Zeraf Antonius, Captain of the 4th Company

Aesthetically based on my cousin Anthony, Zeraf Antonius is currently the Captain of the 4th Company of the Azure Flames, Master of the Marches.  Antonius is the youngest Marine promoted to captain, at a mere 23 years old since his actual birth, and 6 years since the implantation of the Black Carapace.

Antonius grew up on an agri-world.  It was invaded by Orks, and rescued by the Azure Flames.  Antonius was one of several youths to volunteer for service with the Chapter.  He underwent the various implantation procedures to become a Scout.  Unbeknownst to him, the gene-seed of the Chapter Master, Atrus, was extracted when he was interred in the sarcophagus of a Dreadnought.  Only one of his two gene-seeds survived.  Atrus instructed that his gene-seed be used to make Antonius a Space Marine.

Antonius’ career as a scout was full of valorous deeds.  He was one of two survivors of his Scout squad against an attack by Eldar.  He led a scout squad to victory on Morvan Prime, and discovered documents that prevented Tenkath Hive from being infiltrated by Chaos agents.  The people of Tenkath dubbed him “The Hero of Tenkath Hive.”

Antonius participated in the rite of Ascension at age 17 and was implanted with the Black Carapace.  He served in the 9th and 8th reserves, before being transferred to the 6th Tactical reserves.  He participated in the planetary assault on Arkh, and several other major battles.

Antonius was transferred into the 4th company by the direct order of Atrus during the Chasma Spica conflict.  He was part of the tactical squad that infiltrated Iperin, and took over as their sergeant when Sergeant Joseph was killed in action.  He led the 5th squad and enraged the jealousy of the Traitor Gehn, then sergeant of the 6th squad.

Antonius was part of the interdiction force on Julius when Gehn was captured and turned to the service of the dark gods.  When Captain Ganendra was killed during a bombing run in the final battle for Julius, Antonius took command of the Flames’ detachment and led them during the final victory that drove both greenskin and Chaos forces from the planet. Though reluctant to take up the axe of his former commander, Antonius was unanimously awarded command of the Fourth Company by those who remained after the war. With Atrus having met his end during the terrible battle over the city of Daskros, Antonius’ genetic heritage was finally revealed to him.

Antonius continues to lead the 4th company to victory, either from the bridge of the Strike Cruiser Honor, or on the battlefield.  He struggles with the knowledge of his origin, and the destiny that the apothecaries speak of.  They say that one day he will lead the Azure Flames, but until the “Old Man” Chapter Master Perseus dies, Antonius will remain in the office, and will continue to faithfully serve.

Antonius is a stand-in for Cato Sicarius in 40K, and commands the Strike Cruiser Honor in Battlefleet Gothic.

How I got into gaming: The Azure Flames

Everyone who is a gamer gets into it somehow.  I got into it when my friend Joe invited me to a meeting of Studio 40K, the wargaming club of MSU (now defunct, different rant later).  This was in the winter of 2000/2001, early in the 3rd edition of 40K.  I picked Space Marines, specifically the Salamanders.  They had cheap Terminators and never gave up.  However, I didn’t like green marines, so I made my own successor chapter: the Azure Flames.

My first purchase was a Devastator squad.  The old pewter devastator box which had all the heavy weapons except the Multi Melta.  Actually a really bad box set, as a dev squad with those weapons was expensive and almost useless.  I learned and collected quickly though.  That following summer I followed this pattern: buy unit, paint unit, buy another unit.  I eventually had one of everything the Space Marines could take.  And I kept going.

Then, during the very last auction that Games Workshop held in its stores, I won a Blood Angels combination, consisting of Dante and some honor guard, some Death Company, and a few other things including a Baal Pred.  I made them into a Flesh Tearers army that was actually pretty impressive.  Sadly, after the advent of 4th ed, Blood Angels were vastly underpowered and I never played them.  I sold the lot bit by bit at a con.  People went nuts for the paint jobs and the custom vehicles.  My greatest pleasure was selling the remainder and the custom case to a kid who never had an army.  Made me feel good.

At this time, 4th edition was in it’s crappy heyday.  Vehicles were rolling tombs and gunline tactics were boring as hell.  That’s when my good friend Lexington got me into Warmachine.  I chose to play Cygnar, the jewel of the Iron Kingdoms.  I expanded into mercenaries, as long as they worked with Cygnar.  Warmachine and I have had an on-again off-again relationship, as Privateer Press tends to make wonderful systems and then break them with ridiculous new combos.  2nd ed is a million times better than 1st though.

Then, the newest Ork codex came out.  Orks were fun.  I toyed around with ideas and made my own “counts as” characters corresponding to all the characters in the new Codex.  I knew I had to play.  So I bought a huge amount of Orks, and made the warband of Poindexta Smartyskull, the Ork with two brains!  I did weird and ridiculous conversions and tried a new painting method: dipping.  It worked great.

Then (once again thanks to Lexington) I found the sweet, sweet crack rock of Specialist Games.  This was back in 2007, when ChaosOrc had stock.  I actually purchased enough Epic scale Space Marines to make an ENTIRE CHAPTER!  I also camped ebay for deals on some of the newer vehicles.  I played a game of Epic against Lexington’s Eldar.  Then he sold them.  Then I played one game against his new Chaos.  Then he sold them.  *sigh*  He was going through rough times.

At the same time as my Epic indulgence, I found deals on Space Marine craft for Battlefleet Gothic.  I became obsessed with rules, and made my own rules guides for Epic and Gothic.  I took the rules and condensed them down into 10 pt single spaced outlines that essentially explain all possible things.  I worked in a print shop and was able to make them into a laminated spiral bound flip chart for easy access.

Recently I’ve become a little obsessed with Specialist Games.  I had a Necromunda Orlock gang I bought at a con for a campaign that never materialized, but I bought a Delaque gang, and had my friend Jen custom make me a Necromunda board that looks fantastic.  I also painted my Battlefleet Gothic Space Marines, and bought and (almost completely) painted an Imperial Navy and a Chaos fleet.  I also recently purchased some plastic Lizardmen and Tyranid bitz to make a Lizardmen Blood Bowl team.

As you can see, I’ve got a lot on my plate.  I’ll post pictures of what I’ve done and thoughts on what I’m going to do.

…but it was A beginning.

Welcome to the Four Strands, a site dedicated to model wargaming!

What does the Four Strands mean?  The hobby of model wargaming has four aspects, like four strands that make up a rope.  These aspects are: Modeling, Painting, Gaming and Storytelling.

Modeling

Modeling is the first strand.  Without models, you can’t really do much else!  Modeling covers all aspects of collecting models and conversions.  From choosing an army to customizing it the way you want to, the first strand is all about how your models look when assembled.  Even those who only put together models as intended are consciously choosing to do so.

Painting

Painting is the second strand.  After all, most models look OK before painting, but tend to look much better when painted well.  This covers everything from proper undercoating to advanced techniques such as dynamic lighting. While some people feel that painting is optional, I find it very necessary.  After all, a victory won with models that don’t look good never feels like the victory won with a fully painted and based army.

Gaming

The third strand is the goddamn point of model wargaming.  While some people enjoy sculpting or painting, only model wargamers actually use those miniatures to play games.  From small casual games to huge campaigns, games are for having fun!  Some take this aspect very seriously, like tournament gamers.  Others are content to play with their friends.  Either way you go, the point is the same: to play games with other people.

Storytelling

Really?  Storytelling?  Am I reaching just to get a fourth strand to make this rope metaphor stick?  Not at all.  This is the end result of your hobby.  After all, whether you won by smashing every model the opposing player owns, or lost by the narrowest margin, every model wargamer has stories to tell.  This aspect covers both the stories about games you have played, and stories you write.  Making up your own Space Marine Chapter, or putting on a story campaign of the war for the Thornwood makes for an immersive experience.  Even if you only play the Ultramarines in tournaments, you have stories to tell.  You could have won a huge victory, or lost because some jerk with hairy shoulders cheated.  Stories are how the hobby perpetuates itself and how we remember our experience.  Stories tie everything else together.

This blog is intended for me to explore this hobby, and chronicle my efforts.  I will post things that i do including conversions, paint jobs, fluff, battle reports, and thoughts on gaming itself.  I hope that you enjoy the things that I do to spend my free time!

-Bozeman

P.S. Yes I ripped off Lexington for the title of this post, but screw him.  I have exactly one post on this blog and I have half as many posts as he does on his blog up for almost a year.