Sons of San Leor: Redemption Begins in Flames

[Bonzi]

I'm finally far enough along to post some pics for the start of my new Astra Militarum/Tempestus Militarum regiment, Sons of San Leor.

 

San Leor, being the birthplace and ancestral origin of the Sisters of Battle, provides the most zealous and fervently religious regiments in the entirety of the Astra Militarum.  Such devotion has lead the regiments founded on San Leor to favor extreme weapons of cleansing and castigation.  Terror weapons such as the Hellhound and Manticore are considered mobile shrines to the Emperor, bringing forgiveness and absolution to those who have turned their back on his holy light.  Because of the strong presence of the Ministorum on San Leor and the effectiveness of the Schola Progenium therein, most regiments of San Leor are trained to work hand in hand with large contingents of Scions.  In the Sons of San Leor, the Astra Militarum provides the faith and the fire while the Tempestus Militarum provides the dedication and discipline.

 

 Fluff is still being fleshed out, but the regimental colors and first few units have been constructed and painted for your viewing pleasure.

 

Chimera: Seed of Redemption.

 

 

This is an old Chimera I've had floating around since fifth edition when I bought it and a couple boxes of Vostroyans.  Both were painted but neither has ever seen the field of battle.  Over time and abuse most of the lasgun arrays broke off so I removed all the remainder and left them as open fire ports.  This Chimera has been re-primed and is ready for its new regimental colors.  This vehicle is something of a symbolic start to the regiment and is entered into the latest painting challege for the Astra Militarum sub forum.

 

Completed Tempestus Scions:

 

 

A mix of different weapons and units.  White beret's denote sergeants and members of the command squad.  

 

Main colors are Dark Reaper over Incubi Darkness for the carapace.  Runelord Brass over Balthasar Gold for the metalic triming.  Karak Stone over Zandri Dust for the cloth.  Main metal bits are Ironbreaker over Leadbelcher.  Goggles, scope lenses, and monitron screens are Sotek Green.  Nulin Oil & Sepia are the washes.

 

Vostroyan Models Re-purposed

 

These guys have been repainted with the new regimental colors (used to be standard Vostroyan color scheme).  They now act as an Astra Militarum Veteran tank hunter squad armed with two meltas.  They will ride in the Chimera, Seed of Redemption.

 

Tempestus Valkyrie: TBD

 

This is the first vehicle of the squadron to be so far along.  My color scheme here will carry over all my other vehicles (without the grey underbelly cammo).  This one only needs the squadron markings, landing gear and the basing to be complete.

 

 

In the hot-seat to be worked on:

 

#1.  x3 Vostroyan veterans

 

#2. Taurox Prime

 

#3.  Hellhound, Fount of Mercy: assembled and primed.  no pics

 

#4.  Manticore, Rain of Absolution: assembled and primed.  no pics

 

#5.  Scions:  soooo many scions to assemble & paint.

 

 

Let me know what you think so far.  I'll be posting progress pics and more background as it develops.

 

 

 

 

[WarriorFish]

Very cool, I like the colour scheme - black and a darker gold always work well and better yet isn't usually seen on Guard models. Good to see you jumping in for the challenge too, very fitting for your first model :tu:

 

I'm keen to see more, especially when you get round to some lovely Hellhounds :D

[elmo]

What he ^ says :)

 

Nice start on the fluff too.

[CoffeeGrunt]

Liking the fluff and look. Also nice one on naming each vehicle, I still haven't thought of names for any of mine yet!

[WarriorFish]

If I don't have a name during the building and painting of a vehicle it's a sign from the Emperor that they must earn one in battle. Annihilatum and Nex Mortis still reap fine tallies to this day ;)

[Bonzi]

Whew.  It's been awhile since I've had any time to devote to the hobby but I'm getting back into it now.  Just got a redemption game against a Tau list that had tabled my White Scars a few months ago.

 

Sons of San Leor:

 

Commissar Lord: emperors benediction, meltabomb

 

Veterans: x2 melta guns

-Chimera (Seed of Redemption): multilaser, hull flamer

 

Hell Hound (Fount of Mercy): multimelta

 

Manticore (Rain of Absolution): camo

 

 

Tempestus Command Squad: x3 plasma, medic

 

5 Scion: x2 volley gun

-Taurox Prime: missiles/autocannon

5 Scion: x2 plasma

-Taurox Prime: missiles/autocannon

5 Scion: x2 melta

5 Scion: x2 melta

 

Aegis Defense Line: quadgun

 

VS

 

Tau 'Buffmander' Crisis Leader: x2 marker drones (no real weapons, just a bunch of upgrades to apply to the unit he joins)

 

x12 Fire Warriors: bonding knife

x12 Fire Warriors: bonding knife

x12 Fire Warriors: bonding knife

 

x5 Pathfinders: carbines & marker lights

 

x3 Broadsides (all missiles and sms) + 10ish missile drones

x3 Broadsides (all missiles and sms) + 10ish missile drones

Riptide

 

The Sons of San Leor were shaken on the first turn as the Seed of Redemption was wrecked by the firing of one broadside unit and then the vets and commissar lord were wiped out by firing from the second broadside unit with commander.  All while parked behind my Aegis Line.  The Rain of Absolution answered back by sniping out a broadside and killing a couple of drones.  Fount of Mercy raced forward and doused a unit of advancing fire warriors in cleansing flames, killing all but four.  One Taurox race down field and captured a vital objective that netted me two points.  

 

In turn two Rain of Absolution was felled by the combined might of a broadside unit and the riptide.  The two Taurox and the Fount of Mercy lost hull points to more broadsides and fire warriors.  Three Scion units arrive from deepstrike but two of them mishap back into reserves, the volley gun unit drops onto the objective that Rain of Absolution had previously secured, assuring another victory point and the recovery of the much beloved tank.  Fount of Mercy bathed the Buffmanders broadside unit with fire, killing another broadside and more drones.  Taurox shuffle and shoot, killing some drones and fire warriors.

 

In turn three the Fount of Mercy is laid low by the Riptide removing its last hull point.  One Taurox also falls to enemy fire but most of the Tau army is idled by the lack of targets.  I'm running out of tanks and troops to feed to the meat grinder, but my victory points continue to add and I've nearly eliminated is Buffmander unit.  All my remaining Scions and the Valk with the Tempestus Command Squad arrive.  The valk lights up a unit of fire warriors with its rocket pods but many cover saves are made.  One squad of melta Scions mishaps and dies.  The other melta squad and plasma squad drop in prime position to kill the enemy Crisis suit commander.  A volley of plasma and melta fire sees the final broadside and drones fall and the Commander reduced to one wound.

 

In turn four the remaining broadside unit lights up my valk and does three pens and a glance, I jink and end up losing two hull points.  The riptide lays into the valk and does additional pens but jinking saves the day.  Fire warriors light up my melta and plasma scions, killing a few from each squad.  My valk flies right up to his commander and deploys my Tempestus Command Squad who succeed on casting the twin-link order on themselves.  Snap shooting from the valk kills a fire warrior.  The command squad vaporizes the Tau commander with a storm of plasma.

 

Turns five and six revolve around my Scions and Tempestor getting blown to bits while I try desperately not to get tabled.  My valk is blown out of the sky by the broadsides.  The game ends with my opponent having two nearly full units of fire warriors, a wounded riptide, and a full broadside unit + drones left while I had only my 5 Scion volley gun squad and a Taurox with one hull point left.  I won the game by one point, 9 to 8.  The Sons of San Leor won a victory in the finest tradition of the Astra Militarum, sacrificing unit after unit, tank after tank to achieve limited strategic gains which added up enough in the end to give me the win.  If the game had gone to turn seven I would have been tabled.  It was one hell of a good game.

[librisrouge]

I'm sorry but all I heard was some kind of buzzing noise until you mentioned limited strategic gains. Weird that way I guess.

 

Ah, I see you won! Excellent! Carry on soldier.

[WarriorFish]

Huzzah! Victory always tastes sweet, but the sweetest of all is one you had to fight tooth and nail for :D Well done on your victory, it was an exciting read - your list was a fun and good mix so you did well :)

[Bonzi]

The Sons of San Leor continue to amass honors in battle, defeating a ragtag band of orks and a renegade Imperial Knight in battle.

 

-A Scion melta squad claimed the Imperial Knight kill on turn two, but died in the resulting explosion.

 

-The Scion plasma squad killed a Killa Kan with rapid fire and then survived a combined charge of another Kan + gretchin herd.  Eventually the Scions brought the Kan down with krak grenades which broke the gretchin who were then run down.  This is the second time this squad has proven to be a tough unit for an enemy to remove.

 

-The Manticore took two hull points off the Knight on the first turn.  More importantly it vaporized the Ork Warboss + nob squad on turn two before a WAAAGHHH! could be declared.

 

-The Hellhound, Font of Mercy cooked down a unit of Lootas and finished off a squad boyz.  This battle marks the first time my Hellhound has made it to the end of the game intact and functional.

 

Some of these units are well on their way to earning unit names and trophy's for services rendered.  Unfortunately for the Manticore, I figured out that the original name I had in mind is actually from the AM book (damn my subconscious mind).  This means the manticore is in need of a new moniker but I'm not set on anything yet.  The melta Scions are on their way to being something martyr themed.  The plasma squad will likely be oriented around thorns.

[WarriorFish]

Great work, they'll surely earn mighty names for such feats :D The Manticore in particular reaped a fine tally there if only that was always the case :P Well done on your continued victories - keep us appraised of all developments! :)

[Bonzi]

The Seed of Redemption nears full painting completion.  I tried a couple different lighting conditions to get closer to true colors, I've noticed in my older pics it looks like my armies main color is black rather than the dark green that it actually is.  

 

I need to darken up the mud on the tracks, it's too close in color to the rust on the metal work.  I also need to get some unit insignia and vehicle name painted on the hull.  I am particularly pleased with how well the rust turned out, without it the Chimera was just too shiny to belong on a battlefield.

 

Any comments or advice is appreciated.

 

 

[Vash]

Great weathering on the tanks. 

Love when people add these details.

[WarriorFish]

Looking good, all the extra details go a long way as this shows :) Have you highlighted the green? The right colour even dry brushed on can make a big difference to the colour, takes some of the "blocky shine" off too I find.

[our_baz]

Love the heavy corrosion on the tank. Think you could do with some edge highlighting on the blue/green blocks of colour. Good work though.

[Nomus Sardauk]

How about "Rain of Glory" for the Manticore, on account of the magnificent storm of destruction it delivers? :)

[Bonzi]

How about "Rain of Glory" for the Manticore, on account of the magnificent storm of destruction it delivers?

I'm thinking in a very similar vein. Right now I'm toying with 'Fall of Grace' to make a play on the 'fall from grace' phrase/idea. It works on a couple of levels with a Manticore delivering a strike on the Emperors foes.

Looking good, all the extra details go a long way as this shows Have you highlighted the green? The right colour even dry brushed on can make a big difference to the colour, takes some of the "blocky shine" off too I find.

Love the heavy corrosion on the tank. Think you could do with some edge highlighting on the blue/green blocks of colour. Good work though.

I am kind of learning painting things as I go. I agree that some highlighting would make the green (Dark Reaper) pop more. Right now I have the nulin oil shading the low spots and the Dark Reaper green for the medium color but I need something to make the ridges lift. Would either of you (or anyone) have some suggestions on what colors or techniques I should try out? I've got a wrecked brush with short bristles that works well for dry brushing (it delivered good results on the orange rust highlights).

[WarriorFish]

Dry brushing is great, very useful for quick highlighting and such but for the edges on large flat surfaces like vehicle armour you can use a brush too. It's mostly a matter of picking the right colour to highlight with but I don't know what colour that could be as I'm not familiar with Dark Reaper.

[Julgolax]

Very cool little battle report but I've never understood how GW sees that as a win when, in all truth, the Tau would have come around and giggled as they opened up on your survivors. I love it when the Militarum win, especially where the Astartes had failed :D but GW has a funny way of making the games themselves seem silly sometimes. :P

[WarriorFish]

Not really, the game is a framework for a part of a battle. The game's final turn can represent some end event, in this case your giggling space monkeys would point their guns only to be turned to fish paste by an reinforcing tank company to carry the day, or that's when the Marine drop pods thunder in to serve up some sushi Reality has a place, but not in 40k

[our_baz]

I highlight with a detail brush an basically line in the edges. I go a tone up for highlights, two tones for extreme highlights. Eg codex grey, highlight fortress grey, extreme highlight skull white. Not familiar eith the colour dark reaper either, looks bluey / green to me, maybe teclis blue could work?

[Bonzi]

Very cool little battle report but I've never understood how GW sees that as a win when, in all truth, the Tau would have come around and giggled as they opened up on your survivors. I love it when the Militarum win, especially where the Astartes had failed but GW has a funny way of making the games themselves seem silly sometimes.

I think it makes a degree of sense even in terms of current conflict. War/battles are not always about killing the most. Victory is for the small squad that manages to open the gates to the well defended city, or the guys who blow up the bridge before the approaching army can take it. Those units may lose more than their opponent on that battlefield, but what they achieve may very well win their side the war. There are many examples of this in real history as well as in the fluff of 40K.

Remembering the 'missions' of the 5th ed which all boiled down to kill points, I like the degree of tactical thinking the new missions add. It opens up multiple paths to victory rather than plain annihilation. I love that the sacrifice play can win the game. It weakens deathstar units, encourages tactical thinking, and rewards those who keep their eyes on the objectives rather than on the kill counter.

[WarriorFish]

We don't talk about 5th Ed's missions round here... you'll get funny looks from across the bar :P

[elmo]

An easy, fast and effective way to highlight vehicles is using a drybrush. Some painters consider drybrushing a lesser form of applying paint but I disagree. You can use a detail brush and spend hours lovingly painting the armour edges and plates but I personally find this can give a Tron look.

 

Use a good drybrush, lightly load it with the paint (for this you can just mix white to the base colour if you are not sure which one to use). Drag the brush along a paper towel to remove most of the paint then hold the model so the edge you want to paint is perpendicular to the brush, rapidly move the brush to and fro to apply the paint. If you have got the earlier stages correct you will find the paint is applied mainly to the edge of the armour but you will also get some bleed onto the adjacent sides of the edge. This avoids Tronning ;)

 

As a rule of thumb - my own choices are (using GW names where available):

 

Base                                             Highlight

Castellan Green                           Elysian Green

Caliban Green                              Warboss Green

Abaddon Black                             The Fang

Ushabti Bone                               "Vallejo" Pale Sand

Ratskin Flesh                               Bestigor Flesh

Leadbelcher                                 Ironbreaker

[Bonzi]

More games and more glory amass for the Sons of San Leor.  An apoc game was the debut showing of my Eradicator Russ and the first time I have fielded the Sons at 2,000pt+.

 

Melta Scions scrapped a void shielded Firestorm Redoubt in one turn.  Ordinance strikes and the Manticore 'Fall of Grace' eliminated a second Firestorm Redoubt after shaking it's anti-air into uselessness for two turns.  This was vital in helping the Imperium establish air superiority.  On its first showing the Eradicator slagged a unit of Death Marks + Anrakyr that was taking over a Stormlord? Baneblade.  Of course Anrakyr stood back up but after that it was over for him.  The Hellhound and Veterans helped shred Deathleaper and a large portion of a formation of outflanking Carnifexes.  The star of the game for the Sons was the blob-lite squad backed up with an Inquisitor.  This squad hugged an Ork Stompa with Boss Sinkrot? into uselessness for four rounds of combat after it had outflanked into the back field of the Imperial deployment zone.  The platoon died a glorious death while I laughed madly and the forces of Xenos and Chaos ground their teeth.

 

A second 1750pt game against Space Wolves was fought to a glorious tie.  Notable mention goes to the Veterans who smoked Njal Storm Caller with a solid melta shot to the face and netted 'slay the warlord'.  A squad of melta scions dropped in behind an axe+shield dred and blew it up.  The fearless martyrs of blob squad-lite tied up Arjack +6 T6 stormshield terminators for three rounds of combat.  The priest rolled 5 invuln saves before he was turned into a red smear on Arjacks thunder hammer.  

 

Glorious moment of the game goes to the AM Command Squad.  After being decimated by Njal's psyker powers, the remaining three members of the Command squad faced down the charge of the last Thunderwolf who has one wound remaining.  The commander took aim with his las pistol and rolled a 6 to hit, then a 6 to wound.....and the Thunderwolf sarg with his Storm Shield and Thunder Hammer rolls a 1 to save.  The wolf + rider crash to the ground at the feet of the triumphant Commander.  The Commander receives a posthumous commendation for bravery after they scrape his remains off of Arjacks hammer.

 

 

[WarriorFish]

Excellent, more glory for the Sons! :D This is exciting stuff, especially the Scion and Eradicator bits! One of my favourite CCS tales of glory is my lone commander facing down and defeating a wolf clawed lord in combat but this is just as epic. Keep the reports coming, High Command is very pleased to hear of your continued successes :tu: