The Dawn of a Chapter: Twisty tries to build a army..

[Twisty]

So after a long time lurking I finally decided to start a log, partially because I want to contribute but mostly to encourage myself to actually finish something for a change. Being a guy who likes fast armies and getting inspired by Captain Arkhan´s Sons of Tyr and Marqol´s Knights I decided to make them a mostly biker based army. I got a bunch of bikes for cheap of Ebay, a razorback from a friend and a few tacticals of my old have been butchered and striped, now all I have to do is get started..

But first! Lore!

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++Welcome Inquisitor++

++Gamma level clearance detected, access to Adeptus Astartes chapter archives granted.++

++Chapter “Sentinels of Dawn” selected, accessing records..++

http://i.imgur.com/hpKW5Wj.jpg?1

Chapter name: Sentinels of Dawn

Founding chapter: White Scars

Founding: Twenty-third founding

Chapter master: Varah Erehnius

Homeworld: Thesan

Fortress-monastery: Eosene Jahga

Colors: Khaki and turquoise

Battlecry: From dusk, unto dawn!

Specialty: Hit and run, fast attack.

http://i.imgur.com/gUaQFOR.png?1

The Sentinels of Dawn are a relatively young chapter hailing from the planet of Thesan in the Ultima Segmentum, a planet that would be considered uninhabitable if discovered during the 41^th millennium. Thesan is in a low orbit around its parent star and rotates very slowly, this combined with a relatively thin atmosphere makes the planet experience extreme temperature differences, with the temperatures peaking at about 300° Celsius during the day and -150° during the night at the equator. The surface is mostly covered with dusty deserts and canyons, with large mountain chains in the north. To overcome this most of the population live in underground cities and in strategically placed mountain settlements blasted into the cliff sides.

http://i.imgur.com/cgEdm6S.jpg?1

But theses settlements would not function if it wheren´t for the wandering cities of the sand, massive mobile mining rigs that travel along the terminator of the planet where the temperatures are survivable. One part mining settlement, one part land-ship, they make laps around the planet searching for the valuable minerals and gems that are made available for harvest by the repeated heating and freezing of the ground. These rigs vary in size and population from the size of a small buildings with a few dozen crew to huge, ancient machine cities with populations over a million, complete with its own military, hangars, hospitals all the facilities a normal city would have. These city-rigs where built by the Mechanicus during the great crusade to extract materials for the war effort and where largely autonomous, even the largest being crewed by only a few hundred tech priests and servitors. But they have since fallen into disrepair and in the centuries that have passed since their creation many additions have been made to them, each generation adding and removing structures to fit their need.

Thesans large size and slow rotation means that dusk and dawn move relatively slowly across its surface, but to keep up with the planets rotation the cities must still move at around 10-40 km/h depending on what latitude the city-rig is traveling at. For example, the largest of them all, Dos Vorak, makes its journey close to the south pole where it only needs to travel at an average speed of 12 km/h. Dos Vorak is not only the largest city-rig on Thesan but also the seat of power and largest recruitment source of the Dawn riders 2^nd captain, currently Jhoren Karragan.

The Dawn riders are one of the Sentinels of Dawn´s five orders and the largest, the other four being the Zenith guard, Storm brethren, Ice Wardens and Burning blades. Each order specializes in a form of combat and have replaced the traditional company structure for the Sentinels, although the chapter retains roughly the same amount of captains to keep any single leader from having more power than any other. Below is a list of the different orders, their specializations and a rough estimate of their size.

Orders

Dawn riders: 420 battle-brothers lead by a council of four captains.

Specializing in mounted combat and lightning raids the Dawn riders are the larges order and makes up the bulk of any force the Sentinels might sent to a war zone. Most of their recruits come from city-rigs all around Thesan, continuing the traditions of their family of always being on the move. The Dawn riders are almost entirely compromised of bike squads, with the few exceptions being several land speeder squadrons and a small compliment of aircraft to transport warriors of the order.

Zenith Guard: 190 battle-brothers led by two captains.

The Guard are completely focused on heavy armor and even heavier firepower. Being a defensive force meant to support the advance of their mounted brothers or holding the line whilst the others flank around they are wholly made up of devastator squads and armored vehicles. The two captains of the Zenith guard are usually referred to as the Master of arms and the Master of armor, one leading the devastators of the order whilst the other tends to the chapters entire fleet of land vehicles. The Master of arms is also traditionally the one to be chosen as Master of defense in case the home world would come under attack, though this duty is rarely needed.

Many members of this order are recruited from the mountain settlements and underground cities, being characteristically stubborn they make excellent defenders.

Storm brethren: 120 battle-brothers led by a single captain.

The Storm brethren are often seen as hot-headed and reckless by their brothers, but their combat prowess can not be denied. They are a small order due to the belief of many thesians that close combat should either be done from the saddle or not at all, and so those thesians that become Astartes join either the Zenith guard or the Dawn riders instead. This means that many of the Storm brethren hail from Thesan´s moon of Demeter instead, whose low gravity makes recruits from its domed settlements already familiar with the kind of three dimensional thinking required when operating a jump pack. It is also not a coincidence that the Storm brethren are responsible for the chapters fleet of aircraft, the sons of Demeter make excellent pilots. Not being able to keep up with the fast pace of the rest of the chapters assault forces the Storm brethren usually fight on their own, striking behind enemy lines at the same time as the main force to cause as much confusion as possible. They often employ Raven guard-like tactics, hiding in the shadows and delivering devastating hit and run attacks.

The order have a long history of conflict with the Dawn riders, mainly due to the fact that the captain that is named Master of the hunt (a honor which has always belonged to a captain of the Dawn riders) also gains control of the chapters fleet of spacecraft, something that many of the brethren believe should be theirs. This depute is made worse by the fact that the majority of the chapters fleet calls the Gate of Silence on Demeter its home port, a spaceport many Storm brethren has called home at some point in their life.

Ice Wardens: 60 veteran brothers lead by a Chosen shield.

The Wardens and the Burning blades differ from the other orders in that they are made up entirely of veterans from the Zenith guard and the Dawn riders respectively. Together they form the equivalent of a codex chapter 1th company.

Ice Wardens are those Zenith guard that have not only earned the title veteran, but also withstood The long night. A test of endurance and dedication, the marine must survive alone in the wastelands of Thesan one whole night with nothing but a combat knife and the clothes on his back. A night on Thesan last four and a half Terran days, and during these the astartes have no choice but to continuously run towards the dawn. This is not only to reduce the time spent in the extreme cold but also to keep warm, starting a fire or using any sort of light is not allowed.

“For he who has seen light before dawn has not felt the darkness around him. He who does not weathered the cold has not endured the long night.” - The shield bearers code, on the rituals of recruitment.

Not many have died attempting to join the ranks of the Ice wardens but many have failed, most succumbing to the cold only to be found when the sun rises in hibernation induced by their sus-an membrane due to hypothermia and frostbite. After initiation the new Warden receives his shield, as a sign of commitment to the protection of the chapter and its leadership. The order has traditionally always been the honor guard for the Sentinels captains and the Chapter master, no mater what order they belong to. The shield is not always literal, with some brother preferring to wear it as a decoration and wield heavier weapons instead. In battle, the Ice wardens will be seen holding the line where the fighting is the most intense, forming shield walls to protect their leader, or acting as mobile cover for their battle-brothers. The leader of the Wardens does not hold the rank of captain, but is instead a veteran that the Chapter master has chosen as his Shield. This title is held in very high regard by the rest of the chapter and many treat this warrior as a captain in all but name. And whenever the Chapter master goes to war his Chosen Shield and Sword will always be at his side.

Burning blades: 40 veteran brothers led by a Chosen sword

The Burning blades are chosen from both the Dawn riders and the Storm brethren and form an elite core of close combat specialists, forming vanguard squads and specialist strike teams when needed. Filling several niches within the chapter the Blades see little combat with the rest of the chapter other than when joining the Storm brethren in strikes behind enemy lines, they are usually reserved for boarding missions and similar close quarter fighting. Veterans wanting to join the order go through similar trials to those of the Ice wardens, facing three trials by fire. The last of which is to hunt down a Grachian sand-snake in the large caverns beneath the mountains that it gets its name from. Many veterans of this order wear one or two of the creatures fangs as a reminder of the trials and a testament of their strength. Just like their brothers the Ice Wardens, the Burning blades are lead not by a captain but by a Chosen Sword. Unless the Chapter master or the Chosen sword selects someone else for this honor the Chosen sword will always hold the role of chapter champion as well.

When the Sentinels of Dawn go to war a council of the captains, the Chosen and the Chapter master gathers to decide how large the force they send shall be and how many units from the different orders will be needed, they also decide who will lead the force. The Chapter master of course has the authority to decide these things on his own but usually prefers to hear the advice of his captains first. The captain chosen to lead the force then selects his honor guard, champion and standard bearer for the campaign. Most of the time the honor guard will be from the Ice Wardens, the champion from the Burning blades and the standard bearer from the captains own order, but this may differ depending on the campaign and captain.

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And now, the few models I have actually painted and som WIPs to finish this first post off.

http://i.imgur.com/Kdudnkf.jpg?1

Devestator squad Helios, two members and a razorback still left before they´re finished. First time i tried using weathering powders, I´m pretty happy about the result and I had a blast using them.

http://i.imgur.com/TMbCryF.jpg?1

Brother-sergeant Nevros of the Zenith guard, really happy with how he turned out.

http://i.imgur.com/eGuakFP.jpg?1

Brother Orgar, wearing a traditional sand scarf called Picsha. My wash decided that it didn´t want to co-operate with me on that scarf and dried with some gloss to it, I guess i have to go buy some matte varnish to fix that sooner or later..

http://i.imgur.com/DV3LG5e.jpg?1

And last but not least the last two of the devastator squad, Mr Bolter-guy and newbie. And I know what you´re thinking: "But you said biker army? I seen no bikes here." Yeah, I kinda got distracted by these guys.. But they are coming! Eventually..

Comments and critiques are welcome. I´d also like to hear your ideas for two more small orders, one for the tech-marines and one for the librarians. I´m completely stuck when it comes to naming them.

[Hyaenidae]

Very mellow, yet beautifully contrasting colors. Very nice! The wrist-gladius is a nice touch too, lol.

Carry on sir, they're looking great.

EDIT: And if no one else has said so, welcome to the Bolter and Chainsword, brother.

[deathspectersgt7]

Very cool Chapter like the fluff and the Colors.

[Marqol]

Nice addition with the Picsha, you don't see many marines with scarves. I also know your distraction with the biker part. Bikes are cool and all, but other shiny things always find their way onto the table. 

[Kizzdougs]

Love the fluff! The colour scheme works really well, looking forward to seeing it on some bikes :)

[det]

really like the colour scheme! Keep it up!!

[Twisty]

Thanks for all the kind words. I´m really loving this paint scheme, it´s a very nice change from my usual grey, urban camo Tau. Glad you guys seem to like it aswell!

So I bought some coffee and a cinnamon roll on my way home today, and it felt like the Primarch had sent me a message. Because what did I find beneath the roll, on the wrapper? A cryptic text that only said: It´s time to finish what you started..

I kid you not, a bun told me that. So as soon as I came home I sat down and started painting, I´m sorry to disappoint the pastry gods but I´m not quite finished yet, still got to do a bit of some minor details and weathering before I can call them done. Hopefully the gods won´t mind, being swedish means I can´t go more than a day without a coffee and pastry brake (aka: fika)

http://i.imgur.com/pBaSLbE.jpg?1

And once these are done I can finally move on to their ride, really looking forward to this one!

http://i.imgur.com/CtSUAVm.jpg?2

http://i.imgur.com/m4dOpm2.jpg?2

[Twisty]

Devastator squad finished! I took a chance and tried weathering them and I´m pretty happy with the result, they look like proper astartes now.

 

http://i.imgur.com/6VgX7KT.jpg?1

 

Helios squad, lead by Brother-Sergeant Nevros, is one of the most decorated squads of the Zenith guard. Being responsible for twenty three confirmed aircraft kills during the resent Degras campaign, and countless more before that, they have gained a reputation of clearing skies. Often called "The Center of the Storm" by their brothers in the Storm brethren, many astartes pilots have had their pursuers shot down by the accurate bolts of Brother Orgar and Esen or howling rocket fire from Temur and Dresten.

The brothers have until recently fought without casualties since their ascension to astartes, an process they went through together having known each other since they where scouts. During the intense city fighting on Degras Prime the squad was ambushed by a large group of Tau stealth suits and fire warriors. While falling back towards Imperial lines they soon found themselves surrounded and pinned down in the ruins of a hab complex..

 

"More infantry moving in from the west entrance!" Orgars vox-enhanced voice was loud enough to bloody a regular mans ears, and yet it was nothing compared to the bark of his heavy bolter. He picked of another fire warrior who was foolish enough to poke his head out, all while pulse fire seemingly appearing out of thin air pounded the walls around him, showering his armor with dust and debris.

 

Nevros! Temur! Focus those launchers on the stealth suits, we can worry about the warriors later but I need those suits gone if this plan is going to work. Orgar! Esen! Cover me while plant the explosives." Brother-sergeant Asudai took of his helm as he gave them the orders, grabbing two grenades and maglocking it to his belt in one swift motion. He then started to move around the large room, carefully tapping the floor with a armored boot and listening carefully to the sound it made.

 

Orgar and Esen had placed themselves by the two exits, ready to great any visitors with a burst of bolter fire. None of them bothered to ask the sergeant what he was planing, they knew him and his love of explosives well enough. It didn´t take long before the tapping sound of Asudai´s boot finally changed from the dull sound of thick rockcrete to the sound of a faint eco through the thick floor. He cracked a smile.

"Perfect.."

 

The blast shock the entire building, dust filled the room and for a moment the pulse fire stopped.

"They must thing we perished in the blast" Orgar was always one to state the obvious.

"Good thing, we´ll be long gone before they can make their way here and realize their mistake." Nevros said as he looked down the hole they made, It was a long drop and dark as well, but nothing an astartes couldn't handle.

"Indeed, unless there are any of those stealth suits left. We can´t have them following us, did you get them all?" The Sergeants had taken the brunt of the blast as he leaned out of cover to shoot the explosives, and his armor had the scars to prove it.

"I counted twelve dead, there couldn't be more." Said Nevros.

"And if there is they are either wounded or retreating." Temur finnished. "I saw at least three with failing stealth fields and I´ve never know the Tau to keep fighting after a wound."

Asudai considered that for a moment before giving his orders.

"Alright, I trust your judgment. Esen, you take point. Nevros. Temur, switch to bolt pistols. We don´t know how much space there is down there."

 

One by one they made the leap, until there was only Nevros and Asudai left. But as Nevros was just about to jump he spotted something flickering in the corner of his eye. As he realized what it was his reflexes kicked in and he swung around, firing his bolt pistol as he fell. Only one of the rounds struck true but it was enough to confirm his fears. The air rippled and flickered for a moment, giving him a glimpse of the large, armored Tau and the anti-tank weapon it carried under its forearm. As he fell the last thing he heard was the sound of the Asudai´s chainsword followed by the high pitched whine of a fusion blaster.

 

He awoke later in a Rhino flanked by his battle-brothers, no one spoke a word. There was nothing to say.

Nevros was promoted to Sergeant the next day.

[deathspectersgt7]

Looking Good. Looking forward to see paint on the RB.

[Twisty]

Thanks, unfortunately the razorback will have to wait a bit longer for it´s paintjob, I´m in a rush to get by bikes ready for a campaign this weekend. The good news are that I might actually start uploading pic of some actual WIPs and not just finished models

[Grizzly_bear]

Looking great, loverly scheme.

[Psy-Crow]

 "I saw at least three with failing stealth fields and I´ve never known the Tau to keep fighting after a wound."

 

Haha, you made me spit out my coffee. These are great Twisty, I'm enjoying your background to go with the characters. Scenarios like these play out in my head as I'm painting my army and it really helps the creative juices flow. 

[Reyner]

Very cool, the colour scheme is decent too. I like the sergeants modified chest plate. 

[Twisty]

Looking great, loverly scheme.

Thanks mate

"I saw at least three with failing stealth fields and I´ve never known the Tau to keep fighting after a wound."

Haha, you made me spit out my coffee. These are great Twisty, I'm enjoying your background to go with the characters. Scenarios like these play out in my head as I'm painting my army and it really helps the creative juices flow.

Sorry about your coffee! As I might have mentioned before my main force is (and always have been) Tau, so I am quite familiar with units either being completly wiped in one turn, or running of the board on in the next.

And it is always fun to come up with stories behind characters and units, I play 40k for the cinematic and lore elements after all.

Very cool, the colour scheme is decent too. I like the sergeants modified chest plate.

Thanks. I´d love to hear your opinion on the color scheme, is there something you think could be changed to bring it from decent to great? I myself really like this scheme but I always like to hear others opinion, who knows I might get some inspiration for some of the specialist units.

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So after a few days of being lost in the warp (aka: forgotten on the buss) my case with the entirety of the chapter has finally turned up again and I can stop beating myself up over it, and more importantly, start painting again!

I finished painting my captain last week (before i lost the bag) so I haven't gotten around to taking pics until now, but it turns out that that is easier said than done. This guy is just impossible to take good photographs of, but until I can get my hand on a better lighting setup this´ll have to do.

http://i.imgur.com/Qt3QLhU.jpg?2http://i.imgur.com/gFj25Jb.jpg?1

He will probably get a head swap in the near future, and will definitely be replaced eventually for something a bit more fancy.

And to finish things off I leave you with some pics of the two bike squads waiting for a coat of paint and the reinforcements that came with the mail today.

http://i.imgur.com/XhyANK6.jpg?1

http://i.imgur.com/Ka9Tfeb.jpg?1

[deathspectersgt7]

Vrooom!!!! Vroommm!!!!

[Son of Carnelian]

Another Chapter decked out in bone. Awesome! Greetings to you, DIY brother! Love your models and the fantastic paint jobs. You're right about the Chapter Master though, he looks pretty bare-bones. But I am sure his eventual replacement will have all the bling in the subsector! 

[Reyner]

Don't get me wrong I really like the scheme - the bone/graveyard earth colour is really good and rarely seen and I think the blue is great. I really like the heraldry of your Captain too. 

[Stercus]

These guys are great. The colour scheme is nicely understated which really lets the personality in the conversions show through. I really like the background for the homeworld too, it reminds me a bit of some of the stuff in the Mars trilogy by Kim Stanley Robinson. Good work!

[Ada]

Nice colour scheme, well executed, great work dude.

[Tiberius Cato]

These guys are quite cool, love the colour scheme. I eagerly await whatever spectacular work you have coming up on deck!

 

Also, is that scarf greenstuff'd? I like it and it gave me an idea to use for my legion project.

[MonkeyMad]

scrub learn2paint

[Twisty]

Vrooom!!!! Vroommm!!!!

More Vroom is comming.. Soon..

Don't get me wrong I really like the scheme - the bone/graveyard earth colour is really good and rarely seen and I think the blue is great. I really like the heraldry of your Captain too.

Nice colour scheme, well executed, great work dude.

Thanks!

Another Chapter decked out in bone. Awesome! Greetings to you, DIY brother! Love your models and the fantastic paint jobs. You're right about the Chapter Master though, he looks pretty bare-bones. But I am sure his eventual replacement will have all the bling in the subsector!

Thanks! Even though I play him as a pretty bare bones Captain his bling doesen´t even reflect that status IMO, so lore-wise I have decided that he is a highly respected veteran Sergeant that often gets the honor of being the commander of some of the smaller strike forces that are sometimes deployed. I´m thinking of having the captains on FW Outrider bikes and several models for the Chapter Master, one on a jetbike and one or two on foot with different loadouts.

These guys are great. The colour scheme is nicely understated which really lets the personality in the conversions show through. I really like the background for the homeworld too, it reminds me a bit of some of the stuff in the Mars trilogy by Kim Stanley Robinson. Good work!

I haven´t read the Mars trilogy but I´m pretty tempted to pick them up once I´m finished with A song of ice and fire, although that might take a while I did take quite a bit of inspiration from a series of steampunk books I read when I was younger called "Mortal Engines" about the world several hundred years after some form of apocalypse (might have been global warming but I can´t really remember) where huge, tracked cities roam the earth in search of resources and smaller cities to "eat".

These guys are quite cool, love the colour scheme. I eagerly await whatever spectacular work you have coming up on deck!

Also, is that scarf greenstuff'd? I like it and it gave me an idea to use for my legion project.

Sorry about taking so long to respond but yes, that is simply a roll of greenstuff with some minor sculpting work done to it. I´d love to see what you come up with for your Legion!

scrub learn2paint

Scrub learn 2 post your chapter like you said you would

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Took me long enough but I finally paused XCOM long enough to update this thread. I don´t have any lore for you at the moment but what I do have is a few (a lot) of pictures of a finished bike squad, a half-finished bike squad and a WIP of my much needed command squad.

But first: Army shot!

http://i.imgur.com/SNly8uO.jpg

The two guys with white helmets are Sergeants, there are two in this first batch of painted bikes simply because I didn´t notice that two of them where sergeants until they where pretty much done

http://i.imgur.com/P1amzpP.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/Ag2uyUG.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/WpIvIX9.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/CibY3TS.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/V056xUY.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/w8oHCAz.jpg

That is all for now but I do have a favor to ask of anyone that has read my lore so far, what do you think of the names of the Orders/Companies? I like some of them (The Zenith Guard, Storm brethren and Burning blades) but I´m stuck at finding any alternative names for the Dawn Riders, Ice Wardens and the two as of yet unnamed Techmarine and Librarian Orders. Any help naming them would be greatly appreciated.

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Strike where your enemy is weakest, ride him down when the opportunity presents itself, and push on towards your objective no matter what. Follow these three basic rules and victory shall always be yours.

- Rohnan Jhagar, The suns first ray, Captain of the Sentinels of Dawn and Master of the Hunt

[Dantay VI]

The Obsidian Shields, Protectors against the darkness of Chaos

 

The Iron/Steel Seneschals. Guardians and keepers of Iron forges

 

And I like thenames you have and the lore youhave laid down :)

[ElectricPaladin]

I'm running out the door to my aunt-in-law's birthday party, so I haven't had a chance to read your fluff, but... the models are gorgeous. I love the combination of bone and teal, kind of reinterpretation of the novamarines (who are described as bone and blue, but are closer to white and navy). Well done, and I'll comment on the fluff later!

[ElectricPaladin]

The the absolutely only thing I don't like about your fluff is that I think the astrophysics of a planet managing to have a rotation speed such that giant rolling cities can move at ~40mph and still race the sun is a bit... silly. At least, I think it is. Maybe you're an astrophysicist and you'll get to respond to my post and laugh at me. Also, how does it work for the cities to be "mining rigs" if they are constantly moving?

 

My only suggestion would be to tone that down a bit. What if the problem is seasonal, so the giant mining rig cities can afford to stay in one place for a few weeks, stopping near rich veins of ore, but generally moving around to avoid extreme heat/cold?

 

Everything else, I loved.