Tar Aldarion’s Legio Krytos – Eventually the Battlegroup

[Tar Aldarion]

Hail, fellow Principes!

 

After visiting these venerated halls both frequently and silently for the last two years or so, I have finally given myself a jolt to stick my head out. The release of AT18 has been my tipping point to get involved in tabletops for a second time, after doing several 40k armies in my teens. About three years since the first ruleset and pair of warhounds, I find myself much more heavily invested in this than I had initially expected. It's really a great hobby revival for me, with so much to occupy yourself with!

 

Now, the legio that catched my eye at once was the doomy Legio Krytos with their so unusual (i.e. not red-black/black-red) colours. At that time, I hadn’t expected to do much gaming  - a misconception, as turned out –, so I was also not quenched by their meagre rules in Titandeath. Of course, their worthier appearence in Traitor Legios was not unwelcome, mind me. Since then, my Legio Krytos has grown to about seven god enginges (~60 scale), and has found its counterparts in a similarly large force of Pallidus Mor and a healthy bunch of Knights.

 

I intend to make this a complete record of my Legio Krytos battlegroup at the given time. Today, however, I want to make my debut with the latest – and definitely the most eye-raising – addition to this battleforce: the Warmonger-scheme Imperator Titan Finis mundi, “World’s End”.

Finis started as a combination from these:

• the awesome “Emperor Titanicus” originally uploaded by TrueGrits617, which seems to be offline these days. The author seems to have uploaded a similar model, the “Emperor of the big galaxy mach bots”.
• the “Emperor Titanicus remixed” by Liktor21.

 

 

 

Overall, I think it came out pretty well out of my I3 mega. I sure might have bought improvements in layer visibility with TRULY excessive print times, but didn’t. As it is, print time was already something arount 200h, I think. Eventually, I could still work with some putty at the most prominent areas. For some reason, both shoulder parts came out with some of the armour and trim missing. I would need to think of something here as well, but nonetheless, it started to look like a titan. And a big one!

 

 

 

Of course, you’ve got to put some tiny people upon those iconic step-toes. As of now, I’m still undecided whether I should give him a base or not. It might be cool to put some more infantry and vehicles swarming around this moving hab-block, but it would have to be a really large (custom-printed) base that would be difficult to place on common gaming tables. Right now the thing seems to be standing quite well, so I think I'll leave it for now.

 

One thing I really wanted to change was the cathedral on its back. I didn’t love any of the two designs in the “Emperor Titanicus” sets too much, and most of all, I just didn’t see them working on my FDM printer. Therefore, I started to try some own forms in XPS foam and eventually made some basic shapes in CAD. The idea was that I could use some of the myriad of great gothic-style city and building tiles available on thingiverse to texturise my custom basic shape. I knew that my printer was capable of pretty clean top layers with Cura’s ironing function, as long as these are done horizontally. So I wanted to make good use of this by printing individual facades for my cathedral and glueing them to my basic shape. Eventually, I opted for ironcheese’s “Modular Terrain System - Basilica easy print” (https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2779046) which I modified as needed.

 

 

 

At this point, I also decided to go for the Warmonger variant, on the rationale that if either of the Imperator variants was ever going to be even remotely feasible in AT18, it would be the Warmonger. This is because its main weapon systems, the Doomstrike Missile battery and the twin Vengeance Cannon, should be effecting something very, very far outside of any regular gaming table anyway, leaving you  (and your opponent) to worry just about its plethora of “secondary” guns.  In addition, I didn’t fancy my chances of doing any of the original arm-weapon designs in FDM. So I was going to scratchbuild something anyway. Thus, I tried to make sort of a hangar deck and launch pad for some good old Lysander targeting craft. This was to be flanked by terraced parapets on either side, while I wanted a towering posterior cathedral spire.

 

 

 

 

 

What’s a 90 m battlemachine of doom without a set of five-storey high gothic lead glass windows?

 

 

 

Now it was beginning to take shape. Next spontaneous design change was the head. After doing this one at the highest available resolution and at a painstakingly low print speed, my I3 froze midprint (something it keeps doing at times…), leaving me with a Titan head that had almost none of its facial features. Rather than reprinting, I foraged my bitzbox and surprised myself with a single large occulus cyclopedean. As weird as that is, it still seems to fit Legio Krytos with its antique-greec heraldry and all.

 

A second thing I wasn’t very happy with were the legs. I liked the design on the screen, but in reality I found it too fragile at points. The lower leg fortresses are just so massive, you've got to fill the rest up as well to make it look a bit more comprehensive. So I started to fit all kinds of leftover titanic armour plates and other stuff to it. While some of these are maybe a bit too recognizable, I think they still help to blend everything together and also to cover somer smaller print flaws.

 

 

 

Here’s the mostly finished cathedral. I think with the AA turrets and what not, its overall silhouette is now recognizable enough as a Warmonger Class titan… Still, I couldn’t help but add some twin carapace ordnance underneath the launch pad housing. Not sure if the old Epic model had something like that, but there was some space to fill in my model and hey, secondary armaments!

 

 

 

Speaking of armaments… I spent several evenings and loads of bits on the twin Vengeance Cannon and the Doomstrike Missile Launcher. Here, they are beginning to take shape. I tried to pick up some of the features of a Turbolaser Destructor on the Vengeance Cannon and ended up with a rather stuffed look. Trying to create a coherent something out of many different small parts is pretty challenging, but I hope to be able to blend it together a bit more with the paintjob. On the Doomstrike Missile Launcher, I'm somewhat torn. I think I like the basic design, but then I was really running out of usable bitz and had to leave some areas in a subjectively half-finished state. Anyway, it sure looks enough like a massive intercontinental rocket array on a walking basilica, I hope.

 

 

 

After some more detailwork, e.g. replacing the plating/trim parts of the shoulder pieces that had not been printed, smoothing some of the larger surfaces etc., my new Airbrush arrived and had to be tested immediately. Getting there!

 

After a few evenings of adding decals, oil-washing and doing some brushwork, Finis mundi is beginning to sport the grey-green-white livery of the Krytoi. Here he towers over Warhound Atra Ira:

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is his current, WIP state. Among the major ToDos are: finishing up the gold trim, painting the occulus cylcopedean (red), painting the footsloggers on his toe and add some more crew to the parapets, doing a few touches of highlight here and there as well as some more specific weathering. Another crazy idea was a freehand lead-glass motive on the large stern viewport, but I'm not sure I've reactivated enough of my rusty painting merits yet (or ever had them...) to not mess this up.

 

Overall, this is by far the largest single model I have ever built and painted, and it's massive fun! My current, second hobby era turns out to be much more experimental than the first one. 15 years ago, I'd have never seen myself 3d printing things, employing oil washes, affording an airbrush etc. Projects like Finis mundi are a truly great way to push one's modelling and painting limits a bit further and try new things. And the great bonus is: right now, I feel like adding a third Warlord to my Krytoi to open up the Extergimus Maniple would be a mere trifle!

 

 

My best

Tar Aldarion

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited November 21, 2022 by Tar Aldarion

[Bjorn Firewalker]

Excellent work on the Titan. Considering it looks like a cyclops, I'm surprised you didn't name it after one from Greek mythology, e.g., "Polyphemus" (Poseidon's son, famous for his role in Homer's Odyssey), Brontes, Steropes, or Arges (the latter three forge Zeus' thunderbolts).

[malika666]

Scarrrrry

[Mandragola]

This is excellent work. You’ve really improved it from the starting STL and it has tons of character.

 

Welcome to the board. I look forward to seeing some of your other stuff.

[schoon]

That is a BEAST!

 

You've done an amazing job on it, especially with the FDM printer.

 

You reference a couple file sources. Did you choose one to "mostly" use, or did you mix and match for your desired aesthetics?

 

What's the height to the rim of the "shoulder" carapace?

[Interrogator Stobz]

Awesome work Brother!

I agree with Schoon, he is a classic grimdark gothic beast like that.

[Tar Aldarion]

Hi all,

 

thanks for the warm welcome and your general appreciation! Seems like the project is overall on a proper heading.

 

@Bjorn Filewalker: I absolutely agree with you. Eventually I opted for a latin name because I had already named his smaller colleagues in latin and thought I'd stay true to that.

 

@Mandragola: That's good to hear. I wasn't sure if I might have overdone it a bit, especially if the pose was maybe too dynamic for an almost 100 m high coloss. And, like I said above, I'm also aware that some of the plastic-GW-armour plates are still very discernible as what they originally are. Anyway, you almost certainly will be able to see more from me in the near future.

 

@Schoon: most of the .stls came from liktor21's "Emperor titanicus remixed", although the most notable differences in his model to the original by TrueGrits617 are, as far as I can tell, parts that I eventually didn't use, like the cathedral parts and the weapons. So, apart from the upper legs, which I used from Liktor21 and which are more on the Reaver side of things compared to the more Warlordesque design by TrueGrits617, the differences didn't matter very much for me, I think. I don't think I've actually modified any of their files. The only small modification was done to the torso, which I printed in two seperate halves instead of as a single large block. That way I minimized the potential loss of print time and filament in case of another mid-print-freeze, as well as optimized the orientation of some details/surfaces for surface ironing. The gothic basilicum tiles come in 40k scale originally, so I've just scaled and fitted them to all of their respective positions on the model. A couple of gap-fillers to cover up gaps between those tiles were made in CAD, but those were essentially just some ribbed rods, very basic geometric forms that I could scale and fit (and cut, where I had mismeasured...) as needed.

 

 

 

The upper corner of his right shoulder armour panel's trim is pretty much 24 cm above ground, as he stands. The very tip of the satellite dish on his top is just short of 31 cm.

 

[Tar Aldarion]

In the last days, I've done some of the remaining details on my Warbringer titan and think I'll call it done with that. So, here's Finis Mundi once more:

No idea how the crew on his superstructure is supposed to remain standing if that thing should so much as make a step, but that's not the point, I guess.

 

And then a first family view of my Krytos battlegroup:

 

 

[Mandragola]

That's an absolute monster you've created. Great stuff.

Have you played many games with your Krytos recently? They got a big improvement in the Traitor book, at least on paper, and I'd be interested to hear how they were doing.

[Tar Aldarion]

Thanks a lot!

 

Legio Krytos' rules have improved from almost completely ineffectual to situational, if you ask me. While that's definitely an improvement, I regularly find myself not using any of their rules.

Doom of Worlds is much more applicable now, compared to the triple warlord myrmidon it allowed before. Most of the options are also not bad, mind me. Still, I've come to prefer the Extergimus for ease of use. I think it also fits the Krytos' thing for outright destruction.

Civilisations Ruin sounds nice, but it's also very expensive and therefore begs for being build around with a maximum of Quake Cannons and earthbreaking Apocs. That means a mostly stand-and-shoot battlegroup, which is not necessarily the most fun thing to do. It might, however, be sort of an answer against hordes of Knights and melee titans trying to overrun you - as such, I may yet give it a try.

 

Destroyers of Cities is still very situational. Even if you use destroyable terrain (which we usually do), there are many stratagems that are just more likely to be useful.

 

Earthbreaker Missiles are alright. I usually buy them on any Apoc in my lists. Still, I often don't use them all game. It's often just more necessary to drop shields or more tempting to try and aim for previously damaged locations.

 

Godlike Contempt and Path of Iron are no exceptional but solid Personal traits and I usually choose one of them. The former will often be useful, the latter will happen more rarely, but when it does it will be fun. I combined it with organic protrusions.

[schoon]

Those Warbringer weapons are fabulous! Where did you get them from?

 

...and I really like the "cathedral" superstructure you put on it. Flows more with the lines of the Titan IMO. Well done.

[Mandragola]

That's useful analysis on Krytos, thanks. I see what you mean about the benefits being situational, especially as destroyable terrain isn't that commonly played in my experience. The creation of the Extermigus maniple did somewhat steal the thunder of Krytos' ability to field an all-warlord maniple and, as you say, the rules in general push you towards a gunline, which isn't necessarily a great plan.

[Tar Aldarion]

9 hours ago, schoon said:

Those Warbringer weapons are fabulous! Where did you get them from?

You mean the Warmonger/Imperator? They're all scratch built, the bitz coming from AT, 40K, old scale models, Hardware store... I wasn't sure if the laser was somewhat overloaded, but with paint on it I think it's ok. The missile array still doesn't convince me entirely. Especially the missiles don't fit perfectly into the frontal housings, but at that point my bitz box was so depleted and now I'm over it.

 

@Mandragola: I'm still happy they got improved at all and at least sometimes have an effect. In the end, games of AT are usually not decided by legio traits anyway.

Edited September 26, 2022 by Tar Aldarion

[Lord_Borak]

Oh man, that's awesome. The print is good but your paint job is awesome. Dark and menacing!  

I've been thinking of printing myself one for ages but haven't really found the files I like. It's always the legs/hips that I don't really like. I was hoping the BattleBling version would sort that out but, alas, not really keen on that either!

[Tar Aldarion]

@Lord_Borak: Sorry for the late reply. Thanks! I've also had some issues with the existing files on thingiverse, hence those conversions. I also don't overly like the battlebling one. It's greatly made, of course, but somehow I won't warm to it's overall look. Anyway, I'd be curious to see your attempt on one!

 

I gave a small intro game last weekend, which I promptly lost. A minimal Axiom each, with a reduced ruleset. Midgame, I felt like I had talked the other guy into a poor manoeuvre and out of some sort of guilt made an even poorer move, which cost me my warhound and probably the game. Despite this slightly awkward moment, it was great fun and I believe I've made a new AT-ist. He may not buy into it for considerations of liquidity, but he's likely going to field one of my battlegroups again.

 

The other day, I made use of having a board set up at my home, and reenacted some onbard photos. Maybe I went a bit wild in postproduction, but hey, it's tiny plastic robots after all. So, eventually, I'd like to show you all my other Krytoi:

 

Warhounds Atra Irae (Dark Grudge) and Dictum Mallei (Hammer's Verdict) prowling the streets at dawn:

 

Reaver Labes Urbium (City's Ruin) advances:

 

...and finally gets to waste something:

 

Warbringer Odito Procul (Loathe from afar) feeling at home in the firestorm he has unleashed:

 

Warmaster Nuncius Extremis (End's envoy) doing bad stuff with his grav imploder and powered wrecking ball:

 

Finally, the three Warlords, Formido Milis (Terror of Thousands), Vastatio (Havoc) and Turris Krytos (Tower of Krytos) joining the defence:

 

Edited November 21, 2022 by Tar Aldarion

[schoon]

Sorry if this has been asked before, but how did you make the (I'm guessing) LED-lit explosions?

 

Those are wonderful!

[Mandragola]

That looks really great. Glad also to hear you got your engines on the battlefield. Better luck next time!

[Tar Aldarion]

They're simple LED tea candles with cotton, given a touch of black spray from above. They look nice ingame, but surprisigly great on photos.

[Sherrypie]

No no, going wildly overboard with postproduction is fantastic. Please carry on for all of our sake.

 

Great stuff all around.