Ecclesiarchical Militarum Tempestus

[Father Mehman]

Right then, everyone, I have a new project. Due to my love of the idea of the Stormtrooper, I've decided to start an army of them. Well, not just them, mind you. This force will grow to encompass the entirety of the Inquisition, Death Watch, and the glorious Imperial Guard. Perhaps a Knight House will aid the battlegroup, too. I'm not real sure on any specific direction to go other than to follow the will of the Emperor. Oh! The Ecclesiarchy will also make an appearance. Yes, my friends, the holy men and women in He-Upon-the-Golden-Throne's service shall be more numerous than the stars in the sky or the planets underfoot. Abhor the witch! Purge the mutant! Smite the xenos!

 

Excuse me for my outburst and allow me to elaborate ever so plainly: this is the story of the Imperium's war of faith. Even now there are those that would cast down His image and spit upon the Creed. For whatever their reasons they are now forever damned - dead apostates that draw breath for scant moments before being snuffed out in righteous fury. You see, there is a squad that deals in these matters exclusively but to know of them is to know the end for they have become death.

 

Anyway, with that out of my system, here's my Ecclesiarchical Kill Team composed of the Militarum Tempestus soldiery:

 

 

 

Strike Squad Satyr-1A

 

Tempestus Scions [5]

- Tempestor

   + Power Sword

   + Bolt Pistol

- Plasma Gun

- Hot-shot Volley Gun

 

Taurox Prime

- Taurox Battle Cannon

- Twin-linked Autocannons

- Storm Bolter

- Recovery Gear

 

Total: 200

 

Wargear:

All Infantry models have Carapace Armour, Frag, and Krak Grenades

Tempestor Theron has a Power Sword and Bolt Pistol

Specialist Lode has a Plasma Gun

Specialist Plinius has a Hot-shot Volley Gun

Specialist Albus and Scion Tibrus both have a Hot-shot Lasgun

The Taurox Prime has a Taurox Battle Cannon, Twin-linked Autocannons, Storm Bolter, and Recovery Gear

 

Transport:

Transport Capacity: 10 Models

Fire Points: Two Fire Points on each side of the hull

Access Points: One Access Point on each side of the hull and one at the rear

 

Special Rules:

Deep Strike

Move Through Cover

All-terrain APC (Taurox Prime)

 

Leader Trait

Tempestor Theron has: Been there, Seen it, Done it

 

Specialists

Tempestor Theron is a Combat Specialist and has: Killer Instinct

Specialist Lode is a Guerrilla Specialist and has: Preferred Enemy

Specialist Plinius is an Indomitable Specialist and has: Relentless

Specialist Albus is a Weapon Specialist and has: Sharpshooter

 

 

 

I'm posting this here because I plan to expand this Kill Team into a fully fledged Tempestus army, with a few additions, of course.

 

Well, thanks for looking.

[Father Mehman]

Time for an update, everyone !

So, I'm in the process of painting a test model but, let's not kid ourselves, it's going to end up being this scheme. I can't think of anything more Ecclesiarchical than using the Red, Black, and White of His most holy Imperium. That it shares the same colours as the Inquisition is just a happy coincidence, truthfully. Well, maybe not. I set out to make an Inquisition force for Kill Team and the broader game but didn't have any good ideas for an Inquisitor to lead them in purifying the galaxy. If there is one thing I know how to do it's making Priests. So, I guess the jump isn't that far off when you think about it. Priests, especially Missionaries, hold a lot of power amongst the milieu of the Imperium, have stations in the upper echelon of the Imperium's governmental structure, and ultimately both spread the word of the Emperor.

I hope to have some fluff in the coming weeks about this Strike Force as well as the mission-at-large. Something along the lines of a force dedicated to a particular Missionary or Bishop in the Triedes Sector (my own sandbox) sounds good. Maybe the Bishop is the head but lets others aid him in his task of securing worlds to come into the Imperial fold. Eh, I'll work on it.

Here's a mock up of the Scions' uniform and equipment. It's pretty rough but I think everyone can see what I'm going for. The carapace armour will be a dark crimson (hopefully) with bronze trim, black fatigues and grey leather. The bedroll is an off-white colour I've used in almost all of my armies. Their eyes, camera lenses, and cogitator screens will be purple and they will deal death with white-cased armaments. To ease the burden of the bronze, I've included silver on their helms for the various symbols that appear there. The last item is their black face masks. My wife thought that added a nice touch while breaking up some of the crimson. Of course I agreed!

Anyway, here's the picture and thanks for looking, as always:

[HackedDuck]

Now all we need is a painted model ;)

[our_baz]

Love the scheme, two further thoughts, green lens etc that will really pop next to the red. Also why not drop the black face mask, and free hand an off white skull face?

[Father Mehman]

@Duck - Ah, I see what you did there! I just put the first layer of actual colour on him so I can probably shoot for a WiP picture tomorrow.

@Baz - I had thought of green lenses and the red but then stopped. Near about everything I see that's red has green lenses (Imperial Knights, Blood Angels, tomatoes, etc) and I just can't continue the madness. Blue lenses then jumped into my head but, to me, purple seems to be the next best thing. The crimson and the purple work to make the Scions look like stealthy predators; even like royalty out for blood. All that and I don't get to paint purple much .

Your idea about the skull face mask is absolutely great. I wanted these guys to have the feel of the Death's Heads from the old Empire Livery book for WFB and that would really invoke them. The colours are inverted because my wife rightly pointed out that crimson fatigues would look a little "off". I'll start looking for good ways of painting a Death's Head on the face mask right now.

[Icepick]

Well, i can with certainty attest that you have chosen a colour scheme that will look great when finished :D It's pretty much what i have done to my scions, see the thread in my signature if you're looking for inspiration. I'm very curious to see how the purple lenses and the white will turn out, since this is where your scheme differs from mine!

 

Interestingly enough, of the six or so colour schemes that GW show in the codex, only a single one has the helmet painted completely in one colour (and one only uses models with berets, so no helmets visible). Your guys will be in good company. However, should you chose to do the skull face mask, i would probably stick to one colour for the whole helmet, to prevent it from becoming to much of a colour-chaos, and you might want to consider not painting the helmet trim to not draw attention away. The skull face print is rather easy to do, since the helmets are already very skull like in appearance (i do wonder if that was deliberate on the designers part). Just paint a rough half-circle shape on the forehead, the outer edges of the lense-casings and a broad dash in he middle of the face mask in your chosen colour, highlight/shade/wash to taste and you're done.

[our_baz]

I paint my scions with a red skull like face. See my thread below for pics.

[Father Mehman]

Well, I have news, again. After much deliberation and study, I think that the skull face mask idea is out for this force. Maybe when I do some Death Korps of Krieg I'll revisit the idea. Instead of improving the overall design of the Ecclesiarchical force, the painted skulls seem to make them look different from how I had envisioned them. The more I think about them, the clearer it becomes that these Scions are precision tools to be wielded like a set of surgical instruments. Fear should come from the very fact of their being and not what is daubed on them. Plus, the air of royalty goes by the wayside, in my opinion.

Oh well. This idea will return in the future .

[Icepick]

The more I think about them, the clearer it becomes that these Scions are precision tools to be wielded like a set of surgical instruments. Fear should come from the very fact of their being and not what is daubed on them.

Hehe i like the way you think... And you're certainly right with the precision tool aspect. Anyway, do what fits your vision best, they are your guys after all!

[Father Mehman]

So, I did a thing. It's nowhere near finished by any stretch of the imagination but I have the two main colours on my Scion making strides - the black fatigues and the crimson armour. I've sprayed the model Chaos Black and then basecoated the fatigues with Abaddon Black as the two blacks have a different finish. Then, I heavily drybrushed Eshin Grey over the fatigues followed by a wash of Nuln Oil to give the grey and black colours the look of cloth and not shiny metal. A lighter drybrush of Eshin Grey completed the fabric.

The red for the armour is a secret that none shall know ! Ok, fine, I'll tell you. Let it be known that I am easily swayed. I mixed Khorne Red and Abaddon Black in a 3:1 mixture on my wet palette (woo hoo ) and applied it to each armour panel. I was debating whether or not to put down a coat of Rhinox Hide to help the red show up better but, in the end, I wanted the crimson to be as dark as possible. Well, not that dark. Anyway, it took two passes, sometimes three, to get the colour down but, if you paint in almost-glazes and actual glazes like I do, you'd be used to that.

What's next? Well, I'm poised to line the armour plates where they meet each other or another colour with Nuln Oil. That should make the crimson even more striking. I'll then edge highlight some of the armour plates with straight Khorne Red. Can I tell you a secret? I hate edge highlighting. It's not that I can't do it - gods no! I think on most models that it looks cartoonish. I know we're painting Sci-Fi (or Speculative Fiction...) miniatures but I like to see some sense of realism about them. After those two things are finished, I guess the grey leather will be next.

Here's a picture of my WiP Ecclesiarchy Scion for your enjoyment and treat for reading all that text:

As always, thanks for looking. Feel free to leave a comment !

[duz_]

Scions look good in red ;)

 

looking forward to how you do the gold trim

Your scions are almost the "away" version of mine
Mine are red/off white/gold

[WarriorFish]

I like your "combined arms" idea, the various smaller codices will make for a cool army. I like the colour scheme too, though I wonder if a blue for the lenses might be better than a purple?

 

Are you going to bother coming up with a workaround to the Decree Passive or just roll with it? When in doubt just say "an Inquisitor did it" and that pretty much covers anything :lol: Hey, who's to say that the Inquisitor didn't want to paint his private army up all Ecclesiarchal or not? Maybe he's just that pious...

[Father Mehman]

I like your "combined arms" idea, the various smaller codices will make for a cool army. I like the colour scheme too, though I wonder if a blue for the lenses might be better than a purple?

Are you going to bother coming up with a workaround to the Decree Passive or just roll with it? When in doubt just say "an Inquisitor did it" and that pretty much covers anything Hey, who's to say that the Inquisitor didn't want to paint his private army up all Ecclesiarchal or not? Maybe he's just that pious...

Blue lenses could work and if purple doesn't work, I'll definitely repaint them with that. I've chosen purple for two reasons. First, the colour invokes an archetypal sense of royalty, especially when combined with the crimson. Secondly, I've painted so little in purple so it should be quite fun .

As for the Decree Passive... Warp take me! I don't know. That is certainly a big wrench in this idea's machinery. Missionaries don't normally keep and equip a standing army as often as they just use what is available at the time. Hmm. I could see this as a problem, or, barring that, this could be an opportunity to diverge a bit from the norm. It can't turn into a Mary Sue type of thing, though - there's no having that.

Alright. So we have the Missionarus Galaxia sending out Missionaries all throughout the unknown reaches of the galaxy to rediscover humanity, convert them into the Imperium's fold, and then profit from their tithes and souls. Who else does this? Rogue Traders. They're the heads of trade dynasties that are found in every Segmentum, explorers for adventure and coin, and the founders of vast Sectors of space. What do we know about the two institutions working together? Well, the crossover is that Rogue Traders must take on Missionaries whenever they can as it is in both of their interests to work together. That's another decree but a good one (this time, at least).

Then we have the Holy Ordos of the Inquisition in their varying states, the biggest three being the Ordo Xenos, Ordo Malleus, and Ordo Hereticus. The first two are all but useless when it comes to policing the spiritual matters in the Imperium. The last one, though, fits the bill perfectly and is, in fact, why it was created in the first place. What's the mission statement of this "army"? They were created to execute the heads of various religions that do not submit to the awesome power that is the Imperial Creed, to cast down rogue religious leaders that have bastardized the aforementioned Creed for their own gains, and to combat various other heresies.

Here may be a solution: what if a Missionary has the backing of the Ordo Hereticus to commit a standing elite army to finding and exterminating the heretic with the help of a Rogue Trader in a truly undiscovered Sector of the Segmentum Pacificus - the Triedes Sector? This way, I'll get to convert and paint three unique models, explore a Sector of my own devising, and kick some serious heretical skulls into the rockcrete !

It's great when a plan comes together.

[WarriorFish]

Purple was the colour of Emperors first ;) The Decree Passive is easy for you to work around, as you're taking an Inquisitor simply make them his personal troops. That he works with the Ecclesiarchy means that even though they're not part of the church they effectively work for it just the same - the Decree Passive safely obeyed :P There's plenty of scope for campaign armies taking and sharing colours and icons as a mark of respect and brotherhood with their allies too, so you can work some church symbols on to them safely too :)

[Ulrik_Ironfist]

So, I'm finally going to chime in. First, I have a work around for the purple lenses, it would be most possible to do purple lenses, but highlight with a light blue mixed in the purple or a lighter purple to "flare" the lenses. Then add a clear glaze to make it shiny and pop the colors a bit more.

 

As for highlighting, I rarely do it anymore, since I began using a drybrush, and even before I used shades to darken areas rather than brighten areas with lighter colors, as I felt it made the models appear more real. When I do highlight, I drybrush highlight, hitting only the raised areas with paint, and I try to keep the highlight the same as the base color, because as I said I use shades to darken things.

 

With the airbrush, I can control how much paint goes on a specific area and then fade it into a darker color, and since most of my armies use dark colors, I tend to prime in black so things are already pre-shaded.

 

As for the Decree Passive. Real world example, the Vatican has the Swiss Guard, who are, despite their ceremonial role, highly trained soldiers, charged with guarding the Pope and the Apostolic Palace. The Swiss Guards could be your inspiration here, since, they owe their ultimate allegiance to the Pope, but they have their own chain of command.

 

This would allow you to say that your Storm Troopers belong to a Regiment or group of regiments, specifically tasked with providing bodyguards for various high ranking members of the ecclesiarchy. This gets around the decree that the Ecclesiarchy cannot maintain men under arms, but also provides the Ecclesiarchy with it's own de facto regiments. The Watchmaster (or Sergeant or Tempestor) would be at the beckon call of the priest he was assigned to protect. He'd go where the priest went, and his troops would fight at his behest, if he so happened to find himself in a combat zone.

 

Besides, it's not like the imperium obeys it's own rules...

[Father Mehman]

@Lord Commissar - I like the campaign badge idea a lot. At the least, when I start adding in some Imperial Guard they'll have one.

 

@Ulrik - Whenever I do my other Scions, their eyes and slate monitrons get a coat of 'Ard Coat and I'm always surprised at how it ties the colours together. That's some amazing stuff. Anyway, I totally agree with shading certain parts of a model and then bringing it back up to the base colour. It usually will give a nice, dark tone to the model. Funnily enough, having mixed the crimson, I found out that all I needed to do was line shade the armour plates with Nuln Oil. I'll take a picture later today of the work so far but I'm not sure if it'll show up that well.

 

I love the Swiss Guard and their stately uniforms. Anyway, that's a great idea I hadn't thought of so thanks for bringing it up. The original idea for this force came from a Black Library book, funnily enough. I can't remember the book that well but it had agents of the Ecclesiarchy going after a group of Space Wolves in one part. I thoroughly enjoyed the idea of the Church having a Kill Team so much that with the re-release of Kill Team, I just knew I had to get on doing it.

 

Maybe this force will just include Militarum Tempestus models, in the end. Everyone knows I love the Guard but I can't think what they'd add in this instance. They're the sledgehammer of the Emperor but all I want is the sniper rifle of He-Upon-the-Golden-Throne. Or the hold-out gun of the Master of Mankind. Whatever floats your boat, really.

[Ulrik_Ironfist]

I love the guard too Meh. I just don't love what GW has done to them. GW has made the guard about as flavorful and fun as munching on a cardboard box. In this case you're absolutely right, guard would add nothing to the kill team. I would even, dare I say it, recommend against regular guard for kill team. Veterans don't bring enough to the table and the infantry platoon is far too unwieldy for such a small scale game.