Hobby: Building and Painting a Warlord Titan in a Day
There’s a ton f great minis and terrain to build and paint in Adeptus Titanicus. This tutorial by Jake Krajeski of Alpha Omega Hobby will get you on the table fast with some great looking Titans.
Hey Folks, so today I’m going to walk you through a few steps and easy techniques to really make painting these new Adeptus Titanicus models (or really any large scale similar model: 40K Knights, Dreadnoughts, etc.) a breeze.
I remember when Adeptus Titanicus came out the first time, back in 1998. It was awesome, I wanted all the giant stompy robots. I had nearly two full maniples of Warlords (they were about the size of a 40K Centurion, or the new AT Warhounds). The new one is Glorious. Around six inches tall it is mid-way between a Redemptor Dread and an Imperial Knight. It is simply a scaled down version of the Forge World Warlord (thank you CAD).
For mine, I decided to go “old school” and paint it as a Titan of the Fire Wasps Legion, or Legio Ignatum. This tutorial works for any scheme, you’d just have to alter your color choices accordingly. Here we go!
Step 1
- Build your Titan, but skip ALL the steps that involve adding the armor plates
- Leave all the armor plates on the sprue
If you want to save yourself some time, use poster tack, silly putty, or liquid mask to cover any contact points on both the Titan and the armor plates, it will save you some time later.
Step 2
- Spray the Titan “Leadbelcher” (or some form of metallic)
- Spray the armor plates “Mephiston Red”
Step 3
- Wash the Titan with “Nuln Oil”
My large shade brush was handy here, something that will hold a good amount of the wash, you’ll be using a good amount. Be pretty liberal with this, and work top to bottom so it pools towards the bottom of the limbs, plates, etc. This creates a natural shadow that works to help keep the proportions in mind, remember this is supposed to be a towering colossus of war. If you want a darker machine, repeat this step.
Step 4
- Paint the head and collar plates on the Titan “Mephiston Red”
- Optional: Paint the missile launcher cowling “Yriel Yellow”
I recommend using a standard brush, the spaces are large and open enough to allow you to do this with minimal issue.
Step 5
- Dry brush the armor plates with “Evil Sunz Scarlet”
I used a large drybrush. Make sure you keep your brush strokes top-to-bottom only, this will help with source lighting, and ensure you have a unified highlight.
Step 6
- Dry brush the armor plates with “Wild Rider Red”
Again, make sure that you keep your brush strokes “top-to-bottom” to keep the highlighting consistent.
Step 7
- Paint all the edges of your armor plates “Gehenna’s Gold”
- Paint the edges of your Titan’s head and collar plates in gold as well.
I knocked this out using a standard brush, take your time and just work around the edges of the plates, don’t worry about getting it perfect, the next step will mask most mistakes.
Step 8)
- Wash the armor plates with “Agrax Earthshade”
- Wash the feet, joints, and gun barrels on the Titan.
Back to the large shade brush again, try to apply the wash so it pools at the “bottom” of the armor plates again. This will work in conjunction with your highlights to bring that dimensionality to your paint job. On the Warlord it will add that “stained” look to the joints, feet and a slight heat discoloration to the barrels.
Step 9
- Remove the poster tack, silly putty, or liquid mask from all your connection points on the Titan and the armor plates.
- Cut all the armor plates off the sprue.
Step 10
- Assemble your Titan.
I prefer using plastic glue, but if you skipped masking or putting poster tack on the contact points you are going to have to scrape them back to bare plastic with mouldline remover or hobby knife, or use super glue.
Step 11
- Use “Gehenna’s Gold” to fill any spots from where you snipped the armor plates.
A small brush is your best bet, you’re really just painting dots.
Step 12
- Intone the sacred words, apply the sacred unguents, and praise the Omnisiah, the Titan strides to war!
Okay, so I may have added some detail with the stripes, but he wouldn’t be a Fire Wasp without it. Those plates are “Jokero Orange” basecoat, “Yriel Yellow” (a few layers) and then washed with “Fuegan Orange”. Then bust out a nice angled brush and paint a few black stripes. Boom. Done.
I hope this was helpful. I am the prince of quick ways to get stuff done. I prefer to spend my hobby time converting, kit-bashing, and painting details so I’m always looking for ways to perfect my “bulk painting”. I will work more on this model in the coming days, and I’ll post how to add killer transfers, free hand work, and basing.
Godspeed Princeps. Crush the enemies of Mankind. Unless you’re a Traitor. In which case, I hope you trip over a building…
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