As Promised, Pictures

A little later than planned, but then again I'm ill, so nyah.


The revamped Ded Cred. Not a fan, as it turns out, of what was a Great Idea in my head. Oh well - not going to change him again, so he'll just have to have silly PVC tartan trousers until he gets his Heavy Stubber.



L-R: Black Legion CO, Black Legion 2iC, AG32 SNCO, Rolls-Royce crewman.

The black paint I'm using at the minute is an artists' acrylic, but it's crap. Chips and flakes like nobody's business. If I had the spare cash I'd get some Coat d'Arms black, but... I can't. Not yet.

Hopefully I'll be better tomorrow.

Bleurghh!! Nurgle Strikes!

Obviously displeased by my concentrating on the forces of the Prince of Pleasure, Slaanesh, All-Father Nurgle, Grandfather of Disease, has struck me down with about of severe D&V.

I've been using the porcelain phone on the hour, every hour, since 12:30 am GMT. Hopefully the worst is over but I doubt it...

Seriously, however, I probably picked it up from my son, who had it (very briefly - super-active immune systems for the win!) after we all spent eight hours in hospital trying to find out what's wrong with my wife.

Result: No clue as to why my wife is ill, and a bout of D&V for all - but I get it the worst! Hurray!

In sum: Me no work today. Me no paint today. But! I do have pictures; they'll be up in a little while.

PS: After this I may advance my plan for a Death Guard/Lost and the Damned plague cult army, at least if Papa Nurgle lets me get better soon. Failing that it'll be off to Comorragh and Biel-Tan as planned in order to release Isha so that SHE can make me better.

Slow Painting Day

Wel l, I finished the four BUF men I was on about yesterday. The Rolls-Royce now has a crew figure in case it gets knocked out, Captain Wilde has a SNCO with SMG for close protection, and the two Black Legion officers have been finished up.

I also added a (rather badly painted) grey/white tartan to Ded Cred to tie him into the other non-Juves, so there'll be pictures of that up later. I think for the version with Heavy Stubber I'll do a Black-Red-Yellow tartan pattern.

Then the curse of "too many models to tempt the eye" hit, and I ended up by working on the Pantokrator, starting a Praetor of Orpheus with rocket launcher, painting a base of Scab Red onto a Goliath Juve with autopistol, and washing the grey shirts of the Black Legion with a black wash.

Ahem. Woops?

At any rate, in my afternoon break I'll probably concentrate on the Black Legion and try and get their bedrolls and puttees done so that I can finish them off over Thursday and Friday.

Olley Painting Points:

This Week: 5
2010 Total: 15
2009 Total: 58
Grand Total: 73

Fruit Of My Labours

Here he is - the last of the Sworn Men, and the fourth Terminator in as many (working) days:

Brother Angelis Many-Faces!



And the unit, in their glory:


Freehand Chapter Badges:


Tomorrow there'll be four BUF types as mentioned earlier and also (possibly) another Chaos Space Marine

My Kingdom For A Pin Vice Drill!

Well, today was remarkably productive. I 'finished' the last Sworn Man (more on him in a bit), and almost finished the BUF Rolls-Royce driver, a BUF man with SMG to accompany my Action Group's CO, and the two officers for the Black Legion. Just have their skin and bases to do now.

I also painted all the Black Legionnaires' shirts grey. Their trousers, webbing and sidecaps will be black, their puttees tan and any other random leather gaiters or what have you will be black too. I hope to have all 14 of them finished by Friday.

I can't remember if I've talked about Evesham before, but it's why my Police Action! project has inflated somewhat. The good chaps over at the Gentleman's Wargames Parlour are, by and large, responsible for the madness that is the Very British Civil War. Indeed, I've played my own small part by contributing to the article on London in the latest sourcebook, The Gathering Storm Part 2.

Anyway, they had what they called a Big Game (it was covered in this January's Wargames Illustrated, #267 I believe) and I was intrigued by this concept of wargamers from all over the country meeting up and having a Jolly Fun Time, so on seeing that a second one was being planned I leapt in with both feet, despite at the time only having a few BUF chaps and some Skye Battalion.

Following some purchasing, and a lot - a lot - of gun-running from Al Front via Artizan Designs, Empress Miniatures and others, and adding in some borrowed troops (also from Al Front) my eventual force for the Evesham Game will be as follows:

Action Group 32:

Captain Wilde, driver, SNCO with SMG - staff car
Dispatch Rider
Vickers MMG team, 3" mortar team in truck
12 BUF with LMG, SMG and standard in truck
14 Black Legion with 2 LMGs in Lancia armoured Truck
1 Rolls-Royce armoured car
1 Armoured lorry with 3" naval gun

Somerset Action Volunteers:

Captain Daring, NCO, MO, 4 riflemen inc SMG
Vickers MMG team
10 AV with LMG, petrol bombs and SMG
10 AV with LMG, petrol bombs and SMG

Hopefully this little force will be enough to put a spanner in the works of the Anglican League and Somerset Freedom Fighters!

And now, back to the 41st Millenium... my final Sworn Man, a Blood Angel, was supposed to be the Icon Bearer for the unit. Unfortunately that would require a pin vice drill and a length of wire, neither of which I have, so for now he's Icon-less. It shouldn't be too much of a problem as I can get hold of both of those before I finish the project and start gaming with them.

As ever, pictures up tonight!

Olley Painting Points:

This Week: 1
2010 Total: 11
2009 Total: 58
Grand Total: 69

It Looks OK After All...!

As promised, photos of the Wolf Guard - if you look at his right kneepad, you should see the number '6' in white. I was worried it wouldn't come out having been painted onto the yellow, but it looks OK. His name is Crom. Bonus points if you know where that's from!




And a group shot of the Sworn Men so far:



Thoughts?

White Doesn't Show Up On Yellow

You'll find out what I mean when I post pictures of the ex-Space Wolf Wolf Guard Terminator, now Sworn Man, tonight.

Dead chuffed with my speed now - I can finish even a fairly big and complex mini in about 75 minutes, painting to a high tabletop standard, which is what I'm after. No Golden Demons for me, thanks, I just want to have fully painted armies!

Terrifyingly, I'm more keen than ever to jump onto the Space Wolves bandwagon and replace the ones I sold when I was a teenager (a squad and a Rhino, painted to a very high standard in a Parisian flat while on holiday with my parents). I won't be collecting a 5th Edition army for them, though, no, it's 2nd/4th Edition all the way with me and 40K.

I've got a game of Necromunda booked for next Thursday at the Clapham Wargamers' Guild, so I'll take my camera and record for posterity the failings or success of the Automatics' first outing. A full After Action Report (AAR) will be posted here, of course.

Olley Painting Points:

This Week: 6
2010 Total: 10
2009 Total: 58
Grand Total: 68

Ah, Freehand...

Here's the Terminator from today. I need more practice at freehanding; the fist is rubbish and so is the number 12. I'll return to this figure in the future to correct the mistake. Anyway, I'm pleased with the rest of him:




Probably nothing now until Monday, but keep 'em peeled, as Rapids Johnson would say!

The Sworn Men Reach The Half-Way Mark

I've sort of shocked myself today; I finished a Terminator from base coat to base in an hour and 15 minutes. An ex-Imperial Fist, and the yellow came out nice and strong, which was a relief!

I also converted my Heavy Stubber version of Ded Cred to have an autogun and a different backpack, so that when I buy him his big stubber he can keep his autogun for those sticky moments when he runs dry or jams.

Not much else to report for today - pictures up later tonight!

Olley Painting Points:

This Week: 5
2010 Total: 9
2009 Total: 58
Grand Total: 67

More SF Nonsense

Chaos Space Marine Terminator, ex-Dark Angels 'Deathwing' 1st Company, now Pantokrator's Sworn Man Aspiring Champion.



Poal Coldheart, the last - for now - of my Ratskins.



The Bloody Band in all their glory!

Unexpected Happenstances

Well, I happily finished off Poal Coldheart and did the base on Sam Walks-With-Rats, and then... and then...

A woman, a Muslim woman no less, from Sales came over and said:

"Can I have a go?"
"Sure," says I, "here, take these and paint them black"
"Just black?"
"Yeh, it's the undercoat, you have to paint it on before you do anything else to ensure a good finish"
"Oh, OK"

So I had an apprentice for most of lunch! Weird but cool. She painted the Black Legion CO, his SNCO, and the Rolls-Royce crewman black, their puttees tan khaki and gave the SNCO grey jodhpurs and a brown leather coat. Didn't do too badly but the concept of brush washing failed to permeate. Still, next time!

Anyway, I also bashed on with one of the Pantokrator's Fallen Men, a Dark Angels Deathwing Terminator Sergeant gone rogue and now commanding the Chosen of the Pantokrator, his bodyguard. Nearly finished him as well - just got to do his Storm Bolter, highlight the metal, gloss varnish the lights and highlight two leather bags; so I can get those done in my afternoon break no problem. Hurrah.

No more Ratskins for a while as I've finished the gang 'to current spec' and so won't need any more 'til I do, if that makes sense.

Olley Painting Points:

This Week: 4
2010 Total: 8
2009 Total: 58
Grand Total: 66

Ratskins Ho!

Having sorted out the issues, here's the week's work so far:



Alf Fivewinds, Ratskin Brave



Sam Walks-With-Rats, Ratskin Warrior

Annoyingly I forgot to do Sam's base properly, but I'll finish it off today. Expect photos of Poal Coldheart and the whole Bloody Band tonight.

C3, Ratskin Style

Today I finished Walks-With-Rats, a Ratskin Warrior. He's posed calling out to his brothers; hence the title of the post...!

I also nearly finished Poal Coldheart, although I doubt I'll get him done today. With the completion of Coldheart the Bloody Band will be 'currently complete' and I can make a start on the Fallen Men, which will be very interesting indeed as I've not painted a Space Marine for a long time now.

Pictures up either tonight or tomorrow, we're experiencing ... issues ... at home with my laptop. D'oh!

Olley Painting Points:

This Week: 2
2010 Total: 6
2009 Total: 58
Grand Total: 64

Musketry In The Future

Aha! I finished Alf Fivewinds today - a redheaded Ratskin Brave toting a plastic and metal home-made musket held together by canvas and copper wiring, among other things. I'm quite pleased with him.

I also touched up Ashande, and hopefully she won't chip again. There's a foam insert slot waiting for her at home.

I've definitely got my painting time down to one figure an hour, from undercoat to basing. I'd say the standard of painting is a solid CMON 7 - Very Good Tabletop Standard - but a long way away from a 10, or Golden Demon Winner quality.

Just three more Ratskins and then I can make a start on my Fallen Men, as per The Plan.

Olley Painting Points:

This Week: 1
2010 Total: 5
2009 Total: 58
Grand Total: 63

Action Plan 2010

Today I formulated my finalised plan of purchases and painting for 2010, and it runs as follows:

January - Finish Bloody Band Ratskins and BUF
February - Finish Pantokrator's Fallen Men (Chaos Space Marine army)
March - Buy Simple Green and begin the Parvassian 9th Dragoons (Imperial Guard army)
April - Parvassians Cont. SALUTE 2010 - purchase remaining Greater Israel Army from GZG, purchase Cyclops remote demolition vehicle from Forgeworld, purchase remaining Skye Battalion, Anarchists and MacDonald Brigade troops.
May - Finish Parvassians.
June - Purchase part of Dark Eldar army, begin painting Eldar for my wife's army
July - Purchase part of Eldar and Dark Eldar armies, paint Eldar
August - Purchase part of Eldar and Dark Eldar armies, paint Eldar
September - Purchase part of Eldar and Dark Eldar armies, paint Eldar
October - Purchase part of Eldar and Dark Eldar armies, paint Eldar
November - Purchase part of Eldar and Dark Eldar armies, finish Eldar (?)
December - Paint Salute! acquisitions.

If all goes well I'll end the year having the following fully painted forces and armies:

Pantokrator's Fallen Men - 1,500 point 40K Chaos Space Marines
Parvassian 9th Dragoons - 1,500 point 40K Imperial Guard Armageddon Steel Legion
Biel-Tan Swordwind - 1,500 point 40K Eldar aspect warrior army
BUF force - VBCW, Police Action
Greater Israel Army Platoon - Space 2200 (Stargrunt II)
Skye Battalion platoon - VBCW
MacDonald Brigade platoon - VBCW

If I get the chance I'll continue to work on my Necromunda as well, ideally one figure a week throughout the year.

Here's to the adventure ahead! I hope you enjoy the ride and the painting with me. Please feel free to comment and leave (constructive) criticism.

O Nubian!

Well, here they are in all their glory: Dave Longtooth of the Bloody Band, and Ashande of the Cult of Ssotay.



Dave Longtooth, Ratskin Warrior.



Ashande of Ssotay. Annoyingly, her right nipple got chipped on the way home, despite being wrapped in four layers of toilet paper, then held immobile in a cardboard box full of more toilet paper! So that'll have to get touched up on Monday... d'oh!

And finally, The Week's Work!



Next week I plan on finishing off the Ratskins and making a start on the Black Legion for my BUF.

Of Hide Shields, Assegais And Automatic Weapons

I received the last shipment of weapons from Al Front today - a Vickers HMG and 3" mortar for Action Group 32. Also included were a civilian with glasses and a revolver (Anarchist!) and an excellent figure for a BUF Officer with revolver - he's broken open his Webley and is reloading it. I think they're all from Artizan Designs.

The heavy weapon crews need minor headswaps really as they're all in British Army uniform c. 1939/40. Alternatively I may get lazy and just paint them up as BUF men with steel helmets and khaki gaiters. I'm only really bothered about the Action uniform men for the Police Action! project to be honest.

At lunch I managed to paint another Ratskin, Dave Longtooth (in 55 minutes!), and almost finish the Nubian with Hide Shield and Assegai. I'm really, really, really pleased with the way her skin and translucent trousers have turned out; she's very dark-skinned indeed. The hide shield looks quite good, with an abstract design meant to represent a stylised snakeskin. She's the testbed for my Song of Blades and Heroes snake-demon cult.

I'm almost certain to get her finished in my afternoon break, too, so I'm going to count her as done for painting points purposes.

Olley Painting Points:

This Week: 4
2010 Total: 4
2009 Total: 58
Grand Total: 62

A No-Nonsense Update

Does wot it sez on da tin!


Gun truck corporal. Note added armband and Flash of Action in Circle of Unity.



Martin Twospiders after his promotion to Ratskin Warrior. That autogun's not going to be used by anyone else!

Another Day, Another Mini

Well, today was fairly eventful. After having done all the usual morning rituals (scratch, yawn, &c &c), I donned my trusty desert boots and nice warm grey wool coat, opened the door...

...and stared out onto 2" of snow that hadn't been there when I went to bed. Still got to work tho'!

And what did I get up to miniature-wise? Well, I based the Empress Miniatures' Foreign Legion, Falange and Condor Legion models Al Front sent me, and tried out a tube of artists' acrylic black as a replacement for my now empty pot of Citadel black.

It works! Bwahahahaaa! And it makes an excellent undercoat, too.

Armed with my new black, I set to, and achieved the following:

Repaired the gun truck commander (I dropped him and he snapped in two at the ankles),
Painted the armband onto the gun truck corporal with rifle,
Undercoated Hasslefree Miniatures' Nubian with Assegai and Hide Shield,
Painted (from the undercoat!) a Ratskin Warrior - Martin Twospiders.

I'm dead chuffed actually - I've definitely hit an all-time top speed of toy soldier painting: I can produce one figure, at almost my absolute best quality of painting, in around 1 hr 15 mins. If I paint at 'basic tabletop' quality, I'm looking at about 5 figures in an hour, maybe more, depending on the paint scheme - BUF, I'm looking at you.

I'm looking forwards to finishing off another Ratskin on Friday (I'm away tomorrow to take my driving theory test), and then next week it's on to the BUF foreign volunteers of the Black Legion. After them it's more Ratskins, then the Song of Blades and Heroes warband I got for christmas.

Picture up tonight!

Olley Painting Points:

This Week: 2
2010 Total: 2
2009 Total: 58
Grand Total: 60

A Native, A Fascist And A Mule...

...went into a pub, see?

Here you go:



Chief 'Bloody-Hand' Chulain (his base was finished after I took this picture).



Fascist Artillery Corporal from Al Front (needs his armband painting on, I'm doing that tomorrow).


Action Group 32's attached Artillery Truck crew.



Skye Battalion supply mule.


Skye Battalion men detailed to guard the mule and its whisky cases.

More Ratskins tomorrow, and maybe some BUF stuff if you're lucky!

Solving The Paint Problem

I've decided to go with Coat d'Arms paints, for two reasons:

1) They're cheap - £1.70 per 18ml pot! Compare that with £2.25 for 12ml of GW paint! It works out at a shocking 18.75p per 1ml of GW paint... and a decent 9.4p for 1ml of Coat d'Arms!
2) They're identical to the old Games Workshop paints that I used to love. See this chart here for details.

This means that I can get more paint for a lot less money* (hurrah!) and the paints will be entirely compatible with all the ones I currently have and have used, meaning that there'll be less variation between figures. Joy! All I need to do now is navigate their tangled webpage and order some stuff.

* 10 Coat d'Arms paints (180ml) will cost me £17 before P&P. 10 GW paints (120ml) will cost me a mere £22.50 before P&P. That's an extra £5.50 for 20ml LESS paint.

Back At The Coalface

Ah, the click click of keyboards and the production of words for money. Yes, I have returned to work and daily lunchtime updates! Woohoo!

Anyway, when I got into work, there was a small packet on my desk with the following stuff courtesy of Al Front, to whom eternal thanks.

8 Empress Miniatures' Falange with Rifles
2 Empress Miniatures Spanish Foreign Legion LMG teams (with the abominably bad Chauchat LMG)
4 Condor Legion advisors

Which all combine to give me a BUF NCO with SMG, an armoured car crewman, and 12 foreign legionnaires of the Black Legion. Plus a spare LMG team. I may actually fold the two LMG teams into the same platoon to give them some serious firepower and enable me to field them all. At any rate, as I need these for Evesham they've been rapidly bumped up the painting planner and will start getting painted next week I expect. Shouldn't take too long - black trousers, grey shirts, black puttees, black sidecaps with black piping and tassles, khaki blanket rolls. I'm strongly tempted to give them all different armbands or different shirts to signify their 'home' fascist movement, e.g. blue for a Falangist, green for an Iron Guardsman. On the other hand, the lack of shirt colour for some - e.g. the Ustace - means that might be a non-starter.

And then! At 12 o' clock - the post came, and lo! I got another parcel from Al Front! This time it contained a brilliant little donkey for the Skye Battalion (hurray!) and a BUF lance-corporal with rifle who'll make up the third member of the gun truck team. Both painted already, which is ace.

On top of all that, I knuckled down and have very nearly finished (from just the undercoat) my Necromunda Ratskin Warband Chief, Chief 'Bloody Hand' Chulain. All he needs doing is a bit of detailing and the base. I'm going to chalk him up as finished because I can get him done in my afternoon break.

However, I have hit a stumbling block - I'm rapidly running out of certain paints, notably black, and with funds at a fairly low level, I may have to grovel for a few bob from the family purse to replenish them. We shall see. I may even order online and try out the Coat d'Arms stuff, or the Vallejo range. I am tempted by the Foundry Paint System as it matches my style and reduces the need for mixing colours, but the price is a bit steep (£7.50 for a set, or £3 a pot). In fact I think it's more expensive than GW's stuff!

Expect photos tonight of the Skye Battalion with donkey, the expanded gun truck crew, and the Ratskin Chief.

Olley Painting Points:

This Week: 1
2010 Total: 1
2009 Total: 58
Grand Total: 59

The Automatics

I found it! Hurrah! It was my fault - I just didn't realise that it'd fallen underneath the desk. Ho hum.

Anyway, here's Gary Bovver:




He's got a lot of tattoos, which I'm quite proud of.

And then... the rest of them!







Leader, two Heavies, four Gangers and two Juves. I still have a few spare Goliath models (including a version of Ded Cred with a heavy stubber) but ideally I'd like to get hold of a few more of the old Goliaths. I've already got the old Juves, but there's loads of other models I'd like to get to provide the Automatics with some campaign longevity.

Anyway, that's another mini-project 'done', at least until I use 'em in a campaign.

Deja Vu...

Right, so I found Gary Bovver, which is great, because I'm really proud of his tattoos...

...and I took a load of photos of him and the rest of the Automatics...

...only now I can't find either the original information cable or the NEW information cable.

Arrrrgh!!

In less toy soldier oriented news, I took my wife and son to see Aladdin at the New Wimbledon Theatre. Brian Blessed was playing Abanazar the eeeevil wizard (without a throat mike!) and Peter O'Grady played the Djinn. It was ace! My son was a bit upset by the loud noises at first but as I took him out he started to get curious, and I brought him back in. 15 minutes in and he was sat on my wife's lap (and later mine) looking intently at the action and taking everything in. By the end he was really happy and excited about it all.

Fantastic night out, fantastic production, and my first pantomime since Pirates of Penzance (if it is a panto) many many years ago.

Now, in a return to toy soldiers, Jellicoe and I are planning a Warhammer 40K 'Apocalypse' game in Feburary. So I'll be painting up some Chaos Space Marines for that in a (probably futile) attempt to get my contribution to the Forces of Darkness fully painted. I counted them - 'just' 23 models to paint (6 Veterans, 4 Icon Bearers, 3 Bikers, 5 half-painted Marines and 5 half-painted Terminators). At the same time I'm going to be tackling some more Necromunda stuff - probably Ratskins or Hired Guns for the moment. Ideally I'd like to have all my Necromunda models painted by Salute! 2010.

In terms of Unpainted Mountain projects, I intend to complete one whole 40K Guard Army this year - my Parvassian Dragoons (Armageddon Steel Legion models), a 1,500pt army which only needs a Forgeworld Cyclops demolition vehicle to complete. They'll be painted up in greys with snow bases, and I intend to convert the Ratlings to have both gas mask bags and boots, as I don't think even Hobbits in Space would like to walk around in arctic conditions without boots.

So: for 2010:

1) The Pantokrator's Fallen Men - 40K Chaos Space Marines
2) Necromunda: Ratskins, Hired Guns, Orlocks, 'spare' Escher and Goliaths
3) Parvassian 9th Dragoons - 40K Imperial Guard
4) Very British Civil War stuff

That should take me through into the summer at least, after which I'll (re)consider where I am and see what I think needs doing next. Now I'm going back to sleep and then I'm going to hunt down the bloody information cables so I can show you the Automatics.

The Brother Karamazov

Here he is - the cyclone Terminator. I've managed to misplace Gary Bovver, the last of the Automatics, so I'll photograph him when I find him. The base represents him in action on the cobalt deserts of Beta Majoris IX (and if it doesn't fit in, well, it can always be redone).

Sadly I am now convinced that I NEED, in the same way I need to breathe, to create a small force of these unorthodox 'Sigma' Marines... more on them later.

For now, more detail regarding Veteran Brother Karamazov of the Sigma Chapter, Adeptus Astartes:





On his right pauldron (and in close-up) is the Chapter Badge, a 'Sigma'. Beneath it, in latin, is the phrase 'VULT IMP' which translates as 'Will of the Imperium' (VULT IMPERIUM). On his left pauldron is the Crux Terminatus in stone, with a perfect ruby mounted in purest gold. This mount is said to have come from the armour worn by the Emperor himself during his titanic duel with the Arch-Traitor Horus. The Crux is carved from stone.

The stylised halberd-head on his shoulderguard represents his company, First (Veteran) 'Halberd' Company. Every Sigma company is named, rather than numbered, and they are named after weapons.

Moving down, on his chest we see the bronze Imperial winged skull, the army badge of the loyalists during the Heresy. Beneath that is a golden Crux Terminatus, and lower still - on his right kneepad - there is yet another. On his left knee is the armour's number, in this case XLI or 41. This means that the suit of armour worn by Karamazov is the 41st suit of tactical dreadnought armour in the Chapter's armoury.

His power fist and storm bolter are painted red, the colour of the enemy's blood which they will shed. The power fist's scroll reads LUX IMP, or Light of the Imperium (LUX IMPERIALIS), and the skull is made from polished bone.

The Cyclone Multiple Launch Rocket System is loaded with frag (red warheads) and krak (blue) missiles, while his Phaeton-pattern storm bolter has a twin-drum magazine containing 200 bolt shells. Each bolt is a rocket-powered, cartridge-ignited, mass-reactive HE shell - in effect he is carrying a twin-barrelled semi-automatic rocket-propelled grenade launcher in 30mm calibre.

Note the complex arrangement of targeting devices - from IR lights under his wrists to multi-spectrum range- and view-finders on the Cyclone through a look-shoot weapon-helmet link sight mounted above the barrels of his storm bolter. This collection of target acquisition devices ensures that regardless of the environment, the Terminator can fight at peak efficiency and maximum effect.

Here Brother Karamazov is located on the cobalt deserts of Beta Majoris 9, the site of a vicious and bloody campaign against Chaos renegades. The hostile environment required sealed suits at all times, and the reinforced armour of the Tactical Dreadnought suits saw them spearheading assaults more often than usual. In such a role their unique status as the only units in the Chapter to wear the Chapter's colours openly (all other Marines apply chamelonic visual camouflage to their armour before a battle or operation) was vindicated as their morale effect on the lightly armoured and spacesuited human traitors could not be underestimated.

Just think, this was a single model, and now it's spawned insanity. Whee! 500 points should be enough... a Force Commander (Librarian?), some Tac Marines and a Scout Squad will do it.

Maybe. Or maybe I should expand up to 1,000...