World Eaters of the Great Crusade: Here comes a New Challenger..

[malika666]

I vaguely remember that the 'old' Forgeworld background for the Blood Slaughterer mentioned that these machines were already used by the World Eaters during the Great Crusade or Horus Heresy, basically as some sort of psychotic version of a Dreadnought.

 

In case you're looking for more ideas...

Edited June 3, 2019 by malika666

[Pacific81]

‘Drip..... Drip...... Drip.....’

 

Warule sat entranced by the steady stream of condensation as it fell from the roof and rolled down one wall, pooling near the feet of the crouching form of Sergeant Buseyt. Though the liquid was stained and clouded it reminded him of something else; of blood, of the way which the crimson fluid stuck to a surface until sufficient weight forced it through gravity to descend, forming in rivulets and pooling like mercury. Its faint reflective aspect represented in a myriad of colours and shades, the mirror image of another world. But the water which crept morosely down the wall was very much of this reality, a sorry contrast to the dominant white and blue of the Astartes crouched throughout the room. Poor comparison to faded red, the remains of stained blood not entirely removed.

 

“Make yourselves ready, cohort!” The harsh digital representation of Buseyt’s voice chimed in Warule’s earpiece, breaking him from his reverie. Instinctively he gripped the haft of his chainaxe, running his gauntleted thumb over the well worn activation rune. Lime-green diagnostics winked positive in his visor; compartmentalised diagrams of his turbofans at once became opaque and then disappeared as the systems in the device were checked by the control centre of his armour. Warule had seen each and every step on a hundred occasions and anticipation built in him as it moved through its sequence: Auto-senses, environmental integrity, power levels, each confirmed in turn until only a single system remained. The diagnostic interface, as if sensing the weight of occasion, paused for a moment before an image of opened fangs enveloped the cross section of his mk3 helm; His Bio-neural implants, his Butcher's Nails, were ready. The image faded, leaving Warule’s image intensifier staring once more at coarse granite and pool of discoloured water.

 

When Buseyt spoke again, this time in more measured tones, it came to Warule as if he were submerged beneath that thin film of water and in another world. Flat, undisturbed, a shade of nothing; “Ignatov is pinned down in those ruins two hundred metres ahead. Machine gun nests, a trench, heavy machine weapon fire.” the Sergeant’s words came broken and halting. Despite the digital translation, all of them well knew the crushing sense of anticipation inherent in his tone. The sense of eagerness mixed with fear. After what seemed like an eternity he spoke again, but this time the words rushed forth like a torrent, bursting to come out, “We attack from above. For Angron. For the Emperor.”

 

A pause.

 

A drip of water.

 

The hollow echo of his breath faded into silence, and it hung in the air for what seemed like an eternity.

 

“Activation code...”

 

The world that existed around Warule collapsed, and the man that was the Astartes did not hear that final half muttered utterance. A torrent of images cascaded through his mind, a bursting flash of memories and experience which flowed through him, fleeting, never giving him respite or chance to reflect: Of the blood red skies of Lalonde, Brother Gasker lying in his arms his life blood draining away, Commander Dreyt falling to the Reavers, The howls of his brothers caught in the Maelstrom of Iskar slain without pause, Of blood, The training camps of Bodt a thousand white glowing gauntlets held to the sky fists clenched and the galaxy their prize. The images faded to the background, decades of war, of death and destruction, condensed into a heartbeat. There and gone like the flash of bolter muzzle.

 

With a scream of exaltation the faded world of greys fell away from him and the veils which cloaked his vision were discarded as he burst through the surface of that sterility. To Warule it did not matter that special biological pre-cursors had been activated, that carefully targeted hormones and chemical programs were being released into his brain. That reservoirs of adrenalin and more exotic components were being dumped directly into his bloodstream.

 

It did not matter. At that moment it felt like lightning had struck him. As if tens of thousands of volts of electricity were arcing through his body, as his muscular frame arched and threatened to tear itself loose from his skin of armour and launch itself through the ceiling. Twin hearts hammered in his heaving chest like pistons, his helmet desperately struggling to pump air into his lungs fast enough as they heaved in great undulating and ragged gasps. As his teeth clamped together, threatening to splinter apart, he gripped the haft of his chainaxe; it roared to life, the scream of its serrated blades echoing the fire which coursed through his veins. His eyes bulged, dancing wildly and rolling backwards in their sockets with a crazed intensity. He barely noticed his brother marines in front of him, seemingly wrestling with their own invisible daemons as their bodies were wracked with the tremendous forces raging within. Ceramite strained at the seams as they stumbled out of the building, those too inexperienced not to have loosened the bonds on their armour joints now paying the price; wracked with pain as their hyper-extended musculature expanded and bulged within their armour.

 

Warule bounded after them in great strides, barely able to keep his footing as his legs drove him forward, chain-axe singing its chorus of death and destruction. A serrated blade symphony which occupied his attention entirely, precluding any moment other than the one he now lived in.

 

Moments later they found themselves in an open space of sand covered pavements and roads. Warule’s heart sang at what was to come next and he thundered to a halt beside his squad, sending chips of dirt tumbling through the air. Placing his arms by his sides he planted his feet into the ground and squatted. He looked up into the red-tinged hue of the sky. To Warule it looked as though scarlet clouds drifted amidst the falling blood of his colleagues. Of Gasker, of Dreyt, of every World Eater who had ever fought and fallen.

 

Diagnostics blinked positive and screams of exaltation sounded in his earpiece as with a thunderous roar the turbofans in his jump pack ignited. His armour shook, feeling as though it would tear itself to pieces and with an almighty and ear splitting crescendo he was launched into the sky in a corkscrewing trail of black smoke and ozone.

 

Towards his enemies, towards blood and destruction, towards that world which existed so fleetingly and to which he always longed to return.

 

[Pacific81]

As Epic is all about the big scale and mass army shots, thought I would post a pic of the Twelfth Legion so far!

 

 

This is now easily enough to play a game with, so will build up the Orks to equivalent levels (along with some more terrain - pics coming soon). Hopefully then get a battle report posted!

 

In the meantime, the total numbers for the 3001st Expedition as it approached Zeta-Five-Zero and now:

- 164 Astartes

- 11 transport vehicles

- 8 AFVs

- 4 walkers

- 3 mechanised artillery

- 6 close support/light field guns

- 5 fast-attack 

- 2 support aircraft

- 1 air transport

 

[malika666]

Will the Ember Wolves also be making an appearance?

[Pacific81]

I'm not sure mate - I love the idea, love the new AT Warhound kits, but I also like the Reaver at least and don't want to be restricted to just having one type of Titan - even though the Ember Wolves would be the most fluff-accurate choice. Although - it was a big Crusade, two hundred years in there must have been all sorts of combinations of titan legions and astartes expeditions. 

 

I was thinking of going for the 'Warped Dogs' (Legio Damnatus), because I love the sense of tragedy, and waste, of the one line about them in the (very old) background, with their planetary assault vessel being destroyed and with it the entire titan legion during the assault on Terra. Also that there isn't an official colour scheme, so I can go for something that's complementary to the blue & white of the World Eaters. :) 

 

But - am still open to ideas! 

[malika666]

Have you considered doing the Titans in a type of (digital) camo scheme?

[battle captain corpus]

As Epic is all about the big scale and mass army shots, thought I would post a pic of the Twelfth Legion so far!

 

 

This is now easily enough to play a game with, so will build up the Orks to equivalent levels (along with some more terrain - pics coming soon). Hopefully then get a battle report posted!

 

In the meantime, the total numbers for the 3001st Expedition as it approached Zeta-Five-Zero and now:

- 164 Astartes

- 11 transport vehicles

- 8 AFVs

- 4 walkers

- 3 mechanised artillery

- 6 close support/light field guns

- 5 fast-attack

- 2 support aircraft

- 1 air transport

Looking sharp brother! Keep it up!

 

BCC

[Pacific81]

Hi folks - apologies for the lack of posts recently. This blog will go onto a hiatus for a bit while I do the dreaded 'house move'. So all of these guys will be going into boxes and will hopefully survive the warp travel (removal company) to their new home. But, the good news is that I'll then have a dedicated gaming area and hopefully have a lot more space to get some battle reports and the like going. 

 

Here are a few pics that to bring things up to date - many thanks for everyone that's taken the time to look at the blog so far. Will hopefully have some more new things to show before too long!

 

Robot Detachment

A mix of classic GW metal and plastic minis.

 

Legion Medusa Artillery detachment

Artillery loaders and mobile artillery by Vanguard miniatures. Ork dwellings in background are a mix of Gregster's Lab (small shanties) and CP Models 6mm range http://cpmodels.co.uk

 

 

 

 

 

Rapier Laser Destroyer Support detachment

Classic GW mini range

[Pacific81]

Gargant of the Broken Bone Goff Tribe 'Old Rusty'

 

 

The planetary assault by the 12th Legion had caught most of the Ork tribes of Bogroid's Place (as Zeta-five-zero was known to them) completely by surprise. The listening stations of the Great Mekaniak Jobbz were all pointed within the system to the inner worlds, towards the terrors that lurked there and the stunty-beardies that plagued the space-borne mining expeditions of the tribe, and the ravings of their mad Wierdboy-Oracle about an attack by "very angry white & blue armur boyz with noisy choppas" had been completely ignored. 

With the attacks of the World Eaters coming across all fronts, the Nobz of the Broken Bone looked in desperation for anything that could give them a chance of fighting back, especially against the giant fighting machines of the Warped Dogs. Many, many years after it had last seen combat, and having since been used for clearing forests and landslides of the Southern continents for the factories of the tribe, 'Old Rusty' (as it was affectionately known by its crew) was once more fitted with its weapons of war and sent to the front against the invaders. 

 

 

 

The miniature is from a later GW Epic release - it was bought second hand and mostly already painted, so I just added a bit of rust and weathering as well as an unfortunate marine to the base. 

 

Still in the process of setting up my hobby area again but hopefully some more (and regular) updates coming soon.

[apologist]

Lovely stuff - hope the house move went well. New gargant’s looking nice – they’d make good Supastompas when up against the new AT-scale Titans.

 

I drafted some Great Gargant rules for AT; would you like to help playtest? Thought it might give you another way to use these lovely models.

Edited October 27, 2019 by Apologist

[malika666]

You're back!!!

 

I hope VGM will release some of the Skinner models I've designed, they'd look amazing in your Ork army!

[Pacific81]

Thanks man! :) Would love to see some of the stuff you've been working on!

 

Lovely stuff - hope the house move went well. New gargant’s looking nice – they’d make good Supastompas when up against the new AT-scale Titans.

I drafted some Great Gargant rules for AT; would you like to help playtest? Thought it might give you another way to use these lovely models.

 

Thanks - yes went well although am still getting my hobby setup sorted. It's getting there!

 

It shames me to say though that I still haven't actually got a copy of AT. Was thinning out the mounds upon mounds of unused hobby stuff (some of it still in boxes) - I haven't yet got to the place where I can replace them with other mounds of new boxes. I will definitely jump in at some point though, when I do would love to give the rules a go (especially as I hope to be fielding a few Gargants eventually). 

[Pacific81]

Hi folks,

 

Apologies for the lack of further updates - as tends to be the way with any hobby real life gets in the way some times, and I've not been able to put anything like as much focus on this project as I would have liked. But - some minis did manage to make a house move with me (sadly I'm cut off from getting a number of them at the moment) and those included a Knight Titan and some of their adversaries. 

 

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

 

Imperial Knight of the House ++Redacted++ attached to the Warped Dogs Titan Legion, as part of the 3001st Expedition

 

 

 

You can't see it very well but there is a little squished ork on the base, just to add a little character. 

 

 

The Knight Households are listed as being 'disruptive' allies with the Marine Legions in Epic - essentially because they're not cohesive fighters together. You can imagine the swarming marines getting in the way of the Knights and annoying the pilots. "Where am I meant to stand... " "Watch out you.. " etc. I have a fun idea for a diorama for the next Knight miniature

 

For colour scheme I've gone for a retro style in an attempt to emulate the old 'Eavy Metal colours. There aren't any official accounts of what the Warped Dogs looked like (I have spent some time looking! There is nothing other than the one paragraph mention in the original HH story) so at least the door has been left open in that regard. I'll probably use a War Hounds logo from the FW decal sheet, or something similar, when I do finally get onto some larger titans. 

 

 

Any C&C welcome - hopefully not too long until the next post!

[malika666]

Oooooh, very nice! Good to see you're back. :)

[Pacific81]

A quick post and update of some of the latest 6mm opposition. 

 

These are Ork 'Big Gunz'. Each stand of three contains 3 individual units (so a full detachment overall). 

 

Miniatures are a mix of GW classic ork artillery pieces (possible hop-splat guns?), GW classic orcs and some Vanguard Miniature artillery loaders and Boss Ork

 

 

 

[Pacific81]

Legion Terminators

 

Few pieces of technology exist within the Legion armouries as formidable as Terminator Armour. Forged during the latter years of the wars of Unification and the compliance of the Terran solar system, rumoured an adaptation of earlier dark-age designs, the extreme strength and pressure resistance of the armour allowed it to be used in some of the most hostile environments encountered by the Emperor's forces. 'Cataphractii' armour was one such designation of design, and limited numbers of the armoured suits accompanied the Legion as part of the expedition. It's formidable strength and utility as a weapons platform making it ideal for use in the initial spearhead assault of Zeta-Five-Zero, most notably during the initial incursion of the industrial and manufacturing zones of the planet, where deployment by teleportation technology allowed a cohort of Terminators to take the defenders completely by surprise and incapacitate their power and communication networks. 

 

 

The Miniatures

 

 

Miniatures are wonderful little sculpts from the 'Novan Elite' range of Vanguard Miniatures, as part of their 'Defeat in Detail' 6mm range. You get 40 miniatures (so enough for two full cohorts - the remainder of mine have gone to a friend for his PH force) for a very reasonable £8. 

https://vanguardminiatures.co.uk/

In contrast to other World Eater units, I have put these miniatures on square bases, which I think look more representative for when the unit teleports onto the tabletop. 

 

In the Game

 

Terminators are one of the most formidable infantry units in Epic. They're expensive in points value, but the ability to teleport, and their durability means that they can be potential 'game winners' when landing on an objective. 'Reinforced armour' allows them to save against macro weapons and re-roll saves against conventional weapons, while thick rear armour stops them being caught in a crossfire. Finally, their own close combat macro weapons and two attacks each means you would think twice about assaulting them off that objective! 

 

 

Any C&C greatly appreciated - am starting to work on some other units so hopefully further updates before too long!

 

Edited May 6, 2020 by Pacific81

[malika666]

Awesome addition! Whilst this isn't the infamous 13th Expedition Fleet, I could see similar elements. The 13th was famous for attracting those Imperial military elements that had dark or questionable reputations for violence, particularly Feral World and Abhuman troops. You could include lots of Ogryns in there, maybe even Imperial Beastmen (would be a nice nod to the old school fluff).

[Pacific81]

Cheers Malika, that is a really good idea! 

 

I was thinking of a 1st/2nd edition style Imperial Guard contingent - Necromundian IG with all of the abhuman units you used to get in those days, would probably be quite fun to build. 

[malika666]

Note that culturally speaking Necromunda was very different back then than it is now. So perhaps no Necromundan Spiders? Also, note that Necromunda was liberated by the Imperial Fists, so I'd imagine they'd be a lot closer aligned to them than the World Eaters. But a Necromundan styled regiment could be cool...

[Pacific81]

++Extract from the written and auditory records of Remembrancer cadre of the 3001st Expedition. Vol1. XAC++

++ To be restricted from public record - clearance level Beta-3-Maximum. Any in contravention of this restriction to be immediately moved for mind-scrub and dishonorable discharge.++

 

"It was heroic and I shall present it as such" Gescoppo's jowls quivered as he spoke pointedly to the other Remembrancers in the room. "Surrounded on all sides against those awful, beastly creatures." His eyes widened, before he spoke again in hushed tones. "They fought until the last man." A pause for effect. "The last... "

"It was a waste" Roman Saari cut across him. "None of those Astartes needed to have died." He shook his head and grinned sardonically. "You would have thought they had had their fill of sacrifice, coming from where they did."

"That's what I heard too" Des added in agreement. She was sat on one side of the room, and had been quite for the last hour while the other two Remembrancers had bickered back and forth. "Was listening to some logistics serfs in the mess hall earlier." She looked up to make sure she had the other's attention. "Our friendly War Hounds weren't very pleased with the situation, so they said. Not because their fellow Legionaries ended up dead. Think they all know that comes with the territory. It's because they can't understand the Blood Angels' behaviour.  Why they did what they did. The Company Captain...." Des paused for a moment. 

"...Sevruk" Roman shivered at the mention of the name. 

"Yes" nodded Des in agreement. "He'd warned the Blood Angels unit. Told them to hang back until their Predator and Vindicator armour squadrons had caught up. Didn't think they had encountered enough of the Orkoid heavy armour that intel had told them was there. Thought they might be holding them back somewhere or laying a trap."

"And Leonidas and his men rode straight into it." Roman finished for her. 

 

They had seen the pict vids of Sevruk's company arriving on the scene. The World Eater counter-attach had been ferocious, the Orks driven off and much of their heavy armour destroyed, but the remains of the Blood Angel unit, of Rhino transports torn apart like paper by heavy artillery, had been plain to see. 

 

"But atop a mountain of green bodies they lay!" the great form of the Opera singer of the group gesticulated in an exaggerated fashion, his hands covering his ears. "And I will make sure that it is spoken of as such." Gescoppo nodded firmly and with finality. 

Roman shrugged, "That much is true." He looked at the other two Remembrancers in turn. "But we'll be the only ones left to tell the tale of it."

 

++Auditory Record fades out, cuts to static and then ends++

 

 

"The Last Stand" 

This is a small diorama I've made featuring the Blood Angels. It was with some remains of other units that had been finished, and rather than let them go to waste I thought they might make an interesting diorama or objective marker piece. The theme seems to be quite common for Space Marines, that of the last stand. The last photo with the paint pot is for scale.

 

Any C&C very welcome!

 

 

 

 

 

 

[malika666]

I still wonder how 10 Space Marines could ever fit in that Rhino. :P

Cool diorama by the way!

[Pacific81]

++ Record file: Planetary Invasion force of Zeta-Two-Zero, 3001st Expedition ++

 

++ [ [ File security level Epsilon Beta # ]] ++ //Any access without required security clearance will result in dishonourable discharge and/or mind scrub 

 

Tactical demi-company of the 168th World Eater Chapter "Gaster's Gladiators", VII Cohort, 2nd Company

 

// Oathsworn Scribe's note to reader: This Chapter thought to have been named in honour of a decorated officer of the first phases of the Great Crusade. The Chapter and Cohorts within it will have been replenished by new recruits from the World Eater domain prior to the launch of the Expedition, as well as fractured remnants of other Chapters which had been subject to a casualty level such that they were disbanded. It is unknown whether the Chapter was made of Terran veterans or members from other recruiting worlds, although from this period of the Crusade the initial surviving members of the Legion that had been recruited from Terra were likely to number less than ten percent. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Miniatures

The Marines are 'Afrray Squads' from Vanguard Miniatures (defeat in detail 6mm range). The Rhinos are as always the classic plastic GW miniatures, which are still available relatively cheaply (and in large quantities) second hand. 

 

Any C&C very welcome, hopefully some more updates again before too long!

 

[malika666]

Please share the painting tutorial you've done here as well, or at least in the tutorial section of this forum? :)

[Pacific81]

Orc Weirdboy Tower, 'Mystic Zeg' of the Bad Moon tribe

 

Mystic Zeg was an unusually eccentric weirdo, even by the standards of other psychic mutants within the the tribe. However, her highly accurate precognition abilities meant that she enjoyed much patronage amongst the ruling Nob houses of the tribes of Badruk's Place. It is therefore unknown why her frenzied but extremely specific warnings of "Big angry white and blue armur boyz with noisy choppas" had been completely ignored by the Warchiefs of the Tribes, therefore allowing the World Eater fleet to fall upon their ill-prepared defences. It could be that they were simply too engrossed in fighting and scheming amongst themselves, planning war on the other occupied worlds within the system, or else worrying about 'dat scary place' on the inner planet of the system.

 

Regadless, now that the invasion and war has commenced, Zeg has taken her place in the warbands of her tribe and rides into battle in a specially designed, kustom battle-wagon. Zeg is able to absorb the psychic energy of her comrades, harnessing the energy and focusing it into devastating beams of destruction that annihilate everything in their path. But, this power comes at a price, and there is every danger that Zeg will absorb too much power, become consumed by it, and explode. Therefore she sits alone atop a tower, mumbling about things to come, and quite often specifically about her fate which she has seen many times (one year, twelve days, two hours and fifty minutes from now when she will fall out of the tower and "get squished by a zoggin' great humie battle-wagun")

 

 

In the Game

 

In Epic Armageddon, sadly there aren't any special rules for this vehicle. Instead, it's a 'counts as' custom Mekboy weapon (which has a rather fearsome macro-weapon type attack).

In the other version of Epic, based on Space Marine, the vehicle had some rather cool rules where it could absorb the energy of orks around it and the power increased depending on volume, with a chance that the vehicle would explode. Those rules were rather fun and characterful, so I'll look at adapting some for use in Epic: Armageddon.  

 

Pictured: The Weirdboy Tower and two minder vehicles, making sure that Zeg doesn't "get any smart ideas and do sumfin stoopid"

 

 

Hopefully some more "angry white and blue armur boyz" next, so watch this space!

 

[Pacific81]

Legion Spartan Transports

 

The great Orkoid city of Gubrak-Nor, the capital city of Badruk's Place, or Zeta-Five-Zero as it was known to the invading forces, was besieged more than a dozen Astartes chapters numbering tens of thousands of troops, not to mention the far greater quantities of auxiliary troopers, in an assault lasting many days. Great bombard-cannons, crewed by Astartes troops that did not tire, pushed shell after shell into firing chambers glowing red hot. The curtain of fire laid down was apocalyptic in proportion, many of the bastions of defense destroyed, but still the Orkoid forces defending lay in wait and bided their time, snarling at the prospect of the alien force that dared to invade their world. Eventually the big guns fell silent and from the Astartes trenches heavily armoured transports roared towards the enemy and cracks wrought in their defensive lines. Chief amongst these was the Spartan tank, formidable in aspect, equipped with quad-mounted lascannons and carrying a deadly cargo of Astartes assault troops. Breacher units, Terminator armour, assault troopers and more were disgorged from transports which smashed their way through the defender's crude barricades. The noise of the vehicles powerful engines was then joined by the bark of boltgun fire and scream of chain-blades as the foes met. 

 

 

In the Game

 

Like it's 28mm counterpart, the Spartan is a points-expensive but fearsome transport vehicle. Two damage points and 4+ reinforced armour mean it can withstand a fair amount of punishment, while it's thick rear armour means it can plunge into enemy lines and not be concerned about dangerous cross-fire attacks. It's own firepower has impressive range and armour stopping power, and of course the ability to carry four units (or two terminator stands) means that as a unit they are ignored at their opponents peril. 

 

 

The Miniatures

These vehicles are from the Vanguard Miniatures 'Defeat in Detail 6mm range'. They look somewhat similar but distinct to the Forge World Spartan (28mm) miniature, but in my mind could well be represented by the many different STCs and vehicle designations that took place in the Great Crusade. 

https://vanguardminiatures.co.uk/shop/novan-elites-mauler-assault-transport-x-2/

 

Any C&C welcome - more unit/picture updates soon!