+ Collecting +
+ I don't talk much about collecting as opposed to building or painting, and I think that's because I don't consciously think about 'sets' of models. Most, but not all, of my forces and factions have developed gradually. Nevertheless, I do sometimes think of armies as 'complete', which I suppose implies there's a sense of a complete collection. +
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| + A selection of models from the War of the False Primarch setting – a collection in the making? + |
+ Anyway, why am I talking about it? Well, in turning more attention to the War of the False Primarch, I always wanted to make sure there was at least one new model in every article. As it happened, I've ended up rather deluged(!) with awesome stuff from other contributors, so I haven't had to paint many models up to enable me to make posts like this [+noopshericexloadlink embedded+], which feature a model for each of the eleven(ish) Partisan Chapters and all five(ish) of their foes, the Pentarchy of Blood. +
+ Where I have stepped in, it's usually been to build a 'normal' Tactical Marine; a bog-standard soldier with a boltgun, as – for understandable reasons – creators tend to want to prioritise making the unusual stuff that gives their Chapters character. +
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+ Firebreak +
+ So it was with Cameron M's (@Dizzyeye.01) Chapter, the Firebreak [+noosphericinloadlink embedded+], where I painted up a marine (see below) in fairly short order. As with a surprising number of the Partisans, the Firebreak scheme is basically silver with differently-coloured shoulder pads, so he was quick to paint up, and I spent most of my time on adding fun freehand twiddles. +
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| + Adept-brother Hild Brandt, Fourth Conclave. Note prominent Caputmori torso decoration + |
+ While quite pleased with the result, it's niggled a bit at me that, firstly, he's a 3D print, and so stands out a bit from the others in the 'collection; and secondly, the Firebreak have such lovely depth to their background that I wanted to do something a bit different. +
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+ The appeal of the Firebreak +
+ They're a subtle Chapter, in that there's nothing that really jumps out as their 'thing' (like White Scars bikes, say); but I think that's where their appeal lies. Their homeworld is a great mix of Arrakis from Dune, Tatooine from Star Wars and a lovely dollop of Warhammer darkness. +
+ As Cameron puts it:
From the start, I wanted these guys to feel accessible to people wanting to give the Chapter a spin without having to worry about forming a squad. Plus, considering the general context for the War in general, it'd make sense for there to be some chapters hurting from the very start so I was more than happy for them to be on the back foot from the very start.
As for a note on the gardens, I really wanted to explore a different side to the marines that we see flashes of in some of the Horus Heresy books. They have the chance to be more than just killers – but the galaxy has different plans in mind.
As for any advice I could offer to anyone looking at taking a crack at the Firebreak; the freedom is out there. The chapter is very much an experiment for me testing out freehand skills such as the flame marks and the inscriptions etched into their armour (if you have it, the white markings from the 30k Word Bearers transfer sheet work really nice for adding a little something extra on top) can really go anywhere within reason. [...] Experiment, see what works and what doesn't. You never know when you can hit upon a great idea.
+ It's implied that they're a Dark Angels successor, but the way that that they deal with the secret of the Fallen is awesome. Rather than having only some members of the Chapter informed about them, the Firebreak are all aware of the Fallen – but the twist is that their Chaplaincy (the Dark Judges) use a form of hypnotic memory suppression. As a result, aside from the Judges themeselves, none of the Chapter are conscious of the Fallen until the memory is ritually dredged up immediately prior to the mission – and then just as swiftly repressed once more. +
+ Secondly, they maintained gardens on their desert deathworld home, which has a wonderfully sense of melancholy; and more than a sprinkling of Samurai traditions. +
+ Thirdly, the poor buggers get absolutely stomped by the Carcharadons in the early days of the war (thanks to Cameron for being such a good sport about this!), and driven from their homeworld. As a result, we've got a small number of quasi-mystical warriors armed with the sword style of their lost homeworld. It's a heady mix – and not one that I felt my bog-standard Tactical Marine properly captured. +
+ So I built this guy:
+ A relatively straightforward conversion, this uses the Phobos Librarian as the basis. I've removed the markings and details that identify him as such, to strip him back to simply being a robe-wearing warrior monk. +
+ The main change is the head. Unless you're happy to resculpt the robes, robed models can be difficult to repose convincingly. Here I opted to change the direction of the head – I've exloaded before about how this can go a long way to changing the feel of a conversion – and so swapped it out for one in my bits box. I think it's from the Deathwing boxed set, but I wouldn't want to swear to that. Initially I left the face bare to further distinguish it from the base model, but in the end sculpted on a rebreather, as it's such a cool part of the original, and not something that is indicative of a Librarian. +
+ The main work went into sculpting over the Phobos legs to convert them into Mark VII. I've really liked the base model since it was released a few years ago now, but really didn't like the legs. I'm glad I finally bit the bullet and gave it a go; the sculpting was easier than I'd feared, thanks to the way the model is broken up. +
+ I was aware that I didn't want him to read too much as a robed Dark Angel. It would be a disservice to this successor Chapter to simply being a pale shadow of their former Legion – indeed, I like successors in general to be as distinct as possible, which I why I think Chapters like the Carcharadons work so nicely; they nod to their (likely) progenitors, but have a distinct character all of their own. +
+ To that end, I've used a scimitar style sword and trimmed away details like the keys. I wanted this Firebreak marine to look like a road-weary ronin, and plan to incorporate some patterning and colour into the rob to prevent it looking too monk-like. +
+ Looking forward to getting some paint on him, just in time to hep illustrate Warzone Qorabbas, where the Firebreak ambush the Flesh Eaters... +
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+ Not only but also +
+ A few extra close-ups of the War of the False Primarch set-up at the top. Who – and what – can you spot? +
+ Coming back to the idea of collections... It's satisfying to pack things away neatly and have a fresh space, but every so often it's worth pulling things out and just appreciating all the work you've put into your stuff. I usually expect to see lots of things I'd change and improve – but I'm also sometimes surprised with how pleased I remain with some stuff. +
+ Mini-warfare +
+ Over the weekend, I met up with my gaming group, the PCRC, and had both a lovely catch-up and some really enjoyable games. The ever-generous Lucifer216 also came bearing gifts in the form of Mark II marines and some casualty figures. The former (and probably some of the latter) will see the War of the False Primarch (or are they really a missing Legion, and it's HH warfare?) expand into the 15mm realm.+
+ Stage 1, as usual, is gluing them onto pennies. As Stuntwedge observed, it's weird to be doing this, but you try finding bases for a penny a pop... +
+ Onto this I add acrylic texture gel and sand, as for most basing I do. Here, because the figures were designed for 6mm Epic gaming, they have large integrated bases. To help camouflage this, I added a mix of leftover greenstuff putty, small pieces of gravel, and a mix of the detritus that builds up on a cutting board: old hardened putty bits, plastic trimmings and sprue offcuts make for decent rubble at this scale, and the acrylic gel holds it all securely. +
'One Throne on Terra! Onwards for the Primarch and the Emperor!'
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