+ inload: Salamanders in the Horus Heresy +

+ A Mantle of Ash + 

I've been building Salamanders again. A few of the PCRC have dug out long-dormant Horus Heresy-era projects, and after their recent 2nd edition outing [+noosphericinloadlink embedded+] I thought it'd be nice to add some XVIII Legion forces to the pot. The plan is to keep things small – in the past, our HH enthusiasm has been dampened by the exhausting prospect of huge numbers of models to paint! – so we're currently looking to work on 500pt projects.

As you can see above, while I'm using the Mark VI box, I'm throwing in lots of different parts. I've got so many odd bits and bobs left over from years of building 'truescale' marines [+noosphericinloadlink embedded+] that I've found I can make a convincingly battered-looking late Heresy style force. The Salamanders, after all, had a rough time of things during the Heresy, being sidelined as one of the Shattered Legions. I've decided to lean into this and avoid having uniformity; it's proving a fittingly thematic way of using up my bits box. 

I've taken the idea of a battered post-Isstvan force, and want to build around this concept. I'm not sure yet whether the Salamanders will be veterans of the Dropsite Massacre, or perhaps an isolated Company that had to find out second-hand that Vulkan had (apparently) been killed.

I very much like the more human feel of the Salamanders in comparison to other Legions (I've always  tended to favour the goodies), but think that it works best when it's balanced with some sense of the Marines as savage weapons – after all, without any contrast, the characterisation becomes at risk of being one-dimensional. To that end, I want this force to be pulled in different directions; torn between their understandable desire to strike back against the Traitors, find out the truth of the fate of their beloved Primarch and Legion, and their sense of duty. And if that leads to some unfortunate clashes with forces that have different ideas of what Loyalty means, all the better.

Of course, I don't have a novel to get these themes across in the force, so instead I'm going to try to create characters who personify things – a triad of officers who have to find a way forward for their Company in the madness of the Heresy. I haven't quite pinned down exactly these will be in game terms, but I'd like to set up some narrative options – a leader who pulls the force towards finding the truth about Vulkan, no matter what (useful for creating a Loyalist-on-Loyalist conflict); one who is more concerned with following the Promethean Cult and serving humanity – perhaps pulling the force towards a more self-destructive/sacrificial direction; and one who wants simply to preserve and consolidate, sure in the Primarch's teachings.

This sword-wielding fella is the first leader built. I'm toying with him representing the Promethean Cult identity, and using the Chaplain rules. I've added some Raven Guard and Salamander trinkets, suggesting he's either an Isstvan veteran/victim, or has had some sort of link with other Legions.

This Adrian Smith Librarian artwork, from the old Codex: Armageddon, is a favourite of mine, and I've had vague plans to make a model based on it for ages. Perhaps this is the time? While I have used Librarians in the past, I've never been a huge fan of magic (the dawi in me, clearly), but the esoteric/visionary aspect of this project makes them seem very fitting.

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My existing Salamanders from the Dust of Armageddon project will be pulling double-duty here, too.

... and I have the other half of the Mark VI box to polish off, too:

+ inload: Cassus Belli, Imperator Titan +

+ Cassus Belli, Imperator Titan +

'How like a god he is, that ancient machine, primal of his kind, the Imperator! His mighty fists, massive like two towers of destruction, laden with the doom of mankind's bitter foes. He watches over us now as battle joins, and in his shadow we shall advance upon our enemies and defeat them.'

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I have very kind and generous friends, and Lucifer216 is the master of artifice that has granted the Legio Metalica this magnificent creation. Even bereft of his upper towers, he's the biggest model I've ever worked on. He was 3D printed and given to me assembled, as shown:

... which meant I had little to do in terms of construction beyond a little gap filling. For this I used greenstuff, using the blade end of a modelling tool to cut and place small strips, then the blunt end to smooth and shape it.

The cold, hard, unforgiving light of day shows both the results of my cack-handed efforts, and some of the minor print damage. The material is pretty sturdy, with some flex, but the detail on the digital sculpt is perhaps a bit fine to translate well – this is the reason the towers are missing too: Lucifer216 found that the filigree of the stained glass windows simply didn't print well.

He's suggested substituting the towers with the Civitas Imperialis spires [+noosphericexloadlink embedded+] from the Titanicus range, which I think's a great idea.

This rear shot shows the repairs made to the plasma reactor breach. Note I've left the gap in the doors; it just seemed fitting – a  good space for a techpriest, perhaps? [+noosphericexloadlink embedded+]

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+ Painting +

There's no avoiding that this is a huge model, so I thought the best bet was just to get stuck in – otherwise he's going to lurk intimidatingly forever!

He's received a black undercoat, followed by brown and red zenithal sprays.

A scale shot to show the size of the beast:

+ inload: Primed and ready to go +

+ Guardians ready +

'When there is no other way, the perilous path is the only road to salvation.'

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The Alaitoc Eldar army progresses, and so I thought I'd share what I've got so far. Before getting stuck in, however, I'd like to draw your gaze to a precious relic from the early days of the Internet, and still going strong, David M. Donachie's wonderful Eldar language guide  [+noosphericexloadlink+]. It's a wonderful example of fandom done right – a really useful, free resource quietly created and maintained by someone sharing their enthusiasm. (Go buy his books!) It's proving very handy indeed in helping me to create authentic-sounding Eldar terms and names, so the squad names etc. gratefully draw from this resource.

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+ The Guardians +

Craftworld Alaitoc appeared as one of the example schemes on the back of the Eldar Guardians boxed set (RTB17, according to Stuff of Legends), but there was very little written about the Craftworlds in terms of how they differed from one another. That would develop organically over the next few years, but fundamentally there wasn't anything special about Alaitoc at this point. They were a blank slate, created to help provide an example of the broader Eldar background covered in White Dwarf 129.

+ The back of the RTB17 Eldar Guardians set – complete focus on the colour schemes, rather than any background lore. +

... which is actually really refreshing to approach. Today it seems like every corner of the 40k galaxy, massive as it is, has been thoroughly mined and developed and explored, pushing the sense of exploration and mystery to the very boundaries. For the record, I don't think that is the case – the galaxy, after all, is a very big place... but either way, it's nice to look at an army that is more concerned with the core Eldar concept than a particular niche within that.

On with the show! The original army list has four squads of Guardians in, and I've now got three up and running, with the bits for the last one on their way:

+ Guardian squad 1: Catu Dyann Erathi +

Translating as nothing more notable than 'First Guardians that are purple', Dyann Erathi are a basic Guardian squad, with their default lasguns. The squad leader has a shuriken pistol and laspistol, and the last member has a melta gun. 

As explained in earlier inloads, in translating things to the modern period I've tried to evoke the poses and a few key details, while adding some extra little touches. In particular, the streamers and sashes of the originals are minimised on the modern sculpts, appearing only as little arm bands. These will take the purple colour of the originals, but in a more subtle way. The squad leader's top knot/tuft will make a nice new place to pop a little of the colour.

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+ Guardian squad 3: Tirtu Ionandyann Arithi +

The caption on the original text says pretty much what I was going to, and also hints that the name translates to 'Third Guardians of Battle'. I toyed with using the prefix 'Jov'a' (better) as a tongue-in-cheek nod to the fact that Shuriken Catapults were clearly the better choice for Guardians in the early editions – probably why Battle Squads were limited – but thought the phrasing above rolled off the tongue better.

The squad leader has had a gender swap here, mostly owing to parts available: the new Guardian box has proportionally more female members than the metal hybrid box. Still, I think this change is a good one as it saves us having two identical squad leaders – the same sculpt was used as the leader for both this and the close combat squad below, so I thought I'd tweak one a little further to bring in some variety. However, to balance this, I've tried to get the pose evocative of the original, while making the most of the increased dynamism. I think the use of the old weapons helps to sell this, too.

I just want to note how pleased I am with how the old shuriken catapults work on the new models. The smaller size goes a long way to giving them a slightly more realistic, retro feel.

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+ Guardian squad 4: Kantu Ukendyann Addani +

The 'fourth proximity-Guardians in white' are the squad that diverges most from the originals, and that's due to me wanting to make these close-in specialists more mobile and dynamic. Nevertheless, I hope that some of the poses still evoke the originals. It's more of a loose riff than the others.

The new Guardians kit come with lots of variation in poses, so I was spoiled for choice here. Hopefully you'll spot some similarities with the originals.

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+ Characters +

I also took some time to build Warlock Lorith, the name coming from a quote in the 3rd edition Codex:

The original, alongside the as-yet unstarted Farseer...

... and the update, alongside the Dark Reaper Exarch I started in this inload [+noosphericinloadlink embedded+], who now revels in the name Marithiyon, which literally translates as something akin to 'Skull removed from'; a very loose translation of the orginal 'Skulltaker'. He now has a proper web of skulls, taken from the original model and pinned into place. I bent the chain a little to add some more dynamism.

For the Warlock, I used parts from the new Warlock kit (this torso matches the original lead figure) along with a head, staff and pistol from the Corsairs Kill team. Some of the details from the psyker match the Warlock very closely – from the details on the helmet to the hand holding the staff/spear.

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Bubbling under, we have these gunners and support platforms. A bit undecided on how to approach these, I shall have a think...