+ 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.

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+ 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.

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+ 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: Post-Sanguinalia hobby +

+ New year and a reboot of the Visualiser Engine +

+ Reboot from start +

The appearance of a new Rubricist/autoscribe miniature (see below) seemed like a good excuse to look again at the visual side of the blog, so today you can see an example of what I'm thinking of rolling out.


Hopefully it's familiar enough that any long time Rubricists will know where things are, but a bit easier on the eyes. I've also restricted the old font (twelve years of which has made me inordinately fond) to the headings and bits of particular emphasis:

+ Like this +

... in order that the overall experience is a bit easier on the ol' occulobes. Happy to hear any thoughts or objections – otherwise, on with the show!

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+ Work progresses on my Legio Metalica maniple for Beachhead. Just a month to go, and plenty to paint – yikes! +

Perhaps fittingly for raising God-Engines, it's proving quite the logistical task, as I've opted to part-build them, leaving sub-assemblies for painting. This is further complicated by the need to unpack and sort at the start of every session, and tidy everything away after each session, all of which eats into the available time. None of this is conducive to getting good pict-captures!

However, the good news is that the substructure of each Titan is now assembled and his its base coats applied – as in the example of Old Three Skulls above. I've used various dark metal mixes, broadly a combination of Black Legion Contrast, Leadbelcher, Burnt Sienna and silver calligraphy ink, which gives a nice muted old metal. Over this I've applied a variegated wash of Seraphim Sepia and Druchiii Violet (i.e. I add spots of each colour, and allow them to mix into each other on the surface, without intentionally mixing them too much).

The red is a coat of Mephiston Red over Colour Forge's Sanguine Red. While the spray coats well, a thin layer of paint applied with the brush helps to enrich the colour a bit. I want to keep it fairly vibrant, as I'm planning to apply some oil washes, which will mute things a bit.

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+ Lovely gifts +

Blessed fellow that I am, I was very pleased to get a Reaver for Christmas – already assembled, as part of the Iron Skulls above – and these chaps, too:

Regular inloaders may well remember the Throng of Nog, and the new plastic releases for classic dawi are right up my street. Delighted with this kit, which sums up everything I like about dwarfs. I couldn't resist a little conversion work; namely trimming down the headdresses so that the underlying structure of the crown/helms are a bit more apparent for this cyng/thegn.

The bearers are lovely little figures in themselves, with lots of cool details like a the hold's Book of Grudges (visible here on the bearer on the left), and a beer tankard.

+++

...and unrelated to anything except my love of cool sci-fi miniatures, I couldn't resist picking up these two, from the recent Inquisition set for Kill Team.

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+ inload: Painting the Partisans III – Red Fish +

 + Sword, Plough, Trowel, Quill! +

+ Happy new year, all – and welcome back to another year of Death of a Rubricist. We'll kick off 2025 with some painted figures, my own contribution to the Hidden Armies challenge event (of which, more soon). +

+ Sporting one of my favourite colour schemes in the War of the False Primarch project, and bafflingly underrepresented (in my view), are the Red Fish, a partisan Chapter that are the creation of @eatdrinkdeath. +

+ The Hidden Armies challenge event, which finished just before Christmas, seemed perfectly fitting to give them a go – though in all honesty, I’ve been working up the courage to tackle them since pretty much the start of +Some Things Are Best Left Forgotten+ got started, as there are so many neat little concepts folded into them that I wanted to include. +

+ The scheme itself is quite tricky to start – it’s based on the sockeye salmon, which becomes a vivid red. I’m not sure I’ve quite got the hue right, but I’m pleased with the pinky-maroon result. It’s a mix of Screamer Pink and Vallejo Black Red (Gal Vorbak red is a good alternative), highlighted up with the addition of Army Painter Mummy Robes (Bleached bone or the equivalent would also work). Over the top of this, I added glazes of Bloodletter Red, one of the old (and vanishing) Citadel glazes. +

+ Company colours are shown by a band on the right arm – a very cool concept that I’ve not seen anywhere else. @eatdrinkdeath’s example marines belonged to the sixth company, which had a yellow band. I followed suit initially, then changed my mind – I thought one-off models like this were a good opportunity to illustrate a different company. +

+ I opted for turquoise (Sotek Green, I think), as the Chapter has some Native American/First Nation themes threaded through, and I thought it’d work well with the rich red. Plus turquoise is a favourite of mine – and I never need much of an excuse to include it.+

+ The chapter icon is a lantern-jawed salmonid – the Red Fish of the Chapter's homeworld. The red circle is easy to lose on the deeper red field, so I added a little visual flourish of turquoise beads/dots – perhaps a personal honorific, or some form of squad marking. You'll spot similar dots and zigzags on the pouches and holsters of the two marines, which also look a bit like coarse Wild West-style leatherwork. +

+++

+ The addition of the gyrinx served two purposes – firstly, a nod to the Chapter creator's pet cats, and secondly a chance to say something more about the the Chapter, visually. The Red Fish are deeply embedded with the Delphurnean League, their pocket empire (and really more of a commonwealth), and so I wanted to have something that made this more of an action shot. The brief, after all, was for a diorama, so I liked the conceit of the Red Fish working hand-in-glove with the wildlife of their region. +

+ A few extra shots for your (hopeful) enjoyment +

+ inload: 10 days 'til Hidden Armies are revealed +

+ 10 days to go +

+ For those following along with the #HiddenArmies challenge event  [+noosphericexloadlink embedded+] for The War of the False Primarch, there are 10 days remaining (though if your contribution goes up after the 21st, I daresay I'll find a way to slot it in). +

+ Today's inload looks at some Some Things Are Best Left Forgotten material – a mix of Partisans and Pentarchy. Haven't decided whether these will count as part of my own Hidden Armies or not just yet. +

+ Here then are a few odds and sods, and some notes: 

+ Death Eagle (I) marine. You can read some of their exploits in the War by following the tag here. Of all the Pentarchy, I think their very retro paint scheme (patchwork magenta and white) and their are-they-aren't-they background intrigues and repulses in equal measure. They haven't proven as popular as (say) the Carcharodons or Flesh Eaters, but those who have painted them seem to harbour a particular enthusiasm. I'm looking forward to painting up an example myself – I do love a bright heraldic scheme. +

+ Silver Star with grav gun. No particular reason behind this choice of special weapon beyond it lurking in my bits box for ages. Sometimes serendipity prompts things! +

+ A rather splendid character. Perhaps we'll see some more info on him in particular..? This command/veteran squad of Silver Stars has been a good opportunity to explore the Pseudolegion's decorative side – up 'til now they've been deliberately rather anonymous for narrative reasons, but as things close in on the False Primarch and his Astartes(?), I wanted to explore some more hints as to their origins. +

+ A banner bearer (or rather, a banner bearer-to-be, as I haven't got a plain banner yet. I was pleased with the floating laurel wreath on this figure. ++

+ Curved sabres have turned up here and there for the Silver Stars, and I needed another Sergeant or junior officer. +

+ Empty hands are something that I like to include in my armies – somehow it adds to the pose, to my mind. +

+ And a second Death Eagle, in arty monochrome as the base body is distractingly blue. A couple of decades ago, Mark VII helmets were use only as conversion fodder for me and the PCRC – how nostalgia changes things! +

+ ...and some flashes of the Silver Stars colour scheme and markings, if you fancy a little colour. +

 

+ inload: Red Fish and Reavers – painting in progress +

+ What's this? Painting? +

+ WIP, but getting there +

 

+ Oof. It's been months since I've managed to put brush to model, and what better way to come back than with some utterly unrelated projects – a pair of Red Fish marines for +Some Things Are Best Left Forgotten+ and paint on Ferratus Tertius for my Iron Skulls (Legio Metalica) maniple, for The Ashes of Armageddon. +

+ Ferratus Tertius – pleased to meet you. +

+++

+ War of the False Primarch +

+ Dealing with each of these in turn, let's kick off with the news that new articles are going up on +Some Things Are Best Left Forgotten+, so go check 'em out – and there's also a painting challenge event, if you'd like to have a go. +

+ I even worked up a little infographic for it ... and a noospheric link for quick response: [+noosphericexloadlink embedded+] +

+ I don't know about anyone else, but I find these challenges a periodic nudge to dig out models and just put a bit of paint on things. No great plans, no big army, no expectations. A lovely palate/palette cleanser (ho ho) that you can just lean into. +

+ Contributors have been so generous with their ideas and models and enthusiasm for the project over the past few years, I really want to make sure that I do my part and paint up as many of the various factions as possible. For that reason I've got a handful of unpainted Space Marines lurking in boxes – and yesterday I was seized with the urge to paint up a pair of Red Fish. +

+ Will this be my entry for the challenge? I don't know – and happily, it doesn't really matter. The point is just to enjoy painting! +

+ 'Sword, Plough, Trowel, Quill!' +

+ You can read the Index Astates for the Red Fish, or Marines Orcinus, here [+noosphericexloadlink embedded+], and they're a beautifully imagined group. Very nicely developed, they rather resist a quick summary descriptions, but if you don't have the time to inload the link above, they can be seen as generalist marines with a pocket-empire modelled after Macragge. +

+ The creation of @eatdrinkdeath, they're also refreshingly diverse, taking their recruits from hundreds of worlds with very different cultural traditions, and alloying them into making flexibility a key strength of the Chapter. They've got a particular subtle appeal, and I'd love to see more hobbyists made aware of them. +

+ In terms of painting, they're worked up from a white undercoat. I've used Seraphim Sepia on the legs, followed by Balor Brown(?) highlighted up to Mummy Robes. The upper body is a base of Vallejo Red Black, highlighted up with Screamer Pink and Vallejo Cold White... but I'm not quite sure it's captured the vibrancy I was after – hence why they're still WIP. +

+ I sat back and realised I was spending far too long going back and forth over them, trying to get the red right, so decided to call it a night. I think coming back with fresh eyes and properly dried layers should mean these polish up relatively quickly. +

+++

+ The Chapter also offered an unusual modelling opportunity, to tackle a female Space Marine – on the left here. I've used smaller hands, by using a Black Templars scout boltgun (the hands are in gloves, rather than gauntlets) and also reduced the size of the feet by trimming down the soles, which also reduces the figure's height a fraction. The helmet and chestplate have been reshaped – to soften the 'jawline' and to reduce the width of the upper chest respectively – though not particularly strikingly: as with the height, I figure that you wouldn't need a great deal of modification to accommodate the physical differences in power armour. +

+ The most complex change was to cut off the legs and reattach them at a slightly inward-turning angle. In concert with shaving down the groin plate and narrowing the thighs at the outer knee, this gives a slightly different posture, with broader hips. The final change was to shave down the shoulders, pinching in the arms and making them slightly narrower than the hips. +

+ The overall result, I hope, reads 'Space Marine' first and foremost – compare the two figures above – I think it's a nice quirk of the Chapter, but I wouldn't want the presence of female marines to overshadow the rest of the great development work of the Red Fish. +

+ The bold yellow band that runs down the arm is the company colour. Still to go are the other markings (not least the sockjaw salmon Chapter icon on the other arm), and then polishing and cleaning things up. The base is a stand-in for the moment, but I'm rather liking the semi-diorama effect of the two alongside one another. +

+ ...and a minor note to finish; I'm quite pleased with the eyes – I went with an amber approach. It's surprising how much adding the eyes can turnaround a frustrating painting experience; the model suddenly seems to pull in around them, and I find I can then better see what needs work. +

+++

+ And speaking of cool Chapters +

+ Here are some of the other War of the False Primarch WIPs, which I thought I'd share (in some cases again, in some cases for the first time). +

+ Headhunting jungle specialists, the Jade Talons , creation of @adam_james_creates end up making some rather dubious decisions late in the war... You can check out Adam's latest works on Instagram if you'd like a preview of their eventual fate. +

+ The Firebreak: Desert-walking ronin space monks who lost their homeworld (and most of their Chapter) early on. @dizzyeye.01 has come up with a really charismatic take on these Dark Angels successors. +

+ Cryptic, atomic, mystic. The Wormwood Sons of @K0rdhal are a fan favourite – a result, I suspect, of his awesome modelling and mastery of esoteric lore-writing in equal measure. +

+ ...and finally my own Silver Stars – and you'll not have long to wait to read their (sort of) Index Astartes. +

***

+ Ferratus Tertius +

+ ... and at the other end of the scale from very instinct-driven, relatively fast painting on the fly, I spent a very enjoyable evening starting the paint on this Engine in a very leisurely, pre-prepared (arguably too pre-prepared!) way. +

+ Lots of layers, close focus on just a couple of areas – the head and making a start on the upper carapace. +

+ Very pleased indeed with how he's turning out. I'm toying with bringing in some oil washes for this projects, but I'll see how they work out with pure acrylics before making the decision. +

+ The name plate is from Battle Builder – they're running a competition on Instagram (@battle.builder) for some free plates until the 17th, so go give it a try. +

+++

+ 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. +

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