For the Emperor and Mortarion Pt 1

Several years ago some friends tried to get me into Horus Heresy.

Horus Heresy

Playing both 40K and WHFB (and Warmachine and X-Wing), I wasn't looking for a new game, and one primarily dedicated to marine on marine action didn't strike me as being particularly exciting.

But, with my hobby drying up (and my miniatures packed away in storage), I gave it a go and found it a remarkably engaging and enjoyable game - what I feared would be a dull conflict between two identical sides turned into a deeper appreciate for the differences between the legions, largely omitted in 40K. With a host of new legion specific units, wargear and rules, I felt I was playing Marines with a whole new perspective.

I borrowed and proxied armies for a year, lamenting the lack of hobby tools/space when finally I broke down and decided to build a stock army - no conversions, just snip and glue - no hobby space required.

As to what army, that was long decided - the 14th legion, the Death Guard.

Death Guard

Having played mostly loyalist forces in 40K, switching sides for 30K seemed obvious. Of the traitor forces, there were a number of contenders: I liked the Sons or Hours and Emperors Children colour schemes, but wasn’t gripped by their backstory. Thousand Sons playstyle didn’t suite me (I had proxied a few games as I liked their imagery). Iron Warriors and World Eaters were too similar to other armies I had and other members of the group already played Night Lords and Alpha Legion.

In the end, it had to be the Death Guard. From a fluff perspective, I liked they always had their own agenda vs following Horus. I liked their relentless, no frills, approach to war, slow grind, use any weapon to achieve their objective. Their play style filled a particular hole amongst my armies - close range shooting, vs gun line or assault. And I liked their colour scheme (and painting a light coloured army would be new). There was also an easy tie into a Nurgle force in 40K, which I always wanted to build.

I'm also quite a fan of the Mk III 'Iron Armor' (which the Death Guard favor) and found I was quite militant about not having any Mk IV in my force. Unfortunately many of the HQ choices are in non-Mk III armor, so ended up converting several of them (so much for no conversions!)

I picked up a Battle of Calth box set (just as GW discontinued it) to get some ‘cheap’ plastic MKIII suits and got the Death Guard shoulder pads from Forgeworld. Also picked up a mix of Imperial Sector and Necromunda bases to allow for some scenic basing options without any hobby space or tools required.

Here is the army in its early days. The five tactical marines. I also got some Breachers, Grave Warden Terminators and the Apothecary/Legion Champion combo. Both the Apothecary and Breachers seemed to fit with Death Guard feel - marching forward, the ‘hardened armour’ of the Breachers shrugging off incoming incoming shells, the ‘feel no pain’ of the Apothecary pushing their unstoppable march forward.

I also dug out some old Thudd Gun’s I had for a Death Corp of Krieg army (it was just a fluke I was able to find these so easily). I thought these would make good Rapier Quad Launchers - they had a little more of that ‘old school’ artillery feel that the actual Rapier Carrier.

Here is a close-up on the first conversion - a Death Guard Legion Champion (next to a friend’s Thousand Sons as we compared our two different takes on this mini) - more on him later.

That’s it for now - next post will continue with the Death Guard as the army grows.

Interlude

Just a short post.  

We've recently moved houses so I'm in the middle of constructing the new man-cave, which will allow me to actually unpack my minis and get back to work!  Look for a short side series on its construction over the next month or so.  As you can see 1) it is quite cave like and 2) there is lots to do!

In the interim we will endeavor to keep the posts coming.  Here is the last known shot of the old desk.  I've keep the image quite large so you can peruse all the WIPs.

The final painted pics of the Looted Wagon are just around the corner.  Stay tuned!

Red ones go fasta! Pt 2

Taking a short break from the Looted Wagon and going back to HQ choices with my second Big Mek, Major Buzdak.  

Buzdak is most often found tooling around in his Battlewagon, ionized air crackling around it from his forcefield generator, as, like any good Mek, he careens in the most reckless way possible across the battlefield, oblivious to any incoming fire, until things end in a right proper pile-up!

First, full credit to highelf who I shameless copied the idea from - I mean... was inspired by.  Check out his far better original on CoolMiniOrNot.

Here is a WIP shot of both Big Meks primed black after building,  You can find my post on Big Mek Gogstompa (the one on the right) here.

Similar to Big Mek Gogstompa, Buzdak is takes his inspiration from the Imperium (in true Blood Axe fashion), and has similarly adorned himself in Mechanicus red robes (but with Orky dags instead of gears) - after all 'red ones go fasta!

The mini is the old metal GW Big Mek with Forcefield Generator.  I've sculpted the hood (and added a few other targeting systems), converted his axe to a more Mechanicus looking gear and added the electrical arcs by bending stiff wire between the arc nodes.

Buzdak is accompanied by his (un)trusty Gort oilers.  These guys are assembled from a random collection of bits:

  • The Pit Chief is a Night Goblin with a Inquisitor scale Mendrite hand and a WWII tank wrench
  • Grot #1 is a Spell Crow torso, Fantasy goblin legs and a second wrench from the very, very, very first Ork battlewagon kit
  • Grot #2 is a GW plastic Grot head, Fantasy goblin legs and the hammer and toolbox are the same battlewagon kit (I knew keeping that kit for 20 years would pay off some day :P)

He is also accompanied by another Mekano Squig from Wargame Exclusive.    I love that its just a giant maw with legs!

And here is the group shot.  The electric arcs don't show up very well against the white background so thought I'd try something a little different.

Hope you like these.  If you do, follow me on social media to see more.  

We'll get back to the Looted Wagon shortly!

Drive it like you stole it Pt 2

The most potent of the Wargear options you can add to the Looted Wagon is the Kill Kannon.  No need to make one of those with this kit - but what if you don't want one (I can't think of why, but, what if).  Similar to the front gun, I built a transition piece that could replace the turret.  I then added a hatch, also from Kromlech.  

Then I got a little obsessive with the magnets.  So, the transition piece is magnetized to the tank, the hatch is magnetized to the transition piece, the lid is is magnetized to the hatch and then the lid then has tiny magnets in the hinge so it can open and close (not completed in pic below).

And with one of Kromlech's tank crew added.

One of the pitfalls (and awesomeness) of so many magnets, is you can just keeping adding and combining pieces.  So Kromlech's turrets (and associated guns) can also be added as an alternate.

And now we loose all pretense of useful wargear conversions.  Without the turret and the steep angle of the front armour made me think this could be an an awesome tank destroyer.  So built a gun, added a magnet and viola, an Ork StuG - but really just another Kill Kannon option.

And the last and most pointless conversion, I swapped out the engine plant in the back for a set of doors. The idea was that if the Looted Wagon was carrying troops, there should be an Access Point.

Finally, a shot of (most of) the pieces laid out.  I did build a few additional options - Deff Rolla, a few more Big Shoota and Rokkit options, etc.

Hope you're liking this look at a, now fairly modular, scrap tank/looted wagon!  Next post we get some paint on this bad boy.

Drive it like you stole it Pt 1

Lets move from infantry models to something with a little more umf - tanks!

With the 7th Ed codex, many of the Ork vehicles got kick-ass new kits.  Sadly, the Looted Wagon wasn't one of them and, in fact, would eventually be removed entirely by the time we got to the 8th Ed book - fortunately, it did reappear in White Dwarf a few months later.

So I was super excited when I found this on MaxMini  - the Scrap Tank (this was long before it was re-purposed as part of their Green Alliance Kickstarter).

It's roughly the same size as a Leman Russ and is a beautifully detailed resin kit that works just perfectly with the new Ork look (as if it was designed too).  Its super easy to build, consisting of a just an handful of parts but still has a fantastic level of detail.

Now, as awesome as this kit is, it did need a little work to allow for all the Looted Wagon wargear (e.g. Big Shootas/Rokkits, with and without a Kill Kannon, Deff Rolla, etc).

I started with the Big Shoota options.  Instead of using the assault cannon that came with the kit, I magnetized a Big Shoota in its place.

I also added another magnet on top on the turret.  It has my 'Longteef' banner to identify it as part of my Blood Axe clan, but it can be replaced with a cupola mounted Big Shoota (not pictured).   That gave me two Big Shoots but I needed a third.  So I used the big flat area on the front armour, added a third magnet and built a mounting bracket out of plasticard.  I then magnatized that and added the Big Shoot from Kromlech.

Given the mounting point and the guns are all magnetized they can be removed/swapped, so I naturally added the other Kromlech guns (Skortcha, Rokkits, Kannon, plus Big Shoota) - just to have options :)

I now needed three Rokkit options.  I used 2 of the existing magnets and added one more magnet in the smoke launcher (on the other size of the Kill Kannon).

But just to keep things interesting, what it the Rokkits were firing!

The Rokkits where made using the old Forgeworld Ork vehicle weapons kit.  The Rokkits were cut free of their launchers.  I took a wire and bent into a somewhat haphazard flight path and put one end into the Rokkit and puttied a magnet to the other.  I then rolled a ton of green stuff balls of varying sizes to represent smoke blooms and built up a smoke trail, starting with the larger ones at the end working up to the smallest.  The 'bubble' effect gets mitigated when they are painted and the cracks get filled up.

Next post the conversions deviate from just wargear and go slightly off the rails.

Some Like it Hot Pt 4

Ok, here is the final post for the Ork Burna unit with the inclusion of the leader, Mekboy Gear'ead Gazlugg.  Gazlugg, like all of his ilk, has a desire to construct and deconstruct in equal measure.

 

He's really just the old stock plastic Mekboy with a bit of a fancy base.  I've put him on 32mm to help distinguish him as the squad leader (that and his big shinny gun!)

 

And finally, here is the shot of entire 11 man squad.  Not bad given 60% of the squad is based off 2 models.

Some Like it Hot Pt 3

A few years ago, in an effort to use up some long ignored minis, I found I still had two of the original metal Burnas.  Having only 8 in my Burna squad it seemed like a good time to boost their numbers.  

Of course I needed to convert them given I had already used these guys twice (so much for my original plan of no dupes!)  

Nothing too complicated here - head swaps from Spell Crow, weapon swaps from the plastic Burnas.

 Then came the hard part - cutting out parts of the metal back-packs and adding different fuel containers to each to change them up a little.  

Next up is the Mekboy, who technically was done ahead of these two, but seamed like a better mini to end on. 

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Lowest of the Low Pt 4

We come to the last of our Grot posts - the command squad - in true IG fashion, the Grots of Da Longteef have cobbled together a command squad of sorts, including a Lieutenant, Kommisar and a few 'special' weapons.  These particularly intelligent, brave, ambitious or willing Grots bark orders (a few even correctly) and generally try to keep the squad moving in the right direction.

The Lieutenant is built in same fashion as the other grots, though this time with an officer cap (again from Basicks), a grot-sized chain sword and a las pistol - a fancier weapon, as befitting his rank, than the crude pistols the other grots use.  Finally, a fur half cloak from the Empire White Wolf upgrade sprue makes a nice cape and gives him just a little more 'authority'.

The one element of the IG  that remains an ongoing mystery to the Orks is why you would have two people in charge (the concept of morale being largely lost on a Ork mind).  Never the less, there must be a reason - in this case to mostly give contradictory orders and add to the general chaos that is an Ork battlefield.

The Kommissar is a goblin officer from Basicks with the most Commisar looking hat from their officer head sprue.

Finally, one of the special weapons.  This is one of the older pre-plastic GW grots, though I've sawed him in half to give him some pants and boots.  I think the blunderbuss works great a special weapon - like a crude, big blast shotgun 

Here is a shot of the entire command squad.  The dual pistols and Necromunda shotgun are really just place holders until I can find something a little more characterful.

And finally, the current squad all together.

Hope you're liking this look at the Orks.  Please comment and follow on facebook..
Next post we'll have a new squad!

 

 

Lowest of the Low Pt 3

In keeping with the more independent, more trained feel of da Longteef Grot squads, I opted to give them a command squad (next post).  But then that didn't really leave a spot for an Ork Runtherd.

So I opted for Runtbots instead (anyone remember those?).  That way the Grots could to operate on their own, but the Orks could still keep an eye on them (and 'collect' any of the squad that got misdirected).

From a modelling aspect, it was a nice retro nod to the Orks of old and allowed me to use all those cool Ork robot bits out there!

The Runtbots are a primarily Kromlech's Clanking Desytroyers with a little plasticard, random bionics and graba sticks from GW.  

The Ork in the center (who sadly has not been painted yet) is Kurgog, the Sgt Major of the Army and in charge of all the Grot forces.  The mini is from Mantic's Deadzone Marauders faction.  I just love all the medals and epaulets.  In general, I find Mantic's Orcs too different in design to use with GW,  but I couldn't pass this one up, so tweaked him a little and added a Kromlech officer head.  Mantic also has a Goblin sniper team which I think would work well.

I'm really happy with the look of them, but it evolved over several tries.  Originally there were just rust with a little black.  I then went back and added detail like that checkerboard and dags.  It took quite a few tries before I found a colour for the face that played well with everything.

The Graba Sticks are also magnetized to you can swap them out for a Grot-Prod.

And, of course, you have to have a Squid Hound.  Given the Runtbots, this seemed like a perfect place for another Mekano Squig (from Wargame Exclusive Miniatures).

And finally a shot of them together.  Hope you liked this look at the Runtherds.
I will finish this off next post (promise) with the Grot Command Squad.

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Lowest of the Low Pt 2

Continuing on with the Grots of Da Longteef, we're now looking at the close combat side.  Those Grots that prove to be more courageous, reckless (or just poor shots) end up in one of the assault sections.

These Grots are built in the same fashion, largely based off the GW Fantasy Goblin range and Basick's heads.  The guns are a collection of old Necromunda weapons, both metals and plastics, and the sword is a knife from the 40K Ork sprue. 

The backpacks are a random assortment of GW, 3rd party producers, and WWII plastic kits.  Basically, whenever I see a set of backpacks I buy them.  I find the variation provides a bit of the random, slapped together feel the Orks are known for and still gives then a "uniform".

Finally, here is a group shot.  I'll wrap this up next post with the command squad!

Lowest of the Low Pt 1

From the mighty, towering Warbosses, we now swing to the other end of the spectrum with the lowly Grot. The labourers, assistants and functionaries that make Ork society (such as it is) function, and occupy the lowest rung in the Warbands.

I avoided GW's Grot with its loin cloth and bare feet, as being too wild and not representative of the IG theme of the Blood Axe army.

I envisioned the Blood Axe's using their Grots more strategically, actually training and equipping them to serve, admittedly as unequal partners, in their Waaaghs.  After all, Grots already man the artillery and pilot Killer Kans, so not that far of a stretch.

I also recalled the Whiteshields from early editions of the IG (and I think more recently with Cadians). More inexperienced and less battle hardened recruits seemed like a thematic match with the Grots, so added a white arm band as a nod to those old Whiteshield units.

The first 'squad' of Grots is a Rifle section.  There's a fair number of components that go into these guys (totally reasonable for a 2 pt guy that you need 60-90 of, right?)

  1. The body is from GW's Fantasy Goblin range, only using the less 'medieval' legs and torso.
  2. Bare heads are GW Goblin heads, while the helmeted heads are from Basicks, one of the early (and now defunct) Polish microcasters, created after the split at MicroArts Studio.
  3. The guns are converted Lasguns from the plastic Orlock Necromunda sprue
  4. The other arm is from the GW Empire Flagellants range
  5. Finally I added things like kit from the IG sprue and a random assortment of backpacks

I've painted them in my standard Longteef colour scheme, kind of an urban camo, with bluey greys and whites and a touch of actual camo on the helmets.  I felt I needed to include some actual camo as its a distinctive feature of the Blood Axes, but too much can look muddled (not to mention its quite time consuming to paint)  so  I felt that just the helmet was a good compromise.

Hope you like this intro to the more rank and file and will be back next post with more of the Grots!

Red ones go fasta! Pt 1

I'm starting our look at Da Longteef with the Big Mek, Gogstompa.  Gogstompa holds the rank of Kolonel and leads Grimtoof's walker warband - stompas, dreads, nauts and cans!

The fig is the old metal Big Mek GW miniature.  In keeping with the Blood Axe/IG theme, I figured the meks would take after the Adeptus Mechanicus so I painted him red and sculpted a hood with dags (instead of gears).  I really liked the idea that the Ad Mech are predominantly red and this somehow validates the Ork's belief that 'red ones go fasta!'

I also added a backpack with a little more horsepower - a old Killer Kan power plant.  I then fitted it with a couple of power claws from Kromlech, to help when building those big walkers.  Admit it, every 'converter' wishes they had three arms at some point.

And of course I magnetized the arms and head just in case I needed swap anything out down the road.  I have no real reason for doing this other than I'm afraid to commit to any one wargear option.

Of course, every mek has his grot oilers.  I figured the pit chief would try to emulate his boss, so used a Night Goblin for the red robes.  He's had a few less then well though-out upgrades. His assistants are a grot from the current plastic box (with custom blow torch) and a converted grot from Spell Crow with power hammer.

Finally, threw in an attack squig for good measure.  When I saw these mekano squigs from Wargame Exclusive, I knew they would work perfectly for a Big Mek.  They are painted up using the standard GW rust technique (Ryza Rust over Typhus Corrosion).  All my Ork robots have this super rusted look because, Orks.

And here is the group all together.

Hope you liked this first look at Da Longteef, my Blood Axe warband.  Lots more to come!

Job security

To give the retinue a little more punch in hand-to-hand, I added 3 Death Cult Assassins (again, when these were their own unit).  

Fortunately, both the Inquisition and Adeptus Sororitas books still allow you to take these guys, now as part of the retinue. 

I keep the general army colour scheme or gold, red and brown with a little green accent.  I may go back and add a little detailing on their skirts one day.

The models are the OOP Confrontation Clones of Dirz.  The original model came with a sword and axe, so did a weapon swap with the axe hand to add a second Power Sword.  I cut down a Catachan Power Sword by removing the back half of the blade to make it less bulky.  These models area little more 'true-scale' than the GW, but I think that works for a lean, agile assassin.

I was quite taken (as I suspect like many of us were) with Rackham's line of Confrontation miniatures.  If you've never heard of them, you can read the Wikipedia entry to learn about the company and the world, and this catalog site to see their line of figs.

And while I never played the game I certainly bought a good number of their figs - and a great deal more when the company eventually went under and stores started to dump inventory.  I still have a shoe box filled with unopened blisters.  Beyond the quality of the sculpts, the bizarre, fantastical (if slightly over the top) art style makes for some outstanding Inquisition figs.

You can still purchase some of the figs from Legacy Miniatures (ie. CMON) and a few other places (although not sure they are licensed or recasters so will avoid putting links)

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The Unwashed Masses

I've been talking about how I divided my Zealots into two types - the Acolytes, the low level members of the Imperial Church, and the members of the Congregation.  The last 3 posts dealt with the Acolytes.  This post will focus on the Congregation.  Largely made up of  raggedy men - unprepared, uninformed, under-equipped fodder - that answered the ecclesiastic call, left jobs, homes, and families to fight and die for the Emperor.

This first group is based mostly off the Empire Flagellants box - its really the go-to box for any robed humans and provides a great base for all kinds of conversions.  

There's also the odd Necromunda  Redemptionist thrown-in.  Either the original gang from 1997 or the early 2000s re-sculpts are another great source of 'priest' figs.  I'll eventually throw in other similar models to bolsters the ranks (e.g. more Redemptionists, Empire Warrior Priests, or even the new plastic Chaos Cultists).

The Congregation are differentiated from Acolytes (in red) by their more drab brown robes.  But I've tried to tie them in by using red as an accent colour, particularly on the chain weapons.  And, of course, the liberal application of purity seals.

I've also tried to make them look a little more haphazard in terms of equipment, adding a few bits of kit (like IG pouches, Kroot shoulder pads, even a Space Marine arm) and a mix of chainswords and glaives.  The guns are mostly from the Empire Outriders and help provide an outdated feel to their equipment.

Here is the entire Congregation with their cult issue brown robes and chainswords, in all their zealotry and righteous fury.

And the full 20 man Zealot squad  - Acolytes and their Congregation

Thats all the troops for now.  Next post we go back to the retinue for one quick addition.

Hope you're enjoying this army.  

Men of Faith - Part 3

This is the last batch of 'acolytes' - the low level members of the Imperial church, that will form the command, special/heavy weapons of my Zealot squads.

The second of my Eviscerater wielding 'heavys'.  This is an old Necromunda Redemptionist fig (with, once again, head swapped with a mounted Chaos Marauder head - they just make great angry priest heads, what can I say).  I also replaced his bare feat with some proper combat boots!

The 'leader' of the squad, until I can attached a proper priest to them, is a converted Inquisitorial Coteaz Acolyte.  I replaced his banner with a Sisters of Battle shrine and his plasma gun with a torch.  He caries with him a number of holy books with which to minister to the faithful.  Again, the purple denotes his seniority.  

The last miniature of the group is the GW Missionary with Plasma Gun.  Minimal conversion here:  Swapped his staff banner (as I had used it elsewhere) and put on a back banner.

And finally a group shot of all nine.

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Men of Faith - Part 2

Carrying on from last post, here are more zealots (aka random priestly models).  

I envisioned massive squads of raggedy imperial citizens, their faith bolstered by the presence of a few "official" members of the church - these acolytes would provide leadership, some military structure, and be responsible for the more powerful special/heavy weapons.

The next acolyte is the old Inquisitor Hierophant model, who works perfectly as a 'heavy' wielding an Eviserator.

This is another of the old GW metal Preachers.  Just a few simple conversions:

  • Mohawk hair was removed
  • Club was replaced with pistol from the Empire Free Company
  • Laspistol was replaced by a custom banner
  • Warhammer was added to his back

Similar to last post, this model is the same as the one above (yet another duplicate):

  • Removed both arms and replaced them with the Empire Solider captain arms and replaced the blade with a chainsword.  This also required a bit of reconstructive putty work on the cowl.
  • Swapped the head for another mounted Chaos Marauder head
  • The purple identifies him as a senior acolyte

Hope you like.

Men of Faith - Part 1

Issue 292 of White Dwarf included new rules to add units of Zealots to your Witch Hunter armies.  A stellar mob of raving adherents to the Imperial Cult, complete with unique weaponry (one use Handflamers and Evisterators) and led by a Demagogue or Priest - fantastic! 

This was the rock upon which my army would be based - Inquisitors and Priests as HQs, Stormtroppes as elites, Zealots as troops with all the Witch Hunter craziness filling in the gaps.  Ok, so never going to be a power army, but great fluff!

When I started modeling this unit I divided it into two types - actually low level functionaries of the church (initiates or acolytes training to one day to become confessors, missionaries or priests) and members of the congregation (imperial citizens who answered the crusade's call).

I'll start with the initiates/acolytes -  they would be made up of all the various priest (or priest-like) models GW had come up with over the years (including some Warrior Priests from the old WHFB range) .

As I mentioned in my last post, the rules for most of the non-Sister units are long gone, but I'll find these guys a home somewhere.

This is the stock Preacher model from Games Workshop.  I think these have some of the best facial expressions of any of the old GW metals.

Notice anything?  Over the years I accumulated quite a few priest models and inevitably some dupes.  This is the same model as above but with a little conversion work:

  • Removed the bell and replaced it with the parchment
  • Swapped the head with one from  the Empire Flagellants range
  • Replaced both hands with pistols from the Empire Outriders

Lastly, this is a converted GW Missionary.  Another duplicate (I used the original as part of another Inquisitor retinue):

  • Replaced both the arms with a blunderbuss from the Empire Free Company
  • Swapped the head with a Mounted Chaos Marauder (a set of truly great heads!)
  • Replaced the backpack with a old, old, old banner from a Necromunda Arch Zealot
  • Added a shoulder pad from Vampire Counts Grave Guard

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Absolution cometh

Here's the next addition to the Witch Hunters.  I felt they needed something a little heavier, so busted out an old Penitent Engine I got at a Games Day (remember those) long, long ago.

It's an excellent model and hard to find a more 40K concept, but there is one little problem with the design.  The flamers on the arms extend out past the spinning saw blades - so unless the raving lunatic piloting it makes some pretty ginger cuts, there are going to be issues.

So the first conversion was to loose the arm flamers and re-position them at the waist.  
The second was to give it a little more dynamic pose by having it climbing up over some rocks.
Finally, I wanted to bulk up the model a little, so my third conversion was to

  • put an oil drum at the back (to feed the flamers),
  • put a suitably religious banner on top (from the old metal Terminator Librarian) and
  • add some shoulder pads (plastic ork bits)

Hope you like and feel free to leave comments in the blog or by email.

Maybe some of you are begining to suspect the Inquisition

Here are the next couple henchmen: 2 bodyguards for a little muscle/protection.

Merzick Cender - Bodyguard

Merzick was a PDF officer who worked his way up to Palace Guard for a royal magistar on Ionis IV. When the lord magistar and his court eventually fell to Slaanesh perversion and was brought low by Inquisitor Kanis, Merzick was the leader of the remaining loyalist guards and executed Magistar Verkix in the final assault on the palace.  Impressed with Merzick's leadership, fighting ability and loyalty to the God Emperor, Kanis recruited him as a bodyguard.

The mini is a stock Warmachine fig: Captain Maxwell Finn, a solo from Cygnar.

Konrad Tharsus - Warrior

Tharsus was born the son of a local noble in lower Thuringia on the Knight world of Thular XII.  Seeing a traveler waylaid by local brigands, Tharus leap to his defense, defeating the axemen and vowing safe travel for what turned out of be Kanis on a covert mission.  Now a bodyguard, he has traveled far beyond his primitive homeworld.  Trained by Merzick in the ways of the wider Imperium, he still prefers to fights with the more familiar, sword and shield.

The fig is an old reaper fighter miniature (long before any of the Bones).  He’s been ‘grim-darked’ by replacing his armored feet with Catachan combat boots, his sword swapped for a Power Sword and a Storm Shield and grenades added.

Inquisitor Sol and his Retinue

Finally, here is a shot of the entire retinue as it stands: Kanis, his bodyguards, chergyons, spymater, mystic and psyker.  I will certainly add more retinue members (and more Inquisitor bands), but for this is it for now. 

The next post will see a little more punch added to the army.  Stay tuned. 

No one expects the Inquisition Pt2

Here are the next 3 members of the warbard.

Galvrauche Adien Duneault - Spymaster

Kanis’ spymaster, Galvrauche is the centre of his “human” intelligence network, recruiting and managing a thousand sources across the sector.

The fig is is the old Highwayman miniature from GW - a "hired gun" from the old Mordheim game.  I always loved the mini so left him stock.

 

Adron Marks - Heretic

A repentant slave to dark gods, Adron grew-up as one of the countless street urchins in Gandin 4's hives.  His psychic potential went undetected - not surprisingly as, while not a null, he has the ability to absorb psychic energy rather than project it.  He eventually found a home in an underhive cult, who use his abilities to avoid detection and as protection during their dark rituals.  When the cult was eventually discovered and destroyed by Kanis, he recognized Adron’s potential.  Allowed to live,  Adron was branded a heretic and lives out his days in a null hood, in hopes that his service will in some small way offset his crimes against the Emperor.

He is built from a plastic Empire Flagellant with a goodly amount of bits.  I use to eschew decals for hand painted banners, but time constraints (and lack of freehand talent) eventually changed my mind - plus with Photoshop and printed decals, there is a world of possibilities.

 

Sara Bryante - Penitent

The Sabat War came to Ulgar 12 when Sara was 19.  The PDF was quickly overwhelmed by the disciplined warriors of the Blood Pact, their Chaos sorcerers using the savage bloodletting to rip open a tear into the immaterial allowing the Khornate powers to spill forth.  Town after town quickly fell in the backwater world - except one.  A beacon of light turned back the Blood Pact, banished their deamonic forces back and gave the high command a powerful weapon.  The Lord Militant quickly declared Sara a living saint and with her at the forefront of the remaining forces,  held off the invaders until reinforcements could arrive.  It was only then, under Ecclesiastical scrutiny that the truth was revealed.  She was one of the many well meaning, but misguided, psykers who believe their powers are a manifestation of the Emperor's divinity - but in Sara's case, merely the work of a Tzeentch deamon looking to weaken an Khorne adversary.  Kanis convinced the Ecclesiasticy to spare her to his custody - Sara accepts her fate as a witch touched by Chaos, but strives to unburden her soul by using the power of the Lord of Change, still within her body, to banish as many demonic entities as she can.

She is the stock OOP Tsilla, from the first edition of Helldorado.