+ inload: Aldebaran 4th/5th Lifeguards +


+ Aldebaran 4th/5th Lifeguards +

An exceptionally cosmopolitan world in the Port Cassian system of Segmentum Ultima, inhabitants of Aldebaran can occasionally be found across the Segmentum (indeed, even beyond) owing to the system's proximity to the Hyperion Warp Corridor, a stable warp route from the rim to the galactic heart.

Their culture one of relative open-mindedness and rationality, its soldiers and naval crew are known for their discipline and dignified deportment, while their officers are admired for their creative and pragmatic approach to challenges. Neither lacking nor notable for ferocity or martial prowess, their peculiar qualities make them particularly adaptable, and much in demand as garrison or bodyguard troops.

Soldiers of the 4th Aldebaran Infantry, the 'Cornflowers', on deployment.
The uncertainty during the period of the Nova Terra Interregnum, following the secession of Segmentum Pacificus, saw demand for off-planetary forces increase. Some Imperial Commanders sought to protect their world; others merely to bolster their power base. The regiments of Aldebaran had never been in such demand.

Of course, not all found themselves on the right side of history. The tale of the 4th/5th Regiment of Foot, – a combined force made up of recruits intended for, but diverted from, the hard-pressed 'Cornflowers' and 'Wingers' regiments fighting nearby – seconded to the distant rimworld of Vanguard, is a cautionary example of how the righteous and faithful can find themselves damned; through no fault of their own...

+++

+ Getting around to it +

+ It's important for me that my hobby isn't another job; but it's nice to have a goal to paint towards. The PCRC are heading out to the distant Bristol Segmentum in October, to take part in the Bristol Vanguard's Spoils of War gaming weekend [+noosphericinloadlink embedded+] +

+ The storyline is themed around an approaching hivefleet, so the PCRC are all taking Tyranids, genestealers and similar gribbly beasties, to fit in with the story. Not owning a Tyranid or Genestealer army myself, the nearest I could come up with is a corrupted PDF force – so I dug out a force that has sat on the backburner for far too long, and restarted my Steel Legion force. +


+ The scheme's pretty simple and quick – grey primer, Charadon granite equipment, Calth brown fatigues, an overall wash of Agrax Earthshade, then building up the overcoat with white before detailing. +


+ With six squads to do, I finally set to last night, burning through the remnants of the first squad (see above), and starting the next. +


 + The army as a whole – or at least the infantry. I'll be adding some ogryns to this, along with a small detachment of genestealers. +

+ inload: Things to do on Ba'al Prime when you're dead +

+ Imperial Religion M35 +

The Alien Wars occurred during, and were in many ways predicated upon, a galaxy-wide spiritual crisis afflicting the Imperium that led to its division during the Nova Terra Interregnum. While the sheer scale, variety of cultures and conflicting philosophies of the Imperium makes generalities difficult, the question of the Emperor's nature – whether man or god – was the root of the crisis.

While the Ecclesiarchy had been formally recognised since M32 as the Adeptus Ministorum, and its beliefs accepted as the state religion of the Imperium, this monolithic entity was far from coherent. Only the broadest strokes of shared rites – a recognition of the Emperor as a God; and the importance of offering praise to him alone – could be inculcated across the Imperium.

While the High Lords and the Ministorum's senior ministers pursued an aggressively detailed methodology for conversion, most missionaries on the ground – mindful of their vulnerability – pursued a more pragmatic approach: they would earn the trust of the natives, learn about the local religion, and inveigle the Emperor as godhead in place of the aboriginal chief deity. Rites, celebrations and festivals would continue as before. This was, broadly-speaking, a successful project. 

The more avowedly secular or irreligious human societies proved harder to convert; and these became grinding campaigns by the Ecclesiarchy, devouring as much wealth and as many men as the physical wars of the Imperial Guard. Hundreds of millions of both pro- and anti-Eccelisarchical groups fled persecution from across the human galaxy, and the displaced – or 'pilgrim armadas' – of the period were a hugely disruptive cultural influence on worlds on which they arrived. Some were welcomed with open arms, but other planets treated these refugees as invaders; blockading their ports, exploiting the refugees, or even opening fire on their ships. Imperial shipping lanes became thick with homeless fleets, and with xenos species increasingly bold and daring, predation upon the relatively defenseless pilgrim fleets was inevitable. 
+++

+ M35 Funerary Rites of the Blood Angels +

+ While I think the new Primaris apothecary is a cool model, one detail I didn't like was the triumphant posture over the dead Battle Brother. I guess it could look as though the Apothecary is more concerned with the geneseed than the corpse, but to me it just felt a little disrespectful. As a result, 
I've used the dead body to construct some injury markers instead. +


+ I applied the same conversion techniques to the dead marines as the live ones; and took the opportunity to try sculpting some Mark VI cabling. Markers like this are a good chance to try things out. If they don't work; it's easy to scuff it up as further damage. +


+ In-game, these will likely be simply aesthetic – basically a bit of extra terrain. However, they could be used as casualty markers to help jog my memory when the Battleshock/morale phase rolls around. +

+ Terminators +

+ The summer heat clearly got to my cogitators; I couldn't resist building a few more Terminators using the conversion process detailed a few inloads ago [+noosphericinloadlink embedded+] +



+ inload: Mark 5,256,000 +

+ Ten Years of the Praetors of Calth +


+ It's been quiet here on Death of a Rubricist, hasn't it? Well, don't worry, there's been stuff pickling away behind the scenes. (Not too much, as it's also been jolly hot). First off, a bit of a celebration. +

+ June 2nd 2018 marked the tenth anniversary – or Mark 5,256,000, to use the Ultramarines' method of record-keeping – of my pre-heresy Ultramarines blog starting [+noosphericinloadlink embedded+] on the Warseer forum, which seemed like a nice excuse to add some new bits and bobs. With 866,236 views, it was – and perhaps still is – the most viewed project on the forum, and undoubtedly the most successful of my projects. +

+ Way back in 2008, the blog began:
A time of hidden conflict and secret warfare; when battle-lines were drawn and re-drawn between brother and brother. This is a record of those times, set forth by autolocutor Apologist. 
The ancient and crumbling Apocrypha of Davio, a relic of the Second Founding, lists eight successor Chapters to the Thirteenth Legion. 
The later Apocrypha of Skaros states there were twenty-three successors to the Ultramarines, but does not list them all... 
Herein lies the tale of the brethren of the Praetors of Calth. 
+ Largely inspired by Dan Abnett's seminal Horus Rising, the earliest models predate even that, being refugees from my converted Adeptus Mechanicus army. It's seen the construction of over one hundred Astartes; each converted using gradually developing truescale, sculpting and painting techniques, and accompanied by their own background. Some models have been repainted, re-purposed, re-armed or repaired. Not one, but two iterations of Roboute Guilliman have led it into battle. The army has survived being (briefly!) stolen after someone broke into my car and subsequently abandoned over the street. It has been rebased twice. It has been involved in countless battles on the tabletops of the far future. +

+ Most of all, I've benefitted from the expertise and encouragement of hundreds of fellow hobbyists, so I really regard it very much as much theirs (and yours) as I do mine. +

+++

+ Theoretical: Gaming plans +

Lieutenant Holion makes landfall on Akkar
+ To celebrate, I'll be taking the Praetors out to the Jungles of Akkar event in Southampton (Hampshire, UK) on October 10th–11th. Run by 30k Frontier [+noosphericexloadlink embedded+], I've heard great stuff about this group's events, and am really looking forward to it. At the time of writing, there are tickets still available, so if anyone fancies meeting up for a beer (and possibly a game), let me know. +

+ Practical +

+ Of course, It wouldn't be me if I hadn't immediately decided to build something superfluous to take in place of the already-built and painted parts of the army. I've got the following on the bench; some of which are brand new; others of which have been patiently awaiting paint for upwards of three years(!):

+ Tactical Support squad with volkite calivers +

+ Jetbike squadron +

+ inload: The Houses of Nestis and Temporis [GuestpostID: Lucfier216] +

+ Houses of Suffering and Shadow +

+ Being a bit buried under various data-screeds in the real world, it's with great pleasure that I'm able to showcase another of the PCRC's armies; our resident painting machine Lucifer216's beautiful Knight forces. +

+ A few months back, we played one of our inaugural games of 8th edition 40k pitting the Iron Warriors' 242nd against the combined might of Nestis and Temporis. This would have been an absolutely dreadful match-up in 7th edition, but in 8th it remained tense, dynamic and exciting – which went a long way to convincing me of the success of 8th edition. +

Knights make a fantastic spectacle against the low-rise buildings of Purefinder Chaunterwick.


+ Since the game, I've been keen to get my ever-busy chum to give us a write-up of his gorgeous force; and he was kind enough to oblige. Enjoy! +

+++

Hi all,  Lucifer216 here, long-time friend of Apologist and a member of the PCRC (Plastic Crack Rehab Clinic). With the recent release of the new Imperial Knight codex, we both thought it was a good time to take a look at my own ‘force’ of Knights – though really that should be ‘forces’ as I ended up plumping for two Knight Houses instead of one.

Let’s face it, it’s difficult to resist the lure of big stompy giant robots, and when the Imperial Knights: Renegade boxset first came out, I leap at the chance to get my hands on what for me (lack of posable legs aside), is one of Games Workshop’s best plastic kits.

So, why two Knight Houses? Well, I was a bit torn. On the one hand I really wanted to try out Candy Red as a scheme, having it seen to great effect on a number of armies and I also (inspired by the dark and characterful background of House Vyronii and House Orhlacc) wanted my own shadowy and gothic Knight House. At the same time, I wanted to give my Warhound Titan, the Animus Dominus, some company and expand its background. I also wanted to create two Knight Houses that are very located in the Antona Australis sector [+Appendnote auth:Apologist+ Antona Australis is 
the PCRC’s little postage-stamp sized section of the Galaxy, which you can read about through the tab at the top of the blog].

Enter Houses Nestis [+noosphericinloadlink embedded+]  and Temporis [+noosphericinloadlink embedded+]. House Nestis is an Ancient Greek-inspired Questor Mechanicus house with plenty of references to mythology and a big focus on duality, while Temporis is a Questor Imperialis house, whose pilots are also navigators and possessed of a sinister mien. For more of on their background, click the hyperlinks above.

I painted the knights using an airbrush for the most part (doing their frames all in one go, with the exception of the Reginae Obscurae as I bought it later), and really enjoyed doing a fair bit of freehand. I’ve never considered myself much of an artist, but I’m really pleased about how it’s come out.

It hasn’t been all plain-sailing and some practical lessons learnt include:

  • Write down the exact colour scheme as you go (I have forgotten the recipe for House Nestis’ red, which is going to make expanding it tricky)
  • Tamiya Clear Red dissolves FW Clear Black which I used for shading so you shouldn’t go back with it. 
  • Avoid using mixtures of metallic for the basecoat of large areas. I’m not amazingly happy with how the metallic trims have come out and the mix I used seems to have given it a slight texture in places. I opted for using  Retributor Armour on the Reginae Obscurae which has given a much better result. 


Enough pontificating – let’s move onto the Knights!

+++

+ House Nestis +

+ Enyo and Klymene

+ Designate: Enyo +
The knight armours Klymene and Enyo have fought alongside each other for centuries and embody the obsession with duality that permeates Janusian culture. Enyo, a bellicose Knight Errant piloted by Domina Eris, is always on the move, constantly searching for fresh targets for its thermal cannon or crashing headlong into melee. Enyo’s thirst for carnage is endless and prior to Eris’ ascension, three aspirants died in the attempt to meld with its machine spirit. Her supremacy over the armour’s machine spirit has come at a cost for it is a jealous steed – making the discomfort of disconnection almost unbearable, though the only outward sign of it is her burning gaze and haunted manner.

+ Designate: Klymene +

In contrast to its sister-engine and as might be expected of a Knight Crusader, Klymene is patient and methodical. The armour’s teardrop heraldry reflects both the sorrow the Sito Sisterhood feels under the yoke of the Iron Fathers and the suffering that House Nestis inflicts upon its foes.

However, the armour’s sorrowful aspect also owes much to the attitude of its pilot, the supremely skilled Domina Atia. Her long list of honours, engine-kills and exemplary service has bred a burning resentment within her breast. She dreams of the devastation that she could wreck in the Omnissiah’s name while piloting a Warlord titan, but such power will forever be denied to her by the simple and arbitrary impediment of her sex. This bitterness is compounded by witnessing the follies of her two sons, Atlas and Prometheus, princeps of the Warlord Titans, Back-Breaker and Flame Eternal, respectively and the bloody rampages of her older sister, Domina Leda, aboard the Knight Valiant, Tisiphone. When Atia dwells overlong on this injustice, Klymene is prone to glitching, its hurt pride spilling out from the throne mechanicum as auspex-ghosts and grinding gears.

+++

+ House Temporis +

+ Gnosis – Knight Paladin + 


It is said of Gnosis that it is always exactly where it should be. In the madness and chaos of the battlefield, this quiet miracle has saved thousands of Imperial lives and foiled ambushes beyond counting. While all the pilots of House Temporis are blessed and cursed in full measure with the fey insight endemic to those with navigator blood in their veins, Lady Svetlana, Gnosis’ pilot, is famed for flashes of tactical brilliance that manifest themselves as migraine-bright visions of the many futures yet to be. A painfully pale and consumptive creature, given by the gothic standards of House Temporis, Svetlana is haunted by the knowledge of her own demise. Why it should be to old age and neglect in a dank, mouldering, oubliette troubles her beyond all measure.

+++

+ Kynigos – Knight Crusader +


Kynigos and its pilot, the lady Alla, possess inhuman patience, their favourite tactic being to stand reactor cold for long hours at a time, before bursting into motion with horrific ease, going from a cold start to full plasma burn in an instant – a feat that should be impossible for any Knight Armour. This trait first made itself known in Kynigos’ very first engagement, a confused skirmish with the vanguard of Forgeworld Bezoa as its scouting fleet entered the territory of Storm’s End and made planetfall deep in the web-wastes. There Kynigos and its first pilot, Lady Natalya, struck again and again, each time seemingly from nowhere. After the events of that day, in which the newly blooded engine recorded three super-heavy class kills, Natalya commissioned Kynigos’ distinctive heraldry to commemorate their deeds. However, Since the rites of accord were signed between the two factions, Bezoa has petitioned House Temporis to strike the markings that bear silent witness to its folly no less than fifteen times, but Lady Alla and her liege, Queen Katherine will have none of it. 

+++

+ Reginae Obscurae – Cerastus Knight-Atrapos +

+ Designate: Reginae Obscurae +
Given by Forgeworld Bezoa as part of the first tranche of tribute that sealed the grand bargain between it and House Temporis, the Reginae Obscurae ('Shadow Queen' in Low Gothic) has been the armour of choice for the Queens of Storm’s End for centuries. Though it has suffered grievous damage on many occasions, each time it has been painstakingly restored to its former glory. The most recent of these woundings occurred during the chaos invasion of Tsu’as. Queen Elizabeta went to glory, following her wrathful destruction of the Thousand Sons Land Raider, Fist of Ra, laid low by the sorcery of Magnus’s sons and the marksmanship of the Iron Warriors. The residual trauma was so great that Elizabeta’s successor, Queen Katherine, almost died during the rite of becoming and the fallen monarch’s spirit still haunts the knight’s Throne Mechanicum, whispering dire secrets and warnings into the young queen’s ears.

+++

+ The new rules +

In-game, I’ll probably run House Temporis using the rules for House Terryn as their swiftness is a good match for Temporis’ (in-universe) tendency to violate the laws of time and space, often without realising that they are. House Nestis is more problematic – I’ll probably run them as either House Vulkner (shooty) or House Raven (getting in the opponent’s grill quickly), with it being a tradition to consult an Oracle on the eve of battle to decide which of their twin doctrines they will use.

+ Expansion plans +

While I have a huge backlog to work through (I’m painting Tyranids for an event in October, and need to go back to my half-finished Mechanicus, Primaris Space Marine and Death Guard armies), I am tempted to slowly expand both Houses. I’m thinking that House Nestis would work well with a Knight Valiant or Knight Castellan, while House Temporis, given its relationship with Forgeworld Bezoa [+noospheric inloadlink embedded+] (which has lots of Horus Heresy era technology) and the fact that I’ve already got one Cerastus pattern knight, could be expanded with a few more.

Now back to your standard (and Inquisition-approved) pict-feeds…

+++

+ Thanks again to the ever-gracious Lucifer216. +