My Heart For The Lady - tinpact's CSM (and friends)

[tinpact]

What happens when the warden realizes that he too is a prisoner?

 

+ Message from Junior Inquisitor Kisenlach to Inquisitor Vorlan +
+ Subject: Carcere IV +
+ Date: 110.M37 +

We write this in the wake of the incident at Penal Facility Sigma-Sigma-Tau and subsequent investigation by the Angels of Vigilance, led by Brother-Librarian Atheris. We find this relevant to the continuation of your predecessor's investigation of the disappearance of the [REDACTED] chapter. Notably, a number of phenomena reported by the Astartes seem to match those described in your reports on Sector [REDACTED] and Sector [REDACTED]. We will send a full transcription of the Astartes' debriefing at a later date when Brother Atheris has recovered.

Due to the nature of the incident, we find that the initial purgation of Carcere IV in 044.M37 was not thorough enough, and we recommend total liquidation as well as seismic destabilization of all major populated sites. However, as this falls under your jurisdiction, we will defer to you in this matter.

Emperor speed you.

+ Transmission end +

***

Salvete, fratres! I finally decided to stop lurking and got around to making an account...

This project is the result of a lot of things; I picked up Dark Vengeance last year for the chaos side, then realized I didn't know what to do with the Chosen, then realized I really like Possessed. While deciding on what to do with them, I ended up split between making them Emperor's Children or Word Bearers (or, briefly, painting it all black and calling them Fallen--I might still do a few of these). A year, a couple handfuls of Dark Angels, and far too many papers on chivalric romance later, I settled on a color scheme and a vague backstory for my spiky dudes. So, now I've decided to put a little effort forth and try and document the process. Expect a lot of rambling.

Renegades seemed like a natural choice; as much as I love the IIIrd and IVth, the legions, I think, come with too much baggage from the Long War. As an aside, I think this is part of why the Badab War is so compelling; besides being essentially a blank slate, it's far enough removed from the grand existential melodrama of "Chaos vs Humanity" that it leaves room to imagine more human motivations.

Enter the Knights of the Veiled Rose, a merry band of loons, zealots, and thugs united only by their common devotion to their Lady, an enigmatic yet charismatic warp presence who lurks in the far corners of the galaxy. I imagine them to be the result of the natural accumulation of followers accrued by a galaxy-spanning pilgrimage. This is as much due to my fondness for roadtrip stories and collecting odd models and not doing anything with them as it is actual backstory.

***


Pictured: Unknown heretic marine bearing the Carcerators heraldry, ca. 522.M38

+ Carcerators chapter [PERDITAS] +
++ Founding [M35] ++
++ Geneseed [unknown//??Suspected V Legion] ++
++ Homeworld [Carcere V] ++

+ History +
The Carcerators were founded in the wake of the successful Rosalis Crusade to watch over the newly prosperous Carcere system and its neighbors in the newly-dubbed subsector. Such were the hopes for this chapter that they received a number of rare suits of Heresy-era armor as relics from their parent chapter.

The chapter quickly proved itself in service to the Imperium in several campaigns against xenos incursions. Dour and dutifully-minded, the Carcerators became experts in fighting in cramped quarters and fast, fluid operations. Records attribute this to their tradition of training scouts in the dense underhives of the penal world of Carcere IV.

The Carcere system was one of many the Imperium lost contact with during the Age of Apostasy. Exactly what transpired in those lost years when the chapter was cut off from the Imperium is known only to a few--and none of them are of the mind to tell. When the interfering warp storms receded, the Carcere system was one of the rare few that had degraded little, owing to its close contact with its neighbors and tight, productive supply chains. When Imperial emissaries arrived, however, the Carcerators had not been seen in over a decade. Care of their domain has since been transferred to the Angels of Vigilance.

+ Customs and Rites +

The esoteric ritual known as "the Hunt" figures heavily in a number of remaining sources. One suspects ritual figures into explaining the findings in the underhives of sites 7-Delta-Tau and 8-Delta-Gamma...

The rite of the Hunt served as an opportunity for the chapter's neophytes to prove themselves. When it was time for the Hunt, neophytes would be joined by veterans of the chapter in small cadres. Together, they would hunt the most dangerous outcasts and mutants in the depths of Carcere IV. The ritual still exists, albeit in a corrupted form. Where once it was an honorable rite, the privilege of warriors to hone their skills, it is now the domain of those highest in the Lady's favor--those most willing to lose themselves to mindless savagery. To their prey, however, it makes very little difference.

+ The Lady +

"You are mistaken, my friend. You talk of glory and honor as if they are base currency, to be gotten and lost, deeds traded for meaningless deeds. The Knight seeks no glory but for the Lady, for the Lady is glory."

One of the numerous minor warp entities that haunt the lonely reaches of the galaxy, the nature of the entity known as the Lady is elusive and manifold--even those initiated in the deepest mysteries have only submerged themselves in the shallowest reaches of the abyss that is Her embrace. To devote oneself to the Lady is to abandon the self and surrender fully to the truest, basest elements of the soul. In battle, the Knights make no boasts or challenges, for they have nothing to prove to their enemy; the slaughter they inflict is enough. The Possessed of the warband--those most esteemed warriors who have communed with and become entwined with fragments of the Lady--wander in a blissful trance until the call of the hunt is sounded; daemonic flesh and plasteel jolt to life in an instant, keening howls fill the air, and the host surges forth with preternatural speed and ferocity.

+ Combat Doctrine +

Although nominally Codex-compliant, records from the ruins of the chapter's monastery indicate the use of several nonstandard formations aimed at maximizing flexibility and pursuit capability in addition to those prescribed by the Codex Astartes.

A significant divergence noted by allies who fought beside them is deployment of Terminator suits and shieldbearer veterans embedded in tactical squads. The chapter's scout companies were used aggressively to harry opponents, herding them into killzones. Survivors from raids across the galaxy report a similar role being played by the warband's baying packs of Possessed. Their battle tactics are even more varied now, having incorporated dozens of smaller warbands, each with their own approach to warfare.

Additionally, due to their preference for rapid attack and frequent raids by spacefaring Xenos, the chapter was noted to have an air support wing of above average quality. Since they took to the warp on their great pilgrimage, their air wing has been further bolstered by heretic machines and daemon engines.

Edited August 25, 2021 by tinpact

[Brother Dallo]

Some interesting concepts here. Nice to see more home brews.

 

Dallo

[tinpact]

I've had varying luck with yellow in the past (my old Chaos Warriors are...chunky), so I figured I'd test it out on some dummy models first. I bought a bunch of ETB Reivers and Intercessors a while back for that exact purpose, so it was nice to use a few up. Have a couple "Lamenters" (the heraldry's a bit off on account of one being a Blood Angel and both being from memory). No points for guessing which one I primed black. I'm definitely using the airbrush going forward; it's positively invaluable for getting the yellow on evenly.

 

And, a couple Plague Marines; I've had these guys sitting with a coat of primer since last winter, so naturally they get their paint first. You can see the others in the background, but these two are my favorite (and the most complete). If they look a little clean for Plague Marines, don't worry--I'm currently waiting on some enamels I want to try out.

 

@ Brother Dallo: Hey, thanks! Also, I can't help but notice your profile image--it's a neat color combination, isn't it?

[Bjorn Firewalker]

Good job on the Lamenters.

[tinpact]

Can you say filigree?

I've been working on this model (currently held together with poster putty) for a few weeks. I think it's safe to say that the point at which you start using a sewing needle as your main sculpting tool is the moment you ought to reconsider your scale. That said, I am quite proud of the flower on the belt, and I probably will repeat the motif on future models, just not so...intensely. Originally this was going to be a much simpler conversion, but then I saw this artwork

and immediately knew I had to do something with it.

Also: how many of these jump pack sorcerers have you seen?

 
From what I've found, the winged backpack from the Possessed kit is, if not ubiquitous, at least a very popular choice for conversions. This guy is one of a couple sorcerers I bought recently, the other being the plastic one. I wasn't sold on this guy's design the first time I saw it, but he's really grown on me after seeing some different paintjobs. When I first painted him up, I was worried how he would turn out because the blue/yellow split frankly looked terrible on all the zigzaggy trim, but then I started painting him up with metals and that really did it. So, now he's split silver/gold, with a sort of discount SENMM (I guess it should be SETMM here?) scheme. He's not done yet, but it's turned out better than I expected for very little effort.
 

The Plague Marines are coming along nicely--just gotta finish that last and most terrible step, painting the base. I didn't end up going as far with the weathering as I planned back in December--the first iteration of these guys was as their own warband in cream and orange colors with just a splash of blue, and they were going to be way heavier on the rust. Sort of like this:
Although I realize now I might have just been on the way to making a Cleaved warband. Go figure. I've seen people paint their models with Agrellan Earth; that's closer to the look I was going for--bone-dry, lumbering, rusted-out hulks. Ultimately I just painted on some scratches, streaking grime and a bit of rust. As I'm writing this, I'm wondering if it might be a good idea to go back and do a similar effect on the trim as on the sorcerer. Possibilities!

[tinpact]

Cobbled together a couple mutants/cultists while waiting for greenstuff to dry. I saw some rumors a while ago about part of the releases for the 9th codex being a lot of mortals somewhere - it wasn't very convincing in my opinion, but you never know. Does 40K really need a Forsaken analog? They're one of the units I'm puzzled didn't get ported from Fantasy to AoS, but outside of being able to run traitor guard with CSM, which I am very much on board with, I'm not too keen on more mortals (I would like to see the Chaos Ogryns and Beastmen from Blackstone Fortress come back, but again - traitor guard).

 

[tinpact]

Got a squad of basic marines built up - of all the things I expected to miss in the move from the old plastic kit to the new one, being able to find one-handed bolters wasn't one of them. There's one in the new kit that you can use if you clip off some of the ammo belt, but it's harder than it used to be to give your Aspiring Champion the usual Bolter/Chainsword loadout. Luckily, the old bolters aren't that hard to find.
 
Also, I finally used one of the Puppetswar heads I ordered a while back for my HB guy. Maybe he's an ex-Long Fang?

[Brother Carpenter]

Nice home brew. Keep up the goodness.

[tinpact]

I've gotten my hands on some Oyumaru, so I've gotten to work duplicating an old casualty for base decorations - he is a bit limbless at the moment, so I'll have to do a few of those as well. All things said, the detail is pretty decent. You can see it softening a bit on the second cast, but I'm not sure how much of that is due to the mold deforming and how much is due to technique and the Greenstuff/Milliput mixture.

 

 

 

Nice home brew. Keep up the goodness.

Thanks, man!

[ranulf the revenant]

 

Also, I finally used one of the Puppetswar heads I ordered a while back for my HB guy. Maybe he's an ex-Long Fang?

 

*Angry

[tinpact]

Busy, busy! Finished up a squad of CSM (well, there's a few details I'd like to go over again), plus some other fellows.

 

Squad Surash

 

From left to right:

 

Gerietes Zuruhk - Heavy Bolter

Formerly belonging to the Iron Warriors, Gerietes, along with many of his fellow warriors, resented being assigned to a fortress considered to be a backwater. When the Knights spilled out of the warp, he was quick to throw his lot in with the newcomers.

 

Andva Zagrin

Brother Zagrin was part of the last generation of recruits taken from the Carcerators' home system. Aggressive even as a scout, his bolter is as likely to be used as a bludgeon as it is to be used at range. He is particularly fond of being one half of a vicious pincer maneuver with the like-minded Brother Candor.

 

Kamber Surash - Aspiring Champion

The position of squad leader is a tenuous one. For his part, Surash is content to let his subordinates do as they please - the key, in his mind, is not to let one's pawns know they are pawns. Despite his apparently laissez-faire attitude, the constantly swiveling eyes adorning his armor betray him.

 

Salas Mawaran

As the most senior member of the squad, Brother Mawaran provides a more grounded perspective to Brother Surash's frequently distant one. Although he doesn't always see eye-to-eye with Gerietes, together the two form the backbone of many of the squad's operations.

 

Baradan Candor

Whenever, wherever, whatever Brother Candor sets his mind to, he does. It is this reliable quality that has earned him a spot as Surash's favorite.

 

Some detail shots: it took a while to come up with an icon that I felt was both fitting and paintable to put on their shoulders - I avoided doing it with the plague marines, but there's no putting it off forever, is there, now? While it was actually quite easy once I got the hang of it, I'm considering looking into printing some transfers for them.

 

A few more cultists I put together - I sculpted a bit onto the dupes.

 

Plus, a shot of the eye on Andva's chest after I realized his bolter would cover it up, and a plasmork.

[tinpact]

October's looking like a good month for green.

 

Here's the rest of those Stormboyz - note the extra-heretical hats. Orks don't have quite the same amount of real estate for sculpting as power armor, I think, but I'm quite happy with these lads.

 

And some reinforcements for my other little green men: the termies are from a particularly gnarly set of Ebay rescues - it took something like a month of scraping and scrubbing paint off, and most of them involved some kind of cutting apart and reassembling, but overall they didn't turn out too bad.

[tinpact]

Little update on the Stormboyz - just a bit of cleanup and then the bases left!

 

[tinpact]

Slowly, slowly, plodding along on the troops. Work's ramping up for the holidays - I find time when I can.

 

Working on some heavy support - the VIndicator has some odd shapes that make it a little unfriendly for the style of trim I was originally going for.

 

And: I recall saying something about Fallen a while ago...

[Doghouse]

Very nice stuff, I am especially loving the Chaos guys, the icon looks great.

[tinpact]

After letting these guys sit for a long time, I've decided to try doing some freehand on their armor. The Chaos Warriors box from Fantasy has a few example paintjobs with some similar swirly patterns - when I got it I wondered how the hell you were supposed to get lines that fine. Very, very carefully, apparently, and with a brush that can hold a tip better than any of mine can. Still trying to decide if I should do it on the other side as well (in blue, probably).

 

@Doghouse - Oh yeah, the backpack icons are a highlight of the kit for me (now if only they still had mark-specific ones).

 

[tinpact]

In a rare moment of inspiration, I built a new beakie-fied Intercessor sergeant. I avoided putting the five from the combat patrol together for a long time because I'm not really a big fan of them, but I really like this guy.

 

And look who came in the mail today! After removing about a pound of resin from the gate on his back...

[tinpact]

Hobbying for me, just like my exercise routine, tends to fall by the wayside for the holidays. However, I finally got around to clearing some space out on my desk, so I busted out my gouache paints. I've been trying to get my traditional skills back into shape with some space marines. Well, I'm not exactly the next John Blanche.

 

 

Plus, working in 2D again has reminded me of one of the pitfalls I forgot about while working on miniatures: real life perspective. See: the same painting at a flat angle, and from the angle I painted it at.

 

Plus, the start of a Berzerker champion in dramatic lighting, and again with the lights on.

[Valkia the Bloody]

Wow, I love your work.

I especially like cool kit-bashes and conversions.

 

And I like your paintings. Especially the Night Lord. :p

[tinpact]

Working on a few plague marines - I can't understate how much I love all the teeth and spikes these guys have. I read the Iron Snakes novel a while back and the chaos marines that appeared briefly in the second part had such a cool description: diseased hulks, more beast than warrior - and they were fast.

 

I swapped the cleaver guy's torso out for a mouth-belly and gave him a little cape. The great cleaver is such a brutal-looking weapon I had to use it, and I liked the idea of a butcher chopping up his enemies and devouring them (actually, thinking about it - I played DotA for a while and Pudge was one of my favorite characters. Well, him and Lion, but that's a different story).

 

Wow, I love your work.

I especially like cool kit-bashes and conversions.

 

And I like your paintings. Especially the Night Lord.

Thanks! I love a dude with 'tude, and if he isn't! ...I also find it helps curb the impulse to buy new models I won't paint for another year otherwise

 

 

Sluuurp!

Edited January 24, 2022 by tinpact

[tinpact]

It's still too cold and wet to be airbrushing (I'm edging closer and closer to giving and investing in a setup I can use indoors) so I've been doing a lot of putting stuff together so it's ready for priming.

 

Sculpting these little beveled numerals is surprisingly difficult!

 

 

Plus, I've discovered that Vallejo brush-on primer does a pretty great job filling in layer lines on 3D prints and sands to a really great smooth - the catch being only after it cures fully, which takes forever. I primed this model around this time last year, screwed it up once, stripped it, tried again, and then let it sit until it stopped smelling and didn't feel rubbery...which must have been at least a month after the fact.

[tinpact]

Some progress on my vow for Anger and Arrogance. After about an hour of screwing around with blankets, cling wrap, a cardboard box, and a vacuum, I managed to get a passable spray booth working, so that's something to look forward to while the cold months last.

 

[tinpact]

Finally got around to priming. Good heavens, I forgot how much stuff the Death Guard models have. I also managed to wrench off part of one of my needle tips while trying to replace a lost seal with thread tape - there's a reason they tell you to only get it finger tight. I was able to unscrew the nub, but for some reason I have the uncanny feeling that I've done this before.

[tinpact]

Brothers, I have a disease. And that disease...is called not being able to stop buying people's janky used Terminators off Ebay and then taking weeks to clean them up. Anyway, some Blood Angels for the new edition (as an aside, I've just realized I think this brings the number of unpainted Termies I have lying around to...around 45 - granted, about half of those are Deathwing models I stripped and haven't repainted):

 

 

Edited April 25, 2022 by tinpact

[Dosjetka]

That's a stunning red you have there! Can't wait to see them Terminators painted. :tu: