Liberalia Martiale 2024 - THE IRON GAUNTLET

[Daimyo-Phaeron Lenoch]

 

 

Once more, there was a rumbling in the fortress.

What was rumbling, few could identify. It was not anything tangible to be felt, and produced no noise to be heard, even to the genehanced ear of an Astartes, or one of the many xenos species that maintained something akin to an embassy.

No, it was not a rumbling that any scientist would call such, nothing seismic or mechanical. It was a call, however, and those that needed to hear it, did. A psychic summons, from the Deepest, Darkest Depths of the Liber. And it would be terrible to behold.

=][=

Hail brothers and sisters of the Liber! Once again the Liberalia has come around and we have ourselves the honour of being the centre of attention. Regardless, I would like to ask both Liberites and other members of B&C to dust off any old DIYs they have and give them another shot. Now's the time to crank out the old creativity.

The IRON GAUNTLET returns! After four years gone, it returns once more- with thanks to @Olis for running it back in 2017, and @Dosjetkafor the 2020 running of the Gauntlet, - and a welcome sight it is. Now, of course, just entering is not enough! There is an expectation that we will have members who will accomplish all five challenges. If the old Iron Gauntlets are anything to go by, they will number few indeed! But, certainly, those who push themselves and achieve all that is asked of them, then they shall be rewarded with a specific and unique badge.

But do not be daunted. This is supposed to be fun... in a roundabout way. If you think you can only complete specific challenges, then only enter those ones. There is nothing here saying that you must complete them all or automatically fail. Do what you can. Just remember the idea is to push yourself.

To register for this Challenge or any others make the following statement:

I, <your name>, of the <Chapter/Warband/Regiment/Klan/Craftworld/Sept/Legio/Gang/other organization name> take up your Challenges. I vow, before my brothers and sisters of the B&C to complete Challenge <challenge number> and submit it to the Liber before the deadline. I vow to support my fellow challengers to the best of my ability. May the Emperor/the Dark Gods/Gork and Mork/Hive Mind/other 40k deity/Brother Argos curse me if I fail.

[Please leave a link to your article so I can update the first post.]

 

The Challenges:

Challenge the First
* Bronze: Complete a 1,000+ word article describing the origins and history of your organization and post constructive criticism in other DIY threads;

* Silver: Complete a 2,000+ word article describing the origins and history of your organization and post constructive criticism in other DIY threads;

* Gold: Complete a 3,000+ word article describing the origins and history of your organization and post constructive criticism in other DIY threads.

-> Duration: 17th March –  17th May (2 months)

Note: The format of your article is not strictly relevant, though it is encouraged to follow the usual DIY guidelines. (If you're not familiar with the article types, check out @Brother Tyler's article template thread linked here. I also encourage you to check out the rest of Liber Resources if you're stuck for ideas and/or looking for some solid advice from renowned Liberites of old.)

 

Challenge the Second
* Bronze: Fully assemble, paint and base a Kill Team (at minimum: three models) representing your organization;

* Silver: Fully assemble, paint, and base a Combat Patrol (at minimum: one CHARACTER, one BATTLELINE, and one additional unit) representing your organization;

* Gold: Fully assemble, paint, and base a Strike Force (at minimum: one HQ, one BATTLELINE, and five additional units) representing your organization.

-> Duration: with 17^th May –  17th July (two months)

Note: If your organization represents an Aeronautica Imperialis, Adeptus Titanicus, Blackstone Fortress (BSF), Legiones Imperialis, or Necromunda organization, use the following tiers:

* Bronze: Fully assemble, paint and base a Flight (at minimum two Aeronautica aircraft), a single Titanicus Titan, a Banner (at minimum three Titanicus Knights), [LI I’m not familiar with, if you’re doing them, let me know and I’ll figure something out], half an Exploration Team (at minimum two BSF Adventurers), half a Hostile Swarm (at minimum four BSF Hostiles), OR a demi-Gang (at minimum four Necromunda Gangers);

* Silver: Fully assemble, paint and base a Squadron (at minimum four Aeronautica aircraft), a demi-Maniple (at minimum two Titanicus Titans), a Lance (at minimum six Titanicus Knights), [LI I’m not familiar with, if you’re doing them, let me know and I’ll figure something out], an Exploration Team (at minimum four BSF Adventurers), a Hostile Swarm (at minimum eight BSF Hostiles), OR a Gang (at minimum eight Necromunda Gangers);

* Gold: Fully assemble, paint and base a Group (at minimum six Aeronautica aircraft), a Maniple (at minimum four Titanicus Titans), a Household (at minimum nine Titanicus Knights), [LI I’m not familiar with, if you’re doing them, let me know and I’ll figure something out], a reinforced Exploration Team (at minimum six BSF Adventurers), a reinforced Hostile Swarm (at minimum twelve BSF Hostiles), OR a reinforced Gang (at minimum twelve Necromunda Gangers);

 

Challenge the Third
* Bronze: Post a battle report of a game you played with your organization force created in Challenge #2;

* Silver: Post a battle report, with EITHER pre- and post-battle fluff (500 words each) OR turn-by-turn photos/maps, of a game you played with your organization force;

* Gold: Post a battle report, with pre- and post-battle fluff (500 words each) AND turn-by-turn photos/maps, of a game you played with your organization force.

-> 17^th July to 17^th August (1 month)

 

The Penultimate Challenge
* Bronze: Create a dataslate (converted and painted model, fluff, custom rules and stats) representing a notable character from your organization;

* Silver: Create two dataslates representing two notable characters from your organization;

* Gold: Create three dataslates representing three notable characters from your organization.

-> Duration: 17^th August to 17^th September (1 month)

 

The Final Challenge
* Bronze: Write a story about your organization that is between 1000 and 1999 words in length;

* Silver: Write a story that is between 2000 and 2999 words in length;

* Gold: Write a story that is 3000+ words in length.

-> Duration: 17^th September to 17^th December (3 months)

 

And finally, I'd like to wish you all the best of luck for the upcoming challenges! Remember to push back the boundaries of what you thought you could achieve and, most importantly, have fun!

P.S. If you have an issue or question and you haven't gotten a reply in a couple of days from one of the Mods, feel free to send a PM to the Moderators on the list below (make sure to include them all in the PM so whoever sees it first can answer):

@Brother Cambrius

@Daimyo-Phaeron Lenoch

@Kelborn

@Lysimachus

A note on organization:

• Fraters’ vow posts will be linked in the main post
• Fraters’ vow posts are asked to have links to each of their threads elsefora, through the entire challenge
• This is to help the organizer keep track of who’s doing what challenge, etc
• Threads for the other challenges will be linked in the main post
• Frater are also asked to tag their threads with 'Iron Gauntlet 2024' for sorting/ease of searchbar use

Best of luck to any and all who choose to participate! I look forward to seeing your DIYs!

Edited March 19 by Daimyo-Phaeron Lenoch

[Grotsmasha]

As long as the Challenges are still completed in order, could I continue a project started in the previous Iron Gauntlet?

[ThePenitentOne]

If we finish a challenge, can we immediately start the next one (even if it's before the official start date for that challenge)?

 

For example, challenge 2, the painting challenge doesn't officially begin until May 17. But if I finish challenge 1 in early April, I could really use the head start on challenge 2- I'm a slow painter.  

[Doctor Perils]

If we have started painting the Organisation before the event started (in part as a test for the colour scheme), can that be used for the second Gauntlet?

 

Do the models have to be disassembled before the event/2nd challenge starts?

 

Does the force have to be a single organisation, or could it be a Crusade force of multiple organisations?

 

Eg:

- I have 1 unit of intercessors that has nearly been completed, is it eligible

- I have a unit of hellblasters that are assembled and base coated in a previous colour scheme (and will be repurposed for my new chapter): are they eligible despite being already being assembled

- I have some Vanguard primaris that I wanted to paint as a different chapter (though same Crusade force). Are they eligible?

[Dosjetka]

I shall throw my gauntlet into the ring and join this third iteration of the Iron Gauntlet, one of the most gruelling 40k challenges in this forum's long history, as a participant.

 

The Emperor smiles upon us and shall reward the efforts of the creative, the inventive, but most importantly the tenacious.

 

Ave Imperator!

[apologist]

Regarding the Legions Imperialis equivalents, I suggest: 

 

* Bronze: Fully assemble, paint and base a Detachment (at minimum four LI Models);

* Silver: Fully assemble, paint and base a Formation with all Compulsory Detachments filled.

* Gold: Fully assemble, paint and base a Formation with all Compulsory Detachments filled and at least six Optional Detachments filled.

[Kelborn]

*knuckle noise*

*aching back noises*

 

Well, I think I'll join in, as well.

Good opportunity to pay the Household of Toho the attention and care it deserves.

 

Gonna skip the second and third challenge as I don't do models. Datasets might be interesting though. Can I instead use the time to work on either the article, story or both?

Edited March 18 by Kelborn

[Trokair]

Potentially in. I have vague memories of not doing so good with the last one. But willing to give it a try.

 

 

I have been working off and on one a Guard regiment since late 2022, about 85% of the intended army is built/converted, and about 15% of the army is painted. I am not sure I will have relevant stuff to build during the second challenge as I had hoped to have built the last bits buy then. Is it ok if i just paint stuff for the challenge that I previously built/converted for the army?

 

Alternativly may go back to have a second bash at the sisters army I worked on in the last one. 

[Daimyo-Phaeron Lenoch]

On 3/17/2024 at 6:31 PM, Grotsmasha said:

As long as the Challenges are still completed in order, could I continue a project started in the previous Iron Gauntlet?

Grot, PM me, and we'll discuss this more. The answer is 'it depends' depending on what you're asking.

 

On 3/17/2024 at 11:14 PM, ThePenitentOne said:

If we finish a challenge, can we immediately start the next one (even if it's before the official start date for that challenge)?

 

For example, challenge 2, the painting challenge doesn't officially begin until May 17. But if I finish challenge 1 in early April, I could really use the head start on challenge 2- I'm a slow painter.  

In the last Iron Gauntlet, working on painting once a participant had completed the First Challenge was allowed, and it will be here also. But please DO have your article and some constructive commentary in other Liberites' threads before you begin painting!

 

 

19 hours ago, apologist said:

Regarding the Legions Imperialis equivalents, I suggest: 

 

* Bronze: Fully assemble, paint and base a Detachment (at minimum four LI Models);

* Silver: Fully assemble, paint and base a Formation with all Compulsory Detachments filled.

* Gold: Fully assemble, paint and base a Formation with all Compulsory Detachments filled and at least six Optional Detachments filled.

Having looked over a a LI batrep, and a rules review for LI detachment building, I think this is a reasonable suggestion, and what I'll go with. Thanks much, apologist!

 

21 hours ago, Doctor Perils said:

If we have started painting the Organisation before the event started (in part as a test for the colour scheme), can that be used for the second Gauntlet?

 

Do the models have to be disassembled before the event/2nd challenge starts?

 

Does the force have to be a single organisation, or could it be a Crusade force of multiple organisations?

 

Eg:

- I have 1 unit of intercessors that has nearly been completed, is it eligible

- I have a unit of hellblasters that are assembled and base coated in a previous colour scheme (and will be repurposed for my new chapter): are they eligible despite being already being assembled

- I have some Vanguard primaris that I wanted to paint as a different chapter (though same Crusade force). Are they eligible?

9 hours ago, Trokair said:

Potentially in. I have vague memories of not doing so good with the last one. But willing to give it a try.

 

 

I have been working off and on one a Guard regiment since late 2022, about 85% of the intended army is built/converted, and about 15% of the army is painted. I am not sure I will have relevant stuff to build during the second challenge as I had hoped to have built the last bits buy then. Is it ok if i just paint stuff for the challenge that I previously built/converted for the army?

 

Alternativly may go back to have a second bash at the sisters army I worked on in the last one. 

 

Perils, Trokair, I think the marker I will set is ETL standard-- that is to say, an eligible model may be no more than primed, or basecoated with a single color. Perils, your Hellblasters will be fine, the Intercessors are not eligible but I definitely recommend putting a photo of them in your LA , and we'll talk more about the Vanguard Primaris subject--much like Grot, it'll depend on precisely what you mean by 'different chapter but same Crusade force'.

 

Trokair, similarly, your assembled and unpainted stuff is fine, and I again encourage you to include pics of some of your painted models in your LI to help us visualize your Guard!

 

Glad to see both new and returning faces to the Liber and the Iron Gauntlet! Best of luck to all of you!

[Focslain]

Might try this for my planned sisters force as it has the least done for it, or the new regiment I'm building for the guard. Depends on which I think I can get done.

[ThePenitentOne]

Thanks for the response Daimyo. The link to my challenge page:

 

 

[NovemberIX]

I, NovemberIX, of the Knight House Garaipena take up your Challenges. I vow, before my brothers and sisters of the B&C to complete Challenge The First and submit it to the Liber before the deadline. I vow to support my fellow challengers to the best of my ability. May the Fires of Time curse me if I fail.

 

Might as well join the fray again, this time for my knight house. A question though, I don't play 10th and have no idea what constitutes a battle line unit for knights, so would a Cerastus, a Questoris, 2 Dominus and 6 Armigers be enough to gold the building and painting portion?

 

 

Edited March 20 by NovemberIX

[Focslain]

2 hours ago, NovemberIX said:

Might as well join the fray again, this time for my knight house. A question though, I don't play 10th and have no idea what constitutes a battle line unit for knights, so would a Cerastus, a Questoris, 2 Dominus and 6 Armigers be enough to gold the building and painting portion?

Armigars are Battleline in a knight army. So yeah, your list is more then enough for a gold as you have over 3K in points there.

[twopounder]

I, twopounder, of the Obsidian Angels take up your Challenges. I vow, before my brothers and sisters of the B&C to complete All of the challenges and submit it to the Liber before the deadline. I vow to support my fellow challengers to the best of my ability. May the Emperor curse me if I fail.

 

 

 

Edited March 30 by twopounder

[twopounder]

In the last Iron Gauntlet, working on painting once a participant had completed the First Challenge was allowed, and it will be here also. But please DO have your article and some constructive commentary in other Liberites' threads before you begin painting! 

 

Do we need approval before moving ahead to painting or should we begin once we feel that we've met the goals?

[Lord Abaia]

I, Lord Abaia, of the Sulphurborn take up your Challenges. I vow, before my brothers and sisters of the B&C to complete Challenge the First and submit it to the Liber before the deadline. I vow to support my fellow challengers to the best of my ability. May the Dark Gods curse me if I fail.

 

 

I am very excited to see this event return!

Edited March 30 by Lord Abaia

[twopounder]

Ignore. I wasn't sure if we had to do one vow for each challenge. I've updated original to reflect I accepted all of them.
 

 

Edited March 30 by twopounder

[sitnam]

It's been a while since I wrote down my DIY lore, I'm in. Got a Army box full of Kroot ready on the way and wanting some lore, and I've had Kindred rolling around in my head for years now.

 

I, sitnam, of the Bluebeak Kindred take up your Challenges. I vow, before my brothers and sisters of the B&C to complete Challenge The Second and submit it to the Liber before the deadline. I vow to support my fellow challengers to the best of my ability. May the spirits of Pech curse me if I fail.

[Trokair]

I, Trokair, of the 7th Rhûnish Dragoons take up your Challenges. I vow, before my brothers and sisters of the B&C to complete Challenges the First, Second, Third and perhaps Final and submit it to the Liber before the deadline. I vow to support my fellow challengers to the best of my ability.

 

 

Ok I am committing, article link to follow once I have got a barebones structure ready to post.

[sitnam]

I have looked through most everyone's work so far, must say I am really impressed! Love the variety of factions we have as well. Some sisters, some knights, some chaos.

 

I have started my thread and jotting down ideas

 

https://bolterandchainsword.com/topic/382621-the-bluebeeak-kindred/#comment-6031358

 

[Dosjetka]

Hello folks,

 

We're halfway through Challenge 1 and I thought I'd check in and see how people are progressing.

Personally, I'm finding it a little difficult to gain momentum but I have made some progress in the Word file I have for my DIY Chapter.

 

What about you? How are things coming along? Are you focusing on Challenge 1 exclusively or have you already started organising yourself for the later challenges?

[Rusted Boltgun]

I've not made my first vow here yet but I have enough words to submit a WIP text for challenge One.

I'm trying to finish some minis to include for context.

 

I've jumped ahead with my 'head canon' and put together a strong outline for Challenge Five but the content could change following feedback on One and development through the subsequent challenges.

 

I'd like to attempt all of the challenges but getting enough painted will certainly be a challenge!

[sitnam]

13 hours ago, Dosjetka said:

Hello folks,

 

We're halfway through Challenge 1 and I thought I'd check in and see how people are progressing.

Personally, I'm finding it a little difficult to gain momentum but I have made some progress in the Word file I have for my DIY Chapter.

 

What about you? How are things coming along? Are you focusing on Challenge 1 exclusively or have you already started organising yourself for the later challenges?

I have ideas in my head, I just need to get them on a word document. I’m a good way through their origins, but I fear I might be going through to much detail there. The real interest for me is their current situation of being trapped in Imperium Nihilus with a small contingent of allies, but I need to get there first

[ThePenitentOne]

I think my article piece is at 1117 words but I haven't added to it in a while. I'm aiming for Gold, and based on where I am in the article, I think I'm right on track for 3k words. 

 

The reason for the delay is that my Order is integrated with a campaign setting, so I have to randomly generate territories for a Capital city and 8 settlements in order to determine how many churches, shrines, and convents there are. I want to document and share that process, because I'm really proud of it, but doing so delays completion. I added a post to my chronically neglected "Club" which felt really good, and that's where the documentation for territory generation would go. But I've got to get the Article done this weekend to get some lead time for challenge two, so the territory documentation may have to wait. 

 

I'm spoiled for choices about the Sisters units I need to build for challenge 2. I picked up Novitiates today, so that I had a kill team option for the Bronze level, but I have a lot of options besides. I've got Seraphim and Sacrissants, Repentia (full box + launch box), Arcos (full box + launch box), a box of Redemptionists for Missionaries and Preachers, one launch box Penitent Engine and three Pennie/Mortie dual kit boxes, a box of Paragons, two boxes of Retributors, another BSS Unit, an Immolator, a Hospitaler and Dialogus.

 

I originally wanted to paint the Novitiates in Sacred Rose Colours, because once the Desdaemona System is rediscovered by Imperial Forces enroute to the BSF, the Convents Prioris and Sanctum both send delegations to make contact with their lost Sisters. At that point, the Sacred Rose will take over responsibility for any Schola Progenum Facilities on Orison's Wake. That fits the larger campaign story... But if I followed through, those Novitiates wouldn't actually BE Sisters of Saint Katherine's Aegis and so would not satisfy the challenge.

 

So here's what I've decided to do:

 

I'm going to rewind further back and play Jahalla Athabraxis from her early days as a Progena. Then she'll graduate to Sister once she's Blooded, a Dom once she's Battle Hardened, a Palatine at Heroic and a Canoness at Legendary. She'll also be my candidate for Sainthood, and I will make sure she discovers the Praesidum Protectiva between Heroic and Legendary so that I can represent her Canoness Incarnation with the Pronatus model that bears the Praesidium in the Triumph (which I'm magnetizing so I can use all six models to represent Canonesses of their respective Orders).

 

Since this INCREASES the wait time until the Sacred Rose takeover of the Schola Progenum facilities, I'm going to bite the bullet and paint THIS novitiate unit in Saint Katherine's Aegis colours- it's worth it if I use it to tell Jahalla's full story arc- she really is the soul of the Order. That gives me my Kill Team for the Bronze. For my stretch goal, I'm going to add a Missionary to lead them, a unit of Seraphim, four Deathcult Assassins and the Grain Maiden, which might qualify me for Silver (I'd have to talk it out though, because Novitiates aren't battle line. Basically, I'm hoping that having three units and two characters is as good as HQ + Battleline  +1. It doesn't really matter- that's still what I'm going to aim for because...

 

If I succeed at the stretch goal, I'll be going into prehistory for the challenge 3 batrep. The battle will be a narrative mission that represents the Festival of the Grain Maiden. At this point, Jahalla is a mere citizen. The Missionary, assisted by the Superior of the Novitiates will oversee the ritual selection and consecration of the Grain Maiden as eight Novitiates bear witness and the Seraphim wait in reserve. By ancient tradition, the woman chosen as the Grain Maiden is inducted into the Sisters of Saint Katherine's Aegis as a Novitiate at the conclusion of the festival- hence the undersized Novitiate squad brought to bear witness.

 

Jahalla, of course, will be selected as the Grain Maiden, and be escorted to the Altar for consecration. Little do they know, they are about to be ambushed by a rival Thresher House, bent on the assassination of the Grain Maiden before she can be consecrated...

 

If Jahalla survives the battle, the Grain Maiden model will be will be replaced with Jahalla's Novitiate model, and she will join and complete the unit. If not, the Novitiate unit will continue to be one woman short and Jahalla will have to find another opportunity for induction, because in Crusade, "removed from play" very rarely = death.

 

[NovemberIX]

I'm at about 2600 words and still have a few more things to fill in, what most surprising to me is how quickly the fluff is coming together. When I started collecting knights they were just an additional force to my marines, and I had a vague idea of an anime style young pilot. My big challenge is finding some models to represent my pilots (everything is either too risque or so wildly different from the 40K aesthetic).

 

The other issue I've ran into is just what to name the new knights I'm going to build, my usual come up with a word in a foreign language then stretch and distort it into 40k'ish name feels like it's gonna quickly come up short, but changing things to a more standard style of name also feels weird given the already set history of these names in previous battle reports and the 2017 Iron Gauntlet. So instead I'm working on pilot profiles and will let future me deal with it. Go Future me, I believe in you!