Adeptus Titanicus - Part Quatro

So in my last post I said I was going to put the brakes on and see how AT'18 panned out in terms of releases, support etc...

Well, i certainly did put the hobby brakes on! first bit of paint to hit plastic since September, and almost 0 gaming time too. Insert usual excuses such about work.

Anyhoo, GW went and threw a curve ball by releasing a Titan battle group box, which includes a Warlord, Reaver and 2 warhounds. I wanted the 'official' warhounds, and no matter how you sliced it, this box represented 'good value' as you pay for the Warlord and Reaver and get the Warhounds 'free'.

So I did.

I also found myself with a chunk of spare time over a 3-4 day period where I was able to power through assembly, base coating, washing, basing and I've been left with a playable, coherently painted table-top ready Titan maniple.

If i find the time over the next few days i'll add some decals, weathering and detail up the weapons, but for now, here they are.

I based the colour scheme on a pseudo World War 2 desert palette, with the blue/grey camo panelling being inspired by navel craft of the time, even though i don't think it's going to fool any bomber or artillery drawing a bead on them at distance, especially with those red heads!

In the queue now are some Cerastus Lancer Knights, terrain and everything else outstanding from this year... Now dreading my annual review!

Merry Christmas everyone!

Adeptus Titanicus 2018 - Reavers!

Another slow month painting wise.

I picked up a couple of Reavers for AT18 and some knock off 3D Printed Warhounds. Due to try the game out this week and hoping it lives up to the hype/cost! I've now got enough for a couple 1000pt armies, so that should give us a good taste of it.

Unless it blows our socks off i think i'll put the brakes on here - with the official Warhounds coming in the next few weeks its all a bit of a mystery after that - I'm thinking weapon sprues, maybe some knight variants? Either way, i'm going to step back from the bleeding edge for a bit and see how it develops.

With this and Kill Team I've kind of deviated from my hobby goals at the start of the year - i'm looking forward to/dreading working out what I've achieved, and what I've missed as we get closer to the end of the year.

Anyhoo, enough rambling and on to some pics...

Adeptus Titanicus 2018 - Part Deux

Just a quick check-in post as I've not done much painting since the big fella last month.
I've got 2 AT'18 Reavers and 2 3D Printed Warhounds in the queue, as well as adding the finishing touches/basing to the Knights (not massively happy with my efforts on them, but they will do for Volcano Cannon fodder!)

Also, repainted/touched up an IG Sniper for 40k Kill Team.

More to come shortly!

Adeptus Titanicus 2018

Yeah, so after a lot of debate i bit the bullet and ordered some AT'18. I missed out on the Grand Edition box, but instead just picked up what i fancied from the current line. Namely the Rules set, 1 Warlord titan and 2 sets of knights.

My plan is still to use my old models with the new rules, but I had to get one of the big fellas just to paint it up.

Building the titan is a bit of a challenge - considering my last project involved the 'easy fit' Primaris Marines, this was a bit more involved! - including the inevitable IKEA fail where i build the legs the wrong way around and had to carefully re-do them.

Anyhoo, in terms of paint scheme, i was lacking in inspiration, and then i found this guy's YouTube channel, and did my best to imitate it (poorly!)

https://www.instagram.com/p/BitTlSuHvHr/?hl=en

I'm pretty happy with how it turned out, considering the limited time i spent on it. Just need to varnish and base it now and i'm calling it done!

First Strike! - 40k Kill Team

I had recently given up my man-cave as temporary cat accommodation (combing that with working away I've been a bit slow on the old painting/gaming eh, game), however after a bit of house re-shuffling I've found her her own space and reclaimed the 'cave for myself!

With all the Kill Team hype going around i decided to cleanse my 6mm painting palette with some 28mm (or what ever the hell size they are now!)

There is a boxed set called 'First Strike' designed to be the cheap first hit from the GW dealers to hook the youngsters in. it contains 3 Nurgle/Death Guard Plague Marines, 6 Poxwalkers, 3 Primaris Marines, and 3 Reivers (Primaris Scouts/Assault guys i guess!)

for £20 this pretty much gives you 2 full Kill Teams, and i just fancied painting them, so no more justification required.

I've done a Marine in my (slightly improved) Dark Angels scheme, with the Reiver i've imagined him as part of the Raven Wing, or at least a more stealthy/ninja Dark Angel dressed all in black/grey.

For the Death Guard i opted for more of a Legion colour scheme, but with plenty of rot added. And for the Poxwalkers i went with the same scheme as my Genestealer Cult/Rogue Trader crew - to indicate they were once part of the same ship crew that became corrupted.

Anyhoo, I just need to finish off the basing, and decide what i want to do with the other Marines, as i'm tempted to do them in a different scheme, possibly Imperial Fists?!

Oh! and as a wee bonus - an old school Lightning Claw'd up Deathwing Terminator (something i painted in-between posts at some point last month)

 

Epic - Banelord!

So just a few days after giving up the search and making my own Fake-Banelord, i manage to snag 2 kits of the real deal for a decent price!

Anyhoo, i'm treating the one below as a test piece, i didn't bother stripping the thick black paint on it, so the details are a bit soft to say the least. It was my first time trying to paint flames, and suffice to say that more practice is needed! no idea how the GW 'Eavy Metal team do those stylised flames on the box art, but i guess they are just better painters for a start!

I rushed through it in a day and in the down time i painted up Luke Skywalker - Jedi Knight for Imperial Assault/Frostgrave.

With the addition of Maul I've now got enough force users to create 3 war bands for the Star Wars Frostgrave mod, which i intend on running shortly - just gathering up some scenery to use in addition to the Battle Systems stuff i picked up last year. (more on that below!)

And finally, a group of re-painted Knights (maybe not quite finished!) and a Wizard from Zombicide Black Plague - who i think will work well in Frostgrave too.

Adeptus Titanicus - Reinforcements

Nothing much painted in the last few weeks;

Finished off some titans from my bits box, and have left them fairly basic.
Roughed up a couple of old ford escorts for Gaslands, and will give them a pretty rusted up raider look i reckon, next time i get the brushes out.

Too damn hot for that nonsense today!

Hobby Goal update - Hero Quest!

Yes, another new job has had me rather busy, so my brushes have been a bit dry of late...

Had an inkling to knock out one of my '2018 hobby goals' this week and managed to paint the whole Hero Quest box! (well, haven't finished the heros, or furniture yet.)

And now that i'm loaded with a bout of man-flu i started building Epic Titans in my delirium, and hope to finish them off by the weekend.

All just an excuse to hone my airbrushing skills, which are still very much in their infancy!

Epic - Snow Days Painting

Just a quick work in progress update.
Started a new job last month, so expecting a slow down in painting. But then a few snow days have given me a chance to knock out some new Eldar flyers and a couple of gargants.
They are all ready for the table top, but might add a bit more detail if i get the time next week.

Epic - Campaign Game 3

Game 3 - 3475pts Eldar vs 3000pts Imperial Guard

Apologies for this one - I didn't take many photos, and i've left it a bit too long to report on, so my memory is pretty fuzzy!

Armies

Eldar

Falcon Host
Jetbike Host
Tempest Host

Striking Scorpions
Fire Dragons
Swooping Hawks
Shining Spears

FireStorm AA

Revenant Scout Titans
Pathfinders (Scouts)
Warlock

Avatar

Imperial Guard

ShadowSword Company
StormHammer Company
BaneBlade Company
Leman Russ Company

Capitol Imperialis

Setup

The battlefield consisted of a intact imperial port city, a valley with a forest in the middle and the remains of a ruined city.

The eldar set up fairly evenly across the field, knowing they would have the speed advantage. A Tempest Sqd, scout titan and falcons containing aspect warriors on the extreme of both flanks, and the remaining jetbikes, falcons and warlock in the centre. As there was no flyer threat the firestorm took up position out of sight behind the trees, and as there was no infantry to contend with, the striking scorpions would be pulling guard duty on the objectives within the ruined city.

The Imperial guard focused their deployment in the open, using the elevation of the large hill to their advantage, hoping to pick off any Eldar charging across the open battlefield. Only the Stormhammers were deployed in the space port, being as they are better suited to close quarters combat. Objectives were biased toward the space port and surround, with only 2 in the ruins and another 2 on the hills and open.

This was potentially the last roll of the dice for the Imperial Guard, as they were down to their last remaining units from those that made planetfall.

Turn 1

Now this is where it gets a bit hazy, so use your imagination where possible!

The Stormhammers push into the city and spread their line thin in an attempt to secure two objectives.

They survive a barrage of fire from the Tempests popping up from behind the forest. Jetbikes and Shining spears weave through the streets to position themselves for an attack in the next turn.

The Fire dragons are delivered to the centre of the city and begin to look for vantage points to ambush the Imperial Superheavies.

The Eldar scout titan spots a gap in the buildings and unleashes its pulse lasers on the Storm hammer HQ, destroying it and leaving the remaining tanks in a state of disarray.

Meanwhile, in the ruins, the Avatar strides forward in a burning rage towards the tanks on the hill top.

It is met with a hail of battle cannon shells from the BaneBlades and he is atomised back to its throne room.

In the centre, jetbikes push into the dense forest with a plan to jump the lumbering tanks in the next turn.

Offering few targets, the Imperial Guard manage to destroy several of the Falcon grav tanks, and one of the tempests, whilst holding their lines bracing for the inevitable tidal wave that is coming.

VPs

Eldar 30

IG 12

Turn 2

The Mighty Capitol Imperialis turns its wrath on the city. It obliterates the nimble scout titan and falcon grav tanks, however it seems in vain, as the last storm hammer is destroyed and the Eldar sweep over the objectives.

The Jet bikes spring their trap, with the Vypers jumping behind the ShadowSwords and Capitol Imperialis, tearing into its shields, but causing no lasting damage, but finding a vulnerability in the HQ superheaves' rear armour, causing it to expode. The other bikes swamp the leman russ and despite a gallant effort from the tank crews, they are overwhelmed.

All remaining fire from the imperial guard is focused on the last scout titan, but all shots are deflected, leaving the tanks' ammo dry and the battlefield a sea of shimmering eldar vehicles holding every objective. 

VPs

Eldar 67

IG 10

Post Game

It was a bittersweet victory for the Eldar. The match up wasn't very fair as the Imperial player was forced to take all that remained of their forces, and with a lack of flexibility in their army, and facing a larger Eldar force there was only going to be one outcome.

That said, there were moments when the sheer firepower of the armoured brigade, and their 1+ saves were causing the space elves to sweat a little, especially when the titan came crashing down.

We've agreed to conclude this mini-campaign here, and i think there may be some tweaking to the rules to be done to prevent a run-away victory scenario in the future.