The Avalon Crusade

[Marshal Arthur]

I keep seeing crusade posts so I thought I'd throw my own into the mix.

 

 

 

Avalon. Like a distant peal of thunder the name echoes in my mind. Avalon. It is but the faintest memory in centuries of war and bloodshed, a fading shadow of a life long ago. Avalon. The greatest planet in a system of nearly a dozen planets. Among them stand mighty industrial worlds of smog and steel, Mechanicum blessed Knight worlds guarded by armies of mighty war suits, vibrant agri-worlds ruled by great kings and guarded by horse and steel, but above them all is great Avalon.
 

Through lenses, ruby red, I stare across a forest of a thousand trees, their different scents assailing my helmet’s air filters. My gene-forged senses pick up the slightest taste of minty pine, rich maple, and strong oak alongside a hundred others. As if by magic the familiar smells recall the ancient memories, a life I had almost forgotten now clear before my eyes. I neither weep nor dismay at the loss of my past for I have ascended beyond such petty concerns, yet I cannot deny the memories take hold and work their spell on me as well as on any mortal man. I remove my helm, painted black as night and styled not in the poor aesthetic of my chapter’s brother Astartes but in the regal manner of the knights long past. My tabard flows in the wind, waving to the rhythm of the grass and trees, bearing the Templar cross in black and red. Sheathed at my waist is a great blade of ancient construction, razor sharp and as dark as a traitor’s heart. And yet, clad in the finest armor and my chapter’s glorious raiment the natural beauty of this world humbles me.

 

 

Amidst a thousand battlefields I have fought and bled, and across a thousand planets and a thousand lands I have seen many wonders, yet none have captivated my mind and soul so well as this. Avalon. It is a part of me. Once I thought it was only a piece of my past, long since shed, yet here I am once more. I am not now, nor was I ever, given over to great emotion but the Emperor’s power stirs something within me, a righteous fury at the defiling done here on such sacred a world. I feel my past return in every breath of Avalon’s clear crisp air, at every scent of the trees, at every shifting of the grass and limbs in the racing winds. Indeed, just as my forgotten past reemerges I feel my Astartes heart beating with the weaker remnant of my humanity, keeping pace and taking hold of my past to sanctify it into purifying hate. Avalon. My home, once upon a time, and now my conquest and triumph. This is not the first time I spilt blood upon this planet, but by the Emperor’s will this shall be the final purification of this holy planet...my planet. The memories grip me and in a flurry of rage and catharsis I yield. Avalon. I return once more...



The Avalon system sits to the galactic north of the Tau Empire and near the Eastern Fringe. I chose this location because one friend plays Tau and another Necrons while my brother plays Ravenguard. This way I'm situated close enough to the Tau, a Necron dynasty, and the Ravenguard homeworld to feasibly get into conflict with any of them.

My crusade is the third Avalon Crusade. The first was the initial conquest of the system, a combined Astartes and Guard endeavor which took several decades but claimed a host of mineral rich worlds for the Imperium. The Black Templars were only minor players in the initial crusade but when the other Astartes fleets returned to their respective homeworlds the Templar crusade patrolled the outlying reaches of the system to hunt xenos. Orks were one of the more common xenos originally occupying the system and therefore roving tribes of feral Orks remained in the wilds of several planets, including Avalon. Because of this Avalon itself has an epic fantasy feel, with medieval knights hunting Ork warbands in the wilds. The second Avalon Crusade was a defensive action against a Chaos incursion. Cultists emerged and preached their heresy in the dark places to pave the way for a full blown invasion. Initially local PDF could hold back the cultists but most of the planets were feudal worlds, and while they had advanced weaponry for elite bodyguard units the majority of their armies were armed with spears and bows. Chaos marines came onto the scene and overwhelmed their defenses quickly, driving the people of Avalon into the wilds where they were hunted by cultists and Ork tribes. This is when the Templars returned, falling from the sky and eradicating the once invincible Chaos marines. After cleansing the planet they established a chapter keep to gather new recruits and left. Unfortunately while the bulk of the chaos forces were slaughtered individual cults endured and the infrastructure and leadership of the former kingdoms were shattered allowing Orks and cultists to roam free. Only the lands around the chapter keep remained stable enough to build anything resembling an army and a kingdom. A century later the whole system is vulnerable to all manner of xenos invasions and as the Cictrix Maledictum tears the Imperium in half the Avalon system finds itself facing a renewed Chaos offensive.

In light of the new threats Castellan Arthur, once a youth and squire of Avalon who entered the chapter keep in hopes of saving his ailing people, was promoted to Marshall and granted a retinue of Templar warriors to reclaim the Avalon system and finally restore his former home to glory. His house is protected by sword brethren, many of whom were recruited from his former home of Avalon, sworn to fight beside him and purge the unclean. This third Avalon Crusade has many enemies, in the power vacuum left after the second crusade a Necron dynasty has expanded and claimed a vital industrial world while the overly ambitious Tau have absorbed a hive world and a couple agri worlds seeking security in the chaos. Even the Imperial Guard poses a threat, with many regiments having abandoned the Imperium to join those blue-skinned upstarts or to carve out their own independent realms. Of course, more dangerous than all of those threats is the taint of chaos now pouring out of the Great Rift to consume all in its path. Loyalists Guard regiments will provide assistance in this crusade, as well as a retinue of Primaris marines sent by the returned Primarch. Arthur is distrustful of these new recruits but he is not so foolish as to reject reinforcements. That said they must earn their Templar crosses or perhaps join their brothers in the Imperial Fists (I have yet to decide what to do with my new Primaris). A company of Dark Angels also marches towards Avalon but remains elusive and unwilling to fight side by side, preferring to keep to themselves. Arthur believes this is just as well, they may do whatever they wish so long as it does not interfere in his plans. While Arthur is uneasy around the Angels he uses their presence to encourage his men in a little competition, which chapter can claim Avalon first, a competition he refuses to lose.



Structure wise I prefer infantry to vehicles so the only vehicles I use all double as transports so I can fight with chainswords like real men. I'm working on kitting out some vanguard veterans but I don't have any jump packs and prefer to use them with Arthur (counts as Helbrecht) anyways. Most of my army is painted but I've ordered some new bits to kit out a second Land Raider Crusader, seven more vanguard vets, and a few initiates (two with chainswords and one with a plasmagun) and will post pics of all of them together once done.

[Marshal Arthur]

My HQs:

 

 

Marshal Arthur, leader of the Third Avalon Crusade

 

 

 

 

Galahad, Emperor's Champion of the Third Avalon Crusade

 

 

 

 

Chaplain Tilpin (technically a character from the Song of Roland but whatever)

[Marshal Arthur]

 

My Venerable Dreadnought with a twin lascannon, melee weapon, and heavy flamer. I also have an assault cannon and kitbashed multimelta 

 

 

 

 

My Sword Brethren for crusader sergeants and vet units. Two with combi-plasmas and power swords, one with combi-melta, and two with power swords and plasma pistols. I also have three with thunder hammers, two with power axes, one with relic blade and plasma pistol, and two more power sword and plasma pistol vets being painted.

 

Some power weapon initiates.

 

 

 

 

Special weapon initiates. I also have another plasma gunner and two heavy bolter marines being painted.

 

 

 

 

The bread and butter of any good crusade, my chainswords!

 

 

 

 

And of course boltguns.

 

 

 

 

Neophytes.

[Marshal Arthur]

 

My rhinos and drop pods. The razroback hatches and twin lascannons are primed but not yet painted.

 

 

 

 

 

And my Land Raider Crusader, Camelot. I have a second one that's primed but not yet painted and need to pick a name for it. Either another famous castle or perhaps the site of a major battle in Arthurian lore.

 

Other than this I plan on adding some assault terminators in the future and maybe a couple storm ravens, in which case I'll find the welsh for red dragon and white dragon. I was tempted to buy a psyker and chain his body to the front of a vehicle and he could be Merlin but for now I think I just won't have a Merlin character.

[Brother Christopher]

I am liking your models and your approach to painting (by this I mean the generous use of reds and whites). The EC is top notch; the LRC looks sufficiently venerable with all the scripture and seals. Similarly, the Arthurian theme is a nice fluffy addition; I've chosen Arthur as the name for my Marshal, as well. My only critique is that some of the images are really, really small (but maybe this is just me).

[Marshal Wolfhart]

The sword in scabbard is something i might... borrow? Love that idea!

Overall a very nicely painted army. I really like the different styles everyone is going for on this board. Pure inspiration!

[Marshal Arthur]

I am liking your models and your approach to painting (by this I mean the generous use of reds and whites). The EC is top notch; the LRC looks sufficiently venerable with all the scripture and seals. Similarly, the Arthurian theme is a nice fluffy addition; I've chosen Arthur as the name for my Marshal, as well. My only critique is that some of the images are really, really small (but maybe this is just me).

Thank you. To be honest all the reds are there because I got sick of painting white but I think it turned out well. As for the sizes you're right, they are small. I took the pictures on my phone and emailed them to myself so I could upload them on my computer and to speed up the process I changed the file size.

[Bjorn Firewalker]

The Land Raider Crusader is well done. The muddy tracks are a good touch- this is a COMBAT vehicle, not a mobile sofa with which the PDF may transport the planetary governor's fat posterior in pointless parades. Edited July 19, 2017 by Bjorn Firewalker

[Marshal Arthur]

 

 

I added to the ranks of my sword brethren. I now have one with relic blade and plasma pistol, four with swords and plasma pistols, two with axes, and three with thunder hammers.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I also figured I'd add in some heavy bolters and since I plan on using MSU crusader squads I turned a couple shotgun neophytes into heavy bolter scouts to go with some scout squads. I also added a fourth plasma gunner so I have plenty of plasma goodness.

 

 

Finally my second LRC in the works and a couple twin lascannon turrets for my rhino/razorbacks. I figured since my heavy armor is covered with anti-infantry weapons my lighter armor should be ready to deal with enemy heavies.

 

[Marshal Arthur]

Quick update: I'm currently working on some assault terminators with the forgeworld Templar shields and grey knight helmets to make them more knightly. Meanwhile I've ordered spare bits to built some crusaders with lascannons and multi-meltas. My goal is to have two five man las/plas squads and two more five man melta squads (both pairs will have the corresponding combi weapon on the sword brother). I'm also looking at getting a stormraven for highly mobile firepower and of course another means of carting my crusaders into the enemy's face.

 

On the non-hobby side of things my crusade mustered to combat a friend's growing Death Guard army. Marshal Arthur personally led the vanguard with the Emperor's Champion by his side. My army was made up of two assault cannon razorbacks; two five man crusader squads with combi-plasma, plasma gun, heavy bolter, and boltguns; two more five man squads with thunder hammer, plasma gun, power axe, and chainswords; and two scout squads with boltguns and heavy bolters. My opponent's army was primarily composed of the Dark Imperium Death Guard.

 

My crusaders all deployed together, trying to take advantage of the marshal's reroll bubble, and my scout squads deployed in an advance position on two of our three objectives. One squad took position on the top floor of a ruined Imperial cathedral while the other took cover in a bombed out homestead in the middle of the board. Even though I deployed first my opponent won the roll off and advanced his whole army forward. His Lord of Contagion teleported in on my left flank and rolled 11 for his charge roll, smashing into my left most shooty crusader squad. His bloat drone zoomed forward and opened fire on my scout squad in the cathedral dropping them to just a couple models. The plague marines fired on my central most squad and his Plaguecaster smote them, which I failed to deny, annihilating my central scout squad. The Lord of Contagion reduced my crusader squad to just the sword brother and his turn ended.

 

On my first turn swift retribution struck. My sword brother made a tactical withdrawal and the rest of my force, barring the scouts, opened up on the Lord of Contagion. My remaining heavy bolter masterfully fired hellfire shells into the warp tainted beast dealing two mortal wounds which he failed to save with disgustingly resilient. The rest of my fusillade reduced him to just one wound and then my thunder hammer squad charged in dealing an excess four wounds to finish him off. The rest of my gun line opened up on the visible plague marines reducing their strength by three and my surviving scouts offered what fire support they could, hoping their zeal would grant their brothers the time they needed.

 

In the second round one unit of poxwalkers advanced onto the third objective on the far right flank while the rest pushed forward towards the remaining two which were more heavily contested. His bloat drone slew another scout and then charged into the remaining two killing one more in combat. The plague marines fired into my ranks dealing negligible damage while the Plaguecaster debuffed and smote my assault unit which slew their warlord.

 

The remaining members of the aforementioned assault team rushed into the cathedral to aid the beleaguered scout who retreated from combat to open up a fire lane. Sadly their plasmagun failed to deal any wounds so they charged in to buy the rest of their army time and contest the objective. The rest of my army advanced into better firing positions, and my surviving sword brother took cover behind a barricade to fire his combi-plasma at the advancing plague marines. Shots were traded and another couple plague marines while some of the poxwalkers pushing towards the central objective were reduced to a slimy paste. Sadly, my thunder hammer assault lost half their number to overwatch from the drone and the rest were slain in close combat without so much as scratching the drone due to a series of unlucky rolls.

 

My opponents was crafty and sent his drone against my left flank, trying in vain to kill the stubborn combi-plasma sword brother before charging the lone scout to return the drone to the objective. His Plaguecaster failed a gift of contagion spell but succeeded in dealing three mortal wounds to be nearest razorback. His plague marines and poxwalkers hid behind the central ruins like dishonorable cowards, firing around the corner to wound my razorback once again.

 

Thankfully his cowardice allowed me to maneuver my wounded razorback so it could fire on the Plaguecaster as the nearest enemy target. Unfortunately the Plaguecaster had a relic which gave him a 2+ save and my assault cannon failed to wound. Thankfully my other assault cannon had an angle on the poxwalkers and dropped a few more but I swear he made about 50% of his disgustingly resilient saves with those guys. The rest of my crusaders fired at visible targets, with a few plasma shots going into the drone dealing one wound.

 

My opponent knew the end was in sight and stormed the ruin holding the central objective with his remaining marines and poxwalkers, led by his Blightbringer. His drone flew at my line and finally destroyed the stubborn combi-plasma sword brother who has been honored for his resiliency by being interred in a dreadnought. More plasma shots rang out, further wounding my razorback, and a final smite from his Plaguecaster destroyed the venerated vehicle. Thankfully it failed to explode and my embarked Emperor's Champion survived.

 

Again retribution came swift. My guns opened up and destroyed the last of his marines and reduced his poxwalkers to a handful. My remaining assault cannon fired on the drone scoring one more wound and my Emperor's Champion charged into the Blightbringer as my second thunder hammer squad charged the poxwalkers. My Champion made short work of the Blightbringer and the thunder hammer squad slew all but one poxwalker who failed to retaliate.

 

With the game nearly done my opponent was wise and rushed to secure objectives. The most distant objective was controlled by a band of poxwalkers and too far away to be threatened by my line. His drone rushed to the cathedral objective and held it while his Plaguecaster marched on the central objective with hopes of eliminating my Emperor's Champion through psychic treachery. Thankfully I successfully denied the with on his smite roll (he rolled high enough to do D6 mortal wounds and deal an extra one through his own passive ability so it was a fortunate deny) my Champion shattering the witch's powers by sheer force of zealous will.

 

My final turn came down to zeal and dumb luck. There was no way I could claim the other two objectives, but thankfully my crusader squad insured I would at least control the central one. In desperation, or perhaps fierce determination, I fired all my guns on his drone. Overcharged plasma and assault cannon rounds struck true reducing him to a handful of wounds which were picked off by one last volley of hellfire shells bought by my final command point. He failed his final disgustingly resilient rolls and the drone was no more. My Champion charged into the Plaguecaster, punishing him for his arrogance to try and taint this holy place with the rotten refuse of the warp and at that we called because we were tired and hungry.

 

We agreed to a tie. We were just playing objectives and we each controlled one with the third uncontested. My scouts were pretty much just road blocks doing nothing more of use and I was a little nervous on the first turn to effectively lose two whole squads before they could so much as fire a shot. The assault cannon razorbacks are worth their weight in gold, especially combined with the marshal's rites of battle, I only wish I remembered I gave them stormbolters. While it's very situational the hellfire shell stratagem was useful and my only real source of mortal wounds which was invaluable against against his more durable targets. My first game against his Death Guard I was far too aggressive and tried to charge straight into close combat to be horribly disappointed against his disgustingly resilient army. In this game I fought back my more zealous urges and took a slower approach, although on occasion my hand was forced when met by a lucky turn one charge and an annoying drone. I lacked the reliable AT firepower to damage that drone and it came down to last minute luck. I always forget it's tougher than my razorbacks with it's save, invuln, and disgustingly resilient on top of ten wounds and toughness seven. Hopefully my new lascannons and some melta weapons will finish it off more quickly in the future so I can abuse my superior mobility. As always his Plaguecaster was MVP, consistently debuffing crucial units and smiting anything he couldn't shoot to death. With the Crusader's Helm I was able to spread my forces out a bit more, which helped significantly, but with such a small force I didn't feel comfortable sending a squad to deal with the distant third objective. In retrospect I should have deployed a scout squad to that position and put my second one in cover between the other two objectives but I'm still getting used to using neophytes as scouts (it was my own fault for sending them out without their initiates beside them). Overall I enjoyed the game and can't wait to try out some of my harder hitting stuff and new toys in bigger games. With the new Death Guard models and rules out I'm hoping we can try a 2000 point game by Christmas so in the meantime I'll finish my terminators and get that Stormraven to give me some more mobility and range.

[Kisada]

Man, looking at what DG can bring in 2000 pts with the new stuff really has me worried.  They can dish mortal wounds like Oprah and can take a hit pretty damn well.

 

Good luck brother ... looking forward to reading about your battles again

[Marshal Arthur]

Assault Terminators are done and I have ten more marines and a Stormraven on the way. The Avalon Crusade continues to grow and I plan to add new pictures soon.

[Marshal Wolfhart]

Pics or didn't happen :P

This reminds me I'll have to set up a new upload site and update my crusade thread... Onwards with the crusade, ever onwards!

[Honda]

I really like how you have incorporated red into your crusade scheme. Distinctive, yet still very Templar.

 

In particular, your venerable dread really caught my eye and your LRC really stands out as well. I'm very interested to see how your Storm Raven comes out.

 

Avalon. Like a distant peal of thunder the name echoes in my mind. Avalon.

 

 

I must admit the first thing I heard echo in my head was Bryan Ferry singing. :)

 

Be strong! Be courageous! Let nothing stop you from bringing the Emperor's light wherever your crusade travels.

 

IMPERATOR VULT!

[Marshal Arthur]

I really like how you have incorporated red into your crusade scheme. Distinctive, yet still very Templar.

 

In particular, your venerable dread really caught my eye and your LRC really stands out as well. I'm very interested to see how your Storm Raven comes out.

 

Avalon. Like a distant peal of thunder the name echoes in my mind. Avalon.

 

I must admit the first thing I heard echo in my head was Bryan Ferry singing. :)

 

IMPERATOR VULT!

Haha, well that wasn’t the intent but whatever. And thank you. In all honesty for the red I was mostly tired of painting white and figured a venerable dreadnought is just a veteran dreadnought and my land raider is sort of like a command vehicle so why not give them sword brethren colors.

[Marshal Arthur]

Would it be possible to replace the siege drills on assault centurions with the chain fists from the ironclad kit? With some green stuff tabards, better poses, and those chain fists in place of the eye sore siege drills they could make an attractive Templar assault team.

[Bjorn Firewalker]

It may be easier to just use Terminator chainfists. If you insist on mounting a Dreadnought's chainfists on a Centurion warsuit, you might as well mount the ranged weapons mounted on the chainfists themselves- storm bolters, flamers, meltaguns.

 

Comments from people with more modeling experience?

[Marshal_Roujakis]

The Chainfist would be extremely huge for Centurions... I know, I've tried to fit them... Terminator Fists works better on them or you could just mount some Chainswords at the bottom of the standard Centurion Fists for similar effect... the tabards you're gonna have to Greenstuff... and the poses can become a bit of a pain if you lack experience with complex miniatures... I had issues with Centurions mainly because the leg parts actually come with a lot of fiddly bits...

 

Anyway, I didn't want to make them look too dynamic as they are supposed to be heavier, more cumbersome suits in comparison to Terminators...

[Marshal Arthur]

My Terminators and a few other additions. I'm also over halfway done with a brand new Stormraven to add to my army. Once that's finished I'll get a group shot of everything together.

 

[Brother Christopher]

Good additions, sir. I particularly like some of the personal touches, like the Marine leaning on a storm shield, or the scopes on the Sternguards' plasma guns. I'm not a fan on crests on Templar helmets, however. But that's my only critique.

[Marshal Arthur]

Thank you. The storm shields are actually from the terminator kit so I had to clip off the hands anyways and figured why not do something different to make things easier. And yeah I can understand your opinion on the crest but I had the deathwatch helmet and wanted him to stand out since he’s otherwise just a normal sword brother.

 

And back on the chain fists discussion thanks everyone for their input. For my sake (and my wife’s) I don’t think I’ll be adding much to my army anytime soon. That said I’m seriously considering converting an old Empire mage into a primaries psyker. I may make that and a couple kitbash astropaths and crusaders for an allied imperial guard vanguard detachment. It’ll give me some psychic defense for a cheap price and I can make the psyker into Merlin, the trusted Navigator of the Avalon Crusade and the only acceptable kind of witch. The crusaders would then (for fluff reasons) be chosen chapter serfs armed to defend the navigator and astropaths who are connected with the Emperor.

Edited November 14, 2017 by templar36

[Marshal Arthur]

 

Stormraven, designation y Ddraig, is complete.

[Bjorn Firewalker]

The Stormraven looks good. Is it named after the red dragon in High School DxD, or the Welsh dragon that is its namesake?

[Marshal Arthur]

The Welsh dragon. Specifically referring to the old Merlin legend about the red dragon and white dragon fighting under a castle. And thank you!

Edited December 2, 2017 by templar36

[DarkCrusader93]

Your Crusade looks full of ZEAL Brother! Sigismund would be proud!