Sunday 8 September 2013

Everything Old is New Again


Hello all.

Just thought I’d post a couple of pictures of things I’ve been working on recently, as well as some thoughts about some games I’d really like to run for our group whenever we can all get together next.

First up, a couple of pictures. I’ve been painting a force of Emperor’s Children, for use using Forge World’s Horus Heresy gaming supplement. So far I’ve painted up a couple of Legion Tactical Squads, a Legion Champion, a Master of Signals, and a Predator, plus a cohort of three Mechanicum Castellax battle automata.

Predator, Legiones Astartes Emperor's Children

 Castellax battle automata, Legio Cybernetica

One thing that’s really got my attention is taking a fresh look at the Horus Heresy as a setting, especially looking over the old White Dwarfs and other publications where it originally featured. One thing I’d forgotten is that the Horus Heresy has been with us pretty much from the beginning. While it wasn’t mentioned in the Rogue Trader rulebook (but then neither were the Chaos gods!) it appeared very soon afterwards, getting a box in Chapter Approved: the First Book of the Astronomican. Then of course, it was the setting for both Adeptus Titanicus and Space Marine, and was expanded into enormous detail in the Realm of Chaos books. I’m sure we all knew that, but what surprised me was how often the Heresy is mentioned in very early White Dwarf articles on 40k subjects. For example, the famous Robots article, reprinted in the red White Dwarf Compendium, talks about robots in the context of the heresy. When Tony Cottrell’s article on converting Land Raiders into Spartans and Rhinos into Vindicators, Predators and Sabre Tank Hunters first appeared, many of the example vehicles were presented in the context of the Horus Heresy. In fact, the first Predator is shown as a Heresy-era Emperor’s Children vehicle, which I hope to recreate at some point.

Now then, fast forward 25 years and Forge World are not only exploring the Horus Heresy as a complete expansion, but deliberately revisiting many old school favourites. The Spartan and the Fellblade both hark back to the late ‘80s, and the Deimos pattern Predators and Rhinos draw on the look of the original plastic kits, as do numerous other models in the range.

Anyway, this wasn’t supposed to be an advert, but rather a bit of frothing about a topic I love. I very much hope to run some games soon, in particular ones set at the close of the Great Crusade. My plan is to keep these small and narrative heavy, featuring small groups of Space Marines and other characters encountering all manner of aliens on the leading edge of the Emperor’s reconquest of the galaxy. With a bit of luck, this will allow me to convert up some suitably gribbly, mythos style aliens and to run some very fun games indeed. I’m sure somewhere there’s a long isolated human colony that needs delivering from their extra-dimensional tentacled overlords, and that this would make a great game with a lot of old school character.

Stay tuned for that battle report then – we may even get to play it this year! 

11 comments:

  1. Beautiful work, man! I'm dying to get my hands on a couple of the Castellax - really dig how yours turned out!

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  2. I'm glad you are back to blogging. Your blog has been one of my favorites! I am excited to see more of your Emperor's Children as well as seeing these battle reports.

    Drawing from the old Rogue Trader-era white dwarfs and supplement I can not wait to see what aliens and scenarios you come up with. This will be a fun journey!

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  3. Looking forward to it Squire. I hope there will be some time for some small skirmish games as well. Small is beautiful.

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  4. Very nice stuff, this is the first I'd heard of Forge World's Horus Heresy supplement.

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  5. Really nice work! I'm looking forward to see more of this!

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  6. Great to see news from you again. I look forward to the coming updates!

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  7. Mate; those models are awesome! I love the paint job; do you mind sharing what paints you used as I really love the whole effect.

    When you play your HH games will you be using 6th Ed rules + FW Supplement or will you be going true retro and using RT rules.

    It's interesting you talk about the Heresy's origins from the beginning as I was just thinking about this the other day. I was going through my first edition copy of space marine (how I mourn the loss of Epic) and it is amazing in the fluff how many characters that are still mentioned today actually emerged back then...though not necessarily in the same roles or even chapters/legions.

    I love these new models from FW as they really capture the essence of the old days with a suitably modern slant; however you are right; they are quite expensive!

    I'm doing a Rogue Trader Salamanders army at the moment on my blog :
    http://classicastartes.blogspot.co.uk
    But seeing your inspiring efforts has encouraged me to start an HH army too!!!

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  8. Thanks for your kind words!

    The paint is a wash over a gunmetal base, followed by lots of silver dabbed at the edges with a bit of blister foam. The predator is a mix of Windsor and Newton red and blue ink, while the robot is Citadel Carroberg crimson.

    Rules wise, we play first, some second and I play sixth, but for me the rules being played are far less of a concern than the poeple and the toy soldiers I'm playing alongside :-)

    All the best, Andy

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  9. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

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  10. Quote
    ", but for me the rules being played are far less of a concern than the poeple and the toy soldiers I'm playing alongside :-)"
    Endquote

    Jolly well said!
    Too many folk focus on the rules, rather than having fun & playing the game.

    Regas
    Ady

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