#calthradia crusade

[gasha40k]

Objective markers are something I haven’t really put much effort into as of yet, but I have a decently long list of cool, thematic objective markers that I’d like to make for my armies. For example, at some point I’m going to make a Khornate objective marker out of an Ork or a Guardsmen that’s been turned into a statue of brass and bone, as a reference to the Tartora incident in described Codex: Chaos Daemons.

Who could he have been? The MK3 armor raises a lot of questions!

Here’s my first finished objective marker for the Thunderbearers. A dead Space Marine is an all-time classic, whether it be for various secondaries or for the Crusade Agenda that requires Apothecary units to recover lost geneseed.

Having experienced a very recent disaster that both totally scattered and nearly eradicated the Chapter, there’s plenty of lost and otherwise damned Thunderbearers out there in the galaxy for the Apothecarion to recover. This marker also brings to light a dilemma that the Chapter has been facing for centuries now: the fact that, as a Chapter, the Thunderbearers are kind of innately unsustainable.

Inconspicuous banger filler image

Being a fleet-based Chapter, each Thunderbearers Company operates almost completely independently from one another, being separate entities containing their own fleet, support systems, and sects of Chapter command. Think like a much more toned down version of the Black Templars organizational structure. There are only ever 10 Companies, in accordance with the Codex Astartes, but due to their heavily decentralized nature, each Company contains a varying number of men at varying points in time, with some having many more Astartes (or many less) than others. Thunderbearers can also transfer between Companies depending on numerous factors, whether it be command convenience, skillset, training, or personality.

This is all well and good, but between the Ferric Delirium spreading en masse amongst Primaris reinforcements, the scattered nature of the Chapter’s command structure, and the scarcity of dedicated recruiting worlds, Chapter casualties are both high, and difficult to track. This means that casualties are scattered all across the galaxy, and geneseed is in high demand, so the Apothecarion certainly has its work cut out for it.

Moving on, the Calthradia Crusade is reaching a fever pitch. While the Inquisitor speeds towards a derelict orbital beacon, escorted by the Cobalt Lancers, the Necrons and T’au make a midnight strike at the Inquisitorial blacksite that holds the moon fragment.

The Vior’la Sept successfully wrests control of the fragment, but it may be too late, as daemons have begun appearing across the planet, and the relic of the moon begins to stir.

It’s been well over a year since my friends and I started this campaign, and with the arrival of 10th Edition right around the corner, it’s almost time for the Calthradia Crusade to come to a close. There’s only two more missions before it’s over. I’ll make sure to document how the narrative ends, but it’s been a long time coming, and I’m very excited to see how it concludes.

Now that we’re talking about 10th, I’m very excited about the new edition. One of the biggest reasons that I’ve not played 40k as much as I’d like to is because a normal 1k game takes around 4 hours, and I work full time. I ain’t got time for that shit dude. If 10th significantly cuts on game time, as GW preaches it will, I get the feeling that I’ll be a lot more active in the hobby.

Regarding Space Marines, I’m very, very pleased with the new changes. The new Army Rule, Oath of Moment, looks incredibly strong and super fitting to how a Space Marine force should be fighting: highly elite targeted spearhead assaults. This’ll be great for Thunderbearers, because I’ll be able to deepstrike Drop Pods full of ballistics right next to marked units. 

Moreover, the new bolt rifle profile means that the Thunderbearers will maintain their breakneck assault speed. Since Assault weapons no longer inflict a -1 to hit penalty on Advancing units, the Rapid Assault Chapter Tactic is completely unnecessary. The Heavy profile similarly no longer inflicts a -1 to hit, which means they’ll be able to quickly get into position and hunker down with a storm of highly bolter fire.

I’d also just accepted that the Devastators and Drop Pods strategy was miserably invalid when they revealed that the Primaris and Firstborn divide is all but dissipating, what with Primaris and Firstborn units being able to share transports. I’m gonna have to buy a couple more Pods, and a lot more Devastators.

In conclusion, the new edition is looking really, really fun. Each army only having 6 stratagems, alongside the game’s core strats, is another huge change that I’m excited for. Remembering stratagems was horribly difficult for me, and cutting them down will make mastering armies much easier. I’m looking forwards to Astartes being broken good for a few months. It’s been a long while since Codex Space Marines have been viable.

#warhammer 40k #miniatures #painting #building #loreposting #calthradia crusade #adeptus astartes #thunderbearers

[gasha40k]

Many things are happening! Much work has been done! The wheels of change are ever turning. Not in a Tzeentch way, though. Let’s start off with my Astartes stuff before we get super chaotic.

Let’s welcome some new buddies to the Thunderbearers. I’ve got around 20 Intercessors now, so I decided that it’d be wise, both competitively and fluff-ily-y, to grab some Infiltrators. I’ve yet to really convert these dudes (plaster them with purity seals) because, frankly, I like a lot of the sculpts as they are. The Phobos Killteam kit is one of the best Astartes kits I’ve had the pleasure of building. I did, however, go a little ham on the Sergeants.

As the Killteam kit comes with 10 models but only one helix gauntlet, I decided to split them into two squads with different specialties. This first guy is unnamed as of now, but Sergeant Beakface here leads the Infiltrator squad that’s equipped with a comms array, as he specializes in reconnaissance and espionage. His look is remarkably similar to that of my kitbashed Phobos Captain because those Thunderbearers more inclined to stealth and precision tend to get cozy with the Chaplaincy through the Priest of the Divine Kill, or the Chapter’s 10th Captain.

The Sergeant of the helix gauntlet squad and the leader of the Calthradia Crusade’s Infiltrator unit, Sergeant Gaius, specializes in ruthless, brutal ambushes and hyper-aggressive stealth assaults. He’s incredibly tight with the Chaplains, considered by many in the Chapter as part of the Chaplaincy’s unofficial military arm.

Gaius’ gamer skirt was maybe my second or third time working with greenstuff, and while it sure ain’t fancy, I managed to produce the exact sort of side-half skirt effect that I wanted. I’m incredibly pleased with this model and I’m excited to get him painted up and on the board.

Speaking of the board, I don’t really have time to do battle reports anymore, but I wanted to chat about a fun game I played recently in the Calthradia Crusade. 500pts of Thunderbearers and 500pts of Cobalt Lancers faced head-to-head against 1000pts of the dreaded Zysian Dynasty.

This was the first time the Thunderbearers of the Calthradia Crusade had faced the Zysians and their Dread Lord. The Cobalt Lancers, however, had been warring with them for weeks over scraps of territory. The Zysian Dynasty is an expansionist dynasty built upon insanity and death, as their leader long ago forsook his court for the Destroyer Cult. The Astartes were definitely not equipped to fight a melee battle, but they bravely strode into battle nonetheless.

The Cobalt Lancers and their heavy armaments held down the backfield, saturating the air with lascannon fire and bolter rounds. The Thunderbearers, lead by the freshly christened Brother-Chaplain Taranis (no longer a Devastator Sergeant), took the front of the field and pushed into the horde of Necrons.

Squad Cambarn lead the spearhead, the squad leader sharing his glory with Sergeant Sachiel of the Cobalt Lancers. The decision to split squad command was forced upon Cambarn by the commanding Lieutenants Sadrian and Vigilus, in an attempt to encourage Cambarn to work better with his team. And work better he did.

Spurred on by the brotherly rivalry, Cambarn and Sachiel cleaved through the Necrons, felling leagues of Skorpekh and a Canoptek Doomstalker before the day was won.

But as they cleared the field, the Zysian Lord made his presence known. Did the warriors survive? Did an epic battle conclude this battlefield rivalry? No, I had to go home so the game ended. Whoops.

I’ve used up the photo limit for Tumblr, so I’ll continue on with progress in the next post. There’s a bit of painting and a lot of Chaos.

#warhammer 40k #miniatures #building #kitbash #sculpting #battle report #loreposting #calthradia crusade #adeptus astartes #necrons #thunderbearers #cobalt lancers #zysian dynasty

[gasha40k]

Been working on some real mechanical Thunderbearers stuff for a while, so let’s look at some new dudes! I’ve been getting really into kitbashing recently.

This is 2nd Captain Görefried Redfale, otherwise known as “the Red Roar.” Brother Görefried is a Primaris Gravis Captain equipped with a Power Sword and maybe the Armour Indomitus relic. Görefried’s company has tendencies towards Gravis armor and heavy melee assaults.

Görefried was a gift from a buddy that I decided to really kitbash, just for the fuck of it, and I think it turned out quite well! The standout feature of the model, to me, is the big ass shoulder pad. I think this looks really cool and vaguely reminiscent of plate armor. It’s also a spectacular surface to plaster purity seals onto.

Moving on, here’s a bit of a Chaplain! I am a huge hipster and didn’t want to run the normal robed Primaris Chaplain, so I decided to grab a Chaplain from the Indomitus box. He’s pretty standard but comfortably custom, so as to fit in with the rest of the army.

Our little squadron of HQ units is getting pretty big! Hopefully only to get bigger. I’m currently working on a custom Reclusiarch model which will double as a Master of the Forge Techmarine, as well as a Chaplain sniper guy and eventually a Chapter Master. But until then, this is where we are!

#warhammer 40k #miniatures #building #kitbash #calthradia crusade #adeptus astartes #thunderbearers

[gasha40k]

I haven’t quite finished my entire Crusade Force yet, but I’ve been chipping away at my painting backlog as of recent. Here’s some new boys, and some old boys given a makeover.

Firstly, I got a bunch of new shit to try out a new basing style. I’m not entirely sure if I like it, but I think it may be due to the Rhinox Hide undercoat, and the fact I’m using brown battleground instead of sand or whatever. It looks better than the old bases, but I’m definitely going to keep experimenting.

Next up, Squad Taranis has long been in need of some finishing touches, so I finished the last unpainted Devastator and based the lot of them. They’re suitably imposing and knightly now.

Next up is our Intercessor squad(s), who’ve finally been fully based. I also did a bit of work on the Sergeants of our Calthradian Crusade!

I finally fixed Arctos’ violently non-golden helmet and did a bit of cleaning on his model. I’ll certainly do more but I’m satisfied with him now, he looks appropriately leaderlike.

And speaking of Intercessor Sergeants...

Here is Sergeant Verios in full color. I really like this model! The Infiltrator helmet is a nice bit of variation. I intend to make another set of Intercessors that look a bit more like standard marines for him to lead, but for now, he’s in charge of our cool kitbashed bolt brothers.

Last but not least, I finally finished our first HQ. This is Force Commander Simon Sadrian, the Primaris Lieutenant in charge of the Calthradian Crusade.

Rumor has it that if the crusade goes well, he’ll be promoted to third Captain. I built his mini explicitly to mix and match elements of both a Lieutenant and a Captain to emulate his temporary in-between position of Force Commander, but also so I don’t have to spend money on another Captain/Lieut and I can just proxy him.

Next up I should have some Eradicators to show off, as well as maybe some Outriders. Maybe some new Intercessors and a plane of some capacity, as well. Stay tuned!

#warhammer 40k #miniatures #painting #kitbash #calthradia crusade #adeptus astartes #thunderbearers

[gasha40k]

Progress is being made, slowly but surely, as per usual! I’ve been getting VERY into kitbashing and converting minis recently, so I’ve got some cool stuff to show off this time around.

This is my old Primaris Apothecary. I bought and built him nearly a year ago, when I was still very new to kitbashing and conversions. He’s unique, which is good. The sword and tilting plate makes him stand out, but it’s a largely uninspired kitbash that doesn’t have a lot to it. The paint job is also… not great, to put it lightly? It wasn’t my first time painting white, but it was my first time painting Corax White, and it obviously didn’t go well. To put it simply, I kind of hate this model, and stopped using it largely because it simply did not really make me happy to look at.

My own fuckening isn’t the only reason I dislike my Primaris Apothecary, though. The stock standard model that GW sells for this unit has so much shit going on that it’s kind of hard to look at to me. There’s fifty thousands fucking baubles on him, and it’s very distracting! It’s a fine enough model, don’t get me wrong, but it’s way too busy for my tastes.

The Firstborn Apothecary, specifically the one depicted in Dawn of War 2, on the other hand, is simple but distinguishable. It’s very pleasant to look at, and not just because I’m a Mark VII enjoyer. There’s a certain level of visual clarity present here that the model really lacks. The paint scheme on the Firstborn model looks better in my opinion, as well, since it fits more cleanly into a uniform army scheme.

Because of all this, and the fact that I’m already reworking the majority of my army, I decided it wouldn’t be a bad idea to did my least favorite model by cannibalizing it and making a new one.

This as of yet unnamed Primaris Apothecary is my take on what that Firstborn Apothecary would look like if he crossed the Rubicon Primaris, and didn’t look like the stock model. This model is a mixture of Intercessor, Assault Intercessor, and Primaris Apothecary. I really like how he looks! Simple but distinguishable, just like the Firstborn model, with a clear visual clarity. This was an incredibly basic kitbash, but one with incredibly satisfying results, and I’m much happier with him than I was with the old one.

That’s not the only kitbash I’ve done recently! Meet Inquisitor Nullhame, the Ordo Malleus Inquisitor currently investigating the Calthradia Crusade. Inquisitor Nullhame is an overly heroic, fanciful fellow with a small but close cohort. This was my first time building a custom model wholly from scratch, subsequently being my real first time using greenstuff. Nullhame isn’t a Psyker, but he’s a charismatic warrior with a keen mind, naturally resistant to the whispers of Chaos. On the tabletop he’s represented by the Ordo Malleus Inquisitor in Terminator Armor datasheet, and he’s equipped with a force stave (more of a glaive), a storm bolter, and psyk-out grenades. Interestingly enough, though, Nullhame doesn’t actually wield a storm bolter.

He leaves that to a little goon in custom human sized power armor. This guy’s entire purpose in life is to follow the Inquisitor around and shoot aliens for him. He doesn’t have wounds or a datasheet and is purely decorative on the tabletop. Obviously, the mini isn’t done, but once I slap a Skitarii Vanguard helmet on that dome, it will be, and Nullhame will be ready to battle even the biggest of daemons.

Beyond this, I’ve been working my way through getting the Thunderbearers battle ready again. It’s going slowly, as a recent move has me lacking both time and table space, but I got a good half of my men primed today, which is pretty exciting.

In the time between now and the last post, I also read the entirety of Horus Rising. Good ass book! I think I like it more than Helsreach (the only other piece of 40k literature that I’ve read), which I thought was absolutely not going to happen. Dan Abnett, however, has an incredibly vivid way of painting scenes. He strikes me as a very detail oriented author, which I appreciate immensely. ADB, however, seems to focus much more on punchy, jargon-based scenes, which is equally captivating and makes for a lot of very intense moments. I’m currently at the beginning of False Gods, and after I finish the trilogy, I’m going to read as many World Eaters books as possible, and there’s no ulterior motives behind that decision.

And on the subject of Horus, I’ve been doing a lot of very chaotic shit recently. Some evil is happening around here. The end of 2022 was suitably Chaotic. I’m biting my tongue for now, but I’ll just say: new year, new army.

#warhammer 40k #miniatures #building #kitbash #calthradia crusade #adeptus astartes #inquisition #thunderbearers #bookposting

[gasha40k]

My last post involving Custodes was around 4 months ago. Since then, a lot of stuff has happened, both on the 40k front and in my personal life.

First and foremost, the ongoing crusade that I’m helming is in full swing. The eastern front grows evermore saturated with xenos scum, and on the west coast, an endless tide of Goffs crashes against Space Marine vanguard forces made up of Thunderbearers and my brother’s Ultramarines Successors, the Cobalt Lancers.

This has been our most active turn by far. While threats to the Imperium cover every inch of this doomed land, the Inquisition has ordered Imperial forces to secure the crashed planetary fragment at all costs— orders that have re-shifted the goal of the Calthradian Crusade for many. The Cobalt Lancers arrived to the planet alongside these Inquisitorial orders, and immediately made to relieve their Thunderbearers brothers.

They were, of course, met by Orks, in what would become the Battle of Deadside Pass. Deadside Pass is the name of a tight, mountainous passageway from the beachhead— the only entrance from the coast to the mainland. The Cobalt Lancers positioned themselves in the pass, waiting to stop any Orks pushing through.

Unfortunately for the Cobalt Lancers, Rex Manticore, the Goffs leader, had only grown from his encounter with the Thunderbearers. The Goffs wiped the Ultramarines, claiming the pass. Now the Thunderbearers make way to strike back against the Orks, and to reclaim the pass.

Meanwhile, the Cobalt Lancers move towards the objective: the fragment.

This is the “thing” from last post: the moon fragment that the Cobalt Lancers are moving towards. I wanted to try and make a cool set piece for this special story mission, and I think it went pretty well. All of this shit is from a nearby craft store and it was mostly just styrofoam and acrylic paint.

She’s gross! I’m very happy with this and I think it was a great learning experience. You can just do fucking anything with cardboard, it’s crazy.

So this is the mission objective. But who will the Cobalt Lancers be fighting for it?

Shadowkeepers. Finally putting paint on these dudes after like, 6 months, and I’m excited to pull them out for this story mission, as well. It should be very fun. My brother doesn’t have any experience fighting Custodes, either, so it’ll be grand to see his reaction when he realizes that he can’t shoot any of them unless he has AP weapons.

The main thing holding me back from finishing these dudes was my unfinished Lockwarden, but I bit the bullet and just finished him. Here he is. While it isn’t quite the hooded weirdo I wanted it to be, the helmet’s brutality does convey “warden,” and the seals help to convey the esoteric nature of the Shadowkeepers. He’s suitably intimidating and cool, and with all my men built and based, I can sit my goofy ass down and finish them. The next step is those bases; green stuff & fancy rollers are a bit out of my pay grade at the moment, so I’ll likely be hitting up the Michael’s and getting clay and whatever texture rollers they have there.

If there’s something I’ve learned, it’s that it takes me forever to finish anything. It’s taken me around 5 months to get these guys done. It took me around 5 months to finish my Intercessors. Maybe I’ve got a magic number thing going on.

#warhammer 40k #miniatures #painting #building #terrain #calthradia crusade #battle report #adeptus astartes #orks #adeptus custodes #cobalt lancers #goffs #shadowkeepers

[gasha40k]

Recovering from knee surgery has been wildly uneventful.

I won’t be back at work for a while, I won’t be back at school for a while, but I will be sitting in one place with no obligations beyond cell regeneration for the coming week-ish, so that’s given me some perfectly allotted time to paint minis. So check it out!

After maybe 5 actual months, my first post featuring these Intercessors being on Dec 28th, I have finally fucking finished painting them. Many of them lack bases and need some cleanup and matte varnish, but all of the lads assembled and nuln’d up.

There’s a noticeably thicker darkness with my newer ones as I’ve sort of been leaning into a dirty proto-grimdark style as of late. Perhaps not intentionally— I ruined the brush I had been using for black lining. But hey, it still looks neat. I quite enjoy the grittiness. Not quite battle scarred and disgusting a la my CSM, but not quite ‘eavy metal perfect, either.

This is Sergeant Arctos, the fledgling Sergeant in command of Squad Arctos for the Sadrian Crusade. He’s a wonderful Astartes, but he’s had a bit of a rough time adjusting to a leadership position due to lack of confidence, despite his promising prospects. As such, he’s been placed in command of an Intercessor squad as a test of his mettle. Just realizing that I forgot to paint his helm gold. Fuuuuckkk.

Arctos wields a power sword that belonged to a felled brother who he was very close with during the Indomitus Crusade. He venerates this sword as a personal relic and uses it as backup in the most dire of situations, so as to immortalize how his brother would always have his back during their battles.

all of our sergeants hangin’ out, all nice and painted

Arctos isn’t nearly as confident as Brother Cambarn, the Bladeguard Sergeant, or as mature as Brother Taranis, the venerable Devastator Sergeant, but him and his men are the future of the Chapter, and he is hungry to prove himself a Thunderbearer worthy of merit.

And speaking of Sergeants…

This is Sergeant Verios, the other Intercessor Sergeant of the 1st Calthradian Crusade. Brother Verios served as an Infiltrator Sergeant during the Indomitus Crusade. His squads racked up an uncouth amount of enemy and specialized in ambushes and assassination. When he was asked about the Crusade, Verios requested he be placed in charge of a standard Intercessor squad. Chapter Command obliged, but the battleline squad he was placed in charge of was almost exclusively made up of unblooded Intercessors. Perhaps they’re hoping that Verios may instill into the fledglings a ruthlessness similar to his own, so as to properly prepare them for the Chapter’s bloody future? Regardless, Verios wears the Infiltrator helmet he wore during the Gale Sicane so as to never forget his warrior origins. Verios also wields a chainsword, which he praised for its efficient, flesh-decimating simplicity.

I’ve split up my ten man Intercessor squad into two five man squads for tactical reasons. Arctos leads one, Verios leads another. They are quite opposite individuals. Where Arctos is deliberate, heroic, often hesitant and even kind, Verios is decisive, efficient, and merciless. Despite their differences they share a good rapport, complimenting each other well on the battlefield and having respect for one another as peers.

Here’s our Crusade in its current form. It feels SO goddamn GOOD to have everything nearly finished. I need to clean things up, base a lot of men, and finish two more minis, including our HQ, and then the 1st Calthradian Crusade is DONEZO. The Thunderbearers are really coming alive and it’s a joy to see, especially considering this is how they started:

Stay tuned for more of the Emperor’s storm. Maybe some more Dreadnought shenanigans soon. Maybe some Eradicators. We cookin’. Ciao.

#warhammer 40k #miniatures #painting #building #loreposting #collection #calthradia crusade #adeptus astartes #thunderbearers

[gasha40k]

I have built many a thing since the last post! As promised, here is the robot.

I’ve taken to calling this spectacularly poorly built boy, “Clarence.” He is large and quiet, but boy, does he pack a punch and swallow an onslaught cannon like it’s breakfast. This is the first Redemptor I’ve ever built, assembled over the course of a week or so with some third party bits. Unfortunately, Clarence is not properly built. His arms are a bit fucked, but I’ve done my best to post it as naturally as I can. He is strange, but he is nice.

For comparison, here’s Clarence next to Big Harold. Not entirely sure Big Harold can maintain his title when he’s a bit of a shrimp next to Clarence.

I initially planned to really ball out with custom bits on this Redemptor. I was going to give him a sword, custom legs, custom shoulder plating, a custom helmet, and more, because the plan was for him to be a sort of “updated” version of Big Harold.

This, however, hardly would’ve been lore-friendly. Chapter-Master Lucius Harold was entombed within a Venerable Dreadnought chassis during the opening of the Cicatrix Maledictum— long before the Gale Sicane, or the Indomitus Crusade. Even after Chapter-Master Sicane’d Torchbearer crusade reached the Thunderbearers flagship with Primaris reinforcements, Harold had been far too injured to survive out of the cockpit, and as such, he hardly would’ve been strong enough to cross something like the Rubicon Primaris.

That, and I would’ve been spending ~$150 on a single fucking model. Nuh uh. Too broke for that shit. Anyways, I also built a Firestrike turret that I’d had in my shame pile since I started the hobby.

It’s a total shame these kinda suck and got completely forgotten by GW, because I really like the model. There’s already so little Astartes artillery that it’s a real bummer that this unit is as mediocre as it is.

I also finished a Techmarine friend. He babysits Harold and Clarence to make sure they don’t get into any shenanigans.

Techmarines are hugely important to the Thunderbearers. Where Chaplains tend to be philosophical and ideological leaders, Techmarines tend to be religious leaders. They’re responsible for administering oils, lighting the candles upon armor and weapons, writing machine blessings onto purity seals and weapon trim, and venerating the Dreadnoughts.

As Thunderbearers view Bolters as the ultimate conduits of justice, being entombed within a Dreadnought is like becoming that conduit of justice. They are divine justice given form, and a stunning example of mental self-domination from the pilots.

Thunderbearers Techmarines are a lot less focused around polytheism and engineering as the Adeptus Mechanicus. They’re the organic speakers for the machine spirits of every piece of weapon and armor, able to channel even the lowliest bolt pistol’s machine spirit into a raging, sentient beast.

Here’s the whole collection so far. I’ll say, it’s definitely taken shape, especially compared to how it used to look. Very excited for whenever I get all of these painted, which likely will not be for a very long time.

This is our little heavy support side, with Clarence and Squad Kellam. The bane of armor.

Here’s our little main section, with Apothecary Celsus and Force Commander Sadrian.

And here’s Squad Cambarn, the Bladeguard, Squad Taranis, the Devastators, and an as of yet unnamed Outriders squad.

On the Crusade front, things were very slow on account of lifestuff, but they’re picking up. My brother’s Ultramarines, the Cobalt Lancers, arrived on the planet as Imperial reinforcements. Choking off the beachhead, they caught an Ork assault in a pass through a plateau overlooking the beach called Deadside Pass. They lost kinda hard, and now the Orks have a way into the Pandaxu Lowlands, the continental mainland. On the right side of the continent, territory is being taken en masse, and things are beginning to get spicy.

Not entirely sure what the next post’ll be but it’ll be something I guess. Sick.

#warhammer 40k #miniatures #painting #building #loreposting #collection #calthradia crusade #adeptus astartes #thunderbearers #big harold

[gasha40k]

Since my last post, the Thunderbearers have made their debut in the Calthradia Crusade, and boy was it one hell of a debut.

Landing on Calthradia from orbit and quickly establishing a Chapel-Barracks as a temporary forward base, the Thunderbearers were barely given time to breathe before an endless tide of Orks stormed the region.

Caught off guard, the marines would quickly take defensive positions around the base in the hopes that they could fend off the horde for long enough that support could arrive from the orbiting battle barge.

Sergeant Arctos and his Intercessor squad took point in front of the main defensive line, which was being lead by Sergeant Taranis and his Devastators. They were accompanied by Force Commander Sadrian, whose powerful lead had them gunning down orks in swathes as the bulk of the orks surged forwards.

Arctos and his men, caught overextended, would be swarmed and their ranks thinned in moments, leaving Arctos and one brother to stand alone against the tide.

Sergeant Cambarn and his men broke from the main force to act as a vanguard for the defense, but they were quickly cut off, totally swarmed, and flanked by the Warboss— a particularly nasty Goff named Rex Manticore.

Cambarn made way to duel the Warboss as his companions battled the tide of greenskins. Rex Manticore would prove Sergeant Cambarn’s match, but just barely, defeating the marine only after being brought nearly to the brink of death.

The last Bladeguard standing would fell nearly all of the boyz he faced singlehandedly, but before long, even his might was overwhelmed with raw numbers.

As the Goffs neared the Chapel-Barracks and Astartes ranks were thinning by the minute, Taranis’ squad cast aside their Bolters and rushed to the Bladeguard’s aid with naught but combat knives and fists, drawing the attention of the xenos and lightening their brothers load. As the Warboss was caught off guard by this bolt disintegration of their back line, Force Commander Sadrian rushed the Ork, tackling him to the ground and smashing his skull apart in the sand. Unfortunately, this left his defenses wide open, and the boyz gunned him down.

Taranis’ Devastators were the last remaining squad of the defense. They fell back, disengaging with the orks and retaking their defensive positions. The entire Goffs horde was making way for them now, and just as Taranis and his marines beared their combat knives…

The sky above Calthradia was torn open, and from the warp came a gargantuan chunk of planet, careening into Calthradia’s surface. As the object collided with the celestial body, the orks were scattered, leaving the Thunderbearers with a secure Chapel-Barracks.

This game was maybe the most fun I’ve ever had playing 40k. It was raw action from turn 1 to 5 and a fantastic debut for both Orks and Astartes. This mission marks the end of Phase 1 of the campaign, and the beginning of Phase 2– our switch to an actual map campaign. Next post will be about that.

#warhammer 40k #battle report #narrative #calthradia crusade #adeptus astartes #orks #thunderbearers #goffs

[gasha40k]

It’s been a very long time since I first started collecting Astartes. I want to say a bit under a year and a half, as I got that starter easy build kit in June or July of 2021. But I’ve hit another big 40k milestone, I think.

I’ve finally collected over 2000pts of Thunderbearers. I think this is the signifying mark of a substantial collection. Despite me having this many dudes, however, it’s mostly infantry and I still don’t have a lot of shit! I only have one tank and I don’t own any troop choices besides Intercessors. I’m excited to see how the collection keeps progressing, as it always does, so let’s talk about some more Astartes.

(Thunderbearers Intercessors circa a month ago or whatever)

Last time I posted my Intercessors, they were submerged in a big disgusting green alien bath. Since then, I’ve taken them out of the tub, dried them off, and given them some new armor and weapons.

(Freshly stripped and rebuilt Intercessors)

I replaced the majority of their arms (and some of their shoulders, too) because they were all equipped with standard auto bolters and not my silly Damantyne-pattern rifles. To most, this inconsistency would be a minor inconvenience at worst, and definitely not worth fixing. To my brain, which is riddled with holes akin to a fine Swiss cheese, this bolter disparity a huge issue and something that I definitely had to remedy so as to maintain equipment uniformity throughout the army. Arm replacement also gave me an opportunity to repose a lot of them, which is something that I felt they were severely in need of, since I didn’t really understand posing when I first built them.

(Nameless Sarge with grenade launcher, the worst gun of all time)

As an aside, this was their first Sergeant. Unnamed, unmarked, and uninteresting. This dude was in the bath with the rest of his squad, but I reworked him quite a bit more than his brothers.

(Nameless Sarge 2.0 and/or older Sergeant Arctos)

Here he is after his refresh. His pose is more dynamic and his armor is bulkier, but he still maintains that sort of knightly aesthetic that his helmet and tilting plate gave him in his first appearance. While he’ll remain unnamed, I like to think that this is what Sergeant Arctos (the fledgling Intercessor Sergeant of the Calthradia Crusade) eventually progresses into as he begins becoming a Bladeguard Veteran.

(After his bath, Arctos has been given a tactical rock to signify his position as Sergeant)

The power sword on Sergeant Arctos’ hip once belonged to his mentor and closest ally during the Indomitus Crusade, an unnamed Bladeguard Veteran. Near the end of the Crusade, Arctos and his brother were cornered by xenos. The Bladeguard was slain, and Arctos picked up his blade, defending his brother’s corpse with it for Throne knows how long until reinforcements reached them. Arctos keeps the blade as a reminder of his dead ally.

As Arctos fights in the Calthradia Crusade, he’s began relying upon the heirloom blade more and more. The Sergeant is realizing his latent talent as a swordsman, leading to more aggressive infantry tactics and a renewed sense of both purpose and confidence. His new model represents a middle point between Intercessor and Bladeguard, which is the transitional period as Arctos will find himself in as the Calthradia Crusade comes to an end.

(Thunderbearers Intercessors in full, give or take one or two dudes)

Between the newly equipped classic Intercessors and the brand new boys I built a while ago, the Thunderbearers infantry division is looking more and more complete. I think I have 5 squads of Intercessors now, or at least 5 Sergeants.

Here’s a couple of my favorite new Intercessors, dudes with cool poses and such.

For this guy, I sanded his backpack down and glued a little combat knife to it. It makes him look adventurous and very combat ready, and I dig it.

This other dude is maybe my favorite of the new Intercessors. His pose is super dynamic, and the knife combined with the reticle over his eye gives him an immaculately lethal appearance.

There’s a couple more Intercessors to show off, as well as some other kitbash projects. I have a bit of a custom Inquisitor I’m working on, but I’m gonna wait to show him off until I get some bases in the mail. I’ve also cycled my remaining unpainted minis into the Trazyn bath, so I’ll have an entire army to prime and paint soon enough. That’ll be, uh, fun, I guess.

#warhammer 40k #miniatures #building #kitbash #loreposting #calthradia crusade #adeptus astartes #thunderbearers

[gasha40k]

I’ve been on a bit of a 40k hiatus recently due to some life events, but I’m getting back into it due to some other life events. Isn’t existence crazy?

The Calthradian Crusade, too, has been on a hiatus, but it, too, is coming back. Imperial forces are pulling out en masse, whether due to Inquisitorial order or mysterious circumstance. To the east, the Sisters of Battle have completely disappeared into the massive Gatheris Hive, gone without a trace. To the northwest, the 204th Regiment has pulled off the planet, abandoning their fortifications on Departmento Munitorum orders. There are rumors, however, that the Cobalt Lancers await Imperial backup.

As an aside, my last post included mention of a particularly strange object of interest, and of the fact that the Cobalt Lancers were marching to recover this object of interest. The Inquisition leveled direct orders to all planetary Imperial forces, commanding that they secure the strange moon fragment.

The Cobalt Lancers sent a recovery team to secure the relic. Upon landing at the site, the Cobalt Lancers were filled with a strange unease. It was far too quiet. Auspex scans relayed no signs of life, and scout parties in the region had no reports of enemy forces— or life, at all, for that matter.

But just as the Cobalt Lancers begin moving to secure the fragment, the sky flashes white.

From thunderous golden light descends a small cohort of the Emperor’s Shadowkeepers— seven Adeptus Custodes, their vox communications nonresponsive and weapons trained upon the Cobalt Lancers. In the brief moments of confusion, the Custodians fire on the Astartes, and it becomes kill or be killed.

Against seven of the Emperor’s best, the Cobalt Lancers nearly broke, weathering the Custodian’s ceaseless march for as long as they could, until Thunderbearers reinforcements arrived.

From here, the battle swiftly turned in favor of the Astartes. The combined might of these brother Chapters seemed too much for even the Adeptus Custodes, and after a long, bloody battle, the fragment was secured.

Currently the relic is in Inquisitorial hands, overseen by an enigmatic Inquisitor Nullhame, and the Imperium is on standby.

After this battle, the Thunderbearers would move on to assault Deadside Pass, in an unsuccessful mission that would see Force Commander Sadrian lose a significant amount of reputation.

In light of the recent Imperial developments and with the loss of both the Adepta Sororitas and the Imperial Guard, Imperial administration begins to allocate more resources to the Calthradian Crusade.

We’ve bumped the Crusade from 30 PL to 50 PL, maintaining our requisition spent on supply limit increases. The Thunderbearers force has increased significantly. I’ll introduce everyone to our new friends soon.

#warhammer 40k #miniatures #narrative #battle report #calthradia crusade #adeptus astartes #adeptus custodes #orks #cobalt lancers #shadowkeepers #goffs

[gasha40k]

As the gargantuan cosmic amalgam crashes into the surface of Calthradia I, the Crusade enters a new phase.

An Ordo Malleus Inquisitor has made contact with the scattered Imperial forces based upon Calthradia I. Identifying himself as “Inquisitor Nullhame,” attached to the transmission was a planetary scan and Inquisitorial orders: secure the object that emerged from the Warp. Alongside these orders, Inquisitor Nullhame alerted the planet of incoming Imperial reinforcements. Now, with a ping on the map signifying the location of the crash site, thus begins Phase 2. But first…

Phase 1 Retrospective

Phase 1 of the campaign was mostly just a test run to see if a crusade was a thing that could work. It also gave us a nice little platform to test 9th Edition’s Crusade rules, as well. We played 3 games:

204th Imperial Gyard vs Vior’la Sept Tau, Tau win

Order of the Bloody Rose Sisters of Battle vs. Nephrekh Dynasty Necrons, Necrons win

Thunderbearers Astartes vs. Goffs Orks, Thunderbearers win

The Imperium is kinda getting stomped, I’m not gonna lie. Proud to say my boys were the only Imperials to take a win during Phase 1.

But I digress. Phase 1 was denoted largely by the miserable map I made for it. Notice how there’s, like, only 4 provinces to attack. We have 8 players. While at first I wanted this map to be our actual playable map, I very quickly realized that there was no way in Hell that that could happen, so I just decided to use it as a general guide for where the missions of Phase 1 were taking place. This is the basis right here.

I had always intended to run our Crusade as a map campaign. Above is my first attempt at a Dark Crusade style province map. I ended up scrapping this one because there are only 16 provinces and it’s kinda fuckin’ ugly.

This is the map we’re currently using. I’m a big fan of the digital aesthetic. The color of the province signifies who owns the territory. There are icons to show landmarks as well— Gatheris Hive in Sector I (a massive, multi-province abandoned Hive city), the ruins of the Sanctuary Imperialis in Sector III (an ancient, multi-province Imperial shrine), and the Pandaxu Manufactorum in Sector 6 (the massive factories that support the surrounding hives).

The glowing red dot is where the planet chunk landed, and it’s the location of the narrative’s primary objective, our story mission. I’m going to need a decent Chaos army for that fight, so I really hope to God that my friends don’t get there very soon, hahah. I’ll likely only grab a couple CSM kits and then make a bunch of Chaos Guardsmen kitbashes, since I’ve been meaning to run renegade guard for a minute and a half now.

Regardless, Phase 2 is runnin’. Turn 1 ends this Friday, and as territories are claimed, it seems like combat is becoming inevitable. You love to see it.

#warhammer 40k #loreposting #ideaposting #calthradia crusade

[gasha40k]

This post will be more of a progress update than an exhibition of anything I’ve finished, so I’ll start with the most interesting stuff.

Here’s the first of hopefully eventually many pieces of Thunderbearers commissions! This piece, depicting a nondescript Thunderbearers Astartes—maybe a Sergeant—locked in combat with a nondescript Goffs Nob, was commissioned from the lovely Picklld, who you can find on Twitter and Reddit. They were an absolute joy to commission. Incredibly patient, incredibly cooperative, and incredibly creative! They absolutely nailed the Thunderbearers look with very minimal input, and the pose, lighting, and detailing are all undoubtably fantastic.

There’s a lot about this piece that I really appreciate even beyond the novelty of my guys being art now. I think Picklld absolutely excels at utilizing extreme values to create dramatic compositions, and they have a deft eye for detail. The battle damage on the Astartes power armor tells the tale of a long-embattled warrior, the inscriptions on his hip, fluttering purity seals, and still-burning backpack candles visually professing his monastic devotion to the Chapter. His bold, aggressive pose professes the signature Thunderbearers battle fury as he dives headfirst into close combat with a Nob, the buzzing killsaw framing the Marine’s figure like the halo of a venerated saint. The Ork, too, looks suitably bestial, his snarling jaw held together by a brutal metal similar to that which his terrifying power klaw is made of. The jaw prosthetic and head stitches imply that this Ork isn’t one to succumb to any injury as menial as a decimated jaw or an exploded head. A skull and tallies on his weapon of choice supports an air of monstrous veterancy, perhaps counting the most worthy of opponents that he’s felled over doubtless years of gory combat.

Rex Manticore faces down Bladeguard Squad Cambarn during the Second Battle of Deadside Pass

As a brief aside, the Ork’s power klaw and killsaw abomination is a little reference to a rivalry that my Lieutenant, Simon Sadrian, formed with the Goffs Warboss, Rex Manticore, during the Calthradia Crusade. Sadrian and Manticore have waged pitched battles at the same location three times now, each one taking place in the mountainous region that acts as the main passageway from the Calthradian beachhead onto the plateau, and subsequently into the mainland. This region is called Deadside Pass, and its rocky cliffs have been forever stained with the blood of Astartes and Ork alike. In each of these battles, Rex and Sadrian met in hand-to-hand combat. While the Ork in the commission isn’t necessarily Rex, he also isn’t necessarily… not.

In conclusion, I’m incredibly satisfied with this art. It’s sick as fuck and I’ll very likely be commissioning the artist again in the future.

Moving from drawing to painting, I finally swung by my local Games Workshop and grabbed my classic 2002 Daemon Prince. This model is a few firsts for me. It’s my first resin model, and man, resin is obnoxious. It’s not horribly dysfunctional, it’s just uncomfortably soft, and a total pain in the ass to clip from the sprue.

This is also the first time I’ve ever attempted to paint in subassemblies. This is a really nice and rare model, so I’d like it to stand out on the tabletop. Since I didn’t have any paper clips, I ended up using, like, matches or incense sticks or some shit to prime the pieces. Sub assemblies are very… strange to me, and I’m not really sure I like doing them. Building a model to completion before priming and painting it kinda scratches my brain better, but I understand why this would be a more efficient way to paint a model, especially a big fancy one.

A layer of Khorne Red washed with Agrax Earthshade, cleaned with another layer of Khorne Red, and then brightened with Mephiston Red, making him the same color as the rest of my World Eaters

Speaking of painting, tackling this thing’s color scheme has been a little bit of a challenge. The GW version of the model has a lot of advanced techniques to it, things that are undoubtedly beyond my skill level, like some really gorgeous blending between the Prince’s skin and the armor. Because that’s far beyond my ability at this point, I’m gonna try and paint it the best I can using the stuff I’ve learned. That means mostly color layering and excessive use of washes. Whoops.

In regards to the actual color scheme, black armor wouldn’t really work for a World Eaters Daemon Prince, so despite my desire to keep my World Eaters as “vanilla” as possible, I’m gonna swap up the colors of the model. I think I’m going to try and emulate the scheme of the new Prince on my Prince. Black skin, red armor, and bronze trim, which is quintessential World Eaters. A new scheme on a classic model, and an homage to the modernized (actually good) Daemon Prince model, since I like the new one but much prefer the old shitty one because it was in Dawn of War.

I’ve got a few more things to talk about, but not many, so next post will be a short one.

#warhammer 40k #miniatures #building #painting #art #adeptus astartes #chaos #thunderbearers #world eaters

[gasha40k]

I lied! This post involves neither Inquisitor nor Crusade. But I have been doing a lot of scrubbing, and our boys are marinating quite nicely in their big disgusting green chemical bath.

Here they are after both a day in Trazyn’s jar and a fuckton or scrubbing. They look really good, and the Simple Green is definitely doing its work. That being said, the goal is to get them back to base plastic grey so I can start from square one, so after their sponge bath I tossed them back into the jar to pickle for another day. We’ll see how easily the primer comes off afterwards; I figure that with less paint to soften and eat through, the primer will come off a lot easier.

I also built a tank! The first piece of real Thunderbearers armor. The Predator Annihilator is a nice little “inexpensive” (as far as Astartes units go) anti-armor unit that can be used as a fast tank hunter, which will release Big Harold from his role as eternal armor sniper.

Moving on, things are getting startlingly Chaos-y. For a while now, I’ve been sort of casually hoarding various disparate Chaos units, mostly to use as generic badguy units in the Calthradia Crusade. However, at this point, I’ve got nearly 25 Bloodletters, and the Daemons codex is looking really fun. That Manifestation rule and army-wide invul saves? Cmahn.

The Traitor Guard are just nice. I’ve been meaning to build a tiny little Traitor Guard force for a while now, but between Chaos reworks and the impending Guard refresh, I’ve been really in the fence about buying Guard shit. The Blooded Killteam, however, is very new, and very nice, so I got it for the culture.

I’ve also been getting into the habit of making unnecessarily complex kitbashed using eBay bits, as is exemplified by Vanion Sullist, which is a single model that has taken me, like, upwards of a month. The Chaos Lord there is just another example of this phenomenon. I’ve got at least like three more of these stupid kitbashed models cooking up so stay tuned.

#warhammer 40k #miniatures #building #adeptus astartes #thunderbearers #chaos #luna reavers #khorne daemons #world eaters

[gasha40k]

In an effort to post to this blog regularly again, here’s a much briefer post about a bit of painting or something like that .

This is Intercessor Sergeant Arctos of the Calthradia Crusade. The first image was his old paint job, and the second is his new, current one. I think it’s better, for the most part.

The seals on his breastplate are better, no doubt, and the white bits are cleaner. I also really appreciate the softer shading on the tabard, but the helmet is definitely a downgrade. While painting him, I fell for a classic blunder and completely forgot that his helmet was supposed to be gold (I think I did this the first time I painted him, too). Because of this, I did, like, a full 3 coats of Skavenblight Dinge, colored in the metal bits, a few layers on the eyes the eyes, and did a full wash before realizing, “oh shit he’s supposed to be a completely different color.” Because of how much paint I’d already put on him, the gold came out pretty thick and didn’t take to the washes super well, which is only mildly infuriating. The model looks… fine, but man, the helmet bugs the shit out of me.

Arctos has been one of my main units since the beginning of the Calthradia Crusade, so he’s naturally got a good bit of lore behind him.

He was a battleline Intercessor of particular talent during the Gale Sicane, which is what the Thunderbearers call their (particularly rough) portion of the Indomitus Crusade. He was reliable, quick to act, and masterful with a bolter. In his squad was an Intercessor with whom he grew particularly close with, a hotshot Astartes who wielded a minor relic blade. This man was Arctos’ mentor and friend, a man who he looked up to and aspired to be like. Unfortunately, during a particularly brutal skirmish during their battle across the stars, Arctos and his squad were cornered and overrun. His brother was laid low before him and Arctos was forced to wield the relic blade in a desperate attempt to fend off their attackers. This attempt would prove successful, and so Arctos would keep the relic blade by his side from then on, vowing to use it to defend himself as a remembrance to his fallen brother.

Sergeant Arctos has been on Calthradia in more recent years. He isn’t the most natural leader and struggles with timidity given greater responsibility, although only as much timidity as any Astartes could reasonably display. As the conflict reaches a fever pitch, he’s started loosening up with his usage of the blade, and he’s growing into his role as a leader of men. With his vengeful heirloom sword, Arctos cleaves a bloody path across the battlefield as his men cover him with raging storms of fire. One would not be remiss to assume, if Chapter-Command were satisfied with the Crusade, that Arctos would pursue the path of the Chapter’s Bladeguard Veterans.

Anyways, moving on. Here’s my first painted Khorne Berzerker. I think he looks really good! He wasn’t too hard to paint, the most difficult bits were the trim. Washing a mini in its entirety before running over it and highlighting with your base color is the move, I think. It looks super clean. I’m still undecided on basing, but I want to do a classic desert dunes meme for my Khorne boys. Blood and sand.

To close, here’s the gnarly effects of Blood For The Blood God technical.

#warhammer 40k #miniatures #painting #adeptus astartes #chaos #thunderbearers #world eaters

[gasha40k]

With the fall of Cadia, the opening of the Great Rift, the currently raging campaign on Calthradia, and the impending arrival of the Arks of Omen, more and more often are the Thunderbearers finding themselves at the end of a proverbial searing Hellblade. Consequently, my blossoming Chaos collection from a few posts ago has been growing at a rapid pace.

A very rapid pace. I’d already been collecting disparate boxes of Bloodletters just as a set of little daemon goons for the Calthradia Crusade, but after realizing that I’d accrued nearly an entire Combat Patrol’s worth of red bodies, I decided to take the plunge and grab a Daemons Patrol. Does my soul now belong to Khorne? Yeah, probably. Is it worth it for 21 attacks with native -3 AP? Yeah, definitely.

This is about 40 Bloodletters, 3 Bloodcrushers, 10 Khornedogs. Leading this roving murder tide of crimson is a vicious Bloodmaster of Khorne, equipped with the Blood-drinker Talisman and sat atop a pile of, frankly, way too many skulls.

The Bloodmaster is a really sick model. I think he’s one of my favorites purely on look, he’s absolutely radical, and both his datasheet and performance on the tabletop makes him more than worth his meager points cost.

This model, as with the rest of my daemons, is noticeably lacking in the unnecessary kitbashing that’s come to define my Space Marines army. This, frankly, is really refreshing. Being able to simply buy and build stock goon models to throw at other players is really satisfyingly simple. Khorne doesn’t really require me to think at all, just to kill, and that’s a fun switch! I figure this’ll be an army that I can add to when I need a break from Astartes and Custodes. It’ll also serve me really well in my narrative campaign, as things are getting very Chaos-y atop Calthradia.

I’d like to note that, while I’m yer to get my hands on the Daemons Codex, the rules contained within are some of my favorite in 40k. The ability to fuck with enemy Leadership and deepstrike from super close based on enemy morale is so fitting and fluffy, it really invokes images of daemons breaking through realspace to fuck shit up. Their aura reduces Leadership, as well, which is really cool and fluffy. It’s like simply being near them is an attack on human sanity, which wavering resolve results in more daemons breaking through using the Manifestation rules. The unmodifiable saves, as well, are super cool, and makes them essentially unaffected by 9th Edition’s terrible AP bloat.

This is a little squad of tertiary cultists I built a while ago. They’re just fun Chaos goons that I figured I’d show off alongside the daemons. I could use them in Killteam, but I much prefer to use them as Traitor Guard for CSM.

Anyways, besides all the evil shit happening, I’m about ready to sit down and paint for the first time in actual fucking months. This Firstborn that I inexplicably have despite not having bought a Firstborn kit in a year will be my first test subject for an updated Thunderbearers color scheme.

#warhammer 40k #miniatures #building #chaos #khorne daemons