+ inload: army building in Horus Heresy 3rd edition +

+ Once more Unto the Age of Darkness +

+ Horus Heresy 3rd edition army building thoughts +

+ A new edition of Horus Heresy is on its way, and since some of the PCRC are gearing up to play, today's inload is looking at how the rumours/releases affect my army. +

Brother Eumon, Locrian

+++

A brief note at the start: For anyone hoping for opinions on Horus Heresy news in general,  I'm rather ill-qualified, as I haven't played in years! This is a discursive and rather self-indulgent article about my Ultramarines army alone, not an editorial on the rules or hoo-ha surrounding weapon options – there's quite enough sound and fury about that elsewhere on the noosphere! 

Suffice to say that I don't have particularly strong opinions on things beyond sympathy for people who feel (for whatever reason) that their armies or units feel invalidated. After many editions of 40k and related games, I've got largely inured to the idea that certain things will or won't work quite the same between editions. Sometimes models, units or whole armies go into mothballs for an edition or two – as is the case with my Ultramarines, the Praetors of Calth [+noosphericinloadlink embedded+]. That's fine if you're in the lucky position of playing multiple games or having a collection that allows you to roll with the punches, but I sympathise with anyone who's finding that favourite models are no longer useable.

+++

+ Sorry, who are the Praetors of Calth? +

Turning to the matter in hand, Goonhammer published a useful article on building a Space Marine army [+noosphericinloadlink embedded+], which is nicely balanced and well worth reading through if you want a bit of an overview. 

As an example of the thought process, were we'll look at what changes my army might need, what (if anything) I need to change, and so forth.

It's worth noting that the army has progressed and advanced in-universe as well as in real life. What started as a Great Crusade-themed army has grown and expanded into a Horus Heresy force, and I've had a cast of characters develop quite naturally over time. While I haven't made a particular 'thing' about that in terms of gaming, and haven't pinned things down in stone, I'm always quietly pleased when edition changes roll around and naturally help create milestones.

To give a bit of an insight into this, Holion is probably the best example [+noosphericinloadlink embedded+]. Starting out as 'Holion the Young' as part of the original project, he fought as a Legionary in first edition Horus Heresy: Age of Darkness (AoD). 

 

He was always a bit of a poster boy for the army – I think because he was protecting a civilian (Cassie), which lots of people (kindly) said was a neat touch.

When 2nd edition rolled around, I thought it'd be fun to promote him, so he became Lieutenant Holion, with a new model:

Likewise, a couple of models – Cestus and Telcion – were quietly killed off-camera when they turned out to not be 'legal' in that edition and replaced with new models in their squads; but I remembered their names and used them for Dreadnought pilots.

Little narrative touches like this are all very minor, all very supplementary to the broader game, and likely only of personal interest – but it's something that entertains me, and I'm keen with 3rd edition rolling around to do some more stuff like this. 

I mention this largely because that I've got experience of the frustration of having models suddenly not useable. There's no getting around that beyond house-ruling and chatting with your mates; but if that fails, sometimes you can make the best of things. As the Ultramarines might put it, if circumstances change, you need to either devise a new theoretical and practical. If your army is affected badly by the new rules, then I hope that doesn't mean you sit it out, like I did with 2nd; and that you're able to roll with the punches and come up swinging.

+++

+ Mustering the Praetors of Calth and 190th Company +

'New' Ultramarines from the 190th Company – by this point in my narrative, Holion, the young whipper-snapper from the 15th Chapter Praetors of Calth, had been promoted to Lieutenant, and had been transferred to the 19th Chapter to help command a newly-raised Company during the Muster on Calth.

To the meat of things: in 2nd edition AoD, I wanted to differentiate my older models from newer ones (like the examples above) by making them veterans, but as they were equipped with old-style Tactical equipment (the army pre-dated AoD first edition, being built for the Tempus Fugitives campaign weekends), this was a bit awkward.

+ Glory days of the Tempus Fugitives Heresy campaigns at Warhammer World. I think this was 2010/12ish +

I ended up building some new bolter-armed individuals to replace the special/heavy weapons in those squads, but there wasn't a neat way of making them functionally different beyond using them as Seekers, which I did a couple of times, but always felt a bit 'icky' doing. In the end, I tended to leave them out of the army entirely, and rely on the new models I built almost completely – but then 2nd edition AoD never really took off in my group, so I only played a handful of times.

Secondly, I also wanted to field all my low-level characters – Lieutenant Holion, Master of Signals Pullo, Chaplain Highheart and my Herald – as I was proud of them, and wanted to show them off. The force org meant that 1 had to be left out. A very minor problem, really, but an annoyance.

The new approach seems flexible to the point of fault – the system looks a lot like Legions Imperialis' super-complicated and functionally irrelevant army building, where it takes a very long time to find out that there aren't really any limits on what you can take.

On the face of things, I think it looks slightly more polished than LI, with the Prime slots mechanic a clever reward for basic theming (and allowing me to do fluffy things like allowing Sergeant Mox to have some slightly improved stats to represent his background story of being the senior sergeant in the Company); and not having the awkward Formation break point to track.

+++

+ Good in parts +

So, I can fill out the new Detachment quite nicely:

No High Command – since it's optional, I'm not encouraged to use Praetor-level stats for my Lieutenant-level character; and can just take Holion as a Centurion (command) – and happily he can now take both his Axe of Ultramar and special shield (I forget the name).

Pullo and Highheart fill the other two Command slots, but Holion remains a little bit special as he can occupy the 'Prime' slot, so he feels more in charge (albeit with a brevet rank of Captain, following his commander's death during the initial attack on Calth).

I can then field three squads of ten Tactical Marines (Troops), each with their own Rhino; plus have one of my old squads fielded as Troops with a Prime slot... or I can take two squads of twenty Tactical Marines and my Breachers.

+++

+ Some limits +

Oh, wait... my Breachers have power swords, because that was an option for Ultramarines. So I can't take those... except that they're now a special Ultramarines-only unit (Praetorians). Those are presumably Elites, which aren't an option on the Crusade Primary Detachment, so by virtue of taking three officers I'll have to take those from an Auxiliary Detachment, right?

... Ah. Looks like there's no option for Elites here, so I have to go back to the Crusade Primary Detachment and rethink. Oh – looks like Holion's as-yet unused Prime benefit can be used to take a Logistical Benefit, which will unlock the right slot, so that's that.

For bigger games, I might want to bring in some more specialist stuff – and at that point I start running into choices. I can take Captain Aethon at this point as a High Command choice; but to me, High Command implies Tetrarch rank (i.e. there's only a handful of them, rather than being 'ordinary' Chapter Master level), so I'd rather not do that.

At this point, however, I run into a problem. As far as I can see, there's no way to get more Command slots without using the High Command slot. And I haven't yet been able to squeeze in my Herald.

Perhaps I need to get over the idea that High Command represents genuinely exceptional individuals (like Abaddon and Sigismund), and accept that Chapter Masters (in Ultramarine terms, Captain Aethon is an equivalent) are okay to take as High Command. If I do that, then things get a little more fun as I can take an Apex Detachment.

I can now take the three squads of my old Praetors of Calth as Veteran Tactical Squads in the Army Vanguard, which are allowed exactly the equipment the models have (hooray!), and still get Mox as slightly better than Epipatros and Santiagon.

Pullo (my Master of Signals) allows me to unlock the Armoured Fist detachment and take my Land Raider; and Highheart allows me to take a Heavy Support detachment so I can field my Dreadnought Lazaron.

I think that still leaves me with the Centurion (Holion's) two Detachment choices to play with, so I can also bring to the field Techmarine Arius and my apothecary.

+++

+ Stop rambling – what's your point? +

... anyway, this is all a long detour towards a general thumbs-up on the army building. As long as I can get over the idea that Captains can be High Command, this version of Age of Darkness better fits my idea of what an army should look like, is flexible enough to fit my idea of background theme – and I get to field the force as I originally wanted it, all those years ago. 

Is it perfect? No, not at all – I feel very sad for anyone whose army doesn't fit in, or whose hard-built favourite units don't have a place. There's no getting away from the fact that it's a [SCRAPSHUNTERRORABORT] if your old army doesn't translate across or requires cludgy 'counts-as'. As noted above, I know that feeling well from 2nd edition.

Nevertheless, I found the exercise of army building in AoD 3rd edition a lot more approachable and fun than the Legions Imperialis army building experience, which (despite my keen desire to like it and a lot of patience) is about as fun as hammering nails into splintery two-by-fours.

+++

+ New theoreticals; new practicals +

In writing this, it struck me that the bolt-it-on approach of the new way of army building has got my brain fired up for expansion. In theory, I can build more Tactical Marines; or field my Salamanders or Iron Hands (or Silver Stars... or Steel Legion as Auxilia...) as Allied Detachments quick as a wink, rather than having to slog through making 1,500pts+ of them. Being able to game with those smaller forces alongside my Ultramarines is great, I think I'd struggle to have the motivation to build them otherwise.

I think the new system also lends itself to expansion better. If a model comes out that I like the look of, I'm not talking myself out of it by thinking about what I'll have to lose from a set force – and if I decide that I want to field something really weird like an Apothecary-heavy army for a scenario like defending the genebanks, I'll be able to do so without being forced to drag an important officer from the frontlines.

+++

+ inload: Painting pre-Heresy Ultramarines – part II +

+ Set new heading +

+ Part I of this painting guide can be found here +

+[+noospheric inloadlonk embedded+] +

+ Theoretical +

+ At this point, we've got the Ultramarine painted a mid blue that fades to a deeper blue-purple in the recesses. As you can see in the small picture to the left (the stage we left them at last night), the figures are pretty dull to look at – nothing much catches the eye. To fix this, we need to highlight the figure. +

+ The aim with any highlighting or shading is to create a contrast in tones; and the reason for this is that the eye is drawn to areas of visual impact. Strong changes in tone are one of the key things to concentrate upon if you want an eye-catching model, whatever your personal style. +

+ Trompe l'oeil is an ecumenical matter +

+ It's also worth noting that the other aspect of tonal contrast is to increase visual complexity. Essentially, we're aiming to creating the illusion that the figure is large and far away, rather than small and close-to. +

+ In order to do this, we need to make it look as though the large surfaces are catching more light, and that the areas in shadow are deeply recessed – or in other words, alter the tone of the local colour (the main midtone – Mordian Blue in this example) in the appropriate areas on the figure. This requires you to decide upon a light source for the figure. Typically, this is above the figure, as we're used to seeing people in daylight, with the sun acting as the light source. +

+ As a general rule, you should pick a light source and stick with it. All the highlights should point towards the light source, and the areas that are blocked from it – whether by an intervening object or simply by being on the bottom of an area should be in shadow. +

+ The shoulder pad to the left shows the lightest tint at the top (nearest the light source), fading into the midtone local colour, and down to the darkest shade at the bottom. Note the highlighting on the scratches follows the opposite rule – the light tone beneath the scratch and the shadow above it. That's because the scratch is meant to look like a dent in the surface. The top edge thus casts a shadow, and the bottom edge catches the light. +

+ My typical approach when painting is to lay in a midtone, then add shading, and then highlight. That's because deeper shades are more forgiving than light tints, and because shaded areas tend to be 'within' the figure – it's physically easier to get the brush to the raised areas than the recesses; so painting the highlights afterwards means less chance of a stray brushstroke getting paitn where you don't want it. +

+ Practical +

VI_ My highlighting is done with a combination of blending – for smoothness – and edge highlighting, for tabletop impact and to add crispness. I'm not a particularly neat painter, but some finer lines helps direct the eye and delineate shapes that might otherwise look soft. Mix Mordian Blue with Fenris Grey (a cool blue-toned grey) and dilute with a little flow enhancer. Pick an area and add a spot of paint on the area nearest the light source – for example the part of the shoulder pad pointing straight upwards; (usually the top, but this will depend on the pose) – then rinse your brush, dry it, and make small circular movements around the edge of the spot, drawing the paint outwards. If the paint is thin enough, you'll see that some of the underlying local colour shows through. This is the essence of blending. +

VII_ Repeat on all of the other plates. The skill here is not so much in applying the paint as it is working out how each area catches the light. Exposed directly to the light source, the shoulder pads and helmet will be relatively lighter than the lower legs, which are sheltered somewhat from the light. Both are catching more light that the undersides and recesses – such as under the marine's arms or between the foot and greave. You need to apply the paint intelligently – if you get stuck, just picture the light source and try and draw a line straight to the area. Can the light fall flat on the surface? If so, highlight strongly. Does it hit it only obliquely? Work closer to the midtone. Is it obscured? Leave it unhighlighted.

+APPENDNOTE: This is a bit of a simplification: light doesn't just fall straight down. It will bounce off nearby surfaces, creating a secondary light source of reflected light. For this reason, you might need to add some subtle highlighting bouncing off nearby armour plates, the floor, or other areas. Just remember that reflected light is always less intense than direct light; so you should never highlight parts lit by reflected light with tints as light as those used for those under the direct light. +

VII_ With the soft blending done, you can – if you choose – add some edge highlighting. This is essentially the lightest tint you've mixed, added in fine lines to areas under direct light. You'll see these on the tops of the pauldrons, outer edges of the feet and greaves, top of the torsos and so on.

+ Edge highlighting is a shortcut – if you spend more time blending and work cleanly, you'll simply not need them as you'll create the effect naturally. However, there's a balance between speed, effect and enjoyment – find a balance that suits the way you like to work. I don't believe painting should be a chore; though if you're aiming for competition standard, you'll need to practise blending far more, as it's the dominant style that judges like. Of course, if you're going for competition standard, you're best off taking technical advice from better painters than me! Artists like the Massive Voodoo crew [+noospheric inloadlink embedded+] are a great place to start: friendly and expert advice there. +

VIII_ The next thing to work on is the focal point. In the marines here, I want the heads to be the focal point. On the bare-headed Sergeant Tulian Aquila, it's simple enough – the changes in tone, texture and hue used for the skin and features immediately draw the eye from the mass of blue armour. For Brother Septival, the chap with the rotor cannon, it's a bit harder to draw the eye. You can add a contrasting tone – helmet stripes are a good idea – but I've decided to simply go with bright orange eye lenses for the moment. Orange is opposite blue on the colour wheel, making it the complementary hue. As a result, the two colours interact strongly, creating maximum contrast – and thus creating visual interest.

+ That's all I got done last night – I was getting a bit impatient and decided that I'd rather look at the figures in daylight to assess them before going any further. +

+ Looking at your figures under artificial light and daylight really hits home the difference. Compare the picture below, taken in the dawn light, to that above, taken under a daylight bulb last night. +

+ inload: Painting pre-Heresy Ultramarines – part I +

+ Meanwhile, back on Calth +

+ The Ultramarines and I go back a long way – I'm sure somewhere along the line I've written down a recipe for how I paint them, but techniques (and paint ranges!) move on. Seized by inspiration for some Ultramarines, I thought I'd note down a stage-by-stage process for a couple of marines. I hope it's useful. +

+ Praetor of Calth: deep blue; yellow banding; personal heraldry +

+ Theoretical +

+ For those of you familiar with my Ultramarines, you'll know that I've tried a couple of different approaches – a deep dark blue and lots of personalisation for my veteran Praetors of Calth, and a mid-tone uniform approach for my 190th Company. They're close enough – not least stylistically – for the two to sit comfortably together on the table, but offer me a bit of variety depending upon what I want to paint. + 

+ Member of 190th Company: Mid blue; gold banding; uniform +

+ The two marines used for the demonstration below are something different again. They're based on Gav Thorpe's Honour to the Dead [+noospheric inloadlink embedded+], and as such don't need to stand alongside my other marines. This is a nice chance to try out something new. If it fits with the others, brill; if not, they're an example of the slight variation in uniform within the Legion. +

+ As an example, I've long wanted to try to get some more Rogue Trader stylistic touches into my Marines, and these are a great opportunity. I'm planning to include some Rogue Trader rank markings, to use all-metal backpacks and probably a few other retro-styled bits as they occur to me. Planning is useful, but restricting yourself on these experimental mini-projects is a surefire way to kill your enthusiasm as dead as a dodo. +

+++

+ These were popped up on the new Facebook group for the blog [+noospheric inloadlink embedded+] as an experiment in 'live painting'. I spent two hours, and took a pict-capture after every 30 minutes to give more of an idea of my painting style. Please excuse any bits mentioned in the text that are missing from either of the figures. At each stage, at least one of the figures is 'correct', but I wanted to be as honest as possible with the timings. +

+ Terminology: Glazes and washes are two slightly different things:

+ A wash should flow away from raised areas and into recesses – be careful not to let it pool too much, or you'll end up with backruns and odd textural effects. Washes should flow readily on your palette, and once dried, should create the impression of a gradient on your model; from the unaffected underlying hue in the raised areas to deeply shaded areas in the recesses. You typically apply just one or two washes to create the effect. +

+ In contast, a glaze should cover the object evenly, tinting the raised and recessed areas consistently. Glazes are typically thin and should flow, but the consistency can vary – the thinner the glaze, the more subtle the effect. Typically, glazes are built up over time, using many thin layers. The consistency you use should ideally cover the area you want to glaze evenly without obviously obscuring the colour underneath. Once dry, repeat the application and repeat until you achieve the effect you want. +

+ You can make either by thinning regular acrylic paint with water or another medium – the terms refer to the technique, not the material. With that said, different paints react differently: some split, others granulate, and it takes a lot of time and experience to know how to water down and utilise the colours correctly. For this reason, it is sometimes easier (and certainly more predictable) to use some specialist materials. +

+ Inks are perhaps the simplest to understand. If you've ever used inks, you know how they sit on the model and enrich the colour. They can be used as a wash, but they tend to dry unevenly, resulting in glossiness in recesses and patchiness on the surface. They are, however, ideal for glazing straight out of the bottle. +

+ GW produce a range called Shades, which function as ready-made washes – indeed, the previous iteration were called 'Washes'. The carrier (the colourless medium that carries the pigment) for these is not water, but a medium that alters the surface tension and encourages the colour to flow smoothly into recesses. GW also produce a range called Glazes, which function (drumroll please) as glazes. Both are an excellent ranges; I thoroughly recommend them as useful tools. Though not the be-all and end-all, they're great to use as part of your palette. + 

+++

+ Technique: I very much admire the clean, jewel-like qualities that other painters achieve, but stylistically I'm more interested in impression and texture – my inspirations are GW artists like Karl Kopinski, Blanche and Gary Harrod; along with Goya, Degas and the Impressionists. I use a technique that I call 'selective glazing' – it's a quick and dirty effect that results in a rougher, more textural effect than glazing. +

+ The idea is essentially to apply a smooth glaze, but remove it from the areas of highlight – either with a brush, cotton bud or with a clean finger. This 'forces' the highlight and gives a greater contrast, but also introduces a little dirt and unevenness:

+ The result of the selective glazing technique can be seen clearly here. You can see a 'curve' of uneven shadow around the big screws at the front of the shoulders here. It's this slightly ragged, textural effect that I'm after. +

 

+ Selective glazing is used extensively in the robes here. Since it's the raised surface that is wiped, the recesses remain rich, dark and with heavy tonal contrast. +

+++

+ Practical +

+ Pre-stages: Build your marine, attach to a base and use texture medium to build up some texture – I use coarse and extra coarse pumice gel medium from Golden [+noospheric inloadlink embedded+]. Note that this is added after the figure is glued to the base. This helps set them in the soil, rather than perched on top of it. Texture medium glues rock hard, so it also helps secure the figure. I've also added some fibrous mesh from my bits box to help create semi-urban terrain interest. Once dry, prime the marine. I've used Halford's grey primer [+noospheric inloadlink embedded+]; note this is primer, not spray paint – they have different qualities. +

I_ Paint any metal areas on the figure with watery Abaddon Black; and any metal areas on the base with Solar Macharius Orange straight from the pot. Note how messy I am here. I find it more important to get the recesses of the areas covered than to be neat at this stage. The 'flow' of the work is speedy and energetic and fun.

II_ Use slightly watered-down Mordian Blue to paint the bulk of the armour. Again, I'm not too fussed about being neat; spots of blue pop up on the black areas, and doubtless some areas are missed. If necessary, quickly touch in any mistakes using some of the paint remaining on your palette from the previous stage. overlay the texture gel with Stirland Mud (or just a dark brown like Rhinox Hide).

III_ Water down a little Charadon Granite to the consistency of milk; it should not quite drip if you tip up your palette, but it should definitely start to flow. Use this to paint the soft armour ribbing along with Use acrylic medium to dilute Chainmail – using water can 'split' the paint, causing patchiness – and paint in the metal areas.

IV_ Dilute Liche Purple with acrylic medium and water to create a thin glaze. Working area by area, paint this over blue parts, right into the recesses. While it remains wet, quickly rinse and dry your brush, then use the dry brush to wipe away excess purple glaze from the surface, leaving it in the areas of shadow and deep recesses – this is the selective glazing technique. Next, apply Seraphim Sepia (or better still, slightly dried-up Gryphonne Sepia) to the shoulder pad rims and any other areas you want to be gold. This is painted on neat and as densely as you can get it without dripping. The important thing is not to let it flow off the area, nor to pool too heavily – you want it to dry naturally to create the impression of form. 

V_ Dilute Necron Abyss with medium and water to create a glaze; exactly as for the Liche Purple in step IV. As before, work area by area and wipe the glaze away while it is still wet. Once dry, use GW washes – Nuln Oil – to wash the metal areas and the Charadon granite areas. While that dries, drybrush the base with successively lighter mixes of Calth Brown and Dheneb Stone.

+ That concludes part I – the figures now have their midtones and shading in place; the entire undercoat is covered; and the base is pretty much there. From here, we'll enrich the colours and add the highlights that'll create tonal contrast. With that complete, it's down to details and freehand – but that'll have to wait for another day. +

+ The figures in the cold light of morning, once the paint has dried. +

+ I hope this has been interesting – I'd love to hear your thoughts either here or on Facebook [+noospheric inloadlink embedded+]. +

+ inload: Hold fast! Ultramarine Breachers +

+ The Vigintii +

+ I've banged on a lot about Breachers over the past couple of inloads, so rather than repeating myself, I'll simply pop up some pictures of the squad as they currently stand. +

+ Sergeant and four marines. The banner was painted with the new Iyanden Darksun (apologies, I can't remember the name) then washed with sepia ink. While wet, I used my thumb to wipe off the excess ink from the raised areas. Once dry, I used slightly diluted Iyanden Darksun to clean it up a bit, then added Dheneb Stone to the mix for highlights. The detail is all moulded on – I think the backpack is a metal piece from the character Sicarius. +

+ Note the inclusion of an heraldic tilt shield – I'm really enjoying adding these to the occasional veteran. +

+ Squad leader and four marines. Being organised to a fault, the Ultramarines always have a chain of command in place. This fella doesn't have any in-game rules, but made a good excuse to have a bit more fun modelling – building lots of near-uniform models isn't the most exciting process, even if the end result is worth it. +

+...and all together, plus Brother Letas (in the red helm of censure). The bases aren't complete, and nor are the squad markings. The little circles you can see on the shields will have an eta (η) symbol. Rather annoyingly, despite spending [SCRAPSHUNTERRORABORT] ages last night carefully painting in the Breacher Squad symbol (an inverted omega with a gladius through the centre) on every right shoulderpad, I forgot to get a pict-capture of any of them. +

+ You can just about make one or two out in this rather gloomy WIP picture, but you'll probably have to use your imagination for now. Regarding the markings, I couldn't resist adding a few little personalising details – the occasional CXC (for the 190th), legion numeral or additional Legion symbol here and there – but I've deliberately left them fairly neutral. These are, after all, new Ultramarines. Not quite raw recruits, but only just beginning to write their legends... +

+++ AMEND +++

+ I've now secured a pict-capture of the Breacher squad details:

+++AMEND TERMINUS+++

+ What next? +

+ With the first ten (well, eleven) Vigintii requiring just some final weathering and basing, the next things on the painting table:

+ Ah, more Breachers. Well, that's not particularly exciting. +

+ Ah, an apothecary! That's a bit more fun. I've a solid preference for the visuals of a game, and one of the things that always slightly disheartens me is when one or other army isn't on the table. This is generally due to it being pretty much all in reserve, or all in flyers, or so forth. My army sits around looking daft and then getting shot from all angles as they pop up, with no opportunity to actually fight. Fortunately, my Iron Warriors army taught me the great pleasure of augury scanners and Explorator augury webs, which go a long way to disrupting reserves and generally making life a bit more difficult for infiltration/deep-strike heavy armies, and giving my Ultramarines a chance to shoot back before they're annihilated. Why's this relevant? Well, Apothecaries can have augury scanners, so that's what he's clutching in his left hand. +

+ The visuals bites both ways – I suspect my infantry-heavy army would benefit from having lots of apothecaries, but it just seems a bit off to me to have so many in an army. One apothecary to every forty or so men seems alright, though. +

+ inload: They Shall Know Fear +

+ Officers on deck +

+ Epulone Tiberial Highheart +

+ A fairly productive weekend of painting saw me finishing Chaplain Highheart who, like the Breachers of Viginti yesterday, has been lurking half-painted in a case. I rarely think it's a good idea to force myself to paint, preferring to work on something as the enthusiasm strikes. +

+ Not my best work, but I rather like him. He'll be leading the charge against the orks of the Teknorkracy this Thusrday... Keep an eye out for a report. +

+ inload: Squad Viginti WIP +

+ Squad Viginti WIP +

+ Theoretical – What's cooler than Space Romans with big tower shields? +

+ Practical – Space Romans with big tower shields and power gladii. +

Three Breachers, with markings and details to finish.

+ These poor chaps have been sat in a figures case while other projects – Court of the Sun King, Officia Monstrosa, May You Live Forever – have ticked over, and with a game coming up on Thursday, it's about time I got them painted. +

+ Below are some WIP shots of a Breacher squad; a new type of unit from the Age of Darkness expansion that gives space marines a shieldwall visual. +

+ There are currently three nigh-finished members – the sergeant, squad leader and a red-helmed rotter. They need a few minor tweaks and basing, but I'm happy with how they're looking; certainly good enough to plop on a table to be swiftly removed! +

Sergeant of Viginti (the squad designation is recorded on his banner – Viginitii)

Squad Leader

+ inload: Grubby Rankers +

+ The Ultramarines have a reputation for being upright, proud and strait-laced, which is certainly built on foundations of truth. However, none of those clad in cobalt and gold are identical in character. There is a great variety of imbalance in humours amongst the Legion; some erring towards a choleric disposition, while others are generally sanguine or bilious. Mostly, such imbalances are drilled out during training; but in some cases they prove intractable. +

+ Such warriors are tolerated if their deficiences or exuberances prove to be of no detriment to themselves or their comrades. Since the time of Gren Vosotho, the War-born had harboured a peculiar and unlikely mix that – perhaps owing to the influence of their geneseed – nevertheless came to prove more than the sum of its parts. Indeed, many officers even post-Guilliman show certain eccentricities – impulsiveness, bravado, or a peculiar sixth sense – that have proven to be a great benefit to the Legion and underscored their individual advancement. +

+ Whether the following troublemakers of the 190th prove to be future Officers or swiftly-cooling corpses is still to be played out... +

Brother Anandates, Corinthian (190th)

+ Part of the field-intake of replacements necessary for the Corinithians, who had suffered catastrophic casualties during a raid against greenskin pirates, Brother Anandates has proven both capable with a support weapon and insubordinate to a fault; indulging in non-standard kill markings and aesthetic vandalisation of his wargear. Not yet red-marked, he has skirted perilously close to the line on more than one occasion in his short field-life. +

Brother Spiriculus, Squad Secundus (190th)

+ In contrast, Brother Spiriculus is devoted, drilled and conscientious... and seemingly catastrophically unlucky. It seems the fates have a dark sense of humour for Spiriculus, and he has become something of an ill-luck totem for Squad Secundus. As a result, squad cohesion has been slow to materialise amongst the inexperienced 190th. +

+ inload: Ultramarine Master of Signal +

+ Upilio Constantine Pullo +

+ The XIIIth, perhaps more than any other Legion, relies on smoothly interlinking command and control, with orders percolating downwards for swift enactment. Some Ultramarines excel at particular roles – the strategic leadership of the Legion falls to those most able to command; while line sergeants provide staunch tactical direction. +

+ Being equal in ability does not necessitate heterogeneity, of course. While some Officers of Ultramar achieve their rank through skill at arms – we think of Tauro Nichodemus, or the glittering blade of Salvio Fenn – others, like Constantine Pullo, possess some of his gene-father's genius for organisation and administration. +

+ The post of Master of Signal is the official designation for the post known to the Iron Hands and Death Guard as Watchmaster, to the Raven Guard – unofficially at least – as Whisperchief, and to the Ultramarines as Upilio. The role varies slightly, but all who wish to master it must possess an ability to parse, sort and filter a tide of often conflicting information, acting both as filter and codifier of the ebbs and flows not just of battles; but of entire theatres of war. +

+ Owing to their multi-levelled thinking and superlative calculatory abilities, most Signal Officers excel at void warfare, and many are drawn from void-captains and Astartes fleet staff. They are commonly placed in charge of Expeditionary sub-fleets, a responsibility far above most Centurions' duties. +

+ Never the most fearsome in combat, nor the most charismatic, nor yet the most indomitable, Constantine Pullo is nevertheless a terrifying man to make your enemy; as he has the ten thousand arms and ten thousand eyes of the Ultramarines beneath his command to turn against you. +

+ Decked out in artificer-adapted Mark V hybrid (II/IV) plate with inbuilt cognitive-memhancer, arm-mounted augur-board and multi-spectrum vox-beading, Pullo is capable of directing an entire battlefront; as indeed he demonstrated during the Syrinx Annihilation, the closing events of the Hypon campaign, and the Nekuli void-war. In addition to this equipment, he carries an eminently practical boltpistol sidearm and the vitis, the short staff that serves as mark of office, as a visual directional tool when his high-tech equipment fails him or is impractical, and – in extremis – as a bludgeoning weapon. +

+ The Master of Signal is a role that sits at the heart of the Ultramarines' way of war. Serving in the 15th for nearly three decades, Constantine Pullo's experience and knowledge saw him promoted after the Nekuli campaign to a new role with the Evocati, overseeing the training of future Ultramarines on Armatura. This was a role he took on with characteristic seriousness. Redeployed to Calth alongside the final intake of Inductii before the Ghaslakh campaign muster, Pullo was caught alongside the warriors of the newly-created 190th when the Word Bearers attacked. He was lost on the surface prior to the Underworld War; just another of the 160,000 or so Legionary casualties of the Atrocity. +