New Weapon Options for Adeptus Titanicus

Assortment of new carapace-mounted weapon systems for the Warlord Titans of Legio Mortis

Some more modest bits of Adeptus Titanicus work to share - new weapon options for the Warlord Titans. These bits are all from Forge World, and while they still seem somewhat new to me, I'm sure they have all been out there for at least 15 months, if not longer. These are all options for the carapace mounts on the Warlord Titans models with GW's re-booted Adeptus Titanicus. Naturally, I painted these up in the colours of Legio Mortis - after all, the Warmaster always made sure his chosen ones got the new kit first, why should my collection be any different? 

Choosing from a wide variety of bonkers weapons systems to equip your Titan was a big part of the fun of the original Adeptus Titanicus, and it was slightly infuriating when the new Warlord Titan models only came with a single choice for the arms and the carapace. The variety is here now, however, and while acquiring the different weapon options is expensive (naturally), and requires dealing with Forge World (i.e. even more expensive), the choice is getting nicely varied, and Princeps can again ponder all sorts of different combos of insane far-future weapons with which to smite their foes!

With the caveat that they are resin, these are still nice little bits, and thankfully they magnetize easily on the shoulder mounts of the Warlord Titan model kits. Here are a few close-ups...

Paired Vulcan Mega-Bolters

The Vulcan-Mega Bolter array modeled on one of my Legio Mortis engines.

Of all of the weapon options, this is perhaps the least intimidating, at least in the context of the otherwise imposing chassis of the mighty Warlord Titan. These weapons are essentially giant super-versions of the bolt guns carried by Space Marines - and it is so very 30k to know that the Mechanicum would have designed a version of the bolt gun to match the size of every soldier and vehicle in the known universe of the grim and dark far future. Hilarious.

For a weapon with "mega" in the name, I have to say they don't seem that intimidating. That said, they will rip the void shields from enemy engines, so they definitely have their uses in Adeptus Titanicus.

In the game, these weapons will spit out a hail of shots which stand little chance of damaging other Titans, but are excellent at overwhelming void shields. Knocking the shields off of enemy engines is a very useful thing, so it is not like these things are useless - but for me it is a matter of opportunity cost. If you are equipping your Warlord with these guns, you are missing out on some other really cool guns (see more in this post). Best to leave the shield-stripping work to the Warhounds, IMO, and make sure your Warlord Titans are carrying weapons with knock-out power. That said, preferences vary, so I'm glad to have this option in my collection. 

Paired Turbo Laser Destructors

Paired Turbo-Laser Destructors on a Warlord Titan from Legio Mortis.

Huge, destructive laser weapons - does what the name says. In the grim darkness of the far future, who wouldn't want to blast things with huge lasers? It is easy to get these "laser destructors" confused with the similar-looking-and-sounding "laser blasters". The statistics and performance of the weapons are also very similar. 

Ready to blast the followers of the false Emperor into particles...

So the carapace laser weapon options for Warlords are similar, but they are still different - these weapons hit a little harder with a lesser rate of fire. They will harm an enemy engine's shields, but really are better for delivering killing blows once the enemy's shields are down. Plus, they look nice and menacing up there on top of the Warlord Titan.

Paired Gatling Blasters

Oh YEAH! Paired Gatling Blasters! This will be fun!

Now we're talking! If the Vulcan Mega-Bolters don't look all that scary up on the Titan, these things are the opposite - terrifying! Count on the Mechanicum to come up with what is essentially a 125mm gatling cannon! A pair of them no less! These bonkers things right up the alley of the bonkers 30k setting.

So. Much. GATLING. Good times await!!

 

Not only do these things look cool, they are pretty useful in the game. They get to shoot - a lot - and hit with a decent punch. Plus your Warlord can be covered in gatling-type cannons! That is the best! Can't wait to take these out for a "spin"...

Now that I have these available for my Legio Mortis engines, I suppose I will need to paint some up for the loyalist side as well. I try to keep my collection balanced, but somehow Horus' followers always seem to get the new stuff first...I will see if I can balance things out a touch with my next painting effort. Thanks for reading, everyone!

Some AT 18 Scatter Terrain

Some scatter terrain for GW's Adeptus Titanicus.

I haven't painted anything for Adeptus Titanicus in a while now - but GW has just released a nicely bonkers new model for the range, and this has inspired me to get back to some AT18 projects. To warm up a little, I thought I would start with these bits of scatter terrain from Forge World that have been hanging around the painting queue for quite a while. These are all resin models - there are a couple of "manufactorums" and a some power generators.

The "Manufactorum" - no doubt it is "safety first" at these facilities...

Generators - surely they are "net-zero", with no carbon emissions at all...

These are not going to providing anything in the way of cover in games of Adeptus Titanicus - they are too small for that. But they will make great objectives, or just add nicely to the look of the tables. There is an additional bonus in that these would serve well as objectives/ground targets in games of Aeronautica Imperialis. And let's not forget Epic - these terrain pieces will be excellent for games of Epic 30k - and the case of those models, can also provide some obstruction to lines of fire!

Another view of the Manufactorum, and the access node.

As you can see, these terrain bit will not be providing much "cover" when the Titans are involved, but they'll make fine objectives and table accents.

I'm not much for painting terrain, but even a terrain-avoiding sloth like me really had no problem painting up these nice little models. Hopefully these will see some action in a game sometime...who knows when...but anyway, good to get back into the AT18-painting groove for a bit of a run.

Thanks for reading - stay safe and stay sane.

Imperial Marauder Bombers for Aeronautica Imperialis

Marauder Bombers for Aeronautica Imperialis - plastic kits from GW.

Some more Aeronautica Imperialis content. Now that we have some Ork ground targets for the players to bomb, it would be good to have some bombers to go after them! These two aircraft are just the ticket - many 40k fans will recognize the silhouette of the Marauder Bomber. These are plastic multi-part kits from GW, and came as part of the "Wings of Vengeance" box set GW released with their re-boot of the rules a couple of years ago.

Heavy bolters on the rear-facing turrets to keep pesky enemy fighters at bay!

Escorting bombers to a target, and defending fighters and flak guns trying to bring the bombers down, these are classic sorts of air combat missions. Aeronautica Imperialis allows for a trick-of-the-mind where we can channel what are essentially WW2/Korean War air combat missions into the far future of 40k, with fun little models. Of course, there are twists. The "basic" Marauder bomber is already armed to the teeth, but can carry even more ordnance on its wings - these options range from even more bombs, to ground attack missiles, to air-to-air missiles...so enemy attackers will have to watch carefully. Not only will the lascannons and heavy bolters provide protection, but the Marauder pilot could take out an attacker with a missile!

Twin lascannon battery on the front - a long-range defensive touch!

These models are really, really something. They are certainly involved to build, with many, many small parts - watch out for that. But it's worth it, if you are a fan of the setting. I really enjoyed working on these - and it's not like you need loads of them for a game. These two, together with a fighter escort, would keep plenty of Ork fighters and flak batteries busy.

Ready for their first mission. As newly-painted models, nothing could go wrong. Right?

One interesting aspect of the re-booted Aeronautica Imperialis is the hex-based maps...normally I'm not a fan of hex-based miniature games, but in the age of zoom and endless totally random COVID-19 restrictions, I have a new appreciation for them - they allow the possibility of trying the game over Zoom (or similar platforms - if you hate yourself, I recommend Microsoft Teams, and if you just hate the other people, try to get them on WebEx from Cisco, but I digress).  Maybe the Conscripts will be up for a bombing mission sometime soon!

The sun sets over Lake Superior on a cool evening in April, 2021.

I'll leave with a photo of a recent sunset on the shores of Lake Superior. Views like this, and this hobby, help me to stay (mostly) sane. I hope everyone out there has something similar to help them keep going. Thanks for reading. 

Ork Dakka Jet and Ground Assets

Ork Dakka Jet and ground assets - plastic models from GW.

Hi again everyone - my furhter efforts on my WW1 painting have been delayed by a sudden lurch back into GW territory. This is an Ork "Dakka Jet" and set of Ork "ground assets" for GW's 40k-themed air-combat game Aeronautica Imperialis. These have been sitting on my painting desk for months, and when I finished those 10mm Roman Auxilia, I thought I might as well finish these bits too. 

The dakka jet is the basic fighter for the Orks - can be upgraded with extra rockits for air-to-air combat, or given bombs for ground attack missions.

Aeronautica is a fun game - obviously the setting won't be everyone's cup of tea, but I enjoyed the original version of these rules that Forge World released many years ago. The re-booted version, with nice plastic models, is a lot of fun too. The rules are not complicated, and it is fun to have these little combat aircraft from the grim and dark future zipping around, blowing up stuff, and each other. 

A bunch of random colours and patterns...fun little models to paint, although it can be slow going.

The initial model range focused on the Imperial Navy and the Orks, but it has since expanded to include Imperial Army (Valkyries) and the Tau (really cool!). I started painting my initial sets last summer, with the expectation that I would finish all of the models in short order...but hobby squirrels run around in my brain and I get distracted. This is a particular issue when trying to paint Ork subjects...they don't really have a uniform look to their gear and kit, and so each model is something of an individual effort for me, which makes painting Ork stuff a slog. I've always been impressed at how Dallas could paint whole groups of Orks...I can never manage more than one or two at a time.

And so this poor Dakka Jet has been sitting even longer than the Roman Auxilia from my last post. Probably since last November, when I had been last working on Aeronautica stuff...this one Dakka Jet was sitting there at the corner of my painting table, falling on to the ground occasionally, with a couple of base colours already on, waiting for me to finish it. But for months I just could not find the inspiration - I didn't feel like painting check patterns at the time, and besides, I had momentum with some other projects - but I finally just picked up the brush last week, and now it is ready.

Ork ground assets...a bunker of some kind, and assorted flak batteries to protect it.

In the Aeronautica game many missions involve bombing runs - that makes sense, it is a common sort of mission for combat aircraft. You need something to bomb - that is where these "ground assets" come in, both as targets and as additional defences. The bunker-looking thing serves as a target for the incoming bombers, while the assortment of Ork flak emplacements which would protect this and add to the fun in the game. These were all sold in very nice sprue packs - each with a bunker and group of ground defence pieces. Sadly, these packs no longer seem to be available.

Another view of the ground assets...these are in the same "scale" as the models for "Adeptus Titanicus"....

So there we are...my first GW and first sci-fi models painted in many months! Now that I am looking once more at GW stuff under my brushes, my hobby orbit is likely to spend a little more time in that world, meaning the WW1 project may have to take a back seat for a time. We'll see...goodness knows there is still lots of time for painting thanks to f*cking COVID. Thanks for reading, hope you are all doing OK out there. Cheers.

Roman Auxilia in 10mm

10mm Roman Auxilia...figures from Pendraken.

I am pleased to share a slight diversion from my recent WW1 efforts...here is a unit of Roman Auxilia in 10mm. The figures are from Pendraken, and they are based for "Warmaster Ancients" - although they could, of course, work with any number of other rules.

View showing some of the detail from behind the line...

The Roman Empire is a recurrent hobby interest on mine, albeit one that never seems to make it very far in terms of painting efforts. I am fascinated by the era, but for whatever reason, I get almost nothing painted, and the meandering course of these Auxilia figures beneath my brushes are a fine exhibit of this many-starts-but-more-stops when it comes to me and to Roman subjects. 

Not so many command figures with this bunch - just an officer and a musician.

During the recent Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge I completed a small group of Roman Legionary infantry. Yay! I had finally made a bit of progress towards something Roman on the gaming table! These Auxilia figures were "up next" in the painting queue at that time, and I was certain that I some momentum, so I kept rolling along. I finished 20 of the 30 figures for the Auxilia unit - and the remaining 10 figures were primed, base-coated and sitting on sticks, waiting for a couple colours...but...SQUIRREL! I decided suddenly "hey, maybe I'll finish some of this other 10mm stuff" and before you know it, the inspiration had moved on...so the Auxilia waited...and waited....they became a small corner feature of my painting desk.

Ready to move out!

These Auxilia have been sitting for just about three months, nearly completed, on my painting desk, but I just would not get around to finishing them. I guess they finally spoke to me or something this past weekend, as I settled down and finally finished the last of the little guys and got the group based. Here they are!

As always, the Pendraken castings are lovely and I really recommend their 10mm products. I now have four units of 10mm Romans painted - oh my! Not enough for a game of course - and they would need opponents! But this still a massive increase over the "zero" number painted prior to AHPC XI...who knows when the Roman bug will bite again, but watch for more! Anyway, back to WW1 (I think...). Thanks for reading, and stay safe everyone!

German Jaeger for the "Guns of August" - 12mm WW1

German WW1 Jagers, 12mm figures from Great Escape Games.

My "Guns of August" project continues - here is another unit for the German side. These are Jagers, "light" infantry of the German army. These are all 12mm figures from "Great Escape Games", based for their rule set "1914". Each base would represent a company of infantry, and so this would represent a full-strength battalion in the "1914" game.

MG08 gunner is on a 25mm square base - others are mounted on 25mm x 50mm rectangles.

The uniform of the Jager is different from that of the other regular German infantry of the era - they still wear a shako, and even though this had a cover, the pom at the top of the shako still showed. They also wore green (or, at least, I think most of them did, at the outset of WW1 anyway). As is common with "light infantry", they were thought to be elite, especially if you asked them. The green does not stand out as much as the green worn in 1870, but it provides a slight amount of colour variety for the German WW1 forces.

Nice detail on the kit and packs of the troops.

 

Jager battalions were attached at Corps-level in the German army, and in particular they seemed to accompany cavalry formations - or at least they did in terms of the OOBs of the game scenarios I am considering. I think they often had some troops riding bicycles to accompany with/keep up with cavalry units. I can't think of a way to represent this yet...if any clever Challenge participant knows someone who makes 12mm size bicycles, please let me know!

You might be able to pick out the officer, near the centre of the photo - "here we go, should reach Paris in no time at all!"

As before, these were very nice and fun-to-paint castings, and this project has still has a lot of momentum on my painting desk - at least for now! Thanks for reading!

Bonereapers Gothizzar Harvester

 The next addition to my Ossiarch Bonereapers is the Gothizzar Harvester. All those bone constructs need raw materials and one of the best sources after defenseless towns and hamlets is the battlefield! The model can be equipped with either sickles or bludgeons. I went with bludgeons because I think they look more dangerous. The spirit skulls seemed a bit easier to paint on this one, though I still painted many of the parts separately. Assembly was easy and I didn't have any issues. I also added some metal washers to the underside of the base to give it some heft!

The idea of the harvesters is to scour the battlefield for spare parts, which it places in a large basket on its back. All manner of bones are in there in very gory detail. I used a mix of washes and layer paints to make the bones appear "fresh" as though they haven't been cleaned yet. The kit provides a few alternate arm positions as well as carrion birds fighting the arms over some scraps. The birds were very fiddly and I ultimately opted to not leave them off as I'm certain they would snap off during play and/or transport.

I love the helping hands up the side of the monster for stripping and then depositing the newly acquired bones

I have a unit of cavalry to finish next and then I think I'll take a break from the Bonereapers and move on to another project.

Thanks for visiting.

More "Guns of August" - 12mm WW1

French and German WW1 infantry in 12mm - figures from Great Escape Games.

So my hobby focus continues to be soaked up by the early weeks and months of WW1, and I continue painting 12mm figures for my "Guns of August" project. Here we see more German troops, but some Allies also make an appearance. All figures are from Great Escape Games, and are based for their "1914" rules (although this basing will work with other rules as well). 

Dismounted German Uhlans

Dismounted German Uhlans - figures from Great Escape Games.

Who wants to dismount their cavalry? That's boring! But of course the battlefield realities of WW1 were such that dismounting was often called for - when the machineguns, rifles and artillery open fire, that whole theory of "mounted infantry" suddenly, maybe, possibly, might make a little bit of sense...even though it was SO lacking in glory...

In the "1914" rules (and many other rules) the cavalry can dismount...so you functionally need double the number of bases...

The upshot of this is that your Uhlans might dismount and fight on foot, and it is nice to have figures to represent this on the table. Great Escape Games has you covered...when you purchase a cavalry unit, you get figures to represent them both as mounted (glorious!) and dismounted (sigh...). 

Excellent sculpts from Great Escape Games.

Uhlans make cool-looking cavalry, even with the muted grey-green colours of 1914. But as infantry they seem pretty awkward. It makes me think of the Uhlans themselves sort of realizing that the whole ride-around-and-charge thing was probably over, even if they, or their officers, were reluctant to accept such a truth...

(Another) German Infantry Unit

More German infantry from WW1...you need lots of these fellows for the game...

Not much to say here...it's more German infantry, ready to battle through Belgium and into France! Schlieffen worked out all the timetables, right? So what could go wrong?

Each base would represent a company of infantry for the "1914" rules.

For the "1914" rules each base would represent a company of infantry, so the four bases together on the table would represent a battalion at its full right-off-the-train-from-the-depot strength, ready to continue the advance!

French Infantry Unit

Toujour a l'outtrance!

Can't play WW1 without some Allies, right? Great Escape Games offers French, British and Belgian figures for their "1914" range. The figures all look great, and I'm keen to test my brushes on each set. I had to pick one to be "first", and I went with the French.

Obviously, the uniform has a strong hobby appeal. Of all the combatants in WW1, the French army retained the most "classic" look to their uniform, with red pants and blue coats. The covers for the kepis, and the removal of the epaulettes take the "bling level" down a touch from the time of the Second Empire, but these are still fun colours to paint. 

A French company, ready to take the offensvie!

But beyond the uniforms there is just the great and compelling spirit and tragedy of the French army in WW1. The French went to war in 1914 with "Plan XVII" as their strategy and the idea of "cran" as their guide. The offensive was more than the order of the day...it was the central spirit, a core element of cohesion to the entire French military structure in 1914, from top to bottom. 

The base at the rear has only three castings...a broken rifle on a figure has already caused some losses...

This mix of factors led to a stunning series of military collisions, the "Battle of the Frontiers", in the opening days of the war. These battles did not go well for France. The Plan XVII attacks went nowhere, and as the scale of the German right wing wheeling through Belgium became apparent, the French would be sent reeling.

I believe that is a Hotckiss MG, although I think the French army had a different MG for the outset of WW1?

The commander is ready to lead from the front...

With hindsight Plan XVII seems quite bonkers, naturally - so much of WW1 does. But there is something I cannot describe about the French army in those opening days that is a particular trigger to my curiousity - and so the French will be the first allies on to the table for this project! This one unit was a "test" - more to follow soon, I hope...

So that's all for now - thanks for reading!

"Guns of August" Project Continues - 12mm WW1

More 12mm WW1 Germans ready to march through Belgium!

As Curt's most recent edition of the "Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge" finished, I kicked off another new project. After all, we all need new projects, right? Especially with these endless f*cking lockdowns. This new project was "The Guns of August", WW1 in 12mm, with figures from Great Escape Games. While the AHPC is concluded for another year, I'm still working away on this new project. Here is more infantry, more MGs, another 77mm gun team and a command base. These are all based for Great Escape Games "1914" rules, although they would certainly work for other rulesets as well.

German infantry columns massing for war!

In the "1914" rules, the level of abstraction is similar to that of Great War Spearhead - each base of infantry would represent a company, and each MG would represent an entire detachment of the weapons. Oddly, each 77mm gun only represents one half of a battery...that seems strange to me, but I haven't yet had the chance to try out the rules on the table, so I should withhold any judgements like that until such a time as I finally get to play them!

77mm gun ready to support the advance.

Another view of the gun crew. The bases for artillery are 50mm squares.

The castings from Great Escape Games have been very nice so far - only one broken Uhlan lance in the whole package...the figures are sold in units (generally four bases plus an MG, although in the game the actual size of the units can vary) or in special "brigade" boxes. I started with a "brigade" box for the Germans, and you get a fair bit of stuff - four units of infantry (four bases each), a regiment of cavalry (four bases), bases to represent the dismounted cavalry (four bases' worth), five MGs, two 77mm guns, and a group of command figures. Not too shabby!

Command base, packed with goodies from the box set - very nice sculpts. The German officers are not sure what to make of these maps...

As you can see, I based the command figures on a round base, as I would for games of "Spearhead". I think it looks better, and helps it to stand out from the others. Also, one of the gaps in the "1914" rules (and there are a few) is that, well, they provide literally no rules for what to do with the commanders, so thought I would go with my preference :)

More views of the infantry. The bases are 50mm x 25mm rectangles.

Lovely detail on the sculpts, showing the kit of the German infantry.

The MG08s are on 25mm square bases.

My only criticism on this Great Escape figure range so far would be lack of crew...certainly an MG08 in 1914 needed more than one chap to haul the gun, ammo and tripod around. The 77mm guns would have taken more than two crew to stay in action...but that said, these are all nice castings, they paint up quickly, and I really enjoyed working on them. I'll have many more to share as this project proceeds!

Thanks for reading - please stay safe, and stay sane!