Volkite Weapons for Adeptus Titanicus

Assortment of new "Volkite" weapons for Adeptus Titanicus.

More new guns for the God Engines of Adeptus Titanicus! Here we have the range of new "Volkite" weapons for the Titans. Fans of 30k will be familiar with the "Volkite" weapon class - it is essentially a Martian heat ray/death ray kind of thing. They are great fun to use in 30k games, and the sculptors who designed them made them look pretty cool (in my view, at least - YMMV). Tactical support squads equipped with "Volkite Calivers" are a must for any 30k force for me - for the "looks cool factor" if no other reason.

Like the las guns, bolt guns, and other scary weapons of the grim and dark future, the rules writers and designers for the Horus Heresy setting ultimately came up with a Volkite-type weapon of every size, from a pistol all the way to a "volkite demi-culverin" for tanks and the "volkite carronade" for super-heavy tanks (such as the lovely Glaive painted by MikeF for his Alpha Legion collection).

So would the Titans miss out on this fun? Heck no! Earlier this summer GW released Volkite weapons for the Titans, and being a nerd, I picked some up - here they are. These are all multi-part resin kits from Forge World.

"Volkite Eradicator" on the carapace mount of a loyalist Reaver Titan from Legio Gryphonicus.

Volkite Weapons in Adeptus Titanicus

Reaver Titan of Legio Mortis modelling a new "Volkite Eradicator".

As you smash your foes in Adeptus Titanicus, you are trying to find the right mix of weapons that will knock out the enemy's formidable void shields - often, though not always, accomplished through volume of fire - and also have the power to deliver a killer blow - often, though not always, accomplished through a high strength rating.

Loyalist Warlord from Legio Gryphonicus sporting a new "Volkite Destructor".

Closer look at the new Volkite weapon for the Warlord Titans.

The volkite weapons would purport to give you a bit of both - the rate of fire is not high, but they have special rules that nonetheless make them rather taxing for the void shields of your enemies. The weapons come in two flavours - "Volkite Eradicators" for the arms of your Warhound Titans, or the carapace mount of your Reaver Titan - and "Volkite Destructors" for the arms of your Warlord Titans. 

The Death Heads won't miss out...Legio Mortis trying out its new toy...

As you might expect, the "Destructor" hits a little harder than the smaller "Eradicators" on the Warhounds and Reavers. I obviously have not had a chance to use these in a game yet, but my initial assessment is that, while these things look cool, they would suffer from opportunity cost - they could be useful, but you only have so many weapon mounts to go around, and the other weapons are probably more useful.

All sorts of arcane-looking power bits on this weapon design. Good times await!

In terms of their headline use, knocking over void shields, I can see how they might be a better option the vulcan mega bolters...but using up an arm mount on a Warlord Titan for this purpose is, to me, possibly a waste. The "Destructor" does benefit from a "Beam" special rule, but I don't think that compensates for the loss of one of the other, much more destructive weapon options you might employ on the arms of your Warlord.

The Reaver is probably the worst option for this weapon...with just a single mount, and therefor single shot available, you are unlikely to have the truly devastating impact you hoping for when it comes to knocking over the void shields of your enemy - the missile launcher will do a better job, from a longer range - but again, it looks neat, and does have a higher strength, offering some flexibility of use.

Ready for Volkite mayhem! Warhounds sporting their new "Volkite Eradicators"

If you are going to use these weapons, the Warhound is probably the chassis to use them on - and they would be best used in pairs. To me, they would functionally replace the twin vulcan bolters, and generally fulfill the same battlefield role you would have had for a Warhound with twin bolters - knocking the void shields from enemy engines in one pass of firing, leaving them vulnerable to killer hits from other, larger titans on your side. And while the strength isn't all that high, it is still usefully higher than that of the bolters, so you can spray destruction at wounded Titans, or enemy Knights.

So here we are, even more weapons for Adeptus Titancus. During the early stages of the release of this game, the lack of weapon options was a great frustration. A couple of years later, there is now quite a wide variety to choose from - although a number of them have disappeared from Forge World's web store, so...I hope you got them while you had the chance...

Anyway, thanks for reading!

More AT18 Reinforcements - Nemesis Warbringer Titan

More reinforcements for Legio Gyphonicus - a Nemesis Warbringer Titan.

Another God Machine has stepped off the painting tables here in Northern Ontario, ready to do battle in the world of GW's Adeptus Titanicus. This is a "Nemesis Warbringer" class Titan, a multi-part plastic kit from GW. This is another Titan for Legio Gyphonicus, the "War Griffons", a loyalist Titan Legio that fought on the side of The Emperor during the wars of the Horus Heresy. I am continuing my efforts to even out the Rebel and Loyalist sides of my Adeptus Titanicus collection - this new Titan will balance off the Warbringer I painted for Legio Mortis last year.

The new Warbringer, together with the Reaver Titan from my previous submission.

This Titan class is slightly larger than the Reaver Titans, but still smaller than the Warlord Titans. It is  covered in heavy weaponry, of course! You can see all sorts of big guns all over this thing. The arm weapons are the same as those available to the Reaver Titans - with the important exception that it cannot mount the "close combat" chain/fist weapons. The carapace, on the other hand, mounts a weapon that is on par with the heavy weaponry of the Warlord Titans.

Now THAT is a big gun!

A lot going on up there on top of this Titan...

There are even some anti-aircraft batteries up there...just in case!

It is clearly weapon mount on the top of the Titan that "makes" the model. This is a "quake cannon" - no need to get into the specifics here, but you can tell that it is a really big gun, and be assured it has really satisfying big-gun-type effects in the game. There is an option to mount a volcano cannon as well - which is another scary sort of big gun - but this option does not come with the kit (this option is, in fact, shortly to be available from Forge World...will be interesting to see if they actually provide you with all of the parts you would truly need to make the weapon interchangeable, but anyway...).

You can just make out the crew access hatch in this view...

This is a beautiful model kit from GW, but the assembly for this requires, IMO, more caution in terms of hobby pace than the other large Titan models I have built to date. Many of the components/armour plates overlap, but do not cover completely, the various sections where they are mounted. I get obsessive about these situations, and end up wanting to be sure everything is painted, even if there is only a 0.000005% anyone will see one of these mostly-covered areas. So there is a lot of painting sub-assemblies with this beast.

So much great detail on the armour plates...really great job by GW on these kits.

Lots of overlapping plate armour on the legs and torso.

So putting one of these together and painting it is a bit of a slow process, at least for me - I paint a lot of the components (like the armour plates) separately from the base structure, and then assemble afterwards. That takes more time, and is more fiddly for sure. But it is worth it in the end - I really like the model, and I'm glad to have one of these available for my loyalist forces. I have nearly balanced/evened up my Legio Gryphonicus forces, and the paint brushes are continuing on AT18 topics, so I look forward to sharing more soon.

Thanks for reading! Hope you are all well out there.  

New Reaver Titan for the War Griffons

Reaver Titan from Games Workshop - standing with some alternative weapon options. This is a plastic GW kit.

Hello again everyone. More Adeptus Titanicus production to share with you in this post. With that last batch of WW1 figures completed, my paint brushes have now been turned over fully toward Adeptus Titanicus and the towering war engines of the Mechanicum. It has been about a year since I last completed a round of reinforcements/expansion for my AT18 collection, and I felt it was about time for more. Since my last efforts were (mostly) focused on the rebels of Legio Mortis, I thought it would be best to balance things out, so we start with this new Reaver Titan for the loyalists of Legio Gryphonicus.

A closer view, showing the various energy weapons mounted on the Titan.

Progress was a little rusty at first on this machine, but I got back into the groove eventually, and I'm pleased with how it turned out.

A closer view showing the "Volcano Cannon" on the left arm...a scary weapon, but one that tends to put pressure on the Titan's reactor.

This is the third Reaver I have painted for the loyalist side of my collection. The best part is that its weapon points are fully magnetized, so players can now choose from the steadily growing assortment of weapons that are available.

Another view, showing some alternate weapons - including a giant chainsword hand! Good times!

The Reaver is a great model and these kits really are excellent. As always, I find the feet of the Reaver Titans to be particularly tricky, but lucky for me I managed to get it right this time around.

Another weapon option - a large calibre, multi-barrel cannon - good times!

You can see some of the different weapon options available for this machine - picking a favourite weapon configuration is a great part of the game, and now players using this loyalist machine will have a choice of the weapons seen here, as well as some others painted previously. 

A "family photo" of my Loyalist Titan collection...Knights in the front, Warhounds behind them, then the Reaver Titans, including the newest one on the left, and finally the Warlord Titans at the back.

Adeptus Titanicus is a fantastic game, a great set of rules and models from GW. It has been fun to get back to this model range over the past couple of weeks, and I look forward to sharing more towering war machines from the grim and dark far future as they come off the hobby desk! Thanks for reading, and be well.   

War Griffons Warlord Titan for Adeptus Titanicus

So in the accumulation phase of the Adeptus Titanicus buildup, I ended up with two Warlord Titans - one from the original "Battlegroup" box I bought at Warhammer World when we were there last year, and one from a subsequent purchase of a secondhand "Grandmaster Edition" box set.

I painted one of the Warlords for the Princeps of my Legio Krytos Titan maniple, and had fully anticipated bolstering the forces of the Warmaster with the second Warlord as well. However... when Conscript Greg decamped from Winnipeg to Parts East, I re-evaluated that plan and considered that maybe since his huge Loyalist Titan force would be not likely be seen again soon at the Conscript Towers gaming table, I'd better start on some Emperor-loving opposition for the Warmaster's crew.

But what Legio to choose?? I looked at the "history" of Legio Krytos in the Heresy, and by far their coolest-liveried opponents were the legendary War Griffons of Legio Gryphonicus. So I decided to paint the Warlord in LG colours with the thought that if Conscript Greg ever did return for a game with his Titans, LG could be represented in even greater numbers...

I painted this Titan in a notably different style to Greg's - I tend to go to a bit of an extreme with the weathering, probably because I like the "campaign look" and tend to get a bit lazy about painting neatly and cleanly. 

This Warlord was basecoated with Mechanicus Standard Grey and XV-88, which were overcoated with a light stipple of Administratum Grey camo and Averland Sunset, respectively. Mechanical bits are Leadbelcher and Brass Scorpion, with the latter also serving for the armour trim. Of course the whole was copiously washed with Nuln Oil and Agrax Earthshade, then decals were applied. After this came the rust streaking (Reikland Fleshshade punched up with Doombull Brown) and the sponge shipping (craft black and Rhinox Hide). Groundwork was painted Rhinox. Mournfang, Steel Legion Drab, then drybrushed lightly with Rakarth Flesh, which was carried up the legs as well for a bit of dust blending.

"Juliet balcony" back there for the Titan crew.

As Greg's noted in his posts, the Warlord takes magnets superbly. Here it is in its component parts.

I like to be able to position/rotate the waist joint so I magnetised that as well. 5mm magnets go on the bottom of the Warlord's torso...

...and stick to the washer positioned at the top of the pelvis. Using the washer has the added benefit (for me) of allowing some final adjustment of the attitude of the torso. In this case I positioned the washer to point the torso a touch downward to compensate for a bit of backward tilt that crept into assembly of the legs.

So that's it - Warlord done. Up next for the War Griffons will be a pair of Warhounds, with more on the way of course. Escalation waits for no man!!

Stay safe friends!

Some New Warhounds - WITH Magnets!

New Warhound titans from GW's Adeptus Titanicus - spare weapon options seen at the feet of the bases.

Some more machines for GW's "Adeptus Titanicus" - these are Warhound-class titans, multi-part plastic kits from GW. Each side of the Horus Heresy gets a new machine here - the grey and yellow titan serves with the loyalists of Legio Gryphonicus, while 30k fans will probably already be familiar with the purple and red colours of Legio Mortis, who fight for the cause of the Warmaster.

Legio Mortis engine sporting twin plasma blast guns - these weapons are hard on the Warhound's reactor, but also very deadly to an enemy engine that has lost its void shields.

A mixed weapon load...mega bolter on the left "arm", and a laser blaster on the right "arm".

Twin flame cannons...probably an ineffective weapon loadout, but in the Horus Heresy there are some problems which can only be solved with lots and lots of fire...

The Warhound is the "smallest" of the battle titans that serve in the ranks of the Titan Legions of the Horus Heresy. They are sometimes called "scout titans", which is conceptually hilarious, but these machines are (relatively) lighter and faster than the other city-crushing titans. They can maneuver more deftly, and while their weapons are (again, relatively) "lighter" than those carried by the Reavers and Warlords, they are still dangerous - the Warhound is a real threat to enemy machines, even the larger chassis.

Legio Gryphonicus Warhound.

Warhounds are particularly dangerous in groups, and they can cooperate groups, sharing their void shields and joining their firing together to cause serious damage to their enemies. I already had two Warhounds for each Legio in my collection, but a third Warhound for each side will help the "pack" reach a nice critical mass.

Twin mega bolters...this weapon variant is very, very dangerous to enemy void shields, although the weapons cannot do much damage once the shields are down. That's where the "pack" part come into play...

There is one special thing about these models that is a different from the Warhound models I built previously - I managed to magnetize the weapon mounts on these! I was inspired by Dallas to figure this out. Dallas is very smart with his use of magnets, but I am so clumsy with them. Magnets are an old hobby foe of mine, and efforts involving magnets often end in frustration and swearing. I constantly, constantly screw up the polarity on the magnets.

Some of the new Adeptus Titanicus models from GW are designed specifically to accommodate small magnets, and I usually manage OK with those. The Reaver and Warhound kits, however, were not designed specifically to use the magnets, they use a kind of ball joint instead. So you either had to glue the weapons on, or come up with your own solution that worked with/around the ball joints on the weapons.

Here is a photo with the loyalist machine sporting the flame cannons.

Confronted with the option of doing some of my own hobby engineering, I chickened out at the time and I glued the weapons into place on my previous models. But Dallas, Curt and others have shown that, with some clever modifications, the magnets can be used on the ball-style weapon joints of the Warhound and Reaver models. I copied Dallas' approach, and I managed to get the little magnets to work!

This is great as these machines now have different weapons options - choosing weapons in a big part of the fun for the game. As you would expect, different weapon load outs offer different choices in tactics - for example, a Warhound equipped with "mega bolters" (i.e. huge, heavy calibre machineguns) on both weapon mounts will be very useful for bringing down enemy void shields. Or, perhaps a player will prefer to mount twin plasma cannons...not so great at shields, but more than able to deliver a killing blow once the shields of an enemy are down.

Magnets are also the only way I would ever bother with the giant flamethrowers - I'm not sure what value these weapons would really have in a game of "Adeptus Titanicus" - as opposed to a game of "Epic", where they could obliterate entire infantry companies in one pass - but thanks to the magnets, the players can choose to use them or not.

The newly expanded Warhound pack on the shelf with the rest of my loyalist collection...

The expanded Warhound pack of Legio Mortis...

I didn't have quite enough spare weapons to cover every possibility for both sides...the Legio Mortis side is short a laser blaster and a mega bolter, something I'll look into later. For now, it's great to have these new machines joining the ranks. Now if we could just get a game in somehow...

Thanks for reading, and stay safe out there!

New Knight & Reaver Weapon for AT18

Some AT18 painting - another Cerastus Knight Lancer and a new carapace weapon for a Reaver Titan.

In my last post about painting, I mentioned I was staying in 10mm, and I sort of consider the new Adeptus Titanicus model range from GW to be 10mm-ish...at any rate, after finishing those few small Prussians, my brushes have returned to Adeptus Titanicus subjects for the past couple of weeks.  Here is a Cerastus Knight and a Warp Missile Rack for the carapace mount of a Reaver Titan.

Cerastus Knight
The Cerastus Knight is one of the newer models GW have released for their Adeptus Titanicus re-boot ("AT18").  When it comes to the "fluff" of the story, the Knights are not of great interest to me, but the models are really lovely and the Knights can play an important role in the game.  This specific Knight will join two I painted earlier this year to form a full-strength banner of Cerastus Lancers.

This may shock you...

Each Cerastus Knight seen here carriers a shock lance and an "Ion Gauntlet" (a power fist for Knights, essentially).  They are intended for close combat on the AT18 table.  They are able to move fast and if they survive to get close to their opposition, the shock lances could deliver a nasty surprise to even the mighty Warlord Titans.  They will also do well putting a beating on banners of opposing Questoris Knights.

I can't say enough about the excellent decal sheets GW has released for AT18. They are very nice, and really help finish a model, especially the Knights, which are often sporting heraldry of their various "houses".

There are other weapons available, in theory, for the Cerastus Knight chassis, but for now the shock lance and ion gauntlet are the only models out there. I assume the flame cannon and bolt cannon variants will arrive as either separate model sets, or as upgrades from Forge World.

The Ion Shield, which is capable of delivering a short-range "shock blast".

The shock lance...another short-range weapon, but can be very deadly on the table if the Knight is in the right position...

My loyalists now have the support of two different Knight banners - these fellows, and a full strength banner of six Questoris Knights.

Warp Missile Rack
GW's support for AT18 has been hit-and-miss, but they are gradually releasing a greater variety of weapons for the Titans in the game.  Selecting different weapons load-outs for your Titans was always a fun aspect of the original Adeptus Titanicus game - and while the new Reaver kits at least have a touch of variety in their weapon loadouts, Forge World has augmented the choice out there (for a price, of course) by releasing Warp Missile Racks designed to fit the carapace weapon mount on Reaver Titans.

A one-shot deal, mounted in the carapace mount of a Legio Gryphonicus Reaver Titan.

The Warp Missile is a fun, whacky, weapon.  Basically the missile flies at the enemy Titan, goes briefly into the warp in order to avoid any void shields, then returns from the warp just in time to hit the target Titan.  In essence, this weapon gives you a chance to land a critical hit on an enemy God-engine even while your target's void shields are in rude health. Yikes! This weapon has a lot of disruptive potential - I look forward to seeing the players try it out on the table!

Another view of the Warp Missile Rack.  The missile itself can be removed to show it has been fired (and presumably has caused trouble for the Warmaster's minions...).

While I am not hobby-savvy enough to figure out how to magnetize the arm weapons on my Reaver Titans, it is very easy to magnetize the carapace weapons, and so it is easy to swap out the Apocalypse Launcher and/or Laser Blaster to mount this thing on top.

Reaver Titan and Cerastus Lancer banner - you can see the Cerastus Knights are pretty tall for Knights (it's all relative in the grim darkness of the far future).

There is a nice variety of weapons available out there now for your Titans.  They are not cheap to acquire, and GW has managed to package this in a fashion that brings to mind the ridiculous process TV signal-sellers use to flogging channel packages, but they are out there now, and even seem to be in supply.  As I said above, choosing weapon loadouts is, for me, part of the fun, so I hope to share some more progress on different weapons for my Titans soon.  And, of course, more Titans at some point...

Thanks for visiting!

More Knights - and a building(!) - for Adeptus Titanicus

Some more Adeptus Titanicus painting...three more Knights, and a building.

A few weeks ago I added three more Knights to my Adeptus Titanicus forces so as to be able a full "banner" of six machines for an Adeptus Titanicus demonstration game we were hosting at Prairiecon XL.  Well, here yet again is another trio of Knight models - this time for the loyalist side of my collection.

More Knights for the loyalists...more targets for Horus...

I don't have much time or interest in the back story of the Imperial "Knight Houses", but these models are really tremendous.  They can be painted relatively quickly, but there is a stunning amount of detail on them, which will reward the extra effort if you want to dive in.  I tried to split the difference, going for a pretty straightforward paint job, but pulling out some fun details here and there.

Amazing detail on these models.

They also come with great decal sheets, and they make SUCH a difference, very, very cool.  I made liberal use of the decals, and wow, do they ever help make these models even nicer.

Thermal cannon...gets results!

Gatling cannon...scratches paint...not much more...

The Knights are also represented well in the re-booted Adeptus Titanicus rules. They are small, yes (I mean, it's all relative, but they are small compared to the Titans), but they move quickly, and in a group the "banner" can really cause damage to enemy Titans.  Some of the Knight weapons are scarier than others - for example, I do find the "avenger gatling cannon" to be a fairly useless weapon in the Adeptus Titanicus game (in a game of Epic 30k, that would be another story).  But the battle cannon and thermal cannon can bring the pain - particularly if the Knights get close, and start making hits from inside enemy void shields.

I now have two full strength "banners" to deploy in my collection - one each for the loyalist and rebel factions.

Building assembled from the bits in the new Adeptus Titanicus box set.

The buildings kits are great - very modular, and can be assembled in all sorts of ways.

The building is assembled from the new Adeptus Titanicus building bits that came with the new game.  They are really cool...you can build them in a bewildering number of different ways.  The downside is that you have to paint them...I'm slow to paint terrain.  But every so often I get to it, and I finished this one building quickly while painting the Knights. 

Updated collection photo showing the loyalist and rebel forces.

Legio Gryphonicus maniple and allied Knight Household support.

Legio Mortis and allied Knight Household support. Horus for hope!

Stay tuned for (hopefully) more painting progress to appear soon...thanks for visiting the blog, and have a great day!