Search the Community

“My Lord, we have… a report.” “... Lord Hale? Are you well?” “... Icran?” Icran Hale turned from the armourglass window where he had been standing, immobile. His Master of Ships, a slender, hard-faced woman, was staring up at his vast form, concern in her eyes. Her brown hair was slipping out of its usually well-kept bun, and she looked exhausted. “My Lord, my apologies if I was over-familiar. It is just… you haven’t left your quarters for a significant period of time. Lord Knos was on the verge of shuttling over to us to see what was wrong. The crew have been unable to sleep due to...” Icran furrowed his brow. “Knos need not concern himself, Persephone. I recognise I have been... withdrawn, of late. There has been much to consider in light of, well -” he swept one massive, armoured hand towards the window. “I need not elaborate further.” Persephone swallowed, trying not to look out of the window into the void. The storm unnerved her. It unnerved the entire crew, and seemingly affected even the transhuman Astartes aboard. Baseline humans had suffered terrible dreams since the warp-miasma had howled into existence just days previously. Icran continued, his voice a rumbling bass. “My understanding is that none of the fleet Astropaths have been able to pierce this storm. It is as though the Five Hundred Worlds have been entirely consumed by the Immaterium. I can only assume some vile process unleashed by Lorgar’s witchspeakers. We have entirely lost the trail of the Red Angel's beasts.” He strode across his quarters, his yellow Terminator armour clanking across the deck. Persephone’s neck craned back further as he approached. “Give me your assessment, Shipmaster.” “My Lord, I cannot recommend the fleet making any attempt to traverse the warp-storm. It is larger than any storm recorded in our databanks. What is worse, the Navigators report that the light of the Astronomicon cannot pierce the storm. If we entered it, we would be entirely blind.” She handed him a dataslate, which looked to be the size of a playing card in Hale’s vast gauntlets. He read it, digesting the complex information in a glance. Hale frowned further, looking back out of the window into the heart of the Ruinstorm. The stars outside of the ship were stained a bruised purple, with flickering lights dancing across the void. Here and there, strange and unsettling shapes manifested in swirls of teeth and eyes. Across the other side of the ship was a clear, glittering view of realspace, standing in stark contrast. Hale sighed. “Please hail Lord Knos.” Persephone nodded, moving across the modest chambers of the Household Commander to manipulate a small console set by the door. She spoke softly into a grille, before turning to nod at Hale. “Lord Knos?” Hale’s voice boomed across his living chambers, as he moved into view of a pict-camera mounted on the ceiling. “Lord Hale,” a voice crackled from recessed speakers. Hale gestured for Persephone to stand beside him, as a pict-image flashed up on a pictscreen in the living chambers. It was grainy, but clearly showed a tall figure armoured in brilliant cobalt blue plate, trimmed in burnished gold. “Lord Knos, I assume you have seen the reports from the Astropaths and Navigators?” “I have. It makes for grim reading. The Five Hundred Worlds are sealed behind this storm. It appears to be larger and more intense than anything seen since Old Night. The Emperor’s Light cannot pierce the sorcerous murk. My men would have us plunge into its heart, to defend Ultramar no matter the cost...” The Ultramarine left the sentence hanging. “I do not doubt the valour of their intentions, but I must question the value of such a sacrifice. If we send the battlegroup into that storm, we will not emerge from the Immaterium. We… we do not even know if Ultramar still stands.” Knos snarled in fury, his image on the pict-screen distorting as he spat out his words. “Make no mistake, Icran. Guilliman is alive. He has not suffered the same fate as Lord Manus, or Lord Corax. He lives. Ultramar lives.” “We cannot know anything for certain while the storm persists, and it shows no sign of abating. We were sent to the fringes of Ultramar to hunt Angron’s mindless beasts, but now we may as well be becalmed.” “What are you suggesting? That we abandon Ultramar? We abandon the Five Hundred Worlds? We spit on our oaths and trample our banners? That we run?” Hale surged towards the pict-screen, startling Persephone. “Never speak like that to me again, Knos. Think about what you are saying. If I let you and your men spend your lives like worthless coin and die in the warp, then I may as well throw my lot behind the scum we once called our brothers. We need to focus on what matters.” Knos’ face softened, and he learned into the pict-camera, his face filling the screen. “And what, Household Commander Hale, is ‘what matters’?” Hale straightened, squaring his vast shoulders. “Terra. The Throneworld.” Knos said nothing for a moment. “You mean to take the fleet, set course for Terra, and what? Fight through the Warmaster’s burning front lines to enter the most secure system in the Imperium? With a handful of ships? Past tens of thousands of traitors, millions of their rabid followers and the warp-beasts that they command?” “It is still a better plan than sailing into the largest warp storm humanity has ever seen without the Astronomicon to guide us.” Hale turned to Persephone. “How long would it take?” The Shipmaster bit her lip, thinking hard. “Ordinarily, with favourable currents? Six months. We are on the western edge of Ultramar, but reaching Sol still requires passing across a vast amount of space.” Hale looked back at the pict-camera. “Six months in peacetime, so a year or more in wartime. We will still reach Terra before the Warmaster. And we will carve through any traitors we find on the way.” Knos looked off-screen, clearly conversing with some of his captains who were in the ship’s bridge with him. He sighed, in a rush of static through the comm-link. He was no fool, and knew rushing back into the warpstorm would achieve nothing. “To Terra then. But, Icran, you must promise me something.” “Anything, brother.” “If we find loyal Imperials in need, whether they be fellow Astartes, Imperial Army regiments, or non-combatants -” “We will bring the full wrath and fury of the Mountainfire Company upon any traitors in our path. And I would hope the Masalian Fifteenth would be by our side, shoulder to shoulder.” Knos nodded, with a small smile. “Well then. I believe your Shipmaster has some preparations to be making.” Icran Hale nodded, returning the smile before terminating the comm-link. Persephone snapped to attention, executing a crisp salute. Hale looked down at her, the smile still on his face. “Shipmaster. Plot course to Terra.” +++++ Hello all! Welcome to the project diary for the Mountainfire Company, a Horus Heresy Imperial Fists/Ultramarine Shattered Legion force. I’d had Imperial Fists rattling around in my head as a force to do for some time, and I finally got started recently with some Cataphractii Terminators. As I was part-way through the first squad… I read Betrayer. The scene (keeping spoilers to a minimum) involving the Ultramarine breacher wall made me almost want to drop the Imperial Fist project then and there in favour of the boys in blue, before I had a brainwave. I dreamt up the idea of a combined Fists/Ultramarines shattered legion force, crusading their way from Ultramar to Terra. The idea is that Icran Hale, the Household Commander of the Mountainfire Company, was on a cooperation assignment in Ultramar at the outbreak of the Heresy. The Dropsite Massacre occurs, followed by Calth. He buddies up with Gregor Knos, a no-nonsense Ultramarine Commander, and together they chase down some World Eaters on the edge of the Five Hundred Worlds… only to be cut off by the true eruption of the Ruinstorm as Lorgar’s Shadow Crusade reaches its zenith. Unable to re-enter Ultramar, they decide to return to Terra, killing any traitors in their path. Below is a small gallery of what I’ve done so far - two squads of Cataphractii Terminators, designed to be mixed-specialist close-combat veterans, with an assault cannon thrown in for rule-of-cool. Oh, did I mention everyone is going to have shields? Thats right, this is a Stone Gauntlet force! I’m working to build a 30k Centurion Mode army. The principles here are simple - infantry, walker and skimmers only. No tanks. Things like artillery or Leviathans are 0-1. This should mean the army is very infantry heavy, and aimed to crush other infantry heavy forces. Next on the table are two (thats right, two) Deredeo dreadnoughts, and the first of the Ultramarine breachers. Watch this space… Pictures: http://i.imgur.com/plBYZGqh.jpg http://i.imgur.com/RtC8sBLh.jpg http://i.imgur.com/TE6wsOZh.jpg http://i.imgur.com/yxErqS7h.jpg http://i.imgur.com/bT6Glzbh.jpg http://i.imgur.com/ezjhOufh.jpg http://i.imgur.com/uU9yNYgh.jpg http://i.imgur.com/lkniPijh.jpg http://i.imgur.com/GYaxMXHh.jpg http://i.imgur.com/xV7645Hh.jpg http://i.imgur.com/1PFVKmBh.jpg http://i.imgur.com/SofWyTnh.jpg http://i.imgur.com/DsAgWijh.jpg

Hi all! This is my first post on the forum so sorry if I'm not doing everything right A friend recently got me into 40k and I played a few matches with my other friends armies and, being a bit of a pyromaniac, found I played best with the blood angels, I love them! since then, I've been trying to start an army, although with very limited budget because....well... I'm a kid. I'm thinking of buying the starter set but might consider saving for larger, better value sets. Does anybody have any recommendations on sets (on a small budget) if so, can you give me the best equipment for the point value? provided I prefer to attack close range with long range support fire. Are there any rules regarding using space marine HQs. Also, any recommendations for a good support HQ? (not too concerned on budget for this). Sorry for asking so much, I just want to start right as I've very little experience in army building.