Tyrant's Legion objective marker and army update

There's not been much hobby activity at all from me over the last month.

I won't bore anyone with the mundanities save to say more pressing concerns have kept me from any hobby time.

However I have spent a little time cobbling together an objective marker for my tyrants legion.

Wine bottle foil, cocktail sticks, greenstuff and a few broken bits and bobs later and I have a rather battle scarred standard of the IV Demi legion.

The Latin reads 'invictus ferociter' roughly translating as 'invincible defiance' 

At the base is an eviscerated Fire Hawks space marine, waiting for my Corpse taker to plunder his Gene seed!

Although rather crude it was a fun little thing to knock up and will look cool as an objective marker for my army to defend or recover... 'The relic' anyone?

I also acquired and painted the final two rogue trader guardsmen necessary to complete my mandatory 20 strong Auxillia unit, this gives me a FOC legal skirmish force at an approximately 750pt level.

The HQ choices consist of a pair of centurions, one with power axe and meltabombs (warlord) the other with a power fist and storm Bolter.

Elites are a five strong squad of Retaliators including melta gunner and power axe, and a corpse taker apothecary with two Servitors.

Taking up a fast attack slot is a single deep striking sentry gun with a multimelta.

Troops are taken care of by the compulsory twenty strong unit of auxilia, up gunned with a pair of heavy stubbers, and a fifteen strong cohort of space marines with missile launcher, heavy bolter, meltagun and combi melta.

I have about 280pts to spend to get the army up to a 1000pt level and I'm thinking of a single tank as a centrepiece, possibly a thunderer or medusa, plus some more 'human' infantry, as the army's a bit space marine heavy to fit with the background at this point in my opinion.

Any ideas?

Thanks for looking....hopefully not so long till my next update!

Badab war - Astral Claws Tyrants Legion Arch Centurion

Although ive already painted a centurion as the HQ choice for my tyrants legion forces, I fancied making a second, more ornate mini to act as my warlord. Regular reader might remember seeing the body for this on one of my WIP posts a while back.



He's a simple kitbash utilising a metal master of the watch body, with a backpack and auspex hand from the plastic devestator kit and a forgeworld mk4 maximus command head. I mounted him on a 40mm base to give him a bit of height and presence over his minions.



Unlike my first centurion, whos a 'get stuck in and split some wigs' kind of guy, I imagine this centurion as an aloof commander, watching from a vantage point and coordinating/directing the auxillia forces and artillery from afar.

Badab war - Astral Claws Tyrants Legion - Space Marine Cohort.

Finally complete is the first troops choice for my tyrants legion. A fifteen strong legion Cohort well armed with a missile launcher, heavy bolter, meltagun and combi melta.
Its a solid, jack of all trades unit that can throw out a fair amount of anti infantry firepower and have a chance against more heavily armoured foes.
Even a small unit of elite close combat troops might think twice before charging the overwatch fire of fifteen marines. The cohort forms the core and provides the backbone for the demi-legion. At 270 points its also a fair chunk of the total force.

Most of the individual models have been seen in my earlier posts so I'll leave it at the group shot above and a couple of snaps of the final five squad members I finished.



First three 'veteran' astral claws who haven't yet reached the point of daubing all their aquilia's crimson in a prelude to becoming red corsairs, the two on the right are a pair of push fit marines (black reach?) I picked up on-sprue for three quid as cheap reinforcements from ebay.



Lastly a pair of more recent 'badab war babies' including the cohort's meltagunner. After I had taken the photo's I had a quick look and realised not only had I forgotten to paint the magazine chamber of his meltagun; I had painted the eye lense blue, rather than the green of all the others. Feeling slightly annoyed at myself I had to go and correct it, so thats why the last photos in crap artificial light ( it hides my very average painting a bit though!)

Anyone who has read my earlier posts about this army being themed on a boarding assault force might be wondering what the brick wall and rubble bases are about.

So ive done a bit of a background u-turn! Now were gonna have a vicious last-ditch city defence force

Buiding a army based on the boarding assault mission means no vehicles, excepting walkers, of which there are none in the Tyrants legion army list (unless you take huron who unlocks an elites slot from the Space Marines codex - ie: a dreadnought)

That meant id end up with just a horde of infantry, and every army needs some sort of larger model or centerpiece.
Imperial armour's background describing the spitefull last stands of the capricious Astral claws amid the ruins of their pocket empire drew alot of parallels with the late period of ww2 in europe and the fall of berlin.

Huron's legion has a philosophy of 'big guns' and faced with the massed land raiders and predators of his loyalist foe, the desperate use of artillery and assault guns as makeshift tank destroyers.
Much in the same way as the germans were forced to rely more and more on assault guns like the stug and direct fire artillery as their panzer divisions were lost to attrition.

Now im thinking ill end up adding a basilisk or maybe a thunderer as a centerpiece for the army. Im still working out a 'final' list, now revised up to an end goal of 1000pts (these things always seem to spiral up!)

Tyrants legion Astral Claws Legion Cohort update, two thirds complete!

I thought I had better put in a quick update as I don't think I'm going to get much painting done in the run up to Christmas. I have thirteen of the fifteen squad assembled. And have run out of bits! I'm not going to buy another tac/combat squad box for two marines so I'll have to see what washes up on eBay I can salvage. Here are the ten astral claws I have painted so far. Apologies for the photo quality, I'm at work during weekday daylight. After reading the advice from readers comments making myself a better setup is definitely on the cards in the new year.First up then. Five veteran Astral claws including the sergeant with combi melta, and battle brother with heavy bolter.

Next five neophytes, including missile launcher.

A few closer shots...

I've been thinking about the twenty auxillia I need to take as a compulsory troops choice. The default option would be to use twenty of my imperial guardsmen. But I'd quite like to do a proper tyrants legion unit. I really don't want to use the plastic cadian or catachans, I've already painted a shedload of these for my imperial guard armies. And also there's a question of scale, stood next to a cadian plastic your average space marine doesn't really look imposing. I've looked at a few options. Including the dystopian legions fsa infantry (again probably too large and quite pricy as metal) another option are the pig iron kolony militia, with are nice miniatures. However, warlord sell a box of 25 multipart plastic Germans in true 28mm for 25 quid. With is a bit of a bargain compared to a box of ten cadians. Having read up on it it seems the general consensus is that the bolt action range is too diminutive to work with 40k, but then I saw this photo on t'web.

Now to my eyes, that doesn't look half bad, the space marine is about a head taller, which seems fine considering he's supposed to be a genetically modified power armoured angel of death. The best bit is... looking at the sprue, the arms are all separate from the weapons, I've got loads of plastic Lasrifles and metal necromunda autoguns/lasguns so I reckon I could give them a 40k flavour. It's just a case of taking the plunge, any comments and suggestions much appreciated!

Astral Claws tyrants legion minor update.

Just a quick update on the slow progress of my astral claws. Following comments I decided to repaint the tabard on my retaliator sergeant in brown.I'm not too sure. I might rip it off and replace it with a blue loincloth

And a couple more members of the legion cohort. I've finished eight including the sarge and two heavy weapons. Only another seven to go!

Badab War, Astral Claws Tyrants Legion Centurion.

Here is my completed tyrants legion Centurion. He's a simple kitbash with a regular body. Company champion shoulderpads, apothecary head and veterans powerfist from the plastic command squad sprue. The stormbolter and backpack decoration are from the commander sprue (I have to say i stole the idea for the backpack decoration from john at 'johns toy soldiers' excellent tyrants legion - i seriously recommend his blog. Theres a link to it in the bloglist on this site).

Overall I'm pretty pleased with how he came out. Especially his posing, I can just see him stalking the corridors of a loyalist starship. I wanted to give him a slightly sinister look and I think the segmented company champion shoulderpads really make him and give him a hunched, malevolent feel

And a rear view, every Centurion worth his salt needs an auspex in a boarding assault. I will try and add a better picture (as i have done with the retaliator squad) when there is some daylight when I'm not at work!

Now I just need to hurry up and finish the legion cohort and I'll actually getting somewhere with this mini project.

Badab war. Astral Claws Tyrants Legion Retaliator Squad.

I have finally finished my first tyrants legion unit, an elite squad of Retaliators. Huron's discipline masters and shock troops. First up the sergeant...

He's a pretty simple kitbash, the head is a maxmini steampunk knight head with the laurels from the small commander sprue, as is the loincloth thingy. the axe shaft and arm are the company standard bearers arm from the command squad sprue, the axe head is an old Chaos space marines bit. The part I'm most pleased with is his combat shield, with its cool feline heads. This is from the plastic warhammer fantasy knightly orders box (knights panther I assume)

Next is the squads weapons specialist with a melta gun. A basic conversion of a tac marine with an empire fantasy shield.

Next is a gnarled old veteran, brother Tanin. He has another maxmini steam knight head, the combat shield from the plastic company champion, and a bionic arm.

Next another really basic conversion of a marine with another empire shield

Lastly a marine with a black Templars chainsword arm (I scraped the iron crosses off) and the combat shield from the plastic assault squad box. This combat shield arm (unlike the company champions) doesn't hold a bolt pistol. So I made sure to put a holster on this model.

I'm really pleased with this squad and looking forward to getting the legion cohort and characters painted, and then thinking about the twenty auxillia that are a old school style 'mandatory' troops choice for a tyrants legion army. I think at some point I'll bite my tongue and pay ten quid for a sheet of forgeworld transfers to finish them off properly, if you've looked at the photos you will understand painting them is beyond my skills!

Badab war... Astral Claws Work in progress.

A quick update on the Astral Claws. Apologies for the rubbish photos... I will try and get some better ones with the finished units.

Here are the Retaliators I have finished. The Sergeant is now undercoated and awaiting paint and I need to sort out another combat shield arm for the final trooper in the 5 man squad. I hope to have the squad finished in the next week to ten days.

And a couple of members of the (to be) fifteen strong Cohort. I want to put a lot less gold and detailing on the bulk of the squad. To represent them being the newly recruited neophytes that pushed the astral claws numbers into the thousands, the sergeant, however is a hoary old veteran, he's almost finished on the paint front, just a couple more details and the base to do. I also have my centurion and corpse taker assembled. But I think I'll put off painting them till I've got a few more regular marines painted.

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.