Absent, but not idle...welcome back! I seem to have completely missed a week of posts with no excuse for vacations, etc. Regardless, that does not mean I've haven't been at the hobby. With the clear switch over to Legions Imperialis coming, I thought I'd acquire these last Imperial Navy aircraft and get them built for my collection. Looks like good timing since they are gone from the Forge World store (at least from the US site). I had picked up a random Marauder Pathfinder off eBay a few months back, then decided to work harder to secure a second, and then a pair of the Marauder Colossus bombers.
In the pic above they look like identical planes, but should you click through to the full size pic, I'm confident you'll see the differences. The Colossus bombers have smooth resin backs (front and rear planes in the pic). I can't imagine ever playing with all of these in a game, but I needed to fill out the appropriate Marauder Bomber tray from Battle Foam. 😁 Empty slots in a storage tray just eat at my soul...
So that little plane distraction led to assembling the various extra Forge World weapons I've been slowly acquiring as they have been released. One never knows how long these kits will remain available, so I tend to pick up the stuff I am interested in ASAP...even when there isn't really the need....it's a sickness, I know. In this pic, we have a Warlord graviton weapon, and then conversion beam weapons for the Reaver, Warhound, and Warlord titans as well. I buy weapons in pairs so that I can equally equip the two legions I collect: Legio Ignatum and Legio Tempestus. I can't expect my friends to collect the game, but Titanicus is small enough that I can easily support two forces and invite friends to play. And I love painting them, so there is that.
That brings me to my current painting project - which isn't a workbench post item normally, but I did have to build and magnetize a couple weapon options. This Reaver titan will become Honorum Veritatis in service to Legio Ignatum. The rights of Color have already begun, so expect to see more of that later in the week.
This Reaver titan will become Pugno Martis in service to the Legio Tempestus. With its toothy head, it will be the first of my Legio Tempestus Titans to show symptoms of turning sides for the Warmaster and Dark Mechanicum. I had fun with the base here, using some Forgeworld Titanicus scenery pieces to make a little piece of defensive breastwork being stomped under foot.
These two titans will even out my dueling forces with two fire support and one close combat Reaver titan each. I enjoy magnetizing weapon options and so have worked things out so I can replace the fist with the chain blade as desired. The armor for both titans is still on the sprue and so not very interesting to add to this post. The armor will reappear in the painting posts though, no worries.
So that's what I have on the workbench for July. It looks like August will be about painting Reaver titans. I'm not sure about picking up Legions Imperialis yet. I bought into Titanicus and Aeronautica hoping, I must admit, that GW would bring it all together. Apparently they have which sounds super cool. But Legions Imperialis will mean A LOT more tiny models to paint and I'm not sure yet how inspired I'll be for that. I've managed to get friends into playing tiny airplane and titan games because of the small model count and relatively quick games (OK, not really w/Titanicus). I'm betting games of Legio Imperialis will be back to requiring a half day or more to pull off (with the requisite beer and chatter of course!)
I have to say that deep down inside I DO have some inspiration for displaying my tiny titans and planes along side a tiny First Legion force...
Cheers and Happy Gaming!
