Calth: An Apologist and Doghouse True Scale Project Log

[Doghouse]

:D

 

That's not a bad idea mate, stealth bases. Sounds a bit Tau though to me...

[apologist]

Breachers

A mass of gladius-wielding Astartes with tower shields are just too good an image to pass up, so I've been building a few more. Apologies in advance for the poor quality of the pict-captures. Late sunrise and early nightfall means most of my painting and modelling is done under nightfight conditions. 

 

These five take me up to thirteen in the squad. I'm going to adapt the Captain Teutona model (last page, gladius and axe) into a Breacher sergeant and have another pop at the Captain. After that, gradually adding marines up to the full twenty.

 

 

 

 

 

[Daemon2027]

The look glorious mate, although is the last guys sword a little bent or is that just the pic?

 

Oh and thanks for the pic of the finished Word Bearer, he is awesome.

[apologist]

+SCRAPSHUNTERRORABORT+ Yes, you're right. I'll have to have a go at that with some hot water later – ta! :)

[apologist]

Breacher work continues:

 

Up to fourteen members now; with the Captain model from earlier reworked into a sergeant:

 

 

[JackDaw]

Lovely work as ever Apologist. I'm constantly jealous of your bottomless stock of models and the creative juices you have.

[Thousand Eyes]

Stunning looks as ever. Will they have slung bolters as well?

[malika666]

@Doghouse: How did you build those new true scale marines?

[Doghouse]

Mostly sculpted mate, then I used that as a master.

[apologist]

A bit of fun here – it was the Ultramarines' turn for the March of the Legions project in November. I was tempted to do a banner bearer, but I ended up deciding on doing something a bit more unusual and a bit more personal; so I've created an Apologist – a little personal avatar for the army. Since he was going up on the Bolter and Chainsword, I had a nod at the warning point I have (for changing my name a few years back), by adding a red helm. 

 

+++

 

'What could cause an Ultramarine to fall from favour? Did he forget to polish his boots, or just leave his ramrod out of his arse?' –

+ Cromac Ord, XIIth Legion; Armatura +

 

Infractions, mistakes and failure are met with different approaches in the Legions. Some practise punishment – in various degrees of corporal, psychological or spiritual vioence – while others, like the XIIIth Legion, enclose their Legionaries in a cage of their own devising – simply denying him that which he seeks most of all: honour. Bound by their own inherent discipline, an Ultramarine set apart from his good name endures something worse than any physical or mental trial – which, after all, they have been trained to overcome.

 

To the legionaries of the XIIIth, to be red-marked is a spiritual statement; an eternal, ineradicable blot on their copybook. Nevertheless, to be an Ultramarine is to succeed, to strive for excellence. Thus, those censured few tend to fight twice as hard; knowing that only through excellence can his brethren forgive him and welcome him back into the legion proper. 

 

Whether he ever can forgive himself is another matter. The red helm of censure may be withdrawn from the Legionary. he may be reinducted to the ranks, and welcomed back by his comrades. But the Legionary will forever be marked by it.

 

+ Brother Letas, Apologist of 190th Company +

Breacher squads, being the first into some of the most dangerous operations of all Legion warfare, can suffer horrendous casualties. To fight in one is an honour in itself; and thus competition for, and discipline within, the ranks of the Scutum-companies, is exemplary. Conversely, for those who are censured and forced to don the red helm, it offers the best chance of a redemptive demonstration of Ultramarian virtues – if, that is, the Legionary can convince his superiors to grant him the chance.

 

This view shows the Breacher squad marking – a gladius within the inverted omega of the Legion – as well as the hooped segments of Mark II 'crusade' armour on the legs. His red helm of censure maintains his laurel wreath of victory – a personal honorific that invokes his past triumphs and hope for victory over this present dishonour.

 

Amongst the fifteenth Chapter, the Praetors of Calth, there is a tradition dating back to the days of the War-Born of Terra. Those found to have erred were branded – sometimes literally – with the sobriquet 'Apologist' as a memorial of their disciplinary infractions. Armed with power-gladius, holstered sidearm and the iconic tower-shield of the Breacher squads, Brother Letas' breastplate has been scoured clean of honour markings and replaced with the mark of shame; making the machine-spirit of the plate is complicit with the Legionary himself.

 

The Legion symbol remains involiate. Even in disgrace with his brotherhood, Letas remains an Ultramarine.

 

+ Thought for the day: Only in death does duty end. +

[Rangaman]

I love this plog, the work you two have created is phenomenal. Really inspiring guys, don't ever stop.

[That Guy Matt]

Badass. I wasn't aware of that bit of fluff either. Funny how a mark of dishonour can become a mark of status.

[apologist]

Brother Lazaron

A native of Corinth, trained on Armatura, and a casualty of the Illyrican Gates War; the resurrected Lazaron – formerly known as Sergeant Iktios Raphanel – is an apt example of the strength the XIIIth Legion found in its broad recruitment base.

 

The chequered shoulder honorific marks Raphanel as a veteran of the Trimundi Compliance. 

 

Dreadnought pilots are more than simple drivers. Linked via neural web and largely reliant on the life support systems of the dreadnought hull, the vehicle and Astartes pilot adopt a symbiotic existence. The Legions (and, earlier in the Great Crusade, Imperial Army regiments that utilised Dreadnoughts) had different relationships and philosophies regarding their pilots. Some regarded becoming a Dreadnought as an 'ascension' or 'communion'; a further move towards a superior state. For the Xth Legion (and to a lesser extent, the IVth and VIIth), becoming a Dreadnought was the logical next step in an Astartes' lifecycle; from baseline human to metahuman to post-human.

 

Others, notably the IInd, Vth and VIth Legions, regarded the life-in-death existence of the pilots as various degrees of unfortunate – even abominable – an affront to the dignity and essential humanity of the warrior, and only to be entered into in extremis. Most adopted a balanced (or wilfully blind) approach, keeping the pilots in a hibernating sus-an state in between conflicts.

 

For the XIIIth, the pilot and Dreadnought were regarded as essentially separate entities. Pilots sus-an coffins were essentially lain to rest detached and honourably interred amongst the dusty racks and shelves of coffins in the Fields of Remembrance – permanent sephulcres of casualties on every major planet in Ultramar, as well as on major battleships. The Dreadnought shells were stored alongside the remainder of the vehicle pool.

 

 

The fielding of the honoured dead required a little cognitive dissonance in Ultramarine philosophy to explain the ability of the dead Astartes to influence the living machines – a state that would otherwise conflict with the reductive Imperial Truth.

 

In essence, the Ultramarines regarded the Dreadnought itself as the 'being' on the battlefield; a terrifying living machine, with the pilot psychologically relegated to a benign but unconscious influence that brought the heroic dead's tactical nous and knowledge to what would otherwise be a soulless abomination. It is for this reason that the Dreadnought is referred to by its 'hull name', generally a modification of the first pilot's name. The hull name Telemechrus, drawn from its founding pilot Telemacon, is a good example. Such double-think was often required to reconcile the Mechanicum's spiritual doctrines with the secular nature of the Emperor's Imperium.

 

Occasionally the hull name is drawn from the heroic or classical Macraggian poetic traditions, Ultramarian cultural references, or from more diverse influences. The famed Contemptor Zarathustra, for example – believed to be one of the very first Dreadnoughts fielded by the XIIIth and still bearing the markings of the Ante-Guilliman era 'War-born' Legion – was reputedly named by Malcador the Sigilite himself.

 

Armed – quite literally – with a standard Tactical Support armament of twin-linked heavy bolter and Sol-standard power fist with in-built combi-bolter, Lazaron has a reputation as a fierce and uncompromising warrior who nevertheless fights with a generous measure of self-control. Roughly a quarter of the dozen or so Dreadnought Talons associated with the 15th Chapter are specialists, while the remainder, including Lazaron's Talon, are designated Tactical support; as shown by the icon on his right kneeplate.

 

Tactical Support Talons are deployed alongside infantry to act as reliable bulwarks and bastions for the troopers they work alongside. In turn, the infantry prevent the Dreadnought being overwhelmed by enemy numbers. Generally, two or three of the Talon will be armed with heavy bolters and power fists, while the remainder have anti-tank weaponry – this varies by pilot preference and deployment pattern, and can vary hugely.

 

Lazaron's hull is simple and practical, marked by additional armour plating and reinforced cabling around the core torso. Decoration is limited to gold trim on the knees and waist, along with bonding studs on the torso and head. Of note is the vox-amplifier set centrally on the chest. Warcries and bellows proved as useful in intimidating enemies and inspiring allies during the Great Crusade and Horus Heresy as they had throughout human history.

[apologist]

+ Brother Traum +

Familiarity breeds contempt. So says the wisdom of the ages; and it is true – using a word too freely of often will rob it of the impact and potency it may once have had. Dreadnought – 'fear nothing'. The term might simply seem a label; a signifier divorced from the sign. In these dark days, when Talons rake their way across the Five Hundred worlds, demigods clash in battle, and entire civilisations are swallowed up overnight, we need the simply reassurance that there are fearless heroes that are ranged against the nightmare enemy.

 

A word of obscure origin, deredeo translates as 'god of destruction'; with 'dere' being an archaic term for damage or harm. It is a fitting title for this heavy support class of Dreadnought. The Deredeo bristles with weaponry, commonly mounting one or two primary weapon banks along with its' torso-held defensive weapons.

 

The Deredeo stands apart from other dreadnoughts, (such as the Castraferrum, Contemptor, Adjurator and Leviathan patterns) in that it has a distinctly inhuman profile, with its deep flared hull and lack of articulated upper limbs. This occasionally causes difficulty in acclimatising pilots, who must adapt to the limitations of the structure. This is, however, more than outweighed by the sheer amount of firepower the dreadnought can generate.

 

Perhaps surprisingly, the pilot's motor functions used in life to control his arms and hands are not commonly slaved to the main armament, but to the torso-secondary bank – an adaptation brought in for nearly all Deredeo dreadnoughts since the earliest iteration. Psy-probes and neural inloadlinks reveal the pilot 'feels' himself in a foetal hunch, his arms and fists clenched protectively in front of his torso; rather than unnaturally displaced when slaved to the main battery. It has been demonstrated that the pilot's proprioceptive homonculus (which allow the neural-web to function as naturally as possible) adapts more quickly and completely to this layout. The main battery is instead directly aimed by the visual cortex and operated via an equivalence of the shoulder and back musculature – an idiosyncracy which gave rise to the informal nickname of 'shrugfire' or 'spinetwister' Dreadnoughts.

 

Astartes are adaptable and resilient, both physically and psychologically; and those able to wrangle the Deredeo's unusual interface find great reward in the punishment that can mete out to the Emperor's (or Warmaster's) enemies.

 

This example, Traum, was piloted by former Brother Terminus during the Calth Atrocity. A relative newcomer to the chassis, and barracked with a training corps, he was yet to be upgraded with the top-mounted aiolos missile system that changed the Deredeo from a powerful firebase to a murder machine. His Legion and heavy support designation markings are on his kneepads; at a convenient height for his supporting infantry.

[Commissar Molotov]

Excellent, some really thought-provoking background that made me think about the weird existence that dreadnought pilots must endure.

 

Happy Christmas! I look forward to seeing what you produce over the next year.

[Daemon2027]

Very nice pieces of background. Reads like it was taken straight from one of the FW books. The models are great to!

[apologist]

 

Our Presence Remakes the Past

[Luna707]

Beautiful apologist! Everything is perfect just as always! I love that cinematic photo at the end

[Augustus b'Raass]

Awesome, Apologist. I myself have thought about the way occupants are inked into the dreadnoughts, and you´ve expanded greatly upon it. Very inspiring. 

 

Incidentally, what´s an "Adjurator pattern" dreadnought?