The Observer's 30k Stuff - Holguin Conversion

[Dagoth Ur]

IV: Quartam Tactical Squad

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Hey folks, today I have some rank and file tacticals for you; a fourth of a tactical squad to be precise! I have been in the process of striping most of my old IW stuff and repainting it, so expect some of that :)

 

@Pearson73:Cheers man!

 

@KrautScientist: Cheers mate, means a lot! The writing of Exodus' fluff was a great exercise in creative writing, glad you like it so much! Also, good spot of the mistake, I'll fix that in a second :D

 

Well, that is all for today, though more Iron Warrior stuff will follow soon! C&C is, as always, much welcome! Have a nice day!

[Pearson73]

Looking good and gritty, a real sense of momentum in the running fella's pose there.

[hushrong]

Your Iron Warriors are a treat for the eyes! Utterly glorious!

[Vairocanum]

Man what a great looking squad! Love the weathering as usual, looking forward to seeing more!

[Kizzdougs]

Fantastic work, bro! I really like the weathering, especially on the shoulder-plates :tu:

[Reyner]

Love those Iron Warriors   how are you doing the armour? 

[Kordhal]

Fantastic looking Iron Warriors! Love the sense of purpose each one seems to be imbued with.

[Chickenleg]

Awesome IW! I love the glowing eye lenses to compliment the gritty armor and smart choice for the base to go snow! Colors check out baby!

[Dagoth Ur]

XX: Vanus

 

 

Iron Father, the Alpha Legion has just entered the system.

 

We cannot wage a two-front war. Retreat.

 

With all due respect, lord, you might wish to wait with that order.

 

Explain.

 

The Alpha Legion has just opened fire on the Sons of Horus.

 

Reaver-Chieftain Baruk drew a ragged breath as he and his squad dodged around a corner. Six of them were already felled by their so-called allies. The Warmaster had sent them here to destroy a fragment of the X^th legion and capture any and all vital individuals for later questioning and psy-probing. The moment, the very instant the battle had turned in the Sons of Horus' favour, the Alpha Legion had opened fire upon them.

Nobody trusted the XX^th; it would be utter idiocy to do so. There were rumours, tales of the Alpha Legion secretly being still loyal to the throne, but all rebels had remaining loyalists scattered across the stars. Baruk needed to survive. He needed to report to legion command. His men cleared a serf-cafeteria and before long they had shut all doors. Two covered the back entry, two the main door.

Now it was just a waiting game.

 

The vox-channels were all flooded with white-noise or senseless clicks. The cafeteria was silent. Furniture had been turned into makeshift barricades, even if sheet metal was useless against bolter-fire. The silence was awful. Baruk knew that they were being watched. The Alpha Legion had its means. Baruk could tell by the nervosity of his squadmates and the sound of fibre-muscles grinding against bolter-grips that they too feared infiltration. Anyone in this room could be a liar; a skin-walker.

Nurt twitched and turned for a fraction of a second and found three bolters aimed at himself. He dropped his bolter and slowly raised his arms, all the while staring at Baruk.

"Who are you?" The Reaver-Chieftain barked "Whom are you loyal to?"

"Baruk please, I am Nurt, we were both inducted at the same time..." He turned his head to the side, frowning as he listened to the silent air "What's that noise?"

With their guns trained on Nurt, the remaining reavers listened carefully. There was a faint, but rapid beeping.

"Meltabomb!" Baruk roared. Both doors caved in, reduced to molten slag as smoke canisters were dumped through the openings. The combination of shock-wave, heat interference and smoke incapacitated the reavers just long enough for the Hydra to strike.

 

Nurt fell before he could even grab his bolter again. Two clean holes had punched through his chest and the ruined remains of his hearts still tried to desperately pump blood through his body. Kashan was decapitated by boltshells; Baruk could hear the surpressed hiss of seeker-bolters and the sickening bursting of brains and skulls. Elior had cycled through his visual displays fast enough to try and assault the enemy. Yet, the moment he swung his chainaxe the enemy astartes plunged a dagger into his armpit. Not wasting a second, the knife left a gaping wound before it bit into Elior's neck.

 

Baruk had regained his footing and a cycle through his visor showed him at least seven alpha legionaries in this room alone. He would not go down without a fight. With quick steps he drew into close combat with the enemy veteran sergeant. Baruk's power-fist awoke to roaring life as he tried to hit the alpha legionary. The ashen-blue astartes, on the other hand, pulled out a unremarkable looking knife from his chest-sheath. It was barely a handspan long but covered in the faint sheen of a camouflaged power field. The enemy sidestepped Baruk's attack and nearly severed his arm at the elbow with a flick of the wrist. The fist powered down, but instead of yelling, Baruk only managed to press out a dry cough as the blade plunged through his abdominal armour and into his chest cavity.

"W-why?" He whispered.

"For the Emperor."

 

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Hey folks, today I have a painted Alpha Legion Veteran for you! :)

 

Thanks everybody for the many kind comments!

 

@Pearson73: Cheers man! The running fella is incidentally my favorite one! :)

 

@hushrong: Thank you kindly mate, glad you like them so much! The new paint recipe has certainly revived my desire to paint them again.

 

@Vairocanum: Thanks mate, there is more comming very soon actually! I am stripping my old ETL miniatures and touching up my leviathan, so there will be at leats a full tactical squad more, Erasmus Golg proxy, a leviathan and perturabo himself.

 

@Kizzdougs: Cheers man, means a lot comming from you!

 

@Reyner: Thanks bro! I will be posting an Iron Warrior tutorial very soon that will detail the whole process :)

 

@Kordhal: Thanks man! That's exactly how I want my IW to be, implacable statues of iron.

 

@Chickenleg: Thank you kindly bro! Yeah, contrast was very important while redoing my scheme. I really want to have the armour muted and drab, so I needed some spots of bright colours and a light backdrop.

 

Well, that's all for today, hope you like the Alpha Legionary! C&C is, as always, much welcome and appreciated! Have a nice day.

[hushrong]

Yeah, your Iron Warriors look hard as nails which is perfect!

 

The Alpha Legionary is also awesome! Great use of bits, great poses, and fantastic paint job. Tempted to cut one of my extra Kakophoni bodies in half now too.

[Morngrym]

Looks fine, but the first page of photos have been destroyed by photo bucket.  :/

[Pearson73]

Great to see some paint on Vanus, the little touches of red really stand out and draw the eye. As ever, the battle-worn teal of the plate is spot-on too.

[Vairocanum]

Great narrative, love the direction you went with writing! Very nice model as usual, will you be doing some more of the (at least) seven alpha legionnaires?

[Dagoth Ur]

I, The Observer, rise to the challenge of E TENEBRAE LUX on the side of the Warmaster in this Age of Darkness, and vow to complete an Archmagos Prime, a Magos Dominus and Perturabo, Sire of the IVth legion, of total value of 880 points on or before August 1st, 2018. Success will bring vindication to the Omnissiah and the Iron Warriors, and destruction to the False Emperor ...failure will doom me to wear the Badge of the Oathbreaker until the year-end and the displeasure of Perturabo.

The vow breaks down as follows

 

The Primarch Perturabo with the After Istvaan/Forgebreaker upgrade (490p)

 

Magos Prime with the Archmagos Upgrade, Djinn Skein, Machinator Array, Techno-Arcana Malagra, Cortex Controller, Cyber Familiar, Photon Thruster, Paragon Blade, Archaeotech Pistol, Mastercraft one weapon (295p)

 

Magos Dominus with a Servo Arm, Mastercrafted Power Maul, Laspistol and Infravisor (95p)

 

Pictorial Evidence:

 

(Perturabo is undercoated in dark silver, the Archmagos in grey)

[Dagoth Ur]

Hey everbody, quick ETL update so that folks know I am not dead!

 

@hushrong: Thanks for the kind words man! The kakophoni legs are great for more dynamic mark 4 astartes!

 

@Morngrym: I know, I haven't gotten around to replacing them just yet. I don't know if I actually will. I will probably reupload better pictures and some new fluff in a couple of my updates as I now have a more coherent idea of what I wanna do.

 

@Pearson73: Cheers man! The red was a purely spontaneous decision, as I usually give my AL red lenses, but red looks so much better.

 

@Vairocanum: Thanks bro! Actually yes! I have kept the seven remaining veterans so that I can paint them up for the ETL (I also have two Alphariuses (Alpharii? Aplharides?), a unit of Lernaeans and ten more veterans on the way.....

 

Anyways, some ETL Pics!

 

A magos dominus of Xana II, completely done! I wanted to test out a scheme I had in mind for Xana for when we see some Dark Mech stuff.

 

My Ur-Mechanicum Malagra Prime is comming along nicely. A couple more details, some glowing purple bits and that is it.

 

Perturabo, nearly done too! Basically only needs some tamya red and basing done; that's it then.

 

Anyways, that is all for today. C&C is, as always, very much appreciated and welcome!

[Naryn]

Love these guys! Characterful conversions and lovely paintjobs.

[Pearson73]

The dusty base on the first chap is looking most real, the turquoise for the Xana dominus is a nice choice.

[Dagoth Ur]

The Alpha

 

 

War is simply the galaxy's hygiene

 

---Attr. to Alpharius---

 

"Sire" Iaxon had entered Dorn's quarters; just as spartan as his father they were "We have vid-evidence."

"Vid-evidence of what?" The lord of the seventh inquired curtly. He had been restless since the incident on station Hydra. Alpharius' death had been...harrowing to say the least; even if he was a traitor. Yet still, after he had seen such an unearthly departure, all that psychic mist, he could still not quite believe that his brother was dead. The reported incidents were no help with this.

"The pythian master" Iaxon responded as he offered Dorn a dataslate "On here you will find a compilation of vid-captures made by the Ultramarines."

"My gratitude, Iaxon. You are dismissed" The slate awoke to life. The image stabilized to the vision of a ship's main bridge. In the upper left corner were the specifics.

 

NAME: The Polytheton

ASSIGNED LEGION: Ultramarines

ACTING CAPTAIN: Iora Karenje

ACTING OFFICER: Praetor Phyrax, 17th Chapter

 

Dorn knew little of Phyrax or his men, he had only heard the name in passing a few times. Still, it took a certain calibre of soldier and leader to reach such a rank in his brother's legion. The vid-capture played on. The lense-feed of a certain legion veteran Kyron offered an unparalleled view into the cold of the void. Dorn recognized the ship that opposed the Polytheton. It was the Alpha.

 

The veteran turned his eyes to one of the many screens on the bridge. The surveillance systems registered several dozen dreadclaws making contact with the hull; what was even more concerning is the energy bleedings that appeared close to the main bridge. Dorn immediately recognized what it was; teleportations. The veteran turned towards his sergeant, forming a regimented squad with his brethren before marching off the bridge.

The vid-feed jumped to another squad. They were breachers, embroiled in a close quarters battle with solar auxilia forces. Their shields obscured much of the view, but from what Dorn could make out, the battle seemed to go well. Naturally, even the well trained solar auxilia stood little chance in such a battle against the Astartes. Dorn's eyes narrowed as three bullets punched cleanly through the breacher shield and embedded themselves in the breacher's knee, thigh and stomach.

The sire of the seventh recognized these rounds. Banestrike rounds; specifically designed to breach astartes power armour. He had seen them in action above Pluto. Savage weaponry, yet useful. His techmarines were working fervently on reverse engineering these rounds. They would prove valuable in the battles to come. Did the Alpha Legion equip their mortals with such ammunition too?

Dorn froze for the barest second as a spear carved its path through the shield. The breacher dropped dead, but his vid-feed continued on. No blood crept from what must have been a considerable wound.

Dorn knew of only one weapon that could strike such wounds.

"No"

 

The dead body showed a unit of, presumably, veteran Alpha Legionaries firing their bolters at the breachers. They were all equipped in mark VI armour. Dorn had noticed this specific pattern of armour above Pluto too. According to his techmarines, it was very similar to the suits delivered to the Raven Guard, but some key systems differed. Camouflage against sonar and temperature based means had been increased and the noise output had been lowered. How fitting.

The sight of an armoured, spear bearing giant amidst the veterans made Dorn nearly drop the data-sleet. It was Alpharius. The plate was nearly identical, even the spear cut the same gaping wounds. Rounds bounced off harmlessly from his pythian scales and his weapon reaped a horrid toll amongst the defenders. His brother unclasped two crystalline spheres from his belt and tossed them further down the hall, out of the corpse's sight. Dorn didn't need to see in order to know what the grenades were doing. They had burst and the acidic fumes locked inside of them were destroying the Ultramarine's armour seals and stripping the flesh of their bones.

The traitors made their way down the corridor. The perspective changed again as they vanished out of the body's sight.

 

Dorn noticed the heavy gait of his new window into the Polytheton. A unit of terminators then. Saturnyne or Cataphractii pattern by the looks of it. They were embroiled in a savage battle against the alpha legion's very own terminator elite; the Lernaeans. The volkite weaponry had little effect on the Ultramarines, but the oily-shimmering axes bit deep into the plate. The ultramarine's powered gauntlet caught the enemy's wrist and in a flash of migraineous lightning pulverized it.

An even battle, only luck would decide the victor here. Suddenly the Lernaeans retreated a few paces and a beam of searing light, accompanied by infernal screeching cut through the air. The terminator flinched and looked to his left. Two clear holes, surrounded by glowing, still bubbling plate were clearly visible on his battle brother. The searing light picked the terminators off one by one, until he stared at the source of the plasmatic assault.

Alpharius pointed his plasma blaster at him and the world turned white.

For a few seconds nothing happened. No tone, no change of perspective. Nothing.

Dorn let the feed run and placed the sleet down on a table close by. He rubbed his temples as he contemplated the future. A voice originated from the slate.

"Dorn."

 

"This message will reach you. I will personally make sure of it."

Alpharius' head was bare. Slightly bronzed skin, eyes the colour of the unruly sea. This could only be him.

"You have killed Alpharius, true. So you might be asking what this illusion might be."

"Our brethren take you for a simpleton, a builder and nothing more. Yet I know better. You have a sharp mind, Dorn. Contemplate this then"

"Where there is an Alpha, there must always be an Omega."

The feed cut here and Dorn was left with more questions that answers.

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Hey folks, another pretty update for my next vow! As you can see, I've taken the Alpharius miniature and reposed it for my Omegon conversion. I was not a fan of the Helmet and the spear, so I replaced them with something I saw more fitting. I also quickly kitbashed some Alpha Legion veterans from the beautiful Raven Guard Mor Deythan. Tell me what you think!

 

@Naryn: Cheers man! :)

 

@Pearson73: Thanks mate, glad you like'em!

 

Well anyways that is all for today. Wrapping up my first vow and then I can crank out a ton of mechanicum and Alpha Legion material. C&C is, as always, much appreciated and welcome. Have a good day!

[OakRiver]

Awe inspiring. A perfect blend of modelling and lore.

[Pearson73]

The Mor Deythan certainly make very fitting XX operatives, fantastic twist to the tale in the writing too, again perfect for the Alpha Legion.

[Aramis K]

Great writing, enjoyed the story.

 

And I really like what you've done for Omegon, I prefer the stance and your spear blades to the original.

[Vairocanum]

Yes. Brilliant repose and great idea for the spear! Lovely writing again, and the veterans look great too! Can't wait to see you paint this up in your signature weathered style!

[hushrong]

The fluff snippet was awesome as is your reposed Alpharius! Seriously mouth-watering stuff here!

[Markus_]

What fantastic conversions and paintjobs. Really liking the beaten look of the marines. Omegon repose looks great.

[Mors Vincit]

I will be using your Omegon conversion as a base for mine. Very cool. I like it so much better.