Index Astartes: Star Wardens (WIP)

[InAction]

Hey-hey, I'm still around! Apologies for the lack of material, things kind of got away from me - you know how it is, you keep telling yourself you'll be productive as soon as you plan out the next phase of just what you're doing with yourself, and from there you've got a big pile of a to-do list that seemingly just appeared out of the ether, like warp predators or Smurfs.

 

Anyways, have a bit more fluff - thought I'd try and flesh out a bit on some history to do with the Wardens' current chapter master, the primary thing he did that got him the job.

 

Feedback is always appreciated, especially on this 'cause as it stands, I fear this might read too similar to a certain Knight-Champion-of-Macragge?

 

The Damaras Rebellion (ca. 887.M41) – In late M41, numerous uprisings began to erupt on Imperial worlds of the Damaras system. Beginning what first was thought to be a few rogue outcasts revolting upon Damaras Secundus quickly gave way as the traitors' ranks swelled with renegade guard regiments turning upon their allied detachments, pledging themselves to the favor of dark, thirsting gods. The taint of Chaos had come upon the stars of Damaras.

 

Beset on all sides by heretics, Imperial command saw fit to reinforce the remaining loyalist forces keeping the horde at bay. Marines of the Aurora Chapter and Star Wardens were deployed to bring the system to compliance, but were met by ill fates when warp storms suddenly flared up within the Immaterium while en-route. A fraction of the chapters' combined detachments managed to make their destination from across the other side of the Warp, some months later and the insurgents having spread much further than what had been previous reported. While the support of the Astartes was enough to keep rebels from further breaking Imperial lines, they became more than aware of that it'd only be a matter of time that they'd be worn down by sheer weight of numbers, not while they were cut off from the remainder of their ships still lost in-transit.

The turning point would come later when 3^rd Company Captain Gaetan Archambault made a proposal to the present commanding sergeants and officers to shatter the enemy warbands before they could do the same – a tactical plan that was met with varying descriptions of “absolutely suicidal”. On the desert fields of Damaras Primus, gathered Astartes and Militarum, overseen by Epistolary Domaneke, stood their ground before the amassing warbands upon the horizon intent on raiding the primary Hive city. Just as the two forces began to clash, Gaetan enacted his gambit. From their strike cruiser's hanging above the planet, drop pods screamed downwards through the skies, most of which managed to survive the fire of anti-air batteries and strike deep into the rear guard of the enemy. Led by Gaetan himself, assault squads tore through the renegades in a bloody swath of righteous fury, ever pushing forward to meet with the defending squads at the front. Seeing the captain's first phase of his strategy a nominal success, Domaneke gave the signal for the Aurora Chapter's gathered mechanized divisions to move into position and prepare their volleys. Even as they fired upon massive groups of traitor guard and cultists that they were occupied with, even becoming caught up in the exploding ordnance of their cousins, the Wardens kept on their warpath. And it was their dogged determination in the face of their voluntary death-march that would see their Captain's efforts pay off, as those of the enemy that were not shot up, beaten down or pulped into explosive gore eventually broke rank and scattered. Gaetan, whom many were rather surprised to see still in one piece (or exasperated among the lead officers), strode through corpses in triumph.

 

This victory would soon prove to be rather rewarding, not only in dealing a devastating blow against the traitors, but in particular for Captain Archambault. Having impressed the likes of the planetary governors, generals and the more junior officers of the marines, Gaetan soon found himself in primary command of the Imperial forces within the Damaras system. In a series of aggressive assaults, led by none other than the Wardens as acting spear tip, the renegades were pushed back further and made to lose ground across multiple fronts, eventually retreating to the world of Secundus from where the uprising had began. It was here that the last engagements of the campaign occurred, and the true orchestrators were discovered, namely a warband council of the Word Bearers legion. Though the corrupting heads had somehow managed to escape judgment, the same could not be said of their most loyal followers as they were put to bolter and chainsword. Though it was a significant loss of Imperial life and infrastructure, (the system is still in recovery, with Secundus having been sanctioned for Exterminatus) Gaetan's command of the campaign earned him much acclaim among allies and within the Chapter ranks after their companies made contact again with the remainder of their lost battle fleet. It's largely considered now that his victories won during the Damaras Campaign are what would eventually earn him the rank of Chapter Master of the Star Wardens almost a century later.

 

[High Marshal Bohemond]

I like what you have done here, this is a well written I.A. and I LOVE the wild west theme, I had thought about it myself a few years back but just could not get my head around a good depiction for it. I love the classic "pop-culture" western and country song references. The House of the Risen Sun was just a bit to far for me...lol but all in all I love this concept. I would actually encourage you to look into some of the old cavalry customs and terms as well since they did do a lot to "forge" the west. The whole Blue/Grey concept is one to explore and the civil war had a lot of influence on finally settling the west. I think the concept of the Rangers being scouts is something you should further explore....or Marshall's. 

[InAction]

Wasn't sure where else to put this, (mods, feel free to correct me) as I wanted to show what progress I'd been making though it didn't feel like it was quite enough for a proper WIP topic.

 

Anyways, it's been a while since I'd done any active paint-work, but I started on a test model to get myself back into AND to see how the scheme I have in mind for the Wardens looks on an actual mini.

 

http://i.imgur.com/1STAHsB.jpg

 

I know, still got a ways to go towards anything of actual quality. If anything this did show I'm not so good at fine detailing, so I'll be going with putting the company trim along the left knee rather than the shoulder lining as I'd originally intended.

[Lysimachus]

Wasn't sure where else to put this, (mods, feel free to correct me) as I wanted to show what progress I'd been making though it didn't feel like it was quite enough for a proper WIP topic.

Here's fine, although if you're getting to the point of it being a log with multiple updates, etc it'd probably be better to start a thread in the WIP forum*. Looks good though, it's a simple scheme but I reckon it gets across the feel you're going for?

 

*plus if you're looking for painting advice of a more technical nature it might be worth starting a thread in the WIP anyway as the Fraters/Mods there are more skilled with a brush than most of us Liberites!

Edited July 17, 2017 by Lysimachus

[InAction]

 

Here's fine, although if you're getting to the point of it being a log with multiple updates, etc it'd probably be better to start a thread in the WIP forum*. Looks good though, it's a simple scheme but I reckon it gets across the feel you're going for?

 

*plus if you're looking for painting advice of a more technical nature it might be worth starting a thread in the WIP anyway as the Fraters/Mods there are more skilled with a brush than most of us Liberites!

 

 

Yeah, pretty much just wanted to get a gauge of what others thought and how it looked for myself. I'll likely start up a topic in the WIP thread once I actually get a start on some more dudes for reals.

[Bjorn Firewalker]

The completed model looks good.

[Bjorn Firewalker]

I just saw a

, and thought it was relevant. The revolver is a replica of the Remington Model 1858 (misidentified as a "Model 1859"), scaled up to 28mm caliber.

[InAction]

I just saw a

, and thought it was relevant. The revolver is a replica of the Remington Model 1858 (misidentified as a "Model 1859"), scaled up to 28mm caliber.

This is indeed pretty damn relevant to my interests, thanks.

 

Also, I had commissioned a silly little sketch off of a friend of mine. Also relevant.

 

http://i.imgur.com/uACjZ9y.jpg

 

If you like what you see, you can find more of her work here:

 

http://www.breanawilliams.com/

Edited July 25, 2017 by InAction

[Bjorn Firewalker]

The kutte is a good substitute for a tabard. Will you sculpt green stuff kuttes for the Star Wardens? Edited July 26, 2017 by Bjorn Firewalker

[InAction]

The kutte is a good substitute for a tabard. Will you sculpt green stuff kuttes for the Star Wardens?

Not sure. I remember something someone said earlier about giving Chaplains something like duster coats to wear for similar reasons, but I'm not sure if the waist coat would actually look good on them in-canon. I had thought about making some with like ponchos, though I'm not good with greenstuff. Something to ask the fellows whenever I get around to making a WIP thread.

[InAction]

Hello! I'm back - been busy with things here and there, among those is still this project albeit it slower than I would have liked. But I've returned looking to carry on.

 

Eventually I got around to assembling a five-man tactical squad and am in the process of rounding it out to a full ten. I'll go into more detail (with pictures) in a WIP topic I plan to make, but for right now I wanted to bring attention to some stuff that I've been testing while in the process of painting. Namely I'm still having trouble determining what I want to do about company markings.

 

To that end, what looks better? The left (company color trim along the shoulder) or the right (shoulder trim left as is with a colored kneepad instead)?

 

[Nomus Sardauk]

I'd say leave the shoulder trim as is (or paint them black like in your profile pic) and go with the coloured knee pad instead, maybe with the company numeral in there as well.

 

Also, it's good to see you and the Star Wardens back InAction, no pun intended. :)

Edited December 20, 2017 by SanguiniusReborn

[Lysimachus]

I also really like the scheme as shown in the sketch, black trims (and only the Chapter badge pad in blue as well!) work really well.

 

With that in mind I think I'd go for Co. designation on the knee pad, but I'd pick two colours - maybe just black and white? - and use 10 different geometric patterns (a la the Dark Angels)?

[Bjorn Firewalker]

Isn't shoulder trim used as company designations, i.e., different colors mean the Marines are from different companies (at least in Codex Chapters)? You might as well use both schemes if you like them both.

[Nomus Sardauk]

Isn't shoulder trim used as company designations, i.e., different colors mean the Marines are from different companies (at least in Codex Chapters)? You might as well use both schemes if you like them both.

It's the most common placement yes, but many chapters display the company colours elsewhere on the armour, like on a knee pad, the chest plastron, a helm stripe, the entire helmet, the bolter casing, it can vary wildly from chapter to chapter.

[Lysimachus]

And I'm pretty sure it's quoted somewhere that the Codex advises changing up these markings from time to time so enemies can't easily identify your squads, so even a single Chapter might display different markings depending what time period your army comes from!

[InAction]

Update! (Sorry I couldn't have gotten this done in time for the holiday, but oh well.)

Finished on what I like to call my final heraldry scheme for the Chapter, and got a Marine (mostly) painted and finished.

 

 

I've also updated the Index Astartes image mock-up for the Wardens' entry with an image of said miniature.

 

I thought about it a bit, and following on from what Lysimachus' pointed out I tried coming with a little stripe-of-something to depict the company chapter. I'll be coming up with more specifics as I go along.

Edited December 30, 2017 by InAction

[Warsmith Onyx]

Nice work on that marine.
Also nice work on your fluff, I've been lurking this thread for a while, and I must say that you really are an inspiration to me when it comes to writing up my own stuff

[Bjorn Firewalker]

The model looks good, but his armor is far darker than I expected, considering the illustrations previously posted.

[Nomus Sardauk]

The model looks good, but his armor is far darker than I expected, considering the illustrations previously posted.

I have to agree, I much preferred the light silver-grey tone illustrated before.

[InAction]

Yeah, I can see what you mean. Honestly I'm not sure if it's the paint or just how I corrected the color balance, but either way, I'll be going back and touching up bits up here and there to make it maybe pop a little more.

 

Also, now have a WIP thread up.

[InAction]

Little bit of an update, (sorry for the double post).

Made a little bit of a change to the chapter icon - swapped out the old horse head for one with a more defined shape, less fiddly details, and the slightly larger star icon I had used on few other test images. Basically just changed it up to something easier to paint/make into decal transfers.

 

 

Also something else. I'm thinking of maybe entering in Grotsmasha's Conversion Challenge 8: Warlords with a Captain on attack bike, (or rather jet-bike like from those new Custodian sets if I can somehow justify it lore-wise). While thinking on some ideas, I thought of giving my captain something of a personal icon, to identify he and his personal squad or something, or even something to give fast attack units. I came up with two ideas, both off of using a winged horse.

 

 

 

As always, feedback would be appreciated.

==================================================

UPDATE - Was messing around with some things and then I decided to try incorporate elements of the main chapter icon into the first winged-horse image, coming up with this.

 

In truth, I really like how this looks, so much in fact I think I might make this the new chapter symbol. I think it gets across the original feel of my first design, plus it pays homage to both the Wardens' parent chapter in the Eagle Warriors and the equestrian tradition of their home-world. It's win-win-win!

 

Still I'd love to know what others have to say, even if I'm strongly leaning on this one. =P

Edited February 3, 2018 by InAction

[Bjorn Firewalker]

The Pegasus insignia looks good. Will you adopt it across the Chapter (explaining those with your original Chapter symbol as Wardens who were fighting an extended campaign when the decision to change Chapter symbols were made- possibly to counter Alpha Legion infiltrators- and didn't have time or other resources to repaint their armor)? Or will you reserve the symbol for elite Bikers (maybe an equivalent to the White Scars' "Master of the Hunt")? Edited February 3, 2018 by Bjorn Firewalker

[InAction]

I was considering doing something like you suggest about making it a specialist symbol, like to denote fast attack units or something, but I think I'm just sticking to making it the new chapter badge overall. Otherwise I'd feel kind of compelled to make up icons for every specialist unit.

[Bjorn Firewalker]

Maybe you can reuse the original Chapter symbol as that of a Star Wardens Successor Chapter? As for icons for each specialist unit, how about changing the star's color, e.g., gold for Warlords and their the Honor Guard, silver for Sternguard and Vanguard Veterans, bronze for the regulars, red for Lone Rangers (who ritually use their own blood to paint over the original stars)?