Templar Bretheren

These guys have been through a few incarnations but here is my finally finished Templar squad. I started out using the full templar upgrade kit but soon found i wasn't happy with it. 

The arm poses were very static and even though the torsos were very intricate i felt they didn't portray the feeling for the templars that i thought they should have. I ended up dropping the upgrade kit and only used the helms , right pauldrons and a few of the combat shields. 

Using green stuff i added tabbards and weapons from a grey knight sprue, gave these guys what i think is a much more martial look. 

I don't use these guys very often as i prefer a more numerous, basic infantry flavour to my lists but putting these guys in a land raider and letting them sow havoc on a flank is pleasing to watch. When pitched against the right targets, these guys perform just as exemplary as every bit of their lore describes them as.

 

Imperial Fists Librarian

I have always loved the psyker aspect of GW games. The other worldly space wizard aspect is amazing for creating wonder and horror in a grimdark setting.

Now unfortunately, the VIIth legion did not field its members of the librarius after the edict of Nikea was introduced. They weren't even reintroduced into the rank and file. Instead, Dorn mandated that they should be confined to barracks upon the Phalanx until further notice. Now they weren't imprisoned but they were effectively quarantined. Whether Dorn did this over concerns and mistrust of his gifted sons, or if the primarch could perceive some other purpose for them remains to be fleshed out. Personally i think it was a little of both.

So as i am a super adherent to the fluff, ive not converted a librarian because of this.......but now things have changed. With the timeline creeping closer to the siege of Terra, and a time when all legions used anything they had on hand (including witchy mind bullets) to fight the enemy, i felt a little more at peace with building and using a librarian, mind you only for games set close to the siege of Terra time.

This particular librarian i've converted with the vision of a senior librarian prior to the edict of Nikea being enforced, stripped of position and rank, confined to barracks on the phalanx but then re-instated when everything sideways with Horus's assault on Sol. He has legion command insignia, with Terra unification honours. I modelled him no other weapons other than his force staff to try give the feel his powers are what he has come to rely upon. The pose was intended to not be one indicating direct fighting as i have a preference for the divination powers and i wanted to showing him acting in a support role because of his powers. 

 And the final touch i wanted to portray was the eagle topped staff and book on his waist, little signs of the Lectitio Divinatus creeping into the legions, almost as a direct opposite to the taint of the warrior lodges. Being a Terran born fist i felt he would be more susceptible to the teachings that the Emperor was indeed a god, even though it being contrary to the Imperial Truth.

32mm bases are the ticket...

So i've recently acquired a batch of 32mm bases and have started the process of swapping my 30k stone men over to them. I am more than happy as they have allowed me to really to enhance the theme of the army with extra detail on the bases. 

Collapsed walls, razor wire, reo bars and blown out retaining walls gives these mins the realm look of trudging through shattered concrete defences.

Veteran Tactical Squad

So I've changed tactics and gone for the approach of putting AAALLLLL my 30k stuff together first then painting them rather than assembling and painting a unit at a time. Partly because it means i can put more stuff on the table (though unpainted ....tsk tsk) and partly because i just get an overflow of cool ideas for other units that i just have to make happen.

One of those cool ideas was for a Veteran Tactical squad. Since Imperial Fists are supposed to be so awesome at their bolter skills i took that idea to the next level with the veterans. These guys are armed purely with their bolters and two heavy bolters with suspensor webs. The sergeant of course
has his power fist as by virtue of his rank, but these guys are all about the bolter.





The Veteran special ability i chose was sniper of course. Making these guys hit on 2+, with precise shot, wounding on no less than 4+, with AP2 on 6+ to wound. Makes these guys potentially nasty against a vast range of enemies. On lucky rolls they can end a small power armoured, cripple heavy infantry like terminators or battle automata.......even a primarch.



To give them a little veteran flavour, I've modified the bolters to look more speccy. bigger clips, scopes, targeters and shoulder straps. A few have even got bionic limb replacements to represent these guys have certainly been through the ringer and come out the other side tougher. Kinda keen to get these guys painted and finished soon so hopefully i'll have some finished pics soon.

VIIth Legion WIP: Sigismund

1st Captain of the Seventh Legion.

I love this guy!

....and he owns anything on the table with two legs and a heart beat short of a primarch. 

Cool Stuff on Tanks.

Hi guys, Not a big thing to add today. I've been looking back over my tanks as I've been waiting between paint stages on other stuff and been thinking how much more "real life" kit vehicles of the legions would have on them. I'm pretty with legions being a larger and more supported war machine that such things like crew baggage and such would be less, though not totally absent.....but i got to thinking about other little details i could add aside from weathering that might add to the realness of tanks. Comms relays and aerials is one of the first that springs to my mind so i knocked up a few comms aerials to add to my vehicles. I magnetised them too to make transport simple and reduce the risk of snapping (even though they are made of flexi plastic)

What are some other "real life" details you'd expect to see on legion vehicles?

VIIth Legion WIP: Castraferrum Dreadnought

Ancient of the 32nd Assault Chapter

I am happily churning out units for my legion and this guy is the latest. He is the first of a talon of three Castraferrum dreadnoughts i am doing with the aim of magnetising and converting one of them to sub as a Mortis if need be. Below is the first of the talon, bearing a plasma cannon and power claw. This guy will ideally be trudging along with a breacher unit to give a little threatening cover fire and assault assistance. 

Imperator Titan: The Build

G'day, and welcome to an exciting new project, the start of my 30k Epic Titan Legio! For years and years I have said to myself "I want to build and paint some big Titans" but, time, money, space etc all got in the way. Then the thought occured to me.... why don't I make an epic Legio instead?

So far, the only Titan to arrive into my hands (or bits for that matter, 4 weeks I've been waiting on some 60mm bases and some spray paint from GW. You can take a guess at my rage on that subject..) is an Imperator Titan. They look a little something like this....

VIIth Legion WIP: Forge Lord

Master of the Armoury

So i got this idea that i wanted to run a big guy in with my shield wall......now I'm talking a big big guy. Of course there is the contemptors, which I am in the process of building but I also wanted something a little more....different. So I came up with the idea of having the 32nd's own pet robot. A Castellax battle Automata to stomp along with the shield line but he is another post for a different day. However, to field said Castellax i need the right HQ to field him and I settle for a Forge Lord consul.

I envisioned him with the typical servo arm and artificer armour. Since his duty involves commanding the companies techmarine cadre and overseeing the companies war machines in action, especially his pet Castellax, he would be close by to his pet, in the front line. Being so i imagined he would relish being in the thick of it so take up a boarding shield and join the shield wall. This gave me the benefit of having another choppy character in my breacher squads and also adding a little extra story to the army overall.

Given that i had decided to arm him with a boarding shield, practicality would suggest arming him with a melee weapon which wouldn't suffer from the presence of the shield such as a specialist weapon like a power fist or lightning claw. 

IVth Legion Terminators WIP

So, a quick update today,

Here is where the Terminators are at for the IVth Legion. Obviously, Perturabo and the Tyrants aren't pictured, but they do exist, trust me!

Obviously, there are the 3 HQ's I made a few weeks back, Erasmus Golg, Forge Lord and Primus Medicae

There is gold squad, who are painted in the same scheme as the existing terminators in the army. Gold squad is mostly armed with combi-plasma.

Silver squad is painted similar to the Cataphractii Terminator pictured in Book III (also, I put a copy of him below. Note the dark silver armour with bright silver trim. Fun times making that look right...

There is also grey squad... who shouldn't be grey, but I can only paint so fast. There is also a wip banner bearer for a command squad option, his banner is the 40k Grey Knight one where I have filed all the detail off and smoothed it over with putty. Took forever for the record.

I'm digging the colour palette for the plasma blast gun, with burnished barrel and glowing coils.

I heavily weathered the chevrons on the silver squad, which is all hand painted (as you'll see in the close ups). For me, it helps the look.

Yes, that's ALL hand painted, and it is kind of a pain in the ass painting symetrical stripes of black and yellow.

So there you have it, the work in progress shots of the Iron Warrior Cataphractii Terminators, an army I am hoping to debut at Inferno IV with their Primarch at their side.

~Macca

Home Made Damocles Command Tank

Another day, and a fun conversion. today we have my home-made version of a MK I Damocles Command Tank.

The Damocles is an existing kit from Forge World, based on the MK II Rhino chassis. I am thinking of using one in a tournament coming up in October (Inferno IV, in Brisbane. If you're in Australia, do check it out, it's a lot of fun and a great opportunity to meet a bunch of passionate HH hobbyists) and I decided I needed one. Since the kit is around $115 Australian, I thought instead I could convert one rather than pay all that money for a tank I may not need.

Thus, the MK I Damocles was born.

The old red rhino I repainted had textured paint on it, which meant that I had no option, bar completely stripping the textured paint (which is much harder than regular paint, without plastic dissolving solvents) than to paint some dust and mud onto the tracks. So, I painted some mud and dust onto the tracks. It's not ideal, but it's good enough.

I cast myself a mid-size Iron Warrior emblem for the front visor, as well as making a small scroll for the IVth legion on the opposite side. The hazards had to be worked into the vehicle somewhere, so I put them above the slits. I think it's the perfect spot and it actually complements the vehicle, as opposed to painting them into all the inlays on the side.

The tank has a nice Olympian sounding name and this Greek pattern motif throughout. These are off the Minotaurs Transfer Sheet from Forge World, because I felt my freehand wasn't up to the task of such tiny tiny symbols.

The dish itself is a pair of grates off a Nephallim Fighter from 40k, attached to a chaos searchlight, with a small aquilla from an old Leman Russ kit attached to make it more imperial-y. The assembly is mounted atop a chaos rhino cupola slightly modified to look more like a scanner.

A few spare cables, a filter off a German King Tiger tank and a bit of a hunter killer were combined together for the small generator unit behind the dish.

IRON WITHIN, IRON WITHOUT

Here is the starting Rhino, it was a mess!

  

So, all in all, this is the kind of project that I have come to LOVE about the hobby. A simple idea, for a budget command tank, realised with just parts I had lying around. I think it looks good enough that nobody will complain, well, at least I hope.

~Macca

Iron Warriors: Erasmas Golg and more Consuls!

Erasmus Golg.

Not many photos here, as he is the most simple conversion, simply a Grave Warden with a head swap and a vexillia.

Primus Medicae.

This guy was a little more effort. Apothecary lights and sensors were glued onto his torso, and his weapon is a conversion of the grenade launcher, combining a melta and bolter together for a combi-melta combination.

Multi-HQ.

The most fun of the three, this guy is a combination of a little Forge Lord, Siege Breaker, Warsmith, Praetor, Champion, Consul etc. This is my Jack-of-all-trades character, something I can use in multiple lists.

Befitting his stature and techno-prowess, I elected to modify the grenade launcher arm in a different way, combining a melta into it, and adding a small augery scanner (just above the hand). He has a large servo arm on his back, as well as a single frag assault launcher.

Three HQ's.

So there they are, three HQ's. The choice to go with more Cataphractii is in response to a few things:

-My previous force, the defensive siege force was too dominant in the ranged game, reducing the entire tournament I played in to a shooting game, I felt like dirty Tau.

-I have little to no effective Zone Mortalis forces. Can't defend the Contrador with MK IV armour!

-I lacked mobility. The one situation where my shooting failed was when Michael from the Eye of Horus backed away with the Relic hidden inside his Spartan. I had to cross the battlefield to grab it, I couldn't just shoot both the Spartan AND the Stone Gaunlet Breachers with Feel No Pain to death. I needed strong assault options to do it.

So, here I am. I hope you enjoy these quick snaps.

~Macca