Rebirth of a Crusade - WIP with 3d Parts

[Rogue Crusader]

Years ago I'd been working on my Crusade and building a bit of a visual campaign element into the painting and modelling. It's been shelved for a very long time but since I've renewed my interest in working on my Templars I wanted to revisit it. It was featured as an article on here but all the links are long dead so I wanted to post an updated and corrected version.  (old article here: http://www.bolterandchainsword.com/topic/161604-templar-advancement-from-initiate-to-commander/)

 

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Ages ago I'd read a web article on the GW site about crusade badges, honors etc and it got some gears turning in my head. I decided to create a mini game that I play by using my templars army. I will be using in-game acheivements to award honors and various badges to the models. I came up with a loose set of rules about how my crusade awards rank advancement from initiate up to sword bethern. I then designed a set of requirements for honors given out in commendation for notable moments that occur during game play. By adding numbers to the underside of each base, individual models and their acheivements can be tracked. Models that are killed during a game do not get awarded for achievements acomplished during that game, they must survive in order to earn rewards for their valor

This is an outline of the progression levels within my crusade (the Invictus Crusade). Gaining ranks does not effect the model stats in the mini campaign, just the paint patterns. (although with modification and opponent permission stat progression could be included as part of a larger campaign) The idea is to inject additional character and personality into the models and embellish the knight-like feel of the templars with scores of personal heraldry and heroic crusade badges. 

If a model is killed during the course of a game they retain whatever previous honors they've held, however they lose any honors achieved during the current game and their survival count towards the next rank advancement is reset to 0. For example; I have a brother initiate with silver sword honors who dies in his 6th battle, the model keeps the silver sword badge and his brother initiate markings, but in order to advance to the next rank of brother superior markings he must survive all 7 consecutive games again. 


Level 1: Beginning Initiate - no honors

This Initiate has earned enough field experience to advance up from the ranks of Neophyte, but has not seen combat as a true Templar Initiate.





Level 2: Initiate - basic battle honors

This Initiate has engaged the enemy and survived a battle, marines left knee pad and helmet receive a white band to indicate he has survived battle.
Marines that have not successfully killed an enemy model (by shooting or assault) are not awarded honors from surviving a battle in which they did not engage.

Below the knee is a record of their first successful battle engagement and a blessed litany.





 

 

Level 3: Veteran Initiate - Veteran Battle Honors

This Initiate has survived 3 or more consecutive battles without being killed. This is indicted be replacing the white banding on the knee with a checkered banding. Veteran battle honors often indicate possible candidacy for sword brethren training. More blessed litanies have been added to his armor.

 

 

 

Level 4: Brother Initiate - Veteran Battle Honors & Distinguished Service Cross

This Initiate has survived 5 or more consecutive games without being killed. He shows promise as material for promotion to sword betheren and begins elite training. He is being watched closely by command as he has shown dedication and skill underfire. This Initiate has also has earned a gold distinguished service cross for exceptional bravery and performing a heroic or very impressive feat. Facing down a superior enemy, or superior numbers, being the sole survivor of a squad, etc. Record of his feats and new litanies are placed below the gold service cross.



 

 

Level 5: Brother Superior

This Initiate has survived 7 or more consecutive games without being killed. He now bears a red service cross to denote his elite status as brother superior and mark his introductory membership into the ranks of sword bretheren. His new litanies are in red honoring his initiation into the sword bretheren. He may be called on to perform duties as an elite assault jump troop.

 

 

 

Level 5: Brother Superior - Jump Infantry





 

 

Level 6: Sword Bretheren

This Initiate has survived 8 or more consecutive games without being killed and has shown exceptional ability and resolve. He is promoted above the ranks of Initiate and now wears the full rank of the sword bretheren. 


 

 

Level 7: Elite Sword Brethern - Terminator honors

This sword bretheren has survived 10 or more consecutive games without being killed. He has recieved the highest honors and now wears the elite terminator cross. He has numerous valor awards for his many campaings. He is one of the greatest warriors at the crusades disposal and is now worthy of assuming command posistions within the crusade. 


 

 

 

Level 8: Sword Bretheren Command w/ various honors

The sword breathern command is the highest and most elite rank within the crusade, from it's ranks are drawn the senior officers and commanders. A command veteran often has survived hundreds of campaigns in order to rise to this level. They are the most powerful and experieced servants in service of the Emperor, their unshakable faith and unerring judgement drive the entire crusade.

 

 

 

Level 7: Sword Brethern Terminator w/ various honors





 

 

Level 8: HQ Sword Bretheren Terminator w/ various honors

Each Templar crusade typically uses heraldry unique to their fleet, so feel free to adjust the icons used and the requirements to suit the individual feel of your crusade. These are just rough guidelines, so modify them to tailor to your own enjoyment and knightly inspirations.


Distinguished service honors and awards:

White Shield w diagonal red line - Blood Honors, indicates being wounded in battle without being killed. Either through having multiple wounds or being saved by the feel no pain rule. 

Gold Shield - Armor of Faith Honors, represents divine protection the templar has receive on behalf of the emperor due to his exceptional faith and piety, a model that is saved only by the 6+ invunerable save against a high AP or instant kill effect.

White Sword - Assault Honors, earned from defeating an enemy with higher WS.

Gold Sword - Exceptional Combat Honors, earned by defeating 5 or more enemies in assault combat within a single game.

Red Sword - First Sword honors, given to the first model to successfully strike in the very first charge of the game. If the opponent successfully charges before the templars do then no first sword honors are granted.

Black Axe - Executioner honors, given to surviving unit members that completely destroy a a full strength opposing unit in an assault during a single assault phase.

Gold Axe - Vengence honors, given to surviving unit members that destroy an opposing unit during an assault in which they were charged by the enemy.

Silver Skull - Defender honors, given to squad members that successfully held an objective while bing assaulted. 

Gold Skull - Liberator honors, given to squad members that are successful in assaulting and capturing an objective held by enemy units, they must hold the objective for the remainder of the game.

White Cross - Mortem Honors, given to new squad members created from the geenseed of a fallen templar. When a model ranked as brother or higher is killed in a game which results in a win the marine generated from their geneseed is awarded mortem honors to denote the exemplary service of their surrogate. 

Silver Cross - Bravery Honors, given to squad members surviving an assault they initiated while at less than 50% of their original squad size. This does not apply to independent characters.

Gold Cross - Exceptional Valor Honors, given to templars who successfully win an assault while being the sole survivor of their squad. Or successfully assaulting an enemy unit alone. This does not apply to independent characters.

Black Maltese Cross w Gold Spines on Red Field - Full Terminator honors

White or Black Litanies - Added to a model whenever rank is acquired, also awarded when the model performs an impressive feat in game that is not categorized by other honors.

Red Litanies - Added upon attaining rank of brother superior. May be added when a model of ranking at brother superior or higher performs exceptional feats.

Edited December 20, 2017 by Rogue Crusader

[Rogue Crusader]

Pre-Paint Models 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited October 9, 2017 by Rogue Crusader

[Golf33]

Looking good! Great conversion work and really good ideas on the progression of painting!

[Biscuittzz]

For the Sword Brethren Command, I think anyway, are the crosses supposed to be gold or yellow? If it's yellow I'd love to see how that goes. Looks brilliant in the picture when contrasted with the black of the armour.

[TheOneTrueZon]

Your EC conversion is fine indeed. 

[Rogue Crusader]

For the Sword Brethren Command, I think anyway, are the crosses supposed to be gold or yellow? If it's yellow I'd love to see how that goes. Looks brilliant in the picture when contrasted with the black of the armour.

 

I think I'll probably try a non-metallic gold using a mix of yellows. I think that a yellow base color would give it more pop in contrast than metallics will.

 

 

 

 

Your EC conversion is fine indeed. 

 

Thanks, just a head and weapon swap from the Champion on a Sword Bretehren. It took a bit of work as it's a metal model and the sword had to be pinned but I think it was well worth the effort. I use a jewelry saw for making the fine cuts in both metal and plastic, it's probably the most useful hobby tool I own after my hobby knife.

 

 

 

This is something I'd also posted in the WIP section, in the time since I last worked on my army I've started working quite a bit with 3d printed stuff and casting so I'll be making some custom parts to use on my models. It'll open up some new options that I couldn't do before as I was limited by what I could fine in available bits, now I can pretty much make my own  

 

 

Edited October 9, 2017 by Rogue Crusader

[Rogue Crusader]

Tinkering with a sword.

 

 

Edited October 9, 2017 by Rogue Crusader

[Dumbcow1]

I LOVE the idea of recording a models success along the way, and having it grow and receive honors. Instead of just characters having that special feeling, it will give each brother in the crusade a personal touch. I will attempt to do this with my crusade, people already think I'm crazy for reading a vow before a game. hahahaha. I envy DEEPLY your ability to make your own bits, the thing I've wished for quite some time is templary thunder hammers, everything I've tinkered with has been so cheesy looking and I've never actually modified my game models as they don't meet my visual standard.  Cant wait to see more Brother Rouge Crusader!

[Lippy]

Alll looking awesome and looks as if you had plenty of fun thinking it all up as well as actually modelling your guys.

 

Will be following this for sure!

[TheOneTrueZon]

 

 

This is something I'd also posted in the WIP section, in the time since I last worked on my army I've started working quite a bit with 3d printed stuff and casting so I'll be making some custom parts to use on my models. It'll open up some new options that I couldn't do before as I was limited by what I could fine in available bits, now I can pretty much make my own  

 

 

Care to share what printer + software setup you have? I'm in the market for one myself for the very same reasons. 

[Marshal Mattias]

If you need a guinea pig to test your creations, you are more than welcome to send some to me :P ;)

[Bjorn Firewalker]

Impressive details on the honor markings an their meaning.

[Rogue Crusader]

Care to share what printer + software setup you have? I'm in the market for one myself for the very same reasons. 

 

 

I primarily use Maya as it's what I had available. Blender or Rhino would work equally as well. The printer I'm not much help with as I outsource the printing and I don't know the specifics other than it's a very high grade machine.

[TheOneTrueZon]

Nice. I'm coming back to Maya after using 3DS Max & Softimage for a while due to my workspace. I'm curious about using Mudbox to do surface texture but am unsure of how far I can go on detailing before it starts to breakdown on prints. Can't wait to see some of your printed bits! 

[Rogue Crusader]

I finished up a warhammer, I'm currently working on a shield and then the parts will all be sent out for printing.

 

 

 

http://i661.photobucket.com/albums/uu334/paulsongames/3d_renders/hammer_1.jpg

[Chapter Master Furious]

Love the desgins for the weapons! especially the hammer. 

[Acebaur]

Tinkering with a sword.

 

http://i661.photobucket.com/albums/uu334/paulsongames/3d_renders/sword1.jpg

 

 

 

 

I finished up a warhammer, I'm currently working on a shield and then the parts will all be sent out for printing.

 

 

 

http://i661.photobucket.com/albums/uu334/paulsongames/3d_renders/hammer_1.jpg

 

 

So when can I expect the first shipment of them? :lol: Seriously though, those look like great renders, can't wait to see them printed.  I would totally be interested in getting you to print some for me if it works out. 

 

Also, what's with the guy with no arms?

[Rogue Crusader]

The no arm guy is supposed to be a servitor. I wanted to have some holy incense braziers that doubled as flails in combat. 

 

Once I get the parts in I'll be making copies in resin and I'll sure I'll have some extras available :) 

[Rogue Crusader]

Back when I was originally working on my army I had been using a couple of bike squads. I had one of the old Bike Chaplains which had the metal nose plate and a metal body. I made a head swap using one of the Templar bits but the model was a bit tired looking even back then, nowdays it's incredibly dated so I wanted to give it a new attempt. I stripped front end off one of my bike's and started giving it more skulls. Using a jewelry saw I removed some skulls from some spare city fight terrain pieces. Then they were filed smooth and carefully trimmed so they'd fit, I had to do some minor trimming and clean up on the bolters so they'd fit in the Ravenwing front shield. It was fairly tedious work but I think it's been worth the effort as it has a much more menacing death's head look to it now. 

I have a few more bits to add and I'm waiting on a finecast Chaplain to arrive so I won't have to chop up my old metal one. I'll also be adding some relics to the rear  once I can test the fit of the rider. 

 

 

Zeal on Wheels  (WIP)

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited October 9, 2017 by Rogue Crusader

[Rogue Crusader]

The rider's body is just a place holder until the finecast Chaplain arrives, in the meantime I added some relic elements to the rear of the bike. I'm going to add a set of support arms underneath the outer skulls and I think the bike needs a few purity seals to sanctify it. I'm not entirely sure what the center bit was from as it's something that was in my pile of bits, maybe something from a baneblade or the old apoc upgrade sprue. It had some sort of vox caster looking speaker on the side which I removed so I could add the outer skulls.

Edited October 9, 2017 by Rogue Crusader

[Honda]

That bike looks pretty amazing, and I'm not a big fan of bikes in 40K.

 

I envisoned him with the throttle wide open, getting ready to charge into some Orks (think of the LotR Rider of Rohan scene at Minas Tirith(?)).

 

However, what really jazzed me up was the thought of him charging in in the twilight, with the light of the headlamp coming out of the skulls eyes. :)

[Rogue Crusader]

Two different takes on a Biker Techmarine. The metal bodied one is an old conversion I never finished the GS work on, the plastic bodied one is a newer take which was a lot less work as it didn't involve cutting metal or sculpting. The servo harness mount is made from Ravenwing assault cannon housings and head lights. They're held in place by pins so they can be removed for transport/storage. The newer Techmarine is pretty much done and I'll probably give him a back pack from a devastator and a servo skull. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited October 9, 2017 by Rogue Crusader

[Rogue Crusader]

 

However, what really jazzed me up was the thought of him charging in in the twilight, with the light of the headlamp coming out of the skulls eyes.

 

I had a similar metal picture when building it, either the eyes working as headlights or maybe the skull was the headlamp that projected a skull shaped version of a Bat-signal on the enemies he's about to mow down. Sort of like a Punisher-signal searchlight. 

[Honda]

Look, just stop this. I DO NOT want any bikes in my army. NONE!

 

 

:)

[Rogue Crusader]

Now with 100% MOAR Skullz!!!

 

Chaplain Update: Finished converting the rider. I'd originally planned on using a jump pack chaplain for the body but I happened across the death watch chaplain at the LGS which I really liked the look of so I went with that. I'll be doing a second Chaplain so I can run one in each squad of bikes.

Because skulls are a theme with Chaplains I added a skull backpack, little skull saddle bags on top of the skull armor, skull helmet and super skull covered weapon. Got skulls?

I need to do a few small touch up with greenstuff to fix the hacked up purity seals on the chest and he'll be ready for paint.