IHF's HH Designs [08/04 Ironwrought/Praevian Consul]

[Yogi]

First I'll say this is pretty cool. Second I'm building my alpha legion for 40k ETL, Though I admire and always check out what you HH guys are up to. I thought I would offer some fluff kicking around in my head inspired by HH3 that is the origin of the core elements of my warband. Absolutely feel free to discard, as you like. I just felt like writing it. 

 

Fluff

 

Fragmented account of Alpha Legionnaire captured by loyalist forces

 

Date [Fragment Lost]

 

"...My cohort is the Red Horizon. That's the name you will hear, when they assess you to be worthy. And if you hear that name, you should be concerned, because they will use everything they have against you. Absolutely nothing is sacred. Hah, that look, you think all Alpha Legion are the same. We are not.

 

The name tells you everything you need to know. The Horizon represents searching, striving, hunting. Red, represents war, blood, combat, the enemy. Always the goal to find the enemy, kill them and demonstrate the undeniable superiority of the Alpha L-"

 

++ Pain is administered ++

 

[Fragment Lost]

 

"...again. My commander is Alpharius."

 

++ Pain is administered ++

 

[Fragment Lost]

 

"My direct commander is Proximo Secundus. What does it mean? Why don't you tell me?

 

[Pain is administered multiple times - Removed for brevity]

 

"It means the unknown proxy, for the Primarch. He is the gatekeeper, his joy is making sub-optimal units optimal with the application of ruthless cruelty. The unsalvageable Legionaries will be spent in battle. Those who remain will be made optimal. Sometimes I feel like I'm back there now. [subject laughs]"

 

"...Secundus' tactics? In truth, he is more conservative then his peers. But when you consider the disunity he works with perhaps its expected. My failure was hesitation, only slight, just a bare moment. But it cost lives. And now I'm here.  [subject laughs]"

 

[Fragment Lost]

 

++ Pain is administered ++

 

"Its all lies! [subject laughs]"

 

++ Pain is administered ++

 

[subject laughs]

 

>Interrogators note: Subject's mind breaks

>Subject terminated.

 

 

 

 

 

[Iron Hands Fanatic]

Thanks for the input Yogi, but what with the strike force already featuring Cadejo Cell members, I don't want to over-saturate what is a pretty insignificant engagement with too many unique & cool formations.

 

The Red Horizon & Proximo Secundus sound awesome, but what I'm very cautious about is making too much 'special snowflake' stuff which detracts from the gritty pseudo-realism of background based around a tiny fragment of a Legion - I couldn't really justify including both the Red Horizon & Cadejo, plus I'd want to be vary careful in terms of creating limitations for your own personal fluff.

 

What I'm really looking for is the name of a relatively normal AL formation, which served at one point alongside the strike-force under the Harrowmaster. This would mean alterations to the fluff of my force, or alterations to the fluff of the other members force would effect the other body, each being just a fragment of a different whole. So, for example, if a member wanted to volunteer the name of their Preator & his formation, I'd mention it as another force noted as serving under the Harrowmaster, marked by the insignia.

[Xin Ceithan]

Nice work there. The AdMech are Great, too.

If I find some Harrowmaster ideas in my head, you will be the first to know

[Daemon2027]

I have been following this for a while and I just wanted to say great work.

 

I have a small (7 men, ones a Son of Horus, none painted) Alpha Legion force, which I am working on as a modelling project, a place where I can convert to my hearts content with out worrying about the end army (my playing army will be the World Eaters). As it's small, I have also come up with a unique formation that is founded within a larger Harrow. My small team is led by three figures, a librarian, a Praetor designated Omegon, and Alpharius the primarch (who may or may not be Alpharius). Their team will be vets, recon marines, head hunters, and Learnean terminators, and they will be supported by storm eagles and fire raptors. Their agenda will be based around the readings of the acuity, and will involve them assassinate key figures who could swing the future in a certain way. This of course leaves them open to which side their on. I have also come up with a direct opponent, the Raven Guard. I have the idea that post Deliverance Lost, Corax would have seen the Alpha Legion as a greater threat and initiated a shadow war. To that end I see a small strike force of Raven Guard, led by ones of his Shadow Wardens, trying to dismantle the Alpha Legion cells.

 

Now I realise this is not what you want, as it's a specialist organisation, however I do want to build some background against the wider Harrow, in case I want to expand later. I have a less solid idea here, but this is what I did write in my notebook.

 

I wanted the Harrows real motive to be uncertain. I had them fighting the early part of the heresy on the eastern marches of the imperium, holding off xeno and non imperium humans. Pics saw them as attempting holding together the Imperium as it was plunged into civil war. Of course in time they were to be drawn into wider war. Due to its war footing, the harrow would be fairly standard in make up. I effectively saw it as a continuation of the great crusade, and would be made up of imperial army, remberancers, Mechanichum, and all the stuff found in an exploratory fleet.

 

For the name of the Harrow I was working by the name of Eternal Pythia, which was my attempt to add some mysticism to the Alpha Legion, but I'm wondering if it's a bit much. For the Harrowmaster, I again looked towards mythology and classical history and have Baka Illuyanka. Again, not sure it's it's a bit to obvious.

 

I'm not sure if there is anything you can use there, but if there is it's free to be developed, or mentioned, as long as my kill team has a place :)

[Iron Hands Fanatic]

Well, the name of the Harowmaster seems interesting - although I'm not sure about using the Japanese word for idiot. Out of interest, have you considered 'Manza', which is supposed to be the Hittite word for 'spewed venon' - poison?

After all, mentioning the strike force contained symbols believed to be associated with Harrowmaster Manza Illuyanka may mean they belonged to a force of another Harrowmaster of unknown identity. Plus, their commands were extremely fluid & context sensitive, so its entirely possible that those formations comprising the strike force never served alongside those you envisage, or even more possible that the insignia has no relevance to formation, but has some other meaning.

Thanks for the input, Demon2027 - the ideas on the shadow war between RG & AL specialists seems prettty cool - plus, its also opened up the avenue of Hittite mythology to use for inspiration, so cheers

[Hyaenidae]

Seeing the Cadejo brought to life is... I don't know, man. I'm a bit choked up here. You brought my boys to life, when I thought it would never happen.

 

You rule, IHF. You have my eternal gratitude, sir.

[Daemon2027]

Ha didnt know that's what Baka meant, I do like Manza though. Hittite mythology influenced the whole near eastern area and they all had their spin on it (and in turn so did the Greeks), so it is worth looking at other civilisations. In fact the area had a lot of different Serpent based religion and mythology, which wear either seen as a positive force of birth and rebirth, or a destructive force of death. I also like the way it links the symbology of Horus, we see in the traitor camp, to the Greco-Roman symbology of the loyalists

 

From what I understood in Extermination, there is a massive chance that large parts of the Legion never knew other parts even existed. In fact I have a theory that the Alpha Legion, as a whole, is not a space marine legions. There are a lot of space marines which are the face of the Legion, but the real Legion is it's operatives both human and astartes, it's imperial army units, it's Mechanichum units, the remberancers, who can turn the loyalties of worlds, these are the soul of the Legion. The Alpha Legion is more then just Space Marines, it's a whole organisation.

 

I am looking forward to seeing your Alpha Legion stuff develop, and if I can input further I will, or even develop parts of your 'distant' background (I.e. Stuff that doesn't directly effect Cadejo), for my own use. If that's acceptable of course.

[Iron Hands Fanatic]

Seeing the Cadejo brought to life is... I don't know, man. I'm a bit choked up here. You brought my boys to life, when I thought it would never happen.

You rule, IHF. You have my eternal gratitude, sir.

Eh, no worries Heathens - doing some content on other Legions around the Clan lets me expand upon ideas that would otherwise be gathering dust at the corners of my brain, and makes a nice change from the pretty monotone scheme of the IHs. Having little bits of unique fluff makes it even more fun, and getting the community involved means the ideas are less likely to get stale / samey. Plus, when I read the background you made for Cadejo, I knew I had so somehow include these black-ops hardcases

After all, if I didn't really love the vibe of the first guy, I wouldn't have made 2

Ha didnt know that's what Baka meant, I do like Manza though. Hittite mythology influenced the whole near eastern area and they all had their spin on it (and in turn so did the Greeks), so it is worth looking at other civilisations. In fact the area had a lot of different Serpent based religion and mythology, which wear either seen as a positive force of birth and rebirth, or a destructive force of death. I also like the way it links the symbology of Horus, we see in the traitor camp, to the Greco-Roman symbology of the loyalists

From what I understood in Extermination, there is a massive chance that large parts of the Legion never knew other parts even existed. In fact I have a theory that the Alpha Legion, as a whole, is not a space marine legions. There are a lot of space marines which are the face of the Legion, but the real Legion is it's operatives both human and astartes, it's imperial army units, it's Mechanichum units, the remberancers, who can turn the loyalties of worlds, these are the soul of the Legion. The Alpha Legion is more then just Space Marines, it's a whole organisation.

I am looking forward to seeing your Alpha Legion stuff develop, and if I can input further I will, or even develop parts of your 'distant' background (I.e. Stuff that doesn't directly effect Cadejo), for my own use. If that's acceptable of course.

It'll be a while before any fluff for these guys really emerges to be honest, with the 'Episodic' format the profiles are gonna take, I'll be doing all the designs before I move on to assembilng their fluff [see: here].

In terms of Legions really functioning as much larger bodies, it seems all Legions are coming to be portrayed as wholes greater than just their Astartes components, whether its the Imperial Fists fleet's ceded navy vessels, the Prospero spireguard, the Mechanicum cohorts attatched to the Legions, the Iron Hands' 'chainveil' auxiliaries or the Iron Warriors cybernetica. Which is a direction I personally love.

[Iron Hands Fanatic]

Aaand, here's the next guy:

Assault marine (probably sergeant)

With a closer look at the enhanced (Harrowmaster? ) insignia:

[Iron Hands Fanatic]

Ok this is a bit different, but I've been messing around with DIY rules for variant vehicles again, and after seeing that on the 40k wiki's page for the Fire Raptor there is mention of a 'Destroyer' variant, I started to have some ideas for a tank-hunter variant of the Fire Raptor (out of interest, does anyone know which FW book mentions the Destroyer?).

The idea is based around replacing with the twin avenger bolt cannons with a single offset neutron beam laser from the sicaran venator. However, the venator only entered production as the great crusade ended, so the technology wasn't really there for most of the crusade. What I've done is use the Heavy laser Destroyer rules from the old Imperial Guard Destroyer Tank Hunter, and left the beam laser as an optional upgrade.

All points costs are based upon existing upgrade costs from across the HH books, but I wanted to know how feasible it seems rules wise:

*Is it balanced?

*Do points costs seem appropriate?

*Does it seem fluffy / setting appropriate?

*If it was official, would you use it?

Of course, I will be creating colour profiles for the Fire Raptor Destroyer for a couple of Legions, as well as a proper rules page, but having been out of the gaming scene for a while, I wanted to get some feedback from people who have actually used the HH ruleset

Legion Fire Raptor Destroyer: 220 points

BS 4

Armour:

Front 12

Side 12

Rear 12

Hull Points: 4

Unit Composition:

*One Fire Raptor Destroyer

Unit Type:

*Vehicle (Flyer, Hover)

Wargear:

*One hull-mounted Heavy Laser Destroyer

*Two turret-mounted Reaper autocannon batteries

*Four wing-mounted Tempest rockets

*Machine Spirit

*Extra Armour

Special Rules:

*Deep Strike

*Strafing Run

*Independent Turret Fire

*Insulated Capacitors

Options:

*A Fire Raptor Destroyer may exchange its four tempest rockets for:

-Two twin-linked lascannon:..................................................+20 points

-Two conversion beamers:....................................................+15 points

*A Fire Raptor Destroyer may exchange its Reaper autocannon batteries for:

-A pair of twin-linked lascannon:...........................................+40 points

*A Fire Raptor Destroyer may exchange its Heavy Laser Destroyer for:

-A Neutron Beam Laser:......................................................+30 points

*A Fire Raptor Destroyer may take any of the following upgrades:

-Armoured Ceramite:...........................................................+20 points

-Searchlight:........................................................................+1 point

Independent Turret Fire:

The Fire Raptor Destroyer is equipped with two waist-mounted rapid tracking turrets capable of fully independent operation. So long as the Fire Raptor Destroyer is eligible to fire a weapon in the shooting phase, each waist turret may fire at a target of its own and its weapons do not count towards the number of weapons the gunship may fire each turn.

Insulated Capacitors:

Each of the Destroyer’s ball turrets is fully electromagnetically shielded, ensuring the pulse generated when the vehicle’s main weapon fires does not interfere with their delicate targeting mechanisms. The Fire Raptor Destroyer’s waist turrets still fire at their normal BS when the vehicle has fired an Ordnance weapon in the same turn.

Heavy Laser Destroyer:

The Destroyer replaces the standard Fire Raptor’s Avenger Bolt Cannons and their huge ammunition magazines with the Heavy Laser Destroyer and atomantic arc-reactors, enabling it to decimate enemy armour. Commonly mounted on the Leman Russ chassis within Imperial Army units, the Heavy Laser Destroyer was complex but reliable anti-tank weapon, although a small proportion of Destroyers were refitted with the powerful Neutron Beam Laser when its designs became available upon the introduction of the Sicaran Venator in the last days of the Great Crusade.

Weapon Heavy Laser Destroyer Neutron Beam Laser

Range 72" 36"

Strength 10 10

AP 2 1

Special Heavy 1, Blast (3") Ordnance 2, Concussive, Shock Pulse

[helterskelter]

This reminds me of a song: http://m.youtube.com/results?q=laser%20cannon%20deth%20sentence%20&sm=1

[Xin Ceithan]

Very nice work. Hyda Dominatus!

[Iron Hands Fanatic]

Well, with plans to make a few designs for the Fireraptor (& the normal version), I realized I'd have to make some IH ones. However, there is no storm eagle design for the X Legion upon which to base the design.

Therefore, I've constructed an Iron Hands Storm Eagle to work from. It wasn't easy to get a metallic colour from the matte base (Night Lords Storm Eagle), but I'm pretty happy with the result - real time consuming though

Heres ya go

[Tyrannicide]

I'd like to see how massive the file is that you store all your image bits in. 

 

 

On second thought, no. My head would explode. 

[Khalus]

Exemplary detail you have going. Keep it up!

[Iron Hands Fanatic]

Well, it was a real hard slog, and a pretty tricky process, but here it is: the Fire Raptor. Must admit, I didn't realize I'd have to redesign so much of the fuselage to emulate the model, but I'm pretty happy with the result. I'll probably post the Destroyer version tomorrow, should be pretty easy to adapt.

I'm afraid I'll have ti go back on my suggestion that I'd do these for a couple of other Legions - I'm not putting myself through that again

I'm actually considering emailing this to Forge World - it's possible they might find it useful reference if there are any plans to do an official design - suppose I could just use their standard contact email adress

Anyway, here's a before/after pic - kinda looks like the Storm Eagle went on a diet :P

[Full Pic]

Thanks fer lookin'

Edit: altered the Storm Eagle pic so it's to scale

[Anvilarium]

Looks great IHF! How did you build the Gun Pod?

 

The main body looks a little too short to be a Fire Raptor IMHO, but other than that it looks great!

[Iron Hands Fanatic]

Looks great IHF! How did you build the Gun Pod?

 

The main body looks a little too short to be a Fire Raptor IMHO, but other than that it looks great!

 

The sides are actually the lower part of the Mortis Contemptor torso, reversed and then attached - the joints on either side are from the Malcador barrel, and the circular recess it sits in is from the Deimos Rhino.

 

In terms of size, it's proportions are exactly based on the model - the reason it looks short is because the post formatted it to fit - its actually longer than the Storm Eagle

 

By the way Urza, if you want to use either for some Burrakis re-colours, be my guest - I know how long it takes to make one of these :P

[Iron Hands Fanatic]

Aaaand, here's another of my random musings / designs:

The Grendel Support Tank

*Utilizes the chassis from the legion Basilisk / Medusa - the chimera precursor (it didn't exist in Great Crusade)

*Adds another Heavy Bolter to the frontal hull mount (twin-linked)

*Ditches the extended platform at the rear & the artillery weapon to mount a support weapon usually deployed on the Rapier carrier - developed early in the Crusade to provide mobility to these weapons now that Astartes had to conquer entire planets

- therefore can mount: quad heavy bolter (6 HBs ); laser destroyer, graviton cannon, thudd gun

*Is a fast vehicle, although open-topped makes it more vulnerable

*So its basically an up-armed version of the salamander, Astartes style

I'll come up with a ruleset and post the formatted version alongside the rules for the Fire Raptor Destroyer - not sure whether a squadron should be Fast Attack or Heavy Support (although I'm sure you IV legion players would love some FA mobile artillery )

Anyway, here's a mock-up of what it'd look like (I could only find a pic of a thudd gun that was at the correct angle, although I really wanted to make the quad-bolter version):

So's you can tell the difference:

http://www.forgeworld.co.uk/Images/Product/AlternativeFW/xlarge/medusa7.jpg

[sitnam]

I quite like the idea you have there. Reminds me of a world war 2 era assault guns like the Stug III and SU-76. Combination infantry gun and tank destroyer. Definitely makes a nice thematic choice for Legiones mechanized groups. Oh and I think fast attack is the way to go for such a light vehicle

[Iron Hands Fanatic]

Pew Pew Pew!

[The Neutron Beam Laser version]

Bigga

[Iron Hands Fanatic]

Grendel Autocannon:

Loosely based upon the Reaper variant, the Grendel Autocannon is a modification originating in the period when the nascent Imperium began its crusade from Sol. With the ubiquitous autocannon used almost universally amongst the Imperium’s troops, its lack of anti-armour capability against heavier vehicles being encountered increasingly frequently was slowing the rate of progress of many Imperial Army divisions. A number of modifications were attempted to increase the autocannon’s stopping power, with the Grendel being amongst the most successful. Field-tested mounted upon a new chassis that would come to bear the majority of the Legiones Astartes artillery weapons, the Grendel’s smoothbore barrel allowed it to fire krak missiles commonly used by shoulder-mounted weapons amongst the Imperium’s military – at the cost of reducing the effective range of its main ammunition. Compensating for this by relying upon the Grendel chassis’s speed and mobility, the weapon mounts a system of recoil dampeners and suspensors to ensure the weapon can put down a consistently high rate of fire for a weapon of its class whilst maintaining considerable accuracy.

Weapon: Grendel Autocannon (Autocannon shell) (Krak Missile)

Range: 30" 48"

Strength: 7 8

AP: 4 3

Special: Heavy 4 Heavy 2

[Nakuth]

How about a Grendel carrier with an Avenger bolt cannon on the back? Either that or a Sicaran with an avenger mount & phase-plasma fusil sponsons.

[sitnam]

I dont think an Avenger fits the theme of the Grendel and it'll outshine several other weapon options. I like the idea of a light tank rapier battery as it is.

 

Now a Sicaran with an Avenger...hmmm

[Nakuth]

Well, to be honest, it was really just a preamble for the Sicaran Avenger idea. ;)