+ Kill Team Clawthorn +
'Though my guards may sleep and my ships may lay at anchor, our foes know full well that big guns never tire.'
+ — Lufgt Huron, the Tyrant of Badab +
+++
+ The idea of a 'mirror match' – whether guard versus guard, ork infighting or Eldar civil war – never fails to capture my imagination and suggest stories, but Space Marine civil wars are particularly tricky to justify. +
+ Fortunately, Rick Priestley wrote a great example of just such a campaign in White Dwarf 101: the Badab Uprising. With great characters, great Chapter ideas and a relatively mature, complex storyline – more than just 'baddies and goodies – it quickly became the de facto setting for gamers looking to fight marines against marines. It's been revisited and updated and revised and become quite a well-worn path for many hobbyists. Nevertheless, not one we've tackled for many years. +
+ So; the PCRC started up a little project to scratch a couple of collective itches; to try out Kill Team and to paint some small groups of Space Marines in unusual Chapters. +
+ I would have loved to have tackled a similar prospect in our own region, Antona Australis [+noosphericinloadlink embedded+], using it to explore and carve out some long-neglected or hinted-at Chapters like the Stellar Steeds, Kings Martial, Sons of Spectra, Ishilites, Emperor's Hawks, Hammers of the Emperor, Scarlet Blades, Adamants, Chapter Castellan or Lions of Sol, but Badab offered the reassuring hand of 'officialdom/canonicity' which makes the setting more accessible, so we plumped for that. +
+ Clawthorn +
+ The main thrust of the project was to build cool space marine models, but as a nod to the period Badab is set in, we've largely decided to convert them back to 'Firstborn' – that is, the classic style of Marines – from the new Primaris figures. There is, of course, no requirement to do so – after all, everything you have been told is a lie – but doing such small groups makes converting every model a possibility for everyone. ++ Last time we had a bash at the setting, we ended up with loads of loyalists and very few traitors (something I suspect happens a lot, with many gaming groups), so I plumped for Astral Claws. After all, what's the Badab War without the Badabaddies? [+inload audi-vox file: *rimshot*+] +
+ Below you can see the fruit of an evening's work chopping and kitbashing, using the same techniques and consideration that I outlined in an earlier inload [+noosphericinloadlink embedded+] for my Alien Wars Blood Angels. +
+ At core, Badab is set in M41, and the Astral Claws are not meant to be that old (in relative Chapter terms); so I've mainly stuck with Mark VII. +
+ With that said, individuality looks key in Kill Team. Each model needs to be identified by both sides, and that's got to be taken into account. For that reason – and because I think Space Marines are most interesting when they have a certain personalisation and variety in their armour, I've not gone super-uniform. The chap above has a vintage helm, pauldron and shoulder pad. +
+ While I just did this for aesthetics, it occurs to me now that these would be a perfect excuse to give him the veteran skill from Kill Team – which just goes to show that sometimes you can plan your ideas then build, and sometimes the models you build will suggest their own ideas. +
+ Kill Team offers some space for fun 'hero' poses or one-off details – subtle things like the use of this African-featured head that would get lost in a broader army. With Space Marines being so uniform, little bits like this help suggest stories and characters. +
+ The sergeant's a good example of the PCRC's attitude to this campaign: after building him, we realised axes weren't allowed to Primaris sergeants, but 'rule of cool' overrode that. After a bit of discussion, we've ended up with some laissez-faire house rules on equipping figures that basically boil down to 'models first, rules second.'
+ Converting figures for sneaky skirmish games like Kill Team lends itself to subtlety and slightly more cinematic poses than the all-out charges typical of mass battle games. +
+ A simple group shot. I enjoyed building these, and have some spare Primaris marines, so I'll likely build some more – perhaps make a round dozen or so – then pick the best ones to play with. +
No comments:
Post a Comment