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View File Down In Flames (A Fire Hawks Short Story) The Lycanthos Drift Campaign is almost over. To secure the Widowmaker Bastion, a force of Space Marines from the Fire Hawks Chapter is given the honour of subjugating the outlying Sentinel Fort. Infested with Chaos Space Marines of the Bleak Brotherhood and their traitor guardsmen, the Fort's existence prevents heavy siege guns being laid by the men of Krieg, and threatens the right flank of Lugft Huron's assault. As part of the task force, Knight-Sergeant Emeryk Zann is keen to win glory and honour for his Chapter and the God-Emperor, but as he discovers, this assault is little more than a deadly Forlorn Hope - one that even his Chapter Master, the gruff Knight-Commander Stibor Lazaerek wants to fail... Submitter Mazer Rackham Submitted 04/12/23 Category Background (Lore)  

So, some of you may remember my old blog, detailing my exploits in the 40K world of gaming. Most won't; that's okay. I did it then to inspire myself to keep painting and, in the process, may inspire others to do the same. One of the concepts supported there was "The Three Foot Rule", a concept that, as far as I know, was thought up by a friend of mine and which has lived with me for more than a decade. It goes something like this: Having painted miniatures on the table makes for a much more enjoyable game. For almost the entire game, you see your opponents miniatures at a distance of at least three feet. Therefore, if you can paint to a three foot standard (and make it look good), why not? So, there you have my painting philosophy in a nutshell. I'm not that great. Pictures are great but can show off the smallest defects, so don't be too hard on me when I screw something up. Besides, I'm getting old and my eyes aren't that great. Neither are my hands. Did I mention that I can be sarcastic and self-deprecating? A few other things: I love terrain. A good table makes playing a lot more fun. I have lots of grandiose ideas that I never finish. You'll see a lot of starts here but no so many finishes. Gaming should be fun, so expect a bit of (my strange) humor. First two things on the table are a complete redo of terrain for my table and the completion of my Legion of the Darned army. Legion of the Darned? You heard me right. More on that later. Two of my friends are also working on terrain, so you may see pictures of their stuff here also. One has a standard gray/black ruined building set-up (though not standard in build) and another is working on a forgeworld. I decided to make mine one of those mortuary worlds (kind of). Lots of goth, vegetation reclaiming what it can, graves and statuary, etc. Over the years I have accumulated more than my fair share of terrain kits, bits, and bobs. One of my favorites was the Pegasus line of gothic buildings. I start my quest with a little thing I am calling "The Rose Window Building". I started by gluing some 1/16 inch plasticard to 1/8 inch brownboard. This gave the base good rigidity as well as allowing me to glue plastic to plastic. I used Gorilla glue, clamps, bricks, and anything else I could think of to keep things together while the piece dried. I then chopped of the edges with a saw to make them neat and clean. Lastly, I measured out where the columns would sit, then scored the plastic with a linoleum knife to create the cut lines in 'concrete'. This was followed by simply gluing my already constructed building to the base. I built a little second floor from spare card, as I like second (and third) levels. You can see it in a later pic. I primed the entire things with desert sand spray paint, gave it a sepia wash, then dry brushed it white. The doors were painted brown. Lastly, I glued on some grass, lichen, and HO scale shrubs and small trees to create the 'nature taking back' look. Since I use a green grass mat for my table, it throws of colors a little when I take a pic, but here is the final version. It fits the three foot rule perfectly, I think.

DOWN IN FLAMES ADEPTUS ASTARTES: FIRE HAWKS PROLOGUE: This is it, old friend. For those times we saved each other, shed our blood and sweat under the roar of guns and upon the strange tides of war. To now stand unrecognisable and unrepentant of our choices, blades drawn and bloodied by the bodies of our brothers, and the corpses of our sworn oaths. All we have cherished, what we gave our lives to, broken down with our own hands. How did it all come to this? Is it only now, that we realise both of us are lost?