For the Emperor and Mortarion Pt 4

Continuing on with our look at 30K Death Guard. Just a short post this time.

I had received the second Forgeworld order by this point. Did a big push here and completed the Tactical Squad, added a Heavy Support squad with Missile Launchers. I also built my leader, Calas Typhon, First Captain, first to fall to Chaos, soon to become Typhus the Traveler, Host of the Destroyer Hive and Master of the Terminus Est.

I opted to build Typhon stock, using the bare head (the only one I plan to have in the army)

Having most of the HQ and troops completed by now, wanted to add a few things that would pack a little more of a punch. First, was the Leviathan dreadnaught. This is a stellar model, truly a massive presence on the battlefield.

As I’ve done with previous projects I magnetized the arms to allow for different weapon configurations
(in fact, all the weapon options)

As a bonus, here are a few images from a recent game vs the Night Lords and Space Wolves. Despite a strong start, Leman Russ, the Primarch himself, deigned to descend and wipe the board with me. Its a bit of a sea of grey, but plan to make these guys my first airbrush project.

Next post will see the Death Guard in all their glory

For the Emperor and Mortarion Pt 3

Welcome back! We’ll be continuing our look at the 30K Death Guard army.

In Horus Heresy, your HQ choices mostly consist of a Praetor (aka Chapter Master, Lord Commander) and Centurions (aka Detachment commanders, Lt Commanders). What makes things interesting, is that Centurions can be upgraded to Consuls, warriors with specialized roles within the legion. There are, at least, 12 different kinds, plus some Legion specific ones. Some Consuls will be familiar to any 40K player (e.g. Librarian, Chaplain, Legion Champion - aka Emperor’s Champion, Forge Lord - similar to a Tech Marine). Others, such as a Praevian, Master of Signals, Siege Breaker, Herald, Delagutus, Moritat or Vigilator have fallen out of use by the 41st millennium. But in Horus Heresy, they add a host of new abilities to your army.

The Legion Champion is chosen from the finest fighters in the legion, has access to the best weaponry and is normally tasked with slaying the mightiest warriors of the enemy.

I’ve included the original GW model for comparison.

  • I gave him the Anvilus Class backpack (also kinda liked that of all the legions, the Death Guard wouldn’t care about their increased radiation)

  • I swapped the head with Callus Typon’s helmeted head (as I’d using the bare head for Typhon himself)

  • I replaced the Power Sword with a more fitting Power Scythe - getting the arms and hands into a position that mimicked the pose of the original model was no easy feat!

  • Most difficult, was replacing the left leg to match the right - oddly, the original model has a MKIII leg and a MKIV leg (and as mentioned in previous posts, I wanted the army to be entirely MKIII)

I also added a Master of Signals and a Siege Breaker.

The Master of Signals links the front-line marines with their support elements and is capable of calling in orbital bombardments and improving marines targeting capabilities.

I again had to try and make a MKIII version as the Forgeworld model is in MKIV armor. Similar to the Apothecary, I carefully cut off as many bits from the original model (head, pouches, antennae) and glued them onto a MKIII body.

Finally the Siege Breaker. They lay waste to large strategic targets, lay siege to fortifications and lead armored spearheads. They give units an extra punch against vehicles and buildings and grant access to certain forbidden weaponry.

Forgeworld only makes a Siege Breaker in Terminator Armour (and then it was a special Events Day fig) so needed to make one in MKIII. Again, I dipped into my Iron Hands bits to find a suitably imposing head and backpack, converted up a combi-bolter/grenade launcher, and gave him the customary badge of honour, a Thunderhammer.

Hope you enjoyed this look at the HQ units and will continue next post with even heavier hitters.

For the Emperor and Mortarion Pt 2

Welcome back to this side trip into the Horus Heresy. In this post we’ll see the burgeoning Death Guard army grow into a proper fighting force.

A few caveats

First, last post saw the army in its infancy - not really playable. The next few posts will see the army quickly grow to ~3000pts - a mere trick of the internet. It really represents a couple of years of work.

Second, while this army has a fair bit of resin, it is entirely possible to play Horus Heresy without purchasing anything from Forgeworld. GW makes the basic units in plastic: HQs, MKIII and MK IV Troops, Cataphractii and Tartaros pattern Terminators and a Contemptor Dreadnought. If you are willing dip into the 40K range for vehicles and to do some simple conversions you can field most units.

That said, if you want to lean into the theme of your legion (e.g. Death Guard Power Scythes), use the actual 30K models for characters, speciality units or vehicles or get access to some of the harder to ‘counts-as’ models (e.g. Deredeo or Leviathan Dreadnoughts) you will need to pay up.

Last post the army had the beginnings of a Tactical and a Breacher squad, a 5 man Grave Warden Terminator squad, a converted Legion Champion, an Apothecary and 3 Quad Launchers.

I then added more Tactical marines in the form of a 5 man Tactical Support Squad with meltaguns.

In Heresy, Tactical marines have no special or heavy weapons options. Instead you can have dedicated special weapon or heavy weapon squads.

When determining what weapons to use, I followed Mortarian’s teachings -
“there is nothing that cannot be accomplished with a Bolter, Flamer and Meltagun.”

I also completed the Breacher squad, bringing them up to the 10 man minimum and added Sergeants to each squad.

I used the (now discontinued) Forgeworld Death Guard torsos and heads, the Andilus Backpacks and Power Scythes. The Death Guard can purchase Power Scythes (+1 St, -1 In, AP2 and +1 attack for each model in base contact) at the cost of a Power Fist.

I debated on how to best use the torsos, heads and backpacks - e.g. use them for every Death Guard, or interspersed them through-out the army, but eventually decided they would be mark of seniority among the legion and would only used them for Sergeants and other notable models.

I also completed the second Apothecary. My first Apothecary model was more or less the stock FW one.

But the other FW model is in MKIV armor (and as previously mentioned I only wanted MKII or III armor) so needed to convert/create a new Apothecary in MKIII armor.

So I hacked off as many tubes, vials and containers as I could from the original model and, along with the arms, combined them with parts from an Iron Hands Legion squad (which I picked up to use as bits). I think he looks, aside from fairly menacing, quite like a veteran Apothecary (minus the tabard).

Next up a look at some of the special characters.