Officia Monstrosa – Iron Warriors

[Gen.Steiner]

And that use of the phrase is because the original Bashi-Bazouks were irregular troops in the Ottoman army, with a bit of rep for atrocity. Good ol' Herge, slipping in historical stuff with his blistering barnacles. ;)

[apologist]

Confrontation on Coripaest – what the Footsore 242nd are up to in M41...

 

Edited December 6, 2017 by Apologist

[Pearson73]

A great looking game, totally agree on what you were saying regarding the aesthetics.

[apologist]

Ta – and full kudos to Lucifer216 for brightening up my gaming with his fantastic Knights. Having got a couple of games of 8th in recently, I've found my enthusiasm reignited. 

 

For those who follow my blog, you might be aware that I've been chugging along with a rules project to play Horus Heresy-era games with 8th edition. For the most part, this has been a fairly simple conversion. Given the preponderance of conversion work in the PCRC – including Bob Hunk's LED-lit Fists – I've used Primaris marines as the basis to keep the line infantry around a little longer than usual.

 

Anyway, the Iron Circle are a bit of an outlier, not having much to compare them against. I'd very much appreciate any thoughts on these rules before I get a chance to playtest them:

 

[apologist]

+ By Your Command +

Members of the Iron Circle are bound to the Officio Monstrosa; these ironclad-behemoths serving as bodyguard and watchmen over the officers of the 242nd Selected.

 

 

 

 

[Gorgoff]

It's so beautiful that it brings tears in my eyes. Tears of hot steal.

Iron within, brother.

[apologist]

Iron without.

 

... and thanks! Not done quite yet; a few little tweaks to go. Then onto his companion - and then back to the fifteen Breachers I built ages back.

[ephrael]

The Iron Circle automata looks great, like everything you do. Have you thought about adding a designation number to it’s left shoulder or somewhere else on the model? I think it would help to break up the blocks of color and add just a hint of individualism to each robot.

[apologist]

The Iron Circle automata looks great, like everything you do. Have you thought about adding a designation number to it

[Thousand Eyes]

What an intimidating little group they are. I was a bit ambivilant about them at first, but then I read about them in Angel Exterminatus and wanted three!

[apologist]

Thanks Thousand Eyes. I want the infantry to remain the focus of my armies, but having a few giant stompy robots never hurt anyone, right?

 

*whisperwhisper*

 

Really? Who knew?

 

+++

 

Anyway, silliness aside, we've got a game to kick off a campaign tentatively planned for the end of the month, so I'm very tempted to make something for it. Whether that's picking up on the Breachers, Destroyers, or Thallax that are lurking in the to-be-painted pile; building those long-lurking Terminators, or making a new Commander – perhaps the mysterious Taurson – is up in the air.

[apologist]

 

A little painting time last night got another five Tactical Legionaries and a Destroyer well on their way to being ready. It's such a quick scheme! 

[Kizzdougs]

Looking good bro! :tu:

[Thousand Eyes]

Good call. I have some destroyers waiting for my Iron Warriors as well.

[Isengrin]

There are way too few true scale marines with jump packs around and yours looks like he means business. I'm looking forward to seeing him all painted up.

[Hungry Nostraman Lizard]

They look like absolute killers!

[apologist]

Looking good bro!

 

Ta; nice to be back on the Long March.

 

Good call. I have some destroyers waiting for my Iron Warriors as well.

 

Excellent! I've never been a big fan of jump troops before; but after many (many) foot troops, perhaps it's time to indulge myself

 

There are way too few true scale marines with jump packs around and yours looks like he means business. I'm looking forward to seeing him all painted up.

 

Not there yet, but they're coming along...

 

[+Autoappend+]...and further along still:

Edited January 19, 2018 by Apologist

[Thousand Eyes]

How do you do your yellow over black, 50 multiple layers or work up from a different colour?

 

I have been doing my shoulders yellow over  the silver and then adding the black over that.

[apologist]

How do you do your yellow over black, 50 multiple layers or work up from a different colour?

 

I have been doing my shoulders yellow over  the silver and then adding the black over that.

Generally, a single coat of Averland Sunset (or Iyanden Darksun); followed by a layer of an equal mix of the same colour with Yriel Yellow (or any other brighter yellow). That'll get it to the stage above. I generally finish it with a final coat of pure Yriel Yellow thinned with flow improver or acrylic medium to help reinforce the hue and smooth out any brushstrokes; but certainly there's no need for repeated layering. It should work over any colour, as the Averland Sunset is opaque.

 

On painting yellow in general, I try to match the technique to the result I'm after. For such high-contrast detail on these Iron Warriors, I'm aiming to be neat and clean, but it's not necessary to do a flawless yellow finish of a dozen or more layers (as you might do for an Eldar Prince, or something) because you'll be overlaying it with a broken, variegated red-brown wash to suggest micro-texture:

...and then weathering it:

 

The three-layer version also works from a cream base – Dheneb Stone was used for this Imperial Fist, for example:

[Thousand Eyes]

Cheers for the tips.

[apologist]

+ Psiloi Aftrokratori +

 

We weren't just infantry in there, of course. You don't hunt down a Primarch by fighting on his own turf. The Psiloi were there, too; the dedicated eradicators. The Destroyer corps. I'd seen their deployment by other Legions, and had always been surprised. They seemed hesitant; almost embarrassed by their use – at least, before the schism. It was a marked contrast with us. The Fourth had always done what was necessary, without hesitation or concerns of the thoughts of others. Our Destroyers were thus neither honoured nor abhorred; they were just warriors, the same as the rest of us.

 

 

Aftrokratori had a thick accent. He wasn't Olympian, but he fought like one. I never found out where he was from; and since he's been dead for years now, I have little inclination to find out.

 

 

His skin, like most Destroyers, was near-black as his melanchrome struggled to protect his organs from cooking within his Mark IV plate, as he was bathed in the baleful miasma of his ilk's rad-weaponry. The Psiloi suffered a great deal of attrition in terms of both men and equipment. The Warsmith's answer to this was simple: assign a permanent member of the apothekarion to the destroyer's Muster, and give them arming privileges.

 

 

That last point backfired on the Psiloi during the Siege. The rest of us scavenged from the battlefield or maintained our reliable Crusade-era plate. Certainly the Destroyers got first pick of replacement equipment; but owing to the rate of failure they endured, that simply meant they picked up the bulky, inefficient mongrel plate that was all the Legion could provide during those days. 

 

 

+++

[Markus_]

Haven't seen your stuff in a while, so much candy! It's great how every model is part of the narrative.
The yellow markings as well as the pale lenses makes a great contrast with the dark beaten metal tones which captures the spirit of the Legion very well.
Would be so cool to have a game some day with Legio XIV against the Iron Fourth!

[apologist]

Haven't seen your stuff in a while, so much candy! It's great how every model is part of the narrative.

The yellow markings as well as the pale lenses makes a great contrast with the dark beaten metal tones which captures the spirit of the Legion very well.

Would be so cool to have a game some day with Legio XIV against the Iron Fourth!

 

Thanks very much. I'd love to have a game; one of my new year's hobby aims is to meet up with other hobbyists and get some gaming in :) 

Whereabouts are you based?

 

+

The Muster continues

More grist to the mill – a few extra Tactical Legionaries takes me close to the magical forty mark:

 

...and the Basilikoi [+noosphericinloadlink embedded+] gain an extra two (blurry) members:

 

If you look through the link above, you'll spot that the weapons were originally a bit darker. While I like the grungy, realistic feel of the dull heatwash, the unit just wasn't obvious enough as something different, so I zinged up the volkite charging coils of the unit:

 

I think it's given them some much-needed impact.

[Markus_]

Oh I'm way off, Finland to be precise. You were British, correct?

It was a random thought really, but potentially travelling for a game is only a matter of planning and arrangement.
Great additional astartes! The mk5 armoured warrior is an absolute hulk.

Edited January 23, 2018 by Markus_

[ephrael]

I already commented on your blog about the updates but I had a question for you. The MKV marine looks amazing, would you mind telling me a little about his studded shoulder pads? Did you convert them or are they printed?