Beyond the Praetors of Calth

[apologist]

''Space Marines excel at warfare because they were designed to excel at everything. Each of you will become a leader, a ruler, the master of your world and, because there is no more fighting to be done, you will bend your transhuman talents to governance and culture.'

Ten thousand years of tradition tell us these are the words of our genefather; he to whom we dedicate our actions and our lives. It is both our sorrow and our joy that the future he prophesised never came to pass.

Our sorrow; for the treacheries that sought to make a liar of our father.

Our joy; for the simple fact that we so truly excel at warfare.

For in so doing – in struggle, in conflict, in victory – we bring that long-foreseen day closer to hand.'

Reclusiarch Highheart of the Novamarines, Tenth Scions of the XIII Legion.

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I've recently re-started an old project, a Great Crusade-era army of Ultramarines I called The Praetors of Calth .

Brother Eumon, first and favourite of my Ultramarines!

Since I made them, I've also completed a Sons of Horus army based on Dan Abnett's spiffing short story Little Horus:

Little Horus himself.

...and also played around with White Consuls and Alpha Legion.

Then I got all enthused about Novamarines and built a small Badab-era army of them:

...and a teeny tiny Epic army of them, too.

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As you can see, I tend to dip in and out of projects, so I thought I'd set up a catch-all blog for them. I'm really pleased that the Bolter and Chainsword have decided to allow Imperial Guard forces, so I'll be able to show you bits and pieces from Lamb's World:

...and the Thrymyr XII Impressed:

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Anyway, enough old stuff – on to the new

More recently, I decided to pull my finger out and work a bit harder at the painting. Here's my current best work – a Heresy-era Imperial Fist and an Ultramarine.

The latter chap got me all enthused (and oddly nostalgic) about the Praetors of Calth, so I've recently started painting more Ultramarines:

I'm looking forward to being on the B&C a bit more, and hope you like where I'm going. I'd love to hear any comments or critique you have.

[Anvilarium]

I've loved your Praetors of Calth ever since I first laid eyes on them, I'm glad to hear that you are giving them a re-visit.

 

That Imperial FIst is amazing. The colours, weathering etc is just awesome. If my Iron Hands turn out half as good as your Praetors, I'll consider them a job well done.

 

Looking forward to seeing what you do next!

[apologist]

Thanks very much – judging from your Anvilarium, your finished Iron Hands are going to be great!

 

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Meanwhile, in the 41st Millennium...
Some closer shots of the Novamarines. I took these to a Badab War themed campaign weekend, run by the ever-lovely Tempus Fugitives. They suffered from being painted at the last minute (before I eventually subbed-in my Lamb's World Guard), and I never went back to finish them off.

 

A recent game against Bob_Hunk's rather spiffy Tyranid army, Splinterfleet Cerberus, has got me enthused about them.

 

 

I'll be tidying these up and adding the final details that'll make them look much better.

This is a good example of how my projects bump into and overlap one another. Now I've decided to keep the Praetors of Calth as pure Great Crusade era, Captain Mercian's Novamarine company are a great excuse for the bits that don't really fit in, like later mark armour, and the various vehicles and things that didn't really work in the heavily stylised and themed Ultramarines.

 

Eventually, I hope to add ten or so more tactical marines to the Novamarines (giving me twenty in total), and I will mix in mark VI and VII armour. The two squads can then be mixed up to give the '40k feel' of lots of disparate ancient parts being mixed with shiny new stuff; providing a nice contrast with the more uniform, regimented feel of the newer Ultramarines.

[facmanpob]

Loving the Imperial Fist......and you've got some lovely and dynamic poses going on with the rest of the models in your collection. One that stands out (although the photo is quite small), is the White Consul with his left leg on the piece of rock....very cool! :tu:

[apologist]

Ta very much. I revisited that idea in my Sons of Horus with this chap:

Slightly more involved conversion. I think I used the kneeling Terminator from Space Hulk for the leg here.

 

I used a similar principle here, too; though these are based on stock Grey Knight Terminator legs, I think.

[deathspectersgt7]

cool

[One-eye]

Glad to see you back Apologist. "Praetors of Calth" was one of those awesome thread that kept me both behind my screen waiting for updates and motivated to build, paint and show things here (even if not necessarily the same project or minis).

I particularly like the IF and the Ultra you've done lately. IMHO, your painting skills have gone up (or you've just put more effort in them).

 

The combination of your modelling talents and this level of painting is awesome !

[apologist]

Thanks very much, One-eye. I suspect the painting's a combination of getting better and working harder!

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WIP
Got cracking last night on a couple more marines. They need a little tidying, but the basic structure is there (I sometimes prime my marines to see how they look with the basic structure in place before I finish them off).

Brother Einhorn

Reclusiarch Highheart

This chaplain is a 40k scale version of my Epic Novamarines' Reclusiarch, who's had great success leading my assault marines. I've intended to make a model of him for a while, but I'm pleased with how he's come out so far.

 

 

[GodEmperorOfMankind]

wow! Great stuff here!

[Preacher No'ki]

A wonderful, very inspirational, thread. Makes me want to restart my old Sons of Antaeus true scale project. 

I'm also glad to see Reclusiarch Highheart understands the true meaning of the chain of the command...the chain he beats you with until you realise he's in command. ;)

[Monstra Sumus]

Looking very forward to seeing your future models. This stuff is fantastic! 

[Rider-75]

I suppose I really am being guilt tripped into working through the rest of my Artscale squad...

[Trysanna]

By the Emperor YES! I have never been so excited to see a thread before. Welcome back, I am looking forward to watching this thread closely. 

-Tarvick

[apologist]

Coo, thanks for the warm welcome. I'll have to make sure to get on with things!

I suppose I really am being guilt tripped into working through the rest of my Artscale squad...

If that's those spiffy Minotaurs, Rider 75, let me know if you're interested in the power spear and shield from the FW special character. I have them left over in my bits box.

On Primarchs, and Honour Guard

One of the problems I ran into during the original project, which I started back in 2008(!), was that the Ultramarines had virtually no information on them during the Horus Heresy or Great Crusade at all. That mystery was part of the appeal, as it let me make things up fairly freely – hence the personal heraldry and various odd equipment on my marines.

I was very pleased indeed when one of the editors at Black Library said that he'd been showing the HH team a few blogs of how people had taken inspiration from their writing; and really thrilled when I was told Dan Abnett had slipped a reference to my Praetors of Calth into Know No Fear

As things pan out, there are a few bits and pieces which have appeared in the HH series that slightly contradict the stuff I'd produced, but I was anticipating that to a degree. One of them was my interpretation of Guilliman, who differs a little from the description in the series:

This is the sort of thing that pops up with different interpretations, and there's no insurmountable differences. Nevertheless, I think this interpretation of Guilliman will probably stay with the original Praetors of Calth as him during the early years of his Great Crusade days, and I might come back and do a new version that's closer to the new descriptions and artwork – after all, Mr Abnett did a kick-ass job in making him cool!

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I also made some Honour Guard for Guilliman. They've not really seen much table time as I'm not that thrilled with them, and they haven't got any sort of background reason for existing. I'd made them for a campaign weekend, and also because I'd just seen 300 and was clearly very enthused about it

They didn't get much of a look-in when I made them, as I finished them rather hurriedly the day before the campaign weekend and was a bit burnt-out afterwards. Anyway, here they are. I'm not sure what their future will be, but I may convert them into far more useable (and for me, cooler) Tactical Marines.

Brother Gyrdon

Pictured during the Caelian wars during the second campaign after Macragge's Compliance, Brother Gyrdon of the Honour Guard stands as an exemplar of the Great Crusade: a shield against the Xenos. As befits his position as Impunicus, he bears an archaic powered pilum in hand. The Impunicus station was a traditional role in the armed forces of Macragge, and one extended to Legion XIII as they were reunited with the Primarch. The Impunica were bodyguards to the Warrior-Kings of Macragge, and within the Astartes, were veteran Marines assigned as Honour Guard to important officers.

It became an outmoded battlefield station, even by the middle years of the Great Crusade – afer all, what protection did the immortal Astartes truly require? – but it was retained as an honorific and ceremonial role.

As Honour Guard to the Primarch himself, Gyrdon's duties to his charge warrant the best protection the Legion can offer – and this involved multiple layers: the pilum, to keep the enemy at arm's length, artificer-wrought and all-encompassing Mark II power armour from the newly-created foundries at Iax, a prototype Calthan Storm Shield and finally a Lares-Aegis portable field generator. Similar to the Iron Halo of modern times, the Lares-Aegis contains a force field generator; though rather than the tougher power field of the Iron Halo, it worked through a conversion process, slowing projectiles and blows by converting their kinetic energy into flashes of light.

Unlike his contemporaries in the ranks, Gyrdon's pauldrons bear no heraldry. His armour is stripped of personalisation to represent his devotion to his charge. His Storm Shield however, like many of the Impunica, bears decorative devices. Gyrdon's bears the inverted 'V' of Prandium; a sly reference to his planet of birth and also echoing his previous placement as a Tactical marine sergeant. To either side of the main device are superstitious Warding Eye devices, a curious choice for the time, and especially in the thirteenth Legion, who prize logic and rationality.

Gyrdon was reported KIA in the early years of the Kurpits-Dranth Campaign, slain by a Kurputti virobolt.

[Rider-75]

Coo, thanks for the warm welcome. I'll have to make sure to get on with things!

I suppose I really am being guilt tripped into working through the rest of my Artscale squad...

If that's those spiffy Minotaurs, Rider 75, let me know if you're interested in the power spear and shield from the FW special character. I have them left over in my bits box.

Actually it was more the Ultramarines I started after seeing your Praetors a few years ago. I've only finished the Sergeant/Captain/Random Officer, but there are two more assembled and ready for paint, with the legs good to go for 2 or 3 more.

There's a link in my sig to them, though the thread is a little, erm, dormant ;)

[apologist]

 

Actually it was more the Ultramarines I started after seeing your Praetors a few years ago.  I've only finished the Sergeant/Captain/Random Officer, but there are two more assembled and ready for paint, with the legs good to go for 2 or 3 more.

Cool – just had a butcher's at Captain Argoroth – you should definitely finish 'em off to give him a command squad to lead :)

 

 

[apologist]

Ten soldiers wisely led will beat a hundred without a head.

 

WIP
I spent some time over the weekend painting the blue and gold on these marines, so not far to go now – first the spot areas like crests, oaths of moment and eyes; and then the iconography and weathering.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[GodEmperorOfMankind]

Great work! Love it. Just one minor thing. Why has the Sarge got a helmet and a rebreather?

[One-eye]

Great work Apologist. I especially like the Tartaros legs, they suit perfectly for true-scale SMs.

[apologist]

Great work! Love it. Just one minor thing. Why has the Sarge got a helmet and a rebreather?

My interpretation is that marine helmets are made up of multiple pieces; externally the main outer piece and a separate faceplate or visor. Behind the faceplate is the rebreather, which can be swapped out for an osmotic gill, hard vacuum mods etc. This would allow a marine with a damaged helmet to remove the external part to continue the fight while in a hostile environment, also allows for multiple layers of protection, and also provides lots of fodder for helmets made up from different provenances. Basically, he's taken off the outer bits to see things with his own eyes – to see the enemies of the nascent Imperium through biology, not technomancy.

More prosaically, I almost always leave the head 'til last when building models. It lets me experiment with different types and angles, which can provide quite stark differences in mood and attitude. I think I had a different head in mind for the sergeant, but when I came to place it, it just didn't look quite right – this one (a modified FW Khorne Berserker head) just demanded to be used – it's got a great intensity to the expression that I really liked.

Great work Apologist. I especially like the Tartaros legs, they suit perfectly for true-scale SMs.

Ta! I was pleased to see the new Legion set. I may well pick it up and see if I can make some money back by selling the bits I don't want.

[geordie]

Awesome awesome awesome. The newest mk2 guys are... awesome. The Imperial Fist guys paint job is terrific. Little Horus and his pals are epic. If FW ever put your work into production I would probably ebay a kidney. Do you accept commissions paid for in questionably obtained organs?

[apologist]

Entos Pharsalis, Sergeant of the Heroditians

These pict-captures of Sergeant Pharsalis are drawn from the Iobetian campaign, waged against the Thyrran Hegemony in the one-hundred-and-fortieth year of the Great Crusade.

 

 

Pharsalis wears an additional osmotic gill, indicating his presence in the marshland theatres of the temperate zones. The campaign was fought across a number of battlefields – land, sea, void and air – that sorely tested Imperial Army support. The indomitable Ultramarines of the 15th, 19th, 21st and 121st Chapters, armed and equipped with the finest wargear known to humanity, were undaunted.

 

 

The key pattern on Pharsalis' upper chest is a relic of pre-Unification Macragge. The sergeant bears the pattern as a reminder of his heritage as a human. Guilliman's teachings encouraged meditations upon the nature of being post-human, and to consider what was traded for such advancement.

 

 

The chequered field of his banner was a traditional detail used by the 19th, while the central wreath remains a common sigil of victory used throughout the Legions.

 

 

Such was the increase in Legion numbers during the later Great Crusade, it became near-impossible for the Legions – especially those based far from Sol – to be restocked and resupplied efficiently. These logistical problems led to a lack of uniformity in armour marks for the Astartes of the XIII Legion until the establishment of treaties between the ever-increasing worlds of Ultramar and the Forgeworlds paying fealty to Mars. The famed 'Praetor pattern' armour became increasingly common towards the events of Calth, but this was supplemented with standard Martian pattern arms and armour, as well as numerous minor marks and patterns.

 

 

Pharsalis' hybrid plate incorporates this Mark III Martian pattern 'Armourum Ferrum' helm, topped with the white, red and black crest that represented the rank Squad Leader or Veteran. The grim-faced helm and forbidding appearance was utilised only on sufferance by the Ultramarines, who recognised the propaganda value in appearing intimidating but not frightening to newly compliant worlds.

Assault and Despoiler squads were, however, issued with this mark in preference, owing as much to the fierce visage as the increased protection!

 

 

A Saturn-pattern 'sun-gun' plasma pistol glows with lambent heat. This pattern of plasma weapon was relatively low-powered, by had an excellent reputation for accuracy and relative reliability.

 

 

Despite bearing an honorific meditation note on the artificer-enhanced armour of his left leg, Pharsalis was not known for his depth of strategic knowledge. As a staunch and courageous line officer, Pharsalis fell short of being ranking officer material – a failing that he recognised and channelled into a fiercely competitive close-tactical mind.

 

Sergeant Pharsalis lost his arm to ork raiders on the backwater world of Pharrel Green, and had it replaced with this bionic by the artificer Tsin Cheung of the Forgeworld Aramiss.

[apologist]

WIP Contemptor pattern Dreadnought

[Adeptus-Alaska]

 

 Why has the Sarge got a helmet and a rebreather?

 

well, whether on purpose, or by accident, that is a great nod to the old rogue trader days when the helmets actually where a two piece deal. and, marines used to get what was called an Osmoddic gill, which looked an awful lot like a rebreather.

[geordie]

Looking forward to seeing you work on the Contemptor. Pharsalis looks awesome. Ironically my favourite part of the model is the helmet, it looks too good for him not to be wearing it! Love your metallic gold too, it looks well worn but still has a richness to it, kind of like antique.