A Titan’s colour scheme, iconography, and various adornments all carry complex meanings. Because there are many options to choose from, picking a Titan Legion can seem daunting, so today we’re taking a moment to talk about heraldry to give you some inspiration.
Since Titans look similar, adding heraldry to each of your god-machines helps you and your opponent tell them apart – while telling their story at the same time. Your opponents will come to fear ‘the one with a blue knee’ rather than referring to its fancy High Gothic name.
The new Loyalist Legios book is packed with illustrations of various Titan Legions, so let’s take a look at a few examples to inspire you when painting your own god-machines.
Legio Ignatum, whose lore we delved into in a recent Engine Kill!, is more commonly known as the Fire Wasps, and you can find hexagons and wasps on everything from their icon to the paint schemes on their Titans.
As befits their name, the Fire Wasps’ colour scheme includes red as the primary colour, with various areas picked out in a rich gold. Some of their armour panels also include hexagonal patterning or bear yellow and black diagonal stripes, usually in a zig-zag configuration.
You might decide to choose a Titan Legion based on how much time and attention you feel like devoting to painting their heraldry. Luckily, a number of them have transfer sheets to make the job much easier, like this one for Legio Ignatum which contains a whole host of decals with which to decorate your Titans.
Most Titans are painted in intense, bright colours with bold patterns, like the bright green with black and white stripes of Legio Astraman. These towering war machines can’t exactly hide, can they? So adding colourful markings makes them easier to identify in the smoke and confusion of battle, and they’re a lot of fun to paint too.
Often, the background of each Legio comes through in their complex heraldry. Take this flag from a Legio Astorum Titan. The black sun is a reference to Forge World Lucius, so you’ll see this icon used in various places.
The field of red and white checks is half-filled with honour markings to denote campaigns, alliances, and Engine Kills – and they’ve still got plenty of space for more as they carry on their long career. The name, maniple, and rank of the Titan is also clearly displayed for those who know what to look for.
Notice the white patterns in the blue areas? The Warp Runners, as Legio Astorum is commonly known, often decorate their armour plates with solar maps and astral diagrams.
Do you like painting orange, but don’t get an opportunity to use it very often? Enter Legio Oberon.
Or maybe you want to try a stippling technique you recently learned about? The mottled green of the Imperial Hunters is an attractive option.
Ever-popular, quartered colour schemes are also a fun choice, such as the blue and white of the Cockatrices. Their bright-red heads look especially striking.
No matter which Legion you choose, painting all of your Titans up in your scheme will unite them, while their individual differences add some personality to each.
It’s worth checking to see if your chosen Legio has a transfer sheet,* but you can also come up with your own twist. Each of these war machines is an ancient and revered artefact, and custom heraldry certainly provides a sense of history.
If you haven’t picked up a copy of the Loyalist Legios book, grab your copy today. Inside, you’ll find no fewer than 16 Titan Legions and 12 Knight Houses to choose from – plenty of inspiration to get the gears turning.
* We mentioned the new Legio Ignatum transfers earlier – you’ll also find sheets for Legio Metalica, Legio Astorum, and Legio Solaria have been added to the webstore recently.