The 189th Tebessan Expeditionary Force

[P3AKHOUR]

The 189th Tebessan Expeditionary Force is a combined regiment drawn from the sparsely populated but resource-rich Imperial mining world of Tebessa. This small, backwater planet is located in the outer reaches of Segmentum Tempestus.  It is rich in heavy metals, giving it close to standard gravity.  It is also tidally locked to its nearby star Idrissia Secundus, leaving the near side in perpetual daylight, and the other in constant night. 

 

The day side is mostly a harsh, baked desert tending towards scrub and savannah in the twilight band that bisects the planet's day and night regions.  Most of the planet’s industry is centred on the day side, due to the abundance of solar energy, with population centres closer to the more temperate twilight band.  The day-siders are industrious and resourceful, using technology to thrive in the otherwise inhospitable landscape.  The mineral wealth they export to the wider Imperium allows them to procure modern arms and armour. 

 

The dark side of Tebessa is a barren wasteland populated by nocturnal predators and hardy plant life that has adapted to photosynthesise in the weak light given off by radioactive isotopes present in rocky outcrops. It is also home to the Allayl, a sparsely populated society of nomadic hunter/gatherers.  These resilient and insular people have diverged significantly from the day side population in both culture and genetic makeup in the 8 millennia since Tebessa was settled.  They possess lighter skin than their day side cousins, and excellent night vision. 

 

Tebessa’s history is dotted with cross-cultural tensions and short, bloody incursions by Allayl raiders in times of food scarcity.  Relations between the two populations have also been strained by mineral exploration teams from the industrialised day side making inroads into the tribal lands of the night-siders in search of the rich metal seams that dot the planet’s surface. 

 

The appearance of Imperial missionaries in M.38 did much to unite Tebessa under the Imperial creed. These pious and hardy individuals gained the respect of the night-siders by travelling alone and on foot, deep into the frozen night-lands to spread the Emperor’s light.  The day side population were also brought into the fold, gladly offering men and resources to humanity’s war-effort in exchange for spiritual enlightenment and trade opportunities.  A small percentage of the day side population have taken their devotion to the Emperor to the extreme. This fanatical sect, calling themselves The Emperor’s Path, long to die as martyrs in the Emperor’s name.  These religious zealots are often shunned by the wider Tebessan society, but Imperial commanders value them as strategic assets, often deploying them in small kill-teams behind enemy lines. 

 

More recently, an increase in Tebessa’s Imperial tithe grade has necessitated recruitment from among the Alllayl population.  The day-siders have offered modern weapons, equipment and supplies in exchange for volunteers to join the ranks of several newly-formed Imperial Guard regiments.  These volunteers bring with them a unique skillset which makes them excellent trackers, scouts and snipers, but their adaptable nature means they are also found in other roles in the Tebessan regiments. 

 

The vanguard of the 189th Tebessan Expeditionary Force is the XIV Tebessan Armoured Company, Led from the front by the charismatic Colonel Faizal Danek, riding in his heavily modified Leman Russ Punisher “Emissary”.  Danek wears traditional Alllayl headscarf and ceremonial blade as a mark of respect to the night-siders who fill out his ranks.  The company is made up of heavy armour and mechanised grenadiers.  The remainder of the force is made up of the Tebessan 6th Special Operations Group; elite shock troops outfitted with a mix of Militarum Tempestus and locally produced equipment.  Elements of the XXVII Qom Aksar Artillery Company and the Imperial Navy 46th Strategic Air Command support the main force in lager engagements.

 

At time of writing, the 189th Tebessan Expeditionary Force has been blooded against a variety of xenos foes. Scoring notable victories against Eldar raiders and Tyranid filth.

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As it stands, I've purchased and assembled most of my models.  Looking at around 2500 points all up.  I generally run armour-heavy lists in games with a couple of squads of veterans.  Since the release of the new Cadian Formations, I'm starting to stock up on artillery as well, with a view to building the Emperor's Wrath Artillery Company.

Painting is something I enjoy, but have very little time for around full time work and university, so as of now I've only really completed two models in 6 odd months of collecting. Hopefully I will be able to stop buying/assembling and start painting in earnest now, but I'm not making any promises haha.

Here is my Pask Punisher counts-as: Colonel Danek in "Emissary"
I'm keen to put as much of the WWII and contemporary North African/Middle-Eastern aesthetic as possible into this army.

 

 

I've just come into possession of a Forgeworld extended hull Russ, so Ill be painting that up and putting this turret onto it in the near future, for more of a command tank vibe.
The turret is a Ryza pattern thing with Vulture Punisher cannons and a Tallarn tank commander.  This was also my first go at weathering powders.  Hopefully I "refine my skills" a bit with those over the course of painting the next 4 Russes haha.

 

 

And this is "Nomad" Flight - my Vendetta:
The snake face I've done on the front was taken from the "Bad Snakes" A-10 squadron markings, google it for a better pic of what I was going for.  I thought it was an interesting variation on the old Warhawk scheme, and kinda fitting for a desert-themed army.

 

 

I hope to have some infantry finished soon.

 

Thanks for reading.  Feel free to provide comments or criticisms on any of my things.  Hopefully the fluff wasn't too painful haha.

[WarriorFish]

Very nice models, welcome aboard! :D The weathering is great along with the little details, looking forward to seeing more :tu:

[Akrim]

Cool fluff, nice vehicles! Love that dirty tank look

[Marshal Argos]

Must finish.. wall... of.. text..... No really though, I liked the fluff, just not the formatting. ;) The dark side / light side is an interesting twist that sounds good as well. Looking forward to seeing your footsloggers.

[P3AKHOUR]

Thanks for the feedback Marshal Argos.  I've hopefully broken up the wall a bit.  Infantry painting will be on the cards once I've finished my campaign pledge.  Kinda looking forward to it, kinda not.

[elmo]

Nice weathering and great paint job :)

[P3AKHOUR]

Welp. I had every intention of finishing some troops, but then halfway through I saw the campaign, so I had to do some fast attack.

Here's my Tauros Venator of the Tebessan 6th Special Operations Group (Forward Recon Section). 
I've moved the turret back for no real reason, added some stowage and side intrusion bars for driver, and given them desert dweller heads from I think Maxmini, I cant really remember.
Sorry for the terrible grainy pics.
 

[WarriorFish]

I like the weathering a good addition to your force, well done :tu: What's next on the list? :D

[P3AKHOUR]

Thanks mate, still have a long way to go with my weathering powder technique (namely when to stop haha).
I see the next phase of the Campaign includes a bonus for elites.  I have a squad of modern spec-ops inspired Scions currently half assembled.  I really need to get into painting infantry, so that might be the go.
 

[WarriorFish]

Batch assembling line painting - it'll get you through all the infantry you need efficiently :)

[P3AKHOUR]

Went to take some proper pics of my recently completed Bullgryns today.  I was happy not to to do any chipping on them, then the sponge came out and next thing I was going overboard with weathering like I usually do.  I think I need an intervention.
Anyway here they are.

 

[WarriorFish]

They look great, the weathering in particular helps them pop :D

[Formerly Wu]

Love the work so far. Definitely presses three of my buttons: interesting and subtle conversions, realistic weathering, and detailed army fluff that presents Imperial worlds as more than just monoculture targets for Bad Things to happen to. Keep it up.

[P3AKHOUR]

Love the work so far. Definitely presses three of my buttons: interesting and subtle conversions, realistic weathering, and detailed army fluff that presents Imperial worlds as more than just monoculture targets for Bad Things to happen to. Keep it up.

I think you just perfectly articulated one of my main goals with your last point.   Thanks mate, I appreciate it.

[P3AKHOUR]

Finally finished my second vow in the ETL.   It's a Mars Alpha pattern Demolisher, I modelled the tank commander after War Daddy from Fury, who seemed to enjoy gunning down enemy infantry from the top hatch with his sturmgewehr (I'm sure there isn't a guard player on earth who hasn't seen it), I think I finally have a formula for doing armour that I'm happy with, which is good cos I've got another 4 of these to batch paint.

 

This is Diplomat, commanded by First Lieutenant Murghal Hamza.  This demolisher is the second oldest tank in the XIV Tebessan Armoured company and along with Col. Danek's Emissary, forms the HQ section of the Leman Russ squadron.   The two commanders have been fighting along side each other for decades now and on the battlefield they work in perfect synchrony, adopting highly kinetic, close-range tactics.  
 

 

I also finished my priest, my basing needs improving but I've got a lot of infantry to practise on.

 

This is Father Sherzai, a travelling priest who has gained a large following among the night-side dwelling Allayl after many years as a pilgrim and missionary.  He now accompanies the mechanized grenadiers of the XIV Tebessan Armoured Company into battle. 

 

 

[WarriorFish]

Excellent work! I love the colours, the weathering and lenses on the tank really make it pop. The 189th definitely need more tanks like this ;) Nice blues on the priest too :)

[Ulrik_Ironfist]

This makes me want to redo my army, paint and fluff and everything.

[WarriorFish]

That way lies madness Ulrik, a few years in and I'm still not done :P Though to be fair it's just a couple of models that I just haven't needed as they're HWTs...

[Ulrik_Ironfist]

That way lies madness Ulrik, a few years in and I'm still not done Though to be fair it's just a couple of models that I just haven't needed as they're HWTs...

Not all of my army, just my platoon (3 infantry squads, a Platoon Command Squad, and 5 heavy weapons squads), Russes, one Company Command squad, and Vendetta. Then I'll have to get another Command Squad box and an Infantry box to be vets.

[WarriorFish]

That's much more manageable, and I can say that it was worth it in the end - so why not give it a go? The barracks cares not that they are repainted, only that they're newly painted :lol:;)

[P3AKHOUR]

Finished another Russ today.  This is magnetized to be either an exterminator, vanquisher or battle tank. also has all hull weapons magnetised.  Lion of Babylon is the first of 2 identical magnetised russes.  The autocannons are from a Deredeo dreadnaught, I just thought they looked a bit more in scale with the turret, as the ryza pattern ones, whilst super cool were a bit small for my liking.

They'll both have the same red chevron squadron marking, indicating they are from the XIV Tebessan Armoured Company's 9th squadron.

The name Lion of Babylon comes from the name of the Iraqi-produced T-72's used by that side in the gulf war.  Wikipedia states that it comes from ancient Babylon, and has a picture of the creature itself.   I tried to recreate this image on the tank's flank, in keeping with the theme of each of my tanks having an animal mascot.

 

[WarriorFish]

I really can't get enough of your weathering! I wish I could get chipping look that good, never mind all the rest :P The markings are also great, is it a winged lion or Lamassu?

[P3AKHOUR]

Thanks mate, the chipping is a really easy 2 step process, apply dark grey chips with the corner of a sponge.  Let it dry then get a beige/off white (I think I used karak stone maybe) on a fine brush and carefully trace some of the edges of the chipped areas.

I just realized my squadron number decals have fallen off in this pic.  I try to apply them before weathering powder to help them stick but man I have a lot of trouble, I also paint over them with the Mig weathering fixative in the hopes that would keep them in place, but no :(

[P3AKHOUR]

Also put everything I have on parade yesterday for the first time.  There's 3 more scions to assemble and some repairs to make on the Manticore before stripping but other than that it's all here.
 

 

 

Here's my chimeras with armoured side skirts

 

2 squads of grenadiers, one with plasma and one with shotguns and flamers.  The latter squad always exceeds expectations in the most fluffy ways, especially against nids.

 

 

 

All the russes.  I'll be using the Solar Auxilia Incinerator as an Executioner proxy.  I found it cheap and I love the model.  Fluff wise it might be a long forgotten relic pressed gifted to the Expeditionary Force by a planetary governor for saving his ass.

 

 

Suicide Melta CCS and Drop Sentinels.  The former will deploy from the vendetta.  The guy with the SOFLAM is a Master of Ordnance. I may re-base him to the correct sized base, both for legality and to hide him a bit better as he usually gets targeted pretty mercilessly.

 

 

This is my forward sentries veteran squad.  They have desert dweller heads from maxmini if I remember rightly.  The sniper team is a lascannon counts-as, and all their lasguns are accatran pattern.  I did this cos I love the look of the bullpup guns and thought it fit better with the long range patrol/mechanized look of my infantry.

 

Artillery

 

Scions. This will eventually be a 5 man command squad and a normal squad, run as an allied detachment.  The torsos and heads are from Madrobot, devgru helmets for the regular squad and special forces heads for the command squad (beards, oakleys and baseball caps, having doubts as to whether this is too cheesey). I've added reflex scopes and laser sights from Anvil industry to make their guns more tacticool.  Also shown are my assassins, which I have yet to play.

 

Questions, comments and criticism is welcome as always

 

 

 

 

[WarriorFish]

A bit of varnish works to protect my transfers, with some matt on top to de-gloss it :) Your army is coming together nicely, and I see lots more tanks for us to watch get finished too ;)