Ed's Heresy Kill-Teams: Custodians and ruins

[EdT]

Hi all,

 

I've really enjoyed a lot of the Pre Heresy/Heresy threads that have sprouted up recently, and thought it was about time to join in. I don't have the resources or patience to to a whole army, but I do enjoy flitting from project to project; so the idea is to post a series of small kill-teams here, all with a theme and backstory, covering both sides of the Heresy and not restricting myself to just the Legions but also the mortals who serve alongside them. My painting's not the best and certainly not up to the standard of some here, but hopefully it's workmanlike enough to get the general sense of what I was trying to do.

 

I've got several kill-teams to various levels of completion, but first up will be Orit Barabas and the Storm Bear Prosecutor Cadre. Need to take some photos of them first though, so for the time being are two models I made the other day who I haven't really come up with much of a story for; Custodians Periphas and Antinanco...

 

[Adra'Melek]

Pretty damn sweet. Kill teams are an excellent idea and something I'm hoping to do myself at some point. Paint job looks great as well.

[Veteran Sergeant]

Never skip leg day at the gym. ;)

They look pretty awesome though.

[Pyromancer]

Nice kitbashes and an awesome paint job. I agree with the legs being somewhat small compared to rest of the model, but it isn't that noticeable. 

[EdT]

Pretty damn sweet. Kill teams are an excellent idea and something I'm hoping to do myself at some point. Paint job looks great as well.

Thanks. Kill-teams seem a really nice way to me of being able to enjoy a theme without running it into the ground- think my attention span's proably too short to do a full army. Plus, if you have a fun idea, half a dozen models are fun and easy to do in a way that a whole force isn't. Hopefully you'll like the next lot as well, which I'll post in a second.

Never skip leg day at the gym.

They look pretty awesome though.

Carrying around a Guardian Spear all day does wonders for your upper-body strength...

Entirely agree that they look a little on the spindly side; the difficulty with doing Custodes I think is that they have to look sufficiently different to Astartes to work, and the best way to do that is to fiddle with the proportions. The other issue is that I have a general policy of 'biggerising' my Marines to make them suitably imposing over other humans, and it'd look silly if the Custodians are stumpy by comparison. This method makes them a little taller but slimmer, which fits with the idea of them being similar to Astartes, but 'differently made'.

Nice kitbashes and an awesome paint job. I agree with the legs being somewhat small compared to rest of the model, but it isn't that noticeable.

Thanks, I think it just about works. This is where I was good enough with greenstuff to bulk out those calves...

Anyhow, on to the first kill-team. The idea is to post the story setting them up, then drip-feed photos until the next one is done. Hope people like them!

[EdT]

1- Orit Barabas and the Storm Bear Prosecutor Cadre

 

http://img.4plebs.org/boards/tg/image/1367/30/1367301921669.jpg

 

 

Two Years after Isstvan III

 

Rain swept the landing pad as the unmarked Storm Eagle descended, and Tarang Leng, the Tyrant of Kalgan, grimaced as the backwash of its engines dislodged the ornate ceremonial headdress he was wearing. One of his attendants, compulsively weeping at the damage done to the Tyrant’s dignity, reached up to straighten the garment. The Tyrant batted away the loving hands of the servant and, with a moment’s concentration, sent a spasm of pure agony into the man’s brain. As the attendant writhed on the floor, the Tyrant stepped forward, his crowd of sycophants trampling the unfortunate wretch underfoot in their haste to keep him under the cover of their parasols. “Remove him,” Leng snapped, and two servants picked up the object of his displeasure and tossed him from the platform onto the rocks below, “we must ensure the Warmaster’s representative is properly received”.

 

Three years previously, Tarang Leng had been a hab-bloc nobody, a clerk scraping a living in Kalgan City’s sanitation department. The arrival of the 14^th Expeditionary Fleet made little impact on the dull routine of his life, and neither did the subsequent internal coup that toppled the planet’s government and brought ‘compliance’ with the Imperium of Man. Galaxy-shaking events took place, and Tarang Leng’s grey and unimportant life went on uninterrupted. Until one day, when a group of stimm-jacked gangers decided to rob and beat him; it was there, lying on the floor bleeding and taking kick after kick, that his Gift manifested itself.

 

It had seemed so obvious, in retrospect. Helpless, desperate for the pain to stop, he had raised his hand and commanded the gangers to stop. And they did. Astonished, Leng had stared at their vacant faces, picked himself up and staggered home. Over the next few days, hardly daring to believe it, he realised that with a little exertion he could alter the mental states of those around him, inducing range, passivity, or adoration in others with the same ease as he used to correct the draft of a Waste Outflow Mission Statement.

 

For a while he contented himself with petty improvements to his life- the affections of the pretty clerk in the next cubicle, the imprisonment of his supervisor for malfeasance and a promotion to scrivener third-class, a new apartment seventeen levels up-hive- but then gradually he realised that his ambitions were pathetically small-minded. All those who had looked down on him, belittled him- they were the ones who were inferior, for if they were not, why could he reach into their minds and reorder them as he saw fit? And so one day, he had walked into the Senate of Kalgan, declared himself Tyrant, and induced all those who saw him to a frenzy of devotion. Since then he had ruled the planet almost entirely unquestioned, all those who dissented either mentally reprogrammed to worship their new overlord, or torn apart by the bare hands of those who loved him unconditionally.

 

The Tyrant cared little for the Warmaster, but Horus’ rebellion had coincided with his own and aligning with his cause had political utility for the time being. The time being… Leng’s unremarkable face creased into a smile. He had come to realise that his rule of Kalgan was as pathetic in its scope as his previous ambitions had been. Once I subvert Horus’ representative, then it will not be too long before I gain an audience with the Warmaster himself. And with his war machine yoked to my power, I shall sit on Terra as mankind’s rightful ruler…

 

The Tyrant shook off his thoughts of self-aggrandisement and drew himself up to his full, unimpressive height as the boarding ramp of the Storm Eagle crashed down onto the landing deck. Two figures emerged from the dim interior of the dropship; the first was a tall, slight woman in red armour and a leather storm-coat, but it was the second that truly caught Leng’s eye. He was a giant glad in unpainted ceramite, his armour mostly unadorned and unbalanced on his right side by a massive power-fist, which opened and closed reflexively with a whir of servos. His face was locked into a cold sneer, and he regarded the Tyrant with evident contempt. Leng had never seen an Astartes before, and felt blind, unreasoning panic for a second; then he forced himself to think how powerful such a being would be once in his control, and felt his confidence return. You will not treat me with contempt for long, Legionary, he thought. Another group exited the drop-ship behind the pair, swathed in deep red robes, but their numbers were dwarfed by the great crowd of sycophants the Tyrant had brought and he allowed himself a smile. My retinue is far more impressive than yours, he thought.

 

The Warmaster’s representatives halted, heedless of the rain, some metres short of Leng and his party. “Which of this rabble is the Tyrant of Kalgan?” the giant asked, his voice a bass rumble like the shifting of tectonic plates. Behind Leng, his devotees mewled in terror and he absently reached out his mind to soothe them. “I am,” he replied, his anger growing, “and who might I be addressing?”

 

The Astartes glowered at him. “I am the Warsmith Orit Barabas, mortal, and this,” he indicated the woman next to him- “is Natalia Patrice. We have come a long way to find you, Leng.”

 

Leng, suddenly realised something was wrong. He looked between the pair. “What do you…”

 

The Warsmith flexed his power-fist again and, with a blur of movement, a projectile weapon appeared in his hands. Before Leng could react, appalled, a beam of energy stabbed out and one of his attendants exploded into fire and ash. Weapons suddenly appeared in the hands of the robed acolytes behind the Astartes and they leapt forward, casting their hoods aside to reveal swords, bolters and elegant, feminine faces.

 

Leng collapsed, terrified, as his sycophants charged forward howling their anger at those who threatened the object of their devotion and were met with a hail of gunfire. Frantically, he concentrated his thoughts on the Astartes- if he could bend Warsmith Barabas to his will it would end the fight in seconds- and sure enough, his efforts were met with a roar of transhuman anger. Relief flooding into his heart, he struggled to his feet; and was immediately felled by a power-armoured back-handed slap that snapped ribs and sent him flying across the landing pad.

 

When Leng regained his senses, he struggled to comprehend the carnage that surrounded him. The bodies of his sycophants lay all around, blown or cut to pieces by the enemy; with utter horror he saw the Warsmith, covered with gore and viscera, casually toss the crushed remains of one off the platform. The warrior women now surrounded him, seemingly untouched by the violence, levelling their weapons at his throat. They did not kick him as the Gangers had, but somehow the humiliation was almost as intense.

 

Leng willed them to turn on each other, to defend him- even if his Gift could not work on the Astartes surely these humans would be susceptible?- but no matter how hard he tried, nothing would happen. “…How?” he breathed, weeping from the pain. The woman, Patrice, stood over him, her archaic-looking arbalest levelled at his head. She regarded Leng with cool interest like a biologist about to add another sample to her collection. After a moment she gestured with her hand, and the women parted to allow the bulky form of the Warsmith through.

 

“I will speak for the Sisters of the Storm Bear Cadre” the Astartes said, “and they tell me to inform you that your psychic talents will have no effect on them.” he gazed down with utter contempt. “Tarang Leng, you are a traitor and a witch. You will be brought back to Terra in chains. I would kill you, but it seems the Sigilite-“ he tapped the symbol on his Power-fist with his armoured left gauntlet – “has a use for you. I hope that whatever use that is will prove most painful. There is a saying amongst my Legion, lost though they may be; thus always to tyrants.”

 

Leng gasped, unable to move and utterly distraught. For some reason, when confronted by such complete disaster, he could only focus on one thought, one unexplained detail; “I… I thought the IV were with Horus?” he gasped.

 

For a second the Warsmith sagged, as if struck; then his cold eyes blazed and his sneer returned, like an army falling back to a prepared position. “Not all of them,” he growled.

 

 

[Pict Capture DR/741-18Y-746] The Storm Bear Prosecutor Cadre

 

 

 

[Pict Capture DR/741-18Y-747] The former Tyrant of Kalgan, Tarang Leng. Note the deployment of Luna-pattern combined Null field Generator/Excruciatior Unit.

 

 

Next up, the Warsmith and Witchseeker Persuviant Natalia Patrice...

[deathspectersgt7]

So far this is really COOL!!!!.

[Phalanx Warder]

Got to echo the sergeant, really cool!

[Squeaky]

Awesome, I see dark eldar bits but do you think you could do a item list for your custodians and silent sisters :) doubt il ever make any but I would love to know what thier made of. Wonderful work painting and kit bashing involved.

[infyrana]

Great conversions on the Prosecutor Cadre, look forward to seeing more of these unique models :)

[EdT]

Really glad people like the Sisters! I'll post Barabas and Patrice at some point but for now, some close-ups of individual members of the Cadre...

 

 

 

[Pict Capture DR/741-18Y-747] Two Sisters of the Storm Bear Prosecutor Cadre, one armed with a bolter, the other armed with an electro-sword.

 

 

 

[Pict Capture DR/741-18Y-748] Oblivion Knight Iskandra Lekobin, commander of the Storm Bear Prosecutor Cadre. Note her hand-crafted Inferno Pistol.

 

 

Anyhow, the bitz rundown; the generic Sisters were made using Dark Eldar legs paired with High Elf Shadow Warrior torsos, which gave the nice cloaks and lower-face covering, which I thought suited the Sisters quite well. Counterintuitively, the Shadow Warrior torsos work better than the female torsos that also come with the set; they make the Sisters a bit too busty and didn't quite work somehow. I filled the gaps in the tabards on the legs using green stuff, cut away the various bones and spikes worked into the fabric, and added a little etched brass aquila on each one. The heads were all female Dark Eldar ones, ideally with their mouts covered with breathing equipment, with the ears trimmed whenever possible to be less pointy. In terms of arms and weaponry, the swords were all Empire Greatswords and the arms that held them were from the new Dark Elf Black Guard set; the bolters were the variant bolt-pistols found in the Forgeworld Space Marine Character accessory sprue, which are so large they work really well as human-sized bolters. The arms for these models were from Dark Eldar warriors. I used a variety of scabbards on their backs,mostly the Black Templar ones with the swords removed, as they looked like they would fit the blades the Sisters were holding.

 

As for the Oblivion Knight, she used the lower half of one of the Witch Elves from the Blood Cauldron set, with a Dark Eldar torso perched on top and a High Elf cloak (the commander set I think?). Her arms are dark elf ones, and the shoulder pads are from the Slaaneshi Hellstriders set. The Inferno gun is an old 2nd edition Eldar Shuriken catapult with the barrel taken off and replaced by a melta nozzle; I noticed that the disc on the top looked a lot like the pre-heresy meltas. The sword is a Fantasy Empire wizard one.

 

Oh yeah, and the Custodians. They're basically Sanguinary Guard from the waist up, although I use some nice backpacks from Anvil Industries which are sadly no longer in production as their powerplants. The heads are High Elf White Lion ones. The legs are a combination of the two general types of High Elf legs; you cut the feet off the mail skirt of (say) the Phoenix Guards, and replace them with the lower legs of the White Lions to give them that spindly look. The Guardian Spear is a Sanguinary Guard bolter with a sword stuck to it, basically; I used the Vanguard veteran sword because it had the nice "Imperialis" legend on it.

 

Hope that all helps!

[Doghouse]

Nice work on those sisters, I think you really nailed the look there. Really nice conversions all round though, they scream character.

[zxyogi]

With Doghouse on that!

[EdT]

Hello again,

 

First off, thanks for the compliment on the Sisters Doghouse, your true-scale stuff has always been an inspiration for me (as the next post hopefully shows), so if you like them I must be on the right track.  

 

I haven’t posted an update here as intended thanks to work, unfortunately- however I’ve had a rare free weekend and the weather’s been nice enough to take some photos, so I have a new kill team to post that I hope people enjoy. They’re my first experience of weathering models; while the overall effect could probably be more subtle, I don’t think that matters too much given the subject matter!

 

 

2- Keres Seeker Squad, VI Great Company, XIV Legion
 

“Death is coming for you. It comes for us all. It may come slowly, or quickly. You can fight all you wish, but it does not matter. The outcome will be the same. Mark your time, mortal. Death comes.” 

- “Thanatos” of the XIV Legion, VI Grand Company.

 

[Pict Capture DR/741-18Y-748] "Thanatos", original name Kaleb Baykura, Sergeant of the Keres Seeker Squad, VI Great COmpany, XIV Legion

The Keres were one of the most feared formations within the XIV Legion.  They were formed in the immediate aftermath of the Primarch Mortarion’s discovery and the subsequent influx of recruits from Barbarus; as the Dusk Raiders became the Death Guard, many new traditions were imported into the Legion.

 

Kaleb Baykura, one of the new Barbarian intake and a mid-ranking officer in Mortarion's army before the arrival of the Emperor, was sufficiently impressed by the terror tactics utilised by the of the VIII during the Chastening of Galathamor that he decided to adapt them for his own legion. The Keres were named for the seven death-spirits of Barbarian legend, dark and terrifying beings who would attend the battlefield and decide which mortals would lose their lives in the struggle; the symbolism proved fitting for the most successful Seeker Squad of the Legion’s VI Great Company. Adapting one of the traditions of their Master’s Deathshroud, each member of the Keres took the name of one of the legendary death-spirits as their own, passing it to their successor in the squad upon their death.

 

[Pict Capture DR/741-18Y-749]“Anaplekte“ (left, original name Gulen Ertug) and “Stygere” (right, original name Korkut Tarkan) of the Keres Seeker Squad, VI Great Company, XIV Legion
 

Unlike many Seeker Squads, which relied on infiltration to eliminate their targets, the Keres took an unsophisticated approach characteristic of their Legion.  Before each operation, the XIV’s nuncio-vox casters would broadcast on an open channel the name of their chosen victim; then, the Keres would wade through enemy lines to reach them, advancing directly on their prey whilst contemptously swatting aside incoming fire, using the weight of fire from their combi-bolters to carve a path through enemy lines and bludgeoning their way to their objective.

 

The tactics used by the Keres were crude but effective, and their unstoppable advance was the last sight to greet many an enemy of the Imperium. Perhaps their greatest success was the Pacification of Amata, where the bloody swathe they cut across the mind-thrall hordes to the Enslaver overlords so impressed the Primarch Ferrus Manus that he presented the squad with a set of personally-crafted combi-bolters.

 

[Pict Capture DR/741-18Y-750]“Akhlys” (left, original name Kobol Trost) and “Nosos” (right, original name Abiel Ostarius) of the Keres Seeker Squad, VI Great Company, XIV Legion

The Keres did not fight at Istvaan III- possibly thanks to divided loyalties within their ranks- but reaped a deadly toll at the Dropsite Massacre, where they targeted XVIII Legion leadership cadres with terrifying precision. The squad, by now reduced to four of its original pre-betrayal component, served with deadly effect for the remainder of the Heresy. At Terra, by now horribly changed into grotesque parodies of their former selves by the warping power of the Octed, the Keres continued their customary strategy, stalking loyalist commanders through the Nord Merican hives. Between them they eliminated 27 high-ranking officers of the Adeptus Astartes and Custodian Guard, until the 98^th day of the siege, when the VI Grand Company was redeployed to the Emperor’s Palace and they came for First Captain Sigismund of the VII.

 

[Pict Capture DR/741-18Y-751]“Moros” (left, original name Durak Gorgal) and “Eris” (right, original name Evren Kolak) of the Keres Seeker Squad, VI Great Company, XIV Legion

 

This proved to be a fatal error for the Emperor’s Champion slew five of the group, including their leader “Thanatos”. The two survivors fled the Sol system with the rest of their legion; “Anaplekte”, or Gulen Ertug, fell to a VII Legion macro cannon bombardment at the cleansing of Barbarus. “Nosos”, Abiel Ostarius, the only Terran in the group, entered the Eye of Terror at the end of the Scouring period. He emerged three hundred years later at the head of a Plague Fleet, by now one of Mortarion’s favoured lieutenants.  

[Pict Capture DR/741-18Y-752]The Keres Seeker Squad, VI Great Company, XIV Legion, at some point in the early Heresy, possibly the Molech campaign

 

 

Thoughts/Comments?

[Forté]

That DG kill team looks great.

[infyrana]

True-scale ?  No wonder the odd size ratio of base to parts when I first saw them, along with the deathshroud legs/head - the mix of parts is really smooth, they don't stand out abnormal at all, in fact quite the opposite when I think about it.  All the heads get my approval - despite the new FW DG specific ones looking a bit thin in the brain department - the added spikes and mix of all the right helmets works very well indeed.

 

Great stuff!

[deathspectersgt7]

!!!

[Phalanx Warder]

Really good stuff!

[ppotts]

some very nice dirty boys there

[EdT]

Glad people like them! I had a lot of fun putting them together; don't normally do battle damage etc so it felt mildly sacreligious drilling holes in things and so on, but I'm pleased how the turned out. They're satisfying brutal...

 

@Tarvik, no plans to do any more Death Guard, but I have some other legions to cover; next up will be a VI Legion Murder-make which I actually finished before this lot but haven't round to photographing yet. After that I'll be moving on, probably to the Vakrah Jal of the XVII. I don''t think I have the attention span to do lots of the same faction; I prefer to flit from legion to legion and really try to capture something of their character in a handful of models, after which it's out of my system.

 

@infyrana, yes- they're true-scale; or more accurately, big-scale,asI'm not sure they're any more proportional than the regular lot of marines, sadly. They do look pretty imposing set next to unaugmented humans though! I've found a comparison photo and stuck it below. I find most of the Terminator legs offered by GW work pretty well on normal marine torsos after a bit of cutting and the use of grenades etc to bulk out the waist. The Tartarus-pattern legs look particularly nice, as the belt buckle can be easily shaved off to extend the loin-guard.

 

[EdT]

Ok, so I thought I'd canvass opinion on a painting question. I've put together most of my Vakrah Jal kill team, but I can't work out what colour to do their tabards and other cloth. The obvious suggestion is white but I think that may look a bit too Thousand Sons- I did wonder about a very bright red to contrast with the dark crimson armour a la this excellent Argel Tal picture, but  that sounds like one of those ideas that are better in theory then practice. Some sort of bone or off-white colour maybe, verging into a sack-cloth sort of shade? I'd be interest to hear people's thoughts...

 

And just to prove that something is in the pipeline, here's a random picture of my workspace...

 

[Chaeron]

That KT... absolute wow. Very, very nice!

[Honda]

I do think you should consider using the bone/sack cloth color as you can highlight up to white if you want to, without making it look to TS-ish.

 

This is an amazing thread and very inspirational. The Silent Sisters and Custodes especially caught my eye.

[geordie]

Superb, absolutely superb. The Custodes are excellent, I think the legs are fine, they certainly look a bit more elegant/sophisticated than Astartes. The Sisters of Silence are great conversions, that bolt pistol looks massive in her hands, but in a good way. It really brings into focus the relative size and power of  Legionnaire compared to a regular sized human. My favourites have to be the Death Guard though. They look toxic, nasty and very dangerous. Like the use of the Death Shroud heads and the brutal rusty hand weapons. More please!! 

[EdT]

I do think you should consider using the bone/sack cloth color as you can highlight up to white if you want to, without making it look to TS-ish.

 

This is an amazing thread and very inspirational. The Silent Sisters and Custodes especially caught my eye.

 

Thanks, glad you're enjoying it! I think I will go for the bone on the tabards- it's either that or recall the pre-betrayal scheme and go for a nice dark grey...

 

 

Superb, absolutely superb. The Custodes are excellent, I think the legs are fine, they certainly look a bit more elegant/sophisticated than Astartes. The Sisters of Silence are great conversions, that bolt pistol looks massive in her hands, but in a good way. It really brings into focus the relative size and power of  Legionnaire compared to a regular sized human. My favourites have to be the Death Guard though. They look toxic, nasty and very dangerous. Like the use of the Death Shroud heads and the brutal rusty hand weapons. More please!! 

 

Glad you like the Custodes, I think they are a bit-wasp waisted but I've always been a fan of depictions of them that show them as obviously different from the Astartes, who ultimately are meant to be the mass-market variant and so should be a bit more brutish. I love the Forgeworld bolt-pistols; personally I think they're large enough to masquerade as bolters patterened for baseline humans while still also looking distinct. I've seen several conversions that use normal astartes bolters and they always really stick out.

 

Im really pleased with the Death Guard and the sense of brutality they have. I'm currently working on the exact opposite for my next kill-team; refined, civilised and very fanatical members of the XVII's Vakrah Jal. I've always really liked the noble, Lorgar-inspired side of the Word Bearers as opposed to the moustache-twirlers of the Kor Phaeron and Erebus tendency, so I'm trying for the sense of honourable Paladins of Chaos...