+ inload: Leagues of Votann Hearthkyn Salvagers Killteam +

+ Merry little Christmas – what did you call us? +

+ The Leagues of Votann storm into the Antona Australis sector – or rather, are unearthed after a long time. +

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+ Squats – kin is kin +

I've posted quite a bit about space dwarfs in 40k over the years. I thought they were a concept that deserved to be involved in the Antona Australis sector (the PCRC's little corner of the 40k galaxy, where the majority of our battles are fought), so tucked the Ironstaff League in back around 2013, as one of those threads that I planned to explore one day. +

There's an inload about the League here – [+noosphericinloadlink embedded+] – and since then I've painted and built a few squats here and there. 

They've turned up as parts of tutorials [+noosphericinloadlink embedded+], and as part of my other projects; notably Castaway alongside Inquisitrix Barbari Kills in the Endworlds project  [+noosphericinloadlink embedded+], and in the Ashes of Armageddon, where they moonlight as part of the Norgyr League [+noosphericinloadlink embedded+].

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That little dip into the past should give you eyestrain from so much reading, so I'll leave this inload fairly short, and let the pictures of the painted Kill Team do the talking:

Warrior and Gunner – I think the yellow helms really help the models to pop, and give a nice retrohammer feel.

Kinlynk, Theyn and Lugger – the Theyn is from the other Kin Kill Team; I just wanted him to stand out a bit. His gun counts as a bolt revolver, based largely on the six-shooter-style bit.

A rear shot here to show the medic's backpack (centre), along with Tomb the dwarf's (a deep cut there, for anyone looking for out-of-universe references) walking suit. Again, this Thunderkin model is a stand-in for a normal Gunner with plasma beamer. I thought a Kill Team deserves at least some special effort.

J33VS and WSTR, the team's Ironkin, along with the... uh... other specialist, whose name escapes me. I've come to enjoy the Ironkin background after being a bit sceptical. 

... and to round things off, a big group shot. 

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+ inload: Bloodsong update and Great Gargant +

+ 'Ere We Go – Great Gargant +

+ Before the paint is dry on the first, a second Great Gargant has emerged from the Meks' workshop, eager to get into combat with the 'oomie Titans. +

As the great philosopher Udgrub of Gaff had it: 'Woss ded ard and ded shooty? A Gargant. Woss even arder and shootier and krumpier? Two Gargants!' Who am I to argue with such a paragon of kultur?

The finer points of ork warfare aside, I'm delighted with this print, which was given to me over a pint at the local. Drawing from the same original sculpt, the two 3D-sculptors have given slightly different results, as you can see below. The new one is slightly more broad in the chest and the arms are proportionally a little lower, and I think these differences help to suggest an individuality that's fitting for Gargants. After all, each is a kustom job – even when orks try to copy each other, there's inevitably some variance.

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+ Gaming +

Besides making a very attractive set of bookends, why would two Great Gargants be useful? Well, what if you had a set of rules that let you play Orks – or Eldar, if that's your breakfast fructose pulp-preserve of choice – in Adeptus Titanicus? Well, I'm pleased to say that such a supplement exists, and pending a couple of permissions for featured artworks, it's just about ready to release.

You can judge for yourself whether I've been successful in my initial aims – the first article on the project was written back in September 2018 [+noosphericinloadlink embedded+], and it's been more actively polished and revised in the years since.

I've been beavering away on Bloodsong for just about as long as the new version of Adeptus Titanicus has been out. We're now up to beta version 14, and I'm on track to publish the free, finished, ready-to-play booklet as a Christmas thank-you to readers. 

+++

+ What's new? +

Well, if you've already given the expansion a try, I hope you'll be pleased to hear that it's more refinement than rework. 

The Eldar, who benefitted from being much more similar to Imperial Titans, haven't thrown up any huge problems in playtesting, and are largely untouched. The big exception is the psychic lance, which has been considerably toned-down following playtesting – terrifying it might be in background terms, the older rules were both powerful to the point of being oppressive, and also a pain to use in practise.

As for everyone's favourite space-hooligans, ork shields seemed uncharacteristically reliable in early turns – not a problem when you've just got one on the table, but the more you had, the more oppressive it turned out to be. The solution? I looked back into Adeptus Titanicus '87 for inspiration, and found a rule about Power Fields occasionally allowing shots through gaps. There's thus now a (small) chance for a shot to go through and set off a fire. This gives 'feels-good' factor for the opponent, and also gives the Ork player something to juggle in otherwise quiet early turns. Win-win.

In addition to that, the shields/boiler relationship now has a smaller 'sweet-spot', so it's much harder for an Ork player to simply avoid touching their boiler. There's also a bit more of reward/encouragement for pushing, introduced through adjustments to the Gargant's speed value.

The Maniple equivalents – Conclaves for Eldar, Mobs for Orks – were a relatively late addition, and  while the Eldar ones seem to have worked out okay, playtesting revealed some fairly elementary problems with the ork's Godbreaka mob; which has been defanged and reworked.

It's not all down-tuning for the orks, however. The gun decks – those key elements for the 'land battleship' feel – now kick out two shots per Krew assigned, making them a genuine alternative to other parts of the Gargant, for example. In recompense for the reduction in their durability, they've also seen some of their more characteristic weapons tweaked upwards; increasing a little in S, range or coming down in cost.

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Besides the crunch, there's now lots of lovely pictures submitted by talented hobbyists like jgnstudios, Gary C, MeshyMesh and Johnpaints, to give you an idea of how to build and paint your Gargants and War-Clans.

I've worked up some silhouette illustrations for the various Maniple equivalents...

... and you've got new background and lore, all lovingly re-interpreted from the original material and aiming to reconcile newer and older lore.

The book has also received reference sections for each faction, so you've got quick comparisons for weapon stats, Command Terminals and more.

+ Tactics and strategy +

Overall, I'm very pleased with how playtesting has refined things, but as always, these rules are explicitly designed for Open Play. I hope they give you fun, balanced games, but the key aim is to allow Xenos players the chance to get involved, and provide a new challenge for Imperial players.

Quite a few playtests threw up a common point that's worth addressing: Imperial players who used an existing force sometimes found it difficult to adapt in their first game – those who tooled up to take on the aliens they were facing tended to fare better. I wanted to make sure that each faction provided a new and interesting challenge to the Imperials, as it's as much an expansion for them as it is for Xenos players. After all, Imperial/Traitor players are likely to make up the vast majority of games you'll get in.

As a result, a lot of the weapons and tactics that are optimal against other Imperial/Traitor Titans aren't necessarily ideal for tackling the Xenos – and that's intentional. The lower armour ratings and shieldbane trait make the oft-derided lasers surprisingly useful against Gargants, for example, while a combination of weight of fire (to deal with holo-fields) and precision shots (once they're knocked down) are your friend against Eldar, rather than specialist Titans.

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+ Back to the point +

But enough on the rules, let's look at some more pictures of the Great Gargant!

+ inload: Painting squats' face and making Battle for Armageddon tokens +

+ Kin and countryside +

+ This Kill Team of *checks notes* Hearthkyn Salvagers is not finished yet, but ticking on smoothly. Today's inload looks at the trials and tribulations of painting tiny faces in awkward recesses – and also looks at some Battle for Armageddon custom tokens, which account for the rather strained pun in the title. +

+++

+ Hello there +

I find it endlessly fascinating what a difference painting makes to a sculpt; how you can – intentionally or not – add (or destroy) character or emotion with the tiniest paint stroke. I guess it's down to how familiar we are with human (or abhuman, in this case) faces – though I'll note the same thing seems to happen even with aliens.

There's a hint of Ewan McGregor in the face of this Kin Theyn. Unintended, but amused me. Think I'll paint his plasma-axe with a hint of blue.

Unlike the rest of the gang, I've started this chap with the face. This is something I like to do on occasion, particularly for one-off or character sculpts, as it gets me invested in the figure early on. On reflection, I should probably have done this for the whole Kill Team, as having them half-done for ages has been quite demotivating. Remind me next time.

Of course, the risk of that approach is that you're not happy with the finish and it puts you off entirely. That's nearly what happened here – I got stuck in and slopped on the paint, and then... it just wouldn't resolve. Sometimes that's 

This work-in-progress [+viz-ref: below+] shows the point at which I told myself to step back. It's okay at this point, but for whatever reason I just wasn't feeling it.

Few things are more likely to further spoil a face than pressing on when you're frustrated, so I took a break, pinged a pict-capture over to the PCRC group chat for a bit of perspective, then came back to it after a cup of recaff.

Whether it was taking a break to come back with fresh eyes, a more positive attitude or simply leaving the layers of paint to dry properly, when I came back the face came together much more smoothly and quickly. What's the lesson? Nothing hugely revelatory, but 'take a break and come back later' is generally good advice.

Within reason, acrylics will cover previous layers, and as long as you're thinning your paint you'll not build up a meaningful texture. This means that even if you feel a face (or any bit, really) has gone horribly wrong, you can just paint over it and start again. 

That's what I did here. Pretty much the whole face was repainted, using the original colours as a map. It was a bit like redrafting a bit of text. Everything's there, but needs to be tidied or deleted or supplemented. This approach is particularly useful if you tend to be self-critical, as you can use that to your advantage:

Stop and take some time to identify the errors. Instead of thinking that you're repainting the face, just go in and fix the bits that stick out. Rinse and repeat until you're happy.

+++

+ The rest of the team +

While the face above took up a chunk of time, I also had a go at some others while the paint was on the palette. The Kin are supposedly clones – albeit with quite a lot of variation created with genetic tinkering – so I was in two minds on whether to include much variation in terms of skin tone, hair colour and complexion. 

On the one hand, it's nice to make a distinction between 'normal' humans and the Kin; but on the other it's a bit boring if everyone looks exactly the same, so I've decided not to run with them as clones. If the force expands beyond a Kill Team, perhaps I'll intentionally do little fraternal groups where the skin and hair are identical, but for these specialists I figure the controlling mind of the Votann might spit out a more diverse group.

A hint of ginger in this chap. Space Dwarfs they are, and I like a bit of Tolkein/Norse dwarf in the group. 

Fun little sculpts as the Leagues of Votann are, it's very awkward getting your brush in to such recesses!

+++

Another little picture of the group as they currently stand. Together with the Theyn, they'll be ready to go at the PCRC event in a couple of weeks. The other specialists – a couple of Ironkin and a Kin in a weapon-suit – are also off the blocks, but I'll show those in a separate inload when they're a bit further along.

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+ Ashes of Armageddon + 

I got home to some awesome post – at the top you can see an Inquisitorial missive with directions for the PCRC event(!); thanks to Omricon and TrojanNinja for these wonderfully evocative letters, which I'll hope to share in another inload soon.

Secondly, my test sheet of Battle for Armageddon tokens arrived:

These will be part of a little souvenir-package for the people attending the Third War in 3rd event next March to use in the event and take away with them. I hope they're as tickled by them as I am. 

As you can see, they're a close match for the originals (top row). For any future ones, I think I'll tweak the colours a spot – the colours I used were based on those from the free digital version of Battle for Armageddon that GW gave away in the early years of M3; but I suspect those were based on (not particularly good) scans of the production version, rather than the original artworks. Secondly, the coating I've gone for on these is a matt one, and I suspect that's further muted and darkened the ones above.

Still, both as a little personal indulgence and as a giveaway, I think they look the part. In isolation, I think they're easily recognisable while still being distinct.

These were definitely a successful proof test; and for the Armageddon Prime tokens [+noosphericinloadlink embedded+], I'll be able to iterate further.

I'd love to hear your thoughts!

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+ inload: Squats and an errant Halfling +

+ Mojo reignited +

+ A great catch-up with the PCRC last night and actually spending some time painting has got me enthused for hobbying again. It seems an age since I've shared some substantial progress in painting, but here we go. +

+++

+ Tryn-Eena +

I sat down and hewed away at squats with my brush last night, starting with the yellow helms. These started as Iyanden yellow before having Flash gitz yellow mixed in; and then Vallejo off-white. I wanted a slightly pastel tone (hence the addition of off-white), as I was planning to glaze it with the old Citadel yellow (Lamenter's yellow?). This would let me build up the highlights much more quickly, and avoid the risk of adding texture through lots of coats.

Once the pastel yellow was in place, I added a few layers of Gryphonne sepia and Agrax Earthshade to enrich the recesses before working in a dark brown (the name escapes me) in the deep recesses. Once all that was in place, I put on the yellow glaze to tie things together.

The reds were tackled in a similar way, building up with Vallejo flat red, then more of that together with increasing amounts of Flash gitz yellow. Pleased with how well the new ones [+viz-ref: above, left and right+] match the old scheme on the test model [+viz-ref: centre+].

Not a huge amount to do on these, beyond the faces and ticking in details, which I hope I'll be able to do over the next day or so. I like the slightly mottled, beetle-like sheen on the red as it feels quite different to a lot of my other armies – a halfway house between clean and shiny and battered and wartorn, which seems fitting for this faction.

+++

Overall, I'm much more happy with the group now – I think the yellow tweaks the nostalgia-gland just right, while the slightly more muted treatment of the red and greens means that they don't look too much like  a band of tiny Father Christmases.

In particular, I think the big white band on the medic's helmet makes it a lot more obvious who he is. Once I've got these done, it'll be onto the Theyn (squad leader) as priority, as he's essential. The others are optional, but I'll do my best to get the squad, as outlined in my earlier inload, complete.

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Separately from the above is this free miniature of the month – a Ratling sniper in the very early stages. I really like the miniature of the month thing; just strikes me as a genuinely good promotion that gets me to pop into stores.

+ inload: Fire up the Bigmob +

+ Painting Gargants +

+ Waa-ork! The boiler's nearly at full, so let's go full steam ahead on getting a Bigmob of Gargants ready for Adeptus Titanicus play. +

I'm having fun picking away at this Gargant – I hope that the slightly mismatched look almost inevitable with this approach should add to the feel. For all my protestations of disliking painting big things like tanks, this year seems to have alternated between giant Titans and teeny-weeny Epic figures, with very little in between. Funny how things work.

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Since last time, all I've really done is work on the muted olive green of the superstructure with washes. I've had a variety open on my painting desk, ranging from Gryphonne and Seraphim Sepia to Agrax Earthshade and whatever the red, green and blue ones are called.

The effect gives a textural result that I really like – I think once some contrasting plates are in place, it'll provide a bit more 'pop'. Regardless, I'm finding more and more that I'm simply enjoying the process of painting, rather than the finished result. 

I'm not sure that's entirely a good thing – I can't imagine it's quite so interesting to everyone else, but the relaxing nature of gradually building up and refining is certainly relaxing.

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+ Fire the secondary batteries! +

This Gargant has been a bit of an experiment in avoiding primary colours, and substituting them for secondaries. I've used lots of reds, blues and yellows recently (along with highly-saturated greens), and thought another palette might be a fun experiment.

Enter the secondary colours, and in muted, earthy hues. I like working within restrictions like this – it'll help to give a coherent finish, and the nature of picking a colour scheme means that groups of colours like this (a triad) will always tend to work.

The washes have been laid in around the seams and rivets in a fairly hotch-potch fashion; varying the colours across the surface. While wet, I've used a clean dry brush to selectively lift out some of the pooling wash from raised areas, as well as dropping in other wash colours for variety here and here. I've also used some kitchen paper and swiped with my thumb to remove washes in more textural ways.

As I hope you can see, the results are starting to build up into the appearance of mottled, dusty, rusty and oily textures across the surface. I think this sort of textural greebling goes a long way to selling the idea of scale. Compare the effect on the front with the back, where things are mostly at an earlier stage.

I'm planning to have some brighter areas to suggested internal lighting – showing through in the various little 'huts' and portholes/windows, and to have some plates made up of metals taken from looted foes.

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You'll note the base has been worked up in various browns up through yellow ochre to an ivory colour for highlights. This matches my Iron Skulls (Legio Metalica) forces and the rest of my Armageddon-themed miniatures. I'll probably add a few tufts and bits and bobs. The huge bases of Titans and similar War Engines provide a great canvas for stuff that helps set the scale, like barrels and infantry figures. You'll spot a little mek poking out of the hatch at the top of the Gargant's head. He's from Vanguard Miniatures' Skinners range [+noosphericexloadlink embedded+].

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+ Plans and plots +

The eventual plan for this is to have a 'maniple' of each of the 40k factions I find iconic for Epic – Eldar, Orks and Imperials. I'll be using the Bloodsong expansion, [+noosphericexloadlink embedded+] which is entering its final beta testing stage over the next couple of weeks.

Duplication is anathema to the orks, and I managed to find another Great Gargant sculpt, which a friend of mine has kindly printed. This version is a bit more refined than the other, I think; a bit more natural looking. 

I've not received the figure, but he should fit in very nicely alongside our unnamed friend above.

Speaking of names, it struck me that it might be fun to have name generators or a list of suggestions in Bloodsong, so I'm very open to any ideas or suggestions for Ork Gargant and Eldar Titan names – exload 'em into the comments here, or pop them up on the +Death of a Rubricist+ Facebook group [+noosphericexloadlink embedded+], where you can ask any questions you like about the project.

A couple more 'glamour shots' of the WIP Great Gargant. He's magnetised at the head, and the torso is also unglued in order to allow things to rotate freely. 

The weapons are magnetised, mostly using 5mm rare earth magnets – apart from the shoulder guns (part of the gun decks, rules-wise), where I realised I could use some spare corsage magnets instead. These Gargant models are quite substantial, and so larger, cheaper magnets seem sensible.

I haven't got a pict-capture of them on the Great Gargant, but you can see them nice and clearly on this smaller Gargant:

... and while they're at an early stage, I thought I'd show the rest of the bigmob as they currently stand:

This head is based on the original Great Gargant one – I found a couple cheap second-hand, and have bulked it up a bit (it looked a bit pin-headed originally!)