+ inload: Warhound, Phantom and Reaver Titans +

+ On the Hunt +

+ Titanicus enthusiasm continues ahead of some weekend gaming. Having favoured Battle Titans (and especially Reavers) since I first heard of Titans, Legio Validus is the beneficiary of my first Warhound. +

+ Battle Bling Oldeus-pattern Warhound +

+ I bought a Precept boxed set (a bundle that included every type of Titan then available for a hefty discount) a couple of years back, but have only just got round to building the Warhound – more fool me: these Scout Titans are great little kits. I've used Battle Bling's Oldeus-pattern conversion kit [+noosphericexloadlink embedded+] to get more of a retro flavour. The main reason for this is that I'm going to use the other one of the pair for a Dire Wolf conversion using Grim Dark Terrains' Gallicaedes upgrade kit [+noosphericexloadlink embedded+], so this will help to give a little more visual differentiation. +

+ Both the plastic kit and 3D-printed resin upgrade went together beautifully. I couldn't resist adding a bit more motion to the Warhound, which mainly involved careful trimming around the hips and repositioning the toes. +

+ When re-posing like this, I find the two most important parts are:

• Doing lots of dry-fitting and testing before you commit to glue.
• Having a strong mental image in your head, and sticking with it.

+ Reposing like this can throw up some moments that feel wrong – like putting the foot right in the centre of the base – but it's this that gives the right support for the centre of gravity. Dry-fitting is what will let you check. +

+ I've magnetised the four weapons (plus an Ursus Claw), so I can swap out options. Since I'll be using the other chassis for the Dire Wolf, which has set secondary arm weapons, I'll also have the option for doubling up on certain guns with this 'hound. +

+ A quick spray of Halfords camo brown, and the model's ready for painting. +

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+ Alaitoc +

+ And speaking of painting, the grind continues on the Phantom. I polished off the right lower leg and blue on the D-bombard arm last night. That leaves just the lower left leg and weapons to go. +

+  I'm in two minds on how to paint the Wraith Glaive – whether to go for an eye-catching colour, like bright green or pink, or something more muted, like a ghostly grey-white. I guess if I foul it up, it's not all lost – after all, I can just pop the arm off, as it's magnetised! +

+ These are not the greatest pictures in the world to show what I've done – sorry – but I'm just so pleased with how it's coming along. I'm pleased that I decided to paint the forearm wraithbone, as though the weapon is worn like a sleeve; just seems to work much more nicely than blue. +

+ You'll also spot that I've started adding some dark areas. These are a mix of black, scorched brown and the same dark Prussian blue I used for the Titan's blue armour. It just takes the edge off the black and stops it looking dead. +

+ I'm still very pleased with how it's coming along – and it was a treat to return to blue, a colour I find very relaxing to paint. +

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+ To close, a picture of the Legio Validus Engine above – he was feeling left out. +