To Done - Adeptus Titanicus Epic Reaver Titan

Officially this fella isn't on my 2013/14 'To Do List' but it's been an extra thing to do to keep my mojo up by not OD'ing on just 'nids and other stuff. In truth I wimped out as I should have put some chevrons on it. I think some nice black and white ones on the carapace would have made it that bit better but I think then it would have strayed into an existing Titan Legion.

As it stands it seems a bit 'Word Bearer-ish' I know they're not a Titan Legion but I'm pleased I was able to make a new red scheme that wasn't as bright as the ones on my Chaos Cultists and I think I learned from some of my mistakes on the OSL glows. Tristan M's advice about less is more worked out a bit better, especially on the eyes.

And the white hot green glowing plasma reactor is also quite neat. The litany on the Titan breaks up the flat colours and I'm really surprised how effective that can be. I've always wanted to do battle damage but haven't been brave enough to do it. Pseudo etchings and paint work seems to be something similar but also I have a lot more control over so it may well become my 'cheat' instead.

With this colour scheme I may well try and add some darker red guys into the genestealer-cultists just to add a bit more variety.

Whilst doing all this I had a seed of fluff begin to grow in my head. This will be Ferron Proxima's own Titan Legion. They will not be a Traitor Legion but in fact during the Horus Heresy did go rogue. This will be due to some devious behaviour on behalf of the Alpha Legion that fed them lies about what was going on. This will explain any Epic battles that PeteB and I have with him using it against my War Griffons.

Once the Heresy was resolved much like the Dark Angels seeking to absolve their failings the Ferron Legion will go about trying to redeem themselves, under the watchful eye of the Inquisition. I'll write some more decent fluff  when I get the chance.

Here's my big blue tick anyway, for getting it done.

EPIC! Battle Report - Horus Heresy Skirmish

PeteB went and pickedup the bargain set of Space Marine 1st Edition about a month ago now. Following his 'epic' purchase we decided to have a battle. I thought I had more pictures but it seems I didn't take as many as I first thought. Really we were just struggling to come to terms with the rules as I also had the 2nd edition rule set and Pete had the current Epic Armageddon ones. Having looked at the new rules one thing jumped out at me - the fact you have to roll off to see if your unit actually follows through on it's orders [am I wrong in this?] I hate that dynamic so we went with 2nd edition and mixed in some of the stuff we liked from 1st.

I got to roll out some of my old Ultramarines and PeteB had his force of traitors ;). I really need the 2nd Edition Warlord Titan datasheet, so if anyone has it or a link to it I'd appreciate it. Instead we used the Adeptus Titanicus rules that make it incredibly difficult to kill with non-titan units. Anyway, this was our set up at the beginning of the game, we put down orders and PeteB won the initiative and moved first.

And we suddenly realised that putting everything on Charge orders was quite an issue as some of our faster units - bikes, speeders etc. were suddenly on the other side of the board. 2nd edition rules I think stated you couldn't fire either, compared with 1st edition where it was at a -1 modifier. Therefore I tried to position to capitalise on the next turn, making sure I'd got everything in place to rain fire down on the traitorous scum.

I did manage to get into assault with his Dreadnoughts though [robot proxies] and killed a few.

My Dark Angel allies - Ravenwing and Land Raiders, together with my Ultramarine Predators and Dreadnoughts tried to outflank the Land Raiders on the hill.

My Tarantula battery set up on the hill but I'd bigged them up too much before the game and the next turn they were assaulted and wiped out. My Titan spent most of the game untouched, firing with impunity but not doing a whole lot of damage. 2nd edition doesn't state you get +1 to hit on First fire orders, it's only advantage being you 'fire first'! Given most to hit rolls are on 5+ I'm not sure we liked this. When only a third of your hits do anything it can be a pretty unrewarding experience.

Sadly this is the last pic and so much happened after this. I tried to blow up buildings but again 2nd edition works by only barrage being able to damage them. My Thunderhawk came on, managed to do practically nothing and then put itself in a position in PeteB's deployment zone where it was just riddled with fire and shot out of the sky. Pete also created a Land Raider sandwich attack - my four Land Raiders in the centre of the board [three by the time this event took place] were assaulted by 2 units of three Rhinos with a higher Close Assault Factor the Raiders easily dispatched the first Rhino but the second Rhino gets an additional d6 as a secondary attacker and he was able to ram the Raiders into oblivion.

Once again it was getting late and we called it a night. I'm not even sure who won, we didn't even bother to work up which units had broken [and therefore we gain their VPs] and to be honest I didn't care. This was a game full of fun, attack and counter attack, periods were nothing seemed to happen and then suddenly entire units were vaporised. The great thing was there was no emotional attachment to the forces, these aren't my nids I've been using for years so it didn't matter if I won or lost it was the 'cinematic' journey along the way.

We had a 40k battle the next time we met up, as that was in preparation for Blog Wars but I look forward to our next Epic confrontation. We still need to iron out some of the rules we want to play with, being happy with a system that works for us. I think if we have the correct edition datasheets for Warlords, Reavers and Warhounds that would help too. I was devastated with their rules in 2nd edition, they became so much easier to kill but if we play them like Adeptus Titanicus rules they're overpowered so that has to change.

Following on from my battle I wanted to paint up a Reaver Titan for PeteB to use in battles. I wanted to do a red one with all brass fittings [very Khorne] I started with a Red Oxide primer and then blacked in all the metal areas.

Shoulder pads, missile launcher, and head are all pinned to be secure. I've tried to do a similar metal effect as on my drop pod [do you remember that? G.O.D. that's so long ago now and still so unfinished!] Anyway, I'll add some more highlights and then probably a 'devlan mud' wash and then work on the red bits. I can't decide to go basic highlights on the red or try and do a mottled blotchy pattern of highlights...

EPIC! Battle Report - Horus Heresy Skirmish

A week or so ago I saw an ebay bargain to die for. A near complete set of 1st Edition Epic Space Marine for £28 Buy it Now! I couldn't believe it, more importantly I could justify getting it, not with a number of gaming purchases already made and a new tyre for the Micra due. But PeteB can see a bargain and snapped it up and he got even more than he bargained for with a bundle of extra miniatures - Orks, their battlewagons and the Space Marines that included bikes, Land Speeders, Terminators, Assault and Devastator units. I think he'd probably recoup a third of his outlay by selling the Orks but we'll see.

With a new game in hand we decided to have a knockaround, we'd spent 2 hours just gassing about the game and I showed off my old copy of Rogue Trader and we giggled. Anyway, we went simple, a Warlord and Warhound each [I swapped around the weapons so PeteB had the plasma and I had the las so we could experience the other side. 3 Barrels on each and Chainfists I also had a Multi-launcher and PeteB had and auto-cannon]. We also had 6 Land Raiders each, and two stand of Devastators, Tactical and Assault troops.

This is after turn 1 [although my Warhound needs to move]. I was trying to flank with my Land Raiders, it's worked on the left but the right is very exposed.

My assault marines jump behind the Warhound.

More of PeteB's infantry disembark and the Land Raiders position to shoot.

His Warhound goes to stomp on the Assault Squad, missing one.

But then as he passes he uses his head mounted Heavy Bolter and Plasma Gun to kill one the other.

Devastator and Tactical squads occupy the buildings.

I manage to blow the Auto cannon off his Warlord Titan with my own.

The building occupied by the Tactical squad takes two damage from my Land Raiders. 

The building PeteB's Warlord was taking cover from is destroyed leaving it exposed.

But his Titan manages to get a Plasma Cannon shot on the Warhound and two Land Raiders.

Leaving the Warhound to stand above the molten slag of the Raiders.

By this time it was getting late, I'm not sure who was winning and didn't really care to be honest. We'd had some real fun and it was a completely different tactical game. It eventually became apparent PeteB had missed the bit where I said all the weapons on the Titan had 3 barrels except the Plasma Cannon. He'd been firing only one shot whit his Heavy Plasma Gun. The Auto Cannon had gone quite early so it wasn't too bad but still, a fair few Land Raiders may have been destroyed other wise.

We're going to be playing this again next week but I'll be bringing my 2nd Edition rules and Expansion so we can take some more interesting models and see what does what.

Tuesday Nights Alright for Fighting (pt2.) - Adeptus Titanicus

As GW falls out of love with 'Specialist Games' it was only fitting that PeteB and I round out our evening after playing the Hobbit with some original Adeptus Titanicus action. I've plenty of Titans and weapons but we still struggled to find all the bits to arm our two machines apiece. Originally I'd planned to play the basic scenario of a one on one Titan match up but we went for two on two. As you can see the titans set up on Planet Spot with some of my future containers for cover. I'm nearest with a 

Left Death Bringer [6 Void shields] - Plasma Guns [3 barrels] on left and right carapace. Macro Cannon on right arm and Chain Fist on left.

Right Death Bringer [6 Void shields] - Plasma Cannon on left and right carapace. Defence Laser on right arm and Power fist on left.

PeteB had:

Left Eclipse [4 Void shields, but we upgraded them to 6] - Las Cannon [4barrels] on left and right carapace. Multi-Melta [4barrels] on right arm and Power fist on left.

Right Eclipse [4 Void shields] - Multi Launcher [2 barrels] right carapace. Las Cutter right arm and Defence Laser left.

Now this isn't much of a report because its kind of hard to explain what's going on, it's not like 40k where you can see 5 Hormagaunts are no longer in the picture but I'll try my best. This is us facing off across the board. 

The deal is you roll off to see who get's 'First Player' they go first [sort of]. You put orders down, Charge, Advance, First Fire or Damage. Charge is double distance, one 45° turn -1 to hit when shooting. Advance is normal distance [around 6-10cm, thats right this is all metric it is the Horus Heresy afterall, no Imperial measurements ;) ] and up to four 45° turns. First Fire, no movement, one 45° turn and +1 to Hit rolls. Damage orders may not move or fire, +1 to Repair Rolls and enemy titans receive +1 to Hit rolls. 

Series of play follows after revealing orders. If I'm second player with Chage and Advance, movement happens, Charge orders move first, First Player then Second, if no First Player Charges then second player. Advance Orders next if both have Advance First Player moves first then Second, you get the picture, it can be quite tactical, especially when you add in Snap Fire for when titans run from cover to cover [we didn't though].

PeteB was 'first player' and moved out into the open. My Left Death Bringer took some shots, the Plasma Guns were brutal and stripped away some Void Shields. I think I thought I'd got lucky with which force I'd been handed per the scenario.

PeteB took some shots but whiffed.

Left Eclipse snuck back into cover which left me high and dry as my left Titan was on First Fire and now had no target and no movement. My other titan had a few more Void Shields stripped and one of the Plasma Cannons was destroyed.

As the right Eclipse closed to take advantage of his Las Cutter my remaining Plasma Cannon ramped up to 'sustained' fire - 20cm range, hits on 4+ and every hit allows me to roll again until I miss. I stripped his Void Shield back but not enough to do damage.

The Titans clashed and PeteB was able to destroy my Power Fist before it could come to bear.

Further damage to my legs meant I could no longer charge and can only make one 45° turn during Advance orders.

Meanwhile the left Eclipse came back out of hiding and went 'Hull Down' with the container. This means I get -1 to hit him in cover but because he's touching the terrain he does not suffer -1 to hit me. If he was a couple of cm behind the cover he too would suffer -1. I stripped some more Void Shields back and damaged one of his weapons but he was able to repair some Void Shields [5+ during the repair phase]

Bizarrely the Princeps of the Eclipse decided he wanted to make the killing stroke at range and reversed. My Death Bringer with destroyed Void Shields and wonky legs went on advance and reversed, but shot with sustained Plasma Cannon fire and the Defence Laser [the most powerful very Heavy Weapon - 72cm range 3+ to hit Blast and suffers Critical hits on a 2+] and popped the kneecap of the Eclipse bringing it crashing to the ground.

My other Death Bringer had it's Void Shield generators blown out too, it's Chain Fist was damaged and so was it's legs. Out in the open it became a sitting target and despite many shots for the now deadly Las Cannons of the Eclipse bouncing of it's leg armour with no further cumulative damage eventually a shot pierced it's now mangled VSGs and this chain reaction fractured the reactor vessel at the heart of the titan. In an incandesant explosion the Titan was reduced to slag.

Flushed with success the Eclipse began hunting down my hobbling Death Bringer who was struggling to get out of the alley-way of containers with reduced turning capacity. With no shields and limited weapons the Eclipse let loose with yet more accurate Las-Cannons and fearsome Multi-melta shots blowing out the damaged hip joint leaving the titan to stumble earthwards.

The field was won by the Traitorous Scum, or as the victors would then write the history the peons of the false Emperor were overcome through the superior tactics of the great Warmaster!

PeteB and I had so much fun. This game still rocks, there's problems obviously. The Void Shield wheels are cool but they don't work too well and when movement is in cm if you have to pick a model up to change the wheel you can easily change your position quite significantly when it's returned to play. I really miss the old rulers, with the built in turning arcs. The damage table is the single biggest element/hindrance to playing. Obviously you don't want a titan to blow up in one shot but it can be quite frustrating running through the chart. A lot of my weapons are glued on, this is why it was awkward trying to find spares and kit them out properly. I realised why after the about the 20th time I moved a titan and it's weapon just dropped out of it's socket, I think we'll need to find a better mounting system.

We'll definitely be playing again, perhaps work a better set up, paint the miniature so we have a few titans each, I do have 12 Warlords! Maybe get some scenery done and be better prepared all round. Next time it should be X-Wing and perhaps another titan match up.

Ebay sales I don't regret - Epic bits and bobs

What we have here are some more bits and bobs I got rid of, partly to fund a digital camera that's since broken but you can't have everything. My recollection of all things Imperial Guard Artillery wise may be a bit off so please forgive any mistakes. GW initially released these models/rules without any clear indication that they would be Imperial Guard only. I just saw they had good stats and that 'yep, I'll have some of them'. So you have the four mortars on the left which had awesome firrepower and the three manticores [?] on the right, I loved their little spotty targetting spheres. Additionally there are three Gorgons, I think there are the two original style when it was a mine sweeper/layer and then the revised version that was the more chunky design aesthetic Epic went down, with less detail. This version was bigger, but still not big enough in my opinion to transport the many guardsmen this claimed to do. Also my Baneblade and a stack of plastic guardsmen sprues, mainly the beasatmen figures.

This lot was my moles and termites. If I recall correctly I also had the super heavy sized boring transport [I forget the name] but it was not in this auction and I'm not sure if I've sold it or it's still knocking around my parents attic, where I did most of my painting. Also you'll find my Squat Zepplin and these were all painted in the same colour as my original squats from way back when. look you can even see the Jack o'lantern symbol on that hatchway! I also gave away the Imperial Guard assault stand and a lone Rough Rider as a freebie, hey that's make me bid on it!

Just a little reminder of my orignal squat color scheme.

The second most important rule of painting [perhaps] - The eyes have it!

Well I think it's as good a rule as any - get the eyes painted as soon as possible. Bearing in mind you don't want to be doing things like drybrushing after you've done the eyes, there's nothing like getting it just so only to smear paint onto the focal point of your miniature. As it stands I continue to plug away at my Tactical Squad and I finally took the plunge and thought I could do the eyes because any efforts on the Dark Angels green is purely highlighting. That isn't going to be achieved without careful effort and that control shouldn't result in any mishaps round the eyes, so I was pretty safe to continue.

I'm going old-skool Epic Space Marine with the lenses. Sure the red lense stands out and is awesome but that box is my original inspiration that I want to hark back to and I think it sets them apart from the rest of the Dark Angel crowd. Obviously it enters into Salamander territory, even more so when you take into account I will be painting all my bare-headed Marines with the white hair off the Epic box cover but the dark Native American Indian Deathwing skin tones of  my 3rd Generation Dark Angel I better get that green just right!

So there was obviously some yellow involved, Some Gryphonne Sepia Wash a few times and some Badab Black and Chaos Black to sharpen the outlines. Finally a dot of pure white in the corners, just like th ehow to paint Space Marine guides tell you to do. The end result may actually look better than those close-ups suggest. Certainly for my table top standards, you'll see in the next post anyway as you can see each of the figures painted thus far. To end with, the inpiration that started it all!

Epic Adeptus Titanicus part 9. - Odds and sods

Here's some more left over bits from my Epic collection. Bits that never got painted, used, built or are just plain interesting for their novelty value alone. Below you have another 5 Whirlwinds [which make 8 when you add them to this bunch]. Also there are 3 Mk1 Vindicators and a lead [pb] Rhino and his plastic counterpart.

Next up a Barrage missile launcher for one of my Titans, a close-combat wrecking ball and a couple of the banner poles. I really miss the Titan aspect of 40k, maybe I should have tried to play this one day...

A sprue-load of Space Marines and Imperial Guard. At this stage I was painting them on the sprue as it was easiest. According to the rules because Space Marine Scouts weren't true Astartes they suggested IG models were appropriate so I think that's what I was going to do here. And also another 4 Dreadnoughts [to add to my existing squad].

Not sure why I took this shot twice but there might be a reason when you click to zoom in [why doesn't blogger have that function built into the editor?]. Anyway some of the Epic lead [pb] Marines, including a Devastator. That used to be the 'treat' in any Epic blister purchase - the random marine or jetbike that would come with the pack. Takes you back to all those Adeptus Titanicus shots that were only made up of little lead [pb] men

And they also did Eldar in lead [pb]! Here's a las-cannon weapons team. I had another but randomly decided to remove it's circular base. That's a lot of work using only nail clippers! Also three more Titan bases purely for the fact it begs the question 'just how many Titan's did I have?' if there's another 3 empty bases!