+ inload: Armageddon Steel Legion release history +

 + Resupply: Seventh Army Group +

+ A patrol from the 7th Army Group take on a mob of Goffs. +

+ Known by those fighting it simply as 'The War', what would later be titled in Imperial histories as the Second War for Armageddon involved millions of Imperial Guardsmen and a colossal amount of kit. Some was imported from off-world, but for the most part, Armageddon's production capabilities were equal to the task. +

+ Today's inload looks at some extra equipment I've mananged to lay my hands on for my Steel Legion force. +

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+ History of the Steel Legion +

The Steel Legion release was a bit of a peculiarity, as was much to do with the Codex Armageddon supplement to 3rd edition 40k. The Codex was an interesting experiment from GW: rather than being focussed on a single army, it included extra units and rules allowing you to create Salamanders or Black Templars Space Marines forces; a Speed Freek specific list for the orks; and the mounted Steel Legion Regiment for Imperial Guard. In addition, it had lots of maps and background and ideas for fighting in the battlefields of this specific warzone. In many ways, it was the precursor to today's 'War Zone' campaign books.

The models were also a bit unusual, as they marked a transition between the metals of 2nd edition 40k and the plastics of 3rd edition. The full range – such as it is – can be seen here, on the Collecting Citadel Miniatures wiki [+noosphericexloadlink embedded+]. When compared with the earlier metal ranges for the Guard (Valhallans, Catachans etc.), you'll spot the available Steel Legion are a bit thin on the ground. Sculpted by the Perry Twins, the models we did get are wonderfully characterful, as this typical lasgun sculpt shows. 

In many ways the Steel Legion release was a bit of a last gasp of the metals. Unlike the previous Regiments, which were the de facto official kit for Imperial Guard, the Steel Legion were released after the plastic Catachan sprue and just a couple of years before the plastic Cadian sprue, and the way the wind was blowing, I think most contemporary gamers were beginning to see plastics as the future; so the Steel Legion always had a whiff of a stop-gap special release; a fun addition to the upcoming Cadians who would become 'the basic Guard'.

This feeling is emphasised by the small range. The earlier Regiments were (generally speaking) each released in two loose waves – an initial infantry box and officer followed up a couple of months later by a few alternative lasgun, special and heavy weapon sculpts, plus another sergeant and officer sculpt. The Steel Legion never received reinforcements of this kind, instead having a slightly larger single wave that included a couple of variant officers, a single extra special weapon and two heavy weapon teams.

In the weapons and equipment we can see this transition more clearly. The preceding metals all shared some universal equipment. The lasguns, water bottles, grenades and special/heavy weapons were shared universally across all the various ranges, from Mordian to Tallarn, as the examples of Catachan and Cadian lasguns below illustrates:

Catachan comm-link

 

The lasgun here was universal for Guard across the range.

A shot of various bits from the Cadian range – note the identical lasguns on the left; and examples of the universal  plasma, flamer, melta gun and bolt pistol models, too.

The Steel Legion (and much later, Vostroyans), differed here. They had a new unique pattern of lasrifle, which was clearly based on the then-current plastic Catachan lasgun. It had the same casing and slimmer, less cartoony barrel; but with less of the barrel exposed, and with a folding stock instead of a solid one:

The water bottle and other equipment had much the same signature as the older Perry sculpts, but were unique to the range. Little details like this make them stand out from the older Regiments, and presage what would come – though they remain a niche range. With just six lasgun sculpts, repetition is quick across an army.

More obviously, the Steel Legion got entirely new heavy and special weapons, which – to my eyes at least – were light years ahead of the clunkier old ones, and gave the Regiment a slightly more 'modern warfare' feel than the older equivalents.

The plastic Cadian range came out just three years later in 2003, and while the metals remained on sale, the Cadians quickly came to dominate. The Steel Legion therefore became a bit of a footnote in collecting history, but – as I hope you'll agree – the models are still lovely.

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+ What's new? +

Finding second-hand Steel Legion is now a challenge. Not only were they around for less time than the older metal Regiments, but their slim range of just two special weapons (grenade launcher and plasma gun) and three heavy weapons (missile launcher, lascannon and heavy bolter) was not evenly distributed – missile launchers and grenade launchers are very common, as they were packaged with the infantry squad; but the others are much rarer – and hence unfortunately tend to be prohibitively expensive.

You can still pick up some bargains, if you don't mind a bit of conversion work. The lascannon below was missing its crew, but a separate lucky find gave me one of them, and I converted a spare missile launcher gunner to act as a second member of the crew (at the back here) – a simple matter of cutting at the shoulder and wrist to have him holding a remote trigger while scanning the horizon.

The autosavant is trying to reconcile the non-standard crew – the body language says it all!

Alongside these I managed to pick up a couple of plasma gunners and a spare heavy bolter gunner. He received the leftover missile launcher arm from the conversion above – a neat way to kill two birds with one stone, creating some visual variety in the limited poses available and also making use of spare parts.

You'll spot a second standard heavy bolter team and some plasma gunners, too; alongside some 40k weirdos (old Inquisition models) that I thought fitted the vibe of the force.

The PCRC are planning an old-fashioned event, where I'm hoping to get to field some or all of my Steel Legion, so I'll get to painting. If time, budget and skill allows, I'd like to have a go at creating some Steel Legion Rough Riders to go with the army, as a nod to those from the Battle For Armageddon boardgame.

... and apropos of nothing other than I liked them, I indulged in some Steel Legion-themed dice to go with the army, and some 'sustained fire' dice for our continuing 2nd edition games.

+++

+ inload: Painting Silver Stars +

 + War of the False Primarch: Painting more Silver Stars +

+ Come and see. +

+ An inload looking at some work in progress painting on my Silver Stars for the War of the False Primarch, ahead of their not-quite Index Astartes. +

+++

+ [REDACTED] +

Are they? Aren't they? Lost or Forgotten, disguised traitors, a sinister alien artifice – or something entirely more esoteric?

The meat of the narrative in +Some Things Are Best Left Forgotten+ is, I feel, is in the five 'canon' Pentarchy Chapters, and the eleven(ish) Chapters of the Partisans, but the Silver Stars offer key background that gives the others something to shine against.

They were always intended to (and will) remain fairly anonymous and underexplored, but I thought it'd be underserving the people who have painted up some examples to not have any info, so rather than an 'Index Astartes' article, they'll instead have an 'Index Apocrypha', a bit like the Rogue Trader era-inspired Spacewolves Chapter [+noosphericinloadlinkembedded+], with the details left deliberately unresolved.

In short, you're going to get a look at the various theories surrounding them (and goodness there have been a lot!), including lots inspired by ideas that followers of the project have asked.

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To that end, then, I've been polishing things up. A further ten Silver Stars are nearing completion, along with the chap at the top of the inload, who is an as-yet-undiscovered character, bearing a Heat-Death Nihilation Mace and a sword, which may or may not be rainbow-hued.

The process I've been following is from my original recipe for the Pseudolegion, which you can inload here [+noosphericinloadlinkembedded+]; and they're getting to the stage that I'll need to add the markings, which you can dig through here: [+noosphericinloadlinkembedded+]

First up, three regular ol' Tactical Marines/Legionaries. As usual when building models, I aim for a couple of more interesting poses for every half-dozen 'normal' ones. That sort of proportion means that the army as a whole looks suitably military and determined, but there's interesting stuff to look at if you want to. 

Here, two carrying boltguns help to frame and set off one throwing grenades. All are in the curiously anonymous Mark II 'Crusade' power armour (or at least a very good replica).

Plumes are seemingly de rigeur this millennium for the Silver Stars; they add a little flourish, but don't seem to have particular relevance to the individual's status.

A volkite caliver-bearing Veteran here is flanked by two Pseudolegionaries with chainswords. 

... and because I can't resist setting up a shot or two in action, you can see how these will be used. If you'll forgive me showing a glimpse behind the curtain, it's surprising how few individual models you need to give the impression of a crowd.

There's about fifteen Silve Stars here, of which a substantial proportion are basecoated, as shown above, rather than finished and polished up.

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+ inload: 2nd edition 40k thoughts +

+ Hard Luck at Hemlock Bank +

Rutger's rebreather gave a protesting click. He was too tired to be nervous about the filter – all he wanted was for the interminable waiting to be over. The High-and-Dries had been encamped in the Hemlock valley for more than a week now, the orks sending occasional probing attacks along the line – not enough to warrant a decisive response, but more than sufficient to keep the whole line at ready status. 

Why weren't they attacking?

Little more than ten minutes later, Rutger would regret asking.

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A very fun little classic 40k game of Orks versus Imperial Guard, Bob Hunk fielded Og Throatchoppa's Blood Axes against my Steel Legion 707th. Commanded by General 'Asbach' Grünhold, the 707th fielded a reinforced platoon of around fifty Guardsman supported by a squad of Ogryn auxiliaries, a Leman Russ battle tank, and a Demolisher.

Besides the good General, a junior officer, two psykers and a commissar were also present.

Facing them was an intimidating sea of green – around three-score orks plus three looted Rhinos, one of which bore the infamous Og Throatchoppa and his retinue. 

A Shokk attack gun had been laboriously carried up an escarpment, and a number of shock troops, in the form of a mob of boarboyz and a dreadnought, were noted by Imperial observers.

The game was very enjoyable, with the Guard putting up a bit more resistance than last time! The line had been stiffened by swapping out the Griffon (Manticore) for a Demolisher and the addition of some Ogryns and Stormtroopers. 

The game started well for the Steel Legion, with early shots sending a mob of orks scampering for cover, and some lucky hits on the advancing Rhinos slowing the advance. The Boarboys overcame the Stormtroopers in the shuttle wreck, but a Demolisher shell completed the exchange.

We chatted afterwards and noted that it was nice that Orks and Guard weren't nearly as distinct as in later editions. The differences boil down to one better T for orks, and one better I for Guard; which meant that orks could exchange fire effectively, and Guard weren't hopelessly outclassed in every combat.

On an individual basis, Orks versus Guard is not nearly as predictable across the different phases of the game, which meant for closer exchanges and more nail-biting dice rolls.

There was plenty of fun stuff to laugh at too, with surviving tank crew frantically trying to man the right guns for the turn, and the poor ork boy pictured above being flung back and forth by the Primaris Psyker before finally making it into combat!

Lessons learned from more modern editions don't really follow – we'd forgotten quite how dead 'ard vehicles are, and as you can see from the brawl above, ork dreadnoughts versus ogryns isn't quite the death trap it later became.

Don't get me wrong, the rules are initially complex, but once you're over the learning curve, that's it. The complexity of the rules is built in and created through the decision you make on the table, so – with the notable exception of the Strategy cards and Psychic phase – there's not a great deal more that is added. As a result, it feels quite clean and clear once you're going. There aren't lots of exceptions and breaks and things to bear in mind, so there's less mental load than a lot of more modern games.

That's both a good and a bad thing. Epic: Armageddon and Adeptus Titanicus (my favourite tabletop games) both require constant engagement, which makes them very involving; while the turn-based 2nd edition 40k gives you more mental space, which is a different sort of fun.

Overall, a very enjoyable game – and it's stoked the desire to play more 2nd edition, so it's clearly doing something right!