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| Reaver Class Battle Titan from Armorcast |
So far my entries have been mostly 20mm figures, and it has been a lot of fun. But I mentioned at the tag end of my last entry that I was getting an itch to switch over to some sci-fi. Well I decided to do so in a big way (literally) with this entry. This is a Reaver class battle titan, a giant fighting machine from Games Worskhop's dystopian Warhammer 40k setting. The model is 13 and a half inches tall, from the toes to the top of the missile launcher on the top carapace. It's a big sucker!
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| Crew would be inside the "head" |
Obviously this is a fairly unusual war gaming model, particularly for many Challenge participants who don't know much about or care much for GW's Warhammer 40k setting. I will try to provide a little bit of background about these vehicles, this specific model and why I bothered to paint it without blathering on for too long (I hope).
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| Heavy laser cannon of some sort on the right arm |
In GW's Warhammer 40k setting there is always a bigger gun, so to speak, and no part of the setting embodies this more than the "Titans". They are large bipedal machines, armed with incredibly heavy and powerful armaments. Organized in pseudo-monastic formations, each pledged
to a particular "Forge World" (i.e. planet or system given over
completely to the manufacturing of arms and weapons), Titans are of
course the "killer app" of the Warhammer 40k universe. Whoever or whatever human faction or alien race
resisting the Imperium in any given conflict is unlikely to last long
against whole detachments of machines like this.
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| View from the top |
Titans look like killer robots, but are in fact vehicles, walkers with crews - a commander ("Princeps"), gunners and tech-types ("Moderatii") and a few unpleasant/unfortunate former humans who are essentially just installed directly into the machine ("Servitors" - yuck). This Titan, a Reaver class, is a very large fighting machine, but is actually classified as a "medium" class (!) battle titan.
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| These figures are just to show the size, but they are actual Titan Crew figures from GW's Rogue Trader period; I painted them years ago - now they have an actual Titan to crew! |
The Titans first came to the GW gaming table in 1988 as part of a game called "Adeptus Titanicus". The game featured large walking machines battling each other on the table in 1/300 or 6mm scale/size. Fun! The first model Titans were about three inches tall. In time, this game expanded - infantry were added, tanks were added, and more Titans, for the humans and the aliens, were added to the figure line. The game evolved and went through many name changes, but would be known by most GW players as "Epic". Epic was a great game, and because GW is singularly incapable of supporting anything people enjoy, Epic now sits, to borrow a phrase from Curt, "mouldering in GW's IP graveyard." For a relatively recent example of an Epic game featuring a number of Titans, see here.
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| An example of the "tech guys" who would help maintain the Titan from the Adeptus Mechanicus; the figure on the right is a Rogue Trader vintage, but I'm not certain of the origin of the one on the left. |
So how did the 1/300 combat walkers make it to the 25mm/28mm gaming tables? Well, there was a period (in the 90s, I think) when GW had issued/sold a
license to a company called Armorcast to make 40k models. I was just getting
into gaming at this time, and I can remember cruising their web site
looking at all of these models I was sure I would never own. Armorcast
had set out to make 28mm-scale versions of the super-heavy vehicles
which had started to appear in GW's "Epic" game. Included among these
were models of the Titans.
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| "Before" - this the model after it arrived via EBay |
So this model is very old - perhaps as much as 20 years old. I can't recall how long ago the Armorcast license expired, but GW has subsequently issued many, many new models, including many new version of models that were once sold by Armorcast (such as the Baneblade - a really large tank). It also offers models of some of the Titans through Forge World, although those models are beyond my price point and my skill to assemble or paint.
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| A WIP shot of the torso and legs receiving base colour coats |
So why, all these years later, track one down and paint one up now? For starters, as some may have noted in prior Challenges, I really have a soft spot for the old GW "Rogue Trader" era and I actively collect and paint figures from that period. But a second jolt has more to do with a decision last year to dive into collecting figures for the Horus Heresy - see here for more on that.
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| Basic colours on the head |
It was my very good friend Dallas who suggested that, if we really wanted to go nuts with Horus Heresy stuff in 28mm, we would get Titans for a "really, really big game". I thought he was kidding, but he wasn't! He tracked down a model on E-bay. I was shocked - while Dallas is prone to provocational collection escalation, this was a new level entirely! I couldn't let that stand! Dallas connected me with the same seller. So before we knew it, we had Armorcast titans to paint up!
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| More WIP - one of the weapon/arms and the shoulder carapace plates |
But as happens so often with hobby projects, it took a while to get it under the paint brush, which is why this Challenge is great. A few weeks ago Dallas finished off a giant alien walker, and he seemed likely to jump from there to painting up his Titan - hinting as much in his blog post. I suddenly felt the race was on. Having completed a long run of 20mm stuff, it was time to hit sci-fi again, and so I painted this model.
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| Last week - basic colours and highlighting applied, waiting for decals, weathering and other finishing touches |
The colour scheme, and markings, are for a formation known as "Legio Mortis". This Titan unit sided with the Warmaster Horus and his rebellion against the Imperium, so this machine is one of the bad guys. The Titan itself is named "Ferrum Mori". I haven't the slightest idea if those words actually mean anything, but this was apparently the name of a Titan among the forces sent down to finish off loyalist troops in Horus' first action in his rebellion - the purging of his own forces on a world called Istvaan. I have been painting figures for this setting, so I thought this name would make as much sense as anything else I might try.
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| Another view of the laser weapon on the left "arm" - sadly this weapon has just the slightest bend in the casting... |
Assembly of this model is interesting. The model is cast in a very, very solid resin, and the components are bolted together. This allows different parts to be swapped out. This is the only war gaming model I have which needs a ratchet :) I tried to use some rare earth magnets, but it was far too complicated and I didn't want to risk damaging the model while doing modifications, so I stuck with the original tried-and-true bolts.
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| No magnets on this sucker...you literally bolt it together! |
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| You can see the bolt in the shoulder holding the weapon in place; unscrew the bolt, and you can switch the weapon |
The model came with three arm options - two different gun mounts and a giant powered fist, useful for smashing opposing Titans. This is absurd, of course, but I love it and it adds to the enjoyment. After all, if there is a Titan on each side, well, they just have to fight it each other in close action. Anything less would be a travesty!
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| The "power fist" - an arm specifically designed to allow this Titan to tear apart other Titans it encounters on the battlefield; the decal is from the Imperial Knight kit, but I freehand painted the name and banner - I'm surprised at how well it turned out |
The decals are mostly spare ones from GW's Imperial Knight model kit, with some assorted ones coming from spare model aircraft kits. I tried to give it a little wear, but I did not weather it too much. For all of the combat action these things would see, there are casts of hundreds of mechanics who (literally) worship the thing and bring it back to snuff after every single battle. With that in mind, I mostly tried to scuff up the feet a bit, and left it at that.
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| Another view of the "power fist" |
Although Dallas is not participating in the Challenge this year, credible intelligence reports in Winnipeg indicate he is already painting his Titan - it will represent one of the Loyalist Titan orders from the Horus Heresy. While details are still fuzzy, we do aim to have a rather large engagement sometime where we can put these bonkers things on to a gaming table for a scrap - that will be quite a day!
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| I purchased a spare banner from a GW Imperial Knight kit to add some flair; drawings in the books show much larger banners, but those are hard to do and make this even harder to put on a table - or even a shelf - I like how this turned out |
In terms of using this in a "skirmish" game, well, other than perhaps an immobilised objective of sorts, it has no practical application. The statistics of the weapons reflect its stature on the battlefield, and this thing would blow away entire segments of an enemy force with every turn. To take just one example, the launcher up on the carapace is called an "apocalypse launcher". How will your infantry squad do under fire from that? Not a fun game. But a fight against another Titan? Well, that will be fun!
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| Cousins - the smaller model is a Reaver Titan from GW's Epic figure line... |
As for how many points this is worth for the Challenge, well, I'll leave that to Curt. At the end of the day, this is a 28mm scale vehicle - a very, very large one, but still just one. Whatever the tally, it is a real jolt to have this finished and on patrol in my gaming room. Use for gaming? Pretty limited - but for fun, well, this project has been a real hoot.
From Curt:
Dude, that thing is the t*ts!! (Ahem, sorry girls...)
Back when I was a fully follicled 40K dork (as opposed to the denuded 'History dork' I am today) I had one of these bad boys and a Warhound from Forge World in my collection. (Yes, almost grounds for divorce.) They were completely stupid, and as Greg says they have almost no gaming utility, but I've always loved the 'fluff' supporting them in the 40K universe and, hey, they just look so freaking cool. Greg, this Reaver looks waaay better than my stuff ever did. This is amazing!
The purple and copper paint scheme works very well and I really like the heraldry /iconography (especially on it's left leg and power fist). The only thing I would suggest is that each section should be festooned with purity seals from the Mechanicus (a bit of the quasi-religious fluff from the 40K history that I've always perversely enjoyed).
As far as gaming is concerned, I would suggest (here I go again: big mouth / no trousers) organizing a scenario where you have the Titans deployed on the floor in a good sized room. Otherwise I think they will look completely naff facing off on a typical tabletop as the scaling would be just too ridiculous.
For points? Well, I think we can safely say that the mass of this thing is easily the equivalent of six 28mm vehicles. So let's go with 90 points with another 10 for the hand-painted heraldry and sheer scale of the thing.
A great addition to your collection Greg!