In Service of the Death Lord - DuskRaider's AT Project

[Reyner]

I started building my Knights last night, they are so small! Not as annoying to build as the Van Saar though. Those power fists work really well are they the MK2/3 armour power fists?

[DuskRaider]

Yup, they're the Mk. II / III (same thing, really). The funny thing is they're really not too small, about the size of a Marine more or less. It's the scale that throws it off.

 

Remember, Gallants are completely legal as well... same as Crusaders (I think those are the dual ranged ones for filthy Loyalists). You simply choose two weapons for a Questor Knight.

[DuskRaider]

Three more finished, but this time it was a little special. I had the chance to make a past iteration of my favorite Knight I've built for my House Makabius Chaos Knight army; Canticum Carnifici ; Executioner's Song. You'll either recall it from my 40K log (or the picture I posted a page or two back).

 

A hulking, mutated and three armed behemoth, it obviously didn't start "life" in this form. Like all things, it has an origin. And so here is Executioner's Song, M31.

 

 

... and House Makabius in the service of the Death Lord (so far):

 

I wanted to do something unique with my Seneschal and so you'll see it has a Manipulus third arm. This is not only to help tie it to it's 40K (technically 36K as that's the timeline my House Makabius and attendants were modelled for) but also to show how ancient this Knight frame really is. The Manipulus calls back to when the Questor would have been used for labor and construction moreso than combat, meaning in a past life (most likely when Baroda was first settled) Executioner's Song was more a bipedal bulldozer or something.

 

The Seneschal himself has also made an appearance in my 40K log, albeit in a much different form. By the time of the 36th millennium, Malphas Makabius is a Priest of Nurgle. However, in the 31st millennium he is a renowned and justifiably feared Knight Baron known as the "Huntsman". Taking to the field with anywhere between 6 and 12 neurally slaved Armiger Warglaives, or his "Hounds". Makabius is called upon to hunt down important enemies, often much larger than his Questor.

 

You'll also notice that Canticum Carnifici wears a different color scheme upon it's carapace from it's future rendition. The reason for this is quite simple: the white carapace denotes the Seneschal. In 40K, the Knight is no longer the Seneschal's war engine (it's actually possessed by a Greater Daemon of Nurgle and had been piloted by a number of Malphas Makabius' descendents after his vocation) and so it now wears the sable of the House.

 

Malphas Makabius, on the left, now a Priest of Nurgle.

 

Canticum Carnifici , M36

Edited April 26, 2019 by DuskRaider

[Macrossmartin]

Ye Gods, that's a mighty force of knightly nastiness you have there, DuskRaider. Great stuff! I wouldn't want to see that lot arrayed on the other side of the table from my Maniples. 

 

The colours are superb; great tonal range, subdued without descending into Nurgly nastiness — yet!

 

Loving the way you're connecting your AT18 force to your 40K army. Tempts me to do something similar with my House Cuori knights. (That would mean buying a Knight army. Hm. This means spending large sums. Make sure you hit up GW for your percentage...!) 

[DuskRaider]

Thank you, frater. Indeed, I'm trying to amass a Knight House but it seems even now I'm woefully undermanned. A member of AT18 posted a sample list of merely 1155 points and it's... daunting. Although I still feel GW has made Knight armies too restrictive, I'm starting to see why. I cannot imagine what a 2000 point Knight House list would look like numbers wise. A true horde army, it would seem.

 

As it happens, all of my 40K armies are intertwined in some way (with the exception of my Word Bearers and Black Legion, which I've lost all motivation with). From the massed magnitude of Heresy and Titanicus down to INQ28 and eventually Necromunda when FW expands upon Chaos, all share a lineage going back to when I first started playing 40K some 20 years ago. What can I say, I'm a sentimental heretic.

[Atia]

Your army looks great already - and you can't have enough Knights! With the three new ones, are their numbers now usable for the new lances?

[DuskRaider]

Thanks, Atia!

 

They should be usable now, but at the bare minimum (3 to a Banner). I've got another box so I can build the 3rd Avenger Knight and probably two more Gallants to go with the Seneschal, but I feel I need more. I can't see a Banner of 3 sticking around very long, especially when they're staring down the barrels of multiple Titans proper. I view this as more of a long term project, it's going to take some time to build up a proper Knight House. One can only hope the upgrades for the Cerastus and more importantly (IMO) the Acastus arrives to save the day soon.

[Mendi Warrior]

Once again, very nice! Are you planning a mutated one for AT as well?

[DuskRaider]

At this point, probably not. In trying to keep all Chaos influence out of the force(s). Once GW / FW move on to that portion of the Heresy, I may do something... like a later rendition of my Mortis and Makabius.

[Mendi Warrior]

If you can wait until then  Looking forward to this (even if it is a long time from now)

[DuskRaider]

You'll have a better chance of seeing more 40K Chaos Knights long before this... especially with that amazing new video. Oh man, I'm so excited here.

[Atia]

You'll have a better chance of seeing more 40K Chaos Knights long before this... especially with that amazing new video. Oh man, I'm so excited here.

You should be

[DuskRaider]

I'm pleased to announce that I have officially played my first game of Titanicus. Wow... what a blast!

 

Both my friend and I chose Honour and Glory as our mission. We just kind of fielded whatever... we were both equal but you wouldn't know it, myself fielding a Warlord, two Reavers and three Warhounds and he two Warlords, a Reaver and two Warhounds.

 

I played my melee Reaver, curious how it would perform but not expecting much. Instead, he became the MVP.

 

I used March of the Dead to get my Reaver and Warhounds moving quickly in tandem, the Reaver moving up after his Princeps (Warlord with twin Sunfury Plasma and Missile Launchers). While doing this, the Warhounds flanked on the left, forcing him to shift his Reaver to counter their advance.

 

I set my Warlord up obscured by most of his force so any shots he did attempt would be at -2. This may have saved my skin (that and good rolling to regenerate my shields). To the right of the Warlord was my second Reaver with Gatling Blaster and Volcano Cannon to act as protection. This, along with the terrain, was able to hold off his Warhounds and second Warlord from closing in or causing too much damage.

 

In the meantime, I was able to push my melee Reaver into his Princeps by timing my Charge order until after he declared First Fire, meaning he wouldn't be able to move. The Chainfist charge devastated his shields and after taking a Sunfury blast (with one tick of the Shield left), he began to carve apart the Warlord.

 

Unfortunately, the Power Fist sent the Warlord backward three inches (probably the worst case scenario), so next turn he had a chance to Blind my Reaver.

 

While this was happening, my Princeps slagged a Warhound and my squadron of Hounds also crippled his Reaver.

 

We went to turn three with his Princeps only needing one more wound to it's body and having completely lost his Reaver and a Warhound while all of my engines were still operational. So, he conceded the game.

 

FUN. So much fun. It was pulling teeth getting this set up but now that we've played it, we're hooked. In look forward to playing again and hopefully very soon.

Edited May 5, 2019 by DuskRaider

[Dark Bjoern]

Gratulation. I know what you mean. I got my first match last week. Not on such a large scale like yours, but hell yeah, it was so much fun. Can´t wait to get more done and field an entire Maniple.

[Chaeron]

Sounds like a great game DR - will hope to see some photos of the Legio in action in the not-too-distant future...

[DuskRaider]

Wow... so it's been a while (a month to be exact). Rest assured I have not been idle, as you'll see in this update.

 

I've completed eight more Knights (two Lancers not pictured as their bases aren't finished). Not only that, but I've assembled and primed my Strategems. I was really looking forward to doing these, if only to add more flavor and depth not only to my Titanicus but to the whole world building idea in general.

 

First up are the Knights. The first three are two Gallants for my Seneschal's Banner and the third Avenger Gatling Knight. Fairly straightforward with these guys. I thought about doing something special with the Gallants since they're a part of the Seneschal's entourage, but I decided to keep them fairly standard in case I decide to field Gallants sans my character or if I do a full Banner apart from him.

 

 

Next we have the Banner Scions. Their scheme denotes their status as Baron, which for Barodan Houses is a prerequisite for any command rank. This is to prevent conquered House entities from staging a coup, although there are ways to grant those not of blood relation the Baron title (mainly through House "adoption", thus making them a Makabius). This is more common with Vassal Houses than it would be with conquered House members.

 

 

The essential "House as it Stands" picture

 

And now onto the Strategems...

 

The first five here represent the Secutarii Infantry Strategem. They're actually Tech Thralls, but they fit the look well and the sculptor was extremely faithful to the FW models with these little guys. I imagine when Mortis walks to war the ground is crawling with Secutarii, an imposing vision for enemy infantry. These are mounted on 32mm bases. I wanted to give them a smaller footprint to convey just how small they are compared to literally everything else in the game and I also didn't want to have their bases somehow mistaken for Knight bases. The drawback is there's very little room to model on them, so no scenery. The plus side is the ten Secutarii fill the base, making them seem more numerous.

 

Apologies if the detail is hard to see, it's not easy when it's simply primed.

 

 

Next up are the Titan Hunter Infantry Strategem. These are again mounted on 32mm bases, but since there are only five Marines to a base I was able to squeeze some scenics on each to make them fit the overall theme of the army. These are a mix of Mk. III and Mk. IV Astartes mainly armed with Missile Launchers (there are some Heavy Bolters and a Plasma Cannon or two as well). These will obviously be Death Guard and will tie everything else together with the various Astartes on some of the Titan and Knight bases throughout the force.

 

 

And finally, my Air Support Strategem, represented by two Storm Eagles. These models are SO cool. Whoever sculpted these is ridiculously talented and it's a pity these aren't properly supported by GW / FW. I'm awaiting brass rod to pin these in a proper flight pose to 40mm bases. They will obviously be Death Guard.

 

[Mendi Warrior]

Simply beautiful  I love the stratagems, you made an excellent acquisition, the infantry models are indeed beautiful! A pity they are not supported by FW/GW indeed.

[Fajita Fan]

Those knights look great, you’re way ahead of me.

[DuskRaider]

Thanks guys. To be fair Fajita, you're going wicked custom with yours and mine are more or less standard with a few head swaps and Thunderstrike Gauntlets. Nothing crazy.

[Rabenga]

Where are the spass Marines from? Forum ware?

[DuskRaider]

Yessir. You can find them on eBay. Just search "Forumware".

[Rabenga]

Groovy..thanks mang

[DuskRaider]

Groovy..thanks mang

Get some boooyeee

[DuskRaider]

I'd say its time for an update.

 

The Strategems and Cerastus Lancer Scions are finished. These were actually a lot of fun to paint (with the exception of the Secutarii, they were hell).

 

First up are the Cerastus Lancer Scions. They follow the same variant scheme as the Questoris, denoting they are Barons and / or Scions. I'm missing some transfers but thanks to a kind frater there are more on the way.

 

 

Next, the Secutarii. Now I love detail and these are absolutely full of it... the issue arises when they're so damn small that it's nigh impossible to get it all and I'm obsessive over detail. So these became a major headache for me.

 

I was torn on how to do their scheme. They're obviously Mechanicum but they're seconded or sworn to serve Legio Mortis. On the other hand, Mortis is FANATICALLY devoted to Mars (which is why I argue they were actually Loyalist during the Heresy, as per their prime directive). In the end I made their cloth red and carapace armour black to match the Legio / Mars, with the little tiny cog symbol on their chest gold to match Mortis' trim. Their helm visors are gloss black, I thought it would give them a more inhuman feel. There's not much base details, but that's because I wanted to fill each base with Secutarii (actually Tech Thralls but who cares?). It helps give them a horde feel and often times they would be marching in open field close to their Titanic charges.

 

 

Next are the Titan Hunters Strategem. While my Titanicus forces themselves are Legio Mortis and House Makabius, there has been an underlying theme of the XIVth Legion throughout the entire force. These Strategems have me the freedom and opportunity to really push that into it's own little spotlight.

 

As we know, the Death Guard campaigned heavily with Legio Mortis throughout the Heresy as well as basically owned House Makabius. What better way to represent that then to make the Titan Hunters Strategem Death Guard Heavy Weapons Squads?

 

The bases feature Astartes of the XIVth Legion in both Mk. III and Mk. IV armour. While most are armed with Missile Launchers, some do sport Heavy Bolters but it still fits the theme.

 

 

Finally, the Air Support Strategem Markers. While they had to be Air Support, I also wanted to ensure they were Death Guard. That cut my options down considerably. Thunderhawks are too large for this and I absolutely loathe the Xiphon. That made my choice an easy one: Storm Eagles. They may not be the first thing I think of when I picture strafing or bombing runs on Titans, they are iconic Legion air support.

 

I'm really pleased with how these turned out. Luckily I have a ton of Death Guard transfer sheets and there just so happens to be some small enough to use on these.

 

The bases are basic in that there are no infantry features, but I see these as representing the battlefield much better. Not many open spaces to walk, just endless rubble and destruction.

 

 

 

The finished models

 

House Makabius matches to war with their Legionnaire Masters

 

Mechanicum Secutarii form a protective barrier around the feet of Princeps Sacrosanctus Spoliari Gloria

Edited June 28, 2019 by DuskRaider

[Mendi Warrior]

Simply sublime! Once again