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An ongoing project to knock up some kitbashed standalone minis from the chapters engaged in the Badab War, because Badab is cool and kitbashing is probably the part of the hobby I enjoy the most. I had intended to start out easy with just my idea of what a standard tactical marine from each chapter might look like and I did do a few of those already (pics to follow) but a particular combination of parts gave me an idea and so I went with it. Here's my rendition of Old Night himself, Thulsa Kane of the Executioners. The basis is Tortuga Bay Studio's Myroslav Kado mini, with arms and axe from their Fortress Destroyer model. The head is from the new GW Terminator Chaplain, tilt shield from Fafnir Rann. There's also a dagger in a skull-encrusted scabbard from one of the GW limited edition webstore minis because "needs more skulls" was a definite consideration i had while assembling him!

First, if it's before February 7, check out Greyall's DIY contest. There are a lot of really neat DIYs being posted there and I'm sure that other Liberites who don't often wander into the PCA forums might be interested in participating. Segue to the Inferno Wardens chapter. For now I'm going to discuss the process I've been going through in developing them, including my goals. I'm holding off on writing the actual full article until after Greyall's contest is over and the winner is announced. For those that are familiar with my previous efforts, my process of DIY chapter creation generally starts with some real world challenge. This usually involves taking one of the "sacred cows" of the Liber community - something which Liberites typically recommend against - and making it work. I'm not saying that I actually succeed in making it work by getting everyone to acknowledge that I've overcome the problems of the sacred cow (especially since some members absolutely refuse to budge on some issues ). My goal with the Avenging Lions was to create a successor of the Black Templars while the Accusers were one of the (un-named) Primogenitors mentioned in the Apocrypha of Skaros. Both of those chapters generated some interesting feedback and debate. The Inferno Wardens are the result of my challenge to produce a DIY that uses Codex: Space Wolves. This has been one of my back-burner concepts for quite some time, and it was given some momentum when I saw Greyall's challenge to create DIY chapters this weekend. I really hadn't given it much thought before, but the short timespan of Greyall's challenge prompted some quick work over the span of about a day and a half. So the root idea was to create a chapter that would use Codex: Space Wolves, but which wouldn't be the Space Wolves painted another color. I briefly toyed with the idea of making the chapter a successor of the White Scars, but later dropped that idea (for reasons which I'll explain in a moment). One of the first things I did was crack open the codex to examine all of the rules, units, and items that are unique to the Space Wolves. I wanted the DIY to be able to use as much as possible so I had to figure out what all of the Space Wolfy items might represent in a chapter that was more closely aligned with the Codex Astartes. Most of the neat stuff has an analogy in Codex: Space Marines, so no problem. There are a few special things that indicate distinctiveness, however. The sagas, Blood Claws, Scouts, and Thunderwolves stood out. In the end, the sagas will represent special oaths/vows that senior officers might swear; while the dual challenge of the Blood Claws and Scouts will be incorporated as an area in which the chapter diverges from the norm. The Thunderwolves will be represented by big hunting cats on the tabletop, though I'm going to sub-optimize and not use Thunderwolf Cavalry. Most other area require only minor tweaks in order to make them work for a mostly "Codex" chapter. Two things in particular stood out, however. These items combined to inspire incorporation of an entirely new concept that I hadn't previously considered. These were the Wolf Tail Talisman and Runic Armour. What these have turned into is anti-Chaos/anti-psyker elements. What they have become is something along the lines of the Exorcists, but a much weaker version. The concept I'm working with is that the chapter studies secret things concerned with combating Chaos, but it doesn't practice the possession rituals that the Exorcists utilize. Significantly, I decided that this chapter would be a prelude to the Exorcists - that the chapter's daemon-hunting knowledge/skills were good, but not quite good enough. The radical elements of the Inquisition that later created the Exorcists somehow saw the potential that the Inferno Wardens represented, but also saw some weakness in the Inferno Wardens that couldn't be allowed to continue and/or become known to others (especially those goody-two-shoes puritans). So that put a specific time period on the chapter. Finally, I had to find a strong rationale for the chapter and its practices. I decided on a role similar to the Astartes Praeses that guard the Eye of Terror, but shifted to another minor warp storm, the Inferno Reach. This also led to the chapter's name. While I looked through the various names of chapters that GW has provided, I finally decided upon a completely new name since that felt more "DIYish" than simply using an existing chapter/warband. The chapter's homeworld of Bastion was picked as a name simply because I like that name. The fortress-monastery name "The Tower" was picked because of the Orison of the Broken Tower within the Exorcists. In my little private WH40K game dimension (the one in which the Inferno Wardens exist), the name of the Exorcists Orison refers to the Inferno Wardens in a way. Greyall's challenge includes some required elements that shaped what I submitted there, though the full article will actually focus on some slightly different things or provide a lot more information (the brevity required by Greyall provided an interesting challenge that I hope I achieved successfully). Since Greyall's challenge ends on the 7th, I'll hold off on posting the full (initial) article until after the winner is announced. While I'm skeptical of my chances of "winning," I don't want external efforts (i.e., this topic) to either negatively or positively influence the outcome. My goal with this discussion is to refine the articles, though the core elements of Space Wolf codex and "junior Exorcists" are firm and fixed. I'm more than happy to improve upon the explanations, but those elements will not change. It always helps to get the viewpoints of others in improving my articles, however. For those that might be interested, you can see my submission to Greyall's challenge here. That is just an initial work, however, and will be subject to refinement once I start working on the full article. If you haven't already submitted a DIY chapter/warband for Greyall to consider, I suggest you get hopping!