Iron Lions: Project Log!

[Lemainus]

 I'm always cluttering the board with individual threads for individual projects, so I figured streamlining was in order. All my middling efforts at my DIY DA Successor Chapter will live here, from now on!

 

  This project started when the Scions box was released. I immediately wanted to kitbash scouts with them, because I am a giant slut for scouts. I don't know why. Keeping course with my other Scout Squad, The Nobodies, they do not adhere to Codex markings, instead keeping more traditional camouflage in use, to reduce casualties amongst initiates. The Iron Lions are not well supplied by most Space Marine standards, and each initiate that survives into full Brotherhood is precious.

 

  I still need to drill the bolter barrels, and add ragtag debris to the bases. Also under the photo lighting I see some mold lines I missed (theres always one. Or six. Damn it) but overall I'm pleased.

 

  I was going for something sort of like this:  

 

 

  So here they are! 

 

  

 

 

And, I'm finally pleased with my roughed-up Interrogator Chaplain counts-as, Juris Fracta! Juris is a recurring character in nearly all my armies, I just really like the name. 

 

 

[Lemainus]

  I burn ye now this incense and recant Final Rites.

 

  Final Rites for those whose souls are Lost, their lives forfeit. For those who oppose us.

 

  Miserebor eorum, O Imperator

  Mercy Upon Them, O Emperor

 

  Perluat sanguine.

  Wash them with Blood.

 

  Laetamini in plaga et mori

 Rejoice in the lamentation and suffering.

 

  Frui purgatio

 Enjoy Purgation.

 

  Gaudete in morte

 Rejoice in Death.

 

  Raise Ye your heads now, O Brothers, and hear me.

  May our enemies be many.

  May we be measured by them and not found wanting.

  With Zeal and Fury, we will Purge.

  With Faith and Might, we will Serve. 

  For the Lion. For the Emperor.

  May it Be Thus.

 

  May it Be Thus.

 

  

 

 

 

COME THEN, CHARLATANS,  AND SEE BROTHER DAVID, FIRST OF HIS NAME. COME AND SEE - COME AND DIE. 

Edited July 28, 2015 by Lemainus

[Amayasu]

Well done on the camo, love those scouts.

[Argent aquila]

Off to a great start!

[Lemainus]

Thanks! :D

[Lemainus]

  Juris and David are coming along nicely.

 

  Juris needs to be detailed up and finished, but I still like how he's moving:

 

  

 

  The lore here, though he's in First Company and wears traditional bone armor, is that before battle, he visits the Halls of Penance Passed - where the ashes of brothers killed in action are kept to be honored during the induction of new recruits and feasting - and applies the ashes to his armor. 

 

  I fight alongside memories and martyrs.

 Their sacrifice shields my purpose.

 Their Honor guides my hands.

 Their Deeds echo through my own

 and shall never be forgotten.

 Their ashes are not carried afield by me, Brothers - no.

 I am carried by the Ashes.

 Black your hands in the fallen, and let them guild you to glory.

 Iron Lions never die.

 

  And here's David, First of His Name, Veteran of First Company:

 

  

 

  Come and see.

 Come and die.

 

 

[Argent aquila]

Wicked cool paint job man!

Loving the ashes idea too,  "Iron lions never die"   awesome!

[Lemainus]

  Juris is coming along. I was really struggling with lighting, taking these pictures. I'm eagerly awaiting tomorrow, and the natural light that'll come with it. He's shaping up nicely, though, and I'm pleased with stuff so far. This is the first time I freehanded the lettering on a banner instead of using a .02mm pen, and, well, meh. But if I don't practice I'll never get good, so pffft mediocrity I will endure you until I don't have to anymore.

 

  Next project:

 

  I am going to kitbash the almighty out of the Stormcast Praetorians and my Veteran bitz to make some crazy First Company heroes. Because those kits look sick as hell and I want to play with them.

 

  I also really need to get my hands on a pair of Dreadknight legs and a venerable dreadnaught torso, so I can convert a highly mobile, aggressive looking Ancient to field. I also have a Rhino and a Land Raider to assemble. I just don't wanna. Tanks never fit right and it makes me crazy.

Edited August 5, 2015 by Lemainus

[Lemainus]

WHAT DO YOU DO for a Ravenwing when you hate the attack bikes and the lore of your chapter precludes you from buying all the jetbikes?

 

  Use... sanguinary guard parts and dual wield bolters, with up armor bits for toughness, like a crazy person. Meet the trial-run members of the Iron Lions 2nd Company - the Volant Fangs.

 

  :D

 

  

 

And Sergeant, who needs a base...

 

 

 

 

  Highly mobile jump infantry with two boltguns

[Lemainus]

Volant Fang squadmembers 1 and 2 are essentially completed, and I think they look alright. Still need to get the sergeant on a base and primed for paint, but these two were a fun little experiment.

 

  

 

 

Next: A Devastator Squad in a Razorback transport, more First Company vets to hang out with David, and that stupid Land Raider I really want to pay someone to assemble so I don't have to. :P

[Lemainus]

The Devastator Squad is coming along.

 

Here's Squad Duluth, and their Razorback transport. They supply the Big Bangs, Razorback supplies the dakka. :}

 

Need a name for the tank. I'm thinking Susan.

[Lemainus]

Devastator Squad complete!

 

And I got to fiddle with some Stormcast bitz and try my hand at making a SigMarine. I really enjoyed the ornate ancient-feeling stuff, but it was barely a kitbash. The other ones I might cut up more aggressively to make them more... Marine-y?

 

Still, I like him.

 

[Captain Semper]

Very nice and original work Leimainus, please keep it up! Green wings look awesome! :tu:

[Lemainus]

Update! I have the rest of David's buddies basecoated - a full on melee assault squad with nary a boltpistol between them. I'm tentatively dubbing the Suicide Squad... but I don't wanna stick with that, because there's this movie coming out soon and having the same name *bugs the :cuss out of me*. Any ideas for a thesaurified version?

 

  Anyway, here are the others. :D

 

  

[Lemainus]

First of several layers of white applied, and they've been inked a little - still need to do all the metallics, get their helmets bronzed, paint up the power weapons, and base them.

 

  

 

Pauldrons will be green to tie them in with the rest of the force, I think.

[Lemainus]

Finished the veterans!

 

  

 

 

Also, started work on this little diorama.

 

 

"Any that would question my faith may approach."

 

 Iron Lions settle things simply. We are a Chapter whose fathers bear terrible secrets. The guilt of the Fallen is our Guilt as well... and we are ever vigilant. By the Emperor, the strength of the Faithful and Just will triumph against the Ruinous Powers - here, in this hall, on the dias above the sea of spikes, are the corrupt culled. He who dies is Guilty. The Emperor is ever the shield of the stalwart. Here in this hall, to live is to be vindicated. Iron Lions never die.

 

"Iron Lions never die."

[Lemainus]

  I finished up my first Dreadknight conversion today!

 

  Sabrathan, the Iron Lion's most venerable Ancient Lord:

 

 

  "Steel yourselves brothers! Reinforcements are incoming!" Veteran Sergeant Caliphae's voice crackled over the Vox, and the ping on the HUD let all initiates know whence the drop pod would be landing. The assembled survivors went to ground as bolter shells screeched by overhead. The demons had been torn to pieces easily enough, in the beginning - but what had started as a heroic push into enemy territory had been met with unforeseen Chaos reserves - a sorcerer had brought a hearty band of Obliterators and Fallen tactical marines to shore up the crumbling flank... and in the blood and thunder, Caliphae knew he could not hold this hill with neophytes alone. "No, Syl! Stay in cover!" It was too late. The most junior of his charges attempted to duck out and return fire - his head popped like a firecracker at feast times. The others hunkered farther down, a few spitting pieces of Sylverian out of their mouths, or wiping their cheeks.

 

 The drop pod rocketed into the charred dirt and rubble with a sonic scream and a crash that sent a shockwave through everything within palpable reach. There was something utterly satisfying in the outrageous racket that they made upon landing that caused Caliphae's chest to swell. The hiss of pressure releases and the metallic clank of maglocks releasing heralded the arrival of the tactical Veteran squadron he had been promised to aid in the assault - it was nearly time to move. 

 

 "Whence you hear their bolters, Initiates, advance with the reinforcements. Bounding overwatch. At their behest, we fall in with their gun line. Hoorah!"

 

 "Hoorah!" The six remaining had run drills such as this more times than warranted counting. They knew how to proceed.

 

 A hugely unexpected sound - servos and transistors firing on overdrive, the hiss and prattle of adamantine, plasteel, and ceramite moving faster than should be possible. A monstrous Dreadnaught hurled itself from the drop pod, assault cannon spinning up before unleashing a torrential hellstorm of projectiles, swinging an equally oversized power sword without breaking it's stride. Sabrathan tore through the Chaos warhost like a scythe through chaff - the carnage was beautiful and swift. The neophytes gawked.

 

 '||-{_+TO ME, YOUNG BLOODS. FIGHT YOU NOW ALONGSIDE SABRATHAN.+}|-'

 

 "Iron Lions Never Die!"

 

 '...{[+IRON LIONS NEVER DIE!+}|-='

 

 

 

 

 

  

[Noctem Cultor]

Love the variety work in this project log, keep up the great work.

[deathspectersgt7]

Very cool chapter. 

[Bjorn Firewalker]

Impressive work. Is the Interrogator-Chaplain wearing a jump pack, or are the wings merely decorative?

[Lemainus]

The wings on Juris are decorative, but I figure if I need to run him as a jump chappy I can pay the extra points and offer up a shrug and an "if'n you don't mind..." if my opponent is cool with it. A little versatility never hurt anybody. :]

 

  Truth be told, I had them in my bitz box just sitting, and I put them on Juris to make him look a little more regal, kind of bling him up since he's an important character in the Chapter.  I'm glad you like him!

[Bjorn Firewalker]

I think decorations are dead weight, in most cases- sadly, that includes wings on characters without jump packs or other flight capabilities. The Dreadknight-based Dreadnought, however... that is AWESOME.

 

I'm curious why the scouts wear red camouflage patterns, though I will admit it looks cool. Was it developed for fighting on Mars or similar forge worlds?

[Lemainus]

  I can imagine being a minimalist gives your hobby knife a workout, as flashy as some of the newer models are! I get it, though. There's a lot to be said for stripping something down to nothing but what's necessary. Me, though, I can't resist pimping out my special characters. 

 

  The red camo was for a couple of reasons: It was inspired by a host of weirder-looking urban camos I've seen, presumably incorporating grays, reds, and blacks to blend in with warzones in cityscapes - busted concrete, brick, and asphalt everywhere and such. It also ties in nicely to inter-army drills as a scout unit: most units still in training organize large scale mock battles, and the OPFOR needs a distinctive uniform for those drills.

 

  Besides that, I have another full squad of scout snipers kitted out in full ghillie style, so my thinking was... instead of more of the same, I could still have some fun with the new Scion models as scout kitbashes, and make them a specialist squad, too. So now I have my snipers in one squad, and the urban CQB scouts in another, very visually distinct squad. In fluff typically I think space marines on the whole abhor camo, but I'm giving the neophytes a break and treating them more like special operations teams. 

 

  Also I thought it looked neat and wanted to try painting it.

 

  Glad you dig Sabrathan - I had a huge amount of fun putting him together - but I'm having MORE fun using the left over bits trying to squeeze another giant Dreadknight/naught out of the sprues.... I'm gonna need some legs, though - and an arm for that sick hammer...

Edited November 25, 2015 by Lemainus

[Lemainus]

Thought I'd posted an update, but I guess when I tried it was lost in the Warp?

 

The bits and pieces left over from building Sabrathan are coming together in an interesting, over the top kind of way. I want to do something other than another set of Dreadknight legs, so Maalik and Sabrathan are visually distinct - sentinel legs, beefed up with extra armor, maybe? It looks like some of the Mechanicus sprues could work, too, but I'm not familiar with the size of those things. Haven't seen any of their walkers in person.

 

  

 

I also knocked out a handful of Terminators, to swell the ranks of 1st Company. I need another Stormcast and a sanguinary guard bit to round the squad out to five, but I still like how it's coming along.

 

  

Squad Nuriel!

[Bjorn Firewalker]

The Dreadknight leftovers look as if they suit Maalik best as vehicle components, i.e., if Maalik is a living Marine who can disembark the vehicle, if necessary- NOT en entombed ancient in a Dreadnought sarcophagus. What kind of vehicle suits him? Maybe something resembling the Eldar war walker, or the Stormtalon assault walker?