Vox Stellarum: True-Scaled Horus Heresy

[Ryltar Thamior]

As the title implies, this is a log to chronicle our progress as a mate and I navigate our way through the conflagration of the Horus Heresy. We're both on fairly limited budgets, and much more interested in constructing narratives (and highly individualized miniatures) - so rather than go with the conventional route of building up massive forces of dozens of Marines and thousands of points a side in order to take to the tabletop, we're doing something different. Inspired by the chronic success of Inq28 and Inquisimunda logs which have proliferated across the more .. artistically inclined boards and blogs over the last few years (and in particular this EXCELLENT B&C log by a chap running under the moniker 'EdT') ... we decided to give a small corner of the Heresy the 28mm narrative-skirmish-wargaming-everything-must-be-converted treatment. 

At the moment, I'm working my way through a small unit of Loyalist Iron Warriors equipped in slightly ramshackle patch-jobbed Mk.VI armour. The idea is that they're a bunch of hard-bitten Terran-dominated legion veterans who've gotten decidedly on the wrong side of Perturabo - and been sent off to earn themselves an inglorious and ignoble end somewhere out among the stars (thus explaining, in part, why they weren't with the Legion for events like the purging of Olympia or the Betrayal at Isstvan V). This quite nicely plays into why they're clad in Mk.VI - as some of the first runs of 'prototype' Mk.VI were in fact delivered to the Iron Warriors for field-testing and evaluation. Perturabo wanted the design scrapped in favour of another heavy assault armour, so seems to have basically set it up for failure where possible. This unit remaining equipped with it even by the period just prior to the outbreak of the Heresy would both represent an ongoing mark of his disfavour, and presumably ensure them quicker, messier deaths. And Tartaros legs were what I had to hand, so yee. 

Alongside this initial deployment (which currently numbers three Iron Warriors in various stages of completion), I'm also adding a small group of Vlka Fenryka - to act as the local equivalent of a 'watch pack' in the unlikely event our protagonists wind up feeling more philosophical affinity for their gene-sire than the Imperium. 

There will also be the usual assortment of less-augmented humans you'd customarily expect to see trailing behind a Crusade-era Astartes force, including an Imperial Army veteran turned Remembrancer who's taken it upon himself to chronicle these otherwise forgotten sons. 

 

[Ryltar Thamior]

Once these're painted up, I'll do the full-scale fluff treatment etc (because by then I'll probably have names and what not sorted out); but first, a word on design choices. 

As stated above, I pictured these legionaries as being something of a recon/trench-probing force in Mk.VI armour and comparatively lightly equipped. So a number of options immediately presented themselves to me. First up, the leg-armour HAD to be comprised of Tartaros-pattern terminator legs - both due to the height-boost which this axiomatically provides, and because the no-kneepad greaves are the obvious hallmark of Mk.VI armour. I also liked the increased dynamism of many of the Tartaroi legs as compared to the more static Cataphractoi (the best example of which is the heavily-in-motion legs given to the Wolf). Working our way up ... initially the torsos were going to be a somewhat painstaking greenstuff-expansion of the Iron Warriors upgrade torsos - however, I hadn't realized that the abdomen parts of the tartaros legs would require as much work as they did to fit regular marine torsos on; so after an experiment with the Wolf, an alternative was looked for. By happy accident, my associate was starting to play around with concepts for truescale Thunder Warriors (we're also doing a Unification Wars set of forces, which you may see later on) - and as soon as I added an Iron Warriors upgrade helmet to one of them, something just clicked. So for speed and expediency, we wound up using cut-down Cataphractoi terminator torsos. I think this has worked out pretty well on the combi-bolter/lightning-claw armed marine ... but potentially not so well on the meltagun/flail armed one [although in his case, the lightning-bolts are supposed to evoke potential participation in Unity]. Anyway. 





As applies other design choices for the base-figures ... initially, I toyed with the idea of using Mk.VI 'beakie' helms to reinforce the fact that these guys were in .. well .. Mk.VI. But I foolishly hadn't thought ahead with the timing of my purchases, so I'm still awaiting delivery of the requisite bits. In the mean-time, sets of each of the Forge World and GW(40k) Iron Warrior upgrades beckoned to me enticingly. I justified the inclusion of these not-necessarily-Mk.VI pieces on grounds that they might be spares or hand-crafted replacements for the original Mk.VI helms which these legionnaires were originally issued. 




The other 'defining' features of Mk.VI, to me at least, are its shoulder-pads and backpack. Again, I didn't have either of these to hand ... so we made do. My associate had some Sons of Horus backpacks spare which had a nice barbed look to them (I am aware these are technically Mk.IV - but I also grew up with the 3rd Edition Tactical Marines which presented the Mk.VI armour as using a powerpack effectively visually indistinguishable from a Mk.VII - so it felt allowable). Shoulderpads, however, were rather more difficult to come by. I've seen some successful uses of Indomitus terminator shoulders on other peoples' truescales ... but these didn't look exactly right to me. And plus, I wanted to be able to visually tie these guys back to the Iron Warriors (or Wolves) in the very form of the miniatures themselves. The obvious way to do this was by incorporating off-the-shelf upgrade packs. Although due to a shortage of regular unmarked shoulderpads, we also wound up building and incorporating some 'repair-job' alternatives. In the case of the Space Wolf, he got a nice Mk.VI (rimless) pad along with another pad made out of a Tarteros two-part loricum shoulder - I feel that this makes him look almost 'gladiatorial' in some ways; although it's a tricky conversion to get right in some respects (both because it leaves additional exposed upper arm, and because if the armis in the wrong angle, it basically leaves it looking unarmoured). The lightning-claw/combi-bolter equipped Iron Warrior got a cataphractoi shoulder (replete with the leather pteurges - which I'll do in black-and-yellow), partially so that the Cataphractoi lightning claw (which he's *also* equipped with) would look less out of place). The meltagun operator, meanwhile, didn't look so good with a terminator-derived improv-job ... so I delved into my bits-box in pursuit of a suitable replacement - and found one of the old Legion of the Damned metal jobbies from the mid-1990s to go on instead. Marine proportions have varied somewhat since hten, so it's arguably rather undersized - but it comes with some nice protruding iconography which can be narratively justified (a skull with underlying scroll, to be exact), so on it went. 







Now as applies weaponry ... you'll note that each Iron Warrior has a 'potato-masher' style grenade mag-locked to the belt or thigh-plate. These were made from maces in the now sadly out-of-print Bretonnian Men-At-Arms kit (an absolute trove of potentially useful bits, odds and ends for the discerning Inquisitorial modeler as I'm sure I hardly need to tell you). I wasn't even aware these were on the sprue when i bought them in a mad-panic due to sudden "LAST CHANCE TO BUY" status, but upon seeing them I just instantly had the idea to incorporate them on my IVth because of their obvious "trench-raiding" feel. There are few pieces of equipment more iconic to First World War trenched battlefields than the stickbombs of German trench-raiding stormtroopers, after all. 

Meanwhile, it additionally occurred that trench-warfare would be a nasty, brutal and close-fought affair (particularly if you lacked the customary Iron Warriors artillery hardware to just level the whole place from afar). So close combat weapons and assault weapons would be fairly mandatory. I pictured the combi-bolter as being able to lay down a fairly withering hail of fire in a small, enclosed space; while the sweeping Lightning Claw's utility would be immediately, painfully obvious. [the strong right-leg forward stance was supposed to evoke exactly this sense of purpose and direction, as well as impending dakka-youze-face followed by potential claw-related disembowelment] The meltagun was included because i) I really did rather like the look of the one which came with the 40k Iron Warriors upgrade pack for representing a personally-maintained weapon (hence the additional ornamentation of the yawning skull of death immediately behind the barrel - which'll look fairly cool decked out in brass); and ii) it represents a highly mobile, light-weight, (short-)ranged solution for bunker-busting and the frying of the nasty, pesky heavy infantry which otherwise seems to thrive in enclosed and Zone Mortalis situations. The dual-morningstar/chainflail (powerflail perhaps? or maybe just a regular unpowered close-combat weapon - haven't decided yet) was made from a piece from the Flagellant sprue (again, seriously excellent box for the offbeat modeler), attached to a blade-holding-hand that's been de-bladed from the Mk.III close combat weapons pack.



Oh, and while we're on the subject - pretty much all the arms I've used for the Iron Warriors are Mk.III (rather htan the thinner arms from a more traditional MK.VI that you'd perhaps expect) because i) truescaling demands more realistic proportions for armoured superhumans; ii) these guys are IRON WARRIORS so have presumably up-armoured their extant Mk.VI suits to deal with the nature and needs of their preferred manner and methods of war (hence also explaining the use of terminator torsos); and iii) because, quite simply, that's what I had available to me at the time. Necessity, as they say, is the mother of potentially excellent fluff justification http://b1.ifrm.com/static/emo/7.png 

[as a side-note: once my actual Mk.VI stuff turns up, we shall attempt to build an Iron Warrior in *actual* and largely un-adulterated/up-armoured Mk.VI - the idea is that this shall form a symbolic Middle Finger to Perturabo by the unit. Keeping one of the prototype suits as it was originally delivered to prove to Perturabo that the suits he condemned (as well as the Marines who wear them) are not, in fact, as faillable as he insistently believed they had to be]

Now onto the Wolf. 



As soon as I saw the braided-hair upgrade head on that Space Wolf sprue, I knew I had to incorporate it somehow. It just has the expression of a quiet, determined killer. The rest of the pose followed from this (and the aforementioned charging Tartaros legs - which have been repositioned on even more of an angle to turn the gait from taht of a semi-shambling Terminator's stride into a full-blown Astartes transhuman-dread-inspiring sprint). The posing really just came together - with the frost-axe from the upgrade sprue also helping the sense of arm-swinging movement (via the wolf tail talisman on the back-end of the axe-head) and the slight flaring of the wolfe-pelt cape also adding to it. The unpowered axe is generously donated from a Warhammer Fantasy Chaos Champion - which had the original, chainmail-clad hand remain with it because i liked the untechnological, barbaric feel which it added to the miniature. The idea is that it's a preturnaturally sharp axe rather than simply an ordinary close combat weapon. Meanwhile, at his belt (well, mag-locked to his thigh-plate) you can see both i) a horn (also from the Bretonnian Men-At-Arms kit) which may, variously, represent either a small blowing-horn ... or, more probably, the fellow's Mjord-horn for post-battle drinking. Mag-locked to his OTHER thigh-plate is a small pouch and a smaller axe. On an ordinary human this would perhaps be a reasonably sized hatchet. For an Astartes, it's the ideal size for a small and precisely aimed throwing-axe http://b1.ifrm.com/static/emo/7.png (something to get around his lack of obvious ranged weapons - without 'technologizing' him by adding an actual firearm). I can see him doing all sorts of precision-throwing with it due to his vastly enhanced hand-eye co-ordination - and perhaps at surprising ranges, too (fluff-pieces have long noted that Marines don't use grenade-launchers largely because there'd be no point - as an Astartes can apparently throw a grenade with just as much force and distance as a grenade launcher would be able to project one anyway ... so same principle for a throwing-axe). The backpack, while perhaps not as gorgeous as the one which came with the original third edition Wolves upgrade sprue, was also a strong include. 

All things considered ... I reckon it's a strong embodiment of the dread of Murder-Make coming sprinting towards you. Axes swinging. 

This is unquestionably the miniature I'm most happy with. 





Now as for the Dreadnought ... I saw one of these (specifically the Hekaton Aikos Minotaurs one) painted up in Iron Warriors colours many moons ago on a Warseer log (which appears to have been resurrected here on B&C), and fell a bit in love with the idea. It might seem slightly strange to include in a theoretically "light" brigade force - but these are Iron Warriors we're talking about, and it provides elegant solution to how a largely foot-mobile force is able to bring heavier fire-power (and rend-through-the-side-of-yer-bunker-wit-ma-powerclaw) to bear without lugging it around by hand.

 

[Brother Dallo]

Some interesting commentary and conversions here. I'll be keeping an eye on this log.

 

Keep up the good work.

 

Dallo

[Luna707]

Good to see more heresy true scale, keep up the awesome work!

[Ryltar Thamior]

Thanks for the positive feedback, gentlemen :D 

Luna, your Iron Hands log has definitely been in our inspiration-files for awhile. Some of those minis are just seriously beautiful - although I suspect that due to what must surely be the complexity in going with the hand-sculpted approach for your terminators, that we'll wind up pursuing a different route. 

One day when I'm able to sprig for a FW Horus ... well ... he's already got the wolf emblems on him ... (and I believe Migsula did something similar with his Iron Sleet work). 

 

[Ryltar Thamior]

Anyway, on with the new work. 







The concept behind this particular legionnaire is simple. What would an Iron Warriors sniper be like? 

At the outset of this log, I noted that my goal here was to build a 'light' unit of IV (potentially focusing upon force recon etc) - which would ordinarily dictate a de-emphasis upon heavy weaponry (at least as compared to the more customarily encountered Iron Warriors formations with their overweening emphasis upon Big Guns Uber Alles), particularly due to the mobility constraints which cumbersome heavy weaponry would otherwise impose upon a more foot-mobile 'trench-raiding' force. 

But the excellent, EXCELLENT lascannon included in the old (40k) Iron Warriors upgrade pack was too good and characterful to ignore. So I ditched plans to fill the one heavy weapon slot per fire-team that i'd allowed myself with a heavy flamer (useful for trenchclearing, obviously) ... and instead decided to make this chap. In my head, his role is to be situated some ways from the main melee-laden advance, popping off support-shots and cooking support vehicles/walkers/heavy infantry etc. In other words, exactly what you'd expect a sniper armed with an awesomely powerful anti-material rifle to be doing in the first place. All the additional details and ornamentation added to this particular weapon further seem to fit in with what is, ultimately, also a legion of craftsmen - he's clearly severely modded his firearm to not only look rather dashing, but to have superior functionality as well (the skull perhaps serving as some form of aiming device, for instance).

In terms of helm, even though the eye-augmetic head from the FW Iron Warriors upgrade set has always seemed a bit 'late-mk' to me [due to the crest-thing running down the scalp centerline coupled with its overall shape], i) the Greek-seeming t-shape of the face somewhat offsets this (calling back, for instance, the World Eaters' gladiatorial helms); and ii) where better for an aiming augmetic than on a heavy weapons specialist. 

He's also been equipped with the customary potato-masher and other grenades, pouches etc. to visually emphasise his unity with the rest of the group; although cleaning the chaos iconography off his shoulder got a bit ... damaging, leading to a partial rebuild of the tops of his shoulder-pads. Given the power-pack attached to his right shoulder, I'm justifying the ablative pad-work as covering power-feeds or something to his weapon. 

I did also consider attaching a rather large 'bayonet' made out of the top of a polearm from the Bretonnian Men-At-Arms kit - but felt it might be overkill. And also that it might make resting his weapon for aiming purposes a bit difficult. Still, it would have been nice to answer the age-old question as to whether Marine heavy weapons specialists fight in close combat by clubbing their opponents using their missile-launchers or whatever. 





Oh and in the background, you can see some early work on the Contemptor. I am absolutely in love with some of the aesthetics on that beast :D 

[apologist]

The Iron Warriors look great – I like the background on the armour choice, too; it's a great real-world equivalent to how 'Mark V' developed through necessity. I like the idea that these legionaries are almost spitefully holding on to as much of the Mark VI armour as possible in order to thumb their nose at Perturabo; only replacing plates when absolutely necessary.

 

The new chap is great, from what I can see; and it's good to see that you're approaching the theme creatively rather than restrictively. Adding an anti-materiel sniper is a great and imaginative touch to the force.

 

As for the Space Wolf? Well, I think you've hit that one for six – a stunning model.

[Ryltar Thamior]

The Iron Warriors look great – I like the background on the armour choice, too; it's a great real-world equivalent to how 'Mark V' developed through necessity. I like the idea that these legionaries are almost spitefully holding on to as much of the Mark VI armour as possible in order to thumb their nose at Perturabo; only replacing plates when absolutely necessary.

 

The new chap is great, from what I can see; and it's good to see that you're approaching the theme creatively rather than restrictively. Adding an anti-materiel sniper is a great and imaginative touch to the force.

 

As for the Space Wolf? Well, I think you've hit that one for six – a stunning model.

 

I'm presently having an absolute starstruck fangirling moment over here - your Iron Warriors log was a huge inspiration to all of this, Apologist. I particularly liked how you blended elements of the established HH fluff with your own evident research into real-world military history and technology etc. I got a real sense of 'transhuman dread' simply looking at their 'excitingly chunky' broad shoulders [an area where, incidentally, I feel a number of 'true-scale' logs fall down is simply by boosting the leg-size without also making corresponding size-improvements to the torso as well]; and it's great to read all the little flourishes of explanatory detail you put into your write-ups of what you've assembled. 

 

Your Iron Hands (and friends) log has also been strongly inspirational; particularly with the way you managed to deploy an ongoing (and building) narrative with which to introduce each new legionary. 

 

We'll try to keep up the good work :D [assembling each of these pieces is usually a collaborative effort between myself and my associate, so I can't in good conscience leave his stirling contribution unacknowledged] 

[Ryltar Thamior]

Pict Inload III 

Still waiting on some order parts to turn up so I can work on some new concepts; so thought it was high-time to slap some paint on some miniatures. Something which I haven't done in perhaps seven years, and I think it shows. These are all very much Painting In Progress (still need a few more colours due to the flgs being out of stock, and to do touchups on a few areas that i've already block-coloured). C&C welcome. I'm also trying to work out other details like what to do with the gun-casings (particularly the plasma cannon on the Contemptor)

Group photo:



Meltagun operator:



Lightning Claw/Combi-bolter




Space Wolf:



Contemptor:



Next steps will be Mournfang Brown on all wooden areas (hafts of those potato-mashers, the Wolf's throwing-axe etc); Evil Sunz Scarlet on purity seals (the Contemptor's festooned with 'em - will present something of a challenge for Horus Heresy headcanon rationalization; but I figure that as a living embodiment of legion history, they might be a collection of Oaths of Moment of fallen warriors, other memorials etc.); Kislev Flesh (when it's back in stock) on the Wolf's face; additional coats of Flash Gitz Yellow on everything yellow (the Wolf's hair, the Lighting Claw legionary's pteurges [although if that doesn't work out, it woudln't be *too* hard to just go back over them in Mournfang so that he's got the traditional leather ones rather than an attempted fancy-pants chevron'd set]); and whatever I want to do for the guncasings (at this stage potentially tempted to just leave htem black with highlights). 

There's also the small matter of what to add on the scrollwork - both on the Contemptor (particularly with the tapestry he's lugging around on his plasma cannon shoulder); and beneath the (bone) skull on the meltagun operator. That'll probably become a lot clearer once I finish fleshing out the background of each individual legionary as well as the force overall. 







 

[Ryltar Thamior]

Presenting the start of the 'other side' of things ... these are the Blackshields which my associate's worked up as antagonists. 



These'll also be making an appearance in our 40k narrative wargaming experience as Black Legion (see his fluff writeup below); although for the Heresy-era game, my understanding is that they're being run as Blackshield/Word Bearers - with the flashy dagger thing carried by their leader representing an Athame-knife used to get them around the place by tearing open holes in reality. 

Anyway, quoth the artist himself:

 

 

 

Next we have my Black Legion. Mister Lightening claws is a Sorcerer, during the HH he was a subordinate of Maloghurst The Twisted, though after the failure at Terra he departed his Legion and spent many centuries with Word Bearers, studying their heretical arts and devoting himself to Tzeentch, eventually returning to the Black Legion in order to support the new Warmaster, Mister Chainsword, dedicated to Khorn, doesn’t talk much. Plasma Gun, Originally and Iron Warrior, who grew tired of his own legions “politics” finding the Black Legion to be a far more welcoming and rewarding environment. Plague marine from the Death Guard, has found that the Black Legion to offer more situations for spreading the gifts of the Grandfather. Heavy bolter, originally an Ultramarine, turned by Mr Lightening Claws, they have a close intimate relationship, dedicated to the Prince, he has dubbed his Heavy Bolter the Tuning Fork of the Gods, as the Bayonet rings with discordant wails when the weapon is fired. Finally the Chaos Lord, "He Who Bleeds" A company captain during the Heresy and a true Son of Horus. after the Warmaster's death he tore out his own lower jaw with his bare hands in grief, later a vox augmetic was installed in his face, though it appear that the wound has never truly healed and continues to bleed to this day. Softly spoken and more patient than any Traitor Marine has any right to be. He is also privatly critical of Abaddon, though he keeps this to himself and his inner circle as he doubts any other in the traitor ranks has what it take to replace him. has inherited his Primarchs gift for diplomacy and as such commands absolute loyalty from both his Chosen and their cultist ranks.

[Ryltar Thamior]

Now on top of THAT (because my associate's a pretty driven and talented individual), we have truescale early Crusade-era/late Unification Wars Dusk Raiders in Mk.III armour armed with Volkites

[Bob Hunk]

A wonderful start, I really like the "ramshackle" look. 

[Ryltar Thamior]

Now travelling along with my Iron Warriors are a small cadre of Remembrancers. Not your typical aged, unfit scholarly types with paunches and severe anxiety reactions to being in combat situations, mind - these are instead going to be of an altogether different caliber... 



My associate informs me that Horus Rising contains a line or two about how some of the Remembrancers deployed to record Astartes actions were, in fact, themselves veterans of the Unification Wars or Imperial Army. So that provided something of a conceptual springboard to start working up a small group of regular less/un-augmented humans to accompany my Marines. Fluffwise, these chaps will have won the grudging not-entirely-disrespect of the Astartes they're travelling with by virtue of not being entirely useless in combat due to their previous training (so are thus able to 'keep up' with their subjects ... this rag-tag force of IVth not exactly having the personnel resources to provide trans-human escorts for them) - and, perhaps more importantly, through a certain sense of 'empathy'. The Marines are a little confused as to why a contingent of Remembrancers would find anything worth recording in the experiences of a theoretically disgraced and dishonoured set of the soldiers of forgotten wars - but it appeals to their spiteful nature (in this case towards the Primarch who disowned them) nonetheless that somebody wishes to tell their story. 

Also, another reason Remembrancers were an *absolute must* is because I wanted a more 'human' narrative voice and viewpoint with which to explore proceedings.





In terms of design decisions, I did briefly toy with the idea of using the Scions kit - it certainly has the appropriate baroque stylings. But something in the cuirass/torso armour just seemed a little heavy-set to me for what are, ultimately, Remembrancers rather htan storm-troopers. There was also the additional issue that their weapons and arm posing didn't exactly leap out at me - and while I could potentially have used the beret heads to suggest 'veterancy' ... there's one head in particular I've wanted to use for these guys ever since the idea for them first popped into my head.

That, of course, was the fabulous moustachio'd head from the Empire Greatswords kit (which would have been the figure done first .... except the local gaming shop sold out of Genestealer Cultists before I got there this evening :P ).

Now, in just about everything other than the price-tag, I have to say I really like this kit for 40k'ifying. Particularly because it's a good supply of 'human-sized' torsos which aren't in Imperial Guard flak armour (and thus have a less overtly 'militarized' look) - while still obviously being somewhat protected. I also liked the sash for a bit of ostentation :P 

In terms of weaponry and the head ... I absolutely love the Wolf Scout heads, and the 'Lemmy Kilmister' looking one just seemed to work for a number of reasons, looking both high-tech (thanks to the comms-antenna) and appropriately barbaric for a veteran of Holy Terra's previous wars (thanks to the mohawk and facial hair). 
It was a bit of a striggle leafing through the Goldswords kit to find an appropriate left arm (since they're mostly designed to hold hte bases of swords). The foundational piece which sparked this particular Remembrancer, however, was the Wolf Scout plasma pistol. 

So that's the first of the Remembrancer crew. I'm liking the combination of (near-)futurism and renaissance stylings which have come together with the posing here. I can't wait to get cracking on the rest of them! 

Colour-scheme wise, I'm seeing dark greys/gunmetal for the metalics; and Black-And-Yellow for the frilly clothing bits (to tie them to the Iron Warriors' habitual colour scheme). 

[Ryltar Thamior]

Next up, we have a pair of additions to my VIth Legion. Except whereas the first Space Wolf (with the dual-axes) was an addition to the Iron Warriors contingent for the purposes of acting as a one-Wolf Watch Pack (one Space Wolf versus a half a dozen Iron Warriors ... seems fair :P ), these guys are here with something else in mind.



When I bought the Iron Warriors helmet upgrade pack, my associate noted that one of the helmets bore a certain resemblance to the stereotypical Anglo-Saxon helmet due to the long, narrow noseguard. And so, with that in mind, the wheels in my head started turning - particularly once we had the Space Wolves sprues themselves to play with. 

Huscarla! 

First to be constructed was the gent with the rather mighty-looking double-handed axe. And it just looked so good that I immediately knew a second one would be called for - armed with the thunder hammer and shield from the same sprues. 



Now, putting them down next to one another once things had dried, we noticed that the posing on them actually mirrored each other thanks to the angling of the heads (which was a happy accident - I was initially just lining up the heads with the way the weapons seemed to go - the axeman sizing up an opponent, and the hammerer catching sight of his next quarry over his shield and changing direction). 



This almost suggested - particularly in concert with the traditional function of Huscarla - that they ought to be *guarding* something. Or someone. 

And thus, another idea apparated. 

Why would some ranking Space Wolves be in Ultramar? Who'd have sent them? 

The Sigilite :D 

Headcannon wise, I reckon they'll make ideal escorts for an Agent of the Sigilite - handily represented, perhaps, by the rather blurry Titan Princeps you see here standing between them. 



I love just how .. well .. LOOMING they are by comparison to their ward!

[foamy248]

The wolves are looking awesome. Love the intimidating posing and scale of the two escorts compared to the rather frail Princeps  Keep it up! 

[Ryltar Thamior]

Right, finally got around to sticking some paint on the new inload :D These aren't entirely finished (I'm still researching appropriate Runes and Bandaruna/Runic Charms to apply to the shoulderpads and kneepads of the Huscarla, for instance - as well as wondering what to adorn the Remembrancer's own shoulder with); but with some exceptions, the colourschemes are largely in place. 

First up, we have the first Remembrancer to go with my Iron Warriors. I decided to go with a black-and-yellow pattern to the Greatsword parts of him in order to present a strong tie to the IVth legion. Errybody knows how much Iron Warriors love their danger-chevrons, and the puffy quilted bits of the Greatswords' renaissance-era fancy dress provide an easy mechanism to replicate same. I did briefly toy with the idea of adding some diagonal black lines to transform his rather handsome sash from a plain burst of yellow into yet another Chevron adornment ... but I'm not entirely sold on my ability to do this kind of thing on regular flat surfaces, let alone the curving area of the sash. 



In retrospect, I probably should have added more materials to the base-miniature to visually mark him out as a Remembrancer rather than merely a rather ornate soldier ... but that didn't occur to me at the time. I've secured books from the Empire Flagellants sprue, and the medikit from teh Scions to use on teh future additions to the fellowship. For the moment, we'll presume that he's got his writing materials in that elegant leather pouch on his belt; and, furthermore, that his comms gear mounted around his ears and the back of his head form another part of same - an additional application of the comm-bead at his mouth would presumably be one excellent dictophone :P 



I'm wondering whether his bodyarmour could also use a colour-upgrade at this point. 

Here's a 'family' shot of the Remembrancer alongside his new colleagues from the IVth. Once again, I really enjoy the way that 'human' sized characters add a sense of scale and perspective to my Truescaled Astartes whom they're supposed to be operating with :)



Now the other area of progress this evening has been my budding Agents of the Sigillite warband - at this stage consisting of one Emissary, and two Vlka Fenryka Huscarla assigned to him as 'minders'. 

With the Emissary, I wanted to keep a relatively restricted and I guess 'subdued' pallet - in order to emphasize the fact that this is a figure who, while prestigious in his own right, is more keen to operate a little in the shadows. The black gloves suggest a 'hidden hand' in the affairs of the Imperium (as well as meaning 'business'); while his overall colourscheme bears a deliberate resemblance to those of the Knights-Errant miniatures from Forgeworld. The gold braid reminds us that this is a figur with auctoritas and rank; the brass/copper on the Aquila hopefully presents an air of functionality without overpowering the face or other details; and the blacks and greys of his fabric/clothing put across the fact that this is a character who, himself, operates habitually in blacks and shades of grey. Meanwhile, the bionic eye has always seemed to me to be a conveyor of aristocraticness in much the same feeling as a Prussian officer with his monocle. 



Now as applies the Huscarla ... I wanted to distinguish them slightly from what I imagine ordinary & regular 'line' Wolves would look like, and instead put across that these are a prestigious elite. They've thus got rather more in teh way of gold sections to their armour and gold trim; while the large surfaces of their shoulderpads and knees have been left black (with the purpose of providing a nice contrasting surface for me to later adorn them with appropriate Runes and Bind-Runes in white or light grey). At the same time, I really enjoyed the visual effect of picking out the 'eyes' of the wolf-heads on their weapons with red - not only did it make htem seem more ornate ... but it almost made teh weapons THEMSELVES seem 'alive'! Meanwhile, copper was used for the facemasks rather than the potentially more obvious gold because I felt there was already perhaps an abundance of Aurum on them, and that the orangey copper would seem more striking - as well as, due to its softness, more 'ornamental'. 



At the moment, like I say, I'm working on Runic insignia - and wondering whether I grey-up the lower thigh armour above the kneepad (Which at the moment has been intentionally left black on both). 

Here's a 'family' shot of the Huscarla together with their Ward. 



Finally, we'd be extraordinarily remiss if I didn't include a progress shot of the double-axe one-Wolf watch-pack that goes with my Iron Warriors. I probably need to ink his braids to bring the braidyness back out again which has gotten somewhat lost in the additional layerizing of Yellow to build up his Blond. 



Now the next items on my modelling agenda are to whip up a few more Remembrancers to go with my IVth (the FLGS was annoyingly out of Genestealer Neophyte Hybrids the last two times I've been in); finish some painting/research so I can actually start 'presenting' these guys properly with appropriate In-Universe fluff; and then source the bits to complete the IVth Legion contingent (at the moment, one Marine in largely untouched Mk.VI armour - as well as the Techmarine and force leader. I may also do something with the Destroyer rad-missile launcher I have sitting around; and am considering adding one or more Breacher marines as well).

I also found myself bit by a serious fluff-bug to do a small warband of loyalist Night Lords in Mk.III accompanied by a Librarian (it'll all make a bit more sense once I start writing up the fluff); and had an additional idea to do a five-man force of Wolves in a similar form to the thunderhammer and storm-shield armed Huscarla after thinking about the possibilities afforded by the Wulfen shields ... lead by a Gothi :D On top of that, I wound up ordering a bunch of Raven Guard heads to do my Mk.VIs with awhile back, so perhaps I'll explore in that direction, to boot. 

Bringing it back to a more 'human' scale, those absolutely *beautiful* Forge World Empire kits are just begging to have something 30k-related done with them, as well. 

[Ryltar Thamior]

Right, well ... the FLGS happened to have an Empire General kit in store, and while I hadn't entirely planned on grabbing one ... there was just something about the overlarge firearm which comes in the kit which spoke to me. So this afternoon's acquisitions included this, the Empire Battle Wizards, and a Cadian Command Squad for appropriate chunks of 40-fication. [that's my pun quota for the week outta the way]

The first two miniatures are Remembrancers to go with my Iron Warriors.



This chap's made with Cadian legs, Empire Greatsword torso, a Cadian pointing arm and Empire General firearm. I had a bit of a tossup as to which Wolf Scout head to go with, but in the end the additional 'techno' in 'techno-barbarian' of the chap with the visor won out. It's so deliciously future-archaic in combination with the rest of his kit; and the baldness will also help to convey the 'venerable' nature of the Remembrancer-Vetrans travelling with my IVth. The Bitz about his belt-area are mostly drawn from the Scions kit (the little book - something appropriate for a remembrancer; and the shotgun shells and pouch), with the extraz round the back also from the Cadian kits.



Now for the next Remembrancer ... it occurred to me that the two portrayed so far are perhaps stressing the 'Veteran' side of things rather more than the 'Remembrancer' side. I felt I needed at least one of them in a much more ... non-combat sort of pose, decked out with the accouterments of his craft to provide a visual reminder that ultimately these guys are here recording material for their art and endeavoring to Immortalize my otherwise forgotten IVth legionnaires in their depictions.

So, after a bit of casting about ... the vox-caster arm from the Cadian command kit seemed to have its two slightly crook'd fingers poised as if it could be holding something. A pen, perhaps. But that doesn't show up very well on a miniature. A few snips of a Greatsword's helmet later, and he's been decked out with a lovely long quill-pen; while the map-holding hand also from the Cadian command sprues makes for an excellent piece of parchment for him to be recording his musings upon. 



The leather-capped head (also from the Greatswords kit - which I really can't recommend highly enough, even for its price ... goldswords indeed) adds to an impression of a Renaissance scholar (while the beard further strengthens the 'oldness' of the Remembrancer-team); and the fact that these are supposed to be far-future military veterans in ADDITION to their Remembrancy-duties is nicely conveyed by a Cadian flak-jacket for the torso. He's also been given a lengthy sword-in-scabbard and a holstered pistol in order to show that while his pen might theoretically be mightier than the sword ... he's certainly well equipped with the other thing just in case hte proverb proves lacking in conventional/practical accuracy :P 



And here's some 'family shots' of the three Remembrancers thus far assembled together.





Nexxt up ... something a little bit different and perhaps a little more conventional. 

[Ryltar Thamior]

What happened here was these were *initially supposed to be* more Remembrancers .... but part of the way through construction things started to take on something of a life of their own, and they acquired a rather different tone. 

So instead, what I'm thinking for this trio is an Imperial Army secondment for the Agents of the Sigillite warband I've got going :D 

First up, we have the obvious Officer type. This is comprised of a relatively simple combination of parts from three or four kits - both Imperial and Empire. The head and torso are both from the Cadian command squad; while both arms are from the sadly now OOP Empire Militia kit. It's interesting how, in combination with the flak jacket, the nominally quasi-civilian Militia arms with the slightly armoured shoulders look a lot more - I guess - 'official'. The Greatsword legs nicely continue the 30fication (or, at least, more ornate) trend and break up the potential for a far too 'Cadian' looking visual-silhouette. He's also been given a sheathed short-sword and holstered pistol to complete his outfitting. 





The next chap runs on the same basic idea/template; but uses a handswap on a different arm from the Empire Militia kit (this time, garnering a Volkite Serpenta from iirc the Forgeworld Mk.III close combat weapon set). The high-cheekboned 'clint eastwood-esque' (as my associate noted) Greatswords head adds a nice element of badarsery and gritty determination to the miniature; while pouches and what not from Imperial Guard kits help hide a join between the Greatsword legs (whose sense of striding purpose is most welcome here), and the Cadian flak torso. The dirk's also a decent secondary close-combat weapon, well placed. 







Here's the two aforementioned side-by-side:



The third soldier inverts this formula - it's basically a straight Greatsword all the way up the middle, from legs through to torso and head. The only Cadian bitz are the plasma gun (and matched left arm - which is the bandaged one, perhaps representing a previous Overheating result), grenades and belt-pouches. I quite liked the specialist plasma-gun icon on the right shoulder, so deliberately picked Greatsword parts which would have a similar effect - the legs, for instance, have a skull wreathed in fire, and the breastplate's twin-tailed comet (which i'd otherwise have rather little use for in a 40k contexxt) is repurposed as a similar  element of role-appropriate iconography. Finally, the helmed Greatsword head reinforces both professionalism and militarism while also suggesting veterancy (due to hte facial hair), and a deliberate impression of lethality (thanks to the skull on the helmet - although perhaps this also indicates the potential for self-inflicted mortality due to the volatile nature of plasma weaponry). 







Here's a group shot:






Up next ... whatever happened to the Wizard kit ... 
 

[Ryltar Thamior]

As soon as Umbral saw this kit in my bag, his eyes lit up and he suggested we make an Iterator. This was absolutely fine with me, as due to my previous life in the political sphere (long story), Iterators have always held something of a fascination for me. We played around with a few concepts to build from the "man orating from a book" base-pose, including attempting to give him a Bretonnian Men-at-Arms tower-shield. But these were a bit over-complex. So instead, in conjunction with an Empire Flagellant head, we simply armed him up with an autopistol (iirc from the Chaos Cultists). There's a quote out there somewhere which I half-remember about the superior rhetorical force of a hail of bullets - and where the pen might be mightier than the sword for works of persuasive literature ... the gun speaks with a powerful voice all its own in situations of desperation. The fact he's both looking and shooting rather *up* is possibly an artifact of the fact he might be shooting at traitor marines - who, as we remember from the truescaling size comparisons above, have quite the height advantage over ordinary mortals. Even quite tall folks like this Iterator. 







Still working out quite what to do with him. On the one hand, he could make for an interesting addition to the Agents of the Sigillite warband. On the other, I could also see him fitting in with the rag-tag IVth legion forces. And on yet a third ... he COULD well form the nebulous nucleus of his own small warband. 

Oh, the decisions afforded to one by numbers and variety :D 

[Brother Dallo]

That quill idea is genius. Some really characterful conversions here.

 

Keep up the good work.

 

Dallo

[Olis]

Love those mortal conversions, brother. Bonus points for using Volkites in the thread, too. :tu:

[Umbral]

Hey guys, I'm the other half of this venture, I just finished up 5 mkvi seeker marines. 

the goal for these guys was to have an Alpha Legion seeker squad, and while I love the official Forgeworld scheme, I wanted something more stealthy. My main inspiration was the description of Omegon's armour (worn by Sheed Ranko) in Legion, and I added the turquoise stripe down the pauldrons to make the miniatures pop and identify them as Alpha.

As for how these guys fit into the plot, I want to mess around with the idea of marine dementia, these are marines that have been possessed. they are trying to keep the daemons within in check with shear force of will as it slowly degrades  their minds. as with many things to do with the Alpha Legion, Identity is integral to this inner battle. these marines have turned the phrase "I am Alpharius" into a warding mantra. they have come to Ultramar in search of the Word Bearers, as they may be the only ones amongst the Legions that will have knowledge about their predicament and perhaps the knowledge to cure them

Edited October 25, 2016 by Umbral

[Ryltar Thamior]

Lookin' good, comrade!

Posing's a nice use of the Tartaroi legs, too :D 

Edited October 25, 2016 by Ryltar Thamior

[Ryltar Thamior]

Painting In Progress inload from me today: 

The second Remembrancer's just about done; and I'm working out how to finish off the third. Here's a family-shot of all three together:



At present, I'm debating the merits of sticking with the black colouration for the greatswords torsos I've used on one and three - or instead going leadbelcher on them for additional Iron Warriors tie-in-ness.

I'm facing a similar colouration conundrum on the Imperial Army Secondment for my Agents of the Sigillite warband. I was putting on the third colour-pass (in this case, gold) when I noticed just how .. well .. 'elite' and deadly these guys looked with a pared back 'black-and-gold' colouration. 

I'm now wondering whether to keep them largely as-is (possibly with some highlighting so they're not just black shapes, largely); or whether to explore other colours. It's possibly worth noting that the only art depiction we actually have of 'Malcador's Chosen' features the soldiers in question in brownish armour with gold trim/bling. 

[apologist]

The Imperial Army look striking in black and gold, but I think it's a shame not to highlight the nice kitbashing by differentiating the armoured plates from the flounced fabrics.

 

Personally, I'd be inclined to add some more colour; even if it's a case of very muted warm browns or something like Charadon Granite on the breeches. Alternatively, you could add a glossy lacquered finish to the armour to help that pop and provide some contrast with the black fabric.

 

Welcome also to Umbral – fantastic gritty Alpha Legion there. :)