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Been working on a homebrew chapter for awhile and I've settled on the name the Forlorn Hope. This comes from an early modern mistranslated Dutch term meaning Lost Heap, and used to mean units usually consisting of volunteers sent on particularly dangerous missions. Could be rear guard or vanguard actions, but most famously storming breaches. Fluff wise, they would be descended from Loyalist Luna Wolves who redeemed themselves by taking on particularly dangerous missions during the Heresy, but managed to survive long enough, through perseverance and clever tactics, to form a Chapter. This would have the issue that the Chaos Warbands who know about their lineage would value capturing their gene-seed very highly. The higher ups in the Chapter would probably know about this heritage, but it's full meaning would have been largely lost to time. The current color scheme and much of how they operate would probably be things that have only evolved over the thousands of years since the Heresy.
They would adhere to the spirit of the Codex Astartes with limited adaptations to circumstance. The largest of these would be reconnaissance would remain a job for experienced and highly skilled troops usually wearing powered armor so they can operate for longer periods in more hostile environments and take a more direct part in action. They might use normal scouts as well, but in a more limited fashion.
The aesthetic I'm going for is tactical meets tribal, with green as the main color, but with off-black tiger stripes breaking up the silhouette somewhat while mostly just serving to give a ferocious appearance.
The genetic flaw would be they don't seem able to magically appear equipment like more ammo and combat knives out of thin air in the quantity most Astartes seem able to do, if they have a pouch that can fit one bolter magazine they might be able to get three from that while most Astartes seem easily capable of drawing five or six. This leads the Forlorn to carry more pouches and knives out where they are visible. Okay that's basically a joke about Space Marines and their gear, but I do make extra gear prominent on the models I've done so far, and will make it even more prominent once I start on heavy weapons teams.
Possible battle-cry: "Short Controlled Bursts!"


This assault squad are equipped with glaives, but each of them has a pistol a knife and some grenades.



One advantage of the stripes is it allows me to put some personality into the helms, so the beakies I'm giving stripes reminiscent of the Crow. This might make the Raven Guard jealous since no one is allowed to be more Emo than them ;-)



The sergeant I tried to give an aggressive look to with the knife on his chest, and the stripes looking like slashes across his face.



I chose the old/middle English letter (and Norse Rune) Thorne as the Chapter symbol as it means a breaking force, which is very consistent with the Chapter's philosophy, and because it's pretty easy to paint.

Those guys are pretty cool looking. The glaives are a nice touch.

A good start! I like the fluff and the colour scheme; as well as the way the captain's power glaive stands out from the rest of the marine's ordinary ones. Look forward to more !

Working on a recon team, but rather than just doing one scheme, I am doing each of them for different types of terrain as samples of how their scouts would paint their armor. I understand that camo-cloaks are supposed to react to the terrain, and I understand that, but for these guys the armor would also be painted to avoid anything that might give them away. While I looked at different options for these troops I settled on the Forge World Legion Recon teams since they do wear powered armor, and have most everything I wanted like extra pouches. In my head cannon they might not wear the Mark IV Armor (Mark VI is supposed to be stealthier), or they might because they know ways to optimize the older type for these types of missions. I especially like that the scopes on these sets are clearly wired back into the armor so rather than raising the rifle to aim they could see what it sees, and thus be able to make better use of cover and concealment.



The first sample is for snowy terrain. Just white is not actually optimal for that since it reflects too much light, so Apothecary White served well enough once I dry brushed some lighter highlights onto it, and put some bumpy stripes along it to break up the outline. I based this on an old German winter camouflage scheme, but also did it partly just to look cool.



I also magnetized the weapons so I can swap them between long guns and shotguns.
People have told me this mini reminds them of Simo Hayha in concept, and while its of course very different, I did think of him in concept when I made this, and dubbed it White Death.
The burlap I made out of simple cheese cloth soaked in a mix of Elmer's Glue and water.

I worked out this urban/boarding scheme for my scouts. One of the main uses for something like this is to break up the silhouette, which makes identification and tracking much harder at a distance, although In large part I wanted it to look cool. I also put a series of three blast marks along him starting on the weapon, and then the elbow and then the shoulder. While you can't fully see it here the weapon is an upgraded version of the heavy bolter, with an optic on the side and an extended barrel. The Legion Recon team did not come with any heavy weapons options, so I kitbashed this heavy bolter onto him as well. It is an upgraded version with a longer barrel and an optic which I refer to as the Ma Deuce Pattern heavy Bolter.



Here is a collage which shows the weapon in profile so you can see the extra length, and also the utility in it being used to peak around cover.



In future I might use some kind of shrouded barrel for the extension. Heavy bolters are not supposed to be that large in terms of caliber (slightly less than one inch) so the massive openings are not really needed even when they're part of a flash hider.

Finished a radioman and a vigilator for the growing recon section. For these I went with more of a woodland scheme, but with plenty of a couple of different browns and some beige similar to modern Multicam pattern.
For now I'm leaving their paint relatively unblemished to represent these troops frequently updating the colors on their armor to match their terrain. I might add a bit more wear and tear at some point.





If you look closely at the vigilator's chest I added a knife so that it looks like the cloak is billowing over it partially. That helps him match the chapter a bit more since my recon guys don't give themselves away with markings.



My last guys for this section are almost done, and then I'll be in something of a mass production mode to assemble both a tactical squad and a devastator squad.

A desert themed Astartes. I should note here that even when operating in a desert environment most missions would be around some kind of terrain that would not be simple sand dunes or completely flat and barren land, so I think this Desert Storm inspired chocolate chip scheme works well for operating around hills and wadis and man-made terrain. I added a bit of a light olive color to it to further break it up and account for some scrub vegetation, though my main guiding light was the rule of cool. I'm also starting to get better at applying the cheese cloth.





Finished my Legion Recon Squad as the basis for the Forlorn Hope's scouts, and feel like the total is greater than the sum of the parts as it displays the adaptive nature of these troops. I still have to complete the last shotgun for magnetizing so I'll post a group picture soon with them setup for CQB.





I'll do another post about the one who does not quite match the others when I have time in the next couple days.

As people may have noticed one of the schemes is not so much for a different terrain as for a specific species, Da Orks.


A bit of fluff to go with it, or course intended as tongue in cheek.
The Forlorn Hope recon units adapt to the environment, including Ork dominated regions where they find the best camouflage is to hide certain parts of their armor by painting them purple, and painting the rest green with the helpful message IZ ORK to clarify their status among the tribes. They also usually carry translation guides that take sentences like: "Brothers I am in urgent need of locating the ammunition depot" or: "When do we next plan to engage in glorious crusade" into understandable Ork lingo like: "Oi gits, where they keep all the Dakka, and I'm meaninn the real special like dakka for big occasions." and "When we getting the WAAAGH on."

A group of Orks spot a burning refinery and rush to the scene. They see someone moving away from it who at first seems like a Tin Can 'umie, but then they clearly see has 'IZ ORK' written on one shoulder so they can be sure he's a fellow Greenskin. Curious as to the situation they ask the Boi: "Oi wha'z 'appenin aroun' 'ere?" The odd Boy answered: "Brothers I cannot know for certain, for I was not there, but it seems more than likely our foolish Gretchen compatriots allowed a fire to get out of control far closer than safety regulations would ever allow for one in the vicinity of highly flamable and strategically valuable materials like promethium." The Orks scratched their heads: "Wha' you sayin'?" The strange Ork shifted for a second while looking in a small book: "Me guessin' the silly Gretchins musta burned the place because they wasn' lookin'" The Orks nodded: "Yeah, seems likely." Then he noticed the Strange Ork had writing on his shooter, writing that said 'MOAR' on one side and 'DAKA' on the other: "Hand over that shoota, me's been lookin for MOAR DAKA for as long as I can 'emember." At this the Strange Ork suddenly draped his purple cloak over his head. The other Orks looked around with astonishment and fear: "Where'd he go!?

His weapon has DAKA written down the right side (I didn't have enough room for two Ks) to match the MOAR on the left side. I also added 'ROMPA' and 'STOMPA' to his greaves.

Instead of doing the recon troops one way, or interspersing a shotgun in the mix of precision bolters I elected to magnetize so I could swap between weapons if I wanted. I added optics from an Anvil Industries sprue to make them look a little more impressive as well. They look good with either weapon, but generally I'll probably display them with their long guns:



After painting them while still on the sprue I cut off the pistol grips and drilled a hole at the very back for a magnet. Should note here that one one of them I didn't put it quite back far enough, and I had to fix it with some difficulty.

Love the fluff, the ork mini-story is hilarious "Brothers!... erm, I mean.. Gits!"

Middle stages on some tactical marines and devastators. For the heavy weapons I'm pairing each guy with a porter carrying an extra ammo pack for it, and where possible other spare shots. Since the chapter are what is often called in the military gear nuts (the polite abbreviation) I had to get some extra add-ons. For those I bought some Space Wolf Thunder Cavalry pouches, and some Imperial Guard which I bought mainly for the knives but I'm now using the magazine pouches as well since they are a good size for bolter ammo. I will also have three of my tactical squad equipped with boarding shields to include the sergeant with a combi-weapon, and a flamer, that way they have an entry team. I'm also continuing with my upgraded Ma Deuce Pattern heavy bolters.

Finally have a couple of my guys ready to go. These two represent a missile launcher crew for the chapter. Quite pleased with how the flames came out, I followed the Duncan instruction video, but then when my results weren't as good I added a wash of thinned down Spiritstone Red that really made it work. I also clipped off the extra missile and added the flames from it to give the weapon a back-blast (albeit a small one). To give individualized helms I gave the gunner a star-burst pattern, and the porter four slashes across one side. Overall I'm starting to feel half-way competent at Space Marines, and look forward to getting more of this squad finished before moving onto finishing my entry team. I also used some extra tracks I had as basing material.

That’s some nice, and also interesting, camo work on the scouts/recon squads. Good start.

Good to see the sneaky boys still kicking along!

Love the missile effect and I second the awesomeness of the stealthy ork hunter. Can't wait to see them all together!

Here is a link to the video I used as the basis for my flame effect before I added a very thin layer of Spiritstone Red.





A collection of different guys I've finished in the last week or so. The whole set is mostly done, with just finishing work needed on about ten more.



Entry man.



Ma Deuce Pattern Heavy Bolter and ammo porter. The porters being the chapter's neophytes tend to have far fewer stripes painted onto their armor and earn them overtime. This only seems like an excessive load of ammunition (with the backpack, the box in hand and the belt across the body) till a battle really gets going, and then it always seems like not nearly enough. This also gives a pretty good angle on the extra optic attached to the Ma Deuce which in addition to improving accuracy makes it an excellent cornering weapon. The leg on the ground is a fragment from a Death Guard mini that was on the floor of my hometown's Warhammer story, I salvaged it for basing material, of course that Death Guard is probably still running around out there, to them losing a lower leg is not that big a deal. Another advantage of bringing in porters with the ammo packs, is if the gunner goes down it's usually very easy for the neophyte to recover the weapon and keep it in use.



Looking closely people might notice this marine caries, two combat knives, and yes yes he does.



Front shot of the Marines acting as a team, but it gives a good angle for one of the Forlorn Hope's dirtier tactics: mounting claymore fragmentation bombs on the front of their boarding shields. Given the shaped charge which sends virtually all the blast forward, and the amazing protection of the boarding shield this can be done relatively easily by the Breacher and is absolutely devastating in close combat. The blast marks around the mine show that this has been used before.



I took part of one of the storm bolters from my Munitorum Containers set and used it for some battlefield debris.

Looking good, themed forces are just the best. That claymore trick sounds vicious. Are you making a squad of each recon type for different boards, snowy guys running alongside the desert troopers might look a bit funny

I intend on expanding my recon teams by filling out 5 man teams for each type (not counting the Vigilator).
When it comes to the Claymore trick, armored vehicles (even relatively lightly armored ones) do use this irl, and some games feature it as a weapon. This includes the frag assault launchers on certain types of Land Raiders in 40k.

More guys done, putting them in with the Breacher I already finished to make a team.



Often deployed as the tip of a tactical squad entry teams are usually armed with close ranged weapons and gladius for closing with the enemy. Here I used some extra Loyalist bits I had (plus a Chaos pauldron) to make a slain Red Corsair as basing material (not I kept his original chapter colors slightly visible through the Corsair scheme). The emblem was entirely free hand, and came out pretty well as long as you don't do a side by side of the proper one. A high compliment I got while making them I explained the role of closing with the enemy and not just sitting back, and someone remarked 'Oh like a forlorn hope.' so of course I answered that it actually the name for this very chapter.
Should also note, the sergeant has some Deathwatch bits, and a kitbashed head (devastator with an antenna added) because I thought he should have some more gear for coordination not to mention better optics. I was pretty disappointed in the tactical squad kit didn't have a head with anything like those to give an option other than bare faced. The arm was difficult to position going through the shield like the others (which of course were made to do just that) but by cutting off the shoulder and gluing that in place, and then rotating the lower section I manged to get it just right.

Something I want to get across with this chapter to distinguish them from most other chapters is that they really hate Chaos ;-)



Doing the shields in two styles. The battle brothers have claymores as shield bosses while the sergeant has a skull emblem. Of course lots of damage to the shield fronts. This also gives a good look at the scope I mounted to the side of the sergeant's combi-weapon to give him another way to see around the shield (and give him some amplification if needed).



A valuable weapon for an entry team. I tried to give a wavy look to his head stripes to evoke flames, and also had to modify the flamer so it would fit with the shield. The loin cloth is largely just there to give a bit of a head shield for those gaps in the armor. On this one I also used some extra storm bolter bits from the Munitorum Containers kit for basing material.



When I made them I didn't know some of the Necromunda guys had grenades on their backs, but great minds I suppose. Certainly makes sense they'd have some extra munitions back there where team members can access them. This also gives a decent view of the extra large pouch on the flamer operator for extra tanks, because one tank just cannot purge enough heretics.

After and before pictures of my MK VI Legion Apothecary. As you can see he was missing his chainblade (easy enough to replace) and one of his light poles (not sure the terminology), so I added an extra light/sensor to the existing one and added on a servo-skull as a surgical assistant. Notionally it would have a laser scalpel to help with some of the work. I also stripped it down, and removed his left pauldron since it had an Ultra Marines symbol on it.






Something worth pointing out on this one is that chapter symbol always faces forward (like with a flag going into combat) and thus when worn on the left side (usually by specialists or on vehicles) it is reversed.
I really like the look of the MK IV apothecary with all the do-dads and the look of the helm. This is the first character Space Marine model I've done, and it took some time to figure out exactly how he should look, and to get it right.

Some nice work there Ashes and Temples.

Cheers,

CB

A few more finished.



While it took some experimenting I ended up getting a pretty good lighting effect for the plasma cannon. I base layered with Electric Blue from Game Color cut 1/1 with 'Ard Coat, then applied a couple of layers of White Scar with 'Ard Coat about 1/2, and heavily thinned down so it would primarily cover the lower areas. Then brought out the corners with the same blue mix and did the dry brushing of the nearby surfaces. I used 'Ard Coat this way so the paints would be a bit translucent yet remain very shinny.



This shot was from further away, so the flash does not quite help as much, but it's still pretty solid.



This one I gave a sunburst pattern to his head, and people might notice the cybernetic arm, plus a trench-knife (both those bits were from Anvil Industries).



While not a standard selection for style I gave the devastator sergeant a Veteran's Bolter because he would be more likely to engage targets at range, plus it gives him an extra optic.



While I wasn't sure about doing my Ammo Cherub I had the idea of doing it as part of a small supply cache, and that ended up working pretty well. I used a piece of sprue with the GW logo as a barrier the supplies are hidden behind.



While I know it's a Deathwatch weapon I had the parts and could not resist making a marine with a frag launcher, normally this might be employed by the Forlorn Hope's tactical squads for clearly enemies from cover at medium to short ranges. When I was almost done painting I found a flaw on his left pauldron, so I did those blast marks to cover it up.



One of my tactical marines with an auspex unit. I used cork-board for the pavement he's standing on.



As an experiment I put hand-guards on this Ma Deuce heavy bolter, and put on a blast mark as a reminder of why they might be useful.



Gunner and ammo porter for the lascannon. Thunderbolt pattern for the gunner's helm.



A different, yet very effective pattern of combat knife the kukri can be devastating in close combat. The bit was from Anvil Industries.

Not much progress to report, but with some pickup shots and some touch-ups I at least have some more to show.



Occasional recruitment from Catachan has left a mark on the chapter, particularly as many carry Catachan Fangs as their combat knives, and in this case one of the largest ones. I have him some battle damage (plus a severed leg from a traitor marine as basing material) to suggest he's been mixing it up in close combat. This gives a decent view that he has a normal sized combat knife on his greave, and you can see the fang pattern on his scabbard. I did this all with a normal combat knife hand from the Tactical Marines set and just sniped it off and replaced both the blade and handguards (and the pommel) with a Catachan Fang.



Admittedly not the best picture here (the bolter sort of disappears into the marine) but a good shot of the uneven slash marks to give the impression of hits from a chain weapon.



Not satisfied with the optic on the high mount (not sure what you call them) I touched it up to give a better glow effect, and did a couple other slight improvements. As I've mentioned in other pics I give him a Sternguard bolter (which is not among the standard selection) because if he's with devastators he would be more likely to engage targets at range. Certainly seemed like a better choice for this position than a melee weapon and a pistol (although that combo is admittedly iconic).



I noticed in earlier pictures some of the details of the glow effect on the plasma coils did not quite come across, so I did a new one. As I've stated elsewhere he has a cybernetic arm to suggest a past mishap with a similar weapon.

I wanted to make a command squad that reflects the Forlorn Hope (my homebrew chapter), and not just be more Ultra Marines clones. So I used the Deathwatch set as the basis, and built from there. The skirts and custom heads and claymores on the shields came from Anvil Industry. The shields came from the boarding shields set from Forge World, the special shield came from Shapeways when I bought a set with some other Deathwatch bits.
The Apothecary I did awhile ago, I just put him in with them to complete the squad.
Doctinally the command squad would go where the fighting is thickest, and given banners and apothecaries tending to downed Marines both attract particular attention from the enemy the chapter has taken to often deploying boarding shields with these squads. While sometimes deployed to protect key point these squads would more often use their protective gear to close with the enemy and destroy them with grenades and close combat weapons. One little change I started doing while still making these was to make some of the grenades sand colored instead of Caliban Green, so they stand out more from the main colors.
The banner I didn't have any big ideas for, but this chapter would rarely if ever deploy them below the company level, so I just put on a skull and a company number.




To make the periscope optics more dynamic I aligned them with the heads, and I really like that result.



I tried to give the officer's sword a look like the Dark Saber from Clone Wars (and now the Mandalorian), and while I like that the result is different than a standard power weapon it's not really all that great.



Few leaders of the Forlorn Hope rise above sergeant without spending time in Deathwatch and they often display pieces of that gear.

I've had the ammo bearers/ porters scattered around, but I thought to get the idea across I should put them all together for a couple of pictures.

Neophytes of the chapter begin attached to devastators and loaded down with extra ammunition for them. Since a normal devastator Astarte has to carry one load of such ammunition plus his weapon this does not slow down the squad but allows them to sustain fire for much longer. They usually form close bonds with their weapons bearer who along with the squad sergeant supervises their training and completes their integration into the chapter. Furthermore it allows them to more easily recover a heavy weapon and put it back into use if the main user goes down. Porters for heavy bolters particularly often find ways of bringing up even more ammunition. This is based on the IRL doctrine where heavy weapons are partnered often with multiple carriers for the gear that goes with them particularly the ammunition.

After being sidetracked on other projects I finally finished my veteran assault Marines. I only have 4 because one I made into Mysterion, and other parts I used for Cartman, for my South Park 40k set. I also put together another devastator from spare bits, giving him an auto-cannon although it's not a normal weapon. In my head canon the Forlorn Hope uses those, and we're I to deploy him on tabletop I might count it as a heavy bolter or missile launcher. For the devastator I gave him a bullseye pattern on his helm. I didn't know Forge World had these sweet chain glaives when I built my first troops, or I might have used them instead. I also have a couple of pictures of the full force assembled along with their ahem : Inquisitorial' allies. Don't make anything of the one Space Wolves helm, I just tossed it in for variety. Also take note of the Maltese Crosses I managed to get on some of the purity seals. I think for style the Forlorn Hope would call their assault squads Voltiguers, French literally meaning leapers, but also referring to light infantry. In future I'll do the extra gear in leather and tan hues so it stands out more from the armor, you can really see the contrast with the older and newer minis side by side. There's not much point to making added gear a signature of the chapter if it's barely visible.