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Love it. Love the fact that I've got two of these coming to me. These are going to look so naaaaasty, once I get them built/painted, along with my Crusaders, and I get a group shot of them.

I wish I had a chaos army just to justify painting up a Mortis as a titan!

 KalashnikovMarine wrote:
I wish I had a chaos army just to justify painting up a Mortis as a titan!

I think the mini version is going to make a dandy Forge/Maulerfiend standin for the Word Bearers that I'm working on. Or for a variant Decimator. I haven't decided yet.

The mini Crusaders have long since been tapped to take the place of Dreadknights for my Grey Knights.

shade1313 wrote:

 KalashnikovMarine wrote:
I wish I had a chaos army just to justify painting up a Mortis as a titan!

I think the mini version is going to make a dandy Forge/Maulerfiend standin for the Word Bearers that I'm working on. Or for a variant Decimator. I haven't decided yet.

The mini Crusaders have long since been tapped to take the place of Dreadknights for my Grey Knights.

I wonder how they would work for a Contemptor Dread?

 Valhallan42nd wrote:

shade1313 wrote:

 KalashnikovMarine wrote:
I wish I had a chaos army just to justify painting up a Mortis as a titan!

I think the mini version is going to make a dandy Forge/Maulerfiend standin for the Word Bearers that I'm working on. Or for a variant Decimator. I haven't decided yet.

The mini Crusaders have long since been tapped to take the place of Dreadknights for my Grey Knights.

I wonder how they would work for a Contemptor Dread?

My uninformed, gut feeling is that it may be a smidge tall, but so what, it'll look sweeeeeet.

The paired Vulkans will work very well for the Mortis Contemptor.

EDIT TO ADD: I should clarify. The twin Vulkans on either of the mini Leviathans will likely work very well as a stand in for the Mortis pattern Contemptor. The fact that there are big walky roboty things in both model lines under discussion that use the term Mortis has potential to get very confusing.

I LOVE the exposed workings on the Mortis. I always wished it just had a few head options to swap out, since the skull wouldn't have worked for my army. But man, it is beautiful!

 NoseGoblin wrote:

 RiTides wrote:
Ugh, I really hope Wave 3 arrives in 2013. If you could impress the psychological importance of that on the factory, Mark, it'd be appreciated...

No need to impress it upon me.... I am disappointed that thing have slipped as far as they have. I truly wish this was in my control, it is not. If you think I have not been trying to get caught up all the way through stage 2 you would be mistaken... I quite honestly have been loosing sleep worrying about this very issue.

I can appreciate the position of the manufacturer, they need to continue to take new work to keep the doors open and there were some happenings unrelated to DFG that pushed all their production back a few weeks. I can tell you that they have been working very hard on improving their capacity, but I am answerable to all of you and it is my reputation on the line, this is not a fun situation to be placed in.

Mark,

I believe I can speak for us all here in that we would not want you to be losing sleep over the delays that have been suffered here. Do I want my shinies sooner rather than later? Of course I do! Would I like the extra arms on my leviathan within the next 4 weeks? Undoubtedly. Would I be extatic at getting my 3 APCs and the Black Widows by Christmas? You betcha! Am I worried about the delays? NOT AT ALL!

I would rather they be delayed than have any sacrifices in quality (Unlikely, I know) or the whole thing have a negative effect on your health. And also be aware that most of us here have more than enough to be getting on with for the moment. Personally, I need to wind up enthusiasm for them again as I have had a slight problem of my own devising whilst magnetising the stacks and intercoolers on the back - so will need to work on that when the British weather improves again (Unless we've already had our 1 week of good weather and I missed it!) and still have to find the switches and battery holders for my lighting plans, before I can get on with my leviathan again. And as I have a better idea of what I need to do with that, I want to finish that before I get on with the troops to ensure they fit in with the Leviathan. Alongside that I have a starfighter in 1:72 scale, a modern military jet in 1:32 scale, and a whole ton of Zombies to paint. (And I'm sure I'm not the only one in that position, with more arriving alledgedly in September, yet!)

In short, relax. The quality of the stuff that has already been delivered is amazing. Your models have already taken the lead in what I would prefer to be working on - and are the first I have been confident I can both magnetise and light, I have never done either before - and I can wait for the next set to arrive. (And can do with the break so I can save up for what UK customs are probably going to ask for!)

Excellent work Mark! While I'll always prefer to get things sooner than later, it's good to see that quality is still staying high.

Out of idle curiosity, will the "corrected" torso pistons be included with the next run of Crusaders as well? It wasn't an awful fault, but I did notice it happening on mine when I'd hand it to other people to gawk at.

 Valhallan42nd wrote:

shade1313 wrote:

 KalashnikovMarine wrote:
I wish I had a chaos army just to justify painting up a Mortis as a titan!

I think the mini version is going to make a dandy Forge/Maulerfiend standin for the Word Bearers that I'm working on. Or for a variant Decimator. I haven't decided yet.

The mini Crusaders have long since been tapped to take the place of Dreadknights for my Grey Knights.

I wonder how they would work for a Contemptor Dread?

4,5" makes them a bit tall for a contemptor (but not way out of whack) or a bit small for a dreadknight (use a scenic base to prevent MfA complaints) AFAICS.

The whole thing!

The Leviathan Mortis is now in production!
Update #98 · May 13, 2013 · 10 comments

The Leviathan Mortis is now production ready! This was actually the first of the new generation of Leviathan I designed... I still have a soft spot for the Mortis.

Unlike the old resin kits the fingers and scythe will remain completely poseable.We even fixed some of the issues discovered on the Crusader, namely the waist hydraulics will now stay in place without slipping out from their sockets on the underside of the torso.

As I receive pictures or news on the other models that will be delivered in stage 2 I will post them here first.

It’s been a long time coming, I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.

Cheers

Mark

 Krinsath wrote:
Excellent work Mark! While I'll always prefer to get things sooner than later, it's good to see that quality is still staying high.

Out of idle curiosity, will the "corrected" torso pistons be included with the next run of Crusaders as well? It wasn't an awful fault, but I did notice it happening on mine when I'd hand it to other people to gawk at.

As my crusader is not at that stage of the build yet, what is this with the torso pistons? I had not heard of a problem with these, but can probably magnetise these too so that they don't fall out, but that makes the rear sword arm pistons and the torso set that need magnetising to hold them in?

 Conrad Turner wrote:

 Krinsath wrote:
Excellent work Mark! While I'll always prefer to get things sooner than later, it's good to see that quality is still staying high.

Out of idle curiosity, will the "corrected" torso pistons be included with the next run of Crusaders as well? It wasn't an awful fault, but I did notice it happening on mine when I'd hand it to other people to gawk at.

As my crusader is not at that stage of the build yet, what is this with the torso pistons? I had not heard of a problem with these, but can probably magnetise these too so that they don't fall out, but that makes the rear sword arm pistons and the torso set that need magnetising to hold them in?

The Torso pistons can spin out of their insert holes, and it's a stone bitch to line them back up properly to get them back in place. Having glued my crusader in place, however, this is no longer an issue.

 Conrad Turner wrote:

 Krinsath wrote:
Excellent work Mark! While I'll always prefer to get things sooner than later, it's good to see that quality is still staying high.

Out of idle curiosity, will the "corrected" torso pistons be included with the next run of Crusaders as well? It wasn't an awful fault, but I did notice it happening on mine when I'd hand it to other people to gawk at.

As my crusader is not at that stage of the build yet, what is this with the torso pistons? I had not heard of a problem with these, but can probably magnetise these too so that they don't fall out, but that makes the rear sword arm pistons and the torso set that need magnetising to hold them in?

Its a simple fix, glue a thin sheet of plastic over the elongated portion of the hole after the pistons are in place... this keeps them from twisting out. When we do another run on the Crusader, this will be fixed on those as well... I think there is still about 500 in the warehouse ATM.

How many total were in the first run? I'm just curious how many plastic Crusaders are out in the wild.

 NoseGoblin wrote:

 Conrad Turner wrote:

 Krinsath wrote:
Excellent work Mark! While I'll always prefer to get things sooner than later, it's good to see that quality is still staying high.

Out of idle curiosity, will the "corrected" torso pistons be included with the next run of Crusaders as well? It wasn't an awful fault, but I did notice it happening on mine when I'd hand it to other people to gawk at.

As my crusader is not at that stage of the build yet, what is this with the torso pistons? I had not heard of a problem with these, but can probably magnetise these too so that they don't fall out, but that makes the rear sword arm pistons and the torso set that need magnetising to hold them in?

Its a simple fix, glue a thin sheet of plastic over the elongated portion of the hole after the pistons are in place... this keeps them from twisting out. When we do another run on the Crusader, this will be fixed on those as well... I think there is still about 500 in the warehouse ATM.

Yes it's far from a big issue, and I've gotten quite adept at putting them back in. In my experience it really only happens if you twist the torso far out in one direction. It's at worst an annoyance and given the posing that the parts make possible, a more than acceptable trade-off. It's good to hear that they've made the improvement anyway though.

If it's not prying too much, is 500 crusaders still in the warehouse a great portion of what was made for outside the KS? I noticed at one point last week, the WarStore showed the crusader as being out of stock, so hopefully they've been moving somewhat. I've yet to see one appear on my FLGS's shelves to buy though.

shade1313 wrote:
How many total were in the first run? I'm just curious how many plastic Crusaders are out in the wild.

2000 in the initial run was my understanding.

So, 75% have been sold far (including the KS ones I assume) at least to distributors/stores? Given that it's mainly just an awesome model until the Iron Core rules come out, I think that's actually a pretty good number to have moved through in less than six months. Granted, I don't run a model business so I might be completely wrong...

The FLGS that have stocked these items have moved them very well, from what I've seen (two stores within an hour's drive of me ordered some in, and I'm hoping will be stocking it consistently).

I really need to paint up my first Crusader and start taking it around to the local stores to show off. I don't even know if they know the plastic kits exist.

 Krinsath wrote:
Excellent work Mark! While I'll always prefer to get things sooner than later, it's good to see that quality is still staying high.

Out of idle curiosity, will the "corrected" torso pistons be included with the next run of Crusaders as well? It wasn't an awful fault, but I did notice it happening on mine when I'd hand it to other people to gawk at.

Once I decided on my final pose, I glued those pistons in place along with the other joints.

I get so caught up in the day to day and deadlines that I forget to stop and smell the roses. When I do, I am reminded just how amazing it is that these are now plastic model kits…. I mean really…. Who woulda thunk.

I am equally amazed by WGF and the engineering crew, bringing my designs to life without sacrificing on design or appearance…. Credit where credit is due.

Well enough rose sniffing… back to work

 Krinsath wrote:
So, 75% have been sold far (including the KS ones I assume) at least to distributors/stores? Given that it's mainly just an awesome model until the Iron Core rules come out, I think that's actually a pretty good number to have moved through in less than six months. Granted, I don't run a model business so I might be completely wrong...

Checking The Warstore's site, they're out of stock on the Crusaders (and the 20-man Stormtrooper boxes), so they certainly must have sold well. Admittedly, without a game to play them in (or without a rerelease of Apocalypse) sales will be slow to pick back up on a big stompy awesome robot of death.

Regarding the pistons, I got fairly adept at putting them back in, too. It happens when you keep playing with the Crusader like it's an action figure and making "pew pew" noises at all other lesser models in sight.

 NoseGoblin wrote:

Well enough rose sniffing… back to work

To create such amazing models, I'm not sure it's roses you're sniffing.

that awkward moment when you decide you didnt order enough mortis kits >.<

 Tannhauser42 wrote:

 Krinsath wrote:
So, 75% have been sold far (including the KS ones I assume) at least to distributors/stores? Given that it's mainly just an awesome model until the Iron Core rules come out, I think that's actually a pretty good number to have moved through in less than six months. Granted, I don't run a model business so I might be completely wrong...

Checking The Warstore's site, they're out of stock on the Crusaders (and the 20-man Stormtrooper boxes), so they certainly must have sold well. Admittedly, without a game to play them in (or without a rerelease of Apocalypse) sales will be slow to pick back up on a big stompy awesome robot of death.

Regarding the pistons, I got fairly adept at putting them back in, too. It happens when you keep playing with the Crusader like it's an action figure and making "pew pew" noises at all other lesser models in sight.

 NoseGoblin wrote:

Well enough rose sniffing… back to work

To create such amazing models, I'm not sure it's roses you're sniffing.

Funny you say that... Wai Kee was trying to explain what a Shadokesh was to one of his employee's, they asked how we think of stuff like that, as they were not raised on StarWars and such... He answered, "He smokes a lot of weed"..... LOL

 ironicsilence wrote:
that awkward moment when you decide you didnt order enough mortis kits >.<

Two of each Levi ought to be good for a while, for me. What I'm kicking myself over is that I think I badly bungled calculating which and how many of the mini Levi arm weapons I wanted. I was pretty busy at the time, and I KNOW I miscounted which arms came with them, and which ones I needed more of...and I know I got too many of some of the arms.

The solution, of course, is to buy more mini Levis to make up for the excess of some arms, and to buy more arms to make up for not getting enough of THAT type.

It'll balance out at some point, and I'll have heaps of little mini Levis that raise the overall quality of my 40k armies that will use them. Seriously, I was looking at a Dreadknight kit earlier, and unless I want to play GK in an actual GW store, those things will never come out. Crusaders all the way at every other venue.

I will buy a mortis for sure via the warstore, but the only small gripe i have is that the shoulder plates are exactlty the same as from the crusader, have mortify it when i get one.

Once the infantry boxes are all out my IG are getting a complete overhaul. Not to mention the APCs.

And the time I managed to navigate your site and find the fluff on the rest of your universe there was hardly a faction I didn't like. Keep up the amazing work, I sincerely hope you can make the the rest of this vision a reality.

I'm using them for IG, too . Can't wait for the APCs!

I was torn between using Eisenkern or UAMC Marines as my IG, because the UAMC were supposed to get females LAST SUMMER, but even with all the delays it seems that Dreamforge will still come out ahead of Defiance. Which goes a lot towards Mark's reputation.

Plus he's never been a donkeycave to me on Facebook, so there's that too...

 RiTides wrote:
I'm using them for IG, too . Can't wait for the APCs!

I just can't make up my mind on using them as IG (GW bases and two men to a heavy weapon base) or building them as straight up DFG Eisenkern. On the one hand, they would visually trump nearly all other IG out there, and there's not get a game to play nor an enemy to field them against as proper Eisenkern. On the other hand, I already have three separate IG armies in my build/paint queue (Elysians, DKoK, and FW traitor guard) and really don't need a fourth, and the Levis are getting painted for Iron Core, so I'd like to have the army to go with them when the game DOES fully flesh out.