I wasn't expecting to maintain the cracking pace I'd set when I got Bulletin from Belon going, but I thought I might at least've picked up a paint brush since last I posted. I still plan to run that maxed out Fast Attack army I put up before but I want to enter the Summer of War army painting competition, so I've got to put together a 750pt list for that.

I've only got 14 days in which to work between now and the 28th; and I've got another project which is my number one priority (because it's more achievable); so I'm going to make an army I can use with as little work as possible. I'll try and focus what painting I do have to do on as many of those fiddly but quick finishing-things-off task left undone from too many marathon sessions at the painting table.

HQ

• Chaplain..........100pts

HQ= 100pts

Troops

• Tactical squad..........90pts
• Options

1. +5 marines..........80
2. Plasma gun..........10
3. Lascannon..........10
4. Combiplasma..........10
5. subtotal= 110

• Tactical squad..........90pts
• Options

1. +5 marines..........80
2. Flamer
3. Missile launcher
4. Combiflamer..........10
5. Power weapon..........15
6. subtotal= 105

Troops= 395pts

Elite

• Dreadnought..........105pts
• Options

1. T/L autocannon..........10
2. M/L..........10
3. subtotal= 20

• Dreadnought..........105pts
• Options

1. Assault cannon..........10
2. Extra armour..........15
3. subtotal= 25

Elite= 255pts

HQ= 100pts
Troops= 395pts
Elite= 255pts
Total= 750pts

This force sets me a viable painting task:

• The 2 dreadnoughts are finished.
• Of the 21 infantry:

1. A couple need a bit of work to replace their weapons.
2. Only 4 need full paintjobs.
3. All the figures need work to finish off insignia and markings.

It's by no means certain that I can get this done in the time available but it's possible, which makes it worth having a go. More ASAP.

MkI Terminators and some Space Marine era power armour (the M/L)

So, after that first night's work with my thesaurus and that old school book prize all those years ago, I had a founder, a name, and a homeworld. And I had 9 of the old 1st ed. Space Hulk terminators (1 was missing) and a boxful of power armour and vehicles from Space Marine. I had pretty much what you can see above, in other words. The next thing to do then was to set to work with the paintbrush.


The 3 basic colour schemes I tried out

My new lads hailed from a jungle planet, so choosing a green scheme was a no-brainer. I'd been a teenage tankie, so my first instinct was to go for military drabs. I found one- Camo Green, so my first space marines were all painted in the colours above left. Everything would've stayed that way, but not long after I'd painted enough stuff at least to play Space Hulk, the colour was dropped from the range (this was in the days of the old hexagonal polythene paintpots, which old hands will remember). So I had to think again.

Certain colours were ruled out immediately: DA Green and Jade Green (another colour long gone which is like a more vibrant Snot Green, perhaps a bit more in the bluish spectrum too). So the next colour I plumped for was Emerald Green (above centre; long gone too: again a more vibrant Snot Green hue). I painted up a terminator. The model sat on my painting table for a few days, being uninspiring. I had to look for something else.

Checking out my local GW, I found there was only 1 green left on the rack- Scorpion Green. Painting up a mini in these colours I was frankly horrified. This is just too much altogether hollered the teenage tankie in me. But it was the only green left I was telling myself. My gaming opponent agreed it was utterly over the top; but he did share my sneaking suspicion that it might just work.

So that was that. Penumbra's Talons were Scorpion Green. I've never looked back.

This is the list I'm going to run in local stores, just as soon as I can get myself a new carrying case. I know this list scores at least 7 on the 1-10 scale of unbalanced armies, but I really just want to try out 2 things:

• Running 2 full squads of jump packers instead of the 1 I've always used before (the Talons have a Blood Angels 'aspect' as some old-timers might remember).
• Fielding as big a bike squad as I can put together to see how useful it is.

As well as that, I decided to take the founding Chapter Master out for a jaunt too. So, the list:

HQ

• Chapter Master..........125
• Options:

1. Twin L/C..........30
2. Artificier armour..........15
3. Melta bombs..........5
4. Digiweapons..........10
5. Aux. grenade launcher..........15
6. Jump pack..........25
7. subtotal= 100

HQ= 225pts

Troops

• Tactical squad..........90
• Options:

1. +5 marines..........80
2. Flamer
3. Lascannon..........10
4. Power sword..........15
5. Melta bombs..........5
6. subtotal= 110

• Scout squad..........75
• Options:

1. +5 scouts..........65
2. M/L..........10
3. Power weapon..........15
4. Melta bombs..........5
5. subtotal= 95

Troops= 370pts

Elites

• Dreadnought..........105
• Options:

1. Assault cannon..........10
2. Extra armour..........15
3. subtotal= 25

Elites= 130pts

Fast Attack

• 2x Assault squad..........200
• Options:

1. +10 marines..........180
2. 4x plasma pistol..........60
3. 2x power sword..........30
4. 2x melta bombs..........10
5. subtotal= 280

• Bike squad..........90
• Options

1. +4 bikers..........100
2. Combiplasma..........10
3. Power weapon..........15
4. Melta bombs..........5
5. 2x Plasma gun..........30
6. Attack bike..........40
7. subtotal= 200

Fast attack= 770pts

HQ= 225pts
Troops= 370pts
Elites= 130pts
Fast attack= 770pts
Total= 1495pts

And that's it: 41 marines, 8 bikes and a dreadnought for 1500pts. That's a mean of 30pts/model= 2%/model; which isn't too bad since the 2 most expensive models cost 355pts alone, or 24%. I'm going to have a bit of fun with this list, then I'm going to come up with something more sensible. Tactical advice about using this list would be appreciated, but there's not much point in offering advice on how to change it, because I'm sticking with this just now.

I told in Diary of a DIY Chapter Master #1 how in the early 90's I was moved finally to invent my own Chapter Astartes hailing from a jungle planet. That was only the beginning (as witness the fact that I'm still working on the same army nearly 20 years later). I had an army and a basic theme; I needed at least one character- the founder; and at least three names- the chapter's, the homeworld, and the founder; and I needed them fast- this was for a job application, remember?

A decade's experience as a roleplayer and a few attempts at writing short stories had taught me some useful lessons about names:

• The names of everyday objects, suitably modified to make them seem alien, often make memorable names in games.
• Word books- eg. dictionaries and thesauruses; indexes of other books; and even the credit reels of TV shows and movies are great places to find weird and wonderful words which you can conscript into service as names.

The latter is what I did with my new space marine chapter.

For the chapter name I had the idea of lightning strikes from under the jungle canopy, appropriately enough I thought. Consulting 'shadow' in my Roget's Thesaurus I was led to 'darkness', where I found 'penumbra'. Something clicked, and 'talons' was soon added.

The names of the homeworld and the founding chapter master came from a book I won as an essay prize when I was 12 years old: Animal Communities by Michael Chinery. The wasp of the African genus Belonogaster gave me the name of my home world, Belon; Franken was a name I picked just because I liked it, and the Lar is a south-east Asian gibbon - I liked the way the two words went together, so that was go as well.

All that I could add in the short time I had available that first night was something to give a sense of the unique tactics of jungle marines, and of the character of one who would found his own chapter (and which would simultaneously demonstrate my insight into the 40K setting, naturally enough). I settled on a simple catchphrase in the end, one which has stuck with me ever since:

"Remember each leaf, and every blade of grass. Make them your friends before your foe makes them your enemies."

This is the Penumbra's Talons' chapter relic, the only item possessed by the chapter that dates back to the Founding Days. As such, it is always the personal weapon of the Chapter Master.

Von Daniken's Doom began its life as the Nemesis force halberd of the Inquisitor Erich von Daniken, who was the senior Ordos appointed to keep an eye on Franken after the unorthodox mannner in which he'd chosen to found a new chapter. As Penumbra's Talons rapidly gained more recruits from all sides, von Daniken became personally convinced of Franken's absolute loyalty to the Imperium, and of the wisdom of his decision to break from the Dark Angels and pursue the Fallen with all available resources.

As the battles developed, and von Daniken became the leader of an entire Inquisitorial team dedicated to keeping watch on Franken and the Talons, the Inquisitor faced many struggles against those who believed that Franken was a renegade. But wily old Von Daniken remained steadfast in his support of the young leader, using all the authority at his disposal (plus, no doubt, a few underhand ploys) to ensure that Franken was able to pursue his goals unhindered by those who had been ordered to watch him, and to terminate him with extreme prejudice if they had the slightest reason to believe that the former Dark Angel had, in fact, Fallen.

This time made Franken and von Daniken close friends. Franken came to value the Inquisitor's counsel and the insights the man could offer from his experience of the Ordos. The pair were often seen side-by-side during the battles that followed the founding of Penumbra's Talons, and they spent many long nights deep in discussion as they tried to come to terms with the complexities of the Heresy War phase of the defence of Belon.

At the time of the Great Crusade, Franken Lar was a Dark Angel Scout Captain given his own company in the Dark Angels' detachment sent to secure the jungle planet Belon for the renascent Imperium of Man.

Shortly after the Dark Angels arrived on Belon mighty warp storms cut the sector off from all outside contact. Thus began the long and bitter defence of Belon. Franken Lar's innovative training methods and audacious deployments made his Scout company indispensable in the firezones and the depots alike.

The long stalemate was waged pitilessly across the vast planet for decades until, one day, the warp anomaly driving the storms finally popped open. In poured the daemon hordes of Chaos. Worse: in came the Heresy. To cut a long story short: the warp anomaly meant that the Heresy had been resolved throughout the Imperium by the time that it erupted on Belon. As the Chaotic legions estabished their bridgeheads, a group of traitor Dark Angels arrived. The supreme command gathered round to hear their words. When Franken grasped their evil import, he left quietly. Minutes later he returned.

"What's that, Brother Franken?" someone asked, pointing at the white talons freshly painted on top of his angel wings. Franken looked each and every Astartes there present straight in the eye before answering.

"We are trapped here in a war we already couldn't win, and the forces of darkness are upon us. Steadfastness can be our sole compass. I will never again wear colours as besmirched as those."

"What colours are those then, Brother Franken?" asked one of the Fallen. Franken let the question sink in all round.

"Penumbra's Talons," he said. Then he shot the man in the head with a digilaser he'd just borrowed from one of his veteran sergeants.

I'm busy clearing the decks to get back to the painting table: blowing the dust off my minis collection; and checking out new space marine army lists. I've got some fluff and other old stuff to repost, which'll help keep Bulletin from Belon ticking over for a bit while I get back up to speed. In the meantime, I thought I'd retell the story of how Penumbra's Talons were created.

I fell in love with the space marines as soon as I saw them in the pages of White Dwarf and then Rogue Trader in 1987/88; but a combination of circumstances kept them out of my hands until 1992. An aspiring career gamer, I had by then long since decided that I wanted to work for GW. Learning of my intentions, a friend gifted me the 3 games which were my long overdue introduction to my own little Dark Millenium:

• Space Hulk
• Space Marine
• Battle for Armageddon: Chaos Attack

Sitting down soon thereafter to write my 2nd application for a job with GW, I put the best face I could on my small new collection. A longtime modeller, miniatures gamer and roleplayer, creating my own DIY space marine chapter seemed the obvious thing to do. Casting around for a theme to start the process of making my new lads my own, I hit on the idea of jungle marines, which proved instantly irresistable. And that was the origin of the space marine army soon to become Chapter Astartes Penumbra's Talons, still my favourite ever army of toy soldiers.

I'm returning to the miniatures hobby after a few years off. Some frater might remember me from the past; others might know I've been blogging on "Roll dice and kick ass!" for nearly 5 years now. I'm still winding myself up to get back to the painting table, which will include my Penumbra's Talons, naturally enough. I'm pretty enthusiastic about the new plastic kits, codex, and the Assault on Black Reach boxed set. So I've decided to make a new blog here: my favourite forum about my favourite toy soldiers. More ASAP!



"Remember each leaf and every blade of grass. Make them your friends before your foe makes them your enemies."

Franken Lar - Founding Chapter Master of Chapter Astartes Penumbra's Talons

"Roll dice and kick ass!"
Snapshots from JMcL63's lands of adventure