[Iron Gauntlet 2017]The Swords of Coccium

[LancsHotpot90]

Hi all, since starting the hobby many years ago, I've always encountered the same problem, I can never stick to one Chapter! So to curb that I decided to make my own and also, for self motivation, share it with everyone here. You can imagine my surprise and delight when I stumbled upon this sub forum looking for the right place to post about it and the great opportunity this Iron Gauntlet Challenge has presented

Without further ado, here's the start I've made on this chapter.

It all started when I read this small paragraph in a side note from the Gathering storm pt 3 book:

It made me think, what a great base to jump-start this whole thing from, I'll be describing what has happened to this chapter and how I'll be carrying them through (story-wise) into 8th edition in the article below.

+THE SWORDS OF Coccium (formerly The Knights Obstinate) +

Chapter Symbol:

Example marine:

Miniature:

Brother Sgt Ixion of the 5th Tactical squad, 2nd company

He has embellished his Captains heraldry on his left shoulder pad with three bells, each represents a brother from his squad who died in combat.

The chapter symbol is layed over the colours of the 2nd company. Ixion also bears several white crosses which show his veteran status within the chapter, The white cross being the sign of veterancy as well as the permanent heraldry of the first company regardless of Captain, in honour of their lost Chapter planet.

Founding Chapter: Unknown

Founding: 4th

Known Descendants: N/A

Chapter Master: Everart

Homeworld: Coccium (Feudal world, overrun by Ghazgull's Waaagh, Now the Chapter is based on the Battle-Barge, Gloria Coccium)

Fortress Monastery: Within the Battle-barge

Colours: Grey (company Captain's colours and heraldry cover portions of a brothers armour.)

Specialty: (Extremely flexible to various battle situations)

Strength: Under strength. (600 full brothers 4 battle companies, one assault and one devastator company, with the 7th company being the Scout company.)

Battle cry: Facta non verba (deeds not words)

+CHAPTER HISTORY+

Several standard decades after the devastating events of the War of the Beast c. 544-546. M32, which laid waste to much of the known galaxy and threatened to destroy Terra itself, Lord Commander of the Imperium Maximus Thane, the former Chapter Master of the Fists Exemplar, and now the newly-appointed commander of the reconstituted Imperial Fists, decreed that the Imperium would raise as many new Chapters as possible with the gene-seed available in Terra's vaults.

After enough gene-seed had been collected from the vaults on Terra, the High Lords of Terra authorised the 4th Founding of the Adeptus Astartes, sometime in the 7th century of the 32nd Millennium. One of these Chapters was to be the Knights Obstinate.

The Chapter was given the task of policing a large portion of the galaxy between the borders of the segmentums Solar, Obscurus and Ultima, searching for and eradicating any greenskin threat before it grew, lest another 'Beast' could arise.

Their base of operations for this undertaking would be the feudal world of Coccium. Located around 5 months warp travel from Armageddon, Coccium was a verdant world which could almost be considered idyllic if life outside any of the 9 gargantuan Bastion-cities wasn't rendered nigh-impossible by a wide menagerie of Animalistic Predator-Machines. These machines evolved from corrupted archeo-war tech left behind by the Dark Mechanicum, who where using the planet to develop these monstrosities for use during the siege of Terra however, before their plans could come to fruition, the Dark Mechanicum where purged from the sector during the scouring.

The Chapter maintained an active presence amongst the people of Coccium as the Captains of each company where the Lords of each of the 9 Bastion-cities.

+INITIATION INTO THE RANKS+

Recruitment for the chapter was done by organising hunting parties. Under the unseen supervision of a full battle brother, aspirants would go out into the wilds of Coccium to hunt the deadliest machines they could find. During these hunts, the battle brother would analyse not only individual strength and skill but the teamwork of the hunting party as a whole, identifying potential squad leaders along with weak links in the chain that would have to be removed if the hunt was successful.

Upon success, the party would then go through the same trials any aspirants would undertake when joining a codex adherent Chapter until only ten where left as fully fledged battle brothers, joining whichever company the Lord of their hold was Captain of. As for the machines that where hunted, the chapter sent them off to the Adeptus Mechanicus to be analysed by the Tech-preists of Mars, with whom they developed close ties over the millennia as a result. An alliance that would pay off following recent events.

+A PLANET OVERRUN+

In the closing months of the 41st millennium, the galaxy was in turmoil. The various warp storms made the policing duties of the Chapter impossible so, the then Chapter Master Bertrand, ordered the chapter to muster full-strength in order to discuss what to do next.

Shortly after the meeting between the 10 Captains began, a massive Greenskin fleet of immense size, translated in system and immediately launched and attack on the surprised chapter.

Despite the chapter fleets valiant defence, the Orks where able to crash collosal roks into the Bastion-cities of Orrum, Ashfeld and Marsh defended by the 5th 6th and 7th companies respectively completely eradicating them. It was at this time that Ghazgull Mag Uruk Thraka himself attacked the City of Valuation, home of the 1st company.

Filled with righteous fury, Chapter Master Bertrand realised that the planet was lost. Naming first company Captain Everart as his successor, with final orders to deliver the news that the beast of Armageddon has returned with a waaagh to rival that of the beast of Ullanor to Terra, Bertrand, along with his honour guard, Marched out to meet Thraka head on.

Thanks to Bertrands orders of an organized retreat to the surviving cities ports, Everart was able to co-ordinate the evacuation of what little remained of the forces of Coccium, along with the civilian population sheltering at the ports, off-planet to the Battle-Barge, Gloria Coccium.

Everart, looking on grim-faced at the the remaining fleet prosecuting a glorious last stand and feeling a mixture of pride and regret, ordered the Gloria Coccium make for Terra.

+AN OFFER OF RETRIBUTION+

Upon arriving in the Segmentum Solar, Everart sent an astropathic communique to the High Lords of Terra in answer to the hails and challenges of identification he was receiving. The message detailing the fall of Coccium and the unbelievable size of the waaagh under Ghazgull's command. Everart was met with orders to dock in high Orbit above Terra and to report directly to Lord Commander Guilliman. Completely taken aback, the Chapter Master had to send for conformation as it seemed that the message was corrupted and that he was to seek an audience with the Primarch of the Ultramarines, long held in stasis on Macragge. Upon conformation that indeed this astounding news was true, Everart made immediately for the Imperial Palace.

Upon learning of this threat, Guilliman laid plans for a crusade back into the Segmentum Obscurus involving a detachment of the Talons of, the Emperor several regiments of Imperial Guard along with several Chapters of the Adeptus Astartes, including the Knights Obstinate. Who were joined by a sizable force provided by the mechanicus, along with a full company of the newly formed Primaris Space Marines, the Unnumbered Sons also known as the Greyshields. They were to locate and eliminate the various Warbosses in Ghazgulls fleet in order to stop this waaagh dead in its tracks. The last thing the Imperium needed was a second War of the beast.

To mitigate the substantial losses they had suffered, Chapter Master Everart reorganised the chapter into 4 battle companies with the 5th and 6th companies being assault and devastator specialists respectively, the 7th was to be the Scout company. In order to rapidly train new recruits, strike forces where made up of elements from each company so that all experience from deployments could be shared more effectively through the Chapter.

Due to heavy damage sustained to much of their armour wargear, the chapter have had to re-commission their small stores of relic mk 3 and 4 plate. It was only thanks to the close ties to the Adeptus Mechanicus that this was made possible, even then, due to the limited knowledge remaining of the maintenance and repair of said armour marks, it had to be issued, piece-meal to battle brothers in dire need, with only those further up the chain of command such as sergeants and Captains able to wear full suits.

It is here, at the dawn of a new millennium that the Knights Obstinate stand eager ready to seek vengeance on the filty xenos that drove them from their home.

+Organisation of the Knights Obstinate c.999.M41+

Upon receiving the mandate for a crusade of vengeance upon the vile Greenskin hordes, Chapter Master Everart, not wasting any more time than was necessary, has restructured the Knights Obstinate in such a way as to maximise the effectiveness of what remains of the Chapter.

+Current Structure of the Chapter+

Chapter Command

Everart

Lord Warden of the Watch

Plomyde

Lord Warden of Sanctity

---------------------------------------------

Armoury

Brumear

Master of the Forge

20 Tech Marines

5 Predators

80 Tech Servitors

4 Vindicators

15 Rhinos

3 Whirlwinds

10 Razorbacks

3 Hunters

38 Drop Pods

3 Stalkers

15 Bikes

5 Landraiders

10 Scout bikes

10 Stormhawk Interceptors

10 Attack Bikes

8 Landspeeders

10 Stormtalon

Gunships

3 Storm Variant

Landspeeders

8 Stormraven

Gunships

6 Thunderfire

Cannons

---------------------------------------------

Apothacarion

Alynore

Chief Apothecary

8 Apothecaries

---------------------------------------------

Fleet Command

1 Battle Barge (Gloria Coccium)

3 Strike Cruisers (Orrum, Ashfeld, Marsh)

named after the lost Bastion-cities

4 Rapid Strike Vessels

7 Thunderhawk Gunships

---------------------------------------------

1st Company,

Bertrand's Honour

Chapter Master Everart

Captain of the 1st

Lord Warden of the Watch

Reclusiarch, Plomyde

5 man Command squad/honour guard

2, 5man Terminator squads

10 man sternguard squads

2, 10 man vanguard squads

The first company, named Bertrand's Honour after the late chapter masters heroic sacrifice upon Coccium are made up of the Chapters finest marines. Though small in number, Bertrand's Honour not only represents the sharp tip of the chisel, but the blunt force of the hammer behind it.

Due to the devastating loss of the majority of the Chapters Tactical Dreadnought Armour, there are only two active 5 man Terminator squads and even that is only possible due to the mechanicums efforts to restore 5 suits of Tartaros pattern armour that is in use by the company's 1St squad. It is thanks to the Chapters close ties with the Mechanicum that a few of the suits not completely destroyed are currently undergoing repair and testing with the hope that they may re-enter service.

---------------------------------------------

2nd Company

The Resolute

Captain Gauen

Lord Warden of the Arsenal

Chaplain, Burkhard

5 man Command squad

4, 10 man tactical squads

The Second company, known as the Resolute are named so as they fully embody their parent legions unwavering, some may see it as stubborn, attitudes towards warfare. It was the Resolute that where the last of the companies to board the transports to the escaping flagship in Orbit above during the fall of Coccium. Being at the forefront of the defence of the evacuation, Captain Burkhard and the marines are well liked and respected by not only the rest of the chapter, but the surviving civilian population as well.

---------------------------------------------

3rd Company

Reclamers of Novatum

Captain Deulake

Lord Warden of the Fleet

Chaplain, Gottfreid

5 man Command squad

4, 10 man tactical squads

The Third company, known as the Reclamers of Novatum; are named so as the sacking of their Bastion-city, Novatum and the subsequent retreat has left a particularly bitter taste in the mouths of Captain Deulake and his men. This has led to a noticeable display of a zealous attitude from the company who have vowed that it will be the third that will take back the first Bastion-city and it shall be Novatum. This zealotry has drawn the attention of the Reqlusiam and as such, a Chaplain is always present when members of the third are deployed to ensure their zeal doesn't become recklessness.

---------------------------------------------

4th Company

The Rooted

Captain Pelleus

Lord Warden of the Marches

Chaplain, Reynald

5 man Command squad

4, 10 man tactical squads

The Fourth company, known as The Rooted, are fully committed to not losing another inch of ground to the vile Greenskin. It is the Fourth that work the closest with other forces of the imperium such as the imperial guard and the mechanicum on their crusade as, due to their limited numbers, the strategy employed by Captain Reynald relies on heavy garrisons on reclaimed world's and stations.

---------------------------------------------

5th Company

Coccium's Lance

Captain Kay

Lord Warden Executioner

Chaplain, Anton

4, 10 man Assault squads

2, 3 man Centurion squads

The Assault company. The Fifth, known as Coccium's Lance, are made up of marines who favour an aggressive attitude to war. Relishing in the glory of close combat these Astartes are weilded like a surgical blade by Captain Kay. The marines of the fifth are trained I'm the use of bikes and Landspeeders to ensure maximum flexibility in any particular theater of war and it is the veterans of the fifth that not only make up the sergeants of the company like the rest of the chapter, it is these experienced warriors who are also granted the honour of piloting the precious few centurion assault warsuits that are in the Chapters Arsenal.

---------------------------------------------

5th Company

Gargant Slayers

Captain Mordrede

Lord Warden of Recruits

Chaplain, Tibauld

12 devastator specialists (attached the the squads of

the 3 battle companies)

3, 10 man Devastator squads

2, 3 man Centurion squads

The sixth company are named the Gargant Slayers due to the massive amount of Gargant kills that where tallied by the devastator squads that make up the sixth during the fall of the chapter world. It is through the sixth company that recruits are inducted into the chapter with the novices carrying bolters in the 10 man Devastator squads and then, once enough experience is gained, the are inducted into one of the 3 battle companies' tactical squads as a support trooper then, after gaining further experience, will replace a fallen member of the squad as a tactical marine or, if possible, petition to train as a devastator centurion pilot and become a veteran of the sixth.

---------------------------------------------

7th Company

Tooth Hunters

Captain, Garethe

Master of the Signal

Chaplain, Gerard

8, 5 man Scout squads

The Scouts of the Seventh company are infiltration specialists without equal in the chapter, currently there have been no more recruits inducted into the seventh since before the fall of Coccium.

---------------------------------------------

Chapter strength: 335 Brothers

(not including command and support staff)

(As a side note I've not decided on the Chapters stance

on psykers so, for now, I've not included a librarius)

By drafting in new recruits from the best candidates of the rescued population, the chapter has reached a strength of over 300 marines and growing. This initially came with some teething pains as the rest of the brothers didn't see these recruits as worthy due to them not being able to undergo the traditional trials they all went through. This was quickly stamped out by the Reqlusiam, in a rousing and inspirational speech, given by Reclusiarch Plomyde, he reminded his brothers that these were also citizens of Coccium with an Emperor-given right to fight to take back their Homeworld and that, these recruits were the chapter's future and as such needed the highest standard of training possible and it was each individual brothers responsibility to ensure the Glory and high standards of the chapter be continued, to ignore this duty would be to fail all those who died defending Coccium and it's people and that failure was not acceptable.

It is squads from the 5th that exclusively fill in the assault role in all theaters of war whereas the 6th company, handle recruits, whom form 2 10 man devastator squads with the bolter bearing marines being the newest members. As for the rest of the company, rather than form squads of their own, a full brother will fill the role of heavy weapons specialist in one of the squads of the 3 battle companies when a position becomes open, usually due to the previous specialist being promoted to full tactical marine to replace losses. The only exception being when use of one of some of the few centurion suits is needed. When this is the case, one of the 3 permanent 3 man centurion squads is called into action.

It is to be noted that, due to the close relationship the Knights Obstinate share with the Mechanicum, in order to make the most of their limited Armoury, they are able to rapidly re-fit their vehicles to different variants to suit whatever needs a particular theater may demand.

+ Chapter Beliefs+

The Knights Obstinate are not a religious chapter. Holding on to the tenants of the Imperial truth, they have no fondness of the Ecclesiarchy and its various branches. They do not tolerate any interference or delays brought on by their practices. This has occasionally brought the chapter into conflict with the organisation throughout history however, the chapters necessity in defending against the greenskin threat has prevented any sanctions that would otherwise be visited upon them.

+Recent engagements

The initial engagement of The Knights Obstinate where a resounding success. Advancing into the Ultima Segmentum information was gathered from a Dark Angels patrol inbound for the Rock of a sizable gathering of orks in a nearby system rimward of the galactic core. The Chapter had their target. Arriving at the edge of the system, the Chapter, reinforced by elements from nearby Ryza and Catachan, set about developing a strategy. Being the first engagement for the Chapter following the Honing, Chapter Master Everart wasn't prepared to accept any failure. Before any forces where dispatched, a request was sent to the vessels of the Mechanicum for a thorough scan of the system; the scan revealed that the largest gathering of the green skins where on the northern hemisphere of the 5th planet out from the binary stars. They had their target. As per the pre determined plan, the seventh company where sent in to assassinate the warboss present on the planet, which the scans showed was a death world overrun with dense jungle, much to the delight of the Catachan platoons. Further scans conducted by the mechanicum revealed that the southern continent was completely covered by an ancient city; though, as it was completely overgrown, it initially appeared to be simply mountainous terrain. As such the tech priests where eager to get to the surface.

It wasn't two days before a transmission was received from Captain Garethe of the Seventh that the task was completed. Without hesitation, Everart launched the full weight of his forces at the planet. The fighting took just over two standard weeks before the system was considered purged: the force remained to weed out the stragglers, lest the crusade had a fledgling waaagh at their backs, and to establish a base of operations near to the front in order to resupply and launch attacks.

One standard month on, the crusade made to push further into the Ultima Segmentum, aiming to move rimward in order to reclaim the world's along the border between the Ultima Segmentum and the Segmentum Obscurus with the ultimate aim to drive on to Coccium and from there, regroup and rebuild before purging the rest of the green skins for the region.

A year into the undertaking things seemed to be going well. Aside from the painstakingly slow rate of travel due to the extremely tumultuous nature of the warp of late. It wasn't until they got closer to the Cicatrix Maledictum that operations had to grind to a halt, several imperial guard ships and mechanicum exploratoe vessels had been lost in trying to navigate a way through the massive warp rift and with no way to tell whether Coccium has been swallowed by it.

As imposing whispers echo inside communications and a mysterious sense of death and decay permeate every vessel: the future of the crusade seemed unsure.

+Chapter's Current Situation+

After several failed attempts to navigate the rift. Probes, dispatched by the Archmagos of the Ryza contingent, sent back disturbing returns, indicating that the rift had completely engulfed the region of space that Coccium had occupied.

Uncertain of what this meant for the Orks that had infested that region of space, the Chapter had a large amount of new targets. It was during a grand ceremony of remembrance, attended by all elements of the crusade, guard, mechanicus, space marine and primaris alike. That Everart renamed the chapter The Swords of Coccium and proclaimed that an external war of vengeance be declared upon the forces of chaos spewing forth from the rift.

I look forward to everyone's comments, as I've only built and painted one guy, changes that need to be made will be easy to implement so I welcome all constructive criticism

Thanks for looking

(and taking the time to read all this XD)

Edited July 23, 2017 by LancsHotpot90

[Kelborn]

Solid. But there are some bits I'd reconsider:

 

- I'd avoid using a major canon character. Even if it's "just" an Okr. But Ghazgull is such a big one. Why not use an underling of him, saying that Ghazgulls Waaagh! brushed this system and one of his Bosses wanted to seize the opportunity.

- I do see some Horizon Zero Dawn shenanigans on your chapters' homeworld. Though I love that idea (and don't get me wrong: giant, mech-dinosaurs are awesome as hell!), I'm still not convinced of how that might work. How do they reproduce? Do they even do it? Or are there stock of X creatures and they are slowly hunted down?

 

Just my 2 cents.

[LancsHotpot90]

Great comment, thanks for the input Kelborn!

 

It's a good point you make about Ghazgul, something I was debating myself at first. The reason I decided to include him directly is because I needed a really good reason as to why a chapter would abandon it's home planet instead of sacrificing all to the last man. Also in the desperation of the defence against such a sudden and massed attack I'm not sure how they would find out if this was part of some bigger force or not.

 

As for the machines, Horizon was definitely where this inspiration came from :) with the hunting of them more akin to what the Knights of Caliban did before the heresy than the primitive tribes we see in game.

Rather than being completely mechanical like those in horizon, these are a mix of flesh and machine typical of dark mech shenanigans coming in all sorts of wonderful shapes and sizes. As for their reproduction I'd like to think of it as due to the Dark Mechanicum's penchant to screw around with A.I. It's something along the lines of that with the 'machines' possessed by bestial non intelligent deamon entities. They'd gather resources similarly to those in game but also take flesh from the local wildlife and population, this would then create new hosts with which another primitive deamon form would use as a vessel but become trapped in the machines due to unknown dark mechanicum tech. (I may have a go at including some concepts of these machines at somepoint in the future, if I can do my own imagination justice XD)

[Kelborn]

Oh I like that flesh/ machine part.

 

Now I got giant flesh-golem-ish robo dinosaurs in mind. Could also include potential some living metal shenanigans.

[LancsHotpot90]

Hmmmmm good idea maybe dark mechanicum screwing around with necron tech, merging it with deamon infused tech...

[LancsHotpot90]

Hail brothers/sisters quick update

I've been playing around with some greenstuff to see if I can give my scouts a bit more of a knightly feel

What do you think? Some of them look kinda derpy at this stage but once their painted up they should fit in which as I may possibly play them as black templars (I'll be playing around with different chapter tactics game to game) it's important for them to look the part :)

Onto Chapter Master Everard himself, I've given him a halberd as who knows what power weapon to give him when 8th rolls out so in the meantime it can count as whatever :) also plasma blaster! XD

I know the top half is wonky in this pic but don't worry I've fixed it since.

Let me know what you think so far. Coming up... Sternguard! :D

[Daimyo-Phaeron Lenoch]

Two things I see here that I like:

 

1. Mkiii and Mkiv being restricted to officers. Even though they're a 4th founding chapter, they have limited access to wargear that was commonplace not a millennium before they were founded. It gives an air of desperation to the chapter's deployments, which while a bad thing (for the chapter) nevertheless makes for good storytelling.

 

2. The sacrifice of the chapter master. Only in death does duty end, and if you're gonna die, you might as well take as many of them with you as you can. Giving your life so your brothers may live is just...sorry, I'm getting preachy.

 

TL;DR, like the armor restrictions and the sacrifice. :tu:

[MysticTemplar]

Overall, the story is very good, and I can definitely see their stubborn nature shining through.

 

The thing that makes me wonder, though, is that with a name like that, it makes me feel like they should be Sons of the Lion rather than Sons of Dorn, especially with how close their symbol is to the Ravenwing icon.

 

(Not trying to say that them being Sons of Dorn is wrong, but food for thought.)

[Draakur]

I have very little to say here really - it's a nice, solid foundation :)

 

If I can offer one observation: you seem to excel at creating history and stories about how your marines came to be, but don't yet look to have explained who they are. What do they believe, what values do they hold sovereign? How do they fight and what idiosyncrasies, if any, does their Chapter Cult imbue in them? You've quickly said they're very codex adherent, with all of the character/belief/organisational ramifications this comes with, but is that it?

 

If so and you're happy making them very "ordinary" and unremarkable, then fair play to you, this is absolutely fine and not necessarily a deal breaker. I just want to be clear that that's what you're going for, if so :)

[joschlumpf]

Hail brothers/sisters quick update

I've been playing around with some greenstuff to see if I can give my scouts a bit more of a knightly feel

What do you think? Some of them look kinda derpy at this stage but once their painted up they should fit in which as I may possibly play them as black templars (I'll be playing around with different chapter tactics game to game) it's important for them to look the part

I think they look really amazing, I would love to be able to work with greenstuff that way! But don

[Badass_Spaz]

I gotta get going here and haven't had the time to read this. I'll comment in full later.

Besides that, I found a piece of equipment on the Lexicanum you might be interested in. I figured if you're heading into the Knightly/Chivalrous route, Combat Shields might be appropriate.
http://wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/Combat_Shield

Another suggestion is reading The Impalers (If you already hadn't): www.bolterandchainsword.com/topic/331881-index-astartes-the-impalers/

It's essentially a Warhammer Fantasy Knightly Order done in the most precise way possible.

I'll get back to you later, and hope this brought a tad bit of food for thought. Now get chewing!

[LancsHotpot90]

@Captain Lenoch: Thanks man, that's exactly what I'm going for! There'll be various armour pieces in different mks distributed among the chapter and no brother will have a suit of armour that is all the same mk (with officers being the exception) due to combat damage/losses.

 

The thing that makes me wonder, though, is that with a name like that, it makes me feel like they should be Sons of the Lion rather than Sons of Dorn, especially with how close their symbol is to the Ravenwing icon.

Its funny you should say that. I was so close to making these guys descendants of the Lion but I wanted them to be codex adherent (afaik, the Dark Angels don't have any codex adhering successors)

As for the chapter symbol I've changed the design to be something a little more unique rather than using a symbol already in use (and not because the last symbol was a bugger to paint at all, honest! :D)

 

If I can offer one observation: you seem to excel at creating history and stories about how your marines came to be, but don't yet look to have explained who they are. What do they believe, what values do they hold sovereign? How do they fight and what idiosyncrasies, if any, does their Chapter Cult imbue in them? You've quickly said they're very codex adherent, with all of the character/belief/organisational ramifications this comes with, but is that it?

While I want to avoid special snowflake syndrome with these guys, there will be more to them than simply being codex adherent. Pretty much immediately going on a crusade of vengeance against the Greenkins after getting kicked off their Chapter planet is going to take its toll on the Chapter. While I've not finalised everything about where these guys are, in terms of character and organisation circa. 999 M41 (I'll be writing a summary of that here soon which I'll update in the OP) one theme that will be a constant is their unrelenting stubbornness and their unshakeable belief that they will drive back the Orks and reclaim their Chapter Planet.

 

 

I think they look really amazing, I would love to be able to work with greenstuff that way! But don´t you think the hole of the heavy bolter looks a little too small?

In short yes, yes its definitely too small buuut, as I've since painted these guys (photos to follow) it's a erm...a different pattern of bolter barrel *cough, cough* ;)

 

I gotta get going here and haven't had the time to read this. I'll comment in full later.

Besides that, I found a piece of equipment on the Lexicanum you might be interested in. I figured if you're heading into the Knightly/Chivalrous route, Combat Shields might be appropriate.

http://wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/Combat_Shield

Another suggestion is reading The Impalers (If you already hadn't): www.bolterandchainsword.com/topic/331881-index-astartes-the-impalers/

It's essentially a Warhammer Fantasy Knightly Order done in the most precise way possible.

I'll get back to you later, and hope this brought a tad bit of food for thought. Now get chewing!

That's a great shout about the shields man! I'll be equipping them to my assault marines, termies and vanguard vets :)

 

Thanks for the link to The Impalers, I hadn't seen these guys before but they've given me a good bit of inspiration (and what to avoid so as not to inadvertently copy someone else's stuff :)) you've certainly given me a lot to digest there!

 

Thanks for all this feedback guys, it really is a great way to get motivated to get stuff done!

Edited March 30, 2017 by LancsHotpot90

[LancsHotpot90]

Right onto photos, here are the sternguard I've put together.

The 1st company heraldry is a while cross, in honour of the veteran mark used by the Imperial Fists during the great crusade, and like the Fists, it is also used as a honour throughout the company. Unlike other companies, the heraldry of the first will not change if a new Captain is appointed. As the 1st company Captain is also the chapter master, Everard has decreed that it shall evermore be the white cross, in honour of their previous chapter masters sacrifice.

Proudly displaying his Captain's heraldry on his right shoulder pad, here's Brother Lucane, from the 6th company. Due to losses suffered by the Chapter, The position of heavy weapons specialist in all tactical squads regardless of company, is always filled by a brother from the 6th.

Now onto those scouts, when Knights get tactical... :D

Here we have elements of the 4th squad of the 7th company. Normally the composition of the Scout company would be mainly new recruits however, the constant dangers and hardships have moulded the 7th (now becoming known among the orks as "toof huntaz") into an elite force of special operatives to be used as a scalpel to remove a warboss in order to destabilise elements of the waaagh so elements from the rest of the chapter can come in and make short work of the Ork forces present, who would then be distracted by fighting over who gets to be the boss.

A close up of the chapter symbol:

And finally here is Chapter Master Everard carrying his signature Halberd and relic plasma blaster.

(irl the gun has a bronze effect with a heavy patina, for some reason the colours haven't shown up well on my phone camera, neither have the blue lenses on the helmets for that matter)

The small shield on his right pauldron Proudly displays the colours of the other 6 companies of his Chapter, with the white cross of the 1st overlayed.

And that's all for now, I'm working on a Rhino/Razorback for the sternguard guys and I'm also building the rest of the marines from Sgt Ixions squad. In the meantime, all c&c is definitely welcome

Thanks for looking :)

[Dizzyeye01]

You've certainly got a nice colour scheme going for your chapter alongside though why did they decide to make the 7th company the Scout Company? It seems to make more sense to me that the chapter would merely keep the Scouts being the Tenth with the rest of the companies being brought up to strength instead of just imply moving the numbers around. Also in terms of the Librarians as per the Codex Astartes it#s a standard to at least have a group of librarians who at the very least can say if there is any warp taint around and along with being advisers and generally using the powers of the warp to aid their brothers. If you want them out of the picture then it could be that during the attack on the homeworld they were all killed and so the chapter is uncertain how to deal with psykers? Merely food for thought there.

[LancsHotpot90]

Thanks for the comment and the great questions Dizzyeye :)

 

Basically the idea around the company numbers was that the chapter suffered such horrendous losses throughout as well as completely losing the 5th, 6th and 7th companies, that a complete overhaul was required in order to consolidate the Chapters remaining strength into an efficient force. As they only have enough to field 7 companies it made sense to me to just number them 1-7 rather than have a gap :)

As for the librarians what I'm debating is whether they have them at all (I.e black templars) or whether they have them just like most other Chapters. When I've decided that I'll update the fluff with either the reason they don't have them or what their strength and organisation is in relation to the rest of the chapter

Edited April 1, 2017 by LancsHotpot90

[LancsHotpot90]

Right here we go with a massive update, I've fleshed out the Chapter a bit in the OP and added a couple of maps for context; if you could check that out and give me feedback that would be awesome :)

Okay so onto the army. I know the challenge stated 1000pts for gold but I think I've gone a bit over that haha

First up is the 4th squad, 2nd company

Next is the 1st squad, 3rd Company

2nd squad, 5th Company

1St squad, 1st company

2nd squad, 1st company

Here is the Rhino "Veni" due to limited numbers, the various vehicles of the chapter aren't permanently assigned to a company, instead, they are issued as needed. As a result, they are adorned with the heraldry of all 7 companies.

The Razorback "Vidi"

Here's the Predator "Vici"

Here's Plomyde the Lord Warden of Sanctity

Captain Gauen of the 2nd company, Lord Warden of the Arsenal

The Stormraven "Cruentus"

And finally an army shot of what I've got so far

http://bolterandchainsword.com/uploads/gallery/album_13002/med_gallery_94458_13002_3240.jpg

Phew and that's all I've got at the moment. All that remains is to tweak the fluff as insights, comments and criticisms come in while I wait for 8th to add more to the army.

As always all c&c is much appreciated

Thanks for looking everyone!

Edited April 28, 2017 by LancsHotpot90

[Bjorn Firewalker]

Good job on both the models and their backstories.

[LancsHotpot90]

Cheers Bjorn!

Thought I'd try again on posting the army shot as I think it might have been an issue with the image count or something

Edited April 27, 2017 by LancsHotpot90

[Bjorn Firewalker]

Are the five little shields on the Stormraven's side, meant to commemorate the number of enemy flyers it downed in dogfights?

[LancsHotpot90]

Oops forgot to mention those, yes they are :)

[NovemberIX]

I'm enjoying this write up, and the name just keeps bringing a smile to my face. So one suggestion: What if you're dark-mech animals are sorta borg like? Maybe the Flora and Fauna got assimilated by an out of control/malevolent nano-machine infestation. And the Bastions are the only safe place because anti-nanomachine fields or some handwavy bit.

[LancsHotpot90]

Thanks for the suggestion November! I like that idea, I'll incorporate that into the short story when I come to write it

[Legionare]

I very much like the way you've taken a small side note from the gathering storm pt3 book and turned into a proper chapter with a story. One thing i also like is how you've told about the seven companies and fleshed them all out.

 

However i have one question. How does chapter recruit new members after their homeworld was overrun? i don't seem to find any mention about it.

[LancsHotpot90]

Good question Legionare

 

It's in there somewhere (buried in all the text haha)

 

A chunk of the civilian population was evacuated along with the remnants of the chapter and that's where they'll be drawing their recruits from. I didn't really emphasise this much in the Op, but this process has only just started to get underway so the rebuilding of the chapter is going to be a slow process. Hence the use of careful tactics like causing confusion amongst the enemy to try and guarantee a victory. Also, the crusade is complimented by elements from the guard, mechanicum, knights and Talons of the Emperor (even though these guys are my pet project, I'm under no illusion that sending such a small force alone on a crusade, would quickly result in the chapters destruction, so they need all the help they can get haha)

[Legionare]

Ok, i must've missed it. Thanks for the answer, that really cleared it out for me. I must also say that you've really well succeeded in painting your minis, i like especially the vehicles and how they have every companys heraldry on them.