Is anyone doing Great Crusade-era these days?

[Pacific81]

Hey folks,

 

I know Heresy 2.0 is all the rage at the moment, but just a quick post to see if anyone is undertaking any Crusade-era projects? I'm currently nearing the end of an Epic force which is based around 200 years in and focussing on the World Eaters (just as they are becoming bad boys!) World Eater project blog

 

I've always enjoyed the additional scope of imagination and breadth of modelling opportunities that the Crusade era can present (you can do anything from the first 'numbered' Legions and the conquest of the Sol system, all the way up until Ullanor and the start of the 'turn'!) and there is a lot more grey area for people to come up with their own ideas, or pick up on things that were just mentioned as a sentence or two in the BL books and are intriguingly enigmatic - I'm amazed I haven't seen any projects looking at the Dark Angels taking on the Rangdan for example! 

 

Anyway just a thread to see if anyone is working on anything would love to see it, or if you are thinking of doing something but not sure, post here and it will be interesting to discuss!

[Gorgoff]

Funny enough I had the same thought today. 

GW pushes hard towards Siege of Terra but the more interesting era for me is late Great Crusade and the start of Horus Heresy. 

When they wore MKII + MKIII and MK4 was the new thing. MK6 is fine but it signals the end of the hight of the new Imperium. 

[Noserenda]

Technically my Anathema psykana  )and thus token custodes) force is set alongside my old pre heresy Alpha legion, but they are fairly unchanged throughout the whole period so it's largely academic :D

[Marshal Rohr]

This is hard to explain but I'm doing my Imperial Fists lore as a Siege of Terra force,  but visually is meant to look like a veteran Later Crusade era force. So the way the models look, are painted, are equipped, etc is how they were set up in the last 20 years before Isstvan. 

 

 

Edit: without Cults and Daemon rules its hard to keep going with my ideas for xenos. 

Edited December 3, 2022 by Marshal Rohr

[lansalt]

Well, technically all those EC and WE forces in their original colours are late Great Crusade era/Issvan III-V at most, since they became crazy very fast and changed they appearance accordingly. By the mid to late Heresy, EC were almost like their 40k version and WE were mostly red with a little white and no blue (but not yet with brass trim and khorne icons).

[Doghouse]

I am on and off with my Imperial Fists and Unification Wars Dusk Raiders but not had any free time to work on either. Here are my Fists that are post Howling Gyre Wars but I don't think there is any date set for this conflict so I am imagining mid Crusade.

 

 

 

[Xenith]

On 12/3/2022 at 6:06 PM, lansalt said:

By the mid to late Heresy, EC were almost like their 40k version

 

This is what I don't like about how GW have handled the BL series - the EC fully transform in ~6 years, then...remain the same for the next 10,000? I'd have liked to see a much more gradual change, with marines still largely being marines by the time of the Siege, then becoming fully immersed in the warp post scouring, dedicated to Chaos in the warp when they had no other options. 

[Cleon]

My Emperors Children were supposed to be 'Late great crusade/either side for the Istvaan period', but GW pushing the MK6 as the guys with the affordable special and heavy weapons and the available shoulder pads has pushed me towards 'Warmaster is equipping them with the latest gear, very start of the Heresey, traitors' 

[lansalt]

39 minutes ago, Xenith said:

 

This is what I don't like about how GW have handled the BL series - the EC fully transform in ~6 years, then...remain the same for the next 10,000? I'd have liked to see a much more gradual change, with marines still largely being marines by the time of the Siege, then becoming fully immersed in the warp post scouring, dedicated to Chaos in the warp when they had no other options. 

In the case of the EC, I'd say that it makes sense that followers of the chaos god of excess fall so fast into their final form. Despite that, there were outliers and not all the legion did it at the same time. This was addressed in Angel Exterminatus (with Fulgrim's army being full 40k EC) and in Path of Heaven (with Eidolon musing about having to delay their transformation until the Emperor is defeated).

 

The World Eaters change was much more gradual and more in line with what you say. They became raging berzerkers since Isstvan, but the final change only happened at Terra, and their 40k aesthetics were developed much later after the Heresy. The same can be said about the Death Guard. They were already mutated plague marines by the siege, but their armour and icons were still recognizable and the Nurgle imagery/3 skulls icon/green armour/etc. of 40k had not happened yet.

 

 

[Noserenda]

Im pretty sure by the Siege the Cult Legions were pretty much in their 40k forms aside from the Thousand Sons, the Word Bearers too and elements of all the other Traitor legions too, in fat arguably the most chaotic elements and the ones that stuck around for the whole siege and were thus a lot more under the eyes of the gods. 

Certainly the Deathguard in Warhawk and World Eaters in Echoes were both spot on Chaos Marines and really both legions had been headed down the fast track like the Emperors children ever since their Primarchs ascended.  

[Spagunk]

The basing scheme for my BA are crusade era but that's just an aesthetic than actual gameplay.

[Pacific81]

I'm not up to speed with current HH rules but is there anything to stop 40k rules for aliens being used in that game?

 

I don't mean for a tournament but for things like a narrative event, where you could have an invading crusade of Dusk Raiders destroying Squat/Votann homeworlds or something like that.

[Eternal Despair]

2 hours ago, Pacific81 said:

I'm not up to speed with current HH rules but is there anything to stop 40k rules for aliens being used in that game?

 

I don't mean for a tournament but for things like a narrative event, where you could have an invading crusade of Dusk Raiders destroying Squat/Votann homeworlds or something like that.

For any units/factions released after 8th edition the system is different enough your basically writing a codex from scratch to work with HH 2.0, anything else can use it's 7th edition rules as a base to go over but would still need a lot of wholesale re-writes to work well in the 2.0, mostly looking at adding movement, stat line adjustments particularly in regards to WS, W and T depending on the race but at least has a semi-relevant unit entry as a starting point.

[Pacific81]

On 12/3/2022 at 9:55 PM, Doghouse said:

I am on and off with my Imperial Fists and Unification Wars Dusk Raiders but not had any free time to work on either. Here are my Fists that are post Howling Gyre Wars but I don't think there is any date set for this conflict so I am imagining mid Crusade.

 

 

 

I would love to see Unification-era Dusk Raiders! I am thinking of doing very early Crusade-era as a future project - just really early armour marks and more of a utilitarian look, and the first encounters with some bonkers alien species.

 

You will know this Doghouse as you were about back in the day, but one of the things that has changed so much is that the HH books and official FW has funnelled most pre-heresy hobbyists into playing Heresy and with the same miniatures. Its great that the era is now so accessible but it feels like it has eclipsed the other stories to be told around it in the timeline. There are still some hobbyists doing that sort of thing (there is a Unification Wars FB group which is great), but feels like a lot less than there used to be, which is a shame.

[Doghouse]

Oh definitely, I think Unification/Great Crusade is the new Pre-Heresy format that we were used to and like you say is rich for creating new aliens and exploring the early days of the Imperium. I think for me the thing that killed my interest in Heresy was that suddenly it was all laid bare, now while that is a great thing in that it made it so much more accessible to everyone it felt like it put us gaming archaeologists out of a job. I miss all the digging for tiny scraps of information or quotes and building on that to be honest and it was a nice little group we had. 

 

I'm currently playing around with Age of Apostasy at the moment but I have the Dusk Raiders built and just need to sit down and paint them. I've not been posting much of late because I am exploring the possibilities of 3d printing and hope to do something with that and life gets in the way of fun stuff at the worst times.

 

I've seen some very interesting Unification ideas being thrown around here on the B&C though.

 

 

 

 

[MegaVolt87]

On 12/5/2022 at 8:06 PM, Cleon said:

My Emperors Children were supposed to be 'Late great crusade/either side for the Istvaan period', but GW pushing the MK6 as the guys with the affordable special and heavy weapons and the available shoulder pads has pushed me towards 'Warmaster is equipping them with the latest gear, very start of the Heresey, traitors' 

 

I see that as more, new recruits who have never fought a xenos because still in training then all the war they ever knew was against other Astartes. New recruits with the newest equipment also makes sense there as well. 

[GAZ_AV_NZ]

Join Xenos of the great crusade on facebook

The heresy xenos races books available from 1.0 are slowly being updated to 2.0 so you can play certain races 

Hopefully over time xenos players can join in 

1.0 rules are available via fb links 

 

[Sherrypie]

I love creating little Unification era projects for skirmish games like Kill Team precisely for the archeology reasons, expanding tiny scraps of quotes to short stories in physical form without over-committing to an idea.

 

Warsingers and philosopher kings of Ursh, no-name warlords of the Transatlantian wastes, cannibalistic machine evangelists of Nordafrika, degenerate hill peoples, pre-standardisation Thunder Legions and so on are all lovely fun to work on. Exploring the shift from proto-Astartes into the full-fledged Crusade legions is definitely on the radar as well sometimes in the future, quite possibly with Dusk Raiders too to complement my XIV legio forces :)

[Brother Sutek]

I would have painted and styled my Death Guard as Crusade era if I hadn't repurposed my 3.5 edition Plague Marine models. I sadly didn't have the 2nd edition models but while smaller than the current models I like the old ones as my army. Sadly it keeps them in late Heresy for their timeline.

[Dark Legionnare]

On 12/11/2022 at 3:53 AM, GAZ_AV_NZ said:

Join Xenos of the great crusade on facebook

The heresy xenos races books available from 1.0 are slowly being updated to 2.0 so you can play certain races 

Hopefully over time xenos players can join in 

1.0 rules are available via fb links 

 

Have used 1.0 Ork rules to fun effect numerous times against buddies' mechanicum, salamanders, iron hands, etc...  Especially with the recent(ish) enough updates supporting new ghaz model as a tyrant and such.

Edited January 4, 2023 by Dark Legionnare

[apologist]

It'd certainly be fun to explore here on the B&C, @Pacific81. The Unification Wars and Great Crusade have so much appeal, and, like @Doghouse, I always loved sifting through old bits and bobs to build on little asides. Strikes me that this would be a good subject for a club, don't you think?

 

Not directly related, but the opportunities for alternative colour schemes for the (literal) pre-Heresy armour marks is as good a reason as any for exploring the space.

 

 

Cobbling together some reference bits and bobs reminds me fondly of the old TGC forum! We've certainly got a few more snippets on the early Great Crusade now, like some of the vulgar names (i.e. those used by the rest of the Imperial forces) for the Legions during the early stages of the Crusade.

 

• Legion I – Angels of Death or simply 'The First'
• Legion II – None known
• Legion III – None known
• Legion IV – Corpse Grinders
• Legion V – Star Hunters et al.
• Legion VI – None known
• Legion VII – None known 
• Legion VIII – None known
• Legion IX – Revenant Legion et al.
• Legion X – Storm Walkers
• Legion XI – None known
• Legion XII – Warhounds
• Legion XIII – War-Born
• Legion XIV – Dusk Raiders
• Legion XV – Thousand Sons
• Legion XVI – Luna Wolves
• Legion XVII – Imperial Heralds
• Legion XVIII – Dragon Warriors
• Legion XIX – Pale Nomads 
• Legion XX – Ghost Legion et al.

 

We also know quite a few of the Old Hundred, which would be a wonderful area to explore.

Edited January 10, 2023 by apologist

[Captain Idaho]

On 1/4/2023 at 4:35 PM, Dark Legionnare said:

Have used 1.0 Ork rules to fun effect numerous times against buddies' mechanicum, salamanders, iron hands, etc...  Especially with the recent(ish) enough updates supporting new ghaz model as a tyrant and such.

 

That's interesting. I created some "Adversary" rules I sent into White Dwarf they never liked enough to print so I'm on that wavelength. 

 

I always liked the idea that many Xenos races were at supremely powerful levels back before the Emperor crushed them with his Crusade. 

[Dark Legionnare]

2 hours ago, Captain Idaho said:

 

That's interesting. I created some "Adversary" rules I sent into White Dwarf they never liked enough to print so I'm on that wavelength. 

 

I always liked the idea that many Xenos races were at supremely powerful levels back before the Emperor crushed them with his Crusade. 

There is a TON of fun to be had playing Orks against crusade (AoD rules) marines.  I had an unmitigated blast running a green-tide list with stompa, etc, etc... Casualties, upon casualties, upon casualties but the boyz keep coming back. Very thematic, very fun!

Said Ork rules here proved well balanced and fun.: Particularly this set.https://drive.google.com/file/d/1sMezPBnyHILR755kygs3bWbfCERy_lkp/view?usp=sharing was what I made said green tide list with.

I'd certainly join that Facebook group @GAZ_AV_NZ mentioned if I hadn't nuked mine years ago.