Legio Crucius (Warmongers to you!) goes walkies

[Macrossmartin]

Greetings, all!

It struck me the other day that I have not posted here on LA for the longest time. Shameful neglect on my behalf! So, let me make amends with a quick show-and-tell of my first GW army in more than 10 years; The Titans of Legio Crucius!



So many stripes... Tamiya should send me shares in the company to say thank you for all their tape I've been buying... 

For those not in the know, Legio Crucius ('Warmongers' in their old, Punk band name, as Ash Barker of GMG calls the original Titanicus Legion titles), are a 'canon' Legio, and even have their own rules in new Adeptus Titanicus. They're experts on not exploding their reactors, which proves to be rather a Good Thing.

The heavy hitters are straight from the Grand Master Ed. of the game, armed identically with powerful, but reactor-boiling, paired Volcano Cannons, plus a couple of Apocalypse Missile pods up top.

Say "please don't step on me" to Ferrum Pugnus...




... and twin sister Machina Deo Malleo.




They are joined by a pair of the Legio's Reaver class Engines — Instrumentum Machina and Cataphtactus Pugnus:




— and a trio of Warhounds in the guises of Primo Pugnare dashing to the front, with Certus Pede and Canem Bonum bringing up the rear:



None of the Titans have their decals or final weathering yet (hence the big white flags, awaiting transfers); I went to the bother of designing Legio Crucius decals for them, and having them professionally printed. I've just finished applying them to my engines, so, photos of them in full markings next time.

And lastly, for this first post — Tiny, teeny Knights! Two Banners of House Cuori march to war (and certain death, when there's Titans around...)






I think that will do for a quick return to Lead Adventure. I hope you've liked taking a look at the latest variation of my addiction to tiny, giant robots. More to come!

- Martin

[OSHIROmodels]

Splendid work 

[Hobby Services]

Very nice indeed.  I'm with you though - silly Latin names be damned, let's go monger some war. 

[Ultravanillasmurf]

Very nice work on those titans.

[Grumbledook]

Awesome stuff! Great work on those stripes and I'm looking forward to seeing them fully weathered and tattooed. Beautiful work on the knights which, bizarrely as always, look adorable!

[Dezmond]

No... can’t... afford... GW... stuff... must... resist...

[Ultravanillasmurf]

No... can’t... afford... GW... stuff... must... resist...

Not a problem for me, I have been turned down for a third mortgage on my soul.

[Hobby Services]

No... can’t... afford... GW... stuff... must... resist...

You could play the game in proper 6mm scale as the Flying Spaghetti Monster intended and use the Vanguard Minis stuff, eg:

https://vanguardminiatures.co.uk/shop/cybershadows-leviathan-stalker/

Maybe not quite as pretty but also about a third the cost and they won't take hours to de-sprue, clean, and assemble.

FWIW, I've also seen some shockingly effective conversions of War Machine 'jacks into Warlords and Reavers.  The Cryx stuff is essentially flawless for Chaos titans already with almost zero work.

No reason to pay GW model costs to play AT2018 if you don't want to.  The savings will easily let you build two-three forces so you have you own OpForce to loan out if need be.

[Macrossmartin]

You could play the game in proper 6mm scale as the Flying Spaghetti Monster intended ...

I absolutely agree. (Although I get the impression most titan-heads now regard the original Titanicus to be in 3mm scale. Talk about scale creep...)

In fact, I've seen a few people playing the new rules with original AT88 minis, which, because they are much smaller, greatly improves the sense of scale, and allows more freedom of manoeuvre.

Conversely, I'm tempted to try playing the original rules with AT18 models, just to see what happens! I really like the flow-chart damage system of the old rules, but unfortunately, the follow-up rules for Knights that appeared in White Dwarf are nearly unplayable. 

[Ballardian]

 Lovely work

[Hobby Services]

I absolutely agree. (Although I get the impression most titan-heads now regard the original Titanicus to be in 3mm scale. Talk about scale creep...)

Revisionist nonsense.  The early concept art made it clear that titans weren't really that large, closer to today's knights than the mobile skyscrapers they're become.  They had a five-man crew, for crying out loud.  No tech-priests or servitor clades or whatever else they're supposed to haul around these days.

In fact, I've seen a few people playing the new rules with original AT88 minis, which, because they are much smaller, greatly improves the sense of scale, and allows more freedom of manoeuvre.

Yep, me too.  Looks and plays better if you ask me.  The AT19 figs are gorgeous, but just way too big - whilst simultaneously being too small for their price IMO, at least the Warlords.  They also maintain the annoying shift away from the really modular titans of AT88.  Remember when Warlords came in weight classes depending on what you shoved in their hard points, had varying numbers of shields - and a real campaign system?

Conversely, I'm tempted to try playing the original rules with AT18 models, just to see what happens! I really like the flow-chart damage system of the old rules, but unfortunately, the follow-up rules for Knights that appeared in White Dwarf are nearly unplayable. 

I could see that working, although AT88 certainly kills titans quicker than AT19.  The current rules are an obvious mod of the Codex Titancus stuff, which added detail to AT88, lowered the lethality rate some, and further integrated tanks and infantry so it was closer to Space Marine.  Knights were barely a thing back then.  All in all AT19 seems to have made mostly sensible changes (I particularly like the save to avoid shields dropping when hit) although like you said there are some balance issues, particularly involving knights and magazine stuff.

[Macrossmartin]

Awesome stuff! Great work on those stripes and I'm looking forward to seeing them fully weathered and tattooed.

I aim to please... 



Fresh-off-the-boat pics of the Crucius gang; This time with decals, and weathering all done. Huzzah!

Although there's still the top banners, Loin-banners, and Kill-pennants to do... but more of that in the near future...


Warlords, all scratched up, decalled, and Dullcoted...




 



... and ditto, their smaller brethren:





The decals are not perfect, but they have served their purpose. Unfortunately, there was a little bleed in the black, causing some lettering and white, fine lines to become a bit obscured. (Note the very solid black fist on the poleyn above.) A lesson learnt for next time.
 
 
I designed the decals with lots of sets of Roman numerals to distinguish each Titan into its Maniple. The Warhound below is XIV Maniple:




Its a detail that's not particularly useful in terms of gameplay, but I think it helps to tie the individual Titans into an organised force, with an apparent structure. I'm pretty sure the worshippers of the Machine God are into that sort of thing. 
 
Still more Titans and Knights to go, (plus banners for all), but for the moment, I must draw a line under Legio Crucius. I'm now going to spend a solid month building and painting scenery, for a big demo game at Little Wars Adelaide, to help boost AT's profile in the local gaming community. So! Much posting of real estate to come!

- Martin

[Dezmond]

Revisionist nonsense.  The early concept art made it clear that titans weren't really that large, closer to today's knights than the mobile skyscrapers they're become.  They had a five-man crew, for crying out loud.

Ah! I see you are a man of taste! :-) (although in fairness I generally like tech priests, but I do feel they should wait with the service crews rather than riding on the Titans.

And a warhound is just one man and his Titan, as it should be.

I do really like that there is essentially still a range of epic 40k minis in production.

And I do think these chaps could look great:-

[Hobby Services]

Fresh-off-the-boat pics of the Crucius gang; This time with decals, and weathering all done. Huzzah!

Well, those are absolutely gorgeous work.  The base detailing in particular adds so much to the already-excellent sculpts and paint job.

Ah! I see you are a man of taste! :-) (although in fairness I generally like tech priests, but I do feel they should wait with the service crews rather than riding on the Titans.

Well, maybe one serving on board, and a small flock of servo-skulls.  Floaty grav repair drones seem like  agood choice even on a reasonably sized titan.  Figure he can help calm down the machine spirit and apologize to it in binary for getting its paint scratche dup by enemy fire. 

And a warhound is just one man and his Titan, as it should be.

Was that it?  I though even they had a pair of moderati doing the shooting - one per gun being the norm IIRC.  Still they certainly don't have room for a slew of mechanized corpse-cyborg repairmen.

I do really like that there is essentially still a range of epic 40k minis in production.

A couple, I think.  Onslaught Minis has some as well, and I think there's somebody else doing a few.

And I do think these chaps could look great:-

Ooh, that's a nice one.

Also, I'm very pleased that after a wait of - 35 years? - cripes - Vanguard has finally given us a melee weapon for scout titans that isn't attached to some freakish Slaaneshi thing.

[Dezmond]

Was that it?  I though even they had a pair of moderati doing the shooting - one per gun being the norm IIRC.

If I may quote the Codex Titanicus,

Although normally only found on the Titans right leg, the rank emblem may be displayed on the right-hand side of the carapace - especially on Warhound Class Titans where the Princepts is the sole crewmember.

—

Incidentally does anyone have any pictures of how big the vanguard miniatures ‘Stalkers’ are compared to the original beetlebacks?

—

(OPs Titans are obviously excellent. I can pay them no greater complement than to disappear off down a titan shaped rabbit hole.)