Titans Hades project

There is no doubt I have army ADD at this point, but when you enjoy what you do… It is what it is.

So, I’ve had these Stormcast models for some time. Did some interesting experiments with them over a year ago. I got easily distracted and I wasn’t sure how I wanted to paint them until I saw a “bloodangels” theme I really liked, in a dark gothic presentation. POW - ideas came rushing in.

In the Movie Immortals, Titans were a weapon to be used as a tool by the gods. Kind of Anti-heroes I would like to portray in this presentation.

Now, my titans are visualized as armored soldiers, not caged tigers. Hoping that I can portray an army formidable of enslaved soldiers. I’ve taken this further in the theme to fit the idea that they are actually more free willing in the service, knowing they have a role in monitoring this gate in Hades. With that, I’m presenting them making an insurgence through the gate to control any attempts to come through this gate. With that in mind I have a larger Titan as well, using the Archangel Tyrael model.

Imagine him in Red and Black.
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Moving along with the presentation I had a visual of what the army somewhat looked like here,

I played a few test games with this “quick and easy” basing I did on another post. However I didnt want the “stormcast” look with the gold armor. It escaped me the types of colors I wanted. Blue seemed like an Auto-pick along with any of the cool colors like teal and aqua that I was already using. Also, I already pulled some of the models as Basilean Ogres, so now I already had a theme, but really I didnt want to do Ocean knight army. For some reason it didnt spark anything. Doing a unit or two of the Basilean ogres seemed fine to me. So I left those models for that project. And Ill use the connected Elohi winged Stormcast models there. Back to these models then.

One of my favorite painters for his simple to understand presentations and value of quality yet fast to complete projects showed two presentations I really liked. Red Armor and a complete other project was lava bases.

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With a bit of a suspension of disbelief, I liked the idea of these Armored Titans walking through the super heated inhabitable landscape of hades.

Before I go into how I’ve been working on the cindered Hades landscape, I wanted to show layout and the inspired art to set the tone on what Im after. looking at the ground, I want it to be super heated. So not lava, but super hot, discouraging any travel unless completely prepared. Being Titans, they have the resilience and fortitude to sustain high heat and wear heavy armor in such conditions.


I start the landscape with the all the bases I need and work through it all in a factory kind of production to get the same unit results. I do the complete landscape then do the models.

Materials, I need all the bases I will use, so I pulled off all the models from the old bases. And purchased MDF bases for all my units. Now, I generally order 30-40 $ worth at a time and that often can make several armies. For those that are considering making the bases yourself, Ive done that and it is suitable. But for what Im doing with reheating and fluids cheap materials are not the way to go. So lets jump into it.

I started by mixing Sand and White glue in a small can and speading it on “sealed” MDF. Use the sealant of your choice if you’d like to try this. History has shown that MDF can warp if it gets too wet. Sealant helps keep the form

I let it bake in the sun for an hour and it seemed fine to start painting.

I used a paint and matt varnish mixture of white. Than airbrushed over yellow.

Than moved onto Orange and then some Red in some areas. This was maybe 15 min of time. I use a hot air gun to lightly fast dry the paint to work like an oven to speed up the process.

the next step is another wash of Whiteglue/water mix. About 50/50 I guess. let it dry before painting.

Put a heavy coat of Mordant Earth I think its called. This stuff works like a crackle paint. Its about 7 bucks and it did covered all the bases. I still have some actually.


Once it starts to dry you’ll see some cracks and the standing dark rock with heated rock undertones.

Than I follow up with another coat of whiteglue/water and let dry. The results I find are seemingly interesting to look at.

Not sure what part of the landscape I want to work on next. Thoughts are about how to capture a location, not just the landscape. Do I want to add rocks and landscape?

One of the ideas I have is mounds with weapons sticking out of them from past battles. Anything organic wouldn’t last long, so no bones or none metal items. I almost want the items to be more silhouetted, dark and less detailed to capture the underworld.

Would love to hear any input.

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Awesome multibases @MikeGrant!

I really like the Ancient Greek Hellscape idea you have going on. Since you asked for ideas, I think you should go with some volcanic rock outcrops or raised platforms just above the melting floor. Things like basalt (demonic of course) and obsidian rock. Only problem with this is that these rocks are formed from cooling, but you kind of already have that occurring with your bases.

You could have obsidian bones and weapons!

Regarding sealing MDF, I’m new to multibasing and I have been doing it by applying x2 coats of citadel primer on each side (all x6!). After applying basing with PVA on a 125x50 mm multibase I didn’t get any warping. Do you think this will be sufficient for larger hoard bases?

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Thank you Alex @MechaSturgeon . Thoughts much appreciated.

Looking at my bases, I may need to make them a bit darker. Still working on that.
I’ve put a lot of thought on that point. The last lava army I did had very dynamic rock formations. I did a complete LED lit army for 2019 Masters for example, so I do follow what your suggesting.

This seems like an almost more impactful presentation, but openly speaking it didnt get much attention at Masters and got an average hobby score. I was surprisingly shocked. But, it is handled a lot like a “beauty pageant” when considering subjective judging and overall scoring. I must admit, it was nearly impossible to fly to NY and be able to present these LEDs in a brightly lit room.

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This army got the Acrylic base treatment with LEDs imbedded in the dynamic lava rocks. I have plans to improve the army with more dynamic lava with some of colored orange waterwave effects. I havent had time to come back to this project at the moment but I will get back to it. This is somewhere along the same theme, Greek underworld, sunken city. Have I posted this army on here? :thinking:

I took a few shots of what some of the models look like. Im considering adding some black rocks because I want the models standing on the headed ground. I know it kinda looks like Lava, so Im thinking some smaller dark rocks will add some visuals that work with it. **

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Also I have 2 new models I printed for the Warlock characters. The big part of this choice was the book. I will have a full scale Grimoire/Spell book with the army.

Doing book binding myself will be a huge undertaking.

Character with the book.

and second warlock.

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Stunning, simply stunning work!

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Your Abyssal army is one of my favorite miniwargame armies, love those acrylic bases so much - and I saw it without the lights on! Happy to have been able to talk to you about it in person, bummer about the average scoring. My personal favorite thing when it comes to army painting is a tight control of tone (see my praise for your Nightstalker tundra army :wink:), which I find doesn’t sit too high for most paint judges, who are looking for specific technical flourishes and widespread attention to detail. Tho I’d totally say your Abyssals have that too, between the centerpieces and so on, so who knows!

I really dig the Immortals / Diablo inspiration for this army, two great sources with some aggressive tone control of their own. Immortals was almost a study in tones, even if it fell short in other departments.

EDIT: I’m reminded I was going to do acrylic for my ice elemental army! Which is a good thing to remember, as I unpacked the prints last night and started sorting things out …

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I am so keen to see this army come to life! what an amazing concept!

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Dude! Right - I recall that convo. :fist_right: :fist_left:

Wish I had a dark lightbox with me - would have had a much stronger presentation, but there was no chance I was beating my buddy Scott’s pirate army. And I never had hopes too. Although Scott was helpful with my project as well. I did some of the electrical work on his smoke effects and lighting concepts like the lit lighthouse. Anyway. I think I figured out how I can make the acrylic look even more impressive. But I have to get these other ones done first. And do a display for the Hades Titan Guard.

Doing an army with limited color pallets is a distinct challenge for sure. And doesn’t make the presentation that I think some people identify with… I gather some would think… Why limit yourself. But Ive learned a lot about scenery over these events. The more successful armies are presental a location or a landmark, telling a story. Most of my presentations are “In the snow”, or “In the desert”. When the place looks unique, it has that next level presentation. You see that tower and you know your in Mordor so to speak. Thats where Im going with this.

The uniformity is super important to me. The contrast of background and units need to be obvious. But like you said, judges value other concepts more.

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So much hobby goodness going on in this post! Despite what score you got at the Masters, that army is amazing. So many little stories going on. The Medusa theme with the stone heroes is fantastic!

Going above and beyond with the demonic tome/grimoire! Looks very cool.

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Thanks Mecha.

Here are a few updates from the weekend.

Mostly assembly and resin printing. I pulled models from the Artisan designs Requiem range for the bulky armor sizes and striking poses. To embody the ensnare ability of the Hunter Ogres, I went with Flails and maces as weapons for that unit.

But I really liked Casymir and Agata models so I’ll use those as Warlocks.

Got the priming done and shadow under the model so far. Still need to come up with berzerkers and something for Kuzlo and Madfall. Thats a tough one for sure to keep in theme.

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Moving forward with a few more 3d Resin prints.

Artisan Designs has this DemonToad I think they called it, and I felt it met Kuzlo and madfall well enough for me. I’m going to grab another rider, something that fits the part more for the army.

Here is the scaled down version without the rider, put on a 50mm base.

Also starting to fill the terrain on the bases, so I printed some Laval mounds, Skull piles, and rock formations.


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Absolutely love that toad, will be leading my Riverguard army once I give in and get it all printed :wink:

Nice AG sculpts throughout, I’m actually surprised you’re using Stormcast at all and not just the cav from that release too. Or leaving the stormies off and putting the AG riders on the gryphs.

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For sure thought about it. But what else am I going to use these Stormcast models for. :rofl:

I’m thinking of using this Priestess rider on the Toad, acting like a guide to the underworld.

Another thought was this Mindflayer type dude. Any one thats read some of the stories, they can be neutral if disconnected from the hive mind, and adds a creepy “no so good guy” perspective to the Scormcast dudes.

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The mind flayer fits well with the demonic toad. The amount of freedom (at least perceived) that you have with the 3D printer is very cool. If only I had the room…

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I’m leaning to the Mindflayer too. Thanks for the feedback.

Looks like Im about 6 days in so far. More progress shots to share.



After checking paint I started on the many layers of the metallic underlayers and then transparent Red. It’s some work, but so worth it.

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