+ inload: Standard Autocycle Renewal+

+ [/END] Subcycle MMXVIII – Boot subcycle MMXIX: in progress PART I +

+ Happy new year, inloaders; and hope that the break for Sanguinalia treated you all well. Apologies for not updating over the Christmas break, but I fancied a proper rest! New year is always a good time to look back over things; so I thought I'd start with a quick reminder of some different ways you can interact:

• The Death of a Rubricist Facebook group here [+noosphericexloadlink embedded+]
• The death_of_a_rubricist Instagram account here [+noosphericexloadlink embedded+]
• The shared Alien Wars ongoing project can be joined here [+noosphericinloadlink embedded+]

+ However, the blog here is always at the heart of things, as I prefer the long-form writing. In this inload, I'll go over a few things I've done, and at some point in the short-term I'll do an inload on what's coming up here, and some cool blogs, projects and links that I've found. +

+ Last year's summary post [+noosphericinloadlink embedded+] ended with the note that I wanted to get out and do more with other hobbyists; building some links and sharing ideas. I'm pleased to say that little resolution was a success, as I headed out for a couple of great campaign weekends (thanks chaps!) and got invited to something very exciting. Oh – but that's for next time... + 

+++

+ Resting on my laurels +

+ Something that's popping up on Instragram is the 'top nine' trend, which is basically a quick mosaic of the most popular images you've put on there. Here's mine. Pleased that it's a relatively varied mix of my different projects (quite a few rather shameful unfinished bases though!) +

Top row: Officio Monstrosa Iron Warriors; Alien Wars Blood Angels; Catipürnan World-Turners.
Middle row: Legio Nikator; Praetors of Calth Ultramarines; Praetors of Calth.Ultramarine.
Bottom row: Lamb's World cavalryman; Praetors of Calth Ultramarines; True-scale Terminator tutorial.

+ I am glad to see it's generally the newer stuff that's caught people's imaginations. Bit sad that none of the orks and various aliens made it in – but I think that's fairly inevitable when they're up against Space Marines. 

+ Anyway, it's an interesting result, but not really a bellwether for the upcoming year – I'm quite happy ploughing a little furrow of my own – this is, at root, my hobby, so it'll always be led by what's caught my fancy on a particular day. +

+ Anyway, thank you for reading this blog (particular this very self-indulgent bit!), and I hope you continue to digest and get involved. In the meantime, back to the manufactorum... +

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+ Legio Nikator expands +

+ Adeptus Titanicus has taken root in the PCRC, and I've now finished building my Maniple (for now, at least). With Coropedion, the first Warlord, built, I experimented a bit with the pose of the next, Manifest Law:

+ Ipsus Granicus, known as Manifest Law +

+ The main conversion here was to cut into the toes and reposition them, to look like it was striding through low rubble. I posed the ruins and added some spare rubble to the raised foot to look like the Titan was in the process of kicking through. +

+ A pin runs up the rear leg to help offset the weight, but that's not really proven necessary – the plastic is so lightweight that it's fairly sturdy. Note I've put the ruins on a plasticard platform, rather than embedding them in the rubble directly. Little bits like this can help sell the idea of scale. +

+ These primed shots shows the pose more clearly (I sprayed it black after priming with grey), and also shows alternative carapace weapons in place. As with the rest of the Maniple, I've got these – along with the heads and arm weapons magnetised. I'm erring on the side of gatling blasters for the carapace. Who doesn't love multi-barrelled machine guns? However, I've also converted up some missile launchers with trailing smoke – adapted from a technique I used for indicating damage on Aeronautica Imperialis 'planes, it turned out to be quite a good way to add some dynamism to the weapons. +

+ When building the model, I had to keep stopping myself from posing it looking downwards, as though attacking infantry. This isn't Epic! The final pose brings with it a sense of forward momentum and weight, aided by the angle of the upper body and the trailing fist. A final note – I love the head. It's by far my favourite of the four designs we've seen for the modern Warlord. +