Sons Of Horus Reinforcements - Breacher Marine Squad

Into the breach for the Warmaster! XVI Legion reinforcements

The reinforcements continue for the Warmaster's own XVI Legion.  This is a squad of ten breacher marines in Mark III armour.  Two are carrying las-cutter special weapons and the rest are equipped with bolt guns.  All carry the signature boarding protection shields which are the trademark of these troops.

Breacher Sergeant in Mk III armour - he gets a special spooky-looking Eye of Horus decal for his shield

In the fluff these Marines are intended to fight in boarding actions on warships, space stations etc. I enjoyed the look of the models but avoided them at first, as boarding-action-type scenarios were not a particular interest of mine.  Byron, however, painted up a squad of breachers for his Death Guard troops, and I do love how the models look - they are fantastic (as is all of his Death Guard stuff).  When I saw them up close, I knew I would want to add some for the Sons of Horus.

The breacher figures are excellent sculpts from Forge World - the helmets have a medieval look to them, and combined with the heavily segmented, plated and riveted Mk III armour, they have a very ominous look that I find to be very impressive, among the many sculpts that, to my mind, set the 30k stuff apart from the more standard 40k stuff.

Standard breacher tooper on the left, while the fellow on the right is carrying a "las-cutter", useful for slicing up doors, barricades, obstructions and silly types who follow an alleged "Emperor"...

This particular batch of models came my way from the collection of another gamer here in Winnipeg who had started out to do some Heresy forces, but then changed his mind. I picked them up second-hand about a year ago, and I meant to paint them for Curt's Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge last winter, but kept procrastinating until finally I started a couple of test models in early July and finished them out at the lake.

As with the Tactical Marines, this squad includes a mix of approaches to painting the green.  I had started out a few models with a more complicated glazing effect before switching over to the more basic approach I discovered on a GW YouTube tutorial.  So there is a slightly mixed look on the figures. 

Rear view of the Mk III armoured breacher marines - lots of segments and rivets, love the look of the models

I love painting 30k stuff, but these breacher models are pretty challenging.  The shield looks cool, but is kind of awkward to paint around. There was also a minor Dullcote disaster, with a pair of models "frosting up" from flawed spray and requiring some substantial re-painting. Some units seem to paint so quickly, and others are a real slog - these were the latter. I'm pleased to have these guys finished and out of the way, and I hope to get them involved in a game soon.

A pair of breacher marines - while my photo skills are weak, there is a lot of detail on the boarding shields, including a little computer screen - great models, but not easy to paint...

I know these Marines are meant for space ship fighting, but I like to imagine them moving in some heavy urban fighting, working closely behind the Fellblade, Land Raider and other fun community outreach tools to banish the dupes of the so-called "Emperor" from the galaxy. Horus for hope!

Stay tuned for even more reinforcements for the XVI Legion!