+ In the Dust of Armageddon +

+ Defenders of Nocturne – 2nd Company Salamanders +

+ An experiment in speed-painting +

+ Well, here we go in earnest! Fresh from the forges of Lucifer216 are some of the designs of the absolutely tip-top chap, @bolterjugend. Pictured above is one of his takes on Mark VII armour, pictured alongside my clod-fingered conversion. As you can see, @bolterjugend's models are very nicely proportioned, with a real feel of 'walking tank'. +

+ The whole gang +

+ And since they're very nicely 3D printed, I had thirteen of them cleaned and part assembled within an hour of opening the parcel. They then received a series of priming sprays. The boltguns, backpack and shoulder pads (plus bare heads) were sprayed with Halford's black primer; while the bodies (all one piece, together with arms) and helmets were primed with Halfords camouflage brown all over. +

+ Once dry, the bodies were glued to bases and sprayed from approximately 45 degrees off horizontal with Halford's camouflage green. This left a little brown in the recesses and lower areas. The process was repeated with Colourforge's Salamander Green spray – something I picked up recently and with which I have been very impressed – to give some very simple zenithal shading. +

+ While the marines are considerably bulkier than Primaris, they've been designed with a lot of consideration for kitbashing, so – as you can see here – GW and FW heads fit nicely with no adjustment. +

+ After leaving them to dry (and not really long enough, if I'm honest – I was just very excited to build them! You should leave them overnight between each spray to de-gas, if possible), I used superglue to assemble them. This involved nothing more than gluing on the heads, backpacks, pauldrons and guns, and took about ten minutes. Reminiscent of nothing more complex than the push-fit marines from 2nd ed. – rather fitting for this Battle-for-Armageddon-themed project. +

+ The results, I'll hope you agree, look very effective. I can't quite put my finger on it, but they remind me of the best bits of the 2nd edition marines. It's more than just the armour mark; there's something about the cleanliness of the lines. Anyway, I'm really pleased with them. My plan is to supplement these marines with my own conversions, getting the best of mass-production and hand-crafting. +

+ On reflection, I may have rather rushed through the building of these – perhaps I'll pop back and swap out some hands for special/heavy weapons before painting them all. +

+++

+ Roll call +

+ And so to the lore. The Dust of Armageddon project is themed around the Second War for Armageddon, and so I've been doing some research. There's not, in truth, a great deal of specific information on the actions of the Salamanders beyond the fact that their Chapter Master, Tu'Shan, was newly-invested, and ceded command to Dante of the Blood Angels. +

The Salamanders took upon themselves the essential but neglected task of protecting the supply convoys, fighting rearguard actions against the Orks' advances and escorting refugee columns.

+ The artwork of the period mostly shows the Salamanders Second Company, the 'Defenders of Nocturne' – white Salamander on a black field. Although this is pretty much the 'default' Company colour (in the same way as ninety percent of Space Wolves armies use the Blackmane Company markings), it looks good and I'm happy to use it as the basis for the scheme here. +

+ Happily, in terms of timeline, we find that the Second War occurred about thirty years after the Badab War – and which company fought there? That's right, the Second Company again. Nice – so there's a lovely narrative opportunity to have this army include a substantial proportion of Badab veterans, along with a new intake from the Reserve Companies. +

+ These Marines will be that recent intake. Far from being inexperienced, they are fully-fledged and battle-hardened Salamanders, but Badab proved a brutal war, and the Second Company was sorely depleted. +

+++

+ Who's who? +

+ I stumbled upon an awesome name generator on Realm of Plastic [+noosphericexloadlink embedded+], and thought I'd use it to work up some names for these thirteen lucky warriors who've been promoted to Captain Mir'san's Company. +

+ Selected for promotion are:

1. Nomix Nor'jargan
2. Illor Hak'phast
3. Cassax Fo'ken
4. Adrak Ush'en
5. Vor'ord Grorn
6. Atanarian Sepor
7. Typhak Numatone
8. Iaptane Greon
9. V'reth Tarsidemi
10. Volkaeus Orurr
11. Clysis Skatar'tarro
12. Mulbaku Numek
13. Dakad Ka

+ My conversions (left), will serve as the Company veterans etc, but I'm looking forward to painting up the @bolterjugend sculpts. +

+++

+ An in-depth look at Epic: Legiones Imperialis +

+ An Epic gamer's look at the Epic: Legiones Imperialis preview +

+ It was a very busy weekend, and while I was otherwise engaged, a new edition of Epic, my all-time favourite game, was previewed.  You can read about that here [+noosphericexloadlink embedded+] – but since I've got this little soapbox outpost, I figured I'd gather my thoughts for those interested in an article that takes a closer look at the game from a long-time Epic collector and gamer's perspective. +

+++

+ First reactions +

+ A mixed reaction, to be honest. Firstly, I'm surprised it's following so closely on the heels of the big launch of the new edition of Warhammer 40,000. That strikes me as GW seeing this as having a slightly different market to its 'bigger brother', or they're indifferent to whether its sales are cannibalised. Certainly I think that'll make it less likely as an impulse purchase for many buyers. +

+ I was less blown away than I was expecting (hoping?) to be by the models on first glance – though as you'll see below, I think this is more about unit choice than the individual models. +

+ The Warhammer: The Horus Heresy – Legions Imperialis model offering: 188 infantry, 19 tanks and 2 Titans. +

+ What was I expecting? I had anticipated a Titan. Big boxes like this always have a centrepiece, and it makes sense for GW to hedge their bets a bit with existing models. Likewise, I'd expected a mix of infantry and armour – but I had not expected this to be divided between Space Marines and Solar Auxilia, nor for everything to look so 'bitty' – a couple of tanks of once design, a handful of another; roughly a Company of Space Marines... Not the swathes of uniform troops I'd pictured in my mind's eye. +

+ Part of the appeal of Epic for me was the sense that you had hordes of largely uniform infantry supported by platoons or companies of likewise similar tanks. Here, the eye's jumping about between loads of small groups of visually distinct support stuff – ogryns, walkers, and four different types of tank, rather than settling on anything. +

+ The advert for Epic: Space Marine (1st ed.) This contained 48 tanks (16 Land Raiders, 32 Rhinos), and a staggering 320 Space Marines. +

+ Is that a problem? Well, no – but I must confess it rather took me aback, and I didn't have a wholly good first impression. +

+ GW have continued one Epic tradition, and that's giving it a name utterly unrelated to any previous edition. 'Warhammer: The Horus Heresy – Legions Imperialis' doesn't exactly roll of the tongue (not to mention clashing with the other in-universe Gothic plural of Legion), so for the purposes of this article I'm just going to call it 'Epic: Legions'. +

+++

+ A more considered look +

+ First reactions are just that. Looking with a more appraising eye, there's a lot that I do like here. Firstly, while I personally would have preferred the knowingly retro nod of having two identical forces, there's nothing inherently wrong in having Space Marines facing off against something else. After all, every edition after the first included different opposition models. Secondly, while I expect people like me – who fondly remember old editions of Epic – are part of the target market, it's fair enough that GW want to broaden its appeal. +

+ The infantry +

+ Let's look at the models – and I'm happy to say that on a closer look, there is a lot I'm positive about here. +

+ Let me be clear that I think the schemes chosen to showcase this launch were a mistake. Death Guard have a muted, dour scheme, and the Solar Auxilia here are in grey with red accents. Not exactly eye-catching – particularly given the detail on the figures. Worse than that, on the grey urban bases, they both rather blend in. It's a far cry from the hugely distinct bright red and blue (on eye-gougingly bright green bases) of the past. + 

+ Looking more closely, however, things suddenly perk up. Diving into the individual figures, and suddenly I'm back in the room ('the room of a potential purchasing', that is!). Rather than focussing on the bells and whistles and weird stuff that GW highlight in their article, I want to look at the grubby rank and file: 

+ Cor – look at them! Awesome. The old monolithic legions of identikit soldiers were great en masse, but they definitely leaned more towards tokens than giving the sense of knots of soldiers fighting. These look bigger, better posed, and properly proportioned against the Solar Auxilia. The slight increase in size is a positive for me, as it'll make painting them easier, and they'll have more presence on the board, leading to better-looking games. Crucically, I don't think they're that much larger that they'll look weird playing alongside or against older editions – or at least, with no more difficulty than the infamously odd internal scaling of the past. +

+ They're beakies, too – and while I know that's a divisive choice, I think they'll be considerably easier and more fun to paint than other armour marks, as they're clean and lacking banding and so forth. They also trigger a bit of nostalgia for me, as the original Epic models were all Mark VI. +

+ I wish they had picked a Legion with a more striking colour scheme to show these off. Emperor's Children. Word Bearers. Thousand Sons. Even the [SCRAPSHUNT] Alpha Legion would have given a better impression of just how nice these little models are. +

+ As for the other side, the Solar Auxilia demonstrate just how far Epic sculpting has come in technical terms. Too busy? Possibly; but again I think it's largely down to poor choice of paint scheme. I'm not a huge fan of the Solar Auxilia sculpts at 28mm scale, but I must confess to being impressed with how well these have been scaled down, and I think once in-hand they'll also impress. +

+ Fellow PCRC inmate Stuntwedge pointed out that the models look to lack the little circular base of previous editions, instead having integrated pill bases/rubble strips between their legs. On the face of things this isn't something to get excited about, but the implications in terms of posing units on bases or using them as tank crews or in Titanicus dioramas etc. is exciting. No more figures stuck determinedly in a particular formation on the base. +

+++

+ I noted above that the variety of infantry surprised me, and that it meant the box lacked that 'Legion' impact. On reflection, however, the box should probably be considered more of a taster. GW want to get in as many flavours as possible. For every one like me, who's excited about the basic line infantry, someone will be psyched that their favourite model is included. +

+ Epic: Space Marine may have included 320 Space Marine infantry, but every single one was the same sculpt. Compare that with what we have here:

+ Here's all the Space Marine infantry included in the box: 

• 2 Command stand – five unique sculpts
• 2 Cataphractii Terminator stands – five unique sculpts including a sergeant with thunder hammer
• 2 Support Legionary stands with missile launchers – again, five unique sculpts including a sergeant
• 2 Support Legionary stands with plasma guns – and here's where it gets a bit questionable, because there seems to be five sculpts plus one sergeant – unlike the missile launchers, where a crested model is on each stand, here there's just one different model across both stands. 
• 2 Assault Legionary stands – five unique sculpts plus a sergeant.
• 8 Tactical Legionary stands – Hard to tell from this picture, but the bigger one above indicates that there are five unique boltgun sculpts, plus one with a vexilla, plus a sergeant. It's possible that there are ten unique sculpts, but I would have thought GW would emphasise this in their choice of stands to show if this were the case.

+ Given the paired stands, I had assumed this would be two duplicates of one Mark VI sprue. It still could be, with the sergeants, vexilla etc. being optional extras. My guess is that each sprue will have half of what's listed above – e.g. one Command stand, four Tactical stands etc. +

+ These models are lovely, and right up my street. I am delighted with the changes made here, and even if the game turns out to be a dog's dinner, I'll pick up the Space Marine infantry at the very least. +

+ I'm also excited by what this implies. If all the Mark VI infantry models do fit onto one sprue, then I think it's not just realistic to hope for other armour marks and variety, but that it's a shoe-in. +

+ In the short term I'm expecting a Mark II and/or IV set(s) with a similar line-up – likely with a different set of heavy and special weapons in the Support Squads, and another specialist type of Terminators. It's this that has grabbed my imagination, because while the number of models in this box is relatively small, the potential for expansion is awesome. Players like me, who want that multiple Company-scale battle experience, will be able to do just that and refight stuff like the Dropsite Massacre at 6mm – or perhaps the Badab War, or the War of the False Primarch...  +

+ On the models, then, I think my initial reaction is coming round to broadly positive. There's things I would have changed, different decisions I would have made – I would have preferred more Predators to the Sicarians, for example – but I can be objective enough to know that these are personal opinions, rather than commercially-sensible ones. I can see the value for GW in showing off the variety and possibilities promised by multiple different sculpts rather than aiming for the spectacle of a uniform field of, say, a Predator tank company. This boxed set, I suspect, is not meant to be a balanced army, but more to grab the attention of as many potential buyers as possible:

'Look, Titanicus and Aeronautica players – we haven't forgotten you!' 

'Look, old Epic players – you can remake old armies with cool new models!' 

'Look, people who've never seen Epic scale before – here's an array of many sculpts to show you what we can do – and imply there's a lot more on the horizon.' 

'Look, it's not just Space Marines. There's more to come!' 

+ In that, I think this box partially succeeds – but in spite of, rather than because of, the paint schemes chosen; and it's a very patchy, broad-based  message. I hope it works out – but that's more because I've got a lot of goodwill towards Epic and want to see it succeed than because this box has blown my socks off. +

+++

+ The setting +

+ I'm torn on the HH setting, and wonder if that spread appeal is perhaps slightly working against itself. Our gaming group played a decent amount of Epic, but most played xenos – orks, nids, Tau... all of which have just had the door shut in their face. Of those who would also be excited by Space Marines, they were met the inclusion of über-niche faction Solar Auxilia with a resounding silence. It's not got the mirror match appeal of good(ish) SM vs bad SM; but nor are the Solar Auxilia – again, fully-enclosed armoured troops – visually distinct to a newcomer. +

+ The Horus Heresy setting supposedly has manufacturing appeal by having less to make – but by then including such a mish-mash of models, you've rather undercut that argument. +

+ It fits alongside Titanicus... but then that's matched by Titanicus players fearful that this is going to supplant and resource-starve their (excellent) game – a game that could easily have been expanded with xenos instead. (Though as an aside, I am pleased both to see new plastic options for the Warhounds, and an explicit note from GW that rules for such will be available for Titanicus too.)+

+ So far, then, I think the HH setting is at best a neutral appeal for me, and a definite barrier to entry to my friends, some of whom will sadly be put off Epic gaming for another edition. +

+ It surprised me that the game is following so closely behind the 28mm scale Horus Heresy: Age of Darkness release. Despite having invested lots of time and energy into the 28mm scale HH game in the past, none of our gaming group bought into that. The 7th edition-40k derived rules immediately made us feel exhausted, and the increasing model count likewise. Huge model-count games, once a big part of our gaming life – had become a turn-off, as the game itself got increasingly cramped and 'boggy'. +

+ Weird, then, to have a 28mm game that increasingly encourages abstraction and large model counts to be met with a 6mm boxed game launch that doesn't – on first appearances – look to be an markedly larger model count game. +

+ So far, so neutral. My first impressions were mixed – though, in typical Pollyanna fashion, I was pleased to find I was feeling more bemused than disappointed. +

+++

+ Conclusion +

+ There is a lot to chew over here, both implicit and explicit. I hope that GW's articles over the next few days expand and clarify things a bit better. I really loved Epic: Armageddon, and was hoping that Epic: Legions would charm me from the start. +

+ Alas, while I haven't closed the door on the idea, it's not grabbed me as much as I'd hoped. I will almost certainly pick up the Marines, and I'm still leaning towards buying the box. Even if it's not quite as feverishly as I'd been expecting to want it, it does still appeal – although there's that nagging worry I'm not going to have anyone to play against, for me the models are just too cool to miss out on. +

+ So, overall – excited, but tempered a little by some questions. Let's see if Warhammer Community's promised articles can set my mind at rest a little and get my servomotors turning over in anticipation...

+++

+ inload: Leg day on Nocturne +

+ Building truescale legs from Gravis armour + 

+ A portion of yesterday's evening was spent bulking up the legs started in the previous inload [+noosphericinloadlink embedded+]. They're not yet finished as they're being built up in stages – I long ago learned the pitfalls of squishing previous work when trying to do too much in one go! +

+ The pict-capture above is interesting to compare with that below; pre-greenstuff. You can see the difference the additional bulk around the thighs makes. I've tried to keep as much of the 'greebling' detail of the existing legs, so most of the work was really built around integrating the additional reinforcing layers that are a feature of Mark X armour in general and the Gravis variant in particular. +

+ Ultimately, I'm pleased that the legs look more like Mark VII – absent of any scale comparisons, I think they'd fit nicely in place  with the plastic Tactical squad that came out in 3rd edition; if roughly a third larger again. These Salamanders are going to be quite chunky! +

+++

+ Iterative improvement +

+ One thing that I have been trying to improve here is my green stuff work, and I'm finding taking photographs of progress helps keep me honest with myself. Below is the shot I took when I first felt I had finished. I was pleased – but  under the camera lens they looked so lumpy! I went back to refine and smooth them a little more, which is the shot you can see above. Still not perfect, but a little better. +

+ While the difference is subtle, I think little iterative improvements like this is what's going to help me get better. A job for another evening is to fill the gap between the bottom of the shin plate and that first additional plate; leaving a single, rather than double, plate above the boot.  +

+ After that, perhaps onto the torsos... +

+++

+ And for no other reason than Kroot are cool, here's a picture of one riding a Knarloc. I brought him in from the happy hunting grounds (my garage) and decided to take a picture. +

+ inload: Preparatory work for 10th edition Salamanders +

+ In the Dust of Armageddon: Preparing to play Salamanders in 10th edition 40k +

+ A slightly disingenuous shot (owing to the difference between – or lack of – bases) showing a comparison in proportions between using the Gravis armour legs as the basis, and Tartaros Terminators + 

+ With 10th edition not just on the horizon but bearing down on us like a tank shocking Land Raider, it's apparent that Salamanders (for the moment at least) won't have any particular special rules differentiating them from other Chapters. Part of me is a bit sad; another part is relieved – picking up a new edition is always a little bit complicated, so one less set of exceptions to learn early on suits me fine. +

+ I've always preferred Space Marines to be 'Space Marines first, Chapter second'. That applies across the board – I think Chapter ought to add flavour and spice, not change the dish entirely. +

+ Let me be clear; I think the distinctive cultures and appearance of the Chapters in the lore (and models) is crucial to their appeal – but I don't think that that needs to lead to exceptionalism in terms of rules. This is particularly so for Chapters that don't have much tabletop reason to be different for the sake of difference. +

+ There's a lot of flexiblity in how you choose to paint your models. This sort of material, I think, is what really caught my imagination. The actual rules were stripped-back and you reflected the character of your army through the unit choices and way you played, rather than in the list. +

+ Food for thought in painting. This early material, from the Space Marine Painting Guide shows the germs of what would come. It's not all gold; but it's interesting to see where the ideas stemmed from. +

+ The Salamanders are a good example of this. Giving them a Codex supplement simply to match those of the other First Founding Chapters was fun, but unnecessary. Again, let me clarify that by making clear that I think a supplement of artwork, lore exploring their history, organisation, and ideas for the Chapter (and indeed other Chapters, Craftworld, Regiment, Dynasty etc.) would be awesome, but it doesn't need to create a whole set of exceptions to the rules. +

+ That's notable in particular now because the long-standing restrictions placed on army building (the force organisation chart and successors) have fallen away; so without them, no additional exceptionalism needs to be built in. +

+ Am I sad that the Salamanders have lost their Warlord traits, artefacts and strategems? Partly yes; but mainly because the names and ideas helped shine some light on the Chapter's character. Not having the nagging feeling that one's chosen army is unfairly advantaged or hindered by imbalances or unintended consequences in the rules is a relief. +

+ Lots of cool little ideas I can poach for my project here. +

+++

+ Theoretical: army lists +

+ Anyway, back down off my soapbox – what's this got to do with the In the Dust of Armageddon project? Well, the new system of making an army is now clear and the Index has been released. I think the inherent flexibility of the army-building process has opened up lots of possibilities, and wanted to scribble down some loose ideas I'm working up. +

+ The Space Marine Index [+noosphericexloadlink embedded+] is a giant pile of options (For easy reference, the points values are here [+noosphericexloadlink embedded+]). As with the previous edition of the game, I think a lot of these could be consolidated, but that's another discussion. +

+ At this point I have quite a few Space Marine armies, and want to try something a bit different to my usual 'Thirty Tactical Marines and then start thinking' approach. As it is, I started going through and working out a vague army list based on models I had planned, and with an emphasis on using 'normal' Space Marine rules (i.e. not Primaris; I'll refer to the old marines as Astartes from here). That looked like this:

+ Adeptus Astartes-themed list +

• Captain with Artificer Armour – 80 + 10pts
• Lieutenant – 80pts
• Librarian – 85pts
• Tactical Squad (10) – 175pts
• Infernus Squad (5) – 90pts
• Rhino – 85pts
• Terminator Squad (10) – 400pts

+ A neat 1000pts – and as an aside, I rather like the simple points system. Makes for quick, easy army lists. +

+ That list is simple and straightforward, and since Primaris and Astartes are now identical in terms of stats, there are fewer weird mental gymnastics to explain why these Space Marines are twice as resilient as these Space Marines – something which always niggled at me since the introduction of the Primaris idea. +

+ Sadly, there are still a few odd bits. The Rhino can't carry the Infernus squad, because they have the 'Tacticus' keyword – presumably the 41st Millennium version of wearing trainers to a nightclub. Secondly, Tactical Marines (for some reason) can no longer split into 5-man combat squads, either – a shame, because at this points level, I want as many squads as possible, rather than fewer, bigger squads. +

+ I don't want to lose the Infernus marines primarily because I have a squad winging their way to me. They could join the Gatebreakers, but the idea of flamer-wielding Salamanders appeals too much! +

+++

+ Primaris-themed list +

+ As an alternative idea, I wondered what it would look like if I took the opposite approach, and used exclusively Primaris rules with the same models:

• Primaris Captain with Artificer Armour – 80 + 10pts
• Primaris Lieutenant – 75pts
• Librarian – 70pts
• Intercessor Squad (5) – 95pts
• Intercessor Squad (5) – 95pts
• Infernus Squad (5) – 90pts
• Rhino – 85pts
• Terminator Squad (10) – 400pts

+ First observation: the Primaris officers are generally cheaper than their Astartes equivalents – weird. Perhaps due to fewer options? Secondly, the Rhino is completely useless here. It could, at a push, count as an Impulsor (95pts, with the extra 10 coming from losing the Captain's Artificer Armour), as the weird Space Marine grav-tanks can't fly or anything like that. Doesn't strike me as ideal, though. +

+ I could, of course, drop the Rhino and sub it in for something else, but I rather like the classic Space Marine tanks. Frustratingly, the Drop Pod and Land Raider, for some peculiar reason, don't have the restriction on who can get in them. Perhaps at higher points levels, I could swap out the Rhino for a Land Raider. +

+++

+ Option 3: And now for something completely different +

+ Okay, so both of those options have something weird going on. Rather than try to twist the list into being something GW clearly want to make awkward (a mix of Primaris and Astartes in the same army), I thought I'd try to make a virtue of the GIANT PILE OF OPTIONS and make something completely different. +

+ Once I'd decided to try this, it suddenly opened up the option of having a Space Marine army that plays completely differently to any other I have, which has obvious appeal. I plumped for an all-Gravis-armoured list, on the basis that the models are big and bulky enough to be clearly something different, and slow and tough fit the Salamanders' theme well. Apart from anything else, my conversions are based on Gravis armour anyway, so it seemed fitting  to go for that as a theme:

• Captain with Gravis Armour and Artificer Armour – 95 + 10pts
• Apothecary Biologis and Bolter Discipline – 55 + 25pts
• Heavy Intercessor Squad (5) – 110pts
• Heavy Intercessor Squad (5) – 110pts
• Heavy Intercessor Squad (5) – 110pts
• Eradicator Squad (6) – 190pts
• Aggressor Squad (6) – 220pts
• Scout Squad – 70pts

+ That tots up to 1,000pts on the dot. Completely different to the other forces, but looks like it'd be very different to play, too. I rather like the idea of army-wide Toughness 6(!), and the idea of hosing down hordes of the enemy with a few heroes. +

+ The list is necessarily very limited, as there are only five Datasheets with the Gravis keyword. There are a couple of Chapter-specific characters, and if this proves fun, perhaps I'll try a counts-as character using Iron-Father Feirros' rules as some point. +

+++

+ In all honesty, I don't think any of these will end up as the absolute final list – planning is all very well, but I just get dragged about by enthusiasms and ideas while building to promise anything. Theoretical list-building like the above is fun, but I use it mostly to help guide my thoughts and discover what I'm actually enthused about. Almost like consulting the Emperor's Tarot! +

+ Practical: Modelling +

+ In any case, there's no army without soldiers, so building is continuing. +

 

+ Above are three sets of legs from the Heavy Intercessor kit, which I'll be working these up into Mark VII armour. At this stage, I'm most interested in cleanly cutting away the excess detail, so there's a clear surface on which to sculpt. I've taken away the crenellated toecaps, reshaped the ankles, trimmed off the cables at the back and left off the hip thingies. Perhaps most obviously, I've also removed everything above the belt, as this will be replaced with a Terminator waist gimbal. +

+ The overall silhouette is still thick-set, but now free of the heavy reinforcing that's so different from Mark VII. The detail that remains in place is largely greebling. The legs are now ready for greenstuff work to get them looking like this: 

+ The work on the front is essentially blending in the additional plating on the thighs to make them a single integrated piece of armour. You could instead file off the raised plates, but I prefer to add bulk to the upper legs. It creates a great sense of power and stability. +

+ The back likewise requires surprisingly little greenstuff work; and that mainly confined to extending the calf armour down slightly. You'll note that the additional greenstuff on the thighs is mostly on the front – that's to stop the legs simply looking podgy. +

+ It's at the sides that the majority of the work is done, and event that is largely filling in the gaps at the hips and reinstating the corner of the ankle. As you can see, my work isn't the cleanest – something which I'd like to improve – but I think it'll suffice for this project. +

+++

+ inload: Bits, pieces and #backtobadab +

+ For various reasons – not least the heat – hobbying has been slow recently. I've progressed a little on a Silver Stars combat squad, as you can see here. I've used a slightly different approach than in my tutorial (at time of exloading, that's in the Corestack Relics at the top right), and started with a white undercoat. This made painting the white a lot quicker, but everything else has to be brought down. +

 

+ All five are now at a stage where I can start highlighting and adding details; they should polish up quite quickly after this. +

+ [+APPENDEDIT+] 'All five' indeed... Just spotted that there's actually two more in this batch – d'oh! Luckily, it looks like I put them to one side because they're already at this stage, so I just need to remember to get them involved as I carry on. +

+++

+ Back to Badab +

+ Of course, let's hope that's not a jinx! Elsewhere, the Salamanders for Armageddon have received a priming. In a happy coincidence, Myles from Lil Legend Studios got in contact to invite me to take part in Badab After Dark [+noosphericexloadlink embedded+], an invitational which I'm happy to say is open to all – go have a look around! The only requisite is to tag thematic entries with #badabafterdark on Instagram. +

+ I was very pleased to be asked to participate, though with hobby time limited and lots of projects – not least the #warofthefalseprimarch bubbling away, I didn't want to over-promise for this. Happily, it seems rather providential that many of the same Salamanders that fought on Armageddon were veterans of Badab, as explored in this inload [+noosphericinloadlink embedded+]. +

+ As a result, what better way to participate than with these Second Company marines on their way to becoming veterans? +

+++

+ inload: Flight of Eagles character creation +

 + Flight of Eagles character creation +

+ Happy to say that the first Neophyte-Prospect forms have started to trickle in (see the 'Calling for Back-up' heading in this inload if that doesn't mean anything to you) – thank you very much, all, and particular Cameron whose submission was above and beyond. Awesome stuff! +

+ If you'd like to send a character to the Tenth Corpus of the Gilded Eagles, they're still very welcome. All the details are in the previous post – though a comment on the previous inload (thank you unknown) reminded me that not everyone has access to the various social media groups. Since this blog is intended to be standalone, I wanted to post up the character creation info so that everyone can get involved if they wish (or use the ideas and pack for their own creation). +

+++

+ Click the images to show them at full size, and do feel free to ask in the comments about anything unclear. +

+ You are more than welcome to use this material as you wish for your own adventures. If you'd like to submit a Scout or Officer (or multiple), it would be very much appreciated – but not required. +

+ inload: Converting Space Marine Scouts +

 + Flight of Eagles – Excel: Vel Pereat +

+ Something of a side project here – the bulk of a Space Marine Scout Squad. I'm currently in the midst of preparations for running a short roleplaying mission with the PCRC; something I've not done before. The game is intended to be a fairly easy introduction for me into DMing – not least to let our resident go-to DM Omricon to have a break (he's been running a D&D campign for most of the PCRC since lockdown) and have a go as a player. +

+ I really want to make the experience fun and involving, so I'm trying my best with the worldbuilding and have picked a set of mechanics that I feel comfortable with – I'd prefer to concentrate on the RP element, so want the 'crunch' to be as smooth and familiar as possible. +

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+ The Gilded Eagles +

+ Set, very specifically, in M41.730, the game will be themed around a new Chapter – or rather an unexplored Chapter – called the 'Gilded Eagles'. The Gilded Eagles recruit from a rather unpleasant Feral World/Death World planet called Pyx, which lies beyond the rim of the Eastern Fringe. +

+ 'Recruits' are taken up by a Chapter voidcraft, which waits 'til the next one arrives to stand vigil and then departs. The voidcraft will then patrol the region in a great cycle, liaising and consulting with other Chapter assets during their cycles before returning. The Great Cycles then begin anew. +

+ Beyond this, the players know little – for each (well, most – see below) of them will be playing as Scouts. The Chapter's culture will, I hope, emerge and become apparent as we explore... +

+ If you'd like to contribute to help create a properly immersive setting, in the files section of the Facebook group [+noosphericexloadlink embedded+] you’ll find the player’s hand-out for ‘Flight of Eagles’ – which contains some simple guidelines for generating characters of the Gilded Eagles Chapter Astartes. +

+ If you find yourself with a bit of spare time and idle creativity, I’d very much appreciate you contributing your own ‘Neophyte-prospect forms’ and ‘Scrolls of Honour’. Your characters will then be used to flesh out the Tenth Corpus of the Gilded Eagles, as they go into action en masse for the first time. +

+ 40k galaxy map, M41.745 +

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+ Converting the Scouts +

+ The basis for the Scouts is the Neophytes from the newish Black Templar Crusader Squad. Afraid I didn't get a scale shot, but the proportions and general refinements make for much better-looking models than the existing Scout squad, even though they share a lot of the same detail – a really nice update. +

+ The conversion work is subtle, and the majority of each model is straight out of the box. The bulk of the work is in the pauldrons, where I used files and an emery board to remove the Maltese Cross Chapter icon of the Black Templars; the head, where I filed down the bowl-cut hairstyle and replaced it with an (unintentionally natty) Elvis-style pompadour; and by far the most involved, the codpieces. +

+ You'll probably have experienced the occasional moment of clarity when hobbying, perhaps realising what else you could have done that evening, or how much you've spent on a model in relation to your dinner. In this instance, I sat back and stared into space for a moment as I realised I'd spent more than an hour greenstuffing four tiny codpieces on four tiny little plastic men. Such is the grim darkness of the far future! +

+ Another modified head here; this time there's no greenstuff, just careful knife and file work to turn the bowl cut into a slightly ragged mohican – after all, when making Scouts, you gotta turn to the classics, right? +

+ And finally an example of how to turn a problem into an opportunity. The Black Templars kit comes with four bodies (two of each sculpt), but only three each of bolt pistol and chainsword combinations and boltguns, so you can't have them all armed identically. +

+ Wanting to go with a classic Retrohammer squad layout for this lot, I used a heavy bolter (taken from the Salamander still on my painting desk – keep an eye out for updates on him soon), and carved up one of the boltgun sets to use for the arms. It still needs the ammo feed/magazine housing to be sorted out, but is working alright. +

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+ Are these models of the player characters? +

+ Short answer – no; though I'll be using them myself with a board in front of me to help orient and describe things. Theatre of the Mind (a phrase I just learned) sounds awesome, but I don't want to be juggling too much mental load. A physical 'cheat sheet' of where things are with relation to one another will be very handy. +

+ The models are therefore mainly for fun, though if, as the rumours suggest, we're getting a Scout squad in Kill Team sometime soon, it'd be fun to use them there. +

+ Having some physical models is also useful to me to help develop ideas. I find narrative ideas for lore, stories and background arise quite naturally while I'm painting. Inevitably, they tend to centre around what I'm working on, so what better way to get in touch with the Gilded Eagles than by making some? +

+ Witness the lurid green codpieces in this unedited shot +

+ The glaring omission here is the Sergeant; and he'll be joining them shortly. He'll either be in Scout armour (using a converted Phobos models) or Mark VII (using a converted Tacticus model). +

+ I'm looking forward to working on the Veteran Sergeant, as he'll provide a link between the players playing as Scouts, and the player who's taking control of the Lieutenant... +

+ To explain that a bit further, the mechanical elements of gameplay will use Advanced Space Crusade as the basis. It's generally written off as a rather clunky boardgame, but I think that's misunderstanding it a bit. +

+ Another game of the same period, the fondly-remembered Space Hulk, has an over-arching story that leads you through missions that are narratively linked but in practise don't have much effect on one another. In contrast, Advanced Space Crusade provided no explicit story as such. Instead, it's got a rather nice little card-based exploration element. In effect, you generate a random (within certain parameters) mission in a separate phase that amounts to a separate but related mini-game. This gives a lot of RPG opportunities – indeed, it was sold with the '3D roleplay' billing – but I'm not sure that really came across to the audience, who I think was mostly expecting something a bit more model-focussed. +

+ Anyway, this mini-game is not super-complex, but is engaging and fun. It's controlled by the board pictured above. You create your force list, assign your squads a letter (A, B, C etc.), then place them in the boxes above. The 'Perimeter' and 'Core' parts are where the cards that describe the story sit. These vary, from events the require the board game to be played (the tactical part of the game that will involve the Scouts and Veteran Sergeant), to narrative elements like discovering strangers. +

+ It all works rather elegantly – and importantly for me, provides a ready-made story generator for an RPG. In effect, it gives me a safety net. More than that, however, it allows someone to play as the Lieutenant directing the broader assault. Will he send the player group into danger? Scouts are faster at exploring than Power-armoured Marines, after all. Will he make sure that they're well-supported? And will he be able to spare enough forces elsewhere to ensure the defenders can't dig in and fortify one route? I guess we'll see... +

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+ Calling for back-up +

+ One thing this does require me to do is to generate the rest of the boarding party – and the more character and interest I can create for the NPC Space Marines, the better. If you'd like to help, I'd really appreciate you making a Scout or potential Sergeant using the info in the pack – again, that's in the files section of the Facebook group [+noosphericexloadlink embedded+]. +

+ The character generation rules are very light indeed; so it's little more than a name and a couple of interesting quirks that are needed – if you fancy it, that'd be brill. +

+ I'll leave you with the Gilded Eagles' motto and battle-cry of the Tenth Corpus: 'Excel: Vel Pereat!'

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