Resinlab Models "Iron Warrior" Knight Titan

Some months back, a local gamer mentioned in a Facebook group that he had a garage kit Knight Titan for sale - not an Armorcast Reaver, but a model that some Italian Spaniard had sculpted and produced in a limited run. This kind of thing is right up my street so a deal was quickly made.

It turns out the kit was the Iron Warrior from Resinlab Models. Produced in a limited run of 150 kits (60 of the "original" IW followed up by 90 "IW MkIIs"), the model springs from the talented sculpting hand of Enrique, principal of Resinlab Models.

I built up the kit with a few conversions, including the GW stubber added here. I also drilled and added a magnet on top of the carapace to mount a missile rack, not shown. I've built one from the GW Imperial Knight to use.

The model represents the Knight "Nero" of House Caesarean, an Imperial Knight house associated with Legio Krytos of the Collegia Titanica. According to lore, both Krytos and Caesarean engines supported the Iron Warriors Space Marine Legion in the battle of Tallarn in the Horus Heresy.

There aren't any 28mm scale Caesarean decals available yet so the tactical markings were painted by hand. I used some IW decals from the Forge World decal sheet.

House Caesarean's colours are yellow and black of course, so I painted the Knight in much the same palette as my IV Legion Iron Warriors Space Marines.

I really like the helmet of the Knight - apparently the Mk I model was sculpted without the laurel wreath.

 

Decals from the IW decal sheet and Imperial Knight sheet were used on the paldron.

Wouldn't be a Knight without a big f*ck-off chain weapon, would it??

Knight world origin marking on rear of the chassis was poached from the Imperial Knight sheet as well.
 

Bitty li'l skull in the groundwork.

I assembled the model with a central pin, so the torso can rotate, or be removed altogether for transport or storage.

Some comparison photos... here's the Resinlab model with the GW Imperial Knight. I really like the Resinlab model's inspiration being drawn from the original Adeptus Titanicus knights of yore.

Size comparison with some other Iron Warriors models it's likely to be supporting in battle: Contemptor Dreadnought, Lochagos/Praetor, Deimos Rhino.

I enjoyed building and painting this model - it's cool to be able to work on something a bit different and rare. I'm sure it'll get blown up quickly in the first game in which it's deployed, but it'll be cool to get it out on table. And needless to say, it's a good feeling to complete a project that's been in the works for some time.

Knights for "Adeptus Titanicus"

New Knight models for GW's reboot of "Adeptus Titanicus"

A few more models for "Adeptus Titanicus" in this post - a group of Knights (organized into "banners").  These fellows were finished off over the Thanksgiving long weekend, thankfully before I fell into a turkey-consumption-induced coma. 

As I have mentioned before, I have no particular interest in the barmy back story of the so-called "Knight Houses", so I threw together a colour scheme, picked out decals that I liked, and threw it all together over the space of a few hours' painting.  These fellows will fight for the loyalist side in the games.  As loyalists, they believe in a so-called 'Emperor', and are fated to be crushed into dust by the righteous God-Engines fighting in the name of Horus Lupercal, the beloved Warmaster!

An incredible amount of detail on these small plastic models. 

These little plastic kits are well designed, with quite a lot of detail that will reward you if you take the time.  I didn't do that so much - these were fairly quick paint jobs - but one thing that is just so ace about the new kits is the decals! The decal sheets for the Knights are excellent, and I made liberal use of them with this trio. 

"For the Emperor!" Fools...

With these three fellows painted, I have finished all of the combat units from my box set (two Warlord Titans and six Knights). A "banner" of Knights in the new version of the "Adeptus Titanicus"game contains at least three Knights, but can include more.  I do have a few more of these models, but they will wait as for now I am keener on expanding the Titan part of the collection.  

The decals that come with the kits are a huge bonus - there is no way all that would be do-able by freehand painting, or be worth the time even if I had that skill...

Some new plastic Reaver Titan kits arrived late last week to help that along.  I got started assembling the Reavers during the course of the weekend, and hope to have them finished before too long.  The Reaver models are quite nice, and one thing I appreciate is the greater variety of weapon selection available with the Reaver kits.  And one particularly nice touch is the variability of the power fist - the fist can be open or clenched - very cool!

There are a few challenges too - I'm no fan of all the hoses, particularly the hose connections between the weapons (which, strangely, are specific to one weapon and one arm, acting as a limit to the ways you can configure the Reavers).  My advice - just ignore the hoses all together.

WIP showing the new plastic Reaver Titan kits from GW. 

Curiously, GW even seems to realize the hoses for the weapons are dumb, and the instructions give alternate assembly options where the hoses are not used on the weapons.  Of course, the instructions try to convey this using 3D Pictionary-style depictions rather than any clear communication, but you'll figure it out quickly enough.  I have hoses on these first two models, but they will be the last.

There is also no straightforward approach to magnetizing the weapons on the Reaver kit, which is a bit baffling, considering this was done on the Warlords.  It can still be done if you are any good with magnets (see Curt's brilliant example here), but I don't have time to waste flopping around with magnetic nonsense. If the designers make it easy, so be it, but they did not with the Reavers, so the weapons on these fellows will be fixed in place.  

Thanks very much for stopping by!

Knights and Bits for Adeptus Titanicus

Some Knights and other bits from GW's new "Adeptus Titanicus" game.

A bit more stuff for "Adeptus Titanicus" from the painting table - here is a "Banner" of Knights, and an assortment of markers.  All of these are from the new GW box set. 

The Knights are very nice little models, very skillfully designed.  Six of them come in the "Adeptus Titanicus" box set, enough for two different "Banners".  There are three different weapon load outs, a variety which contradicts the baffling single weapon choice in the much larger Warlord kit but...anyway...there is a battle cannon, a thermal cannon, and an "Avenger" gatling cannon.  All of these would be familiar to fans of the many and varied Knight model kits available for the full-size 40k game. 

Knight sporting an "Avenger" cannon. 

Lots of detail on these cunning little plastic kits. 

I believe the Knights and their back story are popular and interesting to many 30k and 40k enthusiasts out there, but I am not a fan myself, even though I totally love the 30k and 40k setting overall. Every story and setting has parts we don't like, and for me, the so-called "Knight Households" are one of those things - barmy segments of an otherwise excellent setting.  I just love the Titan Legions, but cannot bring myself to give two sh*ts about Lord Horse Hopper and House Pillow Toss...in a galaxy overrun with walking machines of nearly every possible size, the idea that one group or faction in the Imperium would limit itself to one type of walking-machine chassis is just...silly...and the faux-medieval stuff just makes it worse...

Knight with a nasty thermal cannon - a serious danger to a Titan...IF the Knight can get close enough...

More views of the insane detail GW managed on these plastic models.

Yet the Knights themselves have an important contribution to make to the "Adeptus Titanicus" game, whatever I think of their stupid back story. As recent comments on the blog noted, the Knights play an important part in forcing some maneuver on the part of the big, bad Titans.  The Knights can move quickly and flexibly, and get close enough to threaten even the large Warlord Titans.  So I should get these things painted up, so they can join our next game! And whatever I think of the back story, the models themselves are very, very cool!

Knight armed with the "classic" battle cannon. 

Since I don't care about the "Knight Households", I just made up a colour scheme - used the same palette as my Alpha Legion 30k forces.  I also made liberal use of the decal sheets that come in the game. I should note here the decals are GREAT and I do wish GW would be more organized and thorough with decals generally - the decals sheets for Adeptus Titanicus show what GW can do well. 

Looks menacing - when there are no Titans around...

You will spot the "Eye of Horus" symbols on the shoulders of these machines, so I expect they will fight on the Warmaster's side (sensible people, obviously) - although with Alpha Legion colours inspiring them, who knows that they might do?

The other bits here are markers that come with the game.  The Titan symbol is used to mark the "First Player" - you don't, strictly speaking, need it to play (as long as you can remember who the "First Player" is) and you don't need to paint it, but I thought it would look sharp with a quick coat of paint.  The crashed Warlord head is another marker, used in a specific scenario as a location for lost Titan crew members who need to be recovered. 

"First Player" marker on the left, stranded Titan crew marker on the right. 

The other bunker-looking markers are meant to represent "stratagems" in the game - different advantages or bonuses which can be conferred on one side to balance our a game.  I love their use as actual terrain bits as well - they will be fine objectives not just in games of "Adeptus Titanicus", but in games of "Epic 30k" as well. 

Command and comms stratagem markers. 

Plasma reactor and void shield generator stratagem markers. 

There is a communications relay, a command bunker, a void shield generator, a plasma reactor, a missile launcher and a macro-cannon.  All very useful bits, very well done, quick to build and to paint up.

Missiles and a big cannons - some emplaced defences Princeps will need to take heed of!

This leaves one more "Banner" of Knights and a whole pile of buildings to be painted from the box...we'll see what hits the painting table next. 

Thanks for stopping by!