+ inload: Upcoming 3rd edition gaming event +

+ Tears of the Eye of Terror +

+ A 3rd edition campaign day +

Astartes – but are they working to defend or destroy Kasr Holn?

 

+ {InloadsummVAL=} Plans are afoot with the good Sinan to run another 3rd edition narrative campaign day; this inload offers an overview. Also present is a look into the Red Corsair Raider kits, with a particular eye on Retrohammer gaming +

+++

+ After Armageddon +

Following the fun of running an Armageddon-themed campaign day [+noosphericinloadlink embedded+], Sinan has twisted my arm (admittedly, it didn't take much convincing!) to help organise a follow-up day of 3rd(ish) edition gaming.

This time, we'll be refighting part of the Eye of Terror Campaign, which you may remember fondly...

+++

+ Staring back into the Eye +

While it's subject to change, we wanted to get as much info out as possible early on, so people can start planning and building their forces. The current plans:

• Aim and rules:
• A relaxed, fun and thematic day of 3rd edition 40k with like-minded hobbyists.
• Rules and theme: 
• Refighting part of the conflict on Kasr Holn, one of the Fortress Worlds in the Cadia system. 
• We'll be using 3rd edition rules, rolling in the later revisions such as the updated assault rules from White Dwarf. These have been collected together and compiled into the '3.5' edition rules.
• We want people to bring the armies they want, so we're very open to people using the Codex they want – as with the Third War in 3rd Armageddon event, if you prefer the later Chaos Codex to the earlier one, for example, you'll be able to build armies using that. Basically, if your army was useable during any part of 3rd, you'll be able to use it.
• Date: 
• Saturday December 5th, 2026
• Location: 
• Hildenborough Village Hall, Kent, UK
• Defenders: 
• Imperial Guard (1999, 2003 and Eye of Terror codices et al.)
• Space Marines (incl. Dark Angels, Space Wolves et al.)
• Inquisition (incl. Grey Knights, Sisters of Battle etc.)
• Craftworld Eldar.
• Attackers: 
• Chaos Space Marines (both the earlier and famous 3.5 codices are welcome)
• Chaos Daemons
• Lost and the Damned
• Traitor Imperial Guard.
• Models
• Whatever you like! If you want to bring out classic models from 3rd, that's great; and likewise if you want to bring modern models or custom conversions, that's equally good – the important thing is that they fit the theme.
• Games: 
• Two* over the course of the day (possibly three – subject to discussion)
• Price:
• £30 or less 

+++

+ Grand Warlord and Aspiring Warlord tickets +

To make things accessible and friendly, Sinan and I are aiming to have 'Grand Warlord' tickets which allow you to bring two 1,000pt lists that combine into a larger 2,000pt army; and cheaper 'Aspiring Warlord' tickets that allow you to bring a smaller 1,000pt warband.

This allows people with large armies to bring a cohesive collection, or if you can't decide whether to bring World Eaters or Traitor Fen Guardsmen, Grand Warlords can bring both!

If you're a bit nervous about coming along to an event on your own, you and a mate can buy Aspiring Warlord tickets and stick together for the event. Your armies can match or complement each others', but equally if you want to bring your classic Eldar and your friend want to paint a new Astartes Praeses force, that's also cool.

... and if you are happy to come on your own, but only have a smaller army or would struggle to bring a big force on the train, that's also cool – just purchase an Aspiring Warlord ticket and we'll find you a gaming partner or organise smaller games for Aspiring Warlord ticketholders. All the results will count!

+++

+ Hitting the theme +

Theme is at the heart of this event – we want everyone to walk away with stories of the cool events and fun they had, so it's pointedly not a competitive event, and we ask everyone coming to bear that in mind and choose their armies with that in mind.

The Eye of Terror campaign is full of great potential, and rich with threads to follow. There will be some campaign-specific characters and units that you'll be able to add to your armies, and we encourage you to explore the background and theme your army around it.

For the Imperials, the defence of Kasr Holn will be supported by the Chapters of the Astartes Praeses, so if you fancy adding a squad of Night Warch, Relictors  or Crimson Scythes to your army, you'll be able to. You'll also have access to the cream of the Cadian armies.

For the Chaos attackers, you'll have access to Daemon Engines beyond the Defiler, along with some of Abaddon's most powerful Chosen – not to mention some other surprises...

+++

+ Do you want to know more? +

If this sounds like the sort of event you'd like to get involved with, keep an eye on +Death of a Rubricist+ and join the event Discord – here's a noospheric nodelink invite: [+noosphericexloadlink embedded+].

There you'll be able to meet other players and discuss army lists, and tactics and strategies in specific Chaos and Imperial areas.

+++

+ Red Corsair Raiders +

And because it's not really an inload without models, I wanted to show off some of the new Red Corsair Raider models. These are awesome – effectively truescale marines that you can buy off the shelf. 

This, GW, if you're inloading, is what I'm after – more of these, please!

I don't have a huge problem with Primaris Marines, but I do like the old look of Space Marines. These models really bring back that look, but combine it with the new larger size of GW models. Being able to build classic marines off-the-shelf without extensive conversion is bliss.

These are a beautiful update to the old Tactical Squad, improving the proportions while retaining the particular look and charm of the older styles of armour. The boltguns are larger, but not quite so long and 'tacticool' as the Primaris bolt rifles, and the plates of the armour remain nice and clean, with fewer additional plates, panel lines, cables and ports than the Primaris equivalent.

New Marine next to a 2nd ed. starter monopose Marine

... and next to a Primaris-based conversion.

I was interested to see what was possible using the kit as it comes, and I'm pleased to say that you can make a full combat squad of basic boltgun-armed Tacticals, as you can with the squad images. The only additions are a few shoulder pads and a bit of trimming down of loincloths – everything else is straight from the kit.

The kit's a bit limited to be perfect – with just five poses and quite distinctive armour (there's a near-complete Mark III suit, and one that has lots of Mark IV details, for example), you can get away with a couple of squads, but adding more will quickly start to look repetitive without conversion.

Fortunately, the parts are happily nice and compatible with other Marine kits. Heads, backpacks and shoulder pads are perfectly compatible with the older ranges, and the arms will swap out/combine with Primaris arms. I'd suggest the lighter Primaris armour (Phobos) arms will work very well, as they lack the extra forearm bracing.

The Horus Heresy kits will also probably work, but the heads are quite dinky. I'd suggest the HH character kits, which are bigger, for some reason, than the line troopers.

+++

+ inload: Moderati Primus of the Scythian +

+ 'Enact on my mark.' +

+ Moderati Primus Waldemar Styrmir

What can we say of Waldemar Styrmir? Strict. Disciplined. Fastidious in his personal habits, and measured in all things. He is the very model of a Moderati Primus of the Stormlords: capable, decisive and willing to uphold both the order of his Princeps while acting as an advocate and champion of the crew.

He is in line to move on to master his own Titan in time – as war and circumstance dictate – and his steadying presence will be much missed by Scythian, with which he has built a peculiarly close rapport.

+++

+ Reaver crew hierarchy +

The background is fairly vague on how Titans actually work – and probably blessedly so, as it'd doubtless throw up all sorts of contradictions and arguments. Suffice to say that while the Princeps  in a sense becomes the Titan, and his or her will is enacted by instinct as though the Princeps is controlling their own body, there is still the need for a crew.

As discussed in an earlier inload [+noosphericinloadlink embedded+], the crew of a Reaver varies in size, even potentially within a Legio, so when creating your own Titan you've got a lot of space to play in terms of crew size. If you prefer the Princeps to essentially be the Captain of a ship – issuing orders to a large number of underlings, the background will back you up on that; while if you prefer a small crew and more emphasis on the Princeps' direct engagement with the Titan, there's still plenty of narrative space for that. With this project, I'm erring towards the former, both because I like the concept of a crew deck, and also because it allows me to make more models! 

+++

+++

+ What does a Moderati Primus do? +

Number 2; right-hand man; vice-chair, the Moderati Primus is first amongst equals... beneath the Princeps, of course. The Moderati Primus acts as a node to ensure the Princeps' orders are put into action, covering movement and aiming and firing the weapons.

A go-between for the rest of the crew and the Princeps, the Moderati Primus is a trusted lieutenant to the Princeps, and ranked – as the title suggests – above the other Moderati. Some are destined to remain as Moderati, but I like the idea that some that hold this rank show the inherent capability and sufficient promise to eventually move on to the Princepture of a Titan of their own.

For that reason, I've picked a Reaver Titan Princeps model to represent Waldemar Styrmir, the Moderati Primus on Scythian at the time we've picked. This model was an exclusive at a Warhammer World event many years back. I picked one up then (he was painted up as Mauryan Magon, Princeps of Legio Sumer-Nikator's Dura-Yurobus [+noosphericinloadlink embedded+]) but this chap is a subsequent purchase. 

They turn up relatively frequently on sites like eBay – just be aware that there are lots of counterfeit/recast versions of the various Titan crew models, so caveat emptor. It's not my favourite of the various sculpts, being the least dynamic of the bunch, but the raised gorget  and half-bionic head has charm. The stiff pose also works very well to suggest a 'disciplined enforcer' character; perfect for our rather by-the-book Moderati Primus character.

The rod of office (or whatever it is) clutched in his right hand is a nice touch to break up the flatness of the pose – but it's also very fragile, so if you're looking for a second-hand one, keep an eye out that this is intact or at least included.

Painting-wise I used a similar approach to Princeps Sulerian, using Prussian blue and green washes for the unifoom, and building up various metallics for the armour.

The black leather is the same equal mix of burnt umber and Payne's grey as used for the cables.

I tackled the skin on the head with little more than layers of Gryphonne Sepia and Reikland Fleshshade, mixing them with Vallejo cool white for opacity where I needed a little more coverage. It was a fun experiment, and one I'll return to. It works well for these very delicate and finely-detailed resin figures, ensuring very little textural build-up.

You'll spot I have painted the hands as though he's wearing fingerless gloves. That was to ensure a bit of visual contrast against the dark uniform and holster; and in-universe I like the idea that (unlike the Princeps) Styrmir needs to be able to control Scythian both mentally – through the hard-plugged crew manifold – and physically, with haptic touch controls. It's a small way to show that he's bridging the gap between Princeps and the rest of the crew.

I weas really pleased with how the bionic eye turned out. It's absolutely tiny, so getting a couple of layers of teal on there, and a tiny highlight, was the best I could manage, but I really think it pops.

+++

Next inload we'll meet two of the other Moderati... stay plugged!

+++

+ inload: Princeps of the Scythian +

 + 'Yes, my Princeps' +

+ Princeps Proximal Sulerian +

+ Gathering a crew +

+ Building on last inload – about the Stormlords' Reaver Titan Scythian [+noosphericinloadlink embedded+], here we'll turn to the first of the crew. +

+++

+ Princeps Proximal Sulerian +

It's fitting we look at the Princeps first. Captain of the crew; master of the Titan, the Princeps is a special figure, one amongst millions who is capable of bridging the gap between the Titan's (mostly) human crew and the monstrous machine spirit of the Titan itself. It takes a special figure, one of monumental will and strength of mind to command a Battle Titan, and those who do so are forever changed.

Such is the case of Princeps Proximal Sulerian, who has commanded Scythian for more than four decades. The youngest of seven, Sulerian's family was high-hab, and benefitted greatly from in-utero enhancement. The nakedly ambitious Proximal was eventually promoted past his similarly talented siblings through cunning as much as merit; and as he is fond of reminding his crew, he has now outlived them all.

Granted Princepture of the Warhound Cirsium vulgare after service as Famulous to the notable Amato,  and later the Reaver Solaris Summus, the last Sulerian became noted for his haughtiness and personal reserve. It was his rigid discipline that made him – in the Legio's eyes at least – an obvious choice to become Master of the Scythian when its previous Princeps, Wiedbach Lüp, was killed in combat with the orks of the Carmine Cluster.

The bonding proved difficult; with Sulerian struggling to assert his dominion over the Scythian's notoriously fitful, changeable machine spirit. While he was able to coax the Reaver into an uneasy but effective relationship for his first campaigns, Scythian's manifold roils beneath an apparently calm surface, and it continues to rankle and test its Master.

Profoundly affected by his experience with Scythian, the Princeps has hardened further; his cold ambition curdling into a more judgemental character. Away from the Titan, Proximal Sulerian now cuts a saturnine, gloomy figure, haunted as much as empowered by the Reaver. 

+++

+ Painting +

The rich blue is Golden Acrylics Prussian blue, highlighted with the addition of Vallejo's Cold White. I kept the palette deliberately cool and stark, with even the gold braiding being desaturated. 

The slightly glossy black of the pipes and leatherwork is produced simply, with a combination of Payne's grey and Burnt umber FW acrylic inks – this combo makes a beautiful dark mix that works as well on its own as to add depth to metallics.

The armour was produced with layers of stippling; being built up with Boltgun metal (or the modern equivalent, Iron Warriors), Runelord brass and Chainmail. I added Agrax Earthshade touches, particularly in the recesses.

The cold blue-turquoise monocle was inspired by the eyes of the Titans in the rulebook art, which have this particular hue.

To give a sense of age, the skin started over a yellow-grey base [+vizref=above{status=WIP
}+], and was built up mostly with purple and yellow washes.

+++

+ inload: Creating a Reaver Titan +

+ Origines Dubiae – the Scythian +

+ Work in progress +

Scry-chronicle pre-mission datasquirt: {authval: Sensorius-principal Ossteon}

Validity: {principal >14% accur.}

'And it came to be told that Titans would march, and the storm would follow with them.'

Mission parameters:_________________________

+ Scythian +

Recently we looked at the crewing of Titans [+noosphericinloadlink embedded+], with particular reference to the Reaver. That inload covered a lot of the theoretical side of things, so today we'll start looking at one specific Titan, and how we can use the ideas to create some personalities for gaming and narrative.

I hope that the inload covers off how I approach things, and encourage you to have a go yourself. It's great fun!

+ A motley crew... +

+ Where to start? +

There's no need for a crew if we don't have a Titan, so let's work out the Legio and individual Titan. I've been mulling over what Legio to work this deep dive around, and have settled on the Stormlords – Legio Tempestus – for the following reasons:

• Legio Tempestus has a rather peculiar and winding background, with three homeworlds, and good options for the Titan to be Loyalist, Traitor, Blackshield – which also means that it's as general and open an opportunity as I can get for a 'catch-all' generic Reaver Titan crew.
• A 'canon' Legio with an established history both in-universe and the real world gives me the best chance of finding background dots to join.
• As a good example of that, 'Legio Tempestor' [sic.] turned up to help defend Armageddon during the Third War, according to Codex: Armageddon, so there's a great example of those lovely little notes that prompt a story.
• It'll make for a great excuse to get some paint on some AT-scale Titans and create an opposing force for my Legio Metalica (another Legio that has flexibility in loyalty – or at least plausible deniability...)

+ Naming the Titan +

I exloaded on naming Titans back in the dim and distant past, and you can read it here: [+noosphericinloadlink embedded+]. Taking that sage advice to heart, I looked at existing names for the Stormlords. Odrysian appears in the Traitor Legios book:

... and Tempestus appear in lots of other books and rulebooks, notably Abnett's seminal Titanicus and McNeill's Mechanicum. A sample of Tempestus Reavers includes:

• Arcadia Fortis
• Hand of Dominance
• Metallus Cebrenia
• Raxvalian
• Jogozh
• Cerulean Stride

A nice varied bunch, and a good example of not hewing too closely to your theme: a mix of names can give a richer feel to the Legio culture. Here, I 

I played around with some High Gothic names, and mused on using plant names – binomial nomenclature's a great place to find inspiration for cod-Latin. Urtica Dioica, for example is stinging nettle, and strikes me as a great name for a Titan.

In the end, I thought a single-word name would suit – easy to remember and it fits in with the Titanicus rulebook and Horus Heresy black books naming (e.g. Odrysian, Raxvalian). I opted for Scythian, which is general enough to work for loyalist or traitors, and also quicker to say when gaming than a longer double-barreled name!

Like T. S. Eliot's cats, Reavers deserve more than one name, so there'll also be a High Gothic name in addition to its Low Gothic cognomen, but that'll be decided upon in the closing stages of the project, as I'd like to muse on that a bit more.

Next inload we'll start looking at the crew of the Scythian – and how their personalities, and Scythian's own, affect one another.

+++