Emperor's Children Fluffy: Troops

Yo! Today we will go through the important but few different troops choices and see which that work best with the fluff of the Emperor's Children. As usual there will be a lot of personal opinions so if you don't agree and want to play your army in another style please feel free to do so. Now on to the troops!

• Tactical squad: The backbone of the Legion. Can either go for bolters of two close combat weapons. As the 3rd Legion was one of the smaller in terms of legionaries after the gene seed disaster I don't expect to see any large units of 20 tacticals. Instead I would prefer units of 10 with increased tactical mobility. In the Fulgrim novel the Children are described as first shooting the enemy with their bolters before switching to their blades and charging into close combat. This could be represented by giving each legionary and additional close combat weapon (for 2 points per model). In that case you get smaller and more expensive units but which perform slightly better than the standard ones which could represent the Legions ambition for martial perfection.
• Assault squad: Fast and deadly in close combat. The sergeant and two marined (in a 10 man squad) can take power weapons to increase their damage when charging. Same goes here for units of 10 rather than 20. We know that they were used so bring a couple. 
• Breacher siege squad: Heavy unit which moves slowly with great protection from their shields. Although I have seen beautiful conversions of these using the wings from the Sanguinary Guard kit and despite the fact that they were probably used by the 3rd Legion during boarding actions I dislike this unit. I feel that they are to bulky, robust and immobile for the Emperor's Children and better suited for Legions of the Death Guard or Iron Warriors.
• Tactical support squad: Small unit with some scary weapons, can be customized against everything from light infantry to vehicles. I personally love the look of the rotor cannons but guess they are only useful against large hordes of weak creatures. A plasma gun squad can really damage your opponents legionaries.
• Reconnaissance squad: Meh, stealth was never really the preferred tactic of the 3rd Legion. Let the less glorious crawl in the shadows :)

As for rhinos and drop pods it is a free-for-all, get what you want!

To summarize: Go for small but well-equipped units of tactical and assault marines, perhaps backed up by some support squad but avoid bulky breachers or stealthy sneakers.

Emperor's Children Fluffy: Elites

Moving on with the army list creation and selection of units that are "fluffy" enough to be used in the 3rd Legion today we will look at Elites-choices. This might be one of the more crowded unit entries as 3 slots will fill up quickly for the EC.

• Veteran Tactical Squad: Very versatile, you can create anything from close combat oriented (power weapons and furious charge) to vehicle killer (melta and tank hunters). No clear yes or no for the 3rd Legion.
• Terminators: As they are usually scoring they are perfect for footslogging up the board and capturing objectives. Can also be given good long-range weapons or close combat ones. I personally like these and they were a part of the 3rd Legion. Julius Kaesoron needs men to lead! As for armor type I would go for Cataphractii because it looks older and cooler. 
• Techmarines: Cool special weapons and vehicle repair. Meh, I guess they existed in the EC but they were not very prominent. Flesh over steel!
• Apothecaries: Feel no pain. Perfect for the 3rd Legion which was in dire need of apothecaries after the gene seed catastrophy. For a small legion it becomes extra important to preserve the gene seed from the fallen. I would get a couple of these and add them to Tactical squads and Command squads.
• Dreadnoughts and Contemptors: Provide som good covering fire and can be used against tanks or infantry. As you can get up to 3 in each talon and use them separately later they seem to take up less slots than they actually do. Contemptors look slightly cooler than ordinary Dreadnoughts (personal opinion (oh no he didn't!)). 
• Rapier weapon batteries: Solid covering unit with nasty guns. Too imobile for the EC I think.

Legion specific units:

• Palatine blades and Phoenix terminators: Iconic and awesome close combat units. The terminators might be slightly over-priced but this is a fluff-discussion and no a tactical one. Get loads of them :)

So lets summarize: I will once again rank the choices from 1 (perfect for the EC) to 3 (doesn't really work in my opinion and yes it is only my opinion so do whatever YOU want).

1. Palatine blades and Phoenix terminators! This is the problem for the Elites slots for the Emperor's Children because if you bring one unit of each you are left with only one slot for the rest of the cool choices, unless you skip that restriction of course. I would add Apothecaries to this rank because I think they are a bit more prominent in the 3rd Legion.
2. Veterans, Terminators and Dreadnoughts. They were present but are not more special for the Emperor's Children than any other Legion. 
3. Techmarines and Rapiers. Personally I don't think they fit in but there is no clear NO sign to bring them anyway.

That's it for today! I am almost done with Julius Kaesoron so expect pictures soon.

Bequa Kynska

The inspiration for my collection of Emperor's Children has always been the Horus heresy novels (Fulgrim and Angel exterminatus in particular). As such, I have also wanted to add non-astartes characters to my army and have now started that process with the stunning Bequa Kynska! Kynska is a famous composer who joins the 28th expedition and is lauded for her work by Fulgrim and Julius Kaesoron. After visiting the Laer temple she is driven slightly insane and produces her master piece: The Maraviglia. During its performance the entire audience basically turns to Slaanesh and Bequa is killed by a daemonette. But what if she didn't die? What if she became possessed instead? I bring you Bequa Kynska as I envisioned her during her performances:

I based Bequa on the Vampire Counts model Isabella Von Carstein but replaced her sword with a microphone stand and transformed her goblet of blood into a microphone. Now I know that Kynska is described as foremost a composer but also talented in all forms of music and so I don't consider it impossible for her to be able to sing. True, during the Maraviglia Bequa wasn't the one singing but she might have been at other occasions. The rule of cool will have to win this time.

Not the small round base of the microphone stand.

I plan on adding a cable running from the microphone to the base.

Can't wait to color her hair blue! Really cool model to paint.

Emperor's Children Fluffy: HQ Part 2

So now to continue with choosing a leader that works with the background if the 3rd Legion. We stopped in the middle of the consuls so lets pick it up from there:

• Librarian: Not really an option for the EC as I strictly recall reading (somewhere in the horus heresy novels) that the mutation causing psychic powers was considered an imperfection by the seniors of the 3rd Legion, thus psykers wouldn't be in use. It is weird because on the other hand Fulgrim is present at the council of Nikaea and seems to be supporting his brother Magnus (A thousand sons). In Prospero burns he is also described as monitoring the event together with Russ, hidden beneath the large structure. Perhaps Fulgrim was simply luring Magnus to his judgement by using their close bond? Anyway no Librarians!
• Forge Lord: Although Techmarines must have been present in the 3rd Legion they are rarely mentioned in the novels and I have a hard time seeing one of them advancing to any higher rang, due to their inglorious profession. I am not treating this as a solid no because there was probably some kind of leader of the Techmarines present.
• Primus Medicae: Feel no pain! This HQ is perfect for the EC since after the disaster with their gene seed I recon that Apothecaries were given a high status in the Legion. Furthermore, Fabius must be the most well-known Apothecary during the Horus heresy and he would suit nicely as a Primus Medicae.
• Vigilator: Stealthy assassin. This HQ feels more befitting of the Raven Guard, Alpha Legion or Night Lords rather than the 3rd Legion. Who would want to risk that his glorious deeds went by unnoticed on the battlefield? 
• Siege Breaker: Destroyer of tanks and buildings. This one reeks of Iron Warriors or possibly Imperial Fists. Any HQ with dignity wouldn't want to get their cape dirty in the trenches. Meh, I guess this could go either way.
• Moritat: Gunslinger and nasty weapons. Not sure about this one. On the one hand the usage of rad weapons and poison doesn't instinctively draw my mind to the EC but on the other they wouldn't fear using exotic weapons (especially after Istvaan) and the gunslinger looks awesome! 

Ok so lets summarize! Here is a ranking of the different HQ choices where 1 indicates the best fitting with the Legions background, 2 could go either way and 3 is not recommended:

1. Praetor, Centurion, Chaplain, Legion Champion and Primus Medicae.
2. Master of Signal, Forge Lord, Siege Breaker and Moritat.
3. Librarian and Vigilator.

There we have it! Later I will take a look at the troops, elites and other sections of the army but for now this is it. Let me know what you think! Am I being to harsh with some choices or are some completely without justification?

Emperor's Children Fluffy: HQ Part1

This is a new segment where I will go through the available units that can be used in games of 30K using the ForgeWorld rules. I will discuss which units that work for the 3rd Legion and are "Fluffy" enough to fit with the background of this army. First out is HQ.

• Praetor: This HQ perfectly fills the role of Lord Commander which is the highest rank within the Emperor's Children, second only to the Primarch Fulgrim. The stats of the Praetor makes for a versatile fighter and there are tons of different upgrades to turn him into whatever you want from a massive terminator to an agile jump marine or a supersonic jetbiker. Close combat or shooting both work for this guy.
• Centurion: The line Captain has slightly lower stats than the Praetor which is only appropriate but is a cheap HQ which can also be heavlily customized to fit the needs of the army. The Centurion becomes even more interesting when he is upgraded into on of the many Consuls (discussed below).
• Chaplain: Power maul and zealot. Known to have been used by the 3rd Legion, most notably Chaplain Charmosian. Perfect to use together with any type of assault unit. Possibly given a jump pack.
• Master of Signal: Drops a heavy bombardment once per turn and has some cool gadgets. This is one of the consuls which I can't make up my mind if it is fluffy enough for the Emperor's Children. One one hand the 3rd Legion strives for perfection in all kinds of warfare and the tactical usage of bombardments seems legit. On the other hand it seems very unglorious to watch the enemy destroyed at a distance and not befitting of a high ranking soldier. My conclusion is to preferably not bring this entry, however, I like the idea of the lonely Captain which is looked down on by his peers for using this kind of tactic.
• Legion Champion: Master-crafted close combat weapon and WS6. Perfect for the Emperor's Children who are well known to excell in close combat duelling. Use together with assault unit.

Part 2 coming tomorrow!

Emperor's Children Characters

My love for the Emperor's Children is based on the Horus heresy novel Fulgrim and to some extent Angel exterminatus and others. Besides having a playable force and trying out the rules for 30K my main goal has been to recreate the notable characters of the Legion. Here I present a list of what I have completed and plan to do:

Done:

• Saul Tarvitz: Captain 10th. One of the most well known. Lead the loyalist resistance on Istvaan 3. Fights with custom broadsword. 
• Eidolon: Lord Commander. Arrogant and in lead of the traitors. Fights with thunder hammer and sonic enhancements.
• Vespasian: Lord Commander. The good and loyal of the Lord Commanders. Fights with a blade. 
• Solomon Demeter: Captain 2nd. A bold warrior who despite being quite arrogant in his own way remained loyal and payed the price. Custom bolter and chainsword.
• Fabius: Chief apothecary. Attempted to better the genetic code and appearance of the astartes by incorporating xenos organs and connecting the brains pain sensors with those of the pleasure centre. Uses his medical kits etc.

To create/add:

• Fulgrim the Primarch. ForgeWorld model is a must.
• Julius Kaesoron: Captain 1st. I will probably use the sergeant of the Cataphractii terminators. In the books he is described as fighting with various weapons such as sword, lightning claws, glaive and power fist. I might go for the sword.
• Marius Variosean: Captain 3rd. First of the noise marines, I will use the orchestrator of the Kakophoni. Would be nice to create a pre-heresy version as well.
• Lucius: Captain 13th. I have started on Lucius and am going to use the Palatine Blades Prefector as his base model.
• Ancient Rylanor: Dreadnought. ForgeWorld has even got a bundle for him but I just finished another Dreadnought and wont add another for some time. 

Non-astates to add:

• Bequa Kynska: The famous composer which became mad after hearing the music of the laer. I want to add her as a decorative piece to the army. Not sure about the rest of the remembrancers.
• Fabius' Children: Secret project...

So what do you think? Have I forgotten anyone? Is it a good list? Mad? Stupid? Let me know.

Pre heresy Fabius Bile conversion

Another addition to my collection of Emperor's Children characters! Fabius is known as the chief apothecary of the 3rd Legion, has a high reputation in Lord Fulgrims eyes and has a very creepy hobby. During the great crusade Fabius started experimenting on dead (and sometimes alive) xeno lifeforms. His own twisted idea of finding perfection, the ultimate goal for all Children, was to surgically modify space marines and incorporate organs as well as abilities from the dissected xenos. I love the hybris of considering himself soo talented that he could even improve on the Emperors creation. This colorful badass had to join my forces!

I based my version of Fabius on the GW model (you can find him here) which is both iconic and has his face on it. This model is however very devoted to chaos and I wanted to see what the pre-heresy Fabius would look like. The skin jacket had to go so I filled the seems with liquid green stuff and filed away the excess as well as the faces (scary stuff). The shoulder pads were cut of/filed away and exchanged with new ones from ForgeWorld. I also removed some skulls from his backpack and placed an aquila on his staff (making him bloody obviously one of the good guys).

The painting was done in a similar way as with my other EC with the inclusion of a lot of extra white from his surgical robe. I think apothecaries should stand out in the army. I also had a lot of fun painting all the tubes and vials with freaky blue liquids.

I hope this guy gets his own special rules from FW in the future but until then I will lay him as a Primus Medicae. Might also add a couple of more apothecaries because I have a feeling that the 3rd Legion should have quite many (not sure if I have read that somewhere).

We end this post with a close up. The awesome details in the GW model made it impossible to try to convert Fabius from something else. Hope you like him!

New Xeno Race in 30K

So there are some differences concerning which Xeno (non-human) races that were active during the great crusade and horus heresy compared to the ones that are played in 40K. Eldar, Dark Eldar and Orks appear in both 30K and 40K but Tau, Necrons and Tyranids for example are not mentioned. There are also numerous 30K races that are mentioned in the Horus Heresy Novels that don't occur in 40K such as the Hrud, Laer and Megarachnids (the latter two are far too familiar for the Emperor's Children). What I have in mind is to create some more Xeno races which could be played and used in a great crusade era campaign. The good thing about 30K is that there were countless worlds brought to compliance by the Imperium with just as many races driven to extinction.

I would like to create a reptillan race using Lizardmen from Warhammer fantasy. The models look great and even though I am not a fantasy player I have always wanted a Lizardmen army.

I think I am going to call them the Lepidosauria which is the scientific name for the group including all lizards (and snakes). Lepidosaurs sounds cool enough :)

 These two pictures are stolen from the web (I take no credit for them!) and illustrate how lizardmen could be used in 30K. I however have other plans. Instead of making them look high-tech I will keep them fantasy-looking as a primitive race. But their strength and psychic powers will still make them a dangerous enemy!

Saul Tarvitz

For those who have read the Horus heresy novels from Black Library the name Saul Tarvitz is almost held in the same respect as that of Garviel Loken (well perhaps us chosen Children think he is even cooler compared to those ruffians in the Luna wolves, oh shit I am turning into Eidolon!). In short he was the Captain of the 10th Company (1st Company in the opening books but this was later changed to allow Julius Kaesoron to take that position and I think that works better) and described as a good and noble fighter but only a line officer. Most members (including Solomon Demeter) thought that there was no potential in Tarvitz, something he disproved leading the defiant last stand of the loyalists down on Istvaan 3, but now we are getting ahead of things, my army is peacefully still before the events of the heresy. For now...

 Here are some inspirational paintings of Saul and I wanted to include the long hair as well as his charnabal broadsword into my model.

So this is what I did: The base for Tarvits comes from the Masters of the Chapter kit from GW (yes I have soon used all 4 of them but they do make great special characters and the detail is awesome). The head is also one of the 4 from the kit. The hair as well as the plume/crest of the helmet is modelled on using green-stuff. This was my first time using green-stuff (GS) for such detail-rich parts but it went pretty well. For the hair is flattened a piece of GS and covered the head with it, then used a fine scalpel to draw lines resembling hair and pressing it thinner over the head. Finally, I rolled some individual pieces of hair which I used on one side to give a flowing sensation, They became a bit too thick and resemble dreadlocks and the crest of the helmet is also a bit fat but I am still happy with the result.

He is going to be fun to paint!

Why the Children of the Emperor?

Why, you might ask, why choose the III legion? Well the first contact I had with the Emperor's Children probably came through the Games-Workshop webpage. I had just started playing 40K after my friend "The Raven" cunningly sowed the seeds of miniature gaming in my mind, much like Erebus. Although I can't remember it precisely, I probably came across the Noise marines and wasn't impressed at all, iiiscch!

As my hobby interest continued to grow "The Raven" once again intervened, this time clutching Horus Rising in his talons. It was in the first three books of the Horus heresy novels where I came into contact with Saul Tarvitz, Lucius, Eidolon and the rest of the 3rd legion. This escalated after reading Fulgrim and I knew that I had to cast aside the false Emperor and become one of the Children.

What I dreamt of, whilst crying over the Forge World prices, was to build my own III legion and to recreate the characters that I had grown to love from the novels. The release of the Horus heresy books by Forge World was the required spark and thus I started my collection. Here are my first two models: A standard bearer and a commander who I have chosen to represent Lord Commander Vespasian (more on him later).

The icon and the text are both freehand painted. The icon I based of the legion symbol. The text was a real pain to paint, especially in the recesses of the banner.

That's all for now! This was how it all started for me. Stay tuned for "The Raven's" story as well as more information on Lord Commander Vespasian.