Summer Painting - 30k Iron Hands - Medusan Immortals

Some Medusan Immortals for the 10th Legion - loyalist troops for 30k gaming.

The deep summer has arrived in Canada! When July and August roll around, my wife and I try and spend as much time as we can at our cabin in Sault Ste Marie, Ontario. We have a little place on the eastern side of Whitefish Bay of Lake Superior, and it is probably my favourite place in the world. It's a great place to relax, visit with family, and do cabin-type-things like swimming, kayaking, riding ATVs and other stuff.  But it's also a great place to paint! I don't paint as much during the summer, as the outdoors take precedence, but I do try to bring a nice stash of stuff with me to make progress on.  This summer I thought I would try to get some more 28mm 30k stuff painted.

Bionic arm visible for the trooper on the right...meanwhile the fellow on the left is going action-movie-style...one arm with the bolt gun, shield down...

And I have made some progress! Here is a 10-man squad of "Medusan Immortals" from the 10th Legion, the Iron Hands. Yes...some loyalists! 

A lot of character and detail on these fantastic sculpts...I loved painting them.

The Medusan Immortals are troops who have, in some way, failed the Iron Hands (I assume this failure somehow occurred in battle, but maybe they just brought Ferrus Manus cappucino when he had wanted a latte).  These disgraced warriors join the ranks of the Medusan Immortals, and as part of these units, embrace the toughest battle assignments, hoping to win back their honour and place in the Legion.

For the sergeant I swapped in an officer's head from a Mark III power armour suit.

The Medusan Immortals are kitted out as breaching marines.  The sculpts are excellent, with a lot of character.  They have embossed shoulder plates, and really snazzy embossed boarding shields. The figures also show a lot of bionics - there are many replacement legs and arms, and several of the helmets have cable connections pointing to some bionic replacement bits on the warriors' heads.

The level of bionic replacement is consistent with the background of the 10th Legion - supposedly noted for their near-mechanicum-level familiarity and favour of technology.  It could also be meant to show the "failure" that led the Legionnaire to join the ranks of the Immortals in the first place involved heavy battle damage...sounds like a rough gig!

Flamer-armed legionnaire ready to support his fellow Immortals.

The figures also have lots of spare ammo clips and grenades attached - overall, they are a menacing sort of forlorn hope.  I really liked these figures, and I'm glad I have another 10 to paint. 

Graviton gun can be seen on the trooper in the middle...

This first squad is equipped with bolt guns, and supported by a flamer and the whacky graviton gun. They will give a tough fight on the table (doomed, of course, because they are loyalists, after all), and will join the small force I started painting during Curt's most recent painting challenge once I get back to Winnipeg.

Summer Reading
 

The Siege of Terra begins with "The Solar War" by John French...

I've also got some summer reading going too.  The Horus Heresy novel series is finally, after what seems like about 378 books,  moving to the story at last to the Siege of Terra. I picked up a copy of "The Solar War", the first book touching on the siege, written by John French (author of the amazing "Praetorian of Dorn").  It was...OK...a solid 'C+'.  YMMV.  There are many cool parts to the book - I love the description of Terra and the situation in the Solar System during the heresy. But there are also too many Primarchs and their assorted silliness. And while I hope I don't give anything away, the big plot twist is not at all a surprise if you have read "Prospero Burns"...it was easy to see coming.

But hey - we all have different things we like, so I still encourage you to check out the novel.  It will help inspire 30k and 40k painting if nothing else!

I do sort of wonder why GW doesn't have any other Siege of Terra stuff out to accompany this book though...nothing special from Forgeworld, or another Horus Heresy box game...like, the Siege of Terra is THE penultimate moment of the Horus Heresy...that should be a bigger deal.  GW is strangely siloed, it seems...why would you have a box game for the stupid Ultramarines, but no game for the actual Seige of Terra?

Hey, wait, there is something new coming for Adeptus Titanicus! Oh, wait...just more Knights... 

But GW has released something else kind big this summer...

New Edition of Apocalypse
 

Some new rules from GW to contemplate...

Some other summer reading - GW has issued another set of "Apocalypse" rules for 40k. I'll say more about this in a separate post but...while the price is, of course, appalling, these rules look really, really cool...yes, that's right...I think they have something potentially awesome here for us...

Thanks for visiting - I hope everyone is having a great summer, wherever you are!

A sunset at the cabin...have a great summer, everyone!

Second Painting Challenge Entry: 30k Iron Hands

A new Legion for my collection - meet the "Iron Hands" from the 10th Legion...

For my second submission to Curt's Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge, I felt it was time to return to a setting which I am quite passionate about, yet somehow was not present in any of my entries during the prior edition of the Painting Challenge - the Horus Heresy. This submission includes the beginnings of a new force of Loyalist Space Marines from the 10th Legion, known as the "Iron Hands".  There is a 10-man veteran tactical squad, a senior commander ("Iron Father" - oh the names...) and a "Contemptor-Mortis" Dreadnought.  

The Iron Hands and the "Shattered Legions"

When The Emperor unleashed his Space Marine legions upon the galaxy during his "Great Crusade", the Legions all started off with a number before they had a name - these Marines were from the 10th Legion.  In the Horus Heresy story, the writers strive to give each of the Space Marine Legions some sort of relatively unique character or approach to war to set them apart from their, um, let's call them "colleagues".  For the 10th Legion, which became the Iron Hands, their defining characteristic is an affinity for technology and weapon manufacturing that was unusual by the standards of the other Space Marine formations.  Perhaps not the most exciting back story... 

But what makes the Iron Hands kind of interesting is the part they play in the Horus Heresy story.  I mean, it's not an awesome one for them - they are nearly wiped out at the Drop Site Massacre on Isstvan V, led into trap and betrayed.  Their stupid Primarch, Ferrus Manus (think Paul Bunyan with power armour),  is killed (one the few to actually be definitively killed), beheaded by Fulgrim (Primarch of the 3rd Legion) his former ally and friend. Manus' 10th Legion is almost completely slaughtered all around him.  Ouch. 

Veteran Tactical Sergeant with a plasma pistol, a thunder hammer and a bit of an attitude problem...

But "almost" isn't "100%".  Some of the Iron Hands troops escaped - either because they had not yet deployed to the Isstvan drop, were detached elsewhere in Imperial space on other operations, were part of a garrison on the Iron Hands home world - or they had a combination of insane toughness, bonkers motivation and some luck to escape the massacre at the drop site itself and live to fight another day. These remnants (as with the remnants of the other betrayed Legions at that event on Isstvan V, the Raven Guard and Salamanders) would become known as the "Shattered Legions".  This is where the fun comes in from a playing and game plot perspective...

While they retained their nominal loyalty to The Emperor, the Space Marine forces in the Shattered Legions - forces which could still muster several hundred or even several thousand Marines - were mostly driven by desire for revenge.  The Iron Hands in particular lost their marbles a bit after their Primarch was killed. Bitter, focused and very well-armed and equipped (because they do, after all, have quite a capacity for maintaining equipment) Iron Hands detachments waged a bitter campaign of revenge against Horus Lupercal and the rebel legions who betrayed them.  Sure, these efforts assisted the Loyalist cause, but that was just a fringe benefit, almost a coincidence - the surviving Iron Hands were out to kill every single Marine that betrayed them and their Primarch, and any who aided and abetted them.  In truth, many of them cared little for The Emperor - after all, where was he when they needed him the most? 

Sounds like a fun bunch! I like the idea of gaming with some "Shattered Legion" forces - and I did paint a few Raven Guard back in Painting Challenge VII.  So...here we go...but one thing I decided to change up front for the Iron Hands was the colours.  I already have Marines in very dark/almost black armour, and wanted these fellows to look a little different - so in place of the common black/silver seen in the GW books and among other painters, I have used a dark blue/grey for their armour, with metal and silver accents...it's an experiment, but I'm pleased with the look so far...we'll see how this plays out... 

Veteran Tactical Squad

Heavy Bolter on the right, regular trooper on the left - you can see the embossed shoulder pauldrons. 

This is a 10-man squad of Legion Marines in Mark III powered armour.  They are sporting bolt guns and chain swords, supported by one Marine with a melta-gun and another Marine with a heavy bolt gun.  There are some bits from Forge World on these fellows - decals, embossed shoulder pauldrons with the Iron Hands symbol, and components to create a communications trooper. 

Another view of a regular veteran Legion Marine from the Iron Hands...

I figured if anyone was likely to survive the Drop Site Massacre, there would be some "veterans", right?

View of the Vox-casting equipment on the comms-trooper.

I love the plastic Mark III figures - they are fantastic kits from GW.  I could paint these things by the dozen every day...which is a big part of my near-addictive fascination with this setting!

Senior Commander - "Iron Father"

Hi "Dad".....

The Iron Hands are of course hard-hitting Space Marine warriors, but are reputed to have a particular affinity for technology more reminiscent of the Mechanicum faction.  A lot of the Iron Hands troops sport bionic enhancements and replacements for limbs - some required due to wounds in action of course, but many actually sought these out on a voluntary basis! This is particularly common among the senior officers of the Legion, who take to machine modification as part of their improved command abilities.  

This is a senior officer, a Praetor, but known as an "Iron Father".  He is wearing Cataphractii Terminator plate armour.  The big wrench stuck out of his back is a "servo arm" (usually seen on so-called "Tech Marines" to repair vehicles and heavy equipment).  He has a big axe to, um, "repair" various things (I'm thinking mostly attitudes). His side arm is a Volkite Charger. 

A view showing the "servo-arm" equipment on the back of the armour...you can also see the pistons on the legs...

Both of his legs are bionic replacements - you can see pistons where the knees and shins used to be under the leg greaves. 

I think he is meant to be menacing, but the effect is somewhat geriatric...this fellow will surely ruin your day, but only if you stand around and let him...still, he has a unique look and it suits the Iron Hands well.  

Contemptor-Mortis Dreadnought  

"Someone called for a BBQ?" - twin multi-meltas will slag almost anything on the table...

Dreadnought armour is a common support option for Space Marine Legions.  Somewhere in there is the remains of a Marine who was grievously wounded, but did not die...so his comrades popped him into this armoured vessel, where he can keep fighting! Hooray for the Imperium! 

Somewhere inside this is a nearly-dead Marine...

This is a Contemptor Pattern Dreadnought armour unit - known as a "Mortis" variant because it has mounted two of the same heavy weapon.  These weapons are multi-meltas - relatively short range weapons useful for slagging heavily armoured opponents/structures.  It is a plastic kit from GW, and it has been modified by its previous owner, who assembled it but did not paint it, opting to sell it to me instead :-)

I am participating in a "side duel" during the Painting Challenge this year - a group of us are racing to paint the largest number of figures/models from Games Workshop.  This entry helped me get started in that little race, while adding something like 70 points toward my overall target of 1200. Stay tuned for more!