+ inload: converting Saturnine Terminators +

+ Of a saturnine disposition +

I picked up a few models from the release, and have been working on this Saturnine terminator. The conversion's pretty minimal; I just wanted to remove the eagle from the chest and swap out the ray gun for a good old-fashioned boltgun. I also reshaped the eagle's head that forms part of the 'collar' to make an oval setting for a spirit stone pinched from a Striking Scorpion exarch, too. Finally, the helm spikes were trimmed off, and a loincloth was added.

As an aside, what a pain in the [SCRAPSHUNTERRORABORT] these models are to build! Forty-odd pieces to build a single infantryman? Six pieces just to build the power fist arm? While so many bits makes converting more approachable, I can't help feeling that some further refinement could have made things a bit more... fun if you just want to build them out of the box?

While I like the result very much, it took me two evenings to get the model from sprue to this point. I'm all for posability and modularity, but... oof. Perhaps I've just got to the point where time is becoming more of a factor in my enjoyment of the hobby – or maybe I've got too used to single piece metal models again.



Anyway, back to the conversion: the forearm is from a Squat prospector model (the power fist equivalent), which was fairly simple to integrate by trimming the ball of the elbow flat. The storm bolter itself was from my bits box – I think it's from a Justaerin Terminator, though I wouldn't swear to that.

Size-wise, these are absolute chunks. Mine is pictured here alongside a 'truescale' marine and Captain Aethon in Terminator armour (a conversion based on the FW Custodes Terminators). I've put the Saturnine Terminator on two bases to account for the height of Captain Aethon's base.

+++

+ inload: army building in Horus Heresy 3rd edition +

+ Once more Unto the Age of Darkness +

+ Horus Heresy 3rd edition army building thoughts +

+ A new edition of Horus Heresy is on its way, and since some of the PCRC are gearing up to play, today's inload is looking at how the rumours/releases affect my army. +

Brother Eumon, Locrian

+++

A brief note at the start: For anyone hoping for opinions on Horus Heresy news in general,  I'm rather ill-qualified, as I haven't played in years! This is a discursive and rather self-indulgent article about my Ultramarines army alone, not an editorial on the rules or hoo-ha surrounding weapon options – there's quite enough sound and fury about that elsewhere on the noosphere! 

Suffice to say that I don't have particularly strong opinions on things beyond sympathy for people who feel (for whatever reason) that their armies or units feel invalidated. After many editions of 40k and related games, I've got largely inured to the idea that certain things will or won't work quite the same between editions. Sometimes models, units or whole armies go into mothballs for an edition or two – as is the case with my Ultramarines, the Praetors of Calth [+noosphericinloadlink embedded+]. That's fine if you're in the lucky position of playing multiple games or having a collection that allows you to roll with the punches, but I sympathise with anyone who's finding that favourite models are no longer useable.

+++

+ Sorry, who are the Praetors of Calth? +

Turning to the matter in hand, Goonhammer published a useful article on building a Space Marine army [+noosphericinloadlink embedded+], which is nicely balanced and well worth reading through if you want a bit of an overview. 

As an example of the thought process, were we'll look at what changes my army might need, what (if anything) I need to change, and so forth.

It's worth noting that the army has progressed and advanced in-universe as well as in real life. What started as a Great Crusade-themed army has grown and expanded into a Horus Heresy force, and I've had a cast of characters develop quite naturally over time. While I haven't made a particular 'thing' about that in terms of gaming, and haven't pinned things down in stone, I'm always quietly pleased when edition changes roll around and naturally help create milestones.

To give a bit of an insight into this, Holion is probably the best example [+noosphericinloadlink embedded+]. Starting out as 'Holion the Young' as part of the original project, he fought as a Legionary in first edition Horus Heresy: Age of Darkness (AoD). 

 

He was always a bit of a poster boy for the army – I think because he was protecting a civilian (Cassie), which lots of people (kindly) said was a neat touch.

When 2nd edition rolled around, I thought it'd be fun to promote him, so he became Lieutenant Holion, with a new model:

Likewise, a couple of models – Cestus and Telcion – were quietly killed off-camera when they turned out to not be 'legal' in that edition and replaced with new models in their squads; but I remembered their names and used them for Dreadnought pilots.

Little narrative touches like this are all very minor, all very supplementary to the broader game, and likely only of personal interest – but it's something that entertains me, and I'm keen with 3rd edition rolling around to do some more stuff like this. 

I mention this largely because that I've got experience of the frustration of having models suddenly not useable. There's no getting around that beyond house-ruling and chatting with your mates; but if that fails, sometimes you can make the best of things. As the Ultramarines might put it, if circumstances change, you need to either devise a new theoretical and practical. If your army is affected badly by the new rules, then I hope that doesn't mean you sit it out, like I did with 2nd; and that you're able to roll with the punches and come up swinging.

+++

+ Mustering the Praetors of Calth and 190th Company +

'New' Ultramarines from the 190th Company – by this point in my narrative, Holion, the young whipper-snapper from the 15th Chapter Praetors of Calth, had been promoted to Lieutenant, and had been transferred to the 19th Chapter to help command a newly-raised Company during the Muster on Calth.

To the meat of things: in 2nd edition AoD, I wanted to differentiate my older models from newer ones (like the examples above) by making them veterans, but as they were equipped with old-style Tactical equipment (the army pre-dated AoD first edition, being built for the Tempus Fugitives campaign weekends), this was a bit awkward.

+ Glory days of the Tempus Fugitives Heresy campaigns at Warhammer World. I think this was 2010/12ish +

I ended up building some new bolter-armed individuals to replace the special/heavy weapons in those squads, but there wasn't a neat way of making them functionally different beyond using them as Seekers, which I did a couple of times, but always felt a bit 'icky' doing. In the end, I tended to leave them out of the army entirely, and rely on the new models I built almost completely – but then 2nd edition AoD never really took off in my group, so I only played a handful of times.

Secondly, I also wanted to field all my low-level characters – Lieutenant Holion, Master of Signals Pullo, Chaplain Highheart and my Herald – as I was proud of them, and wanted to show them off. The force org meant that 1 had to be left out. A very minor problem, really, but an annoyance.

The new approach seems flexible to the point of fault – the system looks a lot like Legions Imperialis' super-complicated and functionally irrelevant army building, where it takes a very long time to find out that there aren't really any limits on what you can take.

On the face of things, I think it looks slightly more polished than LI, with the Prime slots mechanic a clever reward for basic theming (and allowing me to do fluffy things like allowing Sergeant Mox to have some slightly improved stats to represent his background story of being the senior sergeant in the Company); and not having the awkward Formation break point to track.

+++

+ Good in parts +

So, I can fill out the new Detachment quite nicely:

No High Command – since it's optional, I'm not encouraged to use Praetor-level stats for my Lieutenant-level character; and can just take Holion as a Centurion (command) – and happily he can now take both his Axe of Ultramar and special shield (I forget the name).

Pullo and Highheart fill the other two Command slots, but Holion remains a little bit special as he can occupy the 'Prime' slot, so he feels more in charge (albeit with a brevet rank of Captain, following his commander's death during the initial attack on Calth).

I can then field three squads of ten Tactical Marines (Troops), each with their own Rhino; plus have one of my old squads fielded as Troops with a Prime slot... or I can take two squads of twenty Tactical Marines and my Breachers.

+++

+ Some limits +

Oh, wait... my Breachers have power swords, because that was an option for Ultramarines. So I can't take those... except that they're now a special Ultramarines-only unit (Praetorians). Those are presumably Elites, which aren't an option on the Crusade Primary Detachment, so by virtue of taking three officers I'll have to take those from an Auxiliary Detachment, right?

... Ah. Looks like there's no option for Elites here, so I have to go back to the Crusade Primary Detachment and rethink. Oh – looks like Holion's as-yet unused Prime benefit can be used to take a Logistical Benefit, which will unlock the right slot, so that's that.

For bigger games, I might want to bring in some more specialist stuff – and at that point I start running into choices. I can take Captain Aethon at this point as a High Command choice; but to me, High Command implies Tetrarch rank (i.e. there's only a handful of them, rather than being 'ordinary' Chapter Master level), so I'd rather not do that.

At this point, however, I run into a problem. As far as I can see, there's no way to get more Command slots without using the High Command slot. And I haven't yet been able to squeeze in my Herald.

Perhaps I need to get over the idea that High Command represents genuinely exceptional individuals (like Abaddon and Sigismund), and accept that Chapter Masters (in Ultramarine terms, Captain Aethon is an equivalent) are okay to take as High Command. If I do that, then things get a little more fun as I can take an Apex Detachment.

I can now take the three squads of my old Praetors of Calth as Veteran Tactical Squads in the Army Vanguard, which are allowed exactly the equipment the models have (hooray!), and still get Mox as slightly better than Epipatros and Santiagon.

Pullo (my Master of Signals) allows me to unlock the Armoured Fist detachment and take my Land Raider; and Highheart allows me to take a Heavy Support detachment so I can field my Dreadnought Lazaron.

I think that still leaves me with the Centurion (Holion's) two Detachment choices to play with, so I can also bring to the field Techmarine Arius and my apothecary.

+++

+ Stop rambling – what's your point? +

... anyway, this is all a long detour towards a general thumbs-up on the army building. As long as I can get over the idea that Captains can be High Command, this version of Age of Darkness better fits my idea of what an army should look like, is flexible enough to fit my idea of background theme – and I get to field the force as I originally wanted it, all those years ago. 

Is it perfect? No, not at all – I feel very sad for anyone whose army doesn't fit in, or whose hard-built favourite units don't have a place. There's no getting away from the fact that it's a [SCRAPSHUNTERRORABORT] if your old army doesn't translate across or requires cludgy 'counts-as'. As noted above, I know that feeling well from 2nd edition.

Nevertheless, I found the exercise of army building in AoD 3rd edition a lot more approachable and fun than the Legions Imperialis army building experience, which (despite my keen desire to like it and a lot of patience) is about as fun as hammering nails into splintery two-by-fours.

+++

+ New theoreticals; new practicals +

In writing this, it struck me that the bolt-it-on approach of the new way of army building has got my brain fired up for expansion. In theory, I can build more Tactical Marines; or field my Salamanders or Iron Hands (or Silver Stars... or Steel Legion as Auxilia...) as Allied Detachments quick as a wink, rather than having to slog through making 1,500pts+ of them. Being able to game with those smaller forces alongside my Ultramarines is great, I think I'd struggle to have the motivation to build them otherwise.

I think the new system also lends itself to expansion better. If a model comes out that I like the look of, I'm not talking myself out of it by thinking about what I'll have to lose from a set force – and if I decide that I want to field something really weird like an Apothecary-heavy army for a scenario like defending the genebanks, I'll be able to do so without being forced to drag an important officer from the frontlines.

+++

+ inload: Salamanders in the Horus Heresy +

+ A Mantle of Ash + 

I've been building Salamanders again. A few of the PCRC have dug out long-dormant Horus Heresy-era projects, and after their recent 2nd edition outing [+noosphericinloadlink embedded+] I thought it'd be nice to add some XVIII Legion forces to the pot. The plan is to keep things small – in the past, our HH enthusiasm has been dampened by the exhausting prospect of huge numbers of models to paint! – so we're currently looking to work on 500pt projects.

As you can see above, while I'm using the Mark VI box, I'm throwing in lots of different parts. I've got so many odd bits and bobs left over from years of building 'truescale' marines [+noosphericinloadlink embedded+] that I've found I can make a convincingly battered-looking late Heresy style force. The Salamanders, after all, had a rough time of things during the Heresy, being sidelined as one of the Shattered Legions. I've decided to lean into this and avoid having uniformity; it's proving a fittingly thematic way of using up my bits box. 

I've taken the idea of a battered post-Isstvan force, and want to build around this concept. I'm not sure yet whether the Salamanders will be veterans of the Dropsite Massacre, or perhaps an isolated Company that had to find out second-hand that Vulkan had (apparently) been killed.

I very much like the more human feel of the Salamanders in comparison to other Legions (I've always  tended to favour the goodies), but think that it works best when it's balanced with some sense of the Marines as savage weapons – after all, without any contrast, the characterisation becomes at risk of being one-dimensional. To that end, I want this force to be pulled in different directions; torn between their understandable desire to strike back against the Traitors, find out the truth of the fate of their beloved Primarch and Legion, and their sense of duty. And if that leads to some unfortunate clashes with forces that have different ideas of what Loyalty means, all the better.

Of course, I don't have a novel to get these themes across in the force, so instead I'm going to try to create characters who personify things – a triad of officers who have to find a way forward for their Company in the madness of the Heresy. I haven't quite pinned down exactly these will be in game terms, but I'd like to set up some narrative options – a leader who pulls the force towards finding the truth about Vulkan, no matter what (useful for creating a Loyalist-on-Loyalist conflict); one who is more concerned with following the Promethean Cult and serving humanity – perhaps pulling the force towards a more self-destructive/sacrificial direction; and one who wants simply to preserve and consolidate, sure in the Primarch's teachings.

This sword-wielding fella is the first leader built. I'm toying with him representing the Promethean Cult identity, and using the Chaplain rules. I've added some Raven Guard and Salamander trinkets, suggesting he's either an Isstvan veteran/victim, or has had some sort of link with other Legions.

This Adrian Smith Librarian artwork, from the old Codex: Armageddon, is a favourite of mine, and I've had vague plans to make a model based on it for ages. Perhaps this is the time? While I have used Librarians in the past, I've never been a huge fan of magic (the dawi in me, clearly), but the esoteric/visionary aspect of this project makes them seem very fitting.

+++

My existing Salamanders from the Dust of Armageddon project will be pulling double-duty here, too.

... and I have the other half of the Mark VI box to polish off, too:

+ inload: Metalica plans and preparation +

 + Toll the great bell once! +

+ Painting progress +

+ Sound the chime to rouse the Machine Spirits to wakefulness! +

+ I'll need to come up with a suitable Maniple name... +

When I decided to paint a new Titan maniple for the Beachhead event, I was aware that it was a pretty big task, and so it's proving! So... much... trim. 

The good news is that I'm finally getting to the end of the base painting. This has involved lots of subassemblies, of which I'm thoroughly sick; and so it's been a welcome milestone to be able to glue the [+SCRAPSHUNTERRORABORT+] things together at last, resulting in what you see here.

+++

+ Painting plans +

+ Here's my plan for getting these over the line. [+APPENDEDIT: I'll  be striking through bits that have been done since this inload was initially posted, so you can see my progress. +

_1  The next stage for all of them will be adding the black stripes to the white plates, and add some highlights and initial shading to the base coating. This will include panel lining, where appropriate. I'll use a purply-brown for the red, and a blue-grey midtone for the white.

Trying to visualise the eventual colour balance is a bit tricky – I know the oil washes and varnish will mute the colours somewhat, but I'm still having to force myself not to grime things up at this point. For this reason, the highlights probably need to be a bit brighter and pinker than looks right – as the yellow-tinged glaze/filter will warm it back up and bring it back to a neutral red. That's the theory, at least.

_2  After that, I'll add the transfers. Once those are in place, I'll varnish to protect the transfers – I'm still undecided on whether to use brush-on varnish to topically protect the transfers, or an overall spray.

_3  After that, we're onto the oils. My plan is to use burnt umber and raw sienna to bring some warmth, richness and visual texture to the large flat plates, and help the transfers sit in.

_4  I'll then switch over to the additional bits and bobs, so the oils have plenty of time (ideally a week or so) to dry/oxidise. These additional bits are:

• Titan banners (between the legs)
• Weapon banners
• Terminal name plates – courtesy of Obsidian Forge [+noosphericexloadlink embedded+]
• Three objective markers for primary missions: Secure and Hold and Salt the Earth
• Three objective markers for primary missions: Asset Protection and Defend and Extract
• Titan Honour Banner for primary mission: Honour thy Forebears
• Two markers for secondary mission: Deny Them
• Three markers (one Primary, two Secondary) for secondary mission: Glory and Honour
• Six markers (one Shield, one Spear, two Alpha and two Beta) for secondary missions: Priority Assignment and A Matter of Honour.

_5 Polishing up the detail. This is basically everything else – but given a lot of the weathering, detailing and so forth will have been done previously, this should (touch wood) mainly involve polishing up the bases.

Quite a lot to do... Pass the brown paper bag for hyperventilation practice! I'll have to have a think about how I'll do the various markers.

+++

+ Specifics +

+ For quick reference and as an aide memoire, here are my notes for what specific details each Titan needs. +

This retrohammer project is an affectionate update, rather than a direct translation. As noted in earlier inloads, some of the weapon loadouts are now illegal or non-existent, so I'm having to make some concessions to modernity. The same will apply to the details of the painting. I want things to be recognisable, but also to take advantage of the larger, more detailed models. To that end, I'll be adapting bits here and there – these notes should flag the sort of decisions I'm making.

First up is Steel Hammer, Titan of Princeps Prime [sic.] Kurtiz Mannheim, who carked it during the Second War for Armageddon (whisper it low, but these are 40k-era Titans sneaking into a Heresy event).  As the only Titan without a studio equivalent, I've got a lot of freedom here. 

• Black chevrons on shin, stripes on shoulders and above head.
• Update left arm weapon – and redraft list! Shave points to bring in plasma?

Carnivore has had a name tweak to Praeterita Carnivorus. Evocative of the old name, but with a bit more over-the-top pomp and grandiosity of the modern game, it translates roughly to 'Past Carnivore', or 'Carnivore of things past' – a pun I couldn't quite resist. It's also a reference to the Victorian-era polymath John Ruskin, for reasons I'll expand on below. Praeterita was a sort-of biography; an elegy of a lost past – which seemed a fittingly pompous adjunct to this backward-looking project.

Here's the inspiration:

• Paint left pauldron red.
• Black chevrons on right pauldron.
• Update right arm to laser blaster.
• Black diamond and skull on right knee.
• Black Opus Titanica symbol in yellow circle on right knee.
• Yellow striped carapace – though I'm tempted to make this a three-colour stripe (white, yellow, black) to put a bit of space between this and the modern Fire Wasps scheme.
• Yellow groin – perhaps with black transfer to avoid drawing the eye too much.
• Titan banner (between legs) – black skull and two small black kill markings.
• Moderatus banner (left arm): Legio symbol in centre on red field, surrounded by small black icons, surmounted by Opus Machina; all bordered in white and black chevrons.
• Nail icon to add somewhere, along with reference to Lycurgus and Fortune.

Ferratus Tertius is the furthest along of the group, and has served as a bit of a testbed for things. I'm pleased with how he's coming along, though I am erring towards swapping out the Gatling blaster for something a bit more visually similar to the vulcan megabolter, like Battle Bling's cyclone mega-bolter [+noosphericexloadlink embedded+]. You'll note that I've painted the head white, rather than silver, for increased contrast. Heraldically, I reassure myself, it still reads as 'Iron Skull'.

Ferratus Tertius

• Black diamond and skull on right knee.
• Black Opus Titanica symbol in yellow circle on right knee.
• Titan banner (between legs) – black skull and three small black kill markings.
• Moderatus banner (right arm): Legio symbol in centre on red field, surrounded by small black icons, surmounted by Opus Machina; all bordered in white and black chevrons.
• Repaint shoulder armour red.
• Key icon, and reference to Odysseus to be added.

Fors Clavigera is my modern take on Clavigera/Ferratus Primus, and the reason for the John Ruskin nod. Fors Clavigera is a series of essays he published, which outlined his social economics and proto-environmentalism. 

The reference is the three 'Fors' by which the working man could influence things: force, fortune and fortitude – which are symbolised by Hercules' club; a nail (of Lycurgus – of Sparta fame); and a key (of Odysseus/Ulysses) respectively. 

The names of all three of these items are derived from 'Clava' – and so this is a good example of how you can dive into a cool but throwaway name and invest it with a bit more gravitas (or disappear entirely up your own rear end!). Incidentally, it also means that Clavigera is feminine, making this a God-Engine following the old naval tradition of referring to ships as 'she'.

Of all these titans, Clavigera is the one that I think least resembles the inspiration, and so I'm going to try my hand at converting a barrage missile (as seen below), and possibly replace the gatling blaster with an alternative.

• Swap upper carapace for red; include white Aquilla.
• Chainfist to be painted red.
• Black stripes on shoulders.
• Black diamond and skull on right knee.
• Black Opus Titanica symbol in yellow circle on right knee.
• Titan banner (between legs) – Opus Machina and five small black kill markings.
• Moderatus banner (right arm): Legio symbol top centre on yellow field, surmounting black diamond flanked by Opus Titanicus symbols; all bordered in black.
• Club icon, and reference to Hercules to be added.

At the other end of the column is Trismegistus the Great, affectionately known as 'Old Three Skulls', who is simply plodding along.

• Powerfist to be painted with yellow and black chequers.
• Black stripes on left shin (after strengthening white field and red trim).
• Legio symbol skull on right knee.
• Yellow Opus Titanica on left knee.
• Titan banner (between legs) – to add?
• Moderatus banner (right arm): Three black skulls on yellow field with red border.

+++

+ inload: Metalica Maniple WIP +

+ Adeptus Titanicus: Armageddon +

+ More bits and bobs have arrived for my Iron Skulls (Legio Metalica) maniple, so while the armaments aren't final, I've managed to get two Warlords and a Reaver – Steel Hammer, Old Three Skulls and Ferratus Tertius respectively – on their feet and properly assembled. +

+ And here I'm finding the perils of working in painting subassemblies. It's taken me weeks to work up to this point, and I rather wish I'd simply bitten the bullet and just assembled them fully. Every time I come to sit down and work, there's fifteen minutes or so of faffing about trying to reconnect things, remember which armour bits go where etc., and now I'm left with a big scary pile of stuff to work on – all rather paralysing! +

+ Here's Old Three Skulls – or Tricranium the Great, to give him his officialy designation. His weapons aren't final; they need to be married up to the old Epic one. +

+ Our Reavery friend, Ferratus Tertius. The banner has been hijacked from its intended recipient. Having been complaining about the inertia created by building everything en masse, I should balance that by saying it's been enjoyable to be setting the poses so things work in a group. It's also given me the opportunity to dot in interesting bits and bobs for each Titan to make them unique – like the mix of armour plates, variant heads, poses and unique weapons. +

+ Ferratus Tertius, for example, has a custom-built Fusion Cannon, built from – er... a Revaer Fusion cannon and two Warhound Melta Lances. Pleased with how it looks; and while this is intended as a purely visual chance, it could also be used to reflect the Experimental Weapon stratagem or similar +

+ Titan of the Maniple's Princeps Senioris, Malleo Chalybis has all its weapons in place – though I'm still deciding on the head. While I like these classic style heads (available from Battle Bling), I think I'd prefer a little more variety. +

+ As with his smaller comrade, the Steel Hammer has a custom-made gun. This is a combination of a Knight Armiger arm from Taro Modelmakers with a Battle Bling upper arm and an armour plate from a Belicosa Volcano Cannon. I also used the top of the Belicosa to create a proper joint for a Titan, too. +

+ Now just to paint them! Seeing them laid out here is getting my enthusiasm up, so I'm going to aim to bite the bullet and just get started on painting. After all, the journey of a thousand miles starts with a single step. +

+++

+ inload: Legio Metalica plans and preparation +

+ Delving into the depths +

+ Onto the planning tables +

+ With the theme of a new Titan maniple in mind, I've been enjoying musing and planning. Key ideas for the project are:

• Cool poses
• Using Retrohammer schemes on modern models

+ The posing we've looked at in the previous couple of inloads, so today I'll focus on the research for the old paint schemes. +

+++

+ Planning a Maniple +

+ Battle Titans – Warlords, Warbringers and Reavers – are my jam. Now Adeptus Titanicus is at a mature stage, I'm coming round to Warhounds and Knights, but I definitely know that I want to field as many Battle Titans as I can fit into the 1,950 points limit for the Beachhead event. +

+ My research therefore started with looking up the old Titans.  I vaguely recalled a battle report having Reavers in. After a bit of noospheric scouring I stumbled upon this precious node [+noosphericexloadlink embedded+] which links all the Epic articles from White Dwarf. +

+ Armed with this I could check out the articles, roam the noosphere and gather all the data I needed! +

+ The results +

+ This is the initial list, with the Titans drawn from battle reports in issues 179 and 184, plus the Warlord Old Three Skulls, featured heavily in the Space Marine 2nd edition launch, and Steel Hammer mentioned in the Second War for Armageddon background.  Here's a rundown:

+ Warlord 1 +

Steel Hammer – Malleo Chalybis 

• Free armament

+ No pict-capture of a model, therefore, for our gallant Princeps Senioris, but on the plus side, I've got completely free reign with Steel Hammer's armament. +

+++

+ Warlord 2 +

Old Three Skulls – Tricranium the Great 

• Gatling blaster
• Power Fist
• Volcano cannon and vortex missile

+ Tricranium the Great, or 'Old Three Skulls' to his mates, was the Titan used to advertise Space Marine 2nd edition (SM2). One of these came in the box; a reuse of the sprue from the first edition of Adeptus Titanicus (AT1). The studio paintjob – by Mike McVey, is lovely, and there's lots here to provide inspiration for a modern twist on things. +

+ In terms of armament, the arms are no problem: a macro-Gatling and Arioch Titan Power Fist Claw are perfect modern updates. The carapace, however, is a bit more problematic. Neither the Volcano cannon nor Vortex Missile is an option for Warlord carapace, so we'll be seeing Tricranium being fielded with something else – at the moment I'm leaning towards these old-school Apocalypse Missile Launchers for retro appeal. +

+++

+ The Reavers +

+ Four Metalica Reavers make an appearance in three different battle reports. The first was WD#160, where Mark Watts led a then-unnamed Titan, freshly-painted by Neil Hodgson of the 'Eavy Metal team, into battle in the Assault on Barbarius (against Richard Helliwell's Alaitoc Eldar, for the record). +

+ The second was WD179 in Inferno, the promotional battle report for Titan Legions, between Legio Metalica led by Jervis Johnson and Waaagh! Hargluck led by Andy Chambers. The same Reaver appears here, now accompanied by a pair of others (and the Imperator Cassus Belli). +

+ The three gain names:

+ ...and a fourth Reaver appears in WD184's Abomination!, a battle between Ian Pickstock's Imperial Guard and Gav Thorpe's Tyranids. Lots of lovely Knights and two Warhounds, too. +

+ The new Titan is on the top left-hand side; the three are referred to throughout as 'Ferratus Primus, Secundus and Tertius' – I won't copy the whole thing here, but here's a taste. +

+ For obvious reasons the battle reports re-used models as different characters in-universe, so happily I've got at least one potential name for all four Titans:

• Reaver 1: Clavigera/Ferratus Primus
• Vulcan Mega-bolter
• Chainfist
• Barrage Missile 

Clavigera/Ferratus Primus

+ Not an easy loadout to translate to the modern game. The Chainfist is straightforward, but the Barrage Missile Launcher no longer exists, and the Vulcan Megabolter isn't an option for Reaver arms (for some reason). Gatling blaster seems a simple change; and an Apocalypse Missile Launcher could work for the carapace. +

+ I might look at strategems or wargear to see if these can be updated – something that changes the way a Missile Launcher or Gatling Blaster behave in some way might explain things and offer a modelling opportunity. +

+ It's a shame that the modern Volkite Eradicator is carapace only, as this low-strength, shield-stripping, high rate of fire weapon would otherwise be a more creative way of updating things. +

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• Reaver 2: Carnivore/Ferratus Secundus
• Multi-launcher
• Turbo-laser
• Turbo-laser

Carnivore/Ferratus Secundus

+ By far the easiest to bring into the modern game; this is simply a case of using an Apocalypse Missile Launcher on the carapace and Laser Blasters on the arms. + 

+ Since there's not much to say on him otherwise, here's a good opportunity to talk about things common to all four: firstly, the banners, which provide some good inspiration for updating. Secondly, I've just noticed that the three Reavers painted later all have white heads – perhaps an intentional nod to the 'Iron Skulls' Legion name? +

+++

• Reaver 3: Castigator
• Turbo-laser
• Gatling blaster
• Warp Missile

Castigator

+ Annoyingly, the oldest Titan, Castigator, seems to be the trickiest to find good pict-captures of, though happily most of the details are there. From what we can gather in the White Dwarf, this model was painted first, and you can see that he's slightly different to the others – I suspect were painted in a group as they're so cohesive. Castigator has gold trim (unlike the others' gunmetal), and his head is red rather than white. +

+ It's worth noting that not only are details like this perfectly in keeping with the varied and heraldic nature of Titans, it's also all grist to the mill of inspiration. I want to evoke the idea of these models, rather than rivet-counting obsession. Let's face it, despite Adeptus Titanicus players tending towards the older side of the hobby, I very much doubt anyone will recognise my resulting models unprompted! +

+ Weapon-wise, Castigator is another easy fit in the modern game. All of his weapons are simple updates to the modern equivalents: Laser Blaster, Gatling Blaster and Warp Missile. +

+++

• Reaver 4: Ferratus Tertius
• Vulcan Mega-bolter
• Inferno gun
• Plasma cannon

Ferratus Tertius

+ Spoiler warning for a twenty-odd year old battle report, Poor Ferratus Tertius gets downed by a faceful of alien goo that pretty much melts his legs off! +

+ Weapons-wise, Ferratus Tertius is the most problematic of all: none of his weapons exist for Reavers in the modern game, so there are a few options. The heat-based Inferno gun could be reimagined as a Melta Cannon (also having the advantage of providing some much-needed finishing punch to the group); a conversion of this using parts from the new Warhound Melta Lance might be fun. The Vulcan Mega-bolter will have to be treated as for Clavigera at the top – and given the awkwardness of this, I think I might simply use the excuse to swap things out for something completely different and otherwise lacking to the Maniple in-game, like a volcano cannon. +

+ The Plasma cannon on the carapace no longer exists, but it does offer a great opportunity to swap in a modern weapon like the Graviton Destructor – something different would be fun, and the silhouette is evoactive of the bulbous plasma cannon... +

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