Calth: An Apologist and Doghouse True Scale Project Log

[Doghouse]

For the last few years Ed and I have been mulling over doing a Heresy era true scale battle. The main problem for me has always been the time and resources to commit to such a project. Something like this is a one off and not something you want to venture into lightly given the work that goes into creating these guys.

 

We've toyed with a few ideas over the last couple of years including the likes of Tallarn but nothing has really ever come of it, so seeing that Ed has put so much work into his Ultramarines I've decided that to make it up to him I'm going to go with Word Bearers and we are going to throw down on one of the most iconic Heresy era battle fields of all time, the Battle of Calth.

 

The Chapter of the Terran Born.

 

This is a working title for my Word Bearer chapter. Anyone that knows me knows I have a bit of an obsession for the days of Rogue Trader, bit of a long fang in that respect. Thanks to retcons of the back ground material the Mk VI Corvus armour was available at the beginning of the Heresy. to me having cut my teeth back in the late eighties/early nineties on the original Space Marine epic game set in the time of the Scouring the Mk VI is the most iconic armour type of the Heresy to me.

 

So with this in mind I set about working on a loose theme for my soon to be army. I am a huge fan of the idea of Terran Legionaries, the whole concept fascinates me so to this end I have settled on creating my own original chapter for the legion rather than try to recreate one of the more known ones.

So my guys will all be veterans of the Sol campaign, former Imperial Heralds and I will be leaning towards a more Terran feel for the Astartes themselves.

 

I'm most of the way through the first test model and it is coming along nicely. We've yet to sort out the details of the battle itself that this log will lead to but we can sort that as we go.

 

Pictures coming asap.

[Daemon2027]

Very exciting, I am looking forward to seeing what you bring us. I have always loved both of your true scale work and to see them facing off against each other, even in pictures, will be amazing.

[Dragonlover]

You just made a man 6 weeks shy of his 30th birthday emit a sound roughly comparable to a child seeing a very fuzzy puppy. This is going to be awesome.

 

Dragonlover

[Doghouse]

Cheers guys, hopefully it should be really good, I'm hoping we can motivate each other to get this going at long last.

 

This is the first test guy that I am working on, sadly my camera is a bit rubbish but it gives you a general idea of where I am going with these guys. Still very wip at the moment but hopefully next week I will be able to plough on fully with the first squad and the Praetor.

 

I'm going for bare shoulder pads on the marines rather than studs on one purely because this is how the original plastic epic mkvi marines looked. The helmet stripe is another throw back to RT as well.

 

These guys will be well worn and battle beaten as that is a style that I enjoy to paint. Rather than sculpt chaos icons all over the model I will be using the old school technique of painting markings on, the feel that I want is that these guys have been equipped with the Corvus suits and personalised them rather than have them be artificier style armour.

 

 

http://i152.photobucket.com/albums/s196/Mutt2050/wordbearer.jpg

 

http://i152.photobucket.com/albums/s196/Mutt2050/wordbearer2.jpg

[Tyrannicide]

Excitement level rising drastically. Sweat uncontrollable.

[deathspectersgt7]

COOL!!!!!

[Urael]

Damn fine dirty filthy traitor scumbag you have there! :)

Seriously digging the Rogue Trader vibe. :)

[batu]

He looks wonderful. The markings are really nice. I hope we will see more very soon.

[apologist]

What's that... sound?

 

Courage and Honour!

As Doghouse mentioned, we've been planning to meet up and clash armies for quite a while now, but having a blog makes it all a bit more real! Cheers for sorting out setting one up, Steve. That Word Bearer is looking awesome :)

 

Both of us have a lot of nostalgia for the older versions of Epic, so expect a lot of stuff largely inspired by the background and modelling of the Adeptus Titanicus-era days mixed in with some more modern stuff.

 

I've recently started ramping up production of the Ultramarines; here's a few that Iwas working upon last night, in a mix of brand new stuff and revamps and rebasing of my older marines:

 

 

 

[NoLats_McGee]

Those ultramarines.. wow. Just wow.

 

And doghouse, I've been a fan ever since your attempt at true-scale PH Night Lords. So keen is an understatement

[Forté]

And following (thought I was already though). Glad to see this active again.

[Bob Hunk]

Wow, a very exciting premise for a project log!

Thanks to retcons of the back ground material the Mk VI Corvus armour was available at the beginning of the Heresy. to me having cut my teeth back in the late eighties/early nineties on the original Space Marine epic game set in the time of the Scouring the Mk VI is the most iconic armour type of the Heresy to me.

Amen!

These guys will be well worn and battle beaten as that is a style that I enjoy to paint. Rather than sculpt chaos icons all over the model I will be using the old school technique of painting markings on, the feel that I want is that these guys have been equipped with the Corvus suits and personalised them rather than have them be artificier style armour.

The markings are my favourite part. The contrast of the bright white and the way they look chipped and battle damaged is spot on.

[That Guy Matt]

Great starts guys.  This looks like it has the potential to be a really epic log.

[apologist]

The Chapter of the Terran Born.

 

This is a working title for my Word Bearer chapter. Anyone that knows me knows I have a bit of an obsession for the days of Rogue Trader, bit of a long fang in that respect. Thanks to retcons of the back ground material the Mk VI Corvus armour was available at the beginning of the Heresy. to me having cut my teeth back in the late eighties/early nineties on the original Space Marine epic game set in the time of the Scouring the Mk VI is the most iconic armour type of the Heresy to me.

 

So with this in mind I set about working on a loose theme for my soon to be army. I am a huge fan of the idea of Terran Legionaries, the whole concept fascinates me so to this end I have settled on creating my own original chapter for the legion rather than try to recreate one of the more known ones.

So my guys will all be veterans of the Sol campaign, former Imperial Heralds and I will be leaning towards a more Terran feel for the Astartes themselves.

 

Really excited by this idea. There are some hints in the Dark Creed (etc) series that the Terran marines got purged; and there's a bit in Betrayer that implies Lorgar sent the more fanatical Word Bearers to Calth to die. A Chapter of Terran Word Bearers has got a lot of story potential behind it for (anti-)heroism and pathos – if the Word Bearers thought Lorgar favoured Colchisians, how would the Terrans have reacted? :)

 

Having such veterans sent in against the Ultramarines is also a great concept. Know No Fear suggests that there's quite a few Ultramarines who – while still bad-ass Space Marines – haven't got a huge amount of experience. That's the starting point for my army, the 190th.  I haven't yet decided whether they'll have an honorific (like the 15th; The Praetors of Calth), or still be a relatively junior force. Getting that sense of shock and awe that the Word Bearers bring to the atrocity on Calth will be challenging, but great fun :)

 

One thing we're both keen to tie into the fight is the old Epic rulebooks, so to that end I'll be including some nods to that, like Lexicanium Elisar Trask, seen here tossing a Sons of Horus banner onto a pyre after the victory at Tallarn:

Of course, at this point, Trask is going to be obediently following the Edict of Nikea, so he'll just be a Legionary :)

[The_son_of_Dorn]

dem ultras <3

 

Nice spine on the word bearers to!

[Totem Pole]

You had me at "Apologist and Doghouse".

[Hyaenidae]

I ain't gonna lie, I was a bit heartbroken when you mentioned in your other thread that you were dropping your Iron Warriors. After seeing this Word Bearer, though, I'll admit you may have made the right decision. Mk VI Armor for the win; the red is vibrant, the helmet stripe and chaos markings stand out in a very good way, and the battle damage simply highlights both. Beautiful work, Doghouse.

 

Will you be bringing your old grey Word Bearer Chaplain, the beast with the jump pack and mace, out of retirement for this? That dude was a monster, and I'd love to see him side by side with your new Word Bearer.  :)

[Doghouse]

Don't worry mate, still doing the Iron Warriors but they will be a dedicated siege force. Just waiting for the Imperial Army stuff to come out to back them up. ;)

 

Funnily enough I did come across him the other day, I think I may need to rework him a little but no reason why I can't use him in the force.

[Hyaenidae]

Don't worry mate, still doing the Iron Warriors but they will be a dedicated siege force. Just waiting for the Imperial Army stuff to come out to back them up.

Funnily enough I did come across him the other day, I think I may need to rework him a little but no reason why I can't use him in the force.

Rejoice! The Iron Warriors live!

If I remember correctly, the Chaplain had an Ultramarine greave, yeah? It'd be cool if you added some of the painted iconography that Apologist uses for his Ultramarines on that section; a bit of a insult/challenge to your noble opponent.

[Doghouse]

Really excited by this idea. There are some hints in the Dark Creed (etc) series that the Terran marines got purged; and there's a bit in Betrayer that implies Lorgar sent the more fanatical Word Bearers to Calth to die. A Chapter of Terran Word Bearers has got a lot of story potential behind it for (anti-)heroism and pathos – if the Word Bearers thought Lorgar favoured Colchisians, how would the Terrans have reacted?

Having such veterans sent in against the Ultramarines is also a great concept. Know No Fear suggests that there's quite a few Ultramarines who – while still bad-ass Space Marines – haven't got a huge amount of experience. That's the starting point for my army, the 190th. I haven't yet decided whether they'll have an honorific (like the 15th; The Praetors of Calth), or still be a relatively junior force. Getting that sense of shock and awe that the Word Bearers bring to the atrocity on Calth will be challenging, but great fun

Sounds good mate.

I quite like the idea of these guys being sent to get bumped off but managing to turn things around despite the odds. Maybe the inclusion of a Dark Apostle sent to oversee their destruction and some seemingly impossible mission making these guys the defiant underdogs.

I'm currently working on a Praetor at the moment to give me the incentive to crack on with the force, I'll need to look at the rank system a little more closely but I quite like the idea of a low level officer rather than a full captain leading the force. Maybe a first sergeant.

I think that might make for a nice contrast to the 190th if they are a relatively inexperienced combat force like you toying with.

I also think for us to get the most from the armies like I was saying before, an entirely new scenario might be the way to go. Something that will set the scene but not influence the over all outcome of Calth. Something credible that is firmly entrenched in the background but is later over looked as part of the war as a whole. Not every battle is going to be an epic war changing event, I imagine there were thousands of little battles where both sides fought heroically but were just forgotten in the greater scheme of the war.

Something simple like capturing a space port or retrieving an artifact would work well.

[Doghouse]

Don't worry mate, still doing the Iron Warriors but they will be a dedicated siege force. Just waiting for the Imperial Army stuff to come out to back them up.

Funnily enough I did come across him the other day, I think I may need to rework him a little but no reason why I can't use him in the force.

Rejoice! The Iron Warriors live!

If I remember correctly, the Chaplain had an Ultramarine greave, yeah? It'd be cool if you added some of the painted iconography that Apologist uses for his Ultramarines on that section; a bit of a insult/challenge to your noble opponent.

That's right mate. The idea was that he and his forces arrived to Calth late and swore that he would not repaint his armour until he set foot on Terra to redeem himself. The grieve was taken from an assault company captain that he slew and used the parts to repair his damaged armour.

One of the things we are toying with is based around a piece of artwork from the original game where the Sons of Horus kill and display the broken bodies of the Ultramarines chained to a pillar.

We are both toying around with casualty models at the moment but I aim to recreate this for the shock and awe of not only the Ultramarines having to come to terms with the idea of fighting other Astartes but the horror of seeing their own brothers desecrated in such a way.

[Hyaenidae]

I bow to y'all's insanity, and shall wait patiently for your combined madness.

 

I'll be watching this thread like a hawk.  :)

[Jamafore]

Apologist and Doghouse?

 

Ferret minions! Bring forth the popcorn! This gonna be goooooooood.

[Kizzdougs]

This is going to be epic!

 

I can't wait to see how this project develops :)

[Bob Hunk]

 

There are some hints in the Dark Creed (etc) series that the Terran marines got purged; and there's a bit in Betrayer that implies Lorgar sent the more fanatical Word Bearers to Calth to die.

 

I believe it was the ones with the most fanatical hatred of the Ultramarines, as opposed to the most fanatically pro-Chaos, for the record. :)

There's a new limited HH novella on the way called 'The Purge' which I think might be about this...?

 

 

I also think for us to get the most from the armies like I was saying before, an entirely new scenario might be the way to go. Something that will set the scene but not influence the over all outcome of Calth. Something credible that is firmly entrenched in the background but is later over looked as part of the war as a whole. Not every battle is going to be an epic war changing event, I imagine there were thousands of little battles where both sides fought heroically but were just forgotten in the greater scheme of the war.

 

Something simple like capturing a space port or retrieving an artifact would work well.

 

It's been a couple of years since I read Know No Fear so I'm a bit hazy on the details, but if I remember correctly the Word Bearers deemed it important that, for symbolic reasons, the first kill in the battle should be the only Word Bearer who have previously properly befriended an Ultramarine killing that same Ultramarine. If I remember correctly that attack took place on a space station or orbital dock.

 

It's worth double-checking that I've got the details right, but that could be a good basis for a scenario? :)