Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

Well, I figured I ought to start uploading the armies I have painted. And no, this isn't showcase because I'll be adding more stuff as I get it done, and the paintjob is terrible.

I will acknowledge that my photography is gak, and that the paintjob itself is gak. On a scale of 1-10, I evaluate my painting at between 4-7, and 7 is when I succeed at attempting detail on a command/hero model only. Generally speaking I'm content when the model is painted. That said, why am I bothering uploading these if they are gak? Well, all told, I'm actually pretty pleased with how these turned out. The first few marines were just color thrown together, experimenting, but the experiments were thrown on more... expensive models, so the color scheme kinda sorta had to stick, and I had to figure out how to make it work.

Color scheme isn't best, by far, but I'm also pretty pleased with the conversions and kitbashes that are in there. I had a decent amount of fun painting them, but the most fun was had in building this army. I loved taking the creative liberty to make every second and third model stand out.

Background:

Imperial fists descendant chapters that were whittling away were thrown into the meat grinder together. Both came out of the fight far weaker than they had gone in, but formed a brotherhood unlike what they experienced on their own internally. Both chapters were effectively destroyed and the only way they even continued to function was in the fact that they merged their command structure during the campaign to satisfy the terms of a fully functioning Astartes Chapter. The two chapters had competing doctrines and through having to work with each others talents discovered a dynamic that gave them a new dynamic. One chapter, skilled at the art of defense, the other skilled in the art of cracking defense. Polar opposites would chafe when forced to work together, but acknowledging that their chapters were close to death, and fessing up to the fact that they were in fact fraternal brothers, they were willing to learn from each other. As one knew how to defend, he learned better from the besieger, and the besieger learned better how the defenders set up. Most importantly, out of this sharing of manpower and battlefield lore, and above all else the need to discover a new strategy to turn around the failing campaign, a new doctrine arose that permitted both chapters to achieve the maximum in their respective fields.

The need for mobile fortifications in the defensive campaign against an incursion of chaos wasn't just a product brought about by the need for the two chapters to work together, but necessary for survival. Remaining static for too long left local forces vulnerable, and skirmish hit-and-run tactics were starting to fail as increasingly more traps were set to draw the loyalists out. Not only did mobile fortifications give the marines the optimal means for survival, but it permitted them to establish a new mentality that gave them strength, for what wall could be considered lost, if that wall simply rolled back away from where the enemy now stood? Simple earthwork defences proved sufficient when coupled with the mobile firepower of heavier armor. Successive lines of simple earthwork defences could easily be established, while the key points, centered on the tanks, could simply shift at a moments notice each time a perimeter was breached, because those defences could roll out and back to the next point of defence. To think, a "fortress" whose defensive walls repaired themselves simply by relocation!

Still, the campaign was doomed. The marines all bore the mark of death, for they would all die hopelessly trying to stem the chaotic crusade. Their death however, was not to be. Their mark of doom was noticed, and rather than let them slip into oblivion, those slaved to shed the emperor's light until the ends of time took to the battlefield in ethereal flame. The chapter is marked, and instead of letting the chapter suffer death, the legion of the damned stands guard, ready to step in when one of theirs falls, ready to claim the dead for their own ranks, for it is those who persevere in death who earn the right to carry on for eternity marked in flame. Though two chapters survived in the end as one, though their continued survival demands a tax of fresh warriors ready to fight past their death.

Army List:

There is no real setup. I bother mentioning first what i will not take in the army, then, what makes the core of the army. Options i do not bother mentioning, as they are variable between games and add-ons to the core.

No terminators. At all. Why? I find that only two kinds of terminators are good: TH/SS and Fully-kitted shooties. The TH/SS are vulnerable if deepstruck, and can be inconvenienced by forcing them to wade through difficult terrain. Too many times have I shredded a TH/SS squad, 3+ invulnerable save and all, with a line of bolter marines, heck even guardsmen, for me to trust TH/SS terminators to do anything. The shooty ones aren't any good, and everyone agrees. Shooty has seen a comeback with the current rules, but they still need upgrades to give them a kick. Typically, under the conditions the shooty terminators get deployed are just about the same that LOTD would perfom well in. More to the point, at 200 points, LOTD come with a multi melta. At 200 points, shooty terminators come with ego. The second thing to consider is footprint. It's much harder to fumble a model into death when LOTD have half the footprint that terminators do.
No scouts. Might change my mind later. I'm not entirely sold on them yet, because in game I find that they either need to be a throw-away or babysitting to live. They aren't as hardy as line marines, and while I enjoy using them, I don't like putting them into the core of my plans, where the usually get shredded to lovely bits of red ribbon and unravel everything by not having them shooting at things and holding an objective.
No bikes. I find I'm a grind player, and I acknowledge the advantage of bikes, I just can't ever seem to use them properly.

In the pipeline:
razorbacks
Land Raider (i know.... strange without terminators...)
speeders

Core Army:
Captain:
- Power fist, plasma pistol.
-razorback

Tac 1:
-10 man squad
-flamer and missile launcher
-all basics
-razorback

Tac 2:
-10 man squad
-flamer and missile launcher
-power fist and plasma pistol on the sarge
-razorback

Vet 1:
-5 man squad
-2xcombi-melta, 2x-combi plasma 1x-combi flamer and specialist ammo
-razorback

LotD 1:
-6 man squad:
-all basics, all around, + Multimelta

"Extras"
2 Devvy squads. No fixed setup
Specialist marines with meltaguns and plasma guns.
extra commanders (yes, I know one of them has a chainfist... he's a left-over from previous edition I didn't want to dismantle)

Anyway, here's the first miserable pictures

I still have no idea what I want to do for a chapter symbol, or what to call my chapter. I've been sitting on it for a while, and my primary motivation for this atrocious color scheme was for ease of packing, identifying and playing with my army.

Really ought to update this more often than once every second year.

I've been doing some work, and looks like i might be dumping some of the models I have to make room for some more different ones. Anyway, as of right now I'm working on another batch of jetbikes. They're not the best because I'm rushing the work on the wings. I might go back and add some panels in thinner plasticar do make it look more convincing, but as of right now I think I'm calling them done. here's the list of parts used:
-DA bike squad
-CSM havoc launchers
-SM drop pod icons: aquila and imperial fists (to cover the holes on the launcher)
-SM drop pod engine panels (I ran out of them, sadly...)
-DA biker equipment packs
-plasticard (grooved for the front of the box to make it look like air filters)
One bike was in terrible condition, acquired in a bits trade. It was missing a lot of parts, I had to build the floor for it, as well as the HUD, and will need to invent some handlebars as well. I'm still contemplating throwing on some other parts but not sure what else needs adding or where to add it. Bikers are coming up next. Not sure if I'll be using Mark 3 pattern stuff or eagle helmets. Lastly, drilling out the bottom, inserting (a) brass rod(s) and off we go.

Up next, I'm hoping to get more pictures up and any other WIPs I have, of which are woefully few. anyway: jet-bikes.