Silver Templars - Imperial Crusade

[Doghouse]

I've been recently been glaring at my vast collection of sprues and have decided I want an army using as much as what I have laying around as possible without buying anything new. I have tons of stuff, Primaris, Ad-mech, Sororitas and about 8 Armigers for some reason, mostly impulse and what if buys. So the plan is simple, just throw together blocks from each faction that I can use to create a Crusade.

 

I've been following the Silver Templars for a while now, I've got the "Codex", painting guide, novel and decals and have thoroughly embraced the concept of the chapter and their quirks.

For those that are not in the know on these guys they are expert weaponsmiths who bond with the machine spirit of their weapons. They are an entirely Primaris chapter who are successors of the Ultramarines and extremely hot headed when it comes to combat which has rubbed other Chapters up the wrong way. It is also considered a huge dishonour to lose their weapon in battle, without going into too much details because of spoilers a Lieutenant in the novel loses a blade to a daemon and spends something like a hundred years toiling in the chapters forges making weapons while he has no rank to to make up for his failure before having to work his way back up the ranks after returning to the company. I like them a lot and their colours are pretty simple to be fair which I think was intentional.

 

I've settled on the second company but rather than do the named Captain I'm making my own character who has been seconded from the Death Watch to lead the Crusade. The concept I have in my head is based on a crusade seeking a xenos artifact. The Astartes, Death Watch and Sororitas will be there as escorts, the Astartes to provide the military might, the Death Watch for their Xenos expertise and the Sororitas to watch over the crusade spiritually.

 

Death Watch Captain

 

The idea behind this guy is that he is multi-purose character I can use to represent two forces. I can use him to lead the Silver Templars or the Death Watch so it gives me a bit of variation. He's not really turned out how I wanted in a lot of ways as I'm still trying to relearn a lot of modelling stuff at the moment but he'll do the job. The varnish I used didn't really go as planned and it's washed out a lot of the subyle high lights.

I've armed him with a true Space Marine relic, a second edition power sword that is getting on for thirty years old and a custom Auto Bolter carbine maglocked to his waist.

 

 

 

 

[Axineton]

Excellent! Being a Silver Templar’s fan myself I’ll keep an eye on this thread. 

[Doghouse]

Thanks Axineton

 

First squad is underway although two of the guys are missing because I tried to paint as assembling and made a ton more work for myself. Like I say I'm going with the second company so they have the left knee pad in yellow with their squad number over the top.

 

The Silver Templars are quite specific in their tactics prefering to engage at range, clearing paths for their best close combat units and heroes to engage enemy commanders. As they attack they mark targets off with runes on their HUDs and compete to slay the enemies with the other members of their squad as they close to engage in melee.

To represent this I'm going to use them as Ultramarine Successors (because they are named as such) but with Bolter Fusilade and Duellists as I feel this represents them well.

 

 

[Dosjetka]

I've long toyed with the idea of an Imperial Crusade as a way to deal with my Hobby Butterfly Syndrome but still having an army to play with in the end but never committed to it. Perhaps I should follow your example, keep the Crusade's goal simple, and just go with what kits I have lying around.

 

Not sure it was necessarily your prime intent but thanks for the brain-food!

 

And keep up the good work; the Silver Templars are looking solid. :tu:

[BadgersinHills]

Nice to see Silver Templars. Lieutenant looks nice and can't wait to see more of the other Imperial forces in the crusade! 

[Doghouse]

I've long toyed with the idea of an Imperial Crusade as a way to deal with my Hobby Butterfly Syndrome but still having an army to play with in the end but never committed to it. Perhaps I should follow your example, keep the Crusade's goal simple, and just go with what kits I have lying around.

 

Not sure it was necessarily your prime intent but thanks for the brain-food!

 

And keep up the good work; the Silver Templars are looking solid.

 

Thanks mate. Yeah I am pretty much the same and hoped it would give people some ideas so that is good that you've taken some inspiration from the idea. The beauty of it is that you can add more as you go and slowly build up a number of armies.

 

My plan as it stands after rummaging through my stuff is a core group of Silver Templars to make a battalion so Captain, Lieutenant and a Chaplain as HQ choices then 30 Intercessors and 20 Infiltrators. I'm a bit limited on vehicles with only one Invictor and a couple of Redemptors although I do have some Eliminators. In all I probably have about a company's worth of Primaris if need be.

 

Admech I have 8 Armigers so that in itself could form a small House and I also a Preceptor Knight so sounds like a story there in the making. I also have three dune crawlers and a couple of tech priests. I do have a few of the Skitari squads knocking about somewhere. So I'm looking at a small Explorator style fleet hunting artifacts to begin with starting with a simple Spearhead force of an Enginseer and the three crawlers for fire support.

 

I also have a fledgling Guard Vanguard force as well that I would love to include made up of a long suffering Captain who has been assigned to a Ratling scouting force.

 

I have maybe thirty Death Watch I can include which I genuinely love because they are so characterful.

 

Lastly I have a couple of boxes of Sororitas and two Sister Superiors, I may get a couple of Rhinos for mobility or just dig out the old Astartes ones I have knocking about somewhere and repaint them.

 

So each block is fairly small in itself. The general idea being that the Silver Templars are striking out on a crusade and have been joined by all these rag tag elements with each having it's own motivation as they progress. Admech for Xeno tech hunting, Death Watch to make sure the Admech don't stir up a hornet's nest, Sororitas to monitor and spread the faith on behalf of the Ecclesiarchy, the Guard because the Captain gets the worst assignments and the Crusading Knight Titans.

 

 

Nice to see Silver Templars. Lieutenant looks nice and can't wait to see more of the other Imperial forces in the crusade! 

Thanks.

[Doghouse]

Been getting a ton of stuff done and generally stock checking what models I have available to put together without spending any cash where I can avoid it. I have made a few purchases to tidy up units but only things like single models for HQ units or missing troopers here and there.

I tend to watch for new boxed set releases, such as Shadowspear, and on snap up lots of models cheap as people break down and sell sets. This has worked really well in the past but does mean I have a large stash of models that were too good to pass up on. I also seem to have quite a few admech bits.

 

So the general idea is that this will be an Explorator force that has struck out into the northern reaches of Ultima Segmentum in an attempt to secure resources and restore Forge Worlds that have gone silent. It's not a Torch Bearer fleet or anything exciting, it's more of a dull logistical fleet.

Many factions within the Imperium seek to take advantage of this crusade, each with their own agenda and so this will be a what I see to be a good representation of the Imperium as a whole.

 

Silver Templars will be the main military might of the Crusade comprising of three full Intercessor squads, some Eliminators, twenty Infiltrators, a couple of Invictors and maybe a Redemptor based on the models I own. The Captain of this will double as the leader of a small Death Watch patrol that I want to include.

 

Adeptus Mechanicus are the big guns with three Dune Crawlers, two units of Skitari, a Skorpius troop transport thing, some rust stalkers, the tech priest from Blackstone fortress and the kill team special character who's name also alludes me off the top of my head.

 

A minor Knight household comprising of five Armigers will also be hitching a lift to discover the fate of their homeworld which has gone silent.

 

An Imperial Guard Vanguard force made up almost entirely of Ratling Snipers lead by a Captain who has clearly upset her superiors in some respect and has been assigned to this unit of misfits and outcasts. I also have a Leman Russ and three Sentinels which may get Ratling crews.

 

Now the one thing I don't want in this force is the one thing I will be including as you can see below, Custodes. I feel that a force of this nature would have have their presence so I am including a small battalion of nine Custodes and two shield Captains which I got dirt cheap when Prospero came out.

 

Sisters of Battle will be present but I am not enjoying making them to be honest, I have enough for a small Battalion of three units of six and a couple of Superiors if need be. I may add some missionary elements at some point.

 

The idea is that each faction will form a block that I can pick and mix with to make an army.

 

I have started painting the first of the Dune Crawlers which I am really enjoying, I may make them Ryza so this one will get an Orange stripe up the front while the other two will be in orange with an off white stripe.

 

 

 

[Doghouse]

Just a quick group shot of what is becoming a produciton line. This isn't all the Templars that i have but gives you an idea of what I will be doing.

 

 

[Brother Mayhem]

Looking good! Are you going to make a custom knight house?

[Doghouse]

Thanks mate :)

 

Yeah probably. I seem to have about 5 or so Armigers I think so I think I'll do a house that has fallen on hard times and only have Armigers in their stables. The idea will be that they went off on a Crusade to try and gain some spoils of war to restore their House and are trying to return to their homeworld by tagging along with the Crusade. I started a few a while ago where I added stowage to the hulls so will probably carry on with that theme. I like the idea of big Houses of Knight households having caravans of supplies and parts when they go off world but these guys are down to what they can carry on their hulls. I imagine these are old and dilapidated billowing smoke and having parts seize on them. Sort of like a band of very old warrior knights who are way past their prime.

[Kolgrim DeathHowl]

Excellent painting!!

[Doghouse]

Thanks mate.

 

Just a quick shot of the first of the Armigers to show what I want to do with them. I've used surgical tape to create heavy duty canvas rolls to add to the hull of the vehicle. I've also added an artifact to the hull as a piece of wood nailed in place which the pilot believes is something of significance such as a piece of the Emperor's Palace or part of a homeworld shrine. Chances are it's a bit of an old barn.

 

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0056PS998/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

 

 

I've also looked at the Inquisitor rules and need to add one now to go with the Death Watch team.

 

[hushrong]

Sweet work on these Silver Templars. They look great and reading the fluff about them and their weapons is pretty cool. Definitely want to see this army build up into a crusading force!

[Doghouse]

Thanks mate.

 

Well speaking of which I have some rather dark pictures but still WIP.

 

Now one of the more interesting effects of the great rift is that time runs differently in different regions of space. What this technically means is anything goes as far as your armies go because each region could effectively be running decades or even hundreds of years apart.

This means that there could be 3 second company Ultramarine captains out crusading effectively at the same time or a Chapter could be well over a thousand Astartes strong. For someone like me that is a self imposed lore junkie this makes life a lot easier, especially when attempting to tackle an "official" chapter.

I'm always reluctant to make named characters so I have thrown together a few ideas about how I want to represent my Silver Templars. At the time of the novel Primaris recruited from Novaris are fairly new and not many have established themselves as officers. If i remember rightly the majority of the officers are Greyshields so I want to make the main character of my army a young Novarian Lieutenant rather than make the official named Captain. This gives me a bit of freedom to play around with lore and include other elements.

 

So the idea will be that Lieutenant along with the second demi-company of the second company have been sent to aid the Imperial forces with the reclaimation crusade. The force will be made up of three Intercessor squads, an Infiltrator squad and maybe a Hellblaster squad, along with a few vehicles and a Chaplain as a mentor to the young officer.

 

These shots are a little dark but it's late and I'll take some proper ones later. I'm going with a theme for the command staff in that they are all holding their helmets rather than wearing them as though in discussion with each other. The Lt was made using the Dark Angels Master Lazerus as I like the head and the robes seem like a nice addition although I do have to still remover the sword icon on the chest and have removed the cloak and rebuilt the back.

The Chaplain is an absolute monster who for some reason despite removing the scenic base towers over the others.

 

 

[hushrong]

I need to catch up on a lot of lore but I feel the same as it’s a driving force behind armies. I don’t care for rules and what not, do these guys look cool, have a cool background, and can I make my them my own to a degree? If so I’m in! It’s def nice when you can make your own story and characters using official armies. So I’m loving the background you’re building up and how that’s leading to what you are building.

 

Looking forward to seeing daylight shots of the WIP.

[Doghouse]

Yeah it's quite handy for justifying your army choices.

 

A good example being Wade from the Warhammer Community team who is doing Primaris Flesh Tearers. Under the current lore the Flesh Tearers don't use Primaris and he said he justifies this as time is fragmented they are from a time in the future where they are accepted. Obviously it's best not to over think the concept but it's a lore friendly way to give yourself a bit of creative freedom without it being considered inaccurate fan fiction.

[Doghouse]

Quick update with a clearer shot of the Chaplain and the Lieutenant before I get stuck into painting.

 

 

This the start of an Inquisitor to lead the Death Watch. The idea behind it is that the Watch Captain will operate as a patrol when not leading the Silver Templars  along with a single Death Watch team which of course will include a Space Wolf in it because it's not a proper team without a gruff Space Wolf...

Just playing around with spare bits to see what works or not.

 

 

Lastly couple of bit I may use or may just save them and do a Necromunda gang or two later.

 

 

[hushrong]

Looking good and looking forward to seeing them get paint. Any plans of painting a skull motif on the chaplains faceplate?

 

Also looking forward to seeing what you do with the enforcers. I want to get into necromunda and I want to start that journey with them.

[Doghouse]

Thanks mate, yeah I may go old school with the helmet and paint the skull on. I was going to carve it out and replace it with a regular Chaplain helm but something about a regular helmet appealed to me.

Necromunda is an awesome game but the kits are really complicated, I've got the patrol and the Subjucators patrol along with a couple of boxes of Van Saar and Cawdor sat in waiting.

 

Just fancied throwing together a battalion today, not sure if Custodes count but I've had these models for ages sat around on sprues. I managed to get them dirt cheap years ago when Prospero came out and have just added a couple of Warden Shield Captains so it's twoHQs and three Troops.

These as you can see are really early on, I've started out by spraying them Retributor Armour then going over them with with the pot of the same name. I'm then applying a wash of Reikland Flesh then going over the model with Shining GOld before using Seraphim Sepia to tone it down. Once I get my Agrax Earthshade I'll them use that to outline and shade to give a bit more definition. I've not really done much to the face so far other than use Cadian Flesh with a wash of Reikland Flesh.

 

These will be the Emissaries Imperatus, they are diplomats and recoveries of ancient artifacts which I feel fit well with the Crusade theme. They can be identified by their white robes.

 

 

[Marshal Rohr]

These are great Doghouse. Every time I see your models I wanna go paint or convert something.

[BadgersinHills]

Nice miniatures. Chaplain looks right imposing, and the Inquisitor looks INCREDIBLE so far. 

[Doghouse]

Marshal Rohr: Thanks mate, that is a nice compliment.

 

Badgersinhills: Thanks. Yeah I'm going for a very stern look to the Chaplain as he is the mentor figure to the Lieutenant. I'm going to play around with the Inquisitor a bit more and see what works with her, I have a few of them on the go at the moment but she is coming along nicely.

 

I plan to paint Custodes today but wanted to show the leader of the Ad Mech element as I hadn't seen this guy before and I think it's one of my all time favourite minis now. It's a Tedh Priest Manipulus and was released for Kill team but comes with 40k rules. It just embodies 40k in a nutshell to me. it's completely over the top in a good way. It even has a floppy disc attached to his belt which you can see below. The only problem I have is the scale feels off, the proportions of the limbs are quite big such as the dangling foot but the inclusion of the floppy disc that is almost the size of Custodes head is a little distracting for me. Overall though I love the model and it's be great for Necromunda, I could easily see him running a scrap shop or being some sort of floating administrator with the removal of the ad mech icons like the staff top.

 

 

[hushrong]

Custodes look sweet. The gold looks fantastic and I like their background. Tagging along on a crusade, dishing out the emperors retribution, and reclaiming his stuff adds a nice narrative to them.

 

The ad mech model is new to me too. Interested in what you do with him. Running a shop in the underhive sounds tantalizing.

[jaxom]

 

An Imperial Guard Vanguard force made up almost entirely of Ratling Snipers lead by a Captain who has clearly upset her superiors in some respect and has been assigned to this unit of misfits and outcasts. I also have a Leman Russ and three Sentinels which may get Ratling crews.

This made me unbearably happy for some reason. 

[Markus_]

Cool stuff brewing here!
I really like the pack mule look of that Armiger with the added kit.