Towering above even the mightiest Warlord-class god-machine, this 28mm scale Warhammer 40k Imperator Titan has been wowing fans at Warhammer Fest 2023. Lee Godden spent four years building the magnificent war engine, which stands an impressive five feet tall.
The Imperator Titan is the mightiest of all Warhammer Titans. It has never had an official model in 28mm scale – that’s the size used for all the regular Warhammer 40k factions – and the only time it’s appeared in plastic was as a (relatively) dinky kit for 1994’s Epic Titan Legions. That classic design is what Godden used as the basis for his model, as he explains:
“It needed to be Forge World quality in terms of detail, but it had to maintain the same silhouette as the original Epic Model. A lot of the time when you see an Imperator model in 28mm scale it doesn’t have that distinctive silhouette, it’s very boxy, it looks like a big robot – but everything here is based on the design of the original Imperator Titan”.
Godden says that definitive lore information about Imperator class titans is thin on the ground, and he had to do a lot of calculations himself. “I worked it out and in 28mm scale it should be four and a half feet tall – this is actually five feet to the top of the spires, to give room for the missile launchers on the back of the carapace”.
Everything has been designed in consideration of how the war machine would actually function . Each of the balconies that infantry might stand on has a corresponding ingress point back into the Titan. The model comes apart into pieces, partly for ease of transport, and partly to expose some of the incredible inner details. That includes a military command centre, complete with Adeptus Mechanicus magos, a Space Marine advisor, and Imperial Navy military attaché.
The model is the biggest machine attached to the Titan Owners club. This group of maximalist model makers were exhibiting at Warhammer Fest. The group meets up for huge battles with their 28mm scale titans, using the Adeptus Titanicus rules. The Imperator Titan has a custom command console with fan-made rules for Adeptus Titanicus. Godden estimates his big brute is “about as powerful as three Warlord class Titans”. It has fallen in battle once, but only after it became the target of the entire enemy force.
If you’re at Warhammer Fest this weekend you’ll find Godden and his Imperator with the rest of the Titan Owners Club, as part of a huge display battle between comparatively puny Warlord, Reaver, and Warhound class god-engines. You can learn more about Godden’s incredible build process over at his blog.