Blades of Oblivion - WIP

[Epher]

I have chosen to take on the challenge of creating my own successor chapter for the DA Brotherhood of Angels - 2015.  I do appreciate the extension on the end date, Grand Master Belial.  This thread will be my work in progress.  It has been less than a year since I have gotten into the hobby and I have found it too easy to get immersed in it all.  Unfortunately I do not have a lot of time to read all the fluff.  That in itself if a work in progress.

 

This thread will allow me to post the progress of the Blades of Oblivion and hopefully get some feedback and constructive criticisms.  The plan is to paint a Kill Team of the upcoming ETL. 

 

So who are the Blades of Oblivion?  They are a Dark Angels Successor Chapter created during the 13th Founding around 50M35.  Their existence is not well known, except to Inner Circle of the DA and the rest of the successors.  Since the Adeptus Mechanicus do not possess the original gene seed records for this founding, official records of the founding and evidence of the existence of the BoO have been lost to the rest of the Imperium. 

 

Their fortress is hidden amongst the debris field that was formally known as Caliban, where they keep vigil of the remains of their former home world.  Their fortress, the Ghost of Caliban, is similar to the Rock where it is a mobile asteroid.  It differs in the fact that is not a fragment of the crust of the planet but a dense metallic globule of the planetary core.  The smooth weathered surface of the asteroid is kept intact and the fortress remains hidden beneath.

 

Their purpose is to watch over what was once their glorious home world, capturing any of the Fallen that return and to monitor the Ocularis Terribus, providing early warning for any forces of Chaos that may find their way out.  Any forces that do make their way out, the Blades of Oblivion will stalk and engage at the most opportune time with their fleet and destroy any forces that have landed on any planetary surface.

 

The emblem of the Blades of Oblivion is a single sword pointed downward, the sword of the Lion.  The sword is painted white in contrast to the black background of the right pauldron.  Behind the sword lies the Eye of Terror in blood red.  The left pauldron is painted bone and bears the symbols of the squads.

 

The colors of the BoO are black, blood and bone.  Tacticals, Assaults, Biker Squads are all black with red crests on their chests.  A bone stripe comes down their helmets.  The blood on their hearts for the blood of the Fallen.  The bone on heads for the bones of the Caliban and their Brothers lost.  Some elites will have a bone colored sword painted in place of the stripe on their helmets.  The Deathwing equivalent bear the bone colored armour with the red crests on their chests.  The bone paint is mixed with a particular mix of minerals mined from the cooled core of Caliban.  This mixture gives the TDA an eerie glow that causes them to appear to be as ghosts or spectres.  This appearance gave rise to the "Wall of Spectres" battle formation/tactic. 

 

First Company is similar to the Deathwing and is composed of veterans in TDA and members of command squads.  Second Company is known as Black Lancers are all mounted on bikes and land speeders.  They have been known to work with assault squads.  The remainder of the companies have a similar composition to their founding chapter.

 

Total strength of the Blades of Oblivion is less than the DA due to limits on obtaining new equipment.  Exact numbers are unknown but are estimated at half of a standard chapter.  Therefore, the BoO are forced to create better trained marines.  New equipment and recruits are acquired from the Dark Angels and other successor chapters as a tithe for keeping vigil over the remains of Caliban.

 

More stuff to follow...

[Isiah]

Great start. Some nice ideas in there. I like the Ghost of Caliban concept -- a bit far-fetched but why not -- in 40K even the unlikely can become the norm.

 

Be good to see some models :yes:.

 

Cheers

I

[Bryan Blaire]

I definitely agree with Isiah, it's a very good start and will be interesting to see how you develop the idea.

 

As far as bone stripes on black helms, I've had a bit of fun with that over the years. If you want to see some ideas on how it looks or if you'd want to modify it some, I've got these guys that you can take a look at:

http://www.bolterandchainsword.com/topic/224240-stoneburners-etl-3-dws-company-master-wstorm-bolter/?p=3030228

http://www.bolterandchainsword.com/topic/224240-stoneburners-etl-3-dws-company-master-wstorm-bolter/?p=3265694

http://www.bolterandchainsword.com/topic/224240-stoneburners-etl-3-dws-company-master-wstorm-bolter/?p=3301490

http://www.bolterandchainsword.com/topic/224240-stoneburners-etl-3-dws-company-master-wstorm-bolter/?p=3339332

 

As you can see, I really like how the visual presents itself, so I'd highly encourage the continued use of the idea! :D

 

The scheme sounds really cool, I'm eager to see some models and I want to see how the "spectre" visual works out.

[Epher]

Thanks for the comments, guys.  I am glad to hear that I am not out of left field in my concepts. 

 

As far as bone stripes on black helms, I've had a bit of fun with that over the years. If you want to see some ideas on how it looks or if you'd want to modify it some, I've got these guys that you can take a look at:
 

 

Bryan, your Stoneburners look incredible and the attention to detail is absolutely unreal.  The black and Caliban green work very well on the armour and the stripe looks awesome. I think it will work for my army too.  Here's one of the tactical marines from the painter.  I am thinking that the silver trim on the pauldrons will give some visual interest too. 

 

 

 

 

 

I will have to look about for some tutorials on painting a ghost effect.  I wasn't thinking of painting BoO termies for the ETL but I just may have to. 

 

So far for the ETL, it's a five man assault or tac squad, a bike squad and an HQ.  Now... Ghost Termies.  Looks like it will be an awesome summer!

[Epher]

A little digression from my ETL vow.  So this is the latest abomination creation for my successor chapter.  Meet Ahimoth, Grand Master of the Blades of Oblivion.  He's not an Azrael clone but the plan is to use the Company Master rules as the seem to be very flexible for special equipment.  Current armament includes a storm shield and a relic weapon.  I am considering the Mace of Redemption or the scariest looking thunder hammer I can find.  The axe is a stand in for now but I like the chains over the hands.

 

I am still working on the fluff behind him but he is the fourth chapter master of the BofO.  The cloth that adorns him is the tattered remains of robes of Grand Master Solomus, the founder of the Blades, who died with half of the chapter in an epic battle with the forces of Chaos.  This victory purged the remains of the Caliban system from grips of (insert name of appropriate Chaos deity here).

 

Here are the pics.  Comments and criticism are welcome!

 

[Bryan Blaire]

He's really interesting looking, but what's the deal with the covered helm?

[JeffJedi]

I suggest making both Shoulder pads the same color. To me it just looks better. I like the green, it's almost like a mix of DA green and bone.

 

Upon reading closer that's bone after all, hmm. to me it looked light green.

[Epher]

The armour is actually a Salamander Pyroclast but I removed the flames and other Salamandery stuff.  I thought about removing the helmet and the cloth draped over his face and adding a head but I don't know if my carving skills would do it justice.  I know that it is an odd looking helmet for the DA's but it does look pretty cool. 

 

As for the shoulder pads... I am still torn on the two different colors.  I like symmetry and the Guardians of the Covenant pull it off well but their symbol will look better on black.  I will have to do a test piece and see how it goes!  I find bone to be a hard color to find in the painter.  There is a high probability that there is a subtle hue of green in there.

[Epher]

Here is my test piece for my Assault Squad.  Kind of makes me want to call them the Skunk Marines but I like how the colors are turning out.  Now I need to add the squad symbol on the bone shoulder pad and company colors on the knee too.  The Blades of Oblivion icon turned out ok but not as sharp as I would have liked.

 

Thoughts and comments?

 

 

 

[deathspectersgt7]

I Like the color scheme and the free hand Chapter symbol.

[JeffJedi]

I think when youu add a company badge on the kneepad it will make the model pop. I think that would help tie it to the Dark Angels and also give some more color on the lower half of the figure.

[Bryan Blaire]

Epher, don't be afraid to clean up your freehand with your base color if you feel it warrants it. I tighten up plenty of lines on my stuff this way. One thing to consider when doing freehand is whether you will be shading and highlighting it together with the rest of the model, or separately. It's a LOT harder to touch up freehand if the background it is on has been shaded and highlighted separately.

 

Really like how everything has come together for this guy!

[Space Truckin]

Diggin the color scheme!

[Epher]

Thanks for the comments!  I don't think that I can do the touch ups with the base coat.  I have already used the wash on it.  I have my ideas for the knee pad.  For this chapter 3rd Company is all assault marines.  I am keeping the Blades of Oblivion as fast movers.  So in the next posting... company symbols!

 

But for my own reference, and so that I do not lose this information, I will post my painting process here:

 

Primer: Chaos Black

 

Base: Skavenblight Dinge with 2 coats of Nuln Oil

 

Bone Color:  Ushabti Bone with light wash of Agrax Earthshade

 

Red:  Khorne Red

 

Metals:  Lead Belcher

 

No highlights to date.

[Epher]

Here is the first assault squad for the Blades of Oblivion! My second unit out of six for the ETL completed. A six man assault squad with a Veteran Sarge with two power fists and two marines have flamers. The sergeant's arms are magnetized to give flexibility for Kill Team games. Over all, I am pleased with the results. I wasn't too sure about the bone stripe when it went on the first model but I think it works. Hope my fellow brethren enjoy the pics. The floor is open to comments and criticisms!

Sergeant with alternative load out (storm bolter and chain sword)

[Epher]

I have been working on my Index Astartes for the Brotherhood of Angels.  I thought it would be fun to get another tournament started but with the lack of interest and BoA deadline coming up I thought it would be best to forge ahead with my narrative.  My knowledge of Dark Angels fluff is quite limited so I did my best to compose something that works well with the 40k universe and is interesting to read.  All comments and critisms are welcome.

 

So without further ado, here is the origins of the Blades of Oblivion!

 

===================================================

 

In 973M37, the planetary systems due north of the Segmentum Obscurus in the galactic vicinity of the ruins of old Caliban were seeing an increase of Chaos activity.  Raids were reported with increased frequency.  Contact had been lost from some colonies.  A call for help was sent out.  The Dark Angels, compelled by their desire to destroy the forces of Chaos and to avenge the loss of their home world, answered the distress calls.  The Dark Angels fought for 50 years but their enemy was relentless.  Raid after raid came to greet them, all originating from what used to be their home system.  The decision was made to found another chapter in the image of the Dark Angels.  This chapter would protect these systems and lead the purge of the ruins of their beloved home world from evil of any form.

 

The process was started; the people of colonies that they saved were more than willing to bring the fight to their previous oppressors.  The colonies swore their allegiance to the First Legion as their protectors and saviors.  A fine stock of healthy men, seasoned through hardship of labour and defending the colonies from monstrous beasts, would be more than sufficient to provide the basis for this fighting force.  The Dark Angels used their own gene-seed and the process began.  So in 23M38, this successor was founded. 

 

Scout ships where sent into the Caliban system.  Azrael received reports of a massive buildup Chaos fleet units, a force too large to be handled by the Dark Angels alone.  A call went forth to successors of the First for assistance in purging the Caliban system and for marines and equipment to build the initial fighting force of the newest successor. Detachments from the Angels of Vengeance, Angels of Absolution, Angels of Redemption, Guardians of the Covenant and other successor chapters soon arrived.

Azrael gathered all of the chapter masters to discuss the details of this founding.  Acquired fleet assets included one battle barge and three strike cruisers and chapter present offered a company’s strength of marines.  The result netted 60 suits of Tactical Dreadnought Armour, 70 bikes and sufficient marines and equipment to bring the chapter up to three quarters of normal strength.  There was much debate amongst the chapter masters as to who was worthy to become the leader.

 

A tournament was held to determine who would be the founding Chapter Master of this new successor.  A champion from the Dark Angels and each of its successors fought against each other friendly rivalry. In one unfortunate case a blow of a thunder hammer ended the life Gramius, the Captain of the 4^th Company of the Angels of Vengeance.  The final battle was between Librarian Cephas, Second in Command of the Librarium in the Guardians of the Covenant, and Vengen, the Company Master of the 3^rd for the Angels of Redemption. 

 

The two combatants faced each other in the arena before the Inner Circles of eight chapters.  Reflections from the flaming torches glimmered off Vengen’s ancient Articifer Armour as he held his Thunder Hammer and Storm Shield firmly in his hands.  Cephas across the ring, with force sword in one hand and the other hovering over an antiquated storm bolter, faint traces of his displacer field phased in the fire light.  Azrael stood to his feet and addressed the crowd.  “Many have fought in this arena to bring glory to the Dark Angels, to the Lion and all of his successors.  But now, only two remain.  To victor goes the command of a thousand battle brothers and a place amongst the centre of all of the Inner Circles.  For the Lion!”

 

The klaxon rang, Vengen seized the initiative and raised his storm shield for the charge.  Cephas unleased a volley bolts before sidestepping the advance.  The bolter rounds merely ricocheted off the expertly crafted armour.  Vengen in an instant heard a sound like no other and then felt a wave of energy pass over, his arm holding the storm shield felt shaken as it absorbed the impact of the psychic shriek.  With his ears still ringing Vengen heard the faint crack of a force sword being charged.  His storm shield met the arc of the Cephas’ blade and was able to deflect it.  Vengen thrust his thunder hammer forward and with the flicker of the displacer field Cephas disappeared.  Looking over his shoulder, Vengen caught sight of his opponent and quickly turned to face him.  He braced his shield as another wave of psychic energy crashed into him but this time Cephas’ psychic shriek tore into him.  Shaken but ready, Vengen charged in deflecting a hail of bolts with his storm shield.  The thunder hammer arced downwards towards Cephas’ left pauldron but was met with a parry from the force sword.  Vengen shouldered in a thrust with the massive shield pushing the librarian back.  The thunder hammer arced but was once again deflected, Cephas slipped past the company master’s extended arm and readied his blade.  Using the momentum of the hammer, Vengen spun around and crashed the shield into the librarian.  The displacer field flickered but Cephas remained.  The upward arcing hammer was not seen as it was hidden by the shield.  The next sound Cephas heard was the deafening crack of thunder as the hammer collided with his leg.  Ceramite shattered, bones snapped and Cephas was thrown across the arena from the force of the impact.

 

On his approach to the wounded librarian, Vengen noticed that Cephas was chanting healing prayers to control the bleeding.  Cephas looked up to his battered battle brother and said, “By the Lion and the Emperor, you will be a fine Master of this new successor.”

 

Vengen reached his hand down to Cephas, “Never have I met any librarian as fierce as you.  I would be honoured to name you Chief Librarian.”

 

“The honour will be mine.” Cephas replied.  Their hands met and Vengen pulled him up.  Apothecaries ran to meet them and helped Cephas away. 

 

Azrael silenced the cheer of the crowed to address them. “My fellow Sons of the Lion, here is the Chapter Master of this new successor, Vengen!  By what name shall you be known?”

 

“To the edge of oblivion we shall go to reclaim what is ours, the home from where the Lion was raised and made his mark.  And from this edge and this darkness we will maintain our vigil.  We then shall emerge and be known as the Blades of Oblivion!”

[Epher]

Here is the latest for the Blades of Oblivion. It is the bike squad. The arms with the weapons are magnetized.

[Father Mehman]

Those bikes look great, the paint scheme is awesome, and the Chapter symbol is totally cool! Well done !

How have people neglected this thread? Sure, I just came across it but that's because I'm a recluse. That's no excuse for the rest of you!

The fact that you're magnetizing the arms amazes me. Personally, I'd just buy more guys but, then again, I'm broke because of it. You, though, innovated and broke the mould. Plus that Sergeant looks fantastic with his red robes. I assume that's the Sergeant.

[Tygwyn]

I am a fan of magnets too - I am sure going to nick the pose that has the melta 'casually' held down (not aiming) as he is cruising around on the hunt. Nice!

[Epher]

Thanks for the comments!

 

@Mehman:  The paint scheme turned out better than expected.  I like the bone stripe but it makes me think of a skunk.  Skunk Marines... Skunk Works or a division of Chaos?  Anyways... I wanted to develop them for the Brotherhood of Angels and create some troops for Kill Team games.  The magnetizing is great to keep the total number of troops down and just swap out the weapons.  I would not normally magnetize all my bikers or sergeants. 

 

The greatest challenge that I faced in creating this chapter was not knowing much of the fluff for the DA or the 40k universe.  I like the idea of them watching over the grave site of Caliban. Some one should but for all that I know there may be another successor with that task.  So I am assuming that I did ok with it since no one has charged me with heresy.  I also figure that I can improve upon them as time progresses.  Not sure if my BoO army may progress beyond a kill team since I am more focused on my Guardians of the Covenant. 

 

Yes, it is the sergeant in the red robes.  I was debating which way to go with the colors.  White robes?  Red Robes?  I went with the red since they would tie into my GotC better.  Looking at them, they could be a successor of the Guardians. 

 

@Tygwn:  Go right ahead!  One can't be blasting the Fallen with Meltaguns at every single moment.  The nice thing with the magnets is that they can have the meltas up or meltas down!

[Father Mehman]

I would have charged you with heresy but I'm still new in this department. I don't know where every document is yet .

I think it's a fine idea, honestly. Why not have a Successor that watches over the destroyed planet? Secretly, they're looking for the Fallen to show back up but to anyone snooping around they're keeping the flame lit, so to speak. In other words: nothing to see here. Move along. Maybe another way to look at the Blades of Oblivion is that they are the counterparts to Monument Worlds. Instead of having a Hall of Justice, or Fortress of Solitude, or whatever they call the Ultramarines' shrine to Guilliman, the Dark Angels have your Chapter. Yeah, you can go make a fancy pilgrimage site but we have a whole group of warrior-monks. Something like that.

[Epher]

That is pretty much what I had intended for these guys.  From what I have read in other successors, there wasn't one like the Blades of Oblivion.  If you get the chance this is a link to my Index Astartes, if you care to have a read.  I'd be interested in your feedback!

[Father Mehman]

Well, Brother, as the link you've provided leads me to a picture of a trio of finely painted models, I cannot comment. No, I joke- the Brotherhood of Angels is still up and yours was easy to find . I had you going there for a moment! No? Yeah, I wasn't funny in the Imperial Guard sub-forum either.

Having read your article, I get what you're going for now. A Kill Team would be alright but I think you could go full-hog with this Chapter. The paint scheme works, the fluff is there and solid, and the names of your companies don't sound ridiculous (that's always a plus ). Other than not knowing why Librarians play such a big part in your Chapter, it can work. One could assume Cephas had something to do with that but it would be neat if you would flesh that out further. Are they a Chapter that divines the presence of Chaos and, more importantly, the Fallen using the fangs and claws of their native planet's predatory animals or does the area around where Caliban used to be create proto-psykers? Personally, diving into my Chapter's fluff makes me more excited about building and painting them so I'm pretty stoked at the moment.

I know you've got the Guardians of the Covenant going strong now but don't shelve those Shadow Ravens just yet.

[Epher]

Fixed the link!  At first I thought you were kidding and continued reading the post, then I tried the link. 

 

The hardest part of creating my own successor was coming up with names.  There are two cases, the names sound funny or they have already been used.  It took a lot to come up with the Shadow Ravens.  I think it works well since they have close ties with the Ravenwing equivalent.  Thought of Shadow Wing but it seemed a little hokey and thent there is the issue of the two w's beside each other.  Even with my Guardians on the Covenant, I left the Deathwing as is.  The bone armour is too iconic to mess with and it helps identify my army as still being DA's on the table top.  Also with the Black Knights, I can't bring myself to change them.  The Ravenwing in my Guardians have silver power armour but the Black Knights are all black.  Same goes for the Blades too.  Black Knights are Black Knights.  I cannot mess with that.  The Black Lancers work as the regulars on bikes.  I was thinking of converting chain swords into chain halberds or chain lances.  I still can since the sergeant has a magnetized arm.  I think I need to work the Black Lancer icon.  It looks ok but I feel it is missing something. 

 

As for the librarians?  I was listening to Metallica on my way home from work and had "Four Horsemen" playing while I was thinking about creating the Blades.  One thing lead to another and I had a vision of the Librarius Conclave on bikes chasing down the Fallen and each Librarian had a full squad of Black Knights.  Closely behind was Cephas, the Chief Librarian, standing upon his Dark Shroud.  It would be a massive wall of psychic energy and darkness eveloping everything in its path.  How could I not create a successor like that?  I know that it is not well explained at this point but I needed to finish it as best as I could before the deadline knowing that there is always room and time for improvement down the road. 

[Father Mehman]

That makes perfect sense. Your article is complete enough that we know what they're about but is still able to be refined. That's a really great thing because you can tweak little stuff and make incredible changes. All the extra bits of information can be put into stories or little blurbs.

Coming up with the names for the specialized companies, the founding members, and even the Chapter name was not easy, I agree. Luckily, the colour scheme was something that was designed when I first started painting but was later toned-down. Yes, you can have too much bronze. Anyway, it was, and still are, the little things that are the easiest to figure out. I used to get a bit miffed when someone said something helpful or thought of something fantastic to add because I'd already thought about it- it was already in stone, basically- but I hadn't told anyone. That was my biggest problem in the beginning. I was too vague in my own thoughts and then got irritated when a helpful hand came along. This was some years ago and I'm glad I learned to put everything on paper and to state every little thought so that now I can steal as many ideas that are thrown my way. Not saying you're the same, it's just a pitfall I think people should know about.

Don't know how I got on that line of thought. I digress for the good of the Imperium !

The Black Lancers idea is a great one. You've put out some excellently painted models already but, I agree, they need to have a weapon that fits their name. Chain Halberds sound like a genius move. Not only will you get to convert something but it would be yours and yours alone. Sure, other people have done that particular weapon, but who has a whole group dedicated to their use? Legion Night Lords come close but forget those guys. They're traitors! "But Mehman, they were duped into being bad!" says the voice in the back of my head. Well shut up, I say to that straw-man! They had it coming. Anyway, the halberds would look great. Make it so!