From ChrisW: Potpourri (242 points)

 

Chaos Warlord Titans            [4 Epic titans @8 points each for a total of 32 points]

So, another blast from the past, more from the old Epic Space Marine/Adeptus Titanicus days of the 1990s. These are four of the classic models with some extra metal parts added on.

I managed to pick up a complete copy of this a few years ago at the bring and buy at Cangames in Ottawa and it has languished on my shelf ever since. 

This year the old Epic bug has bit me and I am keen to get some of the mountain of Epic stuff done. I have done up two Khorne, one Slaneesh and one Nurgle Titan. As I type this I am reminded that I had thought about doing one up as Tzeentch, oh well, I do still have a few more unpainted titans waiting in the wings. 

I am not skilled enough to produce the fancy titans that others do, the intricate patterns and fine details so I went with washes and shades to try and create an interesting look to these. They were fun to paint and do look more interesting in person. The weapons are just loosely in place (except for the special chaos weapons/heads & tails) as I do actually plan to play some games and I will have to see what weapon systems I like. (it has been many decades since I last played this game)

Shield Maidens                                           [6x 28mm figures 30 points]

Some Foundry miniatures that have sat around 90% done until now when I finally finished them off. My plans are to use them and some other Viking miniatures for the game Pillage. 

Hill Martian two handed weapon troops [24x 28mm figures 120 points]

There are Bob Charette miniatures, part of his Parroom Station line, now sold by Ral Partha Legacy. They are slight figures but with good depth of detail. The two handed swordsmen are fanatic anti Earther troops, while the pole arm troops are regular troops. 

Plague Apothecaries                              [5x 28mm 25 points]

These are Foundry/Warmonger miniatures that will be used for Devilry Afoot, a game that I really have not yet read. I am inspired by the time period that it is set in and I have plenty of figures that can be used, but I believe the factions that I am building are too large. Oh well they are fun to paint. I really went into this group with no set idea of what I would be doing. I drew some inspiration from a google search. I started with the red orange 'skirt' then finding I liked that colour I decided to add it to their shoulders. It was an AP speed paint and I was even able to find a suitable AP highlight paint too!

The rest went rather quickly, a mix of speed paints and traditional paints. 

Witches Fair & Foul                                          [6x 28mm figures 30 points]

More Foundry/Warmonger figures and one Crucible Crush figure, all of them also slated for Devilry Afoot, someone to torment the Puritans. The Warmonger figures are kind of odd figures with harsh angles to them and strange detailed clothes though the cauldron is kind of neat. The big green witch looks kind of more Goblin like (maybe it is) and will eventually deploy both in Devilry Afoot games and Fantastic Battles.

Crocodiles two Foundry waterline crocs [2x 1/2 28mm figures total of 5 points]

So, not much to say about these fellows, they are rather long, but very flat. I did use a couple of greens and a dark wash

Points this time

•   32  points for 4x Chaos Warlord Titans (8 points each)
•   30  points for 6x 28mm Shield Maidens
• 120  points for 24x 28mm Hill Martian troops
•   25  points for 5x 28mm Plague Apothecaries
•   30  points for 6x 28mm Witches fair and foul
•     5  points for 2 1/2 28mm crocs.

242 Points Total

Squirrels

5 more squirrels for a total of 28

1. Gladiators
2. Epic Orcs
3. Epic Imperial
4. Warlord Chinese
5. Red Russians RCW Back of Beyond
6. Alien Invaders
7. Pulp US Marines
8. Urban Cultists
9. Egyptian cultists
10. VSF Japanese armoured vehicles
11. Tripods
12. Bugs!
13. Evil minion deep sea divers
14. Puritans
15. Explorers of Egypt
16. Jungle explorers
17. Heroic deep sea divers
18. Muslim troops for the British
19. Free stater Armoured cars
20. Guardians of Antiquities
21. Minerva's Flying Circus
22. British cavalry and rocket launcher
23. BoB terrain (terrain post)
24. Epic Chaos Warlord Titans
25. Pillage Viking shield maidens
26. VSF Martian Hill Martians
27. Plague Apothecaries
28. Witches fair and foul

Big stompy robots of death 

+4

Lady Sarah

12 28mm figures The Shield Maidens & Witches Fair & Foul

 

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Sylvain: This is indeed a potpourri, what a diversity of figurines, but all painted with equal talent. For many of my "younger" years, Epic/Adeptus Titanicus was my favorite game, so it's great to see that line getting some love again. I also like your shield maidens, your plague doctors, etc. All your groups have character and are colorful both literally and figuratively. It has been an honor to be your minion; "à la prochaine". 

From DallasE: Full Stride to the Finish Line! (100 points)

Well, here we are at the end of another Challenge, and I thought I'd save a Big One for the free-fire zone, just for fun. So here it is - Canis Negris, a 40K-scale Warhound Titan of Legio Krytos.

This is another 3D printed model I got from the same chap who printed me Apostolus Tenebris, the Reaver Titan I painted earlier in the Challenge. The Warhound is an awesome model too, and also adheres pretty stringently to the "Codex Look" of Warhammer 40K Titans. Sometimes it's better to do as the great Harry Flashman was advised once upon a time: "lick up the honey, stranger, and ask no questions."

Anyway, the Warhound was quite a bit less fiddly to assemble than the Reaver. One thing I did, though, was to grind down the neck somewhat as it stood too proud of the carapace as cast. I like the hunchback look of Titans and a sticky-out neck is not for me. Of course the weapons look grand, don't they? Turbo-laser Destructor and Plasma Blastgun for the win. There's also a Vulcan Mega-Bolter that will make an appearance farther down the page.

One of the shinguard armour plates has some wonderful cast-on detail which I customized to my own build.

Plasma Blastgun!

Rear view of the Warhound. Some nice cast-in aquila detail on the panels. 

Vulcan Mega-Bolter taking the place of the Turbo-laser.

Standing beside the Reaver.

As for scoring... I reckon at least 80 points is fair for this monster, and I'll take 20 as a bonus for the "Books" studio. I haven't read a ton of Warhammer 40K novels (many of them are dreck and merely "bolter porn") but I LOVE the work of Dan Abnett, his Eisenhorn and Ravenor books are fantastic, and "Horus Rising" (the first book in the Horus Heresy series of 400+ novels) is sublime. But one of my all-time favourites of his is "Titanicus", a novel about engine (Titan) combat in the 41st millennium. It goes into great detail about how the god-machines work with their "mind-impulse units", sarcophagi full of amniotic goo, etc. but doesn't forget the PBI either. The descriptions of Titans from an infantryman's point of view are awesome, and all the details he includes about the Chaos titans and their sirens wailing scrapcode just bring so much life to the setting. Great book and one I would LOVE to see made into a movie.  

So that's it for me for this Challenge, I'll shout out my thanks to the Minions (and especially my Minion, MartinC) and especially to our hosts Mr. Curt and Lady Sarah for putting this whole thing together.

See you at the wind-up!

___________________________________________

Oh man, this is fabulous, Dallas. The Warhound is by far my most favourite Titan design. I've always admired the implied menace of it's stooped, lupine silhouette it's powerful dog's legs and formidable weapons. So cool. The green and cream livery is excellent, and ties in nicely with its sister Reaver. I'm also totally with you on Abnett's 'Titanicus'  -  it would make an amazing movie.

You've had a great Challenge Dallas! Thank you for showing us your winter's efforts of wonderful miniatures. I hope you'll join us for the next edition of the Challenge.

- Curt

From DallasE - Vehicle (parts!) (20 points)

A few odds'n'sods to submit this week, not vehicles exactly but vehicle parts. First up is a resin turret weapon to fit one of my Blood Drinkers Space Marine Rhinos.

It had been sitting in a bits box for probably close on 10 years, so it was time to just get it painted. It took a bit more work than just that though - I also had to fabricate a plasticard base to fit the Rhino's top hatch space.

I'd kept track of the paint mix on our blog but unfortunately, I'd painted the Blood Drinkers so long ago that the GW paints I used no longer exist (Evil Sunz Orange, anyone?)

Anyway here's a couple pics of the Rhino in standard configuration. I like that the Predator turret is easily swapped in or out. If the Rhino itself looks a little "different" that's because it's been converted with "MkI" parts from Chapterhouse Studios (RIP). I really miss that vendor...

And lastly, the Predator turret by itself.

Next up was finishing a couple more weapons for the Reaver Battle Titan - a Volcano Cannon and carapace-mounted Vulcan Mega-Bolter, both shown above

The Volcano Cannon is faintly ridiculous...but you gotta love it.

Vulcan Mega-Bolter ready to dish out some hurt.

Of course I had to stick a plate on the big Volcano.

Pic above shows production with an Iron Warriors Space Marine Sergeant. Just wanted to demonstrate a bit of the scale of the vehicle parts here.

So I'm going to claim 20 points for this lot, I hope that's acceptable. I'll be back next week with something for the Western Desert campaign.

I do like a BFG. Some nice completion work here and yes 20pts is acceptable

From DallasE: 40K-Scale Reaver Battle Titan (Sci-Fi: 160 points)

OK, so I have to admit that I wanted to leave this as a points bomb for the end of the Challenge, but I've been convinced to post it up now, and honestly I'm so excited about it I think it would be hard to sit on the post anyway.

In any event, here it is - a 3D-printed 40K-scale Reaver Battle Titan. I've always wanted a Reaver in 40K-scale and now I have one!

Here is the story behind it. A couple months ago I was browsing Warhammer classifieds on kijiji (free ad website, like Craigslist) and stumbled on a guy who was advertising 3D-printed proxy Titans. I'm talking Warlords, Reavers, and Warhounds. Anyway we got together and I saw that the models were decent quality, so I got him to print me one along with some extra weapons (actually I got two, and you might see the other later in the Challenge...?) 

The model required assembly of course, but not nearly as much assembly as a resin one from Forgeworld. Still fiddly in places but I would compare it to the difficulty level of the new tiny Reaver Titans from the Adeptus Titanicus (2018) game. Of course I magnetized the weapons with 3/8" neodymium magnets, which mostly worked OK.

I painted the God-machine as Legio Krytos - a Titan legio affiliated with the Iron Warriors space marine legion, which swore its fealty to the Warmaster Horus in the Horus Heresy. Krytos was the legio in whose colours I painted my AT18 titans as well.

Colours used: Vallejo German Uniform, Rakarth Flesh basecoat with Pallid Wych Flesh on the off-white bits, Leadbelcher on the metal parts, Brass Scorpion for the brass trim, Steel Legion Drab highlighted with Rakarth for the scrolls, the whole washed with Nuln Oil and Agrax Earthshade. I added some light dirt streaks with my new AK "Streaking Dirt" pencil and sponge chips with German Camo Black Brown. Dust was drybrushed on the feet with Rakarth.

Part of the coolness of Titans (and other ridiculously large war machines) is that they are all individually named. I chose "Dark Apostle" as the name of this Reaver, and that translates into "Warhammer Latin" as "Apostolus Tenebris". At least that's my best guess, anyway. The Krytos insignia on the shield is from the AT18 Legio Krytos decal sheet.

The model is actually pretty nicely detailed. Assembly was straightforward - mostly using superglue but some of the structural elements were secured with JB Kwik-Weld two-part epoxy.

How about this detail on the pistons on the backs of the legs!

Here's a good view of the Melta-Cannon arm weapon. This is actually pretty heavy (it has separate barrels inside the shroud) and the magnets I used to secure it could stand to be a bit stronger (those are on order). 

I used some decals from the Imperial Knights sheet to detail the weapon.

Speaking of Knight decals, I'd wanted to use the Aquila decals from the sheet on the pauldrons, but they were way too small. So I had to freehand the aquila onto the pauldron. The small cogged skull is from the Knight decal sheet though.

The other weapon is a very awesome looking laser blaster. I painted this to match the laser blasters on my AT18 Reavers.

More decal detail on the laser blaster.

I just HAD to put a "VIN plate" on the Titan as well.

And no Reaver Titan is complete without a massive power fist!! It was a little trickier to fit this one - I had to cut apart a spare arm piece to make a magnetized extension for the fist.

It's a big fist!!

Penetrating stare from the Reaver head. Such a cool look, but sadly there is no internal detailing here.

Group shot with my old Armorcast Legio Metalica Reaver. The new 3D printed model absolutely dwarfs it. You can see the Princeps and Moderati on the buildings in front of it. The scale of this Titan is massive.

Here's where the scale really shows. At front left is an Iron Warriors standard bearer and at right is an AT18 Reaver. The 3D printed Reaver is a little over 16" tall.

I'm going to post this model in the Sci-Fi studio but as I don't think a modern 3D-printed Titan has ever been painted in the Challenge, I'm going to suggest a tally for the Titan and extra weapon of 200 points.

Dallas this is fantastic, a proper monster of a figure. I've checked the annals of the challenge and only 1 28mm Titan has been posted, that was slightly smaller (a mere 13.5 inches high) and that was awarded 100pts. With that in mind I've reduced the value a little to 140pts for the figure plus Sci Fi bonus.

Martin