Never a Son so Loyal

[Soldier of Dorn]

Lovely. Although looking at them together, the Deredeo looks far too clean. He needs runes!

 

EDIT: Brought it over to the next page for you ;) :

 

 

 

4.768.006.M31 - Surface of Bathory Prime

 

++++++

 

Some Astartes could not remember the time before their ascension. Some could remember bitter fragments of childhood, a broken mosaic of shattered glimpses into their past life.

 

 

Kharahem Sul could remember everything. He remembered blood splashing across his face, of the bone handled axe burning hot in his grasp. He could recall the war hymns of his most vaunted warriors as they swept his enemies before them in a tide of death and glory, their immortal cries shaking the earth of the jungles. It was meant to be him. He was the last of the bloodline of the Sovereigns of the cradle world. He had bound tribes of the southern reaches to his banners, he was the last; the last of the great God-Kings of Colchis. It was meant to be him. He was meant to stride the battlefield as a deity of blood and thunder, to make the earth quake with the weight of his divinity.

 

“We are near,” Zar An’karian’s bass rumble broke through the gripping blackness. Sul shook his head, slowly returning from the depths of the regenerative meditation. He looked up, brow furrowed within the confines of his warhelm.

 

“My thanks, Brother,” even through the inter-squad vox, the words were barely audible over the Thunderhawk’s engines as they shifted to a low throb, “Zar… the visions. I think they are returning.”
An’karian glanced sideways as he stood to his full height. He shrugged his massive shoulders, the arming device of his autocannon chattering as it cycled to active and began to send ammunition along the weapons’ belt feeds. The deck reverberated slightly under the armored tread of the Word Bearer as he approached.

 

“The medicae was wrong then. They do not fade with time?” An’karian asked as he moved past to the rear of the transport bay.

 

“They told me this could happen,” Kharahem Sul’s armor servos whined as he stood and moved to join his brother. The overhead lighting flashed twice in succession, an indicator the gunship was on final approach. The howl of low atmospheric winds rushed by the pair as the rear bay doors split wide, opening to the bright morning light on Bathory Prime.

 

“Aye. They say all adapt to the trauma differently,” An’Karian’s voice barked within Sul’s helm, amplified to be heard over the blasting winds. Kharahem glanced down as he flexed the digits of his powerfist. They responded to the impulse and flashed briefly with a flare of blue energy. Whatever reply he had was drowned by the Thunderhawk transporter’s internal vox-hailer.

 

“Honored brothers, ten seconds to drop,” the pilot’s comm-distorted rasp crackled through the cargo bay.
Sul glanced up to the indicator lights of the drop doors as they changed from red to amber.

 

“Close enough.”

 

 

++++++

 

 

 

Fire rained down upon the hull of Little Thunderer from the Bathorian Janissar regiment, entrenched into their elevated position atop the nearby cliff. Hard rounds pinged and ricocheted from the armor plating, where the occasional heavier slug and lasbolt caused the carrier’s flare shield to flash and spit with reflective energies.

 

 

“I’ve got nothing on any of our bands! The damned militia siege elements should have been here!”

 

 

Stratega-Primus  Mckaeyla Vohr shouted to her First Sergeant, Ha’Dhan, as they sheltered behind the mud guard of Thunderer, leaning forward to snap shots from the bastion of the tank’s armor plate. His bemused shrug made her grimace. Her view stretched along the line of militia light vehicles stretching in either direction along the base of the rise. They had already been repelled from the wall three times before she and a small Auxilia detachment had been dispatched to assist, along with heavier bombardment elements from the militia reserves.

 

“And the rut is that ‘Hawk doing? ” She waved a hand at a low burning Astartes warbird that shook the entire line of armored vehicles as it swept low. The Bathorian fortress had already started to realign its light anti-aircraft weapons to throw flak munitions skyward.

 

 

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Kharahem Sul struck the plascrete of the bastion’s courtyard hard enough to splinter it in twenty meters in every direction. The dreadnought rose to its full height, auto-targetters sweeping the top of the wall. Ten meters to his right, Zar An’Karian’s own landing sent debris spinning off from his own impact crater.

 

 

“Brother, high right,” the plasma gun contained in Sul’s left fist was already spitting white hot bolts into a heavy cannon mounted into the bastion’s wall.

 

“I’ve got them,” An’karian’s carapace mounted launcher was firing a chain of light missiles into the garrison forces behind the wall just as the heavy bolters of his lower carapace started firing. Locking stabilizers hammering into place, the heavy quad autocannons opened up, raking the top walls of the bastions with hundreds of heavy caliber shells. The torrent wiped the fortress facing clean of Janissars, cutting the return fire to nothing.

 

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Kharahem Sul turned as an armored Dracosan transport growled past him, tracks spinning furiously up the slope. A small mortal crewed the top mounted multilaser. It gestured at him as he heard the crackle of an incoming short-band vox cast inside his helm.

 

“Honored, we weren’t expecting you, but we appreciate this. It’s difficult to take a bastion with a single siege gun,” Strategos Vohr drummed a fist on the top hull of Little Thunderer to punctuate. Even now, the lighter militia APCs were disembarking their regiments to start another trek up the bastion’s defensive embankment.

 

Sul glanced sideways at An’karian, bemused. His Brother tipped a single barrel minutely, an Ancient Arkus' version of a shrug. Kharahem turned back before responding, “It is… our function, mortal. We require no thanks.”

 

Vohr snorted, “Either way, Word Bearer, this bastion dies. With you and your brother, however, it’ll be far less of us and far more of them dying.”

 

The remains of flesh stretched across the skull of what remained of Kharahem Sul split in a smile, deep within the depths of his amniotic casket. This. This he understood.

 

“Aye, little sister. We shall break this bastion like a sinner’s spine," the smile turned to a rictus of a snarl as he turned back towards the fortress walls, "It has been far too long since the Ancients of the Rending Void have made war.”

 

 

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[captainblow]

Great looking stuff!

 

I do agree that the dorito could do with some shapes/runes.

[Kol Saresk]

Is that what the Chaoter is called, the Rending Void?

 

'Cuz sweeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeet.

[Kriegsmacht]

Really cool Dreadnaughts Flint. I agree with the others that second Dread needs Runes.

Also Like the blue you added on the first Dread. :)

[Xin Ceithan]

That deep metallic red looks great - especially on the dreads!

[jimbo13]

PERFECTION!!! Flint you make me love dem traitors....

[Jarl Kjaran Coldheart]

I gotta agree with the current vibe, the Deredero is naked compared to the BAMF looking contemptor.

 

WLK

[Hergrmir]

I kind of like that Ankarian is less rune-encrusted. It's a limitation that invokes a story - perhaps he's simply less prone to mysticism than Kharahem Sul - or perhaps it's more insidious, and he truly is losing more of himself in his shell whereas Kharahem Sul's retention of his memory gives him more personality. Certainly one wouldn't look at the models and think it was any lack of technical skill.

[Lord Blackwood]

I gotta agree with the current vibe, the Deredero is naked compared to the BAMF looking contemptor.

 

WLK

MOAR RUNES 

[Memento Of Prospero]

I approve of big stompy robots. Flesh is weak!

[Gorgoff]

What a wonderful project. Not only has it beautiful painted miniatures but has some great short stories that make me so happy. My favorite is the training scene whith the apothecary. Great stuff. I myself wrote (just in my head sadly) some similiar stuff some time ago about an Veteran Sergeant who trains a squad of Imperial Guardsmen. I love how effortless you show how dangerous Marines really are. Great work. Please keep going.

[Flint13]

“Black Mariah? A Colchisian myth-wych. If you say her name eight times in a mirror you’ll hear her laugh and your worst enemy will die in an hour.

Who has time for that? I’d just as soon shoot the sorry bastard who crossed me, but I won’t begrudge my crew their eccentricities. They’ve earned that much.”

Lt. Commander Kaeldin Khol, 413th Armored, 3rd Battalion

V-2311 "Black Mariah"

4.775.006.M31 - Northern Snow Fields of Bathory Prime

“Gunner Letty, ammunition storage, if you please.”

Gunner Leutricia pressed her sweat-streaked brow to the module’s targeting visor as she heard Khol’s command. The suite’s reticle traced down the Bathorian vehicle’s turret as she adjusted her aim.

“Rack it, aye!” her brow furrowed. Her own tank’s weapon servos whined as they worked to keep its cannon stabilized as the vehicle bucked and raced under it.

“Got you, you bastard,” She cooed softly and gently caressed the firing stud with her thumb.

Black Mariah’s cannon cracked, sending the tungsten-cored round straight through the enemy vehicle and into the snowy embankment behind it. The Bathorian pre-fab tank detonated spectacularly, red hot armor shrapnel scything through the pines around it. Leutricia smiled in the smokey darkness of the tank's interior.

Loader Hosk had a new shell slotted into the cannon’s breach before the reverb of the last shot faded.

“Excellent, shot Let,” she could hear Khol’s amusement even through his combat rig. “McKellan, bring her around, we need to link back up with Shearbrooke and Andretti.”

The driver moved to comply, hauling the Vanquisher towards the north and its two sister tanks. The vehicle’s massive engine gave a throaty roar as it surged forward through the snow wreathed trees.

“Ah! I can see Steel Eater from here,” the Lt. Commander voice came from behind the mask of the top omni-scope, “Gun it, Kel. I’ll be void-damned if that old bastard beats us to anything interesting.”

V-2309 "Steel Eater" Commanded by 2nd Lt. Savn Shearbrooke

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Replies!

@ Pyscho - My first reaction was "he has runes. Lookit all his damn runes! Runes 4 dayz!" But you mean carved runes in the red carapace, dontcha?

@ Captainblow - I'll certainly keep that in mind for my next lil dread

@ Kol - Yep! Formerly the 143rd Company, now the Chapter of the Rending Void. Glad you like it!

@ Krieg - Thanks man! Blue is my specialty

@ Xin - Thanks! I feel like I've got the red down to a repeatable standard now.

@ Jimbo - my work here is done

@ WLK - Haha alright, his next comrade will have some etched runes going on in addition to the blue.

@ Hergrmir - I like that idea! An'karian is far more practical. He'll use them on his weapons or armor pieces where they might provide some tangible benefit, but he won't just have them all willy nilly

@ Bladewolf - Haha, alright. I get it

@ Wolf_Pack - Big stompy cyborgs, technically... I think... right?

@ Gorgoff - Thanks man! That really means a lot. I know not all of my fluff is A grade material, but I'm glad to hear that folks enjoy it.

[Brother-Chaplain Kage]

The tanks looks great in that white wash winter camo!

[Lord Blackwood]

SNOW TANK HYPE 

looks fantastic D: 

[Brother Pheidias]

I'm with the Lupine of the cutting-edge-persuasion, the snow-tank hype is real. Your pairing of gritty, tooth-and-nail baseline humans and the otherworldly Astartes is wonderful.

[Soldier of Dorn]

Gritty snow tank is gritty. I can dig it.

 

Can't wait to see a superheavy in the snowy scheme. :D

[Jarl Kjaran Coldheart]

The myth of the Black Mariah earned a chuckle.

 

WLK

[DimDim]

The red lenses really stand out well. Did you gloss varnish them?

[ephrael]

Do you mind sharing your painting recipe for the Contemptor Dread? I'd like to try that on some WB.

[Gorgoff]

I think the fading red stripe looks really cool. How did you do that?

[Flint13]

Morning guys! Thanks for all the lovely replies.

@ Kage - I thought so! I'm really getting into the look now. The... (checking youtube history) 27 hours... of Eastern Front documentaries have been helping.

@ Bladewolf - I AM THE HYPE! Thanks

@ Brother Pheidias - Thanks man! I always thought BL novels commonly tended to suffer when they didn't contain a contrasting human element to the Astartes.

Like the initial abridged version of the Horus trilogy audiobooks where they cut out all the Remembrancer stuff really irked me and following novels that were almost solely from the marine perspective never seemed to grip me quite as well.

I want my Auxilia to be able to highlight just how terrible a weapon an Astartes is. And then I want them to kill it. Hopefully it'll make for good reading.

@ Psycho - A Stormhammer, Stormlord or Stormblade?

@ WLK - Glad to hear it! I'm a bit of an MCR fangirl.

@ DimDim - I did! I wanted something that looks like it would stand out in a snow storm like red eyes in the dark of a horror film.

@ Ephrael - Not at all. I actually did a mini-tutorial for it. The contemptor is just a little more zenithal-y than the Deredeo, which I think is why he came out a little more orangey.

http://www.bolterandchainsword.com/topic/317970-flints-tiny-tutes-4-the-blood-of-loyalist-lapdogs/

@ Gorgoff - Pretty easily. After the Panzer gray basecoat and highlight, I tape off and airbrush a red stripe. Then I sponge-weather that stripe with the basecoat gray, seal the whole thing, and do a chipping medium over all of it. After that its just a matter of the white wash camo color and stripping it off in bits and pieces with a soft toothbrush.

[jimbo13]

Is that barrel big enough....? I think it could be a little bigger don't you? Great snow camo. I loved the tutorial

[Knight of the Raven]

That deredeo looks naked compared to mr. unspellable because of the lack of silver trim.

 

And I was reading the veletaris storm section rules and I realized the veletarii had choom-pattern ultra grit: volkite charger, laspistol and close combat weapon. So I hope you're using the prime's charger in addition to his plasma pistol and power fist when you play!

[Soldier of Dorn]

That's it. The good Knight has hit the nail on the head regarding why An'karian looks naked compared to Kharahem. It's less the lack of runes than the trim. Change that, and everything will look (in my opinion) absolutely peachy keen.

 

Regarding choice of superheavy, Stormhammer all the way. As cool as both the Stormblade and Stormlord are, they can't compare with the DOZEN BARRELS OF HELL that is the Stormhammer. It's also a model I've never actually seen in the wild, so seeing yours will be something new.

[Flint13]

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"Ghal mahara vok."

"Blessed are those to stand beyond the sight of Gods or Daemons."

~Vocatii Honourem, 47th Company, XVII Legion

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“It is the mark of Greatness to deal with one’s mistakes.”

"So spoke the Dark Cardinal upon the nature of martial sin. But what of our sin? When we bent knee before Gulliman and his arrogant get, we made the gravest mistake since the inception of our legion. But never again will we bow to another. Never again shall we be forced to kneel before a warlord who is not the Blessed.

The most grievous fault of the Seventeenth was that of our pathetic capitulation at Monarchia. We begged forgiveness by our inaction. We screamed simpering contrition in our silence. By our meek acceptance we implored the XIIIth to murder our grandest achievement.

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Never again, my brothers. We stand strong. Our legion surpasses any that stand before it. Our true grand-sire saw the seeds of greatness within the breast of every Astartes of the Seventeenth. We shall correct the mistake of Monarchia and reap such terrible recompense from the Ultramarines, it will tear the bounds of reality asunder.

We are the Crusaders of the Rending Void, the Blessed Aurelian’s most holy warrior-kings. We are his conquerors, his champions of the Never-ending War, scions of the Primordial Annihilator.

By blade and bolt, by righteous might and zealous vindication… by our bare, bleeding hands… we shall tear the heart from Gulliman's greatest dream and cast it from the heavens.”

~High Chaplain Elden Kul, 47th Company Chapter of the Rending Void, XVII Legion Astartes

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Replies!

Jimbo - HAH! You should see my super heavy

KotR - K-h-a-r-a-h-e-m

Indeed I am. I have 50 of the little guys, so I'm intimately (sick of) knowledgeable about them

Psycho - Ah, you should check out Audemus' Storm Hammer. It's pretty baller.

I actually settled the matter in the way I typically do when I'm being indecisive and bought all of them instead.

I'll probably never actually get all three built, but the thought is there.