War in the 30th Millenia

[Charlie_c67]

So, as alluded to elsewhere, I plan on restarting to tackle the grey mound that is my various Warhammer 30/40k armies and as part of GW's one million miniatures campaign. This particular lot will be a rather mad scheme I have in my brain to paint one of each of the original 18/20 legions (see below) as one of each of the various roles in the Horus Heresy games system. This is mainly to get my painting skills back up to scratch, but also as I doubt I'll ever play it seriously as a game means I have a lot more freedom to bring out the various characteristics of each legion. I've decided to break it down to working through 2 or 3 legions at a time and will update the next post to give a little explanation of each role and a rough and ready description of each legion and where I plan on taking my models.

Firstly, a potted history of the Horus Heresy. If you already know it, feel free to skip on.

30,000 years into the future, the human race has reached out and spread across the stars to reclaim a lost empire across the Milky Way. Lead by the Emperor, a man of mystery, he and his legions of soldiers, super soldiers, mechanical allies and a wide myriad weird and wonderful vehicles have been on the Great Crusade to reunite mankind's colonies after years of separation due to something called the Age of Strife. The Big E has created 20 super generals, called the Primarchs, from which he plans to create super soldier legions known as the Space Marines. However, the various babies who were growing in a mechanical uterus (because where else?  ) were spread across the galaxy by the machinations of the Chaos gods (more on them later) and landed on various planets, grew up quickly and all ended up in positions of power with varying degrees of success.

Meanwhile, big Daddy E has started his intergalactic conquest, purging the alien, burning the heretic and giving colonies a choice of "join us or we'll invade you". Sound familiar? Along the way he finds his 20 sons who variously recognise, challenge or worship him and links them back up with their respective legions, moulding them into their ideal for good or ill. Somewhere along the line, something happens to two of them (for...reasons) and their legions "vanish" from the records, or more likely get subsumed into other forces. Once they're all found, the crusade carries on all hunky dory as such things do with 18 testosterone swilling over muscled brothers running around. Big Daddy E goes back to earth to carry on experiments without telling them why (for good reasons) and leaves one, Horus, as his Warmaster. This ups the ante on the rivalry and leads to mass on-line debates between bearded keyboard warriors as to whether the Emperor was an a"£%£^&e or not.

The Chaos gods take note of this and use their pawns to twist and corrupt things, the most (in)famous one being Erebus which has lead to a rather well known internet meme. After one of them wounds the Warmaster, events, fears, hopes, etc are played with and twisted in such a way that 9 of the 18 rebel against the Imperium, some for eminently more understandable reasons than others. The four Chaos gods, Khorne (rage), Tzeentch (intrigue), Nurgle (pestilance/entropy) and Slaanesh (excess) all claim their own legion via various ways whilst maintaining names that sound like they were coined when the original authors were drunk. Considering the culture of the 80s that they were conceived in, this may not be too far from the truth  Three of the other are called Chaos undivided, another just like going round causing fear and destruction wherever they go, and the last one.... no-one knows which side they're on and considering the twists, turns, backtracks and other movements they've made over the last 35+ years, I'm not sure even the current authors have a clue which side they're on.

Of the remaining loyalist nine, 3 are flattened in an event called the Drop-site massacre, two are having a barney between themselves elsewhere but put their issues aside (sort of) when they find out what' happened and rush back to confront the traitors, one is back in the solar system fortifying it amongst other conquering type things, one acts as pathfinders and are spread out a bit, but manages to get back for the big showdown siege, one is really, really, really wanted by Khorne, but they prove to be not for turning so he ends up with the damaged second prize, and the final and biggest legion is corralled to its home system to allow another traitor force to turn on them before they're cut off from the Solar System by a big warp storm. Eventually, most legions end up knocking ten bells out of each other on Earth with three loyalist legions racing to join in whilst cutting off supplies on their way and pockets of troops on all sides saying the sci-fi equivalent of s%$ this for a game of soldiers and doing their own thing (Blackshields). Of course the Primarchs get on about as well as a bag full of cats and either end up ignoring one another, going off and doing their own thing, pulling out of the war completely or a combination thereof. Ultimately Horus' hubris leads to him having a big one-on-one scrap with his best bro then with big Daddy E which result in the decimation of his soul, the Big E ending up on the golden throne, billions dead and sets up the premise of GW's main money spinner Warhammer 40k.

Thus decade spanning whif histories which rake in millions for a company and its shareholders, lead to mass on-line arguments over tiny points of fluff (it's just a game for crying out loud!) and have more plot holes than a Gruyere cheese are born.

Not bad for an obscure, single throwaway paragraph in a rulebook from the 80's huh?

[Charlie_c67]

Phew! If you've made way through all of that, congratulations! Hopefully it's not bored you too much and gives a little background to the models.

This section will contain a little about each legion and troop type that will hopefully be appearing as I work through this mammoth project to help those that wish to place how it sort of fits together. I'll update it as I go along so it won't be all over the place.

Firstly, the initial three legions:

1) The Dark Angels. Primarch - Lion El'jonson, named after a 19th Century poet who wrote a piece the legion are named after. Colours - Big on black, often with red markings and occasional dark green bits. Big on secrets, though not for the same reason as their Victorian namesake, and half the legion rebelled, something that wasn't revealed until after the heresy. Like their robes, nasty destructive, sometimes forbidden weaponry, and onion like layers of command. Fine when things work, not so good when the captain is a homicidal diabolist who lies as well as a [REDACTED]. Since mine will be loyalist, they'll be fairly true to the existing fluff with a few embellishments.

2) Nope, nothing to see here.

3) The Emperor's Children, Primarch - Fulgrim, the meaning of the name is up for discussion, but likely relates to shining/dazzling. His nickname, The Phoenician, probably relates to the phoenix like recovery of the legion which was down to 200 members instead of the usual 1000, until he was found. Colours - Purple and gold. Often portrayed as a bit like preening peacocks, or akin to movie college cheerleaders, whose pride and arrogance leads to their downfall as they strive to be the best and throw a strop when they're found wanting. This legion fell to Slaanesh, the Chaos god of excess, and as such are often portrayed as loud clashing colours and bare body parts. Since this is a family friendly forum, and Slaanesh is often seen to be the god of S&M, I won't be going down this road. Instead they will be a Blackshield contingent known as the Death Eagles who already have a place in 30k fluff and keep their parent legion colours making my life a lot easier.

4) The Iron Warriors. Primarch - Perturabo, stems from perturbed. Nicknamed Peter Turbo by many in the fraternity and has IMHO, the dumbest reason for turning traitor when one looks at "why" in the context of the rest of the fluff. Also known for decimating (in the Roman sense) his legion when he first joined, gaining everyone's ire, and acting in the same way that he would whine that his peers treated him.  Colours - Dark steel, black and old gold trimmings. Siege masters and bastion builders extraordinaire, who often felt they were overlooked by flashier legions who shouted louder about their achievements whilst the IW just got on with it. Basically like radiographers in the NHS or your average squaddie, they're used and abused but were they to disappear, the whole tottering edifice would implode. Like big guns and hammers, not so good on subtlety and sneaking around. Luckily the loyalist units didn't go too out their when showing their allegiance, but I will be putting a twist on it.

Troop types:

Inductii - Basic troops that were rushed into service without the proper training etc that was usually employed to replace marines in normal circumstances. Different uses for each legion with varying difficulties in showing this on a model, but I will still have a go!
Tactical Marines - Bog standard troopers who run round with the ubiquitous bolter.
Assault Marines - Close combat specialists who usually zoom round the battlefield by jetpack
Despoiler Marines - Seem to be the same as above but without the jump pack. No I don't understand why they're separate either but that's GW for you.
Breacher Marines - Carry a moveable wall and shoot from behind it
Tactical Support Marines - Smallish squads toting flamers, Melta guns and the like.
Heavy Support Marines - Heavy weapons squads
Veteran Tactical/Assault/Breacher/Heavy Support Marines - As above entries, but with more spangly bits.
Terminators - Not in the Arnie/Robert Patrick mould, more chunky troopers that come in four flavours of armour.
Destroyers - Troopers carrying the nastier weapons that would easily be banned by the Geneva convention.
Recon squads - As the name suggests
Seekers - Kind of the same as Recon marines, but go looking to off the leadership of the opposing armies.
Scouts - Newbies who aren't quite full marines yet. Lighter armour, but similar weapons to the tactical marines.
Sergeants and Veteran Sergeants - Squad leaders without and with spangly bits respectively.

Yeah, I know. Madness. But if I manage to achieve at least some of this list I will make a dent in the grey pile of shame. Wish me luck!

[NARSES2]

Once upon a time I was a Wargammer and had quite a few "Ancients" and "7 Years War" armies, but that is a long, long time ago. 

I've always found Warhammer fascinating for some reason, perhaps the mixture of old and new, so carry on McDuff   

[Mossie]

I've followed W40K (& 30K) since I was a teen, but never got into it properly. Put off the wargaming by a guy who was ostensibly teaching us but just used it as an opportunity to win by beating newbs. Looking forward to seeing what you do.

I've got a Mcfarlane Dark Angel that I started and I'm trying to pluck up the courage to paint it.

I'll be particularly interested in the shattered legions when you get to them.

[Steel Penguin]

will be watching with interest 

been playing warhammer from 85 or so, and 40K from its release in 88,  The only reason i didnt go for 30K is the figures are a head or so taller than my original release marines, the size difference was just too much. 
I had a friend who did something similar, one of each of the chapters from the original 40K RT rule book , and they looked very smart, way back then.     I have thought a bought doing the schemes from the Badab war illustrations from White Dwarf, but in the end have always settled for doing a game-able force of an army, or increasing one of my ready forces.  Needless to say my original Chapter  has multiple company's now, and the  generic dark green force was 5 or so squads plus transports and support, the Mentor Legion force was 1500 to 2000 pts for 3rd-4th ed , and i never really calculated the Grey Knight force value as id stopped playing but wanted to paint, but i ended up converting a Tecmarine for them as well as Landraiders and plenty of terminators, i still have to do the dreadknight, but i ran out of mojo before id started it.  

Mossie  that kind of bloke is the worst kind of player possible,  if you teaching /mentoring new players  you should be showing and telling why the idea they have is good / bad and suggesting ways to improve.   

[Mossie]

Mossie  that kind of bloke is the worst kind of player possible,  if you teaching /mentoring new players  you should be showing and telling why the idea they have is good / bad and suggesting ways to improve.   

We were kids, still at school, but it put me off completely. I'd been bought Advanced Space Crusade for my birthday. The step up from the MB Space Crusade was too much, about four of my friends wanted to learn how to play. This other kid didn't have a lot of friends and we found out why. He amalgamated it with his Space Hulk which confused us then wiped the floor with us. Never bothered to try again unfortunately.   

That was about 35 years ago, you think I'd be other it by now!  I still enjoy the miniatures and the fluff so keep up with it. I'd love to get into miniature painting but I'll admit it intimidates me. I tried to pick it up again a few years ago and realised the skill level had moved on hugely since I first got interested.

[NARSES2]

"Shows his age yet again"     

I learned to wargame when I discovered a copy of Donald Featherstone's  "War Games" in our local library about 1963 or so. Oh life was simple then 

[Charlie_c67]

So despite the quiet, things have been happening in the background. Mainly clipping and sorting of bits, not especially photogenic, and ensuring I have the necessary bits to give each model a bit of character. This has leas to the happy surprise of finding bits I didn't think I had and almost went out to buy. Finding them has meant I've saved myself a bit of money.

All being well, the first bits will be joined together tomorrow.

[Andrew Gorman]

I bought a Warhammer "Chemical Plant" kit on a kind of sad visit to an obviously closing local hobby shop.  Some useful parts, and the shop is no longer there.

[Charlie_c67]

No photos, but just to report movement on this!

8 Dark Angels have their bits collected, assembled where appropriate and will be undercoated tomorrow. The reason they're done in subassemblies is to ensure everything's at least undercoated and some of the more complicated bits are accessible. All being well I hope to have a pic or two to show the size difference between older and newer mini's. I have a plan to hide this a little, not as extensive as some people do, but enough for me.

[Old Wombat]

I need photo's just to have even the faintest inkling of what the Hell you're talking about ... But that may just be me. 


(Yes, I'm aware of WH & WH40K but the intricacies - of which there appear to be legion - are a mystery to me.)

[NARSES2]

I need photo's just to have even the faintest inkling of what the Hell you're talking about ... But that may just be me. 


(Yes, I'm aware of WH & WH40K but the intricacies - of which there appear to be legion - are a mystery to me.)

You and me both mate   

If I returned to wargamming I'd probably still be using the origional Donald Featherstone/Tony Bath Rules, WRG were way over the top for me even back then 

[Charlie_c67]

Fair point gents, fair point!

Due to the horrendous weather, no priming could take place. However, here's a picture of the various bits which shows the complexity and added frustration of the modern kits. Not all of them are totally ready, but it should give you some idea as to why they're in bits prior to painting.

Top left are some of the older shorter minis.

[NARSES2]

Flippin' Ada as the phrase goes 

[Mossie]

Gone are the days of the one-piece white metal miniature!