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StyleX Hobby is proud to introduce our Space Marine army called The X Chapter. The X Chapter was built and painted by the professionals over at Blue Table Painting. As some of you may know, I was able to actually visit Blue Table Painting, and had the pleasure of talking with many of their builders and painters. Everyone at Blue Table was incredibly friendly and mentioned that they enjoyed building our scout heavy army, and felt as though it was pretty unique. I was able to take a ton of pictures of incredible models and the Blue Table workshop while visiting, so please go to www.stylexhobby.com to check them out. Without further ado, welcome to The X Chapter.
Here is a video that Blue Table Painting did for us!


Home planet: Terra
Allegiance: Imperium of Man
Symbols: Our troops are branded by the X
Colors: Black and red
Specialties: The X Chapter is an air cavalry unit which includes two Land Speeder Tempests, and three Stormraven Gunships. Our chapter has been designed to perform quick rescues and extractions.
Leader: Space Marine Commander Sigzs
Troops: Our troops consist of thirty Space Marine scouts armed with Heavy Bolters and nine with Missile Launchers. The Well experienced Sergeant Telion is also part of our army and acts to support our Space Marines equipped with Missile Launchers.

The X Chapter: Initiations
The formation around me is no accident. Commander Sigzs and sergeant Telion stand between Stormraven Gunships and Land Speeder Tempests. The rest of us stand out in front, waiting in anticipation of the speech to be given. We’re scouts and fight in defense of the imperium. Those around me are equipped with more than just standard issue. Our strength is bone crushing, and our physical size is larger than ever. The minds which have slowed us down in the past have been tuned to a point of perfection. We’re in a world where fear is no longer an option. But it hasn’t always been like this, and as Commander Sigzs begins to speak my earlier days come to mind.
***
We’re in a single file line and walk through the corridor together, and two at a time we enter the unknown. We can hear muffled noises, and the closer we get the louder they become. But the walls are thick and it’s impossible to translate what comes through them. When there is only one left in front of me I know that the next turn is ours. The muffled noise gets loud for a second, and with no warning we are grabbed and thrown into a dirt ring. I look around and the fresh blood has yet to soak into the floor. The previous victors look towards us, and the losers are carried away.
“What are you doing,” yells a deep voice from behind us. He pauses and looks straight towards us, “fight.”
We’re given no tools or weapons, and our peers have been turned into our enemies. We look towards each other and know what we have to do. This trial ends when one of us can fight no more.

When I look straight into his eyes I know that I’ve already won. The hesitation and fear that I see within him are qualities which are unacceptable to this chapter. I begin to shuffle around the ring before I actually move in to attack. I can spot the weakness inside of him, but I still need to take things slow. One misstep can completely turn the tables. I shuffle around some more, and when he looks his weakest I charge in. He gets knocked onto the floor, and without thinking twice I begin to repeatedly strike him in the face. Blood begins to pour out of his nose, and the fight seems to be all mine. I go to punch him again but he pushes me off. Now I’m lying on the ground, looking up at him. He starts to punch, but I’m too guarded for him to actually hurt me. I wait for his hard punches to turn soft and then I start hitting him again. The blood from his face begins to splash onto mine, and I can barely see. But I keep throwing blind punches and eventually he goes limp. I take a few deep breaths and then push his body off of mine. The group of previous victors begin to cheer and I walk towards them.
***
With each sentence that is said, cheers come from around our formation. Sometimes there is a few, and sometimes there is a lot.
“Everything up until this point was just the beginning. If you think that things are going to get easier you’re wrong,” shouts Commander Sigzs.
He looks out towards all of us as if he’s checking for something. It’s like we’re in one last trial, and he’s trying to spot the one of us who displays even an ounce of fear. When he looks satisfied he begins to speak again.
“But while the challenges you face are going to be difficult, from now on you will fight together. With your brothers at your side all of the enemies of the emperor will fall.” He pauses and then shouts “for the emperor!”
Then in unison we all repeat the chant. Together as one our voices are powerful and shake the earth. My eyes flash as the shaking ground transforms into the ground from that night.
***
We’re on an unknown planet, and I have been sent to hunt a beast. They didn’t tell me what he would look like; only that when I saw him I would know it was him. I’m left with only a dagger, and when the ship doors close I make my way into the woods. As I begin to march I think of not the hardships, but how to complete the task. In the woods I climb up a tree and search for the beast. But before I can find him, his red eyes are already staring deep into my soul.

The beast below me appears to be some sort of wolf, but his size is larger than any I have ever seen. Instead of looking away I stare straight into his eyes. This is the only way I can learn how to defeat him. I begin to think about the others in their trials, and how some of them will fail. Fear will consume them, and it will be impossible for them to look past it. When they attack the beast they are only hoping to get lucky. But those who succeed are on another level than those who fail. Fear has no place in us, and when we look straight into this beasts eyes we’re equals. We’re both predators hunting our prey. I stare straight at the beast for so long that he becomes confused. I let him get lost in our staring contest, and begin to slowly make my way down the tree. He doesn’t notice as I inch towards him. Eventually I make it close enough to where I can leap from the tree directly on top of him. So without hesitation or fear I jump down onto the beast, and stab every visible inch of his body. He bites one of my arms, but he’s too wounded to do anything else. As he cries into the night I cut through his throat, and get ready to take him back to the ship. Those who have already been named Battle-Brothers come out to congratulate me as I get back. They glorify my kill and begin to welcome me. I have completed my trials, but compared to them I’m still weak. There is still much transformation that I need to undergo.
***
I snap back into the present as Commander Sigzs continues his speech.
“You have been forged to perfection, and as a result you will remain fearless.”
We begin to cheer, and each moment that passes adds to our willingness to fight. I look around and know that it’s almost time to go. At any moment Commander Sigzs’ speech will finish, and we will be off to war.
“You are results of the purest gene-seeds. While your enemies are great in size, they lack the strength and perfection inherent to each and every one of you.”

The gene-seeds which Commander Sigzs speaks of are what make us better than the rest. But the process of implanting requires a dedicated body and mind. The implants were like a trial in themselves. We were told that we would need to be at our weakest in order to reach our strongest, and this wasn’t a lie. Sometimes the pain got so bad that I thought they failed, and my body was rejecting them. The pain was almost unbearable, and for some it actually was. We lost several during the implant stage. This stage, like the others required more than just strength and fearlessness. You had to want something; you needed to be fighting for something bigger and more important than yourself. The only thing that kept me going was knowing that when I was finally complete, I would fight in defense of the imperium.

As I look up towards Commander Sigzs I’m filled with the urge to fight. I look around and know that it fills those around me. We have been waiting so long for this moment. We’re finally able to stand up and defend against the chaos and evil which corrupts our world.
“You have gone through the most extensive training. You have completed the most difficult of trials. You are composed of the purest genes. You are complete.”
Our voices roar and our heavy bolters and missile launchers are raised to the sky. Commander Sigzs pauses and gives everyone one last look. He stands still until the air is filled with nothing but silence, and then he says his final words.
“Welcome to the X chapter.”




Here are some great pictures that Blue Table Painting took for us:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/bluetablepainting/sets/72157635895556545/








































As I mentioned above, please visit www.stylexhobby.com for more pictures and blogs!

I appreciate you putting both pics and a video in your post, since I can't actually look at videos! Unfortunately, the pics don't seem to work on my browser.

If it's just an issue with Opera, and everyone else can see it fine, then feel free to ignore this.

Hmm, if the pictures don't work try clicking on the link above them. Sorry for the inconvenience :-(

Pictures also aren't displaying for me (Windows 7 and latest Chrome build). The models look quite nice after following through to Flickr, though!

Pretty solid effort. I feel as though your script work (lettering) could use some tidying up. Some of it just looks sloppy. I also do not understand why every single one of them has the exact same hair color. That looks like a cop out and lazy painting. :(

 StyleXHobby wrote:
Hmm, if the pictures don't work try clicking on the link above them. Sorry for the inconvenience :-(

Upload them to the Dakka gallery if you can't get them to display properly.