I’ll start this week with an apology because the first version of last week’s blog went live with place holders for the pictures but no pictures. I tend to write the updates in stages throughout the week and have everything set up to publish on Saturday morning. But last week I got the dates mixed up and it published before I’d added the pictures. Anyway I’ve got quite a few updates for you this week starting with a bit of gaming new.
On Saturday Al had arranged a big Titanicus game and whilst I didn’t take part, because I haven’t finished painting mine yet and I couldn’t get there until part way through the afternoon, I did enjoy watching. I’m not a hundred percent sure of the force organisation but I think it was four Warhounds, two Reavrs and two Warlords facing off against two Warhounds, a Reaver and three Warlords with a scattering of knights on both sides. How this stacks up points wise I have no idea but what I can tell you it that it turned into carnage. As I’ve already said I missed the first part of the game but everything was still alive when I did arrive. But whilst everything was still alive several of the titans had received quite a lot of damage. What I really liked was that as long as they had their shields then everything really gave the impression of being the all-powerful construct that could stride across the battle field like a god. But once those shields are stripped away it was amazing just how quickly things can go catastrophically wrong. Especially when several units pick on, or should that be coordinate their fire against a single target. It also showed how equipping different titans for different roles is very important. For me one of the most iconic titans of all is a Warhound equipped with a pair of Vulcan mega bolters. I think it just looks really cool. Now in game terms a couple of these are really good a stripping shields, but once the shields are gone they are not good at dishing out damage. So you need something to back them up, say a Reaver with a Melta Cannon. All of which offers a wealth of different way to play the game. So even though I haven’t yet played a game I’ve been reinvigorated to get my maniple completed so that I can join in.
Being full of enthusiasm before I started doing any hobby I had on line visit to Element games and may have accidentally ordered some more Titanicus bits. In my defence when I picked up my titans I only got the models and not the rules or any of the supporting material such as dice, templates and more importantly command terminals. This means that once I eventually finish all of the painting I will actually be able to play as I will have everything I need. Now I may have run into a little bit of technical issue when placing the order and I really don’t know who this happened. But I mysteriously ended up ordering a box of Cerastus Knights along with a box of normal Knights. Like I say I have no idea how this happened but now that they are here I’ll just have to paint them up.
On the Warhound front I’ve made good use of the bank holiday here in the UK and spent most of the day getting them finished off. I’ve only weathered the legs which was a conscious decision backed up by the back story I am thinking of for the legion. That and fact that I don’t want to spoil the painting I’ve already done and not being very good at weathering there was a good chance I would ruin everything. So the thinking was that the legion has recently deployed and as yet hasn’t been involved in any serious fighting. So the only weathering would be that picked up from the environment and I’ve gone with a series of weathering powders to try and give that effect. These have then been sealed in with a mat varnish which in my mind represents the legs getting dirty walking through the battle files whilst the main body stands above everything. I’ve also added a few bits of satin varnish to the none hazard striped shin pad to show that the top of it hasn’t yet got completely dirty. The mat varnish did leave things a little cloudy so I’m not sure if it’s started to go off or not. Either way I’ve picked up another bottle just to be on the save side.
For the weapon arms, which have all been magnetised and thanks to Al who came to the rescue after I lost the barrels to the Gatling Mega Bolter in a catastrophic clipper fly away incident, I’ve gone with a predominantly matt finish. The only bits that are different are the barrels of the laser blaster and the plasma cannon. These have been painted silver, then given a coat of Badger ghost tint plasm fluid before being sealed with a gloss varnish. Trying to give that effect of all the pent up power they contain. I’ve also added some secret weapon exhaust smoke weathering powder to the end of the barrels on the Gatling Mega Bolter and the flamer to add a bit more character.
That just left the heads and bodies to finish off. I’ve not done anything different here using a satin lacquer for the turquoise sections and matt for everything else. With the exception of the eyes and the void shield projectors which had a gloss finish just to make them stand out a little. I’ve not done any weathering to the body, partly because I don’t feel that confident painting any battle damage a partly just because I really like how they look without it. As I mentioned earlier I’m going with a feel that they have just entered the war zone so are in tip top condition looking every bit the god machines they are. These were the last bits that needed to be completed so I now have my first pair of titans completed and ready to go.
Now what I should have said is whilst they are ready to go they aren’t quite finished yet. I still want to add some name plates to the base but I haven’t got round to ordering them yet, but will be doing it this weekend. I’m going to get them from Versatile Terrain but there will be a bit of wait time. Their website currently says it will take about two weeks for them to process the order so they will have to wait at least that long before they really finished. From what I can gather they are just that busy they can’t turn things round any quicker, but considering every name plate is a custom piece I’m not really surprised. Whilst I would like them to be in the post the next day it’s not the end of the world and they say that good things come to those who wait. I also really like the fact that they are telling you up front that things will take a little bit of time to be processed so you know where you stand. And as long s they are busy I would imagine it means they are doing well as a business and long may that continue.
Using a very tenuous link to the Titanicus game from Saturday whilst I was there Darren was asking me what tools I used when working with plasticard as a lot of the once he had seen recommend on line came with some very high price tags. I do a lot of work with plasticard and other that the basics such as a good craft knife and a razor saw the tool I use the most is the UMM-USA SCR 01 It retails for about $16 from (Link here) and just for the record this is something I have purchased for myself. I picked it up years ago and in hobby terms I really couldn’t live without it. It’s my go to tool for just about everything and the more I use the more I find different ways to use it. It might not be for everyone but if you are looking to work with plasticard in any way I would strongly recommend have a look at one of these.
I think that just about it for this week. We have D&D session planned for tomorrow so I’m looking forward to that. We’ve not been able to get together for a while and not having to get up for work the next day, as it’s a bank holiday weekend here in the UK just makes it that much more enjoyable. I’ve also get a few days off next week so I’m hoping I can put it to good use and get some work done on titan number three which will be the Reaver. No promises as I might just get really lazy if the weather is nice and sit in the garden reading, but let’s see how things pan out. That’s it for this week so I hope you all enjoy yourselves and have good week and hope to catch you all again next Saturday.
