The Saturnine 27th, "The Reaping Death"

[Yenluiar]

GomezAddams
Yenuliar - Renegade? Oooooooh snap.

BTB

ah ah! maybe the fault it my bad english but with these huge scarf and logn coats they remember me bandits
http://images-00.delcampe-static.net...54_001.jpg?v=1

[BeatTheBeat]

Whitetip - Thanks! The DKoK models are really a pleasure to work with.

Managed to finish the command squad for 1st platoon, the photos did turn out crap though so had to photoshop them a bit to get contrast and sharpness. Next time I promise to better appease the machine spirit of my pict-capturer!

Saturnine 27th, II Company, Squad 1-X

"Before evening, will your mouth be distorted into a last unfinished yawn? Like open-mouthed cattle, blooming with appetite and lust for life. Have you got a year or an hour left to pollute the earth with your debris? Wonder in fear and silence, or scream at the heavens above; no difference it shall make. Angels descend, graves open; the twenty-seventh legion of Saturn is come."

Traditional message broadcasted by the Saturnine 27th to enemy forces upon arrival in theatre of war

Above can be seen the command squad of the first platoon of second company, by tradition the most veteran platoon in the entire company. As campaigns grind on, this platoon will be continually reinforced by understrength platoons (or even understrength companies in notoriously demanding operations) of higher numerals, until the rare occasion when second company itself is so decimated that it itself will be used to reinforce platoons in the first company. This is thankfully a rare occurrence - the Saturnine regiments tend to win their wars - and has not happened in the living memory of any person currently serving in the regiment, the attached Mechanicus priests (with their vastly extended lifespans) aside, perhaps.

By tradition, the platoon commander will be selected solely on basis of length of service within the platoon, unless the Circle puts in a veto. This seldom happens, but legend has it that this failsafe was put into action after Cold Salvantos, a black-heared brute of an Ogryn, was a company's sole survivor of the Xalos Wars, and therefore was put into command of its first platoon. The legend tells only these names, and not the eventual fate of Cold Salvantos or that unlucky platoon.

The current commander of the platoon is the relatively young yet already famous Thol Janaeres, a dispossessed noble of the Nexus Samarkand asteroids who ended up in the recruitment halls of the Saturnine after a few years of serving as a slave upon the pleasure barques of the Sol merchants, the ship upon which he served blowing up mysteriously, ejecting a single escape pod carrying the twelve year old Thol.

During the last fifteen years, Thol Janaeres has survived where his brothers and sisters in arms have not, and is now in command of the most prestigious platoon in the company. He has suffered scars to last a lifetime already, with half his skull replaced by a metal plate (in a fashion, some jokingly say, akin to the crude surgery of the Ork race) and most of his organs replaced by wires, tubes and metal machines, all courtesy of the Mechanicus. Under his command, the first platoon has reinforced its reputation as the spearhead of the company, always one step ahead of the others whether they wade through tox-swamps on some forgotten backwater world hunting for Hrud, or lining up as an honour guard for some planetary governor in need of protection.

-END-

Cheers,
BTB

[malika]

Sleek ships? Fighting the Eldar huh?

[DeathCat147]

Nice work on the command squad BTB. And i cant wait for the next piece of the story

[Duke Donald]

I came across your log and couldn't stop reading until I reached the last post. Now I'm hooked and can't wait for the next update!

[BeatTheBeat]

malika - Who knows?

DeathCat147 - Thanks! Hopefully it will be pretty soon, as I've ordered my company command squad now...

Duke Donald - That's a compliment indeed! Thanks for spending your time here, hope you enjoy the stuff that's still to come


No pictures today, as I'm still waiting on new FW stuff - the company command squad. I have got myself a small table though, which I'll hopefully find some time to turn into a nicely detailed board to play on. Long term project though...

Cheers,
BTB

[BeatTheBeat]

Reinforcements incoming

Got my command squad in the mail yesterday, and in a mess of sharp edges and fast setting glue I somehow managed to get them all together, and green stuffed the scarves just now. Now awaiting basing and painting:



As a bonus, since I already have a captain finished, I was left with an unused DKoK captain to hack apart. Imperial Navy officer ahoy! Really itching to paint this model:



On a side note, I'm sorry to say that I'll not continue with the narrative fluff. It's just too limiting in terms of what I can add to the army, and what I include in the army also limits the fluff. I'll go back to my Alpha Legion style fluff, with in universe information on the different units as I go.

This means that I'll go back and remove all fluff from the earlier entries, replacing it with new fluff. On the minus side, it will soon be gone. On the plus side, there will soon be new fluff all over the log!

Pretty hard decision to make actually, as I really liked writing the narrative, and I know a lot of you enjoyed it as well. I'm glad you all took the time to read it though!

Cheers,
BTB

[BeatTheBeat]

(double post)

[Russian Roulette]

Looking great man! The krieg lasguns look so fantastic on these models, something about removing the krieg faceless masks and replacing them with heads just brings the models to life.

[constant_ones]

I agree, giving the guardsmen a little humanity really makes the models work. Also love the slightly Blanche like feeling of these guys

[Petay1985]

Beautiful work on the officer of the fleet, where did you source the head from?

[MichaelJames]

Knights of the white wolf upgrade sprue I think.

I take it he'll get a furry hat or somesuch? Also, how large (pointswise) are you planning to go with this?


Keep up the good work, it's always nice to see people add to the 40k background without over-egging the pudding, if you catch my drift..

Edit: even if you are about to cut it all =p

[Chem-Dog]

More akin to this then?

Not really, no. I don't have a problem with them in the setting, I'm just not a fan of the paunchy thug look we keep getting in the miniatures. I want something that looks like it grew up on and can survive in a hostile environment, not something that lives within arm's reach of a fridge.

That's a pretty big hole in his foot there, you filling it in, or going to leave it as a very recent injury?

On a side note, I'm sorry to say that I'll not continue with the narrative fluff. It's just too limiting in terms of what I can add to the army, and what I include in the army also limits the fluff. I'll go back to my Alpha Legion style fluff, with in universe information on the different units as I go.

*Sad bunny*

On the plus side, there will soon be new fluff all over the log!

*Happy bunny*

Knights of the white wolf upgrade sprue I think.

Pretty certain it's a standard Empire Knight head, I have a few myself and I've never bought any upgrade sprues.

[Red Scorpion]

Love this army - I really want to see that Ogryn finished! Either that, or make a version of him myself

Chem-Dog - the head is definitely from the Middenheim/White Wolf sprue.

[Rhaivaen]

It looks to bloated on that body.

[MichaelJames]

Pretty certain it's a standard Empire Knight head, I have a few myself and I've never bought any upgrade sprues.

They come in the box, if I remember correctly. But the head isn't on the actual knight sprue. Saying that, may have changed - haven't bought empire in years.

[GomezAddams]

Actually... Its the Middenheimer sprue, which was released with Mordheim but later got incorporated into the plastic knights set to make knights of the white wolf. So there

I quite like the head on the captain - if hes a navy officer hes probably had the easy life so should look a little podgy

[BeatTheBeat]

Russian Roulette - Thanks mate, happy to have you onboard!

constant_ones - Seems that a lot of people think "Blanche", must mean I'm doing something right! To me his art is what originally defined the 40k feel.

Petay1985 - Thanks, I got the head from the kind MichaelJames, who mailed me a bag of heads :shady:

MichaelJames - I actually think he'll stay the way he is, with the exception of filling in the hole in the foot and removing the flash on the head. I don't really know how big the army will become, but at the very, very least I will get it to 1000 pts, hopefully 1500 pts, and I might even manage to get it a lot bigger than that if I just manage to keep myself motivated.

Chem-Dog - Yep, will fill the hole in the feet!

Red Scorpion - Thanks! I'm growing to the idea of making a full squad of them, so hopefully you'll get more than you bargained for

Rhaivaen - That's what she said.

GomezAddams - Actually it's not big at all, it just looks that way due to the angle of the photo and the model being so close to the camera. I'll try to get a pic later, but if anything, he looks a bit lean (though this might be due to the lack of scarf).


Today I bring you proof of progress! Worked some more on the command squad, and they now are at an early painting WIP stage:



Also changed the entry for squad 1-1 on page one of the log, go look there to see in what way the fluff entries will change. Over the course of the next few days I hope to work through all the fluff entries in the log (oh, and finish the command squad...), so keep your eyes open!

Cheers,
BTB

[Petay1985]

nice progress fella, the standard is partcularly striking, the scythe top is a nice addition. The fluff reads nicely too fella, looking forward to seeing and reading more.

[BeatTheBeat]

Thanks Petay, happy to hear that it works!

Finally finished the Command Squad. Progress is slow now what with working six days a week and trying to get in shape at the local gym after that; leaves little time and less energy for painting. Soon I'm back to university life again though, and then I can hopefully pick up the pace again.

Less talk more pics:

Saturnine 27th, II Company, Squad X-X

"Death stands behind you, I can see the crown of his head gleam in the sun. Mercy is not ours to give."
Captain Kournunost replying to offer to surrender by the heretical Arch-Overlord of Klamava

Like almost every company commander in the Imperial Guard, Captain Kournunost is accompanied to battle by a four-man squad of specialist troopers. In the case of Kournunost, she is accompanied by a bearer of the company standard, a master-vox carrier, a plasma gun weapons specialist, and a field medic. Of all of these, only the company standard bearer is a position of rank in the 27th, while the other positions are given to veteran specialists by virtue of Circle favour, regardless of rank.

Of note is the standard of II Company, typical of the 27th in its choice of motive. Depicted is the Grim Reaper, an ancient symbol of death, standing over the corpse of a black bird. In the Emperor's Tarot, the raven is symbolic of a turncoat or traitor, and it is probably in this capacity that the symbol should be understood on the banner - the Grim Reaper obviously interpreted as the Saturnine regiment itself. Behind the Grim Reaper is depicted a black moon - a symbol with many meanings, but often interpreted as forbidden knowledge, a reference to dreamworlds, or a bad omen. It is unknown what the tree represents, though as trees are often interpreted as symbols of life, and this particular tree seems dead or at least snowed over, perhaps as a reinforcement of the main symbol of the image - the Grim Reaper.

As an honour guard to the company commander, every member of the honour squad has to be a guardsman of great skill and discipline, with the whole battle sometimes depending on the actions of these select few. Of most renown in the current retinue is the standard bearer - Vanak Thavost - relieved of command due to "excessive offensive zeal" during the Kabdalis Scouring, who still serves the company outside of command capacity but in a manner well befitting his glorious combat record. That he should go to battle along with guardsmen such as Kar Kqer, the weapons specialist, who has not even participated in a campaign yet has already gained regiment-wide renown for his exceptional ferocity and skill, is an organizational quirk typical of the 27th.

-END-

Cheers,
BTB

edit: Ooooh, and this actually means that I have a fully playable 700 pts army. Army photo incoming