7th Company, Graven Star Chapter - Torbenos' Bearers of the Word

[Pearson73]

Love the Lightning, they're such cool models! @LameBeard makes a good point about the basing.

 

Nice posing and use of transfers on the Lieutenant too. 

[Torbenos]

 

 

The praises of the Ætheric Gods echoed through the cramped passages of Hitherin Major. Three days had passed since the city's defenses had fallen, and the purges followed soon after. The Argented hid their faces behind masks, but none could question the glee they took in the slaughter.

[Torbenos]

 

 

 

++Carta Galactica++
++Circumspecta++
Hella was a world of vast spanning dunes and rocky wastes, large deserts separated by high jagged mountain ranges born of extreme tectonic activity. Orbiting twin stars, it had been colonized in the long distant past due to its sizable prometheum deposits and rare earth minerals created in the volcanic turmoil beneath the surface Originally settled during the Age of Technology most of its original history prior to the Cult Mechanicum’s arrival near the beginning of the Age of Strife has been lost to time. It was returned to the Imperium of Man during the Great Crusade, and was then in accordance with the Treaty of Mars designated as a Forge World to fall under the purview of the Fabricator-General. 

Its natural reserves made it an important part of the crusade’s support infrastructure in Segmentum Tempestus, and conflict arose early on regarding the rights and sovereignty of the local Archmagos. This resulted in the Culling of Argo where IIIrd Legion was dispatched to pacify a rebelling element of the Cult Mechanicum, in the wake of which the world fully grew to be under the dominion of the Imperium.

 

The intense resource extraction culminated in atmospheric deterioration resulting in extreme sandstorms, coined “The Dinni” by the locals, which made the majority of the world’s open plains inhospitable to life. The main cities of the world were protected by rudimentary but massive refractor fields which held the storms at bay, while the rest were nestled along the main mountain chains of the world.

 

 

 

+ADDENDUM++
After the outbreak of the Horus Heresy the natural resources of Hella became a pivotal point in the defense of Segmentum Tempestus. After the fall of nearby Solvak martial law was declared and the world became garrisoned by a force of the VIIth Legion seeking to strengthen its defenses.

 

 

It was while this work was still undergoing that the attack began in earnest. The orbital weapons platforms became a pivotal point in the assault, denying the attacking fleet any chance of making landfall. While the opposing fleets made battle in the void, it was here that the initial stage of the Hellan Assault was decided.

 

 

 

 

Orbital Station
Theatre One

The great orbital stations around Hella protects the world from the invading fleet, making landfall nigh on impossible.  A full scale assault upon it has been declared vital by fleet command, dispatching multiple kill teams to try and destroy infrastructure and if possible seize control nodes.

Edited September 12 by Torbenos

[Torbenos]

 

I am happy to report that the narrative campaign I started up in the local scene has gotten off the ground. We are now through the first campaign turn with 5 games played in total, and the Orbital was seized by the invading traitor forces who have now made planetfall upon Hella. I've not yet quite gotten all the information from the loyalist side, but here is a snazzy little something I threw together for the traitors.

 

 

 

Now instead we turn to the next theatre of war, the famed Azaric promethium fields of the world. We'll be playing with a special rule risking the great sandstorms which if they arrive make Night Fighting take effect, and makes all Infantry treat Open Ground as Difficult Terrain. Together with a trio of missions inspired by Exemplary Battles and some work over at Goonhammer.

 

 

 

I also got around to kitbash some miniatures again after having been unsure where to turn my attentions to next. I had a bit of a spree painting up 80 militia but since then it has been slow going. But this campaign motivated me to get a Command Squad, and while I at first desired a sword and board unit I was unable to find suitable swords to make it work with the breachers shields I had. So in the end it became a more varied little squad.

 

 

[Torbenos]

 

Squad Aš "The Blessed Souls"
Command Designation
7th Company of the Graven Star Chapter
XVIIth Legion "Word Bearers"

 

Squad Aš pictured here during the late stage of the Battle of Hella during the Herith Advance. Consisting of veterans chosen by Chaplain Ikton they were granted the honour of serving as Aš, first among equals. This role remains undefined in official command structure protocols of the XVIIth but appears to have a purpose beyond the martial, indeed records note that each member of Squad Aš were also a prominent figure in one of the legion's many warrior lodges.

Equipped in artificed Mark III "Iron Armour" the Aš enjoyed access to the great armouries' of the Chapter. Each warrior having the chance to make war with a weapon of their choice. The most revered among them were given leave to carry the standard of the 7th into battle, displaying the Graven Star of Colchis.

[Torbenos]

 

 

 

 

 

Pictured: Descending from the skies the IXth Legion Assault Squads made short work of the advancing armour.

 

 

 

 

In the wake of Fleet Command's new orders a great offensive was gathered by the commanders on the ground. Amidst the 7th Company a great blow to morale had been felt after Chaplain Ikton's retreat to orbit following his encounter with the prideful Ko'Tan. Master-Breacher Sortan had been appointed Delegatus, in charge of this new assault upon the capital hive. Advised and guarded by the Blessed Aš.

 

As casualties amongst the legions continued to climb it was by Sortan's command that the auxiliary "Brotherhood of the Argented" were sent to spearhead their advance through the bombed out husks of the hive outskirts. The great Shadowsword dubbed Nemesis, a name of Old Terra, had been dispatched to make short work of the Gate of Primus. By all reports the initial advance towards the gate was without incident, encountering only nominal resistance of the IXth Legion. Then, as has long been their way, the skies thundered by the approach of thunderhawks. Revving engines were their battle cries as the blood angels descended upon the advancing Word Bearers.

 

The initative was theirs as they swiftly surrounded the forward elements of the assault and by biting chainswords tore the thick ceramite plates asunder, slaughtering the foes inside before they could regroup.

 

 

Pictured: Upon blazing glory came the Dawnbreakers, the great Nemesis marked as their prey.

 

 

 

Archein Hadriel and Dominion Thalastael both had joined with a retinue of Dawnbreakers. They had chosen the Nemesis as their prey, each man bearing the burden of a melta bomb to turn the great beast to slag. The great armaments of their supporting fire raptor let loose, cutting low the marines defending the great tank from infantry assaults.

All held their breath as the air crackled, the volcanic cannon unleashing a blast engineered to fell god-engines. The shimmer of Hadriel's iron halo all which told of their endurance.

 

 

 

 

Pictured: Delegatus Sortan, only recently raised to such honour locked in deadly melee with a descending ancient of the angels.

 

A dreadnought fell from the skies. Its sensors upon Sortan, having identified the legionary as part of the command structure by his intermittent vox spurts.

In the choking smoke of the nearby Lemon Russ, long reduced to ruin, they fought. The blessed proving their name anew as they stood defiant in the face of this machine of war. Giving no ground, even as their feeble weaponry only dented its thick plates.

 

 

 

Pictured: The Crimson Paladins carving a bloody swathe through the loyal Argented infantry.

 

Meanwhile the Storm Wind ran through the ruins. Masses of the Argented rose against them like waves, but the paladins were rock.  Once by one the buildings were cleared by crackling powered steel, til their armour was crimson but by the paint of their artificers but by traitorous blood. Only a single of the Keruvim fell that day. His name he had forsaken long ago.

 

 

Edited October 30 by Torbenos

[Pearson73]

That's a great looking command squad. 

 

Sounds like a cool game too, love the last photo of the indomitable terminator wading through the mortal masses.

[Torbenos]

 

 

 

Orahan Thorr
Librarian Command Element
7th Company of the Graven Star Chapter
XVIIth Legion "Word Bearers"

 

Orahan Thorr, pictured here during the deseperate defence of Tilumva Five, wears a modified MKIII "Iron Armour" battle plate. In adherence with the strictures of the Aurelian it is decorated with colchisian runes of warding and protection, claimed to protect his soul during voyages upon the astral sea. Of note is the severe mutation of his left hand, having grown a secondary oral cavity and seen the digits enlarged into sharp talons. More proof of the Legion's fall into degeneracy. Orahan is armed with a power sword enhanced with so called "force" technology, as to make it suitable to psykic enhancement.

 

Prior to the Council of Nikaea Orahan's name was listed in the Librarius of the XVIIth Legion and whilst his name was struck from its following the Emperor's edict field reports following the outbreak of the war make it clear he and a number of other officers of the XVIIth Legion continue to make use of their psychic powers. Of particular note are the pict recordings of Orahan commanding unknown Xenos forces during the defense of Tilumva, seemingly through the use of his psyhic abilities.