I ordered the Castellan Knight after my in-laws got me a gift certificate to The Warstore (yes, they are very understanding in-laws). It arrived just as I was finishing up the Armigers. So once they were done I began building the Castellan. The model goes together quickly enough, and since I've put together Knights before it all seemed to make sense (the legs are the same, but the upper half is naturally, quite different).
I was very surprised at its size. I thought it would be larger than a regular Knight, and it is. But not by that much. I guess that makes sense- it is a Knight class titan. I just assumed it would be larger based on the pictures I had seen of it. But as they say- its not the size that counts...
Don't get me wrong. I love the model. I like the look of its main guns (particularly the plasma). I love all the other guns and missiles on the top of the Knight. It really does look like a war machine, spewing death in every direction. Indeed, it looks very killy and very 40K.
I painted it in my patented Adeptus Mechanicus scheme. The machine parts is Leadbelcher with liberal doses of Nuln Oil and Earthshade, followed up by some Necron Compound and Stormhost Silver. The armor plates are done generally with Stegadon Green, with other plates Thunderhawk Blue. I highlighted the lines of the plates with Russ Grey.
The only conversion work I did was a head swap with my previous Knight face mask / helm options. I wanted him to look just a little different from the Knight on the box, and this was an easy (and fairly obvious) way of doing that. Always save your bitz!!
The Knight Castellan's rules are quite imposing. The Plasma Decimator is a really good weapon firing 2D6 plasma shots (and Overcharge makes it deadlier still). The Volcano lance is a real vehicle / monstrous creature killer. The Twin Siegebraker cannons are a nice additional weapon (great for heavy infantry and light vehicles). Finally, the Shieldbreaker missile is awesome against big things with invulnerable saves (plus you can use a stratagem to target a character). I can't wait to try this out in battle.
While I was painting the Knight, the Urban Conquest box was released, and me being a sucker for a map based campaign, I immediately picked it up. If you haven't, you should consider it (if you and your friends want to run a campaign). It is a great set, and Joe and Brian and I have been playing on our map for a month or so, and we're all having a great time with it. The rules for the campaign are very straightforward, but the cards give a lot of variability.
Why am I bringing that up? Well, I got inspired by the Urban Conquest book to do more terrain- my dream is to make a Sector Mechanicus table with just Mechanicus structures- a real industrial zone. I bought the new Ad Mech building and I painted it- while painting the Knight. Yes, I was doing both at the same time, which is why the Knight took me so much longer. I was dividing up my painting time.
The building is quite large and line of sight blocking. I do like the new GW buildings in general (boy I'd like those other buildings too). So---- I will be building and painting more Sector Mechanicus terrain in the future. Indeed, I plan to do some Pipelines, Thermic Reactors, the crane set, and finally the big Tectonic Frag Drill that came out a little while ago. I figure the drill can be a centerpiece of my industrial zone.
Well, that's it for now. I'll be back to show off the terrain as I finish it. Until Next Time...
