Category: epic

Basing the Titans

I have been browsing the web, Instagram and Twitter looking at how people have been basing their Adeptus Titanicus titans. I was a little surprised by how many people were using Epic models and scenery.

The new Adeptus Titanicus is a different scale to the original Adeptus Titanicus (and Epic) with a figure scale of roughly 8mm compared to the 6mm of Epic. In other words a third larger!

However I knew I had a box of old Epic 40000 ruins sprues somewhere in the garage and went to hunt them down. I was a little surprised by how many of them I had in the box. 

So I took some of the ruins and affixed them to the bases that came with the titans, focusing initially on the Warlord Titan and the Reaver Titan (as I had constructed their legs so had an idea of where I could put the scenic items.

I also used some plasticard strip, as well as a few spare parts I had from one of my Ork Aeronautica Imperialis model kits.

This is the Warlord Titan base.

This is the Reaver Titan base.

Overall I quite like the bases. The next step will be adding rubble and sand.

Picked up a Thunderhawk

So I kind of dithered slightly, but this morning I changed my mind and picked up an Aeronautica Imperialis Adeptus Astartes Thunderhawk Gunship from my local FLGS.

Designed to operate in both planetary atmosphere and the cold void of space, the Thunderhawk Gunship combines the roles of orbital troop lander, heavy gunship, and bomber into a single, brutally effective aircraft. Sturdy and well-armoured, Thunderhawks deliver their Adeptus Astartes passengers into the very heart of raging battle, and provide fire support with a truly fearsome array of weapons afterwards. These iconic vessels have come to be feared as the harbinger of doom by the enemies of the Imperium of Mankind.

The box contains two sprues to make up the model. There are a fair few parts as one would imagine for a kit of this size (even if it is a tiny plane). The model is very well detailed.  It does make me think that would GW ever decide to re-issue Space Marine or Epic40000 (as in WH40K ground combat) but in the new Adeptus Titanicus scale? Part of me thinks they won’t, it could possibly cannibalise sales of (proper sized) Warhammer 40000.

Another thing is that the pricing of the models would be quite extorinate compared to previous versions of Epic. The original metal 1997 Epic40000 Thunderhawk was £7.00, whereas this plastic kit has a list price of £26 nearly four times as expensive. Yes it has been over twenty years, but even so this means we would be paying £5 for an Ork vehicle and £10 for a Land Raider if GW ever did go down a path of making vehicles and infantry for Adeptus Titanicus.

I will be painting my Adeptus Astartes Thunderhawk Gunship as a Grey Knights Thunderhawk as discussed in this earlier post.

 

One can dream…

So over the last week we have had Warhammer Fest Online.

Last weekend as I looked over the list of live shows, it was apparent to me that what I was most interested in was, would there be new Orks for Warhammer 4000, what would be revealed on Thursday for the boxed games and what would be the BIG mystery on Saturday.

Well we found out on Saturday that the mystery was a new edition of Age of Sigmar.

I am guessing exciting for players of Age of Sigmar, for me not so much.

I was hoping we would see the return of the Old World and Warhammer. We know from previous reveals that this was in the works and I am intrigued to see what this new (old) game looks like and what the models will be like, especially as we have seen massive jumps in model detail and development since the end of Warhammer back in 2015.

I was secretly hoping that we would see a relaunch of Epic in the (new) Adeptus Titanicus scale, but that was a far out dream… Well one can dream….

Epic Manticore

The Manticore, also known as the Manticore Rocket Launcher, is a self-propelled rocket artillery piece used by the Astra Militarum that is based on a variant of the Chimera armoured personnel carrier chassis.

This Manticore was painted many years ago for Epic 40000 (so well before Epic Armageddon as well).

Epic Manticore
Epic Manticore

These were quite fiddly models to glue together. I remember getting the rockets stuck on my fingers a few times…

Epic Manticore
Epic Manticore

It was a pity that when we finally saw the 40K scale version, it wasn’t anything like this.

Legion Javelin Attack Speeder with Missile Launchers

I always liked the original Space Marine Land Speeder, which a version, the Proteus Pattern is available from Forge World.

Legion Javelin Attack Speeder with Missile Launchers
Legion Javelin Attack Speeder with Missile Launchers

Larger and more heavily armoured than the common pattern of Land Speeder, the Javelin Attack Speeder is a nigh-irreplaceable relic of a bygone age of technological mastery. Gravitic nullification plates, the secret of whose production and maintenance have long since been lost, allow the Javelin to mount an array of heavy weaponry more akin to a heavy tank destroyer than a nimble Land Speeder, allowing them to make pinpoint strikes on enemy armour or infantry with devastating lascannon or missile barrage. Those Chapters of Space Marines whose histories stretch back into the grim days of the Imperium’s founding may, if they are fortunate, still possess a few justly revered Javelins within the sanctified depths of their armouries.

This version is similar to that original, but reminds me of the plastic Epic version.

Epic Land Speeders
Epic Land Speeders

Dirtside Rules

Nice to see one of my favourite rule sets of all time, Dirtside II available for free download.

Dirtside II Cover

I played Dirtside quite a bit in the 1990s and even put on a display game for it at Salute one year. I much preferred it at the time to the Epic rules which were around. Though when Epic40000 was released I did start playing those rules for a while.

Dirtside II is a rules system for playing combined-arms ground combat with miniatures in a science-fictions setting.

They were first published in 1993 by Ground Zero Games.

They are now available as free download from the GZG website.

Dirtside II – Part 1

Dirtside II – Part 2

Dirtside II – Part 3

Dirtside II – Colour Cover

Dirtside II – Counter Sheet

Here is an article I wrote for Dirtside.

Sweep and Clear

Further articles.

Dirtside II for World War Two

The Empire Strikes Back

Imperial Guard Tank Landing Craft – Scrapped

Back in 2004 I discussed using an 1/72nd Airfix kit of the WWII LCVP Landing Craft as the basis for an Epic scale Imperial Guard Tank Landing Craft .

Imperial Guard Tank Landing Craft

1/72nd Airfix kit of the WWII LCVP Landing Craft

I saw this post as I was updating some other stuff, so I thought I would add an update. Alas this never got further than the ideas stage and the kit was eventually sold on eBay a few years ago.