An Undivided Warband

[Sin of Damnation]

The following thread is planned to document the background, army list, and models of what is going to be my "embiggened" undivided chaos marine force.

 

I'm deliberately not using the term "true scale" because there will still be heroic scale parts on the models (plus it implies that GW got their scale wrong which I think is a bit of a strech in a moderately abstract table top wargame game with Heroic Scale models). But what I am attempting to do with this project will be to scale some things up to make the weapons, and (in particular) heads relatively smaller, more in line with some of the recent artwork of space marines (Karl Kopinski is the main culprit here with his awesome looking marines). However the term "true scale" seems to be thrown about a fair bit, so doubtless I will use it occasionally when I mean "embiggened" or "with bigger bits" or whatever it is I am doing here!

 

To give you an idea of exactly what it is I am doing here, here is a mock up of what I think my marines will look like.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v223/mat_clifford/Painting%20and%20Modelling/Chaos%20Marines/28022010459Medium.jpg

+++Pict capture of Night Lords Chaos Marine attacking Valhallan Guardsmen at the Raid on Outreach Station Uhr. Isa Subcluster. M41. Of the 2143 Guardsmen and staff stationed on Uhr, only 187 bodies were accounted for, with no survivors found.+++

 

It is basically a kit bash. I plan to use terminator legs (and sometimes arms) and basic marine weapons bodies and heads. The legs will get some greenstuff treatment on the thighs, and possibly have the hip guards removed. The arms might get some treatment too.

 

Here is another example.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v223/mat_clifford/Painting%20and%20Modelling/Chaos%20Marines/world-eaters.jpg

+++ Unknown World Eater Marine at the fall of New Diemenslandt. The World Eaters accounted for 27% of Imperial Casualties and an estimated 6% of Chaos Casualties +++

 

 

The idea for the army is simple. A unit from each of the original 9 traitor legions, united under a Fallen Dark Angel Lord, all shoehorned into 2,000pts. I am choosing to do this after modelling a mono-nurgle warband for most of my 40k life. While I really like my Death Guard, I am looking forward to the variety that will be present in this force, and seeing if I remember how to paint things that aren't rotting or rusty! If I can manage to get it to look unified on the table top with all of these different coloured units remains to be seen. I suspect not...

 

Also a word of warning. Progress here is going to be slow. Like a glacier at times. Real life means that I have a very small amount of time to dedicate to the hobby, and I will probably be spread thin over a couple of projects. Plus this might get a tad expensive (especially for an Aussie), so that might keep things at a snail pace too.

 

So I will be updating the log irregularly with pictures of models, but am going to try and keep it flowing (and possibly even interesting) by writing a paragraph or two on how each legion came to be represented in the warband. This will spice it up a little and help to flesh out the background for my army. As this army will be composed of World Eaters next to Emperors Children, and Death Guard next to Thousand Sons, I thought it woud warrant spending a bit of time on the background, to see at least one example of how such a force might come to be.

My strengths are certainly not in creative writing, or detailed knowledge of 40k canon (or painting or conversions for that matter! In fact I'm not sure what they are!), so am really hoping that some of you can give me some help with this. Though having read a little 40k fan fiction floating around, I'll completely understand if nobody wants to suffer it, and just looks at the pictures of models. :)

 

The working title of the warband is the Disciples of the Ascendant, but it's kind of hideous, as it lacks a bit of coolness, and is also quite a mouthful to spit out. I suspect it will change before the project's end. The implication is that they genuinely believe in their leaders cause, where this isn't likely to be the case. So disciples will almost certainly go, to be replaced with something else. Basically they are a warband united under him for a number of different reasons, not because they are disciples. Well some of them might be I suppose. "Rag Tag Bunch following the Ascendant" doesn't quite work either.

 

The broad scale background storyboard is as follows:

A Fallen Dark Angel Lord (Eitan the something, probably Ascendant) and 4 fallen are scattered to a remote planet with human inhabitants; who are basically warring primitive tribes dedicated to the Chaos Gods. Stranded, Eitan and his Fallen unite them in purpose and worship, sacrificing thousands in the name of the dark gods.

Gifted for his devotion, Eitan is worshipped as a god amongst the tribesmen, with each of the 4 chosen leading a cult of the 4 chaos gods.

Some time thereafter, a small force of Word Bearers arrive on the planet, drawn by flows in the warp from the temples and sacrifices Eitan had put in place. Attempting to put themselves in Eitan and his men's place their Dark Apostle attacks Eitan to cut him down before his followers, to show that he is not a god, and that the Apostle is the true power. However the Apostle is betrayed by his Daemon Weapon, and Eitan defeats the Dark Apostle, claiming his Cursed Crozius. He demands the remaining Word Bearers fealty under him in worshiping the Gods of Chaos.

 

***Note. I imagine the Word Bearers landing party to be a "Platoon Sized" force, with the rest of the "company" remaining aboard their ship. What ship would a company sized force probably have? I thought something like a Hecate that was a good all rounder, with plenty of lackeys for them to boss around and capable of putting a decent amount of troops on a planet. What do people think?***

 

With an uneasy truce in place, an Angels of Vengeance Strike Cruiser and escorts arrive in system. Engaging with the outgunned Word Bearers ship, they drive the ship off and begin to make planetfall. Having identified the newly built temples as the focal point of Chaos activity, and probably where something bad is going down, they give it a softening up from orbit and drop into the heart of the complex in an attempt to destroy whatever leadership they found. Upon identifying the Fallen, their efforts to kill and capture Eitan and his men become unrelenting (as they are a DA Successor chapter). They eventually kill and/or take the four fallen. Eitan and squad Dram-Forr, a small unit of Word Bearers are all that escape from the landing party. Having seen the relentlessneess of the Marines in capturing and killing his Fallen, Eitan identifies the need to recruit a larger warband for his own protection.

 

***Note - Does anyone know how the Chaos Marines on board would make planetfall with their Rhinos? All that I can find rules for in BFG are Dreadclaws. Also can marines for a smaller ship like an Iconoclast get down onto a planet. Or do they have to borrow someone elses drop ship or be in something bigger like a cruiser?***

 

After asserting his leadership, Eitan has a fevered waking dream aboard the newly claimed Word Bearers ship, where he sees that his new purpose is to unite marines from the 9 chaos legions in his warband to prove his dedication to the gods and strength of will. Once his army is gathered, he is then to conquer loyal worlds of the Imperium, and unite them in the worship of the Dark Gods. Only then will he attain Daemonhood as his reward. He takes on the moniker "the Ascendant" to remind all of his path to greatness.

 

Eitan initially undertakes a personal campaign of brutal initiation. He seeks out and attacks other modest sized Chaos warbands, attempting to subvert survivors to his will. Finding that the marines of the original legions are full of as much hatred towards each other as they are towards their enemies he eventually tries other methods to recruit followers, including bribery, blackmail, demonstrations of martial prowess and the promise of warfare on the worlds of man.

 

Having eventually united a host of Chaos Marines, vehicles, a rag tag fleet of merchant vessels and the occasional warship, and an almost limitless supply of slaves, mutants and fanatical cultists under his banner, his campaign of destruction can now commence.

 

So that's it for the basic storyline. Feel free to pick holes in it as you see fit. :)

 

This is the army list I will be working towards. It is intended to be flavoursome and in the spirit of the background, rather than an all conquering tournament force. However I'm hoping that I will be able to give most opponents a bloody nose before I go down for the count, so am hoping it isn't a push over.

 

Army List - 2,000pts

HQ.

Fallen Dark Angel Lord. 165.

Daemon Weapon. Jump Pack. Plasma Pistol.

 

Elites

5 Word Bearers Possessed. 165.

Rhino.

 

5 Alpha Legion Chosen. 155.

2 Flamers. 2 Melta Guns. Rhino.

 

Troops

5 Black Legion Chaos Marines. 145.

Aspiring Champion. Power Weapon. Combi Melta. Melta Gun. Rhino.

 

6 Emperors Children Noise Marines. 260.

Aspiring Champion. Power Weapon. Doom Siren. 4 Sonic Blasters. Blast Master. Rhino.

 

7 Death Guard Plague Marines. 256.

Aspiring Champion. Power Fist. 2 Melta Guns. Rhino.

 

8 World Eater Khorne Bezerkers. 243.

Aspiring Champion. Power Fist. Rhino.

 

8 Thousand Sons. 304.

1 Sorceror. Shooty psy power. Rhino.

 

Fast Attack.

5 Night Lords Raptors. 150.

Aspiring Champion. Power Weapon. 2 Melta Guns.

 

Heavy Support.

5 Iron Warrior Havocs. 155.

4 Auto Cannons or Missile Launchers.

 

As you can see the unit sizes are fairly small. I'm trying to cram a fair bit into this list, and tried to give the sacred number squad size to the 4 god dedicated squads. Also I will probably model an Icon or banner in each unit, but won't be using them for anything other than "they look cool".

 

So comments on things so far are most welcome. :)

[Warsmith Aznable]

Here is another example.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v223/mat_clifford/Painting%20and%20Modelling/Chaos%20Marines/world-eaters.jpg

 

That looks better than I thought it would as a straight kitbash. A bit on the expensive side, though.

 

Does anyone know how the Chaos Marines on board would make planetfall with their Rhinos? All that I can find rules for in BFG are Dreadclaws. Also can marines for a smaller ship like an Iconoclast get down onto a planet. Or do they have to borrow someone elses drop ship or be in something bigger like a cruiser?

 

Thunderhawk transports.

[Sin of Damnation]

Thanks Max.

It certainly won't be a cheap army! I've ordered the rhino doors from forgeworld and that alone was expensive enough. Might have to take out another mortgage to finish this army!

 

I thought about the thunderhawk transports, but if I remember correctly to take them a ship can't take dreadclaws too. Someone is welcome to correct me though. My Bfg fu is weak.

 

In other news the bits for my fallen have arrived. If bub cooperates when I get home from work tonight I might be able to post a pic. Need to find time to write more background for him too. Dang this hobby! Just not enough hours in the day.

:D

[minigun762]

I would recommend you use the army list section here

http://www.bolterandchainsword.com/index.p...mp;s=&f=113

to get tactical advice about your army composition. Discussing background elements can be done here though.

 

As for getting to the surface, dreadclaws for troops and Dreadnoughts, thunderhawks and stormbirds for larger units of troops or armor and various types of landers for anything bigger. Remember its easy to justify having sufficient landing forces since you have a ragtag assortment of vessels, each with various levels of customization.

[Sin of Damnation]

Thanks for the feedback and link minigun. I probably won't alter the list, as it was pretty hard to cram all of the units in to represent the original legions. I dont feel like there is much room to move in there. Especially when taking sacred number sized squads.

 

I'll have a bit more of a think about landers. I wanted the first ship to be "recruited" to be on its own and able to land troops and rhinos. If my understanding of BFG is right then it has to have thunderhawks, and can't have dreadclaws. But as you say it may have been modified in the last ten thousand or so years.

 

Also as this thread will have a mix of modeling and background I wasn't sure where to put it. If it turns more modeling and painting heavy (which is unlikely given my typical rate of progress) feel free to move it as you see fit.

[Warsmith Aznable]

I just figured out that BFG means "Battlefleet Gothic"...

 

Putting everything in one thread means you'll get less attention, and that the attention you'll get will be pretty random. One of the grand things about the B&C is the specialized subforums work like they're supposed to because they have a lot of interested contributors. You'll also meet and get the benefit of a larger pool of B&C users that way.

[minigun762]

I'll have a bit more of a think about landers. I wanted the first ship to be "recruited" to be on its own and able to land troops and rhinos. If my understanding of BFG is right then it has to have thunderhawks, and can't have dreadclaws. But as you say it may have been modified in the last ten thousand or so years.

 

I think that is a rule change in order to simplify and streamline the game but doesn't have to impact your ship's loadout.

 

A more realistic approach would be to consider you only have a finite number of bays and would have to sacrifice something in order to have both thunderhawks and dreadclaws. Maybe you trade off having any kind of fighter or bomber or your dreadclaws occupy the flight decks normally and the thunderhawks have to be brought in from various storage bays after the dreadclaws have launched, resulting in a two stage assault or a delay of heavy armor support on the ground.

 

If you want more information, pick up a copy of the Rogue Trader rulebooks. They have detailed descriptions and plans for the various ships from frigates and freighters all the way up to cruisers.

[Sin of Damnation]

@ Max, you are 100% correct. I was planning to have one all encompassing log, partly because i am unsure how it will progress, but mainly because I am a lazy git. :rolleyes:

I will start up a separate thread for the models and painting, and work through the background in here (with the occasional picture for atmosphere).

 

@minigun, good idea on Rogue Trader. I have Black Crusade on the way in the mail, but will have to get a copy of Rogue Trader too by the sounds of it. I've always thought that they need to flesh out the details on ships in 40k. They are so critical to the overall story. Thanks for the advice so far guys.

[Lord_Caerolion]

Plus, it's not like ships are exactly standardised in 40k. They have rough classes, yes, so a Luna class cruiser will be roughly identical to another Luna class cruiser, but not exactly, so there is definitely room for customisation. BFG just simplified things to make the list-building process run smoother. Rogue Trader is pretty much the opposite. You pick a hull, and then you pick the components. The only things two ships built from the same hull (again, let's use a Luna class) will have in common is their armour, hull points (essentially, how easy it is to blow the ship apart, being the "wounds" of the ship), its speed, and how much stuff it can fit inside it. Even then, the armour, hull points and speed can be modified by various components (perhaps your ship has bigger thrusters, making it go faster, but at the cost of taking more room and drawing more power from the engines).