+ inload: The King of Beasts +

+ The King of Beasts +

Representing nature, mastery of fear, and fruitfulness, the Suit of Beasts has belonged to the traditional Cephean card deck since its earliest generation. Inverted, these qualities become associated with malignant growth, panic and moral turgidity. While the other suits are only occasionally decorated, the Beasts are traditionally individually illuminated with man-animal hybrids that reflect the problems of the state at the time. In the past, poverty, disease and outside powers have dominated, while later periods subtly allude to political unrest, economic uncertainty or division within the Wellborne houses.

Cephean folkart also traditionally associates the Cardinal cards with the Beasts – the artwork for the Bishopric Martial (VII) and The Cyngs Enthroned (XIX) being particularly ripe for satire – in theory reminding heads of the state that they sit by the will of the people; while in practise being an opportunity for the lowest form of mockery.

Of course, such satire walks the fine line of sedition. The Wellborne court have traditionally allowed the people of the City this minor vent for their frustrations – indeed, Ferlinghetti has seen the cards of Cyng Bodonis VIII, who – for a period – hoarded and revelled in the most seditious of such cards, particularly favouring those who reflected him most monstrously. Other rulers or governors have banned such cards – and meted dreadful punishments on their artists, ranging from imprisonment to torture; even exile and death in some cases. 

This has lent the artists a certain cache in some circles, and the card-artist is a stock figure in many Cephean entertainments, being a symbol of puckishness and mischief. Colyn of Cern is the semi-fantastical tale of a celebrated artte-bandyt of Cephean folklore; his tale describes his rise to fame; his triumph over the Forwandlers of the Heath; and finally his sticky (and fingerless) end at the hands of Cyng Bodonis, whose indulgence and sense of humour evidently failed him at the last.

While the tale is certainly sensationalised, Colyn of Cern was definitely an historical figure. Two extant cards can be attributed to him with certainty, as they formed the primary evidence in his trial: the King of Suns and the King of Beasts. One is gloriously gilded and triumphant, showing a noble man clad in golden armour; the other a base beast, distorted and monstrous, with altogether too many limbs and a sinister air. 

Colyn's genius – and guilt – was simply in making the cards form a pair; the crime simply being the transposition of the symbols for Sun-King and Beast

+ Extracted from Childeric's notes on Cepheus – Three Years On + 

+ Some miniatures are straightforward; build as intended, then paint. Others take a more leisurely and planned approach; starting from an initial concept.  My Court of the Sun King project is mostly made up of the latter – and that's part of the reason it takes so long! +

+++

+ Theoretical +

+ Some miniatures are straightforward; build as intended, then paint. Others take a more leisurely and planned approach; starting from an initial concept.  My Court of the Sun King project is mostly made up of the latter – and that's part of the reason it takes so long! +
+ Primarily a conflict between my characters Inquisitor Unfortunus Veck and Sephran Mawl, the project has a third crucial figure: the genestealer patriarch, Papakakek Pameras, who will work as an antagonist to both. +

+ The concept behind this miniature started out fairly simple – for years I've wanted to bring a bit more David Cronenberg-style body horror to Tyranids (Advanced Space Crusade has some really disturbing incidental images of semi-human tyranids, which really stuck with me). A key theme of 40k revolves around the human form and its degradation or corruption – with spiritual or moral corruption often becoming visible physically. +

+ As well as being scary aliens, tyranids also encompass the fear of becoming consumed or subsumed, converted into something else. Big Boss Red Skullz brilliant Nestorian Infestation project [+noosphericinloadlink embedded+] explores this concept through an really creative genestealer cult, and that turned me towards genestealers rather than tyranids. They already have hybrids, and I wondered whether I could explore the other side of this – tyranids develop as they progress; so they should presumably explore some human-like elements in their directed evolution. +

+ With these key visuals in place, I thought some more about the character. How would a genestealer operate on a feudal world like Cepheus? I thought that the populace would treat it much like another creature of horror – the vampire. Both are creatures that stalk the night and turn people into things like them, and I thought there'd be some great storytelling opportunities. +

+ Papakakek is patriarch of the Catipürnan World-Turners, a genestealer cult centred on Cepheus. It's slow-growing owing to the isolation of the cult and the planet's low tech-level; but at least one person is aware of the xenos – though not our Inquisitor! +

+++

+ Practical+

+ The model is based on the genestealer broodlord from Space Hulk, as it has a lovely pose; perched like a gargoyle. I toyed with draping it in a tattered cape, but in the end decided that would humanise it too much – I want him still to read as an alien, and a monster; and that meant having the limbs and carapace visible. +

+ I trimmed away much of the technological gubbins – especially the Terminator helms! – and replaced one of the hands. I toyed with removing a limb entirely, as I thought having an injured patriarch would be quite a cool storytelling twist. In the end, I decided I didn't want anything to evoke sympathy or suggest weakness in the creature, so contented myself with reposing the legs into a more passive squat than the stock model. Similarly, I trimmed the arms off and draped them downwards, changing the posture from active and gestural to more considered and passive. +

+ The most obvious change is the face, which is sculpted from greenstuff. I've left the eyes hollow – a common body horror trope – and tried to create an elongated but recognisably human visage. I wanted it distorted, rather than warped, as I didn't want to create a Chaotic (with a capital C) appearance, but keep it alien. +

+ The base is an objective marker – I wanted him to be perched on something high so he can look down on other characters. He is posed to be in opposition to the Sun King model. A nice little unplanned extra is that viewers need to pick the model up to see the face. That forces them to be a bit closer, which keeps the face a – rather unpleaseant! – surprise. +

+ Painting +

+ Still work-in-progress, the idea here was to keep things muted and subtle. I've used blue-greys to suggest a nighttime feel. The Engineers from Alien were a bit inspiration. +

+ inload: Bristol Silence, the genestealer threat, and The Alien Wars +

+ Chrono-shunt active: Deadline deployed +

+ As the pict-capture below shows, it's not all games and theory for me – though if you fancy trying out some Gargant rules for the new Adeptus Titanicus, I'd very much appreciate your input [+noosphericinloadlink embedded+] – I'm also (slowly) getting on with my infiltrated PDF force for the Bristol Silence campaign. +

+ The only model that's recently reached a finished (bar the base) state is the officer above, thought the long and tedious batch-painting on the remaining infantry is starting to bear fruit. They've all reached what I consider the base-coat stage. The officer above was a test of how far I can realistically take such base-coated figures in a short period of time, and I'm pleased to say that he took only around twenty minutes to take to this state. That's given me a realistic target to aim for for the remainder; and I think I can probably tackle half a squad or so in an evening going forward. +

+ The second part of the force I'll be taking to Bristol is the genestealers, of course; but it wouldn't be me if they weren't converted or altered in some way – particularly since the Steel Legion models I'm using for the infiltrated PDF are for the most part unaltered. + 

+ Just as the Steel Legion will see double-duty in my Alien Wars project [REF: tab-bar at the top of the page – +noosphericinloadlink embedded+]as the ldebaran 4th/5th; so too will some of the genestealers appear in another project. +

+ As a little work-in-progress preview, here's the King of Beasts:

+++

+ LOOPACTIVE: Procrastination subroutine  +

+ As is traditional, in trying to finish the Steel Legion, I had the sudden urge to clear up other bits and bobs. The Blood Angels 3rd gained a lieutenant:

+ Fairly simple stuff, using the new Blood Angels lieutenant as the base, but with a few bits and bobs to make him fit in with the rest of the army. I wasn't a huge fan of the original's pose – the head in particular looks really awkward; and so I've opted for a more open feel, as though urging on his comrades. Creating M35 marines (for The Alien Wars project) is interesting – not quite so uniform as HH marines, nor so opulent as M41. +

+ ...And having popped open the Dark Imperium box to get sprues to build the Blood Angels lieutenant, the inevitable happened, and I got sidetracked building Death Guard. +

+ Such cool models! I've done some minor conversion work (altering poses I found awkward, and making the heads a bit more uniform) but the underlying models are so gorgeous (in a horrid gribbly way) that they just work. +

+ The design has some great callbacks to Jes' classic Plague Marine sculpt. I've no great plans for anything big with these, but they were a genuine delight to put together. If they're fun to paint, I might expand them a little. +

 + Like much of GW's recent Chaos releases, the dolorous chap carrying the great bell has an wonderfully over-the-top and silly name – my main objection to the Death Guard release was the stupid naming – but the figure itself is fantastic. The conversion work here was mainly trimming off the really over-the-top elements to reveal the underlying silhouette. A headswap to more closely match the iconic Death Guard helm gives him a bit of individuality, and I twisted the arm to give a swaggering motion. +

+ inload: #PolyphyRises – Ecce +

+ An invitation +

+ You may have noticed that the top bar of this blog is getting increasingly crowded. Recently I have added an invitation to join in with the Court of the Sun King by populating Cepheus. Have a look, and if you'd like to join in, I'd be delighted. +

+ If you're on mobile, there'll be a little button at the top right to click to move away from the Active Feed and find the project tabs, but if it's playing up, try this [+noospheric inloadlink embedded+] to take you right to the heart of the action. 

+ I'll be adding a few prompts or kicking-off points every so often, but do feel free to do what you want to on the backwater world. +

+ The first of these loose ideas is as follows:

A handful of Sky

All of the figures in my project are identified by card in a mythical traditional Cephean deck; the suits of which are Beasts, Cups, Collars, Hands and Suns. Roll a D6 to discover the suit.

Suit

• 1 Cups – symbolising enjoyment, civilisation, comfort.
• 2 Suns – symbolising glory, life/death, royalty.
• 3 Hands – symbolising manual labour, intrigue, integrity.
• 4 Beasts – symbolising nature, horror, fruitfulness.
• 5 Collars – symbolising acceptance, resignation, clarity of sight.
• 6 Tarot – a unique creation.

Next, roll a D20 to find a number. Numbers above 10 are face cards – above 14 and the suit becomes inverted: start counting back down – sixteen is thus the Queen inverted. Inverted suits begin to represent the inversion of their symbols. Inverted hands, for example, symbolise corruption, idleness and polemicism.

+ Feel free to use this or ignore it for your first Cephean figure(s). +

+ If you'd like to use a hashtag, try #PolyphyRises to tie back in. +

+++

+ Ecce: the Sun King's coterie +

+ A (long-delayed) continuation of an inload covering the WIP stages of the figures [+noospheric inloadlink embedded+], the Eight of Clubs and Four of Suns mark another two members of the Sun King's own group, Ecce. Dernledger (the regular human) is the finished version of a concept mooted in the very first inload of this blog [+noospheric inloadlibnk embedded+]. He represents the Soldier archetype detailed there. Along with the Rubricist and the Autoscribe, that's three of the figures completed... +

+ I don't think the final paintwork is my best work, but sometimes it's better to leave things as they are and move on. In the grand scheme of things, I think they're perfectly acceptable, and have a little robust charm. +

+ What I am pleased with is that Dernledger seems to have captured the spirit of the Court of the Sun King project. Ruffed and uniformed, he's also dirty, desperate and slightly lost-looking. +

+ Threack is similarly brutally opulent – mostly due to the gloriously baroque sculpting of Bob Olley. His sculpts are always a pleasure to paint, rewarding a wandering and playful painting style. +

+ A hint of Adam Ant, Bladerunner and Sláine pops up with the addition of facial paint. Freehand details like this can suggest the wearer's culture – Threack might be dressed up like a fourpenny rabbit, but his tattoos and choice of weapon are facets of his own upbringing. Stuff like this helps me feel the figures – however minor to the story – have their own part to play, and often lead down a rabbit-hole of inspiration. +

+ The Sun King's sigil – a blazing, rising sun – is also marked on the new figures. Both the sigil and the warpaint are motifs that have popped up on other members (known or unwitting) of Ecce:

Two of Beasts: Thorna Tempest [+noospheric inloadlink embedded+]

Four of Cups: Vanya de la Oawadh [+noospheric inloadlink embedded+]

King of Collars: Sebastian Ottavus Arcimboldo [+noospheric inloadlink embedded+]

+++

+ inload: Sephran Mawl – villainy in the 41st Millennium +

+ The Sünñe Çyng +

+ Every good hero needs a good villain, and Unfortunus Veck's nemesis is (in my opinion at least) the most compelling character I've ever been able to come up with. +

+ He's serves as a mirror to Unfortunus Veck himself [+noospheric inloadlink embedded+]; but as Inquisitors aren't exactly shining paladins of light, his nemesis is equally a rather ambiguous and mercurial character. +

+ Polyphy. Sciriusc. Sephran Mawl. + 

+ Sephran Mawl popped up way back in 2008 [+noospheric inloadlink embedded+] as a mention in the PCRC's Mellissan Secession campaign. The campaign itself fizzled, but the idea of a beloved and heroic general starting to disobey orders in order to wage a more efficient, pragmatic war; and one less costly in terms of his soldiers' lives, got my mind turning over. +

+ Over time, Sephran Mawl began to develop into a character who would do anything to advance human influence from the Sector (and, in theory, the galaxy); with little respect or recourse for the demands or traditions of the Imperium – not a renegade so much as simply bypassing the usual channels. Such a character is not unusual, even in 40k, but Mawl is not merely a rebel; he is, in terms of the Sector, a visionary. +

+ At root, Sephran Mawl is a great believer in humanity. In many settings, he'd be the hero. He invigorates and encourages his followers, believes in defending the weak, and has a charismatic and compelling personality. Pragmatic enough to disobey orders and wily enough to avoid sanction, he is capable, energetic, resourceful and charming. Sephran Mawl has, over the course of a decade, managed to rally the resources of three planets (Veet Ling and Camyblon in the Cambyses system [+noospheric inloadlink embedded+], and Cepheus in Port Cassian [+noospheric inloadlink embedded+]) and extended his influence over countless more. +

+ However, he is also a high-functioning psychopath; owing as much to Colonel Kurtz and Hannibal Lecter as to Alexander the Great and the Emperor Constantine. He is both willing and capable of infiltrating and manipulating those around him in order to advance his cause, and – if he believes the sacrifice is worth it – is more than willing to commit genocide; as witnessed on the atomic wastelands of Cambylon and the events on Cepheus [+exloadref: Court of the Sun King+] +

+ Even within the Warhammer 40,000 universe, he's very much the sort of chap who ends up in the Inquisition. His philosophies – of a manifest human destiny and the supremacy of man – tally closely to the Monodominants, and his methods are much the same as the Recongregators. +

+ So why is Unfortunus Veck after him? +

+ Sephran Mawl and Unfortunus Veck represent what I consider the two options for humanity in the Warhammer mythos. Veck symbolises authority. Oppressive and watchful, his galaxy would see absolute control (and safety) at the expense of humanity's creative urges and spiritual potential. On the flip side, Mawl represents freedom – the opportunity to pursue your own destiny and right to privacy; though not without danger. +

+ In short, they represent authoritarianism against liberalism; fear against hope; worldliness against naivety; cynicism against romanticism; and, ultimately, law against chaos. That's got obvious connotations in the 40k universe, but I wanted Mawl to be more than just a caricatured megalomaniac, pursuing pure power for selfish means. The moral grey areas of the Inquisition are far more interesting to me, as they let us explore real-world considerations of right and wrong, how opposing philosophies can both have appealing and repulsive aspects; and how appealing or trusted ideas can be revealed to have unintended consequences. +

+ This is all quite heavy for a game of toy soldiers, but I hope that when you read the Court of the Sun King, on some issues you will side with Veck, on others with Mawl. They're not intended as goodies and baddies; except in concert with each other. Both would be horrendous monsters in the real world, but when you see what Papakakek Pemeras (remember that name!) is bringing to Cepheus, you might see why they have to make tough choices! +

+ My intention is for the project to explore Veck and Mawl's relationship, not to follow either character arc to completion – the end result of that is Mawl discovering the Fell Powers (like most inhabitants of the Imperium, he's largely unaware of them) and either becoming a spawn or daemon prince; while Veck either succeeds in apprehending Mawl or dies. For me, it's far more interesting to have them dance within the moral grey area than to give a neat answer. +

+++

+ Making the model +

+ I rather had the wind knocked out of me with Sephran Mawl's model. I'd spent ages planning and creating Sciriusc the Sun King (that is, a pseudonym for Sephran Mawl in his augmetic heirloom power armour) only for Games Workshop to reveal the Stormcast Eternals the following month. The enormous plate-armoured figures with impassive masks just made Mawl – who I think was quite an interesting and distinctive model – look derivative. + 

+ With a year or two having passed by, I've come back around to him. Sure, he's no longer as striking and impressive as I felt he was when I made him, but he's a solid model, nonetheless. After all, look how many wonderful conversions have been based on the Nurgle Champion! The pose – had raised in a mercurial gesture that might suggest the offering of hope as much as a raised threat – is strong, and the distinctive banner should help him stand out as something a bit special. However this model turns out, I have a feeling I'll return to Mawl in the future – perhaps in his guise as Polyphy. +

+ The conversion itself was deceptively complex, as it involved a hell of a lot of removal of detail and reshaping of the distinctively chaotic armour. The silhouette remains sinister – I want him to look impressive and opulent, but subtly evil-looking. I left the detail on his left shoulder pad as I want to incorporate the hands of the Cephean card deck I created for the project (cups, suns, hands, beast, collars); that pad represents the suit of Beasts. +

+ In terms of painting, I'm going to avoid metallics. I want to distance the figure from Stormcast, and I already have a Blood Angels Captain to paint in opulent gold. I'm toying with oranges and pale greens for the Sun King Sciriusc, as these will complement the overall palette for the project. +

+ inload: When not to paint +

+ Painting Dernledger and Threack +

+ Painting this pair of 'fine, upstanding' soldiers has proven more of a challenge than I was expecting, but is a good example of the importance of tone over colour – and why sometimes it's better to stop than carry on. +

+ Comparing the two WIP figures below, you can see that Threack (the ogryn) fairly effective tonal contrast – his light trousers against the dark gloves and base, for example, help the figure to 'read'. Dernledger, meanwhile, is a demonstration of PPP, or 'piss-poor planning'. +

+ As mentioned in the previous inload, the aim was to evoke a Napoleonic-era military uniform to the model – which, on the surface, should have worked, as the figure has a coat, breeches, boots and straps – in other words, all the main features I needed. However, in diving in, I ran into problems – the legs are all-but-covered at the front with heavy armour plates. In painting these silver, I immediately lost the 'white breeches' feel. +

+ Working on the fly, I decided that the armour plates on his top half would have to be red to get the redcoat impression: they simply cover too much of the surface of the fabric to work otherwise. However, this raised another problem, in that the figure's become very monotone. It also created one of my pet peeves about painting – using the exact same hue on different materials. It's very unlikely (to my mind, at least) that the red used for the armour panels and the red dye used for the coat fabric would match exactly. +

+ So, what to do? Well, when I reach a point like this, I stop – it's far too easy to [+SCRAPSHUNTERRORABORT+] up some perfectly good paintwork by trying to fix things on the fly. Instead, I put the figures down and wander off for a cup of recaff, then come back later to look at them with fresh eyes. +

+ Tweaks to Dernledger +

+ My current plans are as follows: to repaint the straps with the same white as his breeches, and to create a different weathered white to use on his kneeplates, the armour on the back of his hands, and the scabbard on his knife (on his leg). This'll bring some more white to the figure to bring back the Napoleonic look without losing the feel of high black boots, and will help to break up the large monotone areas of red. Secondly, I'll brighten the white on the collar to help frame the face. Thirdly, while I will leave the torso and shoulders red, I'll probably add a little freehand to add detail. +

+ Tweaks to Threack +

+ Threack seemed to work a bit better owing to the less-cluttered sculpt, so for him, I think I'll concentrate on cleaning up the white a bit and finding a muted midtone for his boots and gloves. The gloves in particular are too large to look good in white, I reckon. + 

+ inload: Dernledger and Threack +

+ A brace of cards: the Eight of Cups and Four of Suns +

+ Painting Dernledger and Threack +

+ Still WIP, the plan is for these two to represent the citizenry of the regiments roaming around the burning city. I thought a messenger would be interesting – a bit more derring-do than a typical soldier of Cepheus, and making him an officer gives him a little clout. +

+ Starting from a fairly chocolate-box image of a redcoat, I've dirtied and bloodied him up. His hair is unkempt, his headdress missing; but he's kept the starched collar. Details like this hopefully make it clear that Cepheus is more than a little anachronistic. Dernledger is a man of the dark ages, equipped with a space-age ray gun and dressed in a modern-day tech update of a Napoleonic uniform. New Romantic/Punk make-up should help him settle into the grim 80s darkness of the far future, too. +

+ I couldn't bear to alter Threack, as the Bob Olley ogryns/ogres are some of my all-time favourite models. I'd love to get hold of the other club-wielding version sometime, to add to the group. +

Between the wellborne and the masses, stand the aspirant couthclass. Tradesmen successful enough to need work no more, kirkmen and women of the Ecclesiarchy, those whom fortune has propelled to wealth or influence, and the officer classes of the wellbornes' throngs.

Dernledger, Estafett of the Bekenner's Muster is chasing desperately after such status. Loyal to the Throne above the King (and as such, happy to have transferred his oath from the Cyng-in-exile to Sciriusc) and to the House of Bekenner, his regiment's sponsor and commander, below that; he is ultimately pragmatic in his pursuit of respectability.

The Bekenners, a formerly influential wellborne house with close ties to the Ecclesiarchy and dotted Cephean Missions, have found much of their base of power shifted as the Domiciler's Quarter suffered a collapse – both economic and literal – in the eighth month of the war. The Sun King was gracious in extending his patronage to the Muster, feeding and arming the impoverished soldiers before desertion wracked the Regiment. Of course, this 'generous' action is little more than an exertion of power. By subtly humiliating the House of Bekenner, the Sun King strengthens his own hand and binds yet more of the City's wellborne and their militia to his service...

+++

Dernledger himself is a typical couthclassman, a second son who has achieved a minor role – a posting as a petty officer with little true command – and jealous of losing what little influence he has amassed, and paranoid of the surly conscript messengers under his command. He carries a precious and rare laspistol, handed down within the Muster for decades, though the war in the City has meant this has had more use in the past year than in the previous ten.

Like his men, the Estafett finds himself daily poorer, grubbier and more unhealthy as the war drags on. Tasked with delivering orders and news through the roughest areas of the city, he and his men have become experienced urban fighters, able to work mounted or unmounted, and utterly ruthless. His experience is typical of those without independent means, and unwilling to accept that he has hit the doldrums.

His discovery of the fact that the majority of the messages and missives are simply scrawled notifications of deaths amongst the muster has done little to soften his saturnine demeanour.

+++

Dernledger is usually accompanied by his Necessary, Threack – the name is a Cephean diminutive meaning 'force'. Unusually, his service tattoos indicate he is an ex-guardsman auxiliary from the Somatos system [+noospheric inloadlink embedded+] – likely one of the many Regiments Brachyllas has produced over the centuries. How he has ended up in the City is anyone's guess, but it is likely he was an indentured gift given to the House of Bekenner by a visiting General or local Priest. Despite tribes roaming the distant Cold Flattes, ogryns remain rare and popular novelties amongst the masses of the City, and having one 'on staff' is a feather in the cap of the Bekenner Muster.

+++

+ inload: Meanwhile, on Cepheus +

+ This inload continues the Court of the Sun King project. If you're a newcomer, or want a refresher, this is probably the best inload to read to get an idea of the atmosphere [+noospheric inloadlink embedded+]; but please do follow along on the dedicated blog on the Ammobunker forum [+noospheric inloadlink embedded+] +

+ Childeric is continuing his investigation into the identity of Sciriusc the Sun King, bearer of the false Cephean Warrant of Imperial Commandery and Planetary Governance. The underscribe Ferlinghetti, one of his companions, takes up the story: 

Childeric and Ferlinghetti arrive on the scipping-rigge.

We had reached the scipping-rigge three months previously, after a long coach-trip took us out of the City. The coachman was... convinced not to sell our whereabouts; but in any case Childeric had altered our plans immediately on reaching the coast. We spent a shivering three days clambering over and picking our way through the coastal ruins, before buying our way onto an unlicensed fishing boat and bullying the ship's master to dropping us, via an awkward wrecker's route, on Mastermann's Islet; an abandoned and storm-tossed outpost. We laid low in the shadow of the Blac-lichthus for a week before finding ourselves, as Northgrass had suspected, not alone. 

The Sun King's agents were predictable only in their perseverance. Unexpectedly – at least to me – the Owlingmanne had not come himself. It is unbecoming to eavesdrop, but such is my wont. In situations such as that in which we found ourselves, manners leave men like me dead. It was the – tacit – opinion of Northgrass and Childeric that the Owlingmanne was not under the King's influence at all. That raised unpleasant implications for me. At best a second party was interested in confronting Childeric; at worst the Inquisitor's identity was already unfurled, and one of the few advantages I had been counting upon was lost.

Our pursuers slipped. They were little more than distant, scuttling silhouettes on the foreshore as Northgrass lit up their location. The wildlife did the rest.

So we continued. An occasionally gruelling, but mainly reassuringly dull voyage on a cash-in-hand hauler took us to the rig overseen by the Mechanicus.

Manderghast, as is typical of the priesthood of Mars, had played his cards close to his chest. Wisely; for no Inquisitor can truly be said to have friends in any real sense; and the Magos knew the power of leverage. Still, once his manhound was down; and with all of us nursing bruises, Manderghast and Childeric reached an agreement. No Inquisitor can have friends, but Childeric could certainly have confidantes. 

...And thus we discovered the identity of Sciriusc, the Sun King. Little did we know that, back in the City, Sciriusc knew our names too...

+++

A champion of the Cyng-in-exile confronts Orphan Arcimboldo, the King of Collars. The meeting is brief!

+ inload: Return to Cepheus +

+ Return to Cepheus +

+ The sleep of reason brings forth monsters +

+ The sleep of reason brings forth monsters +

+ The sleep of reason brings forth monsters +

+ The sleep of reason brings forth monsters +

+ The sleep of reason brings forth monsters +

+ The sleep of reason brings forth monsters +

Vanya de la Oawadh watches astropaths from across the City being escorted to the Sun King's Palace.

Magos Manderghast and his manhound confront Childeric and the Underscribe.

Thorna Tempest amd her troops, under orders of the Sun King, search for [REDACTED]

'Cuius est solum eius est usque ad coelum et ad infernos, Ferlinghetti. And this planet belongs to the Emperor.'

+ inload: Ecclesiarchy and Blood Bowl +

+ Plastic Sisters of Battle +

+ Conversions, admittedly, but very simple ones. These are made from Genevieve and Eleanor, from GW's new Triumvirate of the Imperium box set. A little chopping and repositioning brings them down to earth, and I've added boltguns from the Sisters of Silence sprue. +

+ I'm more pleased with the one on the left, but I think both are pretty cool. The colour scheme is as-yet undecided, but they'll be joining the vague group below, themed around enforcers of the law and the Ecclesiarchy.

+ Blood Bowl +

+ Unrelated to the above is Piritt Silvers, my Blood Bowl blitzer. A very simple conversion that involved little more than trimming away some of the details from the new Griff Oberwald sculpt from Forge World. + 

+ Here's a scale shot next to one of the old metal team that I'll be painting soon. +

+ inload: Intrigue at Warehouse CCLIX – Part IV +

+ A  Warhammer 40,000 2nd Edition battle report – part IV+

+ This (much-belated!) inload stems from others – Part I of this battle report can be found here [+noospheric inloadlink embedded+], part II here [+noospheric inloadlink embedded+], and part III here [+noospheric inloadlink embedded+] +

+ When last we read about Warehouse CCLIX, the Church of the Astral Ascension were closing in on the Hangman's Rope, the personal retinue of Inquisitor Unfortunus Voke. +

Ferlinghetti and Tempest came sprinting across the plaza as Arcimboldo primed a krak grenade on the surface of the stasis pod. With a great roar, the explosive ruptured the stasis pod, denying its contents to the genestealer menace. Panting, the autoscribe reported silhouettes and blips appearing on his auspex. Time to be gone...

Purestrains darted from cover to cover as they raced across the ground, their claws skittering across the broken cobbles.

What was in the stasis pod? There was no time to investigate. Even as Sergeant Tempest kneeled down to pick through the hot remains, Arcimboldo grabbed her webbing and pulled her up, urgently pushing her and Ferlinghetti to move.

Meanwhile, Manderghast advanced to buy the Rope some more time. Trusting in his power armour and mechanical might to carry the day, he broke cover and spat hard light at a group of hybrids.

The Church were pouring into the area now, individuals and groups appearing on both flanks.

Cymgin and Toria, the guardsmen, kept cool heads as monstrous forms began to close in on them. Rattling autogun fire kept them advancing cautiously.

Manderghast put down one hybrid, and braced himself for an attack from the nearby group, rolling his shoulders to limber up.

Veck yelled for Tempest and Ferlinghetti to redouble their efforts. Arcimboldo had pushed them off in order to escape two purestrains, but their recalcitrance forced him to turn back to face both monsters.

They charged, and his flashing blade leapt up into an en garde position. This would be the fight of his life...

Heeding Veck's orders, Manderghast let off a couple of warning shots, then ducked back behind the alehouse and began running back to the escape route.

Veck watched powerless as his forces fell back... Had destroying the stasis pod prevented a future disaster, or merely delayed things? That it was precious was clear, and he cursed inwardly that the Rope had been unsuccessful in retrieving it intact. However, this was a case of life and death now – and his team had still to escape.

+++

+ The concluding part can be found here [+noospheric inloadlink embedded+] +