Steel over Crimson: Death of a Dynasty project

[battle captain corpus]

So.....I've been wanting to challenge myself for a while now and part of this will be trying to model a viable Iron Hands army based around The Crusade of Steel.

For anyone who's yet to read the codex here's the brief summary we find:

 

" Kardan Stronos leads the full might of the Iron Hands and Brazen Claws chapters against the Necron dynasty of the Crimson King.

Stronos refuses to fall back in the face of a massive counter-attack, and alongside Garrsak Clan Company he somehow fights his way to strike the Crimson King a mortal blow that shatters the Necron's command structure."

 

I chose this excerpt to base my army around as it is a snippet with quite a open scope I think. As it's a small mention it gives me a great chance to explore some concepts.

To begin with I have the new strike force box set, 2 sets of the IH upgrade packs and also I think one of the old battle forces.

 

What I really need is your help!

- what other fluff exists for the Crusade of Steel?

- modelling ideas for Necron gauss blast damage on power armour?

- army list ideas to reflect fluff and also be flexible enough to hold its own?

 

Really looking forward to hearing your ideas folks! :)

 

BCC

[CyderPirate]

Stronos and his various exploits are a new addition to the IH background. He was name checked in a tiny bit of the 5th-ed codex, but it was only in the 6th-ed book and the supplement that he got fleshed out. So there's not likely to be much in the way of extra background. On the plus side, that means youve got more-or-less a blank slate to work with...on the other hand, he's a pretty divisive character - in the fluff as well as the fanbase, weirdly enough.

 

Stronos, and his vision of the IH tends to feature the application of overwhelming force at a single, or a handful, of crucial enemy targets. With that in mind, I'd go with some fast, hard-hitting stuff, like: Drop pods, Stormravens, Ironclads (in those drop pods!), Land Raiders loaded up Terminators. Techmarines are fluffy and flexible but they're a bit expensive for a 1-wound model.

 

I can't remember much of the battle of the top of my head - I'll have another wee read when I get home and I might have some more ideas.

[Anvilarium]

The only other info I can find on the Crusade of Steel is in the thrice-accursed Clan Raukaan supplement:
 

 

900.M41 Steel and Flame
Led by Kardan Stronos, a mighty force of Iron Hands and Brazen Claws attacks a Necron dynasty on the planet Shemnoch. While Stronos leads clan Garrsak in a headlong assault against the Necrons’ leader, Clan Company Raukaan face the wrath of a Transcendent C’tan. Set loose by the Necrons in an act of desperation, this burning star-god scythes through the Iron Hands’ ranks, hurling tanks through the air like toys and blasting battlebrothers to ash.

 

It is finally brought low when Venerable Furnous coordinates the clan company’s Dreadnoughts into a single unstoppable wave and charges the raging god. Though several of the Chapter’s most ancient and venerated heroes fall, in the end the C’tan’s blazing form is torn apart in a blaze of cosmic energies, leaving the victorious warriors of Clan Raukaan bloodied but unbowed.

 

[Iron Father Ferrum]

Ahem.  Well.  Ignoring the bits that I'm not a fan of, for the gauss weapon damage. . . it's an interesting idea.  The way they've been described as working is that they basically rip apart the material they hit at the atomic level, so there'll be no impact damage or burn marks.  Just. . . holes in your armor.  I guess the easiest way to do that on a model would be to drill holes in it.  To make the damage stand out, though -- since you can't use the normal means of creating battle damage -- I suppose you could paint blood (or machine oil & lubricants, as necessary) leaking from the holes.

[SillyDreadnought]

And you could add some kind of eerie green effect to the edges of said holes to make it stand out a bit more. It'd help them 'pop' a bit, despite it being completely unrealistic for what is essentially a hand held atomic vacuum cleaner.

[battle captain corpus]

So....I'm thinking the biggest challenge is going to be representing the battle damage painting wise!

I'm really loving the leaking blood and oil etc idea Deus Ex Ferrum, combined with the 'glowing' effect too SillyDreadnought! Whilst not as fluff adherent it will look cool!

 

BCC

[SillyDreadnought]

Looking cool and purging weakness at the same time is all that matters.

[apologist]

The way [gauss weapons have] been described as working is that they basically rip apart the material they hit at the atomic level, so there'll be no impact damage or burn marks.  Just. . . holes in your armor.

 

While true, there's quite a lot of room for interpretation here. Gauss weapons are described as flaying armour – basically teleporting layer after layer away – so a glancing shot would scour the paint or deform the surface, but leave the underlying structure intact. With that interpretation, there's a lot more opportunity for producing visually interesting weathering damage.

 

In addition, there's not really much specific on how the results of gauss weapon fire. You could equally well interpret the damage as scorching or freezing the surrounding area as energy is catastrophically released or reduced as the molecules are torn apart or simply removed; potentially causing all sorts of weird physical effects like ionisation or discolouration.

 

http://wh40k.lexicanum.com/mediawiki/images/9/91/NecronArt2.JPG

This piece of art shows the gun working a lot like a B-movies 'death ray', which I'm sure was an influence on the designers when coming to the alien menace of the Necrons. Perhaps some films like Mars Attacks! or classic 50s films might provide some inspiration?