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As the IG Codex was released, I lost a lot of motivation to continue work on my IG, and the bulk of that energy went into reconcepting my Chaos Marines. This blog is being created to chronicle the army concept design, and development.

Modeling & Painting will eventually figure into this, as ultimately, that's where this blog will end up.

But for the moment, there's going to be a bit of storytelling going on...


introduction
Some of you may be concerned that this is just going to be some aimless wandering, and to assuage that fear, here's a peek at the ending...

My Warband is a Black Templar Crusade Company which has spent the last few centuries on unbroken Great Crusade. They are hyper-Puritan, molded by fiery Chaplain-Commander "Sohru". Due to nearly-continuous combat service, they are Veteran-heavy and highly-specialist, and now use discovered Dark Age technology to augment in with power where they lack in numbers. Their most recent campaign is notable for eradicating the entire planetary population of Vastan VI in the Emperor's name to cleanse the slight taint of Chaos discovered there. Subsequent to the purge of Vastan VI, the Templars adopted their Commander's personal heraldry, repainting their armor in white.

http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/227629.page#526490


index
1999 to 2002, 40k3 Fallen Angels
2003 to 2005, 40k4 Defilers
Oct. 2006, 40k4 Khornate CSM?
Jan 2007, 40k4 Fallen Warriors?

imagery
This is a pretty fair start of the "look" of the force.

Waiting on the pics there, JHDD.

40k, 3rd Edition -- Fallen Angels
Chaos Ascendant and Triumphant!

I started with Eldar in 2nd Edition, and wanted something to "different" to allow me to mix things up when I played.

Based on the Dark Angels Fluff in Angels of Death, and carried on through Chaos and then moving into 3rd Edition, I decided to play a Fallen Angels army as my alternate force. Unlike my Eldar, Fallen gave me a much tougher, MEQ-based army, with T4 and Sv3+ base.

buying
Back then, GW had really attractive Army Deals with real savings, and stores could discount them as heavily as they liked. Like my Eldar, I jumped in with both feet:

#0507 Chaos Boxed Armyl
1x Chaos Terminator Lord
1x Chaos Sorcerer
1x 5 Chaos Terminators
1x 5 Khorne Berzerkers & Champion w/ Axe of Khorne (what?)
1x 5 Plague Marines & 1 Plasma Gun
1x 7 Chaos Marines w/ Champ, Flamer & ML
1x Chaos Dreadnought
Awesome!

I built & painted this in pretty short order.

With monopose plastic CSM available for additional bulk, this was a quick and budget-friendly army to build up.

playing
Codex: Chaos (3E) had a number of changes from the Rulebook list that made it quite attractive to me. As a Fallen Angels player, I had a Mark of Chaos Undivided Lord, who allowed me to take Veterans as Troops. Veterans had Infiltrate, but more importantly, could take 2 Heavy weapons in an environment that strongly favored shooting & countercharge.

I ended up typically fielding something like this:

1x MoCU Chaos Lord w/ JP & Claws
1x Chaos Sorcerer

2x 5 Veterans w/ 2 HBs

2x 7 CSM w/ Champ, 2 Flamers
2x 5 CSM w/ Las &Plas
2x 5 Veterans w/ 2 MLs

2x 5 Havocs w/ 3 MLs
1x Chaos Dreadnought w/ Plasma Cannon

The Plague Marines, Berzerkers, and Teminators were more for grins. Defilers, Obliterators & Raptors hadn't even been conceived.

This army won plenty enough, with plenty enough massed firepower: MLs for MEQs and plenty enough ablative damage soak capability. CSM turn out to actually be quite capable in countercharge mode against pretty much anything that makes its way in close - slam a couple squads in, and it's gone in a round or two... Toss the Lord or Dread in for good measure, and you can mop up pretty well.

Ultimately, when the Codex died and Veterans became Chosen, they lost the 2nd Heavy weapon, obsoleting my army overnight.

I never forgave GW for this, and ultimately traded the entire army off to one of my good friends.

painting
As befits a Heresy-era Fallen Angels army, I went back to the Rogue Trader book for the paint scheme, and went with the original Dark Angels black armor. One thing that I did was to de-Chaosify my CSM models, not wanting all of the spikes and horns. So it's a high-conversion army.


pictures
As I didn't get a digital camera until fairly late, I don't have a lot of pictures of this army, but attached are pics of my Termies and Dread (with Power Scourge! - Muahahahaha!!!!).

Wow first time seeing your work John!

( these are traitor marines? )

Actually, my Eldar & IG stuff has been up for a while. But I guess I should link my Eldar Article to my sig.

Among the Fallen, "traitor" is an interesting word, as history is written by the Victors. There are those who say that Lion El Jonson was corrupted by Chaos, to have become another Daemon Primarch if not for the resistance of the Fallen when the Lion returnd to reclaim the Caliban garrison from the Emperor's light...

Really, it's fascinating Fluff.
____

updated SIG!

JohnHwangDD wrote:
____

updated SIG!

I think its Tien not Tian :x

the current spelling sounds like frosted sugar Eldar

Cantonese or Mandarin (PinYin)?

BTW, you probably like the freehand on my Eldar Farseer...

JohnHwangDD wrote:Cantonese or Mandarin (PinYin)?

BTW, you probably like the freehand on my Eldar Farseer...

Ooh i see... you are canto?

The free hand i dont know what you mean by it...

Heaven's army , Heaven's commanders , demons , monster , ghosts ( are they implying they are demons and monsters themselves?

Yup. O.O

I should take a better picture. Tho part of the problem is that each character is super tiny. But basically, it trying to say he kills monsters.

Tian is right for pinyin. Isn't Tien from Wade-Giles?

Manchu wrote:Tian is right for pinyin. Isn't Tien from Wade-Giles?

Ooh seems like both works...

Pinyin: Tiān also commonly spelled Tien

Manchu is correct. Tian is current. Tien is older.

LunaHound wrote:Pinyin: Tiān also commonly spelled Tien

JohnHwangDD wrote:Manchu is correct. Tian is current. Tien is older.

Wade was developed in the nineteenth century and is still used in Taiwan, I think. It looks bizarre to anyone who's learned mandarin with pinyin. Pinyin was adopted by the PRC in the fifties and uses Russian-style phonetics (hence the "zh"s). I always guessed you were Taiwanese, John. I once asked Luna if she was a Honger, though.

Back OT, your "CSM" Fallen are looking very gritty and appropriately mean-spirited. I wonder if you might break up the black a bit more, however. (edit: Ah, but upon closer inspection this army is no more.)



Automatically Appended Next Post:
In any case, you seem to have a thing for whites, grays, and black. Any comment?

Manchu wrote:Back OT, your "CSM" Fallen are looking very gritty and appropriately mean-spirited. I wonder if you might break up the black a bit more, however.

In any case, you seem to have a thing for whites, grays, and black. Any comment?

I delieberately go for a "gritty" look on my Imperials & Chaos - it's a reaction against the 'Eavy Metal Red period. This was painted very early, and my black was much too flat. After this, I move to more of an off-black to allow more tonal work. When I get around to my Sisters, they'll be using warm and cool blacks to convey texture.

I like strong contrasts against neutral colors, and black/white & grey does that for me. I generally incorporate some neutral grey on nearly every model. I do this to allow little spots of saturated color jump out more strongly.

I thought it was a sort of personal heraldry. You must have a very sensitive bunch of rods and cones. Then again, photos don't do a model full justice most of the the time. I'm not totally sure what you mean by warm and cool blacks. Would you mind pointing to anything in your posted pics to help explain?

It is something of a personal "style" thing, but no, my eyes aren't especially sensitive. However, if you recall the Red Dress thing in the Matrix, it's the same kind of effect.

If you look at something IRL that's "black", usually, it's actually just a dark grey, and it has a reddish ("warm") or bluish ("cool") tint to it that you can see in the highlighting and mid-tones.

I was starting down that road with my Sisters:
- JHDD's SoB (WiP)
Hopefully, you can see that the holster and hair are "warmer" than the armor.

Not a fan of basing?

Nope, not really. When I have based things, it's been more of an afterthought. I probably ought to base before I prime, rather than after all painting is done.

I'm also doing fallen angels, but post heresy using the pictures of the fallen angels in the "hunt the fallen" scenario on the GW website as my general paint scheme

That's the newer, green scheme that the latest Cypher wears, right?

JohnHwangDD wrote:Hopefully, you can see that the holster and hair are "warmer" than the armor.

Thanks, now I can't unsee it. That holster looks positively brown now. Very good illustration.

Are those the old metal terminators? They look it (good thing).
I really like the idea of a fallen-angels army. Now, you just need to get yuor hands on Cypher... and associated rules :(

Yup, classic RT-era Chaos Termies -- see the tiny 25mm slotta bases they're standing on?

But as I noted above, my Fallen have been traded off in favor of something more heretical.

I'm liking those Terminators.

40k, 4th Edition -- Angels Defiled
Chaos Outcast and Waiting

With the 2002 Chaos Codex released for 4th Edition, my massed Heavy weapons, formerly fielded in Fallen Veterans, simply weren't playable as-is. I dropped the CSM from my army rotation and put them up on the shelf to be sold or traded if no suitable Codex would be forthcoming.

I switched back to my Eldar for primary gaming duties, with Guard and SM as alternates, and a bitter taste in my mouth every time I cracked the case or picked up the Codex. I pilot my MEQ-stomping Biel-Tan Eldar to a "Best General" result at GenCon SoCal (3-0 for the day over DH, DG, and IW).


buying
In 2003, GW released an awesome plastic Defiler kit to replace the extremely random scratchbuild conversions that were popping up post-Codex. Being an easy mark for big, stompy giant robot model kits, I ended up buying a full set of 3 Chaos Defilers mid year.

As my Chaos interest was low, and the models had some design "issues", I didn't start building until November. I pulled the spikes and converted the models to use turretless, in-line Battlecannons in lieu of the basic stupid "box on the back"; shoulder-mounted Autocannons, and chin-mounted Flamers.


playing
In 2005, more than 2 full years after the 40k4 Chaos Codex release, I finally play my first "actual" game with it in a "friendly" game against Nids:

Chaos LT w/ Charge, JP, Spikes, LCs, Strength, and Mutation.

5 Chaos Termies w/ Autocannon in Land Raider.

2x 6 CSM w/ 2 Flamers
2x 5 CSM w/ Las/Plas

2x 5 CSM w/ 3 HBs
2x 5 CSM w/ 3 MLs

I'm obviously playing as Iron Warriors for the 4th Havoc squad. No Defilers, as I forgot them that day.

It's an Alpha Cleanse, to keep things simple, and the Nids win the center, so I'm back on my heels at the start of the game. But massed firepower backing assault / counter-assault eventually wins out, and it something of a win.

Afterwards, the lot goes back up on the shelf, to be traded away ignominiously a couple years later.


modeling
The Defilers were heavy conversion, inspired by a sketch of a Defiler concept in Jes Goodwin's Liber Chaotica Khorne book.

update 10/18!
The rear legs were done by cutting off the blades and splitting the shields at the slots, then simply mating the two halves back together again, with the seam over where the blades mounted. Easy.

The battlecannon was done by building the cannon as normal, cutting off the rear "drum" (straight line), and cutting off the forward barrel. Mount flush at the base of the body, then use some sprue to gap-fill against the body. Fairly easy.

The autocannon were done by cutting off the central linking and ammo feeds, then simply placing them on the shoulders, over the leg mounts; the flamers basically just kept the nozzles and attached them to the nubs protruding. Easy.

The foreclaws were done similar to the rear legs, removing the blades and splitting the shields, but using sprue to cover the blade mounts to avoid gaps. Not as clean-looking, and probably want to rework.

The turret mount was cut down and covered with spare plating that wasn't used on the model.

The "spikes" were made by cutting the tips from spikey elements from the model and just gluing them in place.


picture
I'm especially happy with how the first Defiler turned out, with the extra-heavy spiked foreclaws.

I would love to know how you made those.

they are cool (understatement)

DC

I love those they are always how I kinda pictured the blood pact stalk tanks as.

Thanks, guys.

I'll put some notes on the Defiler conversions later.

NOOO!!!!!!

PUT THEM UP NOW!!!

NOOOOOOOOOOW!!!!!!

DC

@d c: normally, I'd reset the clock like GW does with the Dark Eldar, but I'm in a generous mood today, so I'll have an update shortly.