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Roboute Guilliman

apologist

By apologist
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apologist Venerable Brother

apologist

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WIP Roboute Guilliman

http://lh3.ggpht.com/_w52z2ezBXbQ/SbT2OvuQaWI/AAAAAAAAAQU/Vwe6SL_wlzM/s800/Untitled-1.jpg

The Primarch! The Primarch!

Pre-eminent amongst his brethren in these benighted days, Guilliman was – and is – lauded as the Keystone of the Imperium; its greatest Champion, bar none.

 

It is of Guilliman that children learn; his example is demonstration even today of humanity's primacy amongst the stars – and his sacrifice and fate; betrayed by the perfidious Fulgrim, is well-known across the Imperium. Whether lectured from dusty tomes to impressionable young scholars, or re-enacted in barbarous firelit feasts, the tale of Guilliman's fate one of the few common tales, known from edge to edge of the Imperium.

 

Haunted by superstition, shrouded in ancient mystery, and muddled by telling and re-telling, all of the Primarchs tales have been debated for Millenia by archeoscholars and lexmasters. In all likelihood, none but the broadest strokes can be regarded as absolutely true – namely that the Primarchs waged war with genius never seen before or since; that they led their troops with unmatchable courage, and that they were never defeated, 'til fate led them against each other.

 

However, the Hypon Monolith is a precious relic of the times of the Great Crusade, and paints a seldom-seen picture of Guilliman as a man – with flaws as well as strengths...

 

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God of War

I hope you'll forgive me for the tease, and like how he's looking so far. He's very much WIP, but I'm really pleased with how the modelling and early painting have come out! I wanted to get quite a gritty 'realistic' feel for a twelve-foot superman, but without losing the majesty of his Primarch status.

 

Also presented here is a lot of background fluff – I wanted to reconcile the various different views of Guilliman, and make him a bit more of a character than the 'boring' archetype that some people think he is.

 

Guilliman is pictured here during the Hypon campaign, a scant decade before the outbreak of the Heresy. He wears the Armour of Konor, an artificer-made suit of powered armour crafted by the Mechanicus of Mars from the melted-down honour armour of Guilliman's adopted father. Crafted after designs by Kelbor Hal himself, this was the masterwork of Polonin – a creation that pleased Guilliman so greatly that he dubbed Polonin the Ultramarines' Master of the Forge, a new rank amongst the Techmarines. The armour is buffed to a brilliant shine, and bears state-of-the-art autosenses and motive fibre bundles, amplifying the Primarch's already prodigious strength to unheard-of levels.

 

As his weapons, he bears the shield of Calth – a man-sized plate of ceramite-reinforced plasteel that was the pride of Calth's workshops, and given in supplication to the Primarch upon his inauguration.

 

http://lh4.ggpht.com/_w52z2ezBXbQ/SbTZNY3W4lI/AAAAAAAAAPU/wknYJjj5aBA/s800/DSCN0653.JPG

 

In addition to his master-crafted boltgun and boltpistol – Courage and Honour, Guilliman's preferred arm was the Axe of Ultramar, a gift from the Emperor himself. The axe is a traditional weapon of the highland clans of Macragge, and Guilliman showed a marked preference for the use of this weapon. It was with the Axe of Ultramar that Guilliman beheaded the Beast of Gehenna; defeated the Archstylist of Zohan, and forced the Renegade Alliance of True Mankind to Compliance.

 

Of course, such a pict-capture shows only a tiny fragment of Guilliman's arms and equipment – the two hundred years of the Great Crusade saw him wielding everything from rapiers to warhammers.

 

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[WIP]

http://lh6.ggpht.com/_w52z2ezBXbQ/SbTZMqT37zI/AAAAAAAAAPM/n0EI5NxTzG8/s800/DSCN0652.JPG

Guilliman's head is pictured here framed by the Halo of Iron; a portable power field generator that surrounds his head and upper body, and maintains an atmosphere generated by the armour of Konor, allowing Guilliman to walk bare-headed into battle – both to scatter his enemies in terrified dismay, and to instill his troops with courage. It also allows him to operate bare-headed in hard vacuum and in other atmospheres that Guilliman joked even he found 'uncomfortable'.

 

It was gifted to Guilliman by Vulkan, a Primarch with whom Guilliman struck up an easy friendship. The wings behind the halo represent the Chariot of the Emperor – a friendly, if arch, reference by Vulkan to the swiftness and breadth of Guilliman's early campaigns.

 

Charged with zeal, and pursuing the Imperial Truth with a reverent air, Guilliman's earliest victories were marked with an almost religious devotion to ensuring the Emperor's newly-conquered domains were quickly brought not simply to Compliance (it is well-known the Guilliman hated the term), but to support the Fledgling Imperium. Of all the Primarchs, the worlds conquered by Guilliman were loyal to the Primarch, to the Imperial Truth, and to the Emperor above all. Fewer than ten per cent of the worlds brought to compliance solely by the Ultramarines rebelled against the Imperium during the Heresy, compared to the fifty per cent rate of the other Legions.

 

Known today as stern and unremitting, and parodied as obsessed with detail and conservative to the point of brittlenesswith his views; Guilliman was as inspirational, charismatic and creative as his brother Primarchs in the early days of the Crusade. His earliest victories – Moracre, Thandros, Salem and Sotha – were marked as almost poetic in their execution, both the Primarch and his Legion-sons clearly relishing their being unleashed on the cosmos. Even the dour Ferrus Manus, always slow to praise any of his brithers, sent emissaries bearing congratulations.

 

Recognising that the Imperial Army units struggled to keep up with the demands placed on it by the Thirteenth Legion, he ordered that his teachings be disseminated as tools to assist; never proscribe. The early drafts of what became known as the Codex Astartes were given in the form of 'Meditations' – open questions that encouraged and directed thought, and rewarded more talented strategists with insight, while providing more stolid and unimaginative commanders with concrete plans.

 

Always aware of his shortcomings compared to his brethren – the Lion's strategic genius, Perturabo and Dorn's siege and defensive expertise, Corax's unparalleled stealth tactics – Guilliman kept contact with his brethren and sought their aid and guidance; using his particular talent for detail and adaptation to create a near-complete manual for war. In his unerring eye for his brothers' particular talents, Guilliman made long-lasting bonds – and rivalries – with many of the other Primarchs.

 

Curiously, at some point, Guilliman underwent a stark change in the way he interacted with his peers and Legion. Early records mark him as filled with zeal, easy humour, and open to the point of carelessness in his personal relationships – in stark contrast with his control and attention to detail in martial matters – while post-Heresy records characterise him as dour, strict and impatient. This change occurred extremely quickly, and it is known that he sought a private audience with the Emperor himself on more than one occasion in the space of a few months.

 

While some attributed the change to hubris on the Ultramarine Primarch's part after hearing of Horus' elevation to Warmaster, it is notable that the change began before this news had become public. It is possible that Guilliman was informed by the Emperor himself, but this seems unlikely. What is clear is that Guilliman had two extremely close friendships in the early years of the Crusade – but none of the records of the other Primarchs seem to correlate with Guilliman's visits and personal missives.

 

Most tantalisingly, these same missives have been altered, censored and are otherwise incomplete; with numerous veiled references made to long-deleted or mysteriously absent records – a stark and telling contrast to Guilliman's habitual care and attention to detail. The message boat trails to these two figures also stop abruptly at round-about the same time as Captain Orar's personal journal notes the Primarch's darkening mood. It is unlikely that the identity of either of these two mysterious figures will ever be known.

 

http://lh5.ggpht.com/_w52z2ezBXbQ/SbTZOO2Y0NI/AAAAAAAAAPc/4yf_nIBdSbo/s800/DSCN0654.JPG

 

It was at this time that Guilliman began to consolidate his contribution to the Crusade, fortifying and strengthening the Imperium's shipping lanes and trade routes between the Compliant worlds in order to create a web of interreliant and prosperous worlds. Always in two minds regarding the Legion's Librarius division, Guilliman set the newly-formed Librarians to codifiy and order his Meditations – no mean task; and one designed to reinforce the discipline he felt necessary to control their burgeoning psychic talents. Personal records of those in his close counsel noted his rejection of them, and a feeling of despair and inertia fell over the Legion while Guilliman brooded alone.

 

A pall of gloom fell over the Ultramarines during this dark time, but, ever-dutiful, they continued to train without reserve. The techmarines, led by Polonin, used this fallow period to re-equip and re-arm the legion, and the ranks of the brethren were swollen by hundreds of Speculatores in these brief weeks.

 

On his emergence, Guilliman was changed. His open countenance was brooding and grim, but his art of war had been honed to a diamond edge. With some relief, his commanders were called to a council of war, where Guilliman curtly detailed his most ambitious project yet – nothing less than the complete compliance of the Scutum-Crux spiral arm of the Galaxy. The Legion was drilled and prepared, and itching for action – which Guilliman had at last ordered.

 

Almost all of the Ultramarines on tour – honour guard, shipping crew and those on secondment to the other Expeditionary Fleets – were ordered to return to Ultramar with immediate effect. This was a colossal undertaking, and would require nothing less than the full might of the largest legion. The campaign became famous, and drew in elements of the Blood Angels, Alpha Legion, Night Lords, Imperial Fists and Iron Hands, as well as over ten thousand regiments of the Imperial Army. It was a colossal mobilisation; and the early sub-campaigns of Hypon, Ymga, Doton, Kar Duniash, Alsanta and Pavonis were executed with easy relief by the all-conquering force.

 

It was as the second wave of campaigns were prepping to move, when orders came from Horus for the Ultramarines to muster at Calth...

 

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[FIN]

 

Remembered chiefly through the hymnals of the Codex: Astartes, Guilliman is a figure of devotion and adoration in the current time; remembered as a diplomat and strategist. The common vision is of Guilliman during the Scouring: stern, taciturn and calculating. With little of the cold wrath his brothers Dorn or Manus unleashed; or the burning anger of Vulkan or Angron; Guilliman's phlegmatic approach to war was unequalled in its breadth and vision.

 

In these latter days, Guilliman grew brooding and dark, issuing brief, stern commands from the heart of the Fortress of Hera. Shouldering the titanic burden of overall command of the entire armed forces of the Imperium, even his superhuman intellect and physique was taxed by the nigh-impossible task of staunching the writhing Imperium's hundred-thousand wounds, and shepherding the Traitor Legions into exile.

 

In contrast, a unique (and whose veracity is hotly contested) record of the Primarch's speech from the Compliance of Sotha during the Lion's Paw campaign is quite at odds with the official verses of the Codex: Astartes. Containing none of the grandiloquence of the Codex, the Primarch's voice is quite otherworldly; a gravelly and heavily-accented murmur, speaking in curt and simple sentences dripping with menace and command in equal measure.

 

The speech is fragmentary and the other voices (tentatively identified as Ultramarines and officers of the Calthan XI ExPed) are frequently interrupted by the subsonic shells of the enemy; but the dour voice of the Primarch cuts eerily across the majority of the distortion.

 

In these benighted times, it is often difficult to imagine the glory days of the Crusade, but Guilliman's inspirational if brutal voice cuts across more than one hundred centuries like a blade.

 

http://lh3.ggpht.com/_w52z2ezBXbQ/SfAf9RTFKOI/AAAAAAAAAi0/dAI7jIG1oME/s800/IMG_0008.JPG

 

Pictured here atop the ruins of Sotha, Guilliman's face is twisted by righteous wrath as he strikes down another of the Palisade Guard. Note the sheathed sword on his left hip. Guilliman was presented the double-handed clai-mour on his inauguration as Battle-King of Macragge, and wielded it in his early campaigns – hence the common image of him as a Crusader of Imperial Truth: a knight-paladin bearing a sword; as skilled with his tongue as his arm.

 

The Hypon monolith paints a different view: a noble and just king – but a king of warfare. The men of Macragge are brooding, dour and strong; and the Battle-King exemplified this beyond anything in their history.

 

http://lh5.ggpht.com/_w52z2ezBXbQ/SfAf-DDszxI/AAAAAAAAAi8/hJi5gikSQWY/s288/IMG_0011.JPG

Guilliman's personal heraldry was recorded in an enormous banner during his time as a High Lord, and is far too complex to decipher in this meagre space. His battle-regalia, shown here, is split in three. A white field at the top bears an inverted blue Legion symbol over a solid blue line; the ancient sign of Libra. The Emperor privately is believed to have presented Guilliman with a signet ring, believing him the best of His children to represent a balance of humours.

 

It is clear that Guilliman himself was not entirely convinced: the Crab and the Chariot overlaying this were incorporated into his Arms at his personal request at a later date, though he humbly subsumed them into the overall design. It is believed the circular field represents the Moon; though why this would be the case is debated by arcanologers.

 

On the lower half on the left, the yellow and black quartering of Konor, Guilliman's adopted father, is overlaid by a white circle with three 'V' designs; representing the three virtues of Macragge shielding the memory of Konor and his legacy.

 

On the right, a simple black-and-white chequered pattern symbolises The Myriad: the ten-thousand strong Fratry that greeted Guilliman upon his discovery.

 

http://lh5.ggpht.com/_w52z2ezBXbQ/SfAf-p5-M-I/AAAAAAAAAjE/bBRjtUCQcik/s800/IMG_0012.JPG

 

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Pleased overall with how he's come out, though the shield might get reworked. It looks a little messy to me, and I think the crab would be better replaced with the astrological sign for cancer – it'd certainly help clean up the colour scheme. I'll have a think.

 

A few thoughts on why he's got an axe: B)

 

I think that the way to make the biggest impact with a project like my art-inspired marines is to make something simultaneously recognisable and unique: it's easy to make a big tank; but hard to make a big tank that's obviously a Leman Russ. Similarly, it's easy to make a big armoured model; but hard to make it look like an Astartes. The 'poster boys' of the Astartes are thus a good way for people to recognise them easily: a custom chapter would have been fun, but risked not being instantly recognisable.

 

I've also long had a regard for the Ultramarines – call it love of the underdog. There're a lot of people who really dislike the Ultramarines for their generic and hidebound conservative reputation, and there's a huge amount of background for them that I thought was ripe for development. What a shame that it couldn't be mined to make a cool army!

 

I really enjoy the creativity allowed by the mysterious 40k background, and thought that it would be great to try and make an Ultramarines army that got positive reactions; so I really got my head down with some research, and was careful when making up new background that it fitted in correctly. I'm not sure how successful I've been, but hopefully I haven't made any glaring errors! The people here in the Ultramarines forum have been very helpful, and there're some great resources there.

 

It was important to make an army that was sympathetic to the GW interpretation of the Legion, but I feel it's equally important to be creative with the background: expanding and developing it rather than sticking ruthlessly to the letter of the law. A good example of this is my interpretation of the Primarch. He's never really been described in detail, and he tends to give the impression of being a rather stuffy, overblown character, which I thought was a huge shame. He was a Primarch, one of the most charismatic and interesting figures in the 40k universe – and more than that, he was in charge of the whole Imperium for a time: there's gotta be something going for him!

 

It would have been easy to make Julius Caesar in space, wielding a sword and with a wreath on his head, but that would have been a bit dull: at best pleasing ultra-conservative interpretations of him. I decided to cast my net a little wider, bringing in other classical references: Roman, Greek, Persian and even a sort of Conan-like imaginary feel. This guy, after all, is about twelve foot tall and built like a tank!

 

I also thought that the names Macragge, Konor and so forth had a bit of a Scottish feel, reinforced by its background as an 'inhospitable and rocky land', so I introduced a few subtle touches that hinted at that too; which led on to my view of Macragge in general. This is where the idea of Guilliman wielding an axe came from – it may be pure Hollywood Scottish, but I just thought that an axe was a suitably unusual weapon that'd add a little interest, and I also figured that the Axes of Ultramar used by the Honour Guard in 40k had to come from somewhere...

 

I've had a few negative reactions from die-hard Ultramarine purists, but I'm really pleased with how he's worked out, and the overwhelming majority of people really like the interpretation. In the end, it's your army, so when setting out on a project like this, have courage in your convictions and make the army you want to make. Take other people's opinions on board, but if you've got a vision for something, stick your neck out: it's the only way you'll make real progress.

 

I hope you like how he looks! I'd really appreciate any feedback.

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chenley Veteran

chenley

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Gauntlets of Ultramar?

 

Other than that: :lol:

lauded as the Keystone of the Imperium; its greatest Champion, bar none.

You forgot The Emperor in that one ;)

 

EDIT: Oh yeah, by the way. How much do you want for him? B)

 

I'm not an ultramarine player, but I do know(at least if I recall correctly) that the Gauntlets of Ultramar where taken for a chaos champion at some point. I always figured some time after the defeat of Horus.

 

Correct me if I am wrong.

 

Nice work by the way Apologist

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Tyrannicide Venerable Brother

Tyrannicide

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This is such a captivating miniature and I love all your heresy-era Ultramarines, Apologist. I think Guilliman turned out nicely, and it's interesting to see your take on such an instrumental character of the 40k universe. I especially like all the additional fluff you've created for the Primarch, as it seems to mesh so seamlessly with the already established background. Great job again, and I can't wait to see what lies ahead of us! :tu:
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gil galed Veteran

gil galed

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its pretty, i'm not sure about the power axe, wasn't his weapon a sword called aiegulus? also i'm not sure about how the modelling of the breast plate, with that amulet between his pecs they look a bit exenuated and well, feminine, but apart from that cool
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NemFX Venerable Brother

NemFX

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Looks great. You could have taken him in many directions, and I think you got within about 30% of my imagining. I'd have gone for a little more Spartan style, given him a bigger shield and made him wielding a sword, but that's just me. I'd have also made him blonde like it says in his background.. If I might impose a request though..

 

 

.. Make Konor next? I'd love to see your interpretation of him, given that he's also faceless and barely described.

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apologist Venerable Brother

apologist

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Thanks for all the feedback and critique.

 

My initial plans for Guilliman were much more traditional, but on completing him, I just thought he didn't stand out enough, so the model was painted up as Captain Orar instead. That said, if you'd like to think of him as a more conservative interpretation of Guilliman, go ahead! :)

 

http://lh3.ggpht.com/_w52z2ezBXbQ/SdxXneNdh1I/AAAAAAAAAgg/OLoB4fppyDQ/s800/DSCN0729.JPG

 

http://lh3.ggpht.com/_w52z2ezBXbQ/SdxXoE3isCI/AAAAAAAAAgo/VTyuiIqjpQg/s800/DSCN0730.JPG

 

http://lh4.ggpht.com/_w52z2ezBXbQ/SdxXou0VxHI/AAAAAAAAAgw/_ZVNqWcJ5yw/s800/DSCN0731.JPG

 

And a pic for scale purposes: some of my marines, and a human Remembrancer. Astartes are big!

http://lh3.ggpht.com/_w52z2ezBXbQ/SdxXpx6_GvI/AAAAAAAAAhA/SuVJElla8F0/s800/DSCN0733.JPG

 

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If I might impose a request though.... Make Konor next? I'd love to see your interpretation of him, given that he's also faceless and barely described.

Now that's a cool idea...

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