The Phobos Incursion

[Piousservant]

++TRANSMISSION BEGINS...++

 

++Author: Inquisitor Damien Saman++

++Recipient: Ordo Malleus Councilium, Talasa Prime++

++Message Originated: Jump Point, Edge of Phobos System++

++Message Sent: 1684365438/M36++

++Inquisitorial Cipher: Malleus/9870937/Vermellion Red++

++Thought For The Day: Blessed is the mind too small for doubt++

 

My lords,

 

The Daemonic incursion on Phobos IV is over. The planet has been sterilized from orbit and is henceforth declared Purgatus under the authority granted to me as an Inquisitor of the Holy Orders of the God-Emperors Inquisition.

 

I have compiled the following account to detail the Daemonic forces encountered during the Phobos Incursion. Using the after-action reports of the Grey Knights, and utilising vid-recordings and telemetry gathered from the location of the Incursion I have been able to compile a threat analysis with a reasonably high level of accuracy. I shall begin my report with a short summery of the location and background detail to the incursion as I feel there are a number of concerns I must raise.

 

Acting on the request of Lord [CENSORED] I took command of the Grey Knight Strike Cruiser Pure Spirit and headed for the Phobos system, based on Astropathic messages from the planet that had been intercepted by Inquisitorial agents. Phobos IV is classified as a dead world and thus an unusual location for a significant Daemonic incursion. Despite this the intercepts, and subsequent readings of the Imperial Tarot, were quickly confirmed to be accurate after we entered orbit.

 

Phobos IV has no native lifeforms, few mineral deposits and a thin atmosphere, requiring rebreather equipment to travel externally. The Phobos system is a fiefdom of the Adeptus Mechanicus, though their only outpost in the system was the site on Phobos IV. The records at the site name it as the main facility of the “Universal Aerospacial Calculatory” (UAC), an Adeptus Mechanicus division apparently conducting research into teleportation and the warp.

 

After the initial engagements with the enemy, I considered it more prudent to preserve the Grey Knight forces left at my command as the was nothing on the planet to defend. I therefore authorised Exterminatus to deal with the Daemonic threat, a decision I am sure you will ratify. A number of operations were carried out by the Grey Knights of Brother-Captain Tyrannis to gather information on the threat and to attempt to find and retrieve any living personnel, before I authorised the Exterminatus launch. For the record, though they were able to gather a significant amount of data, no untainted Adeptus Mechanicus personnel were found alive by the Grey Knights during their sorties to the surface.

 

The centre of the Incursion was the Delta Lab complex of the UAC facility. The exact research being conducted by the UAC is not known to me but it is evident from the material gathered from the site that the UAC was conducting research of a morally dubious nature. There is also evidence that the research was based upon Xeno architectural remains found underneath the site. Whether these were discovered accidentally and were peripheral to the research I cannot say for sure, as we recovered few complete datafiles, but I have my suspicions that the placing of the facility over the Xeno remains was likely to have been deliberate. Nevertheless the Adeptus were carrying out research that interfered with the barrier between reality and the empyrean. Considering that the facility was the centre of the manifestation, and that there was no other life anywhere else on the planet, it is certain that the actions of the Adeptus led to the incursion.

 

This raises serious concerns about the conduct of research by the Calculatory, concerns which I feel should be raised at the highest levels with the Adeptus Mechanicus. I am not personally familiar with many ranking Adepts of the Mechanicus and so I do not have the leverage to do so myself. I do believe that this incident warrants further Inquisitorial attention. Though I have no wish to be involved in a dispute over the authority of the Inquisition with regards to the Adeptus, who I know jealously guard their privacy, it is clear that the UAC research represents a potential Moral Threat to the Imperium.

 

I have attached a number of data files that I hope will be nformative, some of which are Adeptus files that the Grey Knights recovered from the surface.

 

Ave Imperator,

 

Inquisitor Saman

Ordo Malleus

 

 

++AMMENDUM++

++AUTHORITY: INQUISITOR PALATINE, ORDO MALLEUS++

++DATE: 583/M41++

 

Honoured Lords,

 

The above message was recovered from a data slate found onboard a derelict vessel which drifted into the outer reaches of the Caeldan system two months ago. The vessel is not of Astartes design and I do not believe it to be the Pure Spirit. I have ordered the Inquisitorial Stormtrooper detachments at my command into the vessel to conduct a thorough search for more information. I hope that we will discover how the message came to be stored onboard the derelict and maybe learn something about the circumstances of how the Pure Spirit was lost so many millennia ago.

 

With your permission my Lords, once my investigation of the derelict vessel is complete I intend to travel to the Phobos system itself to see if anything further can be revealed there.

 

Your ob’dnt servant,

 

Inquisitor Palatine, Ordo Malleus

 

++TRANSMISSION ENDS++

[Piousservant]

So this is one of those odd ideas that I had and started on but never properly finished. Well, the Call of Chaos shall hopefully push me to change that!

 

The army, as I think the background maybe too obviously shows, draws some inspiration from the "Doom" games - specifically Doom 3. It is just inspiration though so on the tabletop the connection isn't that obvious. The army is a Khornate Daemon list with appopriate conversions for some units.

 

So, to get started here are some pictures of what I have got so far...

 

 

 

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y130/HaorChall/DSC01940.jpg

The Bloodletters are pretty standard, I just need to get the rest build and primed.

 

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y130/HaorChall/DSC01943.jpg

These guys are my "counts as" Horrors. Based on the basic security goons you encounter in Doom, they're a mix of catachan and cadian bits with some zombie stuff and pig-iron helmets.

 

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y130/HaorChall/DSC01927.jpg

Though it isn't part of the Call, thought I'd show you these guys so you can see what I have done already (I'm pretty bad at doing the cool bits first and then getting bored when I get around to the basic infantry...). The inspiration behind these were the annoying tentacled marines from Doom 3, though I went for terminator armour basically for the size. These guys count as Fiends of Slannesh.

 

So first thing to do is get my Bloodletters and pretend Horrors build and primed. Then I just need to get hold of some juggers...

[Brother Nihm]

Love the horrors, zombie paint FX and green fatigues will go along way to capture the Doom feel. :lol:

[Piousservant]

Thanks Nihm! Wasn't sure how best to paint them tbh, since with 40k/Chaos there is a kind of green=Nurgle red=Khorne thing going down so I'm not sure if they'd look out of place in the midst of all the red if they were too green. I'm concious of that also because I'm colour blind and so the red and green might look more similar to me than it does to everyone else.

 

I also thought about painting them like the grunt from Doom 3 seen here, with the black armour and pale skin with the red on the helmet visor. I also have thought about doing a less Doom 3 and more Khornate look and paint them with maybe a kind of red-ish flesh colour. What do you think would be best?

 

 

 

UPDATE 10/05/10:

 

So my first week and a bit hasn't been the most successful. Despite having this thread and the pledge to complete I managed to spend a lot of time doing other stuff! Unfortunately I stumbled upon the unassembled bits for a squad of Thousand Sons when I dug out my Daemons and I ended up building them last week (and if that wasn't bad enough I then got distracted half-way through building them when I had a brainwave for modelling Obliterators for my 1k sons and had a go converting one based around an old daemonhost I'd also found).

 

What did I get done? Well I did manage to finish assembling the Bloodletters so all 16 (two squads of 8) have been completed. It took a little longer than I had hoped, mainly due to the suckiness of my drill for sorting out the bases. The bloodletters are all on small bits of slate, which have two magnets in them (which is what I was drilling holes for) and the bases have a metal washer glued to them. The idea being that I can then put washers on the square bases and have a fantasy army - or the start of one - good to go more easily/cheaply then starting again. Of course, if I don't get around to doing that for fantasy then I've wasted my time (and money). Hmmm. Anyway, it the slate and the washer add to the height of the model which makes them pretty nice and imposing over puny guardsmen (or even marines) which is cool.

 

I've also started but not quite finished on the rest of the zombie guard/horrors. I've run out of cadian torsos so I've had to make a few with the catachan torsos instead. No more pictures, will try and get some taken tonight or at some point this week. My objective this week is to start painting the bloodletters and maybe have try out a couple of concept models for the horrors paint schemes.

[Piousservant]

Another update! This time with pictures!

 

I've left painting the zombie guard/horrors to think a bit more about how I'm going to approach it. Instead I decided to attack one of the Bloodletter squads and I'm pleased/relieved to say that the first squad is (more or less) finished! I went with a different approach to painting the swords than I'd originally been planning (just black) after I had a flick through the codex and saw the scheme that I've tried.... Would be interested to hear any feedback as I'm not 100% decided on it myself.

 

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y130/HaorChall/DSC00019.jpg

 

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y130/HaorChall/DSC00017.jpg

 

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y130/HaorChall/DSC00020.jpg

 

 

Oh, and apologies for the picture quality, turns out they weren't very good. Will try to take some more at some point!

[Natanael]

I like the swords a lot. The black top gets me off tough. Maybe you should try to extend the red all the way to the top, in darker layers? I dunno, but the black edge seems wrong.

[Piousservant]

Thanks for the comment. Yeah, I think I see what you mean. Not sure what else to use though, I'm guessing scab red or or red gore...?

[Brother Nihm]

I'm no expert on red but this recipe looks good imho.

[Natanael]

I am not that good at painting either, not red at least, but scab and gore should work. maybe add some blood red in the middle layers or something. Middle of the sword that is.

 

- Natanael

[Piousservant]

Ok, well I've tried painting one with a bit of red gore on the end instead of black - I've taken a comparison shot next to one of the previously painted ones to show the difference:

 

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y130/HaorChall/DSC00040.jpg

 

Which do people think looks best?

 

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y130/HaorChall/DSC00044.jpg

Random pic of the banner bearer. Tried to get this picture last time but couldn't get the focus to play ball, was successful this time so here it is.

 

 

Also done some work on my horrors. Not finished assembling them all, I ran out of cadian torsos (just) and I've now run out of catachan arms as well so these are on hold until I get some more bits (or find some more sprues somewhere - I'm sure there must be some more somewhere in the house - not sure why I'd have such an odd number of bits otherwise).

 

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y130/HaorChall/DSC00045.jpg

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y130/HaorChall/DSC00046.jpg

 

As you can see I've started painting some of these guys as well. These are two test models, I'm not sure which colour scheme to use (if at all). The first is pale (like the Doom one here) and the second has red-ish skin as maybe more of a khornate look. Not sure how/if to work some green into the first one so it's black armour at the moment.

 

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y130/HaorChall/DSC00047.jpg

 

What do you think...?

[Brother Nihm]

Which do people think looks best?

The 2nd one, no doubt about it. It has more depth.

 

 

As you can see I've started painting some of these guys as well. These are two test models, I'm not sure which colour scheme to use (if at all). The first is pale (like the Doom one here) and the second has red-ish skin as maybe more of a khornate look. Not sure how/if to work some green into the first one so it's black armour at the moment.

 

What do you think...?

What about doing up one unit with pale skin and green armour plates and the other with the reddish skin tones (which I quite like). Going back to basics it could be a sign of Nurgle/Khorne dedication.

[Piousservant]

Damn, sorry I failed at this... June just slipped by a little too quickly, been busy at work and didn't get the time I'd hoped to get to spend painting. :)