+ In the Dust of Armageddon + – Themed project log

[Beta galactosidase]

I am surprised about how dark your salamander armour is.  Maybe because of the lighting in the codex Armageddon photos, or even the monochrome illustrations, I had this obsession with making salamanders the perfect desaturated but brass-toned, avocado flesh green. It was like raptors but yellower and they’d been left in the sun.  

 

I think the average salamander you see in Instagram or Reddit is also lighter than yours though 
 

 

On the Armageddon 3 website there is a communique written by a storm trooper captain in which he says “I am aware of the militia's wishes to use either more of my forces or even Scouts from the Adeptus Astartes Chapter Salamanders but, with the greatest respect to their commanders, they are not fully familiar with the nature of dispersive warfare… 

 

“As far as the Salamanders are concerned, their bravery and capability in fighting the greatest of enemies is legendary. However, I feel that the Asgardian Rangers have many advantages in their use throughout this warzone above and beyond Scouts of the Space Marines.”

 

He also expects that the salamander scouts would use bikes for this patrol duty (and this would be bad)

[apologist]

Thanks for the notes – more and more coming round to the idea that my scheme needs a rethink. I like the model; but don't feel the green is as vibrant as it should be.

 

While I ponder that further (and await some Leviathan-sourced reinforcement), I've carried on with the sculpting work on the legs.

 

 

The picture above is interesting to compare with that below; pre-greenstuff. You can see the difference the additional bulk around the thighs makes. I've tried to keep as much of the 'greebling' detail of the existing legs, so most of the work was really built around integrating the additional reinforcing layers that are a feature of Mark X armour in general and the Gravis variant in particular.

 

[jaxom]

Some tidbits from Index Astartes to fill in some info. Parts overlap with the Codex info and color schemes.

 

 

 

[apologist]

+ Coming in hot +

Second Company, Salamanders Chapter. 

 

Descriptive, but hardly poetic. Hardly worthy of the Defenders of Nocturne; the scorned of Badab; the Saviours of Armageddon. Hardly worthy of the dragons of myth, descending in fire and flame to a world on the brink of ruin; and a population in despair.

 

Dragons, aye; but knightly saviours too. More than anything we expected.

 

Each had a name, a story, a face.

 

And what unusual faces...

 

+++

 

Work on the project picked up as I received a care package of 3D prints from a friend of mine. A feverish two evenings has seen them move from parts to  here:

 

An experiment in speed-painting, using a variety of rattle can spray paints, was followed up by an evening of applying transfers.  

 

 

 

I stumbled upon an awesome Salamanders name generator on Realm of Plastic [+noosphericexloadlink embedded+], and thought I'd use it to work up some names for these thirteen lucky warriors who've been promoted to Captain Mir'san's Company.

 

The lucky few selected for promotion are:

1. Nomix Nor'jargan
2. Illor Hak'phast
3. Cassax Fo'ken
4. Adrak Ush'en
5. Vor'ord Grorn
6. Atanarian Sepor
7. Typhak Numatone
8. Iaptane Greon
9. V'reth Tarsidemi
10. Volkaeus Orurr
11. Clysis Skatar'tarro
12. Mulbaku Numek
13. Dakad Ka

 

+++

And lastly, a comparison shot with one of my conversions. Think these should fit in rather nicely!

 

Edited July 5, 2023 by apologist

[apologist]

The wind brought the tang of chemicals. Even this far from Acheron, on the Deep Roads, the ash-desert surface was laced with production run-off. It gathered in the depressions, where lurid yellows, magentas and cyans had formed cleanly-distinguishable layers.

 

Elsewhere – including the rudimentary road along which Magnificence grumbled – the landscape was a uniform dirty grey-yellow. The sky was the same grey-yellow, tinted by a dirty haze. Through this haze a dirty white sun scowled unmercifully down on the convoy.

 

Four vehicles, a handful of outriders, and nothing else but dunes from horizon to horizon. 

 

Somewhere ahead – far ahead – was the Plutus river. The vast plain between Acheron and Infernus hives was not conventionally attractive, thought Numatone, whatever that aesthete Tarsidemi said about chem-rainbows at sunset. It was bleak here, with little to commend the outlands of Armageddon to anyone.

Numatone's thoughts darkened. Anyone but the gurm kenndh, that is. Damnable orks.

 

 

+++

 

I want to take the project beyond pure fantasy, and start to root the Salamanders into the broader Imperium a bit more. I've therefore appended the names with concepts, which  will be further developed. Perhaps these are the Salamanders' birth-names; some form of patronymic (or matronymic), or honour names – it'll be fun to find out.

Nomix Nor'jargan – shja'eanh (courage)
Illor Hak'phast – aandh ngura (foresight)
Cassax Fo'ken – 'edalt (justice)
Adrak Ush'en – rhmt (mercy)
Vor'ord Grorn – mhbt(temperance)
Atanarian Sepor – khrdmnda (sagacity)
Typhak Numatone – brtra (supremacy)
Iaptane Greon – swd rsana (benificence)
V'reth Tarsidemi – mn'ekes kenndh (pensive)
Volkaeus Orurr – kewtah mzaj(short-tempered)
Skatar'tarro Clysis – ()
Mulbaku Numek – ()
Dakad Ka – ()

 

While I'm happy with pseudo-Latin names in places, I felt that this didn't really capture the Salamanders' peculiarities, so had a bit of a ponder. Eventually, I decided that sticking with the same period had an obvious alternative source that, while part of the Classical world, was very distinct from Rome – its early arch-enemy, Carthage.

 

The Punic Wars were fought between the Carthaginians, a North African people who spoke Punic, a form of Persian. Alas, I have no arabic, so I've been doing a bit of a clunky multiple conversion – translating the English into Farsi with Google Translate, then using an online tool to Romanise the text  to make it render to an ignoramus like me. 

 

The results aren't going to fool any scholars, but that's not the intention. I simply want a non-Roman starting point that I can then develop; which I hope will result in a distinctive (if necessarily shallow) sense of a culture that's distinct from the broader Imperium. 

 

Since Salamanders are 'goodies', I started by listing fairly universal virtues like courage and mercy. Hiding virtues in the names seemed to make a nice little Easter egg. After a while, I swapped in some rather less attractive qualities to avoid me thinking of Salamanders as absolutely incorruptible. I want them to seem even-minded and virtuous, but not flawless. They are arguably the most human Chapter, and that allows for flaws and shortcomings, too. 

 

All the better, the Promethean Cult might suggest, for one to have hurdles to overcome...

 

 

Finally, I've left some blank, to be filled in later. I find doing this helps to create a natural variety – some ideas come in a flood, others just need some fertile space to grow into.

 

+++

 

Painting is ticking over, as well. Worked a little more on the soft armour, and adding black to the boltguns. Details are starting to be picked out.

 

[apologist]

 

Onward and ever onward. I spent a little time over the weekend finally tackling something I've been bursting to build, my Terminators. Pictured above are the ones from Codex: Armageddon, and I think it's this picture that perhaps set a little seed growing – for aside from that, (whisper it low) I'd never been all that fussed about Salamanders.

 

Spool on seven or so editions of the game, and I've finally got something in the works...

 

 

Garan Branatar's armament and details have been scattered across this squad. I had been thinking that it might be a fun Easter Egg to include him as a member of this squad, as the events of Deathwatch: Overkill (in which he appeared) pre-dated the Second War for Armageddon. On checking the dates, however, it looks like it happened some 260 years prior.

 

That's not beyond the bounds of possibility, given Space Marine longevity, but still felt like pushing it – particularly as he was already a Veteran Terminator by the events on Ghosar Quintus (and not having read the tie-in novel, I don't know whether he even survived it!).

 

On reflection, then, Garan Brantar won't appear as as a living member of the squad, but if I can work out whether he survived, it might be fun to work him up as a Dreadnought. Apart from anything else, his Deathwatch service would give me a head-start on his ironform's heraldry...

 

 

+++

 

3D-prints, custom conversions, stock models... this army is getting quite bitty. I wanted to check that the models still work together, so gathered examples of each.
 

 

Size-wise, this picture perhaps undersells the bulk of these new Terminators, for the marines are both relatively upright, while the Terminator is in a lumbering advancing pose. Alongside a marine in a similar running pose, these Terminators slot right in. In short, if you've got a 'truescale' army already, rest assured these Terminators will work with little or no conversion.

Edited July 17, 2023 by apologist

[apologist]

 

Sprayed with Halford's brown camouflage paint all over. Once dry, they were then hit with Halford's camouflage green with the can held at 45 degrees and from a foot or so away. Having allowed that to dry, I repeated the process with Colour Forge's Salamander green spray This is explicitly matched to GW's Warpstone Glow, so it's a very handy colour to have for Salamanders.

 

 

From there, I used Winsor and Newton's Galeria Sand Texture Gel to texture the base then I carefully popped the models off their bases (the joys of ETB foot-pegs!) before leaving them to dry. I then sprayed them with Halford's brown, then successively drybrushed with Skrag Brown (or Calth Brown) and Balor Brown, before the base rims were painted with a dark brown (Rhinox Hide, I think).

 

Once that was completed, I used Abaddon Black diluted with a little flow improver and water to paint the weapons, pauldrons and metallic areas. I find adding both helps for basecoating, as the altered surface tension helps it flow. 

 

+++

[TrawlingCleaner]

Your projects are absolutely stunning! The darker green is definitely rad but I have to say I think the brighter green is the one (for me)

 

I'm really looking forward to seeing the terminators!

[apologist]

Thanks @TrawlingCleaner – very kind of you to say :)

 

Progress is afoot, with the Second Company getting closer to a fieldable state.

 

 

 

Still to do here are the eye lenses, highlights and fun final details.

[apologist]

+ Brother Tarsidemi +

 

 

Previously known as Man'Ekes Kenndh, he adopted the name V'reth Tarsidemi following his tempering. Noted as 'Melancholy of aspect and pensive by nature', Tarsidemi appeared to regard his promotion to the Battle Companies as part of a great cycle; an inevitable result of his forebear's consumption in the pyres of warfare, rather than as a result of any exceptionalism on his part.

 

Regarded as over-analytical and tiresome by his previous squadmates in the 6th Company, he was an uneasy fit amongst the Flamehammers. He found a more fitting place within the Defenders of Nocturne, where both his asceticism and his appreciation for aesthetics came to be regarded as strengths.

 

+++

 

Edited August 15, 2023 by apologist

[TrawlingCleaner]

More gorgeous work! They're making me question my (dis)loyalty to the Dark Gods!

[apologist]

+ Three complete, more to come +

 

Thanks, @TrawlingCleaner! All the batch painting has built to a stage where the final details are relatively quick and enjoyable. I've opted for yellow eyes; taking my prompt from the Salamanders shown in Codex: Armageddon. They were painted by painting the lenses Scorched Brown, then blending in Yriel Yellow.

 

 

Beyond this, the painting is really limited to developing the gold with a couple of layers of highlights followed by a brown wash; and highlighting the weapon casings, pouches etc. with a mix of black, white and a touch of dark brown. Finally, I used a dilute combinations of Moot Green and Warpstone Glow in various proportions to add some highlighting to the green armour, particular around the head.
 

 

They've come together rather nicely, I think – I'm very pleased with the results, and think they fit well with my conversion (at the back).

[Gamiel]

It's ca. 10.000 years before Armageddon but it might be of interest that the exemplary Salamanders army in the 2nd ed. HH rulebook has notable use of red as a spot colour for some of the units.

[apologist]

+ Brother Numatone +

 

Unequivocal and single-minded from an early age – 'from the cradle,' joked his parents – the boy who was to become Brother Typhak Numatone had the given name of Br'Tra, which meant 'supremacy' in his city's tongue. Whether through destiny, a sense of filial duty, or simple nominative determinism, Br'Tra doggedly purused Ascension, believing it to be the only way to do honour to his family. Such ambition is not infrequent on Nocturne, but Numatone was able to moderate raw drive to avoid pride and become a considered – if impulse-driven – addition to the 2nd Company.

 

The reinforcing studs on his left greave are an example of the customisation that Salamanders are wont to practise on their armour. Famously, every Salamander creates his own armour – and while this is broadly true in terms, it remains the purview (and responsibility) of those inducted into the Cult Mechanicus to truly render it into Power Armour. 

 

+++

 

+ On Armour +

During their time in the Seventh company, each Scout will work under the auspices of a Techmarine to forge the external plates of what will become their suit of armour. Not all will prove of battlefield quality, and Scouts are encouraged to retain the items they have forged – thus a talented individual will be proudly 'bare-celled'.

 

The pattern of armour a Scout will undertake to create will be suggested after consultation with the Techmarine, Officers of the Seventh, and (usually) a representative of the Promethean Cult. Thus a Scout may begin to manufacture a suit of any STC-approved mark – and in exceptional cicrumstances, even beyond these. By far the most common in the centuries approaching the Badab and Armageddon campaigns was Mark VII plate, vulgarly known as 'Aquila Armour' on account of its prominent eagle-headed breastplate.

 

When the time comes for a Scout to advance to a Reserve Company, they will present their plate to one of the three Masters of the Forge for inspection and sanctification. The Forgelords will assign an underling – usually a Techmarine, but occasionally an adept and sanctioned Battle Brother who has chosen to sponsor the Scout – to convert the suit of inert plate into functioning Power Armour.

 

The newly-ascended Reservist will then use the armour going forward. Most Salamanders will continue to refine their craft, expanding their skills in the forge by creating additional plates or even full suits. Some focus on aesthetic changes such as lizard-scale trimming or patterning visible only to those with Firesight. Others favour practical augmentation of their existing suit, adding sub-surface reinforcement or back-ups to keep their armour functioning under stress. 

 

A few petition the Techmarines to allow them to attempt other patterns of armour, seeking the challenge of inviting the notoriously fickle 'ruh' (machine spirit) of ancient patterns into their creations – this accounts for the relatively high number of seemingly ancient armour patterns in a Chapter that practices ritual destruction of grave goods. Of course, since a warrior will wear only one suit of armour, other surviving suits may remain as relics – and as with other Chapters, it is relatively common for such relic suits to be used for honorifics, either in whole or in part.

 

+++

Edited August 16, 2023 by apologist

[apologist]

A second-hand Rhino with the old resin conversion kit had been lurking in my cupboard of opportunity, so it's been dug out of mothballs to serve on Armageddon. It's a little battered and has seen better days, but that rather chimes with the lore!

 

 

The Rhino, Magnificence, is the transport for 8th Squad, 2nd Company. I'm a little unclear on how I see Rhinos for the Salamanders – beloved and familiar rides or part of a more impersonal pool distributed as necessary? 

 

 

The tank has received the customary coats of spray (brown, dark green, light green) to create the basis of zenithal highlighing. 

 

 

... and a final shot to show the roof open. You can see the dark green interior from here.

Edited August 17, 2023 by apologist

[apologist]

+ Squad Greon – 2nd Company, 8th Squad +

 

And we have a finished squad! As mentioned numerous times, this little project has involved a lot of experimentation – and a lot of fun! I'm pleased with the finish on these; think they'll look nice on the tabletop facing off against orks. 

 

Sergeant Yapten Greon of the Salamanders

 

 

 

 

[apologist]

Unlike the others, his measure of patience had run dry some time ago. Another breakdown. Another pause. Volkaeus Orurr breathed out testily.

Looking for a distraction, he reached for the rail and clambered up to the Rhino's roof one-handed, his boltgun in the other. Magnificence was not the fastest transport in terms of raw speed, but unlike the convoy, he mused darkly, it could keep going. 

Unlike the all-purpose Rhino, These were not vehicles intended for service in hostile environments like the Dune Seas. With a regularity that struck Orurr as perversely ill-fitting to their mechanical reliability, every few hundred klicks one or another of the tankers or luggers would slew to a halt as filters clogged, tyres slumped, or the over-stimmed and under-rested hiveborn crew passed out in the unaccustomed heat. The convoy would pause, on edge and nervy, as the errant vehicle was coaxed back into life, winched back onto the track, or otherwise repaired. 

 

The worst were the failures that billowed thick, oily smoke – as potent a signal as any the orks might hope for. Easy pickings here, the coiling smoke suggested.

 

Not for the first time, the Salamander cursed the name of Herman von Strab. According to Captain Mirsan, it was largely owing to the Imperial Commander's arrogance and mismanagment that these intra-hive transports were all that was available for the backline armies. Hurriedly fitted with bulky external breathers and heat shielding before being filled with vital water, fuel and materiel, the vehicles were slow and unreliable – and thus the convoys perfect targets for the roving greenskins.

With the cream of Armageddon's armies lost in the early conflict, and the replacements far from confident; upon arrival Chapter Master Tu'Shan had taken it upon the Salamanders' broad shoulders to ensure the world could fight; that its vital roads and arteries would be protected from roving marauders.

The ever-present chemical tang was acerbic; but the height afforded by the Rhino gave him a moment's relief. The vehicle crews needed rebreathers in the hot, dry air, but the Space Marine's genewrought might made the air merely unpleasant. He wrinkled his nose in distaste and looked about him.

 

+ Volkaeus Orurr +

 

Armageddon's sun was low in the sky, red and ominous. Dark spots across it marked orbital defences – or more likely the wreckage of the same. The ground was seemingly an endless sea of yellow-grey dunes; the road all but hidden. Orurr's belted helm knocked against his leg as he straightened up. 

Nothing for five hundred miles in any direction. No landmarks save the distant hive – and that had long been swallowed by the dust. Not even Astartes' vision could penetrate that.

Edited August 21, 2023 by apologist

[apologist]

 

 

+ Adrak Ushen +

 

He had filtered out the rattling creak of the tracks, the ever-present squeaks and groans of Magnificence, and Sepor's private murmured mantra. It was harder to ignore the bucking as Magnificence's suspension made heavy work of this rutted, ill-maintained section of road. The Marine opposite, Numek, hammered a gauntlet on the internal door after a particularly rough jolt.

 

"Zer Nazan, Ka – much more of your driving and we won't need the gurm to kill us."

 

The driver yelled back an expletive.

 

Ushen grinned. He could have connected his autosenses to the Rhino's slaved pictcapters, but – jolts and knocks notwithstanding – preferred using his own eyes to peer through the vision slits. 

 

The war was visible. Immanent. Explosions within the smoke lit the low, disturbed clouds. The horizon seemed to smoulder. Ushen's eyes –as yet still dark by nature – glittered as though kindled. 

 

Even at this distance, the greasy shimmer of the hives' void shields were visible. They illuminated the dust storms around them, each hive a dim and eerie beacon to the invading gurm kenndh. He wondered, idly, if the convoy drivers could see them.

 

Ushen was under no illusions that the distance from the primary hives protected him or the others from attack – but he was equanimous about this. The Promethean Cult had long since taught him to anneal resignation or fatigue into stoicism and self-reliance. His faith was firm, deep-set; and built on the sturdy framework of childhood tales that had proven very real. The mythic cycles of the stormlizards; the galactic presence of the dusk wraiths; and – of course – the intrinsic evil of the gurm kenndh: humanity's old enemy.

 

It was as elemental as the dust or the ground. If he were to meet his end here, it would make no odds to his faith.

 

+ Mulbaku Numek +

 

 

[jaxom]

Looking good! 

 

The Salamanders have the oldest known functioning Rhino in the Imperium as one of their sacred relics and ritualistically turn the engine over every 100 years, so I'd guess they'd see them as beloved chariots. I've yet to meet a craftsman who isn't also something of animist when it comes to their work.

From Index Astartes: Rhinos

Quote

Rhinos that can be salvaged are brought back to the forge and each wound reverently repaired by skilled artificers, the battle scars worn with pride and their war-spirits honoured with the Litanies of Battle. As a result, many Rhinos have remained in service for thousands of years, becoming holy relics amongst the Chapters of Space Marines and other Imperial servants who rely on them. The oldest Rhino still in existence belongs to the Salamanders, and is known as Nocturne's Hammer. The Salamanders tell that it carried their legendary Primarch, Vulkan, into battle at the Siege of Devlin's Fastness, sallying out through the gates of the Imperial fortress to attack the foe. Nocturne's Hammer has seen over eight thousand years of action and now has a place of honour in the Chapter's reliquary on Prometheus, its armoured hide scarred by millennia of war. It is a great honour for a Techmarine to be chosen to minister to this holy vehicle and it is a duty that is solemnly observed. At the dawn of each new century, the Chapter's Techmarines gather in the reliquary and the Master of the Forge strikes the rune of activation upon the engine. It is seen as a portent of great doom should the engine fail to catch first time.

 

[apologist]

 

 

Bastards. That was what they always were. Fo'ken had fought seven different species of Xeno bastard, and been involved in wars on seventeen different campaigns involving human bastards. Oh, they varied – different weapons or tactics or heights, novel spines or scales or ululations – but all that mattered, to Cassax Fo'ken, was that they were bastards that he had to kill.

 

The orks were no different. Not for him the Salamanders' ritual term – the gurm kenndh, or 'Old Enemy'. No, to him, the greenskins were simply bastards. Small bastards, big bastards, bastards with big guns... It mattered little to him.

 

In truth, he was an outlier. The first to be assigned to Greon's squad, Fo'ken was as dependable as any of his brethren – though few sought him out for comradeship.

 

+ Cassax Fo'ken +

 

 

[Gamiel]

Maybe of interest, the cover art for Inferno! #14:

 

I think that's a Salamander, but I admit that I could be wrong. 

 

[Dr. Clock]

On 11/24/2023 at 10:23 AM, Gamiel said:

I think that's a Salamander,

Lexicanum believes it is, though it doesn't say where the image title (found in right sidebar under the image) is coming from. Salamanders feature in story from that issue though, so I'm inclined to agree.

 

https://wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/Inferno!_14

 

Wayne England really loved a curly icon... You can tell it's him immediately just from the chapter icon. Nice pull.

 

Cheers,

 

The Good Doctor.

[Gamiel]

Another obscure one:

 

Notice the padawan haircut on the Salamander, who is not just lacking his chapter's future skincolour but also has white hair.

 

 

Also, just a fun fact: acording to White Dwarf 117:s article 'Whirlwind: A New Rhino Variant for Warhammer 40,000' (by Rick Priestley) was the Salamanders teh first chapter to use the Whirlwind Rhino-variant.

 

 

[apologist]

The Dust stirs... and reveals the Ashes...

 

This project has opened up into a broader campaign recreating the 2nd War for Armageddon – have a look-see :)

https://ashesofarmageddon.blogspot.com/

[apologist]

Nice to squeeze in some painting time to get stuck into a box of Astartes infantry. These will be for The Ashes of Armageddon project (hence the modern 40K markings), but will doubtless pull double duty for the HH.

 

 

It was fun working out how and where to simplify things, and where to be more ambitious with the freehand. The Second Company banner was a treat!

 

 

…and a comparison pic with a 40K scale mini.