The Silent Sword Crusade - Resolve & Purpose

[Honda]

I love Apoc and this looks like the game was a blast. You had some horrendous armies across from you and the AL list looked pretty hairy.

 

What sort of mechanics did they use? Timed turns?

 

Thank you for sharing.

[TheOneTrueZon]

If the Emperor gives you gundams, then by the Emperor you go burst mode. 

 

[Bjorn Firewalker]

He looks great! Will you add a missile launcher from a Terminator model, to increase the ways he can kill the enemy?

[TheOneTrueZon]

That is an amazing possibility. Thank you for planting that seed, I will most certainly cultivate that idea.

[Brother Christopher]

Interesting work. Not to my taste, as I wouldn't be so brave to add this kind of an effect to my troops, but I appreciate the idea and craftsmanship. Well executed!

[TheOneTrueZon]

Sons and Daughters of Dorn, a blessing from the Emperor! 

 

I posted this in the PCA thread, but a heads up to my BT peeps...

 

https://www.facebook.com/BadgerAir/posts/1585389394872079

 

If you're keen to get a quality, made in the USA airbrush, or upgrade your setup. NOW IS THE TIME. Any ONE factory direct model of Badger Airbrush (so you can get lots of them, just not multiples) for $54.00 today, and today only (ends at midnight Hawaii time so US customers can get those orders in). I've been using a Badger 105 for the last year after my Iwata Neo broke and I'm never looking back. Today I'm getting a Renegade Velocity so I can do some crazy with highlights. 2018 will be the year of much paint. SO MUCH PAINT. 

Edited January 4, 2018 by TheOneTrueZon

[Firepower]

What fortuitous timing. I was just looking to upgrade from my Neo. I was looking at Iwata, but this deserves looking into. :)

[TheOneTrueZon]

++ IMPERIAL KNIGHT CRUSADER ++

"Musashi"

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q04c0ntx0LY

 

 

 

Edited January 8, 2018 by TheOneTrueZon

[Brother Christopher]

Meh, I've seen better.

 

Sorry. but I just figured someone should write something like that since you're soon gonna receive all the praise in the galaxy for this exceptional piece! From what I can gather, the paintings on the shoulder pads and greaves are exceptional. Amazing!

[The Spanish Inquisitor]

Yep really love these shoulder pads 

[Bjorn Firewalker]

The two swords are most appropriate for Musashi. (The historical Miyamoto Musashi is famous for his two swords style of combat.) The arms look like they came from Gundam models. Where'd you get the swords?

[TheOneTrueZon]

The two swords are most appropriate for Musashi. (The historical Miyamoto Musashi is famous for his two swords style of combat.) The arms look like they came from Gundam models. Where'd you get the swords?

 

I forget which kit the arms came from (probably a Gundam Unicorn), but the swords are from this:

 

http://www.1999.co.jp/eng/10267298

 

Only $4.00!

[Honda]

+1 for "Open on all 8 sides" pose.

 

Wonderful knight. Well done!

[TheOneTrueZon]

+1 for "Open on all 8 sides" pose.

 

I had no idea what this meant until I looked it up, and found this description: "...this represents panoramic awareness and, with this sense of complete awareness, there is nothing to defend. With nothing to defend, there is no fear."

 

- Michael J Formica MS, MA, EdM (Psychology Today)

 

 

Meh, I've seen better.

 

I have to agree with you there. We are our own worst critic and I have to say I rushed the decals on the shoulder pads. The cracking that occurred might have been prevented if I had sealed the decal paper before applying, but in my haste I forgot. I will certainly do another layer of weathering and detail on Musashi in coming months, but the big takeaway from this project was that my techniques thus far scaled well with the bigger model.

 

In other news, I got a pickup game last night and threw Musashi into the field post-haste. I pulled off a technical victory (4 to 3 vs Tyranids, we both killed each others Warlord and held the objectives on the Secure & Control mission) by getting first blood and maneuvering enough that my opponent didn't get line breaker. But my opponent had me on my heels the whole game with 90% of my force in the corner blasting away at anything that moved. A very resilient Vanguard force was able to deep strike by the opponent controlled objective and cleared out three Lictors, more rippers than i can count and another floaty psychic thingy which was gloriously popped by my JP Chaplain, thusly a horde of Hormagaunts on their way to jam up Musashi in CC was diverted to re-take the objective. The vanguard died gloriously atop a pile of twitching Tyranid bodies in a hail of spore bombs. 

 

Musashi killed:

2x Tyrgons (shot 1 and stomped 1)

1x Zoanthrope (Icarus Autocannon was a good carapace choice, Tyranid HQ likes to FLY)

20x Hormagaunts (in 1 stomp)

10x Gargoyles (Again, the Icarus paid off in spades)

 

Also, Biovores SUCK. Stupid little bomb spores and mortal wounds up the wazoo! 

Edited January 9, 2018 by TheOneTrueZon

[Bjorn Firewalker]

You can pass off the cracked decal as battle damage (I thought the cracks were intentional, before you admitted to rushing through their application). Musashi is a warrior, after all- not a motionless statue to be displayed in a museum, doing nothing useful other than "looking pretty."

 

Congratulations on your victory.

[Brother Christopher]

Interesting, I thought that the cracks were deliberate - you know, to show either battle damage or the ancient age of the titan. They're looking good, so I wouldn't sweat about it. On the other hand, I understand that you can have a different take on the issue.

 

And congrats on the victory! The list of Musashi's victims appears to be truly impressive!

[TheOneTrueZon]

Playing a Cadia themed 3v3 game this Sunday. My allies will have Celestine + IG, Cawl + DA with my Templars + Inquisition vs Night Lords, TS & Daemons. 1000 points per player. Here's my line up:

 

++ Battalion Detachment ++

 

+ HQ +

 

Marshal Amalrich: Combi-melta, Power sword

 

Chaplain: Storm bolter, The Crusader's Helm

 

The Emperor's Champion

 

+ Troops +

 

Crusader Squad

. 5x Initiate w/Chainsword, Bolt Pistol

. Initiate w/Heavy Weapon: Power sword

. Sword Brother: Bolt pistol, Power sword

 

Crusader Squad

. 5x Initiate w/Boltgun, Bolt Pistol

. Initiate w/Heavy Weapon: Lascannon

. Initiate w/Special Weapon: Plasma gun

. Sword Brother: Combi-plasma, Power sword

 

Scout Squad: 5x Camo cloak

. Scout Sergeant: Bolt pistol, Sniper rifle

. 4x Scout w/Sniper Rifle: 4x Sniper rifle

 

+ Heavy Support +

 

Land Raider Crusader: Hunter-killer missile, 2x Hurricane bolter, Storm bolter, Twin assault cannon

 

++  Inquisition ++

 

Inquisitor Greyfax

 

 

I wanted to keep the list efficient, (not much room at 1000 points) slightly fluffy and very much leaning towards defense and anti-psyker control. The question I'm debating is if I spend the +3 CP to buff the Captain into Chapter Master. I definitely need CPs to use Abhor the Witch in conjunction with Grexfax having two deny's to keep the TS smite spam at bay, or are those 3 CPs better spent on an orbital strike turn 1. Basic tactics will be the Captain + Bolter Crusaders holding the line defending Cawl (there's special mission rules which involves him babysitting a pylon for a few turns). EC, Chaplain, CS Crusaders and Greyfax deploy in the LRC and go hunting. Snipers deploy in concealment and don't come out until the EC is out of the LRC and is engaged so they can soften up the enemy HQ / Characters. Hopefully my team can get in a combo EC + Celestine charge and melt the faces off the traitors.

 

Thoughts on the list and CC welcome!

[Hawklynn]

My only comment is that we are going to need a batrep on this fight. Edited January 17, 2018 by Hawklynn

[Medjugorje]

My only comment is that we are going to need a batrep on this fight.

with a lot of pictures in it. I want to see them...

[TheOneTrueZon]

 

My only comment is that we are going to need a batrep on this fight.

with a lot of pictures in it. I want to see them...

 

 

That's a good reminder to charge up the 360 camera and dust off the macro lens. Yes, there will most certainly be pictures. 

 

Now if only B&S supported inline VR injected images....

[TheOneTrueZon]

++ Forgemaster Vauxo ++

 

Hot air, the breath of the fortress, pumped up from deep within the labyrinth of maintenance corridors that coiled around the central power spire. A haze of incense composed of sanctified oils and sand from Mars writhed around Forgemaster Vauxo as he worked silently before the main conduit, as if in prayer. It was a massive construct, the lynchpin of the entire power grid fed into this point. Innumerable dials, valves, readouts and wires coalesced into the panel before the massive frame of the Astarte equipped with the servo harness. Steam hissed from pipes as regulators adjusted to new settings. Above the Forgemaster cables wider than a Centurion ran up the shaft to the surface superstructure, slick with moisture. The shaft itself was wide enough that a Thunderhawk could be placed inside with room to spare. The twisting form of the cables snaked down like mechanical muscles into the heart of the mountain below. The platform was cog shaped and jutted out from the main panel in a semicircle that aligned with the shape of the shaft, an access walkway leading across the chasm of space between the outer wall and the cables running vertically for as far as the eye could see in both directions. It was just enough space for the bulky techmarine and his harness to work comfortably. For weeks his corp of Techmarines and a small army of nearly all the servo skulls available has been slowly working their way down the central shaft repairing an intricate network of relays. All their efforts up to this point had led to this moment. The readout in his ocular display showed a paltry 2.2% reactor efficiency. Those power levels were barely enough to power the critical systems and protein processors they depended on for sustenance. Power to sections of the base had to be rotated and cycled just to open bulkheads. The lack of heat required the chapter serfs to remain on the Aegis Deus in orbit. The grind to revive this fortress had been a true test of patience, and Vauxo was more patient than most. The magma reactor deep within the mountain was a modified version of a plasma generator not unlike that of a capital ship of the line. The massive construct could potentially provide 2.5 x 50 TWh of power - almost the same output of a small star. Only 40.2% nominal yield would be required to power the base indefinitely, given the mass of the local binary stars Vauxo estimated this system had about 1.3 billions years before going nova. With such power, came great risks. After being dormant for so long, allowing too much power to flow through the circuits at once could burn out the whole system, rendering the base useless, possibly beyond repair. A total failure could put the reactor critical, causing a thermal detonation which would cripple the ecosystem and put the entire planet into ruin.

“One does not simply flip the switch,” Vauxo had stated to Marshal McLarnen,”this holy sanctuary of our Chapter will test us at every turn for worthiness, it will make us appreciate the fortitude which has been bestowed upon us.”

There was a wealth of resources locked away in this fortress, it was no higher calling to someone holding his rank to unlock these assets for their use. It would also be good not to completely obliterate the entire Crusade force in the process.

The four servo arms on his harness worked in a wordless syncopation which would seem baffling to anyone other than a Techmarine. Baseline tolerance and shut off conditions were set, the initial power-up scaling algorithms entered into main command system were simulated, tested, checked, corrected, re-simulated, tested. Commands were being sent out to ten other Techmarines stationed at auxiliary relays, feeding in similar commands to the cascading line of support and tertiary machine spirits affected by the power-up. Loss would be inevitable, but maintainable. Some systems topside would surely sputter into life with too much vigor after being dormant, and will burnout as quickly as it reactivated. The sacrament of activation was nearly complete, the subordinate Techmarines responded in turn with the all-ready. The final step would be directly accessing the primary machine spirit of the fortress. It was an ancient spirit, that much was evident, and all contact with it has been, as Vauxo put it, “topical”. No one had interfaced with it directly, and for good reason. Two Techmarines had suffered severe, but not life threatening nor any permanent wounds, when trying to circumvent systems to speed the recovery effort. No, this spirit demanded that procedure be followed, there was no allowance for shortcuts.

The moisture from the cables above had left Vauxo encrusted with a thick layer of oily sweat on his armor. The work completed, he need only take the last task, beseeching the fortress to allow him access to the central code stream and accept the binary alterations he constructed with his team to allow the flow of power to resume to the surface. The servo arms folded into their idle positions, the sound of the joints locking into place left the shaft in near silence now. Drops of water echoed off his red and black ceramite armor. For a moment, the drops made a rhythm, 4 taps, like that of strong fingers rapping on metal. Long moments passed, the tapping reminding him of something, but the echo of a memory was quickly pushed away. His mind focused, the connection was made. The force of the machine spirit weighed against mind as a perceptible pressure against his cranium as a deluge of binary datastreams threatened to overwhelm his cogitators. The fortress would not easily allow modification, but he didn’t sense reluctance, he sensed wounded pride. A fortress monastery such as this left unguarded and unused for so long, it was an offense the machine spirit had dwelled upon for centuries. This place was meant to be used, to house great armies of Astarte and men alike. The spirit raged at being forgotten, but also tempered at Vauxo’s patience and observance of proper rites. The command modifications were accepted, which was then followed by a surge of electrical backwash that sent his world white.

High Marshal Helbrecht sat across from Vauxo in one of the countless antechambers within the hall of records aboard the Eternal Crusader. The Forgemaster was one of the three Techmarines who constructed his artificer bionic arm. His contribution was the enhanced neural interface which allowed the High Marshal no perceptible lag in the response time of his master crafted bionics. The very same fingers of the High Marshal’s right arm rapped along the stone edifice that served as the table in the chamber. The metal fingertaps on stone had a particular cadence within the space, a muted metallic echo.

“Can it be done?” Helbrecht was looking directly at him, his voice was always a grim commanding tone, but in the quiet sanctity of this particular hall, it seemed but a whisper.

“If we are being deceived, it is the most clever one I have encountered.”
“That is her stock and trade Forgemaster, no matter how forthright Inquisitor Valdena appears, there is always another motive at work within any member of the Ordos.”

Helbrecht said the last word as if it were a curse, a word used only because there was nothing else which could be substituted for it.

“My Lord Commander, let me put it plainly then - the records she has collected and collated is nothing short of incredible for a human. No doubt, she has had help attaining these records, and someone who is within the inner circle of the High Lords of Terra no less. To produce a forgery of these documents would be a task of such a magnitude that I myself cannot easily compute the probability.”

Helbrecht was a commander, his tactical genius for Void combat unmatched among Astartes. But within the realm of genomics and geneseed, he was but a Neophyte compared to Vauxo. A wise commander held his trusted advisors close, and knew when to listen.

“Then tell me plainly, can it be done?”

“Yes. But my lord, why?”, Vauxo was not often in the position of asking questions. For he too, just as his commander excelled in his sphere of influence, Vauxo was more apt at finding the intricacies of machine spirit interfaces than the overarching stratagems of the entire Chapter.

“We are beset on all sides by a plague of rogue Psykers, sorcerers from the Eye of Terror, demons of all kinds feasting on the warp. The orc menace in particular. I need every weapon at my disposal, and these candidates could be the silent sword which cuts the throats of the most vile threats to the Imperium. Why send a battle company when one unit could dispatch even the most powerful unsanctioned Psykers with impunity. The Talons are too few. The Officio Assassins are on the High Lords leash. I will not simply toss these humans back into the maw that produced them. Female pariahs have been the Emperor’s chosen since the Great Crusade. You said yourself some of the notations in Valdena’s codex are that of the Emperor himself.”

“That is my speculation, but yes, it seems that those millenia ago, the Master of Mankind made a choice to keep female pariahs as the Sisters of Silence, and the greater population of humanity by extension, ignorant of the possibility. Their duty to him so precious that he dared not lose a single one to become Astarte. However to avail ourselves to his true meaning, even with this information, is to try and decipher divinity itself.”

“It is not us to question it now, the path is set Forgemaster. You will accompany this new Crusade to Hephaestion and oversee the induction of these new initiates.”

“It will be my greatest honor,” Vauxo bowed before the High Marshal.

The fingers tapped out their rhythmic staccato again, as silence held for a moment as the High Marshal looked out at the grand hall, the records and scrolls of ten thousand years of service.

“If for a moment you sense this endeavor will go awry, burn it all to the ground Vauxo. I will not stand for carelessness with the authority now bestowed upon you.”

The memory faded just as quickly as it passed. The sound of water, like that of fingers on marble, dripping onto the carapace of his helm awoke him. Moments later the vibration and sound of fast approaching footfalls. Two Techmarines, rushed into the shaft.

“Forgemaster, are you alright?” Techmarine Carrus called to him via vox channel.

“Yes, yes I am alright,” Vauxo sat upright slowly, only now realizing he was smoking. His armor was now streaked with a spider web pattern of high voltage char marks from his hands to his body. The paint had bubbled and flaked off to reveal the raw ceramite below. Carrus plugged a diagnostic cord into the Forgemasters armor and immediately called for the Apothecary.

“You’ve suffered severe burns to your hands and forearms Forgemaster, the circuitry in your gauntlets has fused, and resulted in a safety lock on both arms,” Vauxo was now realizing that he had not sat up on his own, but was pushed up by the other Techmarine assisting Carrus.

“Did it work, my readouts aren’t coming online…” Vauxo said, his voice raspy.

“My lord the reactor is at 5.6% and climbing, we register 1,843 anomalies in the electrical grid but none of them are listed as critical. One auxiliary substation did suffer a meltdown and is currently being attended and will be back on-line within the hour.”

“That is sufficient, Brother Carrus, now if you don’t mind, please lay me back down until the Apothecary arrives.”

It was rare for the Forgemaster to take repose in front of his subordinates, but he felt that his efforts of late were such that he deserved a much needed rest. He drifted off into a deep meditation, the sound of the reactor below steadily becoming louder as the titanic heart of the fortress came back to life. He will need the rest for what comes next.

[Hawklynn]

Very well written.

[Bjorn Firewalker]

"... the Master of Mankind made a choice to keep female pariahs as the Sisters of Silence, and the greater population of humanity by extension, ignorant of the possibility. Their duty to him so precious that he dared not lose a single one to become Astarte.

Do you intend to create Female Space Marines, or just (male) Space Marine Pariahs?

[TheOneTrueZon]

 

"... the Master of Mankind made a choice to keep female pariahs as the Sisters of Silence, and the greater population of humanity by extension, ignorant of the possibility. Their duty to him so precious that he dared not lose a single one to become Astarte.

Do you intend to create Female Space Marines, or just (male) Space Marine Pariahs?

 

 

Correct, this is laying the lore groundwork for my Female Space Marine Templars, who are of Pariah descent. In your face witch killer SPEC OPs.

[Brother Christopher]

I know what's on my reading list for today's commuting!