The Lupercal's Eyes - Black Legion Havoc Squad.

The Lupercal's Eyes

The assault was going well.

That was the first thought Varek Saul had as he stepped over the corpse of a hab-worker and onto the roof.

Below him, the Black Legion forces flowed through the ruined streets in black and gold waves. Cultists surged ahead of them, shrieking and firing wildly into windows and doorways, while packs of horned beastmen bounded through the rubble on cloven hooves. Behind them came the Legionaries, disciplined and deliberate, advancing through the chaos they had created.

Saul looked back across the three adjoining city blocks his men had taken in their advance.

They had chosen their position well.

The building formed a natural firing platform above the surrounding streets, the upper floors overlooking the avenues from three directions. The Havocs had stripped away the last defenders within minutes. Saul moved through the darkened rooms behind them, putting down anything that still moved while his men hauled their equipment upward.

Now the roof belonged to them.

Four massive lascannons stood at its edge.

Each was connected by thick cabling to the powerplants mounted across the Havocs' backs, the conduits pulsing faintly beneath their armour as the weapons drew upon their reserves. The ancient systems hummed with barely contained power.

Saul watched one of them fire.

The beam crossed the street in an instant.

A Chimera vanished beneath it.

The vehicle's forward armour turned white-hot before the entire front third of the machine erupted, throwing burning wreckage across the road. The vehicle behind it slammed on its brakes, trapping itself in the narrow avenue.

Three more lascannons traversed.

Three beams struck.

The Imperial column disappeared beneath a succession of concussive explosions.

Saul watched through the smoke.

"Good."

Another vehicle attempted to reverse.

The four weapons tracked it independently.

The first shot crippled it.

The second killed it.

The third and fourth struck vehicles further back in the column.

There was no cheering from the Havocs.

There never was.

They simply moved to their next targets.

*****

Hopefully I have a game of 5th edition arranged for a few weeks time. 

Why a few weeks? 

I hear you ask.

Well, life is busy, also I don't live close to anyone whom I know (and importantly like enough to invite to my house) who plays wargames, and there is only so my solo planning i can do*.

*old wives tales say thay if you play by yourself too much you'll go blind!

So with that thought in mind, I decided to finish off a few things, and then a couple of nights before decide what army I am taking to Element Games Stockport.

Be that my Orks, Tyranids, Death Korps or perhaps some Chaos Legionaries!

We'll see...

Importantly though I have gotten this particular unit finished and off the painting table.

Varek Saul and the Lupercal's Eyes are a veteran unit of Lascannon toting Havocs**.

**I would like to take this moment to point out that they are completely illegal to play in any modern format of the game. Given that every unit GW makes is now "Box Locked" to whatever weapons or combination it comes with on the sprue...grumble grumble.

EDIT: It has been brought to my attention, by my friend Duncan, that this statement is in fact incorrect.

Duncan plays 11th Edition and, upon reading the above, decided to actually check. He plugged the unit into the army-building app, selected four lascannons, and was rewarded with the big green tick informing him that, yes, apparently the unit is completely legal.

So there we are.

Live and learn.

I'm still not playing 11th.

So anyway, Saul here pulls double duty until.i can build another champion.

He is normally my Aspiring Champion for the force, hence his ragged cape, made from.a chopped up Nighthaunt Chainrasp.

His banner, a remnant of the 16th Legion, was 3D Printed, and I painted it in that classic 2nd/3rd edition art style where the eight pointed stars would be yellow, not gold***.

***this also makes sense from a painting perspective, as the gold we use is far too metallic to represent gold thread.

The four Havocs of his unit were a rescue purchase from Mirfield Miniatures for a bargain, but definitely needed some.TLC to bring them up to snuff.

The crimson panels across the unit match my Chaos Lord for the force whom i painted a while ago.

Maybe I should have gone for Sons of Horus Green instead, but I like the contrast of the red, giving very 2nd edition vibes.

The Lupercal's Eyes aren't simply another Havoc squad. They're one of the oldest surviving elements of Zhal's warband, veterans of the XVI Legion who have followed him from the end of the Heresy and into the Eye.

They're the sort of unit I imagine Zhal deploying when something absolutely, positively needs to stop moving, we'll see how they perform**** on the tabletop when/if I manage to get my game.

****Hopefully they don't suffer from Freshly Painted Model Syndrome. Not that I'm superstitious or anything but Freshly Painted models ALWAYS tend to perform badly on their first outing.

The same as new dice, which often end up in Dice Jail.

Next is a five man unit of Chosen and the last Marines to bring my two Chaos Marine units up to ten men each.

*****

Saul turned away from the slaughter and walked the perimeter.

He carried no lascannon himself. His armour was instead configured for command, communications and close combat, leaving his four warriors to operate their weapons without interruption. The enormous power cables snaking from their backpacks made the arrangement cumbersome, but these men had been doing this for longer than most Imperial worlds had possessed their current names.

Saul had learned long ago that his place was not behind the gun.

It was behind his men.

He reached the western parapet and looked down.

Something moved between the buildings.

Then another.

Then dozens.

Imperial infantry.

They were gathering in the streets below, emerging from alleys and shattered hab-blocks. More were arriving from the rear, filling the avenues until the mass became impossible to mistake.

Saul watched them for several seconds.

A counterattack.

He turned towards the nearest Havoc.

"Keep firing."

The warrior didn't acknowledge him, he didn't need to.

Saul activated his vox.

Static crackled in his ear, followed by the distant roar of battle.

"Vhal."

A pause.

Then the reply.

"Saul."

"Enemy infantry massing on my western flank. Close to a hundred souls, perhaps more. They're forming for an assault."

He watched the Imperial soldiers begin advancing through the ruins.

"They've seen us."

Another lascannon fired behind him.

The beam punched through the distant street, catching an Imperial command vehicle as it attempted to move into position. It detonated beneath the impact.

Saul smiled faintly.

"Correction," he said into the vox.

"They've seen me."

Vhal's reply came through the static.

"Can you hold?"

Saul looked across the roof.

Four ancient Sons of Horus veterans stood behind their weapons, the old power systems humming and the remnants of the Lupercal's banner snapping from its pole.

Beyond them, an Imperial force was coming.

Saul licked his lips and drew his sword.

"Of course."

He paused.

Then glanced towards the vox.

"But I'd appreciate some company."

*****

As always, have nice day...

World Eaters Lord Invocatus.

 

The offerings to Khorne had been great...

Centurion Skaldast, elevated to one of Khorne's favoured champions now rode maniacally down the Imperial defence line, slicing heads and arms with his massive eviscerator chainsword as he went. His Juggernaut goring at Imperial soldiers or trampling the wounded into a bloody paste as it charged, the heating from it's furnace body cooking off munitions as it passed

Ahead, a tight knot of guardsmen were forming around an Autocannon team, being commanded by a Commissar. Rounds sparked from the iron hide of the beast and Skaldast's armour as they hunkered down into a full speed charge.

A lucky shot smacked into the meat of his arm, piercing the soft seal of the elbow joint. Skaldast grunted at the momentary pain and braced to take the Commissar's head.

Like a force of nature the superheated daemonic monster hit the soldiers, crushing two which were unlucky enough to be caught by iron shod hooves the size of their chest. It lashed out and kicked the Autocannon mounting into the air, the weight of the weapon slamming another guardsman into a paste.

As the Juggernaut reared and swung it's head in a vicious arc, a guardsman close to it was blow apart by his lasrifles cooking off and exploding against his chest as Skaldast launched himself from it's back, bringing his chainsword down in a two handed swing.

He missed his target as the Commissar stepped aside, and the chainsword bit angrily into the churned earth, revving loudly as it threw soil and blood about in equal measure.

With a riposte and strike, the Commissars own chainsword swung and sparked along Skaldast's shoulder plates, marking the rune of Khorne embossed in brass. He struck again hitting the side of Skaldast's helmet and momentarily causing the helmet lenses to fill with interference.

The butcher's nails were screaming in the back of Skaldast's skull, demanding he do something to this upstart mortal who has struck him twice.

Blindingly fast, he ripped the eviscerator from the ground, whirled it over his head and slammed it through the chainsword of the Commissar, causing the lesser weapons motors to explode, taking the Commissars hand with it.

With a roll of his shoulders, Skaldast redirected the momentum of the swing and separated the head from neck of his prey.

Stopping to retrieve the head, and Commissariat cap, he turned to find his Juggernaut waiting for him, impatiently pawing at the earth, digging huge clops of turf from the ground each time.

Around them was pure carnage as body parts mingled amongst a growing pool of blood, as the attack moved on again...

*****

Back with another World Eaters model and another Character.

This time a Lord Invocatus*, the character who could have easily been an Aspiring Champion mounted on a Juggernaut.

I used the same red scheme as I did in my last post about the Master of Executions, basically Flesh Tearers Red, Berzerker Bloodshade but this time I layered back up with a little Khorne Red, on the top third of the armour panel.

Likewise the bronze is same scheme being Retributor Armour and Berzerker Bloodshade.

The main difference here though is the Juggernaut, being coal black and having a furnace type look to the rest of the body.

The furnace glow had to be tackled first, and started with a basecoat of Gryph Hound Orange, this was then stippled with Trollslayer Orange, Fire Dragon Bright and then Averland Sunset.

It was then washed with Berzerker Bloodshade, before having a very light drybrush with Averland Sunset again.

The main armour panels were tackled after all this was done, starting with a layer of Corvus Black and then washed with Berzerker Bloodshade, finally being layered back on with Corvus Black, but only a third of the way down each panel.

Metals are the same Bronze as the Lord and the silver is simply Leadbelcher washed with Berzerker Bloodshade, I also took the time to pick out the various trophy skulls and the World Eaters symbol** on his shoulder.

Basing is the usual rocky/deserty scrubland, I used some extra grass tufts which i haven't before on this model, the slightly darker ones.

I normally buy from Warpainter.net 

These new ones I bought from a model railway shop in Caistor, North Lincolnshire, whilst at work*** and they are produced by the model railway manufacturer Peco.

They are darker then my usual go to tufts and a lot more rigid as I cut them in half to make better positioning around the rocky surface I built up using cork.

Whilst slightly more expensive, being 60 tufts for £6 instead of 114 tufts for £5 from Warpainter, I do recommend the Peco tufts for variety and quality.

So, Centurion Skaldast gives me another 20 points for my OPC total for the Plastic Crack podcast, I'm well down on my target, but the year is only halfway gone.

Until next time, have nice day...

*GWs naming convention gets worse and worse.

**I would have preferred generic chaos shoulder pads, but Fraser had already built everything before giving me his army, so I can't complain really (and I wasn't about to fuck around and find out, trying to get the pads off these models and ruining a lot of models in the process... I'll keep them as World Eaters, just allied alongside my Black Legion).

***Being a modeller and Wargamer I am always on the lookout for model supplies wherever I can find them.

The fact that I was driving to Boston to work the Steel Coil train and passed the model shop on the way was a bonus, I called in on my way back to our home yard at Scunthorpe and ended up in a conversation with the elderly man who owned the shop about working on the railway as a career.

Building a better Master of Executions - part 2.

 

"Brace, Brace, Brace for impact" the monotone warning from the servitor sounded within the Deathclaw troop compartment.

Kail stood at ease in his restraints, he hefted his executioner axe and felt the weight of the ancient weapon, passed through the hands of his predecessors.

With a bone jarring impact the assault pod slammed into the enemy cruiser and fired it's metal charges breaching the outer hull.

Every Berzerker within stumbled upon impact causing curses as the nails bit deep at the affront.

They heard the percussive thump of Heavy Bolter fire as the point defences opened up as the servitor droned on.

"Impact successful, creating vacuum proof seal, defences firing, defences firing, defences firing, ten seconds until vacuum seal established"

Kail almost tore his restraint from the wall as he moved, other Berzerkers were with him, but none got in his way, not after the butchery he meted out on his last challenger, who's freshly polished skull now adorned Kail's backpack.

"Five seconds"

The nails dug into the meat of his head, desperate for him to unleash any sort of violence. Other members of the warband we're cursing at the delay, almost coming to blows.

"Four seconds"

Kail backhanded on Berzerker who was trying to punch the warrior next to him.

"Three seconds"

"Control yourself" Kail boxed, shaking his head he added, "pathetic wretch".

Through force of willpower he fought the nails, their base urge to spill blood tore at him, he held it back down, holding it until the enemy were within sight.

"Two seconds"

He gripped the haft of his axe so tight, the bindings creaked, threatening to tear within his grip. The motor for the chain teeth revved, sounding like a predatory animal growling low, waiting.

"One second"

The jostling of bodies stopped as all the Berserkers went still as one, waiting for that delicious moment when...

"Vacuum seal formed, opening Assault Doors"

"BLOOD FOR THE BLOOD GOD!"

Kail screamed as he led the charge, forcing the doors open even as the motors whined and moved the thick blast proof steel.

"SKULLS FOR THE SKULL THRONE!"

A tide of bloodthirsty Astartes surged into the decks of the enemy ship and the slaughter began...

*****

It's been a while since I posted anything, but real life tends to get in the way sometimes.

Anyway, the drought is over and the river flows once again.

So, a while ago I converted up a Khornate Master of Executions and then...did nothing with him...

Well, Kail (as I pulled up on a name generator) has been painted and finished for about six or seven weeks now, I just haven't had time to post him up. Until now...

I went for red and brass, and the off-white armour to make him stand out amongst the rank and file Berzerkers to come.

I also wanted a darker red then official GW paint scheme as the newer World Eaters just look like spiky Blood Angels.

I am starting with a Flesh Tearers Red basecoat, along with Retributor Armour and then washing them with Berzerker Bloodshade to give a really deep feel to the colours.

Whilst I didn't highlight the gold, leaving it that grungy bronze colour, I added a sporadic highlight of Evil Sunz Scarlet here and there to him to add that extra level of detail a character model deserves.

The off-white is actually Wraithbone, washed with Bloodshade and then layered back up with Pallid Wych Flesh, finally with Ulthuan Grey on the very highest, light catching areas of his armour.

His greatcoat is Snakebite Leather washed with Earthshade and highlighted with Baneblade Brown to finish off.

Basing in my usual desert/scrubland style with a black rim on the edge of the base.

This model was a joy to kitbash/convert with the spare parts I had at the time. He's got a real, striding to meet the enemy character pose about him and works really well at the head of a World Eaters warband.

He adds 10 points to my hobby total for the year and I've kept track of that during my absence.

As Fraser GAVE* me his World Eaters army the just other week back, I've started work on a few more of the models, but think I'll leave Angron** until last, or very nearly...

Until next time, have nice day.

.

*"I have too many unpainted armies, and I don't play the World Eaters anyway, now that I have my Battle Sister force, do you want them?"

Seriously that was how he opened that conversation.

**Yes he gave me the fucking Daemon Primarch as well....

Building a better Master of Executions.

 

Eyes gritty with cyclic blown dust opened and stared at the blood covered hands held before them. Knuckles bleeding and raw, blood spatter up to the elbow, beyond them the ruined form of an opponent littered the floor. Almost unrecognisable in it's destruction, only the ports of the Black Carapace gave away it's Astartes heritage. 

As the adrenaline subsided, senses began to rush back. The smell of a large group of people, sweat, bile, blood from the corpse. The clanging of metal upon metal, and chanting roared through the air.

"Kail, Kail, Kail" 

The unarmoured World Eater stood tall in the pool of offal he had created. The fighting pits were used to displays of violence, but this had drawn a larger crowd then most as of late. They could all feel the immaterium pulsing closely nearby, straining at the veil to push through and revel in the carnage unfolding.

Kail turned and marches from the pit, snatching up his stormcoat at the entrance, his left eye began to tick as the Butchers Nails began to take hold again and pulse their migraine rhythm into his brain.

"The matter is settled ?" A growled voice asked from the corridor.

"The fool is dead, what do you think Skaldast? If there are any who would challenge for Master of Execution, they will meet the same fate" Kail snapped back, ignoring the squeak from his bronze plated teeth as he spoke.

"There are no more challenges to your rank, maybe one to the warband though. There is noise of a Black Legion upstart gathering forces to raid the Imperium. There is a call for all warbands to attend a meeting at the Veiled Locus" Skaldast said. Now that the thrill of violence had subsided, the Nails in his own head sympathetically pulsing along with Kail's.

"Black Legion" Kail practically spat the words, "As long as they bring slaughter, I don't care".

***** 

So the last time I visited Fraser we played a game of 10th Edition 40k in which I borrowed his World Eaters force.

Now ANGRON, Kharn and company are all cool World Eaters models, but there is one character in his collection which can be used across multiple armies* from the get go, and that is the Master of Executions.

He's a cool character who is a character hunter and has the ability to always fight first, regardless of people charging him.

However, personally I am rather underwhelmed by the official model. He's a bit too generic bad guy for my liking, and wanting to get back into the swing of things and build up my own Black Crusade force, I decided to kitbash my own character to join the Khornate warband.

The starting point for the build, with the parts laid out;

• Old Chaos Backpack.
• Old Berzerker Shoulder Plate.
• New Khorne Berzerker Head.
• New Khorne Berzerker Shoulder Plate.
• Chaos Raptor Bolt Pistol and Arm.
• New Khorne Berzerker Chainaxe.
• Skull details from new Khorne Berzerkers.
• Space Marine Judiciar Body.
• Various Spikes and Skulls.

Reasoning that the backpack would be easiest to begin with, I wanted to add this spiked armour panel taken from the Traitor Guard Killteam box:

The Circle shows one of the cables which has had to be cut away and scraped down to make room. I don't mind doing this, as I think that Chaos models look better without symmetry:

Once I had the front and back of the body glued together and cleaned up, I cut away the dangling details from the Judiciar's belt in order to make room for the skull/chain decoration:

Some test fitting later and it was glued in place, already looking less loyalist for it:

Happy with the other details, I glued on the Chainaxe arm, as this would dictate the flow of the model. I wanted him to be brandishing the axe in a challenge and looking past it to his target.

This meant cutting down the next joint but by bit to get the angle needed:

He's beginning to look like a champion of the Blood God.

I didn't photo it, but I added another skull to the rosary chain on the other side of his belt, as the space Marine symbol there was one which I missed on my first pass over the model:

With that done, it was just a matter of adding the Bolt Pistol arm in a complementary fashion and then the Shoulder Plates. I also took pains to carve out the pistol handle on his holster, as the model has his pistol on his hand!

Now onto the base, and a suitable base can make or break a figure.

The Judiciar has a very determined forward step to him, so leaning into that I built up a cork "rock" platform, ensuring that I got good contact between his feet and the cork to keep him stable. I always like to mount my characters a little higher then the rank and file to show off their status.

Builders sand was lastly glued onto the base and the base edge cleaned up to leave me with the following model:

His backpack has been left separate for painting.

Speaking of painting, I'm not entirely sure how to paint him yet. He's primed, but I'm not sure whether I want to go with the classic Red and Brass, the 30k Blue and White, Black Legion Black and Gold or some other colour scheme.

Leave a comment if you have any idea?

Until next time, have nice day...

*Yes I know technically Berzerkers can be used in a normal Chaos army, I am talking specifically about the character models.

ANGRON, Kharn and the Lord Invocatus are World Eaters only choices. 

The Master of Executions is a generic chaos character in comparison, much like a Chaos Lord or Sorcerer.

Black Legion Commanders.

 

Lightning flashed in the dark clouds high above the embattled ruins of Kasr Krast. Static electric arced between anything metallic and the air was heavy with the threat of rain, a by product of an orbital assault due to dumping so many thousands of tonnes of equipment into a planet's atmosphere.

The flashes lit up a nightmare scene on the ground as they fully illuminated the chaos forces advanced, rather then just the flashes from muzzles of weapons.

Streaks of bright white lasfire flashed across the ruins as the dug in Cadians defended their homeworld desperately. Reinforcement tank squadron's were apparently on their way, but no sign of their arrival had been spotted yet.

The chaos Astartes stalked through the ruins and over the plaza towards the imperial line. Flashes from Boltgun muzzles strobing across their twisted armour.

Sergeant Sern barked out orders to his squad, "The Emperor is watching you, do your duty and hold the line!".

He was anxiously turning to reload when he heard an ominous hissing noise gradually rising in pitch, and the air became heated as the noise transformed into an angry roar.

Before he could shout a warning, trooper Kratz, head and shoulders above the parapet to fire his rifle, became a dried husk of a person as a blast from a melta-weapon evaporated all the moisture from his body, before disintegrating it into a cloud of ash flakes on the wind.

Sern angrily snatched at his bolt pistol where he had dropped it on the edge of the firing parapet.

A huge riveted boot crunched down on both weapon and wrist, shattering all the bones at once.

A black armoured figure leered down at the Cadian sergeant, fear suppressing the pain his body was feeling as the giant warrior growled a laugh through the vox emitters in its bionic face.

A slimy, horrid looking creature skipped and slithered its way around the warriors feet and with a start he realised that a cloak of sewn Hunan skin flowed in the air around the warrior.

At this point he finally cried out and lost control of his bowels looking up at a nightmare made manifest.

Having savoured the moment, the Chaos marine raised his bolter and fired on the stricken Sergeant, before turning the rest of the magazine on the other Cadians in the trench...

*****

After finishing off Dreadtober I decided to pick up a couple of models which I had nearly finished painting, just before I had to take some forced time off work due to being ill.

During that time I decided to paint up the Tyranid army, because they were new and shiny, but also I wanted to do something completely new and different to take my mind off of everything happening.

Cleaning my hobby desk about a week ago after Dreadtober, I came across two character models for the Black Legion I had been working on, and decided to get them finished off as they were about three-quarters done.

The first is Luthran, Aspiring Champion, Executioner and second in command of the warband:

The second is the Chaos lord himself, Gan Ashahl, The Eternal Claw:

I'm particularly happy with how Gan Ashahl turned out, being based off of a Huron Blackheart conversion I picked up second hand in March or April. I gave him a headswap for one from a Kataphron Destroyer, as well as a Chainsword from the Raptors kit. 

My favourite part of the kitbash though are the cloaks, which were made from chopped up Nighthaunt spares, to get the torn, flowing material look, which I then painted as flayed skin for a true early 2000s vibe to the models.

Both the leader models follow the same Black Legion scheme i was painting nearly a year ago now, with Corvus Black and Retributor Armour as the main colours and washed over entirely with Earthshade. I decided to mix things up a little and include a bit more red in areas on these models to vary up the colours. Something I may go back to do to the already painted members of the warband (maybe?).

The entire Warband as they stand at the moment. I am working on a few Marines to fill out the two units I started and have a couple of Terminators waiting to be built to fill out that unit, there are also a couple of Defiler's, hidden away in the cupboard of opportunity, but I have a slightly different plan for them...something involving Iron within and without...

This is just a quick victory getting the two characters finished off and cleared off the painting desk.

Until next time, have nice day...

Black Legionnaires - Invaders of Cadia.

 

Another explosion rocked the command bunker causing a trickle of rockcrete dust to fall from the ceiling. 

Zayn Von Meyer, Colonel of the Cadian Ninety-Second, hurriedly swiped it away so that it didn't obscure his data readout on the map projector in the center of the room.

He barked a series of orders about reinforcing the western flank and ordering the Twenty-Second Cadian Armoured to disengage. This sent adjutant's scurrying away to various vox-sets set against the bunker walls and the hurried issuing of curt orders to begin.

His brow creased with frown lines, thrown into crazy angles by his bionic eye implant, Von Meyer studied the pict intently. Red runes for traitor forces approaching, Green runes for friendly Imperial units defending. Distressingly there was far more red then green on his chart.

Another explosion caused more dust to fall, then a deeper thud drew his attention. It came again a rhythmic thud against the out wall of the bunker, again and again, each time seeming more insistent. More dust fell and sparks flickered from a ruptured lumen strip in the ceiling.

After a moment Von Meyer realised that all activity in the command center had ceased, orders were not being given, calls for aid or reinforcement were going unanswered.

He began to turn to reprimand the officers when the wall at the end of the access hall exploded inwards, armoured doors disintegrating from the superhuman pressure placed against them.

A booming noise, so loud it was painful in the close confines of the room sounded, accompanied by a brilliant strobing flash. Too late he realised that it was sustained bolter fire and that screams punctuated the sounds between firing explosions. 

Officers and servitors came apart messily under sustained fire, vox units and pict readers sparked as they were hit. Von Meyer looked around at the ruins of his command squad and turned towards the breach in the wall.

Silhouetted against the firelight from outside was a baroque hulking monster. Ten feet tall, jagged pauldrons displaying iconography which made his head feel dizzy, above them were rows of tall spikes studded with trophies, many of them skulls loosely chained in place. As the muzzle of its massive bolter fired he caught glimpses of scorched black armour overlaid with gold trims, in the midst of it all was the blood red eye of the arch-traitor.

Von Meyer took all this in within seconds of laying his eyes on the monster. He felt the thud of a bullet impact in his shoulder and barely had time to panic before the mass reactive round exploded and blew his left arm off of his body, hurling him backwards over the map projector in the process.

The monster stalked into the bunker, followed by a second and then a third of its fellows. The metal grill of the floor distorted under their weight as they walked forwards, swinging brutal melee weapons they cut through any survivors of their assault. The first crashed through the projector hurling it against the far wall and stopped looking down at the crippled major, shock keeping the unfortunate man alive long enough to register more details.

"Does the Warmaster still want prisoners?" One asked with a deep grating voice, dirty beard spilling over it's mouth and eyes covered with an iron circlet, as he leaned over the fallen Imperial officer. Horrified the Cadian noticed faces writing across the surface of the armour as it moved.

"No, that one appears to be damaged" a second traitor growled back through the slit in his helmet. A pair of vast curved horns erupted through the black armoured plate and a skull was mounted between them glaring menacingly over the scene. A dead eyed Astartes helmet was impaled upon a trophy spike, it's one pure white wing raised majestically against the darkness.

With a dawning sense of cold dread Von Meyer watched as the first reached out a clawed powerfist and cradled his head for a moment seeming to stare deep into his soul with those iron covered eyes. Then he knew know more as the powerfist closed around his head, blood welling from between the claws.

"Bunker clear!" A third grating voice boxed in the spark filled gloom.

*****

Some of the last miniatures I finished painting before I arranged the Apocalypse Game with Dave.

These are some more Black Legion Astartes for my Project Eye of Terror, this time eight bolter marines and three Terminator veterans to add to the legion, the last two bolter marines need finishing at some point.

Champion Ezigon and his Legionaries, I stuck to the same overall scheme as the previous close assault veterans and Helbrute, just with a couple of non-chaos bare heads thrown into the squad for some variation, one is a space wolf head and the other from the mk.iv marines I believe.

Plasma gunner, Champion Ezigon, Heavy Bolter and a Chaos Marine.

A close up of the plasma coils on the plasmagun and pistol wielded by Ezigon. I do like star trek so wanted to try the 'warp coil' effect on the plasma. I used red to tie the models together and limit the palette of colours overall.

The reminding four members of the squad I finished. Notable is the space marine helmet trophy, I chose to paint this in Dark Angels colours to really cement home the Eye of Terror campaign. Other trophies will be in Space Wolf colours as I have a plan for the future involving those.

Next we have 'The Voidsworn' Terminator Veterans led by Champion Alekan. These are the stars of the story above incase you didn't get the descriptive elements.

They are a legal unit at just three members strong, but I have a couple of other Terminators to finish for this unit, just waiting for some shoulder pads from eBay to turn up.

Of note is that none of these models have the proper Terminator helmets, I replaced them all with others culled from the bitzbox.

A Chaos Marine head, a fantasy Chaos Warrior head and a fantasy Flagellant head for the bearded one. Again the marine helmet trophy is a Dark Angel and the Tyranid skull is Hive Fleet Kraken I believe.

When I bought these miniatures second hand from Mirfield Miniatures, this is what they originally looked like:

I think the original owner was going for an Emperor's Children theme maybe?

Anyway, I'll get the last few finished after the apocalypse game as I'm now on with adding Greenskins to my WAAAGH ready to fight on Helsreach Highway.

Until next time...

Black Legionaries - Close Assault Veterans.

"A great storm of darkness will descend upon the Cadian Gate. A tide of destruction will sweep aside the naive usurpers of the Corpse Emperor and the servants of the Dark Ones shall reclaim the citadel's thereupon..."

Legionary Kaal turned away from the Dark Apostle preaching his ravings and strode through the gathering throng. Here in one of the assembly bays on the Vengeful Spirit the forces of the Despoiler were gathering to pay homage to their warlord and work themselves into a frenzy for the coming assault.

Bludgeoning a pair of beastmen out of his path as he walked, he focused upon the preparations which had taken their Warmaster centuries, oaths recalled, favours offered and repaid, misdirection and misinformation.

Even now Lord Khiron had surrendered himself to the Imperial Lapdogs and was spreading misinformation to them, weakening their resolve before the coming storm...so he had been told.

Kaal thought it a fools errand, better to face the enemy with bolter and blade in hand then be tortured for information and executed.

Though he was not a member of the command echelon's, so what did his opinion matter.

The Warmaster had his plans, Ygethmor had his plans, even his own Lord had plans, inscrutable though all of them were.

Twenty minutes later Kaal entered his squads arming chamber, he had told the rest of them to remain there and arm themselves, as he knew there would be nothing would be beneficial for them at the moment.

Aurgeth sat with his back to a storage crate, monotonously banging his head against the lid, he had done that since being wounded during the twelfth crusade.

Ereyan and Morcoth dueled each other at the rear of the chamber, half shrouded in darkness, the lights glinted off their armours trim, making them seem like shadows come to life, chainswords sparked as they met.

Malwyn, his second in command looked up from the dataslate he had been reviewing as Kaal entered, his baroque armour growling with freshly serviced servo-motors.

"Well?" Malwyn asked, "Anything of note from the Apostle?"

"The usual raving of a madman" Kaal replied.

"Show me a sane man around here, and I'll show you a liar!" Malwyn said, replying with humour.

"Are we ready?" Kall asked, and the entire chamber fell silent. The screeching of chainswords died off as Ereyan and Morcoth turned towards the conversing pair. Even Aurgeth ceased his eternal thumping to look directly at his warleaders.

"Yes, we're ready, has there been word for when the assult will begin? Everything around the ship is coiled to the breaking point!" 

Somewhere deep within the ship Klaxons began ringing and an automated vox message rang out "Helbrute escape. Helbrute escape. Helbrute escape".

Kaal reached out and shut off the internal ship vox and turned back to his squad.

"Soon".

*****

As we move on further through the month, it's not necessarily a race to get stuff finished, but I know that I'll probably be gifted some more gear at the end of the month (is there a certain day approaching?) and aim to. Lear some stuff off the painting table.

Also, I aim to make a good start on the forces I'll need for "Project EoT" so this is a post going forwards with that.

Legionary Kaal and the beginnings of a squad of Close Assault Chaos Space Marines and the Hellbrute 'Tarn the Tormented' are my first experiments with the Black Legion colour scheme.

Sure on the surface, it's just black and gold with a little detailing, but not all Black paints are equally good when finished and I wanted a different look to these miniatures when compared to my Deathwatch for example.

The Chaos marines have a basecoat of Corvus Black as this has a very dark grey finish, not entirely black like Abaddon Black for example.

Gold trim is Retributor Armour (to get a good solid colour), metals are Leadbelcher and the red started at Khorne Red.

At this point the entire model, including the base which is Mournfang Brown to lock on the sand, is washed with Agrax Earthshade.

This I find darkens even the Corvus Black in the recesses where it wouldn't on the pure black. It also weathers all the trim, metal and shades the red areas.

Final steps are to highlight the red with Mephiston Red to draw the eye to details and then finish the bases with my usual Baneblade Brown, Ushabti Bone drybrushed and paint the base rim Abaddon Black.

Legionary Kaal and his squad started off as spares from a group I bought from Mirfield Miniatures, a shop which specialises in second hand Warhammer.

I got fifteen chaos marines for £18 which is a very good deal. Two already came with chainswords, so it was a quick matter to clip off a couple of Boltguns and a Missile Launcher and add spare parts from some Raptor Sprues they sent in the box with them.

'Tarn the Tormented' is an old Dark Vengeance (the 6th and 7th edition starter box) model which I have had kicking around the hobby gear for years and not known what to do with.

There is a lot of flesh on this model compared to the others, but the armour and trim were painted as the marines. The fleshy areas are just Cadian Fleshtone washed with Earthshade instead of Fleshshade. To add interest to this model, the cables buried in its flesh are Kabalite Green rather than Mephiston Red as they blended too much into the skin tone.

These models clear two boxes and a line for Seventy points and a new total of One Thousand and Thirty points.

I'll post more on Project EoT,towards the new year, but it's still a ways off yet.

Until next time...