+ inload: Bloodsong quick Q&A and notes +

+ New frontiers +

+ Titanicus wargaming with xenos +

+ Getting the gang back together – from left to right, Ork Great Gargant; Imperial Warlord Titan, Eldar Phantom Titan. + 

+ I've held off a bit on posting pics of the various Titans, mainly because I haven't got any painting done for weeks and weeks; hobby time being taken up elsewhere. Nevertheless, with Bloodsong out in the wild [+noosphericexloadlink embedded+], and some feedback coming in already, I though the pic above gave a good indication of my take on things. +

+ This inload will look at the plan for Bloodsong, and address some early playtesting feedback. +

+++

+ The plan, early feedback and FAQs +

First off, thanks for everyone who's downloaded, read and given Bloodsong a go so far – please do let me know how you're getting on with it, and any feedback – positive or negative – is very welcome!

'Wombo combos' are exactly what I'd like to see you playtest to pressure test the rules; the playtesting so far has explicitly been Open Play and aimed at making sure the rules work mechanically, so seeing the live playtest results of more competitive players will be very helpful indeed. 

However, please do try 'em out 'in the round', as it were – there's lots that I was concerned was overtuned, but seems to work fine in our (admittedly rather soft!) games. Feel free to pop your findings in a message to me (I'm not thin-skinned, so don't worry about hurting my feelings!), or better yet, in a comment on the PDF, so they're all collected together.

The plan is for three months of playtest feedback to pin down the Terminals, Maniple equivalents and Weapons. (And gather artwork and model pics). Those are the core that anyone using the rules will have to engage with. After that, adding in the Legio equivalents, new weapons and new units (the Mekboy Gargant/Supa-Stompa) will be relatively easy.

… and August is therefore the plan for release of an updated version, which I hope will be a 64 or 80pp one, containing the lore and missions for a mini-campaign alongside the rest.

+ Playtesting +

Bloodsong is all, of course, unofficial, and I'd emphasise that your game is yours, whoever's rules you're using as a kicking-off point. If you're lucky enough to have someone willing to play unofficial rules, I imagine both you and they are already open-minded and creative enough to make some tweaks to better fit your take on things.

With that said, a common set of rules is necessary to make meaningful tweaks and adjustments, so when playtesting and providing feedback, I'd please ask you to give things a try as they're presented – or please let me know what changes you've made, so I can take into account.

When providing feedback, the 'big questions' I want to answer are:

• ‘Did they feel like Eldar/Orks?’
• ‘Were they fun to play with?’

and most importantly,

• ‘Were they fun to play against?’

After that, please feel free to get as granular and detailed as you like. Think a particular weapon stinks? Think the pricing's off? Want to know why X Y or Z was done? Let us know. 

There's a thread on the + Death of a Rubricist + Facebook group for discussion, or you can send me a message through the comments and contact details here, if you prefer.

+ Early feedback and FAQs +

Some quick response answers to unclear areas:

Orks

I read it as all sizes of Gargant need to have a belly gun and two arm guns but the Mega-Gargant's towers and kustom job are optional, is that correct?

Yes, that’s right.

Gargants can use weapon cards from their size or smaller, so a Great or Mega Gargant could use either the Great Gargant sized Gut Buster or the Gargant sized (half the points for the same weapon but less armoured), correct?

Typo here! Great Gargant version should be S10 and Blast (5in); hence the heftier price. This is flagged on the PDF for change. 

If you have 2 dice of krew in the weirdboy tower, is the strength determined by adding the 2 values together?

Yes, add the values together… although this is one of those bits that I’m very keen to hear feedback on. If you’re finding it oppressive, please let me know.

Are there any plans on the works for Stompas?

Knights and equivalent are beyond the scope of this project for the moment at least, but the Mekboy Gargant is definitely on the drawing board – currently occupying a specialist supporting role somewhat like the Imperial Dire Wolf or Warbringer Nemesis. Their weapon cards will be akin to (and  possibly interchangeable with) the Mega Gargants' Kustom Job cards. This unit will be included in the updated version, with a more 'normal' weapon option allowing you to field it as a Supa-Stompa.

[As an aside on terminology, the Mekboy Gargant, present in Epic: Space Marine 2nd edition and Titan Legions as the Mekboy Gargant, disappeared after Epic: 40,000, and was replaced by the Supa-stompa in Epic: Armageddon. Confusingly, the current 40k-scale Stompa is (in-universe) about this size – so you can see why I've got a bit tied in knots about whether Stompas are in or not!]

This unit will be great to proxy with your old Epic Gargant or Steam Gargant models.

What's the reasoning behind Gargants being on round bases?

We tried them on both, and found round bases gives more of a solid, unwieldy ‘feel’ in-game that helps to distinguish the orks from the other factions, and makes the model appear chunkier.

Round bases also opened up some interesting little tactical bits and bobs – since the gun decks can fire in the side arcs, it allows Gargants to protect themselves from flanking knights or help an ally strip shields without turning. They can also fire slightly behind themselves, which gives a nice ‘navy battle cruiser’ feel. 

With that said, there’s not a huge amount in it, so feel free to adapt and use oval bases if you wish, or they better frame your models – these are, after all, homemade rules, so adapt them as you like.

Eldar

Can Revenants use their jump jets jump over titans?

No; cinematic as the visual is, I think that causes mechanical and gameplay problems. Feel free to playtest, but my instinct is that Revenants are already had enough to draw a bead on! 

Imageine a Warhound squadron attacks a Revenant.  The first shot from the first weapon hits the shield vanes, so the attacking Warhound finishes the rest of its attacks with no holofield active. When the second Warhound attacks, are the holofields active, or do they stay down until all squadron attacks are completed?

I’d suggest the shields are back in place for the second and subsequent Warhounds, as it’s a different unit. The mechanic is intended to encourage focussed fire from individual Titans, and since the holofields are the only defence the Revenant has, it seems harsh to allow an entire squadron to benefit (particularly once various Legio/Maniple bonuses are factored in). 

Some of the critical damage effects have names that are not defined in the booklet.  Do we assume they are analogous to what's in the main rulebook? e.g. Spiritmesh disturbed does not have a reference in the rulebook I can see; Steersman wounded, and Soulstone compromised are not defined in the rulebook, but I think its a safe assumption that they are analogous to MIU feedback, etc? 

Yes, the critical damage results started as ‘fluffy’ equivalents, with no mechanical difference – while some are now different, assume the others are as you’ve outlined. I’ll clarify this in the next update.

+++

+ How big's a [+INSERT TITAN HERE+]? +

Scale and size (particularly base size) have an impact on the game; from interactions with terrain to line of sight issues and arcs of fire, so the supplement contains a few notes that allude to it. However, I didn't want to bog down what's meant to be a practical gaming supplement with endless screeds of conversion suggestions – that's what this noospheric node is for!

On model size, you'll see that the fluid lines between Gargants and Great Gargants is mentioned a few times in Bloodsong, and that's to help when converting. With no official figures, you'll be forced to convert, find third-party sculpts, or scratch build – and that's complicated by the fact that there are lots of different interpretations of the various units; both officially and in fan-made material. 

+ This looks 'right' to me, weaned as I was on the original Adeptus Titanicus – but there's a decent argument that the modern Phantom, for example, should be nearer Reaver in size. +

I've tried to provide some structure in Bloodsong but leave lots of wiggle room – the last thing I want to do is tell someone they can't use their cool model because it doesn't match the letter of these rules. As long as it's clear to both you and the other player(s) what's what, than I think you can go a long way by being generous with line of sight etc. If you're converting or scaling things, I'd aim for the following height from base to top of head:

• Gargant between 9–12cm (3½–5in)
• Great Gargant between 12.5 and 15cm (5–6in)
• Phantom Spectre 15cm (6in) and larger
• Phantom Shade 12.5cm (5in) and smaller
• Revenant 9–10cm (3½–4in)

These are the assumed sizes used in Bloodsong, based partially on the background; on comparisons of the old Epic models to the new Titanicus models; on comparisons of the 28mm Eldar Forgeworld Titans to the 28mm Imperial Forgeworld Titans, and a hefty dollop of practicality – which models I found myself able to source. 

I really want Bloodsong to be accessible, so you'll note that the sizes suggested mean that you can essentially 'demote' the old Epic Phantom and Great Gargant to stand in as Revenants and (standard) Gargants respectively. These are relatively easy to find second-hand, and all the various generations of the official sculpts will be in the right ballpark.

+ Taller and more gracile, and shorter but stockier – you could use the Phantom Shade rules for one and the Phantom Spectre for the other; but equally you might just treat them as different styles of the same type. +

Part of the reason for the Shade/Spectre versions of the Phantom is to allow different interpretations to better match people’s models and conversions – but again, if you dislike the idea of having different types of Phantom, then by all means just pick one and stick with it. If you're converting your own, I’d suggest the Wraithlord is small but in the right ballpark for the Phantom. 

+++

+ inload: Eldar Titans and Ork Gargants in Adeptus Titanicus +

+ Bloodsong designer's notes +

+ An inload to put some thoughts in order on the next stages of the Bloodsong supplement, which introduces Eldar and Orks to Adeptus Titanicus and Legions Imperialis – and a request for any playtesting feedback to be popped up on the Facebook group [+noosphericexloadlink embedded+]. +

Eldar/Ork rules for Epic-scale games are the thing most likely to make datascribes join the +Death of a Rubricist+ Facebook group, so I wanted to give a bit of an update, outline the process for the supplement – and hopefully garner some feedback and (best of all) playtesting notes.

Why's this? Well, with the best will in the world, it's never the best idea for the writer to be the one testing things – I might know what I mean by phrasing things a certain way, but that's useless if it's not clear to anyone else. Likewise testing in isolation can result in swingy and non-representative results – so more reports from the wider community are essential to helping this progress and becoming more refined.

If you're able to contribute constructive criticism, please do! There's a 'Xenos AT rules' chat up on the Facebook group [viz-ref link above], which has already been very useful in helping tweak things – thanks to Sean, Rowan, Chris, Thomas and Paul, who've provided some invaluable feedback.

+++

+ State of play +

The Bloodsong supplement has been ticking over since 2023 – you can follow the development from this initial inload [+noosphericinloadlink embedded+]. It contains rules for Eldar Titan Clans (Aeldari warhost) and Ork Gargant Bigmobs in Adeptus Titanicus., as well as a workable but incomplete Ork list for Legions Imperialis.

The current version is available from the Facebook group here:

Bloodsong v9.pdf

If you're inloading this from the future, then please check the version number to make sure you've got the latest revision. If you've come across a hard copy, the version number is printed on page 1 for clarity – and you'll also spot the version number on the weapon cards and terminals, too, to make sure you're playing with the most up-to-date material.

+++

+ Where are we? +

I'm going to focus more on the Titanicus side of things for the moment – while I enjoy Legions Imperialis, there's less interest in that side of the supplement. I therefore plan to hive off the LI ork list (and any future Eldar one) into a separate document, so Bloodsong v1.0 will be an AT-only supplement – and one, I hope, that's fully ready to use.

+ Shade and Spectre-type Phantoms – I've tried to cleave closely to established background, and the use of the very old terms here is to make things more hobbyist-friendly. +

The fundamentals of the two lists, Aeldari Warhost and Ork Gargant Bigmob, are in place. There are rules for creating your Battlegroup equivalents, and terminals and weapons for the following:

• Eldar Phantom Spectre Titan
• Eldar Phantom Shade Titan
• Eldar Warlock Titan
• Eldar Revenant Titan

... and for the orks:

• Ork Gargant
• Ork Great Gargant
• Ork Mega Gargant

For the moment, I'm sticking to developing these basics. Mekboy Gargants, Stompas, Eldar Knights etc. are potential future additions, but I want to get the core forces pinned down for each before expanding further. 

We've now got a fairly decent playtesting pool complete for the Eldar, and I'm happier with how they're working – but every battle throws up new ideas, so always open to further tweaking. 

My gut feeling at the moment is that the ork weapons need a bit of reining in, but I'd like some playtesting results before tweaking them. I want to avoid the old trope of ork weapons, where in addition to being unreliable, they're also just straight worse than the Imperial equivalents – they should instead be more subject to variance (i.e. a bit more swingy than the Imperial guns – better when you have good luck, but worse when you don't!)

+++

+ What's next? +

The immediate next stage is to looking at creating a handful of Maniple and Legio equivalents, and a dozen or so Strategems for both Orks and Eldar, so you should end up with a modest amount of variety that allows you to lean into particular thematic gaming styles, and expand things beyond Open Play to Matched Play and Narrative Play styles.

+ The basis for a potential Conclave (Maniple) – a Phantom and two Revenants. +

+++

+ How can I help? +

You generous soul! As noted above, the most valuable contribution is feedback based on playtesting – while I'm happy to listen to theory and discuss things, nothing comes close to just trying things out and sharing them. 

Secondly, if you've got (or know of) any cool painted models of Gargants or Eldar Titans, please do show 'em off; I'd love to include some nice pictures to give the supplement a bit of polish. All images will, of course, be fully credited in the style of your choice.

+ inload: Primed and ready to go +

+ Guardians ready +

'When there is no other way, the perilous path is the only road to salvation.'

 +++

The Alaitoc Eldar army progresses, and so I thought I'd share what I've got so far. Before getting stuck in, however, I'd like to draw your gaze to a precious relic from the early days of the Internet, and still going strong, David M. Donachie's wonderful Eldar language guide  [+noosphericexloadlink+]. It's a wonderful example of fandom done right – a really useful, free resource quietly created and maintained by someone sharing their enthusiasm. (Go buy his books!) It's proving very handy indeed in helping me to create authentic-sounding Eldar terms and names, so the squad names etc. gratefully draw from this resource.

+++

+ The Guardians +

Craftworld Alaitoc appeared as one of the example schemes on the back of the Eldar Guardians boxed set (RTB17, according to Stuff of Legends), but there was very little written about the Craftworlds in terms of how they differed from one another. That would develop organically over the next few years, but fundamentally there wasn't anything special about Alaitoc at this point. They were a blank slate, created to help provide an example of the broader Eldar background covered in White Dwarf 129.

+ The back of the RTB17 Eldar Guardians set – complete focus on the colour schemes, rather than any background lore. +

... which is actually really refreshing to approach. Today it seems like every corner of the 40k galaxy, massive as it is, has been thoroughly mined and developed and explored, pushing the sense of exploration and mystery to the very boundaries. For the record, I don't think that is the case – the galaxy, after all, is a very big place... but either way, it's nice to look at an army that is more concerned with the core Eldar concept than a particular niche within that.

On with the show! The original army list has four squads of Guardians in, and I've now got three up and running, with the bits for the last one on their way:

+ Guardian squad 1: Catu Dyann Erathi +

Translating as nothing more notable than 'First Guardians that are purple', Dyann Erathi are a basic Guardian squad, with their default lasguns. The squad leader has a shuriken pistol and laspistol, and the last member has a melta gun. 

As explained in earlier inloads, in translating things to the modern period I've tried to evoke the poses and a few key details, while adding some extra little touches. In particular, the streamers and sashes of the originals are minimised on the modern sculpts, appearing only as little arm bands. These will take the purple colour of the originals, but in a more subtle way. The squad leader's top knot/tuft will make a nice new place to pop a little of the colour.

+++

+ Guardian squad 3: Tirtu Ionandyann Arithi +

The caption on the original text says pretty much what I was going to, and also hints that the name translates to 'Third Guardians of Battle'. I toyed with using the prefix 'Jov'a' (better) as a tongue-in-cheek nod to the fact that Shuriken Catapults were clearly the better choice for Guardians in the early editions – probably why Battle Squads were limited – but thought the phrasing above rolled off the tongue better.

The squad leader has had a gender swap here, mostly owing to parts available: the new Guardian box has proportionally more female members than the metal hybrid box. Still, I think this change is a good one as it saves us having two identical squad leaders – the same sculpt was used as the leader for both this and the close combat squad below, so I thought I'd tweak one a little further to bring in some variety. However, to balance this, I've tried to get the pose evocative of the original, while making the most of the increased dynamism. I think the use of the old weapons helps to sell this, too.

I just want to note how pleased I am with how the old shuriken catapults work on the new models. The smaller size goes a long way to giving them a slightly more realistic, retro feel.

+++

+ Guardian squad 4: Kantu Ukendyann Addani +

The 'fourth proximity-Guardians in white' are the squad that diverges most from the originals, and that's due to me wanting to make these close-in specialists more mobile and dynamic. Nevertheless, I hope that some of the poses still evoke the originals. It's more of a loose riff than the others.

The new Guardians kit come with lots of variation in poses, so I was spoiled for choice here. Hopefully you'll spot some similarities with the originals.

+++

+ Characters +

I also took some time to build Warlock Lorith, the name coming from a quote in the 3rd edition Codex:

The original, alongside the as-yet unstarted Farseer...

... and the update, alongside the Dark Reaper Exarch I started in this inload [+noosphericinloadlink embedded+], who now revels in the name Marithiyon, which literally translates as something akin to 'Skull removed from'; a very loose translation of the orginal 'Skulltaker'. He now has a proper web of skulls, taken from the original model and pinned into place. I bent the chain a little to add some more dynamism.

For the Warlock, I used parts from the new Warlock kit (this torso matches the original lead figure) along with a head, staff and pistol from the Corsairs Kill team. Some of the details from the psyker match the Warlock very closely – from the details on the helmet to the hand holding the staff/spear.

+++

Bubbling under, we have these gunners and support platforms. A bit undecided on how to approach these, I shall have a think...

+ inload: Alaitoc Eldar +

 + Visions of the past +

+ Refreshed by a visit to the Metalican Titan-forges, I've found myself on a bit of a hobby buzz at the moment, and have started afresh on some older projects. I'll look in some closer detail at these over the next few inloads, so today a simple overview. +

+++

+ Alaitoc Eldar +

A slow-burning project, my Alaitoc Craftworld Eldar [+noosphericinloadlink embedded+] have received some love recently as I finally got my hands on the last few bits and bobs I needed for the next two Guardian squads. Coupled with that, my old Skumgrod Bob Hunk and I have been tinkering with some 2nd edition 40k gaming, so the fires are up.

The project as a whole is unapologetic wallowing in nostalgia for me, and a personal modelling and painting exercise rather than anything else. As with my Blood Angels, these are an homage to a particular studio army (WD138 this time), and the aim of the project is very similar: to answer the question, 'What would the army look like using modern materials?'

+ Resizing Dire Avengers +

As the Dire Avenger below demonstrates, the overall answer is 'not that different'. I've mentioned before how Jes Goodwin nailed the Eldar look and feel first time. The conversion work for my plastic Dire Avenger was centred around getting the older Dire Avenger kit to fit alongside the more recent releases. While subtle, the new Eldar gain some height through longer abdomens, and have broader and deeper chests than the older plastic kits (Guardians and Dire Avengers).

The retrohammer update

The original

I therefore took the new Guardian as the basis, using the combined torso and legs piece and back piece. These had the shoulder pads removed and replaced with the larger, pointier ones from the Dire Avenger kit. The other bits are either simple kitbashing or very minor trimming and fiddly bits, like the back targeter vane and taking the sights from an Avenger Catapult and popping it on the Guardian Shuriken Catapult. 

This last detail is worth noting: I've used the original (now very small) Shuriken Catapult on the Guardians, so decided to use the new Guardian Shuriken Catapult in place of the larger Avenger Catapult in order to minimise the apparent jump in size.

The result is a nice proof-of-concept, though I'm tempted to use the Dire Avenger arms for subsequent models, as they've got some additional forearm detail. The whole process reminded me a lot of what I try to do when 'truescaling' Space Marines, as my aim there is to end up with a model that doesn't draw attention, because it doesn't look like a conversion. My hope is that the Dire Avengers will fit in right alongside the rest of the army (which otherwise uses the new sculpts), and be a cohesive, coherent part of the army as a whole.

+++

+ Updating Guardian Close Combat Squad +

The first couple of these were polished off two years ago [+noosphericexloadlink embedded+], but the squad is now finished. As elsewhere, I've tried to evoke the originals through parts choice and pose, but have made some slight changes to take advantage of the modern materials. 

The originals are lovely models, but being identical to the other Guardians, they've got the same rather braced, static poses. I decided I'd use the running poses from the new kit for this close combat squad, which helps distinguish them from the Guardian squad (with lasguns) and Guardian Battle squad (with shuriken catapults). 

This obviously changes the poses quite considerably, but I hope the choices I've made with the arms mean that the individual models are still recognisable one-on-one when shown alongside the inspiration. It's a tricky balance. There's homage, and then there's being slavish. I want enough freedom to change things for the better (or at least more to my personal taste) where I can. Otherwise, I might as well go proper oldhammer and just source the original models. A fun collecting endeavour in itself, but not what I'm after here.

Annoyingly, I remembered – after priming the first three – that I'd intended to trim the side vents on the helmets to give a slimmer profile and get closer to the originals, and so you can see how I've had to go back and scrape them off. The new members have since had their base texture added, and a coat of primer (Wraithbone) applied to the complete squad, so they're all ready for paint.

+++

+ inload: Eldar Titans in Adeptus Titanicus +

+ Rules for Eldar War-Clans in Adeptus Titanicus +

+ Bloodsong v0.8 – Designer's notes +

+ I've just uploaded version 0.8 of the Bloodsong pack to the Death of a Rubricist Facebook group. A direct link is here: [+noosphericexloadlink embedded+]. The files can be downloaded freely and shared as you like – as always, playtesting notes and feedback are welcome. +

+ Much like the models, the rules are getting gradually more polished. +

+ What's new? +

+ Quite a big update, this one:

• Rules, weapon cards and terminal for the Warlock Titan
• Updated Phantom rules based on player feedback
• Expanded and overhauled the Battlegroup building/general rules to bring them more into line with the Matched Play Guide.

+ Sample of the insides. It's set up to print to A4 +

+ This supplement is now getting to the polishing stage. What's left to do are write up the Maniples (Conclaves), Titan Legion (War-clan) rules and Stratagems, one final beta playtest stage, and then illustrating it. +

+ If you're new to the project, please do take some time to search the blog for previous articles for Designer's notes; and as always, I welcome any feedback. +

+ Enjoy! +

+++

+ inload: Bloodsong – Eldar and Orks in Adeptus Titanicus +

 + Bloodsong version 0.5 +

+ A quick riffle through the [+ Insphere contentsieve +] (the search function for this noospheric node, to the right of the body of the post) will reveal that I've been working on rules for introducing xenos to Adeptus Titanicus – specifically Eldar Titans and Ork Gargants. +

+ I've just uploaded version 0.5 of the Bloodsong pack to the +Death of a Rubricist+ Facebook group. The files can be downloaded freely and shared as you like – and as always, I welcome playtesting notes and feedback on the group.

A direct link to the files can be found here: [+noosphericexloadlink embedded+]. You will need to be a member of the Death of a Rubricist Facebook group – and if you're new to it, please answer the three questions when prompted: it's the only way I can screen for bots! +

+ Of course, there's nothing stopping you from joining, downloading and leaving immediately (not even hard feelings!), but I do encourage you to stick around and get involved. +

 + A new fan sculpt I picked up second-hand +

+ Ch-ch-ch-changes +

+ v0.5 brings some big updated: Eldar get access to the Revenant Scout Titan and its weapon cards, and – perhaps of more interest to some readers – brings the orks out to play. You get Gargants, Great Gargants and their weapon cards.+

+ Long-time inloaders might recall the first draft of the ork rules a while back – [+noosphericexloadlink emebdded+] well, they're updated and available now, including terminals and cards. +

+ I'm very pleased with how these rules work – I think they really capture the feel of directing Gargants, and would love to hear your battlefield experiences when using them: both good and bad! +

+ Based on feedback received I've also tweaked the Eldar stats a little – nothing major, but it is worth your time replacing the old cards and terminals with these. I've also squashed some gremlins). 

+++

+ A glimpse into the future +

+ The Warlock is on the horizon, and I'm also planning to revise the Phantom into two sub-classes: the Phantom Shade and Phantom Spectre. +

+ This is because there are two broad schools of thought for the Phantom: one that sees it as the equivalent to the Warlord Titan, and one that sees it as something more akin to a Reaver. +

+ In keeping with my 'nothing new without good reason' philosophy, the most elegant way I could think of to square this circle is to allow both to co-exist. The Shade and Spectre classes are a throwback to the classifications for the Phantom, from the original Codex Titanicus supplement – in essence, equivalent to the Deathbringer, Eclipse, Nemesis variants for the Imperial Warlord. +

+ The Phantom Shade and Phantom Spectre will not differ greatly. They will share the same weapon cards, for example. The nearest equivalent I can think of is that between the Reaver and Nemesis Warbringer – fundamentally the same chassis, but with slight variation in Infinity Circuit, armour etc. +

+ Ultimately, the splitting of the two is for three major reasons:

• To allow a broad church of players to get a Phantom that matches their vision for the Titan, whether that's slightly heavier or slightly lighter.
• To give some slight variation and increase the tactical choices available to Eldar players.
• There are a number of quite different fan-sculpts of the Phantom Titan around, and I've always preferred the 'model-led' approach to writing rules. 

+ My hope is that this approach will let people differentiate their models if they wish – or just opt for a single type without impacting their chances in-game. +

+++

+ inload: Alaitoc Craftworld Dark Reapers +

+ inload: Reaping, Eldar style +

+ It's looking like the new Epic Legions is going to be delayed – sad face – but to find a silver lining, that means there's space for something a bit different. Enter the swift-striding Eldar, who were first to the front of the queue. +

+ An overview of Rogue Trader army number 2 – my Alaitoc Eldar project – is  found in this inload: [+noosphericinloadlink embedded+], and while it's been slow going, it is creeping along. +

+ The Guardians, detailed here [+noosphericinloadlink embedded+], were relatively involved conversions, but the Aspect Warriors have thus far been very minimal, because the aesthetics of the latest plastics hew fairly closely to the Rogue Trader-era originals. +

+ With a small squad size of three, I could have tackled a little more  involved conversion work, but to be honest I think that would have been making unnecessary work for myself. Both the original and modern sculpts are lovely, so beyond the helmets, I left the modern iteration unconverted. I have nodded to the monopose look (perhaps a deliberate choice, perhaps simply owing to scheduling and available casts) by angling heads and arms to evoke the 'ranked fire' look of the original squad, but couldn't resist including the cool reloading option. +

+ The helms are the only major change. The modern ones are quite distinctive, and very different from the cone-headed originals. While I don't actually dislike the new ones, I wanted to capture the pointed helm with the frowny-eyebrows look, so used Storm Guardian helms, and attached the rangefinder vanes (the big 'ears') that were carefully trimmed from the Dark Reaper helms. +

+ Conspicuously missing from the Guardian faceplates are the distinctive nose and teeth markings; I'll be painting these on. +

+++

+ The aim of the project is not so much to replicate the original army so much as create a modern spin on it – as with my Blood Angels [+noosphericinloadlink embedded+], I want to use the opportunity of modern materials and models to evoke the atmosphere of the period. One of the things that I really loved from Jes Goodwin, Andy Chambers and Rick Priestley's original lore was the warpaint. +

+ Beyond conversions, this was never explored in miniature form at the time, so I'm quite keen to include a couple of bare-headed Aspect Warriors in the force. With only three in the squad, however, I didn't feel the Dark Reapers were the place to start; besides which the facepaint itself is fairly predictable. I think I'd rather the impact of the three red helms.  +

+++

+ Dark Reaper Exarch +

+ With just three Dark Reapers needed, I was left with two bodies from the plastic kit. Perfect for converting the Exarch 'Skull-Taker' (not the daemon!):

+ Exarchs have changed quite a bit since Rogue Trader. Where nowadays they're effectively just squad leaders with access to special equipment, in their first appearance, they were relatively high level personalities with access to a range of special abilities and equipment, and like any independent personality, could work as an individual, rather than being tied to a squad. +

+ A snippet from WD138 – these four models make up a whopping third of the points of the initial 'block'. A five-strong Guardian squad, for comparison, is 70pts all-in. +

+ Skull-Taker here is a Dark Reaper Exarch, but unlike the modern version he's armed with a shuriken pistol and an Ancient Weapon (an Exarch-exclusive wargear option) 'Web of Skulls'; a sort of bolas. +

+ Being the default of the original model, the Web of Skulls was for more familiar than any other option for most players of a certain vintage, and was thus a must for inclusion in my conversion. While it can work in melee, I felt that the original pose was perhaps a bit static, and since one of the new bodies is in a moving pose, I opted to use this to help bring a bit of attention to Skull-Taker. +

+ My plan is to drill three wires into the hand and sculpt on small skulls to the ends of each. Head-size skulls would look far too clunky, and fortunately the lore suggests these are crystal skulls rather than literal head-innards! +

+ The new kit is interesting in including a hand clutching a skull; likely a nod to the original. Unfortunately for me, it was in the model's wrong hand, so I had to trim it away and attach it to the new arms; both taken from the new Guardian kit. The big skull is going to form the 'pommel' of the Web of Skulls. A real bolas, of course, doesn't have a pommel, but I'm keen to avoid the weapon looking like a bunch of flowers. A final flourish for this arm is to carve out the shoulder pad and replace it with the Exarch-specific one. A minor (and awkward to do!) touch, but every little helps. +

+ For the rest of the conversion, the pistol arm has had a cable trimmed from the Rogue Trader-era arms, just like my Guardian conversions. Rather than using a RT-era shuriken pistol, I've kept a modern shuriken pistol for a few reasons. Firstly, practicalities. The RT guns are hard to come by, and I'm struggling to equip even the Guardians with them. Secondly, the additional size will help to bring balance to the visuals. Finally, it seems appropriate for the long-ranged Dark Reapers to have a variant gun that has a comparatively long, fluted barrel. +

+ In an inversion of the heads for the standard warriors, I've trimmed the rangefinder vanes off the Exarch's helmet and attached it – though I'm in two minds as to whether to try a bare head here. For the moment, I'm erring on the side of keeping the helm. While I don't love it, I think paint might bring it to life (particularly the red faceplate). Besides, the change in pose is already going to make him less recognisable, so I want to keep as many details of the original as I can. +

+ Speaking of details, I'm going to try adding a necklace of skull-beads. It's a cool and distinctive feature of the original. +

+++

+ The name Skull-Taker is perhaps a little unfitting these days, so I'm open to any elfish-style translation ideas for his name; I'm currently playing around with Gaelic translations and ending up with Neach-gabhail claigeann (Scots Gaelic); Glacadóir cloigeann (Irish Gaelic) and the reconstructed proto-Celtic [+noosphericexloadlink embedded+] Krāsjano-tagat (or 'skull-thief'). All rather wordy! +

+++

inload: Eldar Titans and Ork Gargants

+ Eldar and Orks for Adeptus Titanicus +

+ Rules, playtesting and a plea +

+ With v0.4 of the document up and ready on the files section [+noosphericexloadlink embedded+], it's now out there for you to playtest. If you have any feedback, ideas, questions or critique of the Eldar Phantom and/or  Ork Gargant rules, please post them up on the Facebook group [+noosphericexloadlink embedded+], or as a comment below. It's particularly helpful if you've had a chance to playtest them live, as it were, to experience them in the round. +

+ Likewise, if you've built or painted any Eldar Titans or Ork Gargants, I'd love to see them – it'd be great to feature them on the blog, or use them in this Eldar and Ork expansion. +

+++

+ Models +

+ Rules are all very well, but models are what this is really about. With all these xenos popping up, it's looking like it's time for a Great Crusade, right? +

+ What little painting time I've had recently has been concentrating on the Catachan guntruck thingie, but I have been able to build and undercoat the Revenant Titans above (and below). +

+ They are 3D prints, and a very kind gift from PCRC stablemate Lucifer216. The kits went together very smoothly, and I've based them on 60mm rounds – I toyed with 80mm bases (like Warhounds), but the lithe alien war engines just looked utterly lost. +

+++

+ While we're talking about building, my brother sent over the WIP pictures of the Gargants he and his boys made – thought I'd share them here so you can see the materials and ideas that went into them. +

+ The rear shot shows some neat little details – I particularly like the use of the Genestealer cult Goliath drill-shield thing as the rear balcony. +

+++

+ inload: Rumours of Epic Horus Heresy +

+ Silver Stars and Tiny Titans +

+ Epic-scale Silver Stars +

+ Murmurs from the warp (or that is, the reliable rumourmancer 'Chapter Master Valrak', suggest that a new edition of Epic is coming out. We've also seen some interesting phrasing in recent Warhammer Community articles [+noosphericexloadlink emebdded+] about the Warlord Titan – though that might be wishful thinking... In any case, the rumours point to Epic being the 'big thing' for the latter part of this year, following the release of 40k's 10th(!) edition. + 

+ Regular inloaders will know something about the 6mm scale really catches my imagination, and Epic: Armageddon is my favourite game. The new edition will supposedly be based in the Horus Heresy. I'm a little disappointed that we won't see Eldar and Orks and the rest (at least at first), but you've got to start somewhere. The popularity and distinctive colour schemes of Space Marines makes them an obvious way for Games Workshop to test the waters. +

+ Probably just as important as those factors, is cost-saving and risk-management. The civil war setting means the same models can be used on both sides – exactly as they are in Adeptus Titanicus. +

+ I am excited to see a new generation of Epic-scale miniatures. The technology and engineering skill now on show means that any new models – and by the Omnissiah let's hope they're plastic – should be stunning. +

+++

+ Revenants in Adeptus Titanicus +

+ And since it's looking unlikely we'll have small-scale xenos any time soon, I'm sure the hobby community will be cracking on with making their own. The inimitable Lucifer216 has kindly sent me a shipment of Revenant Titans – I'm looking forward to building these and trying out the playtest rules we've been working on. +

+ You can find the playtest rules for the Revenant in this inload [+noosphericinloadlink embedded+]. +

+++