+ Warzone Coldforge +
Becklin shivered. Water vapour hung in the air. She wondered if it was being vented from somewhere, then dismissed the thought. Another series of hard bangs, staccato and overlaying, echoed down the walkway. More pursuing Guardsmen – but distant enough to put to the back of her mind for the moment.
The scribe bleat-blurted again. This was the quietest way he could vocalise; and this the only way he could usefully draw the attention of his companions. Becklin turned to him, pointing her autorifle down towards the floor.
"What is it, Ob?" The scroll was upside-down to her eyes, so she tilted her head. Her eyes flicked back and forth between his face and his hand, as the res-papyrus scribed quickly..
+ Kleinmann-Low + the script read. +Thirteen-thirteen; occluded. Losing identity.+
Object-BN had picked up the Void Baron's battletongue quickly – unsurprising, given his profession, and Becklin had grown curiously fond of the bent old man. She nodded in comprehension.
A louder series of barks now; closer to. Becklin and Object BN flinched, but before she could even resight her rifle, Neugebauer stepped around the railing, boltgun held one-handed and outstretched. Neither had heard him approaching.
BA-BANG!
The crashes the boltgun made in the confined space were deafening. The Void Baron turned to them, his beaked helm swinging around.
'Ugly brutes on this planet. You two'd fit right in." he growled.
Becklin grinned behind her mask,
"C'mon – let's get going. Ob's found the ingress-point." She gestured theatrically. "After you, Neugabauer. Age before beauty, after all."
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| + Becklin, Neugebauer and Object BN + |
+ You can read about the Warzone Coldforge Challenge Event, which has come to an end here [+noosphericinloadlink embedded+]. +
+ Of course, if you didn't quite hit the deadline, or have only just heard about it, then that's no problem at all. The whole Some Things Are Best Left Forgotten project is intended to inspire and enthuse, so if you want to further explore Coldforge, then please do carry on using the #warzonecoldforge tag – I'll keep an occulobe on it and continue to feed the results into the project blog. +
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| + In the depths of Coldforge! + |
+ What does it mean to have a Primarch returned? That was the spur for me, and what I wanted to explore with my challenge entry. After some thought, I decided one way to show this would be to have a rag-tag group; a sort of mini Inquisitor's warband, but led by a Space Marine. It would also give me the change to paint up some cool one-off models. +
+ The decision on the Chapter was tricky. I've wanted to paint up some Death Eagles (I), as we're still a bit short of those; and likewise I'm itching to try out some of the other lesser-seen Partisan schemes, like the Iron Guard, Red Fish or Jade Talons. While a Red Fish would be ideal for leading a group of non-Astartes, the others weren't well-suited. In the end, I opted for a Void Baron, as this privateer/pirate-themed Space Marine Chapter is really characterful. +
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+ First up then is Neugebauer, a Void Baron space marine. This Chapter are shipborne assault specialists who fell into the 'Primarch's' influence after their fiercely independent – some would argue piratical – practises led to falling out with the Imperial Navy. Simply armed with a boltgun, he's got some additional tech-deelies on his vambrace, and is carrying a meltabomb – perhaps he's some sort of demo-man specialist? +
+ To tie in with the setting, Neugebauer's wearing my interepretation of a suit of Coldforge-pattern Mark VI 'Corvus' plate, with its distinctive beak. Such is the strain on manufacturing due to demand and the rigours of warfare, the suits are fairly bare-bones as far as Power Armour goes. This one has either had supplementary rims added to help protect the joints, or its bearer kept an old set. The torso is bare of the Imperial Eagle – lots of Partisans removed it, but in this case, it may simply never have been added. Instead, the phrase 'VIXI' has been scrawled across the plate – literally this is one way of translating '16', but it can also be read as 'I have lived' (and therefore are expecting to die)' – as a mark of the Void Barons' unsentimental black humour. In a retrohammer nod, his pauldron is also marked 'Kil Kil Kil'. +
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+ Object BN is a scribe. I wanted to have a normally non-combatant role included in the little group, as I think it explains two things:
- The war involves every level of Imperial society; it's not restricted to traditional soldiers. This is a struggle for the Imperium's future.
- Even the most humble figures – perhaps especially those – might see the appeal of a new future; even if the 'Primarch's' motives and aims aren't entirely clear.
+ The figure is unmodified besides snipping off the tab so he'd fit on a tech-deck style base. The scrolls include a couple of little Easter Eggs for those following the project, and I was particularly pleased with the conceit of having cyan, magenta, yellow and black inks in the printer/copier device hanging round his neck. +
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+ Last but not least is Becklin, who represents the everyman in the project. Tough, resourceful and determined, she's a symbol of the baseline humans who are fighting, suffering and accomplishing things while the demigods wage their war. It's a mark of her and her comrades courage that they're willing to grab a rifle and try to make things better for those around them. +
+ The colour scheme of all three is muted. I wanted a fairly oppressive atmosphere for Coldforge, and the dingy, desaturated tones seemed to fit in quite well. Common basing, and using the same colours but in different proportions across the three models helps to suggest they're associated, even if not uniform. +
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+ Just a few extra shots here. I'd love to see what you've come up with for Coldforge – remember to use the #warzonecoldforge tag on Instagram, or come and share your lore and pictures on the Facebook groups:
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