Legio Ignatum Warlord Titan for AT - TO DONE

 

Gladius Noctis walks for Legio Ignatum.  I certainly took my sweet time with this project; but at last, it is completed. I'm super happy with the results, esp. with how the scheme has stood up over time.  I believe my first Legio Ignatum engine was painted in the spring of 2020, almost exactly four years ago.

Hard to tell from this pic alone which titan was painted first or that there exists four years between them.  That's the value of documenting a paint recipe and then sticking to it. I most certainly would have forgotten details of the colors otherwise which would ultimately have affected the outcome. I'm happy to give the project a big seal o' DONE!

This proud titan even made it into a game!  below is my full painted collection minus the Legio Ignatum Warmaster battle titan.

Arrayed for Battle

Next is an end of game shot of the Legio Ignatum forces.  Gladius Noctis took not a scratch in her first walk, which could NOT be said of the rest of the battle group.

Models chosen and game under way

Here is the battle field at the end of the first turn, just to give an example of what a game in progress might look like. At the top of the board, you can see a Tempestus Reaver battle titan waiting in reserve to use a stratagem to drop onto the board.  More on that later...

Ignoring a lone wolf while futilely attempting to save the game

Legio Ignatum failed to win the day, mostly because I didn't pay enough attention to the open war card we drew for primary objective.  I therefore didn't realize how many points it was worth and allowed a Legio Tempestus titan to sprint to the objective and seize it in the final turn of the game.  Always play to the objectives, folks! We only had time for four turns - otherwise it's possible Legio Ignatum might well have pushed off the Legio Tempestus forces which were mightily abused.

Above is a fun mid-battle action shot of two Reaver battle titans squared off in the back ground for a fist fight. This, after the Tempestus engine used it's Legio stratagem to drop in behind the Ignatum lines for a charge...only it couldn't charge the turn it dropped, which allowed the Ignatum Reaver to come about and step up to give it a mighty punch the knocked it back a couple inches preventing it from counter punching! 

Then Tempestus lost the initiative in the next turn and it was charged by the Ignatum Reaver instead.  It did succeed in ripping the fist off the Ignatum engine in return, but it was too little too late for Tempestus. They lost initiative once again and the enemy Reaver was shot by fusion and laser weapons which ended its day with a mighty explosion.  The Ignatum reaver and nearby Warhound were barely scratched in the explosion...but the supporting Warbringer took four points of structure damage to the body even after backing away from the fight to avoid such a fate. How ironic! But that's Titanicus for you.

So now I'm in that blissful hobby place between projects where there are no commitments and the world is my oyster.  What to paint next??  Probably some Legions Imperialis, but we'll see.  There are still Titans to paint and the Lion of Caliban and his minions beckon...while I decide what to do next, I'll share what I've been building this month in my next post: On the Workbench [April].

Until then, the are more closeups of Gladius Noctis after the break.

Cheers and Happy Gaming!

Legio Ignatum Warlord Titan WIP for AT - Part 4

 

Gladius Noctis

Greetings and welcome back! 

The Warlord titan is now standing proud with all of it's heraldry.  Honor and fealty are paid to Mars, the Legio Ignatum, the Collegia Titanicus and the Adeptus Mechanicus. I read a lot of complaints and frustration online with applying transfers.  It's too bad.  I enjoy both the practice and effects in equal measure; always have. I finally figured out that one of the honeycomb transfers went on the Warlord's knee armor.  So that had to happen here.

With the black and yellow quartered motif, I was looking forward to using the large yellow wasp heads on a black field. It also suddenly occurred to me that the quarter cogs would fit nicely on the gun shields to break up the black quarter.

Nothing to show from behind...I'm toying with adding Legio icons to the back shoulder plates.

One of the things I like most about the Warhammer universe is the depth of history and details.  It's great fun positioning my models in the background.  I spend a good deal of time looking over the relevant transfer sheets putting together a story for each model.

I took a couple close ups of the gun shields.  On the model, it's hard to see all the details. I continue to use skulls as significant kill markers. Engine kill! The matte coat should keep the light from washing out the Legio Ignatum icon. It's otherwise a bit hard to make out the symbol in these pics. I like the mix of heraldry and iconography, though.

And the previously repainted right gun shield is shown here attached to the gun. The repaint came out great and there's no telling there was a mistake at this point.  I was a little concerned that some hazard stripe texture might show through on the black; but the prior gloss coat seems to have filled it in.
 

So that's where the mighty Gladius Noctis stands at this point.  It's almost done, yet there is much left to do! 😆 I'm a big fan of the results so far though.  There will be some detailing of the volcano cannon and lots of highlighting to do.  Then I have to paint the base, attach the model, and then apply the weathering powders which tie everything together. So, more progress to share in a couple days I hope.  I'm really feeling the itch to paint some tiny soldiers and tanks, and this project is all that stands in the way of scratching that itch.

Cheers and Happy Gaming!

Legio Ignatum Warlord Titan WIP for AT - Part 3

 

Gladius Noctis walks!

Greetings, and welcome back.  I'm catching up on progress with the Warlord titan today.  As seen above, the armor panels are finally attached and I'm ready to move on with transfers and the rest of the detailing and highlighting.  I love this part, where all the work on sprue comes together and I can see the color scheme all together as I envisioned it.  But I should back up a bit...

Once I had the panels ready to assemble, I took a break to build the base. I've used pieces of cork board (maybe 1/4 inch thick?) to build up the terrain.  When the glue had dried, I then covered the flat surfaces with Vallejo Black Lava texture paint. This makes the ground more, well, ground like; and it hides the obvious cork texture. When shaping the cork, I simply pick a way at the edges making things look crumbly and eroded.

Not so easy to see in the pictures, the Titan is stepping up out of a depression. I added lots of little cork bits around the where the back foot is to give an impression that the titan has collapse some of the terrain, or that the shock of its passing has caused cracks and fissures as well as crumbling.

Here's is the "naked" titan striding across its new base.

Clicking through to the full size pic above might give a better sense of the stepping up bit. Once the based fully dried over night, I primed it black and attached all the armor panels to the Titan.

I know I already mentioned this, but I *really* like these moments when working on the AT titans.  Seeing all the work to this point pay off is very gratifying.

I am very happy with my decision to quarter the gun shields and head with yellow and black. I have no idea if it fits with a recognizes Legio Ignatum heraldry patter but I approve the look!

This is possibly the best shot here of what the Warlord looks like striding up onto the higher ground.

Warlords look kinda funny from above...regardless, everything came together and I was in quite a celebratory mood...then this happened...

The last panel I happened to be attaching was the gun shield for the right arm volcano cannon. These gun shields are meant to be opposite so that the hazard stripes are to the front on both sides.  On the sprue, these panels are oriented/flipped opposite each other and I get this wrong almost every time I work on a warlord.  It's tiring, mostly because I really liked how these panels came out this time around.

But no matter.  There was nothing to be done but roll up the sleeves and repaint the damn panel.  Here it is (above) with a fresh coat of gloss waiting for shading.

And here it is attached lookign none the worse for where.  The finish is a bit patchy due to the effect of painting thinned GW Nuln Oil over the gloss finish. The final matte coat will sort all of that, no worries.

So that minor let down aside, the build was great and I'm excited to crack on with the transfers. This is when the fun really starts for me. Every step from here on brings the Warlord alive.  These are so much fun to work with.  There is so much detail for the scale and opportunity for variety in the building and painting. As I finish up this Warlord it hits me that I painted my first AT Titans (two Tempestus Reavers) five years ago in April/May of 2019. 

It's been a long on-and-off again road, but I have a collections of 1 Warmaster, five Warlords, six Reavers, and eight Warhounds to show for it.  It's great looking over the whole painted collection. I'll totally share a family photo when this titan is completed. Oh, and I still have a second Warmaster (Iconoclast), two Warhounds (thank you Legions Imperialis) and two Direwolves to complete.

Next week I'll have photos to share with transfers, showing off Gladius Noctis's full heraldry. Best of luck for your own projects.

Cheers and Happy Gaming!

Legio Ignatum Warlord Titan WIP for AT - Part 2

 

Hello and welcome back.  The AT Warlord continues its slow progress to DONE.  I have to admit I really expected to have the armor on by now, but it is just not to be.  I've been dawdling my way through all the gold trim...and there is a lot of trim on a Warlord titan. Witness the trim!

I stalled at the toes and moved on to the body. I'm doing the toes tonight though, they just have to get done.

I enjoy these shields.  I'm looking forward to choosing transfers.

Not much on this sprue.  I would have cut it down, but that just makes more pieces to keep track of.

I like how the gun shields are coming out.  This will be another fun canvas for some transfers. 

So much gold trim!  But it's almost done. I haven't touched the guns nor the head, but they should go quickly. Then I'll seal and shade all the armor plates and get the model assembled.  With that done it'll be time to get to the details and high lights.  Oh, and some point I have to build and paint the bases.  Lost to do still, I guess.

Tune in next time when I scream..."SO MUCH TRIM!!"  But for now...

Cheers and Happy Gaming!

On the Workbench [March] - More Legions Imperialis

 

 

Greetings and welcome back.  Today I'm sharing my build of the second release of Legions Imperialis miniatures for the Adeptus Astartes and Solar Auxilia. Looking at the picture now, I realize I'm missing the two Valdor tanks that came with the Malcador Infernus tanks.  But they are built too, and stored safely away with the initial release in Battle Foam trays.  I'm waiting on new trays which will store this lot.  Everything has to move out of the original release box now to a larger box to fit all the trays. More on that in another post perhaps.

Not much to say about this build.  The models continue to display an amazing amount of detail for their scale.  The kits are odd in some cases though.  I mean, you get enough of each model for a detachment technically, but the weapon mix means you'll probably want a second set of the support elements in order to field a proper detachment with the right weapons to be efficient. For example, you get four Deredeo dreadnoughts, but two have plasma and two autocannons.  Probably wouldn't field those in one detachment normally.  Same with marine tarantulas where you get two las and two missile units.  Probably want to field four of each and not a mixed detachment.

But that's a small thing really.  It's just odd how some sets come ready to play while others seem to nudge you towards additional purchases to play them effectively. I was a little surprised to see giant cyclops make an appearance...what are they, like 3x larger than their 40k counterparts?  Nostalgic though for a DKoK collector, even if they seem "retcon'd" to the Horus Heresy...maybe I missed them in the lore there somewhere..

Everything assembled well for the most part.  It's pretty cool how little fuss there is with such small models.  They've done a great job here in my opinion.  There's the occasional bit to niggle over, but honestly they are great kits overall. I'm caught making 'pew pew' noises now just thinking about the tiny tanks!

I'll throw in a quick update on the Legio Ignatum Warlord for Adeptus Titanicus.  I've started into the trim a little at a time.  There's sooo much tiny trim. 😓 But I'll be through it soon, then some clean up and a clear coat before shading.

Honestly, bingeing Netflix is starting to become a problem.  Half the time I end up sitting and watching the shows instead of painting and making progress.  Plus, one of my cats has decided to camp on my lap many nights which makes painting a challenge too.  I mean, it's cat hair everywhere...He doesn't seem to mind when I'm building things - though I spend a decent amount of time pulling bits of shaved sprue out of his fur so he isn't eating it when he washes. The struggle is real.  🐈

Well, short(ish) post for today.  More painted titan next week. I'm right at the point where it goes from looking like very little progress to suddenly almost done. I'll probably have the model assembled and looking like a table ready titan very soon.

Best wishes for the weekend.

Cheers and Happy Gaming!