Adeptus Titanicus – Titans in Manufactorum – Base colours

Afternoon #warmongers and I am #paintingwarhammer #AdeptusTitanicus. I’ve done all the metallic highlights and got to a point where I wanted the armour panels on. Typically I’m not sure if that’s premature and I’ll suffer for adding them too soon.

Washes needed to be added to the metals, but the edging on the armour panels need a bit of highlighting too before that gets to be done.

Now as Legio Gryphonnicus I should be doing these yellow and grey but I do always start with orange. This is the Instar paints IV-17 – a replica of the Macharius Solar Orange Foundation paint. Now the colour matching is looks bob on, it is a great comparison to my original. 

However, straight out of the pot the coverage is nowhere near the same, but that might be because it’s not quite mixed thoroughly. I really need to get a stirrer in there to see if there is thicker paint at the bottom. I bought a 50ml pot which was a little extreme, I should have gone with 20ml and got a load of other sample pots to try the range – experience for next time.

The Reaver has not had it’s armour plates glued on just yet but it’s progressed at the same pace. On the one hand this is going to be a huge success at the end but right now it’s a little overwhelming. I’d focused on the Titans for a while but thankfully it helped me return to my Deathwing Knights.

With all the highlights to do on the Terminators I’d been put off and switched to these, now it’s time to switch back.

But, when the Deathwing are done I need to get all these metals up to scratch, then shaded so I can focus on the fun of the armour plates… oh and all the weapons. It’s weird because with so few figures in a Titan army I was deluding myself into seeing this project like a Warhammer Underworlds Warband, but with 2 Warhounds, Reaver, Knight AND all the weapon options I should have seen it more like painting a 40k Imperial Titan. Or at least it’s been as big as doing both my Armigers! Mistakes about the task at hand were made, still we’ll get them done in the end.

Adeptus Titanicus – Titans in Manufactorum – Big Build – Prime and Base TO DONE!

As much as I wasn’t feeling the hobby there are always some things I feel comfortable doing and priming is one of them, because as sure as eggs is eggs I’ll get my mojo back eventually and if I’ve got stuff ready to go then I can speed things along immeasurably.

So on top of the priming and basing I did a quick pass of vermilion. The Warplock Bronze is going to be a nightmare but still more progress than I planned.

The Reaver got bronzed [even though I planned on doing them silver I just couldn’t]. Those arms need doing…

Warhounds also got done. They were primed black and then I did a quick grey prime for the armour panels but it was a much lighter primer than I expected and satin too. It won’t be an issue in the end but it was a setback when it happened.

All the bases have been further highlighted since this. I am discovering I hate doing all the metallic armour edges – it fills me with no satisfaction whatsoever. I’d be even more stressed but I have now clung to that most important rule of painting.

I’m convinced I can cover all the crap bits, and everything that’s gone wrong in the end. I have to be patient which is frustrating as I actually just want to get them done. They were completely off-list but they look gorgeous and will be awesome when they’re finished – I have no doubts… although the guns I’m not so sure about 😉

Big Build Galactic Stamp of Approval for basing these puppies.

Adeptus Titanics – Titans in Manufactorum – Big Build – TO DONE!

It seems like ages ago now when I visited Liam’s to drop off his Adeptus Titanicus, we spent the evening building Titans and then I crashed my car on the way home. Here are the fruits of our labors. Liam was responsible for the Warhounds and Reavers…

I somehow only had to build the Cerastus Lancers. We’re going to be sharing painting duty so we can get them done quicker, but he was also going to be magnetising all the weapons [which eventually took an entire day].

For the Knight I would paint I tried to emulate the pose of my own Lancer.

Funnily enough the legs are oppositely position to my full scale version but the pose is indeed similar – braced for impact.

He passed on the Reaver and Warhounds before lockdown so I got the base done, using Valejo Red Oxid paste for the majority of the basing material.

Some bits of slate and granny grating added some variety.

And some pipe work and the odd bit of gravel and these babies are already for priming.

And so I get my Big Build Big Galactic Stamp of Approval – yay!

Adeptus Titanicus unboxing

As we all face Covid-19 lockdown I thought I’d just post some stuff. Here’s an unboxing of the new Adeptus Titanicus set that Liam bought.

Afternoon #warmongers there’s been a lot of love online for #AdeptusTitanicus recently and that has lit a fire under my mate Liam to get into it. I had seen the Grand Master box for £162, but in a 25% sale for him, but when I went back the following week discovered the sale had finished that weekend!

Anyway, GW brought out the new starter set and I offered to pick one up for him from Element Games [don’t forget my code: DAV910 for DOUBLE Element Crystals] as it’s only a short train ride from work in my lunch. Adeptus Titanicus was possibly the 2nd boxed Games Workshop game I bought, in fact I still have the box and most of my original figures. If you go back to the start of my blog you can relive my history with this game.

I actually think this new box is great value, mainly in-part from Element’s great discount – £72 all in. A Reaver titan is £35 on it’s own and you get two so that’s £70. For the other £2 you get two Warhounds £34, two Cerastus Knight Lancers £17, the accessory sprue £10 and the full game rules [which are more up-to-date than the Grand Master edition]. So at least £60 of savings, not including the cost of the rules and the dice etc.

Once inside you’ve got your sprues.

2 of each for the Reavers.

The Cerastus Sprue, that has all different faces to personalise your Knight. I don’t think I’ve seen any other Cerastus weaponry elsewhere but I think there might be rules for them in the box.

The Warhound sprues and the weapon sprues, which I think are the 2 Reaverr weapon sprues that make up the more expensive ‘Reaver battle titan] kit and the Warhound weaponry that gives you all the rest.

Accessory sprue. All the little cog shapes are trackers for your Titan Command Terminals. In the Grand Master edition they’re printed on 2mm cardboard with holes punched for the little nubs on the back of the cogs to fit in. In this kit the terminal is a thinner card with no holes. This keeps prices down and means they supply them as standard in the Titan boxes now. It’s a simpler solution but game-wise you may want to stick the cards to 2mm MDF or cardboard and drill/punch holes to except the marker nubs, otherwise they’ll be skittering across the table with sadistic glee.

Hooray for blast templates, nice to see they found a use for these again.

The now customary art sheet, keeping the paper rules separate from the stabby sprues that might otherwise leave marks and dents in the new paper books and materials.

Some simple decals, rulebook, cards, terminals, stratagems and bases.

I’ll be delivering the box to him, we’re going to have a bit of a build session and much like Blackstone Fortress I’ll be helping with the painting so we can get playing. A lot of this feels like we’re entering into another game system but I think that’s in part because 40k feels so complex and convoluted now. I think we’re all after something a little simpler, with less rules upon rules. Although I see there a re ‘detachment style’ benefits to certain maniples of titan hopefully it’s a stabler set of rules that aren;t ripe for abuse.

Knights in Manufactorum – Renegade Knight banner

I had long felt that the base of my Imperial Knight Crusader – Lady Pettorini was missing something. There was a significant amount of empty space and I concluded a tattered Renegade Knight banner might break up the expanse of Red Planet BASE without adding any height [which I didn’t want]. The initial plan was to get my mate Liam to paint it – he has Chaos/Renegade Knights and also a Nurgle Chaos army. I desperately wanted Lady Pettorini smashing the face off some filthy pox-ridden servant of disease -it would be poetically just. However, I eventually came to the conclusion it was something I had to do for myself. I wanted the banner itself to be a stained cream colour, so I could play around with washes to make it grimy. That meant the skull had to be black to stand out and the Nurgle symbol for my son’s tumour could sit right in the middle where she could stamp right down on it. I also added the PXA acronym for the type astrocytoma [although actually it’s an APXA]. Surprisingly I haven’t looked too much into it – the fact we were told it was not as bad as they first thought meant we were just relieved and got him through the treatment. It’s only know we’re in a frame of mind where we have questions that require answers.

As freehands go it went OK, the skull isn’t quite as defined as I’d like but it’ll do. It was subsequently glued to Lady Pettorini’s base, I added some back around it as it was spreading disease corruption and also some Anita’s 3D Dimensional Glossy Black paint for thick black corruption bleeding fromthe cursed banner.

Now it’s done it might be a little over-powering on the base than I’d originally intended. But a foul diseased banner, by its very natures, was always an imperfect thing so the fact the base is not perfect is inevitable. Ultimately it had to be done, it was cathartic and this post is cathartic. We are still a long way from relaxing about this situation, more than 4.5 years still to go and it’s small displays of defiance like this that help me through it.

I’ve potentially got another hobby related protest against this filthy disease lined up, which could be different to my usual stuff. Just have to wait and see if it pans out. Anyway, this got entered in the monthly Warhammer Manchester Battle of the Brush monthly challenge for ‘large models’ and I should actually take it’s gallery pics too at some point…

1750pts battle report – Imperial Knights & Dark Angels v Tyranids

Otty had a free evening and wanted to arrange a game but that created a problem as I wanted to run my Knights for convenience but I was certain Otty’s Tyranids would be on the road to a hiding if I did. Once again I looked at some of the narrative missions but as it turned out we went with the same mission I played with Liam – the Echoes of War mission in Vigilus Defiant called Forlorn Charge. It was Knights and Freeblades versus Ork Stompas, Morkanauts and Gorkanauts. It compressed the Knights into a 2’x2′ corner with the ‘Orks’ creating their ‘scrap city’ and deploying first. There were also benefits for running a Fortification network and some additional stratagems.

 

What we did was swap out the Ork elements for Monstrous Creatures. This wasn’t too bad really as victory conditions were for my Knights to destroy all his Knights and buildings for a Major Victory, Minor if I killed more than were left alive and Defeat if it was any other result. Otty went with 2 Tyrannofex, Old One Eye and 5 Screamer Killers, a Harpy, a Trygon and a Trygon Prime and a load of Hive Guard which we put in his Bastion with a Quad Gun. All in I think he had around 2,000pts [not including the Bastion].

Otty deployed the terrain and put the Bastion [gaining 3CP extra] in his back corner out of reach of my Knights with the Hive Guard inside. The Tyrannofex and Harpy offered support.

But he deployed the Carnifex right opposite me just 12″ away. Now the mission stipulates I would get first turn but I realised with his Carnifex that close my Knights would stomp all over them so I gave him first turn. Tyranids had raised a barricade across the battlefield to slow my advance down.

The Tyrannofex shot at the Lancer, doing some damage with the Harpy. The Hive Guard were out of range. Otty’s scratchbuilt Spore Pods almost look like they’ve just disgorged the monstrous brood, they did however form sufficient obstacles to prevent a straight run at my Knights.

So charge distances were not a sure thing at least.

Out of the 6 Carnifex OOE and 3 others were the only ones to make their charge. A bikes took mortal wounds from the charge, then Lady Pettorini was battered, first one Screamer Killer taking off 3 wounds, then another taking 3 more. Then Old One Eye ripped her to pieces with 18 and thus illustrates our lack of experience. OOE should have gone first and then I should have interrupted, but I forgot and Otty was systematically going from left to right instead logically going from best to worst.

To cap it all I eagerly wanted to blow up, hoping to use the Noble Sacrifice stratagem but was reading the Valiant Last Stand, which would have allowed me to attack if I didn’t blow up and I got a 6, so it blew up anyway! I could have re-rolled and then used the strat but it was all so farcical. Bikes died in the explosion a Carnifex took 5 wounds, OOE and another 1 and the final one 6. Ser Ellenbogen and and Armiger also took damage.

With the Carnifex being the immediate threat I repositioned, with the Ravenwing falling back, Ser Ellenbogen vaporising one Carnifex and the Warglaive taking another. I charged the three remaining monsters and killed OOE, but Otty used the strat to attack before he dies – putting wounds on my Knights. He then used the interrupt strategy too! Suddenly my combat phase was Otty’s and yet more wounds went on the Knights, the Lancer was down to 13 at least.

It was not enough though and Warglaive and Ser Ellenbogen wiped the Carnifex from the face of the planet, just the last remaining Carnifex in that corner. It was quite surprising how ineffective OOE was this turn, to which I think I recalled in the first round we’d been doing 2’s to wound on the Knights when it should have been 3’s.

My second Warglaive had tried to bring the Harpy down but failed due to being damaged. The Harpy returned the favour in Otty’s turn 2 over-flying the Knight and leaving Spore Mines in my DZ.

But with Heavy Venom Cannons the Armiger couldn’t stand.

 Bursting from the ground the Tyrgon and Trygon Prime were possibly going to stall my advance and allow the Tfex another round of shooting. I think the second Warglaive was their target and I burned a re-roll to keep it’s last wound and force the second lot of shooting on it.

It took the brunt and fell, sacrificing itself to leave the larger Knights [mostly] unmolested.

Ser Ellenbogen smooshed the Carnifex and moved off, with neither of the Trygon’s making their charges – the Tyranid barricade proving equally disruptive to it’s own as well as the Knights.

But not in my turn as the Lancer stormed behind one Trygon and Ser Ellenbogen went for the Prime.

Inevitably the Tyranids couldn’t stand against such titanic opponents and both Knights consolidated toward the remaining monsters and Bastion.

The Tyrannofex were not to be steamrolled so easily though and took all but 1 wound off the Lancer with their Rupture Cannons and the managed to take it down with a single Stinger Salvo wound that I failed to save. With the Lancer gone Ser Ellenbogen couldn’t make the charge to the last Tfex [the other one shot by the Thermal Cannon]. And with that we called it a night, I’d secured a minor victory with the Carnifex gone anyway.

Thankfully Otty felt like it was a good game but clearly it was very one-sided in favour of the Knights, despite:

• 250pts+ extra
• a free Bastion
• first turn advantage
• Deployment map having just 12″ no man’s land
• OOE wounding on 2s instead of 3s
• forgetting to ‘interrupt’

It just illustrates the advantage Knights have over some other factions [or in general] and taking into account I’m not a good player too! Next time I’ll go back to Tyranids as I think there are learning opportunities for us both if we run the same faction, much the same way as I learned things when Liam and I both had Knights. With hindsight the Hive Guard were wrongly positioned in the Bastion, if they’d been in the crater behind the Capillary Tower they’d have been double shooting each turn. Also the Trygons could have been on the board with the Carnifex or on my other flank to force me to split my army up. Again that 12″ No Man’s Land and first turn could have been used more to Otty’s advantage. Hindsight = 20:20!

1750pts battle report – Imperial Knights & Dark Angels v Renegade Knights & Chaos Space Marines

Liam had observed we haven’t had a game for a long time so we arranged get together but what to play? Having tried Kill Team and Deathwatch Overkill we thought it should be 40k but as I had the chance bring my [mostly] Knights for convenience and their first march AND the fact Liam is the only one with a similar company of Knights it seemed like a more balanced match up. That said he has Renegade Knights which only have access to two stratagems I wanted something different, more narrative.

There was an Echoes of War mission in Vigilus Defiant called Forlorn Charge. It was Knights and Freeblades versus Ork Stompas, Morkanauts and Gorkanauts. It compressed the Knights into a 2’x2′ corner with the ‘Orks’ creating their ‘scrap city’ and deploying first. There were also benefits for running a Fortification network and some additional stratagems. I thought this might help Liam out but it transpires the Attacker gets all the coolest extra Strats but even so Liam deployed the terrain and chose his Fortress of Redemption as a Fortification [gaining 3CP extra]. Liam spent some time trying to get the 1750pts but as it was ‘narrative’ and I had all the Knight strats I was quite happy for him to have significantly more points. Victory conditions were for my Knights to destroy all his Knights and buildings for a Major Victory, Minor if I killed more than were left alive and Defeat if it was any other result.

He built the ‘scrap city’ as you would expect – shattered ruins just inside his DZ with my zone devoid of terrain. There was a nice ‘choke point’ between the two ruins so I couldn’t assault the Fortress en masse [theoretically it could be one shotted by the Lancer and the Gallant]. A thin bubble wrap of Cultists were going to prevent those shenanigans, while the rest hid indoors. Craters in both access points to his DZ would also slow my charges, which fit the narrative mission description in place of barricades.

A unit of Obliterators were in the middle building with a Sorceror, the two Knights at the back of the board. Abaddon would teleport in with two other units of Oblits. I had my Galant, an Errant, Lancer, two Warglaives and a Dark Angel Outrider detachment of three units of three Ravenwing Bikes and a Techmarine. I got first turn but Liam won the initiative, which he was initially going to give up but I pointed out he’d get a turn of shooting with the Oblits if he didn’t. So he shot at my Lancer, stripping away 6 wounds [I think].

With my turn I pushed forward, the Lancer mvoing at Flank Speed round the top of the ruins, on the other side a Ravenwing bike squad could just fit down the alley between the suin and the board edge. The other Knights filled out the middle.

Ser Ellenbogen held the centre ground with his primary concern the Obliterators in the ruins.

All my Knight’s heavy weapons fire was put into the Oblits, with some obseceleny good dice rolling eventually wiping them out.

The Warglaives added their guns to the mix, while targetting the cultists with their lighter weaponry. My Lancer had discharged it’s Shock Blast into the Oblits too but it had a bigger target in its sights for the Combat phase.

Those Ravenwing that hadn’t advanced poured Bolter fire into the Cultists trying to thin their ranks and remove the bubble wrap to the Fortresws.

My Lancer made it into combat and I was able strip all but one wound off Liam’s ‘Black Legion’ Gallant. Probably wished I’d fired that Shock Blast at it.

The lancer was outnumbered now, the Khorne Gallant stepping in to finish what the other Knight couldn’t, but not before the Chaos Sorceror had cursed the Lancer so it could no longer make use of its Invulnerable save – that 4++ Ion Gaunlet Shield going to waste this turn.

Thankfully it’s 2+ Armour of the Sainted Ion save had managed to keep 1 wound left on the Knight and by interrupting I was able to destroy the Black Legion Knight. The Khorne Knight finished it off.

Abaddon [Typhus] and two more units of Obliterators teleported into the middle of the board, blasting away at Ser Ellenbogen. I think he took significant wounds.

Ser Ellenbogen charged into the Oblits and Abaddon, joined by two units of Ravewning, one of which was totally annhiliated by overwatch when they charged in – a really stupid decision.

Ser Ellenbogen fell, either by the same fate as the bikers or in combat, but not without his reactors overloading – wiping out one unit of Obliterators, wounding Abaddon, killing another Oblit, possibly the Sorceror a bunch of cultists, 2 Ravenwing and wounding both Warglaives – he sold his death HARD!

With the path clear Abaddon moved into the breach. One Warglaive was blasted to pieces by the remainign Obliterators while Abaddon would wipe out the second.

Lady Pettorini had traded blows with the Khorne Gallant and would finish it off this turn but was down to just 4 wounds. Those double sixes probably helped [perhaps if I’d written this report the day after as I intended I might recall what it was for] I had not known they got 5 attacks and hitting on 2s, Liam asked if I’d actually ever read my Codex!?

As it was getting late we decided to call it, we tried one last ditch attempt to get Lady Pettorini into combat with the Fortress – an 11″ charge would have made contact and she’d have auto hit 5 times wounding on 2’s and 6 damage potentially wrecking it in one turn, but she couldn;t make the charge.

I think Liam faired much better than he expected. I realised the next day he should have had all the Oblits on the board from the beginning. Two other squads would have taken down on of the Knights in turn 1. Then if he’d swamped the crater with the Cultists it would have stalled my adavnce through the middle [not that I actually got far through the breach] and his other Oblits could have held the Fortress, which hadn;t been particularly effective with its own shooting – that BS 5+ is rubbish. Remember when its missiles use to be Vortex missiles, now they’re some anti-personnel rubbish.

Anyway, a good game even if I did lose more Knights than I’d like but I always do. However, Lady Pettorini survived and killed a Knight so I’ll have to give her an honour badge/purity seal. Overall it was just great to get to use them and see how Liam played so I got more experience. Although I probably still had more advantages with the stratagems, Liams extras – deployment, Fortifications, more CPs and stealing the initiative really helped to balance it out and lthough I took the minor victory it was a very close game.

Imperial Knights – House Corvus Twins in manufactorum pt14. Interim TO DONE!

With a bit of a push these are ‘mostly’ complete. OK so some weapon options haven’t been finished, some haven’t been varnished and the banners haven’t been added. Not to mention these pics are just what I set up in the back room, when I probably need to do some ‘proper’ ones but that can be said about a number of completed projects recently.

But they are done and if you see all those folk claiming their models are ‘done except for the base’ – so they’re not done! I think I’m owed some latitude but right now, regarding my To Do List, if it’s all I complete this Season I’m happy with that. It’s unlikely this would just be it, but all things considered they mean a lot.

Which is where the contradiction occurs, because as I’ve touched on before, they mean so much but their game play and the reputation of Knights in tournament setting are just at odds with how much I would love to play them.

Sadly you can’t even dilute your force with other Imperium without being dubbed a ‘soup’ list player. It’s a no-win scenario and it’s just a bit galling really. You never know, now I have 4 Knights and 2 Warlgaives they could play differently but we’ll see when I next have a ‘friendly’ game with my mates.

Lady Pettorini, she’s going ‘full tilt’ on this. Really looking forward to showing them off at some point.

But I think I may have titled them wrongly, in that their namesakes – one is short and one is tall and I’ve switched them because this Gallant will be at the forefront and part of me thinks that representing that spirit was more fitting, than actual physical stature.

But I’ve already caught myself accidentally calling this one Lady Pettorini, when it’s Ser Ellenbogen.

Considering I was originally not a fan of this face plate I absolutely love it now. As soon as I put it on I could see no alternative.

I’ve started a banner for this, but I can’t imagine it will suit unfortunately. The space between the legs would be too cluttered I think.

The Gallant also has a banner that’s less progressed but it might still fit and not spoil the silhouette of the model as it is ‘in flow’.

Top view, sometimes I wonder how this stuff happens. I’m under no illusion this is Golden Demon level but I can;t quite comprehend what I’ve achieved. perhaps it’s rooted in my history of not finishing things and now I do, to a standard I’m more than happy with.

I never expected this model to feel so ‘alive’, given the static pose, but somehow it does look like a captured a moment with it.

These are my desktop/wallpaper pics, suitable for phone or PC.

Although my Armies on Parade background is a little busy. Maybe when I do the Ferron Proxima mat background they’ll be even better.

Something about the cheek guards and their old skool grime sings to me.

And a more sensible right hand image for PC desktops.

50:50 split

And what lies beneath the mask, so you can see what was lost in the eyes with the Tamiya Clear Orange X-26

My House Corvus is ‘complete’. There’s obviously a Castellan I should add, but I’m not overly fussed on the model. I’d love some of the other Cerastus but not really going to explore that. I might get some Helverins at some point but not sure I really need anything else.

If the Lancer is ever an issue – cost/performance benefits I’ll swap it out for Euronymous to keep the other Knights in check and bring the points down. And I actually think the Freeblade rules give you extra benefits without spending CPs for extra Warlord Traits/relics

Anyway, a Big Teal Stamp of Approval for giggles.

Imperial Knights – House Corvus Twins in manufactorum pt13. Heroes of the hour.

Having been inspired to name my Knights after the surgeons who saved my son’s life I finally put paint to the chest plates. Ser Ellenbogen and Lady Pettorini, much better than I thought I could freehand.

And the pipework that will be covered up by the chest plates. I really wish these could be more visible but it says a lot I’ll hide it all to recognise, however trivially, the efforts of those surgeons.

And more pipework to be obscured.

And verdigris. Once again it’s just Army Painter Hydra Turquoise thinned with water, blotchy in some places but that’s what happens when you ‘batch’ two knights at once.

The line between red and cream/white on the ion shield didn’t work for me so I did a quick cog pattern freehand, still not perfect but better. With the knights mostly done it was time to bring the weapons up to scratch – so many of them, my patience was flagging.

And then I threw this spanner in the works – yellow/black chevrons on some of the options [I’ve done 3 battle cannon barrels now]. Starting with orange…

Then Iyanden Dark Sun.

While everything else was Vemilion highlights.

Until eventually it was a mass of bits awaiting varnish or glow FX.

Something about the Gallant base was still ’empty’ so I figured a wrecked banner might balance it out and I had an old one doing nothing.

I then distressed it further. This will be some kind of Nurgle affiliate. I’ve asked Liam if he’d paint it as he has a Nurgle army and it keeps it connected to our group, but it has to be Nurgle as testament to these Knights conquring the disease. I’ll get it to him at some point to paint up.

Meanwhile I added some paint on the generators. This will be coated with Tamiya Clear Red X-27 so it’s just underpainting to suggest some internals.

I also blobbed on some highlights in the eyes.

 These will be covered up, not just by the faceplates but the Tamiya Clear Orange X-26. Sad really, there are some nicely painterly splodges I really like that have since been lost 😦

And next the joys of glow FX and varnish…

Imperial Knights – House Corvus Twins in Manufactorum
Parts: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 |

Imperial Knights – House Corvus Twins in manufactorum pt12. "Weather ’tis nobler in the mind…"

Battle damage and weathering is the next step and I’m painting this on in some fashion that pretends to be random/natural but is probably not random/un-natural. But it’s the way I’ve done it on all the Knights so at least it’s consistent.

And I’ve mixed the shoulder pads up in these, the studded and white cog band go on the one above, thanks to me mixing up the Metallica decal, the white one was also supposed to go above and the black Meatllica on this one to match the black cog band, it’s so confusing !

I stippled on more Rhinox Hide onto the dome, having also sponged Valejo Sun Yellow in places to make it brighter. However I’ve not so much gone the other way but made the whole thing a little too contrived.

The yellow was very much a halo round the base of the dome and a little too uniform.

So I sponged on some more Iyanden Sun and Sun Yellow on one facing, which gave me enough room to stipple on a big number, which I did roughly on the four compass points [although very faint where it’s rusty.

Still a fair bit to do on the base, but the bone white chips got done when I had some spare paint on my palette.

I wanted to do something on the knee, but also didn’t so I just added a skull badge. I’ve said before I don’t like to add honours the Knights have not earned, making decals difficult after battle damage. But this is a campaign badge – a skull to honour my son’s surgery! You’ll also note those torso ball joints have been stripped back to bare plastic. I tried to keep them painted but they just won’t. It doesn’t matter so much, they’ll never be seen.

Yellow rails…

Again, it’s very difficult to convey just how fulfilled this makes me feel. The simple decision to go with yellow rails instead of what I’d normally have done – bronze. I mean it is SOOO busy looking, your eyes are drawn all over the place but it speaks to me like few models have, I can’t wait for them to be complete.

The AdMech cog studs also got painted. Such a simple kitbash and I was unsure about its execution.

But it’s come out really well and I’m so glad I did it.

While I was at it I added some damage to the Gatling Cannon and Carapace Launcher from my first Knight too.

Face plates also got weathered and all the bonewhite areas were highlighted along with the name scrolls on the chest plate. The Knight Gauntlet also got damage and I applied some darker turquoise on the bronze in places where the previous verdigris effect had thinned the paint so much it had ‘split’ and left it white in the recesses.

Lots more still to do but this was a big milestone as the damage requires effort, control, patience and actual creative artistry. The upcoming verdigris and glow effects actually require less skill but they’re the final hurdles… except for all the weapons that still need doing!

We did it! Radiotherapy at the Clatterbridge Cancer Centre for my hero was done and dusted last Friday. Slightly anti-climactic after everything but hopefully that’s it. He has an MRI scan due in 3 months but we’re not supposed to put too much focus on that as the radiation will have done all sorts – this is the baseline, the new normal. Our consultant said if everything was ‘normal’ that would be ‘abnormal’. So we’re looking more to the 6 and 9 month scans to give us an idea of the efficacy of the treatment… a long way still to go as this will be the next 5 years.

Anyway, it’s done and we can’t thank Sarah [the Radiologist], Dr Thorpe and all the other staff at Clatterbridge enough for their excellent support and care. We’ll be following all our treatment up at Alder Hey again with Dr Howell, who was in last weeks episode of Hospital, available on the iPlayer for the next 2 months. You’ll also get to see Miss Pettorini, who did the amazing brain surgery on Oscar, also do amazing work on children’s spines. Go check it out these people are awesome.

Now, back to some sort of normality…

Imperial Knights – House Corvus Twins in Manufactorum
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