The Lycia Crusade: Fluff snippet

[Prot]

Wow. I love the subtle shoulder pad touch. It really brings it together. And great work on the 'tentacles' You have some real Doc Oc looking dudes there.

[BLACK BLΠFLY]

Very nice Urkh !!

[Bjorn Firewalker]

Excellent work on Master of the Forge Merlinus. Do the oversized skulls decorating his armor, commemorate victories over the soulless Necrons? I notice they don't have cogwheels encircling them, like the AdMech symbol most Techmarines bear.

[Urkh]

@prot, thank you! That is high praise coming from you! Spider-man is my favorite super hero, and Doc Oc is definitely the inspiration for my tech marine designs. I even have a Doc Oc poster on my wall! If you go to my archived thread (which SHOULD be linked my sig, but I haven't seen anyone's sig in a long time), you can even see that I named the original techmarine Doctavius.

 

@BBF, thank you!

 

@bjorn, thank you! The lack of cogs on the big skulls is mostly oversight, partly bits, and partly maybe not having enough room on the shoulder pad to make it a meaningful design. The goal was to try and use as many pieces from the Chonky Castellan kit as I could. Figured it wouldn't be much of a kit bash if I only used the chest and head! I didn't get an angle of it in these pics, but both large skulls are painted half white, half silver, in true admech fashion! We are fighting against the 'Crons though, so maybe eventually I will get some necron body part decor actually on the minis one day.

[BLACK BLΠFLY]

It takes a lot of imagination to design that Techmarine. JAWESOME !!!

[mytimeprez]

 Very inspiring work! Really like that forge master. You’ve done the eternal crusade proud. 

[Gederas]

Love, love, LOVE that Master of the Forge. Stealing that for my own Crusade

 

How difficult was it to graft the parts together? Looks like you cut the Blanche Castellan at the waist and back?

Edited December 17, 2022 by Gederas

[Urkh]

2 hours ago, Gederas said:

Love, love, LOVE that Master of the Forge. Stealing that for my own Crusade

 

How difficult was it to graft the parts together? Looks like you cut the Blanche Castellan at the waist and back?

 

The cutting was definitely more stressful than the fitting together! You're correct that I cut the Blanche castellan at the waist and back. Merlinus's skull shoulder pad is actually a combo of both the castellan's shoulder pads, as I wanted to use the full skull for something else (which happened to be for his backpack). I did have to do some shaving on the sides of the chest so the servo arms would fit as well. I used quite a bit of green stuff to be able to make a flush surface for the chest to connect to the body/back of the Marshal. Some of the servo arms are a really tight fit, especially the ones by the backpack!

[Urkh]

It's been a while since I've done work on my templars, but I am intermittently working on the new Helbrecht mini as I work on my heretical other army. As such, here is a WiP pic:

 

Edited April 18, 2023 by Urkh

[Brother Christopher]

Looking good so far. Also, the colour of -- what I'm assuming to be -- unfinished cloak and tabard works pretty well ;) It's not great, since it blends with the armour too much but quite refreshing enough to grab my attention.

[Urkh]

Everything here is just a basecoat and a wash. No layering has been done yet! The cloak and tabard will be white cloth, and the armor will be layered gold, then a light reikland flesh shade to brassen it up!

[Urkh]

Much progress on the high Marshal. Still have the servitors to paint and need to finish the base. Waiting till morning for the Stirland Battlemire to dry.  Some other minor details after that and he'll be done!

[Brother Christopher]

Thanks for the update! It's already looking great. The golds are just stunning.

[Urkh]

Stunning, you say? Must make chopping off the heretics' heads easier.

[Urkh]

Finished High Marshal Helbrecht!

 

and a bonus pic of him.next to my old metal Helbrecht!

 

 

Up next: Grimaldus!

 

Edited May 8, 2023 by Urkh

[Brother Christopher]

Well, that was definitely worth the wait. I particularly like the light-toned cape (with the red trim) and tabard. An interesting and fun take. The small crusader shields on the torso are also an excellent touch - I think I'll borrow the pattern for something of mine. One slight critique: I'm not a big fan of the shading on the cape. It appears that you used a wash which dried up with a crumpled texture (?). Or it could just be the photo. Regardless, I think that painting recesses on large cloth areas is quite tough.

 

Also, I must have a good Warhammer day because I don't find the old Helbrecht extremely rubbish next to the upscaled version. Even though he's significantly shorter (and without a scenic base), he looks quite decent - it must be thanks to your paintjob.

[Urkh]

Yah, I was trying something new with the cape. It came out a lot better near the shoulders than the actual back. White capes have always been difficult for me. I might have tried different colors, but I wanted him to be a faithful recreation of my original paint job.

 

The crusader shields by his shoulder and hanging off his backpack are going to be used as the company badges for Fighting Companies Ostia, Pherae, and Caelin. I wanted to tie his paint job into the crusade somehow, and he just so happened to have three of those badges on the mini. Coincidence? Or the Emperor's divine will? 

 

I'm glad you enjoyed both mini's paint jobs. The lil'brecht was actually stripped of his original paint years ago and then redone after my skills had gotten much better, as he is one of the first minis I ever owned. New-brecht was a load of fun to paint up and give me another shot at the esteemed High Marshal after years again of painting and skill increases.

 

Honestly, of the three primaris marines I've painted (my Marshal with the necron base, Merlinus, and now Helbrecht), I've had a blast painting all of them. Hopefully Grimaldus is just as fun.

 

After that though, I'll be focusing back on firstborn marines to get these sprues done! I do still need to buy bikers for Kent, Sain, and Lowen (all cavaliers), and a box of centurions for Wallace (a knight) as a firstborn. I'm thinking making Matthew (a thief/assassin) a PoLC guy from my veteran boxes. Then Erk (mage) and Canas (druid) will be the only characters before the half way point of the game that I won't have represented somehow. (My landspeeder squadron will represent Rath (as an archer on horseback), and my Stormtalons represent Florina and Fiora (as Pegasus knights). As Erk and Canas are both magic users, I've been having issues deciding how to represent them, since we play Black Templars and don't use Librarians. Making them be librarians by rule, but converting them to look like chaplains might be what I do, but I would have to use the standard space marine detachment. Speaking of which...

 

This brings me to another issue I have been pondering. Eliwood is equipped with Durandal, The Burning Blade. This is a relic used from the vanilla space marine codex. It would also suck if I would have to use a vanilla detachment to get that relic on him to run him in a way that represents him fully. I would like to use a BT detachment as often as possible, but it might mean I would have to run him with his MC power sword (rapier, for fluff). Time will tell.

[Brother Christopher]

15 hours ago, Urkh said:

Yah, I was trying something new with the cape. It came out a lot better near the shoulders than the actual back. White capes have always been difficult for me. I might have tried different colors, but I wanted him to be a faithful recreation of my original paint job.

 

Don't worry about it, though. I think the approach you've taken is great and white is difficult to paint.

 

15 hours ago, Urkh said:

Honestly, of the three primaris marines I've painted (my Marshal with the necron base, Merlinus, and now Helbrecht), I've had a blast painting all of them. Hopefully Grimaldus is just as fun.

 

They do look fun to paint. That's why it's so ever tempting to get one or two HQs to just paint, not add to my proper force, but paint. I've been eyeing the EC who harasses an or for a long time ;) Having said that, Grimaldus seems to be the most uninspired of the BT character line-up. His servitors are great, though. I'm sure you'll have plenty of fun with painting him :)

 

Regarding the plans for your Crusade, it's pretty clear that you've got everything sorted out and given it much thought.

 

15 hours ago, Urkh said:

This brings me to another issue I have been pondering. Eliwood is equipped with Durandal, The Burning Blade. This is a relic used from the vanilla space marine codex. It would also suck if I would have to use a vanilla detachment to get that relic on him to run him in a way that represents him fully. I would like to use a BT detachment as often as possible, but it might mean I would have to run him with his MC power sword (rapier, for fluff). Time will tell.

 

If I were you (and this is a recommendation from the very bottom of my heart), don't worry about the rules. It might drive you mad. The thing with GW is that they constantly change a lot of things, introduce new rules and take back old ones. You never know what you'll end up with in terms of gameplay and you'll 'waste effort' on trying to match the WYSWIG of your models to their whims. Take for instance power weapons - they used to be a single thing, then they split them into different types (swords, axes, maces, etc.) and now it appears that they'll be the same thing once again. I'm glad about this in terms of rules but it doesn't affect my hobby a bit since I spent a lot of time trying to ensure that I have the right numbers of the individual power weapon types.

 

Don't worry about the sword ;) It's not even clear that the currently available vanilla and BT relics will continue to exist in the new iteration of the game. And if they do, that's fine to use a rapier with this-or-that BT sword's rules in the BT detachment.

[Urkh]

Regarding eliwood's sword: yah, I know I shouldn't stress about it, but I sucks that there is currently actually a burning blade in 40k to represent him, and I may no longer gain access to that.

 

At least it is all magnetized so I can do whatever.

 

Regarding power weapons: I am SOOOOOO happy they are becoming just one profile again. Now I can easily make power lances for certain characters and not have to worry about explaining to an opponent what kind of power weapon they are. 

[Brother Christopher]

1 hour ago, Urkh said:

Regarding eliwood's sword: yah, I know I shouldn't stress about it, but I sucks that there is currently actually a burning blade in 40k to represent him, and I may no longer gain access to that.

 

I know the feeling and been convincing myself not to think about it so I'm also sharing this knowledge. At the same time, fixating about these kinds of details is an integral part of the hobby. But, let me reiterate: don't stress about it - the rules are out of our hands. And since you've magnetised it, there's the added GW-proofing ;)

 

1 hour ago, Urkh said:

Regarding power weapons: I am SOOOOOO happy they are becoming just one profile again. Now I can easily make power lances for certain characters and not have to worry about explaining to an opponent what kind of power weapon they are. 

 

Despite my slight annoyance at GW for all the time I wasted trying to shuffle weapons for my models, I am also delighted that they appear to be curbing some of the 'bloat' - a single profile for power weapons is a welcome change. I'm just curious what they'll do with, say, master crafter power swords on Blade Guards. But sorry for going a bit off-topic.

 

I'm glad that you'll make extra use of this change by having a peace of mind with the power lances! To be honest, I forgot that they used to be a thing (in 6th?). They're a very thematic choice for BT bikes.

[Urkh]

An Orc on the plains

Ahead, Sword Brother Lyndis only saw one thing. The enemy. Countless masses of the green skinned, lumbering brutes. The Orcs were raiding an Imperial Feudal World, a primitive world primarily used for recruitment into the Imperial Guard. As the Shield of the Emperor, the Guard serve as first defense against the countless horrors that stalk the galaxy. And as The Sword of The Emperor, the Black Templars Space Marines were the final offense.

 

Sword Brother Lyndis, clad in the power armor of the Black Templars, approached the amassed adversaries. The chains fixing his weapons to his wrists jangled as he advanced. A power sword that he had been wielding and maintaining since his was an initiate, and a combi-plasma he obtained upon his promotion to the Sword Brethren were clasped in his hands. They hungered for the death of the xenos filth that blighted his eyes so. 

 

He focused. The bolter portion of his gun rocketing the ammo towards the front line. Bits of Orc splatter over the battlefield as the bullets explode on impact. Lyndis and his Brethren knew better, and that soon new Orcs would sprout from these remains and this whole area would need a good pass with a flamer to weed them all out.

 

Lyndis was now too close for his gun to be of any use, and prepared his power sword as he readied for close combat.

 

There was a crackle in the air as the energy field surrounding the blade burned through the snot colored flesh of one Orc. Two Orcs... Five Orcs... If he were a normal human, he probably would have lost count. But as a Space Marine of the Adeptus Astartes, The Emperor's finest, his enhanced mind and body had no trouble keeping count.

 

Axes and fists and slugs bounced off the ceramite plating of his power armor. Lyndis quickly responded by removing the arms from all who touched him. By the red Maltese Cross on his shoulder, by Dorn, by the will of The Emperor himself, Lyndis would massacre these foes one by one until he found the one in charge. 

 

Behind him, the rest of his squad of sword brethren had also made melee contact with the fungal beasts ahead of them. The Orcs fell by the dozens. What else could their fate be against The Emperor's will, which guides and protects us all?

 

Seventy-eight, seventy-nine... Lyndis looked up. In front of him was an Orc, more monstrous and sizable than any of the others here. The 8' tall super soldier was dwarfed by the Orc in front of him. What seemed to be a even bigger, metallic claw was pointed right at him 

 

"You tink you da tuff guy 'ere eh? You Spess Mahreens alwayz tinkin' you so tuff! Batta 'ere gotz all me teef on youz nut bein' so tuff! WAAAAAAAHHHHGGGGG!!!"

 

"In the name of The Emperor's holy light, I shall suffer not your unclean existence to live in the world any longer you xenos wretch!" Lyndis retorted as the Orc lunged at him.

 

Lyndis caught the claw with his power sword, and maneuvered it so he could leverage it against the claw to twist the Orc's arm behind his back. He pulled the weapon free, and also freed the arm of its Orcish master by slicing through it.

 

"Arrrrrrrrggggg! Youz cutz off Batta's arm! Batta gunna make yo..."

 

Batta was cut off as Lyndis jumped upon the back of the beast, stood on his shoulders, aimed, and shot a bolt of superheated plasma straight through the back of Batta's skull.
 

Edited April 11 by Urkh

[Urkh]

Segmentum: Tempestas

System: Lycia

Planet: Lycia VII

Date 999.M41

=====================================

Situation Report

 

The Tempestas Crusade of the Black Templars have been Chasing down the infamous Orc warband lead by Warlord Azog'Magog for 14 years now, on this part of the journey, a splinter of the warband has veered away from the rest of the force, and has made landfall on the planet of Lycia VII.

 

By order of Marshal Urkh:

 

A new crusade shall splinter of from the main fleet of the Tempestas Crusade to go down to Lycia VII and deal with the green skins. This new crusade will be called the Lycia Crusade, and will be lead by Marshal Hector and Castellan Eliwood. Chaplain Lucius and Techmarine Merlinus will also be assigned as support. Marshal Hector will choose which squads will will go with him down to the planet.

 

May The Grace of the Emperor protect you all!

 

=====================================

 

Ok, RP aside, here's what I am doing. At my work, We have to text a phone at the building that is hooked up to a speaker so the notification lets them know when we are returning from a delivery and to prepare the next order. Well I'm moving out of the delivery position, so I won't be doing that for much longer. So I decided to pull a little stunt and write some crazy stuff and see how long it takes for them to notice. I decided I was going to write little crazy short stories, but then I figured, "why not write about Warhammer?" So I wrote that little snippet above.

 

Here's the thing. Anyone who has read through my stuff knows my crusade is based off Fire Emblem VII, The Blazing Blade. What I'm going to do here, as often as I can, is play FE alongside writing this. The difference will be, normally in FE, when one of your characters dies, they die for good. Because of this, if my characters die, I restart the mission because I don't like letting them die. But this time, I'm going to let them die. And since this story is loosely based on the games story, if they die in my playthrough, they will die in this story as well.

 

Let's have some fun!

Edited April 12 by Urkh

[Urkh]

Footsteps of Fate part 1:

With the demise of the Orcish Warboss, the ferocity of the remainder of the mob vanished. What was once a massacre turned into a blender as the Templars' sweeping advance trampled over the smashed, burned, hacked up, and bloodied pieces of the green skinned menace. It was done. Victory belonged to Humanity, and the Emperor.

 

Lyndis took a moment to observe the carnage around him. He rejoiced in being given the opportunity to rid the galaxy of this grotesque life form. He went down to one knee, with the tip of his sword pointed directly into the ground, both hands on the pommel, one over the other. He lowered his head and offered prayers to He Who Sits On the Throne at Terra.

 

The fight had taken place in the fields outside the city of Bulgar, the largest city in the area the locals called the "Plains of Saccae." Now that it was over, it was where Lyndis and the rest of his squad would go to get further instructions from Castellan Eliwood. Something about this planet was disrupting their long ranged communications, and they were still investigating the cause. This room was the only place nearby where anyone could get clear reception, so there they must go.

 

A Land Raider Crusader could be seen coming to pick up the squad of Sword Brothers. It's supporting fire had been instrumental in the opening stages of the fight. Its hurricane bolters and assault cannon near matching the sword Brothers themselves. 

 

"I got 179 kills! How about you, Dorcas?" Sword Brother Wil Asked.

 

"Um... Ermmm... You know I don't like to count my kills." The oddly soft spoken Space Marine retorted. "It distracts me from just killing."

 

"Ok, so how many kills?"

 

"...Hrmph..147..." Dorcus mumbled under his breath. Even for a Space Marine, Dorcus was huge. His frame always made him stick out from the rest of them anyways, so they always put him in front of any charge. It would be a little surprising that Wil would get more kills than him, unless you knew Wil a little.  Dorcus would usually lead a Crusader Squad of initiates and their neophyte students. Lyndis hoped they learned to be more like Dorcas.

 

Wil stood up straight, obviously brimming with excitement. "Oh hey! I guess that means I'm the winner again! Whoopee!" He let out.

 

Wil was always dependable, and also oddly relaxed.  He normally would lead a heavy weapons crusader squad, but this battle required the entire brotherhood. He did, however, have a nasty tendency that Lyndis felt he needed to nonchalantly call him out for.

 

"That's because they soften them up for you, and you get the final shot! Lyndis replied. 

 

All eyes were now glaring at Wil, who kept his composure. "Hey, a kill is a kill."

 

The Land Raider arrived and they all got inside the Venerable Battle transport Tank. 

 

"Ok, so what was the prize this time again?"

Wil asked as the vehicle started to move.

 

"First pick from the next set of special munitions." Flor replied. 

 

"Oh! That's a good one!" Wil leaned back and put his hands behind his head. No neophytes in the transport meant there was a bit of extra space. One of the perks of being in the sword brethren.

 

Lyndis turned his attention to Flor. He usually didn't say much, but when he did, you'd better listen. Lyndis and Flor had been neophytes together, and by this point were always on the same campaigns. He would usually pilot a Land speeder or a Stormtalon gunship, but his skills in close combat are still just as superb as the rest of the brethren. No one knew why he tended to keep to himself except Lyndis, who will keep that secret for all time. 

 

There was silence for some time. Once the Land Raider stopped, it was broken. "Do you think the next enemy will be as easy as these ones?" Wil smuggly mused.

 

"It would be even easier if you got your own kills, Sword Brother Wil." Castellen Eliwood remarked as the doors to the back hatch opened.

[Urkh]

Footsteps of Fate: Part 2

 

They were expecting to communicate with Castellan Eliwood through vox channels between the command room and the warship Roland's Wrath. Here he was, however, standing in front of Lyndis and the rest of the Sword Brethren squad. 

 

"There is no time. Foul tidings are in the air. Lyndis, walk with me. Everyone else, follow." Eliwood's words seemed stern, but the way the words left his mouth made the orders sound like he was talking to family. 

 

Lyndis stepped forward, coming to Eliwood's side. They started walking together towards the war room, conversing about the next mission at hand. "Caelin has gone quiet." Eliwood said as soon as Lyndis met his side.

 

"What do you mean?" Lyndis inquired.

 

"Roland's Wrath, nor none of the other war rooms in the differing countries of Lycia VII have been able to make contact for two days. We are sending you, along with Brothers Kent and Saint to Caelin to figure out what has happened there. Our brothers, The Subjugators, should be there. If anything should have befallen them, we shall avenge them in Dorn's name."

 

Eliwood's explanation of the situation echoed down the stone halls of the primitive castle of the feudal world they were on. The War Rooms around the planet were built quickly by servitors and "servants" from the populace. We were there saving their lives. They can do their part. These were the hubs of Imperial technology on the planet as of right now. As such, with the strange disruptions with communications devices, these areas needed to be built to have communication methods strong enough to get through the disturbance. 

 

The Subjugators were another Space Marine Chapter, and fellow descendants of the Imperial Fists Chapter, and of Rogal Dorn, Primarch of the Imperial Fists and one of the sons of The Emperor. If they had fallen, we were honor bound to avenge them. Lyndis had fought in a campaign with them before, and their zeal was commendable.

 

"Whatever Orcish foolery is taking place in Caelin shall be rectified swiftly and with output mercy." Lyndis replied to Eliwood as they approached the door to the War Room.

 

The door itself looked like it belonged in the castle, but there was a panel in the wall that the marines could see because of their power armor. Some sort of cloaking tech designed for Marines to see

to make sure the locals don't go wandering in places they shouldn't be in. Once inside the room, it was a different story. Technology was hanging off the walls. Servo skulls flew through the air completing tasks that were given to them. A large round table with seats sat in the middle of the room, a hologram of the planet floating above. The walls were covered in gigantic computers, some 30 feet tall. Countless Servitors, human servants who had been lobotomized and were now more machine than biological, manned these behemoths that kept the system running like a machine lubricated with black sludge. 

 

They all sat down at the table, and Eliwood zoomed the map to show the planned route for Lyndis, Kent, and Sain, to get to Caelin by. It was a long journey from here in Bulgar, which is technically out in the middle of nowhere comparatively, and they would have to go through multiple other countries to get there. It would be only Lyndis, Kent, and Sain at first, as that is all the front here in Bulgar could let go at the moment. Other members of the company would be rerouted to join them as they are no longer needed here. They are to defeat any enemies they encounter along the way, and then deal with the main threat at Caelin.

 

"Before you three head out, go to the chapel at the eastern part of the city. We have created a reliquary for relic weapons, and one is being assigned to you. Make your way there and get the weapon. It will aid you greatly on your journey. Meeting Adjourned!" Eliwood closed.

 

The room emptied out except for the trio, who stayed behind to group up. Lyndis welcomed Kent and Sain. The two were in the biker squadrons, and since the front had gotten reinforced after Lyndis killed the Warboss mere hours ago, and Eliwood literally couldn't spare any tanks, they were taking bikes to get there. Lyndis always did love going fast.