Dreadtober 2023 - part 4.

 

A rythmic pounding sound echoed from the stricken drop pod as Ghrast scrambled back over the rubble. It was clear that Dhekarst wasn't going to wait to be released from the transport, rather punch his was clear.

Oresk was busily butchering a scouting party which had found them even as Ghrast crested the wall of the ruined manufactory, the piercing shriek of tormented metal announced that Brother Dhekarst was now free.

A blinding flash erupted as he fired his Lascannon as something Ghrast couldn't see, sparking off an explosion as the high powered laser slammed into the ruins.

Ghrast ripped his bolt pistol from its holster and shot a charging Infantryman, sending the body tumbling through the air, limbs flailing with the freedom of death.

He thumbed on his Auspex scanner and turned trying to see some form of numbers of enemies.

Perhaps a platoon worth of mortal troops had stumbled upon them, armoured vehicles in tow, no doubt hoping to destroy the World Eaters who had become separated from the main force.

Dhekarst fired his heavy Lascannon again, a deeper explosion answering as he definitely hit something this time.

Oresk stomped his was forward, bloody smears ground into the dirt beneath the weight of the machine.

Ghrast felt the Butcher's Nails beginning to dig into his skull as the carnage erupted.

Without realising, he was charging forwards into the mortals, firing his pistol wildly.

His axe swung, separating head from neck, arm from torso and body from waist.

He saw only red and didn't register the burning promethium falling around him as both Oresk and Dhekarst stalked forward firing their Lascnnons in unison. Touching off a fuel storage tank and lighting the entire ruined building with hellish firelight.

*****

Phew, this was cutting it close this year, but both Dreadnaughts are fully completed for the deadline (Dreadline?) and ready to serve on the battlefields of Terra:

Brother Dhekarst in all his glory:

He uses the same techniques as detailed in my previous post for Dreadtober, just this time with a lot more red as he's further along the eightfold path then the previous dreadnaught.

I have three remaining Castra-Ferrum Dreadnaughts left over from the box I got from my friend. The state of these three shows you how much work went into the two World Eater ones featured for Dreadtober this year:

Everything completed so far for the Twelfth Legion:

Half of the next unit for this army is on the way as well now, I'm starting to bring in some Troops choices, considering most of the HQ and Elite sections are done now, just a second Apothecary to go.

These follow the ethos of mixing and matching any marine/chaos and Berzerker parts I can get my hand on, with a few 3D printed heads thrown in as well:

"BLOOD FOR THE BLOOD GOD!"

Until next time, have nice day...

Dreadtober 2023 - part 3.

 

Ghrast stood at the edge of the crater looking at the second drop pod. He had already been working fifteen minutes opening up the first pod as its doors had locked slightly open due to the damage caused upon its arrival planetside.

This second drop pod had smashed through four floors and was buried beneath the rubble, as well as broken manufacturing equipment which had fallen in as well. He could hear the straining of servo's as the machine spirit kept trying to open doors which were lodged shut by debris.

"Brother Oresk, I will be sometime freeing the other drop pod, I will need covering to keep the enemies at bay whilst I work" Ghrast voxed to the already freed Dreadnaught.

The box like silhouette stamping its way through the murk simply raised its huge Powerfist in response and began a patrol.

Ghrast began smashing rubble with his Omnissian Axe and lifting chunks with his servo-arm. He estimated perhaps twenty, twenty-five minutes before be could open one of the doors.

If they had that long...

*****

Seventeen minutes exactly and the counter attack began.

Ghrast first heard it through the booming of nearby launched mortar shells exploding. Severely off the target of course, but still that meant enemies were nearby.

"Brother Oresk, do you read me?" He voxed, he'd managed to dig out most of the door, but hadn't began ministrations to get the damn thing open yet.

A bark of Storm Bolter fire echoed before Ghrast's vox link crackled into life.

A shrill scream erupted in his earpiece before being silenced and the deep baritone voice of the dreadnaught sounded.

"What is it Techmarine? I've got enemies to kill"

Despite the situation Ghrast smiled, "Understood Brother, Ghrast out".

A whirring power build drew his attention towards the stricken transport pod. It seemed it's occupant had survived the misdrop and was waking up.

"This is Techmarine Ghrast, Brother Dhekarst, are you recieving me?"

"Yes Brother, I appear to be in one piece, but unable to exit the drop pod"

"Yes, I am working on that, the machine spirit of the drop pod was offended by it's landing, it will be some time before I can open it"

"STAND ASIDE"

*****

Well, we're nearly at the end of October, which means we're also nearly at the end of Dreadtober.

Sadly, due to the extremely unsettled weather here in the UK recently, I haven't had as much time to hobby as I would have liked, due to rail lines and yards being flooded, and stricken freight trains to secure either in our yards or stable in sidings nearest to them.

I have however managed to get Brother Oresk fully finished and matching the previous World Eaters I had painted for this project:

The off white from the "Marine-Juice" wash really shows up on these larger models.

I'm pleased with how this started as a generic Assault of Black Reach dreadnaught from all those years ago, and has now been recycled and converted up into this Warmachine of the Twelfth Legion, the centre of the sarcophagus received those armour panels because of damage the dreadnaught had suffered before when someone obviously tried to grind away the winged skull which should have been there.

A lot of the symbology, like the ravening jaws are made from plasticard, with the rivets and spike being of all things, supports from 3D printed models!

I'm particularly fond of the skulls attached to the side of the Lascannon, being cut in half and filed flat before being glued to the trophy slot I built there.

If Dreadtober ends tomorrow at midnight, I'm not entirely sure when it does actually end as we normally go until the end of October, which falls on a Tuesday and then do the finished updates the following weekend. I can say that I am happy I got at least one of the Dreadnaughts finished with the second one, just needing a few highlights to be done 

Hopefully I can get Brother Dhekarst finished and have him added to the end of project update, but we'll see, back on night shifts at work which eat up a lot of my hobby time due to the altered schedule you're on, simply by working during the night and sleeping the morning away.

Until next time, have nice day...

Dreadtober 2023 - part 2.

 

Techmarine Ghrast ground his teeth as he listened to the report from the ship in low-orbit. Both of the assault forces Dreadnaughts had been dropped off target and we're not responding, and even though he fought the fog in his head caused by the Butcher's Nails, he knew that they would need the firepower of the venerable brothers in the near future.

"I'll handle it, Ghrast out" he growled into the vox link, his bronze teeth chinking as they clicked together.

He checked his position from the co-ordinates he had been sent and started the loping, ground eating stride Astartes adopted when they ran.

Smashing through ruins with his axe rather then going around, the Techmarine cut a strange sight as he bounded along, in a completely different direction to the main assault. Servo-arm tucked against his back to make better speed.

He'd made better time than he hoped as he had not run into any enemy patrol's, they were all too busy countering the orbital drop of the main force as he closed in on the transponder signals of the drop pods.

The report was accurate, the dreadnaught drop pods had both landed within fifty yards of each other and within the same manufactorum, bringing the roof down and a fair portion of the walls. This was the cause of the non-responses from the Dreadnaughts, trapped by rubble the doors of the pods couldn't open.

Heaving himself alongside one of the stricken drop pods, Ghrast immediately began throwing chunks of rubble away and his servo-arm sprang into action lifting steel girders out of the way with little effort.

As he found he had room, he jammed the end of his axe into the seam of the drop pod door and proceeded to force it open, the way a mortal would open an ammunition crate using a crowbar.

A huge white slab of armour greeted his efforts, bronze trimmed and battle scarred, the venerable machine sat waiting. The sky blue of the legion colour slowing being replaced by a deep blood red as the legion transformed by the will of their new patron.

The view-slit on the sarcophagus lit up an angry orange as the growing electrical whine signalled a full power up of the machine. Heat distortion rippling from the turbine exhausts and the engine spooled up.

"YOU TOOK YOUR TIME TECHMARINE"...

*****

The forge has been busy this past week working up some armour Anti-Tank support for the Twelfth Legion.

I know that you can field havoc/heavy support squads in any Legion, but I never felt that they fit the theme of the World Eaters*, especially by the time they get to Terra and have fallen fully into the embrace of Khorne.

The infantry with the Butcher's Nails forcing their actions, in my opinion, wouldn't be able to hold a good firing position and not succumb to the temptation to charge headfirst at the first target to come close to melee range.

Instead I wanted to use vehicles for that role in my army, and with it being Dreadtober, what better way then to get some Anti-Tank support through the Castra-Ferrum Dreadnaughts.

My rationale is that they have some sort of circuitry over-riding the nails until they are released by the Techmarine present and given over to melee like the rest of the legion.

So after a week and a bit of chopping plasticard and adding details, the two Dreadnaughts for my army are here in their painting sub-phases:

A close look, the skulls added to the sides of the arms were chopped in half removing the rear rounded portion and filed flat, before being glued inside the boxed off area, which was made from 1mm strips of plasticard cut to size.

The Powerfist sides of the Dreadnaughts had much the same work done, one had a piece of banding added around the fist by adding another strip of plasticard:

And the business end, the front facings.

The dreadnaught on the left has had its sarcophagus left as was, but the armour planels each side have been paneled over and a Khornate symbol added using plasticard. 

Lots of trophy chains taken from various chaos vehicle kits were then slung under the chassis, all swinging the same direction to convey movement.

The right hand dreadnaught had some damage to the sarcophagus, so this was scraped flat and then a detail added through the plasticard method.

This time the armour planels got a World Eaters symbol and a spare Khorne Crest from a Blood Warrior was added above.

Both dreadnaught have skulls mounted on spikes above the sarcophagi, the spikes made from 3D print supports of all things, the various rivets added to the plates are also from the same source:

The bases, as it normal for my urban assault force, are made from cut up and torn up cork sheeting, along with some random dotted skulls and the "rebar" poking up is actually detonator wire which came from a mine which was closing down.

Alongside Dreadtober, I've also been assembling an Death Korps of Krieg army for a friend in order to play a game against Cardboard Fortress's Guard later in the month when we have another gaming day, so that's why it's taken a little longer then it normally would have to get to this stage.

So next steps are to start painting the pair and getting them ready to face the loyalists across the battlefields of the 31st millennium.

Until next time, have nice day...

* I know, I know, I am trying to add logic and reason to a make believe military force.

It's my hobby and I'll rationalize it anyway I want to thank you.

Dreadtober 2023 - The Project Begins.

 

"Report, where are the Dreadnaughts?" The captain asked of the bridge crew.

They were monitoring the orbital drop, when ferocious anti-orbit fire had forced an evasion maneuver in low-orbit which had thrown off the landing co-ordinates of the drop pod assault, scattering the landing troops.

"Searching captain, Auspex sweeps are having difficulty due to the interference"

"Do we have a read on that emplacement?" He asked.

"Weapons tasking sir, I'm reading a massive spike of energy at 00.51/3CR, possibly a capacitor or heatsink for a weapon".

"I don't care what it is, blast that thing into the dirt or we're all dead, either from that or the Astartes when they return aboard".

"Aye captain, weapons tracking now, firing in twenty five seconds".

Orders were relayed across the bridge as the pings of the Auspex rang out, the oculous screen choppily reading outputs from three World Eaters squads... they'd put twenty drop pods into the atmosphere.

"Weapons firing" the officer called out and everyone could feel the deck vibrating beneath their feet.

The captain looked up at the viewports instinctively, but they were too far away to see anything at all, he had to settle for the energy spike on the oculous blinking out.

"Round on target, spike destroyed sir" the weapons officer reported, obviously pleased with himself.

The oculous suddenly lit up with a series of World Eater squad transponders.

Most of the company had landed together and were pushing forwards towards the loyalist position. The ones which had been off course were working their way towards the main force.

The Dreadnaughts however, they had been launched together and had landed in what appeared to be a manufactorum, worryingly they weren't moving or responding.

With a sigh the captain opened a vox-link.

"Techmarine Ghrast, are you recieving..."

*****

Well, it's October and that means it's time for one of the community projects to begin.

There are a few which happen at this time of year, Orktober*, Zomtober**, Spookytober...

But my project of choice like last year is Dreadtober.

This year, winding our neck in a little, I'm going to use the project as a way to tick off a couple of things for the 30k World Eaters force I started earlier in the year.

Again, earlier in the year a friend gave me a box with five Castra-Ferrum Dreadnaughts (Boxnaughts) in it which were in various conditions. He is slowly replacing his with Redemptor Dreadnaughts and was going to throw them in the bin, until I said I'd salvage what I could and get them back on the table.

Yesterday, as of writing this, the plasticard and first Boxnaught was brought out to the mat and work was started.

Some judicious filing and sanding got the plates smooth(ish), and several clumps of dried glue off the model. Fortunately the black isn't that thick so I don't have to worry about stripping it off to start again.

After a couple of hours, with a podcast on in the background I had ended up with the following:

I've added plasticard plating to the two front flanks of the sarcophagus and made a World Eaters symbol to add detail, the rivets are slowly being added, I just need to chop some more.

His crest is taken from a spare helmet and adds the Khorne flavour along with the trophy chains hanging and the skull, although I am going to add a few more spiked to the top of the sarcophagus.

The diagonal plate on the centre was added to add interest and cover up where the previous owner had tried to scratch out the winged symbol which is normally there, again, this will have the rivets added.

I haven't started on the Powerfist arm yet, but the Lascannon arms has had some Petruges added to echo the Cataphractii Terminators look, and add that gladiator factor, similarly with the chains, of which I'm going to add some more.

Looking at the leg plate, I also added a stylised version of the World Eater "jaws" to add interest there.

There is more work to be done, adding more chains and skulls, before basing him and then starting on his Brother, as I have two in the force, I am aiming to get both built and painted for Dreadtober.

I envisage these as more corrupted and along the eightfold path, why?

If your trapped in a sarcophagus, with the nails pounding in the back of your skulls and unable to do anything, I imagine you'd be willing to listen to anything daemonic whispering at you.

In a contrast  to the command staff who have started to openly worship Khorne willingly, the Boxnaughts I imagine are more victims of their situation then some of the more understated line troops, so they may get a colour scheme similar to the Red Butchers.

I am going to work on these as a priority, however my hobby time has been cut a little short, compared to painting the Tyranids, as I've been cleared health-wise to return to work...Woo!

Until next time, have nice day...

*I have taken part in this before, when I get back to my beloved Greenskins, I may do so again, or find something GREEN to work on for Dreadtober in the future.

**Chris has taken part in this before, he loves him some Zombies...wait for his Xenos Rampant project.

World Eaters Red Butcher's Squad Gauste.

It is an Age of Darkness.

The Galaxy is aflame.

Brother turns on Brother.

This is M.31.

*****

Fire rained from the heavens, covering the Himalazian mountain tops with debris and causing the soldiers stationed on the line to duck and curse the foul traitors again and again.

Amongst the orbital drop and general detritus raised, there were bright white spots falling in the wake of the twelfth legion stormbird passing low on a gunnery run.

A series of rippling missile strikes exploded upon the parapets of the trenchline and amongst the buildings around the gatepost.

The another series of heavier impacts occured and two hab blocks away from the missile strike collapsed under impact, the rockcrete folding in upon itself and raising another cloud of grey dust nearby.

The loyalist command in the area couldn't explain the impacts, so the fourty-five men of 'A platoon, Merican 7th' were sent on a reconnaissance patrol, as an enemy landing so close would need to be dealt with and forced back from the salient, lest the traitors gain a foothold close to the outer trench.

There was still no movement from the ruins as the first squads approached and the men fanned out to explore working in groups of five men, they sifted through the area looking for anything which could have been dropped by the enemy.

A shout went up, and disbelieving the infantry gathered around as they stared at what appeared to be a dead Astartes Terminator.

The giant was laid in a crater, obviously a deployment mistake as the enemy surely wouldn't waste a resource like this. The runes carved onto the armour, as well as the corrupted decorations caused some men to pale, or vomit with fear. Several spontaneously started bleeding from their noses and the smells of sulphur and blood were strong, a ripple of fear was felt amongst the men.

"Can you hear whispering?"

"What's that smell?"

"Did that hand just move? I thought it was dead?"

One of the engineers accompanying the men realised what had happened and began to demand a retreat.

"Sir, we need to fall back now! Look at the chains, the scorch marks on the armour, this wasn't a teleportation mistake, this Astartes was dropped from orbit to land here"

"Don't be ridiculous, nothing could survive that impact"

With a rising electrical whine, the eyeslits of the terminator plate started to glow a deep red, and without warning the roar of chain weapons erupted causing panic amongst the gathered mortal troops.

"Open fire" the officer screamed and bright blue lasfire scorched the remaining white armour as the terminator began to rise, chains and skulls rattling from ceramite plate as it did. A grenade exploded at the monsters feet, if it felt anything it didn't slow the inevitable rise of this terrifying beast.

The vox became a distorted growl, but a rythmic chant could just be made out amongst the noise as the loyalists panicked and tried to flee.

From amongst the ruins, another four of the Astartes charged in, Chainblades already screaming, armoured bulk crushing unfortunates in their way to a bloody paste as they passed.

Limbs and heads were separated in welters of gore and bodies were hacked in two.

The Astartes whom the loyalists had been gathered around snatched up the officer with one hand and held him aloft, several feet from the floor. Hopelessly he tried to fight the vice like grip until he shook as the chainfist attached to the Astartes other wrist scythed through his waist and then up through his torso covering the terminator in crimson blood.

Looking more like butchers in a slaughterhouse then noble warriors, the Astartes loped off in a ground eating sprint, the rythmic growl-chant emitted from all five distorted vox grills.

"BLOOD FOR THE BLOOD GOD!"

*****

Welcome to the third installment of the World Eaters Legion build for Horus Heresy.

This time we turn our attention from the command cadre and look towards the forlorn souls of the elites, those who have lost themselves completely to the Butcher's Nails...the Red Butcher's!

Knowing I was building the World Eaters I wanted to include at least one of the unique legion units for the army, and it was honestly a toss-up between the Gladiatorial Ravagers or the Red Butcher's.

Having a love for Cataphacti pattern Terminator armour, the Butcher's won out this time and plans were laid to build a unit of five of them.

Turning back to the Collected Visions books, this was the only World Eaters terminator artwork I could find, not quite what I was looking for:

After a perusal of the Forge World website* I decided to launch ahead with the conversion anyway and built up the bodies along with some minor conversion work.

Weapon loadout wise, given that they are a melee unit first and foremost I decided to work exclusively with salvaged Chainaxe's from wrecked Berzerkers and the Chainfist's which come with the Cataphractii kit.

Whilst not 100% accurate to the unit listing, I think most opponents will understand what unit they are and what they are armed with, officially paired power axes in the rules.

The "Bunny Ears", a staple Khornate icon were culled from the same wrecked Berzerkers that the axes came from and were clipped to varying lengths to give each member a bit of a different profile.

Likewise the shoulder plates were 3D printed offerings, I was slightly disappointed when they turned up given how thick they were, but once in place they looked the part and added to the heavy armour look of the terminator plate.

The last thing was to add some broken chains, culled from the Wrathmongers kit and some skulls, because KHORNE NEEDS SKULLS**.

Once painted the unit looks like this:

A bit of a departure from the blue and white of the legion***, but suited given the nature of the Red Butchers, and Kharn (along with a few other pieces I plan, will tie them across the force nicely.

Looking at the models then, the Devoured (the unit leader), is a standard example of the description I gave above:

The length of skulls hanging down his back hides some damage which was caused when salvaging these miniatures from an eBay lot:

The two other "standard" troopers, no conversion work other then the weapon swaps and the bunny ears added:

Finally the two most converted members of the unit. Both advancing, and the guy on the left of the photo sprinting...in Terminator plate!

The lower legs are separate on these kits anyway, so it was a minor conversion to scrape and file away at the joint to re-angle the leg, then it was just a case of making sure the other details flowed with the movement of the model:

Bases follow the standard urban base scheme I'm using across the army.

*****

The army tally now looks as follows:

HQ:

Kharn the Bloody.

Terminator Praetor.

Centurion.

Elites:

Red Butchers Squad.

Dreadnaught Talon.

Apothecarion Detachment.

Troops:

Tactical Squad.

Despoiler Squad.

Breacher Siege Squad.

Fast Attack:

Heavy Support:

Leviathan Dreadnaught.

Missile Heavy Support Squad.

Bodyguard:

Command Squad.

*****

You may be wondering why Kharn is crossed out, well, I was moving something in the display case the other day and knocked him out.

A four foot fall to the floor caused his axe to snap off at his hand and disappear into the warp.

Another spare plastic axe and hand was sourced and pinned to the wrist after I clipped off his original hand.

I've gotten it undercoated and will get him finished again soon:

Until next time, have nice day...

* Always dangerous doing that.

* SkULLS FOR THE SKULL THRONE.

*** I know the red is meant to be dried blood, and I've had suggestions about adding gore and blood effects to them.

I won't and I have my own personal reasons for not doing so.

World Eaters Commanders.

 

The assault had begun, Astartes brother fought Astartes brother, combat upon a superhuman level, the contingents of mortal troops had no effect other then attrition numbers.

This was the thinking of Centurion Argus Brond of the World Eaters legion as he surveyed the initial push.

The smoke from the orbital bombardments was hanging lazily, mixing with the dust and fire-sorched earth which their Dreadclaw Assault Pods had kicked up when landing.

His counterpart, Centurion Khaggort was already advancing by himself, no doubt looking for a combat to embroil himself in.

Some of the World Eaters gave in more easily to the Nails then others, no matter their rank.

Brond fought the thumping ticks in the back of his head as he sought clarity to order him men into combat. He'd always felt that having the Nails implanted was a mistake, but their father had ordered it, so they complied.

He shook his head and bit his lip, motioning for Ancient Tyche and his chosen to attend him with the company banner acting as a rallying point.

Tactical, Despoiler and Breacher squads all looked forwards to his position, being given curt commands to filter through the ruins into firing positions.

He looked for their Dreadnaught support but it was nowhere to be seen as yet. But Orbital drop assaults were notorious for scattering troops over the target area, even with their locator technology, there were ways to throw that off.

With a grunted command, Argus Brond took a step through the ruins and further into damnation as he led his company into battle against his former brothers, he had a moment of clarity as he realised that, here on the cradle of mankind, they had started the last great war.

For this war would never end, and in the future there would only be war.

*****

Greetings, welcome to the second post of the Horus Heresy World Eaters force I am currently building.

This post features two of the HQ choices, the third being Kharn himself who has already been completed.

Both of these models are Centurions, originally the Terminator was a Praetor, but as Kharn is already a Praetor, you can't have two in the second edition rules, so he got demoted.

They're painted in the scheme discussed in the Chieftain Squad post with additions like the tassels and cloak of the terminator being red and tan and simple to do.

Terminator Centurion Khaggort is made from an old metal Terminator Champion model which was released around 2005/6 for the "Fall of Medusa V" campaign.

He had a perfect brooding, "come get some" pose, so with the addition of some cataphractii arms I thought I was good.

The the madness kicked in, as I wanted him to have a Chainaxe, a suitable Khornate weapon!

The problem is that the Cataphractii don't come with chainaxes. 

Off to the bits box.

The axe head is made from an Ork Nob Chainchoppa, as this is a suitable size, and the arm from the elbow down is a Space Wolf Terminator arm, a lot of chopping and dry fitting took place, but the result is suitably imposing for a commander I think.

Centurion Argus Brond is made from Chaos Space Marine and Khorne Berzerker parts to get that mixture of armour look I want for the force.

He has a power Axe and shield as originally he was going to be a company champion using the 5th edition rules for 40k, but got co-opted into the Heresy force and his load out was legal, so I left it.

His helmet has been converted by adding a spare set of Khorne "bunny ears" onto one of the Chaos Champion helmets in place of the horns which were cut off and saved for later.

A skull on a chain was added hanging from his belt as a trophy as well.

This shield is a Fantasy Chaos Warrior child, dinged up a little with the hobby file.

I chose the chaos star, as I didn't have a Khorne shield spare, but also it adds a little variation.

Yes the World Eaters fell to Khorne, but I felt that they wouldn't quite have full worship of the blood god going on yet and still be finding their way through the chaos powers, so the occasional other symbol would appear in their ranks.

*****

On with the tally of completed stuff, and you'll note between this post and the last that the list has changed slightly.

I figured we may as well work to HH2.0 as other people we know are playing those rules and we can get more games in when the force is completed.

Also this lot if now 2,000 points, not 2,500 points like in HH1.0.

HQ:

Kharn the Bloody.

Terminator Centurion.

Centurion.

Elites:

Red Butchers Squad.

Dreadnaught Talon.

Apothecarion Detachment.

Troops:

Tactical Squad.

Despoiler Squad.

Breacher Siege Squad.

Fast Attack:

Heavy Support:

Leviathan Dreadnaught.

Heavy Support Squad.

Bodyguard:

Command Squad.

*****

I've gotten a few more things to post before I run out of finished stuff yet, so I'll carry on with those every couple of days.

Until next time, have nice day...

World Eaters Chieftain Squad Tyche.

 

It is an Age of Darkness.

The Galaxy is aflame.

Brother turns on Brother.

This is M.31.

*****

They had been given the assault orders eighteen minutes ago, judging by their internal chronometers and many of the warriors had been raging to be on with the assault.

Instead they had been forced to wait until everything was ready. Then with an apocalyptic barrage of firepower, the assault pods were launched and the Siege of Terra had began proper. They had fought past Pluto, the Jupiter Dockyards, Mars in the grip of its own civil war and the Lunar defences.

Now they fell like hungry predators upon Terra...like Warhounds slipped the leash.

With a thunderous roar the retro rockets burned and the assault pod hit the ground, causing a burned crater twenty meters wide beneath it. Other from the assault wave landed around it, smashed through buildings or were caught by lacing anti-aircraft fire as they fell from orbit.

Another slew of supporting fire exploded before the Dreadclaw lifted itself clear of the troops it had brought to the battlefield.

Ancient Tyche, Banner-Bearer of the company moved forwards from under the transport's shadow and hefted the adamantium banner high, unfurling the material as it went. A huge pair of red jaws sinking their teeth into a lush green and blue world appeared, imposing upon the white background of the Legion Colour.

His two chosen veterans stalked up beside him as the Dreadclaw lifted itself off in a deafening roar of rockets firing. Their Praetor, Kharn had already disappeared into the hazy dust seeking heads to cleave for the Blood God.

They sought out Centurion Brond, greeting him on the vox, in order to organise the assault.

Since the nails were implanted in the legion, they had always had discipline problems during actions, but things had become exponentially worse after Kharn began giving in to them over the last few years of the campaign.

With the banner flying, underlie by the plasma glow of the Chosen, the World Eaters moved forward en-masse from their landing positions, ready to kill, maim and burn for the Blood God.

*****

Whilst it has its flaws from a customer standpoint (being overly drawn out by black library, being mega expensive to begin with due to being FW resin and leather bound books, being seen as slightly elitist because of said FW production) the Horus Heresy is one of my favourite periods of 40k lore.

More specifically, the Siege of Terra era is my favourite, as seen in this Post on the blog, and the desperate nature of the fighting in the lore really stuck with me.

I loved the thought of the ragged armies, having fought themselves almost to exhaustion, pushing on for the final gambit and, for the traitors at least, revealing just how corrupted by Chaos their forces they have become over the war.

To this end, when I was asked about possibly playing Horus Heresy with the second edition of the rules being released last year, I hesitantly said yes, as I didn't fancy spending a month's salary on an army from FW, and even with the plastics from GW it's not a cheap endeavour.

With a friend owning these classic books, which I requested to borrow for inspiration, and looking at the old diorama GW made, I decided upon a course of action.

Now, unfortunately, he only had books 1, 2 and 4 of the set (and to find book 3 at a reasonable price is an impossible task), I had a root through the bitz boxes and a few searches on eBay and how I wanted my army to look started to come together.

Rather then everyone being in shiny, smooth, new mk.3, 4, 5 or 6 armour, I was going to mix and match parts with older Chaos Space Marines.

And, rather given away in the title, older Khorne Berzerker mini's which I could pull apart and paint strip, then reassemble everything together randomly to get that ragged, hodge-podge of armour, corrupted look I wanted from a bunch of traitorous veterans.

To ensure that I would enjoy the project, I began with a command squad, which in Horus Heresy is a Standard Bearer and two Veteran Astartes.

A flick through the artbooks found this piece:

Alright, alright, I know it's meant to be Sons of Horus, but it was the best I could find. The archaic looking armour and lack of uniformity spoke to me, so I decided to press on with my own World Eaters version:

The squad, along with an extra marine whom we'll get to in time.

Why the World Eaters?

For one thing, their colour scheme is just awesome and I've always loved armies which charge across the battlefield before chopping everyone to pieces in melee combat!

Although I don't really like Angron as a Primarch, and the way GW/FW/BL have written him and the Emperor (just help him in that final stand with his slave army for fuck sake!), I do find the expanded story of the legion just wanting to emulate their father quite sympathetic to read, when you consider they become psychopathic blood hungry killers in the long run.

There has also been an excellent series of unofficial audio drama's by the excellent A Vox in the Void channel on YouTube.

Abuse.

Cry Havoc.

Waking Dogs.

Broken Chains.

So it HAS to be the World Eaters I do first, but let's not forget Kharn in this because he's just awesome.

What a guy!

Looking at the models, as these were veterans I decided to build them mostly from Berzerker parts to get the Khorne symbols I wanted.

The axe wielding guy on the left of the photo actually has a Mk.VII backpack (because I had them and they look close enough) and a Raptor Plasma Pistol arm, because those were the only parts I could strip off this particular model with any accuracy and not bending and snapping the model. His base was built up a little using my techniques from here in order to get him charging downwards into the enemy:

The Chainsword toting veteran on the right only has a Khorne Berzerker body and legs pairing, his head and Plasma Pistol again come from the Raptors kit, a Mk.VII backpack finishes off his armour. His left arm however is an Ork Shoota arm (for the musculature) and a Chaos Marine Chainsword, talk about an eclectic mix of parts:

Onto the focal point of the command squad, the Banner Bearer.

This was the first model I converted for the unit actually, he's more Chaos Marine then Berzerker, but still got a Khorne Torso.

Aside from the Chainaxe and banner, everything else about him comes from the regular Chaos Space Marines kit, even the banner holding arm.

The banner itself however is a mixture of a Bloodletters banner and the Khornate banner topper from the Chaos Marines kit added as I felt the daemonic standard topper was a little too much:

For the legion symbol, I traced out what I wanted with pencil first onto the banner itself, then went from there, asking for advice from Cardboard Fortress along the way.

Originally I was going to include a white Roman numeral XII, for the twelfth legion across the center of the world on the banner. But once I'd gotten this far I realised how easily I could mess the entire thing up, so just highlighted the differing colours and called it a day there:

Painting wise, I used the normal World Eaters scheme of white and blue armour trimmed with brass.

In this case it was Ulthuan Grey for the armour.

Calgar Blue for the blue areas, and Hashut Copper for the brass.

The real work is done by "Marine Juice", the mixed wash which the Army Painter team use to pump out the big HH armies they needed for the book photography.

Marine Juice is an equal parts mixture of Nuln Oil, Riekland Fleshshade and Lahmian Medium.

Once mixed, it's washed over everything on the mini, including the base.

From there it's just a matter of layering things up and highlighting them, or in the case of the white armour, just highlighting with Ulthuan Grey.

Not the fastest paint scheme in the world, but a striking one and one which I am proud of, especially as it works so well with the urban rubble basing, which I am using for the ruins of the Imperial Palace.

*****

I'll keep a tally of what gets finished as the army progresses, but The full list (currently***) is as follows:

HQ:

Kharn the Bloody.

Terminator Praetor.

Centurion.

Elites:

Red Butchers Squad.

Dreadnaught Talon.

Apothecarion Detachment.

Troops:

Tactical Squad.

Assault Squad.

Breacher Siege Squad.

Fast Attack:

Rampager Squad.

Heavy Support:

Leviathan Dreadnaught.

Bodyguard:

Command Squad.

According to Battlescribe, this lot comes out at 2,500 points in the 1st edition* rules**, obviously each unit has gear and I'll go into it as and when I complete them and post them up. But the plan is to get this army done so that we can play some games, and then I can continue on with stuff for the Siege of Terra project.

So that's the start of my Horus Heresy World Eaters force, I'm aiming to have these done by the end of September (yeah right) as we have a longer term project planned for the last three months of the year, and it's nice to visit friends, play a game and roll the bones on the table once in a while.

Until next time, have nice day...

*We've chosen 1st edition,  as we have all our 7th edition 40k rulebook which the system runs off of, and the red books for Legiones Astartes, Mechanicum and Cults Imperialis.

**This is currently, as there has been talk of 2nd edition rearing it's head amongst us recently, and I've made a 2,000 point list for HH2.0 which contains most of the 1st edition list and a few extra things as stuff is really cheap points wise.

***I say currently, because I have half an idea to convert some drop pods into dreadclaws following this tutorial to give them some mobility when deploying, maybe.

Encounter at Quinrox Sound, a Battlefleet Gothic battle report.

 

Dust hung in the void, the leftovers of some asteroid shattering collision or general cosmic debris, Admiral Sabanc of the Blood Angels Strike Cruiser Angelic Blade did not know, nor care.

What he did know is that this region of the Quinrox Sound had been subjected to repeated pirate raids, rumoured to be the leftover heretics from the recent battle of Ardekka.

His squadron formed five of the Blood Angels chapters Strike Cruisers; Angelic Blade, Chalice, Encarnadine, Sanguine Victus and Flame of Baal.

His orders were to run a patrol sweep of the Sound, and then head for Savaven to reinforce the chapter led assault planetside.

*****

A recent visit to Stockport saw the partaking of a game of Battlefleet Gothic with my friend.

His full 3D printed fleets, from Scourge Scenics were brought out and with a quick bit of list building we had two 750 point forces ready to go.

What follows is the story of the Encounter at Quinrox Sound, read on...

*****

Barely visible, the distances were so vast, the auspex scanners of the Angelic Blade pinged as they picked up and registered the heretic ships.

The Acheron Heavy Cruiser 'Despicable' led a squadron of two Devastation Cruisers, registering as 'Unforgivable' and 'Heathen Promise', as well as the understrength Infidel Escort Squadron 'Fellclaws'.

Each warp tainted ship screamed it name across the vox, and Sabanc was forced to ensure that the vox officer complied with his demands to "shut the damn thing off", executing the wretch when he refused to comply and promoting a new vox officer from the bridge ratings present.

"All ships, form up and hard burn, we take the fight to the heretic's" he ordered, relayed across the squadron vox a series of acknowledges sounded as the other captains ordered their crews into action.

"We'll meet the False Angel's head on" Warmaster Varrah rasped into the vox, "train all guns on the center of their formation and open fire!".

The beastmen of the bridge crew roared their approval and punched the drive buttons for a full burn towards the hated enemy. 

Other mortal crewmen issued orders splitting the chaos flotilla to the flanks, each ordered to open fire on the nearest target.

Lance and weapons battery fire spat towards the Astartes ships as every gun which could be tracked opened fire causing a series of blossoming explosions in the void as energy shields were stripped and hull plating began to bear the brunt of the focussed fire.

Amongst the storm of weapons fire back and forth between the two fleets, blood red Thunderhawks were launched, jinking between firing patterns as they sped towards the Chaos flagship.

"Wings of Baal, boarding parties, may the Emperor and Sanguinius walk with you" Sabanc boxed as he watched the occulus feed tracking the battle.

Over the course of thousands of kilometers of distance the two fleets closed upon one another, soon they were filling the viewports of each ship, looming large and blocking out the winking stars in the void.

Weapons fire stabbed back and forth as fires spread and explosions bloomed silently in the void.

Captain Zydea of the Unforgivable cruiser watched in frustration as the Warmaster of the fleet charged headlong at the Astartes vessels.

She knew that the master was a languid worm, more fixated on the pleasures of mistress Slaanesh, then the actual danger of void combat.

Especially, point blank ranged void combat, she sighed deeply as her occulous read that the flagship was burning furiously.

"Retrain the weaponsss, and fire again, prepare our boarding parties" she ordered.

"Give them a broadside, Encarnadine you as well, we'll bracket the heretic between our ships, Flame of Baal launch boarding sorties against those escort ships on your flank, I want them taken out of the void!".

Another series of acknowledges sounded across the vox, and within moments the ship began to vibrate with the gravitic passing of the Heavy Cruiser close enough to overwhelm the gravity systems for a moment.

Soon the ship began to vibrate with another rhythm as the gundecks found their stride and began the deadly business of launching shell after shell into the hulking heretic ship passing between them.

"Sergeant Gideon, now is the time, spring your assault!" Sabanc ordered, and the Thunderhawks sped forward through a torrent of turret defensive fire, two of the noble ships exploding as they were caught in arcing fire.

With a series of Turbolaser blasts, the surviving Thunderhawk gunships stormed through the explosions and landed on the outer hull of Despicable and deposited their deadly cargo.

A series of Terminator led boarding parties stomped down the ramp in the mag-locked gait of one walking in zero gravity.

"Plant the breaching charges here and here" Gideon, the assault's lead Sergeant ordered and once placed everyone returned to the landing point, as the Thunderhawks lifted off silently in the void, energy beams and explosions blooming in the pitch black.

Within moments a huge rent had been torn in the hull plates and the Terminators waded through the rushing of escaping atmosphere from the stricken ship, the occasional piece of equipment or mutated crewman flying past and into the unforgiving void made for the spectacle.

Soon the bloody melee fighting had broken out and the boarding parties rampaged through the Despicable causing severe damage to the already stricken ship.

Sabanc listened with pride as the assault forces reported the capture of the escort vessels with little to no resistance overall.

Sergeant Gideon reported in that they had completed their primary objectives abord the enemy flagship and it was for all intents now out of commission.

They would remain on station until their transports could be sent to evac them, until that time, they would carve a bloody swathe through the enemy crew and head towards the bridge to disable the command staff.

*****

Watching as the Despicable flickered out of contact on the auspex, and had become a burning, drifting hulk, Zydea, leader of the Devastation squadron assumed command over her sub-servient second aboard her sister ship.

"All Lancesss, open fire on the clossessst ssship" Captain Zydea ordered, her serpentine tongue flicking through the air, "Reload everything!".

With only two cruisers left, Zydea focussed her fire upon the closest ship and launched wave after wave of her own wretched assault parties.

The Blood Angels cruiser, Chalice, bore the brunt of her Ire, stripping it's energy shields and tearing at the hull plates, she managed to force a hull breach.

Her boarding parties fought their way through the defensive fire and deposited group after group of crazed Slaaneshi Cultists and Spawn to the strike ship in an effort to destroy it.

*****

Sergeant Gideon, having been picked up by his Thunderhawk, ordered a change of course upon hearing the fighting taking place upon the Chalice.

They boarded and headed towards the worst heretic infestation upon the ship in an effort to save her from falling to enemy hands.

"This is the Angelic Blade to Chalice, Captain Ephredes, break off and head for Port Maw for repair" Sabanc voxed, "All other vessels, come about, we're going after the remaining ships!"

"Chalice to Angelic Blade, messaged received and acknowledged, good hunting Admiral" Captain Ephredes replied and moved his ship out of formation, well aware of the brutal battles still taking place within her hull, he hoped the fire would not effect the warp jump if they couldn't contain it.

The rest of the fleet swung around in formation and began to give chase to the chaos cruisers.

Zydea, having seen one of the enemy ships break off was satisfied with her small victory, but she was still outnumbered two to one.

"Heathen Promissse, I am taking command, we break off and run for SSSabathrax, repair and rearm, then we'll bring the fight back to the Falssse Angel'sss, ressspond!" She hissed into the vox as she sat in her command throne.

A crackled voice replied, "Agreed" and then shut off with a click. Cantakerous fool Zydea thought. She knew she'd have to face Old Captain Charith in the fighting pits to assert dominance over the fleet soon.

*****

Admiral Sabanc watched as the heretic's disengaged and burned hard for the systems edge, they were soon lost to auspex due to the nebulous clouds of astronomic dust and an ion storm causing static feedback.

One more patrol of the area and we'll rendezvous at Port Maw, he thought, then on to the chapter at Savaven.

*****

Well, it's been some years since I've played Battlefleet Gothic, but it's such a good game.

Not only was it nice to get over to see my friend, but just the chance to play a game and roll some bones whilst talking shit to each other was fantastic, some hobby afterwards finished the day off and made the trek worth it.

Battlefleet Gothic is a game from that golden period GW had around the turn of the 21st century, when 40k was in its prime of 3rd/4th edition, Warhammer Fantasy was in its 5th edition, and games like Battlefleet Gothic, Epic 40k, Necromunda (1st edition) and Inquisitor were all working good and offering different aspects of gameplay.

As mentioned the ships featured in this game were all 3D printed from Scourge Scenics and are lovely detailed miniatures, I am tempted by some of them.

We had no blast markers, so that's why the red D10s were used, but I think some actual modelled 3D blast Markers, maybe using the technique I used for my Stormboyz could be a good go-to for them?

As is usually the case, there was some bad luck with the dice, until I only had Zydea's two cruisers left and vegan rolling like this, stripping hull points away from the Chalice in short order!

Once we'd reached the point with just the two cruisers left for my fleet, we decided to call the game (the start of turn four!), I was outnumbered, but more importantly the rations had been delivered, so the more important task of eating was undertaken!

As I post this, I am fulfilling the monthly challenge me and Chris set each other.

This month wasn't to paint a certain amount of figure, it was to actually play a game, as neither of us have much time to do so.

I've completed my side of the challenge Chris, now it's your turn mate, I expect to see a game write up on your blog before the end of the month!

Until next time, have nice day...