The God Engines Walk!

With the release of Adeptus Titanicus, and my impulsive decision to buy it, I guess it deserves a big blog post.  I'm half way through painting the Grand Master edition and I'm at a place where I can show off the Traitor forces, a paint step-by-step and the board I'll be gaming on.

Warlord Titan Mors Destinarat of the Legio Mortis supported by a
banner of Knights from House Malinax.

First up was painting one of the two Warlord Titans that come in the set. I opted for a paint scheme of the Legio Mortis. Initially my plan was to just build a Traitor force, but my love for the War Griffons and having two forces has won out - I'll be painting the other model in the colors of the Legio Griffonicus. This plan to build two Titan maniples is completely deranged; but in for a penny, in for a pound I guess. Nobody ever played these games because they were economical.

The Warlord is a stunning kit, equally on par with the 40K Knight kit in terms of
complexity and articulation. 

Its almost TOO much detail. The kit takes quite a while to build and I wonder afterwards if it wasn't
just a clever ploy to get me used to the idea of assembling a 28mm scale Warlord from Forge World.

The whole thing is very well engineered, however; and I was able to pose it how I wanted
with zero conversion work.

The level of detail is NUTS. They even got the railing on the platform for entering the Titan.

A banner of Knights supports each Warlord in this set. These guys are absolute BONKERS. 21 pieces each. For a model smaller than a Primaris Marine. While I appreciate the dedication, I think these cats were a little too complex for wargaming figures.

Once the Titan and Knights were done, I turned my attention to the buildings. These kits were a little frustrating - I feel like I've been spoiled by the absolutely fantastic 28mm scenery that Games Workshop has been putting out recently. While highly modular, the Adeptus Titanicus city models were fiddly and tedious to assemble. They forgo some of the more clever locking mechanisms of modern models and take time to get right.

I decided to keep the scheme on the buildings relatively simple. I want terrain to act as a backdrop for the models and
not compete visually when laid out.

My current 4'x4' board. I plan on trying to pick up some N scale bridges and maybe a refinery set to add to the city.

A closer look at some more of the buildings.

A veritable nest for the Knights to hide in.

Finally, I also managed to take step-by-step photos of painting the Warlord as I went. Anyone who follows me on Twitter or Facebook has seen these, but I'm collecting them here with some notes for anyone who wants it.

STEP 1. The Warlord is assembled. I left off 95% of the armor panelling - that
would be painted on the sprue and left the under skeleton easy to access. The head
was also left separate, but its Blue-Tack'ed into place in this photo. The gun
arms and rocket pods were also magnetized at this point. GW left recesses
5mm wide by 1mm deep so you can swap the weapons out with future weapon
upgrades.

STEP 2. Everything was undercoated using Rustoleum Aged Bronze.
Once dry, this was all drybrushed with GW Runefang Steel.

STEP 3. I began picking out the gold details and trim using GW
Retributor Armor. This was then washed with GW Reikland Flesh shade
and high-lighted with a drybrushing ofGW Runefang Steel.
The dark panels were painted with P3 Coal Black and washed with
Army Painter Dark Tone Ink once dry.
The head was base coated with GW Administratum Grey and then
high-lighted in several layers using White mixed with Administratum
Grey in successively greater amounts.

STEP 4. A continuation of Step 3, more and more detail was picked
out across the model. The heat stress on the barrels of the Volcano cannons
was added by heavily washing the fronts with GW Druchii Violet shade.
At this point, once I was happy with the under skeleton, it was time to start
adding armor plates.

STEP 5. I undercoated the armor plates while they were still attached
to the frame. The side of the armor facing inwards, towards the skeleton, got
a coat of Rustoleum Aged Bronze. The outward facing side then was sprayed with
GW Retributor Armor Spray. This saved me a ton of time - it was easier to neaten things
up after the spray (which I would have to do anyway after clipping them off the frame)
than pick out all the trim. The gold side was washed with GW Reikland Flesh shade and once that was dry,a quick drybrushing of GW Runefang Steel brought out the detail and highlights.

TOP TIP! - Rather than painting a panel and then picking out trim, its almost always
easier to paint the trim first and then fill in the broad surfaces with color. Its quicker
and more forgiving than doing it the other way. Trust me. Try it. You won't regret it.
The broad areas of the panels were painted P3 Coal Black and washed with Army Painter
Dark Tone ink for the black plates. The red plates were painted with Vallejo Dark Flesh and then
highlighted by adding progressively more Vallejo Red to Dark Flesh in several layers.
Finally, the striping was painted in over the red plates using the same Coal Black/
Dark Tone technique as the armor plates.

STEP 6. Decals were added and then weathering was applied by
using a small bit of sponge to dab random spots of GW Dryad Bark
around the plates. Once dry, a few thin lines of highlight red were added
around the spots. Then P3 Brown Ink was used to add streaks of wear and
rainwater damage across the hull. The feet were given a drybrush of
Vallejo Beasty Brown.
Craters were added to the base by using rings of modeling putty covered with sand.
Finally, the base was painted with GW Agrellan Earth. Once dry and cracked, the base
was coated with P3 Greatcoat Grey and then washed with Army Painter Dark Tone ink.
Then two layers of drybrush were added - first with GW Adminsitratum Grey and then
GW Ushabti Bone.
Lastly, the rim of the base was painted with Vallejo Black. 

Whew! I should actually get to play the game soon against a buddy with a painted force. Then its onto the Legio Gryphonicus.

Cheers!