Chaos Possessed: Part 1 of 2

In this article:

• World Eaters
• Death Guard
• Emperor's Children
• Thousand Sons
• Word Bearers

Games Workshop does some things right. Games Workshop does some things wrong. But every once in a while, Games Workshop does something amazing. The chaos space marines: possessed box is one of those times.

Featuring two sprues jam packed with creative and characterful bits, this is the quintessential box for every chaos player, no matter what army he or she plays. Even if you're not running any possessed in your army, a single box of these guys will provide kitbashing and conversion opportunities to easily customize a 2000 point force. If I was assembling a chaos space marine army from scratch, this would be the first box I buy, no two ways about it.

I found this box to be so inspiring that I bought them just for the joy of painting them. Not having a particular army to paint them up for, I decided it would be fun to paint them up for all the major chaos legions out there. And so it was that project:possessed was born.

Blood for the Blood God: World Eaters

With such a wild variety of stabby and slashy options available, picking something that was even more close combat oriented than any other option was almost impossible. In the end I settled on the limbs that looks like human hands, as the World Eaters would probably be the first to drop their weapons and tear things apart with their bare hands. The helmet is a shaved down warrior of chaos helm, which I wanted to allow the rest of the huge spikes and blades to speak for themselves. In my opinion there just isn't a face out there that is insane enough to fully convey a berserk blood rage, so rather let the mask hide the expression and leave the rest up to the viewers imagination.

Let the Universe Rot: Death Guard

I've said it before, but painting Nurgle well is very difficult. It's so easy to lay down a few highlights and shadows on a nice clean armor scheme and call it done, but weathering and especially rust are incredibly time consuming. I've seen many young chaos players at tournaments hide behind the excuse of Nurgle being the god of decay, so they wanted their soldiers to look messy and sloppy, but I don't buy it. If you're gonna roll with Papa Nurgle, you gotta be ready to spend the time. Otherwise that giant mound of sentient feces you just finished is going to look the part a little too well.

I went for a very high contrast color scheme on this model. I wanted all the details to really stand out, all the slime and grease dripping from between the armor, all the rusting, the rotting bone; I didn't want to leave anything out. I basically wanted to go for broke and have him look like he was just as likely to fall apart of his own accord before reaching the fire line. But either way, I wanted to leave the viewer with the impression of something that you really didn't want getting any closer than was absolutely necessary.

For the Ecstasy of Pain: Emperor's Children

This guy is just as creepy, but in a completely different manner. If the Death Guard is a filthy vagrant, this guy is a used car salesman. I also wanted to add in at least one of the 'armed' arms, as the Emperor's Children are the absolute peak of vanity. Of course he'd hang onto his precious sword even as his hand swelled and grew over the hilt. It's his freaking sword and he's not giving it up without a fight.

I love the face too. I saw it on the sprue and I immediately knew who was getting it. No question, a smile that big and that perverse can only be a product of too much time in the company of Slaanesh. I also spent some extra time detailing the armor with tribal and gothik inspired patterns just to push it to the outer limit that the noise marines are known for. Gaudy and yet highly focused, I kept the color palette very tight, which helped to push the look. If you know your chaos legions, you know exactly who this guy's boss is.

All is Dust: The Thousand Sons

Okay, let's just get this out of the way. Fluff wise, there's no way a rubric marine from the thousand sons can become a mutant. I've read the books and I know that Ahriman sealed them forever in their armor as nothing more than incorporeal souls that could never possibly mutate. So who is this guy? My answer is he's either A) A sorcerer that was not targeted by the Rubric, B) A new recruit (The legions are still gaining members), or C) A daemon that Tzeentch molded to resemble a space marine (All mentions of shapeshifting daemons in 40k fluff point to them being a disciple of the Raven God). So take any or all of these suggestions as canon approved possibilities.

That being said, this guy was a blast to work on. I love the idea of a marine with sorcerous magics just overflowing and running wild. To me it's the perfect representation of everything chaos stands for. I inscribed extra runes on his armor to push the Egyptian feel, and painted the actual plates nice and clean to give him the impression of a powerful but ultimately uncontrollable master of the dark arts. The head is an alternative from a model made for the Avatar's of War range. These guys are highly detailed metal models made some really talented people, and I highly encourage everyone to check them out. In this case, I had swapped the head on the original model, and what says Tzeentch more than a third eye?

For the Gods of Chaos: Word Bearers

This guy needed to be as mutated and twisted as I could get him without completely becoming a spawn. If ever there was a chaos chapter that would look so highly upon the gifts of the dark gods, it would be the Word Bearers, so I grabbed every weird, twisted looking bit I had and got to work. I painted the chest plate to make it look as though the daemon inside was being given the reins, and the ever willing host was more than happy to oblige his devilish cousin. More script work gave him the apostle vibe, and even the face just made him look ready to get in there and do something bad for the gods.

---

So that's the first half of the story, but the non-god specific legions still are out there, lurking around the corner. Night Lords, Black Legion, and Iron Warriors, oh my!

Chaos Possessed: Part 2 of 2

In this article:

• Alpha Legion
• Black Legion
• Iron Warriors
• Night Lords
• Nin's Glorious Destroyers

Proceeding from where I had last left off, the next big part of project: possessed was to cover the various legions. While not as well known as the cult legions, these guys have a very strong history in the 40k universe, and are just as important as their zealous brothers.

The Dragons: Alpha Legion

I remember when I was first playing 40k, one of the guys in my club had an Alpha Legion army. It was a pure demon bomb cheesed out list (good old 4th edition with the 3rd edition chaos codex), but it was a pretty and well presented demon bomb cheese list. He wasn't the best painter, but he could make his models clean, and he always had a little something extra to help his guys stand out. Easily the most memorable model in his army was the greater demon, a model he represented with a hydra from a different range. Just seeing the multiheaded beast was enough to give an inexperienced player (ie: Me at the time) a healthy dose of fear.

I see this model as a loving tribute to those days gone by, a respectful nod to the army that crushed my poor Ultramarines time after time. The one thing I really wanted to draw on was the hidden beast in the Alpha Legion history, the darker side that always stayed hidden. As well painted Alpha Legion marines have the dragon scales carefully embossed on their armor, I figured the transformation was a fitting one. The original plan was to have multiple heads, but in the modeling stage I determined it would be too much and cut the project back to a single head.

This is a very important stage that many hobbyists skip over. You've got your custom model all cut and ready to paint, all the fits are perfect, and you're about to take him out to prime. Take 5 minutes and do a complete dry fit of the entire project. I've discovered that some custom conversions don't totally fit together only when I'm gluing the painted pieces together! That is not the stage you want to figure that out, trust me. But even if everything fits, take a step and look at the project. This is going to be the easiest time to add or subtract something, and in today's 40k hobby world of a billions of extra bits, sometimes subtraction can lead to a much superior project. Maybe a single well placed purity seal will give a much stronger impression than 10 seals making the guy look like he just tossed a frag grenade into a Yankee Candle Factory. Remember, as is often the case, less is more.

The Favored Sons: Black Legion

Wow, talk about pressure. How do you even begin to epitomize the legion that covers all the bases? They're the biggest, most active legion in the Universe, calling on all four powers, and lead by the heir to Horus himself. The Black Legion is just too big to smash into one model, but hey, a guy can try right?

Black Legion armor is (pardon the pun) boring as hell. Black and gold... yep, that's all you get. Thankfully this guy is no ordinary legionnaire, and it was easy to pile on some extra colors, namely red and turquoise. The red of his skin breaks up the large patches of black, adding some real interest to otherwise ordinary armor, while the turquoise becomes a nice highlight for the black and a few tertiary objects (cables, details, etc.) For the face I just went for pure evil, the classic image of the devil inspired the skin tones, and faded nicely to black for the horns. Toss in some bone for the weapons and armor and he's ready for anything, just as he should be.

Relentless Endurance: Iron Warriors

Another army of good memories. My very first attempt at a 40k army was a battle box of CSM painted as Iron Warriors. I didn't have the rules, the codex, or any info from the interwebs. All I had was 4 or 5 paints, clippers, some glue, and some cheap spray paint. It was glorious. I spent countless hours building and painting units, oblivious to their in-game functions. I gave guys weapons because they looked cool (double bolter!), bought single metal blisters of stuff I didn't have (3 terminators!), and loved every second of it. Obviously, they turned out looking as though I had no clue what I was doing, big surprise.

This was my shot at redemption, my chance to see just what almost 10 years of painting could do to improve one's skill. Turns out it can do quite a lot. I still have one original model from that first "army", and holding them side by side is always cause for a good laugh.

This guys was actually pretty easy to paint. He got a layer of boltgun, washed with asurman, and highlighted with mithril. From there I went in and picked out the details, since 75% of the model was now complete. I went a little crazy with the chevrons, but I was driven to really pour everything I had into this one guy. Ignoring my own advice, I made sure everyone knew he was there, and shamelessly dressed him up at every chance I got. Thankfully I pulled back just before it became entirely too much, and I was very pleased with the result. Still hilarious to see him next to his older brother.

The Very Stuff of Nightmares: Night Lords

I hate the helmets that the current Night Lords have. They're so cheesy, and not in a good way. I think bat wings can be successfully incorporated into armor (Vampire Counts, Batman, etc.), but the helmets don't do nearly enough to make this idea work. I understand they're ancient, but hey, so are the Dark Eldar at the moment, and the new models I've seen on the net are amazing. If GW can resurrect the DE range, then anything is possible.

Removing the wings from the helmet and putting them on his backpack made this guy work almost instantly. Once I had him mounted on his base, I knew I had a winner. He just looks like he's about to tackle some poor unsuspecting loyalist and shred them. The other trick was the lightning on the armor. I've never painted lightning well, and I looked into several tutorials before I settled on a technique that worked.

The easiest way to paint lightning is in layers. I started with the highlight shade for the armor, tracing the basic path I wanted the lightning to travel. From there I built it up over 5 layers from dark blue to pure white. With each successive layer, I made the paint brighter, thinner, and more jagged. By the time I was applying my 5th layer, I was literally just dabbing white at the the intersection of the bolts, and a little extra here and there. This gave the lightning the simultaneous sharp-yet-soft feel.

Nin's Glorious Destroyers

I happen to have one of the rarest gifts a gaming nerd can claim, a wife who shares in his interest for little toy soldiers. It was only a natural fit that my possessed champion be of her custom legion, Nin's Glorious Destroyers!

Of all the models in this project, this guy was the easiest to make look good, simply because the color scheme is immaculate. The rich greens and golds merge perfectly with the black and red accents. The head and backpack icon were pulled from the warhammer fantasy range (khorne lord and marauders respectively). I also had a very high standard of paint quality to match, as my wife is a very talented artist in her own right. Leaving the best for last, I wrapped the project with the true best of the best.

And that was that. I am interested in trying this project out with other box sets that light my imagination on fire, and hopefully I'll be posting about it in the future!

Painting Space Orkz

In this article:

• 'Ard Boy Nob
• Warboss/Nob
• Ghazghkull Mag Uruk Thraka
• Nob Biker
• Deff Dread

I. Love. Orkz.

I can't say enough about these guys. They're easily the most characterful and unique models in the entire range. They alone justify a reason to pay attention to Warhammer 40k. From an artistic standpoint, they offer a limitless number of avenues to pursue.Every other army in Warhammer 40k is based around an actual cultural aesthetic from times long since past (Rome, Egypt, Greece, Japan, etc.), but the Orkz exist outside the rules.

They are chaos itself, yet there is method to the madness. They are every hue of the spectrum, yet incredibly focused. They are bigger, meaner, and greener than the rest, and that's all you need to know. Orkz! Orkz! Orkz! Orkz! Orkz...

'Ard Boy Nob

Despite my obsession with the green skins, I don't actually own any of them myself. I don't have the time, money, or heart to commit to an entire Orky army. Thankfully I know someone who does, and he is always willing to let me have at it with his models. It's symbiosis at it's best; I get to do something that brings me great joy and he gets a nicely painted model out of it.

Despite the massive range of plastics and metals Games Workshop has committed to the Ork range, they have yet to release an official 'Ard Boyz unit in any true form. However, despite this seeming oversight, there exists a very similar box set in the Warhammer Fantasy range of heavily armored Orcs called Black Orcs. One look and it's plain to see the conversion opportunities abounding in this kit. As my friend had been working on the unit, I snatched up a spare boy to paint up. It's very cool to see the continuity GW uses between their fantasy and 40k ranges. It effectively doubles the number of models a player can potentially pull from when constructing an army.

This model was among the first Orky expeditions of mine. I had taught myself how to paint checkered diamond patterns with a unit of Eldar harlequins several years ago, and as it turned out the method for a square checker was very similar, if not simpler. I also began to experiment with paint chipping and basic weathering with this guy. All in all a good start.

Warboss/Nob

Assault on Black Reach is still one of my favorite box sets of all time. So much personality, so many cool models. I still feel the itch to pick up a box, despite not having an active need for the models, they're just so cool!

The big trick with this guy was the power klaw. Painting a pattern freehand on a flat surface is a challenge in and of itself; wrapping that pattern around a 3-dimensional object is a completely different beast. The key was to continually let the model rotate as I painted, giving my eye a chance to adapt on the fly to what I was doing. There was a lot of foul language that went into that checker pattern. All the better that such words should be used while working on the roughnecks of the galaxy. I just need to work more 'gits, runtherds, dirtey no good snotlins' into my cussing vocabulary.

I had been reading a lot about skin tonality when I did this model as well. The article was basically saying if humans have such a diverse range of skin tones, why shouldn't all the other races? Good question. I decided to experiment with a glaze of turquoise to try out something a bit different. Though the glaze applied a little thicker than I would have liked, I was pleased with the outcome. It's nice to see some diversity in such a huge army.

Ghazghkull Mag Uruk Thraka

He's the biggest, so he's the boss.

As a rule, I avoid working with metal models at all costs. They're hard to clean, very difficult to convert, expensive, prone to warping and chipping, heavy, a pain to glue, and often require elaborate pinning. That being said, I couldn't pass up a chance to paint the biggest and the baddest of them all.

Before I even primed this guy, I spent a good few hours cutting and filing down any mould lines that were still on the model. I also drilled several large and deep holes for the heaviest duty pins I've ever used in a model. I actually ended up using coat hanger wire to form the pins. With such a ridiculously heavy gauge wire, I knew there was no way the model would break, even if someone was trying to break it on purpose! I also soaked the entire model for several hours in simple green. Even though it was fresh from the box and untouched by paint, metal models still have a thin coating of a release agent on them, to assist in the casting process. Uncleaned, this can lead to paint simply falling off the model for no apparent reason of mishandling. This is a well documented phenomenon when it comes to resin models from Forgeworld, but I have found it a problem in standard GW metal models as well.

Once he was cleaned and primed, the paint job itself was pretty standard. The real challenge was to limit my color palette, so the Boss didn't end up looking like a clown. With so many wires, gizmos, and know-whats on the model, it would have been easy to use every color in the spectrum, but a carefully controlled selection gave him a colorful yet cohesive look. Blue wires, green tubing, red and black armor, steel and copper metals, and some well deserved checkering.

Nob Biker

A Christmas present, turned monstrous project. I occasionally find myself in the middle of painting a model and take a step back to wonder why the freaking thing isn't done yet. I suppose it has to do with perception vs. reality. As I continue to gain experience as a painter, I can usually tell within a few hours how long a model will take me to complete. I'm pretty accurate, but with this guy I was way off the mark.

One of the deceptive pieces of a model is the mount. Looking at a nob on a bike, my mind thinks of the time to paint a standard nob and adds a couple hours for the bike. After all, it's just a bunch of steel banged together and painted red to go faster. It can't be that complicated. It'll only take a couple hours and then I'll be all set.

No.

No no no.

A tip for new painters, a mounted model will take you at least twice as long to paint as a standard infantry model, if not longer. GW is a company that prides itself on attention to detail, and you have no idea what you're getting into until you find yourself detailing a tiny little metal plate that's been bolted to the inner hub of a bike wheel. You have to leave yourself plenty of extra time for these kinds of projects. You'll be glad you did, especially when the beautiful bike you just painted is about to crush an unfortunate grot who found itself in the way.

Deff Dread

I actually don't have much to say about this guy. It's pure madness.

I did myself a favor by not assembling this guy at all before painting him. That way I could focus on one piece at a time, painting to completion before moving onto the next piece. Otherwise I would have been stuck with dozens of unpaintable angles. When it was all done, I again had new respect for those who paint and play entire Ork armies. I cut my teeth on Space Marines, and not having those big beautiful blank surfaces to work with was a rude wakeup call.

The problem (if you want to call it that) is that with the new Ork kits you have to be a stickler for detail, otherwise it just doesn't look good at all. I can't count the number of rivets, pipes, wires, and vents I had to paint in order to make this guy look just right.

When it was all done, the model was a sight to behold (and surprisingly heavy). If I had known just how big the model was, I would have picked some killa kans, but on second look I realized just how complicated those were as well.

There just isn't any getting away from it. The Orkz are the new standard by which 40k painters are to be judged. Anyone can paint a space marine, chaos or loyalist. Other xenos are a joke. IG is just an exercise in patience, and the current inquisitorial forces are just self flagellation. Demons are pretty cool.

If you want to prove yourself as a top level army painter in the current environment, go green or go home.

Black Templar Army: Part 1 of 3

In this article:

• Crusader Squad: Piety
• Crusader Squad: Bravery
• Crusader Squad: Wisdom
• Crusader Squad: Nobility

Crusader Squad: Piety

I had worked with the Dark Angel veteran box before. The contents were dynamic and varied, enough to make a squad of 10 with no fear of repetition, especially when combined with the Black Templar bits. It was such a natural fit that I found myself forgetting which bits originally came from which army. The red of the robes served as a strong contrast to the tan of the armor, establishing a visual theme which united the members of each squad.

The neophytes had helmets from the warriors of chaos regiment box, but to really cement their look with the rest of the squad, I gave them all black hoods. This was achieved by taking a square plane of green stuff and pressing it down and around the helmets, letting it sit and harden before being painted black.

Crusader Squad: Bravery

This squad became a catch-all for the models in my army that didn't have a specific look or use. Among the models used in this squad were Chaplain Cassius, Azrael, Mark I and Mark II veterans, a space marine chaplain, and several sword brethren from the templar metal box set.

This only sounds like overkill because it is.

When I was buying models for this army, I wanted every last marine to be unique. If there was a sculpt out there that GW had made in the last 15 years that could become a Templar, it was so.

This squad also has one of my favorite models in the army. I couldn't help but assemble my power fist marine with his pistol sideways, going for the kill shot.

Crusader Squad: Wisdom

As I was planning to use the metal sword brethren to form a crusade squad, the masters of the chapter box helped to fill out the ranks. This was the first time I had encountered GW's new policy of modeling heads separate from bodies on metal blisters. I hope they continue this practice as long as they make metal models. On a side note: the masters of the chapter are significantly smaller than a standard space marine, which affects what helmets they can have without looking disproportioned. Definitely something to keep in mind if you are thinking of using them in your army.

I do favor helmets on all my marines, and made the effort to put one on almost everyone. In my opinion, if you're going to war in the 41st millenium, the least you can do is protect your head. People are waging war on a planetary scale, there's bullets flying everywhere, lasers around every corner, there's a monster over there that doesn't nothing but eat people whole, and for the love of everything holy there's people running around who can light you on fire with their minds. Therefore, if you're interesting in continuing to be alive, it's time to put on your helmet.

Crusader Squad: Nobility

Also known as squad knight, this crusade squad is visually defined by their tabards. I chose GW Enchanted Blue to give them a regal appearance, complimenting the Ice Blue that the rest of the power armor is highlighted with. I added both classic Emperor's champion models to the ranks, as I was planning on converting my own. I also added shields complete with Heraldry on each member's backpack.

The shields used by the warriors of chaos from warhammer fantasy were absolutely perfect for the space marines. I shaved 4 of the 8 stars off the chaos icon and turned the symbol into a holy one. This took considerably longer than I anticipated to build due to the use of fine jewelers chain, but the end result was worth the investment.

And that does it for the 15 man crusader squads! Next time we'll be looking at the shooty boyz, as well as the first round of assault marines.

For the Emperor!

Black Templar Army: Part 2 of 3

In this article:

• Assault Squad 1
• Assault Squad 2
• Drop Pod 1 - Venerable Dreadnought
• Drop Pod 2 - Shooty Templar

After having built the core of any good Black Templar army, I was ready to begin adding to the Marshal's household. The new rules of 5th edition proved to be a massive advantage to the Templar, with the addition of running for any infantry model and the new preferred enemy. Suddenly, the more bodies I could pack into an army, the more guys I'd have running around the board with a permanent re-roll to hit. Already having a solid troop base, I decided to add to the horde with something a little... faster.

Assault Squad 1 - Death to the Alien

These guys were built to take down hordes before they could become a problem. Another beneficial rule in 5th edition was the new way that template weapons were resolved. A double flamer attack could now cause upward of 20 wounds! A power weapon on the head marine ensured they would have a little something to deal with tougher customers. But the toughest customers would have to wait for the next squad...

Having picked up several copies of the Templar upgrade box, I found myself with a lot of extra bits and crosses. I put these to good use by gluing a cross to the top of each marine's jump pack. This made it much easier to tell two squads apart if they found themselves in close proximity, and also helped to organize them for packing/unpacking. It's a nice little trick that I highly recommend to anyone who isn't packing completely iterative squads. Even if there's only 1 model difference, it can be frustrating in the middle of a game to realize that your squads are packing the wrong items. This is a stylish and subtle way to keep yourself and your opponent straight on who goes where.

Assault Squad 2: Death to the Machine, Death to the Monster

Just as the previous squad was intended to deal with Orks, IG, Tau, and the like; these guys are the ones to call on for the heavy hitters. Double plasma pistols, five storm shields, a power fist, and meltabombs all around for good measure. These guys have killed terminators, great demons, and most major pieces of armor that you see on a given game of 40k. Ever since the rise of the new IG, they have become especially invaluable in the good fight.

Just as the other squad has a cross on top of their jump packs, these guys have a shield, pulled from the heraldic shield included with assault terminators. The two plasma pistol wielding marines are metal marines from the Veterans Mk I and Veterans Mk II boxes. Several other bits were pulled from the dark angels veterans boxes. Since the Black Templar pull a lot of iconography from the medieval look, the monastic items from the dark angels suit them well.

One important note for would be Templar modelers. Assault marine legs and tabards do NOT work well together. It's a cool thought, and trust me I had the same idea, but getting the flow of the tabard to go correctly with the direction of the running legs is a pain in the ass. Half the time it doesn't work at all because the pieces are at conflicting angles. It can be done, but as a word of warning, prefit EVERYTHING before you even start painting, or it will end in tears.

Drop Pod 1 - Venerable Dreadnought

Dreadnoughts are cool, but getting them in your opponents face can be a bit a trick sometimes. So, why bother i say? Just slap em in a rocket and drop them exactly where you want them to go. No worries, no mess, except what's left of the enemy. Dreadnoughts also benefit from the preferred enemy rule, meaning you get some extra smack for your points in close combat, which ultimately is where you want a dreadnought.

This is an Assault on Blackreach Dreadnought that has been heavily pimped out. There are bits here from the terminator librarian, fantasy chaos warriors, Templar upgrade sprue, and fantasy vampire counts. This is also where I first tested out the quartered armor scheme to see how it would look for veterans. It would eventually become the de facto standard for Templar vets and leaders.

The drop pod itself was painted to match it's occupant.  I left the seating out of this one to account for the extra room needed, though if I ever do special drop pods for dreadnoughts again, I might consider putting in a techmarine or some servitors or at least a few servo-arms to give it the right look for the dead guy in a box in another box. The fins were freehanded with a mini story of the life and death of the man who became enshrined within the dreadnought to serve on after death.

Drop Pod 2 - Shooty Templar

With the importance of troops as objective claimers in 5th, I knew I would need a way to get people places in a hurry, and what better way than in a drop pod? I also knew that the moment they hit the dirt, they would have to come out swinging, so I left the chainswords at home in exchange for something with a bit more kick. The photo above shows all my ranged fighters, not just the ones that would land in a drop pod. I later decided that each crusader squad could benefit from bringing a meltagunner along in case a wall of armor decided to show up.

I think one of the most overlooked elements of any marine force in the humble marine with bolter. There's a million of them being mass processed to get to the more "interesting" models, interesting being a relative term. It's these poor unfortunate overlooked models that draw my attention more than the flashy HQ. Anyone can paint a good looking Chapter Master, but a good measure of an armies' craftsmanship lies in it's basic troops.

The drop pod was complete one piece at a time and then glued together, which I still believe is the only way to viably do it, but my god this model in a pain to assemble. I'm not going to dwell on the point, as there are plenty of internet bloggers who have already destroyed the kit for it's almost impossible build complexity. But for what it is, it's an amazing model to look at when it's finished. Too bad it takes so much to get to that point.

So that's the speedy boys. I had my troops, and now a pretty fast way to bring the fight to my opponents front door, but sometimes there was just too much to deal with even for such a mighty force. Sometimes it would take a little extra persuasion. Sometimes it would take something a little... heavier, a little more...elite.

Black Templar Army: Part 3 of 3

In this article:

• Sword Brethren
• Assault Terminators
• Chaplain Grimaldus
• Master of Sanctity
• Heroes of the Chapter
• Templar Armor

After establishing a section of the force with a little speed to it, it was time to get down to business with elites and HQ. These would become the go-to guys, when nothing less than the best would suffice.

Sword Brethren

With the new rules nerfing the once ubiquitous combo of power fist and bolt pistol, I decided to bring something different for close combat. Selecting furious charge as my default veteran rule, I included the lightning claws and power weapon for the special weapons. Lightning claws with preferred enemy would ensure that the marine would be able to reroll hits and wounds, and the power sword would help with any power armor foes.

Having used several of the metal sword brethren models in my ordinary crusader squads, I knew I had to bring something extra special for this squad. I started with the Marneus Calgar box set, pulling the ultramarine honor guard for the first four models. Three of the actual sword brethren models bought the squad up to seven, with some head swaps to make sure everyone was conforming to the helmet rule. The last three were actually HQ models by their original design: the space marine commander form the black reach box set, the new Cato Sicarius, and the High Marshal Helbrecht model. All three of these models also received head swaps. Though I was tempted to use Sicarius' helmet, I felt the Romanesque design didn't fit with the medieval theme of my army. Helbrecht's head jsut had to come off... rules about helmets notwithstanding, no one in my army is going into battle wearing a freaking tiara!

Assault Terminators

(NOTE: This article was written in September of 2010.)
As of today, the Black Templar are packing some of the worst terminators in the game. Why? Storm Shields. Plain and simple, having a 4+ invul in close combat is a pittance next to having a 3+ invul all the time. That being said, there are a couple redeeming factors for the Templar. First off is the aforementioned lightning claw/preferred enemy combo. These guys just shred squads, no contest. The other big advantage is that Templar terminators still get veteran skills, making both lightning claws and thunder hammers absolutely devastating.

The models themselves came together pretty quickly. There isn't much you can do to standing plastic terminators without really having to put in a ton of extra hours. I took advantage of the larger bases to add some extra rubble and detail to the urban setting of the armies' basing theme. I fleshed out the roster of the squad with the additional of the Darnath Lysander model and the Captain Culln model from forgeworld. I have painted the Lysander sculpt three times, and I gain new appreciation for the sculpt every time I come back to it. It really is one of the greatest space marine HQ models out there, and it's a cinch to convert it for any chapter. If you're thinking of using a storm shield / thunder hammer termy, you owe it to yourself to pick this model up.

Chaplain Grimaldus

Grimaldus is easily the more interesting of the two named HQ's in the Templar codex. While Helbrecht is very impressive from a statical standpoint, he doesn't have the flavor of the unstoppable Chaplain. Grimaldus also has the ability to confer his fearlessness to any squad with a single model within 6 inches, which makes him the cornerstone of any great footslogger build.

The model is equally impressive. He just looks like he's ready to lead the charge, not an easy feat for a still image. The servitors were equally cool to experiment with, offering a nice break from painting power armor all the time. I went for a blue, almost necrotic, flesh tone.

Master of Sanctity

I wasn't planning on making another chaplain, but Grimaldus was just too fun.

For the Chaplain himself, it was a simple conversion to swap out the powerfist that came with the model for a bolt pistol arm. I also had a brazier, I honestly don't remember where from, that I glued to his backpack. The servitors themselves came from a variety of sources. The servitor himself was from a techmarine servitor blister, and the other two were from the witch hunter with retinue box. It was an easy conversion from inquisition to Templar, letting the paint speak for itself.

Heroes of the Chapter

The rest of the HQ models came from here, there, everywhere. A mounted space marine from the empire master engineer blister, a terminator from the black reach white dwarf special edition, a brand new emperor's champion kitbash, Marneus Calgar, Commander Dante, you name it.

With the HQ completed, I only had a couple pieces of armor to paint up, shown below. And that was it for the knights of the Emperor. I played this army for the last three years, building and loving every minute of it. Last year, the army took 3rd place in a grand tournament, and second place in painting. It has won tournaments and painting competitions in many local events, and was one of my favorite armies to paint. But, as always, it was only one of many.

Templar Armor

WFB Tutorial: Valkia the Bloody

Valkia the Bloody

This was a small project that ended up being what should have been an army centerpiece.

When GW released the new army book for WoC they provided models for the most, but not all, of the units in the book. The severity of the omission was in direct correlation to it's in-game effectiveness. No one cared that the forsaken were left out but many questioned the lack of warshrines.

There are two major camps of thought: one saying model omission is a problem and another saying it is an opportunity. I fit in the latter category.

I checked around the net to see what other players were doing, and most of them were basing the model on Saint Celestine from 40k. They were good conversions, but she just didn't have the feel I was looking for.

The classic range Lelith Hesperax from Warhammer 40,000 had a dynamic pose and well sculpted features. The trident she held was swapped for a lance head from the knights of chaos. A shield with the demon head on it fit the fluff from Valkia's entry. I realized the new spear blade was entirely too long to have her standing on solid ground, but as a flying model that wasn't an issue.

The wings came from a 40k chaos possessed backpack. Once trimmed from the pack though, it was plain to see the supporting arms were entirely too muscular for Valkia's slender frame. I slowly and carefully whittled the arms down to a more appropriate proportion. I had a pleasent surprise when I went to fit the wings into her back, as there was already a gap on the armor for a piece from Lelith's sprue. At times it was as though this model had always been intended to be converted.

For the skin, I chose to use a dark shade of slate grey, as Valkia has already been slain and pulled back from oblivion. To contrast the earthy tone of her skin, I went for the classic colors of khorne, a bright blood red and a glittering gold. The bleached bone stood out nicely against the red, and the overall look was tied together by the blacks and silvers.