Adeptus Titanicus - Questoris and Cerastus Knights in Manufactorum - TO DONE! 🔴

Afternoon #Warhammer Community I've been #PaintingWarhammer and I've finished my Adeptus Titanicus Questoris and Cerastus Knights. First the Cerastus Atrapos. As worried as I was about losing my dark red the rich red I achieved makes them look like juicy apples. Yes, I also picked out the rivets, with only a couple of blotches.

I'm still not convinced about the white tops to the yellow shins, although some Strong Tone wash helped weather them in a bit. This was a bit of a test and it's made me re-think if I would do the same on my Castigator...

I've not done any battle damage. There are so many details already it felt like adding battle damage and sponging would overwhelm the models. With too much going sometimes I think it's hard to parse what you're actually looking at in such a small model.

I didn't really explain, but I did a simple conversion on the Graviton Singularity Cannon. I cut the nub off the end and split the four quarters so I could splay them out. 

I then put a pin in the centre, to replace the nub and create a focus point similar to the Forgeworld version. This could represent the 'singularity'  firing mode.

While the closed version is the 'contained' mode that is non-hazardous

Worth noting the yellow stripe on the red toes. Again, I don't usually paint their feet but this is something I hope to do on my Castigator and this was also test.

As subtle as it is, I really like it and I'm looking forward to doing the bigger models eventually.

And the Questoris, which are SOOO cute. See what I mean about detail? 

It's overwhelming already. Thankfully it also hides a multitude of sins as putting a marking here or there distracts from the most basic of highlights on the red and black.

Euronymous got brought up to speed too. His badge was simplified for the scale, or gain it would have been indecipherable at such a small size.

The rocket pods felt like a weak spot as I just did basic highlights on the black. Perhaps a gunmetal drybrush might have been more appropriate? But the orange warheads turned out better than I thought they would in the end. 

Here's the full set, plus a Lancer I was using for reference. I think there is a subtle difference in red but the Atrapos in particular were built on a different Forgeworld so I suspect a slight variation in paint formulas... I can fluff-justify anything.

It's worth remembering when Liam brought forth 4 Questoris and I deleted them in one shot. So I'm not convinced I will find a use to deploy 4 of them.

The Atrapos possibly, but the main reason for painting them was to actually have some to go with my battle force. And so I could recreate their 40k counterparts.

And two Great Big Chrome Stamps of Approval. FYI, according to my spreadsheet these are all 40 and 50mm bases. 6 x 2pts each for 12 hobby points. This brings me up to 53 points for the season so far.

Battle record - Star Wars Legion - 13/11/25

Afternoon and we're back at Otty's shed to finish off playing Star Wars Legion, Rebels V's Imperial [what else would it be], but rebels were Ewoks, Wookies, Pyke Syndicate and Mandolorians. 

Things did not get better for the Empire. Despite a really good turn where the AT-ST wiped out the unit of Ewoks on the central objective, to deny them 2VPs we were destroying squads, not making them panicked, which was scoring the rebels lots of secondaries.

And we would still lose units, while Ben was able to work with what he had left.

We discovered we'd been playing the armour rules wrong, which we think then meant even the 'primitive' Ewok slingers had a chance to damage the AT-ST through rate of fire. Given they're rolling black dice [white dice are worse, black dice are better, red dice are best] to hit and the AT-ST's armour just ignores the first 5 hits there's a chance other shots get through. The slingers are just wrong and cost a third of what a unit of Stormtroopers does and they're hitting on white dice. Yes I know that tracks with how bad a shot they are in the film but there are no strength Vs toughness roles here. A hit and a save is what you get. Stormtrooper saves are better than Rebels, but even so it feels all wrong.

Ultimately we lost but decided to start again...

Pretty much the same board, different mission and deployment.

But in the first turn I think the Ewoks were at it again. For something we'd found to be so much fun the previous week this was quite the rude response.

We've a week off as some of the guys are on night shift and hopefully we'll come back refreshed and keen to play on. But at this point it seems there's a definite imbalance...

Matt varnish testing

Afternoon #Warhammer Community I've been #PaintingWarhammer and testing out a number of varnishes to try to overcome the disappointment I've recently had when trying to add the last bit of protection to my figures. This was done a few months back, then following the results I used the best on my Tyranids and was slightly disappointed as it didn't necessarily match what was achieved here. But still, I'd done the tests, took the pictures, written the post so make of the results what you will.

So I tested 4 different brush on varnishes:

• Army Painter Matt Varnish
  
• Vallejo Matt Varnish
• Vallejo Matt Polyurethane varnish
• Vallejo Ultra Matt Polyurethane varnish
  

First up these pictures were taken immediately after application. I wanted to get a feel for what a freshly applied coat of varnish looks like and compare it to the finished article. I decided to paint up my Red Planet BASE!🔴 because that's where I've been noticing the worst 'foaming' milkiness in the recesses. As an aside the Vallejo bottles are a much softer and thinner plastic than Army Painters.

Army Painter went on OK. Slight milkyness when applied but thinner consistency than my MP Matt varnish. 

Army Painter Matt Varnish

Vallejo Matt Varnish was much more milky, I was rather worried.

Vallejo Matt Varnish

Vallejo Matt Polyurethane varnish was absolutely clear. I had read it takes a long time for this type of varnish to dry so I was very curious about how long it would take.

Vallejo Matt Polyurethane varnish

There appeared no initial difference between Matt and Ultra Matt Polyurethane varnishes. Totally clear and easy to apply.

Vallejo Ultra Matt Polyurethane varnish

And here were have the finished dried versions and I didn't necessarily notice any additional drying time for the Polyurethane varnishes. They were dry, but perhaps weren't 'cured', I'm not sure. But whatever concerns I had have gone.

AP Matt Varnish was perhaps the worst of the bunch. There isn't actually any foaming in the recesses but I think it did feel like it added a faint white filter across the entire surface. Barely noticeable. But it also looks more satin than Matt.

Army Painter Matt Varnish

Out of all of the Varnishes tested I think this had the most Matt finish. Given how milky the wet application was that requires a lot of trust that it will not ruin your model. Ultimately, I definitely wished I'd picked up more of these than buying 2 pots of the AP Matt Varnish [as I presumed it was the same as their previous Anti-Shine].

Vallejo Matt varnish

Again, a satin finish on the Matt Polyurethane. No foaming or milkyness, but not a matt finish. 

Vallejo Matt Polyurethane varnish

Ultra Matt is something of an overstatement. I might have just been able to detect a finish that's more matt than the plain matt varnish but nothing I would describe as ultra matt.

Vallejo Ultra Matt Polyurethane varnish

As this was done last hobby season I still get a Great Big Wooden 'BIG BUILD BASE' Stamps of Approval.

Adeptus Titanicus - Questoris and Cerastus Knights in Manufactorum pt. 1 and 2

Afternoon #Warhammer Community I've been #PaintingWarhammer on my Adeptus Titanicus Knights. I've been base-coating the Cerastus Atrapos. Adding the silver and I really liked the dark red, part of me thinking the first red highlights on the left had spoiled the grimdark essence I'd achieved so far.

The yellows had been shaded and toned too. I had hoped the yellow shins and toes [I don't usually paint the knights toes] would look cool like my Reaver Titan did. 

The Questoris are painted to match my own 40k scale Knights. With Euronymous, Lady Pettorini and Ser Ellenbogen. The 4th Knight was painted up as Lord Grevan Raven, current Princeps of House Raven, Iron Duke of Kolossi.

I mean technically these are an offshoot of House Raven so Lord Grevan Raven wouldn't be in this group but it was the only Warden in one of my old Codex that I thought would be fun to replicate in mini-miniature.

And a fair few highlights later. Positives - the chevrons have come out really great, as have the tiny House Raven symbols. Negatives - I'm not convinced about the yellow feet and shins. I've lost a lot of the yellow because my chevrons were thicker than I expected them to be. Although, that thickness made them work so well ⚖. 

I'm also not convinced about the white cog on top of the shins. Maybe it should have been black, or kept silver like the one on the right. It's just odd looking...

Well at least I'm happy with the gunmetal skeleton. It was pretty much just a wash with a very slight drybrush. Arguably easier to achieve than my brassy/bronze. A few bits of gold here and there for definition and variety.

The Questoris, Euronymous [the green one] had limited progress as I was focusing on the red ones. I've been able to match my 40k scale knights. My freehand felt so much more effective than usual. I mean it's far from perfect but at this scale it looks really good.

I even decided to freehand the cog symbols on the shoulders. I have some decals that may have been the correct size but it felt like a faff to gloss varnish, decal, varnish again and shade. Not to mention the cogs would need to be cut and didn't contain skulls. Easier to just hand paint the five symbols, especially as I was already freehanding the black and white crenelated edges.

There's an honesty in freehanding that even if it's imperfect it's admirable because of its imperfections - you had a go and that should be lauded. Decals have their place too, but combine them both in the same space and I think the perfection of the decals undermine the effort of the freehand, because it highlights how imperfect it is. So, freehand the lot and then I get to bask in the cute factor! Teeny, tiny, ickle Knights

Battle record - Star Wars Legion - 06/11/25

Afternoon we've had a couple of weeks where we weren't all able to meet at Otty's shed but we finally managed it. Back playing Star Wars Legion, rebels V's Imperial [what else would it be], but rebels were Ewoks, Wookies, Pyke Syndicate and Mandolorians. 

Got to roll out some of the terrain I recently painted. Now, this was a very interesting night of gaming after our 3 week effort to play 40. We only managed 2 turns, so the speed of the game was comparable.

We discovered new rules for the units and just how ridiculously OP Ewoks are - their slings totally wrecking two speeder bikes. Again, these things were similar to our 40k experiences.

The dice rolls were fickle both ridiculously good and bad, well that happens in every dice game.

But despite sharing many of the issues we had with 40k this game was not just fun but often hilarious. I don't know what it is about the game or why this light-hearted atmosphere was created.

Is it the IP, based on childhood memories versus 40k that has always been steeped in the grimdark?

We can't work it out, but we're all in agreement that we love the game. 

I mean even if the Imperials were being utterly savaged by these local teddy bears there was a lot to enjoy. Can't wait to try and finish it off next week.