Loyal Renegades: ElectricPaladin's Knights of Blood

[ElectricPaladin]

After some urging by a certain other B&Cer, I've decided to post up my Knights of Blood, formerly only ever seen on BoLS (and my Tumblr, of course). Alongside the pictures, I'll post the bits and pieces of fluff that I've come up with to provide background for my force.

 

I hope you enjoy.

 

To start with, here's one of the first models I ever started for this army. I don't have any good photos of him finished, but he is finished, and I'll get around to posting some eventually.

 

http://24.media.tumblr.com/f99004b0b523dc3d25c40e8c75d53336/tumblr_mrpt5rpnlJ1rgb5qno1_1280.jpg

 

http://24.media.tumblr.com/ca370a3838656dea398c1d3a8984aa32/tumblr_mrpt5rpnlJ1rgb5qno2_1280.jpg

 

I had a lot of fun using a thunder hammer and some inquisitorial brass etch to make a nemesis daemonhammer for him. My personal fluff is that after the Inquisition excommunicated the Knights of Blood, they sent the Grey Knights after them. The first thing the newly renegade chapter had to do was survive an attack on their homeworld and fortress monestary, an attack that was successful in shattering the chapter into independent companies (mine is the 5th) which remain in communication thanks to their militarily brilliant and devious leader, chapter master Baalbelith, the Lord of War.

 

This librarian? He took his hammer of a Grey Knight who he bested in that initial attack, and if you question his right to wield it, he'll be happy to show you just how deluded you are.

Here's a shot I have of my other finished librarian, a jump pack fellow with a kit-bashed sword from off of a Dark Elf kit:

 

http://25.media.tumblr.com/7cfca39e062d96f67140e18df83a9ec6/tumblr_mu7eykfrwv1rgb5qno6_1280.jpg

 

http://25.media.tumblr.com/04bd5f89f76310c4b196273edee47509/tumblr_mu7eykfrwv1rgb5qno3_1280.jpg

 

I'm quite proud of how his face turned out.

[Brother-Chaplain Kage]

I'm so glad you didn't use that cheesy rocket launcher hand for your librarian. That figure is one of my favorites from the old days and it's cool seeing him used in a current army.

[ElectricPaladin]

And while we're talking about leadership, allow me to introduce you to Captain Calin Vassago, the undisputed master of the 5th Company.

 

http://31.media.tumblr.com/cde3ec5d9a38cd9529059e429e45fe31/tumblr_muzb72yxyC1rgb5qno2_1280.jpg

 

http://31.media.tumblr.com/18573b07676f89ab24a437940bc4afbb/tumblr_muzb72yxyC1rgb5qno1_1280.jpg

 

Captain Vassago is a fey and dangerous man, more in love with death in all its forms than any Astartes has a right to be. He fights as though he longs for his own destruction as much as he craves the death of his foes. And yet, he is as tactically brilliant as any Space Marine captain, and his bloodlust has never led his company astray. Captain Vassago has mastered the berserk rages that dominate the Knights of Blood's flawed psyche by welding it to his own personality. Everything about him, from his most polite word to his most brutal strike, is an expression of his lust for death. And yet, as a result, he rarely loses control. What he has lost is his ability to rest easy at peace, and so he is always on the move. When the 5th Company must retire to lick its wounds or induct new recruits, Calin Vassago leaves these distasteful tasks in the hands of his serfs and goes off alone or with a small bodyguard, returning when the 5th Company is once more ready for war.

[KBA]

Nice modelling and paint work. Gotta love those classics. I also really dig the premise of your Chapter. The dichotomy of good guys being seen as bad guys by bad guys seen as good guys (and that perspective can even be flipped depending on the point of view)  is always fun :)

[ElectricPaladin]

I've got a ton of tabs open with the urls of all the rest of the images I've taken so far. I'd like to dump them all out now and return my browser window to normal!

 

Here are the last of my infantry that I've got pictures of: a tactical squad and an assault squad with jump packs.

 

http://31.media.tumblr.com/2e41d39c1e67fc1d528bb13eee5b3aaa/tumblr_msxr84VDlj1rgb5qno5_1280.jpg

 

http://24.media.tumblr.com/be8a679d1d2c99be41fec79f56769e3e/tumblr_mu7eykfrwv1rgb5qno7_1280.jpg

 

http://25.media.tumblr.com/48cbff731b122494abfe4458c59290f4/tumblr_mu7eykfrwv1rgb5qno5_1280.jpg

 

http://25.media.tumblr.com/27bd05a683f5d995a51e1ca84fa1e7cd/tumblr_mu7eykfrwv1rgb5qno1_1280.jpg

 

I'm really proud of this chainaxe conversion... of course, he's always the first to die in every game.

 

http://31.media.tumblr.com/3a7c904bc115a1db52f4e0154da745a7/tumblr_mu7eykfrwv1rgb5qno4_1280.jpg

And the assault squad's attendant priest... because not having Feel No Pain and Furious Charge is for wimps (and blue marines).

 

http://31.media.tumblr.com/26565820a8b056debcf24f55545af7ef/tumblr_mu7eykfrwv1rgb5qno8_1280.jpg

 

http://31.media.tumblr.com/54933fb702c459bdf3966886325e5c59/tumblr_mu7eykfrwv1rgb5qno2_1280.jpg

[ElectricPaladin]

Vehicles! I'm extremely proud of how my Baal predator turned out:

 

http://24.media.tumblr.com/8a44cf2ad83941b5adaf4501f7f52164/tumblr_msxr84VDlj1rgb5qno7_1280.jpg

 

But I think that my dreadnought is even cooler:

 

http://31.media.tumblr.com/068043bf64dea9939302090fc3dd6059/tumblr_msxr84VDlj1rgb5qno6_1280.jpg

 

The dreadnought, Honored Decarabia, was the former captain of the 5th Company. He was "killed" in the attack on the Knights of Blood's fortress monastery, but his remains were saved and shoved into a dreadnought whose occupant had been killed by a psyker's mind tricks. Two of the three skulls on the front are real: one is the skull of the dreadnought's former occupant, the other the skull of the Grey Knight who ended Decarabia's life as an Astartes. The third is a model of Decarabia's own skull.

[Monstra Sumus]

Hell yeah.

 

I do love me some KoB. Your Captain and that Dreadnought are looking mean, impressive stuff. 

 

I started my own very brief foray into them a while back and only got a Captain painted up, the project got over shadowed by my current one but I'll revisit it at some point. 

[RolandTHTG]

Vehicles! I'm extremely proud of how my Baal predator turned out:

http://24.media.tumblr.com/8a44cf2ad83941b5adaf4501f7f52164/tumblr_msxr84VDlj1rgb5qno7_1280.jpg

But I think that my dreadnought is even cooler:

http://31.media.tumblr.com/068043bf64dea9939302090fc3dd6059/tumblr_msxr84VDlj1rgb5qno6_1280.jpg

The dreadnought, Honored Decarabia, was the former captain of the 5th Company. He was "killed" in the attack on the Knights of Blood's fortress monastery, but his remains were saved and shoved into a dreadnought whose occupant had been killed by a psyker's mind tricks. Two of the three skulls on the front are real: one is the skull of the dreadnought's former occupant, the other the skull of the Grey Knight who ended Decarabia's life as an Astartes. The third is a model of Decarabia's own skull.

Looking good!

Do you have a side shot of the Baal turret?

Also, um ...

Two of the three skulls on the front are real: one is the skull of the dreadnought's former occupant, the other the skull of the Grey Knight who ended Decarabia's life as an Astartes. The third is a model of Decarabia's own skull.

Aren't there 4 skulls on the front of the drednought?

[ElectricPaladin]

Aren't there 4 skulls on the front of the drednought?

Oh, yeah... I forgot where the fourth one came from...

Or, alternately, I should press a button and activate the implanted pain-device in your spine and shout "there are three skulls!"

[deathspectersgt7]

Great job on a cool chapter.The Librarians are my favorites.

[ElectricPaladin]

Here's some fluff I've cooked up...

 

Chapter Name: Knights of Blood

Chapter Colors: Silver and Red

Chapter Icon: Crossed swords behind a white shield displaying a single drop of blood

Founding Chapter: Blood Angels

Founding: Unknown, but thought to be relatively recent

Descendants: None

Homeworld: Fleet-based (formerly Immota Primus)

Defects: As Blood Angels successors, the Knights of Blood suffer from both the Red Thirst and the Black Rage. Additionally, Knights of Blood are prone to a berserk state in which they can barely distinguish friend from foe. Unlike the Black Rage, this condition does not persist past the end of the battle, and battle brothers who fall into it can often be restored to their senses.

 

Relationship w/Codex: Like the Blood Angels, the Knights of Blood are organized around their preference for close assaults. Most companies have an abundance of assault marines and assault veterans in relation to their number of tactical and devastator squadrons.

 

Organizational Variance: Ever since the destruction of Immota Primus by the forces of the Grey Knights and Inquisition, the Knights of Blood have been a fleet-based chapter. Their second and fourth through seventh battle companies still exist as distinct fighting forces, while the first, third, ninth, and tenth companies have been scattered among the other companies, seconded to them on a semi-permanent basis. The eighth company is said to have been destroyed or corrupted by Chaos, depending on which reports one chooses to believe. The non-battle companies – the  librarium, fleet, and other resources – are similarly divided among the surviving battle companies.

 

Culture/Philosophy: The Knights of Blood are a highly ritualized chapter, observing many formalities, titles, and societies within their ranks. This is highly at odds with the chapter’s bloodlust. Increasingly, the Knights of Blood use these rituals to channel and control their berserk rages. New recruits are trained so thoroughly that they will often obey their commanders despite becoming berserk, and complex dueling codes prevent bloodshed in-between engagements. The Knights’ degeneration has also provided opportunities for the chapter’s few remaining serfs. Only the bravest mortals still serve alongside the Knights of Blood. As the Knights become even more frenzied, they increasingly rely on their mortal attendants for battlefield logistics and even piloting their vehicles in combat. Those serfs who have not fled are some of the Imperium’s most courageous, equally at home piloting a stormraven through enemy fire and staring down a screaming Astartes as he struggles to control his rage.

 

Operational Specialty: Quick insertion, short-ranged firefights, and close combat.

Recruiting Practices: As a fleet-based chapter, the Knights of Blood recruit as they can from the worlds where they fight. They are not above demanding a tithe of suitable children as a show of gratitude from the mortals they save.

 

Training Practices: The Knights approach their recruits with cautious brutality. Those who are unworthy must be weeded out before they are exposed to battle, but initiates are also valuable, as they have already been implanted with some of the Knights’ precious stock of geneseed. Similarly, new recruits must be taught how to embrace their new condition, but they must also learn how to control their blood lust and obey their superiors even when that control fails. Knights of Blood initiates are usually grouped into small teams and held responsible for their “brothers.” They learn how to beat each other into submission to prevent embarrassing lapses. The trainers, similarly, are fair-handed but utterly piteous, dispassionately delivering cruel punishment and honest praise. Thus do young Knights learn to rely on their battle brothers and both love and fear their commanders. Because recruits are rare, the Knights of Blood tend to field them in a support role as snipers rather than in a close-combat oriented role.

 

Heraldry Variance: The Knights of Blood display squad type (tactical, assault, or devastator with the color of their right kneepad, following the helmet colors used by their parent chapter (red for tactical, yellow for assault, and blue for devastator). Individual squads are distinguished by the color and shape of the symbol overlaid on top of the color. Unlike their parent chapter, all Knights of Blood wear red helmets, except for their veterans, who wear gold helmets.

 

Notable Historical Events: The Knights of Blood were founded and immediately placed under Inquisitorial supervision. The training cadre sent by the Blood Angels were watched carefully, frequently interfered with, and finally departed prematurely, deeply disturbed by what they had seen. They were unsure whether the Inquisition planned to use these new Astartes, blood of their blood, as a microcosm of the Blood Angels to learn something about their curse or merely as shock troopers under their control – like the Grey Knights, but with even less honor and independence – but either way, it was not acceptable. The Blood Angels tolerated the situation for several centuries before they found an opportunity to contact and educate their successors. Nobody knows exactly what passed between Commander Dante and the master of the Knights of Blood, but the young chapter immediately severed their ties with the Inquisition and moved to Immota Primus, a new world far from the Inquisition’s watchful eye.

 

This disillusionment may have been what spelled the chapter’s downfall. Having learned that much of what the Inquisition had passed on to them was lies, they had little faith in any of the Imperium’s mortal institutions. Inquisitors were suspect, of course, but so were planetary governors, warmasters, and even the High Lords of Terra. Although they worshipped the Emperor as a paragon, the apex of humanity, they felt that his Imperium had become piteously corrupt. The Knights of Blood became known as a troublingly independent chapter. After one too many moderately corrupt sector potentate – and his family, a significant portion of his military, and anyone else who got in the way - lost his life to a Knightly purge, the Inquisition and High Lords of Terra excommunicated the Knights of Blood.