Death Guard "Aechops" WiP

[Father Mehman]

I honestly can't believe I'm doing this. Part of me feels dirty and debased while the other part listens to the laughter of Dark Gods and is pleased. I'm a priest of the Imperium for the Emperor's sake! Oh well. As the title suggests, the Death Guard Company "Aechops" is going to be logged here. Actually, the full designation would be Death Guard 6th Great Company, 2nd Battalion, 3rd Company but they're known as "Aechops". Why? Because they deserve it !

One would think this forum is about to be even more popular due to the Betrayal at Calth set. Well, like all the other hipsters, I've been at this for a bit now. They hooked me years ago when the MkIII armour came out and then they put up how to paint the Death Guard. Talk about shooting fish in a barrel! Truth be told, I am ordering the BaC box because I'm too poor to buy the MkIII armour I love so much. This brings me to a question I'm hoping someone could help me out with:

There are thirty legionaries in the BaC. Should I make one large Legion Tactical Squad out of twenty of them and have a Legion Veteran Tactical Squad left over or...I don't know? This is where I need the help. My original army lists have the Legion Tactical Squads at twenty with an added Apothecary to make the number twenty-one (get it? Divisible by 7!). My plans kind of fell through this year but now a ray of light has come through the clouds in the form of these MkIV chaps.

Anyway, on to what this thread is all about: Death Guard. In future updates I'll be showing off some painted models in the panoply of implacable war, ask everyone's opinion on fluff direction, and maybe have some story ideas written out. There will be much rambling on the merits of the XIVth Legion, as well.

Stay tuned for more Barbarusian (?) delights and thank you to anyone who wants to help with the above question.

Cheers !

[Father Mehman]

Good news, ladies and gentlemen! I answered my own question as to the formations from the Betrayal at Calth box set. It goes a little something like this:

Legion Centurion - Legion Champion

Cataphractii Terminator Armour

Master-crafted Chainfist

Combi-melta

Rad Grenades

Legion Centurion - Chaplain (My favourite. There will be some conversion work)

Artificer Armour

Refractor Field

Crozius

Plasma Pistol

Rad Grenades

Tactical Squad [20]

Sergeant

- Artificer Armour

- Power Sword

- Plasma Pistol

- Melta Bombs

Combat Blades [20]

Legion Vexilla

Contemptor Dreadnought (I'm going to be doing some conversion work on this one)

Multi-melta

Heavy Flamer

Chem-munitions

Extra Armour

Terminator Squad [5] (I'll be swapping out the Sergeant's weapon)

Cataphractii Terminator Armour

Sergeant

- Power Maul

- Grenade Harness

Heavy Flamer

Chem-munitions

Power Fist [2]

Chainfist [2]

Veteran Squad [10]

Sergeant

- Artificer Armour

- Power Fist

- Plasma Pistol

Heavy Bolter and Suspensor Web

Meltagun

Legion Vexilla

Melta Bombs [10]

Well, that's how I'm going to be making the set. I doubt I'll ever get to play these guys but they sure will look cool !

On a different note, I've been having thoughts. In 40k, I play the Imperium of Mankind. There isn't an army I won't paint or write up some fluff for if they serve the Emperor in some fashion. The dilemma I face is this: do I want that for my Death Guard? A loyalist splinter-force using subterfuge and force of arms to take the fight to the Traitorous Forces sounds awesome to me, but am I missing a great opportunity by not allowing them to turn against their brothers? Ladies and gentlemen, I'd like to hear y'all's thoughts on the matter !

Well, that's it for this update. Expect a picture next time.

Cheers !

[Calas Typhon]

Looking forward to it!

[Charlo]

Similar to my own intentions for when I buy BoC! Will be nice to see how other forces go.

[disease]

keeping an eye on this one...

[Father Mehman]

Sorry for this but I must post a little mental image that hit me. It originally was written on a different thread but, eh, it's ultimately something that might produce some fluff.

Picture a dark battlefield, the fog of war covering everything in an acrid stink. In the distance, shells whistle through the air a second after the crump of their discharge is heard. Men lay dying, calling for their mothers or sweethearts, who they were destined, long ago, to never be seen again, to come to their aid and carry them from their personal hells. The taste of copper cannot be washed from mouths as the red-tinged mist flows and rides the eddies and streams of battle. Then, as if in lockstep, they're heard for the first time, their weapons booming with staccato blasts at forces unseen.

The fog starts to strobe as tracer fire and muzzle flash come nearer the centre field. There are no screams, there is no time. The usurpers are there in an instant, staggered lines slowly becoming one. A relentless march through the fields of mud, filth, and detritus of war deafens the ears as the unbreakable foot soldiers trudge along, killing from a distance the foe and silencing the wailing wounded. If you cannot fight you are of no use to them.

His back broken, the section leader of the Imperial Army looks up from his supine position and then lets his head rest on a drinking trough, his body moving by arm strength alone. They would be coming for him soon but he would look them in the eye when the knife strikes. His thoughts on hearth and home, the commander sniffed a bit of snuff and readied himself. Before him, a giant stood, knife in hand. His armour, once a dull white, looked as if it hadn't been taken care of in decades. The sludge of war had consumed the warrior but if he cared, the Imperial Arms-man would never know. Within moments of staring at the Angel of Death, another legionnaire strode forward. He was equally unkempt but there was more ornamentation laid upon him.

"No, not him," the second giant spoke to the first, motioning his sword to the army section's dead soldiers. He turned his helmet's dull, red eyes to the section leader and saluted. "One day, I wish to utilize my men as you have today. The Apothecarion has been notified. You will fight with us again."

With that the section leader let a tear wipe a channel of filth away from his face. His hell was to continue. The Angels had judged him unworthy of glorious death- these Death Guard would not quit him.

Hope you enjoyed that picture of grimness. It was fun to write. Well, as always, leave a comment if you have a thought. Any thoughts are highly welcome!

Cheers !

[Frater Cornelius]

Mehman, you filthy traitor ;) You better not forget your holy ways or I will come all the way over the sea to fight you on a 72x48 table :D

[wilks]

Cool stuff I like the narrative story, it makes an army so much more characterful and personal. I am in the same boat, planning on the same kinda project except I'm torn between Death Guard and Iron Warriors. I will be keeping an eye on this, am looking forward to seeing it progress. 

[Father Mehman]

@Everyone- Thank you very much, my friends! If I wasn't so tired I would reply to each and every one of you personally. To you all: I feel honoured that you looked at my thread and found something to comment on. Hopefully I can keep up the bar and deliver what you all would like to see.

Thank you for your patience, ladies and gentlemen. I told you a bit ago that my next post would include pictures. Well, here is that post !

There should probably be a preface here. I am not a good photographer...yet. Until I get a light box or some other kind of setup, these will have to do. That being said, the first picture is the colour scheme for Aechops Company. As an aside, what do you think I should do about having a Company or a Chapter? They'll be named Aechops no matter what but I'm leaning more towards them being a Chapter at this point. I'll let you all decide!

Anyway, this is a test model I did some time ago. As you can tell, he doesn't have his bolter and he isn't based (amongst other things). I just wanted to show how my legionnaires will be painted.

The second picture I'll show tonight was a bit of a surprise for me. Not only did he turn out better than I thought he would, he was built today! What you're looking at in this next photo is my Moritat. The shoulder pauldrons aren't glued because I prime them black. When my set of BaC gets here, and the MkIV pauldrons I ordered also get here, I may be priming the entire model in white. Anywho, since the pauldrons aren't glued they look a bit wonky. No worries, it'll be fixed .

He looks like he's yelling at the gods but, I assure you, he is looking straight ahead. Me and my stupid photography skills !

Well, that's it for today. I hope you all enjoyed the ride. I know I did.

Cheers !

[Barabbas Sogalon]

Love the colours on that legionary.

[Charlo]

Fellow Son of Barbarus, that is a beautifully grimy legionnaire fit to wear our colours! Nice Job!

[Father Mehman]

@Barabbas- Cheers, mate ! I hope the colours transfer over well to the MkIV that's coming with the BaC box. Let me ask you a question, brother (I should say cousin because my birth parents were from Tromsø). Should I add some concentrated Burnt Umber for rust lines or would that be taking it too far? I trust your painting skills and advice.

@Charlo- Thank you, brother-in-arms ! I'm going to complete him one of these days. Well, the bolter is already painted so all I have to do is base him. It's really not that much, I guess, so I don't have an excuse.

No update this time, ladies and gentlemen, but I do have a few directional questions:

How would y'all go about painting the star in the Death Guard symbol for officers? I was thinking gold. Well, dirty bronze because gold is a bit flashy. Also, for the officers' other pauldrons, I was thinking of making the field black instead of green just to set them apart. Thoughts?

Since I'm going with a mainly white model (grimy as hell, though), what kind of basing scheme would y'all suggest? I've got just about every shade of weathering powder so matching the base with more grime won't be hard.

I'll re-state the question I asked in the previous post because it seems to be lost in a wall of text- which I do a lot : Should I make Aechops a Chapter instead of a Company? I still don't know which would be better. Them being a Chapter sounds better but that's probably because I come from 40k. Help me, B&C!

Cheers !

[Barabbas Sogalon]

I think the armour is fine as it is. That said, I do not have much experience with weathering (I just give everything a sepia wash over rakarth flesh). As for the star, dirty bronze would look great on the officers.

Making Aechops a Company could perhaps offer a bit more freedom. Doing a Battalion myself, bitter Terran veterans leading "Barbarusan mongrels" in scorched earth operations.

And well met fellow northerner !

[Father Mehman]

Alright, ladies and gentlemen. It's time for an update!

A few days ago, I showed you all some pictures that featured my paint rag as a backdrop. Maybe it's just me but I don't care for them. I figure most of you don't either. Tonight will feature those same models with nothing behind them and also standing on something. I've almost an idea about how to make a light box that will work for taking pictures of these guys. Anyway, they'll be around later.

My Betrayal at Calth arrived yesterday and I had a go with some models last night. Eh, my hobby-fu was slow but they finally were completed today. Story time! I wasn't originally going to get a BaC at all. My fears about GW taking over the Heresy to the side, I just didn't want all that Mk IV armour. The original plan was for me to build a bunch of Mk III armour, then tackle some Mk II, and then work on Mk IV to get a good mixture within my squads. You see, Mk III Iron Armour is near and dear to my heart because it was created for frontal assaults and I was trained in real life to be an entry man- sledgehammer vs door guy. "But what about Breachers?" I hear you ask oh so politely. Yes, true- they have huge shields. But, here's a question: what armour do they wear?

Anyway, I don't have a lot of money to buy models and this was a sound investment in my book. As I was looking at the contents of the box, I saw the Chaplain model. He was perfect. He was my Chaplain. Well, except for one thing: the helmet. Let me tell you something: I hate the whole transverse crest on the Mk IV helmet. For some Legions they look great but the Death Guard wouldn't be caught dead (he he) wearing that ostentatious crap. No, sir. Give us a black stripe down the helmet to denote who the Sergeant is and follow him to battle!

Anywho, here are the new pictures of the Colour Scheme and of the Moritat. After those are a picture of my converted BaC Chaplain and a picture of my Praetor. Remember: the lighting on the Chaplain's picture is wonky and his head looks a bit large. Trust me it is not.

Colour Scheme

Moritat Shakt Khimba

Chaplain Aspr Doczra

Lieutenant (Praetor) Erotjl Mitafyr

Ok, that's the update. Thanks for reading!

Cheers !

[disease]

looking great

[Lord Blackwood]

This is a hobby , where we paint tiny bald men , who are always screaming 



Btw yer stuff looks great , keep up the fantastic work sir. 

[Father Mehman]

Right then, ladies and gentlemen, it's time for an update !

Due to health reasons my building has been slowed quite a bit. A few more Consuls were on the table but only the Champion made it through. No worries as they'll get done. I'll post a picture of the built Champion here in a few moments. Everyone likes pictures !

I've been thinking about fluff recently and it needs to come out of my head at some point. Y'all will be the first ones to know when it gets posted. I'll throw a few ideas out there and see what everyone thinks of them. Remember: there is no right or wrong comment, but you can be incorrect.

- Aechops is a Company (I guess it always was) thanks to Brother Barabbas' input. It offers my group more flexibility and freedom, as he said.

- I read somewhere that a normal Battalion in the Death Guard is overseen by a Lieutenant. Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong; learning is the best policy. In keeping with that, my Delegatus will now be the leader of Aechops Company and the Lt is currently attached to them.

- Maybe my fluff from now on could be from a Sergeant's point-of-view. The idea here is that the fluff would be anchored through the eyes of one legionary so that any event that happens will have a steady narration.

Feedback would be much appreciated on those ideas !

Alright, I said I'd give y'all a picture. Here it is:

Legion Champion Skarch Dmayit

Cheers !

[Charlo]

Mace on a champion? Awesome. He looks really cool!

[Barabbas Sogalon]

I like that Champion!

 

Also, a Battalion is led by a Lieutenant Commander.

[disease]

that works so well!    the pose is so natural. I... I... I... I may have to steal that....

[Father Mehman]

@Bladewolf- Sorry for not replying in my last post but thank you very much for stopping by.

@Charlo- I wasn't the first to come up with that mace but I did ask permission before I copied it. Dosjetka gets all the credit for the much better design. Thanks for coming over and leaving a comment. We'll have tea next time .

@Barabbas- Thank you very much, sir! Would you happen to know what the leader of a Company would be then? I'm guessing they're not called "Captain" because what would we...oh yeah- Lord Commander works for the title of a Great Company master.

@Disease- And a thank you, too! I cut off the stock head that comes with the model, replaced it with the Sternguard head with the beard, fashioned the mace, and then posed it. Let the stealing begin !

[Barabbas Sogalon]

Companies are led by Captains or Centurions. I prefer Centurion, sounds more Legion-y.

[Father Mehman]

@Barabbas- My wife said for me to go with Centurion, as well. Hmm...I like the ring of that !

Alright, ladies and gentlemen, here's my final model I'm doing until I get those Mk IV pauldrons in the mail. Well, final model from the Betrayal at Calth boxset, at least. Let me tell you about him as this picture is quite awful. So, I built the Contemptor from the BaC and it was pretty fun chopping on him to reposition him and what-not. In his left hand is a Heavy Flamer as I had an extra from another Contemptor arm. The one thing I didn't have was the fuel barrel because, eh, moving loss. A quick thought later and I'm cutting and chopping again. In a bucket that had some Imperial Guard Sentinel bits, I spied some fuel canisters that I thought would never be used. How wrong.

A quick clean-up and a chop betwixt the two fuel dumps and I had something I could almost use, but there was a problem. The flesh cutters left a square side on the bit I needed ! Looking around the table, the fuel gauge from the Sentinel kit was found (post-chopping from the duel canisters) and it was affixed to the square-ish side of the barrel. Personally, it looks better than Forge World's plain fuel barrel. Huzzah!

After that was completed, it was time to start posing the big guy. With trusty razor saw I slew the mono-pose Dreadnought's joints and was left with pelvis, torso, and two legs. After reading some other threads, it was apparent that I had to open up the hips. The first thing to do was to glue one of the legs down to the base. Then it was all about gluing the pelvis to the leg and then the other leg to the pelvis. Feeling rather grand about what I was doing, I was slightly perturbed to see two gaps staring at me. What was the next course of action?

Green Stuff. Well, Kneadite, but whatever. The gaps were filled and the torso was glued in place at a new angle. The same problem happened but there was enough Green Stuff left to patch the very large gap around the waist. Luckily, in the end, I was left with a Contemptor posed as if he is about to bring his Heavy Flamer about to slay some legionaries to his right. I hope you can see all that based on this one picture. I promise, by New Year's Day, I will have proper equipment for pictures.

Contemptor Dreadnought Rhivad

Cheers !

[Father Mehman]

Welp, looks like it's update time, ladies and gentlemen !

My Forge World Holiday order came and boy am I pleased! As many of you know and have seen, I am the owner of a Betrayal at Calth box (like many of you, I assume ). Well, when I hesitantly ordered the box set, I also placed an order at Forge World for some upgrade goodness. No, no no. I didn't buy their pre-made bundle for Death Guard. I didn't like the head upgrade and torso upgrade when they were introduced and I still don't care much for them now. Instead, I ordered three sets of Mk IV pauldrons and a set of Cataphractii shoulder guards. Here's hoping I don't go for another BaC box ! But, yes, I got some good presents this year.

If I don't go for another BaC box, I'd like to get my first Heresy-era vehicle along with some other goodies. What vehicle? Oh, just the Deimos Pattern Predator Infernus! I think it'll end up looking very nice when I finally get to take an army picture. Also on my hypothetical list is a Death Guard Brass Etch. If I had more disposable money I'd get some Tartaros Terminators with Power Axes and Special Weapons, as well. Oh well. Maybe one day .

I've been thinking a bit about some fluff for Aechops. It really only extends to their appearance at this point but, hey, it's a start. To denote that they are part of the Company, each legionary's faceplate is bronze. Each squad has a different colour combination on their kneepads even though they'll be covered in muck most of the time. Here's a handy list to help me out later and also for your enjoyment:

First Squad - Right: Green; Left: Plain

Second Squad - Right: Plain; Left: Green

Third Squad - Right: Green; Left: Green

Fourth Squad - Right: Plain; Left: Plain

Officers - Right: Plain; Left: Black

Alright, enough of the fluff. I hear you all like WiP pictures and that's what I aim to deliver right now.

Moritat Khimba Shakt [WiP]

Thanks for looking and have a great holiday season.

Cheers !

[Lord Blackwood]

Hes lookin good , what color plasma are you gonna go with ?