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So I am totally a glutton for punishment..... Those of you around the forums who know me, know that I have a problem with finishing projects. I get bored, distracted, and worst of all I get the painting blahs. Periods of time where I just don't want to sit in front of a model that I have already been looking at for weeks, or anything that looks similar to that model. In times like that I do dumb things to regain my motivation..... like start new projects. For quite some time I have had several pieces sitting around that I was going to use to make a Crimson Fists army as I have always been a fan of their fluff, but after my failed attempt at making a pure BA army (I got bored painting it after one test model) I decided that I wasn't going to make the same twice. So I sat down with my creative writing cap on and took a jaunt over to Bolter and Chainsword to use their SM painter program and I came up with a color scheme that I think will be really exciting for me to paint and some fluff that I really enjoy. So here they are, the Hands of Dorn.

Chapter name: Hands of Dorn

Founding: 26th Founding, M738

Progenitor: Imperial Fists

Chapter Motto and Demeanor: "Never give in, Never surrender"-- Like many of the sons of Rogal Dorn stubborness is an integral part of their genetics. Battle-Brothers of the Hands of Dorn do not yield ground, do not give up, and do not retreat in the face of the enemy. Unfortunately this causes them to loose more brothers on the fields of battle. However instead of causing the Brothers of the chapter to adopt different strategies, the fight all the fiercer, bringing their righteous fury to bear on their enemies to avenge the loss of their brethren.

Gene-seed variances: The stubborness that the brothers of the Hands of Dorn display is a flaw in their geneseed akin to the level of the battle-brothers of the Blood Angels chapter. It is inherent in them and it is a drive that they cannont deny. All marines of the chapter will fight to the death to hold the enemy at bay, and their tenacity borders on near insanity. However as if to assist them in their endeavors, Space Marines of this chapter tend to grow several inches to a foot taller than members of other chapters and are greater in breadth and strength than is normal for the typical marine. To compensate their circulator system is able to ramp up in the moments before battle to give their enhanced bodies the strength to fuel their enlarged frames. It has been postulated that this genetic diversion has actually caused shorter lifespans than other chapter marines, but this has yet to be proved by any scientific evidence.

System governance: The Hands of Dorn rule over a system of 7 planets, the Anerion system, each of which are recruitment worlds. The planet closest to Anerion's sun is the systems forgeworld. The next two worlds are death worlds, largely covered in dense jungles and tepid seas, and popluated by feudal tribes of humans. The Hands home world of Valneron is next. It is a fertile agriworld that is directly governed by the Hands themselves. Rich in every sense possible from resources to genetically pure populations, 50% of the chapter is recruited directly from Valneron. The next two worlds in the system, Arjack and Nemarack are also verdant agri-worlds, lightly populated in comparison to Valneron, but responsible for 70% of the systems resources and trade goods. The last planet of the system is a harsh Ice World. None the less some of the most able and fierce warriors of the chapter come from Beloch.

Chapter appearance: Clad in power armor quarted in vibrant yellow and deep blue, the squads and companies of the Hands follow similar marking patterns to their parent chapter the Imperial Fists.



Chapter Doctrine: Do to their high recruitment rates and larger casualty numbers the chapters scout company actually numbers close to 150 scouts, that are more rigorously trained than in other chapters. It has been in the annuals of the chapters history that in times of war the chapter will actually employ crusader squads, similar to that of their brothers in the Black Templars, though this has not happened in several millenia.

Based on their seige warfare and static gunline form of combat doctrine, the Hands of Dorn rarely employ jump pack troops as the bring little to the power of a gunline. For fast attack and rapid insertion of forces the Hands rely on Landspeeders and bikes as their primary form of vangaurd teams. The Veteran companies consist of 40 terminators, 10 Assault terminators, 40 Sternguard Veterans, and 10 Vanguard veterans. It is obvious by the composition and make up of their armory that the Hands prefer long distance ranged warfare and to assist in this endeavor their 9th company consists of 12 Devastator squads instead of the codex approved 10.

Barring these differences the Hands are a staunch supporter of the Codex Astartes and its tenets.

So that is as far as I have gotten with the fluff, but I am pretty happy with it over all. I am looking for an army that plays completely differently than the BA successors I already have and I think that I have captured that in the fluff. Anyway since no project log should be started without photos, here is a very rough start to my test model for the Hands of dorn, 4th company, 1st squad.




Comments and critiques are welcome, but keep in mind that this guy still needs a ton of work. I look forward to your thoughts and comments on the scheme, fluff, and paint.

I alway like the Dorn made chapters and I am happy to see that you did your homework on the history of the hands of dorn.

The only things that I can suggest is that you make sure that yellow the armor a bright yellow. Kepping it dark will lose the effect on the whole model since half of the model is black.

I love the paint scheme, just my kind of thing, yellow and black. Two colours that go well together.

Nice stuff. Although it looks a bit, hmm, washed if you ask me. Maybe if you repainted all the flat plates and then left the washed bits in the recesses. Then maybe a slight line highlight if you really want to be fussy?

as to the washed look of the yellow that is just base color and a bit wash. I have yet to go back and add highlight layers and such. Most of that brownish splotchy stuff will disappear under those layers. Also that dark color is actually going to be a dark blue something similar to the crimson fists brand of blue. Glad you guys like the direction I am heading. Hopefully I will have some more progress to share later on tonight.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
I got quite a bit of work done on my test marine tonight. I am not sure why but the blue highlights look streaky in the photos, but on the model they do not. I am really happy with how vibrant the scheme is turning out to be, I think It will go well with my Angels of Mourning in big Apoc Games.




Comments as always are most welcome.

I got more work done on my test marine tonight. For the pose I am going for a Marine whose bolter has run dry and he has been forced to draw his BP to continue on in the fight. Green shoulder pad trim to represent 4th company, and the opposite shoulder will have the tactical arrow and squad number. Anyway here are the pictures:





Comments and critiques are most welcome.

Looks amazing, I definitely like that colour scheme. what codex are you gunna use? SM,BT,BA,DA?

Impressively thorough fluff and a nice scheme (admittedly, I have a soft spot for halved and quartered schemes). To be honest, I was scared that you had wasted a good idea when I saw those first pics - glad that was only a first step!

blood lance wrote:Looks amazing, I definitely like that colour scheme. what codex are you gunna use? SM,BT,BA,DA?

I will be using Codex:Space Marines for these guys, with a list centered around Kantor. Thanks for the compliments on the scheme

oadie wrote:Impressively thorough fluff and a nice scheme (admittedly, I have a soft spot for halved and quartered schemes). To be honest, I was scared that you had wasted a good idea when I saw those first pics - glad that was only a first step!

Thanks man! Yeah the first pics are a bit rough in retrospect, but the wash does a good job of shading the yellow.

I hope to have more done on him tonight.

I like the fact you built it up from the darker orange-y colour... creates so much depth for a colour I normally -hate- shading XD

I love quartered schemes also, don't see them often enough <3

much better. I like it

Amphsix wrote:I like the fact you built it up from the darker orange-y colour... creates so much depth for a colour I normally -hate- shading XD

I love quartered schemes also, don't see them often enough <3

Eternalhero1983 wrote:much better. I like it

Thanks guys! Glad you like!

I am pleased to report that he is complete!






Comments and critiques are most welcome. I am not sure when I will get to it in the painting schedule as I have some commissions and some dwarfs for the painting challenge to work on, but up next the block for this army is a standard multi-melta and DCCW Dreadnaught with some FW embelishments.

Amazing work!! The base really compliments the colour scheme as well... rainbowy goodness!
Love the smooth highlighting you've done, really makes the model pop I bet it would be amazing to see a full army of this

Very cool. If you keep up that standard you will have a very impressive army.

Thanks for the replies folks.

@ Amphsix- I have had those lava bases siiting in a cabinet for sometime now. I have a Chaos Daemons army in the works and at some point after I bought those bases I decided to mount all of my Daemon's stuff on squares. I figured that the orange and red of a lava base would compliment the yellow and blue nicely and I am glad that you agree.

@ Wassdig Dagga- Thanks mate. I am mostly in the hobby for the painting and modelling side and I am only able to play every once and awhile, so I try to paint every model I am working on to a high standard. I am glad that you like it and I do hope that as the army unfolds that they will look quite nice indeed.