Force Recon - 308th Void Assault Infiltrators

The World Eater Recon Marines were one of the new units completed in time for the No Retreat: Horus Heresy tournament event in Gibraltar. The infiltrating Line Troops ticked many boxes that were previously missed in my game plan and a Recon squad proved to be a great addition to the roster! These were built with the army thematics, Legion culture and modelling opportunites in mind, so the popular Nemesis Bolters were left at the barracks. These are run (in the World Eater way) as a ten-man unit with chainaxes, a shotgun and a power fist sergeant.

Recon Squad for the 308th Void Assault

Veteran Sergeant Kolos's Recon Squad has a very specific boarding task - escorting an Astartes trooper infected with a lethal Machine Virus to be detonated at the heart of an enemy vessel, corrupting its Machine Spirit and paralyzing several defensive functions as a result. Carrying the fatal virus is a twisted gesture of reverence bestowed on the waning veterans of the brigade. Both the sergeant and the infected trooper were built a bit hunched over, I imagined the weight of the virus bringing the shambling patient down during the boarding mission.

The plastic power armour parts were combined with Necromunda Corpse Grinder Cult legs for the light infantry feel. The legs in the kit only come in a couple of poses with most of them being a complete standstill - not ideal for a mobile and dynamic scout unit. I ended up cutting some for reassembly and was surprised how straightforward it was in the end - the pants are quite easy to sculpt back on to make up new folds and cover any gaps. The point for me was to introduce more momentum and to have the warriors interact with their scenic surroundings.

Hazard stripes everywhere is a bit of an old inside joke within the crew, but the yellow brings in a neat contrast fitting to the palette and I quite like painting them. What I tried to avoid was to have them in completely same style and hues on both weapons and basing - they wouldn't be painted in the same factory after all!

The Red Butchers

The Red Butchers, the mad World Eater Cataphractii Elites are perhaps my favourite unit in the army list, ever reliable and always a proper battlefield terror element! I have had the official Forge World models painted up but felt for a long time I wasn't quite happy with the cast or the paintjob - with the spring's No Retreat preparations underway it was finally time for an upgrade.

With the conversions I wanted to emphasize the weight of the armour mark as well as some of the late war cultural vibes creeping into the heraldry of the plate. The idea of "facelessness" as a part of the concept of implacable murderers felt scary and the shiny black domes behind protective grills suited the Void Assault theme as well. I decided to build a few models without gloves, somehow makes the overall feel even more brutal (coming to kill you with their bare hands)!

I thought about making the squad's armour completely blood-soaked going all out with splatter, but finally settled on the basic battlefield chipping and grime. This is the Red Butchers right before they bite deep into the enemy formation, still a bit disoriented from their teleportation, combat drugs flowing and the Nails screaming in their cranium.

When I had a couple of the mandatory wysiwyg twin axes modelled, I had the chance to add some variety with differing wargear conversions - usually this is filed under the "rule of cool" as long as there's no danger of confusing your opponent. It's also more interesting to your own hobby not having to produce copies of the exactly same model just in different poses. Random gear fits the late war Heresy feel, and is a cool way to personalize squad members. Each of the regular Butchers has two shoulder pad markings - the Legion symbol and a personal icon (a chain, an axe, a buzzsaw blade or a set of spikes).

I often try to have some elevated bases within the squad for added "display dynamics", the assembled unit is more fluent to view and photograph when the models in front don't block the view to the back ranks. The essential conversion parts are from the Necromunda Corpse Grinder Cult, random selection of 40K Terminator arms, 3D-printed legs and green stuff sculpted details.

The Terminator Ogryn serves as a stand-in replacement for one the Red Butchers. This kind of "unit fillers" are often super fun to put together as creative one-offs and are a great way to develop the narrative of the unit or an entire force. In the later stages of the Horus Heresy the World Eaters would have turned to abhuman population for new recruits, mustering fierce fighters from many of their conquered cultures. This Ogryn had served as a towering training contestant for Legion's Rampagers and later earned the honour of receiving the Butcher's Nails implantation. Now he serves as an Inductii of the 308th Void Assault, attached to the Red Butchers division.

The conversion is a kitbash of many GW products, with Necromunda Servitor Ogryn, Contemptor Dreadnought torso armour and Blackstone Fortress Ogryn head as the core essentials. I liked how the armour made him appear a bit like a regular Cataphract and sits in the squad quite well, with exposed parts and mechanical bits giving that improvised and battlefield-repaired flavour.

The conversion was surprisingly straightforward with the Contemptor parts locking on the Ogryn frame almost without any actual fitting. Some tinkering was done with the mechanical features, cultural detailing and the slightly larger shoulder pads to match the unit's Cataphractii silhouette. This is where I really appreciate 3D printing being able to play with the scale of things a bit.

I'd imagine him being a rather tragic character swallowed by the madness of the galactic civil war, with the World Eaters providing a sense of purpose to the poor creature's violent existence.

Additional photography angles and musings in our Instagram feed!

March for the Eternity Gate

A couple of weeks ago we marched to Kuopio, where the local gaming crew KuoFi had organized a narrative Horus Heresy event centered on the drama arc of the Eternity Gate during the Siege of Terra. Before the journey I had been hard at work pushing the World Eater roster to 3000 points, adding another Assault Squad and (a bit reluctantly to fill the points...) a Contemptor Dreadnought to the existing army. Unfortunately my painting time just ran out before I got to convert the Lascannon sponsons on my Javelins, but these will for sure feature in the next army list iteration. When we reached the event venue the World Eaters got to perform violent drop operations against two robust Imperial Fist armies and the knightly Dark Angels in the asymmetric scenarios during the weekend, recording to wins and a narrow defeat. Good times and the siege for the Imperial Palace has now begun! 

Player: Teemu Valve

Army: XII World Eaters 308th Void Assault Brigade

Rite of War: Berzerker Assault

Allegiance: Traitoris Perdita

HQ1: Khârn the Bloody, Gorechild, Warlord [210]

HQ2: Legion Warmonger, Berzerker, Twin Lightning Claws, Meltabombs [150]

HQ3: Legion Master of Signals, Chainaxe [95]

ELITE1: The Red Butchers, Add Terminator, Chainfist, Twin Lightning Claws [315]

ELITE2: Contemptor-Cortus Dreadnought, Power Fist, Conversion Beam Cannon [195]

ELITE3: The Red Hand Destroyers, Add 2 Destroyers, Jump Packs, Artificer Armour, Lightning Claw, Thunder Hammer, Chainaxes [225]

TROOP1: Despoilers, Chainaxes, Power Axe, Artificer Armour, Power Fist [130]

TROOP2: Despoilers, Chainaxes, Power Axe, Artificer Armour, Power Fist [130]

TROOP3: Assault Squad, Chainaxes, Power Axe, Power Sword, Artificer Armour, Power Fist [180]

TROOP4: Assault Squad, Chainaxes, Power Axe, Power Sword, Artificer Armour, Power Fist [180]

TROOP5: Recon Squad, Chainaxes [85]

FAST1: Javelin Attack Speeder, Chainaxe, Multi-melta [100]

FAST2: Javelin Attack Speeder, Chainaxe, Multi-melta, Hunter-Killer Missile [105]

FAST3: 2 Proteus Speeders, Multi-Meltas, Grav-Guns, Hunter-Killer Missiles, Chainaxes [200]

HEAVY1: Legion Caestus Assault Ram "Commodus" [350]

HEAVY2: Legion Caestus Assault Ram "Coliseus" [350]

The narrative missions really put the pressure on the brave Loyalists defending the Eternity Gate and Traitors took the upper hand in many occasions. My first game against the Imperial Fists was especially memorable and we had a proper nail-biter in a scenario where renewing waves of Traitors tried to take over the defenders' deployment area. The battle culminated in the final rolls where the World Eaters would have earned a round victory for the Traitor side if the last two Imperial Fist Tactical Marines would have either died to three missile launcher shots or failed their Leadership 7 Morale Check. This time luck was on the Terrans' side and the brilliant game ended in a draw!

All in all the event was well organized and the amazing spirit of the Finnish Horus Heresy scene was ever present - the "hobby first" attitude in army painting and the relaxed, casual army lists made sure all participants had a great time. Thanks to all participants and the hardworking KuoFi crew for a quality wargaming experience. The World Eaters will return!

Contemptor-Cortus "Crossbones", enslaved by the 308th Void Assault. I combined a classic Chaos Space Marine sarcophagus with the modern Contemptor kit for a ramshackle, field-repaired look. A couple of unfortunate Assault Marines have also lost their chainswords trying to bring the Dreadnought down.

I wanted the mechanics of the Contemptor appear unconventional and like the construct was put together in haste, with all kinds of wiring and inner workings exposed on the backside. The Conversion Beamer felt like a proper space warfare gun and not as optimized choice as some of the other Contemptor loadouts.

The Assault Squad was built with a dual purpose in mind, our thinking was that they could also be used as World Eater Rampagers in the future. The sergeant is probably my favourite model in the unit.

We kitbashed the modern Khorne Berzerkers with Necromunda Corpse Grinder Cult armament to create Caedere Weapon specialists with a bit of a gladiator feel.

The Berzerker kits combined with angled basing elements made for quite dynamic poses. The excess chaos trim was scraped off from the armour surfaces before the primer went down.

The entire unit had to be painted in one sitting to meet the tournament deadline, so I relied on our usual army painting techniques powered by airbrush basecoats, strong contrast colours and oil washes.

These warriors can't wait for the next deployment, and neither can I! Luckily the traditional War Head Civil War looms in the horizon.

Unearth the Betrayal

It was once again our collective hobby inspiration that sparked the idea for our latest gaming day - Ollie had created the insane Night Lords Apothecary some time ago and we knew the model deserved a proper story arch. Unfortunately the Chief Medicae Consul is quite a rare unit choice and Ollie's scratchbuild is a bit too epic to be run as a regular Apothecary - sadly he hadn't seen any gameplay. Therefore we wrote him a secret narrative of his own, incorporating the villain into Thracian Insurgency as a non-player character.

Since the early days of our gaming table build we'd been toying with the idea of creating some underground features for the terrain. These ambitions were boosted as the final construction took shape and we decided to use Ikea Kallax grid shelves as the legs for the table. These have been holding some of our studio armies and literature, but the shelves would also be perfect for some terrain integration - this way the underground terrain pieces would actually be stored underneath the streets and could be used in gameplay as a separate, modular scenery setup.

Our idea was to write a classic "mad scientist" story for the Night Lords Chief Medicae (now called Dr. Norman Bramm) and have this renegade character lead a clandestine operation from his makeshift underground laboratory. His hideous creations (inspired by both Horus Heresy Raven Guard tragedies as well as Fabius Bile's Enhanced Warriors project) would be too imposing for the Loyalist alliance to ignore and this would result in a subterranean manhunt. At first we discussed with Scott that it would be cool to build a simple dungeon corridor to surprise the other players with, but as per usual, we couldn't stop there...

Check out the entire subterranean terrain build and story arch via War Head Instagram or Facebook Gallery below!

+++ Thracia Rex Underground: Unearth the Betrayal +++

The Jurassic Dark

We created a few "horror-inspired" Age of Sigmar armies for our Halloween Battle this fall - these Lizardmen are a wily bunch of witches and grave-robbers that have chosen to take root in the Realm of Shadows and have tread a bit too far from the light of the their star-masters. This would have led to a cultural and physical decay in their mighty cohorts, with the loyalty to the Old Ones slowly changing to cult behavior and primitive paganism. One of the most interesting elements in AoS for me is how the different realms offer thematic conversion ideas and possibilities to interpret the usual faction visuals and culture in a different, imaginative way.

Small projects like these are awesome for testing out new mediums, methods and techniques - it's always healthy to challenge oneself and to try pushing both the vision and end product a bit further. Some of the cornerstones here were the Vallejo Malefic Skin Paint Set, AK Interactive scenic accessories and Green Stuff World tools such as the Chainmail Texture Plate, most of which are available via our webstore. Our instagram.com/gowarhead also contains many pics and musings about the idea and execution behind the new force.

+ Jurassic Dark Army Gallery @ War Head Facebook +

Deus Imperator Vult

Corrin Craterus, the Pariah-Colonel of the Steel Legion and the Archon of Hamartia province, serves at the front lines of Armageddon's ground operations as the commander of his regiment "Hounds of Hamartia". Craterus's missions are grim and almost suicidal, as he serves at the helm of the infamous planet's most desperate undertakings. Many of these are drop operations, which are known to kill half of the company's strength upon planetfall. However, all the commander asks for is a chance to serve the Imperium and his late master Solar Macharius, who hopefully watches over his old pupil from the side of the God-Emperor.

The Hounds of Hamartia Imperial Guard was one of the armies built for War Head's Civil War tournament in 2016. Based on the Steel Legion classics, the compact force is a zealous cohort of the Armageddon ground troops, hell-bent on serving their commander with a tragic past.

I've had several takes on the Steel Legion subject over the years, with more or less the same set of models being repainted in different schemes. I used to adore my cousin's fairly traditional Steel Legion collection, but for some reason decided to do my first squads in winter fatigues. The camo pattern of thick white and ice blue was pretty hideous on the tanks in particular!

The next version for the army was with basic desert colours, using the breakthrough dipping technique that popped up in early fourth edition. This was again later removed to make way for grey coats, as the models did a tour as PDF allies for my Carcharodons. However I really did not see painting an entire playable army in that scheme and decided to go back to the basics, retaining the skull masks I felt were pretty striking.

The aim of the army has been to explore the darker side of 40K and to try including some of those weird details of our favourite artwork in the miniatures. The love for the third edition imagery and the black-and-white illustrations never dies!

Each of the units and characters have been described further (including some of the thought process behind the builds) on our Instagram account.

+++ Hounds of Hamartia Army Gallery +++

Concepting Night Lords

As we begin another amazing hobby year, Ollie has already started to work on a new Horus Heresy Legion! This time the terrifying Night Lords take the center stage with a couple of concepts for different 30K Astartes unit types. I'm sure we'll see a lot of Horus Heresy in our blog this year, so keep your eyes peeled!

Ollin Night Lord -legioona on alkanut kasautumaan moderneista Chaos Space Marines -osista, joiden pääkallokoristeet, haarniskatrimmit ja piikit istuvat juuri sopivasti nostromolaisten estetiikkaan. Assault Marine -kersantti on asennuttanut bolt-aseensa Power Fistin yhteyteen, jotta toinen käsi jää vapaasti vihollisraatojen riepottelua varten.

Figut kasataan tilapäisesti metalliprikoille ja siirretään erikseen maalatuille alustoille viimeistelyvaiheessa.

Virallisen mallisia Jump Packeja on heikosti saatavilla, joten olemme tehneet Blue Stuff -muoteilla ja greenstuff + milliputty - seoksella omia valuja Mark IV -tyylisistä hyppyrepuista.

Myös Destroyer-ryhmän raskasasespesialisti on saanut green stuff -repun. Chaos Space Marines -osiin on yhdistelty myös "virallisia" Horus Heresy -panssariosia autenttisen ulkoasun saavuttamiseksi.

Vähäeleiset mutta tehokkaat kitbash-asennonmuutokset ovat Ollin erikoisalaa ja pienet yksityiskohdat, kuten ranteiden kääntö realistisempiin kulmiin tekevät usein paljon figuun kuin figuun.

Night Raptoreille on tehty Nighthaunt-aaveiden naamioista kammottavat death maskit ja samoista sprueista löytyivät myös tyylikkäät miekat. Erottuvan kulttuurintunnun luominen legioonalaisiin on mun mielestä yksi Horus Heresy -projektien mielenkiintoisimmista osa-alueista.

Raptor-kitti konversion pohjana tuo rynnäkköjoukkoihin tyylikästä dynamiikkaa.

Myös Terminatoreita on scratchbuildattu useista eri osista - aseiksi valiojoukoille on valittu tuhoisat Lightning Clawit.

Night Lordien silmukkahaarniskojen tekoon on käytetty Green Stuff Worldin mainioita tekstuurilevyjä, joita meilläkin on myynnissä Pasilassa.

Kun konseptifigut ovat valmistuneet, aletaan pian varmaankin nähdä maalausedistystä! Tsemppiä projektiin!

The Voidsmen Element

The most thrilling part of Turku Fanatic preparations this year was finishing my Voidsmen Militia. My reserve-based army list called for some fearless ground troops, who would not shy away from adventures and close-proximity raids. The motley group counts as a Mechanicum Adsecularis Covenant, but depicts a section of space adventurers, thrall-servitors and techno-barbarians operating as a rearguard (and occasional breacher crew) under the World Eaters' leadership. When their masters go to work, it's usually better to give the XII Legion some space - what a great chance for some opportunistic treasure hunting in the empty corridors of the besieged starship...

Pari viikkoa sitten järkätyn Turku Fanaticin Horus Heresy -pelit pelattiin 2500:n pisteen armeijoilla, joten mun noin pariin tonniin yltänyttä Armies on Parade -kokoelmaa tuli vahvistaa hiukan turnauskomennusta varten. Reservipohjaisen listan tukipilareiksi kasattiin Adsecularis Covenantin ja Magoksen säännöillä toimivaa Voidsmen-jalkaväkeä, Damocles Command Rhino, Moritat sekä tietysti riehakkaita Rampagereita! Yksiköt jatkoivat myös armeijan avaruussotateemaa ja Rhinosta konvertoitiinkin hengenmukaisesti grav-mallinen.

Servitor-figuista kitbashatut Voidsmen-seikkailijat ovat ehdottomasti mun uudet suosikkifigut - näissä on hyvää 40K-synkeyttä ja kasariscififiilistä! Sekalaisen ryhmän perusajatuksena on siis asteroidimainareista ja avaruusalusten konehuoneiden työväestä muodostunut seikkailijajoukko, joka nyt tukee World Eatereita valtaustehtävissä ja ryövää sitten holvit hiljentyneiden käytävien varrelta...

Karaistuneet avaruuslaivanvaltaajat valmiina seuraavalle tehtävälle.

Mukana on myös puolisotilaallisiin avaruuspukuihin pukeutuneita tutkimusmatkailijoita. Space Hulkien syövereissä saattaa joskus tarvita lisävaloa ja haulikkoa...

Veteraaniliiton miehillä on jo merkkarityyliin monia bionisia irtoraajoja muistuttamassa täpärästi suoritetuista keikoista. Kiiltävänmustat kupolikypärät on vuoltu tasaisiksi Skitarii-päistä, kroppina taas on käytetty mainioita Genestealer Cult Neophyte Hybrids -osia.

Miehistöön on liittynyt myös pari geenimuunneltua teknobarbaaria, jotka ovat omaksuneet nucerialaista kulttuuria World Eaterien gladiattorirituaaleista. Yksi lähitaisteluspesialisteista suojelee vakituisesti Voidsmenien ikivanhaa kirstunvartijaa, joka osallistuu edelleen itsepäisesti tehtäviin.

Lisää brutaaleja kolosseja raskain asein.

Retkikunnan johtajana toimii kenties marsilaista alkuperää oleva teknopappi. Voidsmen-ryhmä toimi turnauksessa kaiken kaikkiaan hyvin ja sillä on paljon erilaisia käyttötarkoituksia, jotka tuovat joustavuutta muutoin Space Marineista koostuvan armeijalistan pelaamiseen.

Yksi World Eaterien tunnusyksiköistä ovat kaksintaisteluihin erikoistuneet Rampagerit. Monien muiden spessuryhmien tapaan ne on turhan kalliita pisteissä käytettäväksi kilpailullisesti, mutta tuovathan ne armeijalistaan ihan hyvää, pehmeää tematiikkaa ja aina siistin lähitaisteluyksikön! 

Oman viiden miehen ryhmäni kasasin Heresy-muoviboksien ylijäämäosista ja Warmachine-rangen Khador Doom Reavereista, joiden varustus oli musta sopivan gladiaattorihenkinen. Ne ovat myös mittasuhteiltaan vähän GW-tuotantoa sirommat, joten kaverit näyttävät siltä, että mahtuisivat oikeastikin power armourin sisään. Ryhmään tuli konvertoitua myös yksi Chaos Warhound -ajokoira lisämausteeksi.

HQ-puolelle pisteitä täyttämään rekrytoitui Legion Moritat Consul jump packilla ja parilla plasmapistoolilla. Sankari on juuri sellainen mielenkiintoinen yksikkö, joka on aika haastava pelata, mutta päästessään oikeaan paikkaan se tekee mittavaa tuhoa ja kykenee dramaattisiinkin suorituksiin. Dynaamisessa gunslingerissa on hyödynnetty Kromlechin bionisia jalkoja ja kypärämallia. Pitää varmaan tehdä tälle kaveriksi Destroyereita käytettäväksi silloin tällöin Rampagerien tilalla.

Myös Grav Command Rhinolle lisättiin vähän Kromlechin osia, tarkemmin sanottuna Extra Armour -sivupellit ja katon lautasantenni. Tein eteen ja taakse turbiinisuuttimet Stormraven Gunshipin osista ja lisäsin eteen Land Speeder -tyylisiä sensoreita ja antenneja.

Tarinankerronnallisista syistä skimmerille tuli myös maisemoitu flying base, johon sain myös pari meteoriittia leijumaan. Painottomassa tilassa operoiva komentovaunu piiloutui yleensä deployment zonen takakenttään ohjaamaan reservitoimintaa ja kuumottelemaan vastapuolta Orbital Strikella. Toivottavasti pian tulee taas lisää pelimahdollisuuksia!