Today in Titanicus I...

[1ncarnadine]

hey

jk, Vulpa holds no pity for the vanquished. Not even our own

Kidding aside, that's looking pretty great!

[Gattopardo]

That is very nice. I think it's better than the effect you can get using the airbrush and baby wipe technique, more clearly a marble look. I've thought about doing a Vulpa force (eventually decided against it) but that's exactly the kind of effect I'd have wanted to achieve.

[Iron Hands Fanatic]

Thanks folks, it was honestly nice just having a small area to experiment with and a different palette after months of painting the copper, teal and black of the warlord - I was actually writing down my method so it's consistent for future bases so here's how I went about it:

 

* Base Khorne red

* Paint stripes of thinned down Bugman's Glow (don't worry if these are a bit wide, they're just a guide)

* 'Highlight' these stripes along one edge with less thinned Bugman's Glow

* Blend the opposite sides of the stripes back into the basecoat with a glaze of thinned Khorne Red

* Add some definition by following the outside of the stripes along the highlighted edge with Agrax Earthshade

* Then across the whole panel apply successive glazes of thinned: Khorne Red, Wazdakka Red, Druchii Violet & Nuln Oil

* Finally, apply a layer of Ardcoat gloss varnish (this will darken/ deepen the colour significantly so don't worry if it looks a bit pale beforehand)

[Mandragola]

That's great marbling. I might try something similar, though there's rarely any need for marbling on Astorum.

[General Zodd]

had a crack at the Legio Vulpa meat/ muscle marbling effect for the reaver arm on my warlord's base:

That is a fantastic bit of work! How did you do it? And can you face replicating it across a whole Titan/maniple??

[Gederas]

Well, this is how Warlord 1 was this morning:

 

And this is how it is now:

 

Just need to do the weapons and I'll have one Titan fully painted!

[schoon]

That blue wash looks like it came out nicely.

 

What's the next step?

[Gederas]

That blue wash looks like it came out nicely.

 

What's the next step?

Probably finishing some of the weapons. Either that or fixing up the blue, because I feel like I managed to let it pool on the flatter panels.

[Iron Hands Fanatic]

Had a go at using baking powder & superglue to get a fine texture for basing, really happy how it comes out:

That is a fantastic bit of work! How did you do it? And can you face replicating it across a whole Titan/maniple??

Thanks! The method's already there - two posts above yours

[Gattopardo]

That's an interesting method, Iron Hands Fanatic. I reckon that will look good when it's painted. I'm doing something similar - I mixed baking powder with some red and orange paint (artists' acrylics rather than paint for miniatures) and it gives a lovely paste. I've got some weathering powders that I'm going to apply on the top of it in patches and also onto the Titans' legs and feet. Interesting to mix the baking powder with super glue,though - I've not come across that method, but I can imagine it being effective.

 

I've made some progress over the last few days - I've largely basecoated and highlighted the armour plates on my Warbringer and based the trim as well (which was a thankless task - it took ages!). I've also done some more weathering here and there on my various engines, largely with water based oil paints, which are very nice to work with. I should have enough progress to merit taking a few photographs soon.

[General Zodd]

had a crack at the Legio Vulpa meat/ muscle marbling effect for the reaver arm on my warlord's base:

That is a fantastic bit of work! How did you do it? And can you face replicating it across a whole Titan/maniple??

Ah ha! Weird, I somehow missed the previous 5-6 messages, that’s great. Really interesting technique, I shall have to give it a go, if only I had a metric tonne of spare armour panels... Edited October 28, 2020 by General Zodd

[Gederas]

Just finished the first Warlord:

 

Did a re-layer of Kantor Blue+Caledor Sky, then another glaze to blend the blue back in.

 

Next up is these five:

 

As well as all the weapons.

 

Will probably start them fully on Sunday/Monday

[Iron Hands Fanatic]

My first finished Titan! Legio Exhortor (Proclamators) Warlord Titan ‘Bellum Locuta’ piloted by Princeps Majoris Imari Oraka, lead Titan of the Fortis Maniple Carnyx-Rho and Battlegroup Kydoemus:

[schoon]

I like the way you've done the copper oxidation - an interesting change from the "oily browns" of most Titans.

[Iron Hands Fanatic]

Thanks, the weathering ties into their homeworld and background a bit, as they're supposed to be descended from the Legio Astraman, with their home forge of Anostos Struix beset by constant corrosive rain which in their early years stripped away and discoloured the green into a turquoise that could only be maintained as unit markings due to continual deployment impeding full repaints of their Titans. This tradition was maintained as the Legio evolved, and prior to deployment Titans typically stand vigil in the open air of their homeworld to establish a layer of verdigris over their plating, with the gradually built-up patina only removed at the conclusion of a campaign.

 

In terms of painting, I knew I wanted a green colour to link to Astraman, which copper/bronze pairs well with, and I'm a sucker for teal so I couldn't resist adding some verdigris given that was the direction I was taking - plus I like how it gives them a sense of age by evoking ancient weather-beaten statues.

 

(Astraman colour scheme for reference)

 

 

[Gederas]

Played my first game of Titanicus today, learning game with just the Basic Rules in the Titanic Clash game mode. Both sides with equal engines (one Warlord, Reaver and Warhound, one Cerastus Lancer). All of the models were my own:

 

My list was: Warlord with Belicosa, Sunfury and Paired Laser Blasters; Reaver with Apocalypse Missile Launcher, Power Fist and Chainfist; Warhound with Vulcan Mega-Bolter and Turbo Laser Destructor.

 

Opponent's was: Warlord with Belicosa, Arioch and Apocalypse Missile Launchers; Reaver with Turbo Laser Destructor, Gatling Blaster and Volcano Cannon; Warhound with Plasma Blastgun and Inferno Cannon.

 

Neither side lost any Titans, both sides lost their Cerastus, but I won just because I managed to do more damage to his engines across the board.

 

Just one question because the rules confused me slightly: Can you shoot out of and into melee? For example, in that game my Cerastus managed to jump onto the opponent's Warlord and he never melee'd my Cerastus, simply ignoring it and shooting my Warlord.

[Mandragola]

You can do that, yes. There's no such thing as being locked in melee in AT. Essentially some weapons just have very short ranges and when you're attacking something nearby you use your WS with all your attacks (including guns) instead of BS.

 

Killing titans is pretty difficult. You need to focus damage on them and that can be hard to do in small games. The game scales a bit strangely because you get engine kills a lot faster when there are enough titans around to kill stuff in a single round.

[Gederas]

You can do that, yes. There's no such thing as being locked in melee in AT. Essentially some weapons just have very short ranges and when you're attacking something nearby you use your WS with all your attacks (including guns) instead of BS.

 

Killing titans is pretty difficult. You need to focus damage on them and that can be hard to do in small games. The game scales a bit strangely because you get engine kills a lot faster when there are enough titans around to kill stuff in a single round.

Ah, okay. Thank you for that information :yes:

 

[Sherrypie]

Today I got the Open War deck and am pleasantly surprised by how good it is. Aesthetically spot on, lots of meaningful and thematic effects and a good, scaled system for mission objectives. Like, hurrah, a kill-them-all objective that scales on the percentage of destruction and crippling like I mused on two years ago? Sign me up.

 

Hopefully I get to peruse it often next year :)

[schoon]

Received Crucible of Retribution and the Open Engine War card packs today.

 

Have not yet had a chance to look at them, but that's going to be a good weekend of reading material for me!

[Mandragola]

The cards seem really great. One suggestions I've heard is to draw three of the primary missions instead of one, and let each player choose one to discard. This is to replicate how you'd usually get to pick between two Primary objectives, to avoid getting one that your battlegroup is massively unsuited for.

 

An alternative approach, arguably, would be to L2P and bring a battlegroup able to do all the missions... but that's probably a bit unfair on armies like knights.

Edited November 7, 2020 by Mandragola

[Sherrypie]

Started reading Crucible of Retribution, and while I like the new scenario types from the Echoes of Glory part, I sometimes have to wonder how hard basic math seems to be.

 

There is an escort mission where you have to defend a convoy as it trundles through the table. It starts within 3" of one table edge, can move 6" at the end of the Movement phase if there are no enemies nearby and wins the game by escaping from the other side by being within 1" at the End phase. The game lasts for seven turns. If somebody would care to explain to my poor physicist brains how 3" + 6"x7 + 1" = 46" can ever work on a normal 48" table even unopposed, I'd be interested :D

 

Easy fix to change it to be something like 8-10" so you won't necessarily automatically lose if it gets stuck for one turn, but still amusing.

[Gederas]

I'm annoyed that the cards are no longer available, and I can't find any on Amazon either.

 

Y'all are lucky :lol:

[Iron Hands Fanatic]

Finished up the cerastus lancers that came in my starter set, was a nice palette cleanser to work on some more vivid colours & I love how dark and broody they make my Legio scheme look:

Edited November 7, 2020 by Iron Hands Fanatic

[General Zodd]

They look great! Yeah, Knight Houses are a great way to add some contrast to your battle group, and that works really well with your Titan.