Deathwatch additions.

 

“Onyx Blade at the Breach”

The brood-lair pulsed like a canker on the outskirts of Vethros Hive, a swollen mass of chitin and glistening bio-matter that had swallowed entire hab-blocks. Even before Strike Force Onyx Blade reached the perimeter, Lieutenant Albo felt the psychic pressure of the swarm gnaw at the edges of thought.

He raised his power sword, its auric blade crackling with restrained fury.
“Brothers,” he said over the squad vox, “we carve out this rot and we save whoever yet survives. For the Watch. For the Emperor.”

The kill-team advanced.

---

Apothecary Gerhardt – The Living Must Be Preserved

Gerhardt knelt beside a wounded Guardsman as the first spore clouds drifted overhead, stinging like acid rain. His narthecium hissed as it sealed a gaping chest wound.

“You are not dying today, soldier,” Gerhardt murmured, bolter snapping up to blast a skulking Hormagaunt as it leapt. He hauled the man to his feet and shoved him toward the extraction corridor marked by Leto’s covering fire.

“Go. Stay alive.”

Behind him, the brood-lair gaped wide like a jaw waiting to close.

---

Sergeant Marius – The First Breach

Marius advanced with disciplined precision, bolt rifle braced against his vambrace. The first blast from his underslung grenade launcher tore an opening through the resin wall of the brood-lair, spraying steaming fragments across the rubble.

“Breach made. Ancatus, you’re on entry.”

He fired again, cutting down two Termagants trying to slither through the collapsing gap.
“Albo, I recommend rapid penetration before the nest reacts.”

The hive was waking.

---

Infiltrator Ancatus – Shadows Before Claws

Ancatus ghosted ahead, a wraith in Mark X Phobos armour. Smoke grenades burst around him, hiding the route from the synapse beasts overhead.
Inside the lair, heat and wet humidity pressed like a furnace.
He raised two fingers—silent signal. Movement.

A trio of Genestealers crawled across the ceiling, their talons slick with human blood. Ancatus exhaled, bolt-carbine rounds punching upward in a tight staccato until the xenos dropped like butchered spiders.

“All clear—momentarily,” he whispered.

Nothing was ever truly clear around Tyranids.

---

Eliminator Romarich – One Shot at a Time

From the ruins of a shattered manufactorum roof, Romarich had perfect oversight of the kill-team’s advance. His las-fusil whined as he dialed the charge.
A hulking Warrior-strain crested the brood-mound, boneswords raised to direct lesser beasts. Romarich squeezed the trigger.

The beam lanced through the creature’s skull, detonating its cranial sack in a bloom of white steam.

“Synapse node removed,” he reported calmly.

Below, Albo’s team surged into the gap the shot had opened.

---

Heavy Intercessor Leto – The Wall of Fire

Leto strode forward like a living bastion, heavy bolter roaring. The ammunition belt chattered as he swept the kill-zone clear, explosive shells cracking open carapace and flesh alike.
Guardsmen and civilians huddled behind his towering silhouette as he escorted them back through the war-torn streets.

“Stay tight. Keep moving,” he rumbled, even as he stitched a torrent of bolts into an onrushing pack of gaunts.

Once the last survivor was clear, he voxed:
“Extraction complete. Returning to the assault path.”

---

Assault Intercessor Riciardo – Blood and Motion

Riciardo ignited his jump pack, soaring over the writhing bio-tendrils that guarded the brood-lair’s deepest tunnels. He landed amidst a pair of Genestealers, chainsword revving. The first died in a spray of gore; the second slashed, but Riciardo rolled with the strike and fired point-blank with his bolt pistol, blowing the creature’s head apart.

“Entrance secured for demolition charges!” he shouted. “Someone get me a det-pack before more friends arrive!”

Behind him, the tunnel breathed—alive with alien hunger.

---

Venerable Brother Garin – The Emperor’s Oldest Wrath

Terminator armour scraped against swollen organic walls as Brother Garin waded into the heart of the brood-lair. His storm shield bore gouges from a dozen new blows, and his power sword glowed red with chitin-burn. 

A monstrous Broodlord erupted from the darkness, screeching.

Garin answered with a crack of his storm shield that flattened two of its fangs. The Broodlord slashed again, its talons sparks against ceramite.

“You face a son of the Emperor” Garin thundered, impaling the beast through the thorax and lifting it bodily from the floor. “And I do. Not. Fall.”

With a twist, the xenos died.

---

Albo – Closing the Wound

With the Broodlord slain and Romarich eliminating escaping synapse creatures, Albo rallied his brothers at the tunnel nexus.

“Marius, charges to each burrow.”
“Riciardo, hold the choke point.”
“Gerhardt, last sweep for survivors.”

The squad moved with perfect, lethal synchronicity.

When the charges detonated, the brood-lair shuddered and collapsed inward, its flesh-walls imploding in a thunderous cascade of gore and ash. The tunnels sealed. The threat—contained.

Albo raised his sword toward the burning sky.
“Strike Force Onyx Blade. Mission success. The city is secure.”

His warriors gathered amid the settling dust, battered but unbroken.

Another world saved.
Another hive cleansed.
And the Deathwatch walked on.

*****

I can't have been the only one who was excited for Space Marine 2 to be released. I ordered my copy on Steam and had great fun playing it.

Then something exciting came along in a way I would have never guessed.

"Space Marine Operations", a tabletop game mode for 40k which based its gameplay off of the multiplayer co-op missions from the computer game. 
You can play it as Players Vs Environment with a small group of player taking control of one or two marines each, or completely solo with you controlling the entire strike team against the chart driven AI controlled enemies.

FANTASIC!

However, slight problem, I was three models short of the strike team, because they all have different classes and weapon requirements.

A short root through the bits box and I threw these three models together.
Assault Intercessor Riciardo of the Flame Phoenixes chapter.
Venerable Brother Garin, of the Broken Swords chapter.
Brother Leto of the Ultima Consuls chapter.

Not the best photo, but showing again how I freehand the different chapter symbols upon the shoulder pads. 
Riciardo, on the left has a yellow and red phoenix flying from flames as his symbol, and a red on yellow cross device on his tilting shield.
Leto with the Heavy Bolter (taken from a very old Blood Angels kit) has a blue Eagle head on white background and green trim, I also took the backpack from the old Firstborn Marines Devastator squad, cut off the target and angled it to match where he is looking, as it it is tracking his movements and recording everything to be analysed later.

Venerable Brother Garin began life as the free "Model of the Month" from a while ago when GW were giving away a free Deathwing Terminator. I really liked the idea of a Power Sword and the big Stormshield, so I converted the sword with one from the Bladeguard kit (I think) and added a Horus Heresy Vexilla to his back to give him some more presence (not that he needs it).
Just like Riciardo and Leto, Garin follows my Deathwatch black armour colour scheme, the differences begin to come in with the detailing.

I really like the colour Barak Nar Burgundy, and was looking for an excuse to use it again, so Garin got it for his robes and for half his tower shield, the other half is alternating checks in Averland Sunset (yellow) and Mephiston Red (Red...obviously!), as I wanted to play up the knightly aspect and throw some more details in there.

I left the Deathwatch shoulder pad on, as it was moulded on entirely and its really nice. I just say that he is from a chapter called the "Broken Swords" and leave it at that.

And Strike Force Onyx Blade gathered in all their martial glory below.

I originally finished these models off in order to play the Operations game mode at Element Games back in September with Cardboard Fortress and Fraser, but such is life that things got in the way of a meetup and it was put on hold for now.
That gave me time to go back and reread everything, retype it up a little so it flowed better on the page, and to design my own scenario to slot into a three scenario mini-campaign which we could play through in less then a couple of hours (hopefully).

I have a few other things to add to the Deathwatch, one of the biggest things will be filling out Riciardo, Leto and Garin's squads, maybe add a few other characters, like a Techmarine, and I would love to get a pair of Dreadnaughts for the strike force (Who dosen't love a Dreadnaught?), perhaps a couple of vehicles wouldn't go amiss either (I do quite like the Corvus Blackstar!).


Until next time, have nice day...

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...

Horus Heresy Base Tutorial (or how I make them anyway!).

 

It is an Age of Darkness.

The Galaxy is aflame.

Brother turns on Brother.

This is M.31.

*****

Terra, cradle of mankind, center of the Imperium that had conquered the galaxy. Once it had been a proud shining beacon of Humanities progress and manifest destiny to rule the stars.

Now it was strangled and besieged by the warships of Warmaster Horus, the Arch-Traitor. As he sought to wrest rulership from the Immortal Emperor and bring worship of the Dark God's of Chaos to the galaxy at large.

Orbital bombardments punished the planet, focused mainly around the Emperor's Palace and the strongholds of his forces. 

Some however, were directed at civilian population centers in an effort to pull loyalist forces away to defend the targets. 

Gothic architecture which had stood for the centuries since the Emperor had unified the planet was smashed asunder, stone compacted to powder, blocks falling into the ruined streets.

Already the vast city which had grown around the Emperor's Palace was a ruined nightmare, choked in the perpetual twilight of the fog of churned dust, warriors of both sides attacked and counterattacked as they sought the end the war which had torn the Imperium apart at its very core...

*****

Recently I posted my Son's of Horus Esoterist miniature, the latest finished for the project.

I posted the link on the 30k subreddit to several likes and a question by u/sarabando about how I make the bases.

So here we go:

I mainly use cork from a 3mm tile. I've cut up several 3mm by 2mm blocks to serve as bricks and also tear up some small pieces to serve as smashed concrete (or whatever the 40k version is). I also gather a few interesting bits from the old bitzbox and my tub of builders sand (which I've dried out for use on models).

I generally start with the larger piece of cork, as I want to make sure I have a good secure place to mount the model on later, here it is with my newly converted Master of Signal. 

I check several times through the base build to make sure he fits, looks good on the base and has a good securing point.

After glueing the "concrete" down I look for the interesting ways that the bits can be added, this piece is fromma Valkyrie kit I think, but it makes a great electrical conduit for example.

Afterwards I begin added the "bricks" around the base, as well as the other doodad parts from the bitzbox. In this instance I didn't end up using the armour panel.

Pop the miniature base on to check all is well, looking good so far.

Next up is the sand. Some people use PVA but I just use paint and have never had a problem with it flaking off once sealed with primer.

I've used Screamer Pink here to show where I add the sand. Generally it's anywhere on the base which would be flat plastic, but also in-between the bricks and ontop of several of them. 

Remember that you need to leave space for the model to stand on, gluing ontop of sand hasn't worked out for me in the past.

A blast of grey primer and it brings everything together, now you can really start to see how it will look when finished.

And finally, a last check with the miniature placed on (not glued), to check it's still working. I ended up spinning the base 180 degrees for the Master of Signal, as a lot of the detail added would have been behind the miniature and lost to people looking.

This last step is important as it locks everything in your mind as to how the model will look, and if you need to make any changes you can now before painting and risking ruining your hard work later on.

I hope this helps, I'll do a painting tutorial for the Master of Signal if people wish as I've had several comments on my SoH paint scheme, let me know.

Until next time...

Sons of Horus Esoterist.

It is an Age of Darkness.

The Galaxy is aflame.

Brother turns on Brother.

This is M.31.

*****

 The battle was taking too long. Each day that the siege drew on, the remaining loyalist legions had time to draw closer to Terra and break the traitor forces.

No force could sustain a siege when attacked from the rear.

Esoterist Zaust entertained these thoughts privately, but deep down he knew that every officer of the Sons of Horus had drawn the same conclusions.

Crouched as he was in a bombed out building, he watched as another wave of Imperials counter attacked down the throughfare. Their courage was admirable if misplaced, however the Blood Angels Astartes accompanying the mortals provided the necessary inspiration for them to charge towards their certain deaths.

Sons of Horus Legionaries and so-called traitor guard units opened fire, but their numbers had been culled in this area by constant counter attacks as they tried to advance and take ground further towards the palace walls.

Zaust's eyes turned white as they rolled back in his head. Spittle drooled from the corner of his mouth as it sounded syllables which no mortal mouth should. Every cultists around him broke out into a cold sweat and the advancing Imperial troops stopped dead, their guts turned to jelly as their resolve faltered.

Shimmering into being, creatures of sulphur and bone stretched long limbs and shook horned heads. Razor sharp claws flickered into existence and a hulking sword of beaten bronze with dread runic symbols appeared.

Zaust barked an order in an otherworldly language which made Cultist's ears bleed and the freshly summon daemonic troops launched themselves forwards, running in a starting, sitting motion like a pict out of sync.

His eyes and faculties snapped back into place as the first of the daemons met the Imperial line sending limbs flying as the mortal troops recoiled in horror. Only the Blood Angels, this noble Astartes rushed forwards to intercept and fight the daemons.

Zaust smiled sickeningly at his nearest Legionaire, through blood slicked teeth he ordered the assault to resume...

*****

Into December, the final month of 2021 and I cleared off a model which if I'd have had time, would have been done in November.

This Sons of Horus Esoterist, a specialist librarian, was an experiment as to whether I could make a Chaos Space Marine Sorceror model fit in with the Horus Heresy miniatures.

A Mk.IV marine head, backpack, shoulder pad and left hand were used as well as a Chaos Space Marine axe to replace the staff the model normally comes with.

Painted using my normal Sons of Horus scheme, but with unearthly flesh which used Deepkin Flesh and Reikland Wash, I think he fits well with the other models.

Zaust in all his traitor glory:

Hobby Bingo and I've cleared a Kitbashed Model box and a Line for Sixty points, bringing my total to Nine Hundred and Sixty points now: 

I'm going to add some normal troops to this army next, but I am also thinking towards next year and focussing down on projects as I've jumped around somewhat all year and don't feel as if I've gotten projects finished, inspire of painting nearly two hundred Miniatures so far this year.

Until next time...

Sons of Horus Tactical Support.

 

It is an Age of Darkness.

The Galaxy is aflame.

Brother turns on Brother.

This is M.31.

*****

Great palls of fire reached towards the sky as another shattering bombardment fell from orbit. The traitor spaceships rained punishing ordnance upon the void shields of the Imperial Palace.

Far below, in the sprawling cityscape which had grown around the seat of Imperial Governance, running battles were taking place as the traitors slowly advanced.

The loyalists defending paid with their lives for every foot of ground the traitors took, organising counter attacks to retake the ground as they fought on the cradle of humanity.

Kalharle led his support Squad forwards through the Himalazian dusk, crunching through rubble and masonry, even as another building was blasted to pieces about a quarter mile away.

His squad, walking with the practice of those Legionaries who have been cannon-slingers for decades, swept their autocannons to cover the roadway ahead.

Reports had been inconclusive, but a platoon of mortal infantry had been ambushed around here, and a force had been sent to secure the road, as it was a vital supply line. Without the road open, their forces at the front would be starved of ammunition and other supplies.

Their helmets clicked as they voxed each other on the squad channel, bemoaning being placed into this patrol because of the useless mortal infantry which couldn't do it's job.

Kalharle let the men gripe, uncaring of the lack of discipline for the moment.

That quickly changed when spikes of temperature glowed orange on his helmet display. 

"Enough, contact ahead one thousand feet" he growled at his squad, affirmatives echoed back as they locked the readings.

"Close in and open fire at my command" Kalharle said and the squad broke into the awkward jogging motion as they wrestled with their cannon as they ran.

The readings on the display resolved themselves into three dozen mortal auxiliaries, and a tank holding up behind cover at the intersection.

"Tagror, target the tank, the rest of you, the infantry, open fire" he ordered as they came within range.

Lasfire spitting at them, well past its lethal range, it splashed off their armour. The infantry had noticed as we're trying to bring heavier weapons to bear.

Kalharle smiled inside his helmet as he pressed the trigger on his Combi-Plasma, the superheated ball of energy incinerating a section of the barricade and a few of the unfortunate humans next to it. The defeating roar, accompanied by the bass throb and fireball announced the autocannons opening fire.

Men were thrown backwards as puppets with strings cut, limbs were separated from torsos, heads vanished under the punishing firepower, only the tank remained, armour sparking under Tagror's assault.

He grunted as one of his rounds touched off a fuel line of caught the turret mantle. The tank hatches explosively bent out and smoke poured from the gaps, clearly something had gone up inside.

"Move to clear the area, I'll vox Praetor Sichar and get reinforcements sent, we'll be back on the front soon!".

*****

Here we have a squad which I wasn't planning to finish this quickly, but these things kind of happen when you're enjoying painting something I guess.

A couple of weeks back, whilst in training in Nottingham I took a visit to Warhammer World after we finished for the day.

I had intended to just pick up Gotrek Gurnisson, who I missed out on when he was released for AoS at the last Black Library Weekender, but they had a few copies in stock so I thought I'd grab him whilst in the area.

As you do, I took a walk into the Forge World store and after admiring the kits on display, decided that I should pick something up as I was there.

With the Horus Heresy focussing my modelling recently, I decided upon a blister of Autocannons to make a Tactical Support Squad with.

Here is the result:

All the same paint scheme as the Cataphractii I previously posted, but this time in Mark IV armour.

I purposely chose to use the studded legs and shoulder pads on the left shoulder. Reasoning that these Astartes will be stood more side on to the enemy a lot of the time, so the rivets of Ceramite add to their armours defences.

I know it's 30k, but it still needs SKULLS on the bases!

Their right shoulder pads are missing at the moment because I am going to use the proper sculpted Sons of Horus pads available. I just need to order them, but want to do it in bulk to make it cheaper on shipping.

With two squads and a character now complete the Sons of Horus are advancing, I think I'm going to make a proper tactical squad and maybe a destroyer squad next.

Hobby bingo gives me another unit box completed for another ten points, bringing me to eight hundred total.

I've a few more things nearly finished, so it may be a few posts away for my next Heresy unit, but they are coming...

Until next time...

Sons of Horus Cataphractii.

 

It is an Age of Darkness.

The Galaxy is aflame.

Brother turns on Brother.

This is M.31.

*****

'We were the champions of humanity. We elevated our species to the heights of success conquering that which was ours. Now we kill our brothers as if they were our bitterest enemies. Where did we go wrong?'

'My brothers follow our captain because they are loyal, they follow me because they are loyal, yet they don't truly understand what our Genefather has uncovered and begun for us!'.

'We fought and bled on thousands of world's, all for what?'

'For beaurocrats and civilians to take that which we took! For soft rulers to follow in our wake, missing the fighting and bloodshed but reaping the rewards which we stabilized for the Imperium'.

'These Lords of Terra, as they call themselves even seek to rule over the Primarch's. To order such beings around as if they themselves were gods instead of mere mortals'.

'And the Emperor, after all his denouncing of godhood, all his science and reason. Our father Horus has uncovered the truth! The Emperor is fighting a second war to turn himself into a god and rob humanity of its soul in the process'.

'Horus, Lupercal, Father of the Sons of Horus has shown us the truth of the Primordial Power which lies within the warp. A way for us to take back that which we fought for, which we bled for, which we died for!'.

'We march for Terra. Death to the False God that sits on the throne. Glory to Horus Lupercal. Glory to the Sons of Horus!'.

*****

One of the projects which I have started and managed to get finished, but didn't have time to post during October is the first unit in a Horus Heresy era army.

My friend Fraser has been asking me to paint up a HH force for a while and the last time I visited him he dropped forty mk.iv space marines on me and said "go".

Now I already had a squad of Cataphractii and a captain lying around somewhere, so with a bit of internet searching, I found a Chinacast website *shocked intake of air* (thanks Chris).

Quickly I ordered some Sons of Horus Cataphractii shoulder plates to see what the quality was like. Just as good, if not better then Forgeworld if I'm honest*.

Unfortunately, with the Cataphractii being second hand, they were missing the middle plates for the shoulders, but I'm not going to get bogged down with incidentals like that, it doesn't affect the overall look of the models.

I followed the Warhammer TV paint tutorial, just swapping out Dawnstone for Stormvermin Fur as it's what I had available.

Kabalite Green is the main armour colour along with plates of Corvus Black washed with Nuln Oil.

Petruges and Cloaks are Barak-Nar Burgundy washed with Nuln Oil and worked back up with Burgundy.

Gold is Retributor Armour washed with Earthshade.

Metals are Leadbelcher washed with Earthshade.

Pretty standard stuff.

The bases are made from strips of 2mm thick cork cut into bricks about 4mm*2mm and a larger chunk of cork laid and torn to make an asphalt type area to stand the models on.

I added a few spare parts from scenery kits to add some interest and a few skulls (because GW).

The captain is the Betrayal at Calth Cataphractii captain with the combi-melta. Just the addition of the spiked skull to denote the slow fall to chaos. Unfortunately the flash had bleached his head out a little, but I have taken pains to stipple on some grey on his head to simulate stubble from a shaved scalp.

I'm going to build things for rule-of-cool with this army rather then competitiveness. This is a force just to collect stuff for, to that end both myself and Fraser have said that we aren't to strict on models, so some 40k will be fine on the scheme of things**.

This is useful as I have a bunch of Rhino's and a pair of Land Raiders and don't fancy shelling out for the 30k equivalents if that makes sense.

Likewise with stuff like Bikers, I have a bunch of 40k marine bikers, but I'll try to incorporate HH torso's and helmets, etc to look the part.

Hobby Bingo and the Captain and Cataphractii squad give me.two boxes filled for another ten points:

This brings my new total up to 790 points.

Until next time...

* Health and Safety tip, remember to wear a mask when dealing with any Chinacast resin, god knows what crap they might put in their resin so it's not worth risking health for cheap toys.

** Within reason, there won't be any Primaris infiltrating the armies, unlike the showcase force in White Dwarf a few months back.