Excidium Rex Walks and House Raven Rolls out!

Warhound Titan Excidium Rex

I started working on this Warhound over a year ago and managed to get him 'table ready' for the 2019 UK TOC Walk, but felt a little ashamed that I had to rock up with an unfinished model in play.  Well, I have now eliminated that shame waith a hail of bullets and plasma, for Excidium Rex is finally complete!

Bracing itself with one enormous foot on a defence wall, Excidium Rex scans the battlefield for prey...

To set him apart from his pack-mate Fulgur Manus, I stripped his carapace of detail then sectioned off an area on each side where I could add some nice unique designs like this chequerboard pattern with kill markings

On this side a large Aquila and the unique registration number of this engine

The main carapace proudly displays the old-school Legio Metalica emblem as well as a House Raven crest honouring the Legio's closest ally 

As with my other two titans, I applied a large amount of weathering to the armour plating.  As I hand paint everything, this took some time!

A close up of the Vulcan Mega Bolter where you can see the symbols I applied on the top edge to add some variation

I was very pleased with the heat staining on the barrel of the Plasma Blastgun

I added some white and red symbols to this large black plate to make it stand out against the extremely bright glowing green plasma cells

I like that he looks quite menacing, peering over the wall!

I added some stripes to the crotch plate, but kept the familiar colour scheme.  The black cogs running down the centre stripe give just enough detail without overwhelming it

I deliberately reversed the shin pad colours on Excidium Rex so that he and Fulgur Manus are like the Yin and Yang of Warhounds - unique, but still clearly linked

I used some of the new Legio Metalica symbols which were recently released for Adeptus Titanicus on Excidium Rex's head.  Although they're for smaller scale models, I think they work well on his smaller plates!

Again, a new symbol can be seen on this side of his face plating

One of my favourite features of this titan are the Vulcan Mega Bolter shell casings scattered all over the floor at his feet.  Each shell was hand made with styrene sheet and tubing. I actually measured the barrel and ejection port to make sure they were perfectly in scale!

A lot of people don't base their titans, but I do as I like to add to the story of the finished piece - the heavy bases also mean that they're impossible  to knock over!

And here is the completed Warhound pack in all it's titanic glory!

The only problem with such huge bases is the fact that you need an enormous box for transportation and storage!

As a treat for a good little puppy, I added one of the new transfers to Fulgur Manus' head plate as well

Metalica and Raven Walk as one

House Raven Dice Tower - Ready to Roll!

Most gamers know the sinking feeling which accompanies the sight of a handful of dice disappearing over the edge of a table.  I've used many different dice trays in the past, but have always wanted a proper dice tower.

Well, thanks to the additional spare time I've had over Easter (and being stuck in the house because of lockdown), I finally got round to making one of my very own!

I modelled it on the Keep Inviolate symbol from my Knight Raven Household - Unfortunately I didn't document the build process, but I'll give you a brief summary.

I sketched out the design and made some rough measurements for the parts I'd need.  I marked these out on some 4mm thick Foamex board then cut out the components with a knife and steel ruler.

Foamex is really easy to cut at an angle and can also be sanded to make sure that all of the joins fit flush. It may look like a straightforward shape, but this tower tapers and has a lot of awkward angles. I cut the angles by eye after a bit of test fitting.  Foamex is quite forgiving and is easily filled, so mistakes are not as much of an issue as with some other materials such as styrene.

The other main reason I have started using foamex is that it can be quickly assembled with superglue. Most lightweight materials such as extruded foam melt, but foamex actually soaks up the glue and dries almost immediately without melting or deforming!

No more scrabbling on the floor for me!

I added transparent windows to the front in order to mimic the Keep Inviolate's iconic design

The studs around the tower were plastic half pearl craft stickers which were glued in place

The rear of the tower - the 'detail' on the back was made with offcuts and actually caps off the styrene tubing which runs through the tower

I kept the tower sides fairly simple, but added House Raven iconography to the tray walls

The styrene bars, walls and slopes inside the tower were painted to look like weathered steel

I stencilled the House Raven lightning symbol into the tray bottom. The concrete texture was added by pressing a ball of aluminium foil into the Foamex

ROLL OUT!

On the horizon...

In a previous post, I showed my TOC Walk progress list - here's how it looks now...

Venator Light Titan Maniple:

Reaver Titan - 100% complete

Warhound Titan - 100% complete

Warhound Titan - 100% complete

Acastus Knight banner:

Asterius - 100% complete

Porphyrion - 100% complete

Cerastus Knight Banner:

Lancer - 100% complete

Lancer - 100% complete

Lancer - 0% complete (Optional)

Acheron - 0% complete (Optional)

Questoris Knight Banner:

Knight Errant - 100% complete

Knight Preceptor - 75% complete

Knight Paladin - 50% complete

Knight Gallant - 50% complete

Knight Crusader - 50% complete

Knight Warden - 50% complete

WIP House Raven Knight Preceptor