14th Cromorian Legion (IG)

[matt_17]

Leman Russ Executioner: Blessed Silence

This army has been my part of the Tale of 40K Painters for this year. I'm supposed to paint about 175 points a month to stay in the tale and I've managed to stay relatively close to that. I've started this log, though, for two reasons: The first is that I want a place to keep track of my own personal progress - the tale gets a new thread every month so currently my own work is spread out over 6 threads. Secondly, I am about to kick up my rate of production, probably getting quite close to double what I'm supposed to post in the Tale - right now the stuff I'm planning to submit at the beginning of next month is only a few days from completion.

I figured I'd get this log up and running by reposting my submissions to the Tale of 40k Painters in order and then start posting the rest as I finish it.

Comments, advice, praise and criticism are all welcome. There is a fair bit of fluff that goes with this army that I've been writing bit by bit each month to with my submissions to the tale, though you are more than welcome to skip that and go straight on to the pictures. Sadly, after the first few months I've moved out of my parents house so I stopped having access to my dad's camera resulting in a drop in picture quality - most notable the first time I didn't have the camera as I hadn't worked out any of the settings on my phone's camera. The quality gets better thereafter, but never quite as good as the first few submissions.

Anyway, a summary of where my army stands is below. The general theme seems to be Catachan Characters, with Cadian models and a colour scheme different to both.

Finished - In Progress - Bought but Unopened - Still in the Shop

Leman Russ Battle Tank
Leman Russ Executioner
Plasma Vets
Company Command Squad
2 x Lascannon Teams
Lascannon Armoured Sentinel
Chimera
Melta Vets
Basilisk
Grenader Vets
Marbo Equivalent
Hellhound


3 x Chimeras
5 x Stormtroopers
3 x Missile Launcher Teams
Lord Commissar
Primaris Psyker
Astropath
Officer of the Fleet

Cadian Battleforce
Leman Russ Battle Tank
Leman Russ Demolisher
Manticore
Cadian Battleforce... again
Leman Russ Vanquisher

[matt_17]

Matt's Cromorian Legion (IG): September 2011 (D6 roll = 6)

MONTHLY TOTAL: 185 POINTS (MONTHLY TARGET: 175 POINTS)
TOTAL TO DATE: 185 POINTS (TARGET TO DATE: 175 POINTS)
JOKERS PLAYED: 0

BACKGROUND/THEME:
When the title says Cromorian Legion it really means "selected elements of a Cromorian Legion". No way in hell can I paint the 10 000 - 14 000 guys that make up an entire Legion in a lifetime, let alone a year.

The Cromor system has four inhabited planets - more on the nature of those planets in later months' background, else I'll end up writing an essay here. Each of those planets has its own planetary defence forces from which the best and brightest are recruited into the system wide defence force called the Cromorian Legions. The Legions also form the final staging point for recruitment into the Imperial Guard proper.

When a tithe of soldiers is required from the Cromor system entire Legions are sent - meaning that the Imperial Guard get a cohesive fighting force, already trained to fight together, with their command structure already in place and funtioning properly. As soon as one Legion is sent to the Imperial Guard the Cromorian command begins replacing that Legion in the system wide defence force - so should the 51st Cromorian Legion join the Imperial Guard a new 51st Legion will be initiated, trained and readied in the Cromorian System Defence Force.

Technically, upon recruitment to the IG, Legions are renamed as Regiments and ranks reassigned to match codified imperial doctrine... in practice a Cromorian Legion is always a Legion. Whenever possible Cromorian Legions return to Cromor to replace their losses - drawing these replacements from their successor Legion within the system wide defence force (these replacements are then counted as part of the systems imperial tithe). As such, Cromorian Legions are only ever decomissioned from the Imperial Guard if they are whiped out wholesale in a single campaign - which is rare.

In this Tale I will be building elements of the Undying 14th Cromorian Legion. The Legion has existed as a Regiment within the Imperial Guard since it was first commissioned seven millenia ago. At times the Legion has been mauled down only a few divisions remaining, but in its long history the Cromorian 14th has not yet been entirely annihilated.

This is getting long... so I'll go into Legion organisation and command structure next time.

UNIT(S):
Leman Russ Battle Tank - Lascannon, Camo Netting

BUILD/CONVERSIONS:
As it comes straight out of the box, with the exception of the rolled up camo net on the back.

PAINTING/BASING:

The painting of this tank (and those to come) was achieved via the following steps.

1. The whole thing was sprayed Chaos Black.
2. Camoflage Pattern - First the two darker colours (Calthan Brown & Catachan Green) were painted on, then the joins between them were painted with Iyanden Darksun.
3. All the iron metal sections (including scratches and weathering) were painted with a 50/50 Chaos Black/Boltgun Metal mix. Golden metal trim (aquilas, skulls, etc) was painted with Dwarf Bronze.
4. The white on the back of the turret was achieved via Codex Grey, Fortress Grey and then Skull White twice. The camo net was just Codex Grey and drybrush Fortress Grey.
5. Cromor transfer was applied to the turret, ID number was freehanded onto the side of the hull in Skull White and vehicle name was freehanded onto the back of the turrent in Chaos Black.
6. The whole thing (pretty much) was washed with a heavily watered down Graveyard Earth/Chaos Black mix. Then selected areas were washed again.
7. Golden metal trim was higlighted in Shining Gold.
8. Guns, exhaust vents, smoke launchers and trailer hook were highlighted with Boltgun Metal. Scatches and weathering were gone over with Boltgun Metal. Tracks were drybrushed with Boltgun Metal.
9. A Heavy Graveyard Earth drybrush was used to achieve the dirt effects around the tracks and front of the hull.
10. The scratches and weathering was picked out again with Boltgun metal.
11. Finally the lights were painted. The red guide lights around the turrent are done in Red Gore -> Blood Red -> Blazing Orange -> Skull White Highlights. The searchlight starts with Golden Yellow and ends in Skull White with varying mixes of the two in betweeen.

STILL TO DO:
Nothing.

HIGHS AND LOWS:
Highs: First tank I've ever painted... I had fun.
Lows: Starting a new army from scratch is expensive.

NEXT MONTH:
Leman Russ Executioner... which is already mostly finished, so hopefully a test model for the troops too. I should slow down once I hit the infantry guys... lots of them to paint.

[matt_17]

Undying 14th Cromorian Legion (IG): September 2011 (D6 roll = 1)

MONTHLY TOTAL: 230 POINTS (MONTHLY TARGET: 175 POINTS)
TOTAL TO DATE: 415 POINTS (TARGET TO DATE: 350 POINTS)
JOKERS PLAYED: 0

BACKGROUND/THEME:
Cromorian Legions are structured into 5 tiers. These tiers are all numbered giving rise to the set of five numbers in roman numerals on the side of every vehicle and right shoulder pad of every soldier. The tiers and their organisation are outlined below.

Legion
IG equivalent: Regiment
Quantity: 1/Legion
Full Strength Personnel: 12 000 - 14 000
Command Structure: Each Legion is led by a General and his staff of adjutants, advisors and bodyguards. The members of the General Staff are hand picked by the general himself and may be of any rank and experience, though they are generally highranking officers and experienced NCOs.

Battalion
IG equivalent: Company
Quantity: 12/Legion
Full Strength Personnel: 1 200 soldiers (or Approx 300 fighting vehicles in the case of armoured Battalions)
Command Structure: A Commander leads each Battalion. He is supported by a 1st Lieutennant Commander, a 2nd Lieutennant Commander and 12 NCOs (sufficient to form command squads for each officer)

Division
IG equivalent: Platoon
Quantity: 12/Battalion = 144/Legion
Full Strength Personnel: Approx 100 Soldiers (or Approx 25 fighting vehicles)
Command Structure: Division are led by Captains. Each Captain is supported by a 1st Lieutennant, a 2nd Lieutennant, one of each NCO (Master Sergeant, Gunnary Sergeant and Staff Sergeant) and sufficient guardsmen of appropriate ability to fill a command squad for each officer.

Squadron
IG equivalent: Squad
Quantity: 12/Division = 144/Battalion = Approx 1 700/Legion
Full Strength Personnel: 6-10 + 0-1 Chimeras (or 1-3 fighting vehicles)
Command Structure: Each contains a Sergeant (I) who is responsible for morale and small scale tactics, a Corporal (II) who is responsible for communications and a Lance-Corporal (III) who is responsible for the squads nonsstandard weapons. The remaining soldiers (III - VI/X) hold the rank of private.

Individual
IG equivalent: Guardsman
Quantity: 6-10/Squad = LOTS/Everything else
Full Strength Personnel: 1 (1 vehicle + 1-6 Crew Members)
Command Structure: Each individual is responsible for their armour and weapon.

NOTE: The 11th and 12th Battalions are a legion's Armoured Battalions. With the exception of Chimera transports all fighting vehicles in the Cromorian Legions belong in one of these battalions and are distributed among the other battalions as and when necessary. The 11th Battalion is home to short range weapon vehicles (in game terms those with primary weapons with range less than 48") and the 12th is home to those with longer weapon ranges (longer than 48"). Vehicles are treated as the individual the legion command structure, crew members are therefore assigned a 6th, sub-individual number to establish the relative ranks withing the vehicle crew.

Some example ID number are given below:
XIV.XII.IV.I.II - 14th Legion, 12th Battalion (therefore a vehicle), 4th Division, 1st Squadron, 2nd Tank (this is the Leman Russ from last month)
XIV.XI.VII.III.I - 14 Legion, 11th Battalion (again a vehicle), 7th Division, 3rd Squadron, 1st - and therefore squadron command -tank. (This month's submission)
XIV.III.I.II.VI - 14th Legion, 3rd Battalion, 1st Division (therefore a veteran), 2nd Squad, 6th Guardsmen (normally this would make him a private, but given that he's in the 3rd Battalion's veteran division that may not necessarily be the case.)
XIV.IV.IX.V.I - 14th Legion, 4th Battalion, 9th Division, 5th Squad, 1st Soldier (Squad Sergeant)

And so on... officers and other members of the tier command staff have the appropriate numbers replaced with a C.
XIV.C.C.C.C - 14th Legion General.
XIV.III.C.C.C - 14th Legion, 3rd Battalion Commander
XIV.III.C.C.I - 14th Legion, 3rd Battalion, 1st Lt-Commander
XIV.VI.IV.C.C - 14 Legion, 6th Battalion, 4th Division Captain

And so on.

I've written enough, more next month... I obsess over this stuff too much don't I?


UNIT(S):
Leman Russ Executioner - Plasma Cannon Sponsons
Single Guardsman tester.

BUILD/CONVERSIONS:
As it comes straight out of the box, with the exception of the rolled up camo net on the back -not something I ever intend for the model to use... but it looks cool... least I think so.

PAINTING/BASING:

Painted using pretty much the same steps as the last one with the addition of the plasma veins which are done in Midnight Blue -> Regal Blue -> ICe Blue -> Skull White. Successively less paint was used for each with the midnight blue going everywhere and the white being drybrushed.

Guardsman paintig method next month when I've done more of them and have the method down more precisely.

STILL TO DO:
Nothing.

HIGHS AND LOWS:
Highs: Played a few games in the month by borrowing/proxying models. Generally performances have been good, more importantly I'm enjoying the change in playstyle from my daemons.
Lows: Need to get the painting crisper on the guardsmen. Especially the face... that should coem with time and practice with the model/paintscheme.

NEXT MONTH:
Vet squad and anything else I get time for.

The executioner: Blessed Silence








The tester guardsman

[matt_17]

Undying 14th Cromorian Legion (IG): November 2011 (D6 roll = 5)

MONTHLY TOTAL: 130 POINTS (MONTHLY TARGET: 175 POINTS)
TOTAL TO DATE: 545 POINTS (TARGET TO DATE: 525 POINTS)
JOKERS PLAYED: 0

BACKGROUND/THEME:
From last month's... um... essay each Cromorian Legion is split into Battalions, each Battalion is split into Divisions and the IG codex analogue for a Division is a platoon. This is true of every Division, with the exception of a Battalion's 1st Division. The 1st Division is the home of the Battalion's veterans.

Commendations
Within the Cromorian Legions acts of great valour and/or skill are rewarded with commendations. Bring down a trygon with a lasbolt to the eye, detonate a chaos land raider with a meltabomb, shove your captain out of the path of a warboss's powerklaw or slip your bayonet through the links in a bloodthirster's armour - all of these things and others like them will earn you a commendation. Unsurprisingly, a large percentage of commendations are awarded posthumously.

A soldier who is awarded a commendation is allowed (expected in fact) to display it with a stamp on their left shoulder pad in the form of a black bordered silver circle. Each such stamp corresponds to a specific commendation and will have a matching citation in their personnel file.

Veterans
Once a soldier has amassed three commendations their rank (whatever it may be) is appended with First Class and they become eligible for promotion to the Veteran (First) Division. So when Lance-Corporal Joe Bloggs manages to stick his combat knife down Warboss Big'Un'Airy's throat and wins his third commendation he becomes Lance-Corporal First Class Jow Bloggs and will be transfered the first division the moment there's an opening.

Because soldiers enter the First Division based purely on performance and not necessarily rank, the ranks within a veteran squad may not quite match their personnel ID numbers. Normal I = Sergeant, II = Corpora, III = Lance-Corporal and IV - X = Private. While the internal command structure of a veteran squad still follows this numeric pattern the actual ranks may very well range from Master Sergeant to Private... all First Class, or course.


Anyway, I think I've written enough of this again...

UNIT(S):
Veteran Squad: 3 plasma guns, vox caster, sergeant with plasma pistol

BUILD/CONVERSIONS:
Straight out of the cadian shock trooper box... except the plasma guns, those are metal and were a bitch to model in place.

PAINTING/BASING:
The painting method for these guys is as follows.

1. Fabric: Was painted codex grey, washed with watered down graveyard earth/choas black mix then drybrushed codex grey and finally drybrushed fortress grey.
2. Flesh/Eyes: The flesh was painted red gore followed by tanned flesh. The eyes (and if necessary teeth) were painted skull white and a midnight blue dot was added for the iris/pupil with a toothpick. Any messed white around the eyes/mouth was then cleaned up with tanned flesh and the fleshy areas were finally painted with elf flesh.
3. Camo: All the plates of the flack armour were painted in the same camo scheme as the tanks, albeit on a smaller scale. First alternating stripes of Calthan Brown and Catachan Greeen were painted, then Iyanden Darksun was used as the breakup colour between those stripes.
4. Metals: All armour trim - winged skulls/aquilas - were painted dwarf bronze. The remaining metals were painted in a 50/50 mix of chaos black and boltgun metal.
5. Details: Personnel ID numbers were freehanded on with Skull White. Commendations are done with a black circle then a smaller mithril silver circle inside.
6. Wash: The armoured plates and metal were then washed with a watered down mix of graveyard earth and chaos black.
7. Highlights: The grey metals were highlighted with boltgun metal, the trim with shining gold.

Where necessary the plasma veins were painted the same as the executioner's: Midnight Blue -> Regal Blue -> Ice Blue -> Skull White; progressing from full coverage painting to drybrushing.

The bases were covered in pieces of chopped up sprue to simulate rubble. The ground was painted clathan brown then drybrushed graveyard earth then bleached bone. The rubble was drybrushed codex grey then fortress grey. Finally static grass was applied between/around the rubble.


STILL TO DO:
Their Chimera

HIGHS AND LOWS:
Highs: Painting them individually takes me about 2.5 hours, painting two at a times saves me from wasting time while I wait for things to dry so I can do 2 in 4 hours. No idea how that compares to anyone else, but for me that's pretty quick painting time.
Lows: Their chimera didn't arrive in time for me to paint it this month

NEXT MONTH:
More vets? Command squad? Sentinel? I haven't decided yet. Its December, I have time... maybe all of them... maybe not...


The tester pic from last moth again, this time to point out the commendations on his left shoulder.


The Whole Squad (XIV.III.I.II.I-X)

[matt_17]

Undying 14th Cromorian Legion (IG): December 2011 [COLOR="green"](D6 roll = 2)

MONTHLY TOTAL: 310 POINTS (MONTHLY TARGET: 175 POINTS)
TOTAL TO DATE: 855 POINTS (TARGET TO DATE: 700 POINTS)
JOKERS PLAYED: 0

BACKGROUND/THEME:
Sadly no essay this time around. Just moved to new city and don't really have time to sit down and write. Lots next month, though.

UNIT(S):
Company Command Squad: Commander + Powerfist; Plasma Gunner, Lascannon Team, Vox Caster, Master of Ordinance, Bodyguard
Armoured Sentienl: Lascannon, Hunter-killer Missile
Two extra Lascannon Teams (these will eventually get another member and form a Heavy Weapons Squad.

BUILD/CONVERSIONS:
A few pieces are mixed and matched across the various sprues that come in the Cadian Battle Force, but mostly these guys are as they come out of the box.

PAINTING/BASING:
The soldiers are painted as described last months, the sentinel is painted using much the same procedure as the previous vehicle.

STILL TO DO:
Nothing on these guys.

HIGHS AND LOWS:
Highs: I really had quite a bit of fun with the sentinel. I like painting large models, and this is a nice one that also happens to be very different to those I've painted in the past.
Lows: I didn't get as much done this months as I'd wanted. My painting lamp broke just before Christmas and then it was Christmas, and New Year and then preparing to move.
Also, I didn't have access to a decent camera, so these were taken using my phone.

NEXT MONTH:
Since I just arrived in a new city I may end up jokering January, but hopefully not. I would like to get done the second vet squad and chimera that I have already started... hopefully. I am however 155 points ahead on my total target so I should be able to buy back any potential jokers pretty quickly.

The whole command squad together:


Commander(right) and his bodyguard(left):


Vox Caster(left) and Master of Ordinance(right):


Lascannon(left) and plasma gunner(right):


Two extra Lascannon teams:


Sentinel:


And with its Missile on(magnetised):

[matt_17]

Undying 14th Cromorian Legion (IG): February 2012 (D6 roll = 3)

MONTHLY TOTAL: 70 POINTS (MONTHLY TARGET: 175 POINTS)
TOTAL TO DATE: 925 POINTS (TARGET TO DATE: 1050 POINTS)
JOKERS PLAYED: 1

BACKGROUND/THEME:
In my first update I mentioned that the Cromorian system had 4 inhabited planets. Here is a brief description of each.

Cromor Primus - Capital Planet
Eq Radius : 6 834 km (107 % Earth)
Mass : 6.4 x 10^24 kg (107 % Earth)
Ave Orbit R : 144 x 10^6 km (95 % Earth)
Population : 19 billion
Cromor Primus is an Earth-like planet. It is warmer, more humid and its smaller inclination result in a larger tropical zone. It is not, however, a jungle planet; rather it has a variety of biozones all of which are habitable and fertile. It is simultaneously the seat of government, greatest food producer and most populous planet in the system. As home to the Cromorian High Command all new recruits are officially inducted into the Legions on Cromor Primus and as home to a branch of the Departmento Munitorum it serves as staging ground for all recruitment into the Imperial Guard and training ground for Storm Troopers and Commisars.

Divistratum - Hive World
Eq Radius : 12 883 km (149 % Earth)
Mass : 3.7 x 10^25 kg (623 % Earth)
Ave Orbit R : 161 x 10^6 km (106 % Earth)
Population : 16.5 billion
The extreme, though stable, inclination or Divistratum's axis combined with its size results in vastly different climatic conditions from North to South. While the planet's South Pole is cold, it is habitable and never reaches a period of perpetual night. By comparison the Northern third of the planet is extremely cold with the top 25% almost permanently forzen over and the North Pole shrouded in perpetual night. The most habitable region is from 20 - 75 degrees South where 95% of the planet's population resides. The crust at the equator is very thin resulting in increased volcanic activity and release of noxious, corrosive gases making large portions of the equatorial region entirely uninhabitable.
At least one of Divistratum's moons - Morpheus, Hypnos and Phobus - is visible at all times. The largest, Hypnos, is home to the Fortress Monastary of the Dreamhunters Space Marine Chapter. The widely varied surface conditions of Divistratum make for excellent training grounds.

Tartarus - Forge World
Eq Radius : 3 972 km (62 % Earth)
Mass : 4.3 x 10^24 kg (72 % Earth)
Ave Orbit R : 65 x 10^6 km (43 % Earth)
Population :8.4 billion
Tartarus is so close to its sun that it is not, in fact, within the habitable band for planets. It is locked in perfect synchronous orbit where its day and year are the same length meaning only one side ever receives direct sunlight. This makes its sunward side unbelievably hot and its outward side murderously cold. The one and only reason Tartarus is inhabited at all is that it is a repository for huge supplies of just about every useful and/or valuable metal known to man. Rivers of molten metal and rock have been redirected from the cracked and scorched sunward side - at the cost of millions of lives - to flow to the planet's dark side where they first heat Hive Cities before plunging into the depths of the planet to the forges.
The Cromorian Legions' 11th Battalions are supplied by Tartarus with short to medium range fighting vehicles, primarily Leman Russ Executioner and Demolishers, Hellhounds and Devil Dogs.
The planet's density is such that the surface gravitational pull is at the upper limit of human prolonged endurance (I could do teh calculation to back this up, I haven't - I may be entirely wrong)

Fastidium - Forge World
Eq Radius : 3 421 km (54 % Earth)
Mass : 6.7 x 10^23 kg (11 % Earth)
Ave Orbit R : 225 x 10^6 km (149 % Earth)
Population : 9.2 billion
Fastidium sits on the outside edge of the habitable band and is a cold and precise place. Here the long range weapons of the Legions' 12th Battalion fighting vehicles are produced. Artillery pieces, hunter-killer, eagle strike and deathstrike class missles and the much favoured battle cannon of the Leman Russ. Much of the equipment required on a large scale (lasguns, flack armour, chimeras) are produced on Tartarus, while more specialised equipment like that used by Storm Troopers or the Dreamhunters is produced on Fastidium.

UNIT(S):
Chimera Transport for plasma vets with Extra Armour

BUILD/CONVERSIONS:
Pretty close to the way it came out the box, with a few bullet holes added. The bullet hole on the turret wasn't originally indended to be there, but I managed to lose the MOR half of the transfer and didn't have a spare. I could recreat the M and O form other letters, but the R was asking too much... so made and bullet hole and let the scorching hide the missing R.

PAINTING/BASING:
The same as every other tank. But repeated to make it look like I spent more time on this post that I really did.

1. The whole thing was sprayed Chaos Black.
2. Camoflage Pattern - First the two darker colours (Calthan Brown & Catachan Green) were painted on, then the joins between them were painted with Iyanden Darksun.
3. All the iron metal sections (including scratches and weathering) were painted with a 50/50 Chaos Black/Boltgun Metal mix. Golden metal trim (aquilas, skulls, etc) was painted with Dwarf Bronze.
4. The white on the back of the turret was achieved via Codex Grey, Fortress Grey and then Skull White twice. The camo net was just Codex Grey and drybrush Fortress Grey.
5. Cromor transfer was applied to the turret, ID number was freehanded onto the side of the hull in Skull White and vehicle name was freehanded onto the back of the turrent in Chaos Black.
6. The whole thing (pretty much) was washed with a heavily watered down Graveyard Earth/Chaos Black mix. Then selected areas were washed again.
7. Golden metal trim was higlighted in Shining Gold.
8. Guns, exhaust vents, smoke launchers and trailer hook were highlighted with Boltgun Metal. Scatches and weathering were gone over with Boltgun Metal. Tracks were drybrushed with Boltgun Metal.
9. A Heavy Graveyard Earth drybrush was used to achieve the dirt effects around the tracks and front of the hull.
10. The scratches and weathering was picked out again with Boltgun metal.
11. Finally the lights were painted. The red guide lights around the turrent are done in Red Gore -> Blood Red -> Blazing Orange -> Skull White Highlights. The searchlight starts with Golden Yellow and ends in Skull White with varying mixes of the two in betweeen.

STILL TO DO:
Finished

HIGHS AND LOWS:
Highs: A fun model to paint and good to get back into painting, albeit rather slowly.
Lows: More phone pics... also, didn't get to the other squad.

NEXT MONTH:
Finish th second vet squad. 40% done now. I will do it!

Just the Chimera








And the Chimera with elements of the plasma vet squad who utilise it.

[matt_17]

Undying 14th Cromorian Legion (IG): March 2012 (D6 roll = 3)

MONTHLY TOTAL: 190 POINTS (MONTHLY TARGET: 175 POINTS)
TOTAL TO DATE: 1115 POINTS (TARGET TO DATE: 1225 POINTS)
JOKERS PLAYED: 1

BACKGROUND/THEME:
"Quiet is good until loud is better."
- Gunnery Sergeant First Class Kale Delton
Last words before radio silence on Anraken IV deep infiltration mission.

Personnel File

Name: Kale Delton
Age: 32
Height: 6'6"
Weight: 124 kg
Rank : Gunnery Sergeant First Class
Assignment: XIV.III.I.IV.I - Third Battalion, Veteran Division. Fourth Squad Leader.
Term of Service: 14 years (Completing voluntary second term of service)
Expertise: Ambush, Demolitions, Heavy Weapons, Infiltration, Sabotage, Stealth

Commendations
1 - WAAAGH!!! S'Kul Ba'shar - Disemboweled 3 Ork Nobs with combat knife.
2 - WAAAGH!!! S'Kul Ba'shar - Saved Captain Silvios from Meganob. Required a precision lasgun shot from 100 metres. Entered right eye, exited behind left ear.
3 - Gentris Campaign - Shot down necron comman barge with Heavy Bolter. Led subsequent charge against Overlord Gentris. Was awarded right to carry Heavy Bolter in all missions at his own discretion.
4 - Cleansing of Emuldar - Used heavy bolter to bring down 8 eldar jetbikes in 12 minutes. Hunted the surviving pilots down and delivered unto them Emperor's Wrath.
5 - Anraken Campaign - Delivered the Emperor's Justice to 2 Chaos Sorcerers.
6 - Anraken Campaign - Led the Deep Infiltration mission on Anraken IV which culminated in the demolition of all six entrance gates to heretic stronghold at Hermacron Keep.

Reports
Total reports: 113
94 - Flippancy on Coms
15 - Brawling
3 - Minor Insubordination
1 - "Scaring the bejesus out of an officer"

UNIT(S):
Veteran Squad: Kale (Gunnery Sergeant Harker), 3x Meltaguns, Vox Caster, Demolitions - 190 pts

BUILD/CONVERSIONS:
Kale has the head from a catachan sentinel pilot and his heavy bolter is from the old space marine scouts.
3 models have metal melta guns modeled into place.
1 model has a backpack from the command squad sprue as a thermal detonator. I think its actually meant to be a medic pack... but, well... kinda does the opposite now.
All the models have the belt option with the knife sheath, canteen and extra las cartridge... except I painted the cartridges red so they can pass as melta bombs.

PAINTING/BASING:
Nothing particularly new here.

STILL TO DO:
Finished

HIGHS AND LOWS:
Highs: Finally found a gaming ground in Port Elizabeth, should be able to get back to playing a bit now.
Lows: The above mentioned gaming group confirmed for me that there are no shops in the city that stock warhammer miniatures... I was planning to do an infantry platoon, but I don't have enough models. Going to have to rearrange my list to something I can make to 1750 pts with mostly what I have.

NEXT MONTH:
Basilisk. It was a given to me fully painted... but not particularly well painted. Going to strip the paint and do it again - even if it was brilliantly painted I'd still want to match it to my colour scheme.

The Vets


Kale Delton


The Meltagunners


Thermal Detonator and Vox Caster Guys



Whole Army shot


Commander Leading Army


Melta Vets in army

[matt_17]

Undying 14th Cromorian Legion (IG): April 2012 (D6 roll = 3)

MONTHLY TOTAL: 155 POINTS (MONTHLY TARGET: 175 POINTS)
TOTAL TO DATE: 1270 POINTS (TARGET TO DATE: 1400 POINTS)
JOKERS PLAYED: 1

BACKGROUND/THEME:
As elements of the Imperial Guard, Cromorian Legions are expected to fight under a variety of conditions in different situations. The effectiveness of the Cromorian System's defences and the Legions' own reputation, however, result in them undertaking far more offensive actions than defensive or garrison duty. The broad stategic outline used by the Cromorian Legions when prosecuting an offensive war is simple and effective for both invasions into new territory and reclamation of Imperium territory (and subsequent punitive action). The three phases of the offensive attack plan are briefly outlined below:

Recon
Detailed reconaissance is vital to the successful planning of any further actions. Cromorian Legion Generals will always attempt to carry out their recon from as far removed a location as possible, preferrably from orbit. In situation where remote recon is impossible, or merely insufficient, highly skilled individuals are despatched on infiltration missions to acquire the necessary information. These missions require the utmost in stealth and secrecy in order to maintain the element of surprise as much as possible -the 14th Legion's Lt James "Patience" Firehawk is legendary for his ability to carry out such recon missions.

Distraction
Once a number of small yet high value targets are identified the Legion will launch their initial assault. These targets include power and supply lines, weapon storage, transport infrastructure and most importantly communications and sensory equipment. These attacks are carried out using the element of surprise and lightning fast assaults and are the province of the Legions veterans and stormtroopers often supported by Valkyrie transports for increased mobility - Master Sergeant First Class Kale Delton has made a name for himself as a specialist in these types of missions. The goal of the attacks is distraction, forcing the enemy to focus on a multitude of small problems and therefore overlook the much larger one in the immediate future.

Annihilation
During the chaos caused by the distraction attacks and utilising the fog of war created by downing the enemy's communications and sensory capability the main forces of a Legion will deploy to the field. Massed entrenched infantry serve as funneling elements and divisions of Leman Russ tanks as herding elements all with the goal of flushing enemy forces into preselected killing fields where Ordinance Fire (mostly from Basilisk and Manticore tanks) deliver the Emperor's Wrath. Should the enemy elect to cower within their fortifications rather than commit to the field; further Ordinance, also deployed during the distraction phase, will be poised and ready to deal with that.

UNIT(S):
Emperor's Subtlety: Basilisk with Camo net - 155 pts

BUILD/CONVERSIONS:
This model was given to me with most of the available add-ons crowding the surface of the model. I removed them, dismantled the vehicle and stripped it. Reassembly requires some green stuff, a new heavy bolter and magnets to hold the Earthshaker barrel in its upright position. The camo net is simply medical gauze stuck in place with super glue gel.

PAINTING/BASING:
The actual plastic surfaces of the model are painted the same as my other vehicles. The camo net is painted with watered down (a little, not too much) codex grey, then washed with heavily watered 50/50 graveyard earth/chaos black and finally drybrushed with codex and fortress greys.

STILL TO DO:
Finished

HIGHS AND LOWS:
Highs: Tank rescue complete.
Lows: The name plate on the back didn't come out quite as well as I'd have liked.

NEXT MONTH:
Grenader vets and Patience (Marbo)

Before:



After:

[matt_17]

The grenader vets and my equivalent of Marbo (James "Patience" Firehawk) are done. A few pics - fluff to follow at a later date, especially for Patience, and more pics with better lighthing.

The Vets



2nd Lt Commander James "Patience" Firehawk - Same rules as Marbo, entirely different character.

[Snoddie]

These guys look great! Some of the pictures are kind of dark but I'm really digging the camo schemes. I don't think I would of thought to paint the clothing grey.

[arget8]

Not only do these guys look good, but they're well fleshed out in terms of background. Extremely important if I may so myself. I like seeing characterful IG armies that are well painted as it really shows the variety that can be achieved even with the standard cadians. That's what I tried to do with my Tanith. My pics are crap, but I've got 126 of those buggers, all plastic cadians and catachans, but with tasteful bare arms, no Rambo shenanigans. Gotta try to get better pics on my plog, but I'd appreciate it if you'd check them out. I'm liking what I'm seeing so far man.

[omgitsduane]

Really great start. I am quite a fan of how much camo work was put into the tanks as well as the number of models getting pumped out at a constant painting standard. Very, very impressed!

[matt_17]

@ Snoddie - Thanks. The camo scheme is - at least partly - based on the terrain in the picture below from my old LGS. I did think of using one of the camo's main colours as teh clothing colour, but then the clothing and armour would have become hard to distinguish from each other - which is kinda the point in a real camo scheme, but for miniatures that doesn't work so well.




@ arget8 - It's nice to see someone appreciating the work put into the army's background. I'll go have a look at your plog when I finish this post.

@omgitsduane - Thanks for the complement. You can't quite see it because if the drop in picture quality from the first guys painted to the last, but I reckon my painting of guardsmen is getting better with practice. Still not quite as good as I'd like it to one day be, though.

[matt_17]

I've assembled the hellhound and have just finished painting the flamer fuel tanks. They've been done first because they'll be a bitch to get to once the pipes and covering that goes over them is in place. Anyway, a pic.

[Laborious]

Impressive work so far. I love your camo scheme, and as good as it looks on the vehicles i think it looks even better on the infantry. Great job!

[Galvatron1701]

Some gorgeous painting here! Love the infantry a lot.

[matt_17]

I spent quite a while trying to decide on the camo scheme, so it's good to hear people like it. Thanks guys. While I did try to choose a system that would work on both infantry and vehicles, the camo was primary planned with the vehicles in mind, so I too am happy with how well the idea works on infantry.

[jaggedjaw]

This all looks really nice(better then what I can make). I also like the fluff you gave in the planets and even some of the units.

[matt_17]

Thanks for the comment, jaggedjaw. It's nice when people appreciate the writing as well as the painting.

Anyway, some pics of the newly completed hellhound. I magnetised all the weapons so it can be a Banewolf or Devildog too, shough the need arise.











Hellhound

Devildog

Banewolf

[matt_17]

And here are some bigger pics of a few of the guys from the Grenade Vet Squad





And some fluff for Patience, my army's version of Marbo (pics of him are a few posts up):

2nd Lt Commander James "Patience" Firehawk possesses and undeniable talent for killing the enemies of the Emperor and proven ability to lead men in battle, though, neither of those is the reason for his success. Firehawk's true genius lies in the art of stealth, the inate ability to simply vanish the moment the eyes drift from him. That ability is coupled with a keen intellect have made him one of, if not the, most successful scout in the Cromorian Legions' history.

Through his tactical accumen Patience is often able to predict the future intentions of the enemy based on the current disposition of their forces and his intelligence reports are always twofold: including both an accurate description of the situation as it is and an account of how he believes events will unfold. In his earlier years commanders would often disregard these predictions as the posturing of an inexperienced youth. They learned the error of their ways very quickly. Whether his suggestions are heeded or not, Patience always seems to arrive at just the right moment with a well placed demolition charge.

Firehawk's abilities and achievements earned him a place in the Third Battalion's veteran division and the rank of Master Sergeant First Class within 18 months of his conscription to the Imperial Guard Proper. On his left shoulder pad Patience doesn't wear any commendation stamps, instead he wears the laurel encircled skull of the Dux Imperialis awarded to him for extreme heroism during the Cromorian repulsion of WAAAGH!!! S'Kul Ba'shar. He managed to hijack an ork gargant (he is yet to explain how) and turn it against the greenskin horde for nine hours before the orks managed to take it back - at which point Patience extricated himself from the machine and detonanted the demolition charge strapped to its reactor core. His actions changed not only the course of that battle but many scholars of war credit what is now known as the Patient Rampage as the turning point in a war the Imperium was losing.

It was only years later during the Cleansing of Emuldar that Patience received his first commision as an officer, the intervening time spent quite contentedly sneaking behind enemy lines and facilitating the victories of the Imperium. Eldar prism tanks descimated the Cromorian command structure within the first twenty minutes of the Battle of Tirren Pass. As a Master Sergeant not directly attached to any of the command squads Patience found himself the highest ranking soldier on the field and - after personally detonating the prism tanks on his way back to the Imperial lines - stepped seamlessly into command of six divisions of the Third and Eigth battalions and three Leman Russ battle tanks. Although two of the tanks and three and a half of the divisions were lost, Patience managed to hold the Eldar until the arrival of the entire Fourth and Tenth battalions supported by 16 battletanks and the Baneblade Tempered Retaliation.

Although Firehawk has commanded a number of successful battles since, his mandate as Lt Commander is primarily to plan, oversee and execute (often personally) the reconnaissance activities of the Third Battalion. He has proven hugely adept in this role and is tipped for promotion of the 14th Legion's General Staff upon the retirement of the current Head of Reconnaissance, Commander Renway, whose age and failing health have begun to hamper his ability to carry out his duties. Only just past his thirtieth birthday and already highly experienced and proven in battle, Patience is the perfect candidate to take over the position.