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Hello fellow forum-goers :) I've been painting a lot lately, and decided to start one of those painting blogs that's all the rage these days. I've been primarily painting two armies lately, one which is designed to run as either Astra Militarum or Renegades & Heretics and one which is designed to be an elite Imperial Army regiment of counts-as Sisters of Battle. I plan to start with the elite regiment first as that's what most of my painting the last few weeks has been and likely will continue to be. C&C is welcome, especially on the tanks as they're all conversions of some type, and I want to redo them if they aren't fairly obvious in what they are. Further disclaimer for any zealous sisters players: I'm using sisters rules simply because they're the best option for the models I worked up, nothing more ;). Fluff so far below: Orlean Basin First Cohort The Orlean First Cohort hail from the upper hive spires of the Orlean Basin off of the Nord Merican conclaves. The regiment as a whole consists of over a dozen cohorts comprised of everyone from children of nobles to ganger scum, and the regiment practices strict segregation to foster competition and rivalry between the various cohorts. The Orlean First Cohort is comprised exclusively of the children of the upper hive spires, most usually the later sons of wealthy families or dispossessed nobles with no options left to them. The trappings of wealth and luxury are reflected in the armament and style of warfare of the Orlean First, with all members traditionally bringing their own equipment to service, rather than utilizing the normal arms and equipment supplied by the regimental quartermasters. Rejecting the usual flak armor of the Imperial Army the First is decked out almost completely in regal, if early design, powered armor with servo muscled arms and armored torsos. The First is also most commonly fitted with Boltguns instead of the usual munitorium issued lasgun, letting them lay down destructive power rarely welded by the linesmen of the Imperial Army and only uncommonly seen outside of the Legiones Astartes. Befitting their stature, the Orlean First were most commonly attached to the III Legion, their armor painted a deep purple in honor of their Astartes commanders. Striding the battlefield inside their RH1N0 armored transports, the Orlean First Cohort represent the best aspects of mankind's nobility and the most destructive firepower an armyman can bring to bear. For a long time, the bulk of the Orlean regiments were assigned to Expedition Fleet 2756, alongside a small force of the IIIrd Legion, a continent of the XIIth Legion acquired by happenstance as their dead vessel was intercepted by the crusade fleet, and various other regiments of the Imperial Army and Navy. The Orlean Cohorts served with distinction, the First Cohort using it's firepower to great effect to wipe out what xenos resistance couldn't be overrun by the massed ranks of conscripts from the lower Cohorts. This continued until the world of 2756-34, whose foul inhabitants took a large toll on human and post-human alike with witchcraft and weaponry the likes of which the Orleans didn't believe could exist, let alone expected to have to combat. It was only due to the Orlean First's commanding Centurion’s strict disregard for his troops’ lives that the xenos capital could finally be surrounded until a drop assault by the brothers of the IIIrd could end the xenos menace for good, albeit at the cost of over twenty complete lower cohorts. Following the final pacification of 2756-34, now called Nova Orlea in the regiment’s honor, the Orlean were gifted with a set of blades that were said to have been manufactured by the IIIrd Legion’s finest artificers. They were given six matching blades covered in strange runes and sheathed in a pale blue power field, and a seventh double bladed weapon to crown the set. First Centurion Jamnl was given the honor of weilding the double blade, christened Orlean’s Honour, as badge of office. The remaining six blades were gifted to the officers of highest familial stature, much to the anger of Third Centurion Tyrmni who was an accomplished soldier and strategist but who hailed from one of the relatively minor spire houses and was the only Centurion-grade officer to lack a blade as his mark of stature. This would go on to be the cause of much infighting among the First Cohort, with more than one duel of honor ending in maiming, disembowelment, or even worse debilitating injury and assignment to officership in the lower cohorts. The worst fate went to those crippled so severely in these duals that they were removed from service in the regiment and assigned to oversee the ongoing colonization and rebuilding of New Orlea into a productive member of the Imperial machine. First and Third Centurions (Canonesses), Dialogus, Imagifer Orlean Troops "Dominions" "Retributors" Immolator with Immolation Flamer Exorcist