27 replies to this topic

[CaptainStabby]

I have always liked the idea of a Celestial Lions force, from the time of reading the War for Armageddon campaign page on them back in the day, they, along with the Exorcists were the two standouts of that campaign to me. The idea of a chapter being forced to rebuild after betrayal from the Imperium (yes technically the Inquisition,  but still) and not breaking, nor turning renegade is a powerful one, one that I have always wanted to explore with a Lions force.

 

Next bit is some brainstorming towards that end, and theres a mostly painted guy down at the bottom. Cheers for looking Brothers.

 

Spoiler

To me, the idea of the chapter being “dead”, essentially at Mannheim Gap was a gross overreaction frankly. With the full chapter deployed, that would cover active line troops. The idea that every single Apothercary back on Elysium, garrison Marine, fleet assigned Marine etc… was deployed is kinda stupid, that simply wouldn’t happen. The chapter wasn’t dead, it was beaten and broken for sure and I’m glad the events of Mannheim Gap were expanded upon with Grimaldus doing more than his share of the heavy lifting to keep Dubaku on track and not just going and getting wiped out because… reasons.

 

So, all that said the question that sticks out to me is; how many Lions left Armageddon? We know there were 96 when they pushed into the gap, and it is stated that when the Ork warlord fell, Dubaku was the only one left standing, that means they got the crap kicked out of them. I don’t think it implies that he was the last one left alive, though I guess it could be interpreted as such, I choose not to. That said, certainly all 96 did not survive that battle.

 

For my purposes I have decided that 17 Lions survived, along with Dubaku that makes 18. The force I’m building will likely be centered around this battle hardened cadre of survivors, they will make up my Veteran Sgt’s as well as any Stern/Vanguard squads I field. I don’t know if, initially I will field Terminators. For Dubaku himself I am strongly considering Kantor, he gives Sternguard ObSec, and preferred enemy Orks also makes sense for a Lions army. I figure the SternGuard having ObSec is a fitting representation of the surviving Armageddon Vets.

 

The problem with Kantor is the power fist. I have always imagined Dubaku with a nice big choppy power or chainsword, it wouldn’t be wysiwyg, but he may end up with a massive eviscerator or something along those lines, the stormbolter works fine, it just gets renamed to something suitably lion-ey. Maybe some sort of greatsword with PFist stats to represent the sword of one of the fallen Captains…

 

Warleader Vularkh buried the war-sword “Je’hara” in the beast’s belly and carved three metres of stinking alien guts free. It did nothing.

 

I also really want to do a small unit of Vanguard vets painted up as Black Templars to represent the Sword Brethren that returned to Elysium with the Lions. The idea of Dubaku rolling around with them in the thick of things because he can’t afford to deploy his veterans that way yet appeals to me, with the idea being that he has had to spread his veterans around the newly formed squads to ensure their wisdom and experience is leveraged towards the future.

No pity. No remorse. No fear.

Elysium rises.

 

First test mini is about 90% done, but I wanted to get pics up as I'm pretty happy with him. I need to finish the freehand of the army badge on his left greave. I figure all my Vets will carry that somewhere. I also need to sort a purity seal or something on the left wrist to cover up the ugly mess that resulted in my shipping up that arm. I've also sorted a much better way of handling the jump pack harness for the rest of his squad. I'm hoping to crank through the rest of them by the end of the weekend.

 

Also still deciding whether or not I want to order some scenic bases or not so I'm holding off on finishing that part so far.

 

Veteran Sergeant Dembe Zuma, Celestial Lions Chapter, Survivor: Third War for Armageddon

 

 

Edited by CaptainStabby, 11 February 2016 - 05:53 AM.

[Noctus Cornix]

This is a pretty exceptional start you've got here, mate. If this is what is to come, then I cannot wait to see more.

[Leviathus]

Nice! Keeping my eye on this.

[CaptainStabby]

Cheers folks. I have been kicking this army around in my head for a good while now and seeing as I'm supposed to head up to Seattle for a "Tale of X gamers" type of thing in the springtime, I figured I ought to get started on actually painting things.

 

Oh also I've almost got the Chapter Master nailed down. He will likely get paint last once I decide I sort of don't suck at it again. He's got the bionic leg and arm to replace the ones that got Ork'd off of him at Armageddon, the cloak is the Templar cloak that Helbrecht gave him, along with the Heresy era battle plate. I am still debating whether or not to leave the IF icon on it. The Raptor Imperalis will stay for sure as that's a battle honor and part of the history of the armor.

 

Ekene Dubaku, Lion of the Emperor (interesting. My webhosting barfed. Updating broken links.)

 

 

 

Edited by CaptainStabby, 06 August 2016 - 04:09 AM.

[MikhalLeNoir]

Woah. I like your wardens of light...aeh...celestial lions. Especially your chapter master....i think i must steal him.

[deathspectersgt7]

Good to see more lions.

[Brother Pheidias]

Gorgeous work so far!

[Reclusiarch Krieg]

For the Templar Vanguard Brethren you could have them get a kneepad in Lions' colours, as well as have your Sternguard 17 + Chapter Master wear a white kneepad with a Templar Crusade Cross, just like CF / BT exchanged liveries during the Declates Crusade.

[CaptainStabby]

Cheers for the comments folks!

 

@Mikhal Steal away, I'm pretty happy with how he turned out, it was one of those things I could see in my head but wasn't sure it would work out in the execution.

 

@KastorKrieg That's actually a really cool idea. I do want to make sure the Templar look like they are part of the force and not just "Oh I painted some dudes in black armor" and the Templar cross on the Lions fits as well!

 

I'm also keen to make sure every one of my CL vets looks like they are ready for bear. Extra kit, pouches, ammo etc. They need to look like they know at any moment they could be completely on their own and have to preserver. I am half tempted to run a variant list where I use the Red Scorpions list and make all of the squad Sgt's into Apothecaries, because we ain't got time for any more of that "Ork Sniper" nonsense again!

Edited by CaptainStabby, 03 March 2016 - 08:17 AM.

[Reclusiarch Krieg]

That's a VERY cool reason to run a Counts-As Red Scorpion list. Apothecaries from Elysium and the remnants of the fleet would be rebuilding and personally guarding the most precious geneseed with their own lives.

[CaptainStabby]

Also it gives me an excuse to model up alternate Sgt's!! Because Im a loon like that... Just realized I have a ton of terminator tilt shields laying about. I may re purpose those for the CL/BT honor markings for the Vets and Sword Brethren, that could totally work.

Edited by CaptainStabby, 12 February 2016 - 12:13 AM.

[AceofCase]

That's a great idea CaptainStabby. I'm working on a combined Imperial Fist & successor force myself, so I'm interested to see how those honor markings turn out.

[That Guy Matt]

Liking the look of your Chapter Master.  That's a heck of a blade he's packing.

[Reclusiarch Krieg]

As a salute to the rebuilding forces of Elysium, one of my Calth tactical Squads will be a Celestial Lions one. Grimaldus will wear a memento as well.

Edited by Kastor Krieg, 13 February 2016 - 04:41 PM.

[CaptainStabby]

++PICS DOWN BELOW!! I removed the ugly ones. ++

Edited by CaptainStabby, 08 April 2016 - 03:04 AM.

[deathspectersgt7]

Looking Good Mate!!!

[CaptainStabby]

Cheers, I think I need to try to take some non potato pics tonight though, these are a bit meh.

[AndrewChristlieb]

Haha! Just saw your thread and I'm glad to see I'm not the only one getting started on some Lions! It's funny, but I had the same thought about using Red Scorpions CT with apothecaries to show them going a little overkill on keeping the geneseed alive after Armageddon. So far just building them for IF tactics though since I really don't want to scrounge a bunch of the bits for that! .

Yours are looking really good so far, the gold has a nice clean and deep color to it. I have to ask though where did you get the shoulder pads? I've free handed the few complete models so far and while it looks good for the Infantry I'd like the characters to stand out some. Thanks!

[CaptainStabby]

The pads, chapter and squad markings are from shapeways. Theres a guy whose name on there is matt_sweitzer, his shop is Pop Goes the Monkey, he does all kinds of pads, he's pretty much my goto for things I refuse to try freehanding, which is pretty much everything.

[Naryn]

These look fantastic! My vote goes to no Fists icon--I think you could fit any number of other bits in its place, and have it look more natural. Otherwise I think it stands the risk of looking too Fisty, if you get me. Where did you get those pauldrons? They're spot on!

Edited by Naryn, 08 April 2016 - 12:07 AM.

[deathspectersgt7]

The pads, chapter and squad markings are from shapeways. Theres a guy whose name on there is matt_sweitzer, his shop is Pop Goes the Monkey, he does all kinds of pads, he's pretty much my goto for things I refuse to try freehanding, which is pretty much everything.

I have a Bunch of his pads. 

[AndrewChristlieb]

These look fantastic! My vote goes to no Fists icon--I think you could fit any number of other bits in its place, and have it look more natural. Otherwise I think it stands the risk of looking too Fisty, if you get me. Where did you get those pauldrons? They're spot on!

On the chapter master the fluff does state his armor still bears the iconography of the fists and given the age of said armor and that they're an If successor I don't know that they would change it. There are plenty of examples where war gear has retained aspects of it's first founding chapter even after being given over to a successor so as not to tick off the machine spirits and what not...

[CaptainStabby]

 

These look fantastic! My vote goes to no Fists icon--I think you could fit any number of other bits in its place, and have it look more natural. Otherwise I think it stands the risk of looking too Fisty, if you get me. Where did you get those pauldrons? They're spot on!

On the chapter master the fluff does state his armor still bears the iconography of the fists and given the age of said armor and that they're an If successor I don't know that they would change it. There are plenty of examples where war gear has retained aspects of it's first founding chapter even after being given over to a successor so as not to tick off the machine spirits and what not...

 

Yeah, that's the thing, in the Novella Blood and Fire, it states that the suit is still bears the original IF heraldry. Not sure if that just means the icons, or if it's straight up still yellow. I'm still debating what I want to do there. Dubaku and the Templar brethren that are forthcoming are going to be a lot of fun to build and paint.

Ok, let's try this again with less potato lookin pics. rawr. Nothing terribly spectacular, I mean... it's kinda a bog standard Assault Squad.

 

Calling this squad finished pending scenic bases that I'm still deciding on. I will also probably hit the eye lenses again at some point, not liking how they don't pop, so that will need to be resolved. Need to get building the rest of the army.

 

 

 

 

Edited by CaptainStabby, 08 April 2016 - 03:04 AM.

[AndrewChristlieb]

Iirc it did say the armor was gold. Something like an ancient suit of gold power armor that belonged to an IF champion during the heresy and still bore the heraldry of the Imperial Fists.

[CaptainStabby]

Iirc it did say the armor was gold. Something like an ancient suit of gold power armor that belonged to an IF champion during the heresy and still bore the heraldry of the Imperial Fists.

 

You are indeed correct. I re-read it last night, it's gold, and I'm thinking the heraldry stays, but he will get the appropriate chapter icon shoulderpad.