++ To Reign in Hell - The Siege of Brigannion Four ++ Interlude: Tactical Objectives

[Brother Ezra]

I - An Introduction and an Invitation 

 

Greetings! I am Ezra. I have been lurking in the background of this website for a while now, though you may have seen a post or two of mine in the distant past. I’d like to return to blogging a little bit, and especially, to sharing fun and interesting conversion ideas with like-minded souls. I’ve tinkered on various projects over the years, but there’s one that’s been rather close to my heart, and that I’d like to share with you all here in this topic.

 

But first, to set the scene…

 

 

++ Brigannion Four – The Well of Hunger ++

 

It is the 40th millennium.

 

Brigannion Four, known amongst Navigators as the Well of Hunger, has stood inviolate for centuries.

The Iron Warriors, siege masters beyond compare, hold the Warp-tainted world in an iron grip, repelling all invaders, both from within as from without, with cruel and merciless efficiency.

 

However, they are not alone on this world.

Others have managed to establish a foothold upon its surface, from where they strive to dislodge the Iron Warriors from their position of power and claim the planet for themselves.

 

Amongst the warring factions stand the heirs of two other Legions of old.

The Death Guard, the implacable servants of Nurgle, were the first to lay claim to the world after its initial capture by the Night Lords. They fought a short but brutal war against the sons of Curze, successfully driving them into the fortress’ underworld before falling prey themselves to the ambitions of the Iron Warriors. The survivors are still licking their festering wounds, biding their time until they can strike against their hated foe once again.

 

The world’s strategic location near the Cadian Gate has also made it a prime target for Abaddon the Despoiler, the Warmaster of Chaos.

The Black Legion has launched countless assaults upon the planet, but not even the full might of a Black Crusade could bring the defenders to heel. Though beaten and bloodied, the Warmaster’s own will not relent until their prize is firmly in their grasp.

 

Over the millennia, numerous other Traitor Legions and Chapters have descended upon the Well of Hunger, seeking glory, plunder, or simply another chance to spill blood.

Most of them perish, victims of their own greed and the Iron Warriors’ guns, but some of them survive, thriving in the darkest corners of the war-torn fortress-world.

 

Most notable among these survivors are the Sons of Hate and the Brotherhood of Blood.

The two Renegade Chapters arrived on the planet roughly at the same time following their exile from the Imperium. The two former Chapters have been locked in bitter conflict with one another and with the Traitor Legions ever since, making up for their lack in experience through malign ambition and insatiable bloodlust. The Brotherhood of Blood has recently subjugated a large portion of the mutant throngs trawling the wastes, bolstering their ranks considerably, whilst the Sons of Hate have been mercilessly raiding the supply lines of the Iron Warriors, slowly bleeding the strength from many of their strongholds.

 

The fortress’ vast underworld is home to the shattered remnants of the defeated, who feed off whatever measly scraps they can find.

To these scattered Astartes, the conquest of the massive fortress is but a half-remembered dream, lost in the endless quest for survival in a bottomless pit of darkness. The remnants of the Night Lords haunt these shadowed places, tormenting the lost souls that dwell there, forever seeking ways to regain the power they once had.

 

It is the 40th millennium.

 

On Brigannion Four, a shadow war rages without end, the promise of final victory leading thousands to their grisly death.

These are the stories of those who fought and died on that accursed world, and of those who against all odds lived to tell the tale.

 

++ ++

 

Brigannion Four. Veterans may remember the world from that ancient and malign tome, the 4^th edition Codex: Chaos Space Marines. Ever since I read its description, I’ve been strangely enamoured with it. To me, it is an interesting microcosm, a fun little sandbox to poke around in. I mean, what’s not to love about it? A daemonic fortress world, conquered and desecrated by the Night Lords, fought over by Legions, Renegades and daemons, fortified to a ludicrous degree by the Iron Warriors - in short, a true hellscape where Chaos rages against its own kind for no other reason or purpose than pure, undistilled spite and hatred. There’s a lot of potential here, and I intend to tap it as much as I can.

 

Tap it how, I hear you wonder? Well, at first, I tried to do so by writing my own fluff for the conflict, with the idea of one day turning it into an expansion for Shadow War: Armageddon. While I never did get quite far with those writings, they did inspire me to convert a couple of Not-quite-True-Scale Black Legionnaires, and in the more recent past, to expand on those Legionnaires with other models, such as a Hellbrute, a Daemon Prince, etcetera. I’ve got a couple more conversions lined up, which I’m very eager to share with you all. The Black Legion marches on Brigannion Four, and all shall tremble before the Warmaster’s might!

 

But I’d like to do more. Specifically, I’d like to invite you, dear readers, to join me in this hellpit of darkness and despa– I mean, lovely little sandbox. There are a lot of factions and ideas to explore on Brigannion Four, and I’d love to hear your thoughts on the matter. I hope that my own works, and the accompanying fluff, will inspire your own hobby projects – and if they do, that you share them with all of us!

 

++ ++

 

So what’s next?

 

In the posts below this one, I’ll be posting my own finished and work-in-progress Black Legion models, as well as some of the fluff for the other warbands and Legions present on Brigannion Four. At the moment, I have some text ready for the Night Lords and the Death Guard, as well as a short blurb on the Obliterator cult that the Iron Warriors have an agreement with. I also have a few loose ideas regarding the Sons of Hate and the Brotherhood of Blood, which I’ll be posting later down the line as well.

 

That’s it for now – let me know what you think!

 

 

Edited April 20 by Brother Ezra

[ZeroWolf]

Looks like you're off to a great start  love the fluff

[BadgersinHills]

Great writing.

[Tyrannicide]

Nice tone-setting! I don't know anything about the gaming mechanics of Warcry, but from a sandbox perspective this seems like it could be inspired by that to be a loose 40k version with very distinct Chaos Warbands vying for resources and power.

[Rain]

Great job man, and very good writing. You really have the tone of old school 40k fluff blurbs down pat. I would not have blinked an eye if someone had told me that this came from an official source. Making a fanmade "campaign book" out of Brigannion 4 a la the old FW campaign books is a great idea. This is the kind of "big sandbox" worldbuilding that I wish GW had done with 40k instead of "moving the storyline forward" but I guess I'm in the minority there. Looking forward to seeing more lore and models regarding this.

 

PS: I remember this blurb from the 4ed Codex. Actually, the lore was the only high point about that book. Brigannion 4, the Constantinus Iconoclasm, and the Alpha Legion campaign to subvert Ghorstingrad and the Emperor's Swords was all great lore and worldbuilding. It's just that the rules were a total trashfire, but that's another topic entirely.

[ShotgunFacelift]

Great intro to your warband and their history.

Any excuse to dig back into the old codexes is very welcome

[Brother Ezra]

On 6/28/2023 at 5:02 PM, ZeroWolf said:

Looks like you're off to a great start  love the fluff

 

On 6/28/2023 at 5:50 PM, BadgersinHills said:

Great writing.

 

Thank you ZeroWolf and BadgersinHills! 

 

23 hours ago, Tyrannicide said:

Nice tone-setting! I don't know anything about the gaming mechanics of Warcry, but from a sandbox perspective this seems like it could be inspired by that to be a loose 40k version with very distinct Chaos Warbands vying for resources and power.

 

Thanks! I've heard lots of good things about Warcry, but haven't really looked into it myself - the models for it are gorgeous though! I'm currently reading the rules of the "Reign in Hell" game developed by Snarling Badger Studios, which could also work reasonably well for Chaos-on-Chaos battles, I think. More on that later!

 

23 hours ago, Rain said:

Great job man, and very good writing. You really have the tone of old school 40k fluff blurbs down pat. I would not have blinked an eye if someone had told me that this came from an official source. Making a fanmade "campaign book" out of Brigannion 4 a la the old FW campaign books is a great idea. This is the kind of "big sandbox" worldbuilding that I wish GW had done with 40k instead of "moving the storyline forward" but I guess I'm in the minority there. Looking forward to seeing more lore and models regarding this.

 

PS: I remember this blurb from the 4ed Codex. Actually, the lore was the only high point about that book. Brigannion 4, the Constantinus Iconoclasm, and the Alpha Legion campaign to subvert Ghorstingrad and the Emperor's Swords was all great lore and worldbuilding. It's just that the rules were a total trashfire, but that's another topic entirely.

 

That's high praise! I actually wrote the fluff piece above a while ago, so I hope I can still get the style right in the next entries!  I've heard that the rules were indeed much of a downgrade compared to the previous 'dex, but the fluff holds up quite well even today!

 

2 hours ago, ShotgunFacelift said:

Great intro to your warband and their history.

Any excuse to dig back into the old codexes is very welcome

 

Thanks! Indeed it is! I hope to one day get my hands on a Codex: Eye of Terror - that would make a fine addition to my collection!

 

++ ++

 

And now, a little tease of the first Traitor Legion to have made planetfall on Brigannion Four - the cruel and merciless Night Lords...

 

 

We have come for you! 

 

++ ++

 

[Firedrake Cordova]

Looks decidedly scary!

[ZeroWolf]

Very nice! 

[BadgersinHills]

Great work! Looking forward to seeing the full mini. 

[Xin Ceithan]

Great work so far!
I’ve always loved the idea of something like a WarCry / Ing28/ Necromunda style playing field that would allow  more  focus on individual warbands / characters,  so I’ll be watching this with interest. 

[Brother Ezra]

II - The Coming of the Night Lords

 

As stated previously, the Night Lords were the first to conquer Brigannion Four, bringing its defenders low and desecrating the world in the name of the Dark Pantheon. But who were these villainous sons of murdered Nostramo, these fiendish devils who had sold their souls to primordial gods for unimaginable power? Well, read on, dear reader – and learn of the Sorcerer-Lord Zagon, and the ruin that befell him and his kin…

 

 

++ The Lords of the Night ++

 

The Night Lords warband known as The Enslaved were led to Brigannion Four by the prophetic visions of their leader, the Sorcerer-Lord Zagon, during the tumultuous years of the Age of Apostasy. It was under the auspices of Zagon and his cabal that the world would be brought to heel, and it was he who orchestrated the events that turned the planet into the hungering monstrosity it is today.

 

The Traitor Legions normally avoided direct assaults on the fortress worlds near the Eye of Terror, preferring instead to raid and harry the lesser-defended outposts at the very fringes of the Imperium’s cordon around the Eye. During the Age of Apostasy, however, many of the worlds near the Eye found themselves embroiled in internecine conflicts, as the rogue High Lord Goge Vandire bled even these crucial bastions dry of resources. Amidst this political turmoil and rising civil unrest, the Imperial Guardsmen stationed on these worlds held the line – but only just.

 

On Brigannion Four, the situation became even more fraught by the onset of a violent Warp Storm that severed every route out of the system. Cut off from the wider Imperium, and with little hope of any relief reaching them soon, the Brigannions dug in, making the most of the precarious situation they now found themselves in.

 

And then, the darkness came for Brigannion Four.   

 

Having ridden secret paths through the Warp Storm, the Night Lords arrived over Brigannion Four undetected, the echo of their in-system translations drowned out by the tumult of the storm. They quickly fell upon the outer defences, tearing apart listening posts and orbital satellites, rendering the planet all but blind and deaf to their approach.

 

When they descended on Brigannion Four, it was not with bolter and blade, but with sorcery and madness. Warp-plagues, murder-fugues and other psychic phenomena battered at the will and sanity of its inhabitants, causing chaos and despair wherever they struck. Mutation spread like wildfire amongst the populace, leading to mass hysteria and uproar amongst the lower classes. Entire sections of the fortress-world fell to treachery, as those manning its walls had their minds corrupted by the dark powers dwelling in their dreams. Brigannion Four slid further and further into anarchy, and the desperate pleas for aid its government sent out would go unanswered, as the storm smothered all astropathic communications.

 

After nine days, the Night Lords themselves made planetfall on a broken husk of a world. After dispatching the very last holdouts of Imperial control, Zagon and his sorcerous kin began the preparations for their great work – to turn Brigannion Four into a Daemon world.

 

Alongside eight members of his cabal, Zagon enacted ninety-nine rituals, each more intricate and twisted than the last. Convoluted patterns were sketched across its surface in the blood of the slain, and thousands more were sacrificed in esoteric rituals, each soul extinguished bringing Zagon and his followers more into the favour of their patron god – the dreaded Changer of Ways.

 

At the final ritual’s end, The Enslaved were rewarded for their efforts. The Warp Storm above the world seethed and boiled, before stretching wide enough to swallow the planet whole. Brigannion Four was plunged deep into the Immaterium, doomed to languish there for untold years as the Warp wreaked havoc upon its very existence.

 

What precisely happened in the years between Brigannion Four’s disappearance and its sudden re-emergence into real-space a full decade later is not fully known, but one thing is certain - whatever nefarious covenant Zagon and his acolytes had struck with the Great Mutator, it did not save them from their own greed.

 

For the Night Lords are jealous creatures, who do not share willingly or eagerly. As Zagon’s cabal gorged itself on the raw power of the Warp, fractures began to appear amidst their ranks. Rivalries and petty squabbles quickly developed into open conflict, as each sorcerer sought to absorb the newly-gained powers of his rivals.

 

The civil war that soon erupted within the warband saw whole swathes of the world scoured cleaned of life, as cataclysmic forces were unleashed by the competing warlords. The fortresses that dotted its surface were twisted into malign entities that writhed with daemonic life, to serve as bastions for the various factions that now fought for control over the planet. At the height of the conflict, Zagon himself was murdered by his last remaining apprentice, his soul bound to a crystal cast into the darkest depths of the underworld.

 

The infighting between the Night Lords came to an end only due to the coming of the Death Guard, who had come to claim the world in the name of their sire, the Primarch Mortarion. Weakened and robbed of much of their fighting strength, the Night Lords stood no chance against the relentless servants of Nurgle. The remaining sorcerers were hunted down like animals, their bastions sundered and their warbands shattered. The defeated survivors scattered, many finding refuge in the planet's vast underworld. It is here that they linger to this day, clinging to the shadows of the fortress-world’s underbelly, the darkness their only ally in their endless struggle for survival…

 

++ ++

 

And that’s the Night Lords’ introduction wrapped up! I rewrote this section quite a bit, as new ideas came and went - I'm not 100% happy with it yet, but I think I need to let it rest for a while before I return to it.

 

Now, of course, we’re not here just for the pretty words and the flowery language – we want to see some models as well! However, before we continue, I’d like to briefly summarize the ‘design language’ I’ve come up with for my own Night Lords conversions, based on the fluff above:

 

• The Enslaved are, first and foremost, Night Lords, so they should have an appropriate amount of ‘fear factor’ or gory details – in other words, they should be recognizable as Night Lords;
• The Enslaved are heavily devoted to Tzeentch, so they can have more Chaosy detailing (e.g. spikes, horns, etc.), and should display some mutations or sorcerous powers (minor or major);
• The Night Lords are stuck in the fortress’ underworld, where they prey on the weak – they should have some ‘predatory’ aspect, their poses indicating that they’re pursuing or ambushing enemies, and their bases should include evidence of previous hunts (such as skulls, mangled corpses, etc.);
• They should have bat wings. I have no specific reason for adding these, other than that they’re fun to include.

I’ll try to include something like this for each faction that I cover; who knows, maybe it’ll inspire someone else to make something awesome!

 

++ ++

 

Onto the models themselves! At the moment, I have three conversions planned for the Night Lords – two Raptor-like warriors, of which one is finished and one is awaiting final assembly, and one Sorcerer. Today, I’ll be showing the two Raptors – the Sorcerer is yet to be fully realized, I’m afraid!

 

First, Draegh, the Blood Drinker (not related to the Chapter of the same name, FYI):

 

 

 

Draegh was the first Night Lord conversion I made. He was born out of a desire to make a ‘Winged demon’ for the Reign in Hell ruleset, which I’m using as a bit of a guideline for some of these conversions. I had some Possessed wings lying around, so that was the ‘flying’ bit sorted, but the pose gave me some trouble. It was only by making a slightly raised base that I could get a convincing dynamic pose out of the legs I had. Personally, my favorite part of the pose is the fact that he’s aiming down – I like to imagine that he’s finally run something down, and has come to eliminate it in person… The base itself was a fun little experiment, one I would replicate – and expand upon – with Zharran, the second conversion.

 

The second issue was making him Night Lord-y enough. Here, I was fortunate that I once collected Vampire Counts models, and specifically the Skeleton models of that range. By carefully cutting apart some Grave Guard helmets, I could decorate Draegh’s torso and head with some bat-like wings. I’m really happy with how those turned out!

I also used Green stuff to add some detail around the belt. I really like the pouches that came with the old Chaos Space Marine kit, and so I tried to replicate them somewhat by sculpting some cloth around some regular pouches. It’s pretty easy to do, and produces nice results.

 

The weird thing around his gorget is supposed to be some sort of blood receptacle, by the way – I didn’t really know what else to put there. I sculpted it from Milliput, hence the strange colour.

 

On to Zharran!

 

 

Zharran is still very much Work in Progress, but he’s just as happy to be here. He actually went through a few iterations before ending up in this stage – I initially wanted to make him more of a true Possessed Marine, and then tried turning him into a Melta-wielding Raptor. In the end, I settled for regular Raptor, as it just clicked better visually.

 

Here’s a detail shot of his legs and torso – you can see the basis of nearly all my semi-True scale conversions in this. The legs are from a Terminator kit, whilst the torso is made from a regular torso with the top part replaced with a Terminator one. The torso itself is also widened with 2mm plasticard, to better fit over the legs.

 

 

You can also see where I’ve added more details with Green stuff. The tabard was once a Hexwraith’s left leg – I had to cut it up pretty hard to get this out of it! The little patch of cloth/skin was taken from a Grave Guard’s helmet. The rivets attaching it to the legs were made by pressing the tip of my glue pot into the Green stuff, resulting in this perfectly-shaped rivet. Simple and easy, that’s how I like it!

 

++ ++

 

That’s it for now – hope you all enjoy this little offering of Night Lords. Let me know what you think!

Edited July 8, 2023 by Brother Ezra

[Pearson73]

Oh yes, they look excellent, very much the terror in the night with those wings.

[Xin Ceithan]

Takes a certain kind of fiend to pull off the bat wing look, non? 
 

I also like that your Night Lords are devious and unashamed chaos worshippers here and not just another bunch of blackshields with spiky armor 

[Brother Ezra]

On 7/3/2023 at 7:28 PM, Xin Ceithan said:

Takes a certain kind of fiend to pull off the bat wing look, non? 
 

I also like that your Night Lords are devious and unashamed chaos worshippers here and not just another bunch of blackshields with spiky armor 

 

Indeed! No misunderstandings here - these guys are bad through and through!

 

III - On Beginnings, and an Angel in Darkness

 

Doing new things sometimes means revisiting old ones, to see them in a new light, to note the differences between your approach then and the one you have now. This project is essentially founded on that idea – after all, I converted the first few Black Legionnaires for this project back when Shadow War: Armageddon had just come out, only coming back to them quite recently.

 

We are returned, indeed.

 

In a sense, the models themselves have become a bit of a time capsule for me. Primaris were still a way off at that time, and the Chaos range had yet to receive its major update. All we had were the – admittedly – rather small, if no less lovable, Space Marine and Chaos Space Marine kits. They made for great kitbashing, as all their parts were interchangeable. It is with great fondness that I remember some of the conversions I saw floating about online back then – some people really knew how to get the maximum amount of mileage out of those kits!

 

Of particular interest to me at the time were the various methods of true-scaling that were being used. I most clearly remember Apologist and Doghouse’s tutorials for these, but there were many others working along similar lines. For my Shadow War: Armageddon warband, I figured I could try my hand at developing my own method for true-scaling (or something approximating ‘true scale’, anyway), which resulted in the creation of my first Black Legionnaire, Ygmir (pictured below, on the right). After this successful prototype, I went on to build more warriors for the Black Legion, swelling the ranks of my nascent warband. We’ll be covering these later on.

 

 

They were not the only true-scale models I built at that time, though. At some point, I got heavily into the lore of the Horus Heresy, and was especially enamoured with Garviel Loken, protagonist of the first trilogy of the series. I set out to make a true-scaled model that could fit reasonably well in the 30k universe – and ended up with a Sons of Horus Captain, who, for some reason or another, found himself working for the Sigillite.

 

I never quite finished that conversion, however, as my interest and time drifted away towards other things. And so it sat in a drawer, waiting, dreaming whatever dreams a small plastic model may have.

 

And then I stumbled upon it again, as I was waiting for the Green stuff to cure on Zharran. Instantly, I found myself with a new idea for the model – and the Son of Horus was recast from shame and shadow, and reborn in black and gold…

 

And the name that was given to him, was Amaranth.

 

 

++ ++

 

I never wanted this. To denounce my Legion, to bring ruin to my homeworld, to betray my own brothers - I wanted none of it, yet here we are.

 

I did not have a choice. 

 

But I do now.

 

++ ++

 

 

A Wild Fallen appears!

 

While the Dark Angels themselves have never really caught my eye that much (they’re cool, but they don’t “click” for me the way other Chapters do), I do find the Fallen an interesting bunch. They are truly rogue elements – cut off from their Legion, their masters, even the very ideals they fought for, they have no other choice than to carve their own path through the galaxy. For each of them, the road will be different, and where it might lead one to salvation, it might just as well lead another to damnation. This makes them fun to convert, too, as you can freely switch between the cleaner Horus-Heresy era aesthetic to the complete Chaos Space Marine look.

 

 

 

Amaranth fits more in the ‘cleaner’ style, with just enough hints towards his former and current allegiances to make things interesting. He was built using some Deathwing Terminator legs, the back of an old Chaos Warrior, and some regular Space Marine bits. The hood was sculpted with Green stuff – it was a bit difficult to pull off, but I’m happy with how it turned out!

 

In the meantime, Zharran got his last few details as well, so he’s ready to get painted too – he wasn’t too pleased to see a Dark Angel jump the building queue, however…

 

 

More to come soon!

[ZeroWolf]

Nice work 

[Firedrake Cordova]

Looks good to me. I think the hood works well  

[Brother Ezra]

IV - Slaves, All

 

 

 

 

++ ++

 

"Do not weep for the slaves of Chaos!

 

Do not pity those who serve the Arch-Enemy with their flesh and blood!

 

Know that they were tested, as all of us will be - and they faltered!

 

They rejected the light of the Emperor! Willingly! Eagerly!

 

And see, see what has become of them!

 

Behold the wretch, the mutant, the heretic and the traitor!

 

Behold the misery, the anguish of their souls! They cry out for salvation, for redemption!

 

Only the Emperor, beloved above all, can grant them such a gift. Only by His Grace and Magnificence can they be cleansed from the taint they have brought into their hearts.

 

But we may spare Him the trouble of finding their souls in the first place!"

 

- From the sermons of Confessor Mannkaron, M.40

 

++ ++

 

I felt the urge to do something a little different today - specifically, to work on something other than Space Marines. I've always had a soft spot for the filler images in the Chaos codex, in particular the weird little creatures clutching the helmets or guns of their Astartes masters. I had a clump of Milliput left, and figured that it might serve as a good starting point for a little sculpting work! It's not perfect or elegant by any means, but I'm very happy with how it's turned out. Might add a few more of these along the way!

[Torbenos]

 

Little palette cleansers like that can be a great thing to bring some fresh joy back into it, and this one has a lot of character. I'll say that you have managed to evoke those little bits of corner art of the chaos litterature quite well! I look forward to seeing how you decide to paint him up. The lesser seen side of chaos is always a joy to see shown in some way, even if they rarely see a table.

[Xenith]

Sick!

 

Great work so far, more please! Love that fallen. 

On 7/8/2023 at 3:42 PM, Brother Ezra said:

 

The NL's look great, my only critique would be that the string holding the skull down is a bit chunky - have you tried modelling wire? If you drill holes in the skull it might work really nicely! 

[Brother Ezra]

On 7/26/2023 at 8:45 AM, Torbenos said:

 

Little palette cleansers like that can be a great thing to bring some fresh joy back into it, and this one has a lot of character. I'll say that you have managed to evoke those little bits of corner art of the chaos literature quite well! I look forward to seeing how you decide to paint him up. The lesser seen side of chaos is always a joy to see shown in some way, even if they rarely see a table.

 

Thank you! I'll definitely sneak more of these into my building/painting queue - the lesser side of Chaos indeed deserves to be in the spotlight some more!

 

On 7/26/2023 at 11:39 AM, Xenith said:

Sick!

 

Great work so far, more please! Love that fallen. 

 

The NL's look great, my only critique would be that the string holding the skull down is a bit chunky - have you tried modelling wire? If you drill holes in the skull it might work really nicely! 

 

Thanks! The string is a bit on the thick side indeed, but I don't think I have any modelling wire at the moment - I'll keep it in mind, though! 

 

 

V - Mortals of Brigannion Four (Part 1)

 

 

++ The Lost and the Damned ++

 

Aside from the demigods that grapple for dominance on the world, Brigannion Four is also home to many mortal followers of the Dark Pantheon. Most of these are of the human stock, though irrevocably tainted by the malign touch of the Warp. The majority of this corrupted horde is descended from the Night Lords' slave-hosts, but a small number can trace their lineage back to those few souls not sacrificed by Zagon’s cabal in the aftermath of their conquest. This initial population would steadily grow over the decennia, as other warbands brought their own slaves down to the planet, or traded them for resources with the current lords of the fortress-world. Each assault against Brigannion Four, Imperial or otherwise, also led to an influx of new flesh, the defeated survivors becoming slaves to the very creatures they had sought to destroy.

 

Amidst their ranks, there is much variation, both in appearance and in social standing. Lowest of all are the physically tainted, those mutants whose countenance has drifted the furthest from the human baseline. Possessing only brute strength and purest insanity, these creatures are used as cannon fodder, a pile of flesh to hurl at the enemy without concern for its survival. The few that manage to escape the flesh-pits end up in the wastes outside the great fortresses, forming small warbands of their own with their fellow mutated kindred.

 

[PICT-CAPT MISSING//SEARCHING...]

 

Those mutants with a spark of true intelligence can escape such a fate by pledging themselves to the service of the Chaos Space Marines or their lesser soldiery. Theirs are the menial tasks that these warriors place themselves above, but do not trust any other to perform for them. On the battlefield, they can often be seen carrying spare ammunition or trophies for their masters, or collecting salvage from the dead. Out of combat, they tend to the armour and weapons of their lord, often in concert with indentured Tech-adepts of the Dark Mechanicum.

 

 

++ Mutated slave in service to the Black Legion - carrying the helmet of a fallen Legionnaire ++

 

Above these mutants stand the corrupted, but physically less tainted menials and soldiers of the warbands. Ranging from simple cultists to traitor Guardsmen, these form the bulk of the warbands’ mortal armies. The majority of the fighting on Brigannion Four is carried out by these damned souls, their lives expended as easily as bullets by their overlords – but never lightly. The Astartes commanders on Brigannion Four are keenly aware that their charges vastly outnumber them, and it would not take much to persuade them into rebellion. Any hint of defiance is therefore stamped out with maximum force, to discourage any others from thinking beyond their station.

 

 

++ Black Legion cultist - note the dishevelled appearance and blasphemous talismans and icon++

 

In slightly higher esteem, but not by much, stand the forces of the Dark Mechanicum. The fallen magi of the Mechanicum established their own foothold on the world in ages past, but have never made any attempts to take the planet for themselves. They act as a largely neutral party, bartering weapons, ammunition and armour for exotic components and other materiel. Only when directly threatened do they take up arms, eliminating any would-be aggressor with the ruthless efficiency their kind is known for. Few know the exact size and strength of the forces at their disposal, but none are eager to find out, content to leave the Hereteks to their own devices.

 

 

++ Dark Mechanicum Tech-Thrall - armed with non-standard plasma blaster ++

 

++ ++

 

It's been a little while since I last posted, but as you can see, I have not been idle! After making the little mutant, I got inspired to make some more 'human' models to mix things up a bit. I've been trying to sculpt a lot more things myself - most of the robes you can see in the pictures above are my own work, and the cultist's body was entirely sculpted by hand as well! It's been good fun, if a little tricky at times. 

 

I've still got a few mortals on my workbench, but nothing's quite ready to show yet - hence why this is part 1 of probably 2. Below, you can find a few more shots of the painted models above, though! 

 

Spoiler

 

 

 

 

 

 

That's all for know - let me know what you think!

 

[Rain]

This is such a great project. I love your conversions, the Fallen with the ghillie suit cloak is especially great. This kind of customizability and kit-bashing is something that I really miss about the older kits.

[Rusted Boltgun]

Fantastic modelling and painting, that slave has such a haunting face. Really enjoy all the work you put into the narrative background too.

[Brother Ezra]

V - Mortals of Brigannion Four (Part 1.5)

 

 

++ Mutant, presumed female - part of the mutant hordes in service to the Black Legion on Brigannion Four ++

 

++ ++

 

A quick and tiny update - I finished up another sculpt, this time a female Mutant! This one went through several iterations, as I originally planned to make it a Rogue Psyker, but ultimately, I went for a mutated Agri-worker, still clutching the scythe she once used on the fields. I also added some tiny chains to spice things up a bit.

 

Here's a back view, giving a better view of the 'growths' marking this poor soul:

 

 

More to come soon!

[Brother Ezra]

V - Mortals of Brigannion Four (Part 2)

 

 

++ ++

 

"The truth is - wherever Mankind treads, the Gods follow.

 

We can reject them, run from them, plead and beg and cry - but it matters not.

 

The Gods will find us all the same, and drag us back into their embrace.

 

For we are the Gods and the Gods are us."

 

- Catechism XXIV:LVII of the Book of Blessed Torments.

 

++ ++

 

It's been a little while since my last update - but I have not been idle! I finished up two more Slaves to Darkness: a Renegade Guardsman and a Renegade Enforcer (with Blood-Wyrm pet). Both figures were loosely based on the old FW Renegade Guard kits, after I binge-watched some videos on the war on Vraks.

 

Below, you can find some close-ups of the two of them:

 

 

Spoiler

 

 

 

 

 

 

I've also been toying with some models for the Death Guard and Iron Warriors, who will be getting their own little lore snippets. I'd like to make them visually distinct from the Black Legion figures, so I'm going to use some of the newer Plague Marines models for the former, and use Cataphractii to convert the latter. 

 

I've also acquired a Defiler and some Noise Marines upgrades - I'll be putting both to good use sometime in the near future!