James WRR’s Rank & File 4: Termination ritual, activated

The Battle Brothers stood to attention on the sprawling deck of the barge. Whether one looked left or right, they would see nothing but a line of silver-clad Space Marines stretching off into the distance, mechanical cherubim floating above them swinging braziers of incense

Donovan stood shoulder to shoulder with his brothers in arms, gently rocking the weight of his holy Bolter from hand to hand. They would be making planetfall soon enough, disgorging a mass of ceramite-clad butchers onto the woe-begotten wretches below.

But first, there must be a revery. The holy order to which he belonged was steeped in tradition, though he admitted he would rather be steeped in unholy blood than standing in line for a parade.

First came the servitors, scuttling on hydraulic legs and bearing the armoured sarcophaguses of fallen brothers. Then came the Chaplains of the 666th chapter, skull-faced and dour, reeking of candle fat. Then came the Veterans, each dragging behind them chained apostates and heretics, ready to be sacrificed in the name of the Emperor. 

Finally, behind that screaming mass, came the Terminators. Donovan could feel their footsteps before he could see them. Towering even over the tallest of his Battle Brothers, the Tactical-Dreadnought-armoured practically glowed in the harsh mercury lamplight of the barge. Each bore a gun-barrel staff, still cold but ready to burn into life with the flick of a finger.

There was silence in the hall as they lumbered passed. Donovan felt pride in his chapter’s strength… but also an unfamiliar feeling. Something like… envy. 

“Slick bastards. That could be my armour,” he thought, “my staff.”

Donovan stared down at his Bolter. Counted the scratched-in kill markings. He noted the distinct lack of honours on his armour. At least compared to the titans before him.

“I’ve done my time. I’ve slain so many for the Emperor. It’s not fair.”

Donovan was frozen in his train of jealous thought by the feeling of cold metal against the back of his head. A refreshing feeling. A real feeling. 

“Brother Donovan,” came the stern, sterile voice behind him. “Feeling ungrateful of your assigned role?”

Like his augmented brothers, Donovan knew not fear. In usual circumstances. He had stared down warpbeasts, descended through the atmosphere of alien planets in Drop Pods, survived months alone in ruined cities after seeing his squadmates torn apart around him. But the voice behind him sent a shiver down his half-metal spine.

He felt the cold metal barrel leave his neck and slip silently back into the darkness. He stood a little straighter, feeling as proud as he possibly could of the Terminators, thinking happy thoughts. 

“We can but… aspire.” He forced the thought. There were eyes to see all around, into his mind, and ears to hear. He gave the venerable brothers their due respect. 

______________________

This has been the month I’ve been waiting for — a chance to paint those beautiful Rogue Trader Grey Knights Terminators. 

We all know the best way to get through your army’s chaff is to give yourself a big reward at the end, right? 

Terminators and Arbites, ready to terminate the heretics

When I first saw these ancient Terminators, I was absolutely blown away. The level of crisp detail across every millimetre of armour is really technically impressive, especially in comparison to other miniatures of the time. I particularly like the lightning bolt motives and impaled books that would later become the official Grey Knights icon.

These fine fellows are also armed with super radical gun-staves that would come to define the Adeptus Custodes. Because, back in the day, you couldn’t really get more elite on the Imperium side of the table, and we all know that sharp shooty sticks are the badge of honour among gene-enhanced soldiers.

(Un)holy warriors march forth

The only downside to this squad is that there’s only one sculpt, so repetition is unavoidable. However, I think it sort of ends up in their favour, making them appear as really disciplined, shining exemplars in comparison to the scrappy freaks that make up the rest of my army. 

Though they might all look quite similar, each is an individual

To top off this squad, of course I had to paint up their Captain as well. 

Sadly, the copy I was able to find didn’t come with his ballistic force sword (again, now part of the Custodes’ schtick), so I decided to make do with another force staff. Flipping it around, in a stabbing motion, sets him apart from his squad on the table — if the heraldic tilting shield doesn’t do the job.

Captain, hunter, killer

The scheme the for these guys isn’t going to be unfamiliar to anyone that has been following this army as it grows. But I have added plenty more gold.

The best gold, I’ve found, is often just silver (with a little glaze of yellow or brown, of course). The gold elements on these models were drybrushed up to a bright silver then hit with a thin layer of Snakebite Leather Contrast. A touch of bright Scale Colour gold finished them off nicely. I did add a tiny bit of verdigris and rust to choice parts of the armour to grunge them up a bit.

I love ggggoooooooooooollllldd

To add visual interest, I painted some subtle purple veins into the grips of the staves and then coated them in gloss to look as if they’re made out of obsidian, or some sort of magical marble.

The blades of these weapons were painted to look so hot they’re molten. It was all the rage in Newhammer painting circles a year or two ago! 

To achieve this effect, I followed the usual recipe for flames, starting from white and then quickly wet-blending outwards into yellow, orange and, finally, red. To finish off the molten look, I used a small bit of sponge to apply some dappled black — the oxidised, crackling metal that’s straining under the raw power charging through it.

We. Are. The LAW!

But the Termies weren’t the only models on my table this month. Filling out my Rank & File quota is a squad of Adeptus Arbites, represented here by Wargames Foundry’s ex-Citadel Empirical Absolution and Liquidation Squad.

The charmingly goofy poses and proportions of early Citadel sculpts are on full display here. As is the not-quite-so-subtle “homages” to 2000 A.D. I thought it was only right to lean into that, giving them proper Judge uniforms. I like that this scheme makes them stand out a lot from the rest of the army, while details like the red gun casings and yellow lenses still tie them in.

We can’t forget, though, despite their lovely, nostalgic uniforms: All Arbites are Bastards.

"Daemons can't hurt me. Not in my protective sphere."

______________________

Army list as of March

Captain Torkamadus
Grey Knight Terminator Captain | Hero
Tactical Dreadnought Armour
Nemesis Force Weapon

Psychic Mastery Level 4
450 points

Techmarine Tarantus
Techmarine
Basic equipment
Vincent Black Shadow motorcycle
97 points

Squad Deza
Grey Knight Terminator Tactical Squad
1 Sergeant and 4 Marines in Tactical Dreadnought Armour

5 Nemesis Force Weapons

Psychic Mastery Level 4
1,200 points

Brother Bethor
Deredeo Dreadnought
Missile Launcher, Heavy Plasma Gun
Standard Sensor Package, 2 Power Fields, Power Field Synchroniser
270 points

Squad Heliod
Tactical Squad
Sergeant with Bolt Gun, Bioscanner and Power Glove
1 Marine with Missile Launcher
1 Marine with Flamer

7 Marines with Bolt Guns
275 points

Bright Sword
Rhino APC with Techmarine Pilot, assigned to Squad Heliod
2 Bolt Guns
387 points

Riot Corps
Adeptus Arbites Squad
1 Magister with Bolt Pistol and basic equipment

5 Judges with Bolt Pistols and basic equipment
102 points

Squad Apollo
Devastator Squad
Sergeant with Bolt Gun
2 Marines with Beamers
2 Marines with Heavy Bolters

5 Marines with Bolt Guns
379 points

Ben's Blood Drinkers Space Marines - Rank and File Month 3

This month sees my Blood Drinkers 5th Company receive reinforcement from the 1st Company - so not so much rank and file as highly elite, given that 11 models cost a whopping 849 points!

Whole intact squads are somewhat expensive, so they are pieced and patched together from various damaged and incomplete lots, including the plastic Terminator Squad which I think came out with a second edition of Space Hulk - I'm not a massive fan of the whole models, but they provided some useful parts to combine to produce whole suits.

First, squad Galin, the second Terminator Squad of the 1st Company who are close-combat specialists.  The sergeant is based on a Deathwing Sergeant's body, with RT arms donated by my friend.  I bent the Storm Shield arm to cover his front, partly to pose it more naturally, but mainly to cover the detail that had been roughly hacked off the model in a former life.  Two of the Lightning Claws use the plastic Terminator bodies to allow for a little twisting at the waist.  One set of Lightning Claws was liberated of its shoulder pads in a former life, so I mounted them on plastic arms giving them a slightly different pose to the rest of the squad.  Whole metal banner poles seem to be particularly hard to come by so this plastic terminator one was mounted with greenstuff and topped off with a later component from my bits box - unfortunate, but I couldn't justify the expense of an era-appropriate icon.  And lastly, the Heavy Flamer model once was a Wolf Guard, but he seems to fit in OK.

I considered the classic hazard stripes for the power fists but in the end I  felt there was enough contrasting colour with the helmets and skulls all over the place.  (And also I chickened out when I was quite happy with the base colours I'd laid down and didn't want to paint over it with something that might come out worse...)

Second, Squad Calibur, the fifth Terminator Squad, laying down some heavy supporting fire before charging in to chop things up with their chainfists.  I seem to remember the Assault Cannon being the heavy weapon of choice in 2nd Ed, but the Emperor provided me with a Cyclone Launcher - who was I to argue, and the silhouette is pretty cool.  Plastic Terminators again came in handy to replace the Sergeant's missing Power Sword and banner pole (fortunately the banner itself hides the socket that I 'sculpted' from greenstuff).

They are led by Chaplain Grimaldox who is there to provide some spiritual reinforcement and keep these valued veterans firmly away from the path of the Black Rage.  He was a late addition to the force when I decided it needed a character in Terminator Armour to lead it; I didn't think he needed any converting so he is exactly as he was straight out of the paint stripper.  I've slightly modified the half-and-half colour scheme I've been using for my specialists to take into account that Terminators carry the chapter badge on their right shoulder pad, so I made his right half black (the specialist colour for Chaplains) apart from the red shoulder pad, and vice versa - I'm pleased with the effect:

All in all time-consuming to paint but an intimidating presence on the battlefield.  They also complete and surpass my first objective which was to put together a force roughly equivalent to that in the first ever 2nd Ed battle report (Tacticals, Devastators, Terminators, Rhino and Dreadnought).  Next month I plan to go back to the 5th Company (or maybe even draft in some reserves from the 8th Company) for some much-needed mobility and paint some Assault Marines!

Mustafa’s Beakies: Wrap Up. Why paint one army when you can paint two?

 Should’ve done this a few day ago, but better late than never I say!

It’s nice to have a finished RT looking space marine army, especially one that includes some tanks.

I had quite a lot of fun painting these. The sculpts are lovely BigMrTong ones (aside from the HQ and squad leaders), and were an absolute joy to paint. They lent themselves very well to drybrushing and washes as they have lots of interesting lines and details compared to the old RTB01 lads.

So, as the title suggests, I actually painted two armies at the same time. The second one is a small 1st company Ultramrine force. The squads are all three-man ones as I’ll be using the army for One Page Rules. I was tempted to do them in the same colour scheme, but I wanted to avoid boredom.

Anyway, here are some pics :)

What’s next for the Emperor’s finest? Well, I reckon they need some fast support so it’ll be jump packs and speeders next year!

James WRR’s Rank & File 4: Veterans of the Long War

With my fourth and final Rank & File month complete, the OWAC finish line is in sight!

My dark, avenging Emperor’s Children army has now been fully realised for games of Rogue Trader. My loyalband of bastards is ready to burn the galaxy and party on the ashes.

I’ve saved the best till last, and all. 

 

This month, I’ve painted up the heaviest hitters of the army — the elites of the elite, the most dastardly of the dastardly, the slimiest of the slimeballs. Ooh, and a true titan of the battlefield as well.

 

Not originally planned for this challenge, I did recently get my hands on one of my “holy grail” miniatures: the Rogue Trader Keeper of Secrets.

This glorious bull-headed beast really completes the Daemonic side of my army, and stands as a lovely centrepiece, alongside the Rhino and Dreadnought.

 

 

Speaking of these mechanical monstrosities, I painted up a Techmarine to accompany them, complete with Servo-Arm (stolen from a second-edition Space Marine and mutated accordingly).

The eagle-eyed among you will notice that this model and the Medic, who also joins the army this month, are those illustrated in the Realm of Chaos: Slaves to Darkness army list. While these sculpts could easily be generic Renegades, I thought they should fulfil their destined role and be painted accordingly. Medics should wear white, of course, even if they are malicious butcher-surgeons from the beyond the stars.

 

Finishing off this cohort of characters is the dread Lord of Slaanesh Ashmodeus Harkonnen. Based on the absolutely beautiful Jes Goodwin sculpt, and gifted a pair of Heroquest Gargoyle wings, Harkonnen was previously painted as the leader of my original Realm of Chaos warband. I like to think he’s had a real glow-up since his first paintjob a decade ago, with a suitably dark and awesome new colour scheme that befits the leader of my new army.

 

Of course, we can’t forget the squad of Old War veterans: the Traitor Terminators.

Not originally featured in Slaves to Darkness, Traitor Terminators were later introduced in White Dwarf and The Lost and the Damned (with a bit of equipment and cost disparity between these publications). I received these models with a mix of Imperial bodies and weapons, so had to do a bit of Green Stuffing to turn them traitorous. Sculpting’s not my greatest skill, but I hope these still look the part in the army!

 

 

I absolutely love these chunky boys. As solid hunks of metal, their mere weight in the hand makes them feel badass, tough and unstoppable. They may not be as dynamic as the latest plastics, or even the second-edition Chaos Terminators, but their stoic poses do give them an air of “Don’t even try reasoning with us. Say your prayers, bucko."

 

There's not all that much to write about the painting process this month, just that I’ve taken time to translate the colour placement of the basic Tactical Marines to the Terminators and characters — and that I’m so, so over all this edge highlighting and trim!

The Keeper of Secrets was an interesting challenge. I knew I wanted to maintain the same vibrancy as the Daemonettes that it leads, but also that I wanted it to look much more mean and brutish. After all, Keepers are Slaanesh’s brute force option for when subterfuge and temptation has failed.

I remember reading, in an old White Dwarf somewhere, that larger models should be painted darker than smaller ones (I think the examples given were Lizardmen Kroxigors and Skinks). I suppose that brighter colours on the big ‘uns would make them stand out far too much when groups of models are standing together.

As such, I chose an overall darker, cooler base colour for the Greater Daemon’s skin, painting some brighter patterns and metallics here and there to bring back the funkiness. Daemons of Slaanesh should be the gaudiest of the gaudy, after all, no matter how mean and tough they are.

And, so, that about wraps it up! Apart from my wildcard month surprise still to come...

 

I’m super pleased to see these guys all together now, painted to the highest of standards that the timing of the challenge would allow.

But, if you’ve been enjoying watching this army grow, don’t worry. I’ve got big plans in the works for the future of my Realm of Chaos collection. And maybe even future challenge attempts…

I ain’t done yet. If you've been inspired at all, join my own personal Chaos cult by chucking me a follow on Instagram at @illuminator_hobby. I'd love to start organising some games and meet-ups in the future!

ARMY LIST

Ashmodeus Harkonnen
Lieutenant Commander
Major Hero, Standard Equipment, Level 2 Psyker
Attributes: Evil Eye, Wings
Gift of Slaanesh: Musk
215 

Ao'akhl'Dharer, the Bull of Abraxis
Keeper of Secrets
Major Hero, Standard Equipment, Level 2 Psyker
Attributes: Alcoholism, Hypnotic Gaze, Razor-Sharp Claws, Powerful Legs, Vividly Coloured Skin, Resilient
900

Caligulus the Hierophant
Chaplain on Steed of Slaanesh
Minor Hero, Basic Equipment
Attributes: Furry
Chaos Gift: Steed of Slaanesh, itself with Vividly Coloured Skin and Poisonous Bite
60

Davus Skrull
Medic
Master of the Apothecarion, Standard Equipment
Attributes: Suckers
Gift of Slaanesh: Ensnaring Tongue
70

Dio Saevus
 
Possessee, host of a Daemonette

Minor Hero, Standard Equipment

Attributes: Tentacles, Horns, Bestial Face, Powerful Legs, Agility, Massive Intellect

280

Neadalus Reborn

Chaos Dreadnought
Heavy Plasma Gun, Claw 

150

Fabian Molder
Techmarine
Standard Equipment
Attributes: Poisonous Bite, Iron Hard Skin
18

6 Daemonettes

Attributes: Tentacles, Bestial Face, Prehensile Tails, Razor-Sharp Claws, Vividly Coloured Skin, Bulbous Eyes
600
 
Squad Fereter
Tactical Squad

Standard Equipment, 1 Meltagun, Scare Gas Grenades
Attributes: Sergeant Franciscus Fereter has Razor-Sharp Claw, Bulbous Eyes
164

Squad Escher
Traitor Terminator Squad

4 Storm Bolters, 1 Assault Cannon 3 Power Gloves, 1 Chain Fist, 1 Power Sword
Attributes: Sergeant Magnus Escher has Skull Face and Magic Immunity
450

Incubus
Rhino
370

Total points
3,277

+++

RENEGADE WARBAND

Sirfell Thrice-Blessed
Human Minor Hero, Renegade dedicated to Slaanesh
Chaos Gifts:
Fiend, itself with Hypnotic Gaze, Cloven Hooves and Scorpion Tail
Daemon Weapon, in the shape of a flail, with the bound Lesser Daemon Tiq’kull’dom’skrell, itself with Temporal Instability, Scorpion Tail, Transparent Skin, Iron Hard Skin
Chaos Armour
Musk
Characteristic Gain
Attributes: Vampire, Overgrown Body Part, Manikin, Warty Skin, Magic Resistant
360

The Void Widow
Human Psyker
Force Rod, Blind Grenade
Attributes: Bestial Face of an Insect, Mane of Hair, Powerful Legs 

40

Slikkit Slakethirst
Chaos Warrior
Shield, Great Axe

Chaos Gift: Face of a Steed of Slaanesh
Attributes: Crest, Iron-Hard Skin, Manic Fighter 

50

Brutus the Stainless
Chaos Warrior
Shield, Great Axe
Chaos Gift: Chaos Armour
Attributes: Albino, Irrational Fear 

40

Leon Gorelove
Chaos Renegade
Bolt Pistol
Gift of Slaanesh: Horns of Slaanesh
Attributes: Prehensile Tail, Beweaponed Extremity
40

His Master’s Hounds
2 Warhounds
Attributes: Vividly Coloured Skin, Poisonous Bite 

40

WAAAGH! Rumppuz
3 Orks
2 Bolt Pistols, 2 Power Axes
Attributes: Tentacles, Magician
50

 

TOTAL WARBAND POINTS: 
620

+++

GRAND TOTAL
3,897