+ inload: Detecting a theme? +

+ Painted a bit more last night, to bring the Iron Warriors a bit further along. I have a game based loosely on Space Hulk to play tonight, so hopefully we'll see a few of these in action on this blog soon. +

+ Phalangites Eucon and Chalkaspides +

+ Not a huge amount to say about these chaps, except that they used to be Novamarines. I think the updates and alterations – new backpacks, boltguns, a combat blade in hand for Chalkaspides; and of course the additional bulking of the upper legs – has improved them a little. +

+ Phalangite Tolga, Palatarch Songul and Phalangite Munin +

+ The two on the left are similarly updated Novamarines, the third is a completely new model. While there are differences in the technique, I think the paint scheme goes a long way to binding them together. +

+ It's probably worth noting that a dark metallic scheme like this allows quite a bit of leeway in repainting – and probably hides a multitude of sins! +

+ inload: Phalangite Radoslav +

'Adtactus!' 
Radoslav was on his feet, heavy footfalls slamming and skewing on the treacherous dusty marble. he dashed a dozen yards or so, then threw himself down, his dull iron armour skidding him along into the dubious cover of a statue. The pediment was shattered irrecoverably, almost as though it had burst, and the statue itself – a titanic figure, twenty foot or more high – had fallen lengthways. His boltgun tucked firmly in one hand, Radoslav began crawling quickly along the length towards the head.

Alongside the sudden roars and heavy crack-boom of boltguns, and beneath the steady high-pitched rattle of rotor cannon fire, there were the smaller sounds of war. The drizzle of brass shellcases onto marble floors, the crunch-fluid scrabbling of sand and rubble, and the rising hum and buzz of auto-reactive power armour.

Two more Iron Warriors skidded in behind him, their backs to the statue. The first, an unhelmeted figure with a nose not so much broken as smeared across his face, nodded to him. His eyes gleamed, mischievously and his grin revealed a mouth full of broken teeth. As one, the three rose up, boltguns in hand, firing as soon as they crested the statue. 

It was good cover. 

It was not good enough. The lower half of the statue vanished in a sudden cloud of marble dust that billowed like clapped board dusters in a scholam. 

The Larraman's Ear was intended to allow an Astartes line warrior super-sensitive hearing. His autosenses worked in concert to cut out damaging auditory input; ensuring the best of both worlds. For this reason, Radoslav felt the explosion more than heard it, though such was the power of the impact that his armour itself rang like a bell. The rigid armour plates rippled, cracking and crimping. He felt his left hand being pulped, and the armour straining to hold his leg straight to prevent major joint breakage.

A secondary function of the Larraman's Ear – implanted into the skull in the space vacated by the scooped-out and discarded pulp of the inner ear – was to ensure the Astartes was almost impossible to disorientate or confuse. It was this, and this alone, that meant Radoslav was immediately able to scrabble backwards and avoid the second, third and fourth detonations which brought down the roof of the building.

Demo charges. Demo charges. The Fists were destroying the Palace itself to keep them out. Battered and bleeding, Radoslav slunk back to the lines to find an apothecary.

+++

+ Phalangite Ignace Radoslav +

+ Blue eye-lenses gleaming, Ignace Radoslav is clad in an entire suit of Voss Prime-pattern Crusade armour, augmented by Sol Militaris pattern bracers, and a greave reinforced with molecular bonding studs – possibly a field adaptation made during the Siege. A final flourish is the helmet, a common artificer-altered type that combines reinforced forward plating with a stylised version of the Legion symbol. It was a common and popular variant amongst the Iron Warriors, who were well-known for customising and improving their issued plate. +

+ This shot shows a holstered umbra-pattern boltpistol, indicating his thigh plate does not support magnetic locking. It is possible that Radoslav is a void-war specialist, though this is not confirmed by his current tactical markings; presumably updated between the Battle of Phall and the ground war on Mars. +

+ Many believed the Iron Warriors to be clad in unpainted ceramite, but as this shot shows, there is a subtle difference between the duller metal of the rear-facing hooped armour and backpack (both simply sealed ceramite) and the brighter iron finish of the plate. Ferrous compounds were bonded with the ceramite and burnished to give a bright reflective finish before issue. These were almost invariably hidden beneath layers of grime and soot during active combat, though some Iron Warriors did march in gleaming ranks. +

+ Radoslav is believed to have survived the War on Terra, as a number of sightings marked him as being a combatant during at least two campaigns of the Great Scouring; conducted by the Blood Angels and Raven Guard. +

+ inload: Into the Breach! +

+ Spent a bit of time building over the weekend, so I've a few new marines nearly ready for paint. +

+ Really pleased with the pose on this guy. The base is Vulkan's. Can't decide whether to trim it down to 30mm, or leave it as-is. +

A new boltgun-armed marine. After some umming and ahhing, I decided to leave the Cataphract details in place on the legs. I usually trim 'em off, but I'm finding the metallic Iron Warriors scheme benefits from more detail than the Ultramarines to help accentuate tonal changes.

...and a potential Praetor/Centurion. 

I wanted to get across the dual 'not-yet-Chaos, not quite Imperial' feel; so there's a mix of Imperial Eagles and spikes/stars. He's intended to be fighting for an Imperium with Horus enthroned – that way the Iron Warriors will be forgiven for the actions on Olympia. 

Sadly (for him at least), we know that isn't how things turn out. 

Chaos is an ever-present danger for humanity in the grim darkness of the far future. It's a subtle and tempting proposition for everyone; and doubly so for those who are desperate. 

No-one can truly master Chaos. Enslavement, madness and horror accompany the power and freedom it promises.

I wanted to reflect this in the model; so alongside a furious head, he's got an inverted halo on his armour that hints at a collar. Held behind him  is an Imperial power axe, while held in front of him is a new power axe with traitor symbology such as the Eye of Horus and eight-pointed star. He's leaving his past behind, and marching unwittingly into horror.

Not quite finished yet, though additions will be fairly minor. Probably a banner, pouches etc. I really like this head, but am not sure it's quite right here. I'm sort of tempted to make his head swappable – the Mark III helm I had there earlier looked brutal, and I liked the faceless quality it gave; but equally I like the raw emotion of this desperate howl.

+ inload: Leg day at the Siege +

+ As I do fairly often, I'm reusing some older figures for a new project. These marines will become Iron Warriors. I was planning on simply repainting them and swapping their bolt guns and backpacks for Horus Heresy era ones. However, as I worked on them I decided I wasn't happy with them, and so started to make some changes. +

 + I'm using Procreate modelling party in order to bulk out the upper legs (they looked a bit puny to me before), along with the backs. In addition, I have trimmed the shoulder pad trims down to be narrower - very fiddly, but I think it's improving them. +

+ This detail shows how I've bulked up the inner thighs to give a more powerful appearance. +

+  In addition, I took some Grey Knight terminators and decided to practise my putty skills - go back to my roots, so to speak. I started by trimming the way extraneous detail including the hip plates,  then began to build up smooth surfaces with more Procreate. The torso on the left is a mark IV style. The legs are also mark IV. +

+ inload: Ikoi Konstantin +

+ Ikoi Konstantin, Phalangite of XIX Muster +

Encamped barely three dolichos from what had been the Imperial's third line of defence, the whole Muster had been pushing through anonymous Terran rad-desert dotted with the remnants of ancient habitation. 

The siege allowed few moments of rest, but for some reason, the land was virtually silent. Aside from the dull systolic thuds of distant guns and the white jet-streaks of flyers, it could almost be peacetime. While ruined by artillery fire and the inlet of scouring, radiation-laden winds, Ikoi could see that the area had been reclaimed; made part of the Palace during the Unification Wars. The ground was still dusty and dry, but here and there vegetation could be seen clustered scantily in hollows near the smouldering buildings. Weeds. Brambles. Even berries, here and there. 

Ikoi was seized by a peculiar sensation. Recognition. Not letting his boltgun drop, he slowed his pace, warily. It was. 

He had been born here. Sek-Amrak. 

An ikon flashed in his vision, marking his elevated heartrate. After more than two centuries, he had returned. It was changed, of course, but...

He dismissed the insistent ikon absently, and stalked over to the vegetation. His vision was clearer when last he had stood here. He felt an uncontrollable urge to remove his helm, see the land of his birth with his own eyes. Doffing his helmet, the wind hit his sweaty face, cooling and rad-hot at the same time. 

His eyelid twitched. The ground was too sharp, too precise. Decades of war – and more prosaically, his occulobe organ – had made things alien, unfamiliar; had robbed the surroundings of any nostalgic comfort. He inhaled, a strange pressure mixed in with the tingle of quickly-neutralised toxins.

Kneeling down, he brushed aside the brambles, slowly at first, then increasingly fast, until he found a cluster of saphberries. Most were withered and dry, but three – just three – remained summer-swollen, a glorious rich burgundy. Delicately, silently, he pulled them from the branch, the textured iron of his gauntlet-tips seeming ungainly. He looked at them in his palm for a long moment, then popped them into his mouth, suddenly desperate, suddenly bereft.

They were bitter, spoiled by their exposure to the desert. The berries contained none of the wine-thick sweetness he remembered, none of the tang. His brow furrowed and face blackened as an auditory chime alerted him to toxins, chemicals. He balled his fists and screwed his eyes up. For a moment or two, he felt a hot, breathless ache that had nothing to do with poison; nothing to do with the war. 

Staring ahead at the Imperial Fists' fourth line, his face resumed its usual blank, sharp expression, as though a shutter had fallen across it. Replacing his helm with a sharp, swift motion, he stood. He paused just for a moment, casting a long shadow through the sick air, then briskly strode away. 

+++

+ Layered in a complex mongrel suit of plate, Konstantin's torso and shoulder plates are examples of Nu-Saturnian pattern, a type superceded not long after the First Expedition reached past Pluto in the early years of Crusade. The remainder of the suit is of Voss-Prime extraction with the exception of the helm, based on an artificer-pattern common amongst the IVth Legion. +

+ The power pack is a similarly old examples of Sol-Militaris pattern. Unlike the torso and pauldron plate, its age is unremarkable on an active Legionary. This variant was superceded towards the end of the Great Crusade by Mark IV, but was often retained by veterans owing to its reliability and great resilience. +

+ A newer Tigrus-pattern boltgun, and standard pauldron markings help with the identification of this legionary. His corpse – scorched beyond gene-rune retrieval – was recovered from a temporary bunker complex dug beneath the Auro Marches after the Siege, and verified as Ikoi Konstantin, a Terran veteran of numerous campaigns, including the Dol-Mars campaign, Saryine Pacification, and the notorious Battle of Black Blades. Konstantin was – at least temporarily – assigned to the 282nd Grand Battalion, though whether this indicates the formations presence here is moot; as the area was subject to atomic bombardment during the Siege, glassing the plateau. +

+ Legionaries like Ikoi Constantin present scholars and recordicians with much to discuss. How could those had fought to reclaim Terra in the Unification Wars; many of whom had seen or even met the Emperor directly, return to rain such terrible destruction on mankind's birthworld? +

+ The answers are as numerous as stars in the sky, and – as is often the case with the subtle corruption of Chaos – often rooted in a yearning for freedom; for an unshackling from the increasingly oppressive and invasive bureaucracy of the Adeptus Terra. +

+ At root, the Legiones Astartes represent a terrible contradiction as old as humanity itself: an invading force tasked with liberation. That underlying and subconsicious confusion is fertile ground for the Archenemy to sow with doubts. +

+ inload: Hynn Yavuz +

+ Hynn Yavuz, Palatarch of XIXth Muster +

+ With the olive skin and black hair common to the Olympian phenotype, Hynn Yavuz is a typical physical example of an Iron Warrior subcommander. Palatarch is an obselete rank roughly equivalent to sergeant; another example of a non-standard replacement term introduced post-Isstvan. It was little known before the Heresy, and faded into near-disuse soon afterwards. +

 + Yavuz' shoulderplate bears the same iconography on Or stripe as his squadmates. Unlike (say) the XVI or VII Legions, who were encouraged to seek personal glory, the Iron Warriors culture was geared towards the strength of the whole, with every member's personal achievements being subsumed within the larger group – from squad to Company to Legion. This, and other, structured codes of behaviour caused tensions as individuals reinforced them ruthlessly while inwardly chafing against them. +

+ Perhaps this irresolvable tension was an intentional result of Perturabo's teachings. Certainly it fuelled the Legion's aggressiveness as the troops vented their frustrations on their enemies, while maintaining a coldly precise and disciplined demeanour. +

+ In any case, promotion in the IVth Legion was a byzantine affair quite divorced from honour, glory or acts of inspired battlecraft as was common with other legions; instead being based on an inscrutably complex system of codes and strictures. Almost all Iron Warrior commanders, including officers of the line, shared a willingness to sacrifice the part to the whole. Thus it may be that an officer identified an weakness in an enemy line, or a faster warp route, allowing his force to achieve victory more swiftly. Equally it might be that the officer had simply killed a disruptive insubordinate before he could affect operational ability of his squad. +

+ A rear shot shows the distinctive hooped back to the Voss pattern Mark III plate legs, along with the bloom of discolouration common to the Sol-Militaris pattern Mark IV powerpack when hooked up to the inefficient plate. Visible here is a spare combat blade – a near universal though non-standard complement to the Legionaries kit in the IVth Legion. It is sheathed on the left to allow quick retrieval for dual blade work. +

+ Yavuz's armament is a paired Mk IVs 'Thunder Edge' pattern chainsword  and Ikanos pattern bolt pistol. Aside from the yellow-and-black stripes common to Legion honorifics, the armament is almost stereotypical of Legion sergeant equipment – almost as thought it has come straight from the Master of Quarters. This is, of course, a distinct possibility – casualty rates during the Horus Heresy were catastrophic, and promotion was often swift – and brief. +

+ Squad banners were relatively uncommon amongst the IVth Legions, though far from unknown. In instances where the enemy was known to have the ability to decipher vox-code or intercept data – or when command and control was blocked, hexed or tech-hazed – the Iron Warriors were adept at the use of physical signals, amongst them banners. These were centrally issued to each squad, and were strictly monitored – alteration or customisation was a punishable infraction. As a result, this banner can be easily deciphered: the vertical yellow on black background indicates the XIXth Muster (the similarity to the pauldron tactical markings being either a coincidence or an intentional nod), while the V indicates the line of Chain mastery – in this case, fifth chain. +

+ While known as dour, the Iron Warriors had as keen a sense of tradition as many of their fellow legions. This was never indulged to the detriment of operational efficiency (as was occasionally the case with the III, IX or XVIII), but their aesthetic sense – stoically representational and unimaginative – was often curiously beautiful in its iconographic simplicity. War-banners such as this flew over a hundred battlefields, and were – perhaps surprisingly – encouraged by Perturabo, who saw them as a natural symbolic focus for his 'many-above-one' philosophies. +

+ The white horse has a symbolic meaning that would be well-known to all Olympians. Traditionally, the delivery of a white horse to a rival state was a casus belli; a curious custom that dated back to pre-Compliance. More generally, the horse was the Olympian symbol of high winds and natural disasters, with a number of fanes, temples and festivals dedicated to horse-headed or completely equine deities. As a portent of natural disaster, it was associated with earthquakes, and it is this aspect that is said to have caught Perturabo's mercurial favour – that of the horse as wall-breacher and hold-wrecker. +

+ With his face exposed to the elements, it is clear that Yavuz has no helm. This is likely a simple case his being forced into battle while awaiting replacement or repair. It is also possible that his crude bionic – implanted onto an obviously raw wound – was a temporary jury-rigged affair, and that its size makes it incompatible with use of his helmet. +

+ His superiors would not hesitate to field his Chain if they felt, on balance, that he was better unhelmed than not present on the field. Such is existence for the Iron Warriors; the individual suborned to the needs of the many. One might see this creed as unforgiving – even cruel; but such are the times and theatres in which the IVth Legion fought. +

+ The trophy-heads hung from the belt show the barbarous nature of the unchained Astartes. While the Adepts of Terra might hope that all Legions could be parade-ground perfect as the Emperor's Children or Ultramarines; the Pitiless Fourth show the unalloyed truth of warfare in the darkness of the thirty-first millennium: that it is raw, bloody and cruel. +

+ inload: Fifth Chain, XIXth Muster, Stratopedon Tumult +

+ Lodges, Legions and Star-forts +

+ Unification +

+ During the Unification Wars, Legionaries on deployment would prepare a base of operations, which typically consisting of a reinforced command post, barracks for the Legionaries, and a number of storerooms or warehouses. These were typically shaped like a four-pointed star, and became well-known – both for good and ill – throughout Imperial space. All Legions used the basic form, though the IVth, VIIth, XIVth and XVIIIth were well-known to use it in preference to the more fluid, temporary organisations preferred by the IXth, XIth and XIXth. +

+ Crusade +

+ As the Great Crusade began, the growing Legions switched to structures more suited to swift, ship-based organisation as their wars became less concerned with holding ground and the Imperial Army and Militia took over garrison duties. As a result, the growing Astartes Legions tended towards new groupings such as the Company and Wing/Grand Company/Chapter, almost all larger than five hundred marines. +

+ In contrast, the IVth Legion were often broken down into tiny garrison fragments, where they found the rigid structures of the newer Legion organisation lacking. As a result, the Stratopedon – the Olympian term for the star-fort structures – concept became an important organisational tool to the Legion, which helped to patch over the difficulties of micro-management. Indeed, the shape becoming so associated with the Iron Warriors that it was occasionally added as an honorific, typically to the chest. The Stratopedon became a common grouping that sat outside and across the military structure of the Legion, and allowed the Iron Warriors to operate effectively even when split into mere handfuls of men on deployment. +

+ Post-Perturabo +

+ After Perturabo's discovery, and the gradual increase in focus on engineering and meticulous planning amongst the Legion, Stratopeda became more and more complex and involved; with examples of the physical Stratopedon becoming more specialised – some extended deep into the ground, or being entirely temporary and mobile arrangements, with Rhino armoured personnel carriers forming the walls as they stopped. Others were orbital, with six, eight or ten-pointed 'stars' of ships being arranged, bristling guns facing broodingly outwwards. In concert with the physical deployments, the clear-eyed Primarch saw the benefits of an complementary underlying structure to his Legion, and encouraged it to be developed, strengthening and reinforcing the bonds that ran parallel to the rigid hierarchy of the Legion. Eventually, the concept distanced itself from the physical structure, and instead became a mindset: a closed grouping within which the Legionary could be sure of support, regardless of rank – as Perturabo rewarded and punished the members of Stratopeda together. The Iron Warriors' mentality became still more closed and inward-looking; suspicious of outsiders as the Legion bonded together impregnably. +

+ A legionary would thus be officially part of a Company, but would have duties towards his Stratopedon, where he might meet and mingle with Iron Warriors from different Companies. Unfortunately, it also proved the vulnerable point of the Iron Warriors. It was through the infiltration of such structures that the Lodge system became firmly inculcated into the Iron Warriors; the insidious Word Bearers demonstrating a form of emotional siegecraft against which the IVth Legion never thought to develop defences. +

Fifth Chain, XIXth Muster, Stratopedon Tumult

+ Five members of Stratopedon Tumult; representing the core of a Legionary Tactical Squad. Such squads were organised in household chains; with two, four or (more unusually) eight chains forming a Muster. The exact number depended on the specific duties and the number of available legionaries. Chains lived and worked closely together, typically attended by one attendant-slave for every two members. Such chains were then assigned to a Muster, and a representative of each Muster (who might be a Captain, or might be a Legionary) would then meet as headsmen to form a new working group, which became the operational Stratopedon. Over the course of a campaign, a Legionary would thus work with a number of Stratopeda in an overlaying, interlinking mesh; learning to work with Legionaries from all across the Grand Company – and even beyond. +

+ inload: Hyoidite Aganthan +

+ Hyoidite is an archaic IV Legion cognomen for a signalman; the term coming back into use post-Isstvan as Horus encouraged those who had rallied to his flag to alter their sigils, identifiers and codes to reduce the ease of identification. Almost all the rebels chose to ritually removing the Imperial Eagle and replace it with the great Eye of Horus, but many of the Warmaster's supporters took great pains to revise their uniforms and procedures from the ground up; a not-inconsiderable task that, in a number of documented cases, caused havoc for the rebel's command and control on the battlefield. +

+ The Iron Warriors as a whole were obedient in following the edict; but this was through their typical chilly efficiency rather than heated fervour for the Warmaster. With relish, the Legion High Command began to disseminate Olympian terms throughout the Legion's structure. Some commentators interpret the order as a typically sullen and tokenistic gesture to the Warmaster's wishes, while others have argued that it ought to be taken at face value; as a genuine desire to confuse the enemy with minimal potential for internal miscommunication. Certainly the Iron Warriors' choice was a convenient shibboleth long-familiar to the majority of the Legion – a code that would be easily broken, but owing to the divergent Olympian laryngal anatomy, was difficult for non-Olympians to convincingly duplicate over vox. +

+ The noted commentator Egris of Hiath made a well-argued point in his famed essay 'On the Causes and Results of Rebellion' that the Iron Warriors' choice was unusually sentimental. As the last generation of Olympians, the Iron Warriors' culture – self-extinguished – was in real danger of being lost. Egris' discussion built from this point to argue that the Iron Warriors were practising a rebellion of ideas against the monolithic bureacracy of Terra; a stab for (admittedly limited) individuality and diversity against the homeworld's smothering need to force uniformity and compliance. Such an argument, Egris concluded, demonstrated the treacher-legionaries tortured and contradictory need for both self-expression and centralised dominance. He was posthumously vindicated in his assessment as the defeated Legion fractured into followers of different ideologies during the Great Scouring and following years. +

+ Whatever the truth, the Iron Warriors' command choices were well-supported in the field with individuals like Aganthan. To a Legion which regarded mathematical precision as key to their offensive and defensive strategies, communications specialists were tested to a high degree, and in demand amongst line officers. In addition, they were usually fielded in pairs to ensure redundancy. The senior Legionary would bear intelligence-gathering and measuring equipment such as sniff-sweepers and specialist haruspex units in addition to standard pattern auspices. +

+ One such device is pictured above; the hand-held unit connected by bulky redundancy wires to internal receptors built into his plate. The junior Legionary would pass on the datascreeds interpreted by the hyoidite through a long-range vox-comms unit. +

+ Many amongst the treacher-legions were issued with newer armour prior to the rebellion, owing to Horus' favour, though far from all. Nevertheless, the general lack of supply during the Siege of Terra, meant that many amongst the Warmaster's forces were left with older suits. This was exacerbated in the IVth Legion's case by the Iron Warriors' peculiarly attenuated deployment pattern, and during the Siege of Terra it was far from unusual to see members of the Legion in marks ranging from gleaming prototype Mark VI to those forced to deploy in retro-fitted Mark II Crusade suits. +

+ The rear image shows the hooped underplating of the Voss-pattern Mark III armour with which Aganthan takes the field, as well as showing the legionary's holstered sidearm and spare ammunition. Perturabo's teachings had resulted in a rigidly drilled Legion, where good weapon order was second nature to even the rawest recruit. This lent a rigid steel base to the Warmaster's assault on Terra, against which the Sons of Horus, Alpha Legion and World Eaters could flex fluidly; resulting in a terrifyingly effective alloy of attack. +

+ This angle also shows a variant Legionary identifier; a broad Or stripe with a simple Legion numeral below a Tactical marking of the double-headed arrow. This was a relatively common variant amongst the Legion, developed post-Isstvan in imitation of their more specialised units' markings. +

+ Voss-pattern armour was generally regarded as second-best by most Legions; plagued as it was with unstable heat-build-up, minor power fluctutations, and a poor HUD suite. As a result, it was often passed on to second-line or reserve units. Garrison units of Iron Warriors were notorious for finding themselves lumbered with shipments from the Forge World after other Legions had interdicted deliveries of better-quality plate. While the practise was frowned upon by the Adeptus Terra, few would speak up in favour of isolated Iron Warrior Captains when faced with the demands of senior officers from other Legions. +

+ Perhaps such treatment was one source of the Iron Warrior's famed resentment. It is thus part of the tragedy that the sons of Perturabo were often deliberately chosen as garrison troops with the Adeptus Terra's foreknowledge that they would receive poorer-quality materiel. Were the Legion and its bitter master more able to see past the apparent slight – and were the Adeptus Terra more forthcoming in explaining their reasoning – the Fourth Legion's command might have seen that they had been selected for such treatment precisely because they were so resourceful in matters of technology. They could be relied upon to adapt their suits individually; creating wonderfully creative artifices to overcome the armour's drawbacks with few raw materials. +

+ In addition to the nameplate (usually restricted to honoured veterans), Aganthan's combat knife has script written in a curt, fussily-neat hand. Post-mortem examination revealed the writing to be a list of names. Perhaps fallen comrades, perhaps victims of the knife ritually noted. The truth will never be known. +

+ Such sympathetic adaptations can be clearly seen in the images shown here: the addition of reinforcing molecular bonding studs, a rear-facing raised pauldron to protect the notoriously vulnerable rear head cabling, and sundry less obvious adaptations. +

+ Aganthan's tilt-shield with a heraldic device is an unusual, though not unheard-of, affectation amongst the IVth, and here it serves a stolidly practical use in covering a bullet trap between the Voss-pattern pauldron and the chest. +

+ The Tigrus-pattern boltgun, a popular and common pattern amongst the Warmaster's legions, is standard issue. It was a peculiarity of many Iron Warriors commanders to prioritise the distribution of arms over armour; for reasons unknown. +

+ inload: Painting Iron Warrior infantry part II +

+ Part 1 of this tutorial can be found in this inload [noospheric link embedded] +

+ Iron Warrior Infantry part 2 +

9_ Highlight the black areas subtly using a mix of Charadon Granite and Fenris Grey. Dilute the mix with flow enhancer. Use dry Boltgun Metal to highlight the non-plate metal areas (back of legs, boltgun, backpack etc. – see step 4 in the previous inload)

10_ Use slightly diluted Iyanden Darksun or Averland Sunset to paint in the accent areas. I've added a stripe down the right shoulderpad. Once dry, overlay it with Golden Yellow until you get a fairly smooth coverage. There's no need to make it absolutely smooth, as that risks making it look odd in contrast with the battered gunmetal plate.

11_ Dilute an off-black (i.e. a very dark grey or brown – I used Scorched Brown mixed with sepia ink) with a little flow enhancer and use the tip of a size 1 brush to paint in the freehand markings. I suggest using a decent-sized brush as it'll hold enough paint for you to paint a section at a time, without having to reload. I use off-black rather than a pure black to reduce the contrast. These details should be subtle, not eye-catching.

12_ Finish the squad markings, then dilute a warm red-brown (Scorched Brown or Dark Flesh) with flow enhancer until it is very meagre. Use this to glaze the yellow, adding the suggestion of wear and weathering without adding texture. Concentrate the colour away from the light and in recesses to add shading.

13_ Tear off a small piece of artifical sponge and bunch it in your fingers. Dip it in a little of the same colour as the base (Scorched Brown, in this case). Wipe off the excess and lightly dab this across the model, focussing on areas that stick out, like knees, elbows and hands. Avoid the torso, face and rifle.

14_ Base the model (I used successive layers of grey drybrushing, along with dry grass. To finish, I used a mix of a cold blue (Hoeth Blue) and Vallejo white to paint in the eyes. I built these up with a couple of layers, and entirely filled the socket recesses. This creates a slight glow effect.

+ Your Iron Warrior is now ready to menace the galaxy! +

+ inload: Officia Monstrosa – faces +

+ This close-up of a WIP Iron Warrior sergeant shows his face as it currently stands. I like to include a couple of bare heads in the start of any human project, as it's a chance to explore the character of the army. In this case; gritty, bitter, careworn and ravaged. +

+ To achieve this I started with an olive green basecoat (Vallejo Russian Tank Crew, I think), then overlaid this with a mix of Vallejo white, Blood Red and Averland Sunset, which produces quite a Mediterranean skintone owing to the warmth of the yellow (contrast this with the cooler yellow I use for the paler skintone of the marine below). +

+ More white was added for highlights, which were applied boldly, and with few layers to get transitions which weren't too smooth. The paint was applied relatively drily, using the tip of the brush. I followed the line of the features with the brushstrokes, but used vertical strokes only for the cheeks and jaw. Along with a barely-loaded brush (something similar to a drybrush load), this keeps the area dark and textured, giving a sallow look to the cheeks and a stubbly effect to the jaw. +

+ The sculpt has raw flesh and broken lips on the left-hand side of the figure's face (right of the picture), and I added more red and less white for this area. I also used touches of Ogryn Flesh wash here and there across the face. The slight muted red tinge this gives is useful for haggard eyes without looking cartoony. +

+ There's a little more to do (hair, teeth and the peculiar metal plate above the non-bionic eye), but my general rule with faces is not to let the perfect become the enemy of the good. By this I mean it's easy to ruin a perfectly good face by fussing; and sometimes the sculpt will help you stumble over a happy accident that gives the face a lot of character. Trying to play with that can over-exaggerate it, or worse, spoil it altogether. +

+++



+ If a model will stand it (because the face is relatively large), it's worth getting very involved, as the face is a natural focal point. However, there's also something to be said about simplicity in faces. The fewer brushstrokes you use, the smoother the effect tends to be. The marine below demonstrates this. Here, the head is actually very complicated – it's an Imperial Militiaman's head, which means it's only ~75–80 per cent of the size of the Marine head above, and on top of that, it's tightly wrapped in a scrumcap/pilot's helmet affair, which is itself surrounded by a raised collar. On top is a little eyeglass arrangement, which is raised off the face (god bless you, Forge World sculptors). A lot of detail and a lot of tiny spaces! +

+ For this reason, the skin of the face becomes a part of the painting, rather than the focus of it. I painted the face much more simply, using Blood Red, Vallejo White and Bad Moon Yellow. This gives a clean, pale look, which creates eye-catching tonal contrast. The olive-skinned tone of the chap at the top would have blended in with the dark collar, and thus would have lost the contrast. I could, of course, have altered the collar/cap colour, but I wanted to keep it the same hue as the soft armour in the joints. As well as being consistent in-universe (to add verisimilitude), it also means fewer colours in the scheme, keeping it oppressive and dark. +

+ Deciding when to stop is thus a good skill to cultivate. Ultimately, remember you're painting to please yourself. +

+++

+ Here's the same chap, posing in front of a Predator. It was ear-marked for the Ultramarines, but... a tank would be a very fitting thing for the Iron Warriors. What do you reckon? +

+ inload: Painting Iron Warrior infantry +

+ As part of the Officia Monstrosa project, an Iron Warriors force, it's likely that this group will be done in fits and starts while enthusiasm strikes! As a result, I wanted to record how I painted them, so I can replicate it later. I hope it's of use to you, too. +

+ Iron Warrior Infantry part 1 +

+ I've listed the paints and other materials I've used, but feel free to substitute them for what you have available. It's all a bit of a moveable feast! +

1_  Prime grey, then spray or basecoat black. I use Halford's grey primer and matt black. Next, make a large well of Runefang Steel (or similar light-tinted metal) on your palette – approximately three brushloads. Add a little flow enhancer (I use Daler Rowney's brand; Lahmian Medium is the GW equivalent) and mix.

Next, add a drop of sepia ink. Finally, add a little Scorched Brown in one corner, and Abaddon Black in another. Allow these colours to bleed into the silver, so that you can use mixes or pure versions of the silver. Use a large brush to paint the whole model, aiming for a variegated effect – as shown, the result should be relatively dark in value. Alternatively, you could paint it silver then lightly drybrush with a mix of silver and brown.

2_ Still using a large (size 4 round) brush, quickly paint the whole model with Devlan Mud wash, and drop in touches of badab Black in recesses. Sepia ink mixed with flow enhancer or Vallejo Smoke are good alternatives. 
Use your thumb or a piece of untextured kitchen paper to swipe away the wash from raised surfaces. Allow to dry completely before continuing.

3_ Paint the shoulder pads, gun casing, flexible undersuit and any pouches – bascially, anything that isn't hard metal – using Charadon Granite or similar dark grey.

4_ Switch to a size 1 round and begin to establish the midtone metal. I use almost undiluted paint at this point, picking up just a little at a time (to prevent it drying on the bristles) on a damp brush. I use a wandering, scrawling motion of the tip to paint in the Iron Warrior's plate, avoiding the recesses and aiming to give a textural, battered appearance. You can see the effect quite well on the forearm bracer on the left of the picture. 
Avoid the shoulder trim and any parts that you want to differentiate. I paint the backs of the legs, most of the backpack and the working parts of the gun differently, in order to provide some visual interest, for example, so I leave these areas alone.

It's worth noting at this point that I'm thinking about the light source (above) at this point, and applying less paint to areas away from it. As a result, some areas receive barely any paint and remain shaded. The legs illustrate this well. The trailing leg (left of picture), is shaded and dark because the light from above can't get to it. It receives a little reflected light from below, so isn't untouched, but not much. Compare with the forward leg, where the thigh is cleanly highlighted (apart from an area of battle damage), the knee receives a little, and the shin virtually no light. The foot also remains largely in shadow, except for the toes, which are relatively light. 

5_ Using the size 1 brush, paint the shoulder pads and gun casing with pure flow enhancer. Starting from the bottom, drop in sepia ink and slowly draw the brush up towards the zenith, applying pressure to let the brush splay out, then reducing it and lifting away the brush. You can use Badab Black wash if you prefer.

Place the figure the right way up to dry. You're aiming to paint the pads in one brushstroke, so that you don't get any marks, and you create a smooth gradation. Placing the figure the right way up means that the colour (already stronger in the lower part) flows down to strengthen the tone, and away from the highlight areas.

6_ Gold! I used Winsor & Newton gold ink, but on consideration I'd suggest you use an acrylic gold as the ink tends to shift a lot if disturbed. Paint all of the trim, including the shoulder trim. Try not to add so much that the model looks gaudy, but enough to break up the monotone nature.

7_ Apply topical washes across the armour. I kept three pots open in front of me – Leviathan Purple (used for the gold and also added sparingly wet-in-wet across the model as a whole), Devlan Mud (added to strengthen the tone of armour recesses) and Badab Black (added to further reinforce armour recesses, and for the differentiated metal of the gun, backpack and back of legs.)

Once dry, I touched in tiny touches of Badad Black on the face, to begin to establish the deepest tones near the focal points.

8_ Once dry, basecoat the base. I used Scorched Brown here. Leave the model to dry overnight.

+++

+ That's it for part 1 – the remainder will be in a future inload. I'll add a noospheric inloadlink when I finish them off. Still to come is highlighting and detailing. +

+ EDIT – part 2 is up here [noospheric link embedded] +