Introduction:
Hello all! Welcome to this, the first post in my attempt to chronicle what is, without doubt, the costliest and most time-consuming project I have ever devised (yes, including all my mad Guard armies): a Great Crusade period Raven Guard army, using almost entirely Forgeworld models.
I am building it for a campaign run by a chap henceforth known by his character, the Primarch Rogal Dorn. We - the participants - take the role of either a Legion Primarch, or a Captain, and fight with our army through the Great Crusade, into the Heresy, and to the Siege of the Emperor's Palace and thus into the Scourging. It will grow and develop as we win points in our battles against recidivist humans and xeno scum, forging into the wastes of the Galaxy with the guiding light of the Imperial Truth, better preparing us for the betrayal and civil war to come.
By its very nature, this is going to be a slowly built army, so I will be spending a LOT of time on each individual model, painting and modelling them to the very best of my abilities. Not Golden Demon, or even Apologist standard, but hopefully at least to a jolly good standard!
Initial Army Lists:
We have to create two 1,000 point lists - one for actions planetside, and one for boarding space stations and the like. They are, of course, going to be different beasts, but I wanted to retain the majority of my main force (the Strike Force) for both economic and modelling reasons.
The theme of my Strike Force is that of a mechanised schwerpunkt of Astartes and Therion Cohort forces, used by Corax to drive into weak points of enemy lines, battering them aside and destroying their coherency as a fighting force. So - no jump packs (not yet deployed to the Crusade forces) and no bikes. Yet, anyway.
Conversely, the Boarding Force is by necessity without their vehicles or Therion allies (humans are weak and squishy in void fighting), but bolstered by a Dreadnought and a squad of assault Marines in Mk III armour with flamers and other nasty corridor-fighting gear.
Thus, the two lists, together for convenience sake, look like this:
Captain Agapito (7th Company, 5th Chapter, Raven Guard) with his Lieutenant*, Apothecary, and three Marines in a RH1N0-C All wearing Mk IV armour
Bran the Brave: Dreadnought with multi-melta, power fist and heavy flamer
Tactical Squad 1: 10 Marines in a RH1N0-T All wearing Mk II armour
Tactical Squad 2: 10 Marines in a RH1N0-T All wearing Mk II armour
Tactical Squad 3: 10 Marines in a RH1N0-T All wearing Mk II armour
Assault Squad: 10 Marines (in a RH1N0-T when deployed planetside) All wearing Mk III armour
Two Therion Cohort Predator Destructors
In terms of models, the Dreadnought will be a modified metal (!) Furioso with a FW MM arm, the Captain will be kitbashed from various spare parts and Mk IV armour bits, the Command Squad will be plasma-gun heavy (3 in one squad!) with various bits from the SM Command Squad set. The Tacticals will be FW Mk II figures with Umbra and Umbra Ferox bolters, the Assault Marines Mk III with bolt pistols and combat weapons from a variety of sources (most likely the Chaos Marine box). All the vehicles will be the Deimos pattern ones, although I am tempted by the Mk 1 Rhino Conversion Template as it's both easy and cheap. The Predators will have Imperial Army crews, because I want to get across the much closer bond between the Imperial Army and the Legions as opposed to the Guard and the Marine Chapters.
* Yes, Lieutenant - though he's a Sergeant in the rules - all will be explained below!
Painting:
I am going to be building on the following image as a base for what the force will look like:
Although it claims to be an image of a Pre-Heresy Raven Guard Marine, the armour (a mix of Mk IV and VI) and use of 'Chapter Insignia' gives the game away: this Marine is from the post-Heresy Codex Astartes era. However, it does give me a good idea of how to paint squad type designations. Combined with Apologist's wonderful Praetors of Calth log (see below for link) and his concept of each Marine as a knightly hero, this means that each of my Raven Guard will have a right shoulder pad painted with their tactical/assault designation. Over this will be the Legion insignia of the Raven, and in the centre of the Raven a squad number. On the left pad, each Marine will have his own heraldry.
I will also be utilising the Rogue Trader Space Marine rank markings for sergeants, lieutenants, and so on and so forth. I will post pictures of these a little later. Suffice it to say that helmets, arms, and shoulder pads will all be involved.
As for the Therion Cohort's tanks, they will be painted much like modern Russian armoured vehicles. There's something remarkably Soviet about the Deimos-pattern Predators - probably it's the dome turret.It helps that the crew figures I plan on using - the Perry's classic metal commanders - are both wearing the Soviet tanker's helmet!
Inspiring Plogs and Blogs:
The Iron Without
Praetors of Calth
Imperial Fists: Pre and Post Heresy
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My love for the Great Crusade/Horus Heresy era and my army selection in years past (Salamanders in 3rd and Raven Guard in 4th edition) mean I'm pretty eager to see what you come up with.
Originally Posted by Dr Zoidberg
