Work in progress: The Lightguard

Here’s a look at the secret project I hinted at: The Lightguard, The Honor Guard for Chapter Master Perseus hand-picked by Leonidas of the 1st Company.

First, when forming the idea, I wanted the Lightguard to look unique.  This led me to the Forge World website where I saw the MK IV Maximus Armour Marines.  I ordered those for the basis.

Next, I wanted a Standard, Four Relic Blades, and a Thunder Hammer on the Champion.  I managed to win an ebay auction for just such a combo from the Grey Knights sprue.

Then, I let my imagination run wild.  I started with the standard bearer.  (standard lovingly donated by Lexington of Aurora Chapter and Dice Abide)  For this arm (and most of the others) I clipped out the fist and carefully carved the remainder out to be replaced by the plastic standard bearer hand.  I then carefully removed the vambrance and attached it to the lower part of the standard bearer arm.

For the Bolter Straps, I took some putty, rolled it out, and flattened the snake to make a thin strap, then cut it to make the width uniform.  This was glued in place on the bolters (in the proper REVERSE fashion, which is how they would hang).  I then added the clasp with more putty.

A lot of the Grey Knights swords are being held two-handed.  I had to do some trickory to get them to be one handed.  In fact, one is still incomplete.

Look at the Standard Bearer greaves.  The flame details were custom sculpted.  I plan on adding these details to both legs for all five marines.

Next, check out the dynamic pose on the marine running, swinging the sword.  DAMN.  The putty strap is strong enough to hold the bolter in midair to simulate movement.  I am very proud of this conversion.

Finally, all of the backpacks have putty molds of the Brazier from the Vampire Counts Corpse Cart sprue.  I could only find ONE on the internet despite months of searches.  The putty molds came out pretty good, and will be touched up a bit.

Next: Finished Lightguard and I paint my Scion characters.  After that, MENOTH STARTER BOX.

1850 Battle Report in Louisville!

Time for another battle report, thanks to Lexington of Aurora Chapter!  I went down to visit him in Louisville, KY.  We ended up playing an 1850 pt. game at The Louisville Game Shop.

We played Spearhead (board quarters) and Sieze Ground (d3+2 objectives, we had a total of 3).  Lexington played Orks, I played Azure Flames Space Marines.  Here’s what we took.

Bozeman – Azure Flames Space Marines

-Zeraf Antonius (counts as Cato Sicarius)

-Assault Terminators x 5 (THSS)

-Land Raider Crusader with Multi-Melta and Extra Armor

-Tactical Squad x 10, Power Fist, Bolter Flamer, Flamer, Missile Launcher in a Rhino with Extra Armor

-Tactical Squad x 10, Power Fist, Bolter Flamer, Flamer, Missile Launcher in a Drop Pod

-Scout Squad x 5, Power Fist

-Land Speeder Storm

-Land Speeders x 3, Multi-Melta, Heavy Flamer

-Ironclad Dreadnought, replace meltagun with heavy flamer, in a Drop Pod

-Dreadnought, two Twin Linked Autocannons

Lexington – WAAAAGH! Zagdakka!

-Zagdakka, Warboss, Bike, Power Klaw, Stikkboms, Attack Squig, Bosspole

-Nob Bikers x 5, Painboy, WAAAAGH! Banner, 4x Power Klaws, Grot Orderly

-Boyz Mob x 12, Nob, Power Klaw, Bosspole, Shootas in a Trukk with a Red Paint job

-Boyz Mob x 12, Nob, Power Klaw, Bosspole, Sluggasin a Trukk with a Red Paint job

-Tankbustas x 12, Nob, Power Klaw, 2x Tankhammas

-Burna Boyz x 14, 2x Meks with Rokkit Launchas

-Battlewagon, Deff Rolla, Red Paint Job

-Battlewagon, Deff Rolla, Red Paint Job

-Stormboys x 10, “Chukka Khan” (counts as Boss Zagstruk)

-Wartrakk, Twin linked Rokkit Launcha

-Big Mek, Burna, Attack Squig, Kustom Force Field

Lexington got to set up first in the upper right.  Going from left to right are: shoota boys in a trukk behind the trees, wartrakk, battlewagon with Burnas inside, trukk with Slugga boyz, battlewagon with Tankbustas, Nob Bikers with Zagdakka.  For me in the lower left, left to right, are a tatsquad by their rhino, Land Raider Crusader with Terminators and Antonius, Dreadnought on top of building, and Land Speeders behind building.  Lexington was going to go first, but thanks to Cato Sicarius’ re-roll, I siezed the initiative!

Bozeman – Azure Flames Turn 1

The first thing I did was drop the Ironclad Dreadnought in Drop Pod right in front of the battlewagons.

HI.

Next, I zoomed the land speeders to my right, moved the Rifledread and put a wound on a Nob Biker, moved up the Land Raider and popped the Slugga Boyz trukk with a lucky shot!  3 out of 12 survived and the 3 were pinned! Tatsquad Missile Launcher fired, but the Shoota Boy trukk made its cover save.

Lexington – Orks Turn 1

The Nob Bikers and Tankbustas moved out toward the Land Speeders.  Shooting from both squads managed to kill one Speeder.  The Tankbustas assaulted, but whiffed.  Lexington shouted at them.

FAILURES!

Meanwhile, the Deff Rolla Battlewagon with the Burnas tries to ram through the Ironclad’s Drop Pod, but it only does one hit, which does not glance the Pod.  The Trakk drives around the Battlewagon and shoots at the Ironclad, to no effect.  The Shoota Boyz trukk moves out behind the building towards my left.

Bozeman – Azure Flames Turn 2

Tatsquad in Drop Pod arrives, becomes 2 combat squads.  They burn the Tankbustas down.  Land Speeders and Dreadnought concentrate on the Nob Bikers, doing only 2 wounds after FNP.  Ironclad Dreadnought assaults the battlewagon and WHIFFS.  It’s a zone of failure over there!  Land Raider moves up and puts a Crew Stunned result on the Tankbusta’s Battlewagon.  Tactical Squad moves into their Rhino.

Lexington – Orks Turn 2

Nob Bikers eat the Land Speeders, remaining 3 Slugga Boys charge the Ironclad and don’t do much.

Bozeman – Azure Flames Turn 3

Land Speeders Storm arrives, hides.  Combat Squad with Power Fist charges and kills Battlewagon.  Other squad moves toward objective.  Land Raider and Rifeldread move up but shooting does nothing to Nob Bikers.  Ironclad kills an ork, squad does not break.

Lexington – Orks Turn 3

Wartrakk hightails it towards my left.  Battlewagon with Burnas moves up and burnas the combat squad with 38 wounds.  Ouch.  “Chukka Khan” arrives, and assaults the other combat squad, removing them as well!  Ironclad finishes off the Sluggas.  Nob Bikers kill the Rifledread.

Bozeman – Azure Flames Turn 4

Ironclad assaults the Burna Battlewagon, kills it but most Burnas are OK.  Land Raider Crusader kills all the Stormboyz but “Chukka Khan and one other guy.  They break, but Chukka kills the remaining Stormboy and holds.  Tatsquad in Rhino moves up.

Lexington – Orks Turn 4

Nob Bikers and “Chukka Khan” move behind the building.  Burnas move toward Land Speeder Storm, but Rokkits only give it a Crew Shaken result.  Wartrakk moves behind the Shoota Boy Trukk.

Bozeman – Azure Flames Turn 5

Ironclad flames and assaults Big Mek and Burnas, kills most of them but they do not break.  Antonius and the Terminators assault the Nob Bikers and kill them, no casualties.  Tatsquad in the upper left jumps out to claim objective.  Land Speeder Storm zooms to the objective in the upper right.

Lexington – Orks Turn 5

“Chukka Khan” assaults the Terminators, kills one, and dies.  The Shootas move up, shoot the Tactical Squad which falls back out of assault range, due ot a poor armor save roll.  Game Continues to Turn 6.

Bozeman – Azure Flames Turn 6

Tatsquad moves up and flames Shootas to death.  Other movement to support.

Lexington – Orks Turn 6

Trukk hides and Trakk zooms to the right.  Game continues to turn 7.

Bozeman – Azure Flames turn 7

Trukk is killed by Land Raider.

Lexington – Orks turn 7

Buggy contests objective by scouts.

Final Score: Azure Flames 1, Orks 0.

Bozeman’s Thoughts: That was a great game, worth the 6 hour drive.  It went surprisingly fast too!  I probably should have combat-squadded the Rhino tatsquad, but it didn’t matter.  Zagstrukk is a GREAT Ork Character and I can’t wait to make an Ork list with my Zagstrukk stand-in, Rukkstud ‘Andfoot.  I am also impressed by the 15 Burnas in a Battlewagon tactic, which WILL KILL ANYTHING toughness 5 or lower, guaranteed.  In the end, there were a few good luck moments, such as losing 3 tactical marines so I could fall back using Combat Tactics.

Lexington’s Inane Ramblings

Combat Tactics is important, and I forgot it!

This was a nice game with a lot of swing to it. Things looked grim after the first turn, and my subsequent inability to remove even one pesky Ironclad from my own deployment zone, despite the earnest but lacklustre the attempts of a Deffrolla, was disappointing to say the least. The second and third turn rally was particularly Orky in both destructive capacity and haphazard luck, and the end turned into the kind of gritty slog that tests one’s brainpan a bit.

This list continues to be fun and surprisingly killy in places, as it has for the tenure of a small campaign we’ve been running ‘round these parts. The Burna Boyz in a Battlewagon is the sort of thing that should scare anyone not within the thick candy shell of a transport, and even the more ethically-equipped Nob Biker squad can dish out punishment like several angry mechanical bears. Eric played with his trademark stoic loyalty to statistical norms, and I’m usually pretty happy to even contest against it, given my own propensity to go for the stupidly improbable but highly entertaining. It was a nice time.

It was that one forgetful moment that knocked things from a win to a tie, as it often can be. Combat Tactics is a rule I usually regard as a little too corner-case, but if forgotten and/or cannily deployed, it can make a real difference, as you can see here. I’ve got a vanilla Space Marine Chapter (along with a skeletal blog for their theoretical exploits), so it’s great to see it perform a real function.

Stay safe, children, and I apologize for accidentally subjecting you to endless shots of my crotch throughout this battle report. We’ll have a group or a session or whatever. We’ve all gone through something terrible today. Let the healing begin.

Azure Flames vs. WAAAAGH! Smartyskull! 1850pts

Wait, what?  How can I fight myself?  Easy, by having others do the fighitng for me.

Above, Hector and Dario (mentioned previously on Four Strands) at Pandemonium Games in Garden City.  Here’s the lists:

Hector: WAAAAGH! Smartyskull! 1850 pts

-Big Mek, KFF, Burna, Attack Squig, ‘eavy armor.

-Nobs x8, Painboy, Grot Orderly, 2x Big Choppas, 3x PKs, WAAAAGH Banner, Eavy Armor

-Battlewagon, Deff Rolla, 3x Big Shootas

-Boyz  x12, stikkboms, big shoota, Nob, PK, Bosspole in a Trukk, red paint job, armor plates, reinforced ram.

-Boyz  x12, stikkboms, big shoota, Nob, PK, Bosspole in a Trukk, red paint job, armor plates, reinforced ram.

-Boyz  x12, stikkboms, big shoota, Nob, PK, Bosspole in a Trukk, red paint job, armor plates, reinforced ram.

-Boyz  x12, stikkboms, big shoota, Nob, PK, Bosspole in a Trukk, red paint job, armor plates, reinforced ram.

-Looted Wagon, Reinforced Ram, Big Shoota

-Tankbusta Boys x12, Nob, PK, Bosspole, 3 Bombsquigs, 2 Tankhammas

-Warbikers x8, Nob, PK, Bosspole

Dario: Azure Flames 1850pts

-Zeraf Antonius (Cato Sicarius)

-Assault Terminators x5, THSS

-Dedicated Land Raider Crusader, Multi-melta

-Tactical Squad x10, Power Fist, Bolter-Flamer, Flamer, Missile Launcher in a Rhino with extra armor.

-Tactical Squad x10, Power Fist, Bolter-Flamer, Flamer, Missile Launcher in a Drop Pod.

-Ironclad Dreadnought with Heavy Flamer, Hurricane Bolter, Ironclad launchers in a Drop Pod.

-Dreadnought, 2x TL Autocannons

-Scouts x5, Power Fist

-Land Speeder Storm, HB

-3x Land Speeder Tornadoes, MM/HF

Mission: Annnhilation (Kill points), Setup: Dawn of War (table halves)

Setup: Hector won setup roll, deployed 2 boyz squads in trukks in the center of the board.  Dario placed a tactical squad in a building.  Sicarius’ special rule gave this tatsquad Counter Charge, which came in handy!  Dario did not sieze the initiative, so Hector went first.

Above: the setup.

Dario’s tatsquad in the building.

Turn 1: Hector

Hector moved up with one trukk near the building and got the squad of orks out.  The other trukk moved up and tried to shoot, foiled by night-fight.  The squad of orks got a lucky pistol shot and killed a Space Marine!

Turn 1: Dario

Dario moved his tactical squad up and out of the building (mostly).  Dual flamer fire from the sergeant and regular flamer, along with bolters, lowered the ork squad size to 5.  Orks failed their morale check, but passed after a bosspole re-roll kills another ork.  Ironclad dread came down, but a bad scatter moved it away from the trukk.  It failed to do damage with its hurricane bolters.

4 orks left after the Bosspole re-roll.

Too far for a flamer!

Turn 2: Hector

Battlewagon, another trukk, and the looted wagon full of tankbustas come on.  Tankbustas move 13″ toward the Ironclad.  Wagon moves up 13″, Trukk 19″ keeping close enough for the KFF cover save.  Orks get out of trukk by Ironclad dread and move toward the Rhino.  Trukk tries to ram Ironclad against my STRONG OPINION.  The trukk is smashed by a Death or Glory attack.  Remaining 4 orks charge the Tactical Squad, which counter-charges.  Marines win combat by 3, orks break and are run down.  Marines consolidate towards the Rhino.

Turn 2: Dario

Sicarius, Terminators, and Land Raider drive on behind the Rhino, and the Land Speeders show up.  Land Speeders fry an ork squad down to 3, which passes its check.  Land Raider guns don’t do much to a trukk.  Marines enter Rhino.  Ironclad moves up to shoot orks.

End of Turn 2

Land Raider is coming!

These orks keep their cool.

Lots of lads!

Turn 3: Hector

Hector calls the WAAAAGH!  Another boys squad in the yellow trukk comes on.  Ork squad moves 13″ in trukk, runs 4.  Other 3-ork squad moves and runs 6.  Battlewagon moves up 13″ but Nobs only run 1…  Blue trukk drives away.  Tankbustas drive up 13″, run 5″ and assault the Ironclad Dread.  Despite the defensive grenades robbing them of their charge bonus, the Tankhammers blow up the Ironclad, and only 4 tankbustas survive!  Both orks squads assault the Rhino, and immobilize it.

Turn 3: Dario

Sicarius and his terminators move up, and get out in front of the Nob Squad.  Tac squad arrives via Drop Pod behind Battlewagon, but another bad scatter pushes them almost to the board edge. Scouts arrive and move 24″ in Storm. Marines in rhino get out and kill some of the Orks by their Rhino, conveniently hiding in a choke point between the tanks.  Storm Bolter on Dreadnought Drop Pod kills one Tankbusta, who make morale check.  Land Speeders pepper the Nobs, killing 2 and putting one more wound out.  Sicarius and the Terminators charge.  3 terminators die but all of the Nobs except the Big Mek go down.  Big Mek flees…2 inches.

End of Turn 3

Whats left after the big fight…

Chokepoint!

Turn 4: Hector

Mek runs…5 more inches.  Yellow and blue trukks move up for shots on the land speeders.  Squad in yellow trukk jumps out to assault Sicarius and Terminator.  3-ork squad turns around to charge the land speeders.  Deff Rolla crushes Sicarius!  Terminator survives long enough to be charged by the squad from the yellow trukk, and dies.  Massive big shoota fire against the land speeders has no effect.  Surviving ork squad charges through the chokepoint, combat drawn.  Tankbustas assault the Drop Pod and kill it.  Bikes arrive and damage the Land Speeder Storm, removing the Heavy Bolter.

Turn4: Dario

Rifle Dread arrives and kills the remaining Tankbustas.  Land Speeders move up and annhilate the Ork squad that killed the Terminator.  Tactical Squad moves up and assaults Battlewagon with Krak Grenades, it explodes and 2 marines die.  Land Speeder Storm moves another 24″.  Three marines die in the assault at the chokepoint, but they don’t flee.  Land Raider gives a no shoot result to the blue trukk.

End of Turn 4

There used to be a battlewagon here.  Now?  Not so much.

Fighting in a chokepoint can get ugly!

Turn 5: Hector

Looted Wagon and surviving trukk move up.  All trukks open fire on Land Speeders, one gets a shaken result.  Mek continues to flee.  Bikes move up 12″ and fire on the fleeing Land Speeder Storm, but only give it one shaken result.  Combat in the chokepoint is a draw again.  Yellow Trukk, which has a Shaken result, tank shocks the Tactical Squad, does nothing.

Turn 5: Dario

Rifle Dread blasts 2 bikers, who fail their check and flee just to the edge of the board.  Land Speeders ineffecually chip at the Looted Wagon and Trukk.  Tactical Squad in the chokepoint is reduced to the Sergeant only, who kills all 3 remaining orks!  He consolidates into the Rhino.  Land Raider kills blue trukk.  Tactical Squad perform an AMAZING feat, as they assault the Trukk, which recieves the Trukk “Kareen!” result, Kareens 16″ directly toward the 3-ork squad, and explodes, killing all but the Nob who breaks and flees!  Scouts get out and assault the trukk, but whiff on every attack.  Game continues to 6th turn.

End of Turn 5.

Warbikers fear the rifle Dread…

Now THAT’S what I call a trick shot!  A trukk knocked into an ork squad, exploding, and breaking them!

Turn 6: Hector

Bikes rally, consolidate.  Mek runs just shy of the board edge.  Looted Wagon and red trukk concentrate fire on land speeders.  No effect.

Turn 6: Dario

Rifle Dread kills another 2 bikers, they hold.  Land Speeders move 24″ to ensure the Mek runs off the table if there is a turn 7.  Land Raider kills Looted Wagon.  Scouts kill trukk.  Game ends.

End of game.

The only unbroken Ork unit, the bikes, decide it’s not worth it and go home.

Final kill points.  Dario (Azure Flames): 13, Hector (Orks): 5.  Space Marine Victory!

On my plate: 6-22-11

Hoo boy.  Getting laid off and finishing a school year takes more time that you’d think.  Plus intruders from Spain are visiting and my ability to paint or model will be nonexistent.  However, I’m getting back in the saddle.  With a little help from Forge World.  So, without further ado, here’s what I’m going to be working on.

-Azure Flames: Twin Linked Autocannon from Forgeworld.  I USED to have a left and a right to do a Rifledread.  This has somehow changed.  I lost the right TL Autocannon, and had to buy another from Forgeworld.  Priority one: Get this done by July 8th.  Why?  I have no idea. I’m certainly not taking a rifledread in a 40K game against Lexington.

-Epic 40,000: Finish Terminators.  I’ve got some basecoated, but I ran out of free time while working on them.  They’re next.  Then I fill out the rest of my 3000 pt. “teaching list.”  Then, strip my Great Gargant and paint 3000 pts of Orks.

-Warmachine: Menoth starter box after Epic.  ON HOLD.

-Necromunda: Delaque gang.  ON HOLD.

-Azure Flames: I recently bought 5 Maximus armour Marines from Forge World.  I’m going to custom-mod these by adding sculpted flames and braziers to them to make the Lightguard: Chapter Master Perseus’ Honour Guard.  I’ll never use ’em but they’ll look FANTASTIC.  I’ve also got a few plans for another famous Azure Flames character… Status: ON HOLD. The Flames are complete enough for now.

-Orks: Need to complete painting all minis, possibly buy one more box of Boys but no more. Status: ON HOLD though I might bump these in front of the Flames now that the weather’s nice.

-The Saratogan 58th: Need to build most of the minis and paint up at least 1500 points to start learning how to play Guard.  Status: ON HOLD.  Way too much on my plate to start an army from almost scratch.

Ory-Hara the Silent, Chief Librarian of the Azure Flames

Modeling

Ory-Hara is the Dark Angels Grand Master Ezekiel model.  I added a Xavier backpack, and filed the winged sword off his book and sculpted a flame and a new strap.  Ory-Hara is named after the codename your character in Escape Velocity: Nova earns in the Vell-Os or Polaris story lines after developing psychic powers.

Background

During his life, Atrus, former Chapter Master, Chief Librarian, and spiritual mentor of the Azure Flames trusted one person with the secrets of his prophecies.  That person was Ory-Hara.  The warp is a horrible place, full of things that can drive men mad at a glance.  Space Marine Librarians are trained to look into that darkness without flinching.  But it takes a prodigy to look through the nightmare of the warp and actually divine the future.  Atrus was such a man.  There were things that Atrus learned that he shared with the chapter.  There were things he shared only with the command staff.

And then there were the things he told to Ory-Hara.

Ory-Hara joined the Azure Flames (then the Sons of the Salamander) just after Atrus earned his Black Carapace and joined the Librarium of the Sons of the Salamander.   The chapter liberated Ory-Hara’s world, Palshife, from the forces of Chaos.  Ory-Hara felt gratitude toward his liberators, but suffered from the stress of toiling under the whip of the blasphemous regime of Chaos.  Atrus noticed the boy’s latent psychic abilities immediately.  Despite being the newest Lexicanum, Atrus asked to mentor the young psyker.  Atrus slowly won the trust of Ory-Hara, and helped him to unlock and face the memories he had hidden in the darkest places of his mind.  Free from his trauma, Ory-Hara’s psychic talents exploded with creativity.

When the Battle Barge His Hammer was destroyed, and Atrus received his vision, Ory-Hara was the first person Atrus told.  Ory-Hara was initially reluctant to believe Atrus, but then he discovered something.  By touching Atrus’ forehead, he found a way to copy the memory of the vision from Atrus, as if he had experienced it himself.  Amazed at this new ability, he was able to immediately show Atrus how to share the vision psychically.  Had Ory-Hara not done this, the Azure Flames would have never been born from the remnants of the Sons of the Salamander.

Ory-Hara examined this memory copying ability.  His first trick was to copy the memories of a willing battle brother.  He was able to expand this ability to find memories without the subject even being aware.  Working together with Atrus, he found the ultimate expression of this power: to copy the memories of someone who had recently died.  While this talent had limited use, it provided insight into their deaths.  Ory-Hara copied the memories of several battle brothers that died.

This led to the current Azure Flames rite to promote a Scout to a full Battle Brother: by sharing the memory of those that died for him.  For non-psykers this can be a harrowing and physically dangerous experience, but the fatality rate is only 17%.  Before this, Sons of the Salamander Scouts had to travel to Nocturne, home of the Salamanders, and face one of the legendary beasts in the yearly Salamander hunt.  This rite had a fatality rate of 32%.

Ory-Hara served in the Librarium of the Azure Flames with distinction, leading up to the conflict for the Chasma Spica.  On Iperin, Atrus sent Ory-Hara against the horrific Daemons of Chaos to the south of the main city, Daskros.  This was the one time Atrus had kept something back from his most trusted confidant.  Had Ory-Hara known of Atrus’ plan to sacrifice himself, he would have demanded to die by Atrus’ side.  Being denied the chance to save his only friend, Ory-Hara took a vow of silence.

He has not spoken since.  Nor has he written a word outside of his official log, carried on his person at all times.

Lack of communication is a problem in a commander.  Ory-Hara explains his wishes through psychic transmissions of images, or emotional impressions.  With his extensive library of memories collected from Battle Brothers, he can communicate any thought, tactical or mundane.  Ory-Hara has not revealed the contents of his log to any person, save Atrus and Perseus, and then only after Perseus had become Chapter Master.

Ory-Hara leads the Librarium shrouded in secrets.  When he passes, his log will be inherited by whichever Librarian takes his place.  Then the truth about Antonius, gene-son of Atrus, and his role in the fate of the Chapter will be revealed as Atrus intended.

Azure Flames Image Gallery

…and the hits just keep on coming!  Here’s my pride and joy: The Azure Flames. This army got me into gaming, and I owe them all the talent and creativity I’ve developed.

The Azure Flames Color Scheme

Back when I was first getting in to 40K (in 2001), I bought the games Workshop Mega Paint Set (which for those who don’t know is one of every GW paint plus burushes, etc.).  After painting several minis from the old board game HeroQuest, I sat down to make a scheme for my newly chosen Salamanders Successors.

But I didn’t want them to be green.

So, I just copied parts of several other schemes and blended them together, with a hint of inspiration from Mega Man.

Could you tell?

Anyway, the scheme is as follows:

-Storm Blue undercoat (now discontinued by GW, substitute Stormy Blue by Vallejo)

-Blue Ink (also discontinued, washes from GW don’t do the same thing, so use P3 blue ink)

-Enchanted Blue details (wrists, helmet ridges, aquilla, etc. with ice blue highlights.

-Chainmail drybrushed over black for metal. (backpack, gun, etc.)

-Scab red with Red Gore highlights for purity seal wax, and bleached bone with skull white highlights for paper (cracks inked black)

– Bolters are Blood Red over Mechrite Red, eyes are Mechrite, Blood red and then Blazing Orange (lighter near front) with skull white dot.

-(not shown) Company is marked on kneepad or greave with Enchanted and Ice Blue symbol.

-(not shown) Squad number is on shoulder pad (and bottom of base) in Roman Numeral with color denoting company

-Veteran’s Shoulder Rims in Vallejo Gold

When Fluff and Reality collide: Retcons

New gamers find the worlds they explore full of stories.  Some are wonderful.  Some aren’t.  But there’s so much to read and enjoy that it all averages out to a good time.

However, the older gamers have a more intimate relationship with the fluff.  The problem with this is that these stories keep getting added to, and the new authors have their own ideas, some of which don’t mesh with the older established canon.

I ran into this in Warhammer 40K around the time the 4th edition Space Marine codex came out.  Some authors were writing about what no man should write about: The Horus Heresy.  In this fluff, the Salamanders Space Marine Chapter was changed.  They used to be the “space black people.”  While this was pretty racist, at least there WERE some black people in 40K.  Everyone else seemed like they were direct descendants of europeans.

The Horus Heresy novels and the 4th edition Space Marine codex changed that.  Now they weren’t african black, they were BLACK black.  Like Chaos black.  Like the darkest night that crushes your dreams.  Plus they had glowing red eyes.  Not only did this invalidate all the fluff previously written by GW or by fans, it also made people’s paint jobs not reflect the background anymore.  Plus black skin and red eyes looks stupid.

My Space Marine chapter, the Azure Flames, was a Vulkan successor.  So, I retconned my OWN fluff and altered the background so that they were mysteriously not jet black with red eyes.

Gene-Seed

The Azure Flames have the distinction of being the first official successor chapter to inherit Vulkan’s Gene-Seed.  This has led to some uncomfortable questions.  It is rumored that the Salamanders have jet black skin and glowing red eyes.  It is quite obvious that this is not the case with the Azure Flames, as they exhibit a remarkable range of skin, hair, and eye colors.  Perhaps the Azure Flames have a mutated Gene Seed which reacts to radiation differently, or perhaps the seeds for the appropriate organelles were taken from a different Primarch.  Whatever the reason, the Techpriests of Mars and the Apothecaries of the Azure Flames do not speak of it.

This is not limited to GW.  Privateer Press retconned several facts about the Cygnar character Allister Caine.  Sadly, no matter what you think, canon is canon.  You can’t make GW NOT have changed the official fluff.  So you either adapt to it, or you become a cranky old man who wakes up screaming at night that Ork blood is green.

Ironclad Dreadnought

Modeling

I inserted magnets into teh top and front of the body.  I then put magnets in the Hunter Killer missiles.  To put the magnets in the Frag Assault Launchers, first I placed the magnets that go in the launchers on the body, stuck to the magnets they will be next to when the launchers are on.  Next, I dabbed a small amount of paint on each magnet, and placed the launcher on them while the paint was wet.  I then used my pin vise to drill into the painted spots.  Slowly.  I did it one turn at a time, and kept going until the magnet JUST fit.

For the arms, you can see I have not magnetized the arm guns.  I chose an appropriate kit-out for situations.  Chainfist Hammer Meltagun and Storm Bolter for MEQs and Fist, Hurricane Bolter, and Heavy Flamer for light armor enemies.

Painting was done in the Azure Flames style.

Azure Flames Librarian on Bike

Modeling

The pewter Librarian with Force Axe model is a good one, as his weapon is up high.  I used a jeweler’s saw to cut under the book on his waist, up, across the waist under the belt buckle, down underneath the Frag Grenades, and out.  The legs were used for one of my Sternguard.  The Master of the Ravenwing pewter book was glued to the front, and the old pewter Bike shotgun from the old Scout Bikes was added, as well as the pewter scout bedroll.  The pewter cloak of Malus Darkblade was added to a standard Space Marine backpack.  Painted in the standard Azure Flames color scheme.

This is an old picture.  The base has since been replaced with the new Bike base.