Harbingers of Taelus: Sons of Medusa in 30k

[Smoke Frog]

Thank you @PerfectChocolateMadeleine and @roryokane! You two inspired me to finally finish my breacher squad just in case any more dastardly Emperor's Children supporters decide to peruse my army blog . 

 

It has been fun to weave the story of this chapter (based on the seeds originally planted by @Ascanius), into the greater setting to "fill a gap." The Iron Hands may have been sucker-punched at the start of the Heresy, but somewhere from a quarter to half their legion could have survived the dropsite massacre. The survivors don't get talked about too much so this was a good fit for me.

 

Bitter, angry marines trying to survive against a galaxy in flames against their former brothers who betrayed them. Like some angry, heavily armored bandits or Robin Hoods where their sherwood forest is an asteroid belt in deep space... and they are green!? Perfect 

 

 

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Seizing the reigns of command, the previously unknown Iron Father Selok Sataar led the survivors of Clan Clotho into hiding, along with contingents of several other surviving clans. It wasn’t until almost three years later, with the Heresy now full-blown and fighting broken out in earnest across all segmentum of the galaxy that they returned, now reforged into a guerilla fighting-force to hound the traitors from behind their supply lines.

 

 

 

 

Reclamation of Taelus

 

The Moirae sector had since the inception of the heresy, like so many of the forgeworlds of Mars, been rent with conflict between the established and more rational leadership declaring support for Mars and the Sons of Horus, and the more fanatical elements aligned to the worship of the Emperor as the Omnissiah. These two forces were at each other's throats from the start, forcing Moirae into a near complete stalemate as titan fought titan, skitarii legions died in the hundreds of millions, and voidcraft fought each other throughout Moirae and neighboring systems, securing supply lines bringing war-materials and resources to keep the engine of war moving at full capacity.

 

 

It was here in the Moirae sector where the legionnaires led by Selok Sataar made the most impact. Striking without warning from the depths of the void, numerous convoys operated by the traitors began to vanish.

 

No trace remaining except for the blasted hulks adrift in space. 

 

 

A turning point for the clan's fortunes in these early days was the return to the Taelus system. Once long ago during the age of the Great Crusade, on the order of Ferrus Manus Clan Clotho had conquered this system in the name of the Emperor to secure its mineral wealth for the might of the Imperium. The Clan returned to find the riches of the asteroid-mines now fueling the Warmaster’s war effort. From the void the Clan descended upon the system strongholds.

 

 

 

[//Sergeant Georgos of Clan Clotho, breacher squad veteran of many asteroid boarding actions//]

 

 

 

...breach-by-breach, the Hands assaulted the weak points in the defensive apparatuses they themselves had built, causing the entire defensive network to crumble as they swept through the system, reclaiming it rock-by-rock and purging those who now refused the Emperor’s light. The most obstinate defenses were cracked from orbit from nova cannon-equipped craft stolen from the Mechanicus, left open to the quiet void of space. The actions of Clan Clotho later earned it the cognomen of the “Harbingers of Taelus,” for their actions in the takeover of the system, as it only heralded the devastation that they were to inflict upon the traitors of the surrounding worlds.

 

 

 

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Glad to finally have these ten marines done. The heraldry is a bit throne together but I think it is good enough for some marines on the run. 

 

The Hand of Ferrus:

 

 

The Gorgon's Head:

 

 

....and a few other shields.

 

Edited September 20 by Smoke Frog

[PerfectChocolateMadeleine]

absolutely love this, breachers in general are just so awesome

[Smoke Frog]

"May the forces of the emperor cleanse this world and keep it for its people" 

- Harbingers of Taelus, Hallam Campaign. 

 

 

Finally tested out some desert bases! I like how they look, good contrast with the dark armor. Will be going back to do the rest of the breachers (and the other infantry squads). 

 

Also here is the details of the Master of Signal's medusa on is armor. Originally I was going to paint it on his chest but the wire made tha a bit too hard to pull off.

 

[RolandTHTG]

Beautiful army. Love the backstory too. 

[Smoke Frog]

Thanks @RolandTHTG! It has been fun coming up with the backstory.

 

Speaking of lore...

 

 

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...amongst the void, the remnant fleet limped its way to a long-forgotten harbor to lick their wounds. Repairs were always slow outside a true planetside drydock, and those with the knowledge to conduct those repairs even scarcer than the limited supplies scavenged together to repair the aged vessels. In those days tech-adepts were identified and tasked throughout the ranks for any menial labor required by the Iron Fathers’ exacting instructions.

 

 

WIP Tech-adept, wanted to go for a rogue-trader-esque look for this guy. Shamelessly inspired by a techmarine conversion from @apologist!

 

 

[Smoke Frog]

I may have gotten conversion happy and put together a few more techmarines this weekend!! 

 

 

Techmarine #2 is magnetized to double as an Armistos consul, with heavy bolter and lascannon options.

 

Heavy Bolter:

 

 

Lascannon, liberated from the leftover Land Raider sprue:

 

 

Techmarine #3 makes use of a robotic arm I purchased online recently:

 

 

...while Techmarine #4 was a bit of an experiment, very "jaws of life"

 

 

 

Lastly Techmarine #5 is my least favorite of the bunch and I may demote him to squad sergeant in the future and re-use his backpack. He was supposed to be a siegebreaker but I don't think he is imposing enough. 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited October 8 by Smoke Frog

[Smoke Frog]

++009.M31++

 

 

Hallam. Desert planet, a rad-soaked world the color of mustard. Populated by devolved humans bereft of the galaxy's pleasures. Who worship the baubles of ancient computing technology which they wear like badges around their next. Desert rats, used as pawns by the mechanicum to bring them scaps hidden in the sands. They will murder anyone they come across and strip them naked. Tech vampires, who would steal your vox caster faster than they would raid your food supplies.

 

The planet was scorched during the great crusade; a human-empire held in thrall by an alien menace. The survivors dredged up treasures and sold it to the Mechanicum first, but after the ships stopped coming for the increasingly dwindling scraps a cult developed, sacrificing and worshipping for the return of the angels and demons of the sky.

 

 

 

Now the traitors have taken power on this world.

 

Mechanized crawlers comb the deep deserts for fragments of archaeotech and resources to be pawned off to off-world smugglers. A cabal of thieves and murderers holds Hallam in its grip, while the Dark Mechanicum have sank their claws into the entire operation and reap the rewards.

 

 

 

...but a new menace has been sighted across the dunes. Dark-clad warriors, their armor filtering the cancerous air out of their lungs, immune to the radiation that cripples mere mortals. There armor vehicles are marked by the sign of the Hand, and they have come for vengeance.

 

 

 

 

 

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I hope you like the land raider! Breachers have all their bases done now for a bright desert tone I am happy with. I couldn't resist making some moody desert-filter photos for the tank and rest of the breachers 

 

Here is the unit and transport in true color: 

 

 

 

[Gorgoff]

I love your work. Really good.

[Smoke Frog]

Thanks @Gorgoff! 

 

I have a WIP post for today that I am excited about, I put together some Rogue Trader-inspired MkVI marines:

 

 

The guy on the back left was just a stand in to make sure I didn't mess up the scale somehow. Very happy I still had a box of tactical marines lying around, they came in hand for the sergeant's power fist!

 

Brother casualty was also made with bits from the tactical squad box, I was surprised to see how similar the bits were to the Horus Heresy MkVI kit. Need to clean him up a bit. His hand was donated from a Primaris kit. 

 

 

The marine in  the far back right was repositioned so he is hunching slightly, and while it isn't apparent from this angle he is sporting a leftover Reiver combat blade. 

 

 

Final two additions to the squad are the heavy-weapon gunner with a flak shield, with parts for his lascannon donated from the leftovers from the Land Raider Proteus kit. Same method I used for one of the techmarines. I am assuming the weapon sprue that comes with the Proteus is the same one for the spartan, and it was easier to repurpose the lascannons for this project that go buy a whole heavy weapons box!

 

Also remade marine for the front-left so he is hunching over a bit too. Couldn't figure out how to get his arm long enough to fully stretch across his whole body, but the old tac-marine arms were a bit longer so he got one of those. 

 

 

In addition to these five I went ahead and made a bunch of other goons to fill out the squad!

 

 

I realize I forgot to make a comms-specialist, may go back and make one more. As it stands I have enough here to make a squad of ten tacticals, or use them as veterans and swap out two of them for the lascannons. I also need to make a display-base to show of the five centerpiece minis in the classic rogue-trader pose. 

 

For painting the plan is to paint their armor the same as the rest of the force (dark green-metallic) to include their helmets this time, and give each one a white stripe minus the sergeant who gets the white-and-black checkers. I will be replacing the "ultras" with "iron" and painting on Iron Hands legion symbols of course, maybe paint it in the style from the 3rd edition marine codex (looks less like a gauntlet and more like a clawed hand). 

 

 

 

[W.A.Rorie]

So awesome. You have a very inspiring thread!