[WIP] Sons of Horus, 65th Company

[Pearson73]

Bleeding fantastic mate, the blade is really well done and the scar is a nice characterful addition.

[Vykes]

Aaaay, thanks mates.  I was terrified just about every moment I had to actually cut into 'em.  Learning experience all 'round, so Marshal Rohr you better right tackle a praetor!  Ain't nothing some greenstuff can't fix if you slip up (as I did... many many times).  I do love the Cap'n Morgan pose on heroes, it's so flamboyantly fun. 

 

-laughs- And thanks Varyn, there's a ton of absolutely exquisite characters on these boards so making a bog standard marshal is about the best I could hope for.  

 

Man, Pearson, you know I'm both pleased and kinda unhappy with that blade.  Vallejo airbrush metallics go on so crystal clear and shiny that they're hard to put down, but they don't blend or wetblend outside of being airbrushed on.  So I can't get the fades I really want without a lot of extra work. But that scar, I went looking through a dozen seperate heads and eventually got down to two... settled on that one so I hope that it works. He almost feels too alpha legion, or just 'young' in general. 

[Brother Pheidias]

Splendid, you do not disappoint.

[Astartes Consul]

Sickeningly good 

[Vykes]

Thanks mate! Well, the 65th still isn't finished yet, I'm mulling over some other support options and waiting for a few things to come in, but there is at least a little bit of progress.

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Squad Epoch's End, made from a bunch of ordered bits and what I could find in my bits box.

“Where does the worlds end? In what way are we helping anything more than a fight for supremacy in the most pugilistic and abstract sense? The worlds I've seen burned to ash are just that, ash. We see eagle-headed standards raised high over the cairns of humanity and proclaim victory, but here we are, crowned princes on the pyres. But, you say: take this city and annihilate all who oppose you. And we shall comply.

We comply because we are obedient, not because we are in agreement. We stand atop the ruins and raise a banner no one else will witness. We see our cities for the last time, for no one can build atop them until the stars burn out and the universe itself goes dark. We are the bringers of despair and damnation, marked and blotted from the galaxy forever. The world will rust and rot and fall into ruin before us, just as we ourselves shall do. We are the Epoch's End, and we shall ever comply. For we know one inescapable truth; the world ends with us.”

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Next up, got a Recon squad almost done. Just wondering if it's worth magnetizing shotguns and sniper rifles or taking one as a dedicated sort. Always open to opinions. Oh, and some terrain. Yeah, got that happening too.

Edited December 15, 2018 by Vykes

[Brother Pheidias]

Loving it!

[Chaeron]

Continues to look brilliant Vykes - great stuff!

[Soldier of Dorn]

That use of the Masters of the Chapter power fist is inspired. Great Destroyer squad all round.

[Pearson73]

Solid work on the posing of the new Destroyers, I think the grenade thrower is my favourite of the lot.

 

As a thought for the continuation of the company, I feel there is a lack of choom at present...

[Marshal Rohr]

I love the way you’ve used the upgrade kits to make the unit look like the collected visions art!

[Vykes]

What can I say mates, I super appreciate it.  Always keeps me going!  Thanks a ton, eh?

 

Soldier of Dorn, I had that piece for about half a year now and have been tempted to use it on a half dozen things but it never came around.  But after seeing it here I just had to do something with it, and eventually went with Sergeant Drama and Horatio the understudy. I asked a few mates about the helmet colour as I've never subscribed to having any one enemy and they just said, "You know... they're using rad stuff and WMD's, why not make it an old rusty non-aligned helm?"  Lo, I did. 

 

Man, Pearson I was pretty happy with these destroyers after working on my Blood Angels Destroyer lot.  I think I kinda like these more, point in fact.  But yeah, I think I like the grenade thrower too.  I may have to make some more if I can work some trade magic.  Likewise, I think I like the choom idea too.  Might have to see about either some big guns, or what about Chargers?  You awesome lot got any opinions on em? 

 

And thanks a ton Marshal Rohr.  I love those collected visions books so if I can make up a few things that are close to them, then I pick that option as often as possible.  A friend of mine is looking to scrounge up a few of his extra Iron Warrior 'skull' helmets that look exactly like the Grey vets on some of those pictures, so I'm waiting to see if I can get my hands on em. 

Edited December 18, 2018 by Vykes

[Pearson73]

I'd definitely like to see more Destroyers.

 

Rules-wise, I think chargers look alright, they're a free upgrade for a flamer support squad and, for me, the short range isn't an issue, as I plan on an O.A. list. I'm unsure whether the increased strength compensates for the reduced shots, but then rule of cool is always great. They make for cheap character add-ons too, or a Glaive could be cool...

[Vykes]

It does seem like a ton of fun to have an assault choom unit (maaaybe with some extra chainswords and pistols?) Use it as a storm unit, yeeeez, yez this sounds good. And I should get the chance too pretty quick. As for a Doom-Choom, I might have that covered.

The 65th Company's 3rd Platoon, a mainline heavy assault unit often joined by Praetor Kademius.

Led by Lieutenant Varren aboard the Mastodon Vitanii, we have the Breacher Squad Charnel Hounds, Terminator Squad Libek, Dreadnought Gorros, Support Squad Hail, and the Glaive Lion of Cthonia.

[Brother Pheidias]

I've got plans for Jump Pack-equipped Reavers with Chargers and Chainaxes, using Chain-bayonets...

[Pearson73]

A choom storm/shock squad does sound appealing, now you've got me wanting one, or choom Immortals, as a more hate-filled alternative...

 

Don't know how I missed your Glaive, looks cracking. Surprised by the lack of glow/energy effects around the coils though.

[Vykes]

Hah, yeaaaah I kept the volkite generally metallic with some copper induction coils rather than glowing sorts. Did it for the calivers too, so I might change it but I kept getting people telling me I did plasma a weird colour compared to the blue -sighs a bit-

Well, a bit of an update picture: I have mooost of my ground forces and air forces with some new pictures, but honestly I need some more room and table space so I'll likely need another set up (or just another mat).

[Pearson73]

I really am blown away every time I see your forces all layed out for war, they look a true legion.

 

A very inspiring collection and I hope that one day my force(s) will be so numerous and cohesive when viewed en masse.

[Son of Carnelian]

Flex on 'em! So cool to see your force arrayed for battle like that.

[Vykes]

I really do love companies and forces that 'feel' right, which usually makes 'em pretty big. Hey, no worries, keep working at it Pearson and you'll surpass the 65th for sure, mate Man, Son of Carnelian, I'm hoping to snap down another table and take a few nicer wider shots to get everything in. Should be fun.

Lets see, bit of news, I managed to few bits and bobs away from a mate who'll be bringing up some stuff later on this year. So, I have a 2019 project in the works that might just be related.

Edited December 18, 2018 by Vykes

[Gorgoff]

YEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH man!

[Marshal Rohr]

I am so intensely jealous of this army and quality :D The lore is solid too

[Unknown Legionnaire]

Amazing army, simply stunning.

[Vykes]

Ah, you guys rock. Seriously, it's what keeps me goin'. Marshal Rohr, glad it ain't too bad on the lore side: it's definitely a sort of thing I like toying with.

Well, I guess today's work. Meh, not super happy with em but they're supposed to be dull so it works. Recon group Echo. Camo is all well and good but gah, it's boring. I'm thinking of really retooling the cloaks into something. Maybe some grey, maybe some sort of dazzle pattern, or more oil and patterning. So up to any suggestion at this point.

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Recon Squad Echo, honestly I kept thinking shotguns right up until the end but snipers feel unique.

Starlight fell over open fields choked black with soot and ash. While the swirling tempests that raved the planet had subsided, the sky had rolled up and exposed the ominous maw of open space above the ruination that was Istvaan. There was nothing left but the pulsing throb of lights in the heavens as starships span overhead like glittering diamonds and the colourful miasma of the milky abyss circled around them.

'Echo One-three, Echo One-actual. Move to position E-three-one, twenty meters above you.'

A single vox-click signals compliance. The third story of the hab block was nothing but what crumcling skeletal spires still held to the rickety column soaring more than twenty meters in the air. The slight incline on the down upon which it was built made up the other ten. Krismal's farmoured fingers dig into the spongy stone as he hauls himself up the ribbed column, using every weather-worn spar that stuck out to aid his ascent. Every story had whatever dead niche or nook had been left after the building came down leaving this last obalisk-like pillar defiantly standing against the onslaught. And just as suddenly, Krismal ran out of handholds.

“Echo One-three, ascension stalled.”

'What do you mean 'ascension stalled'?'

Krismal snots, “It's down the bare metal up here. Gonna have to jump it, and if I do, the whole mess might come down.”

'Got a hook and line?'

The recon trooper huffs, “have I got a hook and line.” he parrots rhetorically. Krismal backs down a few meters and carefully sets foot on a ragged ribbed plate that was once part of the second floor. It was only a scant meter of room before the twisted spars looked liable to disintegrate if an avian settled on it too roughly. The firestorms that had claimed Istvaan removed that possibility, though.

Krismal reaches behind him, expertly picking through his pack before producing the thin spool of carbon fibre and hook of his rappelling gear. With an effortless swing and soft clang on stone, the line loops over the stone and lowers until Krismal could clip the carbon line into a small innocuous cinch in the neck of the barbed grapnel.

With an experimental heave, the trooper pulls himself up hand over hand to the thin spire above. The ascent is easy, albeit obvious to any casual observer. As he ascents, a muted crackle and ghostly indecipherable babble crackles over the trooper's vox-thief.

“Getting some weird com chatter up here, Echo One-actual.”

'Copy Echo One-three. Kris, define 'weird'.'

The trooper puts a finger to his temple, focusing every bit of his attention on it. He stops, then shimmies up the last few meters before pulling himself up onto the sniper's perch high above the ruined homestead overlooking the blasted wastes. Pillars of smoke and microflashes of flame light the corpse of the city on the horizon, but around them is nothing but the abyssal silence. Krismal strains his vox-thief again, listening to the almost underwater garbled transmissions.

“Pretty sure it's human speech, garbled, not rushed and not panicked. Sergeant, I can't-” he twists his head, looking momentarily at the yawning darkness above him.

'-ervo te. Servo hominibus. Cave tenebris sacerdos qui loquitur fraternit-'

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As to what I typically listen to and kiiinda associate with Sons of Horus at this point... well.

Usually I just like ambiant or instrumental sorts, but I'm a sucker for Gustave Dore and Paradise Lost imagery.

Edited December 21, 2018 by Vykes

[Gorgoff]

Stuff like that, the dedication, those great short storys, the efford which went into those and into the paintjobs, the community supporting each other, or in short: this pure nerdism is what keeps me going and what I love about this game.

[Astartes Consul]

That Recon squad looks great! How is that kit to work with? Thinking of picking a few up in the New Year.

 

Also, the whole army shot? Incredible.