Elysium Rises

Thinking through color palette for the Lions. I have one full assault squad built. It’s pretty bare bones, just a flamer and maybe Melta Bombs on the Sgt if I recall correctly. Anyhow, onto color palette.

Base – Spray Retributor Gold. May do a black undercoat first, will see how it shakes out.
Wash – Reikland Flesh
Dry Brush – Retributor gold to Liberator Gold to Runefang Steel

The Blues on the helmets will start with Macragge Blue and build up from there. Should be pretty straightforward and quick to paint.

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Celestial Lions

I have always liked the idea of a Celestial Lions force, from the time of reading the War for Armageddon page on them back in the day, they, along with the Exorcists were the two standouts of that campaign to me. The idea of a chapter being forced to rebuild after betrayal from the Imperium (yes technically the Inquisition,  but still) and not breaking, nor turning renegade is a powerful one, one that I have always wanted to explore with a Lions force.

This is a bit of brainstorming towards that end.

To me, the idea of the chapter being “dead”, essentially at Mannheim Gap was a gross overreaction frankly. With the full chapter deployed, that would cover active line troops. The idea that every single Apothercary back on Elysium, garrison Marine, fleet assigned Marine etc… was deployed is kinda stupid, that simply wouldn’t happen. The chapter wasn’t dead, it was beaten and broken for sure and I’m glad the events of Mannheim Gap were expanded upon with Grimaldus doing more than his share of the heavy lifting to keep Dubaku on track and not just going and getting wiped out because… reasons.

So, all that said the question that sticks out to me is; how many Lions left Armageddon? We know there were 96 when they pushed into the gap, and it is stated that when the Ork warlord fell, Dubaku was the only one left standing, that means they got the crap kicked out of them. I don’t think it implies that he was the last one left alive, though I guess it could be interpreted as such, I choose not to. That said, certainly all 96 did not survive that battle.

For my purposes I have decided that 17 Lions survived, along with Dubaku that makes 18. The force I’m building will likely be centered around this battle hardened cadre of survivors, they will make up my Veteran Sgt’s as well as any Stern/Vanguard squads I field. I don’t know if, initially I will field Terminators. For Dubaku himself I am strongly considering Kantor, he gives Sternguard ObSec, and preferred enemy Orks also makes sense for a Lions army. I figure the SternGuard having ObSec is a fitting representation of the surviving Armageddon Vets.

The problem with Kantor is the power fist. I have always imagined Dubaku with a nice big choppy power or chainsword, it wouldn’t be wysiwyg, but he may end up with a massive eviscerator or something along those lines, the stormbolter works fine, it just gets renamed to something suitably lion-ey. Maybe some sort of greatsword with PFist stats to represent the sword of one of the fallen Captains…

Warleader Vularkh buried the war-sword “Je’hara” in the beast’s belly and carved three metres of stinking alien guts free. It did nothing.

I also really want to do a small unit of Vanguard vets painted up as Black Templars to represent the Sword Brethren that returned to Elysium with the Lions. The idea of Dubaku rolling around with them in the thick of things because he can’t afford to deploy his veterans that way yet appeals to me, with the idea being that he has had to spread his veterans around the newly formed squads to ensure their wisdom and experience is leveraged towards the future.

Elysium rises.

No pity. No remorse. No fear.

 

 

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Captains, Praetors and Heresy… Oh My!

So, I was goofing around the other day with one of the Masters of the Chapter kits, specifically the dude with the Thunder Hammer. I have always really liked that pose, but I knew I didn’t want to just do a simple headswap with him, so I cut off the hammer and filed down the shoulderpad a bit to fit on one of the massive Kromlech chainsword/eviscerator bitz. I think it looks pretty spiffy. It’s not complete, there is some obvious gap filling to be done.

Now, the obvious headswap to go with it is the first one below, Captains crest, proper modern choppy loyalist Astartes right. Then I started poking around with the various bitz I had and came across the WE Veteran helmet, which, imo totally works as far as the composition of the model, but… It breaks the image I have of Heresy era Astartes. I have always seen them as more brutally functional and efficient, less capes and frills and gaudiness (ain’t nobody got time for that), any decoration being primarily functional; crests of rank, vexilla etc… I’m torn, because I think a World Eater (or hell, Warhound) Captain would be a really cool model to paint up, I don’t know if the amount of bling is appropriate. Maybe I cop out and say he’s a Dornian Heresy World Eater Captain.

 

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Russian Man Parts!

Ok, technically Ukranian I guess. Ordered some Terminator bitz from WarGame Exclusive. Pretty happy with these guys, they should make for some good characters, or maybe I cold repurpose them for Arjac’s Shieldbrothers. They are definitely more Cataphracti feel, and the little dangly bits for the shoulderpads and crotchal area are separate. I’ll probably skip using the as they seem kinda fiddly to get placed correctly and I really can’t be arsed. I have some stuff from Puppetswar coming as well, so we will see how mixing that stuff up shakes out with these.

The crested helmets in different marks are pretty self explanatory. These are all super nice, got some definite mould lines on the MK4, but nothing that isn’t easily cleanable.

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New Fallen

Only one this time, but I saw this body on ebay while trawling for FW bitz and knew instantly what I wanted to do with it. He will be another Fallen that will rock into the melee squad at some point, for now he just looks cool. He’s feeling a bit Night Lordy to me thogh so who knows. I also got some Kromlech choppy bitz in so, seriously considering giving him one of the blades below instead of the LC. Undecided so far, but those swords are coooool. The thin Chainsword is earmarked for a Ragnar conversion.

The body on this mini is a bit weedy compared to other SM kits, but he looks ok next to the rest of the squad, so that’s what counts. I need to order more CSM packs. Again… Loyalist world problems.

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Ordo Venator

The Ordo Venator is a squad of Fallen Havocs currently aligned with Cypher, The Host and attached to the ThriceBorn Legion. Member numbers vary, but they never seem to fall below Five, with a Fallen Angel of some reputation named Morax always in command.

Morax

Havoc 1

Havoc 2

Havoc 3

Havoc 4

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The Host

The Host is the name of a warband of renegade Astartes who appear from time to time throughout the history of the Imperium. Misdirection and trickery are their wont, along with sudden and decisive violence. The renegades wear armor and iconography that appear to link them to the Dark Angels chapter of Space Marines. Any attempts to question the First Legion or any of their successors regarding this matter have met with silence at best and violence at worst. It has been noted by some members of the Imperial Inquisition that where The Host appears, elements of the First and Second Companies of the Dark Angels oftentimes follow.

Pretty happy with how these guys are coming along. I wanted to leave their allegiance questionable with subtle hints here and there. Also, no hoods. I wanted to make sure I didn’t just do guys in hoods with Chaos shoulderpads. I think it’s working, I may need to push it towards the Chaos end of the spectrum further, on Vassago in particular. I do think the Chaos packs do a lot to break up the regular Astartes silhouette, it feels good so far. Need mor skulz! I maaaaay end up marking up the Dark Angel iconography in subtle ways, like… is it battle damage, or has it been intentionally defaced? Not sure on that though yet.

Another thing I was trying to do was make sure that each of the Fallen felt like a distinct individual. I feel like I have achieved that so far, right now Moloch and Barakiel are far and away my favorites, but I’m kinda digging Rahab as well. Semyaza and Vassago are feeling a bit same-y at the moment but I have a plan for Vassago’s sword to get swapped out for a nasty looking daemon blade type deal, and I found a spare topknot in my bitz box that he will get as well, that should push them further apart. I have one of the Roman looking loincloths that I wanted to put on Rahab, but I didn’t find it till after he was assembled and I dont want to pop him apart to put it on so he may have to do without. I dig the boarding shield vibe he has, will look even better with the First Legion icon on it. I need more chaos banner poles a too… ah well, loyalist world problems. :/

The other thing I have done, name wise is dug around and given them all fallen Angel or Demon names, feels appropriate.

Semyaza, First of The Host

Brother Moloch

Barakiel

Rahab

Vassago

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ThriceBorn Legion

“Their first birth was into their worthless human litter, their second in service to the Corpse-Emperor who betrayed us all and their third shall be in eternal allegiance to me. My ThriceBorn truly know no fear, feel no pain and with each enemy that falls before them, my Legion swells.

“A storm is coming. Our storm. And when it arrives, it will shake the universe. Emperor… we come for you!!” – Marbas, Tyrant of the ThriceBorn Legion – Former 2nd Battalion Consul, 5th Chapter, I Legio Astartes.

So, I have been toying around with a small Fallen Angels list led by Cypher and a Sorcerer. I have always liked the idea of proper undead Astartes, not LotD, or Nurgle-ified plague zombies, but risen by a necromancer or somesuch. There really aren’t “necromancers” per se in the 40k universe with the exception of the aforementioned Nurgle adherents. That’s not really the look I want. What I decided to go for was a Fallen Dark Angel Sorcerer who was raising the dead loyalist Marines that his warband killed and adding them to his legion. Along the way, for whatever reason (Cypher gona Cypher) he was contacted by the Lord of the Fallen and their forces were linked for a time.

Building out the list with that in mind meant I wanted at least one squad of Chaos Marines to represent the undead legion. Giving them the Mark of Nurgle to up their toughness made sense in my head, it may or may not stay in the list at the end of things. The Sorcerer, the undead Astartes and a small unit of Cultists will round out that contingent.

There will be a 5 man Fallen Havoc squad with auto cannons and a 5 man Chosen squad who will accompany Cypher. The Chosen will be set up as sword and board guys with their shields to justify the +1 toughness from their Mark of Nurgle. Along with a Rhino and a Predator Annihilator, that’s the plan for the 1000 pt force.

(Yes I know the line up there is lifted from Dune, but it’s a great fucking line for Chaos Marines.)

First 5 of the Undead

 

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Raptors incoming!

So I have let my modeling ADD get the best of me again. I have an idea for a small, yes actually small Raptors force.

It will be as follows.

1 Librarian


1 Tactical Squad with Razorback
1 Scout Sniper Squad

 with a Land Speeder Storm

I also have bits for a 5 man tank hunter assault squad set out that may or may not get done in this initial push.

Comes out right at 500 points, so that should be fun to goof around with a bit. The tacticals, and probably most of the power armored infantry in the army going forward will be based off of Anvil Industries Black Ops kits, to give them a slightly non standard look and as seen above the scouts will all get helmets via the new IG Stormtrooper kits, because the non helmeted scouts look all kinds of goofy.

I have been thinking about how to do color scheme, since the stuff for the Raptors is kinda all over the place. So this is what I have come up with for the Color Bible.

Raptors Color Bible

Armor: Olive Drab.
Squad marking: Vertical stripe on the right shoulderpad.
Company marking: Lower plate of the right shoulderpad as a roman numeral.
Squad Leaders: Slate grey helmet stripe.
Sgt: Slate grey helmet.
Veteran Sgt’s & Veteran Marines: Slate grey helmet with stripe matching company color.
Librarium: Olive Drab armor with Librarian blue right shoulderpad. (maybe full right arm blue.)
Apothercarium: Olive Drab Armor with white helmet and narcethium. (Maybe white apotherary shoulderpad.)
Chaplain: Codex standard.

Squad colors

1st Squad: Black
2nd Squad: Blue
3rd Squad: Yellow
4th Squad: Red
5th Squad: Black with red bloodstripe
6th Squad: Black with blue bloodstripe
7th Squad: Black with yellow bloodstripe
8th Squad: Yellow with black bloodstripe
9th Squad: Yellow with blue bloodstripe
10th Squad: Yellow with red  bloodstripe

Some of the FW pics have various marines with a vertical black stripe on the torso of their armor, that may or may not get incorporated. With the Black Ops torsos there is a lot of kit on them so that might get lost and just being visual noise. We shall see.

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In Dedicato Imperatum Ultra Articulo Mortis

Legion of the Damned. I put a squad of these guys together using a mix of Anvil Industries bitz, Chaos bolters and regular Marine bitz. I think they came out well. I really can’t be arsed with painting most of the time, I really like building and kitbashing stuff though so… I met a guy here in Vegas who does commission work and his stuff is fantastic, first look at the LotD squad he’s working on for me.

UPDATE!!!

Got the completed (sans backpacks because I’m a jackass and couldn’t find them when I handed off the models) squad this weekend. I’m super happy with these minis. More of his stuff is on instagram RIGHT HERE!!

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