HORUS HERESY: Imperial Fists Legion forces

HORUS HERESY: Well as I promised I am showing you some pictures of my recently built Imperial Fists Legion forces during the Siege of Terra, Horus Heresy.

Currently the Legion encompasses 5x plastic Cataphractii Terminators from the Betrayal at Calth box. The models are very nice, but full of tiny rivets everywhere which makes cleaning the models from mold lines and flash a little bit of a pain and tiresome... However assembled they look quite nice and knightly. I decided to follow the idea of the (Cataphractii) experimenting with prototype weaponry as described in the Horus Heresy fluff, hence I armed one of them with a custom Assault cannon. I also added a combat blade to each of the Combi-Bolters to make them look even more deadly in close combat. 

To accompany the Terminators I have also decided to build the Contemptor pattern dreadnought from the same box as an Imperial Fist one. Therefore I filed down the front and added an Imperial Fist symbol, changed the leg stance for a much more dramatic pose, exchanged the combi-bolter in the left arm for a heavy flamer plus tanks and finally made the Kheres assault cannon interchangeable. This gives me the option of arming the Contemptor differently without using any magnets. The torso can also pivot and be removed from the hip. All in all I really like this model a lot, it has a lot of charisma and the assault cannon fits to the theme of the Cataphractii Terminators.  If you look closely on the base there is a small shrine of skulls, probably built by some World Eaters legionary...

To have some basic Space Marine legion troops to accompany the Cataphractii and the Contemptor I "recycled" some really old Mk7 Space Marines from various kits, even some from 2nd edition Warhammer 40.000 :-) The new 32mm bases really make even the old models shine. Since I have rebased the lot from 20mm bases to this new base size I still need to add a bit of rubble to the bases. 

I am thinking of expanding this force to about 1000 points, a commander is in the works and I might use some vehicles from my existing range for the Imperial fists. Plans are also to have some breacher units in the legion, built from Mk4 armor. Below is a group shot of the Imperial Fists Legion so far.

Well that´s all for the moment! :-)

Cheers

invivos

Happy New Year 2016!

A Happy New Year 2016 to all of you out there!

In the meantime I have started to work on my 2nd Horus Heresy themed Legion, the Imperial Fists. So far I have assembled a 5x men Cataphractii Terminator squad and the Contemptor Dreadnought from the Betrayal at Calth box plus some older MK7 Space Marines, which I intend to use alongside the rest of the Imperial Fists Marines as they are depicting a force during the siege of Terra when the Mk7 was already in (limited) use.

I haven´t been able to take any pics of the Imperial Fists lot yet, but will do so hopefully on the weekend. There is a good chance that I´ll try to build a Rogal Dorn primarch too if I find a suitable base model... :)

So stay tuned!

Cheers

invivos

HORUS HERESY: Tartaros Pattern Terminator Squad

HORUS HERESY: Today I am showing you the Tartaros Pattern Terminator Squad for my World Eaters Legion:

During the time of the Horus Heresy several different designs of terminator armor were developed and in use by Space Marine, one of the more advanced versions of those armors is the Tartaros Pattern armor.

I really like how much this armor reminds me of the Mk4 Maximus Space Marine armor when you compare all the details like the head, legs, etc. The Tartaros armor has a very smooth and functional look to it and I really hope that this pattern sees a plastic release also some time in the future by GW...

The squad currently encompasses 5 terminators, for heavy weapons I added a scratchbuilt Plasma Blaster, which I think fits in great with the overall useage of Plasma weapons in the World Eaters legion, thinking of Angron, Kharn and the plastic Berserkers. And it is a usefull weapon to support when this squad charges as it is an assault weapon too. 

The rest of the squad is equiped with Chain Axes (count as power weapons) and Combi bolters, plus one trooper is armed with a Power fist and the Sergeant carries a Chain fist to be able to assault armored opponents and tanks. Here is a scale shot with the Primarch Angron also.

Hope you like them! Some more Terminators are also currently in the making i.e. the plastic Cataphractii pattern ones from the Betrayal of Calth box.

Happy thanksgiving!

invivos 

HORUS HERESY: Plastic Angron, Primarch of the World Eaters Legion!

HORUS HERESY: Well it is now time for the Lord of the World Eaters Legion to hit the scene: make room for Angron, the Red Angel, the dreaded Primarch of the World Eaters Legion! 

 

A while ago Forge World released a model for Angron made out of resin, however a few of the details of the built I did not favor too much, so I decided to built my own Angron Primarch from various plastic bits. When GW released the Sigmarite Liberators for Age of Sigmar, this was a perfect base for my conversion. The Liberator miniature stands over a head taller than a standard GW Space Marine, which is perfect size for any Primarch conversion. 

The Liberator was cut apart at various positions so that I could fully repose the legs and the arms. I wanted a simelar pose to the FW Angron miniature for my Angron so all bits were repositioned until I was happy. Lower arms and hands come old Chaos Space Marines, the chain axes are built from Ork Nob bits and Beserker chain axes, the cape is the banner from the Black Ork sprue. 

I also added a few things to the Primarch which are not featured on the FW model, but which I found necessary to add. First of all I added an old Chaos Space Marine backpack to Angron´s back, after all Angron is wearing power armor and not some old knights armor according to the fluff! And power armor needs a powered backpack to be powered. ;) Also this old backpack is alot bigger than the normal Space Marine backpacks which I think is fitting for a being of this size. The next addition was Angron´s Plasma pistol, Spite Furnace, which is a converted and lengthened Berserker plasma pistol. The final addition were some skulls to make him look more feral but also serves as reminder of his lost gladiator comrades. 

 The base was also scratchbuild from various pieces and was built to enhance the dramatic and dynamic pose of the mini. The level of the base is tilted and consists of a fallen building that has collapsed and buried some enemy Mk7 Space Marines below it. I am very happy how this build came out, it is very dynamic and aggressive looking. The pose is simelar to the original model so people should be able to identify this mini as Angron in a game pretty quickly. 

 More stuff to follow soon, Terminators are up next!

Cheers 

invivos

HORUS HERESY: Primed Spartan and Deimos Pattern Predator tanks

HORUS HERESY: Well the weather was pretty mixed here the last days however I still found a time spot to prime both tanks with some white paint. 

Priming a model really brings all the previously different colored details and plastic bits together, but also shows you where some more sanding and work is needed on the model.

The front hatch of the Spartan e.g. requires some more sanding down, the rest of the tank looks pretty good I think. With the white paint on it looks already solid as a rock. :) The Deimos is also very nice.

More pics of other models to follow soon, so stay tuned!

Cheers
invivos

HORUS HERESY: Storm Eagle Gunship Painting in progress

HORUS HERESY: This is my scratchbuilt Storm Eagle Gunship for my World Eaters.  It is based on GW´s Storm Raven kit with many changes.

The chassis of the Storm Raven gunship was lengthened by about 5" in the rear to be able to accommodate ~20 Marines and the entire rear section plus Missile Launcher is totally new. A new pilot MK6 Armor pilot was added in the cockpit and the landing gear was enlarged to cope with the extra bulk of the plane and look convincing.

This is still Painting in progress, I will need to add weathering and paint the details.Below you can also see some pics of the build in progress. I have been working on this gunship for a long time with many pauses as was I unsure many times on how to proceed with the design. However I think the wait and brainstorming time has really paid out, it looks pretty menacing and convincing now already.

Here´s is also a scale shot of the Storm Eagle, Spartan and Deimos Predator, so you can see this one is a pretty big kit...

Haven´t use this one in a game so far, maybe next weekend though... :D

Cheers

     invivos

HORUS HERESY: Scratchbuilt Deimos pattern Predator tank

HORUS HERESY: The Deimos patter Predator tank is a variant of the Space Marine Predator that features the round, bowl shaped turret of the very first Predator plastic kits.

In Horus Heresy this tank has access to a number of unique and exotic weapon options, which makes it a very interesting choice gamewise. Three options are particularly interesting: the Executioner Plasma Cannon, the Magna-Melta Cannon and the heavy Conversion beamer. 

Since I had a suitable Plasma Cannon lying around for years from a non-GW kit, I decided to scratchbuilt the turret and make the weapon modular. The turret was made from half of a plastic styrene ball that was cut to the appropriate shape. The rear part of the turret was modelled with Milliput and the turret mount is a 6cm Warmachine/Hordes base. I made some changes to the front of the Rhino with old Rhino parts added plus new old style hatches and many rivets. 

The turret is fully movable and can be entirely removed, which gives me the option to add different turrets e.g. Scorpius Whirlwind is one idea I have at the moment or just add the Rhino doors and use it as normal Rhino transport. Regarding the weaponry I have already started on a Magna-Melta Cannon, however I am not entirely happy yet with the muzzles, so some work is needed. 

Anyway the Deimos Predator is now good to go for priming in the next days. 

Hope you like it! :)

Cheers

invivos