August Projects

It's been a few weeks since anything's been posted, which is failry typical of August. I haven't been idle however and I wanted to show some of the things I've completed / been working on. First up is the Arachnus Heavy Lascannon Bettery for the Deredeo Dreadnough for 30k. Greg was kind enough to entrust me with his 30k Alpha Legion prior to his move to Toronto. This included a Deredeo Dreadnought with weapon arms fully magnetized! I decided to up gun the dread and picked up the heavy lascannon battery from Forge World. It's a higher strength lascannon for taking on pesky loyalist tanks, which my Imperial Fists have a few of. The magnets lined up failry well and my paint job blends in ok with Greg's I think.

Next up is a Land Raider conversion I built for a yet specified 30k legion. The kit is the standard Land Raider from GW. The tracks, side sponsons and top plate are from Blood & skulls Industry. The kit serves as a replacement for the top hull plate and tracks of the land raider to make it fit with the 30k vehicle asthetic. It's well thought out and mostly fits together smoothly with the plastic kit. The only issue I ran into was that the wrap arount tracks left a space that was too narrow to fill with a single link of the tracks. I had to shave down two track pieces to make them fit. It came out fairly well and you can't really tell the difference. It should be noted that this is not a "cheaper" option unless you already have a land raider sitting around. It is cool though and worth getting if you feel comfortable sorting out the track issue. Don't expect this to be painted in the near future, I just wanted to show off the build!

In non-GW gaming, I picked up Stargrave when it came out and it's got me raiding my bitz box and pile of shame for appropriate figures for crew and creatures. I located a suitable figure to represent a bounty hunter who periodically appears during a game and hunts one of your crew. The model is from Copplestone Castings.

Finally, I completed a bunch more Battle Fleet Gothic stuff. I have two more cruisers and a squadron of frigates from Vanguard Miniatures for my Imperial Fleet. These are resin and require very little cleanup. I really like his stuff and I hope he branches off into chaos stuff at some point. I also received a bunch of ships from fellow conscript, John C. He had a bunch of models from the predecessor of BFG, Spacefleet. They're solid peweter and placing them on a plastic flight stand was a bit tricky. I have no idea how long these models languished on John's shelf, but BFG was new when I was in High School and Spacefleet was before that, so long enough I guess. I painted them up so quickly that I forgot two of them on my shelf! I refuse to let them linger for another 20+ years and promise to paint them ASAP. These ships will be used as transports and troop carriers for BFG games.

Well that's it for summer 2021! They don't last long in Canada and I can already feel the chill in the air. Hope everyone stays healthy and hopefully we can game this fall/winter.

Belicosa BS at Forge World - Fun With Titanicus Weapons

A foolish and pointless purchase from Forge World...the Belicosa Volcano Cannon for the Nemesis Warbringer Titan in AT18.

Well, I continue with a 30k theme - broadly - in this post, but we switch game systems, returning once more to GW's re-booted Adeptus Titanicus. Now, let's look at some whacky guns for Titans, as well as some frustration, disappointment and fun with the gang at Forge World. 

Earlier this year I finished off some new Titans for the Loyalist side of my collection - including a new "Nemesis Warbringer" engine. That class of Titan chassis can mount Reaver-class-type weapons on its arms, but the main even on the Nemesis-class Titans is the big show up on top - a main weapon battery on a turntable-style mount. Naturally, there are options for the weapon mount. You get one that comes in the kit, and the other(s) available separately from GW and/of Forge World.

The mounting of the "Quake Cannon" on the carapace of the Nemesis Warbringer.

The Nemesis Titan model kit comes with one weapon option for the top mount - a "Quake Cannon". There are a number of components that come together to make not only the cannon itself, but the equipment to mount it - a turntable base, brackets etc. The rules allow for a second choice, however - a "Belicosa Volcano Cannon". It doesn't come in the model kit, but it was expected the GW or Forge World would make it available at a later time. That time came this past spring...as a keen collector of AT18 kit, I ordered a couple of them right away, so as to have these options for the Nemesis Titans in my collection. I'm such a dweeb.

The Belicosa Volcano Cannon from Forge World

I should have waited...

The Forge World bits. Note - I have assembled the cannon already (vain attempt to use). But this photo is more critical for what is not there - namely, the components you would need to actually mount the gun on the carapace of the Nemesis Warbringer Titan. And, of course, note how the resin cables snap in the package during shipping. F*ck resin.

Look, I generally love Forge World stuff. Yes, the prices are high. Yes, the resin can suck. But they make some pretty neat stuff, are generally very nice to deal with, and have perservered through difficult pandemic restrictions to try their best to keep serving customers - even releasing new stuff despite delays and challenges. I'm fortunate to have a fair selection of Forge World kit in my collection - especially my Horus Heresy 30k collection. I rant and rave, of course, as all passionate fans can, but I really do try and keep things in perspective. These are toys, after all, and they make toys I like. Every so often, there is a problem - does that really matter in the grand scheme of things?

With that said, on this specific item, they f**d this up. And I don't see how they would not have realized this, and they just did it anyway, and it is a piss off.

Some melodramatic fan rage...still, this was disappointing...

You see, Forge World made the Belicosa Volcano Cannon option for the Nemesis Titan...and did not provide enough of the parts to do the job! There is no weapon mount or turntable! In other words, this only works if you have not already built your model. I suppose it is possible, in theory, to magnetize the mounting...but still...just f*ck this. What a tw*t move. GW/Forge World has some form here - so this shouldn't be a huge shock. The joke is on me. Still, f*ck. 

What really winds me up is that they took the time to provide alternate components for every aspect of the weapon - including the "ammunition" (see "Fiddly Bits" below) - but still but NOT the turntable! FFS, come on! 

Anyway, I could not dis-assemble the Titan components I had already built...fortunately, there was an alternative...

The Vanguard Heavy Ordnance Energy Cannon

From Vanguard. Hey LOOK - a turntable!!! Just HAPPENS to fit on the Nemesis Warbringer Titan!!

There was a bit of a reaction to this on Forge World's Facebook page, as you might expect. The Commissars came along and purged most of it, but one poster shared a link to a solution - the "Heavy Ordnance Energy Cannon" from Vanguard Miniatures, and I was lucky to see this comment before it was deleted. Vanguard is a purveyor of cool sci-fi products in 3mm, 6mm and 15mm. It just happens that this specific item fits the weapon mount on the top of the Nemesis Warbringer Titan - a pure coincidence, no doubt!

Looks great painted up! You can see the Vanguard weapon on the left, and the Quake Cannon (from GW - comes with the Nemesis Kit) on the right.

You can compare - the Vanguard sculpt is a little leaner on details than the Forge World one - but it has a huge advantage in that you can actually use it. And I have to say, having assembled and painting it up, it looks pretty sharp on the Nemesis Titan IMO. The weapon you see in these photos is the one painted in the loyalist colours of Legio Gryphonicus, and I am painting another one up for the rebels of Legio Mortis.

Fits like a charm!

Looks great painted up, and fits in very nicely with the look of the Titan.

A view from the front...the big gun on top from Vanguard fits great.

Well done Vanguard!

The Fiddly Bits

 

WTF are those parts for?

Forge World...they don't provide the turntable, but they have battery-looking bits too...what are they?

OK, so I am ranting at Forge World and praising Vanguard here. But there is a lapse on my part as well - the fact is there is a lot more going on with the weapons on the carapace for the Nemesis Titans then I had really considered. I liked to think I knew all about the Titans, but clearly there are aspects of the Nemisis I did not understand.

Little did I realize that, in the big pile of boxy stuff on the back of the Nemesis Titan's carapace, there is a spot for "ammunition" for the Quake Cannon (or, I assume it is ammunition...it is a big boxy thing). If you opt to mount the Volcano Cannon, then one would swap out these "boxes" too - for a battery-type set up that suit the Belicosa. 

These components sit pretty awkwardly on the model. They are connected using a dry fit to the back of the Titan model. Personally, I think that dry fit would work more on faith than any actual belief that it would survive on the table as players move the Titans around. YMMV, but a dry fit here is not going to work.

Turns out those things go on this place on the Titan...something to watch for...I had glued these into place, but in theory, they can "dry fit". I hate dry fitting gaming models...all disclaimers apply.

All this to say to watch out when you are assembling your Nemesis Titan! If you want to be able to fully switch the carapace weapons, you need to make allowance not only for the gun itself, but for its ammunition supply/power source components.

Conclusion

The Forge World version of the Belicosa Volcano Cannon certainly looks nice - but if you have already built your Titans, it will be of no use to you (unless you heroically somehow knew what they would do, and managed to magnetize the relevant parts in precisely the right way). Perhaps you still have an un-opened kit on your shelf? If yes, this will validate your decision to hold off building it! But if you are like me, and you have already built one or more of these models, go get the Vanguard alternative to serve as your Belicosa Volcano Cannon.

If you have yet to build your own Nemesis Titan, you can consider the Forge World version of the Volcano Cannon - it would sure look nice! Maybe you could even manage the magnets so the turntable would work for either weapon. Dallas or Byron are smart enough that they could figure that out I suspect, and some other hobbyists out there have suggestions. It's not like it is impossible - but it is more complex than your average weapon-magnetizing work. And even if you do, remember you will need to consider the dry mount for the "ammunition" bits on the back of the Titan.

Anyway thanks for reading, and happy painting!

Battlefleet Gothic Ordnance and Light Cruiser

I finished a set of ordnance markers for Battlefleet Gothic. In the game there is an entire phase dedicated to launching torpedoes, breaching pods, fighters, bombers and for space marines, Thunderhawk gunships. These allow you to land spacemarines on enemy ships and they proceed to wreak havoc all over the ship. All the models are from Vanguard Miniatures cast in pewter and they have excellent detail. I especially like the not-thunderhawks. I also added a light cruiser to the Imperial fleet. The model is also from Vanguard and comes with various weapon options including gun batteries, lances and fighter hangers. I magnetized for maximum customization!

I have plans to paint up some more fighter and bomber stands and add a 2nd strike cruiser to the space marine fleet. Thanks for visiting!

Battle Fleet Gothic

 When I was in high school, Games Workshop released Battlefleet Gothic. A friend and I went in on the box together. He kept the rules while I took the Imperial and Chaos ships. He ended up buying an Eldar fleet which resulted in all our games being one sided affairs and we soon abandoned the game and moved on. The two fleets I had, were cannibalized for conversions and ultimately went missing during one of my many moves between home and University. It has only been in the last few years of searching Ebay that I learned to appreciate how stupid I was for squandering those models. Oh well, if that's the stupidest thing of done, I guess I'm in good shape. However, nostalgia for the game persisted and after locating a digital copy of both the rules and Armada expansion I decided to "acquire" a few fleets. I found the Litko made the necessary templates and counters while the order dice used in BFG are nearly identical to Adeptus Titanicus.

Ships were obviously the hardest part since GW hasn't supported the game in years and Ebay is charging a fortune. Luckily, others have stepped in to fill the void. Many of the ships I purchased were from Vanguard Miniatures in the UK. They make great looking Imperial proxies complete with side mounted batteries and launch bays. I decided to make a Space Marine chapter fleet and Imperial Navy fleet. The chapter would be the Executioners who were on the side of the secessionists in the Badab War. During the conflict they specialized in attacks on Imperial shipping and used a modified cruiser named the Night Hag as their flag ship. The Imperials would represent Battlefleet Solar. 

For the more iconic ships like the Battlebarge and Retribution Battleship, I went with Shapeways. I'll rank those models as fair. They won't win any awards, but they're fine as game pieces. Here are some photos of the fleets. I still have two ships to go for the Executioners including the Night Hag!

Yet another gaming option once gaming resumes.

Shapeways Battlebarge

Vanguard Miniatures gothic ships

Vanguard Helian Dreadnought

Good proxy for a Mars Battlecruiser

Shapeways Retribution Battle Ship