Badab War. Tyrants Legion test miniature. Astral Claws Retaliator.

Imperial armour 9 is probably my favorite of the series. I really liked the political aspect to the story, with themes of tangled loyalties and a murky sense of right and wrong. A series of skirmishes motivated by pride and political brinkmanship that turned into a full blown civil war with the intervention of the puritanical fire hawks chapter of space marines who already had a grudge against the astral claws that gave their part in the campaign an ignoble ulterior motive.......My current plan is to try and paint several 500-750 point mini forces based on the themes of space combat and boarding assault. (As well as finish my three imperial guard armies, two inquisitors and reunites, Chaos Space Marines and traitor guard allies-I have a butterfly mind when it comes to projects!) Smaller forces will give me a better chance of getting two forces finished from both the loyalist and secessionist sides. First up will be the Tyrants legion. Thoughts for the others are Lamentors for the secessionist (lots of inferno pistols and flamers) and Minotaurs (Terminators and a dreadnaught) and perhaps Raptors (scouts - old space hulk style, and maybe sternguard) for the loyalists.

Here is my test model for the Astral Claws in the Tyrants legion. Retaliators are basically assault squads that have combat shields instead of jump packs, as they specialise in boarding assaults and ship combat. This chap is the squads weapon specialist armed with a melta, all the better for blasting bulkhead doors and the like into slag. This was just a tactical marine straight out the box with the addition of an old warhammer fantasy empire shield (anyone remember the old single pose plastic halibarders?) I wasn't sure if it would look ok but I think a couple of purity seals and some small arms damage 40K's it up quite nicely. the bases are resin from black cat i think, i wanted to do something different than the usual ash wastes but not something like ship decking or gantries so that they would look out of place in a normal tabletop situation. It was my first time using resin bases and I was quite pleased with them.