Emperor's Children: Pre-Siege of Terra Thought Log

[The Nephilim]

I can't find anything in the HH rule books referencing this, so I figured I'd turn to my 30k brothers for help on this. What I'm wanting to build is a Siege of Terra/post-Siege army that I can bounce most of the models back and forth between games of 30k and 40k. I know there will be a few squads and tanks that get left behind, but for the most part, I'll be building my power armored units to function in both.

 

That said, I'm mainly looking at MkIII and MkIV suits of armor. What should be the percentages of each. I hate MkII armor and refuse to use it in my force. Due to the EC RoW (can't use Cataphractii armor), I'll probably be buying just Phoenix and Tartaros terminators and magnetizing their arms for swap outs.

 

I've not purchased anything yet, but am looking to get a sense for the right armor percentages so I can setup a budget for my force.

 

 

Oh! One last thing to contemplate... How would you all suggest breaking the necks of the eagles on the Aquila? I read the description (I think it was in Aurelian) of some captain having his armor with the necks broken on the armor and fell in love with that idea. I was thinking making GS moulds of the brass etchings and doing it that way.

[Hyaenidae]

You're in luck, Mk. IV was used the heaviest. There's even a pic of an EC in Mk III that states underneath that Mk. III was a rare mark within the legion, and only used in specialized units (I'd imagine boarding and breaching specialists)

[The Nephilim]

That's what I thought. That was the only reference I could find and I wanted to double check I hadn't missed anything. Thanks, Heathens.

[The Nephilim]

Oooooo.... Random question: Heresy-wise, is it acceptable to mix MkIV armor with MkIII shoulder pauldrons?

[Brother Keyaetus]

I think it works fine, it pretty much looks the same only with more trim....alot more but the emperor's children are fancy anyway...and the bigger the trims the better ;)

[The Nephilim]

Yeah. The bigger trim is more aesthetically pleasing to me, plus it works wanting to be able to switch the models between 30k and 40k.

[Kol Saresk]

 

Oooooo.... Random question: Heresy-wise, is it acceptable to mix MkIV armor with MkIII shoulder pauldrons?

By the time they reached Terra? I'd imagine so.

[recon0321]

EC can't use cataphractii armor?

[Brother Keyaetus]

Only their new rite of war in the Massacre book prevents them using it, although that rite of war isn't mandatory.

[The Nephilim]

Even better, Kol Sarek... I didn't even pause to think of that.

 

What I'm envisioning is taking my MkIV suits and placing my Palatine Aquilas over the center of the torso, breaking all of the eagles' necks. Maybe have a few with the heads hacked off. MkIII pauldrons for aesthetics and the aforementioned "maintenance". There will be little battle damage. After all, we of the IIIrd do love to preen. I'll have to practice this last part quite a bit before I'm comfortable with it, but I want human leather on the vambraces and leggings on every model and face skins nailed to pauldrons here and there. Maybe some fur on characters and sergeants.

 

As to pink or pastels, I'm firmly against girly Marines. In Aurelian, Damas Axalian, Captain of the 29th Company (thank you notes in iBooks), felt that keeping his original colors with no embellishments (sans broken necked Aquilas) was more of a slap to the face to the Loyalists than eyesore lacquered armor. I'm going to take that idea and run with it.

[Kol Saresk]

Sounds like a plan. For the leather, I think there's a couple of Night Lord WIP threads that worked with greenstuffing human leather. I know I've seen it somewhere in the WIP forum. :P

[The Nephilim]

I'll see if I can find more, I already have a few tutorials bookmarked.

[The Nephilim]

EC can't use cataphractii armor?

Forgot to reply to this. The trade-off in the RoW is worth it in my opinion. Extra movement for a few minor restrictions. I'll probably only use RoW when I field Fugrim for even more buffs.

[Captain Semper]

Sounds promising The Nephilim - look forward to it! ;)

 

I'd expect that mixed marks of armour would be pretty common (the norm?) even before the Heresy started - so you're safe there. Keep in mind that Legion MkIV (both Tacts and Assaults) display a variety of shoulder pads - some of which have a large trim on the shoulder pad.

 

Good luck with your project, let's see those decapitated aquilas! :D

[Marshal Rohr]

The Mark III Pauldron are really large compared to most Legion Mark 4 stuff. The first set of Mk IV is supposed to be a bit thicker, but Legion Mk IV when compared to Legion Mk III makes the models look true scaled. 

[The Nephilim]

Noted. Thanks for that info before I ordered.

[Max Power]

As far as mixing armor marks, I would imagine it would be more common at the siege. It would make sense to me that some units will have been mauled in different engagements on their way to Terra. 

 

"Hey guys, all of our Mk IV is beat to crap or destroyed. Maybe we can use these bits and pieces of other armor to patch ourselves up before the big game!"

 

Personally, I feel like it would give your units more character. Battle-hardened and whatnot.

[The Nephilim]

Can someone mock up for me what a MkIV body would look like with a MkIII pauldron? I can't get the image out of my mind and I need to know if they're truly oversized or not.

[Forté]

Pastels and pinks being girly. I'm hurt Nephlim. And they go so well with purple and gold too. But, the biggest insult to a loyalist would be a pristine aquila on a traitor...which they themselves have never been aloud to have on their armour.

[spu00sed]

My III legion boys are keeping the Aquila and purple armour.

 

Originally the III didn't change the colour of their armour post heresy. However one of the design team did pink and black for his slaaneshi waveband and the colour scheme was changed.

[Grizwald23]

I've used the mk3 shoulder pads on mk4 armor but I also used mk3 arms as well. I did this on for sargents in my first version of my Sons of Horus to represent artificer armor. I don't really like the look without the added mk3 arms because on the MK4 arms they look a little to bulky just buy themselves. I personally prefer the mk2 shoulder pads to the MK3 when you put them on just regular mk4 guys because they have the extra trim but not nearly as much bulk. You can also look at the SOH reavers on the FW site they have an Mk3 and MK2 shoulder pad on MK 4 armor.

 

http://i1344.photobucket.com/albums/p658/Grizwald714/image_zpsb89b4317.jpg

 

http://i1344.photobucket.com/albums/p658/Grizwald714/image_zps6c09237f.jpg

[LongGone]

When your EC army crosses into the world of 40k will they be known as a certain Chaos warband? ;)

[The Nephilim]

@Grizwald23: Thank you. That definitely settles the matter for me. I'll have to create my own pauldron ridges with plasticard or use the MKIII pads from the Chaos Marines box set.

 

@LongGone: You better believe it. I'm actually working on the rewrite quite a bit tonight. I have about a half a ream of paper printed out on subtle real world references and influences, as well as my 30k and 40k inspirational EC quotes and two composition notebooks (three if you count my original brainstorming notebook). I don't have a computer to access here at work, so we're kicking it old school until I'm finished brainstorming and writing; and then it will be pound away on the keyboard time in a couple of weeks.