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

[Pacific81]

World Eater Train (!)

 

A quick update with some terrain that has been worked on. Pretty much everything else is painted in Legion colours, so I thought why not their trains and engines? The miniature is from Winterdyne Miniatures, and their Grimdark/Heresy train line. 

 

 

This is part of a larger terrain setup of the GW Manufactorium Imperialis set. I've added a number of small dioramas to make it a bit more interesting, such as a delegation of marine officers arriving to meet with a human officer. I have tried to be mindful of leaving space for Epic infantry and tank units to fight amongst the terrain. The train components are magnetised to stop them being knocked off during play. 

 

 

 

 

[Raziel-TX]

That’s very cool. Love all the little bits of story telling you put into your models. 

[Pearson73]

That's a great looking board, I bet battles look great with full companies fighting over such terrain. 

[Pacific81]

Thanks a lot for the kind comments guys, really appreciated! 

 

Firestorm Games now have the event listed on the site, so I guess now it is locked in! Quite nerve wracking, I have an existential fear of either no-one or too many people turning up (although possibly the former is a lot more likely!)

 

There are 'tickets' but its completely free, and just to give some idea of attendance. This is the first place I have posted (I'll post a proper event notice later on) so first dibs to this section of the forum and anyone following!

 

Firestorm Games - Epic Space Marine Participation & Demonstration game

 

Edited January 3, 2023 by Pacific81

[Pacific81]

Cap'n Squigbeard and his Merry Band of Treacherous Gitz

 

Of all the treacherous gits that comprised the forces of Warboss Mutarg, none were more treacherous than the band of Orks belonging to the notorious pirate Squigbeard. Exiled from the World of Badrukk's Place some five years previously, after an infamous sub-contracting scam in which he ripped off both Human and Ork paymasters by effectively being hired six times for the same job (and secured an absolutely enormous pile of teeth whilst doing so), Squigbeard had been relegated to working for other pirates and the Stunty-beardy-lot of the inner planets; a group that was notoriously difficult to scam and therefore not much fun. 

That all changed when the Capital Ships of the 12th Legion and 3001st Expedition arrived in system and the Warboss Mutarg, who had a canny knack for realising that he might then be meeting Gork & Mork in person sooner rather than later, sent a desperate plea (for an Ork, this meant less cuss words, and promises of even more teeth) to Squigbeard and his band; come back and protect the homeworld. After a final bit of treachery and first approaching the Imperial Fleet to see if they could better Mutarg's offer (the response was a hail of boltgun shells, which Squigbeard took to mean 'No') he and his aircraft arrived in Badrukk's Place. They were given free reign to practice the art of warfare of which they excelled at: piracy (and possibly a bit of treachery too). 

 

Cap'n Squigbeard and his Krew's aircraft fly along a jungle valley. His wealth meant many Mekaniak's were available to provide him with extremely fast and shooty vehicles. There was no travel by foot for the Treacherous Gitz and only the latest Black-Ork and Chin-Ork Choppas would do. 

 

One of the Krew look out across the jungle canopy, in search of stuff to nick or destroy. 

 

The Chin-Ork carries the majority of the Band's Boyz, ready to deploy via rappel-lines with a moments notice. 

 

In the Game

 

As the Epic Space Marine Freebooterz unit is pretty weak (as it was a free unit) instead Cap'n Squigbeard and his band use the 'Kommandoes' rules from NetEpic. These are a bit shootier (to reflect the band's better equipment) and can also then operate independently of the normal Ork command rule. 

The miniature helicopters are from Vanguard Miniatures, while the Orks are a 3D print from Etsy (these minis were a fair bit bigger than I was expecting, more 8mm than 6mm, so again have fit this around the background - only the biggest and strongest Orks are allowed to join Cap'n Squigbeard!)

 

Cap'n Squigbeard ambushes a patrol of Imperial Robots. Targets like this were common, as they would provide good scrap to sell off afterwards.

 

Heavily armed and armoured, the band of Orks were a match for even the most well trained and equipped Legion forces. 

[Pearson73]

Love those helicopter models!

[Raziel-TX]

Haha. Those are awesome. Please tell me they have a tape player with fortunate son playing on repeat. 

[Pacific81]

Haha brilliant! These guys are going to appear during the game, so when they do I will play that track

[apologist]

Looking awesome @Pacific81!

For the Firestorm event, which ruleset are you using?

[Pacific81]

Thanks mate!

 

Its going to be Epic Space Marine 2nd edition/Titan Legions for core rules, there are a few units that didnt have official rules so these are taken from NetEpic.

[Pacific81]

Some good (or bad!) news, the tickets for the event have now sold out. Firestorm are going to increase the number of tickets available and add some time slots, however this is just for coming and actually playing, and we will do what we can to give as many people a go as they can. And, even if sold out, there is no limit on people turning up to have a look.

 

But, good news, and I think the events people at Firestorm have been shocked by how many people are still interested in Epic!

 

 

In the meantime here are a few photos from some practice runs of a game:

 

Members of the 9th Battle Company, comprised mostly of reserve units (this explains some of their vehicles, having been removed from storage, still wearing the old War Hound livery), manage to defend a narrow valley from a fierce Goff Clan charge. They were helped by the presence of a Medic, who must surely receive honours for keeping the unit in fighting condition.. 

 

..And also the nearby Devestator and Predator tank squads. Their flanking fire was able to significantly reduce the number of Orks that were able to reach the marine position. 

Edited January 14, 2023 by Pacific81

[Pacific81]

Ork Great Gargant

 

 

 

Even amongst Ork-kind Warlord Mutarg was known for being green, and his formidable prowess in combat was matched only by his insane fits of jealous rage if he thought another Ork owned a shootier gun, a faster battlewagon, or tastier squigs. Most of Mutarg's underlings knew to stay well away during his tantrums, and yet despite his reputation the rival warbosses of Badrukk's Place sensed nothing wrong when Mutarg invited them all to a 'Gargant Meet' deep inside the forests of Mutarg's territory. The invitation, cruelly written and with a few suspicious-looking "hur hur" scribblings, was meant to bring the Warbosses together to discuss how to stop the approaching Humie menace. 

 

So on that fateful day, blissfully unaware, a group of Slasha Gargants stomped and smoked their way towards the agreed meeting place. Gretchin guides ushered them forward, and they didn't notice when the hard ground underneath turned to swamp and then their mighty war machines slowly started to sink. And by the time their belly-guns were submerged, and they realised that Mutarg was being a treacherous git, it was far too late. The Gargants were well and truly stuck, and with only their heads bobbing atop the surface, they were easy prey for Mutarg's 'reclamation teams'. Later on, special gretchin mud-diving teams attached lengths of rope to the stricken machines, and using mighty cranes (which Mutarg had obtained in a similarly underhand manner) the machines, or parts of them, were pulled back to the surface and taken to the mightiest forges in Mutarg's domain. 

 

 

The brief to Mutarg's most skilled Mekeniak's was simple: "Make the zoggin' biggest machine you can. Bigger than them ones of the humies, with shootier guns. An' make it so it don't explode". This high level brief in place, the Orks got to work. Day and night they toiled, and as more of the wrecked Gargants were pulled from their swamp-grave, so to the mighty machine grew. When it was finished, it was so mighty that Mutarg's pet Squig Grotmuncher whinnied in fear and hid behind its master's legs. Finally Mutarg's jealousy was sated; he had the mightiest of all mighty machines on Badrukk's place, and soon he would give the humies a good stomping.

 

 

 

The Miniature

After searching high and low, and for a long period of time, I finally found it! The holy grail of all Epic Ork players - an Adeptus Titanicus-scaled Ork Gargant. It was from a seller known as Custommodels on Etsy and is labelled as a 'Ramshackle Gargantuan.  I love some of the details, such as it having Land Raiders for feet, and I recognised bits from a few other miniatures in different areas, definitely giving it a look of being assembled from a collection of other miniatures. 

 

 

 

In the Game

 

Until the release of Titan Legions (which was an update to Epic Space Marine) the Great Gargant was probably a contender for one of the most powerful units in the game. It's damage output probably isn't that of a Warlord Titan, but they are just so durable and can take many, many hits before they finally fall to pieces. I think most people who have played the game have watched one of the things, it's head blown off and weapons inoperable, still stomping forward until the fires finally overcome it. It also carries the fearsome Belly Gun, a weapon which can finish off Titans in a single shot, knocking through their shields one after the other until it takes one of their legs off at the kneecap. Nasty indeed!

 

Any C&C very welcome. I am now thinking I need to get something similarly scaled and to try it take it on, on the Imperial side.. 

 

 

[Pearson73]

Fantastic! What an excellent model and a really nice paint job you've given it, I like the the burning wreck on the base too. Always fun to read these characterful stories too!

[Pacific81]

Thanks mate! 

 

So with the completion of the Gargant, the Ork force of Warlord Mutarg is just about complete. Might be a few extra bits here and there. This is about 8000pts in Epic Space Marine/Titan Legions, so a little under the Marine force, and may need to recycle a few units during the game for balance. 

 

 

The Evil Sunz Clan, the Mechanised Infantry of the Ork Army:

 

Goff Clan, the Slasha Gargant is being used as a Super Stompa 

 

Snakebite Clan:

 

Not sure where to go next with this now! I have a few Imperial Knights to finish off, and am very, very tempted by a Warlord Titan (to balance out the Gargant) - any suggestions on anything Epic-wise anyone would like to see though I would love to hear it! 

[General Zodd]

On 1/21/2023 at 12:41 PM, Pacific81 said:

Not sure where to go next with this now! I have a few Imperial Knights to finish off, and am very, very tempted by a Warlord Titan (to balance out the Gargant) - any suggestions on anything Epic-wise anyone would like to see though I would love to hear it! 

I used to have an epic ork army many moons ago, one warband I loved doing was a mixed armour and mechanised infantry warband of Deathskulz with all looted imperial and Marine vehicles, great fun little conversion projects!

[malika666]

A few suggestions:

 

Orks:

 

Looted vehicles:

You can go in two directions with this, either Deathskulls or Blood Axes. Either one will be fun to do and has its own character. Deathskulls are more 'show off' so blue tanks, big banners, showing off. The Blood Axes can go with weird camo patterns and Kommandos for support.

 

Mega Armoured Nobs:

Get more Mega Armoured Nobs, either the ones by Wakes Emporium or the ones I've designed for Vanguard Miniatures. They just add a bit more character to your force. You can paint them in the Goff colours (just black with some white), or go full Bad Moon Clan with them and paint them bright yellow with black accents.

 

More aircraft:

You could go crazy with the various Aeronautica Imperialis kits or see if you can get your hands on WWII fighters and tweak those.

 

Imperial:

Titans:

Can't go wrong with more Titans and Knights. 

 

Khârn!

https://vanguardminiatures.co.uk/shop/novan-elites-b-command-set-1/

 

Mechanicum support:

These could be either units aligned to your Titans/Knights, or an independent formation.

Allied Imperial Army support:

Either go with cannon fodder or armoured support

Edited January 23, 2023 by malika666

[Pacific81]

Thanks a lot for the replies guys, really appreciated!

 

Deathskullz are definitely on my list. Some really good conversion opportunities and they would be a good catch-all Clan to hoover up the random support cards from other Clans. Also the blue faces make them easily identifiable! Definitely for the Mega-armoured Nobz too as I really like those minis!

 

Imperial-side I am not sure about adding Imperial Army. The reason for this is I want at some point to do an enemy faction, of a human offshoot that isn't prepared to comply with the Crusade peacefully and I'm not sure what form that army will take yet (maybe some sort of 'hyper advanced' faction using Tau or Eldar rules, and Age of Tyrants miniatures).

 

I have just started on some Knights (just as I have the minis already) and am very tempted by a Warlord to offset the Great Gargant. Not sure whether to jump in as those things are definitely a project!

[Raziel-TX]

How about rounding out your Hounds with some combat support or combat service support units/capabilities?  
 

some plain old cargo haulers whether for fuel, ammo, PAX transpo. 
 

Maybe a FARP model with some fuel and ammo containers. Would make for a neat objective?

 

Landing pad that is one piece of an over growing FOB that has some comms gear/towers, vehicle repair depots with a damage rhino with some tech Marines running around it, razor wire around the perimeter (this FOB is growing into something more at this point, haha). 

[malika666]

Imperial-side I am not sure about adding Imperial Army. The reason for this is I want at some point to do an enemy faction, of a human offshoot that isn't prepared to comply with the Crusade peacefully and I'm not sure what form that army will take yet (maybe some sort of 'hyper advanced' faction using Tau or Eldar rules, and Age of Tyrants miniatures).

Note that with the Imperial Army allied contingent you don't need to do infantry. You could go for an Armoured Company, or perhaps even go for an abhuman regiment, think Ogryns! Think these in combination with this bunch.

 

As for objectives and such, more logistics stuff is always cool, perhaps the Samson transport craft by Grimdark Terrain or some smaller civilian shuttles by Bits Blitz Designs.

[Cactus]

Beastmen auxilia!

[Pacific81]

Thanks a lot for the replies guys, again really appreciated! These are all food for thought!

 

Raziel - yes for sure those are some great ideas. I love some of the concept of Marines in the GC era doing more mundane, everyday activities. Some Legion cargo haulers would definitely be quite cool as an objective!

 

Malika - wow how did those Ogroid miniatures get released without me realising? They look fantastic! That's another order from Vanguard then

 

Cactus - I already have a couple of Beastmen aux units These ones are transported in Gorgons. I liked the idea that they were used for assaults against heavily defended positions, until more of the Legion started getting the 'Nails fitted and decided they wanted to do that bit themselves. These ones are by Microworld Games.

 

[Pacific81]

A tiny update that I have stretched out to a full post!

 

Legion Librarian

 

Commander of the fleet Borya looked through the gaping hole in the side of the Shadowsword tank. Through it, he could see Brother Cadmus, stood the other side of the vehicle where they entry point of the weapon strike had hit home. Metres of fused armour plating, vehicle internals, and Legionnaire crew made a neat tunnel in-between them, with the walls of the tunnel neatly melted and cauterised together. He spoke to the marine opposite him "And you're sure about this? What sort of weapon could do this?" The tactical-unit marine opposite him nodded. "I saw the Orkoid tower fire..even as I felt it.. there was no conventional weapon flash or point of origin." Cadmus spoke again, hesitantly, as he very well knew the directives of Nikkea. "Even without my knowledge of the immaterium, there is no doubt to me that this strike was warp-borne." Borya nodded in weary acknowledgement, and dismissed Cadmus back to his unit. This was the 4th vehicle they had lost in the past 48 hours, and if the casualties continued in this manner it could very well derail their campaign. Something would be need to be done.. 

 

 

Just a small update and indulging in a bit of fan-fiction as an excuse to make this unit! This project is a snap-shot of the 12th legion towards the end of the Great Crusade, just after the Edict of Nikkea, and sometime before the Legion lost all of its Librarians. Like all (most?) of the other Legions, those marines gifted with psychic powers will have been moved back into conventional units and forbidden from using their powers. But what might have Commanders of Expeditions, especially those located far away on the frontier have done, if faced with situations where the absence of a Librarius effectively tied one arm behind their back? If they saw the potential for their campaigns to fail? I think it's an interesting question and you can probably make arguments for either side, and there may have been instances where Crusade forces failed because they followed the directive to the last. or others, which brazenly continued as before as they were sure they were in the right of it! It may have depended on the Legion in question, and perhaps even the commander forced to make the decision. But in this case, I had one of the lovely 'Librarian' proxy miniatures from Vanguard, so that made the decision for Commander of the Fleet Borya! 

 

 

Included the rules, just because of the great artwork! 

Edited February 1, 2023 by Pacific81

[malika666]

Cool addition. I don't know if I've suggested it before to you, but a Thousand Sons Librarian would also have been cool. (A) It allows you to break from constantly having to paint the white and blue armour, and (B) in the background it was mentioned that the Thousand Sons sent out their Legionnaires to other Legions to learn from them.

That said, you could even include a Word Bearers Chaplain in this force since Lorgar's mongrels were also 'preparing the way' for things to come through their Chaplain program. Having a stone grey or black character / squad in this force would be another nice little variation. 

[Pearson73]

Love the idea of the beast auxilia warded into battle by legion overseers. Nice thoughts re the use the librarians too, though I suspect a great many of the legions would have held fast to the edict, barring the Wolves, Thousand Sons and perhaps the Nightlords, who seem to have quite a few chaps running around with visions. 

[Pacific81]

@malika666 - thanks for the suggestion! Yes you did mention about including some other Legion bits (I think it was Space Wolf field police?) It's a great idea! And I do definitely feel like I have painted enough white and blue. I will have to think where to go from here and the project. Part of me thinks another Legion and setting, or as an alternative even another opposition army. But, I will see how the demo event goes next month and see how I feel (and if I am burnt out!)

 

@Pearson73 - thanks mate! Yes it's amazing how many of the Legions seemed to find ways of making use of stuff that was absolutely not psychic power-related, of course! :D