Titus (Part 3)

  

20 vs.1, and the 20 don't have a prayer.

The March For Macrage continues with the completion of Titus, a model I started working on at the end of 2023. 

The Golden filigree and icons that adorn Titus were painted using the method I read in Imperium magazine, with the exception that I used a darker color for the base.coat  I first used that technique on a Primaris Lieutenant that I recently finished and I was pleased with how that turned out. 

The temptation to paint his weapons red was very strong. This would've conformed to the first squad of Assault Intercessors that I painted, but in the end I chose to have him resemble the box art and example in the Space Marine 2  boxed game. 

Blood For The Blood God was splattered on the chain sword, since clearly Titus is intended to be in combat. Bloody combat.. And one of the things I recall from the Space Marine 2 trailer is all the blood and gore. No that I"m thinking about, I probably should've had more of it on him...

There is only one decal on this miniature, the shoulder pad icon, and that was more than enough for me! Fighting bubbles and air pockets in decals is an aspect of this hobby that I loathe, but I'm satisfied on how it turned out. 

Over all, I am pleased with how thisbone turned out. I just with the GW design studio would finally release 40k rules for him. I suppose they're waiting for the video game to finally be released? 

Ok, show and tell is over, I think we can let him go out and play with this firends...

"Ah, This is living!"

Personal note time: For those of you who tuned into Part 2 and read about my health challenges, I can briefly update you now: at this time I still haven't had my open heart surgery. My heart anatomy is too complex for the local medical teams to deal with and I will likely have to make a cross country trip to have it done.  I'm out of work still, for now, until I get clearance otherwise.  Thanks again for the well-wishes and even more so to everyone who contributed to the gofundme page. I'm truly humbled by that support. 

Lieutenant Titus (Part 2)

 After the frenzied pace of the holidays and my invigorated art schedule, it's been nice to find a few fleeting moments to revist Titus.  Part 1 was pretty much a declaration of intent and now we're into the work stages. 

Basecoats.

...and that's as far as I got before a serious of events derailed me. 

Badly. 

First the weather knocked out our power for a few days, and without getting into the details of that saga I will just sum it up with that it sucked.

More trees fell then Dark Angels after the Heresy...

 Then I had a minor heart attack and spent five days in the hospital. I am home now, but I am out of work, resting, while waiting to see when I am going to have open heart surgery.  It's a difficult time. My primary arm is still recovering from the heart catheter procedure and doing fine things like painting, drawing, etc. causes me pain. Not a fun time huh? 

Ouchy.

But hopefully that should pass soon. I don't know when the heart surgery will be, but afterwards I will be out of work for 5-8 weeks. And it's going to be tough! My family started a gofundme to help out*, and I'm not asking for help per se, but if you feel inclined to do so I will be forever grateful. 

I hope this year turns around for the better soon...

*Note from Da Masta Cheef:  "Also a word of caution on GoFundMe: the 'suggested tip' at the end is both unnecessary, and does not go to Neverness' benefit. GoFundMe keeps that for themselves on top of the fees that they collect, the sneaky gits!'

Lieutenant Titus (Part 1)

Here is Lieutenant Titus, the (at this time) exclusive miniature from the Space Marine 2 Board Game . And what a majestic model he his. Ok, that might be overselling him, but he is cool.

Of course you can't be a hero without a Tactical Rock under one of your feet. And Titus here is launching himself forward ready to dice up his target. And shoot him in the face. Or both. 

When I first saw the model when Warhammer Community first premiered him I wasn't overly thrilled with him. It's a good model, don't get me wrong, but I wasn't awed by him. But holding him in hand after assembly I have to admit he cuts a mean jib. Check him out next to this standard Primaris guy. 

Hopefully I can get him painted soon, along with his gribble foes from the Space Marine 2 Board Game. I am torn between giving him red weapons or painted him as he appears in the board game's rule book. 

Space Marine Board Game Unboxed.

 I did something I didn't think I would ever get around to doing, I posted a video on YouTube. It's a simple and crude thing, but it was fun and spontaneous as I was genuinely excited to get this today. 

This is the exclusive to Target Space Marine boardgame. The game comes with 23 miniatures, 20 Termagants, 2 Ripper Swarms and the lone Space Marine himself, Lieutenant Titus. This is exclusive to Target and retailed for $39.99. I am sure you won't be able to get 10 Termagants for that price let alone 20 of them, and you know Titus won't be any cheaper. It comes with board tiles for the game that are printed on heavy boards, sling shot ammo dice, and a measuring device. 

And slick booklet that contains the rules to the game with some tutorials for learning how to play it. You kids today and your fancy tutorials! Back in my day, when we got Space Crusade we were thrown right into the fray, tutorials be damned! It also has one of those odd photos of people with strange haircuts awkwardly having way more fun playing 40k then you'll ever seen in reality. A good portion of the booklet is devoted to introducing you to the larger world of Ultramarines and Tyranids.

I touched on this in the video when  I found this, but the cardboard counters aren't perforated. This may seem to be a nitpicky thing to harp on,  but remember, this is a game intended to introduce someone unfamiliar with the larger Games Workshop / Warhammer experience, at least make it easier for these players (most of whom are likely to be kids) to actually play this thing. 

I thought about that more after I stopped recording the video. In particular I compared it to some of the boxed games that GW makes in conjuction with Barnes & Noble as this set is along those lines. Those games usually have perforated game pieces and a plastic tray for mounting your figures in for storage. They are a classier presentation in that regard, but to be fair, I don't think it's conceivable to make a storage tray for 23 miniatures for a box of this size. (Just wait, someone will be selling a laser cut foam one soon just to make me eat those words). The games sold through B&N rarely have more than 10 miniatures included in them and usually have cards and a lot more tokens also. 

All-all, I am pleased with this set. It's a good value and looks like a fun way to introduced someone to miniatures gaming. Hopefully I will be able to put this to the test at some point.