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The Silent Sword Crusade - Resolve & Purpose

TheOneTrueZon

By TheOneTrueZon
in + BLACK TEMPLARS +

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TheOneTrueZon Veteran

TheOneTrueZon

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Chapter 5: Knightfall

 

Marshall MacLaren had quickly summoned his commanders for an emergency briefing. They gathered in a spartan chamber, only adorned with a holocaster that was recessed into the center of the stone floor engraved with script that lined the walls with the accounts of the final battles of Terra. There is no sitting or idle banter. Ten Astarte veterans with over a thousand years of experience combined stood and listened to their orders in devoted silence.

Sword Brother Auros, MacLaren’s second-in-command and company champion from his previous assignment to Crusade Dominius, presented the current intel as the holocaster thrummed to life and the image of the chapter keep  outer wall resolved into view.
“The latest thermal scans indicate approximately 200 meta-humans encamped at the main gate”, the image zoomed into the central gate, a massive set of doors 300 meters high and double the width. The encampment concentrated on the center of the gate, crude structures and fires radiated from the epicenter of activity in a rough semi-circle.
“The gate is their primary point of focus. They do not possess the technology to breach it directly, but it appears they are now attempting to dig underneath”, the image shifted over to a section of the upper wall. Charred bodies and smoldering stains were peppered along the top, “It also appears the passive defense systems remain functional and on-line.”
“Appears?”, MacLaren sternly interjected, “Why ‘as this nae been verified?”
“Until a cycle ago all attempts to remotely contact the passive systems which will allows us to communicate with the machine spirits of this base have failed. It is likely that the amount of time that has passed since it’s last use has caused malfunctions which we cannot diagnose from here.”
“It tests our faith,” boomed Forge Master Brother Ichor. Much like Chaplains, he was never seen outside of his armor. Though he did not adorn his servo-harness for gatherings such as this, his bulk was that of S’dain in his Terminator armor, his voice was deep and thunderous from the amplified vox on his helmet.
“The spirit of that base is powerful, and wise. Perhaps it does not believe that we are truly Templar, and are attempting to trick it. It has gone into a deep defensive mode. It will not change from that state until the threat at the gates is purged properly.”
Brother Auros nodded and turned to the group for moment and spoke somberly, “Forge Master Ichor speaks true, from orbit we have not been able to ascertain if any of the attempts to scale the wall actually managed to evade the defenses, until now.” He looked back at the image and brought up an alert log the Aegis Deus had received.
“This breach alert was wide-casted over a Templar secure channel about a cycle ago, and is the reason the strike plans will commence immediately.”
Sword Brother Torin, Captain of the Vanguard stepped forward and nodded to Auros.
“The plan of attack remains the same. Brother Marius and Cardiem will drop pod two scouting parties under the cover of darkness on the other side of the mountain and will approach their flanks, recon the perimeter of the encampment and provide overwatch with sniper Neophytes. Reclusiarch S’dain will honor us by leading the main attack with three squads, inserting from orbit with Stormravens and heavy fire support provided by Venerable Brother Heculis. The main attack commences just before ground side first light, and will sweep and clear the entire encampment. Once secure the task force will provide cover for the Techmarines as they establish contact with the keep’s defense matrix and secure ingress.”
Brother Ichor added, “A gate of this kind has three independent locking mechanisms, and will require the undisturbed work of myself and three Techmarines to bypass. My best estimation is that we will require a full local day cycle to open the gate, and then the real work begins with the awakening rites for the keep, which will require all the Techmarines under my command a month to accomplish.”
No one in the room had reservations about how long it was going to take, and a month of standing guard would serve as ample training grounds for the Neophytes.
Reclusiarch S’Dain remained silent the duration of the briefing. Only at the end did he speak.
“What of their reinforcements?”
Brother Auros turned to the Reclusiarch with a questioning glance.
“Reinforcements? Enlighten us my esteemed Brother.”
The holocaster shifted some distance to the south, where the primal sprawl of a settlement that grew out of a river basin spread like a putrid scar across the dense forest around it.
“There are nearly 300,000 of these sub-humans in that settlement alone. We cannot ignore those numbers, in force that many witches would take time to cleanse. Before the gate is cleared we should nuke that entire site and every other one on the face of this planet and be done with them. This planet is ours, and I will not abide vermin in our house”
Marshall MacLaren smiled broadly and looked squarely into the grim visage of the Chaplains helm, “Ahm sahprised ye d’nae ask t’kill them all by yerself Brotha S’Dain.”
“If that is your wish Marshall, I will gladly fulfill that order,” S’Dain cooly replied.
“They should be kept as fodder, for training,” Brother Auros added, “I want the Neos to have ample opportunity to practice against their intended prey.”
The Marshall looked from Auros to S’Dain, and only thought for a beat before making his command.
“Suffah nae the witch tae live. No nuke for them t’dae, tha would be giv’in them the easy way out. They die by the sword Reclusiarch, ah’ll lead the first charge m’self.”
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TheOneTrueZon Veteran

TheOneTrueZon

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Vow Complete!

 

http://i.imgur.com/W41eV4G.jpg

 

 

 

http://i.imgur.com/LAhOJEj.jpg

 

http://i.imgur.com/krLmUzy.jpg

 

http://i.imgur.com/51obcyl.jpg

 

 

http://i.imgur.com/XRUpQDq.jpg

 

http://i.imgur.com/xUtfyKP.jpg

 

http://i.imgur.com/8YSr8pG.jpg

 

http://i.imgur.com/6HxunMU.jpg

 

http://i.imgur.com/4PjPFY1.jpg

 

http://i.imgur.com/g3T6st2.jpg

 

http://i.imgur.com/wPe0Skx.jpg

 

http://i.imgur.com/UiAF7kE.jpg

 

http://i.imgur.com/32Yym4J.jpg

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TheOneTrueZon Veteran

TheOneTrueZon

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EXCELLENT use of the Masters of the Chapter! You've inspired me to pick up another set of them for conversions. The sculpts on them are great and your conversions make them extremely dynamic.

 

Thanks so much! I had a fun time working on these. Now that ETL is out of the way I'm going to start on my Vanguards and prepping my Land Raiders for the next phase of expansion. 

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TheOneTrueZon Veteran

TheOneTrueZon

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I intend to only increase the amount of BOOM that I can bring to the table. While on holiday back at the old family homestead I found this in the basement:

 

http://i.imgur.com/r2C6zBd.jpg

 

Though I have a long list of stuff to build and paint, I could not help but think to myself that with some time and effort (understatement of the year) this could become a mobile HQ / firebase.

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TheOneTrueZon Veteran

TheOneTrueZon

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A quick question... are the Dozer Blade arts hand painted or printed?

Follow up question: how'd you do it? :biggrin.:

 

 

Although I can and will do some freehand at some point this year, the dozer blades are decals. I took a photo of the Vindicator straight on with a fixed lens and padded the frame edge (to minimize any lens distortion). Then in Photoshop I traced the inside edge to get a vector of the general shape, but didn't place my images all the way to the edge. I wanted a little wiggle room since decals of odd shape can and will tear. I took that shape and made size variations of 5% increments and printed it that out on some copy paper, cut them out and figured out which one fit best. That became the template and I found imagery that fit, tweaking a little with scale in Photoshop and punching up the colors so the saturation came through on the decal sheet, laser printed it at work and there you have it! The DIY decal sheets I use needs to be on white or light colors for the colors to show, but black text works well over most shades that aren't too dark. I am contemplating making a Templar layout and getting it printed with someplace like Fallout Hobbies (http://www.fallouthobbies.com/custom/) so I can get solid white decals of my own design, as the printers I have access to don't print white. 

 

Here's a image of what my most recent decal sheet looks like, the dozer blades are on the bottom right.

 

http://i.imgur.com/DSsLYqA.jpg
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TheOneTrueZon Veteran

TheOneTrueZon

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++ INCOMING TRANSMISSION ++

++ CENTURION MK2 UNITS INBOUND ++

 

giphy.gif

 

 

 

First phase of conversion inspired by Brother Lamenter (http://masteroftheforge.com/centurion-tutorial/). Really fixes the height problem that makes the "MK1" models look so squat and less like the artwork which makes them look so formidable...

 

 

http://i.imgur.com/UHEeqFc.png

 

http://i.imgur.com/1N0vqf8.jpg

 

Templar MK2 size comparison vs an Ultra MK1 

 

http://i.imgur.com/WEJmRFl.jpg

 

Added extra armor to leg fixtures and will be improving the cabling from the excessive and cumbersome arrangement which plagues the MK1.

 

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Brother Christopher Venerable Brother

Brother Christopher

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Allow me to make a collective comment about the awesomeness in this thread, and in particular on page 3. I really like your colour selection and how well colours work together. The whites and reds, the golds - everything a very fresh look to it. The details are superb - the vidndicators (!!), the heraldry, etc. But the centurions you've posted are just jaw-droppingly good. I'm really keen to see how they end up painted, but as they are now, from what I can see in the pictures, you've managed to account for all the problems with the original models and add some Templar character to them. I were looking for a way to convert centurions when I got around to painting mine and stumbled across the tutorial you linked, but did not find the results compelling. Yours, on the other hand, are great - it seems you outdid the source material for your inspiration.

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TheOneTrueZon Veteran

TheOneTrueZon

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Chapter 6: Into the Forge

 

 

The chapel of the redeemed was empty, save one. Varia remained in silent meditation for nearly a full day, her thoughts becoming darker as the other inductees were called up by Reclusiarch S’dain to be paired with an Initiate. Doubt crept into the back of her mind. She was going to be rejected, relegated to engineering and serve the Aegis Deus instead of the Templars. Faith welled up within her as the thunderous echoes of S’dain approaching down the hall toward the chapel were just outside the threshold of the pressure door. Her adrenaline was pumping in anticipation of her fate, making the doors seems to slide open slowly, the hiss of the hydraulics faded as S’dain entered.

 

“Rise, Varia. You are to proceed immediately to the engineering section and report to this chamber.” A bulkhead number and course popped up on her internal HUD. 

“Yes Reclusiarch,” she said as her fears were answered, bowed deeply and hurried out the door. She could feel the eyes of the Chaplain on her back as she started down toward the heart of the ship. In her heart she knew he could feel her dispair. Her knack for fixing things would be her curse, forever the mechanic, never the soldier. But hope remained, better to serve this chapter than to have died on Armegeddon. With a heavy sigh she quickened the pace. Her internals lit the path through the byzantine maze of corridors. Unaided, even the most shipright personnel could lose their way within the belly of this ship. Finally she came to the corridor which terminated at her destination, bulkhead 505. It read in large stenciled letters “AUX MACHINE SHOP”

 

As she walked the last few meters, the sound of loud rhythmic metallic peals filled the narrow passageway. Before she could even announce her entry the bulkhead slid open suddenly, causing her to take a cautionary step back. Before her was an expansive chamber, upon the walls and ceiling were all manner of storage vaults, fortified work benches, tools and many varied parts of an Astarte armory. In the midst of it all, a techmarine servo-harness writhed a chaotic dance of limbs extending and maneuvering around it’s master, who stood before a massive suit of armor Varia had not seen before. She took a step into the chamber and opened her mouth to make a proper greeting, but before she could utter a syllable a vox sounded that seemed to come from all side of the space.

“If you’re done staring, hurry up and get in here,” the bulkhead doors slammed shut behind her with such force that the pressure wave forced her forward a few steps, “OH, yes… mind the door.”

“Yes my lord, sorry my lord…”

“Brother Carrus, address me as Brother Carrus,” he spoke plain and short, but without any sign of anger or impatience.

“Hold this.” He tossed a thick length of cable towards her, the weight catching her by surprise and making her brace to adjust. The servo harness went limp, and Carrus turned while the arms locked into their stowed positions. In one graceful motion the mag-locks clicked out of place and the harness was fastened to the wall.

“That is adamantium braided nano carbon tubing. What is the advantage of these two materials?”

“Strength and flexibility, Brother Carrus”, Varia quickly replied.

“Good, perhaps the omnissiah has graced you with enough intelligence to be of use. Come, there is much work to be done today.”

“Permission to ask a query, Brother Carrus.”

“Dispense with those formalities, such pleasantries are lost upon me.”

“Very well,” she pointed at the suit of armor closest to them, “What kind of armor is that?”

Carrus looked up at the battle-torn suit.

“A Centurion Devastator which was hastily abandoned by our brethren from Macrrage. I am repurposing it.”

“Repurposing?”

Carrus pointed to something behind her, she looked over her shoulder and saw another suit, unlike the bluish tint of the other, this one was pitch black, taller and more menacing.

“Yes, repurposing it that it may be worthy of our order. It is we who keep our brethren ready for all battles to come.”

Varia’s mind came to a screeching halt as she realized what he was saying. He said “we”.

Carrus continued, “Do as I say Neophyte, and you too may see Olympus Mons with your own eyes as I have, and become an ordained Techmarine of the Templars.”

Her heart was filled with hope, there was no higher calling she could imagine.

Edited by TheOneTrueZon
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  • 2 weeks later...
TheOneTrueZon Veteran

TheOneTrueZon

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++ ASSAULT CENTURIONS MK2 VARIANTS++

 

Making the finishing touches on these guys, just a last bit of touch up and some more chains in various places. Very happy with the results. They head to paint after this next batch of building.

 

http://i.imgur.com/6kMk9bC.jpg

 

 

 

MK2-A "Valiant" variant. This guy is my favorite so far. Brass knuckles and power flail for extra close combat style. 

http://i.imgur.com/RCs3QhZ.jpg

 

Simplified braided housing for essential cables. Bulky lower articulation replaced with boosted hydraulic assist and more armor. 

http://i.imgur.com/xpfq8PH.jpg

 

MK2-B "Veritas" variant. Mid-swing pose. Losing the kit cables frees up the arm posing by leaps and bounds

http://i.imgur.com/vbXmAYk.jpg

 

http://i.imgur.com/ZqdATyJ.jpg

 

MK3-C "Bulldog" variant. Repurposed an IG sentinel powerplant for an upgraded look to the back of this unit. Triple the torque output and longer sustained use of assault weapons. 

http://i.imgur.com/OLPUHX6.jpg

 

http://i.imgur.com/BTz9v3L.jpg

 

UP NEXT:

http://i.imgur.com/3txy3Ua.jpg

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