Battle of Calth: 30k Word Bearers

[Apostle of the 30th Host]

‘Humanity must have faith. Nothing units mankind the way religion inspires unity. No conflict rages as fiercely as a holy war. No warrior kills with the conviction of a crusader. Nothing in life breeds bonds and ambitions greater than the ties and dreams forged by faith. Religion brings hope, unification, law and purpose. The foundations of civilisation itself. Faith is nothing less than the pillar of a sentient species, raising it above the beast, the automaton, and the alien.’

Kor Phaeron

First Captain of the Word Bearers, Master of Faith, Priest-King of Colchis

 

 

Betrayal at Calth

A Horus Heresy Word Bearers Army Set During the Battle of Calth

 

The Word Bearers have always been my favourite Legion since playing Dawn of War Dark Crusade. They were my first 40k army, and remain my largest and favourite collection – a feeling that has only grown since reading as much as I can on them, including the brilliant Anthony Reynolds trilogy.

 

I have wanted to branch this collection out into 30k for a long time now – I like the idea of representing the origins of some of my 40k Characters in a 30k force – but was put off by the massive cost of Forge World products that I could not keep up with whilst at university. Now with the new Betrayal at Calth plastics, I can finally make this a reality and afford to add unique resin units to a core of cheaper plastic.

 

The background has always been one of my favourite parts about 40k and so that will be the main focus of my army – in fact, since pre-ordering my Calth set at the beginning of this week I have since bought ADB’s First Heretic and already finished it; it is brilliant! This is the first 30k novel I have read and my first by ADB; I was not disappointed and now fully understand why he is considered one of the best Black Library authors (so if he happens to stumble across this humble thread – I hear he likes to visit these forums – thank you for a thoroughly enjoyable read and for the brilliant quotes I'll be using in this thread, and I look forward to getting my hands on the rest of your work in regards to the Word Bearers).

 

As background is my main focus here, I decided to theme my army around the Battle of Calth. This seemed to be the obvious choice for me as it is still different enough from my 40k Word Bearers to be something new, but means I get to include much more of their darker side that is now coming to the fore.

 

So yeah, that’s the direction this log will be heading in and as soon as my Betrayal at Calth box turns up you guys will get some pictures.

 

Thanks for your interest!

 

 

Army List:

This is a list I have put together using the Word Bearers Rite of War (The Dark Brethren) and attempting to make use of the contents of the Betrayal at Calth box whilst also including units I like and attempting to stay close to the background.

 

Legion Praetor

Cataphractii Armour

Combi-Plasma

Master-Crafted Paragon Blade

Digital Lasers

192

 

Legion Centurion

Chaplain (Consul Upgrade)

Combi-Plasma

Artificer Armour

Refractor Field

Burning Lore

145 / 337

 

Legion Centurion

Diabolist

Combi-Melta

Power Weapon

Artificer Armour

Burning Lore

150 / 487

 

Legion Tactical Squad (15)

Additional Close Combat Weapons

Legion Vexilla

Artificer Armour

250 / 737

 

Legion Tactical Squad (15)

Additional Close Combat Weapons

Legion Vexilla

Artificer Armour

250 / 987

 

Gal Vorbak Dark Brethren (5)

Artificer Armour

210 / 1197

 

Legion Contemptor Dreadnought

Plasma Cannon

Graviton Gun

Extra Armour

Carapace Mounted Havoc Launcher

225 / 1422

 

Legion Terminator Squad (5)

Cataphractii Armour

Plasma Blaster

4 Combi-Plasmas

3 Lightning Claws

2 Chainfists

Grenade Harness

Dark Channelling

288 / 1710

 

Legion Veteran Tactical Squad (10)

Legion Vexilla

Power Weapon

2 Plasma Guns

Artificer Armour

Combi-Plasma

270 / 1980

 

Legion Chaplain, Diabolist and both Legion Tactical Squad Sergeants have Melta Bombs

20 / 2000

 

+++ Alternate Option +++

Replace the Diabolist’s Melta Bombs, Diabolist and Legion Praetor (347 Points) with the following:

 

Kor Phaeron

155

 

Legion Heavy Support Squad (5)

5 Autocannons

Augury Scanner

Hardened Armour

190 / 345

 

 

‘As a warrior of the Seventeenth Legio Astartes, the Bearers of the Word, a brotherhood born of Colchis and born of Terra, do you swear to fight in the name of Lorgar – heart and soul, body and blood?’

XVIIth Legion Oath of Moment

 

‘From the fires of righteousness unto the blood of purity. We bring the Word of Lorgar’

​

[ThatOneMarshal]

I'm liking the plog already!

 

Soin terms of the list, is there a particular reason for taking the ROW? Will it be for daemon allies or do you have lots of psykers in your area? Taking large squads works really well for Worst Bearers due to your guys nifty leadership rule. I would probalby try to get that heavy support squad in your list, due to the fact that you don't have much anti tank. I'm not sure how well Kor Phareon would be though, due to the fact that he only has T 3 which makes him plasma bait though it shouldn't be too much of an issue because of majority toughness. Just watch out for him in close combat. By tactical squad I would imagine that you mean veteran squad? Otherwise I like the list!

 

Excited to see some models in the future!

[Apostle of the 30th Host]

Thanks man!

In terms of the Rite of War, there were several reasons I decided on that in the end:

1. Daemon Allies - The list above is for 2000 Points as that is a manageable size will not too much more investment after the Betrayal at Calth set, but for bigger games I'll make up the points with Daemons as I already have a sizeable amount of these (plus it will mean I can hopefully stay motivated to finish both forces as I can swap back and forth).

2. Preferred Enemy (Loyalist Space Marines) for all IC's - This was my main factor in picking this! As you can see, I'm a fan of Plasma weaponry, and anything that can pretty much remove Gets Hot is amazing! Plus, as the few people I know who already play 30k play Loyalist armies it is almost guaranteed to get used. All in all, this will put out large amounts of damage, with minimal cost to my forces.

3. Fluff - The fluff of 40k/30k is one of my favourite parts, and this RoW is themed very nicely around the Word Bearers which I like.

4. I wanted to use a RoW - This is something unique to 30k, and as I'm totally new to this I wanted to take one just to give it a try. This just seemed to be the best for me as it ticked all my boxes: fluffy, perks that fit how I like to play, and minimal negative impacts.

5. Minimal Negative Impacts - None of the downsides to this RoW were a problem to me: If I use allies, it will only be Daemons, so that's fine. Will use Kor Phaeron/Erebus at some point, and if not I would take a Diabolist anyway so that compulsory choice is not a problem. I much prefer infantry to tanks (in fact, heavy support is my least used section in any army) so limits on that have no impact either.

As for Psykers, do many people bother with these in 30k? Unless you play Word Bearers too, there are only Librarians (which don't seem as strong this edition) and some Primarchs so I never really took that into account.

Saying that though, with Burning Lore on multiple HQ's and the possibility of Daemon Allies in future, I will have a very strong Psychic phase and this rule will only add to that strength, even if it rarely comes into play.

I'm a big fan of 15 man squads as that comes from my 40k incarnation of the Word Bearers. 2 squads of 15 seemed like a strong core force that when combined with Vexillas and the Word Bearers Ld rule are almost impossible to break, and do not need to be babysat by an HQ.

I see what you mean about the Heavy Support Squad. If I had more points, they would be in, but at 2000 points, after using all the contents of Betrayal at Calth and including some units I really like the look of, there was no room. Are there many tanks in 30k? I always got the impression it was a much more infantry focussed game than 40k, but then I have no experience on this side.

Same for Kor Phaeron too really. I can see from his rules he is not the strongest character, but I like him as a character so want to get him in there every now and then - although, I would argue that in a unit of Gal Vorbak or Terminators (and with his army wide Ld buff) he could be very strong.

Which squad are you referring to when you asked if I meant Veterans instead of Tactical? Is it the one listed as 'Legion Veteran Tactical Squad'? If so, it was written out like that as that is how it is in the Legiones Astartes Red Book, but for the rest of this thread I'll likely shorten it to just Veteran Squad for brevity and so hopefully that will save any confusion.

Thanks again for your comments, I actually have started work on a Word Bearers Contemptor I have had sitting around. Was going to be a second 40k one, but I would much rather use the Legion specific one for this. It's about 1/3rd done (base and wash), but as I'm only replying now, the light is much too poor to get you a decent photo. I'll have to edit one in tomorrow with some natural light.

[SkimaskMohawk]

If you take Kor Phaeron (or erebus) there's very little reason to take the RoW unfortunately, as they both fulfill its key bonus. Imo dark channeling from a Diabolist/Kor would add more flavour than the RoW would

[Terminus]

Kor Phaeron? Erebus? Pfft. Zarbu for President.

[ThatOneMarshal]

Erebus may be the greatest :cuss of all time, however you gotta give him props for starting the Horus Heresy. 

[Apostle of the 30th Host]

Word Bearers Contemptor WiP

 

(All parts have been basecoated and washed. The chest armour is finished – I wanted to test my idea for the black and red armour and make sure the slightly changed flames on his chest worked with the Brass Etch – not that you guys will be able to tell, even in the day there is barely enough light to see properly at the moment!)

 

[Captain Taelos]

Looks great! What red are you using there?

[Dantioch]

That's a nice looking dread so far, red is looking great too man. Looking forward to seeing more!

[Zoatibix]

Looks very good so far.

[Terminus]

Are you planning on highlighting the script in some way?

[Apostle of the 30th Host]

Captain Taelos - Thank you. It is all just Khorne Red, or a variant there of: The base is just Khorne Red, then washed with Agrax Earthshade (that's as far as the legs are in that photo). Then the body has been highlighted with Khorne Red again leaving the wash in the edges of the armour and the script whilst the edge in the centre of the armour has been highlighted again with a 50:50 mix of Khorne Red and Wazdakka Red.

 

Dantioch - Cheers mate​!! Should be able to make some more progress tomorrow evening.

 

Zoatibix - Thank you!​ :)

 

Terminus - Not sure on​ that yet to be honest. I'm not a fan of extreme highlighting and I wouldn't want highlights on all the little bits of script to become too overpowering and lighten it up too much. The black will get highlights otherwise the script won't be seen at all and I'll try the red too but not fully decided yet. In person, it doesn't look like it needs it, but it's really hard to tell in that photo as it's quite overcast so hopefully I'll get some sun to take a better photo.

[Terminus]

I don't know, I've seen quite a few versions that just left them black, and the detail was lost if you weren't holding the models 6" from your face. Going full glowing highlight also seems to much for anything short of Gal Vorbak or Mhara Gal. Painting the lines as blood doesn't work due to their Legion colors. Damn you, Word Bearers, damn you even more than you are already damned!

[Kriegriss]

fill in the script and geometric runes with silver or gold as if they carved them into the armour the poured santified molten metal into the grooves

[Apostle of the 30th Host]

​Word Bearers Contemptor - Finished Body

 

(The Contemptor's body is now finished, the only think I would like to come back to is to add more script, but will wait for my Betrayal at Calth set as I may use the transfers. If I may direct your attention to some interesting points based on previous comments: I managed to highlight the script in the end! I mixed a nice red that was not too light that it changed the overall tone, but not too dark it had no effect. Much happier with that now, and I think it fixed the problem with it fading from afar. Also worth mentioning is the dark patches on the base - these are meant to be scorch marks and are lines on black drybrushed away from the crater, whilst the pennants have been painted as flesh - I once read that it was an old Colchisian tradition to wear the skin of your enemies, a tradition that has been brought back when they returned to the old ways...)

 

 

​

[Apostle of the 30th Host]

Word Bearers Legion Chaplain

"Faith is the soul of any army; be it vested in primitive religion or enlightened truth. It makes even the least soldier mighty, the craven is remade worthy and through its balm any hardship may be endured. Faith ennobles all of the worlds the soldier undertakes be they so base or vile, and imports to them the golden spark of transcendent purpose."

Lorgar

Master of the Word Bearers, Aurelian, The Golden, The Voice of Truth

++ Sneak Peak ++

(Below is a teaser of a little side project I have got going between assembling, basing and painting my Betrayal at Calth stuff)

[Father Mehman]

Very nice colour scheme you have there, Brother ! Your traitors look great.

What's this then? A Knight's pauldron? Colour me intrigued .

[Slips]

Wait hold on a minute?! You freehanded that?!?

[Noctus Cornix]

Judging from the lack of the line across the pauldron and given he used one on the contemptor, I believe that the symbol is from the brass etching. The astrological symbols I believe, however, were hand painted.

 

I absolutely love the way you painted the Word Bearers symbol on the knight. The dull gold goes great with the fire and the black background. I hope you don't mind if I borrowed that idea from you. :P

[Slips]

Judging from the lack of the line across the pauldron and given he used one on the contemptor, I believe that the symbol is from the brass etching. The astrological symbols I believe, however, were hand painted.

I absolutely love the way you painted the Word Bearers symbol on the knight. The dull gold goes great with the fire and the black background. I hope you don't mind if I borrowed that idea from you.

If thats the case I'm relieved or I would have just burnt my paint brushes then and there.

[Apostle of the 30th Host]

@Mehman - Thanks mate!! Yeah, I recently found my old Chaos Knight I built and painted two years ago. It looked like it needed a re-paint as I think my skills have improved a lot since then and it was just screaming to be covered in the new[-ish] Word Bearers Brass Etch. It was originally painted to be allied to the Word Bearers of my 40k army, but I'm now painting it more in line with my 30k stuff as I think it will look better for it.

@Slipstreams - If you're referring to the Word Bearers symbol, no, that is Brass Etch as Noctus Cornix quite rightly noticed. However all the astrological symbols and patterns on the shoulderpad and the inside of the Chaplain's cloak were free handed (and took far too long with 4 layers of paint and my determination to make the circles look circular). Cheers though, I'm taking your reaction as a compliment anyway as it clearly means that the Brass Etch was stuck very well, which is harder than I thought due to the curve in the armour.

@Noctus Cornix - You are quite right, Brass Etch, with freehand symbols Thank you so much!! I'm glad it works, it was that idea that convinced me to re-paint the Knight for 30k. Not at all, please do borrow it, and let me know if you want a list of the exact colours I used too.