+ inload: Salamanders Terminators+

+ Under burning sands and rocks, Salamanders emerge +

+ A quick look at some minor progress in the Dust of Armageddon project. +

+++

Ambition's great, but is can also be restrictive, and January's a great moment to say to yourself 'This idea has been lurking half-baked for too long – just get moving.'

It's with this in mind that I dug out some sprues that have lurked unbuilt since the release of 10th edition 40k, and set to building.

+ Librarian +

The stock version of this sculpt is awesome, but I couldn't help myself when it came to building him, and made some simple changes to personalise him a bit:

 

The head's from the Terminator squad, and fits nicely with an artwork that's stuck with me, of a power-armoured Librarian from Codex: Armageddon. Perhaps this chap is the same figure at a later stage of his career?

Beyond that, the brazier is from a Chaos figure, I believe – maybe the chap yelling and waving a book? – and the rest of the conversion work is little more than a slight repose on the axe arm.

+ Commander +

Every force needs someone in charge, and so this Terminator captain has stepped into the fray. The thunder hammer is from the old Space Hulk Terminators (I've made this picture black and white to hide the red plastic), and is understated – clearly a figure who appreciates that less is sometimes more in craftsmanship. I've tweaked the wrists and positioned the head to be looking upwards as something even bigger than he is: I wanted a wary but determined and confident look. 

While adding the details like the tongs and brazier (like the head, all taken from the Salamanders upgrade sprue), I couldn't help hearing that line from the Marvel Thor film:

'You're big. I've fought bigger!'

+ Elites +

What are officers without their troops? The last things built were a Terminator squad. These are pretty much straight from the box, though I swapped the arms around, added some details like tilt shields, votaries and such like from various marine kits, just to differentiate them from the other push-fit models.

Nothing here was particularly difficult or notable, beyond scraping off the Terminator sergeant marking on the marine at the back. I already used another copy of that base figure as the sergeant for my other Terminator squad (below), and wanted to avoid duplication.

Prior to building, I also worked a little on some of the models that have been lurking too. This was fairly monotonous: painting the bases, the hands and picking out blacks on the figures. It's odd coming back to figures after a long time. I'm sure I'll get back into the swing of things, but for the moment it's still feeling a bit untethered!

+ inload: Corsair Gambit part III +

+ The Corsair Gambit part III + 

+ I've had a very busy and very enjoyable few days of gaming, hanging out with friends old and new. Saturday was spent with Baraqu droog @seneschal_werhner at Maximal Fire's The Corsair Gambit event for some Epic: Legions Imperialis fighting; and Sunday and Monday was with the PCRC, including a 2nd ed. 40k game. I'll froth about the latter game in another inload, so here's a very quick overview of how the Corsair Gambit played out. +

+++

+ Salamanders and Legio Maximal +

As you can see below, I did manage to get everything painted up in time (hooray), though not quite as polished as I'd have liked (boo). 

The event itself was brilliant. Two games over the course of the day was a good shout for 3,000pts. Epic: Legions is an old-school game that rewards time spent on it: the rules are too byzantine to crash through three games easily, and there's the very practical aspect of moving models from one board to another. To put this in context, at Beachhead, I had five Titans and their terminals to move between games. Here, I had upwards of a hundred, and that's with a sixth of the army taken up in a hefty Warlord Titan.

I also had the good luck to spend time with two great and gentlemanly generals, who made the gaming really enjoyable. Please excuse the lack of pict-captures – there was already a lot going on, and I wanted to focus on enjoying the games!  

First up was Grant's lovely Dark/True Mechanicum, which were supported by a Warlord and Reaver:

The mission involved capturing three objectives, one of which was removed each turn. This shot, from the Mechanicum's table side, shows the end of turn 1, I think. I'd managed to get a foothold on all three objectives, largely thanks to the manoeuverability of the Space Marines.

There was a good mix of forces at the event, with all three big forces (Marines, Guard and Mechanicum) appearing on both sides, along with a healthy sprinkling of Titans and aircraft. 3,000pts really lets the visual side of the game shine, particularly since everyone had really pulled out all the stops to make some great-looking armies.

The Warlord, Consequens Indevitatus, was downed in this game on turn 1 without firing a shot – to our mutual amusement – which gave me an uphill battle. It turned into a real back-and-forth struggle, with the speed of the marines allowing me to adapt to the changing battlefield; while Grant's ponderous Mechanicum were unable to put their (substantial!) power where they needed to be, as the objectives thinned out.

The game ended up being decided on secondary objectives, and was a narrow squeak for the loyal Salamanders. A very fun game indeed, and a great army and opponent to face.

+++

Game 2 involved the Salamanders surrounding and attempting to capture three central objectives, while the Imperial Army held them off. Commanding the traitors was @Tetsugakhan (go check out his awesome painting).

This was a bloodbath from the beginning, with huge damage done to both sides from turn 1. Solar Auxilia have a lot of tricks up their sleeves, and the sheer number of superheavy tanks and artillery was daunting to face. 

The variety in this army made it great fun to play against, with a real feel of combined arms. As with Dark Mechanicum, I'd never played against Solar Auxilia, and they were a treat to fight against. Events like this give me a great opportunity to actually play games, and so it's lovely when you get to play cool new armies against cool people on cool tables.

This shot sums up the visual appeal of Epic: Legions for me – tanks, troops, titans and aircraft all in concert. You'll be pleased to hear that Consequens Indevitatus gave a bit of a better account of himself in this game, contributing to clearing out the central bastions, and surviving everything Tetsugakhan's air wing could throw at him!

This game ended in an honorable draw owing to time, with both sides exhausted!

+++

A really enjoyable event, so thanks to Johnny and Alex from Maximal Fire for organising it, and to all the players involved. The narrative ends with Nabed-Paleae falling to the traitors... so we'll see what the future holds for the Vigilants!

+ inload: Legions Imperialis Corsair Gambit painting +

+ Drake Hunters – 5th Company Salamanders +

'The 5th has a reputation of destroying large enemy constructs and alien horrors. Its members specialize in slaying the salamander drakes of Nocturne. As a Reserve Company, they rarely fight together but instead are used to reinforce other companies during campaigns. In battle, they favor acting as mobile weapons platforms instead of static defense and use a large amount of Dreadnoughts. They also make extensive use of attack craft and heavy gunships.'

– Codex supplement: Salamanders

***

One of the great appeals of Epic-scale gaming is that you can easily make armies that feel like armies, throwing whole companies into the conflict. If you're into the pseudo-historical side, there's a lot of fun and creativity possible in designing colours or markings or campaign banners that fit well into the established material. 

Codex: Armageddon [refcapture={ABOVE}] has a few variants and ideas in yellow, while this artwork shows a yellowy-orange pauldron for the 5th. In the post-Primaris landscape, the 5th Company is a definite orange, rather than yellow with orange shadows, but that's part of the fun of painting your own models – you get to choose.

The Salamanders don't have anywhere near the amount of background lore and artwork as the 'Big Chapters', but there's still a huge amount from which to draw inspiration. With that said, if you want to be really strict and 'rivet-countery', I think the Salamanders aren't a great place to start, with lots of retcons, overlooked details and contradictory information. 

As I've noted in earlier inloads, I think regarding the lore as 'true for a certain period of time' is about as good as you'll get. Of course, that also makes them a great place to start being creative!

+++

As you can see, I've painted these marines to have yellow pauldrons with black Legion/Chapter icons. Having different markings on these figures to the rest of the army (which are green with black as a secondary and white details) is very useful from a practical point of view – it's easier for everyone involved to distinguish formations from one another, and is also more interesting for me to paint, keeping me engaged. 

The Epic scale makes it easy to handwave a great deal of otherwise curious wibbly-wobbly timey-wimey stuff and allow these figures topull double duty for both HH-era and Armageddon-era gaming; but I still find it fun to make something that'll fit neatly in both – after all, this is a collaborative hobby, so I want to make sure that those who lean harder into the 'historical' side of Legions Imperialis/Epic aren't too offended. 

It's partially for that reason that I picked yellow as the heraldry colour. It's got precedent in both HH and 40k eras as an accent colour, and helps to make the base green pop. 

+++

+ Roll call +

What have we got here? I had sufficient models to put together 9 Tactical stands (by drafting in sergeants, the odd veteran and squad banner bearers, you can have five on each stand and still stretch it), 2 Plasma Support squads and 2 Missile Support squads.  Besides that, I put together a Command stand, too, with a converted banner bearer and a Terminator Sergeant standing in for the Officer. I like a bit of variety in the HQ models.

I think it's important to remember that these are 8mm models, and meant to be fielded en masse. Detail and precision aren't necessarily your friends here, as they'll stretch the time needed to get your forces on the board. Sometimes, 'fair and finished' is the goal, rather than jewel-like individuality.

As an example of what I mean, looking at a stand chosen at random reveals the hideous daubings importance of abstraction at this scale. I think the freehand Salamanders symbols on the pauldrons do a pretty good job of evoking the drake's head Legion icons, and when seen at actual size, the effect is fair. Nevertheless, they're far from perfect. Where you decide you want to strike the balance is worth thinking about in your plan... just don't let your aspirations stop you from getting started.

+++

+ What's next? +

These infantry mark the last in the list for this coming weekend; fittingly the reserve company being used to expand and plug gaps in the line of battle.

That leaves the vehicles to polish up and the Warlord to paint. I'm feeling quietly confident about this, as the tanks are nearly there. They'd be fine to field as-is, but I think an evening's spit and polish will do wonders to bring a sparkle to the battlefield.

To do, then:

• 6 Land Raiders
• 6 (well, 7, as there's an extra) Land Speeders
• 4 Rhinos
• 2 Kratos (Kratoi?)
• 3 Predators
• 2 Contemptor Dreadnoughts

... which sounds like I lot, but as you can see, isn't too arduous:

These have all been basecoated, washed, had the blacks and metals picked out, and basically need the decorative metallics (the bronzes) added, along with the tracks and markings. Should – cross fingers – be relatively quick.

Which leaves the elephant in the room, Consequens Indevitatus, Warlord Titan of the Vigilants. The base, thank the good Lord, is done; and the metallics laid down. 

It's now whether I can make a good stab at painting the rest of it over the course of two evenings, while also not falling asleep at the event!

But is it an event if it's not a caffeine-fuelled-late-night-painting-the-day-before-deployment event?

+++

+ inload: Salamanders reinforcements for The Corsair Gambit III +

+ Combat Strategy +

+ Salamanders reinforcements for The Corsair Gambit III +

+ Another Epic-scale campaign event is coming up – the closing part of Maximal Fire's Corsair Gambit. You can get a ticket here [+noosphericexloadlink embedded+], if you fancy joining in. Having taken the Salamanders to the first two, I wanted to be there in the closing stages, too. +

+ Into the Fires of Battle! +

+++

+ Plans and preparation +

The event pack notes that the game size has increased to 3,000pts, so I've got some building and painting to do – though in a pinch I have plenty of Epic Ultramarines and various Titans that can fill in some space, so the pressure is off. Nevertheless, I'd like to have a nice cohesive army, and it'd be good to round off the Salamanders and apply some of the lessons I learned at the previous events. 

You can pick up on the previous panic-painting sessions here [+noosphericinloadlink embedded+], if you're interested in what the rest of the army looks like.

Long-time inloaders will know I like to build campaign-specific stuff for events like this, and since the fighting is taking place on the forgethrone of Legio Maximal, Nabed-Paleae, I'm planning to take a Warlord Titan. The points restrictions for allies (no more than 30%) mean that I'll have to replace Profugon Iratus, the Reaver who spearheaded the previous campaigns, but I do want to make sure that there's at least one Titan from the Legio there, fighting for its homeworld.

+++

+ Salamanders +

While a Warlord Titan will gobble up a significant amount of points (and also help to keep the number of Detachments/Formations down to help with game speed), I've also got some new Space Marines to paint. This is a mix of infantry and armour:

I think Epic-scale games looks best when there's a combined arms approach, with a range of everything from infantry, armour, aircraft and War Engines involved. Happily, GW's new FAQ for Legions Imperialis has addressed quite a few of the bits I disliked about the base ruleset, and has gone some way to rein in the strength and flexibility of infantry.

Nevertheless, what Space Marine army doesn't have lots of Space Marines? I had some Marines left on-sprue from previous events, so it's time for their time in the sun – and guilt-free, as they'll now behave more reasonably than their super-speedy previous incarnation. On the blocks are:

• 8 stands of Tactical Marines
• 2 stands of Plasma Support Marines
• 2 stands of Missile Support Marines
• 2 Command stands.

These won't add up to a huge amount of points, but will allow me to bulk up Detachments and give my marines some real sticking power around objectives. The Salamanders Legion special rule makes them very resilient morale-wise, and this will combine well with the Demi-Company Formation special rule, which makes supporting non-infantry better at supporting them when capturing objectives.

As you can see above, I have created a monstrous 'painting sprue' to hold the marines while I spray and paint them. To do this, simply snip off the extraneous supports, trim those below, and glue it to the remaining sprue so the models stand upright, in a consistent orientation. The two-part missile marines and plasma marines, some of which are oriented differently to the Tacticals, are cut off individually and superglued straight to the bit at the front of the painting sprue.

Once in position, you can prime with brown (I use Colour Forge's Hyrax Brown), then do a zenithal spray of Salamander Green – that is, keep the sprue at a consistent angle, and spray downwards onto the models, so the brown remains visible in the lower recesses.

The same zenithal spraying approach was taken for the vehicles, though since they're considerably larger, I also turned them upside-down and gave them a quick spritz with a darker green to suggest reflected environmental light. The additional armour units are:

• 6 Land Raiders
• 3 Predators
• 2 Kratos
• 5 Land Speeders
• ... and 4 Rhinos, which don't currently have a place in the list, but are on standby to fill in space.

The Kratos are that rare thing in my army – a unit that doesn't have any place in previous editions of the game, and are included slightly begrudgingly as the only Heavy Armour choice currently available to Marines. With that said, I like the models a lot more now I have them in hand, even if they do have the weird half-visible tracks that I find so odd about the newer Marine Armour (Sicarans likewise flashing a bit of thigh).

In terms of armament, I've picked one of each Kratos main gun – primarily to try each one out. These will be Command Tanks, and if time allows, I'd like to go to town on these a little bit with markings and freehand. The Predator squadron is armed with lascannon turrets and heavy bolter sponsons as a bit of a change from the others, which have the old-school autocannon turrets and lascannon sponsons.

+++

+ A minor rant on list-building +

You'll spot that I've got 'spare' Rhinos that may or may not make the list, and that's because I can't bring myself to write a formal list just yet. I find army building in Legions Imperialis a chore. There's loads of fiddly technical hoops to jump through – 'you must have X'; 'you can't have Y'; 'you're only allowed 30%' – but they don't really do much to rein in abuse, as the stories of LI tournaments attests, with armies made of hundreds of Missile Support Marines, Dreadnoughts and Warmaster Titans, with a scant few stands of Tactical Marines to make it legal.

Secondly, the divided nature of the army list across loads of books makes experimenting with lists more awkward; and then there are odd decisions of iconic units like Whirlwinds and Vindicators still not being out, or the Land Raider, the Space Marines' battle tank for forty years inexplicably being made into a Transport...

Oof. All exhausting, and another unnecessary bit of 'mental friction' that prevents people from picking up what is at root a very simple and fun game.

+++

+ Painting +

Once dry, I started painting both infantry and vehicles using the technique outlined in this inload: [+noosphericinloadlink embedded+]. They're ticking over nicely, but I think I'll have to pick up the pace a bit to get them all up to scratch in time for the event. 

Of course, this is where future-proofing comes in handy, because I've got a pile of bases ready and waiting from the last big batch of Epic Salamanders I did – once the marines and Land Speeders are painted, it'll just be a case of gluing them in place.

Speaking of the Land Speeders, the squadron needs a sixth member – en route from the piractical forge-moons of eBay – and because the only ones I can find are pairs, I'll end up with six with the flamer and multimelta option.

It may be objectively worse than the plasma and heavy bolter variant, but who cares when I can indulge the pyromaniacal desires of my mean green Space Marines?

+++

+ What else is new? +

As you'll see below, there are some 32mm Salamanders awaiting a bit of painterly love.

Oh, and this...

+ inload: 8th Squad, 2nd Company +

+ Squad Greon; 8th of the 2nd Company +

+ Another inload that's been lurking ready to polish off. I can't quite believe that, apparently, I finished these in 2023(!). I guess in between other projects and painting their Epic-scale counterparts, it has been a while. +

+ This inload has remained embargoed in this noospheric node because it was orginally intended as a series – but rather than sit on it forever, I thought you might like to have a grand sweep! +

+ Below, then, is the extent of my finished Salamanders – though there are more on the way. After all, what reinvigorates interest in a project more than taking a look back over the finished ones? +

+++

Unlike the others, his measure of patience had run dry some time ago. Another breakdown. Another pause. Volkaeus Orurr breathed out testily.

Looking for a distraction, he reached for the rail and clambered up to the Rhino's roof one-handed, his boltgun in the other. Magnificence was not the fastest transport in terms of raw speed, but unlike the convoy vehicles, he mused darkly, it could keep going. 

The transporters were not vehicles intended for service in hostile environments like the Dune Seas. With a regularity that struck Orurr as perversely ill-fitting to their mechanical reliability, every few hundred klicks one or another of the tankers or luggers would slew to a halt as filters clogged, tyres slumped, or the over-stimmed and under-rested hiveborn crew passed out in the unaccustomed heat. The convoy would pause, on edge and nervy, as the errant vehicle was coaxed back into life, winched back onto the track, or otherwise repaired. 

The worst were the failures that billowed thick, oily smoke – as potent a signal as any the orks might hope for. Easy pickings here, the coiling smoke suggested.

Not for the first time, the Salamander cursed the name of Herman von Strab. According to Captain Mir'san, it was largely owing to the Imperial Commander's arrogance and mismanagement that these intra-hive transports were all that was available for the backline armies. Hurriedly fitted with bulky external breathers and heat shielding before being filled with vital water, fuel and materiel, the vehicles were slow and unreliable – and thus the convoys were perfect targets for the roving greenskins.

The cream of Armageddon's armies had been lost in the early conflict, and the replacements far from confident. Upon his arrival, Chapter Master Tu'Shan had been appraised of the situation by Captain Galenus of the Ultramarines' 4th, and had immediately taken it upon the Salamanders' broad shoulders to ensure the world could fight; that its vital roads and arteries would be protected from roving marauders. Clapping his cousin on the shoulder in gratitude, Calgar had made his gratitude clear that the Ultramarines would be freed to prosecute the offensive. 

+++

The ever-present chemical tang was acerbic; but the height afforded by the Rhino gave him a moment's relief. The vehicle crews needed rebreathers in the hot, dry air, but the Space Marine's genewrought might made the air merely unpleasant. He wrinkled his nose in distaste and looked about him.

Armageddon's sun was low in the sky, red and ominous. Dark spots across it marked orbital defences – or more likely the wreckage of the same. The ground was seemingly an endless sea of yellow-grey dunes; the road all but hidden. Orurr's belted helm knocked against his leg as he straightened up. 

Nothing for five hundred miles in any direction. No landmarks save the distant hive – and that had long been swallowed by the dust. Not even Astartes' vision could penetrate that.

+++

+ V'reth Tardisdemi +

Previously known as Man'Ekes Kenndh, he adopted the name V'reth Tarsidemi following his tempering. Noted as 'Melancholy of aspect and pensive by nature', Tarsidemi appeared to regard his promotion to the Battle Companies as part of a great cycle; an inevitable result of his forebear's consumption in the pyres of warfare, rather than as a result of any exceptionalism on his part.

Regarded as over-analytical and tiresome by his previous squadmates in the 6th Company, he was an uneasy fit amongst the Flamehammers. He found a more fitting place within the Defenders of Nocturne, where both his asceticism and his appreciation for aesthetics came to be regarded as strengths.

+++

+ Cassax Fo'ken +

Bastards. That was what they always were. Fo'ken had fought seven different species of Xeno bastard, and been involved in wars on seventeen different campaigns involving human bastards. Oh, they varied – different weapons or tactics or heights, novel spines or scales or ululations – but all that mattered, to Cassax Fo'ken, was that they were bastards that he had to kill.

The orks were no different. Not for him the Salamanders' ritual term – the gurm kenndh, or 'Old Enemy'. No, to him, the greenskins were simply bastards. Small bastards, big bastards, bastards with big guns... It mattered little to him.

In truth, he was an outlier. The first to be assigned to Greon's squad, Fo'ken was as dependable as any of his brethren – though few sought him out for comradeship.

+ Typhak Numatone +

Unequivocal and single-minded from an early age – 'from the cradle,' joked his parents – the boy who was to become Brother Typhak Numatone had the given name of Br'Tra, which meant 'supremacy' in his city's tongue. Whether through destiny, a sense of filial duty, or simple nominative determinism, Br'Tra doggedly purused Ascension, believing it to be the only way to do honour to his family. Such ambition is not infrequent on Nocturne, but Numatone was able to moderate raw drive to avoid pride and become a considered – if impulse-driven – addition to the 2nd Company.

 

The reinforcing studs on his left greave are an example of the customisation that Salamanders are wont to practise on their armour. Famously, every Salamander creates his own armour – and while this is broadly true in terms, it remains the purview (and responsibility) of those inducted into the Cult Mechanicus to truly render it into Power Armour. 

 

+++

+ On Armour +

During their time in the Seventh company, each Scout will work under the auspices of a Techmarine to forge the external plates of what will become their suit of armour. Not all will prove of battlefield quality, and Scouts are encouraged to retain the items they have forged – thus a talented individual will be proudly 'bare-celled'.

 

The pattern of armour a Scout will undertake to create will be suggested after consultation with the Techmarine, Officers of the Seventh, and (usually) a representative of the Promethean Cult. Thus a Scout may begin to manufacture a suit of any STC-approved mark – and in exceptional cicrumstances, even beyond these. By far the most common in the centuries approaching the Badab and Armageddon campaigns was Mark VII plate, vulgarly known as 'Aquila Armour' on account of its prominent eagle-headed breastplate.

 

When the time comes for a Scout to advance to a Reserve Company, they will present their plate to one of the three Masters of the Forge for inspection and sanctification. The Forgelords will assign an underling – usually a Techmarine, but occasionally an adept and sanctioned Battle Brother who has chosen to sponsor the Scout – to convert the suit of inert plate into functioning Power Armour.

 

The newly-ascended Reservist will then use the armour going forward. Most Salamanders will continue to refine their craft, expanding their skills in the forge by creating additional plates or even full suits. Some focus on aesthetic changes such as lizard-scale trimming or patterning visible only to those with Firesight. Others favour practical augmentation of their existing suit, adding sub-surface reinforcement or back-ups to keep their armour functioning under stress. 

 

A few petition the Techmarines to allow them to attempt other patterns of armour, seeking the challenge of inviting the notoriously fickle 'ruh' (machine spirit) of ancient patterns into their creations – this accounts for the relatively high number of seemingly ancient armour patterns in a Chapter that practices ritual destruction of grave goods. Of course, since a warrior will wear only one suit of armour, other surviving suits may remain as relics – and as with other Chapters, it is relatively common for such relic suits to be used for honorifics, either in whole or in part.

+++

+ Yaptan Greon +

+ Adrak Ush'en +

He had filtered out the rattling creak of the tracks, the ever-present squeaks and groans of Magnificence, and Sepor's private murmured mantra. It was harder to ignore the bucking as Magnificence's suspension made heavy work of this rutted, ill-maintained section of road. The Marine opposite, Numek, hammered a gauntlet on the internal door after a particularly rough jolt.

"Zer Nazan, Ka – much more of your driving and we won't need the gurm to kill us."

The driver yelled back an expletive.

 

Ushen grinned. He could have connected his autosenses to the Rhino's slaved pictcapters, but – jolts and knocks notwithstanding – preferred using his own eyes to peer through the vision slits. 

The war was visible. Immanent. Explosions within the smoke lit the low, disturbed clouds. The horizon seemed to smoulder. Ushen's eyes –as yet still dark by nature – glittered as though kindled. 

Even at this distance, the greasy shimmer of the hives' void shields were visible. They illuminated the dust storms around them, each hive a dim and eerie beacon to the invading gurm kenndh. He wondered, idly, if the convoy drivers could see them.

Ushen was under no illusions that the distance from the primary hives protected him or the others from attack – but he was equanimous about this. The Promethean Cult had long since taught him to anneal resignation or fatigue into stoicism and self-reliance. His faith was firm, deep-set; and built on the sturdy framework of childhood tales that had proven very real. The mythic cycles of the stormlizards; the galactic presence of the dusk wraiths; and – of course – the intrinsic evil of the gurm kenndh: humanity's old enemy.

It was as elemental as the dust or the ground. If he were to meet his end here, it would make no odds to his faith.

+++

+ Illor Hak'phast +

+ Mulbaku Numek +

+ On Geneseed+

Those invested with the geneseed of Vulkan demonstrate measurable physiological superiority to transhuman norms in relation to cellular repair. While making them no more resistant to direct damage than any other Space Marine, they have a baseline advantage in overall resilience – in short, making them fractionally harder to put down and swifter to return to battle than other Astartes.

For the Salamanders long history, this has repeatedly proven a critical boon. Most recently, during the mournful Badab War, the veterans of the Second Company were treacherously attacked during a parley. It was partially owing to their unexpected resilience that they were able to survive the attack.

On Armgeddon, their extreme temperature tolerance and radiological resistance – again markedly superior to those of other Astartes – made them well-suited to the hostile chem-and atomic-spoiled environments in which they found themselves embroiled. They are remembered in song on Armageddon for being those Space Marine most closely associated with the populace. While the noble Blood Angels and courageous Ultramarines took the war to Ghazghkull and his horde, spearheading numberless assaults and thwarting key ork advances, the Salamanders under Tu'Shan and his Captains instead turned to the numberless petty battles that raged across the continent.

Fragmented and frequently isolated, the geneseed gifts of their Primarch sire – along with mental resilience cultivated by their peculiar practises – allowed them to operate at peak efficiency. That they are so fondly remembered by the people of Armageddon is particularly notable when one considers the other aspect of Vulkan's gift: their inhuman appearance. 

The Primarch Vulkan is usually pictured as a coal-skinned giant with glowing red eyes. Whatever the truth of the matter – and ten thousand years separates the modern Imperium from the days of gods and monsters – the bulk of his descendants certainly demonstrate similar physical differences. These emerge gradually, and with varying speed. 

+ Nomix Nor'jargan +

+ Dakad Ka +

+++

Apropos of nothing, it's been quite fun sorting out the markings and thinking about the not-quite-Codex organisation of the Salamanders. I keep having to remind myself that the squad system doesn't work like the Ultramarines. Minor stuff, but it's in such details that we can find diversion and enjoyment.

+ 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: