Dreamforge Leviathan Crusader build

I've been very absent from this blog as of late but i'm back with a big build to make up for it.

As just about everyone in the 40k world saw this week that the next offering from GW are the "Knight Titans" AV 13/12/12 6HP super heavy walkers. Armed with a Destroyer Str close combat weapon and either a 2 shot battle cannon or a 36" large blast melta, 370 or 375 points.

The GW kit will cost $140 and comes with all options to make either variety, i decided to go a different direction. A while back i got in on this Kickstarter from Dreamforge games

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/dreamforge-games/something-wicked-this-way-comes-crusader-plastic-m?ref=live

I got two of the 28mm Leviathan Crusaders, one Leviathan Mortis, a bunch of special weapons for arms swaps and three 15mm versions as well.

Personally i think Dreamforges offering is more "knight" like and am pretty happy with the finished results. A stock Leviathan Titan comes with a gatling type cannon, a close combat sword and looks like this

Obviously the stock minigun doesnt fit WYSIWYG as a battle cannon or super melta, and while the sword is passable as a D str close combat weapon i decided to do this build with a super melta and chainsword from my options below

Dreamforge has designed the arms in such a way that they are very easy to interchange and require no magnets

The unboxing

Easily the biggest kit i have ever worked with

Packed in a foam padded box?! very nice

The contents, quite a lot of sprues

the instructions weren't quite as intuitive as what i'm used to from GW but still mostly understandable

As i found out during the build screws are used throughout the model to make all the joints HIGHLY posable and adjustable on the fly if you didn't want a static pose, i glued and locked in the joints for the most part for painting, i haven't locked in the shoulder joints yet and i may leave these free

Bare legs without armor, now to set up the next picture... While no definate height has been leaked about the GW knight titan it is believed to be a little taller than a Trygon which is in turn a little taller than a Riptide

Oops, guess i'm going to be a lot taller than the GW Knight Titan

Progress!

You can see the stock smokestacks in the directions, i decided to go with the modern looking bonus ones from the kickstarter. When i build the Mortis version i'll keep the older smokestacks

Almost complete, you can see it is rather oversized on a GW MC oval base which looks like what is the legal size for the GW Knight Titan in the pictures but since they are unclear GW might of come out with a new size base just for it. Not going to pin it to a base until that's confirmed.

Weapon arm work.... Riptide's not so scary now is it?

The finished product, very cool looking

A final size comparison

Pros and cons, Dreamforge vs GW

Price

GW Knight Titan $140

Dreamforge Leviathan $98, Addtional gun arm (Melta or Cannon) $28, Total $126

As i mentioned earlier the GW version comes with all the parts to make either type, is obviously the intended size for game purposes but you can get a knight that is bigger, cheaper and IMO better looking from Dreamforge.

Articulation

GWs version isn't out yet but there is no way it will even come close to the level or articulation the Leviathan has. To be fair it can be somewhat of a liability to a modeler. Yes you can make almost any pose conceivable but is a real bitch to lock into a pose in the building stage

Final Thoughts

In closing i'm very happy with the final product, looks a lot more "Knight" like than the GW version IMO and with weapon options very close to the GW Knight Titan it's easy to meet WYSIWYG.

Would i have gone the same route if i didn't already have them in my basement? maybe, maybe not. The size being large than the GW version may be an issue bit i don't expect my opponenet will complaing about my titans getting less of a cover save.