+ It is the 35th Millennium +
The Imperium is in turmoil. Faith wars with with rationality as the Ecclesiarchy and Administratum tussle for power.
In disgust, the Ur-council of Nova Terra has led a fifth part of the Imperium into secession, striking out to form a new Imperium of their own.
Seers speak hauntingly of the half-remembered terrors of Old Night, as warpstorm activity increases across the galaxy. The veil grows thin.
Against a galaxy in flames, as mankind falls on itself, the Blood Angels stand as bulwark in the east.
Even as the eyes of man turns inwards, the Angels strike out at the gathering horrors of the galaxy.
The Alien Wars begin.
+++
+ Squad Raphael, Third Company +
+ Or, in the mannered language of 191.M35 Baal, 'The Wards of Furiel under Lord Dahavauron, Prince of the Erelim, 3rd Strateia of the Host of Angels.' +
+ Sinistro e Dexter: Brother Donato (Duhael 4:12), Brother Malatesta (Durbael 2:17), Sergeant Raphael (Furiel 8:04), Brother Farnese (Shemhamphorae 1:20), Brother Barbarigo (Durbael 4:11)+
+ Sinistro e Dexter: Brother Lucian (Abacyel 3:12), Brother El-Aster (Ambriel 1:01), Brother Mephisto (Rashin Rast 2:05), Brother Thaddeus (Saditel 4:04, called the lost), Brother Engel (Narieal 4:10)+
The poses of the new combat squad (led by Brother Mephisto), is based on the poses of the second half of the 2nd squad (right of the image here). I had to fudge things a bit to tally the WD138 organisation with the Armageddon booklet.
+ Wait, what? +
+ A lot of the above likely sounds like gibberish! The naming scheme above is a development of one I made up for my May You Live Forever project, the details of which can be seen here [+noospheric inloadlink embedded+]. Of course, that's a Horus Heresy-era scheme, and even given the slow rate of change in the Imperium and the Blood Angels' longevity, it's altered during the intervening 4,000 years. +
+ As you can see, I'm having a lot of fun with this project already. It's letting me delve into a distant and murky period in the game's in-universe history, which neatly dovetails into the more open and exploratory nature of RT/2nd ed. 40k. I picked 191 as a reference to 1991, the year the original army appeared in White Dwarf. +
+ The 'Low-Gothic' names (Farnese, Malatesta etc.) are mostly taken from the Renaissance-era kingdoms of what is now Italy – though Sergeant Raphael and Brother Mephisto (squad leader of the second combat squad) take their names from the Armageddon campaign book, bundled into second edition (and kindly loaned to me by the inimitable Bob Hunk):
+ This campaign, along with the wars against the Eldar in White Dwarf, were the inspiration for the Alien Wars concept – Eldar, Space Marines and Orks were the core trinity of 40k for me as a nipper, so I wanted to explore that. +
+ Of course, wouldn't it be great to see a force of themed Goff Orks, Alaitoc Eldar (or another period-appropriate themed army) in combat with the 3rd Company? If anyone would like to join me in this project, let me know in the comments – I'd love to try a collaborative project. +
No comments:
Post a Comment