Officia Monstrosa – Iron Warriors

[apologist]

How does the Iron Bear compare against them?

 

He's about at eye level – they're big lads! :)

 

How can I not love this? The downward sloping breastplate gives him the hunched stance so typical for terminators and using the front side of a torso on top is a neat idea. My only concern is with the legs, as they look a tiny bit too far apart. But that's just a personal gripe that I have with almost all GW/FW models. 

 

If I may ask, from where are the upper legs? They don't seem to come from the obliterator kit.

 

Ta. I discuss the spacing on the legs a bit more on Death of a Rubricist, but the short version is that when I've tried to use more realistic proportions in previous conversation attempts, they just didn't read as Terminator armour. The weird gap has the added benefit of allowing the pteruges to fit, as you can see below! :)

 

The upper legs are from a Khador Man o'war model from Privateer Press. 

 

Looking well indeed although I think the terminator is not quite tall enough compared to your marines. Without arms though it will be hard to get the over all impression of the bulk of it. It will be a hard thing to do to bring them up to size compared to your regular marines, who use so many terminator parts.

Yes, my previous attempts at Terminators have been a struggle for exactly those reasons. I've added a little 1–2mm gap at the waist to given him a bit more height, but there's  a balance to be struck in making him bigger than my marines without making him completely inhuman in comparison with standard guardsman-size models.

 

Anyway, here's how he's looking today; let me know what you reckon:

 

 

...and a desaturated version, to help clarify the silhouette around all the different colours.

[AngelsofCaliban]

Hi Apologist,

A quick thank you for reinvigorating my hobby. Your true scale blogs stories tutorials. I am building a heresy Apologist scale dark angels company and your insight and hard work is making mine a lot easier.

If I may just one thought on your terminator the bulk pose look great but the arms (might be the angle) look too high compared to the head and too far behind the neck line. About half an arm thickness too high and half a head width too far back.

Once again thanks for your blogs thoughts and tutorials.

Aaron

[Isengrin]

 

The upper legs are from a Khador Man o'war model from Privateer Press. 

Thanks! I should probably browse through other companies' ranges more often. 

 

I think you're right about the legs. With his current stance he looks like the walking tank he is supposed to be. Sometimes correct anatomy does take a backseat to style. 

 

On a similar note, positioning the arms as high as they are now doesn't trouble me at all. That way he stays close to the look of regular sized terminators and the shoulder pads link up nicely with the upper end of his armour. And although I've never really liked the long barrels of that autocannon, it works on a terminator of his size. Do you plan to keep the head or is it a stand-in for now?

[The Red Angel]

I feel Angels has a point, they arms do seem too high.

 

if you overlay the virtruvian man over that terminator I don't feel he'd link up well. Seeing as a marine has to fit inside the suit, I reckon the arms do need a slight adjusting.

 

But generally looks good

 

Keep it up

[apologist]

 

Hi Apologist,
A quick thank you for reinvigorating my hobby. Your true scale blogs stories tutorials. I am building a heresy Apologist scale dark angels company and your insight and hard work is making mine a lot easier.
If I may just one thought on your terminator the bulk pose look great but the arms (might be the angle) look too high compared to the head and too far behind the neck line. About half an arm thickness too high and half a head width too far back.
Once again thanks for your blogs thoughts and tutorials.
Aaron

 

That's a real pleasure to read – thanks for the kind words! I can't really take credit for the style; my only real contribution to the whole true-scale thing was working out a way for the arms and shoulder pads to allow for two-handed poses. Standing on the shoulders of giants, and all that :)

 

Would love to see your Dark Angels – do you have any pictures?

 

 

 

The upper legs are from a Khador Man o'war model from Privateer Press. 

Thanks! I should probably browse through other companies' ranges more often. 

I think you're right about the legs. With his current stance he looks like the walking tank he is supposed to be. Sometimes correct anatomy does take a backseat to style. 

On a similar note, positioning the arms as high as they are now doesn't trouble me at all. That way he stays close to the look of regular sized terminators and the shoulder pads link up nicely with the upper end of his armour. And although I've never really liked the long barrels of that autocannon, it works on a terminator of his size. Do you plan to keep the head or is it a stand-in for now?

 

The head's a stand-in. The current design allows any standard marine head to be plugged in, but I'll probably add an optional piece to allow for the flat-bottomed or half-heads of the Indomitus and Cataphractii pattern.

 

I feel Angels has a point, they arms do seem too high.
if you overlay the virtruvian man over that terminator I don't feel he'd link up well. Seeing as a marine has to fit inside the suit, I reckon the arms do need a slight adjusting.
But generally looks good
Keep it up

 

Ta. Don't worry about the arms at the mo – they were temporary placeholders. However, it brings up a good point, and that's realism versus identifiability in proportions. As I mentioned above, when I've tried to use more realistic proportions in previous conversation attempts, they just didn't read as Terminator armour. It's a bit of a tightrope, and eventually I just have to run with what I think looks best :)

 

+++

Speaking of which:

Some slightly unforgiving lighting here, but the details are going in place now. I've altered the waist a little, and now think he's standing at the right height in comparison to Tithonus.

[Gen.Steiner]

A note on truescaling Terminator armour. Something that's always confused me - the Marine inside doesn't change height. So if the armour suit is larger... where are his feet? If they are in the boots, wouldn't the head be at roughly the same height as in standard armour? The extra height is made up of the bulky integral power pack and coolant systems or whatever they are. Ditto arms!

Unless of course the Marine is effectively wearing the TDA like a small battlesuit? I dunno...

 

Either way sterling work as always!

[lionofjudah]

[apologist]

A note on truescaling Terminator armour. Something that's always confused me - the Marine inside doesn't change height. So if the armour suit is larger... where are his feet? If they are in the boots, wouldn't the head be at roughly the same height as in standard armour? The extra height is made up of the bulky integral power pack and coolant systems or whatever they are. Ditto arms!

 

Unless of course the Marine is effectively wearing the TDA like a small battlesuit? I dunno...

 

Either way sterling work as always!

 

Thanks, and for the record, I agree. Again, this comes down to the compromise between upsizing, realistic proportion and making it recognisable as a Cataphract. The same thing applies to 'true-scaling' in general – the proportions are really just slightly less exaggerated; the models would still look odd in real life! :)

 

 

......‼

Are you going to cast the pieces once you smooth the details?

I can't say. 

*whisper whisper*

Oh? Okay, turns out I can.

 :P

 

Yes, that's the plan; for personal use only, as they incorporate bits of manufactured items. I'll likely work up some more legs and add detail to the casts – I'll create a version with a neck guard and the neck area filled in to take the plastic cataphract heads, for example.

 

+++

[apologist]

Forget the promises of the Imperial Truth; it is a veil for the weak.

 

The steps of Olympia have moved us beyond the potential of reconciliation. And why would we seek such a path? Reconciliation is wormed through with admission and forgiveness; as hollow a concept as could be found. Reconciliation is at the root of all lapses in duty.

 

From truth comes betrayal, from betrayal comes retribution, from retribution comes vindication.

 

+ Meditations of Koronos, vol II +

 

 

 

+++

+ Tallarn. It's had a place in the PCRC's noospheric net for a long time. When the concept of Team Fisto came about – long before the Games Workshop Studio or Forge World books – we were all on tenterhooks waiting for the Black Library to release a book on Tallarn, so we'd get some info on the Imperial Fists. +

 

+ Now, that never happened, but the concept of a burned-out wasteland and fighting over precious bunkers is an awesome one, so Bob Hunk and I decided to start a little campaign set on the dead world, using the Victory is Vengeance rules. +

 

+ Bob Hunk's force of Imperial Fists Survivors is holed up in one of the anonymous Imperial bunker systems, and my Iron Warrior Exterminators have forced their way in. We played a simple mission fighting across an Imperial Army vehicle depot, with both of us using the Supply Raid and Murder Raid objectives. In short, we needed our forces to kill each other and claim a number of objectives. +

+++

+ Opening moves +

 

With a slight advantage in numbers, the Iron Warriors push forward into the  to make the most of their short-ranged weapons. Lieutenant Çjarn waves his mean forward. Seeking absolution for his part in the Olympian Purges, he wears the penitent marks well-known to the Imperium.

+ During this campaign, I want to explore the background of Çjarn, who becomes a blood-soaked, idealistic lunatic by the time of the Siege of Terra, warped by the daemon blade he carries. Tallarn, of course, is set before Siege, so here he's simply another line-officer. I decided that he would have had regrets over the events of Olympia (the Iron Warriors destroyed their homeworld when it rebelled), and gave him the Martyr trait. This boosted his Action Point total when he is hit or taken out of action. +

 

Basilikoi advance behind the cover of a refuelling Valkyrie.

+ The Basilikoi are represented by a Legion Tactical Support squad with volkite chargers. +

 

Sergeant Yce and his Breacher teams thunder forward, determined not to cede an inch of ground to the Warmaster's forces.

+ Bob Hunk had selected a simple Breacher Sergeant as his Hero, and granted him the Paragon trait. Yce may be a reluctant hero, but the shaken forces under his auspices look to him for inspiration – and what Imperial Fist would allow desire to overcome duty? Certainly not the stout-hearted Yce, who steps up and leads from the front. +

 

Crewless tanks, supply crates and other detritus offer dense cover for the clashing forces.

 

Long-range fire from the Fists pick off two or three unfortunate Legionaries of the IVth.

 

 

+ Mid-game +

 

The Rapier crew draw to a halt and prepare to fire on anything that hoves into view.

 

Çjarn's advance through cover falters as more and more of his men are picked off by sharp-eyed Imperial Fists, while his forces' powerful Martian deathrays and bolters fail to inflict a single casualty.

 

Called in to bail out their Lieutenant, the Iron Warriors on the right abandon their objectives and race over.

 

Yce confronts Çjarn, but the Fists' firepower falters at a critical juncture, causing no wounds...

 

Honoured Aedard, the Fists' Dreadnought, is hit by the Rapier's graviton cannon, but shakes it off. Returning fire, his quad autocannons hammer one of the Iron Warriors to the floor, sobbing blood from great rents in his armour.

 

 

 

+ Clash of arms +

The heroes meet! Three Iron Warriors make their way through the Fists' reaction fire, though Çjarn sustains a wound as he over-reaches to shield his comrade.

 

From the Valkyrie's wingtip pict-thief, the Iron Warriors predicament is obvious.

 

Before he can bring his axes into play, Çjarn is cut down by Yce's glittering power sword. His men fall shortly after, battered to the ground by the surviving Breachers.

 

The supporting Iron Warriors halt in dismay as their leader falls, and begin a punishing barrage of fire.

 

It's not all going the Fists' way, as the Rapier team tracks round...

 

... and hits Yce and his men with a physics-distorting wave of power. Straining to remain standing, Yce watches in dismay as two of his comrades are flattened in their armour. Nevertheless, it's too little too late, and the Iron Warriors are forced to retreat.

+++

+ Post-Action Report +

Ha! That could have gone better. Don't think Perturabo will be particularly pleased with Çjarn after this one. The final result was an embarrassingly large margin of victory for Yce and his victorious brethren. Bob Hunk can give the precise results (he took notes on the final result as we packed up – I had to dash), but it was something like 30 Supply Points (SP) and 3 Victory Points (VP) for capturing three objectives, plus another 14SP and 7SP or so for the kills... Meanwhile, I'd managed the grand achievement of 0 objectives – foolishly abandoning the two I had claimed in order to try and bail out Çjarn – and only managed to take out four of his men. Imperial Fists are serious business!

 

I can't blame bad luck, as Bob Hunk was equally unfortunate with his ammo rolls and pinning checks, his men uncharacteristically disorganised – perhaps the Iron Warriors assault had caught them off-guard?

 

The Iron Warriors were left in a parlous state; unable to spend sufficient Supply Points from their meagre haul to maintain any of the Armour, Ammunition or Personnel levels – all of which dropped to Lacking. I'm in trouble for the next game... Çjarn, fortunately, escaped permanent negative effects from his injury, and picked up a personal objective to fulfil next time.

 

The Fists, meanwhile, were flush! The Survivors start off on at a disadvantage to the Exterminators, but Yce has turned things around nicely, managing to spend enough Supply Points to bring everything up to the Plentiful level. 

 

It was, despite the result, a lot of fun. The small scale of the Victory is Vengeance games made this tense and swift, and the additional rules (once we'd deciphered them, that is – there's a lot of needlessly complex explanation and the rules are scattered about all over the place in the FW books) were fun additions that didn't slow things down.

 

I'm already looking forward to the next game.

Edited May 26, 2017 by Apologist

[Gen.Steiner]

Poor old Cjarn. He can't catch a break.

I like the cow slung on the side of that Leman Russ - who's responsible for that bit of joy?

Looking forwards to see your mass-produced Cataphracts, :D

[apologist]

Poor old Cjarn. He can't catch a break.

 

I like the cow slung on the side of that Leman Russ - who's responsible for that bit of joy?

 

Looking forwards to see your mass-produced Cataphracts,

 

Spoiler, but he also got knocked out like a chump in a game against G, another member of Team Fisto – poor old Çjarn's a bit of a punching bag! :D

 

I'm the guilty party for the cow, I'm afraid: the tanks are part of my Guard army, the Lamb's World LVth.

[apologist]

Down Amongst the Dead Men

 

A battle report, using the new 8th edition rules.

 

The ever-awesome grahamgilchrist providing the staunch fist of Imperial discipline this time.

Edited June 2, 2017 by Apologist

[Brother Aiwass]

Awesome!

 

Now do the second part :P

[apologist]

Awesome!

 

Now do the second part

Ha ha – your wish is my command: Murder in the Dark part II is up.

[Brother Aiwass]

Wow, that was fast :lol:

 

Thank you for letting me read that intense report, I was eager to read one of the new edition, and I got one of your's nonetheless! A bit sad your iron bastards got one more reason to be bitter, but hopefully it will be a revenge sooner rather than later.

 

Cheers!

[Thousand Eyes]

Down Amongst the Dead Men

 

A battle report, using the new 8th edition rules.

 

The ever-awesome grahamgilchrist providing the staunch fist of Imperial discipline this time.

 

That Cjarn model looks so very good though, just love it everytime I see it.

[apologist]

+killteamkillteamkillteamkillteamkillteamincept+

+PRIORITY+

 

 

 

 

 

+++

 

It's all been a bit quiet here recently – real life, holidays and a commission have kept my hobby time like a Ratling: short and full! The little teasers above are WIP images from the squad that is now on their way to their new home. I'm lookinh forward to showing them off here once they've been received – I think these are some of my best work :)

[Calas Typhon]

Looking good fam!

 

You read the new Perturabo novel btw? picked up the limited on release and listened to the Audiobook. There is a squad and in that a marine called "Mauler"  which and who have me set on making a killteam myself.

Edited June 29, 2017 by Cthonia

[Gen.Steiner]

Was that Cjarn getting killed by the Imperial Fist Captain? He's getting good at being murderised in close combat. You should give him an award for it. "Most Times Dead". :P

[Ryltar Thamior]

interesting use of Perturabo's gun (is that it?) on what i presume is a Cataphractii terminator? 

[Vairocanum]

Those are looking fantastic, can't wait to see full pics! Went to your blog and now I'm also looking forward to seeing what else you make out of the Dark Imperium box!

[apologist]

Looking good fam!

 

You read the new Perturabo novel btw? picked up the limited on release and listened to the Audiobook. There is a squad and in that a marine called "Mauler"  which and who have me set on making a killteam myself.

Afraid not – though I've heard good things about it, so may pick it up. I'm off to Warhammer World this weekend, so maybe I'll pick it up then.

 

Was that Cjarn getting killed by the Imperial Fist Captain? He's getting good at being murderised in close combat. You should give him an award for it. "Most Times Dead".

Afraid so! This was intended to work as a prequel to Terra; showing how Çjarn rose to power – but as you can see, he keeps getting killed!

 

interesting use of Perturabo's gun (is that it?) on what i presume is a Cataphractii terminator? 

Revealed below!

 

Those are looking fantastic, can't wait to see full pics! Went to your blog and now I'm also looking forward to seeing what else you make out of the Dark Imperium box!

Thanks frater; always good to get feedback

 

+++

 

 

Small groups called Basjibazuk were deployed broadly by the Iron Warriors in many campaigns. Analogous to Seeker Teams, they operated as ranging units, operating semi-independently of the Grand Companies. Each unit was hand-picked and tended to operate together until reduced beyond reasonable operational capacity. Most started as teams of sixteen or so Astartes, and would fight until reduced to two or three. 

 

 

Bogazkazen, Muster LXVI, were formed prior to the events on Isstvan, where they served as part of the hunter-killer teams that scoured the planet after the Dropsite Massacre. Just four members remained by the Siege of Terra, a petty officer called Barca Karthagos, weapon specialist Panormus, the hulking marksman Eryx, and the intelligence-insurgent Hippacre.

 

Karthagos

 

Eryx

 

Hippacre

 

Panormus

 

+++

 

These won't form part of the Officia Monstrosa (as they've winged their way to their new owner, where they'll be bringing death and destruction to Armageddon in the Shadow War), but I wanted to tie them into the narrative. I'm really pleased with them – I think they hold together as a kill team well.

Edited July 11, 2017 by Apologist

[Bob Hunk]

 

Was that Cjarn getting killed by the Imperial Fist Captain? He's getting good at being murderised in close combat. You should give him an award for it. "Most Times Dead".

 

Afraid so! This was intended to work as a prequel to Terra; showing how Çjarn rose to power – but as you can see, he keeps getting killed!

 

 

IMPERIUM used ANY IMPERIAL FIST against CJARN.

It's super effective!

 

 

 

 

These won't form part of the Officia Monstrosa (as they've winged their way to their new owner, where they'll be bringing death and destruction to Armageddon in the Shadow War), but I wanted to tie them into the narrative. I'm really pleased with them – I think they hold together as a kill team well.

They do look awesome, you can really see the character in each model! Great work.

[Gen.Steiner]

Oh, Apologist, those are beautiful. I love the work on Karthagos' face, and the armour is just... arrgh!

You vicious swine! Why are you such talent!?

*ahem*

Anyway, more specifically, 'bashi-bazouks'? Excellent! :D

[Dantay VI]

They look incredible.

 

Bashi Bazouks remind me of Captain Haddock from the Tintin series

 

150598_original by Danny Taylor, on Flickr

 

tac___19___the_castafiore_emerald_by_inonibird-d4jllar by Danny Taylor, on Flickr

 

Come to think of it... Captain Haddock looks a bit like Cjarn, minus the beard :D