wonderful job in conveying the flavour and spirit of the Titanicus/Horus Heresy fluff.

Nevertheless, there are a few spots in the game experience which I thought needed a little help.

The crux of the game is the players' managing their titans through the Command Terminals, along with their associated plastic status markers and cards. 

The stock Command Terminal for a Warlord Titan

As seen above, the stock Command Terminals are very attractive and well thought out in how they organize pertinent game information for the players to manage. They are made of heavy card, with small indentations pressed into the status tracks that match the nubs on the  plastic status markers. Everything fits together well, BUT there are a some inherent problems with the design. 

First, is that if the Command Terminal gets nudged during gameplay (and if you're like me, they will) there is a reasonable chance that the status markers will get knocked out of place. This is a problem as they are the only way of conveying the status of the titan. The second problem is that the card terminals take up a fair amount of space on the tabletop. The designers try to sell players on the fact that Titancus can be played on a 4' x 4' table, allowing extra space to accommodate the card terminals. While certainly this can be done, the 4 x 4 size looks and plays VERY compressed (at least to our sensibilities) as the forces seem to be almost on top of one another. Most players have access to a 6x4 playing surface and will likely play the game as such, so in this situation the command terminals end up sitting at the edge, or right on the battleground itself, which is not ideal if you want to keep everything tidy and in order.

So I began thinking of how we could make the terminals more usable and not so dependent on sitting on a flat surface. What I came up with is a fairly simple workaround. I went to our local office supply shop, and for under $2 each, found a bunch of 8x11 dry erase boards that were magnetic as well. 

I also picked up a selection of coloured magnetic 'thumb tacks' to use with the panels. I then colour photocopied the stock Command Terminals and special order icons from the game so we could place them on the magnetic slates. This way the magnetic thumbtacks hold down the  paper Command Terminals, do a nice job of marking the status tracks and also hold down the weapon cards. Easy peasy. In addition, the slates can easily be moved or placed on their edges without the markers becoming dislodged or sliding around.

Another bonus to these panels is that they can be used for a wide variety of games where players need to keep track of units and for make notes during gameplay. For us they will definitely come in handy for our games of 'Cruel Seas', 'Black Powder' and 'Necromunda'.

Next Up: Some suggested advancement trees for Titan crews

A Candy-Apple Reaver Titan, Proxy Carapace Weapons and Some Terrain

In my last post I had a Warhound scout titan sporting a candy-apple paint job, so this time out I have a Reaver medium war engine decked-out in a similar scheme.

The inspiration for these came from an excellent YouTube airbrush tutorial I sourced from Moggy's Miniatures. I was so impressed by how he achieved the effect that I wanted to give it a go with a few of my Legio Mortis titans. 

Though definitely not as adept as Moggy's work, I think the graduated gloss red combined with the brass edging gives a suitably decadent, Chaos-y look.

As I mentioned in a previous post, the Reaver kit strangely does not offer the same level of magnetization options as its larger Warlord cousin, so the hobby saw came out for some quick service in order to allow the swapping around of the various weapon bits.

Reaver Power Fist

In addition to the Reaver, I've made up a new set of carapace weapons for my Warlord titans in the form of a brace of Mars Pattern Laser Blasters. 

GW continues to be asleep at the switch in providing support for Adeptus Titanicus, so I printed these from 3D files I found on Thingiverse (thanks Stroganoff!). The edge detail is a bit soft, but I think they're excellent on the whole. 

Again, I popped in some magnets so they could be swapped-in to replace the stock missile launchers. Good to go!

The Mortis Family:

To finish off, here are a few more pieces of terrain that I've added to the collection.

A reactor complex...

...and a set of shield generators.

That's it for now, folks! Thanks for dropping in and have a great week!

A Pack of Warhounds for Adeptus Titanicus

For any who have been following my recent posts, it's fairly easy to see that I've been swept up collecting and painting stuff for the recent release of Adeptus Titanicus. This time out, I have a hunting pack of 'light' Warhound titans (yes, a wonderful contradiction in terms) all done-up and ready to stalk prey on the tabletop.

While the big Warlords and medium Reavers are all fine and good, my favourite titan design remains the Warhound. There is something wonderfully predatory about its hunched stature and digitigrade legs that really appeals to my lizard brain. The Adeptus Titanicus rules help encourage the use pack tactics of the Warhounds by allowing them to activate as a group, 'share' void shields and to concentrate their fire on specific targets. Very evocative of the GW fluff.

But, GW being GW, it has decided to be infuriatingly lackadaisical in its release schedule for follow-on 'engines' for Titanicus (really, follow-on anything for that matter). Tired of waiting for the Warhounds to be made available (and not particularly enthused about the cost), I snooped through my favourite go-to open-source 3D design site, Thingiverse, to see if anyone had posted anything that I could use as proxy. Well, lo-and-behold a VERY talented chap going by the handle of 'Stroganoff' has made available a series of excellent prints for the Warlord, the Warhound and a lot of other handy things. 

They are absolutely brilliant designs, with each having several weapon options and limb variations. Furthermore, he's cleverly provided the Warhound in the alternate 'Lucius' pattern to make it different from the ubiquitous 'Mars' used by both  GW and Forge World.

Completely chuffed, I printed off four kits of which I have three done-up here today.

Each 'kit' only has nine parts (another credit to the overall design), so the assembly is pretty straightforward stuff.

The kit minus the two weapons.

You can see with each of these models that the legs can be positioned into many different action poses. I particularly like the trotting Warhound, with it's one foot suspended in mid-stride. 

I've painted two in the austere grey livery of Legio Cerberus, giving each a different colour accent to help identify them on the tabletop. I've been enjoying seeing the work of others, especially my friend Greg, with them contrasting the colour of the head/cockpit with the body -  so I've given all my Cerberus titans distinctive white cockpits (something for the heretics to zero on, I suppose).  The decals are a mix of designs from the Warlord and Reaver kits.

I wanted to paint the other Warhound as a nasty Legio Mortis engine, so I thought I'd have a bit of fun with the airbrush and give it a decadent candy-apple red paintjob. 

It's a bit over-the-top, but I quite liked how it turned out on the whole, and  besides, we all know red vehicles go faster, right? I've used this same colour scheme for my upcoming Reaver, which I'll post up soon.

For a bit of visual interest, I put in a recessed footprint into the basework of one, and a wrecked hovertank (another 3D print) on another. 

Otherwise, the bases have been done in my usual post-apoc, ash-grey motif, accented with some rubble and a few scorched trees and bushes.

Finally, I have to give a shout out to my good friend Byron, as while I was in the midst of building these models I discovered I had no bases to mount them on. Nevertheless, Byron (who is the proprietor of Northern Lights Terrain) came to the rescue and quickly sent me a set of 80mm MDF bases. Thanks so much Byron!

Well, that's it for today folks. Thanks for dropping in - have a great week everyone!

Adeptus Titanicus - Reaver Titan 'Canis Lex'

My Adeptus Titanicus riff continues with the addition of a Reaver medium titan, a half dozen Imperial Knights and a few more bits of terrain.

To be honest, I'm not a big fan of the Reaver. I've never really taken to the quasi-reptilian 'head/cockpit' design and the legs always struck me as a bit ponderous looking, but I admit that it is a nice kit to work on - lots of great detail and relatively easy to assemble.

One thing that that did have me a bit perplexed with the kit was that, unlike the Warlord, the Reaver model is fairly limited in the easy integration of magnets to the weapon mounts. Only the carapace missile launcher has a pair of magnet insets, whereas the various weapon/arms are left for the modeler to figure out. 

This I did with a bit of judicious sawing and gluing (including magnetizing the waist to allow the torso to twist) - not really a big deal, but a little disappointing in light of GW's great debut with the Warlord.

For a bit of visual interest, I posed the right leg so it's in the midst of stomping on a poor Leman Russ Demolisher tank. To give the impression of the foot articulating around the hull of the destroyed tank, I cut off the 'toes' so I could reposition them downwards.

Similar to my recent Mortis Warlord, the rubble groundwork is made up of leftover bits from the Civitas building set. I added a street light by cutting a paperclip and putting a blob of superglue on the tip to simulate the light casing. A bit silly, but the overall effect works okay.

I kept the paintjob fairly minimalst, just a grey, black and white scheme, which suits my tastes just fine. I've created a small interlinked series a games centered around a titan force called 'Demi-Legio Cerberus' (a nod to the multi-headed hound who guards the Underworld). This Legio will be composed primarily of fast striking Warhounds, supported by their larger Reaver brethren. This fella I've named 'Canis Lex'. 

The Imperial Knights are stock builds. As a bit of a facepalm, I remembered just after they were assembled that I should have magnetized their weapons like their larger cousins - my bad. Oh well, I'll have to remember to do this with the next set I get.

And to end the post, another trio of buildings to help bolster my terrain collection. The two wrecked factory structures are from JR Miniatures, whereas the apartment block with the  diagonal 'open plan and outdoor exposure' is a 3D print. 

That's it for now. Thanks for dropping in folks - have a great day!