Adeptus Titanicus Escalation-icus - New Warlord for Horus

Horus for hope! A new addition for the forces of Legio Mortis, seen seen here equipped with paired laser-blasters on the carapace, as well as a plasma annihilator and a power fist.

It's been great to see a new Titan Legio taking shape on Dallas' painting table! His progress has inspired me to continue working on my own Adeptus Titanicus collection - the process of "collection escalation" is always a great motivator.  Earlier in the fall I finished a second Warlord for my loyalist forces, which was fun! But it left the rebels of my Legio Mortis forces a little under-equipped to pursue the Warmaster's enlightened agenda through the galaxy.  I have addressed this disparity by completing a second Warlord for Legio Mortis! As with the additions to my loyalist collection earlier this fall, I have also finished an assortment of different weapons to give rebel Titan commanders some variety in their weapon choices. I am pleased to share some photos of the latest addition to the Warmaster's forces - along with some new weapons - here in this post.

The Arm Weapons

The "Bellicosa Volcano Cannons".

The "Plasma Annihilator".

The "Macro Gatling Blaster",

The "Quake Cannon".

The "Arioch Power Claw".

A view of the paired laser blasters on the carapace. With the "shieldbane" attribute, these weapons are also great at damaging enemy void shields - and once those shields are down, these weapons have a legitimate chance to damage enemy God-engines, as opposed to the missile launchers, which struggle to cause damage on targets once shields are down.

The New Titan 

The "out of the box" load-out - paired "Apocalypse Launchers" on the carapace, and "Volcano Cannons" on the arms.

The "out of the box" weapon loadouts which came in the original Warlord Titan box included a set of paired missile launchers for the carapace weapon mounts and two volcano cannons - one for each arm.  In game terms, this is a pretty punishing weapon combo, as the paired missile launchers are great for knocking down void shields, while the volcano cannon is arguable to most destructive weapon available in the game.  A Warlord kitted out in this way will wreck lots of stuff - but it also will have little incentive to maneuver, and operate mostly as a giant weapon battery.

The Quake Cannon - hits hard, and knocks enemy engines out of position!

Now that GW finally has a good variety of weapons available for the Warlord models (and they are now actually, you know, available for sale) you have options to use the Warlord Titans in different ways in the game, which is more fun!

Just imagine the shell casings falling from this weapon...

This weapon load-out can smash enemy void shields - both the missile launchers and the gatling cannon can fire at volume.  The gatling cannon can also hit home once the shields are down - as can the quake cannon!

The plastic Warlord Titan model kit is a beautiful piece of hobby work and I do love working on them. The models are complex - you will need to take your time to build them. But while the model itself is complex, thank goodness the designers created the Warlords in such a way that magnetizing the weapons is super-easy! This makes swapping the different weapons on and off a Warlord Titan very easy.   

The Plasma Annihilator...a flexible weapon for Warlord Princeps. You don't need to push the reactor to use it, but you can go to "maximal" and this makes it an ideal weapon to deliver a killing shot.

The "power claw" - a devastating weapon, but must be used up close!

A close up showing one of the new, alternate heads - this comes on the same sprue as the plasma annihilators, laser blasters and power fist.

 A view of some of the back details - these model kits are just incredible. I tried to put a splash of colour here and there among the pipes, plates and pistons - with a focus on the crew door.

My AT18 collection is not yet fully balanced yet between the loyalists and rebels - there is no sort of requirement to do this, it's all in my head, but for AT18 I'm trying to keep my loyalist and rebels at a roughly equal size. With this in mind, I still need to add some Cerastus Knights for the rebel side. But Warlord-Titan-parity is an important milestone of sorts (certainly, it is from the Warmaster's perspective :) I also hope it will help drive Dallas in his continued efforts to complete his own Titan maniple. 

The latest "family photo" for Legio Mortis.

The new "Adeptus Titanicus" is a great game, and the opportunity to field multiple Warlord Titans and work some of these new weapons into future games will - I hope - make it even more fun for the players.

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!

Adeptus Titanicus at Prairiecon 2019

Loyalist Titans stalk the land at Prairiecon XL in Brandon, MB.

Did another Prairiecon just happen...? Why...yes, yes it did! It is indeed that time of year again, when a number of Conscripts travel to the lovely city of Brandon, Manitoba, to participate Prairiecon - Prairiecon XL, in fact! 40 years! That's just tremendous, what a fun tradition to take part in!

For 2019 there were a number of Conscript-involved games at the three-day event, and I'll share some photos of one of them in this post - a game of "Adeptus Titanicus", the re-boot version GW released last year.

View of the table, the opposing Titan battlegroups all lined up...

The scenario was a very basic clash, intended to show off a few models and the rules.  The fight involved an isolated station where the Warmaster, Horus Lupercal, kept a "summer home".  A loyalist battlegroup from Legio Gyphonicus wanted to secure this location so valuable intelligence could be gathered.  The rebel forces, comprised of a Legio Mortis battlegroup, were determined to stop them - after all, who wanted to be the one to explain to Horus that loyalists had captured his summer house???

A close-up of the objective...Horus Lupercal's "summer home".

As a wrinkle, the players were not allowed to deliberately fire on or destroy the buildings (again, the loyalists wanted to preserve the possible intelligence finds, while the rebels feared the consequences of Horus finding out any of his stuff was wrecked because their efforts were lacking...). Two buildings in the centre of the table were found to have strange, dark-age-of-technology shielding that blocked all fire - even indirect shots that would go above them - and so the opposing Titan commanders would have to maneuver with these restrictions in mind.

Warlord Titans anchor the loyalist battle line...Curt's awesome Lucius-Pattern model in the foreground.

The opposing battlegroups were identical and balanced, intended to give a general flavour of the game - two Warlords, one Reaver, one Warhound, and a full-strength banner of Knights on each side. Curt was kind enough to travel to Brandon for a visit and bring some of his amazing Adeptus Titanicus kit with him, including his awesome third-party Lucius Pattern Warlord, which looked amazing on the table.

The Legio Mortis engines move toward the centre of the table...

Reactors were powered, orders issued and battle joined! Over a few turns, the rebel side had the low-end of the luck with the dice...in particular, one of their Warlords had its shields blown out on the first turn, followed quickly with a number of serious blasts from opposing Volcano Cannons, blowing off arms, punching holes in the body and in the head. Yikes!

Heavy fighting in the centre of the table, Knight banners on both sides going head-to-head

Another view of the clash among the Knights.

As the fighting continued, the rebel Warhound was destroyed, its weapons blasting away randomly before it went critical and exploded.  The opposing Knight banners traded blows, with the loyalist side bearing the brunt of the losses in that confrontation...but overall, the Loyalists had the edge by the time we called the game - although one of the loyalist Warlords was nearing critical status on its reactor after heavy use of the volcano cannons - that might have been interesting if we played one more turn...

"What happened to my arms???" Things got rough for this Legio Mortis Warlord after its shields blew out...

What treats, we wonder, would the loyalists find in Horus' summer home? Might have to play a "Part 2" for this game sometime, maybe an Epic 30k game? We'll see!

Congratulations to Prairiecon for 40 years! That's quite an achievement.  Hopefully Dallas and Mike will post some more photos from their games over the weekend as well.  Thanks to everyone who attended, and to Dallas, Mike and Curt for making another trip to Brandon for some great gaming. It's a great tradition, and I wish the Prairiecon folks all the best for the next 40 years! 

A Hound For Hope - Warhound Titan for Legio Mortis

Warhound class Titan for GW's re-booted "Adeptus Titanicus" - in service with Legio Mortis. 

More Adeptus Titanicus stuff from the painting table to share.  This is a Warhound Class Titan, painted in the colours and markings of Legio Mortis, a Titan Legion affiliated with the noble Warmaster and his plans to, um, "rebuild the Imperium" from "the ground up".

As the smallest and lightest of the Mechanicum God-Engines, the Warhound is often referred to as a "scout Titan".  Which is hilarious. I mean, the Warhound is still many stories tall, and its weapons can still eliminate entire platoons or vehicle columns in one pass. How is anything that size "scouting" anything else? But in the glorious Imperium of the grimly dark future, it's all relative - the Warhounds are the smallest Titans, and as such, they have a sort of lighter, recon-type role to play.

WIP photo showing the engine coming together during the painting stages...just waiting for the head and the weapons. 

All this "scouting" means speed (I mean, in relative terms). The Warhounds are the quickest and most maneuverable God-Engines in the Adeptus Titanicus game.  The heavier chassis of the Reavers and Warlords will outclass them individually. The Warhounds' void shields will not last as long, and their plasma reactors cannot take as much abuse.

Some very nice, Warmaster-oriented iconography on the hull. 

But the "scout" moniker is misleading, and not just because it is still a very big thing. There are rules which allow the Warhounds to operate in a pack-like fashion.  These rules make them very dangerous to larger and heavier opponents on the table.  This is very, very cool. By operating in groups, using their speed and maneuverability to get into positions which are very difficult for larger, more ponderous opponents to handle, clever Warhound Princeps will score some engine kills for sure. Commanding a group of these on the table is a lot of fun.

A view of the engine, legs etc - outstanding detail on these kits, just lovely. 

This particular Warhound is equipped with a "Vulcan Mega-Bolter" (oh, the hilarious weapon names), very useful for knocking down void shields, although not so useful when it comes to actually harming the enemy engines.  Fortunately, it is also carrying a "Plasma Blast Gun", which can cause some serious damage if it lands a shot past the enemy void shields.

Plasma blast gun, useful for delivering hard-hitting energy blasts to vulnerable targets. 

These multi-part plastic model kits are very nice - each box comes with two Warhounds, and plenty of weapon options, options for different looks to the head, carapace and shoulder plates.  Really fantastic stuff and, as always, causes continued bafflement as to why the twits at GW could not manage to provide more weapon options for their Warlord kits.  But I digress...

The Vulcan Mega-Bolter - not so dangerous to armour, but useful for knocking down/out void shields on enemy engines. 

My new Legio Mortis collection to date, waiting on the shelf of a display case in the basement...getting pretty ominous!

And so we have another God Engine ready to help clear the path for the glorious Warmaster, Horus Lupercal.  My Legio Mortis contingent is almost complete.  But I think, in the interests of game balance, that I should add a bit more oomph to my Loyalist collection as a next step.  I mean, the glorious followers of Horus will need some target practice, after all. So I hope to be sharing some more Loyalist engines with you as the month wears on.

Thanks for stopping by, and have a great day!

Reavers for "Adeptus Titanicus"

Anyone call for some Titans? Two new Legio Mortis engines report for duty...

More giant walking machines for wars of the future in "Adeptus Titanicus"! Two Reaver class Titans for Legio Mortis received their finishing touches on the painting table this past weekend. These are new plastic kits available from GW, part of the new range for the re-booted game featuring Titans battling it out during the Horus Heresy. 

The Reaver class Titans are not so large as the big Warlord-class engines, but they are still pretty large and heavily-equipped.  They are front-line war engines for the Titan Legions of GW's 30k setting.

WIP shot - drying in the "goop", waiting for the black base coat.

I painted the torsos and heads separately from the legs.  Felt slower for some reason. 

Nearly ready for final assembly in this photo - just waiting for decals  (and heads).

"Family photo" of Legio Mortis - still waiting for Warhounds at this point, but ready to move out. 

While they do not have quite so many parts as the new Warlord Titan models, these new Reaver kits from GW are still quite involved.  As with the Warlords, the plastic Reaver kits will reward patience and offer a lot of flexibility for posing etc.  The models are faithful recreations of the current Reaver design from Forge World.  This is great, but there are a few elements of that design that make this assembly a little more tricky - the exposed hoses/cables on the legs and on the head of the Titan. The Pictionary-style instructions are not super clear on these at first, but with some careful application of glue, and some patience, you will get them done.  Just take some time, don't rush, and all will be well. 

"Something need punching? We're here to help..."

The models are also forgiving - on one of the new Reavers featured in this post, the "hip" sections of the legs are mounted backwards! Oops...a credit to the tech-priests who blessed the Reaver design that the models can handle some stupidity on my part.

The plain carapace is a nice option, but I struggled to fill it up with markings...will have to try harder next time. 

Power fist ready to punch someone/thing - note the cable connecting it to the body. Do NOT use this stupid fiddly part - you don't actually have to, but I was determined to try and follow the directions on this first effort. 

A huge bonus, in my opinion, for these models is that they come with some variety in their weapon mounts! While there is only a single option for the carapace (the ubiquitous "Apocalypse Launcher" - love the names), you can choose between a close combat fist, gatling cannon or turbo-laser for the arm mounts.  Even better, if you model the power fist, you can choose between an open or closed fist - great stuff, and showing GW at its best, and a stark contrast to the very disappointing weapon selection in the Warlord kits. 

Enough laser power to melt just about anything/one...

On the downside, the weapons are not simple to magnetize, unlike the weapon mounts on the Warlord. Kind of a strange inconsistency from GW, but I guess not that surprising, when one considers (as commenter Amy noted) the "strange and mysterious ways" of GW.  I don't fiddle with magnets unless it is simple to do, so these Reavers are not magnetized, but glued together like a traditional model. 

You also have the option of a very elaborate carapace plate in the model kit - the options are great to have, and certainly the detail on the "detailed" option is off the hook - great job by GW.  I figure this engine will have some kind of snooty crew that feels they are worthy of all the flash up top. 

I am trying to get an "Axiom Battle Maniple" painted for both the Rebel and Loyalist factions in my "Adeptus Titanicus" collection.  The Axiom Maniple has a total of five god-engines when fully deployed - one Warlord, two Reavers and two Warhounds. So that means two Reavers per side. Naturally, once the models arrived, of course I started with the Rebel side first.  Funny how that happens with me all the time...Horus for Hope!

Ready for a walk...

One Reaver is sporting a combo of a power fist and a gatling cannon - this engine will keep moving on the battlefield, peppering the void shields of the enemy engines with the cannon until the range can be closed and the fist used to smash recalcitrant followers of the so-called "Emperor" into powder. 

Dual turbo-laser mounts should hopefully dish out punishment to enemy engines who lose their void shields. 

The other Reaver has a pair of turbo-laser mounts on the arms- throwing out enough focused energy that we can nickname it "The Happy Cooker".  This engine will move into a supporting firing position to help the big Warlord bring down targets who have lost their void shields. The two laser mounts should help cook some big holes in the armour of those who foolishly deny the glory of Horus Lupercal.

"Reactors to full power! Horus for hope!"

As newly painted models, what could possibly go wrong on the table?  I'm looking forward to getting these fellows into action.  But I should probably paint a few more Loyalist engines up first - after all, you need targets to practice on, right?  I will try and get started on the Loyalist Reavers this week...and the new Warhounds should arrive soon too.  Painting reactors to full power! 

Thanks for stopping by the blog, hope everyone has a great day!