Schoon's Titans & Terrain

[schoon]

Starting work on a embedded-in-hillside generarium:

And though this next picture may not seem like a big deal, it means that my airbrush is functional again after a LONG hiatus:

...and now I can start painting like I mean it!

[Mendi Warrior]

Extremely interested to see the generatorium!

[schoon]

Some progress on the Generarium...

[Fajita Fan]

Heck yeah. I just bought the glue you have in the background but haven't opened it, how do you like it compared to GW glue?

[Shovellovin]

Some progress on the Generarium...

Looking good. That looks like a massive power generator. Looking forward to seeing this completed.

Heck yeah. I just bought the glue you have in the background but haven't opened it, how do you like it compared to GW glue?

I use the Tamiya glue as well. I prefer the brush applicator to the GW needle. For me, it’s just more convenient to use.

Edited April 20, 2020 by Shovellovin

[schoon]

Yeah, Fajita, once you start using the Tamiya glue, you'll never go back! It's a staple pf my hobby table.

[Fajita Fan]

How bad is the smell? I stopped using Model Master because it made me sick.

 

I looked at those 40k plasma generators several times before I started 3d printing my own terrain but decided not to use them.  How much did you have to cut off to lose the 40k scale? Is that why they're down at an angle?  

[Interrogator Stobz]

Same glue here, sooooo much better to apply than the GW applicator.

[Mendi Warrior]

Cool! I see part of a medium connector from the civitas imperialis kit on the side and cables at the back, nice details.

[Sword Brother Adelard]

It doesn't smell any worse than the GW, and applies easier.

 

If the tube clogs, simply set light to the end, and it clears.

[schoon]

Very slow hobby progress these days - not enough hours in the day.

But slowly getting the power station terrain built up. First layer of hill:

And second:

[Fajita Fan]

You guys are so creative with your buildings.

[schoon]

Continuing to make progress on the power station foam carving, but also got a line on a 3D sculptor who can help me with an idea I'd had for a while to improve the top cap on the Warhound shoulder, giving it a "shoulder pad" like the others.

Will show renders when the commission is complete...

[Interrogator Stobz]

You're messing with STC perfection you know that right? You maywill be subject to immediate and fatal sanction should you make your heresy public.

 

But it would be interesting to see your results, just before your untimely demise.

 

May the God Emperor of Mankind have mercy on your Soul.

[schoon]

Motivated by the other excellent efforts on the board, I've started making some Ordinatus treads.

[Mendi Warrior]

Nice! I love the extended version.

 

Regarding the shoulder pad idea, what about the armour covers from the Kataphron breachers? They look quite similar to the shape you draw.

[schoon]

Creeping closer to Ordinatus:

Thanks for the shoulder tip - I'll check it out.

[schoon]

Progress today on my Generarium. Next step is spackling over all the cracks...

[Myrmidon]

Progress today on my Generarium. Next step is spackling over all the cracks...

Gorgeous piece of terrain. It reminds me, don't know why, of Mass Effect 1 environments. And this is indeed a good sign.

Yeah, Fajita, once you start using the Tamiya glue, you'll never go back! It's a staple pf my hobby table.

+ 1. Precise application and strong bond. A must have for a hobbist.

[Fajita Fan]

I was trying to finish off my GW glue before opening it but you guys are tempting me.  I have a lot of assembly to do when I finish a little painting. 

[schoon]

...and I have this printing at Shapeways: a press mold for my Legio symbol, scaled to fit on a Reaver carapace plate.

[Bjorn Firewalker]

Looks cool. Is that two wolves' heads? Or a two-headed wolf, like Morkai the Deathwolf, from Fenrisian myths?

[schoon]

Two Wolves' heads flanking the Titanicus "T"

 

The Low Gothic for Legio Lupos is "Wolfpack" ergo the symbol.

[schoon]

More "news" today.

Got the files for my Warhound shoulder pads, and ordered the test print...

[schoon]

Iron Gauntlet entry for Legio Lupos

 

(A little late, but hopefully my prose-based approach to presenting the background will be a little more entertaining...)

 

The Arvus Lighter raised a cloud of stinging snow and ice, its landing thrusters burning bare patches on the ice rimed platform. Doceus squinted to keep the nettling particles out of his eyes as the Arvus settled onto its landing skids, hull streaming in the extreme cold. The small ship's hatch shared started to descend with the hiss of equalizing pressure.

 

An Administratum Adept shuffled down the ramp, through the mist, looking lost. Doceus mostly kept the impatience and indifference from his voice, "Welcome to Venatoria, Adept Laevus. I am Princeps Doceus, and I will be your guide and liaison to the Legio."

 

Laevus pulled his tattered Administratum robes more tightly about his thin frame, his augmetic eye whirring as it struggled to find a focus point. "Incorrect: your actual rank is Princeps Tiro, not yet..."

 

"Yes. Quite." Doceus said through clenched teeth. The last thing he wanted was to nurse maid this toothless pup for days on end. 

 

"You find your assignment unsatisfactory?" Laevus cocked his head to one side like a bird as he stepped of the ramp, feet slipping slightly before finding secure purchase.

 

Doceus had the good sense to cover his gaffe with a polite smile. "Not at all Adept. I simply wish to provide you with the information you need as efficiently as possible" He turned and started walking with an exaggerated slow pace to allow the Adept to catch up and fall into pace beside him. He must have had more augmetics than were readily apparent - clicking and whirring resonated from beneath his robes.

 

"Shall we start with the historium, Adept?" Doceus said over his shoulder. Laevus had been unable to maintain even the the slower pace. "...I assume you have been fully briefed on Venatoria."

 

Adept Laevus managed to look wounded at the suggestion,  "Of course! Anything else would be sub-optimal. I possess copious data on your planet and its history." He paused both speach and movement as his eyes focused on something infinitely far away. "Class Phi-Nine-Primus Forge World, specializing in Cogitators, Superconducting Reactor Coils, and MIU technology. 82.7 percent of forges located subsurface due to colocation with mining operations and efficiency of igneous rock structures in reactor coil shielding. Climate is 4 standard deviations below standard due to an orbital distance of..."

 

Doceus held up a placating hand, "Thank you, Adept. I never should have doubted." He slowed further as they approached a huge, low, circular building, it's slightly-domed roof proudly bearing the dual wolf heads of the Legio in massive metal relief. Inlaid in the walkway in worn brass letters was the motto "Venatio Supra Omnia."

 

Doceus made the Cog over his chest as he crossed the threshold of the Historium. Wolves' heads, inlaid in brass relief on the walls, warded the entrance. Laevus made an effort to imitate the observance of the Cog, failed to achieve it, and settled for the aquila instead. Doceus rolled his eyes, head safely averted, and continued inside. 

 

The ancient smell of sacred oils and metal filled his lungs, and the weight of the ages settled upon his shoulders. One could not help but feel reverent in this space. A massive statue of Kadmis Vetust, first Princeps Ultra of Legio Lupos, wrought of age-blackened bronze, stared down upon the entrance chamber. Her piercing eyes, angular features, hollowed cheeks, and noble chin judged all who entered. Doceus kneeled before the massive statue. 

 

"I have only incomplete data on this individual," intoned Laevus, "Princeps Ultra Vetust founded Legio Lupos in 882.M30, after the Mechanicum seconded her from Legio Solaria, but..." His voice trailed off and the chattering of his auto-recorder fell silent.

 

Doceus glanced back at Laevus as he got back to his feet and led the way into the Historium. Just within the crenelated arches was a diorama depicting a trio of Warhounds surrounding a beleaguered Warlord, frozen mid fall. 

 

"Princeps Ultra Vetust did far more than simply found the Legio." Doceus said with pride. "The beginnings of the Great Schism had already taken root, and larger Titan classes were in short supply at the Founding." He circled the center display of the chamber as he spoke, which animated once it's primitive machine spirit sensed his proximity. "She brought knowledge of the Solaria Tactica, and created the Ars Imperatoria and Militaris that enabled the Wolfpack to defeat even the greatest foes." Hololithic Warhounds in the display circled the Warlord, bringing it down again and again as the clip looped.

 

"Logical," mused Adept Laevus, "but surely the Venatoria forges and Mechanicus could remedy the initial lack of larger God-Machines?" His auto-recorder chattered. "Why accept a sub-optimal situation?"

 

Doceus suddenly turned and strode through the next archway, deeper into the Historium. "Come and find out." he called over one shoulder. The Adept scrambled to follow, but slowed with some trepidation before entering the nearly pitch black chamber beyond. "Princeps Tiro?" He called into the darkness while taking hesitant steps into the room. 

 

"The Ultra did not see it as a limitation." The acoustics of the room made it impossible to locate Doceus in the darkness. "She embraced it. Even refusing larger Titans as they became available."

 

Laevus' eyes adjusted to the blackness. He could see Doceus' silhouette beneath another towering statue: a crag-faced man with bushy sideburns joined by an equally full mustache. Fire and wisdom shone from his eyes, even rendered in metal. As Laevus penetrated further into the chamber, a red illuminator came slowly to life, underlighting the giant bronze sculpture and another central hololith table.

 

"Princeps Omega Nestor Melas was the first to bear the title. Many years the Ultra's senior and one of the few brave enough to speak certain truths to her." Doceus paced the perimeter as he continued, "Princeps Ultra Vetust possessed many virtues, but an accepting mind was not one of them." Doceus chuckled softly. "Omega Melas brought the first Reavers and Warlords into the Legio." He paused before adding, "Against the Princeps Ultra's wishes." He swept his arm up towards the statue. "In Legio Lupos, the wisdom of years - the Omega - must speak truth to the Alpha, regardless of consequence."

 

Adept Laevus blanched slightly, the bronze keys of his recorder continued to clatter softly, "Was he..." He searched for the right word, "censured for his actions?"

 

Doceus chuckled again, "The Princeps Ultra, in her anger, orded Omega Melas' Reaver burned. He braved the flames, and his Titan, E Tenebris, emerged from the inferno blackened, but unbowed." He waved to one side of the central hololith where a blackened Reaver emerged from a docking cradle engulfed in flames again and again in another holo loop. "When she ordered the Wolfpack to destroy Tenebris, they declared Omega Melas devout and honorable, and refused the order."

 

"The Ultra, in her Titan Lupus Spiritu Dei, charged the Omega while the pack watched." Doceus gestured toward another portion of the display where a stampeding Warhound confronted the same blackened Reaver. "It was a duel for the ages."

 

"Omega Melas danced Tenebris like no one had ever seen before or since. Princeps Ultra and Spiritu Dei fought with a ferocity and passion unmatched. Both had the respect and admiration of the pack. Yet the Omega deflected and evaded the Ultra's assaults till her ammunition feeds ran dry." Doceus turned and faced the Adept.

 

"Then the Ultra did something she had not done before." Doceus paused. Then let the pause stretch into a silence.

 

"And this act was..." prompted Laevus.

 

"She listened." finished Doceus with a smirk. 

 

Adept Laevus' face didn't change from the same neutral expression while his autorecorder absently chattered on. Doceus shook his head, sighed, and turned away, moving further into the Historum.

 

Doceus led the Adept on a path following the Legio’s history through the centuries. Hololithic loops and vignettes punctuated principal events that left their mark on the Legio. Above each hung a banner from one of the Titans involved, unrestored. The adamantine weave torn, scorched, or melted by the fury of battle.

 

The Satus Campaign, where Princeps Alpha Sakal Jubus' maniple managed to escape a traitor force twice its size by the Long Lope through Silex II's maze-like obsidian canyons, though at a terrible cost. Their Legio Erinyes "allies" had declared for the Warmaster, and turned at the worst possible moment. The Erinyes Titans lived up to their name, pursuing Jubus' Titans with cunning and determination. The bad blood between Legio Erinyes, the Furies, and Legio Lupos would only intensify over the ensuing millenia.

 

The Isolde Revolts, where Wolfpack Warhounds were the only Titan class small enough to operate in the claustrophobic Isolde V shipyards. Inurretionists subverted the massive Immani-servitors, normally used for moving and welding hull plates, with corrupted scrap-code. Their plasma arc welders and melta cutting torches just as effective at piercing Titan armor as starship keels. Princeps Thera Agrotora and her Warhound Venari Fera accounted for almost half of the Engine Kills in the ensuing supression.

 

The Battle for Venta II, where over half the might of the Legio deployed against god engines of Legios Destructor and Ignis across the toxic Salarius Sea, a vast desert with huge mineral pillars formed by Venata's howling, caustic winds. Princeps Ultra Aries Verberus battered the Traitor Legios into a fighting withdrawl till their heels were against the Rima Fissures. The victory was snatched from Verberus' grasp as reinforcements to the traitor battlefleet forced the loyalist fleet under Admiral Trabbies into a chaotic withdrawl. The Legio Lupus Titans barely made it back to their mass carriers in time to escape the orbital rout.

 

Throughout display after display of heroism and tragedy, Adept Laevus' autoscribe chattered away, his face and demeanor as stolid and phlegmatic as the moment the ramp dropped on his transport. Doceus, however, found himself becoming more and more affected as they progressed through the Historum, the Legio's pack spirit supplanting his normally flippant demeanor.

 

At last they reached the final chamber, its sole occupant, a blank banner of newly woven adamantine. As pristine as the day it was delivered from the forges, it possessed no kill teeth, battle markers, or campaign laurels. The banner served as a reminder that the pack still writes its history on every run.

 

"Princeps Tiro Doceus!" The words resonated throughout the chamber. Startled, Doceus turned to find Princeps Alpha Rhea, the Pack Mother, standing in the exit. She was clad in a stiff blue-grey robe over her interface glove. An Engineseer in the crenelated hood and close-fitting robes of a Titan crew waited a step behind and to her right with an axe-headed spanner.

 

"Alpha Rhea!" Doceus exclaimed as he hastily bowed his head over the sign of the Cog. He motioned urgently to Laevus, but the Adept seemed both oblivious to the Alpha's rank and ignorant of proper protocol.

 

Laevus interrupted Doceus' pained expression and half-shrugged apology, "Princeps Alpha Kára Rhea of the Titan Ferox Venatio." He shuffled forward as his auto-recorder continued to chatter. "The presence of a senior Princeps would indicate..."

 

With unexpected speed and shush of fabric, Rhea raised a halting hand co close to the Adept's face that he had no choice but to halt, blinking at the sudden appearance of an obstacle in his path. "Adept Laevus, if you would be so kind as to," she paused with the hint of a smile, "listen."

 

Laevus nodded without change of expression.

 

Rhea shifted her focus to Doceus as she asked, "Is the pup ready to run with the pack?" She bared her teeth, revealing elongated canines.

 

Doceus faced her gaze with a teeth-bared grin of his own. "Always, Alpha. The hunt above all!"