Reincarnating the God-Machine - Warlord Titan Redesign

[Augustus b'Raass]

Totally subbed this thread. Love the process!

[hushrong]

Fantastic work resurrecting that dread! The new plates and additions are fantastic.

 

I also love how you stacked all those HH books onto the lower half. I wanted to stand up and start to applause while in my office.

[Canadian_F_H]

Sweet! Something about a titan build plog... i look forward to keeping up with this.

[CommodusXIII]

Thank you for the comments, all!

 

The left lower shoulder is complete.  I recently was asked about Lux Aeterna's name.  It's not exactly original - it's the title of the Communion antiphon for the Requiem Mass.  Clint Mansell later used this name for his leitmotif of Requiem for a Dream.  It's one of my favorite modern orchestral compositions.  Mansell's composition was later adapted with a full orchestra and choir as Requiem for a Tower, as it featured heavily in the trailer for The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers.  In particular, the movement starting at 3:43 always evoked mental images of a Titan striding into battle.

 

Anyway, when it came time to pick a name, I wanted to go with the two-part High Gothic convention most commonly seen in the lore.  Lux Aeterna immediately came to mind and, well, it's usually good to go with your first instincts.

 

I think about what Titans would look like quite often, actually.  That may be a silly concept when discussing a physical model - you can obviously see what they look like.  One thing that the models can't capture, and that I haven't really seen depicted in modern artwork, is the void shield.  At first I pictured them like the personal shields of Dune, or the Destroyer Droids from Star Wars.  Eventually I decided that that wasn't thematic enough.  Now, I picture them like a plasma globe.  As the Titan walks, brilliant arcs of energy strike the ground and nearby objects - in some regards, similar to the hovercrafts from The Matrix as they float about.  As they absorb hits, or rub against obstacles, the light show intensifies to illuminate the boundary of the shield around the Titan.  This must be terrifying to anyone around it - the cracks of electric discharge, the squeals of the protesting energy field...

 

 

The void shield generators themselves are perhaps my only true innovation to the base model.  Originally, they were integral to the massive pieces of the shoulder that they're mounted to.  I instead made them a separate piece and attached them with magnets.  This has two benefits.  First, it's much easier to clean and paint them as separate parts.  Second, it has some great in-game applications.

 

 

In Adepticon Titanicus, Reaver and Warlord Titans have a number of rechargable void shields equal to the number of generators on their Forge World models (6 for the Reaver, 8 for the Warlord).  Usually the shields are tracked with brightly-colored tokens.  A couple of the regular players have taken to magnetizing the generator bits on their Reaver Titans - as they loose shields, they simply yank the corresponding generator.

 

 

I'm taking it a step further.  I've painted up two sets of void shield generators.  One full set of eight has glowing blue bits to indicate that their respective shields are functional and active.  The other set of eight are in various states of damage between burnt out and smoldering.  As Lux Aeterna takes damage, I can trade out the active generators for progressively damaged ones.

Edited April 12, 2021 by CommodusXIII

[hushrong]

That a brilliant touch with those generators! Looks cool and it is great to see a physical representation of their shields on the mini. Plus, you have a tracker out of that too so it's more thematic!

[CommodusXIII]

Exactly!
 

I'm currently in the midst of the penultimate slog - a cycle of paint and assemble, paint and assemble, that seems to stretch on.  I'm making a good deal of progress but, as with the previous incarnation, the torso is the most grueling part of the project.

 

 

 

I haven't spoken much about building the actual parts, but I do have to say - this chunk of the shoulder has been my absolute bane.  In retrospect it only took a single day of fighting, and less blood than on some previous parts, but :cuss it was frustrating.  But, now that it's done, things are rapidly falling into place.

 

 

I took the opportunity to test-fit the chest, neck and head subassemblies.  Everything checked out with only a little adjustment.  I added spotlights from the Chimera kit to the hood, replicating a similar modification to the previous incarnation.  It's an affectation from the classic Lucius-pattern Titan artwork, and is meant to evoke a halo of light around the head.  I'm not entirely satisfied with the grey pattern on the chest, but it's a conscious choice to replicate the original rather what I might find more aesthetically-pleasing now.

 

 

 

I spent much of last week working on the head.  This is a prime example of powering through "hobby hesitation" - sometimes I have to remind myself that everything looks terrible until the final layer dries.  I'm very happy with it now!  The windows have a brighter glow to them in person, and I took pains to replicate the same look of my previous Warhound Titan.

 

I've been going through my archives and dug up a few more items of Titan artwork that I've been using for reference.  Enjoy!

 

 

Another example of Lucius-pattern superstructure - antennas, etc.

 

 

I've been wearing a modified version of this in my signature for years now.  I love both the sense of scale and the Dune-like aesthetic.

 

 

This is one of my favorites to date.  This was used as the cover art for one of the Titan graphic novel printings, along with the similar piece referenced earlier in this thread.  It's sad to see a Titan taking so much damage, but I find them even more intimidating to see them shrug it off and keep going.

Edited June 17, 2018 by CommodusXIII

[Bjorn Firewalker]

The head looks great! The pauldron on which the twin-gun turret is mounted, looks undersized- I keep mentally comparing it to the mount seen in this image. Edited June 17, 2018 by Bjorn Firewalker

[CommodusXIII]

The dimensions are certainly... different than before. Part of it is also the angle of the picture. Once I get it painted and mounted upright it may look a little better.

[CommodusXIII]

 

By nightfall, the enormous Imperial forces at the west end of the valley were near to frenzy point with anticipation. The Steel Legion were singing battle hymns, and drummers in the Cadian echelons set up a staccato rhythm in time to the regular tympani of mortar barks. Ork air cover swept over them intermittently, but the chattering Hydra batteries Yarrick had deployed along the flank filled the air with lacerating blooms of destruction.

 

The fire-clouds of Hades Hive lit the night, ten kilometers deep, flaring light and shadow back down the valley. Distantly, the vast Ork forces, massing a hundred thousand strong, yowled war horns and bellowed chants like a chorus of death-gods, jeering up the valley at the poised Imperial multitude.

 

Clanking and whirring in the night, giants came up behind the Imperials, rising above the line of the valley ridge. The waiting infantry turned and many cried out in wonder to see the Titans. Nine of them, Warlords of the Legio Metalica, burnished brass-black, eye-slits glowing red against the darkness and the stars.

 

Shaking, Robac handed the speaker horn to Yarrick.

 

"Princeps Danferus of Imperius Quintus. Legio Metalica stand ready and await your orders, sir." the voice, transformed by vox-augmentation, sounded inhuman and boomed from the speaker.

 

"Emperor love you, Princeps. Move your war machines down along the Hades Road and deploy as far as marker ten. We'll have a fight for you soon enough."

 

The massive battle-giants plodded past the waiting infantry, trembling the ground with each massive footfall. The tannoy horns on their armored shells blared howls of damnation and Imperial hymns. Many of the infantry cheered. Others shook with fear.

Dan Abnett, Cometh the Hour

Published in White Dwarf #248 (US)

 

I've spent a lot of time daydreaming about what Titans look like on the battlefield.  Something less-frequently considered is what they sound like.  For example, I imagine that my Warhound Canis Leto stalks across the battlefield with a mechanical purr/growl.

 

The Warlord is a different beast.  I imagine two distinct sounds, besides the clanking of its movements.  Many sources, including one of my favorite short stories Cometh the Hour, depicts Titans striding onto the battlefield while blaring hymns for the benefit of their supporting infantry.  The previous incarnation featured four kitbashed loudspeakers underneath its pelvis.

 

 

 

For the new model, I tried to find something similar to the angular loudspeaker on Belisarius Cawl's shoulder.  I mounted them in triplets using the body of Chimera smoke launchers.  Like the antennas, they'll be soft-mounted with magnets - though, tucked under the waist instead of hanging from the pelvis.

 

Lore also depicts Titans sounding warhorns as they charge into battle.  Sometimes as for intimidation, perhaps also for rudimentary communication.  The previous incarnation had a set of repurposed engine exhaust pipes for horns on either side of its head.  I again have extras for the new model, but I'm struggling with where to place them.  I hope that once the head and neck subassemblies are further along I'll be struck by inspiration.

 

[Bjorn Firewalker]

The loudspeakers are a good touch.

[Warsmith Uveron]

Oh now that is a good point! 

 

I need to add something like that to my Ork Stompa. Horns are a must! 

[Maschinenpriester]

Really like it so far! May i ask where the loudspeakers are from?

[Knightsword]

This is flippin amazing! I can't wait to see this finished. Keep up the awesome work 

[CommodusXIII]

Really like it so far! May i ask where the loudspeakers are from?

 

I found them while putzing around on Shapeways.

[hushrong]

The loud speakers are sweet! I wish I knew about those for my Emperor’s Children tanks.

[CommodusXIII]

I was anticipating a quiet, unproductive weekend.  Wrong again.

 

 

The head has been installed into the chest plate using six pistons.  This design is rather interesting, perhaps even unique, in that the Titan's head is a free-floating design.  Usually there's an armored neck corridor connecting it to the torso.  Honestly, I don't know if I like this departure but I wasn't very motivated to build my own neck.

 

I'm particularly happy with the power cables.  I usually use guitar wire of varying gauges, but it's very stiff and not easy to work with.  This time I tried out the flexible cables from Zinge Industries, marketed specifically for this kind of application.  It's a brass wire wound tightly around a flexible polymer core, and it's very pliable while still retaining the shape that it's bent into.  In this case, I drilled out the receptacles on both the back of the head and the neck.  I glued the wires to the back of the head and tidyed up the paint, bending them out of the way.  After mounting the head, I used a pair of fine tweezers to feed them into the neck and bend them to have a hanging drag.  A heavy black wash and they're finished!

 

 

I once again made excellent use of my library to keep the chest armor pressed flat while the epoxy cured.

 

 

Dry-fitting the chest and shoulders, while the waist, lower back, and armpit armor cures underneath.  Everything fits in a complex arrangement, so multiple pieces have to be aligned simultaneously to minimize gaps.  I'll be doing a lot of greenstuff filling work in the coming days to clean up the seams - this is exactly why I paused my painting at certain steps along the way.

 

I've also begun work on the underlying powerplant details, and will hopefully be catching up on the shoulders in the coming week.

[Pearson73]

Keeping up some solid progress brother, it's looking great.

[CommodusXIII]

I'm chipping away on multiple parts at once, but overall have little to show this week.  Here's the shoulder humps after a rough basecoat, with the magnetized antenna aerials:

 

 

The outer sides have a wonderful grill texture with some vaguely-aquiline bas reliefs.  The inner sides are relatively plain, though I may go back and add some wall-mounted cabling to fill the void.  You might be able to tell that these humps are understated compared to the traditional design.  That's somewhat in line with Forge World's general proportions.

 

 

 

The abdomen detail is also starting to take shape.  There was quite a bit of gap-filling and repainting after this step, and so far I'm very happy with the result.  The shoulders, however, have required a lot of tinkering and dry-fitting.

Edited July 3, 2018 by CommodusXIII

[Bjorn Firewalker]

Impressive details.

[hushrong]

I am going to have to look into the Zinge Industries materials. I wonder if there is something US based that has it. I've only recently been using guitar wire and it takes work to bend it about without making straight angles. I've been using a spare xacto blade handle to wrap guitar wire around for a more flexed look. It's still so-so even then.

 

The god machine is also coming along wonderfully.

[CommodusXIII]

Today the forge fell silent.

 

I still have a long way to go, but another major milestone has been met.  And for the first time you can get a glimpse of what the final design has in store:

 

 

Albeit held together by painter's tape and fervent prayers to the Omnissiah.  Now I just have to grind my way through the painting...

[Bjorn Firewalker]

You did an incredible job in a relatively short time. You can take pride in that fact.

[hushrong]

That looks fantastic! I can just hear the waehorns blaring, announcing its presence!

[Pearson73]

Absolutely sterling work.

[CommodusXIII]

You did an incredible job in a relatively short time. You can take pride in that fact.

 

Absolutely sterling work.

 

Thank you very much!

 

That looks fantastic! I can just hear the waehorns blaring, announcing its presence!

 

I knew I forgot something!

 

Some minor progress made over the weekend:

 

 

The reactor is ready to be added to the torso stack.  I've added the maker plate and backup cameras, which have become a staple feature on my Titans.

 

I added defense turrets to the previous incarnation to match the armament of Forge World's model.  I tried to replicate the classic artwork for the Lucius-pattern Warlord, with three turrets along either side of the shoulders.  This worked, somewhat, for a model of that scale.  It has also since been adopted by the Titan Manufactorum/Tsipis Games/Nuclear Shrimp Games Warmonger Titan.

 

For the new one, I'm abandoning that approach for something more in line with the Mars-pattern model.  I have to give full credit to "Mr. Nightwalker" for taking my back-of-the-napkin sketches, semi-accurate measurements and fevered ranting and turning them into a viable solution.

 

 

 

Mounting points were added to the front and back of the Titan's torso/shoulders.  The front mounts accept (slightly) modified Predator sponsons for heavy bolters.  I toyed around with using Mauler bolter cannons from an abandoned Castellax project but these newer sponsons are closer in style to the Lucius pattern aesthetic.  Maybe with some modifications and special ammunition, to justify the improved stats.

 

 

 

The rear mounts accept the larger Land Raider sponsons, each with a twin lascannon.  Again, bigger, bulkier and more utilitarian than the weapons of the Forge World model.  What's strange is that these appear to be the only weapons in the game with fixed arcs of fire - they can only target models behind the Warlord.  In an Edition where line of sight for every other weapon is drawn from any point on the firing model to any point on the target, RAW it makes more sense to always have the Titan facing backwards so it can fire at the enemy with everything.  

Edited July 9, 2018 by CommodusXIII