+ inload: Gallery of works +

+ inload: Painting + 

+ A comment on an Instagram post prompted me to check back through old draft inloads here, and I've found a load of half-finished ones. With the redesign settling in, this seems a good chance to do a bit of spring cleaning and share some models and articles that – for one reason or another – never got exloaded to the noosphere. +

+ Let's fix that! There are some battle reports and tutorials (on supersizing Mark VI armour from Primaris marines) to come, but today a look at some painting. +

+++

+ Past works +

A very simple inload today – some close-ups of models that I've clearly been proud of painting, but haven't had a better excuse to show. First up are a couple of commissions. I tend only to accept commission work that I'm genuinely enthused about – I wouldn't be happy selling things unless I thought they were the best I could do. 

These Kill Teams, therefore, took a lot of planning and effort. I know I've done my best when it's a wrench to post them off!

A Horus-Heresy era Iron Warriors Kill Team (for the old edition) – these are a refinement of my Officio Monstrosa project, and were an opportunity to treat every one like a character. I'm very pleased with how they look simultaneously like specialists and still remain cohesive.

... and a Night Lords Kill Team. Again, each one was conceptualised and had a backstory developed, lending them a lot of character. I'd not painted any Night Lords before (or indeed since), and commissions like this are a great excuse for me to scratch an itch without launching into a whole force of my own.

Next up some personal stuff:

A Death Eagle (II), used for a couple of games of the older version of Kill Team. You can read about this intriguing Chapter on +Some Things Are Best Left Forgotten+. I was please with the skin here – though those ogham-like markings on his pauldron could do with tidying up!

A very kind gift, this figure serves as 'Master' Enoch, an Inquisitor who was empowered by the High Lords to prosecute – and persecute – those who professed faith in rumours of the False Primarch. A fittingly absolutist lunatic for 40k (or 34ishk, at least), he was a good chance to play around with a variety of pale tones and opulent metallics.

A Vigilant, from the Sons of Orar Chapter. These special honour forces – a bit like Deathwatch, but for the Ordo Astartes – serve(d) the Inquisition to deal with recalcitrant Space Marines. They turned up in the War of the False Primarch, and were created largely to allow more people to bring in their own Chapters to get involved. 

As a nod to the 'modern retro' theme of the overall project, the Vigilants markings were those of the Rogue Trader-era military police.

Another Death Eagle, and one where the eye lenses and treatment of black and white were what I wanted to highlight. The purple-tinge to the black and ivory white was fun to play around with – and I believe that these were also where I started experimenting with transfers, so they have that, too.

A Catachan comm-link model, sadly with the aerial knocked off by a previous owner. These figures have such nostalgia for me, as Imperial Guard have been 'my army' since Rogue Trader. Quite besides that, I genuinely think these fantastic sculpts still stand up to scrutiny today. Just look at the character in that face! The model is dripping with charming distinctive details – and I always thought he looked a bit like Bruce Willis.

Riverhead of the Kapihe – the Silver Stars' First Captain. A fun exercise in a South Asian/Pacific Island skintone. Sadly he didn't quite come out as well as I'd hoped, and since I kinda rely on wanting to share models that I'm particularly pleased with, I think that rather bumped my enthusiasm for his article on the War of the False Primarch. It's lurking there, virtually finished, waiting to be published.

Another gift – from the awesome Lord Blood the Hungry – and another great, great Catachan model, and a worthy plastic successor to the Perry's masterworks. Sergeant 'Ripper' Jackson serves in the 634th Ever-Readies; a Regimental name that is growing increasingly ironic as the force lurks in storage. You can read more about the paint job in this inload: [+noosphericinloadlink embedded+] 

Colonel Carl 'Mustang' Oakland: a red-blooded nickname for this red-blooded officer. Offer up a prayer to the gods that GW eventually get round to doing a line – hell, a squad! – of new Catachans that match the quality of these special characters.

+++

+ inload: Eldar Titans and Ork Gargants in Adeptus Titanicus +

+ Bloodsong designer's notes +

+ An inload to put some thoughts in order on the next stages of the Bloodsong supplement, which introduces Eldar and Orks to Adeptus Titanicus and Legions Imperialis – and a request for any playtesting feedback to be popped up on the Facebook group [+noosphericexloadlink embedded+]. +

Eldar/Ork rules for Epic-scale games are the thing most likely to make datascribes join the +Death of a Rubricist+ Facebook group, so I wanted to give a bit of an update, outline the process for the supplement – and hopefully garner some feedback and (best of all) playtesting notes.

Why's this? Well, with the best will in the world, it's never the best idea for the writer to be the one testing things – I might know what I mean by phrasing things a certain way, but that's useless if it's not clear to anyone else. Likewise testing in isolation can result in swingy and non-representative results – so more reports from the wider community are essential to helping this progress and becoming more refined.

If you're able to contribute constructive criticism, please do! There's a 'Xenos AT rules' chat up on the Facebook group [viz-ref link above], which has already been very useful in helping tweak things – thanks to Sean, Rowan, Chris, Thomas and Paul, who've provided some invaluable feedback.

+++

+ State of play +

The Bloodsong supplement has been ticking over since 2023 – you can follow the development from this initial inload [+noosphericinloadlink embedded+]. It contains rules for Eldar Titan Clans (Aeldari warhost) and Ork Gargant Bigmobs in Adeptus Titanicus., as well as a workable but incomplete Ork list for Legions Imperialis.

The current version is available from the Facebook group here:

Bloodsong v9.pdf

If you're inloading this from the future, then please check the version number to make sure you've got the latest revision. If you've come across a hard copy, the version number is printed on page 1 for clarity – and you'll also spot the version number on the weapon cards and terminals, too, to make sure you're playing with the most up-to-date material.

+++

+ Where are we? +

I'm going to focus more on the Titanicus side of things for the moment – while I enjoy Legions Imperialis, there's less interest in that side of the supplement. I therefore plan to hive off the LI ork list (and any future Eldar one) into a separate document, so Bloodsong v1.0 will be an AT-only supplement – and one, I hope, that's fully ready to use.

+ Shade and Spectre-type Phantoms – I've tried to cleave closely to established background, and the use of the very old terms here is to make things more hobbyist-friendly. +

The fundamentals of the two lists, Aeldari Warhost and Ork Gargant Bigmob, are in place. There are rules for creating your Battlegroup equivalents, and terminals and weapons for the following:

• Eldar Phantom Spectre Titan
• Eldar Phantom Shade Titan
• Eldar Warlock Titan
• Eldar Revenant Titan

... and for the orks:

• Ork Gargant
• Ork Great Gargant
• Ork Mega Gargant

For the moment, I'm sticking to developing these basics. Mekboy Gargants, Stompas, Eldar Knights etc. are potential future additions, but I want to get the core forces pinned down for each before expanding further. 

We've now got a fairly decent playtesting pool complete for the Eldar, and I'm happier with how they're working – but every battle throws up new ideas, so always open to further tweaking. 

My gut feeling at the moment is that the ork weapons need a bit of reining in, but I'd like some playtesting results before tweaking them. I want to avoid the old trope of ork weapons, where in addition to being unreliable, they're also just straight worse than the Imperial equivalents – they should instead be more subject to variance (i.e. a bit more swingy than the Imperial guns – better when you have good luck, but worse when you don't!)

+++

+ What's next? +

The immediate next stage is to looking at creating a handful of Maniple and Legio equivalents, and a dozen or so Strategems for both Orks and Eldar, so you should end up with a modest amount of variety that allows you to lean into particular thematic gaming styles, and expand things beyond Open Play to Matched Play and Narrative Play styles.

+ The basis for a potential Conclave (Maniple) – a Phantom and two Revenants. +

+++

+ How can I help? +

You generous soul! As noted above, the most valuable contribution is feedback based on playtesting – while I'm happy to listen to theory and discuss things, nothing comes close to just trying things out and sharing them. 

Secondly, if you've got (or know of) any cool painted models of Gargants or Eldar Titans, please do show 'em off; I'd love to include some nice pictures to give the supplement a bit of polish. All images will, of course, be fully credited in the style of your choice.

+ inload: Salamanders in the Horus Heresy +

+ A Mantle of Ash + 

I've been building Salamanders again. A few of the PCRC have dug out long-dormant Horus Heresy-era projects, and after their recent 2nd edition outing [+noosphericinloadlink embedded+] I thought it'd be nice to add some XVIII Legion forces to the pot. The plan is to keep things small – in the past, our HH enthusiasm has been dampened by the exhausting prospect of huge numbers of models to paint! – so we're currently looking to work on 500pt projects.

As you can see above, while I'm using the Mark VI box, I'm throwing in lots of different parts. I've got so many odd bits and bobs left over from years of building 'truescale' marines [+noosphericinloadlink embedded+] that I've found I can make a convincingly battered-looking late Heresy style force. The Salamanders, after all, had a rough time of things during the Heresy, being sidelined as one of the Shattered Legions. I've decided to lean into this and avoid having uniformity; it's proving a fittingly thematic way of using up my bits box. 

I've taken the idea of a battered post-Isstvan force, and want to build around this concept. I'm not sure yet whether the Salamanders will be veterans of the Dropsite Massacre, or perhaps an isolated Company that had to find out second-hand that Vulkan had (apparently) been killed.

I very much like the more human feel of the Salamanders in comparison to other Legions (I've always  tended to favour the goodies), but think that it works best when it's balanced with some sense of the Marines as savage weapons – after all, without any contrast, the characterisation becomes at risk of being one-dimensional. To that end, I want this force to be pulled in different directions; torn between their understandable desire to strike back against the Traitors, find out the truth of the fate of their beloved Primarch and Legion, and their sense of duty. And if that leads to some unfortunate clashes with forces that have different ideas of what Loyalty means, all the better.

Of course, I don't have a novel to get these themes across in the force, so instead I'm going to try to create characters who personify things – a triad of officers who have to find a way forward for their Company in the madness of the Heresy. I haven't quite pinned down exactly these will be in game terms, but I'd like to set up some narrative options – a leader who pulls the force towards finding the truth about Vulkan, no matter what (useful for creating a Loyalist-on-Loyalist conflict); one who is more concerned with following the Promethean Cult and serving humanity – perhaps pulling the force towards a more self-destructive/sacrificial direction; and one who wants simply to preserve and consolidate, sure in the Primarch's teachings.

This sword-wielding fella is the first leader built. I'm toying with him representing the Promethean Cult identity, and using the Chaplain rules. I've added some Raven Guard and Salamander trinkets, suggesting he's either an Isstvan veteran/victim, or has had some sort of link with other Legions.

This Adrian Smith Librarian artwork, from the old Codex: Armageddon, is a favourite of mine, and I've had vague plans to make a model based on it for ages. Perhaps this is the time? While I have used Librarians in the past, I've never been a huge fan of magic (the dawi in me, clearly), but the esoteric/visionary aspect of this project makes them seem very fitting.

+++

My existing Salamanders from the Dust of Armageddon project will be pulling double-duty here, too.

... and I have the other half of the Mark VI box to polish off, too:

+ inload: 2nd edition gaming – Genestealer Cult versus Steel Legion on Armageddon +

+ Turbulent Priests +

+ 2nd edition Warhammer 40,000 battle report +

+ 'To arms!' A Clamavos of the Church of Cosmic Wisdom broadcasts an emergency address by the Cult Magus to the faithful of a particular diocese. +

... Nor were the back lines of Armageddon, far from the greenskin threat, reliably safe. Ghazghkull's invasion had thrown law and order into disarray, and the planet's criminals, terrorists and heretics emerged to make good on the disruption. Stemming this inner corruption fell largely to the Defence Forces of the individual Hives and Mega-factories – though where more severe or grave threats emerged, elements of the Steel Legion were deputised.

Such was the case with the Church of the Cosmic Wisdom, a previously innocuous sect of seeming anchorites centred upon a spire of Hive Acheron. During the ork invasion, their true nature as a powerful Genestealer cult emerged, forcing their hand.

Their aim was eventually revealed to be the capture one of the hive's spaceports and ensure the Patriarch and as much of the cult as possible could make good its escape in the chaos of war. With the ports locked down by the Armageddon military, this led to inevitable conflict.

– The Later Histories of Armageddon: Hidden Conflicts

+++

+ Today's inload involves a few notes on a fun evening of gaming with Bob Hunk. We'd arranged to meet up to play a 1,500pt game of 2nd edition 40k after dipping our toes in again at Stuntwedge's house a few weeks back with a game of Tyranids versus Space Marines. +

+ With some more points on the table, we decided to swap over to Genestealer Cults against Imperial Guard. +

+++

+ General thoughts +

I confess to not taking any notes, so the 'report', such as it is, is more a collection of scattered thoughts – but I hope the pictures (a combination of my own and Bob Hunk's) at least offer something nice to look at! 

This isn't a general review of the second edition 40k, but I did want to highlight what a lot of fun we had with this battle! It felt refreshing to have the complexity baked in to the core rules, rather than layered onto a very stripped-back system, and I'd forgotten how immersive it feels, and just how many odd (and amusing) things can happen in second edition. Bob Hunk commented on how it felt good to just know what the result was once you rolled the dice – no re-rolls, no surprise cards or stacking rules – and I agree completely. It feels intuitive in a way that a lot of modern games don't; the older simulation approach being largely replaced with more abstract, speedier rules.

With that said, I didn't miss the constant back-and-forth to the rulebook to find odd outlying cases – and while I like the more discursive, conversational tone of the 2nd edition rulebook over the 'legal manual' framework that is most modern GW game rules, it was a pain in the backside to actually find answers to things, and we ended up glossing over quite a bit in the name of getting on with the game, or stumbling over the answer to something while looking up something else.

Fundamentally, of course, that's an inevitable result of coming back to a game we last played anything like regularly nearly thirty years ago. It felt simultaneously very familiar and very strange – and happily ended with both of us keen to do some more 2nd edition gaming.

+++

+ The Armies +

Having played a 1,000pt game, we thought we'd go to 1,500pts this time, and bring in some more unusual or specialist units. 

+ Steel Legion 7th Army, 707th Regiment +

‘General Grünhold came to command the ‘High-and-Dry’ 7th Army Group, taking the reins from General Marlen as Commander Dante’s reforms were enacted and the Steel Legion as a whole prepared for the ambitious counter-offensive envisioned by the Astartes.

‘Known as ‘Asbach’ – though not within earshot – the General’s nickname stemmed from his supposed similarity to the old Helsreach distillate: short, bitter, fiery, and best faced as swiftly as possible.’

– The Later Histories of Armageddon: Heroes and Villains of the War

+ Grünhold and aides-de-camp, addressing selected Regiments of the 7th Army Group prior to them being cycled out of the front line to recuperate in Acheron. +

Characters (up to 750pts)

• Imperial Guard General 'Asbach' Grünhold – 65pts + Wargear card: Bionic Eye (5), Bionic Arm (5) and Bionic Leg (3) (He's been in the wars!)
• Tech-priest Engineer – 30pts
• Commissar – 40pts + Power sword (6)
• Command Section – 75pts + power sword (6) and bolt pistol (2)
• Command Section – 75pts + power sword (6) and bolt pistol (2)

Squads (at least 375pts)

• Tactical squad – 100pts + Veteran sergeant (10) + Heavy bolter – (10) + Plasma gun – (6)
• Tactical squad – 100pts + Missile Launcher (30) + Grenade Launcher (10)
• Tactical squad – 100pts + Missile Launcher (30) + Grenade Launcher (10)
• Tactical squad – 100pts + Missile Launcher (30) + Grenade Launcher (10)

Support (up to 750pts)

• Space Marine Captain – 90pts + Boltgun (3)
• Space Marine Tactical Squad – 300pts
• Leman Russ Battle Tank – 205pts

+++

+ Church of Cosmic Wisdom +

The Cult Magus makes his presence known.

Characters

• Patriarch (72) + Hypnotic Gaze (20) + Catalyst (40) [132]
• Cult Magus (107) + Displacer Field (20) + Force Staff (10) [137]
• Cult Icon Bearer (45) + Sword (1) + Mesh Armour (3) [49]
• Neophyte Leader (10) + Needle Pistol (5) + Power Sword (6) + Carapace Armour (7) + Frenzon (5) [34]
• Acolyte Leader (9)  + Psychic Mastery Level 1 (25) + Scanner (1) [35]

Broods

• 12 Purestrain Genestealers [336]
• 10 Neophyte Hybrids (90) + 2 Hand Flamer (12) + 6 Swords (6) + 4 Power Fists (40) [148]
• 10 Acolyte Hybrids (80) + 1 Power Maul (6) + 9 Autoguns (9) [95]
• 10 Acolyte Hybrids (80) + 1 Chainsword (2) + 9 Shotguns (18) [100]
• 5 Acolyte Hybrids (40) + 2 Heavy Stubbers (20) + 2 Grenade Launchers (20) [80]

Support

• Leman Russ [205]
• Goliath Truck (counts as Chimera) [140]

+++

+ The battlefield and deployment +

We got into the swing of the game itself nice and quickly, with mission determined through cards. The Steel Legion ended up with Dawn Raid, which meant I had to get an above half strength squad into the Church's deployment zone; while the Genestealers got The Assassins, meaning they'd have to decapitate (literally and figuratively) General Grünhold ...

The board looked like this, and with the higher strategy rating, I could look forward to deploying second and (probably) going first. As it happened, I had a strategy card (Forced March) that allowed me to deploy units 18in onto the table – very useful for my mission, though the wisdom of advancing towards Purestrain genestealers is perhaps questionable...

Units deployed this way had to be set up before the opponent, so I used it to get a squad into a good firing position on each flank, and a combat squad of Salamanders in the centre. The Church then deployed as shown below, and with their positions now clear, I got to set up the rest of my army:

The opening turn saw the Goliath and broods in the centre advance on the Salamanders. Space Marines aren't quite as superhuman in 2nd as they later became, so the Salamanders quickly grew to appreciate the cover they were skulking in as the Leman Russ (the 'Lovely Girl') opened up on them. Fortunately, poor maintenance meant two of the heavy bolters fired fitfully, then jammed; and the battle cannon missed

+++

Over on the right, the Steel Legion advanced on a large building held by the Cult. I wanted to comment on this flank of the battlefield, because it's a good example of what I mean by the game feeling more 'realistic' – we had soldiers advancing into scant cover on an otherwise exposed position, then laying down fire on a dug-in enemy. 

The cover from the building meant that the small unit of Genestealer cultists was able to hold off twice their number of infantry – and it was only the presence of a Leman Russ battle tank that enabled a squad to flank the building in the closing stages of the game.

... of course, realism only goes so far... the highlight for both of us was the Magus' Displacer Field successfully saving him from a lucky shot – only for it to bring him back into reality outside the building, leading to a long plummet to the cold hard ground: ouch!

+++

These mid-game shot of the battlefield shows how the genestealers overwhelmed the Space Marines in the centre. This skirmish threw up lots of cool twists – a lucky shot from a missile launcher (just out of shot at the top) killed the crew of the Goliath as the Space Marines advanced, sending it slewing into the Salamanders and crushing one... after which the dazed cultists hopped out and hosed down the Marines with autopistols, downing one (the shame!), before the hand flamers opened up, sending the remaining three stumbling around on fire!

+ 'No resistance to flamers in this edition, Imperial lap-dog!' +

The lone survivor, still burning, was eviscerated by the Patriarch's brood as they redeployed from the north into the centre. 

The Imperials were thoroughly outmatched, outnumbered and outclassed here, and the Command HQ and surviving Space Marines raced to get into position to anchor the centre and prevent the battle turning. 

With the brood realising the threat, the cultists turned their fire on the surviving Salamanders, but as the heavy stubbers jammed, only one fell – who was swiftly patched-up and returned to battle by the Command HQ's medic (who had clearly paid attention at the 'administering first aid to allied superhumans' session).

+ The 707th Command HQ advance behind Lieutenant Nomix Nor'Jagan and a combat squad of  his 2nd Company Salamanders +

+++

This shot shows the state of play at the end of the third turn (I think), with honours largely even. The Steel Legion had pulled ahead slightly in VP, though I think this was rather a quirk of the number of single-wound characters present in the Genestealer list than any reflection of my tactical ability.

+++

With time pressing on, the final turn saw the Imperial Guard advance reach the deployment zone, securing their victory – although as you can see, the prospects for an extended fight did not look to be in the Steel Legion's favour!

+++

+ Aftermath +

All in all, a great deal of fun – and the flexibility and granularity of the army-building was fun to see. I never saw hand flamers or needle pistols or so forth fielded in the 90s, so to use these rules alongside a mix of classic and modern models (and notably Bob Hunk's always beautiful armies) to get the best of both worlds  – was a treat.

The game has already got me thinking about more battles and ideas, as it just lends itself so beautifully to narrative gaming. Will Grünhold and his allies report the infestation, or attempt to suppress it themselves? Where will the Cult strike next?

You could bring in an Inquisitor whose carefully-laid research has been upended; the local Arbites demanding to know what all the gunfire is; or perhaps some ork-genestealer hybrids to tie into the broader Armageddon campaign?

...and that's just this particular setting. One of the great joys of playing this now, rather than 30 years ago, is that we've both got access to loads of different armies, so we can hop around the astrography and history of Antona Australis as we please.

+++

+ inload: Cassus Belli, Imperator Titan +

+ Cassus Belli, Imperator Titan +

'How like a god he is, that ancient machine, primal of his kind, the Imperator! His mighty fists, massive like two towers of destruction, laden with the doom of mankind's bitter foes. He watches over us now as battle joins, and in his shadow we shall advance upon our enemies and defeat them.'

+++

I have very kind and generous friends, and Lucifer216 is the master of artifice that has granted the Legio Metalica this magnificent creation. Even bereft of his upper towers, he's the biggest model I've ever worked on. He was 3D printed and given to me assembled, as shown:

... which meant I had little to do in terms of construction beyond a little gap filling. For this I used greenstuff, using the blade end of a modelling tool to cut and place small strips, then the blunt end to smooth and shape it.

The cold, hard, unforgiving light of day shows both the results of my cack-handed efforts, and some of the minor print damage. The material is pretty sturdy, with some flex, but the detail on the digital sculpt is perhaps a bit fine to translate well – this is the reason the towers are missing too: Lucifer216 found that the filigree of the stained glass windows simply didn't print well.

He's suggested substituting the towers with the Civitas Imperialis spires [+noosphericexloadlink embedded+] from the Titanicus range, which I think's a great idea.

This rear shot shows the repairs made to the plasma reactor breach. Note I've left the gap in the doors; it just seemed fitting – a  good space for a techpriest, perhaps? [+noosphericexloadlink embedded+]

+++

+ Painting +

There's no avoiding that this is a huge model, so I thought the best bet was just to get stuck in – otherwise he's going to lurk intimidatingly forever!

He's received a black undercoat, followed by brown and red zenithal sprays.

A scale shot to show the size of the beast:

+ inload: Primed and ready to go +

+ Guardians ready +

'When there is no other way, the perilous path is the only road to salvation.'

 +++

The Alaitoc Eldar army progresses, and so I thought I'd share what I've got so far. Before getting stuck in, however, I'd like to draw your gaze to a precious relic from the early days of the Internet, and still going strong, David M. Donachie's wonderful Eldar language guide  [+noosphericexloadlink+]. It's a wonderful example of fandom done right – a really useful, free resource quietly created and maintained by someone sharing their enthusiasm. (Go buy his books!) It's proving very handy indeed in helping me to create authentic-sounding Eldar terms and names, so the squad names etc. gratefully draw from this resource.

+++

+ The Guardians +

Craftworld Alaitoc appeared as one of the example schemes on the back of the Eldar Guardians boxed set (RTB17, according to Stuff of Legends), but there was very little written about the Craftworlds in terms of how they differed from one another. That would develop organically over the next few years, but fundamentally there wasn't anything special about Alaitoc at this point. They were a blank slate, created to help provide an example of the broader Eldar background covered in White Dwarf 129.

+ The back of the RTB17 Eldar Guardians set – complete focus on the colour schemes, rather than any background lore. +

... which is actually really refreshing to approach. Today it seems like every corner of the 40k galaxy, massive as it is, has been thoroughly mined and developed and explored, pushing the sense of exploration and mystery to the very boundaries. For the record, I don't think that is the case – the galaxy, after all, is a very big place... but either way, it's nice to look at an army that is more concerned with the core Eldar concept than a particular niche within that.

On with the show! The original army list has four squads of Guardians in, and I've now got three up and running, with the bits for the last one on their way:

+ Guardian squad 1: Catu Dyann Erathi +

Translating as nothing more notable than 'First Guardians that are purple', Dyann Erathi are a basic Guardian squad, with their default lasguns. The squad leader has a shuriken pistol and laspistol, and the last member has a melta gun. 

As explained in earlier inloads, in translating things to the modern period I've tried to evoke the poses and a few key details, while adding some extra little touches. In particular, the streamers and sashes of the originals are minimised on the modern sculpts, appearing only as little arm bands. These will take the purple colour of the originals, but in a more subtle way. The squad leader's top knot/tuft will make a nice new place to pop a little of the colour.

+++

+ Guardian squad 3: Tirtu Ionandyann Arithi +

The caption on the original text says pretty much what I was going to, and also hints that the name translates to 'Third Guardians of Battle'. I toyed with using the prefix 'Jov'a' (better) as a tongue-in-cheek nod to the fact that Shuriken Catapults were clearly the better choice for Guardians in the early editions – probably why Battle Squads were limited – but thought the phrasing above rolled off the tongue better.

The squad leader has had a gender swap here, mostly owing to parts available: the new Guardian box has proportionally more female members than the metal hybrid box. Still, I think this change is a good one as it saves us having two identical squad leaders – the same sculpt was used as the leader for both this and the close combat squad below, so I thought I'd tweak one a little further to bring in some variety. However, to balance this, I've tried to get the pose evocative of the original, while making the most of the increased dynamism. I think the use of the old weapons helps to sell this, too.

I just want to note how pleased I am with how the old shuriken catapults work on the new models. The smaller size goes a long way to giving them a slightly more realistic, retro feel.

+++

+ Guardian squad 4: Kantu Ukendyann Addani +

The 'fourth proximity-Guardians in white' are the squad that diverges most from the originals, and that's due to me wanting to make these close-in specialists more mobile and dynamic. Nevertheless, I hope that some of the poses still evoke the originals. It's more of a loose riff than the others.

The new Guardians kit come with lots of variation in poses, so I was spoiled for choice here. Hopefully you'll spot some similarities with the originals.

+++

+ Characters +

I also took some time to build Warlock Lorith, the name coming from a quote in the 3rd edition Codex:

The original, alongside the as-yet unstarted Farseer...

... and the update, alongside the Dark Reaper Exarch I started in this inload [+noosphericinloadlink embedded+], who now revels in the name Marithiyon, which literally translates as something akin to 'Skull removed from'; a very loose translation of the orginal 'Skulltaker'. He now has a proper web of skulls, taken from the original model and pinned into place. I bent the chain a little to add some more dynamism.

For the Warlock, I used parts from the new Warlock kit (this torso matches the original lead figure) along with a head, staff and pistol from the Corsairs Kill team. Some of the details from the psyker match the Warlock very closely – from the details on the helmet to the hand holding the staff/spear.

+++

Bubbling under, we have these gunners and support platforms. A bit undecided on how to approach these, I shall have a think...