More of House Ærthegn

 My brother and I played a game solid game of Adeptus Titanicus the weekend after my last post.  He tried out the knights I had gotten him and immediately embraced them as one of his favorite units.  

True Messengers and Tiger Eyes clash

A consequence of this was that he commissioned me to triple the number Knights he has.  Last month, I successfully doubled his Knight force, adding a second Banner of 3 Questoris and a Banner of 2 more Cerastus.

Three Questoris

Two more Cerastus

That leaves me with projects for this month of 4 additional Cerastus (the recently released variants) and a pair of Acastus Porphyrions.

Even more Cerastus in-work

Barracudas Complete

Completed Box of Barracudas

Simple enough post for this past week.  I completed the box of Barracudas this past weekend.  One of them (the lead) is painted up as the Ace and is in the same colors of Red Horizon, should I or my son choose to run him as such.

Having painted these guys up, the four Tigersharks should be pretty quick.  That will easily bring the Tau force up to more than 250 pts, probably approaching 300 pts.

Top Details

Undersides & Tops

Tau for Aeronautica

In-Work Barracuda

I have started to work on the six Barracuda's I picked up. I am aiming for something reminiscent of the original Tau color scheme.  I aim amazed at the quality of just how detailed these models are.  Games Workshop's investments about a decade ago have allowed them to make amazing models and at 8 mm scale!

I am looking forward to additional Tau vehicles - I am hoping that the main studio or Forgeworld eventually produce the Orca and Manta.  It will be far off I expect, as they were not included in the core rules. I do expect Forgeworld to be releasing the Remora drone fighter.

Undersides of the Barracudas

Axiom Maniple Complete

Legio Praesagius Axiom Maniple with House Vornherr in support

This past weekend, I completed my second Reaver Titan for my True Messengers Axiom Maniple.  It was great fun and I decided to freehand the Legio symbol on it!

Lex Potentia completed

Legio Praesagius Freehand

This led me to also updating the Warlord Titan's right shoulder with the symbol as well.

Updated Warlord right shoulder

Overall, I enjoyed painting the Maniple.  I think the next step for them will be getting name plates for each of them from Versatile Terrain.

Lex Potentia under Construction

The unprimed Lex Potentia

I have started in on painting up my second Reaver Titan for my Adeptus Titanicus True Messengers force.  For this second Reaver, I decided to make its positioning more dynamic, but having it stand on a raised item.  I took spare components from the Warhound set and modeled the destroyed body of  a Fire Masters Warhound.  I also used some Ork aircraft machine guns to model a gun emplacement, abandoned by some traitor cultist.

A Banner-of-Three and Two-Ship

Yesterday evening, before typing this up, I completed two additional Imperial Knights of House Vornherr.  I now have a Banner of Knights sporting Knight Close Combat Weapons and Thermal Cannons.

Banner of Imperial Knights

Part of the enjoyment of painting models for Adeptus Titanicus is that each one can really be an individual.  This is true for both the Titans and the Knights.

In addition, mid-last week, I also finished up my Marauder Destroyers.  This completed my Imperial Air Wing ahead of the release of the Taros models next weekend!

Marauder Destroyers and Details

The Air Wing

In-Work Marauder Destroyers

A simple post this week.  Colors other than the camouflage of green and dark blue on the top of the Marauder, they are pretty close.  I think I will have them done before this coming weekend with an hour or two of effort.

In-Work Marauder Destroyers

I expect to finally play a few games of Adeptus Titanicus this coming weekend at my brother's to celebrate his birthday (barring symptoms - stay-safe - small bubble expansions here and there, talk to those that you are planning to meet with and exchange potential contact details).

Ærthegn Banner and Lance Gift

My brother has a full Maniple of the Tiger Eyes Titan Legion that he had commission painted.  Back at the end of last year, I picked up the Knight Household box and even more Knights. I have my own House Vornherr to add to, I decided for my brother's birthday I would provide him with some Knights.  For his traitors, I choose House Ærthegn to partner with his Tiger Eyes.

Long Range Knight Banner

Cerastus-Lance

I had a lot of fun painting these guys up.  They were a departure from my normal colors and allowed me to focus on details.  They also let me include techniques I had learned on previous projects, like weathering.  I also utilized the Contrast paints in combination with regular paints.

I luckily got the basing information from my brother and his commissioned painter.  I am hoping they look solid alongside his Tiger Eyes and that he is interested in using them alongside his Tiger Eyes.

Warhounds on the Prowl

This past weekend, I finished up the pair of Warhounds for my True Messengers maniple.    I used a mix of transfers from the Warhound box and my Horus Heresy Ultramarines box.

I think these Warhounds have been on long campaigns with an Ultramarines fleet.  While the Battle Titans have seen brutal action on major campaigns, the Scout Titans have supplemented subjugation campaigns on smaller worlds or against lightly defended Xenos worlds.

Pair of Warhounds on the prowl

From the other side

Still plenty of Titanicus to come in terms of my hobbying.  Up text, is a pack of 5 Knights as a gift for my brother.

A Small Pack

In Progress Warhound Bodies

Over the past couple of weeks, I have been slowly painting up a pair of Warhounds for my True Messengers maniple.  They have been fun to pour detail into and I am really happy with the scale of the minis.  The decision to move up from 6 mm to 8 mm was a good one on Games Workshop's part and really makes these models shine.

I had hoped to finish these guys up this past weekend, but I did not end up dedicating the time to do the work.  I did however assemble and prime the follow-up project, another gift project.  These guys will be done up in House Ærthegn black and red to pair with a Tiger Eyes maniple.  Hopefully the basics of the scheme will allow me to do a good job on them and get them to the recipient around the appropriate date.

Another Gift Project

Ork Air Waaagh! Complete

This past week, I finished up two more Ork Fighta-bommers.  This brings my Ork Air Waaagh! to roughly 330 points before any upgrades, aces, or crew.  It also means I have fully painted the Ork
range for Aeronautica Imperialis.

Da Air Waaagh!

This collection was a pleasure to paint.  Using Contrast paints and allowing the paint to flow some only helped with the "Orki-ness' each model.  A shout out to Le Blog de Kouzes and Da Gretchin Army that inspired the color scheme (from 2014).

Four-ship of Fighta-bommers

For the Aces, I decided to paint one as the named Black Vulture, another that can stand in for Da Big Burna (above and after the break), and a final one that is a reverse of the overall Air Waaagh, but that is so he blends in more with his Imperial prey (who are also blue).

Dakka Dakka Dakkajets! and Update

All the Dakkajets

Fourth Skwadron Boy

This past week I finished up three more Dakkajets - two aces and a fourth "normal" fighter.  I enjoyed the departure from the Skwadron Ace the most.  It gave me an opportunity to really play with the color pallet in a different way.  The Skwadron Ace is intended to be inspired by my Imperial Navy Thunderbolts and "copying" their yellow and blue scheme - so he can blend in.

 I also decided to paint up one of the Dakkajets as the named Ace - "Da Black Vulture."  I like the idea of an Ork list running multiple Aces and the scheme is an easy option as well as making it clear who "Da Black Vulture" is if I or my son decide to run him.

Skwadron Ace

Da Black Vulture

I am already most of the way done with the last two Fighta-Bombers, one of which will be a third Ork ace that will be able to stand in for the "Big Burna."  And with those two, I will round out my Ork Air Wing.  Following that I have two Marauders to assemble and paint.  At that point, I will be waiting for Taros to be available (ie once COVID restrictions are reduced) to expand my Imperial Navy Air Wing as well as add a Tau Expeditionary Air Wing!

It has been roughly a month since my family and I began self-isolating.   I think it is fair to say that I am lucky being a relatively introverted geek.  I think I have an argument that my schedule has gotten more full, between a backlog of plenty of miniatures to paint, no-more excuses from a geographically separated D&D group, and possibly adding another digital D&D game (for my son and his friends).

Thus far, the biggest negative impact for me is my kitchen-table is also now my work desk, in addition to being my hobby space.  There are some nights where I just can't stand being in the same 5 sq ft (0.5 m2) any more and land on the couch, away from the painting setup. 

Colossus Complete

 In focus, nose art of Marauder 13, the Emperor's Own

This past weekend, I finished up the Marauder Colossus.  It was a fun conversion of the Marauder Bomber.  I am not super concerned if the studio announces next weekend that conversion kits are coming.  I will appreciate rules beyond my own homebrew.

From a game-play perspective, the Colossus needs to be a one-hit wonder against ground targets.  When you get there with the bomb, it has to do something, even on a miss. To this end, I propose a rule such as Heavy Ordnance and Firestorm.

Heavy Ordnance: On a hit, it lands on the intended target see Fire Storm below.  On a miss, the bomb still hits the ground and explodes!  Roll a d6 numbering the hexes surrounding the target hex clockwise.  The bomb lands in that hex!
Firestorm:  The Colossus Bomb creates a massive fire storm around where it hits.  The surrounding hexes suffer Bomb Creep on a 3+.

A view of the Colossus Bomb

Marauders 7, 9, and 13 in flight