+ The game itself was part of the PCRC's Antona Australis setting, during the War on Halicarnas. Here, a coup d'etat has been staged against the planetary governor, Amphimachus the Thin. To cut a long story short, the world is now the battlefield of a number of Titan Legions fighting either for or against Imperial Commander Amphimachus. +
+ Our game saw the Legio Sumer-Nikator advancing on a city loyal to House Amphimachus; stoutly defended by Legio Kerberos, Lucifer216's beautiful Titan Legion. +
+ A short and bloody affair, the Legio Kerberos maniple retired from the field as the heavy guns of The Sons of the Temple struck home. +
+ The result rather flattered my tactical skill: Lucifer216 had an real uphill climb after we opted for a straightforward shoot-out. Unable to bring his numbers to bear or flank my force, the Legio Sumer-Nikator maniple was able to focus fire and bring down two Titans before the survivors opted to flee the field. +
+ With that said, I did pick up some lessons on armament. I had set up my Warbringer, Dread Hellespontion, as a dedicated heavy Titankiller, packing a volcano cannon and Laser Blaster alongside its Mori quake cannon. Complementing this was an all-rounder Warlord – Ipsus Granicus – bearing a Macro-Gatling Blaster, Mori Quake Cannon and caracpace Laser Blasters; and 'Old Spiteful' himself, Senex Codommanus. The hoary old Reaver had a Gatling Blaster, Laser Blaster and an Apocalypse Launcher, making him good for taking down shields and finishing things off. +
+ Indeed, it was he who claimed the Engine Kill for the enemy Reaver, stripping the shields for Hellespontion to then batter. The following turn saw 'Old Spiteful' cut the Kereberos engine apart at the knees as it struggled to bring its shields back online. +
+ On the other side of the battlefield, the Kerberos group charged down the guns, only to be stymied by the two Mori Quake Cannons; which gave Ipsus Granicus time to blast away one of the Warhounds in a massive volley of fire. That left the Kerberos forces too much ground to make up. With their remaining Reaver stranded out on the left, and the others red-lining their reactors, Lucifer216 conceded, withdrawing his Engines. +
+ Far more important than the result, however, was the spectacle and experience. I love how Titanicus games look, with mighty war engines striding over devastated cityscapes – and all the better to have the opposing force so beautifully painted, so thanks Lucifer216! +
+ My selection of weaponry was mostly aesthetic (well, and wanting to use the ruinously expensive Forgeworld guns I'd bought for Ipsus Granicus), but while playing I really found that they 'felt' right – the Macro-Gatling Blaster felt like it was throwing out a barrage of howitzer shells, while the staggering, slowing effects of the quake cannons was very cinematic. Altogether very nice mechanics to this game. +
+++
+ Painting the Princps +
+ With enthusiasm high, I wanted to do a spot of painting. Having been grinding through the Titans themselves, I wanted a bit of a palette cleanser, so turned to polishing off the Princeps models:
+ We've seen a few of these before [+noosphericinloadlink embedded+], including Teutares Polassar, Princeps Senioris of the battlegroup and master of 'Old Spiteful'. He's front and centre above. I hope you'll indulge me in sharing them again as part of the group alongside the new finished figures. +
+ This group is a bit unusual for me. I don't really consider myself a 'collector' of Citadel miniatures per se, as I'm far more likely to chop up and use models than build them stock, but the Princeps range is small enough and lovely enough that I have built a little collection of them as-is. I'm still on the lookout for the Rogue Trader-era ones, and – probably a bit of a Holy Grail set – the crew from the 40k-scale Warbringer Nemesis. +
+ The sitting Princeps is one of the new figures. Nice little piece; I like his scar and goatee. I might play around a bit further with the details, but I'm happy with him as he stands. He's from the 40k scale Warhound Titan, bought second-hand someone on Facebook, if I recall correctly. I think this is the only one of the Princeps models that doesn't have an equivalent standalone non-seated version: the Warlord Titan heads include both standing and seated Princeps, with similar details; while the Reaver Titan had the standing version sold as an exclusive a few years back. I imagine there is a standing version of this Princeps somewhere in Forge World's backlog, but if he does exist, I don't think he's been released. +
+ This figure's relatively common second-hand, as the Warhound is a popular kit and some people build the head closed; I presume selling off the Princeps as un-necessary or to recoup some of the cost. +
+ This Princeps Majoris was a Warhammer World exclusive back in 2015. Perhaps my least favourite of the stock figures, the bionic arm looks a bit crude to me, and the face has a very pinched, thin look that made it a pain to paint. The detail on the face is very stark, too. Once painted, I've warmed a bit to him – I like the clipboard detailing, and the head, while a pain to paint, has given nice tonal contrast. +
+ This Princeps comes with the Lucius-Alpha pattern Warlord head from Forgeworld. It is available to buy as a Warhammer World exclusive. As noted above, you get both a standing and a seated version of the Princeps. This is the only one that I've actually bought as part of the head; all the others I've got as individuals from events, or found second-hand. The head itself is a project for another time, but I'll do my best to emulate the detailing here on the seated version. +
+ He's a bit stiff in terms of pose, but I like the heavier armour plating and the details. This limited figure was likely the dolly for the later Princeps Majoris limited figure above – a cursory glance will show how similar they are. +
+ My favourite of the sculpts, this is one of the few currently readily available, as part of the Warlord Mars-Alpha head kit [+noosphericexloadlink embedded+]. As near to the 'default' as you can get, I think they made the right choice in making this excellent and characterful sculpt part of the flagship design. Again, I don't own the seated version, but I'm always on the lookout. +
+ Again, I suspect the Reaver Titan Princeps provided the dolly for this, which varies only in head and arm position. +
+ This is the generic Titan Princeps, long available as part of a set of three. He came with a pair of Moderati – still the only standing versions available. I have all three thanks to the generosity of my friend Omricon, who gave me his set when he found I was collecting them. They are now out-of-production. +
+ Interesting set; these were some very early Forge World infantry, available long before any 40k-scale Titans, and seemingly because a sculptor just fancied making them. You can see how the design varies from the later ones, but he still fits in very nicely alongside them. A surprising amount is very similar, and I wonder if this figure provided the dolly for most of the rest. +
+ As I say, I'm very idly collecting these. Still to source are seated versions of the Reaver and Warlord Mars-Alpha head Princeps, and all the Warbringer crew – if you know anyone who's looking to offload them, please point them my way. +
+ I have the standing moderati and seated Warlord Lucius-Alpha pattern on my painting table; and I'm planning to use the collection as an excuse to build more Techpriests, too. I have the Reaver Titan techpriest, which you can see through the link here [+noosphericinloadlink embedded+], and want to get my hands on the standard Forge World techpriest – still available – which I think provided the dolly for the Reaver one. The others will perforce need to be slightly different, but I'll have fun creating different looks. +
+++
+ ...and as a final bit of fun, I thought I'd paint the clipboard on the Princeps Majoris to give the impression that he's checking the quick reference sheet from Adeptus Titanicus! +
6 comments:
Wow - some mind-blowing stuff there, especially the small painted QRF. Brilliant!
Absolutely fantastic. Your titan legion remains one of the favourites I've ever seen. I'd love to see more battle reports like this from you :)
Increibly impressive, at so many levels :O
Very kind, thanks.
Thanks, Ben – much appreciated. If you haven't already, you can use the datasieve (search function) to check for battle reports. I hope to have more Adeptus Titanicus ones; just as soon as we've pushed back Nurgle's efforts.
Far too kind; thank you.
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