Aeon Trespass: Odyssey (ATO) by Lawnor

I finished Cycle 5 back in August.  I thought I’d made a final post ages ago, but apparently not.  I’m doing a long delayed update on all my projects, so lets put some final thoughts up here, based on what little I can still remember.  I can’t talk specifics, but I can talk in terms of the thoughts and feelings it left me with.

The game was enjoyable, but too damn hard.  I know some people like it as it is, but it’s too difficult, and too much like hard work sometimes.  I was playing solo and with 3 other brains to hand it would hopefully be more manageable, but it could definitely use an overhaul in terms of both difficulty and usability/accessibility.  If I wanted to look up a rule in Cycle 5 and I wasn’t sure when it was introduced I had to check through 6 books one at a time to find it because there was no common reference.  Even then, it could be a rule introduced in a story chapter and if I did not write down clearly the page and chapter number I was never going to find that rule ever again.  There was no overall symbol guide either.  They’d show you symbols you’d never seen before and instead of having a guide saying you’ll learn what it means when the time is right, you’re left wondering if they’ve told you already and you just don’t remember.

The rules feel like they’ve seen people min/max and find unexpected combos that break other games and they’ve over corrected to prevent this.  Would it really hurt to let me wear both a cloak and some armour at the same time?  Too many of those items feel like they could be a little more powerful and still be fine.  Often I’d unlock a secret item, or the endgame craftable and stare at it for a few minutes and never use it because it didn’t do what I needed to survive.

The fact that it takes 9 days (For some its as long as 40 days of an 80 day cycle) to replace a dead titan (some share a common cooldown, some have different cooldowns, but there’s a new fight every 5ish days means that once you start losing your good titans you’re more likely to keep losing fights and more titans.  This made losing titans feel so much harsher than it would have if they could be replaced by just paying a cost and maybe not having them available in the next day or two, if you triggered a story based fight or an Adversary caught up with your ship.

They say it’s OK if you lose against a monster as it has a “fail forward” mechanic.  They say this because you still get to keep the resources you’ve earned from the Hit Location cards you defeated.  There’s already not enough resources to build everything you need.  The game wants you to experiment with new gear options you already can’t afford to waste resources on if they don’t work out, and now they want you to keep going with less resources, meaning you won’t be able to afford to upgrade your gear.  As I’ve just said, losing titans means you’re more likely to keep losing more fights because you’ll be stuck using sub optimal titans.  Now you’ll not even be able to make the gear they expect you to have either.  Losing a few fights will lose you the campaign and it’ll take many sessions for that to work itself out.  There’s no catch up mechanic.  There’s no buffer zone of extra resources if you’re doing well.

The fights are too hard and too harsh, and the consequences of loss are too high.  If they’d picked one or the other, or tried for a middle ground it might have been fine.  Winning a fight with 3 dead titans and your last man on his last legs sound epic, but knowing you’ll never get those titans back until near the end of the campaign, if at all means you won the fight but lost the war.  It’s far too easy for a Titan to just die instantly with no way to stop it.  I had a titan take a small wound in the primordials initial action before I was allowed to make any choices.  He drew the right cards to kill him instantly.  It just sucks, and it feels bad because the cards were shuffled before the game began so his outcome was decided then.  It just took a while to manifest.  the special mechanics on the monsters is usually interesting and would be fun, but they’re usually overtuned and too unforgiving, especially for your first learning fight.  They could often use a little more ramp up time so you can figure out how to deal with them.

The game wants you to fail.  It’s clearly taken a good look at Kingdom Death and seen people like it’s harshness.  It’s then ramped it up and not included KDMs ability to build characters that can rise up to meet it.  In terms of fights, each cycle of ATO is about the same length as a whole campaign of KDM.  however, each cycle takes about twice as long to play due to all the extra elements.  If you lose a campaign of KDM, it’s disappointing, but you’ve lost a few weekends, maybe a few months of weekends.  If you wipe during Cycle 5 and have to start back at the beginning of Cycle 1, you’ve lost maybe a year, and who’s got the lifespan for that?  Officially, if you wipe and restart a cycle you’re supposed to randomly pick all the outcomes from past cycles and just go with it.  They spent years building this story centered game, and now they want you to not care about it and just randomly select what happened?  Respect your own work, and respect the time of your players.

I know I have moaned a lot throughout this whole project, and with good reason, but I did enjoy the game.  It is a good game, it’s just packaged with a lot of frustration.  It could easily be a great game, and a 2nd edition could make that happen.  It needs a combined index, keyword guide, and symbol guide, even if it is covered in spoiler warnings.  It also needs difficulty settings.  The difficulty is currently set to Nightmare, which some people love.  However, if you don’t like to suffer, it could use an easier setting.  One that poses challenges, and bad choices and a run of bad luck can still cost you the campaign, but where the expectation is that a sensible player making sensible choices can still expect to get to the end and have fun.  A heroic mode for people who just want to beat up monsters and play with their cool toys might be nice too.

I backed the sequel (12 Sins of Herakles) when it hit kickstarter so I hope they implement some of this in that, and don’t just assume what they did was perfect for everyone first try.  I might not have backed 12 Sins if I’d played all the way through, but the announced the KS before the first wave had shipped, and it went live when I’d only had enough time to get the basics painted and get a few games of C1 played.  I was not given enough time to get the full experience.  It looked good and had a lot or promise.  It still does.  I just now also feel the weight of the frustrations and difficulty.

I didn’t even want to start playing it until the 2nd wave had arrived.  I wanted all the content in front of me so I could play through without break.  Instead, because of the 12 Sins KS, I ended up having to start it years ago.  Onwards Odyssey is a module containing 2 mini cycles, 1 between cycle and, and one between cycle 3.  I had to play from a PDF copy of that because it got delayed until the second wave.  The follow up for between later chapters (Skyward Odyssey) is still yet to ship and I’ve finished the game already.  I cannot play the final final chapter until that arrives, and I’ve already missed out on 2 of those chapters.  The game is in limbo until then.  Lets hope I can remember how to play buy then.  I’m unlikely to every play this again, without some major balance fixes, so I guess Skywards Odyssey was a waste of money.  I bought a few extra titans that are supposed to work in both games.  I couldn’t use them either as they got delayed until 12 Sins ships.

Cycle 5 specific gripes

The language puzzle.  I hated it.  I couldn’t even look at it.  It was just a collection of swirls with no indication of what constituted a “letter”.  There was just nothing there my eyes or brain could latch on to.  I have no idea how anyone was expected to solve it.  I hated it.  Then they hid a major unlock behind it which I only found out about because I went looking for it.  It’s not essential for the game, but it’s a big deal.  Especially after they sold us an extra product and this was the only way to add it to the game and the shop page really did not begin to make that clear.

Early on, I triggered a Siren appearing on my map.  There’s rules for what to do with them in a fight.  You can also remove them form the map if your ship passes over them.  They create problems until they’re removed.  I still have no idea how you get them to appear in a fight.  I couldn’t find that rule and i don’t recall ever seeing a trigger.

So anwyay.  It’s been 6+ months since I finished the game, and I’m still waiting for the actual final end to arrive in the same box as the sequel.  I look forward to actually finishing this.  I won’t start 12 sins until I know I have the whole thing in my house.

I did enjoy the game.  It is worth playing.  Go in with your eyes open.  Split the load with other players, where available.  Be ready to house rule everything to match your desired difficulty level, if/when it becomes too much.

When 12 sins arrives I will play it and I hope to enjoy it.  I’ll play it as written to begin with, but if it starts to look like it’s just as harsh, I’ll bring in my old house rules, and probably add more to focus more on making it fun rather than challenging.  I hope that they have learned, and at least realise they have something to learn and didn’t make a game that met all their backers needs.

Moaning and reviews over.  At least until I think of more points and come back and edit this.  Here’s some pics of stuff painted and put back in the box, to make it easier for me and other people to remember where everything goes, next time it all comes out.

Oh, and here’s my overall session count.  Each session was 1 fight and all connected voyage phase stuff, which could last from 2-3 hours, to a whole day or longer.  I tried the Mnestis Theatre during Cycle 2, but quickly learned that even when cheating, it was too hard for me.  Do it long enough to unlock the Titan, then walk away if you don’t enjoy banging your head repeatedly in to a brick wall.  Its basically a separate game anyway.

C1: 25+?
C2: 32
C3: 30
C4: 25
C5: 25

For those who are curious, here’s how big it is on a shelf.  The 3 white boxes are the game and the Godforms box.  The red box is my “saved game”.  All the cards, character sheets, technologies, gears etc I’ve unlocked or bought or built, all organised in a way that will hopefully let me restore my game once Skyward Odyssey arrives.  This worked between C3 and C4.

Let me just start of by saying my camera is doing me a huge disservice here.  My metallics do not look spotty and grainy in person.  I’m not sure why the photos have come out that way for all 4 titans.  I’m no pro painter, but they do look better than this in person.  I’m particularly fond of the Helldivers copper and I’ll be looking to do that again more often.

Helldiver

Flesh

Taken from the Vallejo Nocturna Malefic Flesh paint set (Blue Tones)

Base: VMC 74.014 Cold Flesh
Wash: VMC 74.0010 Frozen Flesh
Drybrush: VMC 74.015 Pale Flesh
Drybrush: VMC 74.016 White Flesh

Black Cloth:
Base: VMC 70.994 Dark Grey
Drybrush: P3 Menoth White Base
Wash: GW Nuln Oil

Copper

Base: Darkstar Aged Copper
Wash: Secret Weapon Green Black
Highlight: Darkstar Copper
Highlight: Darkstar Copper mixed with Darkstar Polished Copper
Highlight: Darkstar Polished Copper to just the tips and edges
The lenses were then blacked out with 1-2 coats of GW Nuln Oil

Iron Tank & Spearhead

Base: P3 Pig Iron
Wash: Jan’s Magimix, around just the base of the horn (6-8 Parts GW Nuln Oil, 6-8 Parts GW Agrax Earthshade, 5-6 Parts Lahmium Medium, 2 parts Athonian Camoshade. Thanks, Januinevision)
Highlight: P3 Pig iron mixed with VMC 77.707 Chrome
Highlight: VMC 77.707 Chrome

Aged Silver

Base: Darkstar Victorian Gold
Highlight: Darkstar Silver Verde
Wash: Handcraft Tabletop Terrain Wash 267.03 Algenmoos
Wash: Handcraft Tabletop Terrain Wash 267.01 Dunkelshatten to just the deeper parts

Piping
Base: P3 Greatcoat Grey
Drybrush: P3 Pig Iron
Wash: GW Nuln Oil

Shield Black
Base: VMC 77.707 Chrome
Wash: 2-3 coats GW Nuln Oil.  Try and let the metal affect the final finish.  Once the model is varnished, return here with some gloss or satin

Barnacles

Base VMC 70.821 Ger C. Beige
Wash: GW Serpahim Sepia
Drybrush P3 Menoth White Highlight
Wash: Handcraft Tabletop Terrain Wash 267.03 Algenmoos

Dark Brown Leather

Base: VMC Panzer Aces 302 Dark Rust
Drybrush A.Mig-0620 Dark Sand
Wash: GW Nuln Oil

Executioner

Flesh

Taken from the Vallejo Nocturna Malefic Flesh paint set (Blue Tones)

Base: VMC 74.014 Cold Flesh
Wash: VMC 74.0010 Frozen Flesh
Drybrush: VMC 74.015 Pale Flesh
Drybrush: VMC 74.016 White Flesh

Black Cloth:
Base: VMC 70.994 Dark Grey
Drybrush: P3 Menoth White Base
Wash: GW Nuln Oil

Off Black Skirt

Base: P3 Coal Black mixed with Black
Wash: GW Nuln Oil
Drybrush P3 Coal Black

Iron Armour

Base: Darkstar Silver Verde
Wash: GW Athonian Camoshade
Drybrush: Darkstar Silver Verde
Highlight: Darkstar Silver Verde
Highlight: Darkstar Silver Verde mixed with VMC 77.707 Chrome

Black Belt & Hilts

Base: GW Contrast Black Templar

Helmet

Base: VMC 70.994 Dark Grey
Wash: GW Nuln Oil
Drybrush: P3 Pig Iron

Blades

Base: p3 Pig Iron
Wash: Jan’s Magimix
Highlight: p3 Pig Iron mixed with VMC 77.707 Chrome
Highlight: VMC 77.707 Chrome

Gem

Base: VMC 77.707 Chrome
Paint: P3 Turquoise Ink

Hair

Base: Reaper MSP 09148 Ghoul Skin mixed with Reaper MSP 09150 Bloodless Skin
Wash: P3 Cryx Bane Highlight
Drybrush: Reaper MSP 09150 Bloodless Skin

Dead Shark

Base: P3 Greatcoat Grey
Wash: P3 Bastion Grey
Drybrush: P3 Cryx Bane Highlight

Feareater

Flesh

Taken from the Vallejo Nocturna Malefic Flesh paint set (Blue Tones)

Base: VMC 74.014 Cold Flesh
Wash: VMC 74.0010 Frozen Flesh
Drybrush: VMC 74.015 Pale Flesh
Drybrush: VMC 74.016 White Flesh

Claw

Base: Miniature Paints MP21 Arctic Blue
Wash: Miniature Paints MP13 Deep Bronze Green
Drybrush: Mix of P3 Bog Moss & VMC Panzer Aces 331 Highlight Italian Tank Crew
Wash: Miniature Paints MP13 Deep Bronze Green

Whip

Base: Miniature Paints MP17 Aquamarine
Wash: Miniature Paints MP17 Aquamarine
Pin Wash deep areas: Miniature Paints MP13 Deep Bronze Green
Drybrush: Miniature Paints MP21 Arctic Blue
Drybrush: P3 Underbelly Blue

Dark Red Leather

Base: AP Mars red mixed with VMC 70.994 Dark Grey
Wash: GW Carroburg Crimson mixed with GW Nuln Oil
Drybrush: P3 Skorne Red

Aged Silver / Gold Armour

Base: Darkstar Victorian Gold
Highlight: Darkstar Silver Verde
Wash: Handcraft Tabletop Terrain Wash 267.03 Algenmoos
Wash: Handcraft Tabletop Terrain Wash 267.01 Dunkelshatten to just the deeper parts

Piping
Base: P3 Greatcoat Grey
Drybrush: P3 Pig Iron
Wash: GW Nuln Oil

Copper

Base: Darkstar Aged Copper
Wash: Secret Weapon Green Black
Highlight: Darkstar Copper
Highlight: Darkstar Copper mixed with Darkstar Polished Copper
Highlight: Darkstar Polished Copper to just the tips and edges
The lenses were then blacked out with 1-2 coats of GW Nuln Oil

Glowing Eye

Undercoat: AP Matt White
Base: VMC 70.730 Yellow Fluo

Hair

Base: P3 Meaty Ochre
Wash: GW Seraphim Sepia
Drybrush: P3 Heartfire

Red … er… Coral thing?  What is it?

Base: AP Abomination Gore
Wash: GW Carroburg Crimson
Drybrush: P3 Khador Red base

Trespasser

Flesh

Taken from the Vallejo Nocturna Malefic Flesh paint set (Blue Tones)

Base: VMC 74.014 Cold Flesh
Wash: VMC 74.0010 Frozen Flesh
Drybrush: VMC 74.015 Pale Flesh
Drybrush: VMC 74.016 White Flesh

Dark Leather

Base: VMC Panzer Aces 302 Dark Rust
Drybrush A.Mig-0620 Dark Sand
Wash: GW Nuln Oil

Blade

Base: p3 Pig Iron
Wash: Jan’s Magimix
Highlight: p3 Pig Iron mixed with VMC 77.707 Chrome
Highlight: VMC 77.707 Chrome

Mask

Base: VMA 72.754 Gunmetal
Wash: GW Nuln Oil

Aged Silver / Gold Armour

Base: Darkstar Victorian Gold
Highlight: Darkstar Silver Verde
Wash: Handcraft Tabletop Terrain Wash 267.03 Algenmoos
Wash: Handcraft Tabletop Terrain Wash 267.01 Dunkelshatten to just the deeper parts

Shield

Base: VMC 77.707 Chrome
Wash 1-2 times: P3 Arcane Blue mixed 2:1 with P3 Menoth White Highlight

Hair

Base: p3 Bloodtracker Brown
Wash: GW Agrax Earthshade
Drybrush: P3 Bogrin Brown

Fish

Base: P3 Greatcoat Grey
Glaze: Thinned Vallejo 70.521 Metal medium
Wash: P3 Bastion Grey
Drybrush: P3 Cryx Bane Highlight

Jellyfish (I hate this thing!)

This is taken from the Vallejo Nocturna Malefic Flesh paint set (Purple Tones)

Base: VMC 74.014 Cold Flesh mixed with VMC 74.011 Purple Shadow
Wash: VMC 74.011 Purple Shadow
Drybrush: VMC 74.015 Pale Flesh
Drybrush: VMC 74.016 White Flesh

That’s the last of the models in the Kickstarter fully painted.  Except for this.  Two sealed boxes that I’m pretty sure contain plastic.  Is it 2 minis? Could be 2 per box. They could be 2 halves of a big mini, or parts for an existing monster? Who knows?

I won’t be opening these until the story tells me to, and I won’t be publicly sharing pics of them here.  I may see if I can find a spoiler free way to share the pics for anyone who does want to see them painted.  I’m thinking I could change the file extension to PDF and upload them here.  That way, the only way to see them will be to download them and change the extension back manually.  No chance of accidental spoilers, and no chance of the pics showing up on a google search.

Siren

Flesh

This is taken from the Vallejo Nocturna Malefic Flesh paint set

Base: VMC 74.014 Cold Flesh mixed with VMC 74.011 Purple Shadow
Wash: VMC 74.011 Purple Shadow
Drybrush: VMC 74.015 Pale Flesh
Drybrush: VMC 74.016 White Flesh

Shell

I had no idea what I was going to do here, so I just tried a bunch of stuff and hoped for the best.

Base: VMC 70.921 English Uniform
Drybrush: P3 Hammerfall Khaki, going heavier towards the outside of the spirals
Pin Wash: GW Agrax Earthshade, lining between the spirals
Wash: GW Seraphim Sepia
Drybrush: P3 Hammerfall Khaki, going heavier towards the outside of the spirals
Wash: Agrax Earthshade towards the outside of each spiral and wash Seraphim Sepia towards the inside at the same time so the washes run together.

Titan X

Flesh

This is taken from the Vallejo Nocturna Malefic Flesh paint set

Base: VMC 74.014 Cold Flesh mixed with VMC 74.011 Purple Shadow
Wash: VMC 74.011 Purple Shadow
Drybrush: VMC 74.015 Pale Flesh
Drybrush: VMC 74.016 White Flesh

Black Cloth

Base: VMC 70.994 Dark Grey
Drybrush: P3 Menoth White Base
Wash: GW Nuln Oil

Black Belt

Base: VMC 70.994 Dark Grey mixed with Black
Drybrush: P3 Menoth White Base
Wash: GW Nuln Oil

Iron Armour

Base: Darkstar Silver Verde
Wash: GW Athonian Camoshade
Drybrush: Darkstar Silver Verde
Highlight: Darkstar Silver Verde
Highlight: Darkstar Silver Verde mixed with VMC 77.707 Chrome

Steel Sword & Visor

Base P3 Pig Iron
Wash: Jan’s Magimix, around just the base of the horn (6-8 Parts GW Nuln Oil, 6-8 Parts GW Agrax Earthshade, 5-6 Parts Lahmium Medium, 2 parts Athonian Camoshade. Thanks, Januinevision)
Highlight: P3 Pig Iron mixed with VMC 77.707 Chrome
Highlight: VMC 77.707 Chrome

That’s the last of the enemies for Cycle 5 done, leaving just the 4 Titans and 2 small sealed “Do Not open” boxes that I’m confident contain plastic of some sort.  I’ve got the Titans primed (Below) and have started painting them since starting posting these pics.  Maybe I’ll finish them this weekend?

I was also able to finish playing Cycle 4 this weekend.  I’m going to take a short break to deal with some other stuff (I use a machete to cross my lawn.  No Mow May is a great excuse to be lazy!), but I’m hoping to start cycle 5 real soon.

I enjoyed C4, despite my grumbles.  I was a little disappointed by the craftable gear I unlocked towards the end of the cycle.  None of it looked like an upgrade to what I had ben using for half the cycle already.  Admittedly, some of that was special rare items unlocked through narrative events and critting special BP locations, so that stuff should be good.  I still can’t help but feel that either I cannot understand the value in items, or they’re just too terrified to accidentally make an overpowered combo, so pre-emptively nerf everything just in case.

For anyone who is curious, here’s my running total of fights per cycle, for an idea of how big the game is.  On a long day I can get through 2 loops of multiple Voyage Phases and one battle.  Often I get just one in.

C1: 25+?
C2: 32
C3: 30
C4: 25
C5: TBD

Meduketos

Skin

Base: Warcolours Marine 3
Wash: Warcolours Marine 4
Drybrush: Warcolours Marine 1
Drybrush A.Mig-0614 Medium Blue

Underbelly

This was based on the Vallejo Non-Death Chaos paint set recipe for a near white pale purple.  it did not work.

Undercoat: Zenithal preshade
Base: A few thin coats of a wash made from 2:1 VMC 72.048 Sombre Grey & VMC 72.016 Royal Purple
Wash: VMC 72.016 Royal Purple
Drybrush: VMC 72.048 Sombre Grey mixed with VMC 72.003 Pale Flesh
Drybrush: VMC 72.003 Pale Flesh

Fleshy Frills

Base: Green Stuff World 1845 Elven Flesh
Wash: Green Stuff World 1827 Blushing Flesh
Drybrush: Green Stuff World 1844 Pale Flesh

Stone Platform

Base: P3 Bastion Grey
Drybrush A.Mig-0620 Dark Sand
Wash: Jan’s Magimix, around just the base of the horn (6-8 Parts GW Nuln Oil, 6-8 Parts GW Agrax Earthshade, 5-6 Parts Lahmium Medium, 2 parts Athonian Camoshade. Thanks, Januinevision)

Mouth & Eyes

Base: P3 Skorne Red
Wash: P3 Sanguine Highlight.  It didn’t do as much as I’d hoped so I went for another wash
Wash: GW Carroburg Crimson
Highlight: P3 Khador Red base

Gums: P3 Mudlund Flesh
Gums Wash: Carroburg Crimson
Teeth base: P3 Menoth White Base
Teeth Wash: GW Agrax Earthshade
Teeth highlight: P3 Menoth White Base
Teeth highlight: P3 Menoth White Highlight

The eyes just got a dot of GW Druchii Violet Wash

Eggs, Or Whatever They Are Supposed To be

Base: Mix of P3 Sickly Skin and P3 Thrall Flesh
Wash: P3 Thrall Flesh
Drybrush: Base with more Sickly Skin
Drybrush: Sickly Skin
Drybrush: Sickly Skin mixed with White
Rotten insides of broken eggs: GW Athonian Camoshade

Seaweed

Base: VMC 70.890 Refractive Green
Wash: GW Coelia Greenshade
Drybrush: P3 Bog Moss
Once the model is done and varnished, I coated the seaweed in gloss varnish and then drybrushed it with matt varnish to give it that partially wet, drip drying feel.  It sorta works.  Gloss by itself was too much.

Yellow Frills

Undercoat: White
Base: P3 Sulfuric Yellow  This came out more vibrant than I’d intended, but I worked with it anyway.
Wash: Instar Alpha Pure Oxide Yellow
Selective wash: Coat d’arms 133 Ink Wash Flesh
Drybrush: P3 Mouldy Ochre
Drybrush VMC 70.847 Dark Sand

Angler Fish Eye Stalk Eyes

Undercoat: White
Base: Green Stuff World Fluor Pigment 2366 Yellow
Shade: Green Stuff World Fluor Pigment 2366 Yellow mixed with Green Stuff World Fluor Pigment 2364 Green Lime
Shade: Green Stuff World Fluor Pigment 2364 Green Lime

Muscle Tissue
I just applied a coat or two of GW Carroburg Crimson over the oversprayed blue of the skin tone that was already covering the area.

Boney Spikes

Base: MRP-F059 Brown Grey
Paint thin lines of  MRP-F060 Dust Grey mixed with MRP-F059 Brown Grey from the tip towards the base, stopping before the bottom
Repeat with pure Dust Grey, but leaving more of the base untouched
Repeat mixing MRP-F060 Dust Grey with MRP-F063 Bone White
Repeat with just MRP-F063 Bone White
Repeat with MRP-F063 Bone White mixed with White
Mix a tiny amount of black with MRP-F059 Brown Grey in to a wash.  Apply this over the base of each spike

Wood

Base: P3 Battlefield Brown
Drybrush: GW Karak Stone
Drybrush: P3 Jack Bone
Wash: Agrax Earthshade
Drybrush: P3 Jack Bone
Wash: GW Agrax Earthshade
Wash: GW Seraphim Sepia
Wash: Handcraft Tabletop Terrain Wash 267.03 Algenmoos

Ur-Fleece

Everything was base coated with VMC 70.890 Refractive Green and worked up from there with different washes and drybrushes

Underlayer of Shells/Scales/Leaves Or Whatever They Are

Wash Secret Weapon Sewer Water
Drybrush: Mix of P3Battlkedress green and VMC 70.821 Ger. C. beige

Inner Core / “body”

Wash Secret Weapon Sewer Water
Drybrush P3 Thrall Flesh
Tentacles
Drybrush Reaper MSP 09024 Amethyst Purple
Wash: GW Athonian Camoshade
Drybrush Reaper MSP 09024 Amethyst Purple
Wash: GW Athonian Camoshade
Drybrush Reaper MSP 09024 Amethyst Purple
Drybrush Reaper MSP 09024 Amethyst Purple
Drybrush Reaper MSP 09024 Amethyst Purple

Outer Layer of Seaweedy Bits

Base: VMC 70.890 Refractive Green
Wash: GW Coelia Greenshade
Drybrush: P3 Bog Moss

Head 

Basecoat Face: GW Nihilakh Oxide
Drybrush: P3 Frostbite

Basecoat Hair Fronds: P3 Mouldy Ochre mixed with VMC 70.827 Lime Green.  Keep the yellow dominant.  Add a bit of the Nihilakh Oxide back to the edges of the face at the same time and blend the boundary together.
Wash Hair: P3 Rucksack Tan mixed with P3 Battledress Green
Drybrush Scale 75 SFG-41 Hykey Yellow

Base Eyes: Black
Paint P3 Trollblood Highlight over the black leaving a thin outer edge visible
Paint White dots in the centre

Base Teeth: P3 Menoth White Base
Highlight: P3 Menoth White Highlight

Base Mouth: P3 Midlund Flesh
Wash: GW Carroburg Crimson

Yellow Vegetation Glove Thing

Base: P3 Mouldy ochre mixed with P3 Hammerfall Khaki
Wash: P3 Beast Hide
Wash: Handcraft Tabletop Terrain Wash 267.03 Algenmoos
Drybrush: P3 Menoth White Base

Bone Spikes & Finger Claws

Base: MRP-F059 Brown Grey
Paint thin lines of  MRP-F060 Dust Grey mixed with MRP-F059 Brown Grey from the tip towards the base, stopping before the bottom
Repeat with pure Dust Grey, but leaving more of the base untouched
Repeat mixing MRP-F060 Dust Grey with MRP-F063 Bone White
Repeat with just MRP-F063 Bone White
Repeat with MRP-F063 Bone White mixed with White
Mix a tiny amount of black with MRP-F059 Brown Grey in to a wash.  Apply this over the base of each spike

Purple Coral

Base: P3 Beaten Purple
Wash: GW Druchii Violet
Drybrush: Reaper MSP 09024 Amethyst Purple

Glowing Blue Droopy… Things?

Base: P3 Coal Black
Undercoat the light spot pure white
Wet blend Coal Black in to Warcolours Antithesis Turquoise 5
Wet blend that in to P3 Arcane Blue, taking the blue over the white
Wet blend Arcane Blue in to White
Restore just a tiny dot of white at the centre

Rust

Undercoat: Black
Sponge on Darkstar Old Silver towards the edges, leaving around 50% black
Sponge on 3:1 Instar Fur Brown : Black over the black, blurring the lines. Patchy is good.
Sponge on Instar Fur Brown over the above layer, leaving some of that layer visible around it
As above, but with Fur Brown mixed with Instar Dirt Brown
Sponge on a mix of Kromlech Orange Rust pigment and Fur Brown
Sponge on a mix of Kromlech Orange Rust pigment and Dirt Brown
Sponge on Kromlech Orange Rust pigment
I then drybrushed the areas that would get worn and chipped with more Old Silver

Fish

Base: P3 Bastion Grey
Glaze: Vallejo 70.521 Metal Medium thinned with water to give it that scaly sheen
Wash: P3 Greatcoat Grey

Wood

Base: P3 Battlefield Brown
Drybrush: GW Karak Stone
Drybrush: P3 Jack Bone
Wash: Agrax Earthshade
Drybrush: P3 Jack Bone
Wash: GW Agrax Earthshade
Wash: GW Seraphim Sepia

Dragon of Phobos

Skin

Base Underbelly: Miniature Paints MP17 Aquamarine
Base Shell and Claws: Miniature Paints MP21 Arctic Blue
Wash Underbelly Flesh: Miniature Paints MP17 Aquamarine
Wash Shell & Pin Wash deep areas of Underbelly Flesh: Miniature Paints MP13 Deep Bronze Green
Drybrush Belly: Miniature Paints MP21 Arctic Blue
Drybrush Belly: P3 Underbelly Blue
Drybrush Shell: Mix of P3 Bog Moss & VMC Panzer Aces 331 Highlight Italian Tank Crew
Wash Shell: Miniature Paints MP13 Deep Bronze Green

Claw Things & Horns

Base: P3 Cryx Bane Base
Drybrush P3 Jack Bone, more towards the tips
Wash: GW Nuln oil towards the base and GW Athonian Camoshade towards the tips at the same time.  Allow to mix.

Mouth

Base: Ryn Flesh
Wash: GW Carroburg Crimson

Eyes

Undercoat White
Wash with Coat d’arms 168 Ink Wash Yellow

Teeth
Base: P3 Menoth White Base
Paint a line of GW Carroburg Crimson along the gums
Highlight: P3 Menoth White Highlight
Wash: Handcraft Tabletop Terrain Wash 267.03 Algenmoos

Nemesis

Iron Hull

Base: VGA 72.754 Gunmetal with a drop of P3 Blue Ink
Wash: GW Nuln Oil
Drybrush: P3 Pig iron

Gold

Base: Darkstar Regency Gold
Wash: GW Agrax Earthshade
Drybrush & layer Highlight: Darkstar Pale Gold

Silvered parts

Base: P3 Pig Iron
Wash: Jan’s Magimix, around just the base of the horn (6-8 Parts GW Nuln Oil, 6-8 Parts GW Agrax Earthshade, 5-6 Parts Lahmium Medium, 2 parts Athonian Camoshade. Thanks, Januinevision)
Drybrush: P3 Quick Silver

Eye

Base: VMC 77.707 Chrome
Pupil: Black

Tents?

Base: P3 Rucksack Tan
Wash: Coat d’arms 133 Ink Wash Flesh
Drybrush: VMC 70.847 Dark Sand

Exalted Zeus

Regular Zeus was the only Godform included in the core box so I painted him 2 years ago.

Flesh

Base: P3 Midlund Flesh
Wash: P3 Skorne Red
Wash: P3 Battle Dress Green
Wash: P3 Battle Dress Green & Skorne Flesh
Drybrush: P3 Midlund Flesh mixed with P3 Ryn Flesh

Dirty Green Cloth

Base: P3 Traitor Green
Wash: GW Agrax Earthshade
Drybrush: A.Mig-0606 Medium Green

Gold

Base: GW Retributor Gold
Wash: GW Seraphim Sepia
High: VMA 71.066 Gold
High: VMA 71.066 Gold mixed with VMC 77.707 Chrome

White Hair

Base: Reaper MSP 09148 Ghoul Skin mixed with Reaper MSP 09150 Bloodless Skin
Wash: Reaper MSP 09148 Ghoul Skin
Drybrush: Reaper MSP 09150 Bloodless Skin Mixed with White
Drybrush/layer: White

Blue Lightning

Base: GW Fenrisian Grey mixed with P3 Frostbite
Wash: Warcolours Marine 2
Drybrush: P3 Frostbite
Drybrush: P3 Frostbite mixed with P3 Menoth White Highlight
Drybrush & edge highlight: P3 Frostbite mixed with P3 Menoth White Highlight mixed with P3 Morrow White
Selective edge highlight: P3 Morrow White

That was the last of them.  There was a lot in that box and I’m glad they’re done.  I even managed to not go Godform until after they were done.  I’ve used 3 models so far.  Completely unnecessary, but it’s nice to have them ready.

I’ve had a week off work recently and spent it mostly playing Cycle 4.  I’m currently at the final encounter.  I think.  This game likes surprises.  I’ve definitely been cheating though.  I’ve been applying my house rules all the time, and forgetting a bunch of stuff.  I’m a little overloaded in keywords, special rules, curse afflictions etc.  I cannot keep track of it all so I’m forgetting stuff, good and bad. It would all be very manageable if I was playing with 3 other people, but each character has so much stuff specific to them, and it changes all the time, so I keep forgetting stuff.  I would love to find out all my issues with the game are just my own shortcomings.

I hope to be back here soon with pics of all the C5 enemies painted.  Most of them are ready for basing.  I’ll get them all finished and varnished together before I start work on the Titans.

I’m also deliberately ignoring some stuff.  Some of the curses seem to play out as “You just die after 1 round” unless you’re set up specifically to counter them.  No way of curing it (I thought.  I could have but missed a random rule on a random card from 3 cycles ago that would have solved it.  Spotted it 2 days ago) and you need very specific gear and actions to stay alive, which I did not have for a while.  it felt like an “F You” rule, so if it wasn’t possible for me to deal with it, I either ignored it, or spent a fate to avoid it’s effect each round.

At one point the game had me unlock a special surprise encounter (No narrative spoilers here) that had me spend what felt like an hour going through decks and boxes to get together everything I needed to set it up, but then it quickly became apparent it was not possible for me to win.  I wasn’t allowed to avoid the fight, or run away.  It was just a kick in the teeth, 4 dead titans and 2 hours of my life wasted just for a negative play experience and more animosity towards the game and the company.

I’m done moaning for now.  Despite my grumps, once I get going and apply my house rules I do enjoy the game.  I would be curious to see how much more manageable everything is with 3 other players.  not just to spread the load of tracking the characters, but the extra input on strategy, tactics and gear loadout to see things I can’t.  I’d also love a second opinion on the rules as I may be doing lots wrong and making it harder.

Hades

Flesh

Base: P3 Midlund Flesh
Wash: P3 Skorne Red
Wash: P3 Battle Dress Green
Wash: P3 Battle Dress Green & Skorne Flesh
Drybrush: P3 Midlund Flesh mixed with P3 Ryn Flesh

Coal Black Robes

Base: P3 Coal Black mixed with Black
Wash: GW Nuln Oil
Drybrush: P3 Coal Black
Drybrush: P3 Trollblood Base

Grey Robes

Base: P3 Greatcoat Grey
Wash: GW Nuln Oil
Drybrush: P3 Menoth White base

Dark Leather

Base: VMC Panzer Aces 302 Dark Rust
Drybrush A.Mig-0620 Dark Sand
Wash: GW Nuln Oil

Blighted Gold

Base: P3 Blighted Gold
Wash: P3 Cryx bane base mixed with P3 Brown ink
Wash: p3 Umbral Umber mixed with P3 Coal Black
Drybrush: P3 Brass Balls

White Hair

Base: Reaper MSP 09148 Ghoul Skin mixed with Reaper MSP 09150 Bloodless Skin
Wash: Reaper MSP 09148 Ghoul Skin
Drybrush: Reaper MSP 09150 Bloodless Skin Mixed with White
Drybrush/layer: White

Bone

Base: P3 Jack Bone
Wash: GW Seraphim Sepia
Wash: Handcraft Tabletop Terrain Wash 267.01 Dunkelschatten (Dark Brwon Grey)
Drybrush: P3 Menoth White Base
Drybrush: P3 Menoth White Highlight

Mid Tone Leather

Base: P3 Bootstrap Leather
Wash: GW Agrax Earthshade
Drybrush: A.Mig-0620 Dark Sand

Green Fire

I did this in the wrong order, but here’s what I should have done
Undercoat: White
Base: P3 Yellow Ink, with just a touch of P3 Green Ink
Layer Shade: Above but with more green
Layer Shade deeper areas only: Above but with more green.  Never go more than 50/50

Helios

Flesh & Hair

Base: White
That is all
Highlight with something brighter if you’re not limited to the standard laws of physics

Glow

Base: White
Airbrush lightly towards the ends with the following, covering progressively less area.  The yellow clipped her hair too by accident.  I think it works and makes sense so I left it be.  Also, I’m lazy:
S75 SFG-41 Hykey Yellow
MP 64 Lemon Yellow
MP 61 Canary yellow

Gold

Base: GW Retributor Gold
Wash: GW Seraphim Sepia
High: VMA 71.066 Gold
High: VMA 71.066 Gold mixed with VMC 77.707 Chrome

Red Cloth

Base: P3 Khador Red base
Shade: P3 Sanguine Highlight
Highlight: Army Painter Lava Orange

Hephaestus

These models came pre-assembled.  Look at him, and at Poseidon below.  Horrible to paint.  There are parts of their backs I could not get a brush to, and can see.  I’ve done the best I can though.  I’m definitely not pushing for OSL on an area I can only partially reach.

Steel

Base: VGA 72.754 Gunmetal
Wash: GW Nuln Oil
Drybrush Pig iron

Flesh

Base: P3 Midlund Flesh
Wash: P3 Skorne Red
Wash: P3 Battle Dress Green
Wash: P3 Battle Dress Green & Skorne Flesh
Drybrush: P3 Midlund Flesh mixed with P3 Ryn Flesh

Beard

Base: P3 Umbral Umber
Wash: GW Agrax Earthshade
Drybrush: A.Mig-0620 Dark Sand

Iron Hammer

Base: p3 Pig Iron
Wash: GW Agrax Earthshade
Drybrush: P3 Cold Steel

Mid Tone Leather

Base: P3 Bootstrap Leather
Wash: GW Agrax Earthshade
Drybrush: A.Mig-0620 Dark Sand

Pottery

Base: Colours of War 383 Motherland Earth
Layer Shade, wet blended in: Colours of War 322 Dark Leather
Layer Highlight, wet blending in: Colours of War 362 Sicily yellow

Fire

Base: Mr paint MRP-F005 Deep yellow (Airbrushed before anything else, even if the fire wasn’t progressed until after the metal)
Highlight: Deep Yellow mixed with Mr paint MRP-F008 Fire Orange
Highlight: Fire Orange
Highlight: Fire Orange mixed with Mr Paint MRP-F013 Deep Red
Highlight: Deep Red
Apply some white to the hottest recesses only then paint over that with Coat d’arms 068 Ink Wash Yellow
Touch the tips only with some black

Hera

Glow

Base: White
Airbrush lightly towards the ends with the following, covering progressively less area:
S75 SFG-41 Hykey Yellow
MP 64 Lemon Yellow
MP 61 Canary yellow

Flesh

Base: P3 Midlund Flesh
Wash: P3 Skorne Red
Wash: P3 Battle Dress Green
Wash: P3 Battle Dress Green & Skorne Flesh
Drybrush: P3 Midlund Flesh mixed with P3 Ryn Flesh

Gold

Base: GW Retributor Gold
Wash: GW Seraphim Sepia
High: VMA 71.066 Gold
igh: VMA 71.066 Gold mixed with VMC 77.707 Chrome

Yellow Cloth

Base: p3 Mouldy Ochre
Wash: P3 Rucksack Tan
Highlight: P3 Sulphuric Yellow

White Cloth Trim
Base: VMC 70.918 Ivory
Highlight: Ivory Mixed with White
Highlight Maybe just touches of white, probably never going 100% pure

Red Hair

Base: P3 Heartfire
Wash: P3 Khador Red Highlight
Drybrush: P3 Cygnus Yellow

Hermes

Glow

Base: White
Airbrush lightly towards the ends with the following, covering progressively less area:
S75 SFG-41 Hykey Yellow
MP 64 Lemon Yellow
MP 61 Canary yellow

Flesh

Base: P3 Midlund Flesh
Wash: P3 Skorne Red
Wash: P3 Battle Dress Green
Wash: P3 Battle Dress Green & Skorne Flesh
Drybrush: P3 Midlund Flesh mixed with P3 Ryn Flesh

Blue Cloth

Base: Pro Acryl Blue
Wash: GW Drakenhof Nightshade.  Please remember not to hassle the Drakenhof
Drybrush: Pro Acryl Faded Ultramarine

Gold

Base: Darkstar Royal Gold
Wash: Reaper MSP 09253 Flesh Wash
High 1: Darkstar Braid Gold
High 2: Darkstar Pale Gold

Iron 

VMC 77.712 Steel
Wash: GW Nuln Oil
High: P3 Quick Silver
High: VMC 77.787 Chrome & P3 Quick Silver
High: VMC 77.787 Chrome

Blond Hair: 

Undercoat: Army painter Fanatic Matt White
Base Reaper MSP 09256 Blond Shadow
Wash: Thinned Coat d’arms 113 Ink Wash Flesh
Wash: Coat d’arms 113 Ink Wash Flesh in to the deeper areas only
Drybrush Reaper MSP 09257 Blond Hair
Drybrush Reaper MSP 09258 Blond Highlight

Blue Lightning

Base: GW Fenrisian Grey mixed with P3 Frostbite
Wash: Warcolours Marine 2
Drybrush: P3 Frostbite
Drybrush: P3 Frostbite mixed with P3 Menoth White Highlight
Drybrush & edge highlight: P3 Frostbite mixed with P3 Menoth White Highlight mixed with P3 Morrow White
Selective edge highlight: P3 Morrow White

Poseidon and Exalted Poseidon

Do the water effects first, following the instruction in the early post on basing.

Dirty Green Cloth

Base: P3 Traitor Green
Wash: GW Athonian Camoshade
Drybrush: A.Mig-0606 Medium Green

Dark Leather

Base: VMC Panzer Aces 302 Dark Rust
Drybrush A.Mig-0620 Dark Sand
Wash: GW Nuln Oil

Gold 

Base: Darkstar Royal Gold
Wash: Reaper MSP 09253 Flesh Wash
High 1: Darkstar Braid Gold
High 2: Darkstar Pale Gold

Iron 

VMC 77.712 Steel
Wash: GW Nuln Oil
High: P3 Quick Silver
High: VMC 77.787 Chrome & P3 Quick Silver
High: VMC 77.787 Chrome

White Hair

Base: Reaper MSP 09148 Ghoul Skin mixed with Reaper MSP 09150 Bloodless Skin
Wash: Reaper MSP 09148 Ghoul Skin
Drybrush: Reaper MSP 09150 Bloodless Skin Mixed with White
Drybrush/layer: White

Turquoise Crest

Base: Miniature paints MP17 Aquamarine
Wash: Miniature Paints MP13 Deep Bronze Green
Drybrush: Miniature Paints MP21 Arctic Blue
Drybrush: GW Fenrisian Grey

Sharks

Base: P3 Bastion Grey
Wash: P3 Greatcoat Grey
Wash: P3 Greatcoat Grey mixed with P3 Coal Black & p3 Umbral Umber
Drybrush: P3Bastion grey
Drybrush: P3 Ironhull Grey mixed with P3 Beast Hide

Mouths were washed with GW Carroburg Crimson
Teeth were dotted with GW Menoth White Highlight
The eyes were black

During the dark days of Covid shipping prices skyrocketed.  ITU decided to not pass those costs on to their backers and honour the original shipping costs.  They gave us a way to help them with those costs though by releasing the Godforms Box.  14 new models that were never planned for release, as far as we knew.  The Price Per Model was really good.  I suspect they were sculpts they’d toyed with before that they rushed to completion in the most cost effective way to maximise profit.  Now I’ve got the models I can see parts of other titans in these designs, so I assume some heavy copy and pasting has occurred.  I also think the final result isn’t up to their usual standard.  That’s fine.  They almost never get to see the table, and I can understand the choices involved in their production.  I’m a little disappointed, but I get it.  they’re fine enough.

So what are Godforms?  They’re not the gods.  They’re all dead.  When a Titan is stressed enough (usually when they’re about to die) there is an outside chance (10%) that they’ll go Super Saiyan and channel the essence of a dead god, and kick names and take butt.  This is why some of these Godforms may be a different gender or body type to what you might expect for their deity.  Mind you, Zeus would transform in to different animals to seduce women, so who’s to say how tied any god was to a particular form anyway?

With that said, you’re here for pretty pics and paint recipes.  So here we go.    I painted everyone as one big project, and tried to paint similar colours on different models at the same time.  It speeds things up a bit.  Fist up is Aphrodite, as played by Jack Black who is feeling just fabulous!

Aphrodite

Wings

Zenithally primed
Base: White
Selectively airbrushed pink on the trailing edge only.  I want to say it was Warcours Pink 1, but I forgot to take a photo apparently.

Flesh

Base: P3 Midlund Flesh
Wash: P3 Skorne Red
Wash: P3 Battle Dress Green
Wash: P3 Battle Dress Green & Skorne Flesh
Highlight: P3 Midlund Flesh mixed with P3 Ryn Flesh (I was able to drybrush this over every model, except for Aphrodite’s belly, where it just made a mess.  I had to actually layer on the highlights here manually.

Leather

Base: VMC Panzer Aces 302 Dark Rust
Drybrush A.Mig-0620 Dark Sand
Wash: GW Nuln Oil

Gold

Base: Darkstar Royal Gold
Wash: Reaper MSP 09253 Flesh Wash
High 1: Darkstar Braid Gold
High 2: Darkstar Pale Gold

Blond Hair: 

Undercoat: Army painter Fanatic Matt White
Base Reaper MSP 09256 Blond Shadow
Wash: Thinned Coat d’arms 113 Ink Wash Flesh
Wash: Coat d’arms 113 Ink Wash Flesh in to the deeper areas only
Drybrush Reaper MSP 09257 Blond Hair
Drybrush Reaper MSP 09258 Blond Highlight

Ares

So what are those big red things?  We just don’t know.

Flesh

Base: P3 Midlund Flesh
Wash: P3 Skorne Red
Wash: P3 Battle Dress Green
Wash: P3 Battle Dress Green & Skorne Flesh
Drybrush: P3 Midlund Flesh mixed with P3 Ryn Flesh

Dark Leather

Base: VMC Panzer Aces 302 Dark Rust
Drybrush A.Mig-0620 Dark Sand
Wash: GW Nuln Oil

Mid Tone Leather

Base: P3 Bootstrap Leather
Wash: GW Agrax Earthshade
Drybrush: A.Mig-0620 Dark Sand

Red Things

Base: GW Khorne Red
Wash: GW Nuln Oil
Drybrush GW Evil Sunz Scarlet
Drybrush: GW Wild Rider Red
Drybrush: P3 Khador Red

Each drybrush leave more and more of the darker core untouched

Wood bark

Base: S75 SC-31 Brown Leather
Wash: S75 SC-81 Inktense Chesnut
Drybrush: Coat d’arms 224 Horse Tone Bay

Gold

Base: p3 Deathless metal
Wash: GW Agrax Earthshade
Drybrush: P3 Rhulic Gold

Iron 

VMC 77.712 Steel
Wash: GW Nuln Oil
High: P3 Quick Silver
High: VMC 77.787 Chrome & P3 Quick Silver
High: VMC 77.787 Chrome

Red Crest

Base: Khador Red Gase
Wash: P3 Sanguine Highlight
Highlight: Army Painter Lava Orange

Bear/Hair

Base: P3 Umbral Umber
Wash: GW Agrax Earthshade
Drybrush: A.Mig-0620 Dark Sand

Artemis

Wings

Zenithally primed, then airbrushed VMC 70.918 Ivory
VMC 70.847 Dark Sand was airbrushed on the centre/front edge of each wing

Flesh

Base: P3 Midlund Flesh
Wash: P3 Skorne Red
Wash: P3 Battle Dress Green
Wash: P3 Battle Dress Green & Skorne Flesh
Drybrush: P3 Midlund Flesh mixed with P3 Ryn Flesh

Dark Leather

Base: VMC Panzer Aces 302 Dark Rust
Drybrush A.Mig-0620 Dark Sand
Wash: GW Nuln Oil

Gold

Base: Darkstar Royal Gold
Wash: Reaper MSP 09253 Flesh Wash
High 1: Darkstar Braid Gold
High 2: Darkstar Pale Gold

Iron 

VMC 77.712 Steel
Wash: GW Nuln Oil
High: P3 Quick Silver
High: VMC 77.787 Chrome & P3 Quick Silver
High: VMC 77.787 Chrome

Blond Hair: 

Undercoat: Army painter Fanatic Matt White
Base Reaper MSP 09256 Blond Shadow
Wash: Thinned Coat d’arms 113 Ink Wash Flesh
Wash: Coat d’arms 113 Ink Wash Flesh in to the deeper areas only
Drybrush Reaper MSP 09257 Blond Hair
Drybrush Reaper MSP 09258 Blond Highlight

Blue Lightning

Base: GW Fenrisian Grey mixed with P3 Frostbite
Wash: Warcolours Marine 2
Drybrush: P3 Frostbite
Drybrush: P3 Frostbite mixed with P3 Menoth White Highlight
Drybrush & edge highlight: P3 Frostbite mixed with P3 Menoth White Highlight mixed with P3 Morrow White
Selective edge highlight: P3 Morrow White

Cloud
Base: P3 Underbelly mixed with White
Wash: P3 Underbelly
Highlight: P3 Underbelly mixed with White
Keep adding more white to the highlight for progressive layers, until you’re happy
Drybrush with your final white mix.  It seems to smooth it all out.

Athena

They sculpted on the infinite length light rays and made them 1″ long.  Nooooo!  Why would you do that?  I hate it!

Light Beams

Base: White
Airbrush lightly towards the ends with the following, covering progressively less area:
S75 SFG-41 Hykey Yellow
MP 64 Lemon Yellow
MP 61 Canary yellow

Flesh

Base: P3 Midlund Flesh
Wash: P3 Skorne Red
Wash: P3 Battle Dress Green
Wash: P3 Battle Dress Green & Skorne Flesh
Drybrush: P3 Midlund Flesh mixed with P3 Ryn Flesh

Pale Blue Cloth

Base: GW Fenrisian Grey
Wash: GW Russ Grey mixed with GW The Fang
Drybrush: P3 Frostbite

Gold

Base: Darkstar Royal Gold
Wash: Reaper MSP 09253 Flesh Wash
High 1: Darkstar Braid Gold
High 2: Darkstar Pale Gold

Iron 

VMC 77.712 Steel
Wash: GW Nuln Oil
High: P3 Quick Silver
High: VMC 77.787 Chrome & P3 Quick Silver
High: VMC 77.787 Chrome

Hair

Base: P3 Umbral Umber
Wash: GW Agrax Earthshade
Drybrush: A.Mig-0620 Dark Sand

Feathers

I forgot to take notes but I think I did this

Base: Reaper MSP 09148 Ghoul Skin mixed with Reaper MSP 09150 Bloodless Skin
Wash: Reaper MSP 09148 Ghoul Skin
Drybrush: Reaper MSP 09150 Bloodless Skin Mixed with White
Drybrush/layer: White

Cloud
Base: P3 Underbelly mixed with White
Wash: P3 Underbelly
Highlight: P3 Underbelly mixed with White
Keep adding more white to the highlight for progressive layers, until you’re happy
Drybrush with your final white mix.  It seems to smooth it all out.

Demeter

Glow

Base: White
Airbrush lightly towards the ends with the following, covering progressively less area:
S75 SFG-41 Hykey Yellow
MP 64 Lemon Yellow
MP 61 Canary yellow

Flesh

Base: P3 Midlund Flesh
Wash: P3 Skorne Red
Wash: P3 Battle Dress Green
Wash: P3 Battle Dress Green & Skorne Flesh
Drybrush: P3 Midlund Flesh mixed with P3 Ryn Flesh

Green Cloth

Base: VMC 70.967 Olive Green
Wash: VMC 70.823 Luftwaffe Cam. Green
Highlight: VMC 70.857 Golden Olive

Dark Leather

Base: VMC Panzer Aces 302 Dark Rust
Drybrush A.Mig-0620 Dark Sand
Wash: GW Nuln Oil

Gold

Base: p3 Deathless metal
Wash: GW Agrax Earthshade
Drybrush: P3 Rhulic Gold

Iron 

VMC 77.712 Steel
Wash: GW Nuln Oil
High: P3 Quick Silver
High: VMC 77.787 Chrome & P3 Quick Silver
High: VMC 77.787 Chrome

Hair

Base: P3 Umbral Umber
Wash: GW Agrax Earthshade
Drybrush: A.Mig-0620 Dark Sand

Mid Tone Leather

Base: P3 Bootstrap Leather
Wash: GW Agrax Earthshade
Drybrush: A.Mig-0620 Dark Sand

Dionysus

Flesh

Base: Foundry 126A African Flesh Shade
High: Foundry 126B African Flesh Base
High: Foundry 126C African Flesh Light (Tee hee hee)
Targeted Wash: Army Painter Strong Tone

Dark Blue Trousers

Base: P3 Exile Blue Mixed with Black
Shade: GW Nuln Oil
Highlight: P3 Exile Blue
High: P3 Cygnar Blue Base
High: P3 Cygnar Blue Highlight to peaks and hard edges only

Dark Green Cloth

Base: VGC 72.147 Heavy BlackGreen
Wash: VGC 72.147 Heavy BlackGreen mixed with Black
Highlight: P3 Iosan Green

Dark Leather

Base: VMC Panzer Aces 302 Dark Rust
Drybrush A.Mig-0620 Dark Sand
Wash: GW Nuln Oil

Gold

Base: GW Retributor Gold
Wash: GW Seraphim Sepia
High: VMA 71.066 Gold
High: VMA 71.066 Gold mixed with VMC 77.707 Chrome

Iron 

VMC 77.712 Steel
Wash: GW Nuln Oil
High: P3 Quick Silver
High: VMC 77.787 Chrome & P3 Quick Silver
High: VMC 77.787 Chrome

Black Hair

Base: VMC 70.994 Dark Grey
Wash: GW Nuln Oil
Drybrush: P3 Battlefield Brown

Mid Tone Leather

Base: P3 Bootstrap Leather
Wash: GW Agrax Earthshade
Drybrush: A.Mig-0620 Dark Sand

Pottery

Base: Colours of War 383 Motherland Earth
Layer Shade, wet blended in: Colours of War 322 Dark Leather
Layer Highlight, wet blending in: Colours of War 362 Sicily yellow

Wine & Musical Notation

Base: Army Painter Mars Red mixed with P3 Sanguine Highlight
Wash: Warcolours Pink 5
Deep Wash: GW Druchii Violet
Highlight: Khador Red Base
Use the edge/side of your brush to paint the notes black

We’ve just had the Easter bank holiday weekend.  In the UK this is 4 days off work, which is the perfect time to start a new campaign.  Plenty of time to get a game set up, get confused/frustrated by the rules, get a massive headache, sleep it off, and still have 3 days left to actually play, even with more hurdles getting in the way.

A week ago I’d taken a little time to get the game set up again, as I’d ended Cycle 3.  I’d put all my active stuff in a separate box, with a separate bag for each Argonaught and their Titan, gear, Memnos, etc.  I had everything partitioned to make it as easy as I could.  I’d also integrated the errata card pack.  Everything was ready for me to open the C4 box.  This took about 2 hours, going at a relaxed pace while dinner was cooking, the washing was going, etc.

Easter Friday comes along and I open the C4 book and start reading the setup for the new cycle and the new rules for the new mechanics.  By the time I’d actually gotten as far as being ready to start the first fight 6-8 hours had passed, I’d only read a few paragraphs of narrative, made 1 choice and not even picked up a dice.  This game is so heavy, and hard to get momentum in at the start of a cycle.  I didn’t want to start a fight unless I had the time to wipe and replay it immediately so I quit for the day and went to paint.  A whole day playing and I hadn’t got to the actual playing part yet!  I knew something like this would happen, so very glad for the 4 day weekend.  If I’d invited friends over to play today I’d be feeling so bad for having wasted their time.

The next 3 days went smoother.  Each new fight took some learning as the fight specific mechanics feel like they make perfect sense if you already know what they’re trying to say, but are not clear otherwise.  There’s also a rule I cannot find.  Airburst X.  it’s in the 10-ish pages of new rules at the start of the C4 boo, but no matter how many time I look, I cannot find it.  A fan made cheat sheet explained it, but if you can point me to a page and paragraph that’s be awesome.  For some reason, they still have not added an index for anything other than the core rules so we’ve no help finding anything, and I’m already flicking through all 4 books every time I have a question with no idea which book I want.  Would a final combined index, even as a PDF, really be too much to ask for?

I had 3 days of play.  I’m overcoming hurdles and getting my momentum going again.  I seem to be doing a few days of timeline each day, and ending the day off with a fight, before returning to painting.  If I keep this up there should be about 20 full days of play in C4 alone.  More once the Adversary starts giving me grief.

I’m enjoying the game, but I am still applying my homebrewed easier mode.  If I was playing it on full difficulty I’d probably have lost an earlier cycle too many times and have quit trying.  I don’t know if I’ve misunderstood some rules, if I’m not smart enough to see the combos and the potential of some gear and powers, if I’m overloaded soloing this, or if it really is pitched this hard.

Paul Grogan / Gaming Rules! has been hired by ITU to create a how to play series of videos HERE .  I’m going to watch through it all and see if he draws my attention to anything I’ve misunderstood.

I am currently powering through the Godforms.  Maybe I’ll even get them done before I need one?  I’ll be back later with guides, once I’m done.