Inspired by Blackadder and Isotope99, I'm back working on Dalion Dao. I've been saying for a while that I was going to upgrade her from a Warlord to an Imperator and now, with a slight destructive mood, I'm taking the first steps on that particular road!

Before I get too into the nitty gritty of the upgrade, I'll just remind you all what she looked like;



I wish I could say she was standing proud above her prey here, but one of those stompas managed to take off all 9 of her structure points in one round combat, causing an apocolyptic explosion that wiped everything off the table!




A nice comparison shot. Incase you aren't used to seeing models of this scale, from left to right we have Dalion Dao (Warlord/Imperator), a Reaver Titan from Forge World, a Warhound Titan from FW and a converted Brass Scorpion using two GW Defiler kits. Those 5 little dots at the front are a selection of my Space Marine Dreadnoughts!




And after the first layers of painting. This time she was armed with her Titan Close Combat Weapon. What is cooler than a Sword the size of a Baneblade? a sword TWICE the length of a Baneblade!


Now, as I'm sure many of you are aware, there are quite a few differences between a Warlod and an Imperator, apart from the size. The one most people notice is the Cathedral on top of the carapace. For this I'm planning on cutting of the top of the torso (including the weapon mounts) at about the level of the butresses from the arm mounts and having a separate section that can be removed and slotted in/on for games. This will include at least 4 spires with weapon mounts in them (probably a pair of Laser Destroyers, a Vortex/Apocolyptic missile launcher and another weapon... maybe a Volcano Cannon) and a pair of Vulcan Mega Bolters to give her some form of anti-air defence. Stay inside my voids at your peril! I was going to build a large Aquilla built out of the back of the torso/cathedral with the Bolters built into the eyes, while still allowing them to traverse at least 180 degrees from the back to the front, but I'm not sure if I will do that. I might build out a pair of minarets coming out of the side of the cathedral with the botlers in the top, and giving the bolters a 360 degree rotation. I'll see as it comes together.

I also want to change the squat. No, I haven't hidden a space dwarf anywhere on the model, but I'm tired of having to explain why Dalion Dao isn't looking for a ten-storey high toilet... My plan is to break one of the hips and rotate the leg forwards. I'll probably place that foot flat(ish) so it looks like the titan has just taken a step and will be leaning forwards slightly so it's guns are actually pointed at a ground target! I also need to add doors or something to the legs as each foot of the Imperator has a transport capacity of 52! I may even add a firing Battlements and firing points to give her some defence against assaulting enemies! Yes Walkers can overwatch, but not with templates (which all the arm weapons are) and not with carapace weapons with a minimum range to ground targets!

I will also be doing several other bits to make it look a little more slick, to neaten up a few rough edges and the like. She will also need a pretty hefty fix on the paint job (let alone painting the new sections). So next post will be what I've started on.