DuskRaider’s Legion Imperialis Death Guard 3rd Grand Company

[DuskRaider]

“You are my unbroken blades.  You are my Death Guard”. 
       -Mortarion, Primarch of the XIVth Legion

 

I had been holding off on starting another thread, though I’m not sure why. Part of it may have been not wanting to move on from my Titanicus thread that I’ve been adding to for years now. I believe another factor is that… man, this stuff is not easy to photograph. I “upgraded” my phone almost two years ago to the new iPhone and maybe I don’t know how to unlock the alleged potential of it, but the pictures aren’t even as good as my old Android phone from four years ago. 
 

Anyhow, I digress. I don’t think I’m alone when I say that as soon as Games Workshop unveiled Adeptus Titanicus almost 6 years ago, one of the first things that popped into my head was a new edition of Epic, particularly set during the Horus Heresy. It took years for that to finally come to fruition, and I have to say that I have fully embraced the scale and the models. The rules, not so much, but that’s for another thread and has been beaten into the ground at this point. 
 

My vision was to take my Death Guard army from Horus Heresy 1.0 and scale it down, yet at the same time blow it up to a size that would be otherwise unobtainable at 28mm. Sadly, I believe the thread I had going for that army as well as the pictures have been lost to time and the vile treachery of Photobucket. 
 

The premise was something that I had always dreamed of being able to do but never had the rules to do it: an all-Terminator Death Guard army. In previous editions, I made sure to jam as many TDA-clad options into my Death Guard as was humanly possible. The result was never quite what I had wanted, which was a Nurgle Deathwing. 
 

Fast forward to Horus Heresy, and I finally had my chance… a Pride of the Legion force, comprised entirely of Terminators, be they Cataphractii troops and Praetor, his Deathshroud bodyguards and the feared Grave Wardens, all packed into Spartans and backed by lumbering Dreadnoughts bristling with weaponry. The end result was an elite, fearsome force on the battlefield. 
 

I’m getting lost in the weeds here and reminiscing a little too much. 
 

I’ve posted pictures of my models prior in the main thread here and I won’t be reposting them here. Instead, I’m going to post some new pictures from my recently completed models. 
 

I don’t even know if I can fit all of the pictures in this post alone, so instead I’m going to split this up into three separate posts, each highlighting a portion of the completed pieces. 
 

Most of my previous posts in other threads, including my Legio Mortis / House Makabius thread over in the Titanicus sub, have been infantry-centric. These posts will not be that. 
 

This introductory post will be focusing on the armoured corps of my XIVth Legion. These have popped up in other pictures and the battle report I posted previously, but here they are center stage… starting with the Spartan Assault Transports. 
 

These are the backbone of my main theme. My force centers around a heavy Terminator assault force, rushing into battle carried by the mighty Spartan. These are close to a super heavy on their own, and having squadrons of them pushing up the field are a frightening prospect. 
 

 

There are 20 Spartans total, 5 squadrons consisting of 4 Spartans each. Each Spartan has a squadron numerated designation, subtly represented on the side armour and the front prow directly below the hull-mounted weaponry. The majority are armed with Laser Destroyers with a mix of hull-mounted Heavy Bolters and Lascannons. 
 

Next are the Land Raiders, 6 in total. I’m not sure how these will be implemented yet, my first thought is carrying Heavy Weapons squads forward to position them for immediate effect using the Forward Deployment rule. 
 

Next are the Predators. I currently have two squadrons of 6. These are great for fielding anti-tank capabilities en masse. The two squadrons have distinct markings, giving the ability to differentiate between them in the heat of battle. 
 

 

Kratos Heavy Tanks have been a mainstay in my force each time it hits the battlefield. They are powerful and resilient, something which the Pale King would greatly appreciate. 
 

 

Finally, the Sicarans. Admittedly, I haven’t used these as much as I should. Not much else to say, I did enjoy painting them. 
 

 

Finally, a group shot of the motorpool as it currently stands. 
 

 

On the docket are a Kratos Tank Commander, 20 Rhinos, 4 more Spartans, 2 more Sicarans, 4 Sicaran Punishers and 6 more Land Raiders. 
 

Tomorrow I will be posting my Air Support. 

[DuskRaider]

On to the Air Support. 
 

I was lucky enough to grab these models from my local shop last summer before Legions Imperialis even launched. They were left over from Aeronautica and I was quite frankly shocked to see them on the shelf after the announcement of LI. 
 

I’ve shown these before, but never really in any up close photos or in any detail for some reason, I’m not really sure why. 
 

Let’s start with the Thunderhawk. I love this model. It’s such an impressive piece, even at this scale, and was a joy to assemble and paint. So much so that I have two more waiting for their paint jobs, lol. 
 

 

For reasons that escape me, I never weathered this all that much and decided to leave the decals as-is. Part of it is it’s difficult to get convincing weathering on the white with the decals, another part I guess is that they look so nice that I didn’t want to sully them. I don’t know. 
 

I’ll be honest, I struggle to find too much of a use for them in my army currently. I’ve considered stuffing it with Assault Marines and HALO dropping them and I know Death Guard obviously had the ability to do that, but it just seems off brand to me. I suppose I could cram the Leviathans in there and taxi them about as well. 
 

Next we have the Fire Raptors. These are an odd one, in my opinion. They’re not a proper fighter like the Xiphon, they don’t carry troops like the Storm Eagle or Thunderhawk… obviously they’re there for strafing runs on tanks and infantry, but I don’t know how well they are at that either. In any case, I assembled these way before the rules were ever released, so I’m not sure how well the Heavy Bolter Raptors will perform, but they look cool so…

 

 

I had some experience with this type of model before when I painted up my Air Support Strategems for Titanicus years ago, and I used the same paint pattern. I’ll probably use these eventually when the other ‘Hawks are painted up in an Air Formation. 
 

Lastly, my favorite Aircraft in the game currently: Xiphon Interceptors. These have been clutch in some of my games and definitely have an effect on the battlefield. I wanted each one to have their own unique markings. I know it doesn’t really matter, but it adds to the immersion and a story. I have another box of these assembled and awaiting paint… I doubt I’ll ever field 12 of them, but I don’t care. They’re cool! 
 

 

Finally, the group photo. 
 

 

So there we go, Air Support. My next post will probably be later today and will be the Tactical Support units (Dreadnoughts and Rapiers). 

[Crablezworth]

Looks awesome, why must you live so far away!? 

[DuskRaider]

 

Looks awesome, why must you live so far away!? 

Thanks bud. For some reason I thought you and SMM were in Massachusetts…

[DuskRaider]

Here we are, the final update for the time being. 
 

Tactical Support. At least, that’s what I’m calling it. 
 

The XIVth are renowned for having a massive amount of Dreadnoughts within their ranks. As Mortarion’s Anvil and a siege specialist Company, I see the 3rd being no different and in fact probably having quite a few at their disposal. 
 

I’ll get the Deredeo chassis’ out of the way first. I hate these damnable models. They’re finicky, they don’t go together very well at all and I loathe painting them. There’s no real defining feature to their armor, so it’s difficult to not only paint them in the Legion’s livery but to apply transfers in a good location, especially at this scale. 
 

 

Bleh. On to what is probably my favorite pattern Dreadnought, the mighty Leviathan. These are such great models, no matter the scale. It’s not as easy working with them at this size, however, so the detail is a bit lost compared to their larger 28mm counterpart (obviously). 
 

I was torn on how I wanted to go about painting these. My infantry and my armor are painted slightly differently, particularly with the green. In the end, I decided to just stick with the infantry process, even if it meant that they weren’t as nicely done as they could be. I still find it to be acceptable, and will hopefully add to their numbers at some point. 
 

 

To round out the Dreadnought selection, we finally have the Contemptors. It’s a shame that they aren’t that great on the table, particularly the Kheres Autocannon. What is easily one of my favorite loadouts in 28mm is so bad in LI that the thought of even taking it in a game is out of the question and it’s too bad because the models look so cool. Obviously, the Lascannon equipped Contemptors have more of a role on the battlefield so they’ve seen some combat, but with the other options that we have it’s difficult to justify at times. 
 

 

Rapiers. I’ll admit, I still haven’t used these in a game either, but I do intend to. My old HH army used Quad Mortars quite a bit, especially when armed with Phosphex ammunition. I did have extra photos of these from the side, however Imgur will only allow you to upload a max of 50 per post and I didn’t see the point of doing an entire extra post for two measly photos. You get the point anyhow. 
 

 

And a group photo of the Tactical Support. 
 

 

There we have it! I’m currently in the process of building my final (for now) squadron of Spartans. I have another squadron of Land Raiders to assemble, but I’m awaiting the armored sides from Battlebling before I proceed with those. It will give them more of a Mk. IIb appearance, which is my favorite Land Raider pattern. 
 

The Thunderhawk and Xiphons are assembled and awaiting a coat of primer along with another 13+ bases worth of Terminators. Yes, I am quite insane. 

[son of the forest]

These all look great, a full legion armoury on display!

[DuskRaider]

 

These all look great, a full legion armoury on display!

Thanks! The good news is that the armoury is going to get even bigger soon. 

[DuskRaider]

Just a little update, nothing major. 
 

My Battlebling Land Raider upgrade kits showed up yesterday, so I thought I would share how they work and what they look like. You don’t have to be a MENSA member to figure it out, but still I would like to give a pointer or two to make it a little easier. 
 

Here’s your basic Legions Imperialis Land Raider side piece. A lot of nice detail. 
 

 

You're going to have to remove the turret mount and the tiny nubbins on the ramp to get a clean fit for the new side piece. I used my clipper to get the bulk of this removed and then filed it down so it was smooth and flat

 

 

Here are the upgrade pieces themselves. Only two parts to the kit, nothing difficult or confusing, just make sure you pair the correct Lascannon with the side you’re using. The sides are also easy to discern, there’s a bit that spans the top of the turret housing. 
 

 

From here, the piece should fit on pretty flush. You may have to move it around a bit to get the best placement, but there’s only so much room to work with. It looks slightly cocked, but it’s the actual piece itself and when fully assembled, it looks fine. You can still slightly see the original turret mount when the gun is not yet in place, but once the Lascannon is in, it’s basically hidden. If you’re OCD about things like this, you could always use some green stuff or putty to fill it. Funny enough, it doesn’t actually bother me. 
 

Here we are fully assembled. I would recommend gluing the Lascannons into the turrets themselves. While appear as though they can fit inside and swivel, the housing is just too big for it to stay put. 
 

So, final thoughts… I generally like it and appreciate the fact that this is available. It still doesn’t exactly scratch that Mk. IIb (or I suppose in this case the Armored Proteus) itch that I have, but it’s the next best thing. I will say, it bulks up the Land Raider quite a bit, but I’m still not sure how I feel about the overall profile. The other obvious downside to this is that you’re covering up all the detail that GW put into the model. Still, I think it’s a nice little kit and will help further differentiate between Land Raider squadrons. 
 

Painting updates… I’m currently working on a second Thunderhawk in tandem with my Kratos Tank Commander. I’m hoping I’ll have some pictures of the completed pieces in a week or so, depending on what kind of time I have to sit down and work at them. 

Edited August 30 by DuskRaider

[Marshal Mittens]

Very inspiring force!

 

I have Deathguard in 28mm 40k and so I have not been planning to make them in 8mm, but yours look great and it's so tempting.

 

Do you weather them with streaking grime?

[DuskRaider]

13 hours ago, Marshal Mittens said:

Very inspiring force!

 

I have Deathguard in 28mm 40k and so I have not been planning to make them in 8mm, but yours look great and it's so tempting.

 

Do you weather them with streaking grime?

Thanks! I do have a 40K Death Guard force that I haven’t touched in years now, but there’s a WIP thread somewhere. Same with my 30K Death Guard, but I believe all of the photos have been lost to the Great Photobucket Scouring. 
 

I actually don’t use Streaking Grime, though I do have some for when I eventually go back to the terrain. It’s all just washes, highlights and weathering done with a brush.