Forge Firmamentum - Lucius-pattern Warlord Titan (p.5)

[CommodusXIII]

http://i.imgur.com/U5edMctl.jpg

 

The new Macrotek Enginseer from Forge World is now my favorite AdMech model. The right arm is a bit wonky, but the finished product is exactly what I'd envisioned back in the grimdark of 3rd Edition.

 

With him are his four Servo-Automata, a host of servo-skulls and my sixth Tarantula sentry gun. I don't share Forge World's love of mechadendrites, so I left all of them off.

 

http://i.imgur.com/tM9m2Pml.jpg

 

My finished fortifications. I added an Icarus Lascannon to the Bastion shown earlier, so that I wouldn't have to borrow parts from my Aegis Defense Line.

 

The Plasma Obliterator is a kitbash between the stock kit, the Manufactorum set and a second Imperial Bastion. The stock kit was simply too... Imperial for me, and didn't fit with the aesthetics of my army.  The lower half is also supposedly a real pain to assemble.

 

The churning smoke is a good cinematic addition to both buildings. It's simply furniture upholstery filler with a coat hanger wire skeleton and a light coating of black spray primer.

 

As you can see, I'm in the process of renovating my board.  Once the new terrain is finished I'll take better pictures.  In the meantime, I'm taking a break from my AdMech models to tackle a new Kill Team project.

[CommodusXIII]

I've been hard at work building new terrain for my table, but have managed to find time to complete a few projects.

 

http://i.imgur.com/0yZHaJjl.jpg

 

I tracked down a few additions from the OOP Witchhunters/Daemonhunters line.  Also in the back is a servo-skull from the new Space Marine Devastators kit.

 

I fell into 40K during 3rd Edition, and Blanche's character illustrations in the Big Black Book were always accompanied by flocks of servo-skulls. When I returned to the hobby three years ago I decided to use servo-skulls to test different techniques and color schemes.

 

http://i.imgur.com/nmOwIBWl.jpg

 

I've collected quite a few since then.

 

http://i.imgur.com/guG9R4ol.jpg

 

Fighting over dice or chits isn't very cinematic, so I cooked up some objective markers. It makes sense for the Skitarii to be drawn to data archives, communications relays, locator beacons, etc.

 

http://i.imgur.com/bdumHFel.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/XdGlg9Tl.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/r75owQ2l.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/syTY95ol.jpg

 

After a very successful streak of games with my Culexus Assassin, and inspired by mithrilforge's own kitbash, I threw together this Eversor Assassin. It's almost entirely made of parts from the Sicarian kit, with the addition of Archmagos Draykavac's head. The normal model has more weapons than hands - Unit ███-Chi-2 does not suffer from this impediment.

 

And yes, I see the mold line now.

 

http://i.imgur.com/nd0FJr7l.jpg

 

Now that I've built two Assassins, I suppose it's only a matter of time before I tackle the other two...

 

http://i.imgur.com/BBuuFqxl.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/n9Iahvwl.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/WrW0eE6l.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/3Gm7Vhul.jpg

 

My AdMech fortifications fit in perfectly with my new terrain.

 

With the changing of the seasons, I've made sure to prime enough projects to last me through the winter.  I'm also considering an expansion to Forge Firmamentum's motor pool - either a Land Raider Spearhead or a flock of heavily-modified Valkyrie Sky Talons with the new IG formation in Mont'ka.  Or maybe both?  Stay tuned!

[CommodusXIII]

So neither of those ideas took root.  Instead, this month I took a detour through the most unfortunate Titan ever to walk off the assembly line.

 

http://i.imgur.com/wBf3xZSl.jpg

Story time:

After completing my Lucius-pattern Warlord Titan over the summer, I decided that I needed a hunting pair of Warhounds to go with it.  Unfortunately, this came shortly after Forge World discontinued the model.  I turned to eBay and found two being offloaded - let's just say, it turned out that they weren't exactly what was being advertised.  Live and learn.

Having a lot on my to-do list and lacking the courage to dive straight into such a large kit with no prior Forge World super-heavy experience, I outsourced assembly.  That's where things really started to go sideways.  The abysmal quality of the parts quickly became apparent, and a few minor components were even lost in the warp post.  Improper packaging (for lack of a more detailed description) resulted in both being heavily damaged on the return journey.  This is becoming a recurring theme with my Titans.  Of the two models I salvaged enough components to cobble together one complete Warhound - and thus, Canis Venator and Sicarius Leto became Canis Leto.

http://i.imgur.com/YREwnjsl.jpg

 

I had to make a number of modifications to replace missing or miscast parts.  Aegis Defense Line parts are substituted for the servitor access hatches, which also bulks out the shoulders and matches the void shield generators on its big brother.  Segments of piping hide severe mismatches around the engine compartment.

 

http://i.imgur.com/SyYMAeFl.jpg

 

I took a somewhat-unusual tack by not going with Double-Barreled Turbolaser Destructors.  I did this for a number of reasons:

• I have a love affair with plasma weapons.
• Turbolasers are boring and ugly.
• Ranged Destroyer weapons are neither common nor appreciated in my meta.

Also, Canis Leto is my new chassis for Adepticon Titanicus.  I decided that Lux Æterna was simply to large and heavy to transport to Chicago and push around the battlefield - it probably won't even fit around the terrain.  The typical Titan weapons are balanced a bit differently in Adeptus Titanicus II, and the blastgun turns out to be a bit more effective in my ideal role.

 

http://i.imgur.com/WjScijkl.jpg

 

I'm particularly happy with how it came out.

 

http://i.imgur.com/dOmiDxbl.jpg

 

I applied my typical grungy/oily painting technique, a bit heavier than on my Knights and certainly heavier than on Lux Æterna.  Canis Leto is a dirty tool for dirty work - crawling through ruined buildings, operating for long periods without refreshment, etc.  It also helps hide some of the more unfortunate blemishes.  Despite its flaws, the sheer amount of detail on this kit was overwhelming to paint.

 

http://i.imgur.com/SpEQWKfl.jpg

 

The honor banner and tastefully-sized kill pennants were mounted with the same technique as Lux Æterna.  The former is a modified Space Marine company standard, and the latter are from Forge World's Cerastus Knight kits.  They're attached with jewelry chain and magnetic necklace clasps, so I can mount them to other weapons if desired.

 

Alright, so now what's next?  I have a new plastic Enginseer to add to my collection.  I'm also starting to feel the call of Fraterrus Sextus from my WIP cabinet.  Finally, I'm still toying around with ideas for transports and have my eye on one more Fortification to add to the table.  Stay tuned!

[CommodusXIII]

Fraterrus Sextus has finally joined my Household.  A more detailed description and build log were linked in my previous post.  The goal was to yield a Lancer that keeps much of Forge World's aesthetics, while remaining very close to the GW kit in proportion.

 

http://i.imgur.com/wB7b1xvl.jpg

 

http://i.imgur.com/qsmrgD1l.jpg

 

http://i.imgur.com/poxOCUyl.jpg

 

After two Knights and a Warhound, I'm going to have to take a short break.  I have two more Knights on the drawing board.  But first, I may have to venture back to the Skitarii...

[CommodusXIII]

A relatively brief update today to cover some interim projects:

 

http://i.imgur.com/BznMrFVl.jpg

 

Fraterrus Sextus made his first kill at an Apocalypse game over the New Years Weekend.  So far so good!

 

http://i.imgur.com/M17plvzl.jpg

 

The new plastic Enginseer, next to the two classic metal models. The details are a lot closer to the new Skitarii kits but it's significantly larger.  It's a very intricate kit and I had to paint it almost entirely unassembled to reach all of the areas.  Most of the seams are hidden by the detail of the kit but the shoulders had very noticeable gaps.  This required a lot of LGS work on a half-painted model, which is not good practice.  The end result, though, is very nice.

 

http://i.imgur.com/AiSh5hnl.jpg

 

Ossuary-Generatorum 871 supplies power and protection to nearby Mechanicus fortifications.

 

After my earlier Bastion and Plasma Obliterator projects, I swore that I was finished with fortifications. However, opportunity dropped this limited-run model into my lap. As the only Mechanicus-themed fortification, I was more-or-less honor bound to complete it.

 

Most examples I've seen have the globes resting upon the support pillars painted as plasma globes.  I went a different route - the glowing white/blue effect aligns with the rest of my Skitarii, and was heavily influenced by a scene from Frank Herbert's Dune that has stuck with me.  I'm not a huge fan of the current trend of putting skulls and skeletons on everything, but made the most of it.  It doesn't help that the skulls aren't all to scale - I figure that the larger ones are from Ogryns or gene-enhanced servitors.

 

While the end product is a good addition to my collection, painting and assembling were tortuous. The design seems to be very lazy - it's evident that bits from existing kits were simply tacked onto the master model. The silver lining is that it matches many of my other projects. The stormcloud is that it looks like someone got bored with dowel rods, hot glue and a bits box.

 

Part of me really wants to build two more to yield a Void Relay Network for Apocalypse games. The rest of me wants to kick the   out of that guy. I'll probably do it eventually, but will use other kits for the remaining generators.

 

http://i.imgur.com/HG7SqS7l.jpg

 

I realized that the custom head that I'd built for Fraterrus Primus had long since lost its charm. In fact, I found that I'd been altering my lists to avoid taking it. That wouldn't do.

 

Fortunately, I had built it early on in this project and my glue joints were not as integral as they should have been. I simply pulled the entire head off, kept the hood, and painted up a replacement. Now he can lead the Fraterri into battle with pride, knowing that his buck teeth and lazy eye have been surgically corrected.  I've also upgraded its carapace banner using parts from the High Elf Dragon Princes kit and a Cities of Death lamp post.  It now tracks all of the major campaigns that the Fraterri have participated in.

 

Work continues on a number of items.  I've made rather large bits purchases in the past week to prepare for two major conversion projects.  In the meantime, I'm slowly completing the final two Assassins (Vindicare and Callidus) and adding a few more random servitors and tech priests to my expanding retinue.  And there are always more servo-skulls...

[CommodusXIII]

I was a little more productive today than I expected.
 

http://i.imgur.com/FJBoKeil.jpg

This is my take on the Vindicare and the third in my series of Assassin conversions. It's much less impressive than the others, likely because I find the Vindicare to be the most "normal" to begin with. I stole the idea almost entirely from Shinespider.
 

http://i.imgur.com/cZSVpPHl.jpg

The chest, antennae and lower legs are from the Sicarian kit. The head and groin/thighs are from the Ranger/Vanguard kit. The backpack is from the Electropriest kit - I wanted something with a smaller profile than either the Ranger or Sicarian backpacks, due to his propensity for crawling through dense terrain. The arms and cloak are from an Imperial Guard sniper.

The rifle was the most complicated part. I took a radium jezzail from the Ironstrider kit and added a scope from an Ork Flash Git, which was suitably baroque. The multi-lens is from Zinge Industries and represents the Vindicare's Spy Mask.
 

http://i.imgur.com/cTTTWqFl.jpg

Unit ███-Chi-1, "The Hand of the Omnissiah", was the prototype for the Chi-Series Sicarian Project. Originally an Alpha of the elite Rangers of the Skitarii Firmamentum, his battle-shattered body was recovered by Magos Organos Cobol and elevated to higher level of combat prowess. Unfortunately, he came through the augmentation process with his personality intact - a flaw that was corrected in subsequent Chi-Series experiments.

He is often deployed in advance of the Skitarii maniples, remaining hidden until the opportune moment to eliminate his targets. His galvanic miquelet is an ancient weapon, affording greater range, accuracy and potency over the more common transuranic arquebus. Unit ███-Chi-1 is also equipped with a personal shield generator, allowing him to reposition under even the heaviest enemy resistance.

http://i.imgur.com/ZjIec42l.jpg

Three down, one to go. The Culexus was built as an advanced Sicarian Infiltrator, the Eversor as an advanced Sicarian Ruststalker and the Vindicare as an advanced Ranger. That leaves the Callidus to be an advanced Vanguard for the complete set.

[Nomus Sardauk]

I must say I enjoy how you've translated each of the Assassins into the Cobol Units, how you've explained how they came about and why, as well a how they replicate the Assassin's capabilities.

 

I look forward to seeing how you'll translate the Callidus's shape-shifting infiltration methods onto the final Cobol Unit, my current theories are, A: a Terminator 3-esque transformable liquid metal exterior, or B: some manner of full-body holographic disguise ala PROXY from the Star Wars The Force Unleashed videogame.

[CommodusXIII]

Thank you very much!  Elimination Unit ███-Chi-3 is still very much on the drawing board, from both modeling and fluff standpoints, but I'm very much looking forward to wrapping up this project. 

[CommodusXIII]

Until I get the new shelves installed in my game room, I don't have room to embark on my next major project.  I'm taking the time to clean out a few items that have been cluttering my WIP cabinet.

 

http://i.imgur.com/qVtQDZNl.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/8tNvPsjl.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/CluTHwzl.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/wrTBnW4l.jpg

 

 

This Magos Dominus from Forge World has sat in my WIP cabinet for almost a year. It's taken me that long to work up the willpower to finish it, whether from the complexity of the sculpt or a lack of inspiration.

 

To field it as a Tech Priest Dominus, I replaced the rad cleanser with a leftover eradication ray from the GW kit.  The mechanical left arm definitely had to go. I struggled with building a replacement arm with a power axe, but could never get it to look quite right. In the end, a hydraulic claw from the Kataphron kit was the perfect addition.  The abeyant with its flock of servo-skulls will work well to represent the Raiment of the Technomartyr.

 

For as much as I dreaded this model, once I saw it with the replacement arm things suddenly clicked in my brain.  It's now one of my favorite models in my collection. 

 

http://i.imgur.com/D3creFFl.jpg

 

You can never have too many objective markers. I lifted the idea for this holographic control table from a comrade in arms from the PAGE Apocalypse campaign. I figured this would be a good one for Zone Mortalis, but it would work well on any industrial table.

 

The body is a hive city tile from Planetary Empires. The supports are parts from Aegis Defense Line gun emplacements, and the control panels are from various Space Marine vehicles.

 

I have a few more projects in various stages of completion, but I'm trying to group them by theme before posting.  As I've just about chewed through the models in the current AdMech lines that interest me, things are about to get (relatively) weirder...

[Kilofix]

That PE tile is genius!

[CommodusXIII]

Isn't it? I found the original version under the table while looking for a dropped die at an Apocalyse game, and stumbled upon the blog entry a couple days later. I love simple pieces like this.

[Battybattybats]

Ok that holo display is genius.
I've often thought of some sort of hologram piece like that (i once considered a diorama with some marines turning from a display and raising their guns as the display, using some epic infantry, shows a lictor right behind them, but epic infantry more than doubled in price per sprue so i dropped the idea) and i recall a 1st or 2nd ed artwork of people clustered around a map planning that is very reminiscent of this.

I may need to get some more hive city tiles and the other parts you used and shamelessly copy.. though i recall the old artwork had an attached servitor as part of the holo-table so i might be adding some elements of my own to your version of the blog-poster's idea...

[CommodusXIII]

I look forward to it! One of the reasons I post pictures of my conversions is so other people can do it better. ;)

[Pearson73]

Nice work on the holograph table.

[Nomus Sardauk]

That holotable is a stroke of genius, why didn't I think of that...?

[CommodusXIII]

I did some digging - here's another good example, about 2/3rds down the page.  This actually gave me some ideas for improving my own model.  Something tells me there may be quite a few of these popping up in the near future!

[CommodusXIII]

I took a diversion from my ongoing Skitarii conversion work for a very special project - my first display board!

 

This is for my tournament army of five Knights.  With only five models, I had a bit more freedom and space to work with.  The trick was to link models that I'd based over the past year into an integral scene.  I did not have this in mind when I initially tackled each Knight, but my choice in basing has always been inspired by the fundamental concept.

 

The scene is one of a force of Imperial Knights marching past the ruins of an AdMech way station on their way to battle.  The Knights are accompanied by a throng of Enginseers and servitors, tasked with keeping them in peak condition and with recording their glorious deeds.  I was particularly inspired by this piece of fan art, as well as this illustration from Codex: Imperial Knights.

 

http://i.imgur.com/BSh7E1hl.jpg

 

I started with a 24" x 24" x 1/4" baseboard of MDF.  I sourced a sheet of 3/16" black foamcore from my local craft store, which was cut to match the baseboard.  I put all of the models on the foamcore and traced the outline of their bases.  The holes were cut out and the foamcore mounted to the baseboard with wood glue.  The outer edge of the foamcore was beveled with a hobby knife.  Afterwards, the edges and the holes were spackled with Liquitex modeling paste mixed with black acrylic paint.  The leftover paste was used to blend some of the terrain elements and add a few gentle hills/dunes.

 

To further break up the wasteland, I added some leftover bits from various vehicle kits.  They served well as the base for a sensor relay, as well as ventilation and an escape hatch for an underground facility.

 

I based Fraterrus Secundus with a large swath of glassed sand, meant to be the after-effect of an energy weapon discharge.  I blended this into the display board by building a recently-destroyed way station out of leftover Manufactorum bits.  The most difficult part was painting it "dead' - my AdMech buildings are all alive with glowing conduits and display panels.  This unfortunate structure is dark and inactive, save for the ongoing fire.  An LED flicker tealight and a smoke plume complete the effect.  The building was mounted on a 100 mm round base left over from an Onager Dunecrawler, so I can remove it for transport and for use as an objective/terrain piece in-game.

 

The board was based with the same method I use for all of my AdMech models.  The surface was coated with watered-down wood glue and covered with sand.  I repeated this as necessary until no black was showing through.  I let this dry overnight, and today I hit it with heavy washes of Agrax Earthshade and Nuln Oil.

 

http://i.imgur.com/NcAgclHl.jpg

 

http://i.imgur.com/idll1Lkl.jpg

 

http://i.imgur.com/L3aHAVDl.jpg

 

http://i.imgur.com/QOFcgJpl.jpg

 

http://i.imgur.com/2VyIdXGl.jpg

 

Not exactly Golden Daemon quality, but not bad for three days of work.  And certainly better than the banker's box that I usually use!

[CommodusXIII]

I'm into my third month on this project, but I can finally show off the initial results.

 

http://i.imgur.com/GwqFSJGl.jpg

 

Unit 633-Omicron-1.1 is the proof-of-concept for my Onager Dunecrawler kitbash project. The upper body is more-or-less standard, with the addition of a sensor pod from the Spearhead Command Vehicle sprue to the copula. The lower body is from an Axis Armored Transport from Dust Tactics. The two are joined with a 16 mm acrylic teddy bear eye grafted into the waist joint.

 

http://i.imgur.com/5i6Y1Czl.jpg

 

The arrangement of leg stripes and the two pods on the "head" serve to differentiate each vehicle in the squadron. I'm not terrible happy with how the Command Vehicle pod turned out, but it'll do its job.

 

http://i.imgur.com/pZ8fUuCl.jpg

 

I liked the Onager on paper, but I couldn't stand the stock legs. They were just too... cute? I found the Armored Transports on sale over the holidays and, while the aesthetics don't entirely align, I think it's close enough. The Dust Tactics kit does require a lot of work and patience - it's a cheaper, more brittle plastic and the joints between parts don't entirely align.

 

One down...

[CommodusXIII]

...two down...

 

http://i.imgur.com/bZaUuq8l.jpg

 

Unit 633-Omicron-1.2 walks off the assembly line.  While each will have a unique identification code on its hull, I'm also using the pattern of chevrons on the legs as a quick visual cue.  This squadron has chevrons on the front legs.  Chevrons on both legs denote the squadron command vehicle (O1.1).

[Battybattybats]

Good looking alternate, even though i quite like the original.
i do wonder about the prominent port on the back of the Onager turret (or is it a Cab? I'm unsure of the correct terminology) rather similar to the one on the Knight kit that turned out to be an additional weapon mount... i'm thinking maybe a great spot for a magnetised squadron leader banner, perhaps bearing sacred circuit diagrams like the handheld Mechanicus banner mentioned in the novel Death of Integrity.

[CommodusXIII]

I noticed that port - I wonder if it's mean for future expansion, like the Knight...  A banner or other icon wouldn't be a bad idea, either.  I'll have to think about that.

[Battybattybats]

Just magnetize the banner or icon in case we do get some later weapon upgrade from GW or FW. I'm very happy i did that with the brazier on my first Knight.

[CommodusXIII]

Unit 633-Omicron-1.3 joins its squadron-mates, just in time for AdeptiCon!

 

http://i.imgur.com/F3XlULol.jpg

[CommodusXIII]

I'm taking a few more nights off after AdeptiCon before diving back into my WIP cabinet.  However, I do have a few things to report:

 

http://i.imgur.com/hZrfZXTl.jpg

 

House Fidelis took the field for the Horus Heresy: Knight Spearhead event. I was one of two elected Seneschals (team captains) of the Loyalist side, as the only "Knight primary" player among us. Fraterrus Quintus took first blood by charging an enemy Lancer. The Fraterri went on to claim Seneschal Ascendent (most VPs) and Runner-Up for Best Painting.

 

EDIT:  Here are some additional pictures and video by Greggles-Tabletop..

 

I also participated in all three nights of Adepticon Titanicus with my Lucius-pattern Warhound, Canis Leto.  I've added my narrative and pictures to this thread if you're interested.

 

So what now?  Well, I have a few more Onager Dunecrawlers to wrap up.  After that, I have a pile of small projects that have been adding up over the past few months.  I also want to get back into building large-scale terrain for my industrial table.  Stay tuned!

[CommodusXIII]

http://i.imgur.com/5ZQqApCl.jpg

 

The Onager Dunecrawlers of Macroclade 633 are finally finished! I'll never run an assembly line project on such large models ever again...