Clan Brannsar Rises: The Unmakers

[Iron Hands Fanatic]

Yup, I just trimmed back some of the casing to make it more believable as a monocular, and added the rear part of an old bolter scope I had lying around as the eyepiece

[hushrong]

It's an awesome use of that bit. I only recognized it because I remember chopping up the plastic HH era launchers so that my guys weren't all standing around and aiming.

[Iron Hands Fanatic]

Ah okay, I'll be doing the same thing for one of the launcher marines in my RG Vet squad - I think having two identically posed vets in the same squad might be pushing it a *bit*

Edited August 30, 2018 by Iron Hands Fanatic

[hushrong]

Nice. Nothing wrong with it though really. Better to use those pieces then just plop them in a bin.

 

Also, started building a vertex combi bolter. TIt's been tough and mine looks like it was built on a forgeworld with Tonka toy tools.

[Iron Hands Fanatic]

I've been writing quite a bit of background recently - partly just 'cause I'm away from the minis so I can't really do any work on that front, and partially cause I'm gonna do a big shake-up of my threads soonish, part of which'll include opening a thread similar to this over in the WIP forum, with a big focus on having accompanying background alongside unit updates.

 

Anyway, I've been restraining myself from posting any of it (anywhere) until it's all done, but I did write a lil' summary of the conflict where all these mini's are supposed to be set (that's been mentioned on & off on this thread & others).

 

007-011.M31: Sundering of the Cymaera Verge

 

A nexus of stable Warp routes at the edge of one of the Galaxy’s spiral arms, the Cymaera Verge becomes host to a protracted conflict that exacts an increasingly devastating toll on local planets. Traitor forces based at Vulpes anchorage, a major staging ground seized early in the war are assaulted by a coalition of Loyalist elements, including ‘Shattered Legion’ divisions, local forces who spurned Horus’ rebellion and Titans drawn from the Legio Exhortor (Proclamators). The Traitor armies outmatch their foe considerably, but the Loyalists’ haven in the stronghold-system of Davorin proves too costly to attack outright, and both sides resort to marauding incursions across the Verge, inflicting significant losses on either side.

 

Following three years of intermittent violence, the Traitor forces are eventually broken after they attempt a final assault on the Davorin system, bolstered by reinforcements from the Legio Argentum (Dread Lances) and assured that the main Loyalist strength has departed for the conflict at Tallarn. Having fully committed to the siege, bloodying themselves on the system’s outer defences, the Traitors are ambushed by the supposedly absent Loyalist fleet, trapping them in a blistering crossfire. At length, the bulk of the Traitor forces are destroyed, and in the aftermath of the battle, the Loyalists make good on their oaths and set out towards Tallarn, leaving much of the Cymaera Verge in desolation.

 

Edited December 19, 2018 by Iron Hands Fanatic

[hushrong]

Looking forward to seeing fluff accompanying your minis! It always adds that extra ‘umph’ that give our plastic soldiers character.

 

I also like reading about forces that are outnumbered and outgunned. Interested in seeing how the loyalist deal with that.

[Markus_]

The Vertex bolters look superb. I will have to try it out.

[Iron Hands Fanatic]

Looking forward to seeing fluff accompanying your minis! It always adds that extra ‘umph’ that give our plastic soldiers character.

 

I also like reading about forces that are outnumbered and outgunned. Interested in seeing how the loyalist deal with that.

 

I'll finally be able to justify why I'm making such a mismatched array of different Legions!

 

The Vertex bolters look superb. I will have to try it out.

 

Thanks! I ended up making do with the plastic kits I had available (hence the heavy relying on the Cadian heavy Support team) but I like that the additional bits are relatively basic so you can put them together from almost any pair of bolters hanging around.

[hushrong]

It's very nice that shattered legions definitely works out that way. Looking forward to updates!

[Iron Hands Fanatic]

Hey folks, I'm able to do a but more mini work at the minute, and all the remaining power armour models from B@C & BoP are being used as Raven Guard & Salamanders Dropsite veterans - I've even managed to inflate their numbers a bit by harvesting some MkV & MkVI components from older Space Marine kits, meaning I'll be assembling 10 Sallies Vets, 5 Sallies flamer support marines, 10 RG Vets & 5 RG melta support marines. I'm currently in the process of assembling & cleaning the bits to make all 30 of these minis - I'm painstakingly mixing parts from different armour marks to help differentiate them as Isstvan survivors, unlike the mono-pattern units I've already put together.

Anyway, I even had enough bits to throw together a HQ to turn my single Blackshield Marauder squad into an Allied Detachment. I'll probably add some more small details to make him more HQ-worthy, but he's already got plenty of tiny, utterly needless conversions, so here's my Blackshield Centurion / Reaver Lord (and a big chunk of that long-promised fluff):

Protus Null, ‘Firstblood’, Leader of the Graveborn

“I don’t care about your titles, old man. I was made to end you, and that’s what comes next.”

Protus Null is a Legionary associated with the Blackshield force commonly identified as the ‘Graveborn’, a division of Astartes partially integrated into the command structure of Clan Brannsar, but primarily deployed in a peripheral manner, often to hunt down the remnants of routed Traitor Astartes forces. Incomplete records identify Null as the commander of the Graveborn, although conflicting accounts bring into doubt whether he and an individual referred to as the ‘Firstblood’ are one and the same, or two separate members of the Blackshield warband.

The ‘Graveborn’, Clan Brannsar Blackshield Element

The ‘Blackshield’ designation assigned to this formation is dually owed to the uncertainty surround the Graveborn’s origins and the nature of their panoply of war, the latter being one of the few details upon which all accounts agree. Each warrior’s power armour was bare ceramite, still bearing the forge-issue ident markings of the Davorin Mechanicum. The only identifying mark aside from standard unit designations displayed upon their armour was Brannsar’s Clan symbol upon the right pauldron, over the black iron plate of the X^th Legion which solely adorned the right arm.

The conspicuous absence of the Iron Hand’s Legion symbol quickly brought into doubt the origin of these Astartes, a factor corroborated by reports which seemed to assign individuals traits expressed by the gene-seed of several Legions, as well as claims that the ident-seals of the Davorin Caminus Magos Genetor were inscribed upon their flesh. In addition, despite initially only possessing numbers capable of constituting a single Demi-Company, the Graveborn always included in their ranks at least a trio of Astartes who carried specialised Apothecarian equipment, further inciting dark rumours surrounding the warband which came to be met with only contempt by the Legionaries of Clan Brannsar.

How well the true nature of the Graveborn was known among Brannsar’s allies is a matter for speculation, but it is clear that attempts were made to deter suspicions – Graveborn warriors were forbidden from removing any part of their warplate in the company of those outside the Clan, and their deployments were increasingly isolated from allied forces either by distance or time. Now that the last embers of the Heresy have long since died, records provided by certain high-ranking figures within the Davorin Mechanicum offer more detailed insight into the reality of the Graveborn’s existence, although the degradations of war, time and internal purges mean no full accounting is likely to ever be established. What is certain is detailed below.

The aspirants who would go on to become ‘Graveborn’ space marines were not recruited from stable human populations according to standard Legion procedure, but vat-grown by the Davorin Magos Genetor as ideal specimens for the gene-seed implantation process, each purpose-designed to fulfil every requirement of a Legion recruit. Given that Brannsar’s own Iron Lord was birthed in a similar process, one might assume that these recruits would form a new generation of Iron Hands neophytes for the Clan, but the resources and craft required by this method of recruiting made it unsuitable for mass-induction, and for his own Legion, Phrixus desired numbers.

Instead, the collaborative program established by the Davorin Magos and Clan Brannsar’s Apothecarion had a much more divisive goal: the propagation of chymeric gene-seed. Whether the manipulation of gene-seed itself was a component of the project in its earliest stages is unknown, as it is believed the Graveborn were experimental in nature, with the means of their creation altered over successive ‘batches’. Regardless of the stage at which chymeric gene-seed was introduced into their genesis, later generations of Graveborn were created to be combat-ready the moment they left the sprawling laboratory-clusters of their progenitors, with much of the implantation process occurring while the host tissue was still developing, before the aspirants had even emerged from their growth capsules.

With rapid psycho-indoctrination affording the Graveborn a semblance of Legion training, and accelerated growth providing increased muscle density and tissue strength, these warriors might at first glance seem to outshine conventional Legionaries, but as with all Chymeriae, flaws lurked beneath the surface. The accelerated nature of their genesis alongside the tampering with their gene-seed manifested in several physiological deficiencies, not least being restricted neurological growth compared to their counterparts, suggesting a mismatch in their rapid tissue development. More alarming was the effect such swift indoctrination had on their psychology, gaining each warrior a Legionaries’ training without being tempered by his accompanying experience, each fresh Graveborn having a mind of killing instinct and little else, with their stunted years providing little opportunity to mature and develop.

For those few who had cause to observe or interact with members of this insular brotherhood, oft were the comparisons made to child soldiers given the form of post-human weapons, cruel, unstable and capricious. As theirs numbers grew through the course of the conflict, the Graveborn became increasingly unpredictable, and while always held in check by the power of the forces to whom they were sworn, the pall of suspicion and mistrust that hung over them only grew.

Among their Legionary counterparts, such malcontent was furthered by the means with which the Chymeriae warband acquired the geneseed to further their hybrid lineage, which the former correctly determined to be harvested from slain Traitor Astartes. While at first, the Graveborn painstakingly hid such activity from allied forces outside of Clan Brannsar (a task eased by their frequently isolated deployments), rumour or hard evidence eventually brought it to the attention of those Legionaries which resolved to fight at the Clan’s side. Surviving records made by these forces make repeated mention of incidents of near-violence between themselves and the warriors of the Graveborn, often surrounding allegations of ill intent regarding the bodies of dead Loyalist Legionaries.

Edited June 5, 2019 by Iron Hands Fanatic

[Iron Hands Fanatic]

These two units aren't quite finished modelling-wise, but it'll be a while before I can do more mini work again, so thought I'd share what progress I've made:

'The Branded', Salamanders Shattered Legions Element: - Veteran Squad

'Coterie of the Ashen Feather', Raven Guard Shattered Legions Element: - Veteran Squad

Edited December 30, 2018 by Iron Hands Fanatic

[lokkorex]

Really like the veterans, especially the salamanders ones! Nice job on the heavy flamer!

[Iron Hands Fanatic]

Really like the veterans, especially the salamanders ones! Nice job on the heavy flamer!

 

Thanks Lokkorex, the heavy flamer was a fun one to put together, even if I do have a ton of filling to do on the other side to stop it being an absolute mess.

 

I've still got some work to do on these (both squads'll be getting a Vexilla & Nuncio-Vox), but I'll be saving the real detailing stage for when I've completed the basic assembly on all the units from the two boxes so I can take stock of the remaining components & distribute/ convert them as appropriate. Those units left currently sit at: 2 5-strong support squads, 2 5-strong terminator squads, the contemptor & the sisters of silence (the custodes will get partial assembly, as I'll be taking them apart to use as broken statuary on bases & scenery). 

[Iron Hands Fanatic]

Kinda off-topic, but I posted about them before, so thought I'd share the mocked-up colour scheme for my homebrew Titan Legio - for the idle prospect that I ever get my hands on some Adeptus Titanicus kits

LEGIO EXHORTOR

Title: The Legio Exhortor Ordo Titanicus

Grade: Tertius

Patent: Pre-Imperial, Graian Mechanicum

Warden Domain(s): Davorin Statum, Davorin Struix, Neverlight

Cognomen: The Proclamators

Allied War Houses: Sadavir, Ny’zaar

Allegiance: Fidelitas Constantus

Anyway, I'm hoping I'll have a chance for another sporadic bout of mini work next week, so there should be a support squad for both the Raven Guard & Salamanders in sight

Edited January 31, 2019 by Iron Hands Fanatic

[Iron Hands Fanatic]

Right, managed to get the basic modelling on the Raven Guard & Salamanders support squads done:

'The Branded', Salamanders Shattered Legions Element: - Support Squad

'Coterie of the Ashen Feather', Raven Guard Shattered Legions Element: - Support Squad

I say 'basic' modelling 'cause I'm endeavouring to assemble all the minis from B@C & BoP before I go into the secondary detailing process (filling, plasticard, additional plastic bits), due to the two boxes meaning I have a relatively limited bits box - basically, so I can see what I have left over to draw from when adding extra details.

I'll probably put the Sisters of Silence together next, as they'll be relatively straight forward, without much conversion work.

[Iron Hands Fanatic]

Put together the Sisters of Silence minis last night - a nice change of pace to put together a unit pretty much straight from the box. That said, I had to do a few small conversions, although the Seeker Mistress' dual-wielding grip hasn't come out great in these photos so I'll try and sort that later (I'll also be doing group photos for the 70 odd Legionaries I've assembled so far)

[Iron Hands Fanatic]

After almost three years, I've finally revisited that Cataphractii I put together as the first mini from B@C - and I've finally finished an actual Iron Hands unit, so the whole Clan Brannsar title isn't entirely inaccurate! In a slightly obsessive fashion, I used a sculpting tool heated in a candle flame to engrave all the leather pteruges on the squad to (very rougly) imitate the texture of chain-mail, and carved all the thicker sections of trim into a cog-toothed pattern - plus the sergeant & one of the Terminators have a section of their torso armour removed & cabling added in the style of the FW IH torsos, as well as Gorgon TDA - I figured they're veterans so I wanted them to be a bit showy, plus I wanted them to look recognisably Iron-Hands alike as my 1st unit from the Legion.

Still not sure about the bare-headed Legionary, the cut-off head looks a bit weird - I might end up cannibalising the custom head from the RG techmarine/ forge lord I made so I can give him one of the original re-breather heads

[Tyrannicide]

I’m still having trouble wrapping my head around the sorcery you used to turn the leather bits on the Cataphractii into chainmail. Unreal.

[Iron Hands Fanatic]

I’m still having trouble wrapping my head around the sorcery you used to turn the leather bits on the Cataphractii into chainmail. Unreal.

Hah, thanks! I will say it was *extremely* time consuming, and the end result is pretty inconsistent, but here goes:

This is the tool I used - basically, I heated the tip up in a candle, and then impressed it into the plastic - you have to be pretty forceful, the heating's more to make the plastic less brittle than melt it enough to make the process easy. But it you get the angle & force right, you can create a hole in the plastic and make the displaced material form a 'ring' shape to one side - doing this in a line, with the depressions in the same direction can roughly emulate chainmail. I found pressing at a 45 degree angle downwards towards the ground was the best approach, and I could usually fit 2-3 vertical lines of rings on each pteruge, heating the tool again each time I did a line.

[Iron Hands Fanatic]

Not a super exciting update, but I've done some head-swapping, as I thought the bare head I used on the Cataphractii above looked a bit naff. Having used all the spare Cataphractii heads/ helms in various conversions, I had to liberate one from my Raven Guard techmarine conversion, for whom I managed to find a far more suitable replacement, as well as having a go at adding a less-janky looking cortical interface to his servo-skull:

While I'll be able to get back on the mini work over the next few days, I managed to leave my supplies of plastic glue on the other side of the country, so forecast mainly looks like cleaning up components & prepping some conversion work, and I can't imagine I'll have anything worthy of posting here in the near future

[Sandlemad]

Nice. I know it's old at this stage but that's a very cunning trick with the custodian spear -> power axe, well done.

[hushrong]

Catching up and very happy to see the shattered legion going strong! Everything is looking great.

 

I also just realized I need to steal your techmarine's axe design for an Emperor's Children retinue member. So thanks again for more ideas to borrow!

[Iron Hands Fanatic]

Nice. I know it's old at this stage but that's a very cunning trick with the custodian spear -> power axe, well done.

 

Thanks, it's been a fun experience having parts primarily restricted to those in B@C and BoP, especially with the faction-specific characters in the latter box. The techmarine / forge lord is a bit of a mismatch of odd bits, but hopefully once I've filled everything in and basecoated him it'll mesh together decently.

 

Catching up and very happy to see the shattered legion going strong! Everything is looking great.

 

I also just realized I need to steal your techmarine's axe design for an Emperor's Children retinue member. So thanks again for more ideas to borrow!

 

Haha, thanks - and no worries - using a Thunder Hammer haft with the head halved and reversed, plus a custodian spear blade and the pole from the Custodes banner probably isn't the easiest way to put together a power axe, but it's all I could really do! 

[Iron Hands Fanatic]

Had some more time for mini stuff, so I put together the other Terminator squad - the Tartaros kit has less trim than the Cataphractii, so cutting them down into cog-tooth patterns was a bit less laborious, the same as with only having the Sergeant's pteruges to convert to chainmail, & as with the other squad I've converted a pair of torsos to have the same exposed bionics look as that on the Gorgon Terminators/ IH upgrade kit.

Clan Brannsar Terminator Squad Kyros - Close Assault Configuration:

[Iron Hands Fanatic]

So I figured it'd be neat to actually have a HQ choice for all the Shattered Legion factions I've been building, and seeing as the Iron Hands contingent is 2 Terminator squads and a Contemptor, it seemed that the Betrayal at Calth Cataphractii Praetor was a good fit.

However, some of you might recall I'd already done some pretty extensive conversion work on that mini in order to turn it into a Salamanders character, so not only did I have to do my standard level of modelling to 'Iron-Handisfy' the model, I also have to work around the changes I'd already made - anyway, without further ado, here's what I've got:

As you can see, I've still got most of the outer cloak to model into chainmail, which I'll probably also have to do with the inner surface as most of it's visible. There's also plenty of filling to do, especially around the ad-hoc combi-melta (the orginal's serving as an Inferno pistol on a Salamanders Sergeant) and I want to build him a Cyber-familiar of some kind, but I'm pretty happy with how he's turned out so far, considering this is where I started: