Meh

 So, there's this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C7fTOsNykZw

Which is fine; a very modest group of Black Templars and a dreadnaught.  Plus the obligatory rules and lore update, which, let's face it, isn't going to deviate too far from the existing.

Regular readers will know that Devos IV started in 5Ed and has been more or less played in 5Ed since then.  

And now apparently my FW account has disappeared; I'm supposed to create a 'Warhammer!' account.  A small thing, but I liked my FW account, I liked scrolling back through the orders and seeing the long term project take shape over the years.  And be embarrassed by the amounts I've blown on the resin crack over the years.  

I've tried to use the FW website over the last few days and I've not been able to navigate to any page other than the one I started on.  Maybe the firefox ad-blocker, maybe it's just not working properly now unless you're signed into your new 'Warhammer!' account.  It doesn't really matter, I'm not going to find a way around the problem because reasons.  But things like the FW phone line, as used by all us FW customers for twenty years to get things sorted and place the occasional order during a lunchbreak has now just gone.  poof.  And no, live chat is no substitute, there is nothing in writing that can convey the sarcasm or vitriol in someone's voice. 

And there's the takedown of the independent hobby animators youtube channels and their replacement with 'Warhammer Plus' which appears to be, and it's only my opinion, check it out for yourself, shite by comparison.  'Warhammer Plus' does appear to be nothing more than an advertising tool to which the customer has to pay a subscription.  

And that takes me back to posts by the likes of Admiral Drax and others who, over the years, commented that they felt that WH40K wasn't for them any more.  Well, I'm now at the point where I'm not just 'not the target audience' but that my hobby is just not being supported anymore.  

This is fine, change is usual etc.  But yes, it does hurt a bit when the message you're getting is despite the investment over decades, they're not even going to support my hobby in any form of legacy product(s).  It must be like being WHFB player when they decided to just blow up the Old World and do away with all those decades of world building.  Oh well.  

Does this mean the end of Devos IV ?  Nah.  Like those still fielding Norse, Kislev and Nippon armies on the battlefields of the Old World, I'll keep going for the time being; back to the Inquisition next week. 

"Oh Zzzzzz ! you sad old duffer, can you see no joy in the future ?" I hear you cry, from all over the globe.  Well, there's 3D printing.  It's going to be the future of the hobby and it turns out that Mr Lee will resin print little men (for those not in the know, plastic (FDM) printers are ok for vehicles and terrain, but actual little men need to be in resin).  So it's fairly easy to see that other games systems will gradually erode GWs market share if they're not careful.  And I don't think that taking over the world and/or chucking out cease and desist orders like confetti is any sort of long term strategy for success.  It may take a couple more years, but we're already seeing the beginning of the new model for GW. 

Agents of the Inquisition 11 - the Devos IV delegation

 

This is a form of love letter to Neverness.  In a manly, wholesome, Chapter Approved sort of way.  You may be aware that he has recently done a month of gently encouraging other bloggers to make and paint an inquisitor.  There are some really good ones there.  

What you can see here is 25% of the strength of the Inquisitorial strength of the Conclave of Dinterra Minor.  As detailed elsewhere, the conclave voted to send a substantial delegation to Devos IV to oversee the conduct of the war.  

 As Inso used to say 'Click the Pic !' 

Their agreed signifier here is black hat or hood.  Their leader, in the way that leaders do, is currently deviating from this previously agreed protocol, but she would argue that is her prerogative...

There are twelve inquisitors there, with their collective entourages, most of which are entirely appropriate (in terms of the scale and scope of and inquisitorial entourage). 

You can see the Inquisitor in the gold terminator armour who has positioned himself dead centre of the scene, albeit behind the Lady Inquistrix who is actually in charge.  His name is Hallas Blingnor and as you can see, rather than a normal inquisitorial retinue, he has brought seventyish Black Templars instead.  That's the type of guy he is.  

Some of these minis have been seen before, some not so.  I'll do a couple of posts with some of the more interesting characters in. 

A Relictor Leiutenant. A Primaris Space Marine of a powerful and effective Chapter with a clear purpose and mission statement.  But still regarded as a heretic in some places.  So might carry out some missions in a clandestine manner.

 

Evorun Dullet had ordered his armed guardians to secure the entrances to this part of the space dock after his pair of locally engaged fixers had paid off the local gangs to be somewhere else.  The orbital yards around Hydrapour had more than enough forgotten corners to satisfy his masters that their meeting could pass unmarked.  

He reached inside his jacket and switched off the twanging, thumping drum beats of the tribal electrofunk that he was partial to.  The Thunderhawk transporter slide quietly into the space, even its immense presence still nowhere near filling the dock.  The blast doors beyond the atmosphere seal closed and the transport settled down with a soft but very noticeable 'crump'.  Evorun was sure that the only people near enough to hear or feel it were those engaged by him.  And his masters paid so very well.

The front ramp of the incredibly purposeful, brutal looking craft cracked open in a hiss as the slight overpressure inside the space craft vented into the dock.  Evorun, sure that his attire was in order (he'd checked it several times) strode out to meet his master.

The huge, hooded and cloaked figure stomped down the ramp and made a few meters into the empty dock and came to a halt, waiting the mere human coming to meet him to arrive.  Evorun stopped five meters away from the spectre and swept the tails of his long coat back with his left hand as he dropped to one knee before the giant.

"You have what we seek?"  the voice rasped out synthetically through the grill on the front of the giant's helmet.  Evorun knew that the helm under that hood was surmounted by a white edged broad red band but could not see anything under the cavernous hood.  Not even a glow from the eye pieces.

"Yes Lord, the Hisitee Nou were uncommonly accommodating, as if they did not care for the relics.  With your permission ?" Evorun stood up, the giant gave a subtle gesture and Evorun keyed the communicator once.  

The one burst of transmitter signal set Evorun's default plan into action.  Two cargo eights, one on the heels of the other, drove into the dock and made a wide circuitous pass behind the Thunderhawk, then slowed and moved up at walking pace into position below the portage stations under the transporter.  

"There was no talk of payment ?"

"No Lord.  I half expected them to ask for geneseed, or forbidden weaponry or something like that."

"They made no demands ?"

"The one I spoke with said 'as with the Executioners and the Astral Claws we may call on your masters in the future.'"

"And you know what that means ?"

"No my Lord." replied Evorun truthfully.  But he could guess. And he knew that the giant knew. 

There was a pause.  Evorun changed the subject;   "The only thing I wanted but could not obtain was automatically releasing clamps on the cargo eights.  We'll have to unbolt the containers manually."

The giant nodded towards the cargo eights and their containers "Are they manned ?"

"No Lord, they are automata"

"Leave them then, I will depart now."  The giant turned on his heel, as he did so the ramp cracked open once more.

"You have done well."

The space marine left with his containers of illicit Templar relics, cargo eights still dangling.  The Thunderhawk would blend with the other traffic around the space port rings and rendez vous with the 4th Company cruiser "Arc of the Covenant" as it refuelled on the other side of the gas giant.  

All Evorun had to do now was pay everyone off and ensure they were adequately dispersed around the sector before the arbites, criminal gangs, other chapter's spies, spyrers and lastly the Inquisition (in that order, most likely) figured out what was going on.  And of course he'd have to disappear for a decade or two.  He knew full well that he would wake up in a week or so with a new identity and only vague recollections of who he was.  He was pretty sure that he was supposed to have no idea at all, but after all this time, the multiple persona overlay was possibly stretching thin.

Perhaps he'd be someone with a more comfortable lifestyle next time ?

At some point, just as before, some deeply implanted thing would go off in his head and he'd make his way to a blank bit of space to suddenly meet another Relictor to get his next mission.  

Protagonists by Siph Horridus and Da Masta Cheef.

Outrageous skullduggery by yours truly.

“Fear is the path to the dark side. Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to suffering.” — Yoda

The brothers of the Lostwithial believe that they are not afraid of anything.  After all, they know that they are made to the Emperor's design, and they shall know no fear.

But this isn't about so much about Space Marines and their relationship with fear, as the Black Templars and their relationship with the rest of the universe.

There were once some rhino APCs, made to the usual STC on some Forge World and duly supplied to the Imperial Fists.  As bits wore out and replaced, in common with a lot military assets, Marine, Guard and Navy, the designated items may well have been reconditioned and refurbished so many times that there are possibly no original parts left.

These Imperial Fist vehicles eventually became Black Templar vehicles, honoured and revered for their history and venerated service, after more time has passed, damage is repaired and worn parts are replaced, there is no part of any of these vehicles left which ever saw an Imperial Fist. 

In the way such things work out, the Black Templars who had these vehicles no longer needed them.  Perhaps their crusade suffered losses which meant that these vehicles were surplus to requirements.  Perhaps the Black Templars were supplied with brand new vehicles to replace the bitsa parts and chop shop tired old rhinos they had.  And on a long campaign against a formidable foe, these old vehicles could be given, however grudgingly, to other Space Marines, however unworthy, to prosecute the cause and carry out the will of the Emperor.

But Black Templar crusades, even strike forces, are largely self governing.  What is established lore for some may be unknown to others.  The brothers of the Lostwithial have been made away that the Incandescent Coyotes (Hisitee Nou in their mother tongue) have three Black Templar rhinos.  And that the parts of those honoured and venerated vehicles which identified them specifically as Black Templar vehicles have now been removed and replaced, thus dishonouring those probably stolen vehicles.

Castellean Brodeep discussing, in a prayer fuelled war council, the three ancient Imperial Fist rhinos, lovingly cared for by the Black Templars, and the dishonour done to them now.  He is outlining the retribution to be enacted should the brothers of the Lostwithial ever come across the Incandescent Coyotes during their travels.

Not that I'm suggesting these valiant upholders of the Emperor's will angrily roam his empire, leaving nothing but suffering and ruin behind them.  All in his name.

87th Motor Rifle Regiment.

Uizawa is populated world within the hegemony of Hydrapour; there are four regions. Sukhumvit, around one of the magnetic poles, is the most populous, with over a dozen hive cities. 

 

Sleve McDiachal was an officer in the PDF; he had progressed from the ranks through platoon command and as an experienced company commander was looking forward to battalion command. 

 

The region of Slemdome was prosperous and reasonably happy; yes most of the population lived in one of the eight Hive cities, but that was largely due to the deathworld like jungles covering Slemdome, nothing like the lethality of Catachan, but still not safe for people or undefended argiculture.

The Motor Rifle regiment to which McDiachal belonged duties included regular sweeps of the fenced and fortified farm areas, warding off and where necessary, hunting down the Giant Wallarb, who would leap the fence and browse on the crops. And occasionally browse on the farmers as well. And dealing with packs of Krung who might find a breach and break in and ravage any unfortunate livestock or agri workers they find. 

 

The inquisition uncovered evidence of heresy; a network of sedition in most of the hives in Sukhumvit. There was suspicion of heresy spreading out to hives in other regions and the man in charge, a Purtian called Hallas Blingnor, having mobilised all of the local law enforcement, called in the Adeptus Sororitas and then the Black Templars as the requirement to purge grew.

"Krung Hunter" Company of 87^th Motor Rifle Regiment was at the furthest extent of their patrol when the Brothers of the Lostwithial came to purge their home hive. Castellian Brodeep was running out of time and patience and the Soroitas had finished their pogrom and were pulling out. He felt disinclined to conduct any screening or interrogation; so the Black Templars carried out a complete purge. 

 

Sleve McDiachal and his men have sworn revenge on the Brothers of the Lostwithial and if they can, Inquisitor Blingnor. Having looked at the available options, they collectively made the deliberate choice to embrace the ruinous powers to improve their chances. 

They too, have now also found their way to Devos IV.

 

Deathwatch Kill team

OK, so on the Brick of Scrutiny now are the Deathwatch Kill team figures.  They're here so we can talk about painting. 

Red.  Blarrgh !  I know a lot of people grumble about painting red.  Here are some red ones.

Ultrasmurfs.

Now the green team.

There he is, looking for Alpharius within the ranks of the deathwatch.

Lighter colours.  Yellow.

Metal.

More yellow, he actually looks slightly better from the back.

Hell's Spangle.  I was feeling quite pleased with my progress here and thought to myself "I'll look at Karitas' Whitescar biker as a point of reference."  I won't do that again.

And my fluffy ffaves, the grey team.

So what you're looking at here are ten unfinished Space Marine figures.  I get so far, and then run into the law of diminishing returns.  By the time I get them to this stage, I've burnt through my mojo.  One of the reasons they are in their Chapter colours with black arms is that the variety of colourschemes are what maintains interest.

But I get 'em to here and then the steps required to finish them seem just beyond reach.  Picking out those final levels of detail is something I tend not do.  Long time readers may remember me talking about not enjoying painting (hence contracting it out), having neither the time nor inclination to practice in order to get to a level I'm happy with.

Now let's avoid a load of bollox where we blow smoke up someone's arse about their minis deserving a better paintjob than the one I'm currently putting out.  Two girls of primary school age eat money.  I need to improve my painting because contracting out painting is expensive.  There are a certain bits out there which I'm still getting help with, but I need to improve my painting to a point where these guys can look finished.

One thing which will need to improve is paint discipline - applying it where I want it, currently it goes a little bit further which means touching up.  Sometimes the touching up goes too far and needs touching up.  Better paint discipline in the first place would be a good start - go back up the picts and look at where the lenses are.  see ?

But I have a plan.

Adeptus Astartes likely to be in the vicinity of Devos IV

The Blood Angels were the Adeptus Astartes contribution to the war against WAAAARGH Burkett 800 years ago.  There are Blood Angel artefacts in the Xyphonica Basilica of the Emperor Restored.  Mauven 158, another world in the Dynorwic cluster, saw a Blood Angel strike force deploy to hunt down a detachment of the Emperor’s Children three years ago.  The Long War does not only persist in the minds of those traitor astartes in the Eye of Terror, it is remembered by the descendants of their foes as well.  The ancient fight between the Blood Angels and the Emperor's Children continues - And Eidolon escaped Mauven 158.

PVP's Blood Angels.  4000 point here.  Karitas has some too.

Rune Priests, following their own arcane predictions, have led possibly more than one Great Hunt into the Dynorwic Cluster, ready to respond to further casting of the runes.  Wolf Scouts are not a common sight, naturally, but they are at large on many worlds, sniffing out the situation and following up on leads and sightings, building up a larger and more comprehensive picture than many other of the agencies involved.  The Rune Priests have seen that failure on Devos IV could jeopardise the whole Dynorwic cluster, the attentions of a Deamon Prince from the Horus Heresy make this a fight they will take on.  The presence of Lone Wolves on Devos IV already is no accident.

One of Karitas' Rune Priests.  Gregarious fellows, Rune Priests - they have lots of friends

The Brothers of the Lostwithial, a splinter of a Black Templar Crusade, have come directly to Devos IV in order to fulfil an oath to Inquisitor Blingnor of the OH.  They have already managed to alienate many of the senior command teams at the front line, even if their incessant rituals are indulged at High Command. The mysterious Adeptus Astartes of ‘One Force’, who have previously ‘punished’ Black Templar formations for over enthusiasm (when the Brothers get carried away dispensing the Emperor's Justice in population centres) are possibly shadowing the Brothers.  Only time will tell. 

Andy BG's mysterious One Force, 

Through various agencies (possibly radicals in the OH), the Relictors have learned the fate of the War Griffons Canis Fidelis, now the Khornate Belligera Rex.  Securing any of the Aroctech from a debased  titan could possibly advance their schemes quite some way.   If your purpose is to understand how the warp can effect the laws of nature, the fundamental laws of the universe, then something like a titan, even a small one, amounts to a substantial sample.  Even if it has to be picked up off a battlefield by a thousand men with buckets.

Siph's Relictors - just the middle bits.

The Brothers of the Lostwithial may be already in situ, but their force is likely already depleted by the actions they have already undertaken on Deovs IV.   They view the Blood Angels as heretical.  The view the Relictors as heretical.  When they meet the Sons of Russ, the chances are they won’t take to them either.   Relationships between the other Astartes factions remain a matter of conjecture.  For the time being. 

My vast collection of Black Templars.  Gonna need some more....

And if something attracts four disparate Chapters, then it is almost certain to attract others...

The punisher of errant Astartes. 

Just before Operation Dragonfire, in orbit.

There are reasons that the imperial Navy would not drop troops in position around Xyphonica.  And that they would only drop troops at Fort Nuttar when the FLOT was already in the Western Suburbs of the city, hundreds of Kloms away.  All of which date back to the time when it is alleged that the Blood Pact arrived on Devos IV.

Investigations after the event determined that the mass conveyor пелерина Интрига[1] had been converted to a troopship at the Imperial Navy’s Belis Corona naval yards nearly 500 years ago.  It had lifted troops to warzones around the Galactic Core for 157 years, before being attached to the Imperial Navy’s 876^th Fleet at the outset of the Sabbat Crusade.  After seven years, including hot dropping onto Balhaut[2], the пелерина Интрига disappears from the record[3].

The ship, all three and half thousand meters of her, appeared at the Naval Way Station at Aurent[4] early in 857.M41 reporting for duty, carrying the Mordant 303^rd “Acid Dogs” as a ‘ready to deploy’ Astra Militarum formation.   They were issued with the appropriate codes, assigned an escort[5] and despatched to the Devos system.   All of this is pretty usual.

Two months later, longer than the standard journey time from Agripinna to Devos, but not remarkably so, the пелерина Интрига slid into orbit.  Her escorts remained in their allotted positions as she moved into low orbit, all the time following the instructions delivered by the task force flagship, now the Dictator Class Cruiser “Slaydo”.  The пелерина Интрига announced that she was ready to discharge her cargo and then reported a minor fire in the lower decks. 

The lead ship of what had been her escort detail reported that the four Dencara class escorts[6] were still hot (to move, having not yet powered down to their geo-stationary orbit) and therefore available to move to collect escape pods should the worst occur.

The Slaydo turned her augurs on the пелерина Интрига and failed to locate the reported fire.  In spite of this, she issued the order to move the escorts into rescue positions, even as she demanded that the пелерина Интрига confirm the location and extent of the damage.  The troopship swung into an ever lower orbit, complaining that it was becoming harder to maintain her position. 

Listening in, the four escorts, 11,000km closer, turned their augurs on the supposed location of the fire and also could not detect any damage.  However, what they could clearly see, which the fleet commanders on the Slaydo could not, was her drop ships beginning to cycle through their launch patterns, over the wrong hemisphere of the planet.

The master of the Captain Gunnerson reported this to the Slaydo who challenged the пелерина Интрига; the troops were supposed to be landed at the starport, not directly on the battlefield; this had already been communicated and acknowledged, why were they now disobeying instructions designed to keep Imperial Navy assets safe from ground fire ?  The reply was that if the fire on board became too big to contain, the troops could be saved by disembarking now, before it was too late.

Whilst ostensivly  plausible, this was not consistent with the initial reports of a small fire.  The reports of a small fire were not consistent with the lack of any sign on the augurs, either.   Not the close up view from the escorts nor the powerful sweeps of the Slaydo.   The drop ships dropped.  Taking 22 minutes to make planetfall, 30 minutes to disgorge their load[7] and then 38 minutes to re-dock and then begin loading again.

72AG were immediately on to their Imperial Navy liaison teams.  Why wasn’t the regiment being delivered to the star port ?  If the prime mover was in distress, why could the drop ships not push further west and allow the unit to be extracted later ?  Close Orbit Command, suitably embarrassed, immediately sent as many assets as they had to discern the situation and help where they could.

The пелерина Интрига’s dropships went through three cycles.  The ship was still not giving satisfactory answers to the Slaydo’s questions, the first marauders over the scene reported taking fire from where they expected to find disembarked guardsmen. 

Marauder Destroyers - two Punisher cannons under each wing... Why not ?

The Ordo Hereticus delegation had made sure that one of its members was on duty on the Slaydo at all times.  At this particular moment, that person was Inquisitor Hallas Blingnor.  Having been warned by his immediate superior about spoiling relationships with the other agencies involved in the campaign, he had, perhaps uncharacteristically, refrained from ordering the Captain of the Slaydo, Rear Admiral Devolt, to carry out what ever thing first popped into his reactionary, puritan mind.

Instead, taking advantage of his personal relationship with Castellian Brodeep, Inquisitor Blingnor ordered the Black Templar Strike Cruiser, the Lostwithial, to fire on the  пелерина Интрига.  Un accountably, the troop transport seemed to have been watching for ships powering up their weapon systems.  The troop ship was designed, like a space marine battle barge, to do its job in low orbit under fire.  Its shields went up.  The last round of drop ships departed.  Whoever those people were, barring the usual casualties due to shaking and impact, they were now down[8].

The пелерина Интрига ran away from the Lostwithal and the rest of the Imperial Fleet[9], largely in geo-stationary orbit would take hours to make ready and get underway.  But the Dencara Escorts were close and ready for action.  Flipping from rescue to attack was a change of thought and attitude, with no requirement to change any system.  Already at action stations, they raised their shields and joined the fray.

Whilst they did not have enough fire power to take the пелерина Интрига down straight away, it could not evade or outrun them and didn’t have the firepower of its own to do more than superficial damage to the Commissar Yamoto and Colonel Jacka.  Targeting the drives,  the escorts subjected the пелерина Интрига  to 54 minutes of constant strafing; the troopship was soon drifting.  An hour and seventeen minutes later, the first Black Templar drop pods hit the embarkation decks.  The last four squads of Black Templars from the Lostwithial would assault and clear the пелерина Интрига.

What they found there was evidence that the forces allied to Magister Sholen Skara had seized the vessel in the massive Naval Engagements around Parthenope during the Sabbat Crusades[10].  The vessel had quite obviously, since then, been used by the Great Enemy to ferry his soldiers around.  There was every indication that those landed were kin to the Blood Pact or Sons of Sek.  The Black Templars set the hulk on a course to the sun and recovered their drop pods.

Inquisitor Blingnor had scored a famous victory through his eternal vigilance and keen instinct for confronting heresy[11].

---

[1] “Cloaked in Intrigue”

[2] 765 M41.

[3] Obviously it remained a part of the Imperial Navy until the Naval Battle at Parthenope, despite the loss or destruction of pertinent records.

[4] The Imperial Navy’s waystation in the Agripinna system.  The major travel nexus into and out of the EoT warzone as well as the home of Klestor Sector Command.

[5] Four Dencara Class Fleet escorts, the Captain Gunnerson, General Estra, Commissar Yamato and Colonel Jacka.

[6] The Dencara class fleet escort is essentially a Firestorm class frigate with the engineering decks configured differently to accommodate an increase in shield generator capacity.

[7] The Infantry units were landed almost in the western suburbs of Xyphonica. An ideal position to assault the city, perhaps, but not much good if you wanted much of the regiment left after the action.

[8] Estimates range from 4000 to 8000 soldiers. 

[9] Taking into account the atmosphere of Devos IV, the пелерина Интрига was over the horizon within 12 minutes.

[10] A notable disaster for the Imperial Navy, 767.M41.

[11] In all his years of shooting them all and letting the Emperor sort it out, it has never once occurred to him that he might be wrong.  

2014 reinforcements - Brothers of the Lostwithial

Black Templars - like space marines, but with more festooning and less common sense.  What's not to like ?

Some of these guys were painted by Golem, some by Raven's Nest Painting. 

Arrayed for a shopping trip somewhere near the Eye of Terror.  Their favourite shopping day is of course Black Templar Friday.  The only guys catching a bus are the ten or so initiates in the middle at the back, everyone else has wheels or the opportunity to deep strike off the table and into history*.

Eight Templinators (so a word).  Delivered by LR Crusader.  If you don't stop it before it gets to your deployment zone, you'll need a monstrous creature (or another bunch of termies) as a counter attack unit.  Unless I roll normally, in which case these guys are just extra crunchy dog food.

I love these guys - especially the guy with TL chainswords kneeling for a blessing. According to my codex the red edges are for assault squads.  I meant for these guys to be sword brethern.  Oh well.

More of them.  Including one shrugging.  I dunno why, they seemed fine when I did them, perhaps he's just fed up with being angry all the time. And all those vows.  I will brush my hair 100 times when I get up. I won't dry my socks in the toaster. I will smite heretics.  I will not listen to Nena Cherry on my walkman under the covers after lights out.

I know that Castellian Brodeep himself is slightly out of focus here, but Brother Moon (on the left)< the Emperor's Champion, is always ready to step up to the plate and take over should Castellion Brodeep feel at all off colour.  And he'd lead them into the fiercest warzones, not swan about the civilised imperium hunting heretics - that's gurls work.

No Neophytes, I just didn't want any - they're not being allowed of the ship because they've been naughty (?).  So no exo-suits, wolf cavalry, Thunderfire pistols or anything that does not feel like it belongs here.  Just bolter and chainsword, almost. Looking forward to a future iteration of the BT codex (mine is Mar '09), which apparently will be crusade focused and turn them into knights in space.

*Mr Lee once asked why I'd bothered with a reaper cannon on my 'Zerkinators (and by extension, why an assault cannon in the DS BT squad).  I think the weapons are present in the squads to mitigate against scattering off target and potentially not being able to play any part in the battle.  Tactical Dreadnaught armour and TL lightening claws might be really kill HTH, but if you're too far away, you need something in the squad to make up for it.

Pre publication update:  I was thinking that this bunch were finished - I had no intention to add anything more.  Then FW did this:


Oooooh, pretty.

Nearly used all of my BT btiz

The creation of the Black Templars detachment left me with a pile of BT specific bitz; vehicle, termie and spaze muhreen.  So a small outlay (which is allowed under the self imposed restraint rules as it counts towards finishing stuff - by using bitz), the only purchases being the two razorhairyfatbacks.

Which here are two rhinos driving past some old weapons installations left lying about.

Sorry about the photos being in not ideal lighting conditions and being grey models on a grey background.  This hobby is fraught with hazards. For instance, imagine if you will that whilst I'm drafting this I occasionally go the mouse in the middle of the desk to adjust or modify this post.  Of course the mouse is attached to my work laptop.  If someone were watching, they'd be laughing.

Now, swapping the rhino sunroof for the razorhairyfatback thing is an old dodge.  But it is a cheap and easy win, so I'm joining in.  One of the sunroof hatches has BT sword decoration bitz and the other, just to be different (there are two relatively plain looking rhinos already) has some luggage.

Hopefully you can see that the hulls are festooned with BT iconography - it could be in their modus operandi "Festoon the rhino, brother bullet magnet, I need to pop out for some milk..."

More termies.  Another three lightening clause types, possibly for the LR Crusader. Maybe to deep strike in your face (but would scatter and end up in out of town retail park somewhere).

Still lots of BT stuff going on here.  I figure that the assault cannons on loyalist termies and the reaper cannons on Kaos Termies are for when the deep strike puts them out of charge range.  It may not be a game changer, but it stops the termies feeling like they're being left out.

Sixteen sword brethren.  Another bucket load of BT bitz and some veteran looking gizmos.  The newer SM kit and older one together provide enough variety.  And these boys would be fairly easy to convert; I can see why people have SM armies.

Now all they need is paint.