Shattered Legions

Hello once again,

Whilst completing my hobby challenge piece, Alexis Polux, I was working on a squad of Shattered Legion marines. I wanted to do this group as a personal challenge to paint something different and try a few new techniques.

I selected the legions to include in my squad because of the challenge I thought they'd present and for fluff reasons and for gaming reasons.

We'll start with gaming. The Book 6 rules for Shattered Legions say you need a mixture of two main legions. I really wanted to base my force on the Iron Warriors, I was also painting Polux, and I was also reading Pharos, so Imperial Fists were logically my second choice.

However, I wanted to paint Shattered Legions to push myself. I wanted to paint some Emperor's Children, some World Eaters, some Salamanders. All legions with challenging colour schemes, but needing my two main legions to have a majority, I was limited. So I chose a Salamander, and Iron Hand and a Black Shield. I will have to wait until I paint another squad before I can mix in some other colours, but it will happen.

So, here is my completed squad.

 

All have a mixture of armour marks and iconography. This was a chance to really mix it up

This is the squad of 5 Iron Warriors, led by a Warsmith who goes by the name of the Iron Prophet. Perturabo never liked psychers, and although the Iron Prophet attained high rank, he never attained his Father's favour, due to his uncanny ability to be in the right place at the right time. He was never tested for latent psychic ability but the cloud of suspicion never left him. When his Primarch nailed his flag to Horus' cross, the Iron Prophet didn't follow, he didn't heed to the call to muster at Isstvan. instead he fled into the warp, almost coming to blows with Polux's force as they made their way to Sotha. Fate once again shined on the Iron Prophet though and he survived and aligned himself with the forces loyal to the Emperor.

These guys are The Brothers Grym. They are part of Polux's personal bodyguard, which followed him to Sotha. They are some of the first to carry the icon of the Crimson Fist.

 

The guy on the left I modelled to look like the armour shown on the cover of False Gods. I don't know what mark it was originally meant to represent (maybe Mk2) but in reality I've used a mix of Mks 2 (helmet), 4 (arms and crest), 5 (shoulder pad and back pack) and 7 (legs).

This is my Salamander, Black Shield and Iron Hand.

 

The Salamander turned out a lot plainer than I imagined. I should have added some flames, but then I started formulating an idea that he had removed all of the flames from his armour, because he doesn't know that Vulkan is alive, so the flames have died along with his Primarch.

 

The Black Shield ended up looking a lot like a Knight Errant, but no one knows because he hasn't spoken a single word since the start of the Heresy...

 

The Iron Hand was included mainly because I had a load of cool mechanical bits in my box which didn't really look right on Space Wolves but which I wanted to use somewhere.

I tried using a white background for these photos for the first time, and I'm not impressed. The colours seem muted. Things that appear to be glowing or glossy in the flesh seem flat. Let me know what you think.

Dave

fourdadsoftheapocalypse.blogspot.com – A blog about Warhammer 40k and the Horus Heresy by four Dads

Twitter Primarch Deathmatch Week 4 - Magnus v Ferrus Manus

I'm not sure we can top the drama of week 3 but this match will certainly give it a go!

Here to draw our next 2 contestants in the Deathmatch studio's is the one, the only, Old Zogwart!

The weirdest of the weirdboyz himself stands before me in the studio now bathed in his luminescent green glow and interesting aroma.

He approaches the drawing bowl now ready to draw the first Primarch and.... Bang, Flash..... it turns into a squig!! Has anyone got another set of balls and bowl to draw them from please?! And somebody shoot that Squig!!

Right now that everything has calmed down a bit here, Mr Zogwart please put down the staff and pick a ball out of the bowl....

And who do we have? Its Magnus the Red! Old Cyclops himself makes an appearance ready to fight and hoping to win to make a political victory speech at the finish about how he was right and everyone should have listened to him!

So who will face Magnus? Could it be the Wolf or is it too early for that matchup just yet? Those orky fingers are dipping into the bowl again.....its......Ferrus Manus! The Primarch who famously loses his head under pressure.

 

So Deathmatch fans we have The Crimson King representing the Thousand Sons v The Gorgon Representing the Iron Hands. Who will win? Only you can decide so get on Twitter and vote now!

Primarch Death Match: Perturabo

Well, one week gone and we're one Primarch down... and what a Primarch he is!

Perturabo is a tank. In the literature, in the Forge World miniature and on the battlefield, once the Perturabo-tank starts rolling, nothing is gonna stop him.

Where to start? I'll start with Angel Exterminatus. A few months back us Dads were having a chat about something or other and I think I said something along the lines of "I don't have any feelings either way towards Perturabo, I don't even know what he did during the Heresy." Dad Steve said I should re-read Angel Exterminatus. I did and all I can say is that Perturabo is probably my second favourite Primarch now. I even have a small squad of Iron Warriors ready to join my Space Wolves.

Perturabo came across as a noble warrior, like most of his brothers, who decided he didn't like any form of tyranny, including that of his genetic Father. So when Horus declared his independence, the Iron Warriors took their chance. Perturabo's only error was siding with Horus. He would have been better off plotting his own destiny, instead he traded one perceived tyrant for another.

Angel Exterminatus relays the moment Fulgrim reveals his ultimate betrayal and Petturabo realises he has cast in his lot with a carnival of freaks. But also realises he has no choice but to continue down that path, he's already damned himself and his legion as traitors. All he can do now is hope to reap bloody revenge on Fulgrim and help Horus achieve the end he desires.

The reason Perturabo appeals to me is the crux of this truly tragic story: he wants mankind to be free of all tyranny. He's not a traitor and he's not loyal. He didn't fall that day his legion turned their guns on their brothers, that only came much later after Fulgrim's almost-assassination filled his heart with rage and hate, allowing Chaos to wheedle its way in and turn this once proud warrior's heart black and rotten.



The miniature which Forge World have produced has absolutely blown me away and I will certainly paint this guy at some point in the next 12 months. The only reason I have held off is that I want Russ to be my first Primarch, having been a Space Wolves player all my gaming life. I could certainly imagine Russ and Perturabo having a respect for each other, so have no issues with having them both in my army.

The miniature, in my opinion, is the only Primarch miniature to date that I haven't been a bit disappointed with, it completely epitomises the character it is trying to portray. But maybe that's because I had very few preconceptions. I knew little of what this guy looked like before the HH series took off other than the images in Collected Visions of Heresy, and that wasn't many.

No, Forge World have done a great job on this one in my book. He looks like a bad ass mother hunker wading through the wreckage of his enemies. He looks unstoppable. He looks pissed off that once again he has been left to do the dirty work whilst his brothers claim the glory. If he had a tattoo, I imagine it'd be two words: "F*ck it".



What about in-game then? I've obviously not used him in battle myself, but having faced other Primarchs, I can only imagine that he justifies his 455pt. It's a big chunk of your army points, but with 6 wounds, It Will Not Die and The Logos, there's a good chance you won't loose him during the course of 6 rounds. And with a Precision Bombardment, wrist cannon and Forgebreakerm he's gonna be the anvil AND the hammer to shatter the other army.

What is The Logos? you ask. All I can say is that Perturabo was the equal of Ferrus Manus when it came to tinkering with his wargear. this guy was an artisan to equal any of his brothers. The Logos is described as a custom suit of terminator armour allowing the Lord of the Iron Warriors to be cybernetically linked to ever facet of the forces under his command, ensuring every element worked in concert to defeat the foe.

In game terms it provides a 2+ armour, 3+ invulnerable save, AP2 close combat attacks and Deep Strike.

And man, lets not forget, this guy has a Shadowsord as his personal transport, The Tormentor But lets be honest, nothing smaller would suffice... a tank for a tank.

Overall, I'm sorry that pussy Dorn won this round. A warrior as solid and robust as Perturabo really shouldn't have been eliminated before the game truly starts, but then I imagine he never really wanted to be part of it. He never craved the power or glory like his brothers, he just wanted to free mankind from the shackles of others and then be left to his own devices. It's probably best he's out of it...

Dave

The Twitter Primarch Deathmatch - Qualifying round draw - Death Match 1 - Dorn v Perturabo

"The 18 Primarchs have entered the Twitter Deathmatch arena and taken their seats to find out which 4 Primarchs will be fighting it out in the initial qualifying round......"

"The music has faded out and the big plastic pot full of colourful balls is in the spotlight...."

"Strolling into the studio now to draw the Primarchs this evening is our special guest the one, the only - Fateweaver!"

 

"Who can tell whether this is indeed a random draw or whether the mighty bird is concocting the pairings for a big win with the bookies...."

"Anyway back to the proceedings as a feathered hands dips its claws into the pot...."

Qualifying round:

Deathmatch 1 : Rogal Dorn vs Perturabo

Deathmatch 2 : Corvus Corax vs Lion El'Johnson

Deathmatch 1

"So our First big matchup sees our first loyalist v traitor matchup. The Imperial Fists represented by Rogal Dorn take on Perturabo from the Iron Warriors. Interesting matchup this one and could be the most boring battle as both might just sit behind a big wall throwing stones at each other. As we know this rivalry goes back a long way to a point when both were young and trying to build the tallest Lego tower. Perturabo sneezed, Rogal's wall came tumbling down and well we all know what happened next, they have been rivals for millennia."

"Well its time to find out who goes into the First round proper, Twitter followers lets see who comes out on top."





Dorn







v







Perturabo - 1 Week

Lets Go!!!!

Horus Heresy Weekender - New Models Roundup!

Well the dust has settled on another weekender with news of plot developments, next books and of course loads more lovely resin models to spend our money on!

I have to recommend the Battle Bunnies blog as the definitive guide to the HH Weekender - link. I am summarising below the new models that were showcased, lots to get excited about:

Mechanicum models
Not my army but one that I admire and Forgeworld continue to deliver on a unique looking army with:

 

Another massive tank and mobile field gun for the Mechanicum - I love the unique style of these models and cant wait to see them in the flesh (or should that be resin?!).

 

 

I am loving the Ursarax above - the claws look great and follow on from the hooked style we have seen on the new Ravenguard models.

I am a huge fan of the blight drone model by Forgeworld and have never been able to find an excuse to buy one - the Battle Automata has been identified as a potential pre-nurgle version of this and I couldnt agree more - very cool!

Legion models

New heavy weapons - ok so I cant see a low-slung lascannon being hugely practical in real world combat. But who cares, nothing looks better than a heavy weapon 'gun-slinger' model! I love these and will be putting my unopened Legion lascannons on ebay soon to get myself some of these!

Cataphracti Shoulder Guards - following up last weeks weapon upgrade these will be making your terminators looks even cooler - sadly not all Legions available yet - hurry up with the Imperial Fists please.

Sokar Pattern Stormbird - this has been teased at a previous FW event but I am excited to see it again and the World Eater paint job looks ace. At 5kilos of resin I am not sure how expensive it will be - just make sure you have the details of a good chiropractor handy if you do decide to pick on up when they are released!

Mastadon Transport - intended to represent a moving siege tower and to be especially killy. Looking forward to this one. If the Stormbird is crazy money then this may do the job instead. They still have problems making it 'buildable' and given my recent battle with a Spartan I am fully prepared to wait a bit longer for this one.

Iron-Circle Robot thingy - as if Perturabo needs any more help, then he gets these 20ft high killer bots to keep him safe! I can only imagine he had the built after Alexis Pollux nearly beat him in the Phall confrontation.

Other stuff:

Thousands Sons : Prospero is going to get the HH treatment later in the year so the Sons are getting some upgrade kits of their own and this lovely dreadnought too! Space Wolves are getting the toughest lesson in patience ever!

Acastus knight: Looks to me like a Leviathan Dread on steroids! With armour plating like that I expect it to be super hard to knock down and those weapons look like mini-turbo lasers - whats not to like?




What is on your shopping list at Forgeworld in the next few months?