World Eaters Tactical Support Troops

World Eaters Space Marines with "tactical support" weapons; I will add some groundwork once I finish painting the whole group

Well, it's been a while, but I am finally putting paint on some more Horus Heresy figures for Warhammer 40k (or "30k").  These are figures from Forge World, Space Marines wearing Mark IV power armour from the "World Eaters" Legion, one of the Legions that would turn against the Emperor and join with Horus' rebellion.

The officer has a "vexilla" - I thought they were stupid at first, but I really like how Byron's turned out so I thought I would do at least one officer with one

The "Tactical Support Squad" is a creature of the Legion army list, a troop choice of a supporting nature (although I haven't seen the latest cash grab-dex, so perhaps they changed this?).  Keeping with the grand style of the Space Marine legions, the squad is all armed with the same support weapon. This essentially creates an Imperial version of the Eldar Aspect Warriors, and this is a good thing for the Legion player.  Concentrating the weapons in this way manages to simultaneously match well with the fluff of the setting and what I imagine the "tactical approach" of a Space Marine Legion to be (overwhelming, singular application of brute firepower) while also allowing the Legion to fight on the table in a way that lines up perfectly with the min/max channelling effect created by the 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th edition of the 40k rules.

The embossed shoulder pads are a dangerous addiction - once you do one squad with them, you will want to do all squads with them...

The weapon options for these Tactical Support squads range from the classics - flamers, melta guns, plasma guns - to some specific Crusade-era/Heresy-era choices like "Volkite" weapons.  To catch some of the flavour from the period, I opted for the latter choice for this squad.

The armour is quite mucky (pigment powders) but I still needed to weather the shoulder plate markings a bit more

The good weapon smiths of Mars made Volkite weapons available from pistol-size all the way to super-heavy-tank size.  Other than the officer, the Marines are carrying Volkite Calivers, sort of on par with a plasma gun.  According to the fluff, Volkite weapons are a type of thermal ray weapon, once common among the early Legions but, as the Emperor's Crusade started to really take off and the ranks of the Space Marine Legions grew and grew, was replaced by the more available and easier-to-make bolt gun.

Volkite Calivers - a sort of plasma gun without the downside

The weapon has a special rule - "deflegrate". I was less taken by its game effect (which seems kind of scary yet redundant and therefore somewhat pointless) than by the word itself. Apparently "deflagration" is an actual thing - subsonic combustion through heat transfer, or something like that. So this is a horrifying weapon that I can totally imagine the Space Marine Legions rolling out to use on those who resist the Imperial Truth.

Plus the Forge World sculptors/designers did a great job on these guns - as they have with so much of their Horus Heresy stuff.  The weapon looks f**king cool and dangerous.  I love it for the looks-cool-factor.

I am doing a 10-man squad with these things, and I hope to finish the whole group by Friday.

Legion Project - The Front of The Banner

Here is the front of the banner, Millsy!

In my recent post of pictures of my World Eaters Legion command group, I overlooked including a photo of the front of the actual banner on the standard bearer.  Millsy kindly asked in the comments for a picture of the front, so here it is.

I painted this banner to represent the banner of the 4th...what, I'm not sure - company? In 40k Chapters with their ten companies of one hundred marines each, you sort of imagine in your head that there might be one of these banner per company.  In a Space Marine Legion in 30k, with upwards of ninety to one hundred thousand marines in a Legion, how many companies are there? How many banners? The 4th Chapter then...let's go with that.

Naturally,the banner pole has skulls on it...in the case of the World Eaters, though, I thought that made sense...

As I said in the original post, I improvised too much on this paint/decal job, and rather than appear imposing or intimidating, the banner just looks busy.  The front of the banner is actually quite a large space. I would have done better in hindsight to slap a great big frigging Legion symbol on it.  The would better suit the temperament of the World Eaters I think, and appear a bit more intimidating.  But that can wait for another time.  I'll do a better job for the Sons of Horus...

Legion Project - World Eaters Command Squad

World Eaters Legion Command group

More stuff from the recent Easter weekend - a command group to accompany the Space Marine Centurion I finished a few weeks ago. There is a standard bearer and two "chosen" marines to accompany it to battle.

Standard Bearer in Mark IV power armour from Forge World - you can't see the banner too well, but trust me - you're not missing anything there...

In my last post I mentioned that I prefer most of my Space Marine troops to look a little more plain. But for these fellows I wanted the full-on ornate look - seals, tabards, sculpted shoulder plates etc.  These are the elite veteran troops of a Chapter (and in the Horus Heresy, a Chapter is a sub-group of the overall Legion - very cool).  They have seen a lot of action, and have the honour of guarding the standard in battle, so they will have received fancy armour and very cool guns.

I tossed a Terminator honour on his shoulder pad...I figured a guy carrying a Legion banner would have been bad-ass enough to have racked up some serious time served in a Terminator company

The standard bearer figure is straight from Forge World, the other half of the two-figure Mark IV command pack.  I really kind of whiffed the workup on the banner with this figure...it is quite large, and I should have gone with a larger decal or symbol or something to dominate it and make it more effective.  This is what happens sometimes when you improvise too much, as I often do.  I tried to fill it up, but it looks much more busy/silly than "experienced" :) A giant World Eater's symbol, with a simple colour band or something would have done the trick...I may yet go back and repaint it at a later time.

If you are going to carry a 20-foot banner to a shooting war, might as well wear a really nice cloak too, right?

As I am sure many experienced 40k gamers/painters out there will already have noted, the "Chosen" body guard Marines are in fact mostly plastic figures from the current range - "Sternguard Veterans" - with Forge World Mark IV Power Armour helmets and Mark III embossed shoulder plates.

Space Marine "Chosen" - bodyguards for the standard bearer

The Sternguard figures, with their tabards/cloaks, were a pretty good style match to the Forge World Mark IV command figures, who have fancy crested helmets and big cloaks of their own. The plastic bolters are of course much fancier than the "Tigrus Pattern" bolt guns carried by the grunts, but again that suits the elite seniority these troops would have.

The sword is handy, because in the grim darkness of the far future, sometimes it is better to whack a guy than shoot him, I guess...

In fact, overall the Forge World legion figures mix and match very, very well with the plastic components from the "current" Warhammer 40k range.  It works the best with the Mark IV & later power armour, as they are quite close in look and feel to the Mark VII suits, but is still quite workable even for the older Mark II and Mark III armour suits.  That Sternguard Veteran box was a treasure trove of bits, many of which will find use as this project continues.

Again, I am addicted to the embossed shoulder plates from Forge World - I love how they look on these fancy armour sets

The Space Marine command elements really capture the proto-feudal-sci-fi feel of the 40k/30k genre.  On the one hand, they are large armoured warriors with scary guns.  But the fancy armour, the tabards, the banner...all really silly when you think about them in the context of a shooting war, but all still really interesting/fun from a gaming/fluff perspective. I hope the ornate nature of this command group will reinforce the somewhat more grim simplicity of the regular Marines.

The resin Mark IV helmets dropped perfectly into the plastic figures

I have 29 World Eater Space Marines painted now - enough to field a very small force for a game of 30k, even to plug into a bare-bones force org (one HQ, two troop and one heavy support).  I still have more World Eaters I want to add - a tactical support squad, an assault squad, a veteran marine squad, and some more bits like a medic, a comms guy and a Legion Champion.  I've already started building the next wave of figures and I hope I can start priming them by the weekend!  And while the primer dries, I am knocking off some more 15mm WW2 stuff...

Legion Project - Second World Eaters Tactical Squad

For the Emperor…for now...

I love the NHL playoffs, and I love the long weekend.  It's a good combination to get some serious painting done, and this past Easter weekend went very well.  I am finally getting a bit of momentum building up on my Legion Project, and a few other bits besides.  For this post here is a second 10-man tactical squad for my World Eaters Legion troops.

I'm hooked on these embossed shoulder pads from Forge World…

As with the other tactical marines, these models are wearing Mark IV power armour - the version of the Space Marine armour issued shortly before the Horus Heresy began (cautionary note - "shortly" in the Warhammer time frame could still mean like 100 years, but you get the idea).  They are carrying "Tigrus Pattern" bolt guns.  One marine is upgraded to carry some coms gear.  All of the models are from Forge World.

You can see some of the pigment powder used to muck up the armour at the feet

Painting the white armour has been slow going, but I'm finally getting in a bit of a groove with it. I also used decals here and there from Forge World's excellent World Eaters decal sheet, and used some weathering powders from various sources (I think they may have been Mig brand) as well as a sponge with some GW Stormvermin Fur to scuff up/rough up the armour.

As Byron mentioned in his post showing his excellent Death Guard (check them out - they look great), these Forge World models are far from cheap, but they are a lot of fun to work with.  Compared to the current plastics, they are a little more spartan (fewer skulls, eagles, badges etc) and look a little more uniform without being all exactly the same.

Marine with vox equipment is visible at the front

Some 40k players like to make all of their marines individual - the results are often beautiful, but I don't see the Space Marines as too individual.  In fact, the process of their creation - an entirely new set of genes, hard core mental conditioning, new organs, skin upgrades etc - seems specifically designed to eliminate individuality.  The individual Space Marines vary only in their specific approach to eliminating the Emperor's enemies as soon as possible (bolter? chain sword? heavy weapon?), their length of service, and the extent to which they brood about their job.

A couple of shoulder decals visible in this shot - roman numerals for the 12th Legion, the World Eaters

So I like the tactical Space Marines to look a little plain. Not identical, but a little plain, and Forge World sculptors delivered.  Markings? Sure. A fancy helmet for the officer? Sure.  Embossed chapter symbol on the shoulder? Well, yes - after all, there are standards to be maintained :)  But I like to save the ornate stuff, extra sculpts of eagles on the shoulder plates, artificer armour etc. for the senior officers and elite troops.

A Legion tactical squad has only bolt guns for armament - I think you can give something a little fancier to the Sergeant, but otherwise these squads rely on other units for support weapon fire (like, entire squads of support weapons - a little like the Eldar).  You can increase the squad size to 20 marines if you like! With the "fury of the legion" special rule, they can put forth quite a lot of firepower even without the special weapons.  This relative inflexibility reflects the Legion period very well - when your overall force is 100,000 Space Marines, 20 of them would seem like a very, very small group after all.

Up next I'll have some more Legion progress, and some continued 15mm WW2 painting.

Legion Project - Sons of Horus Test Model

A Space Marine from the Sons of Horus Legion

Another small post with a bit more work on my Warhammer "30K" Legion Project - a test model for the Sons of Horus. This is a plain tactical marine, wearing Mark IV power armour and carrying a "Tigrus Pattern" bolter.

I am in love with the embossed shoulder pads...soooo much better than decals

While working on my World Eaters forces, I couldn't wait to work up a test paint job for the Sons of Horus.  As Horus' own legion, they are in many ways the ultimate "bad guys" in the Horus Heresy story and will fill the same role on the table top.

I found the colour of their armour to be a bit of a challenge - some sources speak of a rather plain forest-green, the paint jobs done in the Forge World studio and the pictures in the amazing Horus Heresy rulebooks show a near-seafoam green colour, almost a shade one would expect to see on a bridesmaid dress or something. I like the seafoam-ish green better, particularly mixed with gold highlights.

I practised with some different combinations of the GW colours when painting up the Knight Titan "El Booze", and then applied them to this figure. I thought the greens turned out well, but weathering a darker armour colour is a bit more challenging, so I still have to figure that out a bit. Once again the excellent GW washes - in this case, Nuln Oil and Biel-Tan Green - really came in handy.

One down...many, many more still to go...

I still have at least another 25 World Eater marines to finish painting, so this Son of Horus will be lonely for a while yet, but it will serve as inspiration to stay focused and keep painting on this project.  We have a long weekend ahead, and the NHL playoffs are on - can't wait to settle in for some hockey and some painting.

Legion Project - World Eaters Officer

A loyal servant of the emperor...for now...

 It's taking forever, but I am continuing to make some small progress on my Legion Project (aka "Legional Lunacy").  Here is a Legion officer and a couple more plain old tactical Marines.

At least he didn't forget his helmet at the office

Space Marine Legions are really huge forces - many, many times larger than a Space Marine Chapter of 40k.  This command figure is a "Centurion", although the titles used would vary throughout the different formations depending on their tradition etc.  He is essentially the same as a Captain in game terms, and will represent the overall commander for my World Eaters. He is wearing Mark IV power armour and carrying some manner of big frigging sword.  Some sort of spooky pistol is likely concealed under the cloak.

Who wears a cloak to a shooting war? But I still love it...

As with all of these Legion models from Forge World, the officer is a really, really nice casting. I have a pet peeve with Marine models not wearing their helmets. The Emperor spent a lot of money giving you fancy armour! You're in an intergalactic war zone! Wear your helmet! And who wears a cloak to a battle anyway?
But in this case, I think the sculptor did a great job, and I'm glad to see he is at least carrying his helmet.

The Forge World guys did a great job on this sculpt

I quite like the all-confident, almost overconfident air this figure exudes..."I'm a Space Marine Legion commander, and I have a big scary sword - what, me worry?" He will probably end up taking a direct hit from a battle cannon during one of our games...

"I have a sword - out of my way!"

This officer will be joined by a small command group, including a standard bearer that comes in the set with this officer - they are still in the painting queue, so stay tuned for more on those guys.

12th Legion grunts in Mark IV armour

I have also finished another pair of plain tactical Marines, as I slowly work towards getting the second 10-man tactical squad completed.

The embossed shoulder pads are pricey, but worth it...

So far I have only painted about 18 models out of a force of about 40 models...slow going.  But a long weekend is coming up, and it will still be f*cking snowing here as we continue with the winter-to-end-all-winters (incidentally, f*ck winter in the face with a hammer wrapped in barbed wire).  I won't be outside doing any yard work, so I'm hoping I can jump ahead with some painting progress.

You can see a bit of the weathering powder on the feet & armour joints

Byron's Death Guard are looking awesome, and Dallas has put together some amazing terrain.  Curt and Steve B have also caught the heresy bug - good to see the heresy spreading! I'm hoping we can play our first game before the end of May...we'll see - painting this white armour takes forever...

World Eater Legion Heavy Support Troops

Did someone say BBQ?

After a brief diversion I am back to my Horus Heresy project. Here is a heavy support squad from the World Eaters legion.  The Marines are armed with multi-meltas and are wearing Mark III power armour.  The figures are from Forge World.

White primer, with a wash of GW Nuln Oil

In the Legion army list, the heavy support troops must all carry the same heavy weapon (I'm pretty sure that is different from the "current" Space Marine lists for 40k).  I thought the multi-melta suited the character of the World Eaters legion.  Besides, five multi-meltas would really dish out a fair amount of abuse.

Base coats applied - about 25% done...

As an experiment, I tried something that I haven't tried for over ten years - I primed a model in white.  It worked out OK, but at the end of the day I'm still stuck on my black-priming ways, and the balance of these figures were painted using the black Vallejo surface primer.

Ready to obliterate the Emperor's enemies, initially, then maybe some loyalist dupes of the false emperor...

The white is a base of GW Celestra Grey, washed with GW Nuln Oil, highlighted with more Celestra Grey, GW Ulthuan Grey and then GW white scar. I used decals from the excellent Forge World decal sheet for the World Eaters.

Lots of segmented plate on the rear of the armour plating

After the paint and decals were set, they received a pretty health dose of weathering - sponged chips and some weathering powder for good effect. It keeps the white armour from looking too formal - I prefer to see the World Eaters marines as pretty worn from continuous action.

I love the embossed shoulder pads…you really get used to having them, they are kind of addictive

After all the weathering, I did a final highlight using GW Nuln Oil as a pin wash, trying to add some depth to the rivets in the armour and the many lines in the armour plates.

You can see a bit of the weathering around the feet - I used weathering powders and sponges to apply "chips" to the paint

These Mark III armour suits are slow to paint - the armour plates have a lot of detail, and there are a lot of segmented plates, particularly on the back of the armour.  Finishing these guys took forever (at least for me) and so far I only have 15 marines finished in total since I started the project earlier this year - not a very rapid pace for me, but I'm starting to get into a groove with the painting for these guys so I hope to pick it up.

I have another 25 or so World Eater marines to paint - and then it will be on to the Sons of Horus!

 

Five Nights, One Knight - Another GW Imperial Knight (Titan) Painted

This Knight knows the False Emperor must be stopped...

Here is my painted Imperial Knight - "El Booze" - a Knight Titan in service of the Sons of Horus Legion. This project is inspired by Dallas in many ways - from the purchase, to getting it painted in five days - I have to credit him for really spurring this on.

Sunday afternoon - basic "skeleton" assembled

Monday evening - first coats of paint

Dallas and I ordered our models from the US as soon as they were released by GW (and saved big time doing so - while I have a lot of love for Canadian retailers, GW tries to use our third-world devalued Canadian dollar to rip us off). Dallas got started on his right away, while I dithered, engrossed with my Legion Project.

Late Monday evening - two washes of GW Nuln Oil wash over the basic metal colours

The eyes are painted…man do they look spooky

But there was a clock of sorts running - the local GW store was having a little competition for painted Knight models today.  Dallas worked carefully and religiously to get his done in time.  And it looked awesome! Shamed and inspired, last Sunday I realized I had less than a week left, so I dove into it.

This is Tuesday night…basic colours applied to the plates, and the lower level plates are glued on

Thursday night - now the plates are on, decals starting to come together

 I built the model on Sunday afternoon, and painted over Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday. The short instructional videos GW put on YouTube about assembling and painting the Knight were excellent guides and really helped out.  I painted the "skeleton" first, leaving the armour plates off.  The skeleton was painted with GW Leadbelcher paint, highlighted with GW Gahenas Gold, and washed with two coats of Nuln Oil.

The finished product from Friday night 

Love that scary chain sword arm

The back story behind the Imperial Knights is, as far as I'm concerned, a bit barmy.  The Imperium's armed forces are replete with a vast array of scary weapons systems, including entire pseudo-fraternal orders of 20-story-tall walking killing machines.  But somehow these Imperial Knights are run as a borderline farmer co-op on some agri-worlds?  Right…

A view of the "skeleton" behind the plates…and hey, the banner is backwards! I'm such a dunce with models sometimes

Battle cannon ready to hunt loyalists on Istvaan III and elsewhere...

So I just ignored the whole Imperial Knight back story all together, and painted this to be part of Horus's 16th Legion.  The Space Marine legions are travelling carnival hordes of weapons and troops - why wouldn't they have a few Knights in the armoury? This way it can be part of the ongoing Horus Heresy action when we start playing some games later in the spring.

I used a combination of washes and sponging to add some weathering to the plates on the armour 

I added some additional weathering to the exhausts at the back

The armour plates were painted a mix of black and sea foam green that the Sons of Horus seem to like, with a few white spots (knee plate, face plate). I used a mix of decals from the Imperial Knight box and a Forge World Sons of Horus decal sheet.

Dallas pointed out these withered eagles on the Knight decal sheet - I'm glad he did!

The "withered eagle" makes a nice commentary for a piece of machinery in Horus' arsenal…

This model is one of the nicest GW has put out in a long, long time.  It was fun to assemble, looks really cool and was a lot of fun to paint. If you look closely at the pictures you will see I put the leg banner on backwards (duh) but other than that I didn't screw anything up too bad. The array of options for design and enhancement in the box is impressive.  I opted for the rapid fire battle cannon, but am kind of regretting it after seeing how cool that melta cannon looks…oh well.

Dallas and I brought our respective Knight models out to the local GW shop for the show today - hopefully Dallas will do a post on the blog recapping that, but suffice to say there are a number of really talented painters in Winnipeg!

And now, back to the Legion project...