Watch Fortress Sentinel IX

[Smoke Frog]

Time to start my Deathwatch army. First, a little bit of lore for one of the watch fortresses I have seen on a wiki before, so I am going to give it my own take.

Watch Fortress Sentinel IX

Sentinel IX is a former Aeldari Haven Spire space station, now occupied used by the Deathwatch as a watch fortress.

Pict-capture presumed to be of Sentinnel IX prior to capture by Imperial and Deathwatch forces

Location:

Sentinel IX is located in the Gamma Orionis system, a star situated at a nexus of several stable warp trade routes recently discovered. Previously the Haven Spire and system were infested with foul Eldar, to include the fleet of pirates known as the Bellatrix Corsairs. The Eldar were scoured from the system by the Deathwatch in centuries past, though the threat of future raids remains extremely high.

Planet Banjan Major

Sentinel IX orbits the planet Banjan Major; a large asteroid-ringed deathworld with several different biomes including oceans, forest, plains, blistering deserts, equatorial jungles, and polar ice caps. Many of the harsher environments and dangerous megafauna are used in training exercises by the Deathwath veterans. The ancient Aeldari infestations have been neutralized, though ruins still remain, and are now populated by human colonists, many the descendants of settlers believed to be under the thumb of their xenos oppressors. The human population provides both supplies and recruits for watch fortress PDF and serfs.

Sentinel IX Haven Spire structure:

The Haven Spire orbiting within the rings of Banjan Major is a gigantic space station of Eldar origin, now conquered by the Imperium and upgraded with large amounts of Mechanicus weaponry and tech. Five large solar sails capture energy that provide power to the station itself, and many batteries of Eldar lance weaponry have been repurposed by the Deathwatch for defense of the station. The many docking ports have been retrofit for Imperium voidcraft, and include berthing docks for the large strike-cruiser fleet of the Watch Fortress. The wide array of sensors keep a steady stream of data for the watch servitors to process for any hints of xenos presence within the system or in the surrounding void.

The station is run by a large compliment of subservient serfs, technicians, armorists, and menials, as well as several thousand servitors.

Watch Fortress Company Structure:

Sentinel IX Watch Fortress is the home of four companies, comprised of roughly 200 marines when at full strength, not including officers and support staff. Companies nominally contain 50 marines including command element and specialists.

Each company includes one Captain, two Lieutenants, and one company Senior Veteran Sergeant. Companies each contain four kill teams of up to ten marines each led by a Sergeant, varying between the companies in composition (Indomitor, Spectrus, Fortis, or Terminator squads).

Watch Fortress Heraldry:

The veterans of Sentinel IX differ only slightly from the standard Deathwatch color scheme. All marines repaint their armor black upon arrival to the watch fortress, save for their right shoulderpad which remains their original company colors, and their left arm which is repainted the color of steel. Instead of painting weapons, stripes, or other markings red, the forces of Sentinel IX instead use green.

This includes the company markings, which are variations of black and green.

Sentinel IX Company Markings

Helmet coloration for the Deathwatch marines of Sentinel IX is as follows:

Veterans- black helmet

Veteran Sergeants- black helmet, green stripe, silver skull

Lieutenant- black helmet, green stripe with white edges, silver skull

Captain- black helmet, gold skull

Sentinel IX Helmet colorations

Non-marine crew serfs:

Serfs assigned to the fortress include a cohort of some 4000 serfs assigned directly to the marines themselves. Duties include but are not limited to care of housing facilities, armor, weapons, food, and maintenance.

In addition there is a formal Haven Spire station crew compliment of well over 10,000 serfs responsible for station operations and control, technical adepts assigned from the Mechanicus, ecclesiastical and inquisitorial staff, medical personnel, and secondary defense personnel for the station.

This estimate does not include the servitors assigned to much of the stations physical labor, and who may themselves be hard-wired into the station for maximum efficiency.

Mechanicus Support:

The Watch Commanders of Sentinel IX have long been able to request the highlest levels of support and armament from the Adeptus Mechanicus, and maintain a large presence of tech priests and adepts within the ranks of the chapter’s support personnel. Most of the support the chapter receives is from the forgeworld Ryza, but out of necessity they tend to be the most radical elements of the forgeworld due to the large amount of xenos tech that has made its way into the fortress’ inventory.

...takes off lore hat...

Really looking forward to this army. I had a lot of fun putting together the models and a bit of lore. Its been a while since doing any marines, so the primaris are a big change. Plan is to make the entire army primaris (save for a few choice vehicles) with plenty of options for kill teams, using primaris models in place of the firstborn marines.

Current Army List Plans:

• HQ
  • Watch Captain- hammer or xenophase blade with stormshield and jumpack
  • Primaris lieutenant with storm shield/power sword
  • Primaris Librarian- force sword
• Troops
  • Fortis Team- Sergeant with power sword, x4 intercessors (assault) and hellblasters (assault)
  • Fortis Team- Sergeant with power sword, x4 intercessors (stalker) and hellblasters (heavy)
• Elites
  • Aggressor Squad- boltstorm gauntlets and and fragstorm launchers
  • Primaris Apothecary
• Fast- Thunderstrike Stormspeeder (can swap for Hammerstrike)
• Heavy- Stalker AA tank (can swap for Hunter)

This is what I currently have on hand, gotta start small before I spend too much! I would love to expand into a full Indomitor kill team with some heavy intercessors, and some spectrus kill teams. Also hope to get a watch commander and some more officers, along with some of the new dreadnoughts.

From what I have read vehicles don't seem to be great options for marines/deathwatch in particular, but I love the stalker so that was an auto pick for me (gotta get that drone defense somehow!) and I also like the new speeder variants too even if they are essentially a flying brick. Hope they can be some fast moving sacrificial anti-tank firepower.

Next up will be pics of army assembly and my first attempts to paint marines in over a decade.

Edited July 24, 2021 by Smoke Frog

[Smoke Frog]

It took me a few days of internet image research and a day of glue to put all these marines together, very rewarding experience. I put together my characters, tanks, and two kill teams.

Intercessors and Hellblasters with assault weapons:

Stalker-variant intercessors and their hellblaster backups:

First few characters, LOVE the Librarian:

And my first three aggressors. Had fun making an Assassins' Creed hood:

I have been having a good time playing with magnets this project too, as the sergeants are both magnetized along with a few of the marines for extra kill team options.

Here is the first sergeant (probably a chaplain asipirant) with his pistol and power sword:

With dual power swords so he can be run as a blackshield:

And with his dual pistol mode:

Second sergeant with his assault bolt rifle and power sword:

And swapped his power sword for a storm shield:

My first Lieutenant also has a few options, starting with stormsield and pistol:

Plasma Pistol:

And swapped the shield for a power sword:

Since this photo he now has a spear as well.

[Smoke Frog]

This next conversion was a little weird but fun, made up of some leftover lychguard legs, some firstborn marine upper torsoes, and extra arms and weapons bits, plus a kitbashed backpack.

Highly augmented with cybernetics of course, here he is with his full backpack harness and just before I made his power maul.

I figure I could run him as a techmarine if I want too, or just use the power maul and stormshield in kill team games if I run up against a list with lots of pesky plasma troopers.

[Smoke Frog]

Last post for today, the vehicles and start of the painting process.

Both the stormspeeder and the stalker have been put together and primed along with the rest of the models:

I haven't glued on all the options, which will be handy for any future magnetization or if I want to swap weapons loadouts.

My first true painting attempt was this marine, however upon putting down the basecoats I immediately realized that I made some serious mistakes with my priming.

The base coats for some of the minis had left a fine residue of particles on top of the primer, which meant that even with another layer of basecoat it left a big pebbly surface on top of the miniature.

Some internet research led me to believe this happened because of one of two reasons:

1. The rattlecan I used to spray on the primer (krylon black matte) was too far away from the miniature when I sprayed. This caused the paint particles to dry in the air while travelling from the can to the mini, causing the paint to dry in clumps on the plastic.
2. The high humidity in the air caused the paint to dry in clumps on the plastic.

Considering not only did I spraypaint some of these models from a long distance away, but it was also a bit humid the day I left these minis out to dry, I am pretty sure this is what happened.

After much woe and travesty, I settled on using some pinesol to remove the primer and paint. It seemed pretty effective after leaving the miniature in there for one hour and using a toothbrush to push the paint off the plastic, and didn't seem to remove much detail either. I will add pictures after I am done to show you what I came up with, in case this happens to anyone else too!

Moving past this disaster, I decided to go paint up my lieutenant instead, who had been primed separately from the rest of the models.

He has his power-spear in the first two pictures.

For the black armor I used straight Apple Barrel Black for the basecoat on top of the primer, followed by a drybrush GW Dark Reaper and a second drybrush Apple Barrel Pewter Gray. After drybrushing is complete the whole mini got a black wash from Vallejo Black. I even attempted a few highlights with Dark Reaper/Pewter Gray after this too.

Green was GW Caliban Green (which will always be Dark Angels Green in my heart) and Apple Barrel Christmas Green. Silver-metal-steel is just Boltgun Metal and the GW blue wash.

I got a bunch of shields 3D printed for use in my force too, while the power weapons will be from the lychguard box.

Really enjoying this project so far (except for the priming disaster) so I am looking forward to posting more!

[Commisar Necros]

That's rough about the paint, I had something happen but much worse years ago with some guard. Good it was soon enough to fix though. Everything else is looking good though, I really like the stormshield's and their poses.That deep green is great too

[Smoke Frog]

Finished the LT!

“Form ranks, draw blades and stand fast my brothers – we shall show these traitorous degenerates the meaning of vengeance this day.” –Sergeant Pythas of the Iron Snakes 6^th Company

Name: Lieutenant Scipio

Duty Position: 2^nd Company Lieutenant, armed with storm shield, power sword, and pistol

Chapter Name: Iron Snakes

Successor of: Ultramarines (Second Founding)

Homeworld: Ithaka

I seem to remember reading about the Iron Snakes a long time ago, and all that existed in the lore was the color scheme, and a blurb about them being entirely isolationist and protected under forcefield-domes deep beneath the methane seas of their homeworld. Looks like the lore has either changed significantly for them since then, or I am just getting them confused with some other chapter. However I enjoyed the direction the lore has gone now, especially the Ancient Greek influence. Despite this I decided to name this LT after one of the Roman generals responsible for the defeat of Hannibal during the Punic Wars, Scipio, who was awarded the name Africanus after his great victories in Africa. I figured Lieutenant Scipio could garner the nickname Galaxicanus or something if he spends enough time travelling the cosmos with the Deathwatch and subsequently returning home to the Reef Stars to defend his homeworld of Ithaka, which does seem quite isolated on the edge of Imperial space.

Fun marine to make, though I need to learn how to paint necron blades better.

With all his magnetized parts:

[MadEdric]

I’m very impressed. You’ve taken a unique look at your Deathwatch and the modeling is just fantastic.

[Bjorn Firewalker]

Excellent work on the Iron Snake.

[Smoke Frog]

Thanks! I am happy with my decision to swap out the red accents on the weapons for green.

~~~

Happy Fourth of July my battle brothers, to commemorate this auspicious date I have finished what was supposed to be my original deathwatch marine, Brother Tex of the Stars of Dorn!

“I love the smell of promethium in the morning.” – Captain Billiam Kilgore of the Stars of Dorn eradicating xenos on a jungle-world from the back of his gunship

Marine Name: Brother Tex (full name: Texus “Tex” Longhorn Jonez the Third)

Duty Position: Hellblaster, armed with assault plasma incinerator

Chapter Name: Stars of Dorn

Successor of: Imperial Fists, by way of the Crimson Fists

Homeworld: Amorica

This marine is 100% inspired by the beautifully painted and hilarious works of member Lucifer216 and his Stars of Dorn marine chapter. Definitely one of the most characterful and over-the-top marine chapters I have come across, and I just had to include one on my deathwatch force. The dreadnoughts are my favorites, especially Roosevelt and Kennedy. And Mr. T of course (the “T” is for terminator).

Painting the stripes on his shoulder pad was a challenge, and I enjoyed the spider on his base.

One last picture to better see the star on his kneepad

[Bjorn Firewalker]

Good job painting and detailing the model.

[Smoke Frog]

Four more marines are on the painting table and nearly complete, bit more work to do.

Tonight I get to try out transfers for the first time

[Smoke Frog]

My first water transfer test is complete!

Only took me half a dozen tries and crumpled up transfers to get there!

I had to cut the ultra-"u" in half to get it to sit how I liked it, you can barely tell on the model itself.

Along with this I assembled my three suppressors with their 3D printed flight stands:

There guns are huge! I didn't realize how huge in the pictures. It would be live giving a soldier a vehicle-mounted .50 cal machine gun and a jump pack!

[Duke Danse Macabre]

This is a damn good Plog!

 

Love the thought and background on your force, really give them some flavour, being in a old Eldar station as well just really adds an element of mystic.

I like the start of your force, some good choice and I 100% agree with heavy intercessors for your aggressors, I’m not made about your armour choices but that’s preference on models, would be great to see a couple dreads and maybe a corvus added to supplement your firepower.

 

A great job all around on your conversions, really adds allot of character, love the extended gun barrels.

not sure on the storm cast female marine conversion, not against the ideal but I think the scale of the helmet is off for the body, 30k heads tend to be a little smaller so that may be a better fit, you have good taste in bits and shapeways parts, I personally find though with some things like purity seal depending where it is on the armour depending on the level of detail you want, it can be easier to paint separate and stick on after.

 

Great touch stealing those necron weapons for your conversions, really fits well.

[Smoke Frog]

My attempt to make my own DIY space marine shoulder pad transfers did NOT go as planned. I suspect agents of Tzeentch (Tzeetch? Tzeketch? Tcouch?)

The ink pooled on the transfer paper before I even got to the clear coat stage and is completely unusable. I should have read the reviews online before I bought it in the store; 90% of the ratings are 1/5 stars due to poor product performance. It was even labelled for an inkjet printer (what I have) so I assumed it would work... apparently not.

Do not recommend this brand, bought it at Hobby Lobby. Was super excited for it to, considering how close the store is to me.

I have bought a new set of transfers on etsy, will let you know how the next attempt goes.

This is a damn good Plog!

Love the thought and background on your force, really give them some flavour, being in a old Eldar station as well just really adds an element of mystic.

I like the start of your force, some good choice and I 100% agree with heavy intercessors for your aggressors, I’m not made about your armour choices but that’s preference on models, would be great to see a couple dreads and maybe a corvus added to supplement your firepower.

A great job all around on your conversions, really adds allot of character, love the extended gun barrels.

not sure on the storm cast female marine conversion, not against the ideal but I think the scale of the helmet is off for the body, 30k heads tend to be a little smaller so that may be a better fit, you have good taste in bits and shapeways parts, I personally find though with some things like purity seal depending where it is on the armour depending on the level of detail you want, it can be easier to paint separate and stick on after.

Great touch stealing those necron weapons for your conversions, really fits well.

Thanks!

My vehicle choices but they were definitely my preference on what I thought looked cool. The stormcast conversion was a fun one, though I agree with you on the head size. I tried every marine helmet I had and they all looked a tad too big, but she looks better with both arms attached. I plan to ignore it for now until I can 3D print a custom one smaller.

And yes, loved stealing the necron bits for conversion work; hopefully I can do more of those!

[Smoke Frog]

Having fun painting up my Anti-Air Stalker!

More work to be done, but I was enjoying painting out the little computer bits in the interior

[Bjorn Firewalker]

Good job on the Stalker.

[Duke Danse Macabre]

Your not a hobbiest until you have a pile of, it didn’t turn out quite as planned models you intend to fix later. Lol ;)

 

Shame about the decals, I would say just freehand but seeing the close lines on some of them, I rather moon Khorne than try and paint that 20 times...

I can’t remember what the site name is but I have seen them do stamps based on designers, curved as well so they work well on shoulda with a little touch up.

 

Stalkers looking good and nice work on the internals, really brings it up a level.

Tbh though not the optimal choice I dare say your stalker will see allot of play with the way dark eldar and necrons are right now. 

[Smoke Frog]

Two more marines ready to show, starting with my blackshield:

It was always Brother Narthur’s intention to serve his vigil with honor when seconded to the Deathwatch in the midst of the crusade. He was already an accomplished warrior, well experienced with fighting orks on campaign, and quickly brought his skills to bear when assigned to his new kill team of veteran brothers. However after only a few standard years into his service, he received the dire news from the Eastern Fringe that the entire Zeon sector had been overrun by the forces of Nurgle. All Templars operating in the sector had become infected with the dreadful Rot, and soon all communication with the rest of the crusade ceased. Wracked with grief and bearing the shame of survivors guilt, Narthur donned the black and swore his eternal allegiance to the Deathwatch as the only known, untainted survivor of the Remnant.

Marine Name: Brother Narthur

Duty Position: Intercessor armed with assault bolt rifle

Chapter Name: Blackshield of The Remnant, lost Black Templars crusade

Successor of: Imperial Fists (Second Founding)

Homeworld: Zeon and surrounding sector (lost to chaos invasion)

When constructing my Deathwatch force I had to include a disgraced marine from my previous Black Templars crusade/chapter, old-style helmet and all. The army had been started back around 2004 and wasn’t actually fully finished/based until close to a decade later. I hope my painting abilities have improved a little since then.

In the lore, the Zeon Crusade was a force of Black Templars charged with conquering the Zeon Sector (with some planet names based on a lot of Middle East crusades-era history) from the Orks. Ultimately they failed to fully conquer the sector with the arrival of a giant fleet of plague marines and nurgle worshippers arrived to beat back the Templars and cut the sector from the rest of the wider Imperium and reinforcements. The surviving Templars attempt to hold out in their main fortress but are ultimately forced to flee the sector, and with them the terrible truth that each of them will eventually succumb to the rotting plague that is even now eating through their genetically enhanced bodies. This force then is renamed The Remnant in honor of their fallen crusader brothers, and immediately launches into a ferocious campaign to fight the enemies of the Imperium before they meet their doom. The idea for this concept came from the real-world Order of St. Lazarus, knightly crusaders who continued to fight on despite contracting leprosy, who were viewed with equal parts as holy suffering saints and in revulsion by their fellow crusaders.

Brother Narthur meanwhile is a solitary survivor, having never contracted the Rot, and crossed the Rubicon as a Primaris to further distance himself from his doomed brethren.

May go back and repaint his chains to look more rusty as they got lost on his armor and metallics. Happy I painted "zeon" on the little scroll on his weapon though!

Next up: an ultramarine!

Long has it been the duty of the Third Company to face the most monstrous of alien threats assailing the Imperium and destroy them wholesale. To this end, the company has long emphasized anti-xenos combat techniques in its psycho-indoctrination and training regimens.

Marine Name: Sergeant Trajan

Duty Position: Hellblaster Sergeant, armed with assault plasma incinerator

Chapter Name: Ultramarines (3^rd Company)

Homeworld: Maccrage

This marine was inspired by a post by Rabid Dog Studios on pinterest. I knew I wanted to include and plasma-totting Ultramarine in the force, and considering the lore for the 3^rd Company as alien fighters (and their banner) he was a perfect fit. It also gave me a great opportunity to use this grizzled veteran head, and to test out skin tones.

Edited July 18, 2021 by Smoke Frog

[Bjorn Firewalker]

Excellent works. Is the Zeon Sector named after the antagonistic principality from Mobile Suit Gundam? Will Brother Narthur get a blood-red suit of Tactical Dreadnought armor that lets him move three times faster than other Terminators?

[Smoke Frog]

Excellent works. Is the Zeon Sector named after the antagonistic principality from Mobile Suit Gundam? Will Brother Narthur get a blood-red suit of Tactical Dreadnought armor that lets him move three times faster than other Terminators?

 

Originally the Zeon Sector was just straight up named Zion, due to its lore as basically "Jerusalem during the crusades in spaaaace" but eventually I decided to differentiate it a bit.

 

That being said, being named after the colonies of MSG is a very happy coincidence  and I love the idea of a red suit of terminator armor. Or maybe a red invictor warsuit? 

[Smoke Frog]

Squad leader for the kill team is finished: Sergeant Burchard of the Marines Malevolent!

“Innocence does not exist, only degrees of guilt… cowards, the weak, and the impure do not deserve to live.” –Captain Vinyar of the Marines Malevolent during the Third War for Armageddon

Marine Name: Sergeant Buchard

Duty Position: Intercessor Sergeant, armed with assault bolt rifle and power sword

Chapter Name: Marines Malevolent

Successor of: unknown 32^nd Founding

Homeworld: unknown

The Deathwatch seem to embrace the concept of “the ends justify the means” when it comes to slaying xenos. This includes using forbidden alien technology against the aliens they destroy in defense of humanity, and/or enacting Exterminatus on a planet to prevent the taint of the alien from spreading. Who better than one of the most callous chapters to lead my first deathwatch squad?

They do have an awesome color scheme, definitely were a strong contender for me if I had been interesting in painting a chapter with a bit of yellow instead of all black. I also like that his name sounds a lot like "butcher."

I was able to get my next set of transfer paper, and printed out a big batch of shoulder pad transfers:

They printed well, and while the black shows up well on the yellow shoulder pad, lighter-on-dark colors (like yellow on black or orange on black) do not show up as well. Looks like I am going to have to attempt freehand my Dark Kraken

While the decal on the Marine Malevolent did save me time, it did not set flush with the shoulder pad itself. I am going to ignore it for now and try a few more of these transfers before I move on to the next product.

I also magnetized the arms of this guy, so he can have a pointy hand too:

All the individual pieces:

This also allows me to swap out arms with the Lieutenant I already painted, and swap out the rest of the magnetized arms I make in the future!

[Bjorn Firewalker]

Excellent work on SGT Buchard.

That being said, being named after the colonies of MSG is a very happy coincidence and I love the idea of a red suit of terminator armor. Or maybe a red invictor warsuit?

A red Primaris Inceptor, wielding a power axe in place of one of the assault bolters, is most suitable- unless you mount a Tau battlesuit's jetpack to an Invictor. Zakus fly, after all, and no sane warrior will abandon such an advantage without good reason.

[Monstra Sumus]

Big thumbs up for the Marines Malevolent!

[Lucifer216]

Thank you so much for including one of the Stars of Dorn in your Deathwatch army and for the kind words  . It's wonderful to see something that I did over 10 years ago return in this way. Giving Tex all the guns is a nice touch as well!

[Smoke Frog]

Thanks all!

 

Thank you so much for including one of the Stars of Dorn in your Deathwatch army and for the kind words  . It's wonderful to see something that I did over 10 years ago return in this way. Giving Tex all the guns is a nice touch as well!

 

Wow thank you for the compliment, he was fun to paint and I am glad I got him finished in time for the 4th of July this year.

 

I loved your Stars of Dorn creation, I still have an old file on my computer dated from at least 2012 as a source of inspiration. I can only imagine how long it took you to paint all those red and white stripes 

 

Glad to include them, thanks again!