Wednesday 27 April 2016

Legio Mortis Death's Heads Reavers



The Legio Mortis reaver titans Bellator Deus and Immitis Rex of Battlegroup Infidel.

The Titans of Battlegroup Infidel were used relentlessly by the Traitor Mechanicum forces during the Age of Darkness, and were deployed in support of the forces of the XIVth Legion for the majority of the Heresy.
Note the extensive superficial damage the Titans are displaying, probably as a result of the breakdown in supply lines and support structure that most forces encountered during the Age of Darkness.
While often deployed in warzones for long periods the battlegroup was not completely without support, and enough Mechanicum assets were present to enable their weaponry to be re-fitted and all but the most major repairs undertaken to ensure the war engines remained fit for purpose while on mission.





These reaver titans have been in my possession for quite a while, but I have never actually used them in a game. They sat in storage in a little pile of lead in a cardboard box for a decade or two, before I finally unearthed them and added them to the rather lengthy painting queue.


Well now they (and I) can rejoice, for after barging their way to the front of the line they are at last proudly bearing the somewhat bedraggled heraldry of Legio Mortis.


Like my traitor warhound titans these reavers are from Battlegroup Infidel, which is what I call my Death's Heads (also known  as Legio Mortis these days) titan army. When complete it will consist of two warhounds, two reavers, one warlord, and a few hangers-on like old plastic robots and some fliers, plus perhaps some knights from House Makabius one day in the distant future. I'm also starting to think long and hard about converting some sort of Imperator, but that remains a pipe dream at this stage.


I painted these reavers up in what has become the uniform of Battlegroup Infidel, a fairly worn Legio Mortis variation that allows me to use them in both 30k and 40k games, either as allies to my Nurgle forces or an army in their own right. It's a little bit hard to see in the picture above, but I painted one of the eyes of Immitis Rex grey rather than blue. I did this because it added to the damaged feel of the titans, and looks a little bit chaos-ey. Perhaps the rust and superficial damage has caused the eye to stop functioning; perhaps it is a replacement part salvaged from a vanquished foe, or perhaps it's just the influence of chaos.


The weapons are  a mix of metal and plastic and are magnetic, so I can swap them between all titans in the battlegroup to whatever I feel like doing on the day. Down the track I might convert up a few chaos-like weapons with some appendages, but I will keep the hull's fairly unaltered. So far the only weapon conversions that I have done is to add a little platform to the metal reaver banner pole, to enable it to also be used as a carapace landing pad, and kitbash a support missile (the plastic ones that came in the Adeptus Titanicus box are a bit big in my opinion).


On the table they will probably charge up the midfield, bullying the middle of the table. Whoever ends up with the carapace landing pad will function as a blitz guard in the backfield, bombarding the enemy with indirect barrage fire, while the robots will protect the war machines from assaults as best they can. I will try out a few different weapon options thanks to the magnets, and I suspect that when I finish re-painting it the warlord will end up as the blitz guard thanks mainly to it's slower movement rate. These two reavers will be the main thrust, with the warhounds applying pressure wherever it is needed.
Below you can see the support missile I made. It is a plastic Imperial Guard missile and mortar from the heavy weapon team kit. It gives me a powerful ranged titan killer attack that can strike anywhere on the table.


So that's it for now, another two models progress out of the painting queue, ready to take on their Legio Ignatum arch rivals.


2 comments:

  1. excellent work! really like the "feel" of these guys.

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    1. Cheers Blue. The old metal Reavers aren't too different to the Forgeworld models in styling, so I was able to port across the Forgeworld Deaths Heads colourscheme from the Betrayal book fairly easily. So I can't claim all the credit ;)
      I'm hoping to have the warlord for this battlegroup posted soon, and I've gone for basically the same styling, with a couple of little details to help it stand out.

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