27th Grand Battalion and various allied forces

[Skalpynock]

Well, after watching this subforum in awe for a few months, I decided to board on the Heresy Train, not from the Forty Thousand station like many, but directly from the side of the road. Those are actually the first marines I ever painted, with no prior experience on painting models. I'm quite impressed by myself on this point. Without further talk, behold the glorious resin crack Twenty-Seventh Grand Battalion of the Iron Warriors Legion, Third Company. But before this, pict-captures of a Legionnaire whose life (and probable death) predate the legion's reunification with its primarch.

 

Legionnaire Boaz Gerasimos. Little is known about this warrior apart from his attachment to the ideal of the Imperium, shown by the self-forged Aquila welded upon the powerplant of his armour.

 

Note the Winged Bolt heraldry, widespread through early units of the Fourth during the Great Crusade.

 

Now, from the later times of the Great Crusade:

 

Legionnary identified only as Grirkos, the specific patterns of the kaveatkos heraldry indicate former membership to the Brethren of Thunder, but purge from the lodge as it became the Lyssatra.

 

Ovidion Stamatis, designated leader of this squad, reknown for his unbreakable stoicism and calculation while his brothers would become as the warriors of the Twelfth when breaking a protracted siege.

 

Antares, the Butcher of Kolneem. A brutal individual, said by many fellow warriors to belong rather in the VIIIth or XIIth, he earnt this epiteth during the taking of the Arena-Koliseum of Kolneem, a rebellious world at the outskirt of Ultramar, where he is said to have cut his way through half a hundred partisans to reunite with his squad, armed only with the bayonet of his ammunition-depleted Bolter.

 

Now, I'm planning to give them Thorakata allies (fluffwise, as a non-player I could hardly care less about the rules side of the equation), but I wish to know your visions of Olympian soldiers: should I go for ancient aesthetic, or try to keep them modern? The general tech-level of Olympia is never clearly stated (at least as far as I know), and I find it quite hard to picture.

[Russ Brother 92]

Whilst I know next to nothing fluff-wise about the sons of Olympia, they are some very nicely painted models - wish my first looked like that instead of green and red splodges haha

 

I am sure Heathens will be around soon to give some wisdom and knowledge (just sniff the air for phosphex and you'll know when he's near...) ;)

[Brofist]

From Angel Exterminatus we know a little about the Selucid Thorakite:

 

“Selucid Thorakite - The Selucid Thorakite was composed of Imperial Army regiments raised from natural-born Olympian soldiers who had joined with the Iron Warriors in the genocide of their homeworld in the days just before the IV Legion went over to the cause of Horus. The Thorakitai were grim-faced men and women who wore faded khaki, scaled breastplates and combat helms fashioned in the image of the helms used as part of the Astartes' suits of Mark IV Power Armour.”

Given the legions self sufficient and pragmatic culture I always imagined them well organized, drilled, and quipped. Not crazy tech like the Geno Five-Two Chiliad, but certainly as good as what we’re seeing with the upcoming Imperial Army releases.

 

Regarding culture, we talked a little bit about it in this thread:

http://www.bolterandchainsword.com/topic/296908-masters-of-artillery/

 

TLDR- Pick any of the nations near modern day Turkey after Alexander’s death and its where a lot of the IW names are coming from. Regarding tactics and outlook it seems they’ve taken a lot from Imperial Russia.

[Hydriatus]

Welcome to the IVth, brother!

Those are stunning for a first attempt at painting, I must say. Looking forwards to when you try your hands at some HQ choices...

[Skalpynock]

Many thanks, especially to you Bulbafist for that description (I definitely should buy Angel Exterminatus, but I'm slightly afraid I won't read the non-IW half of the book). I've tried to sketch what a "Mk-IV inspired helmet" could look like, all I end up with is a MK-I with an odd-angled faceplate.

As all post deserves an update, I've thrown this guy together from CSM bits I got in the conversion box at my local GW.

Non-standard respirator, probably derived from a Sarum-pattern faceplate looted from a fallen War Hound and fitted with a grid more similar to the legion's iron mask heraldry.

 

Those spikes are actually far easier to remove than I'd have thought, and the arrow can easily be covered in chevrons. Painting him will prove harder, as it shall be my first time working on skin. Given how much I have read about painting skin, that is, nothing, I'm putting lower hopes into this one. But a dirty painting on a warrior of the Fourth can always pass as battle damage and further proof of the other Legions' disregard of their battle-brothers.

[Skalpynock]

The last members of the squad before I get volkite, power weapons (which also means volkite serpentas) and command bits. Featuring bits scavenged from chaos marines. Featuring heavy use of Sepia and Carroburgh Crimson washes to stop the damned metallics from being so clean. As I expected, I can't paint skin well.

Amitai Ekmeksi, terran-born flame-wearer. Assigned to a tactical squad due to poor performance in dedicated support squad.

 

Cyrus Kleopas, wielding an outdated Mars-pattern meltagun. This weapon, uncommon amongst tactical squads, and his non-standard mouthpiece suggest scavenging from fallen War Hounds during joint operations.

 

Notes for next painting session: The "thin your paint" deserves to be written in bold and full caps. Also, skin sticks to superglue, superglue sticks to resin better, you end up with a cast of your fingerprints engraved on your legionaries' butts (that chainmail-looking thing below Kleopas' powerpack). 

[Skalpynock]

Not necessarily related to my Iron Warriors (which I have more or less abandoned due to financial restrictions), but relevant to my Unification-Era project (which may or may not ever exist in the resin), here's something I just threw together in Paint.net after having seen what's coming for WHFB.

Unknown soldier of the Tonitrua Milites, composite pict-capture circa 860.M30