Legio Astraman, servants of Graia.

Good evening everyone.

As you know I've steadily been working through the build of my Warlord Titan 'Venatoribus Hastam', this has also whet my appetite for completing the rest of my war maniple 'The Ardent Mace' (3 Warhounds, 5 Reavers) at the same time.

I've been working on finishing up the paint job on one of my Reaver titans, primarily as I've been putting it off for a while as I was painting Mechanicum and legion forces and in addition I've been challenged to a Titan Death scenario at Warhammer World against the Legio Fureans (which will comprise of three Warhounds, three Reavers and a Warlord) - so to that end I have a steep slope to climb to match them in terms of engine strength.

There are many factors involved in arming a Reaver, what you want to kill being one but also which combination of weapons works best against certain FoC forces and what allows for a legal list to be fielded using the leviathan FoC.

As I have a major game on the horizon I wanted to minimise my build and paint time by picking a loadout I know I can use out of the gates. To run a Reaver and two Warhounds (which I already have done) as a neat little 3000pt package I needed to select a weapon fit which didn't heap on too many additional points. Both the volcano cannon and chanfist add on additional points so to that end I knew I couldn't max out on either of these weapon systems. I wanted a loadout that was good against horde infantry (as most legion forces are) and one which would (in concert with the two Warhounds) work at dropping enemy LoW shields and then deliver the hammer blow with a well place D weapon. In the end I opted for a volcano cannon and a laser blaster for D weapon shots at medium and long range. My carapace choice was more difficult - initially I thought a vulcan mega-bolter would be ideal at stripping shields but at only S6 it's rolls of 6 to knock out a shield, aiming to engage other Reavers then means you need a lucky four 6s out of a potential 15 hits (although on average you're looking at 7 hits - so nearly half the dice rolled being a 6). I also looked at the turbo laser, as if I'm sacrificing D weapons to knocking down shields then I need to maximise on the potential for that (without compromising on range too much). Of course there is always the trusty apocalypse launcher, which on reflection, is probably the most tactically versatile of all the carapace options - undoubtedly that's why it is currently the only one produced by Forge World. At S7 it's knocking out shields on a 5 or 6 put at Ap3 it is also pretty good at dropping blobs of power armour too.

So for ease I've made and painted these three options as swap outs as an when the time arises to do so, I'm slowly marching through the painting and hope to get this initial Reaver done by next weekend (as I'm on holiday for the next week). The legs need additional metals added to the base metal colour and the carapace and knee pad need additional detail work. the main colours for the majority of the weapon systems are now done with really the only key thing to do is to apply the gold edging to the armour plates and paint the additional metal colours on the barrels etc. I'll also need to magnetise and paint the void shields too.

what these titans will need are transfers and weathering, I'm loathed to start the weathering process until transfers are on but I'm also not keen on applying the generic transfers if the talented Holly Ann Goodwin will be furnishing Legio Astraman with a specific set of transfers in the near future, so for now they will have to remain quite a bright green.

Here is some WiP shots of what I've been up to.

More to come soon....

And remember life is like a clown's funeral.

KF.