The Story So Far...
Throughout Dreadtober, I've been following the awakening of an ancient Dark Angels Dreadnought, and the gradual recovery of the memories buried within his fractured mind.
If you've missed any of the instalments, you can catch up with the story below, before joining us for its conclusion.
- Armament
- Combat
*****
Sachiel Returns
The final Word Bearer stood before him.
The traitor clad in maroon and Black, its armour thick with ritual inscriptions and its helm crowned by a cluster of twisted horns. It raised its accursed weapon, and the daemon within shrieked with a voice that scraped against the Dreadnought's failing memory.
The sound became another sound.
A blade drawn in a darkened hall.
The closing of a great door.
The Lion's voice, speaking a command that had endured beyond the death of worlds.
The Dreadnought faltered.
His systems registered a momentary disruption. His vision fractured into overlapping images, the ruined avenue dissolving beneath the black stone of an ancient fortress. He saw himself standing before a circle of armoured warriors. Their blades were lowered. Their helms were bowed. They awaited his word.
He remembered the weight of command.
He remembered the oath.
The Word Bearer warrior lunged.
The Dreadnought met it head-on.
His power claw closed around the traitor's weapon arm, crushing the armour and wrenching the accursed blade from its grasp. He drove forward, forcing the heretic backwards across the shattered roadway. The traitor struck at him with its free hand, battering his sarcophagus, but the Dreadnought did not yield. He seized the Word Bearer by the torso and hurled it down.
The warrior struck the stone hard enough to fracture it.
For a heartbeat, he stood above his fallen enemy, his immense shadow cast across the cracked roadway. The traitor struggled to rise, its armour grinding against the rubble. Its gauntlet clawed at the stone. Its vox emitted a broken prayer to gods that had never deserved the devotion of mankind.
The Dreadnought raised his foot.
The memories came flooding back.
The black armour of the First Legion. The oath sworn beneath the Lion's gaze. The Twenty-Third Circle, its warriors trained to master the blade, hunt the enemy's champions, and stand beside their lord when lesser warriors faltered.
He remembered the burden of command. The cost of loyalty. The truth that a knight's honour was measured not by the songs sung in his name, but by the lives preserved through his sacrifice.
The Dreadnought brought his foot down.
The ceramite breastplate already weakened by the Power Claw, collapsed beneath the weight. Stone fractured around the impact as the ancient warrior leaned forward, his engines roaring.
The last Word Bearer was driven into the avenue, its armour crushed beneath the ancient warrior's tread. The daemon's shriek dwindled into static and silence.
And as the final memory locked into place, the Dreadnought's optics blazed red. He roared through his vox grille.
"I AM SACHIEL. THE HEADSMAN'S KNIGHT!
LOYAL SON OF THE LION OF CALIBAN!
MASTER OF THE TWENTY-THIRD CIRCLE!
CAPTAIN OF THE FIRST LEGION!"
His voice thundered between the shattered towers, amplified by ancient vox-projectors. Dust shook loose from broken arches as the surviving Word Bearers faltered before a name and lineage from an age they had believed consigned to legend.
Sachiel.
The name was his.
The titles were his.
The oath was his.
Nearby, Chaplain Malachai watched in silence.
He had witnessed the Dreadnought's confusion, his fury, and the terrible struggle of memories returning to a mind scarred by ten thousand years of war.
But now, a son of the Lion had returned.
Malachai lowered his head.
"Welcome home, Brother."
The Dreadnought turned towards the surviving Word Bearers, now retreating through the ruins. The coils of his plasma cannon began to glow.
"The First Legion," Sachiel declared, "has unfinished business."
*****
Dreadtober 2026
The end of Dreadtober 2026 is upon us, and I am thankful to report that the Dreadnought is complete!
It's been a great journey getting here, especially the lore writing. I confess that I didn't know where it would take me until inspiration struck with each new section.
The first two chapters, Awakening and Armament, were fairly self-evident. A Dreadnought has to go through those processes, and Games Workshop has described them several times before, so I took inspiration from those passages.
Lost Names and the chapters that followed, however, were where I wanted to bring something more personal to the Dreadnought. I wanted him to have a personality of his own.
Too many times, I see people referring to their "miniatures", rather than their characters. It's never "Lord Zhal leads the charge", or "Sachiel bursts through the wall", or "Master Azrael holds the line, galvanising his troops".
I wanted to give Sachiel an identity beyond the model itself. The slow reveal of a warrior who no longer remembers his name, the fragments of memory returning during combat, and finally the emotional payoff of discovering who he is. All of it also has a personal connection to my own collection.
That makes this project even more special, as Sachiel is one of my "Holy Grail" miniatures, as I mentioned in Part One.
Enough exposition. Onto the hobby, which is what you're here for!
The Sarcophagus
The main body was essentially complete, just awaiting its final highlights. The main outstanding details were the banner and candles, which I printed the last time I was at Duncan's.
These were relatively quick paint jobs, following the established colour palette, with the burgundy particularly prominent on the banner field.
I did consider a split Green and Bone banner, similar to the Angels of Vengeance colour scheme, but ultimately decided to stick with the colours already established on Sachiel.
The candles started with a bone basecoat, followed by successive drybrushes of pale off-whites. The flames were painted with a yellow Contrast paint, finished with a small dot of pure white to give them that final glow.
The Power Claw
Likewise, the Power Claw had everything in place, barring its final highlights, which were applied in white.
The chequered markings were built up in layers of Mephiston Red and Corvus Black, adding a little colour and visual interest to the otherwise dark weapon.
The Plasma Cannon
The Plasma Cannon was similarly at the same stage as the other sub-assemblies, needing only some general highlighting and a few finishing details.
The main focus here was, of course, the plasma power coils.
I wanted a bright blue to draw the eye, but my usual Aethermatic Blue wasn't producing quite the same effect that it does on regular plasma weapons.
So, with the Aethermatic Blue still wet, I picked up some Talassar Blue and applied it to the lower portions of the coils. I then blended the two colours together directly on the model until I achieved the tone and effect I was looking for.
I'm very happy with how this turned out, and it gives the weapon the striking appearance I wanted.
The Legs and Base
This was the biggest section of work this week.
I essentially had to take the entire legs from their previous stage to completion in the space of a week. The base was worked on alongside them, although that was a little easier, as it was already around 50% complete at the beginning of the week.
The colours used on the legs were the same as those elsewhere on the Dreadnought, so I won't go over those again. Instead, I'll concentrate on the unfortunate Word Bearer decorating the base.
He started with a coat of Khorne Red, followed by an Agrax Earthshade wash alongside the rest of the base. I then applied another layer of Khorne Red to bring the armour back up to colour, followed by a wash of Carroburg Crimson.
This helps differentiate him from any World Eaters in my collection who might stray a little too close to the Dreadnought!
I didn't go too far with the details, as he was then drybrushed with Baneblade Brown and Ushabti Bone to match the rest of my collection.
Around 90% of my collection uses this basing colour scheme, ensuring that everything looks at home when the various forces meet on my tabletop. It's a small thing, but I do like having that visual consistency across the collection.
The Finished Model
And here he stands!
Sachiel, fully painted, assembled and finally ready to take his place amongst the Dark Angels.
As mentioned before, he is one of my "Holy Grail" miniatures, and I was delighted to have managed to pick him up for a song, simply because his previous owner wasn't familiar with working with Forge World resin.
Dreadtober 2026
As I write this, the final day of Dreadtober 2026 is tomorrow, 31 October.
Marc, who organises the event, will be bringing together everyone's entries from across the internet and adding links to the various projects on the Dreadtober Blog.
I encourage you all to pop over and have a look at the other work that has been completed throughout the month. There are some fantastic projects out there, and it's well worth taking the time to see what everyone else has been working on.
My own Dreadnought has been a long time coming, and I'm incredibly pleased to finally have him finished.
But there is a little more to Sachiel than just the miniature itself.
Sachiel: Eighteen Years in the Making
For those interested, I've written a separate piece about the history of the character, from his original inspiration through his various incarnations, to the Dreadnought you see here today.
You can read it here:
It's a rather personal look back at my own hobby history, and how one Dark Angel has managed to survive eighteen years, several editions and more than a few abandoned projects.
And with that, Dreadtober 2026 draws to a close.
It's been a thoroughly enjoyable project, and I'm particularly pleased with how the lore and hobby sides have come together. The Dreadnought is finished, the story has been told, and Sachiel has finally found his way home.
Until next time, have nice day...
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