Where many were, how few remain - A loyalist SoH project

[MrBear]

Been busy these last couple of days, and will probably be busier still for a week or so. Managed to put the Destroyers together though, with their jump packs just temporarily in place so that the models will be easier to paint.

 

 

I understand that Destroyers aren't that 'hot' in regards to their cost, but the 'rule of cool' demands that I paint them. 

[Pearson73]

Looking forward to seeing you tackle these, I too love the theme of the guys, but am put off by their lacklustre reputation. Might bash some up anyways, I'm really keen on getting some rad into my OA force and it's either these guys, a techmarine or a Forgelord.

[MrBear]

Been a while again... Work doing it's best to keep me occupied as usual, that and other real world things. Been doing a little painting here, and a little painting there now and then though.

 

 

While the photo quality isn't the best the main armour is more or less finished on all guys now, and as I've just started 2,5 weeks of a winter holiday there's a pretty good chance that I could have them finished some time after New Year's Eve. Knowing me though, expect things to be delayed for some obscure reason or another...

 

 

 

Looking forward to seeing you tackle these, I too love the theme of the guys, but am put off by their lacklustre reputation. Might bash some up anyways, I'm really keen on getting some rad into my OA force and it's either these guys, a techmarine or a Forgelord.

 

Well, their reputation doesn't matter much to me as I'm not a gamer per se, but they should have better rules, and waepons for that matter. They're supposed to be proper 'Destroyers' after all so why limit them to grenades, and missle launchers?

 

[Pearson73]

Nice start on these guys, interesting to see them done in legion colours. not the scorched black that many favour.

 

Looking forward to seeing you tackle these, I too love the theme of the guys, but am put off by their lacklustre reputation. Might bash some up anyways, I'm really keen on getting some rad into my OA force and it's either these guys, a techmarine or a Forgelord.

 

Well, their reputation doesn't matter much to me as I'm not a gamer per se, but they should have better rules, and waepons for that matter. They're supposed to be proper 'Destroyers' after all so why limit them to grenades, and missle launchers?

 

I agree, phosphex would be ace, hand flamers, etc, though I guess then we're infringing on the Ashen Circle. Maybe some tasty new weapons could be introduced.

[MrBear]

Here we are again, still not the best of photos but nut much I can do about the lack of natural light where I live this time of year *shrugs*

 

 

The weathered leather is finished now, and the black parts of the shoulder pads (and the Destroyer symbols for that matter) are done as well. Movin on to metals next, might aswell try to keep the present pace up. 

 

 

Nice start on these guys, interesting to see them done in legion colours. not the scorched black that many favour.

 

 

Well, their reputation doesn't matter much to me as I'm not a gamer per se, but they should have better rules, and waepons for that matter. They're supposed to be proper 'Destroyers' after all so why limit them to grenades, and missle launchers?

 

I agree, phosphex would be ace, hand flamers, etc, though I guess then we're infringing on the Ashen Circle. Maybe some tasty new weapons could be introduced.

 

I was contemplating doing them in black to be honest, but two things stopped me. First of all the fact that I wanted them to share a coherent look with the rest of the guys, and secondly black is more for the 'elite' of the Sons of Horus, and while these fellows are definitely a specialist formation I don't think their brothers see them as 'elite' per se. As such black shoulder pads to show that they are not a regular squad seemed liked a good way to make them stand out a bit.

 

One could hope they get some revised rules, and/or new weapons. I could always need an excuse to paint more of these guys.  


Cheers!

[MrBear]

It took a bit longer than first expected but the Destroyers are finally painted...

 

...The fluff piece ain't finished though so no group pictures as of yet, but here's at least some photographic evidence:

 

 

 

Trying to take decent pictures in the middle of the night, in the middle of January is a fools quest though... I will take more, and hopefully better, pictures while writing that will add these guys to the ongoing story, but it will probably take a few days so for now... 

 

Cheers!

Edited January 19, 2019 by MrBear

[MrBear]

It took me a few days longer than expected, mainly due to things at work but here's the update at last:

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iZPKBAnkEaE

 

 

”Out of the depths of sorrow and sacrifice will be born again the glory of mankind.”

Wincen Chirshil, Gran Bretan Emperor ca. M02

 

The rebellion was crushed, as if there was ever any doubt that it wouldn’t be. The insurrectionists had valour, I’ll grant them that, but they were deluded to think that they would have any chance against an Expedition Fleet of the Imperium, especially one based around members of the XVIth legion…

I know that you find my recollections rambling at times boy, but you should know that I’m well read about the Legiones Astartes in general, and that I, through the whims of fate, have met representatives from quite a few of them throughout the years… And while no Astartes that I’ve ever met have been… ‘indecisive’, the Sons of Horus were those furthest from ever hesitating about what they considered needed to be done.

 

When the Asans started their rebellion, they invited a retribution of the kind that would be spoken about for generations. For while Jakhem Strom was not the most aggressive of commanders, there were clear limits to what provocations that he could ever tolerate, which is why I guess that he chose to deploy the Destroyers that were included in his command…

 

You see my boy, that there has ever been the common idea that heroes are shining paragons of virtue, and that they are flawless examples of whatever ideal the public that they serve choose to worship. After pondering about that throughout more years than you’ve been alive, I’ve come to the conclusion that we, as a species, fail to see the true heroes of the universe. It is foolish of us to expect our heroes to be perfect when we know deep in our hearts that to be human is also to be flawed in some way or another.

I myself must confess that I was certainly guilty of that same mistake, though I guess that I had more reason for it than most others… Jermani, where I was born, was after all the centre of Europa…

 

What you say? Why that should matter? Oh, my boy… There are times when I wonder about the wisdom in my decision to train you as my apprentice, but one must make do with what the Emperor provides, and I guess that the efforts of the High Lords to supress as much of our history that they can are more to be blamed for this than you should be…

Europa my boy, in those distant days before even my birth, was where The Emperor founded the IIIrd Legion, later known as the Emperor’s Children. While their names and deeds are now largely erased from the pages of history, they were once among the most celebrated of the Legions. Part of that is the fact that so many of their recruits were from the nobles that had ruled the continent before the coming of The Emperor, and while many of those families gave their sons away only grudgingly, all of them did what they could to make their sacrifices sound… ‘noble’ and ‘prestigious’.

 

If they could make the public think about their sons as heroes, it would serve two purposes you see. First of all, such an image in the minds of the common people would ease the pain of their loss, but secondly, and perhaps more importantly, the ‘glory’ would rub off on the families themselves, making them look ‘grander’, and making it easier for them to remain the upper class that The Emperor would seek to rule through.

 

Vast fortunes were spent on propaganda, and on supplying those that survived their initiation into the Legion with the finest equipment imaginable. Therefore, they looked exactly like heroes were supposed to do, noble ‘knights’ in shining armour, ever victorious, and ever perfect in everything that they did. Is it then any wonder that those of us that grew up seeing, and hearing all this bought that façade, and made it the ideal against which all others were measured? I sometimes wonder what would have happened had their Primarch been different, and not continued upon that same path though...

 

I guess that is partly why my first ‘combat experience’ shocked me so and brought me to the brink of giving up my mission as a Remembrancer. There was so little of what I had seen as ‘noble’, or ‘glorious’ in warfare in general, and in the Sons of Horus in particular. Though regarding the latter there were much to miss at a casual glance… Therefore, you should know that some of the truest heroes I’ve ever encountered, I witnessed for the first time when the Luna Wolves unleashed the full force of their vengeance upon Asan II.   

 

To many Legions their Destroyer Cadres were held in a low regard, so they were used as a dumping ground for those that failed to live up to the image of the Legion, a punishment for those that had been found wanting by their Primarchs, or as a way to find some use out of Legionnaires seen as too fractious for regular units. Among the Sons of Horus this attitude was a bit more…’nuanced’ though...

 

While true that they were not seen as ‘elite’ units, they were neither held in any particular disregard. To the aggressive, and direct sons of the Warmaster they were simply a tool among many others to use. A rather specialised tool to be honest, and one that they preferred not to use, but as it was an effective one there were no reasons to look down upon those serving in those units. Though it must be said that the Astartes chosen for that duty tended to be an… ‘eccentric’ mix of individuals, as I witnessed myself upon ‘The Glorious Burden’.

 

It was hard to mistake them when I wandered around the ship, as they stood out from the rest of their brothers. First was the fact that while they were never actively shunned from what I could see, neither did they ‘mingle’ easy with others. Were they ‘tainted’ by the fact that the scars they left upon the worlds where they had been deployed would never heal? No, I do not think so, such thinking would be too ‘abstract’ for most Astartes. I rather think it was what their weapons did to themselves that made the others hesitant to interact with them in the same way as they did with others.

 

While no Legionnaire feared death, and most everyone expected it to strike them in any battle that they fought, it was one thing to know that it was your own equipment that was more likely than anything else to kill them, and not doing it in any way that would grant you everlasting glory or honour in the eyes of others. Having seen the Destroyer Cadres with their gaunt, pale faces, jaundiced eyes, and sickening bruises I can very well imagine it to be the main reason. Especially considering the name they had been given, ‘The Scorching Blood’, which was also the name of a feared Cthonian disease. An illness that meant certain death in a slow and painful way…

 

Don’t think that I do not see you rolling your eyes boy! I know that you find these facts less exciting than when I speak of battles, but to have true understanding of what happened you must learn of these things as well. *sighs* But I guess that I should perhaps move on for now, lest you fall asleep next…

 

The back of the rebellion had already been broken when ‘The Scorching Blood’ was let loose, as the ‘Kingslayers’, and others, had struck hard against the organized leadership of the Asans. The insurrectionist forces that remained was no true threat, milling around in total confusion. Given enough time to re-organize themselves again though, they could have taken a lot of effort to pacify. Therefore, the Destroyers were used to make an example that would be used to scare Asan children for generations.

 

What I witnessed from the pict-feeds was far from heroic, but it was ‘fascinating’ in a horrifying way I must say. ‘The Scorching Blood’ struck with the swiftness, and the power of a storm wind. Deploying with jump packs from a Storm Bird, they landed in the midst of a rebel PDF-formation, and the slaughter began. The luckiest of the rebels dying a swift death from bolter rounds, though many more felt the terrible ‘kiss’ of a rad-weapon, or even the hungry flames of Phosphex before drawing their last breath.  

They tried to flee of course, but to no avail, ‘The Scorching Blood’ hunting them down wherever they chose to run, and the only thing they managed in the end was to make sure that even larger areas of their world would be tainted by the weapons that killed them. Little did I know though, that these brutal killers wielding them would one day show themselves to be truer heroes than many a knight with gleaming armour…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Krasian was a cold, and bitter man. Old even for an Astartes, and doubly so for one serving as a Destroyer, seeing as he was recruited from a Jovian habitat when the Great Crusade was in its infancy. From what I could gather, he’d requested himself to placed among the Destroyers, but why I cannot say for certain. Some said that it was to atone for the fact that he survived where all others of his squad did not, but I never found the courage to meet his ‘dead’ eyes and ask him such a question.

 

Keerin was… ‘unhinged’ I’d say. Ever smiling or laughing, especially in situations where no one else saw anything humours at all. Leaping into dangerous situations without care where even fellow Astartes would hesitate. Did he wish for death? Yes, it seems most likely…

 

 

 

 

 

Jardir was taciturn to the point that one could almost mistake him for some strange kind of Battle-Automata. Cancers born from the Rad Missiles he carried, had taken his vocal chords though, and he cared little for the mechanical vox implant he’d been given instead, using it only when he had to.

 

Everam was the youngest of ‘The Scorching Blood’, no more than 5 years removed from his initiation. That process had been close to failing though, leaving him with an unbalanced body, where his implants fought something of a civil war with the rest of his body. Is it little wonder then that he was sent to a Destroyer squad, where he could be put to ‘good’ use no matter how short his life might be?

 

I’d say that Baden was as normal as one could expect from an Astartes in such a special role. Distant, but not unfriendly per se. He seemed to strive for causing as little collateral damage as he could though, which is curious considering where he served. 

 

 

 

 

Gared seemed to have the soul of an ancient crusader, fighting with an intense zeal. Seemingly taking great satisfaction in tearing down what stood before them, so that the Imperium could build a new, strong foundation in the ashes of the past.

 

Gamon on the other hand was more… ‘cautious’, if that word may be applied to an Astartes who uses a jump pack to get within pistol range of his enemies. He was efficient in his movements, seemingly not doing anything without first having calculated what effects it would have.

 

 

 

 

Marrick was a masterful shot, never a bolt round wasted. He could unleash a storm of bullets that would pin any foe down, allowing his comrades to easily flank them.

 

Arlen was among the most aggressive Astartes I’ve ever witnessed, always at the forefront of an assault despite his heavy weapon. Having seen him using it in melees it makes me wonder if he did not kill more enemies with as a club than with the Rad Missiles it contained.

 

Karad was ever moving, seeming unable to be at ease. It was as if he had more energy than his body could contain. The keenest hunter of all his brothers, searching wide for new targets

 

 

 

So, there they are, finally finished. Will probably take a small break, and paint something for my 40K Night Lords next while I try to think about what I'm painting next for this project. Torn between painting  transports, or painting a character or two, but we'll see... C&C is of course welcome as usual.

 

Cheers!

[Brother Dallo]

Some lovely models and some lovely fluff. You should be proud.

 

Keep up the good work.

 

Dallo

[MrBear]

Some lovely models and some lovely fluff. You should be proud.

 

Keep up the good work.

 

Dallo

 

 

Thanks Dallo! Rather pleased with them myself, even though they took a couple of months to finish. Quite speedy painting by my standards on the other hand. 

 

Decided upon doing some Rhinos next for these guys, but there will be some Night Lord Cultists first. Very hectic at work with for the forseeable future though I'm afraid so they will take time...

[MrBear]

Here we go again. It's been almost six months since the last time, but it's time to clear away the dust and start working on my pile of unpainted plastics...

 

 

 

Nothing really 'fancy' planned for the moment, 'just' a couple of Rhinos, but my footsloggers could use some transports and this seems like a good start. 

[Brother Dallo]

Nice to see you posting again.

 

Dallo

[MrBear]

Nice to see you posting again.

 

Dallo

 

Cheers buddy, nice to be back. Had one h*ll of a stressful semester at work this spring so there weren't any energy for hobby time, and there's a squad of Night Lord Cultists that I left unfinished because of that. I will get back to them eventually but it felt better to start with something new and fresh instead. With a whole summer ahead of me a couple of tanks seemed like a nice way to relax

 

They will probably take their own sweet time (as always), but they need to get started since I've got a new FW order on the way to my doorstep. 

[Brother Pheidias]

Looking good, loved the Destroyer Fluff.

[MrBear]

Note to self: Make sure that you have enough of the colours you'll be needing before you start painting. That will save you a 200 km trip to the nearest city and back. (Honestly I had other reasons to make the trip as well, I'm not crazy enough for such a trip just for some paints  . Still irritating though)

 

With that little problem solved there has been some work on the Rhinos 

 

 

Next up are highlights (Oh, so many highlights...) and some markings before starting with the 'wear and tear' 

 

 

Looking good, loved the Destroyer Fluff.

 

Thanks man, they will show up again some day as the story progresses, but knowing me it won't be anytime soon. 

 

 

 

Cheers!

Edited July 3, 2019 by MrBear

[MrBear]

*Makes magical gesture*

 

Spiderwebs begone!

 

 

 

So... Well, had a rough year that didn't leave much energy for this hobby, but now I'm feeling up to the task of continueing with the Rhinos. Just got one of them to this stage in the painting process so moving on the the other one. Not the best of pictures (as the colours came out slightly wrong, lack of practice I guess...) but it should suffice for now.

 

Cheers!

[Gederas]

METAL BAWKSES!

 

It looks good though man! :tu:

[Brother Dallo]

Nice to see you back MrBear.

 

Dallo

[Dagoth Ur]

My body is ready for some METAL BAWKSES.

[MrBear]

Been on a mini vacation so somewhat late replies

 

 

METAL BAWKSES!

 

It looks good though man!

 

 

My body is ready for some METAL BAWKSES.

 

 

METAL BAWKSES for everyone! 

 

Nice to see you back MrBear.

Dallo

 

Cheers buddy, nice to be back at it again. Hopefully the rest of this year will leave me with enough time and energy to keept it up. 

 

 

 

 

As I said, I've been on a short vacation so in regards to painting there hasn't been any work worth taking pictures of, but...

 

 

 

 

 

 

I revisited an old conversion for a Legion Delegatus, and even if the pose still isn't the most exiting one I think it's a step in the right direction.

[MrBear]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y0ppWHXN_zM

 

”Defeat is a state of mind; No one is ever defeated until defeat has been accepted as a reality”

Broosli ’the Dragon’, Chin warrior-poet

 

What’s that you asked boy? ’What happened to the rebels?’ You really should be paying better attention! I just told you that they were crushed, and some dare claim that my memory is the one that is frayed…

 

Oh, you meant what happened to them after they had been defeated? You should have said so from the start instead of your vague mutterings! There is hope for you yet though, no matter your lack of clarity you show good instincts, that is just the kind of question that a good rememberancer should ask.

 

Where were we? Yes, the deployment of ’The Scorching Blood’ and the death and destruction that followed was the final straw that broke the back of the Asan’s rebellion. The men and women that had risen against the Imperium did not lack courage, but even the most brave and foolhardy insurrectionist could see that further resistance would bring their world nothing but enough woes to last it for untold lifetimes yet to come. So they laid down their weapons, and the Astartes stopped the killings… Eventually.

 

You see boy, while the XVIth did not stoop to the savageries of the VIIIth or the XIIth it cannot be denied that a brutal blood ran in their veins whenever an enemy had avoken their anger, and the sins that the Asans had committed were certainly grave enough in the eyes of Horus’ sons for them to ennact harsh punishments. I feel certain though, that the details of said punishments would have been harsher still if not Jakhem Strom had been the one in charge of the fleet.

 

One could call him many things; Strict certainly, somewhat… ‘uncompromising’ perhaps and laconic would fit as well. What the Asans could thank him for though, were other qualities of his, things that made him stand out from his brothers in the Legion, things like his analytical approach to both warfare and justice.

 

‘The Iron Wolf’ they called him, some in jest, others to honor him. Many of them used the cognomen in reference to how unbending he was, and to his long service to the Legion, all the time from when the XVIth had pacified Luna and first earned a name for themselves. For others it was a crude source of amusement though, as they saw his mind and actions more befitting the sons of Perturabo…

 

No. You need not ask the question I can see lurking in your mind, such things as gene-seed were certainly so valuable that they were not ‘mislabeled’ and sent to the wrong Legion. Jakhem Strom was a son of Horus Lupercal, though not the most typical of them I admit. Mayhap his temperament would have fitted the iron IVth better, that I cannot say, but I feel certain that the Imperium as a whole benefitted from him commanding the CCXIth Company of the Sons of Horus.

 

I digress though… Others may have ordered Asan II razed, and the rebels simply killed as a suitable warning for the rest of the galaxy, not him though. He saw unnessecary destruction as the waste that it is, and that the Asans could better pay for their treachery with the products of their industries and agriculture, if their rebellious spiritl could be properly broken that is. So, when the troops under his command had rounded up whatever surrending rebels that had survived, he ordered a procession to marsch through the streets of Astur, the planetary capital.

I was there myself to witness it, as were all the rest of my collegues in the fleet. Next to nothing could have kept us from it had we not already been invited, this was the first ‘triumph’ where we could fulfill our purpose after all, and it was something to remember.

 

On Jakhem Strom’s order, the Imperial Army had forced people out on the streets in witness, with every street along the route to the central square lined with people nervously casting glances on the armed soldiers overlooking them from the rooftops with those not able find space being marsched to smaller square where giant pict-screens had been erected so that they would be able to follow the proceedings.

We waited in relative comfort in hastily constructed stands at the central square, viewing the tens of thousands that had been forced to attend, many of them members of Asan II’s leading famillies. Or ‘once leading famillies’ I might add given the fact that almost half of them had openly supported the rebellion, and that more than half of those that remained had done their best playing both sides while trying to guess how the dice would land. Needless to say that both those groups had found themselves cast down from the pinnacles of power, and out from their palaces and villas, leaving the aristocracy of Asan II, such as it was, rather… ‘thinned out’, and even those that still held on to some power looked close to nervous breakdowns…

 

Then the procession entered the square, a lone Rhino in the front followed by thousands of former rebels, still clad in torn and tattered uniforms, with deep shock written almost universally across their faces. On and on they came, and first I wondered why there there were no Astartes besides the handful at Jakhem Strom’s side, but when the last prisoners were followed by nothing more than another Rhino I suddenly understood. What better way could there be to show how broken the rebellion had been than to marsch the survivors into that square guarded by nothing more than two of most humble tanks that a Legion could muster?

 

The rest of the cermony was somewhat more mundane in comparison, with Jakhem Strom personally executing the surviving leaders of the rebellion before declaring the civilian rule of Asan II dissolved, and installing a new military governor in it’s place. General Maure was now the man who would have sole power over life and death on the world as soon as the fleet left, and the officers of 58^th, 59^th, 60^th and 61^st regiments from his native Suon Ren would fill the gaps in the much depleted aristocracy.

 

The captives? Well, they got to live. For a while longer at least, though executing them there and then might perhaps have been more merciful than sending them away to serve as cannon fodder in the penal legions given the calamaties that would befall the galaxy…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So here we go, first 'proper' update in quite some time. Two pictures each of "Unto Oblivion" and "Luna's Lament" as I've decided to name these two METAL BAWKSES. Time to ponder upon what to do next...

 

Cheers!

[Pearson73]

The door is really nicely done, stands out well.

[Pacific81]

Love the concept for this project (I'm sorry for missing it previously!)

 

Loyalist survivors of traitor legions aren't something that have been covered that much in the official lore (although I admit I am some way behind in the book series) but it always seemed ridiculous to me that an entire group, of potentially tens of thousands of marines, could be assembled in one place, then categorised by their loyalty, then backstabbed in the way that they were.. anyway I won't go on, but I do think it's entirely right that there should be loyalist survivor groups and potentially very large numbers of them! :D

 

Some really nice work here - love the idea of putting music at the start of the post as well!

[MrBear]

I was thinking to myself: "What to do next?" When it hit me, I haven't done any dreadnought for this project yet. Given that I have a couple of BoC-boxes lying around I decided to see what could be done with one of the Contemptors. A rather uninspiring standard model but with some use of a sharp knife and some pinning...

 

 

 

Still not the most dynamic of poses, but I reckon a Contemptor Mortis can get away with it, and since I can't sculpt worth a damn there really isn't much more I can do about it anyway.

 

 

 

A little close up on the biggest changes. The cuts to the torso is obviously in order to be able to turn it to the model's left, and cutting off the left leg made it possible to angle it into a somewhat better stance.

 

 

 

The door is really nicely done, stands out well.

 

Thanks Pearson! I almost chickened out and painted the doors on that Rhino in a more plain way since I didn't know if I would be able to make the weathering work otherwise, but I decided to give it a go and it worked out fine.

 

 

Love the concept for this project (I'm sorry for missing it previously!)

 

Loyalist survivors of traitor legions aren't something that have been covered that much in the official lore (although I admit I am some way behind in the book series) but it always seemed ridiculous to me that an entire group, of potentially tens of thousands of marines, could be assembled in one place, then categorised by their loyalty, then backstabbed in the way that they were.. anyway I won't go on, but I do think it's entirely right that there should be loyalist survivor groups and potentially very large numbers of them!

 

Some really nice work here - love the idea of putting music at the start of the post as well!

 

Thanks man! Given the fact that I'm an extremely erratic poster with months (if not more) between updates it's no surprise if you haven't seen this plog before. 

 

Full agreement from my side when it comes to the logic of 90-95% of every loyalist in the traitor legions being 'taken care off' in one go, but as long as there is at least some room for other survivors I'll settle for that. When it comes to my guys... At the moment they have no idea of the upcomming Heresy, but there will be one day when they'll have to react to it, and not everyone of them will be a loyalist that day... 

[MrBear]

It's taken a month of slow work, but it's time for an update again:

 

 

 

 

 

”The song is ended, but the melody lingers on.”

Ervin Burlyn – Merk Composer ca. M02

 

 

Hmm? ’Was that it?” you say? Well, for Asan II that ceremony was very much ’it’ regarding me being there as a witness to history. I certainly never went there again, and even though I heard… ’things’ about what happened there later it is not important now. The Expedition would move on, and so would I.

 

Some would have said that we moved with haste, and I’ll admit that it certainly looked that way to my untrained eyes, but the Astartes were impatient… To many of them this whole campaign had been a waste of their time so their Cthonian insults echoed throughout the loading bays whenever they thought the loading crew moved in a less than ideal speed, ’ideal’ to a post human Astartes that is…

 

Others were more relaxed about the whole thing though, Grishal Baar for example. I asked him why he did not share his brothers’ irritation, and he shrugged his giant shoulders and simply said that it was obvious to anyone ’with more brains than a Khanapian Slug’ that the work crews were working as fast as they could, so there was no reason for him to waste energy on the whole thing.

 

In such ways he was a simple soul, there wasn’t anything he could do about the situation, so he simply didn’t care. If the loaders really had been slacking off he would have been the first one there to kick them in the ass if it was what it would have taken to get them moving, but he never criticised anyone who did their job as good as they could, even if it was less than ideal. He simply saw it as an opportunity to spend more time in the training cages instead.

 

I’m forever grateful for the moments he chose to spend with me though, as none would have faulted him if he’d left me ’adrift’, but for some reason he seemed to enjoy my company as much as I grew to enjoy his. It is something I will never truly know, but it might simply have been the fact that he found me to have more of a sense of humour than his brothers, or that he saw me as the best option for him to cause some mischief. Who can tell though? He was ever full of surprises…

 

Such as the hours just after we had returned from the surface of Asan II, when the loading bays truly looked as if someone had kicked over a giant anthill. When I commented on the chaos before us he simply grinned, and said that both the beginning and the end of every campaign was the same, everyone trying to do three things at the same time while forgetting to do a fourth, thus leading to such disarray.

 

I would have expected him to push his way through this pandemonium as quickly as possible, and to return to our quarters, but instead he led us deeper into the centre of the whole thing. My obvious confusion must have been why his smile showed more teeth than a squig, but he ignored my questions as if the noise around us made him unable to hear them. The joking bastard heard me without problems, and he knew that I knew that he knew what I asked him…

 

Be that as it may… I forgave him the instant our destination became clear, as the landing craft he led me towards opened its landing ramp, and a dreadnought made its way down onto the deck. A dreadnought, boy! An Astartes hero continuing his duties beyond death! Never had I seen anything to that day that had captured my imagination so quickly, and Grishal Baar obviously understood my excitement as he asked in an amused tone if I would have any interest in speaking with ’old Matthyam’ before he’d go back to sleep? He did not even wait to hear my answer before he walked towards the ancient hero, me just a step behind him.

 

”Greetings old wolf!” he cried out in his joyful voice as we approached the cybernetic giant. ”I see you have fought in glory on yet another world.”

 

No mere machine could have spun around with such dignity in its movement as the dreadnought did, looking down upon us both as if we were nothing but small children, such was its height.

 

”I REMEMBER YOU YOUNGBLOOD, YOU I HAVE SEEN BEFORE. YOU STOOD BESIDE BALKUS WHO GREETS ME FROM MY SLEEP NO LONGER. HE TOO HAS PASSED I SEE.”

 

His voice was felt as well as heard, like a metallic thunder vibrating through my ears and bones alike, yet I reckoned that it was still nothing more than what amounted to a normal conversation for him.

 

”Yes Matthyam,” Grishal answered him. ”He found out that sometimes even Orks hit what they aim at.”

 

At that there was a screeching sound, as if some machinery inside ’Matthyam’ was breaking down, and I remember fearing that Grishal Baar had caused some accident that we would be reprimanded for, but nothing happened. When I asked him afterwards, he explained that the terrible sound was the only way that Matthyam could still ’laugh’…

 

”I LIKE YOU CTHONIAN. YOU JEST WITH ME AS IF I WAS STILL A BROTHER TO YOU IN FLESH, NOT SOME ’SACRED RELIC’ LIKE THE REST SEE ME”

 

“Would you do me a favour then old one? This ‘Remembrancer’ here,” he said and gestured towards me. “Seeks to document the exploits of the Expedition Fleet, and I think your insights would thrill him greatly.”

 

I know that the helmeted gaze that turned towards me was ‘mere’ lenses, and not the true eyes of the warrior entombed within the metal shell, but it still felt as if I met the gaze of a man rather than that of a machine, and I did my best not to flinch. Was it enough? That I can never tell, but after a few seconds he rumbled to me:

 

“ASK WHAT YOU WISH MORTAL AND I WILL SHARE WHAT ‘INSIGHTS’ I HAVE WITH YOU SO THAT THESE CHILDREN WILL NOT FORGET THEM”

 

I wish that I could be able to claim that I asked such questions of Matthyam that would be remembered by historians for ages to come, but I was so overtaken with this privilege that I was barely able to stuck to the basics. So, I learned that he had stood with the XVIth Legion before they even left Terra, a Samasatian drafted into its ranks during the wars of Unification, and that he had fallen during the Pacification of Luna at the very start of the Great Crusade.

 

It was mind-boggling to realise that Matthyam was older than the Imperium itself, and that he had spent the whole span of its existence in his armoured shell. I’m afraid I wasn’t very tactful in my questions though, I even straight out asked him how it was for him to stride the battlefields ‘like an invulnerable god in the myths of old’ *sigh*

 

 

“THESE ‘BATTLES’ TIRE ME. THERE IS LITTLE HONOR IN THEM, AND EVEN LESS JOY. THEY ARE PALE SHADOWS OF WHAT I FELT IN FLESH.”

 

Can you believe that I was foolish enough to say that I envied him the ability to remember such distant times? Oh, I assure you boy, I really did.

 

”THOSE DAYS ARE NOT DISTANT TO ME” he said with in a booming metal voice that made my ears ache. ”IN MY MIND THEY ARE CLEARER THAN THIS ’PRESENT’ THAT THE LENSES OF MY WALKING TOMB SHOW ME”

 

Excuses and apologies came through my mouth with a speed that would have shamed the bullets he could have fired from his assault cannons, but as he spoke again it seemed as if he had taken no offence, he simply continued his explanation as if  to merely correct me:

 

”TIME FOR ME IS NOT THE SAME AS FOR YOU MORTAL. I WILL GO NOW TO OBLIVION YET AGAIN, AND WHEN NEXT I WALK THESE HALLS YOU MIGHT BE DECADES DEAD THOUGH I WILL HAVE KNOWN ONLY SECONDS GONE PAST.”

 

It might have been nothing but my imagination, but to my ears there was a tinge of sadness to his metallic voice, as if he carried some great sorrow within his hearts. The dreadnought then shifted its stance, and he gazed up into the roof, a curiously human gesture.

 

“JAKHEM STILL DRAWS BREATH,” he said as if he spoke to himself. “AND OCHYS TOO. NONE OTHER IS LEFT OF THOSE I SAW WITH MY OWN EYES. THEY TOO WILL PASS.”

 

 

He turned towards me again and spoke with words I carry with me to these days:

 

”SUCH IS THE BURDEN OF MY EXISTANCE. THIS WALKING DEATH WHERE NOTHING BUT MY MEMORIES IS CERTAIN TO REMAIN FROM ONE MOMENT TO ANOTHER, INTERRUPTED ONLY BY DREAMLESS SLEEP THAT NEVER LASTS.”

 

He then shifted his stance again, and slowly started to walk away from us. Just one final, rumbling statement as he left:

 

“I GO FOR MY SLEEP NOW. FARE THEE WELL MORTAL, REMEMBER MATTHYAM.”

 

 

As I’ve grown older, I have found myself thinking about him more and more often… You see my boy, even though we should rightly fear death, I think that we should perhaps fear immortality more…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So here he is, Matthyam Sarl, fallen since he just had left Terra behind. A true Luna Wolf with 'Semper Gloria Luna' on his chest in typical fake Warhammer Latin for: "Eternal glory for Luna", or something along those lines. The music for this update ties in to that theme as well, given that "I vargmånens tid" means "In the time of the wolf moon".

 

 

What's next? Probably more marines, but they will most likely have to wait some time as I want to make a FW order for some things first. But who knows? I might change my mind, we'll see...

 

 

Cheers!

Edited September 27, 2020 by MrBear

[MrBear]

Still haven't gotten around to order anything new from FW, but I found this guy that I'd forgotten about so I guess it's his time for some attention...

 

 

 

A most minor conversion, so not much to talk about. With some luck he won't take too much time (by my standards) to paint up.