In remembrance of loves lost: my Flesh Tearers army
Once you’ve been gaming long enough, been desperate for cash enough, or simply let that fire go out for one particular army, you’ve sold off an entire force. Sometimes you put a lot of effort into a force of models, only to let those minis go for some cash you could have gotten by taking some overtime or selling blood. To every thing, turn turn turn.
I have only sold one army: my Flesh Tearers Space Marines. You may recall from previous entries that I won the initial seed of this army in the very last auction held at the Games Workshop in Novi, Michigan (now out of business). That was a huge emotional high. After years of seeing Joe’s Angels Sacrosanct take on all comers, I wanted to start some Blood Angels. It was originally my idea to have a Space Marine army for each primarch. Blood Angels seemed like the next logical step as a second army.
First I had to figure out WHAT Blood Angels to play. Joe’s army was a “normal” Blood Angel army, and so I wanted something a bit different. I remembered the Flesh Tearer list from the Index Astartes article and thought that would be perfect. Lots of great conversion opportunities, neat color scheme, and a doomed, heroic background. Plus, the extra chance of Death Company made it so I wouldn’t need a lot of Elite troops, as they were less worth it to take because they would be Death Company more often. It would keep the Tearers from getting out of control like the Azure Flames, who are barely contained in their new case.
The Index Astartes article had an “Imperial Chain Axe” and so I thought that would be my signature. I begged, borrowed, and bartered for Khorne Berzerker chain axes and used my trusty multi-tool file to file the chaos-y details off. I then custom sculpted double-eagles or Flesh Tearer logos on each axe. These details were 1/8″ wide and looked fantastic. These Axes would go on every sergeant, as by the rules the sergeant was the FIRST chosen for the Death Company, and I didn’t want to pay for power weapons. When these rules changed, I simply painted the teeth of the chain axes bone and said they were the teeth of the Dinosaurs of Cretacia, the Tearer’s homeworld, and they counted as power weapons.
At the time, Chapter Master Seth had no special rules of his own. (he now has some and a bitchin’ ass model too!) So I used the Salamanders Chaplain Xavier model, Dante’s Melta Pistol, and a wicked looking jagged sword. Seth was my stand-in for Dante, just as my modified Tigirius (the OLD Tigirius as the new one has a stupid face) was my Mephiston.
I also had (not pictured below) four Rhinos with the Razorback hatch. When I wanted a Razorback I popped in a gun. When I wanted a Rhino, I popped in a custom hatch with a berserk Flesh Tearer popping out, or a hunter-killer missile! These Rhinos had custom rear doors and openable side doors!
All of my Death Company were modded onto flying stands so that they flew. My greatest triumph (sadly not pictured) were my Veteran Assault Marines. These were all RIDICULOUS conversions. Almost all of them had Woo-style pistols. One was modeled after the art of an assault marine kicking two orks in the face while shooting two pistols. Another was actually shooting a pistol BEHIND HIS BACK. One was diving to the side, another had two plasma pistols firing two directions. One had a flamer, holstered to the side, while he was wielding a chainsword as tall as he was! One had a Dante melta pistol and a melta gun! I modded all of these during the power outage of 2003 to keep from killing myself from boredom.
Sadly, I lost interest in the Tearers as the White Dwarf list came out and made them a little boring. Yes, the list was more balanced and fair, but it also took some of the randomness out of the army and therefore some of the fun. I took them to Adepticon 2009 and sold them piecemeal. One guy bought the Rhinos, saying he was going to strip them. They had fully detailed and painted interiors. *sniff* My painted characters and Death Company went like hotcakes. The converted Assault Marines went almost immediately. Finally, the remaining Tactical Squads, loose minis, and the custom made case was sold to a kid who was buying his FIRST ARMY. I felt a lot better about selling them at that point. I made a kid really happy and and made a bunch of money.
The bottom line is that I sold the Flesh Tearers because even though I owned them, they weren’t MINE. The Azure Flames were MINE. I made their stories. I rose and fell with them. I felt the pain of their losses and the joy of their victories. Some other dude created the Flesh Tearers and it was fun to play them. But I realize that it’s hard fo rme to want to build, paint, or play with an army that wasn’t my own creation. So I abandoned my dream of owning a Space Marine army for each Primarch and instead found armies that I could create. This led to Poindexta Smartyskull’s warband and the Saratogan 58th.
Sometimes I miss the Flesh Tearers. I did some INCREDIBLE paint jobs and conversions. But I don’t regret selling them, no matter HOW overpowered the Blood Angels are now. For your viewing pleasure, here is an image dump of all the pics I took of the Tearers.
Ol’ Dok Gillgivva
Modeling
Dok Gillgivva was made mostly from an Assault on Black Reach Nob. The Klaw and Bionik arm are from the plastic Nob box. I carved down a Slugga for the left bionik arm. To both arms I added syringes made from thick plasticard rods, paperclips, and Space Marine Meltabombs with the middle square bits carved out. The Head light was custom sculpted. I cut the goldfish out of plasticard, and added plasticard gills and used a pin vise for the eye.
Gillgivva was painted like my other orks, with dipping. I then added some dynamic lighting effeccts from the green liquid on his left arm to make it look like it was glowing.
For the ‘Ard Boyz, I used wooden spheres for the heads and custom sculpted the victorian grilles. The tubing is Lego Pneumatic tubing, and the air tanks are Imperial Guard Flamer tanks.
Backstory
Ol’ Dok Gillgivva earned his name when he realized that the skin of a slime squig, carefully applied to an incision on a Boy’s neck, could filter “da good stuff” out of water, essentially giving an Ork gills, allowing him to breathe underwater.
His first experiments did not breathe water well, so to compensate, he used multiple slits, all around the neck. This improved water breathing efficiency, but made the Ork unable to breathe regular air. To compensate for this, he sends them to Manik Upzindownz, the Mad Mek, who sells them an expensive apparatus designed to let them carry around a water supply. Designed by Gillgivva himself, this system incorporates water containers coated with that same slime squig skin, allowing the water to be re-oxygenated and sent to a helmet where the Ork can breathe it in.
To protect their new weakness, most of Gillgivva’s “patients” become Ard Boyz, armoring themselves and their water supplies. Though they can breathe underwater, this prevents them from being amphibious as the armored packs are heavy, and without them they could not leave the water. These Ard Boyz tend to hang around Gillgivva, because after all, gills need maintenance and he has not found a way to give you gills twice.
Gillgivva was the Dok who put Poindexta Smartyskull’s brain(s) in, and Smartyskull keeps him around, protecting him from his victims in exchange for a promise never to give Smartyskull gills.
Battlefleet Gothic Modeling and Painting
So, if you’ve read some of the posts in this blog, you’ll know I got into Battlefleet Gothic because my friend Lexington did. I started a Space Marine Fleet to accompany my 40K Space Marine Army, the Azure Flames. You’ll see some of their ships in the gallery below.
But, since then, I have been on a bit of a Gothic kick. I am a teacher (currently middle school, but I plan to move to a High School eventually) and I want to be able to start a wargaming club at that school. I needed two fleets to teach someone how to play Gothic, and the best way to do that is with Imperial Navy and Chaos fleets. So I have those now.
The Azure Flames fleet has custom flames sculpted on all the capital ships. They are Azure Flames blue with Enchanted blue details and Ice blue highlights. They have their bearing markers painted on the base, and their names in calligraphy with flame details.
The Chaos Fleet is a dark purple with lighter drybrush highlights. The metal is bronze and the lighiting is Mechrite Red with Blood Red over the top of it.
The Imperial Navy fleet is Codex Gray with a wash of black and then highlighted with lighter grays twice. The metal is gold and the front is Blood Red. Lighting is white or Ice blue.
You’ll see some small black squares with stuff on it. These are Low Orbit Table defenses. The Airstrip has a putty-molded copy of an Imperial Fury Interceptor, a piece of blister plastic for a runway, and beads that look like a control tower and a hangar. Once painted, I will scrape the sides of the top bead on the tower to make it clear blue. The one with the 6 green hatches is a missile silo, putty moulded from the Epic scale Rhino. The thing that looks like the power generator and Ion cannon from The Empire Strikes Back is a Lance battery. Note that all of these are mounted with a half of an Epic base, so that when balanced on this they point “up” to the top of the low orbit table.
I also made Gas and Dust Clouds from pictures given to me by John. These are of all possible sizes you can generate, and have been laminated 10 mil so that they will last forever. There are also ring-shaped gas and dust clouds. Not shown are asteroids, also laminated 10 mil. The Gas and Dust Clouds have the dimensions printed on the back.
I made some custom markers for the Sunward Edge, and Solar Flares and Radiation Bursts. These will make keeping track of these easier.
Finally are markers for Warp Rifts similar to the Gas and Dust clouds. These also have the dimensions on the back and are laminated 10 mil.
With these, some unpainted transports and orbital defenses, and a few other props, I have everything I need to play any game of Gothic at anytime. I have a piece of black felt 4’x6′ and a smaller piece of blue felt for a low orbit table.
Liam Perseus, Chapter Master of the Azure Flames
Modeling
I made an old model of Perseus with the Terminator Captain with Storm Bolter model years ago, but he wasn’t that great. The cabling looked bad and his storm shield was tiny. My original idea was that it be a shield that incorporates weaponry, so that a successful block can be a slice as well. The original model did not do it justice.
For the new model, I used Marneus Calgar’s upper torso, modified to get rid of the stupid eagles. I used the Devastator Sergeant head, with an elongated nose. I added a third and fourth service stud, as Perseus is about 400 years old. The legs are the plastic legs from an Assault on Black Reach Terminator sergeant, with the flame added to the right knee pad. On his back to cover up Marneus’ Bolter ammo feeds, I added some purity seals and scrolls. I also added an Iron Halo on top.
For the arms, they are double dry-pinned with a magnet holding them on. the pins come out of the torso, and the pin holes in the arms are deep, but are wide at the top so the pins slide right in. You can pick up Perseus by any of his arms and he won’t fall apart, or change his pose.
Perseus’ Storm Shield was made from the Masters of the Chapter Storm Shield, and two plastic power axes and two pewter Bike sergeant power swords. The Grenade arm is a standard Storm Bolter arm, with an Imperial Guard grenade launcher.
The Thunder Hammer/Storm Shield combo is the normal plastic one from the Termintator kit, with the Hammer modified with putty.
Paint used the standard Azure Flames color scheme, with a few embellishments on the feet and cape.
Backstory
Liam Perseus is a Terran. His parents were pilgrims, and ended up serving the Ecclisiarchy on Terra itself. He was born into servitude on Terra, and luckily for him, was a young teenager when the Tech Priests of Mars, at the behest of Inquisitor Eric Boucher, decided to make a Salamanders successor chapter. Liam was simply scooped up by a Tech Priest, as his parents told him that he was destined for greater things.
Liam was one of the thousand Space Marines delivered to Nocturne as the Sons of the Salamander. No Son had rank yet. Being trained in the arts of war by their parent chapter caused Perseus to stand out. His natural leadership qualities and powerful personality made him one of the first Sons of the Salamander to be promoted to Sergeant.
As the chapter structure took hold, Salamander Apothecaries noticed something strange. The Sons were not affected by the radiation on Nocturne. Perseus and his chapter brothers’ skin was not turning black, nor their eyes red. One battle brother died in training, and the Apothecaries examined his gene seeds. From that point on all Salamander and Sons of the Salamander Apothecaries were forbidden to speak of the possible genetic variance. The official word was that they are a Vulkan chapter and the matter was closed. Rumor persists to this day.
Perseus, being trained by ecclisiarchs as a child, found the Promethean Cult a bit dubious until he found the joy of making weapons. He hand-crafted his first sword. He insisted on using it to join in the yearly Salamander hunts on Nocturne. Sadly, this sword was destroyed in the hunt when Perseus used it to prevent himself from falling into a volcano. Perseus did bring home a Salamander pelt, but not the biggest. Undeterred, Perseus used the pelt to make a shield.
Forty seven years of distinguished service as a sergeant followed. Perseus fought traitors and aliens with equal fervor. He was among the first to re-paint his armor when the Sons of the Salamander became the Azure Flames. He fervently believed in Atrus’ vision.
His shield was severely damaged in a fight with the Iron Warriors. He used it to block the attack of the traitor’s Power Fist. The shield shattered like glass, and so did the bones in Perseus’ arm. Perseus used the shattered remnant strapped to his arm as a weapon, jamming it into the traitor’s neck.
Perseus was soon promoted to the First Company, and chose the wargear of the Thunder Hammer and Storm Shield. He was a part of the third Terminator squad during the invasion of Hive Fleet 2501 in the battle for the North Complex on Landon. Atrus personally accompanied his squad, and Perseus watched as a Hive Tyrant cut him down. Perseus smashed the Tyrant’s head with his Thunder Hammer, but Atrus was too far gone to save. Perseus heard Atrus’ voice begging to be interred in a Sarcophagus. He demanded that it be done. It was. Perseus became Captain of the First Company thereafter, and took on the duties of Chapter Master when appropriate. Atrus was still the de facto Chapter Master.
Perseus took up a new project. He remade his Storm Shield into a weapon, and trained with it to develop a new fighting style. He became known as an invincible relentless combatant, able to turn the tide against the most skilled opponent.
When Atrus died in the Chasma Spica conflict, Perseus took his rightful place as the Chapter Master. He decreed that Iperin, the planet on which Atrus died, was to be the new homeworld for the Azure Flames. Every Space Marine chapter in the Chasma Spica conflict backed up his claim.
Perseus has overseen the Chapter’s combat service. He directs them to war torn zones where the Azure Flames go out of their way to protect refugees. Under this policy, refugees are relocated to Iperin, where they are given a new home in the rebuilt capital of Releeshan. Perseus’ kind but stern leadership style and aged appearance has earned him the nickname “The Old Man.” He struggles with the authority left by Atrus’ death, and works hard to groom Atrus’ gene-son Antonius for the day Perseus falls in battle.
Rules
When Perseus has a Thunder Hammer and Storm Shield, he is the Captain of the First Company and stands in for Darnath Lysander. With his shield and grenade launcher, he has the following profile.
HQ – Chapter Master Liam Perseus: 260 Points
WS: 6
BS: 5
S: 4
T: 4
W: 4
I: 5
A: 4
Ld: 10
Equipment: Terminator Armour, Perseus’ Storm Shield, Auxilliary Grenade Launcher, Teleport Homer.
Special Rules
Eternal Warrior
Perseus’ Storm Shield: Perseus customized this tower sized Storm Shield by adding power weapons all along the perimeter. This makes the shield into a targe, used for both offense and defense. Perseus’ Storm Shield counts as both a Storm Shield and a Relic Blade. In addition, Perseus’ unique skills combined with the dangerous proposition of attacking an object covered with power weapons allows Perseus to re-roll all rolls in close combat to hit and to wound.
Riposte!: Perseus is a master of allowing an enemy to overextend themselves, and taking advantage of even the tiniest opening. In close combat, any successfully made armour or invulnerable save grants Perseus an extra attack at initiative 1. If Perseus is killed before initiative 1, the attacks are lost.
Orbital Bombardment: Perseus can call down an Orbital Bombardment, as detailed in the Chapter Master entry in the Space Marine Codex.
I miss Bitz Ordering from GW
Gather round, ye young players, and let me tell you stories of old. In the before time, The Games Workshop magazine, White Dwarf, came with a listing of all of the possible pewter bitz in the ENTIRE GAMES WORKSHOP LINE. You could call GW and order any bitz in any quantity or combination. I used it often, as there were some things that I needed that you just couldn’t get in the blister without a huge amount of waste.
For example, back before plastic Assault Terminators, I needed a Terminator Sergeant with a Thunder Hammer and Storm Shield. The only sergeant model sold in blister had a power weapon/storm bolter. So, I bitz ordered a Terminator Sergeant body, a banner pole, and a regular Thunder Hammer/Storm Shield arm combo. Bitz ordering gave me what the blisters could not.
There was another, even SWEETER side to this. If you attended Games Day, you could buy ANY pewter bitz BY THE POUND. Want 20 meltaguns? Sure. Would you like 80 copies of the Eversor Assassin backpack? NO ONE CAN SAY NO TO THAT. It gave a DAMN good reason to attend Games Day, and let me make a HUGE amount of conversions in my army today that I would never have been able to do.
GW never intended to do individual plastic bitz and I understand that. The internet market has stepped in and filled that void. But it is incredibly rare to find any pewter bitz on non-GW ordering sites. There are a couple but they don’t have the entire range.
Sure, as more plastic kits come out, pewter is becoming obsolete. But there are some times when you just need that old archive bit. My buddy Lexington loves the old fan-style Space Marine Jump Pack. Having the old archive bitz gave modelers the ability to make anything, without having to track down old stuff on ebay.
The bottom line is that there are old pewter bitz that I wish everyone had access to. GW does give some “upgrade packets” prices, but you have to buy the whole thing. What if you want an odd number of shields?
I get why they stopped. It costs money to hire dudes who will paw through the archive and get the bitz people like. Charge us a handling fee! I’ll pay it if I need the bitz for the perfect conversion! WE ALL WILL! WE ARE ADDICTED.
Telling a story with your model.
You can use modeling to tell a story without saying a word. I made a looted Ork vehicle. Look at all the pictures, try to see what the story behind the vehicle is, and then scroll down past the white space.
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The Story
As you can see, there is damage to the front track guard and right side front hull. The Chimera was hit by severe antitank fire, coming from its right side. This immobilized it and allowed the Orks to capture and loot it. The rear door was ripped off and replaced. The damaged laser turret was upgraded to a Rokkit Launcha. That’s how this vehicle joined Poindexta Smartyskull’s warband. I tried to explain this with the way I built it. Some people loot Ork vehicles by just slapping gubbins on wherever. That’s fine, but I like my idea better.
Finally, as an extra modelling goody, I modeled Red Paint Job as something other than a red paint job. Of course there will be some red at the end, but it will get there because of Vincent Van Grot, on the top left side. He even has a bandage on his ear!
Konquata Monitor Kroxigor
Three posts in one day? You have to admit, the Epic army post was pretty weak. So, here’s a Kroxigor.
The only thing I have left to do is rip apart one of my Skinks and make one more star player.
Gehn the Traitor, disciple of Matthius.
Modeling and Painting
Before Big Game 5, Matt Turner came down to help us build terrain. While he was there, we discussed his Chaos Lord, Matthius, Prophet of the Four. Matt said that he wanted Matthius to have a bodyguard of traitors from various armies. I wasn’t sure about other people’s armies, but I instantly came up with an addendum to the main fluff story that involved this man:
I used the new Devastator Sergeant head, with the flat top filed away. I used the Mark 9 sergeant armor torso, the old pewter bolter-melta, and a Chaos power fist, shoulder pad, and backpack. The body was damaged as if it had suffered an explosion on Gehn’s left side, which is the arm that was replaced. He was painted with the Azure Flames scheme, with a scheme similar to some of Matt’s chaos squads on the replaced arm. Gehn was given as a gift to Matt before Big Game 5.
Background
The name of Gehn is cursed by the Azure Flames more than any other. While the twists of Chaos have poisoned, mutated, or brainwashed battle brothers before, these individuals were exterminated. Unlike others, Gehn chose to betray the Chapter. The path between his recruitment and that fateful choice is twisted and convoluted. This account merely scratches the surface of the events that led Gehn to choose madness over loyalty.
Gehn’s recruitment into the Chapter, like most battle brothers, came when his world was in need. Riven was raided by Dark Eldar pirates for slaves year after year. Losses were deemed minimal by Imperial tacticians, due to the fact that Riven had always made its imperial tithe. Calls for aid went unanswered or were spectacularly late. In c783m41, the Dark Eldar met their match. The Battle Barge His Anvil leading approximately half the Azure Flames fleet met these raiders head on. In a pincer action, the Dark Eldar ships were corralled by escorts as capital ships closed in. Sadly, the captives aboard the ships perished in the attack, but the Dark Eldar raiding force was dealt a severe blow. As is customary, the Azure Flames requested that all boys of age be allowed to prove themselves worthy of joining the Chapter. Gehn was tested and proven well above his peers in the rigorous mental and physical challenges that all aspirants to the Azure Flames are put through, and the promising youth was quickly inducted into the Chapter.
Gehn’s career as a scout was not without glory, but was lackluster compared to some of his contemporaries. He was eventually chosen and passed the final trial to become a Space Marine, and served in the reserves for 60 years before joining the 4th Company. It is at this point that Gehn’s career became more illustrious. He participated in the raid on Arkh, and played a vital role in capturing the hidden ruling council. After several decades of service, he was eventually promoted to sergeant. During his tenure he killed a Carnifex in close combat and was at the forefront of the push to take the Traitor’s Gate on Yttran. Gehn’s ambition made him to continue to strive to become a captain, but though his service was admirable, no position of Captain was ever available.
Then Antonius was recruited into the Scouts. Gehn took notice when Antonius was advanced to Space Marine faster than any other Scout on record. He then became enraged when the youth was promoted to Sergeant of the 5th Squad, 4th Company after the infiltration action on Iperin during the Chasma Spica conflict. During Antonius’ induction ritual, Gehn refrained from joining in the toast. Antonius thought nothing of it, but Captain Ganendra did. He notified Atrus, and Atrus consulted his visions of the future. To his horror, the visions spoke that Gehn would betray the Chapter. Atrus sought to send the 4th Company into battle on Julius, and had Ganendra use the 6th squad as bait for the enemy. Gehn and his squad were hit by the blast of a battle cannon. Gehn was knocked unconscious and captured by Chaos forces led by Matthius, Prophet of the Four.
Gehn was interrogated and tortured by Matthius’ subordinates until Matthius himself gave a cryptic order to bring no more harm to the prisoner. Matthius personally interrogated Gehn for several days. Hints and whispers that only Matthius hear from the Gods of Chaos guided him. Then came the secret – Matthius learned that Antonius was the gene-son of Atrus. Matthius used this information to batter holes in Gehn’s tired, damaged faith. As Matthius slowly revealed the truth, Gehn’s hatred for Antonius eclipsed that which he felt for the Dark Gods and their minions. Here was a boy promoted through deliberate favoritism while Gehn was passed up time and time again. That was not just. Gehn wanted more, and Matthius promised it. Gehn fell to Chaos with one word: “Yes.”
Gehn’s knowledge of Azure Flames security protocol proved devastating. While his codes were invalidated, he knew how certain individuals would act. Matthius’ forces penned in the beleaguered 4th Company with the help of mentally-enslaved Orks. Gehn saw fit to taunt his former allies through transmissions while the forces of Chaos closed in around them. His name was spoken as a curse by the entire Chapter as his betrayal was revealed.
The victory of the imperial forces at Daskros changed little about Gehn’s ambitions. Though he fought for his life against the newly freed Orks, he escaped from the Chasma Spica alongside his new master Matthius. He now fights for power and glory, to exult the Gods who recognize his greatness. Above all, he waits for the chance to exact his revenge on the upstart boy that had everything handed to him. Thus through jealousy did Gehn fall.
Just as Tzeentch told Matthius he would.
