Mandragola’s Legio Astorum (and Mortis and stuff)

[Mandragola]

Thanks. The shots against the black background are under a really strong and unforgiving light, which shows the slightly rushed job I did of the blue blending. I’ll go back and smooth that out at some point.

 

There’s a lot more detailing to do as well. The Astorum lines, eye lenses, soot from projectile weapons and heat glow for energy guns – plus of course weathering and bases.

 

For now though, they do look ok and I’m pretty happy with them.

 

I really need to do some work on my poor, neglected Crimson Fists. I’m taking them to a tournament in less than three weeks and they aren’t ready at all. Titans will have to wait for a bit.

[Mendi Warrior]

Excellent stuff, looking forward to the battle report.

[Mandragola]

Ok well I had to have a go at doing the Astorum lines. Here's the result.

 

 

I reckon that's one armour plate done... so maybe 1% of the job!

 

Actually, under the extreme magnification of the camera, I can see some bumps on the lines. I'll sort that out.

 

I also removed a few transfers I didn't like and added an edge highlight (which I think I need to blend in slightly) to this guy's armour plates. Here's how he looks now.

 

[Fajita Fan]

Looks brilliant, I love it. Is that ceramite white for the lines?

[Mandragola]

Couldn't put it down. I fixed the blending on the blue and did another armour plate.

 

 

And here's a much-too-closeup of the shoulder panel.

 

 

Getting the circles to be actually circular is not easy at all. I have a circle template (a bit of plastic with loads of different circles in it) but the titans aren't flat so it's hard to use. Lots of correction has been needed. I'm quite happy with the outcome though.

[Fajita Fan]

You should be, that looks fantastic.

[Dark Bjoern]

  

[Reyner]

Your titans look amazing :D you are a madman for freehanding the Astorum details too! How did your Warlord with the macro gatling and plasma do? I really want to try that loadout. Love my Volcano and Quake Cannon Warlord but want a more aggressive one for next time I play.

[Gore Crow]

Those lines look sweet! And the blending adds a really nice depth to the armour plates.Great engine.

[noigrim]

Now that's a lot of work which I would never do

[Mandragola]

Thanks guys. That's encouraging feedback. Guess I've got more lines to paint in future.

 

Your titans look amazing you are a madman for freehanding the Astorum details too! How did your Warlord with the macro gatling and plasma do? I really want to try that loadout. Love my Volcano and Quake Cannon Warlord but want a more aggressive one for next time I play.

 

I find macro-gatling and plasma to be a pretty effective armament for a midfield brawler titan. You can very effectively strip shields and the plasma annihilator is strong enough to punch holes in anything. After it’s done that, the gatling gun can be targeted at the damaged section, often resulting in crits and a dead titan.

 

It makes for a pretty tough titan. It doesn’t have to put much reactor power into its weapons, meaning you have it spare to restore shields and fix crits. It feels reasonably mobile too, because you can put power to engines or turns when needed. In my case the Astorum War March trait really helps here of course and not everyone gets that, and the rerolls for servitors make it tougher still. It also generally doesn’t need orders, which is nice because it lets you prioritise other engines.

 

The downside is that the macro gatling feels just a little weak compared to the sunfury or bellicosa. It isn’t all that effective against things like knights, which the high-strength guns punch straight through. I’ve run a double-gatling titan and it struggled to make the initial breakthrough on a titan’s armour, before the plusses for structural damage kick in.

 

I’ve also tried bellicosa and sunfury. That’s a bit more taxing on the reactor, but it’s devastating when it goes right. I do tend to find that my volcano cannon shots scatter a lot though, or end up blowing off guns, so the gatling feels more reliable. Haven’t tried bellicosa and gatling yet and that could be worth a go.

Edited May 30, 2019 by Mandragola

[Reyner]

Cool thanks :D my Volcano + Quake Warlord worked pretty well when he hit things but I was terrible with the scatter dice, a Reaver running down the edge of the table is hard to hit! 

[Mandragola]

This guy I’m working on is usually run as volcano/quake. The quake cannon is great fun, especially against other warlords. It really ruins their day to be rotated 45 degrees and find their carapace guns pointing at nothing. Doesn’t do huge amounts of damage to their armour though – except if you hit one of their guns.

 

Overall I enjoy firing the quake cannon more than the bellicosa, which never quite seems to live up to its potential. It’s so nice not to have to worry about heat with the quake cannon. You never regret firing it even against shields.

[Mendi Warrior]

Wonderful! Simply wonderful! 

[Mandragola]

Bit more work done. I’ve sketched out all the lines now and painted a layer of Ulthuan grey on. Next is to go over them in white and then tidy up all the mess.

 

I think the patterns are coming out quite well. The hardest part is getting what look like proper circles, over the wavy shell shapes of the armour. The difficulty is that they look different depending on the angle you look at them from. Having tried various other techniques I’m finding that just doing it by eye works best for me.

 

 

[Dark Bjoern]

Awesome! Did you do it all freehand?

[Mandragola]

Yes. I drew the lines in pencil first and then painted over them. I don’t think you could get transfers to work over the curved shapes with all the lines between panels and the eagles etc.

 

It’s honestly not all that hard. Thin paint that runs smoothly and a xs artificer brush get the job done. There are no corners to paint and nothing like text or even different colours to worry about. I think I’d recommend giving it a go on some spare panels.

 

If you do, I think I’d recommend marking the middle of each design while you sketch it out. You can always paint it blue again later. This is important because all the lines should radiate from this point. Anywhere a line crosses a circle you should get a right angle between the two.

 

Getting the pattern right is more important than being completely neat I think, as our eyes are really good at seeing patterns. This Titan right now is kind of an example of that - it’s a total mess but looks decent from a distance because the shapes work.

[Rabenga]

The results are amazing... beautiful machine you got there.

[Mendi Warrior]

Absolutely gorgeous! Very impressive stuff 

[Fajita Fan]

Pffft, not all that hard he says...

[Mandragola]

It may not be all that technically difficult but it’s certainly time consuming. Real life has been seriously intruding on my ability to paint titans lately.

[Macrossmartin]

There seem to be a lot of Astorum Titans all over the noosphere nowadays, but they don't have your bold linework. Really sets them apart from the crowd, and for all the right reasons! 

[Mandragola]

There seem to be a lot of Astorum Titans all over the noosphere nowadays, but they don't have your bold linework. Really sets them apart from the crowd, and for all the right reasons! :yes:

Yeah well the Warp Runners rules are excellent, so it’s no great shock to find people making battleforces of them. No judgement here - I like how the rules make my warlords tougher and more mobile too, which is part of the reason I didn’t just do a homebrew legio.

 

But the other reason was the scheme. I love the really high contrast between the yellow and blue, the flames and the weird patterns. It really suits my style of painting. I’m very happy with how it’s coming out.

 

I think I’d probably feel a bit cheeky if I’d just painted some Averland sunset on a few panels, stuck on some transfers and then called the job a good ‘un. Now I feel like I’m earning my slightly-too-good rules. That said, nothing is going to make me roll on the Astorum Princeps Seniores table!

[Chaeron]

Superb work Mandragola! Really nice shots of the models at the batrep - will look forward to watching in due course. Loving the detailing going into the models even now!

[splayedpaintbrush]

Makes me wish I'd stuck with my original plan to do Astorum. Looks awesome!