The Emperor's Shadow

[Terimus]

Welcome one and all! Over the past few months, I've been asked by several friends to put on a Role Playing Game campaign set in the 30k timeline using the Deathwatch rules. Here we are doing an alternate reality in which the player's decision's can alter the outcomes of historical events. 

 

That being said, we wanted to start near the end of the great crusade, but to gather each of the players into a team that would stick together, I created a special ops faction set up by Horus known as the Emperor's Shadow. In essence, its a prototype of the Deathwatch, where members from the various legions and blackshields can be invited to come together to add the talents, strengths, and skills of each of the Legions into a powerful task force for black ops missions. I was originally thinking of having the players be gathered by the Knights Errant, but that didn't come around until quite a bit later from where we wanted to start, so I thought this was a good option. 

 

Without further adieu, here's the color scheme for the Emperor's Shadow. Similar to the Deathwatch, members are allowed to leave one of their should pads with their legion's colors and heraldry. Others, like the legionary shown here, rid themselves entirely of their origins to devote themselves wholly to the Emperor's Shadow.

 

With this whole idea and the game, I've wanted to make models for the players and some of the key NPC's they work with regularly. Most of the players have their own minis, but I also wanted my own take on each of the models so I could maybe use these characters I'm growing to love in regular 30k or 40k games as either Blackshields or Deathwatch or something.

 

On to the models! Here's several of our key players, all of which are still in WIP phase.

 

Meet Lord Praetor Sebastian, Master of the Emperor's Shadow, originally from the Blood Angels clad in his artificer battle plate originally based on the mk III design. Sebastian wields a master crafted Power Maul and Paragon Blade for melee combat and a plasma pistol for range.

 

Sebastian has yet to actually fight alongside the players, but he's always been the one to assign them their missions. On day soon he'll see battle with them!

 

Now we get to the team/squad the Players are a part of. They have earned their squad the title "Imperialis Timore" or the IMperial Terror. This has been given due to the squad's impressive talent for stealth and sabotage  that cause the enemies of the emperor to fear them. This team was the forerunners to the capital city of Xenobia (homeworld of the Interex), where they singlehanded dismantled the major defenses around the palace and took out one of the largest military facilities in the area, paving the way for the Luna Wolves to level the city with ease.

 

First is Sergeant Dovev, a techmarine originally from the Luna Wolves/Sons of Horus, one of the player characters. He began his career as a Reaver (hence the topnot) but after sustaining many injuries in a bombing that killed his squad, he began study in the mechanicum and quickly discovered his talent for engineering and became a Techmarine. He favors his hammer named Sunder, a relic he obtained from Xenobia, home of the Interex. 

Obviously, he's still very WIP, I still need to finish building his legs and base. 

 

 

 

Next up is Uruz, Apothecary from the White Scars Legion, one of our player characters. He bears the classic narthecium of the APothecaries, but has become fond of wielding a bayonetted Flamer for making "Mongolian Barbecue."  He's been part of the Emperor's Shadow the longest out of the squad.

Still working on the sculpting on his mk iii torso armor and helmet.

 

Here is Gararus of the Thousand Sons, another player character. He's a stubborn Terran-born marine with very limited psychic abilities, but he's very loyal to Magnus, which has created some difficulties as our heroes are currently caught in the middle of the Burning of Prospero. He's a tactical marine who's picked up a power hatchet along the way for the situations too close for a bolter. 

For the model, I really didn't want to have to order and wait for mk ii bits (since the player specified that he wanted mk ii armor), so I decided to custom build it. most of it was actually made from old chaos marine bits that I hacked to pieces, as well as a few extra pieces from around. I cut out the eye divider of a mk iii helmet to get the long visor of the mk ii. I think it turned out pretty decent overall.

 

 

For the last of our player characters, we have Comuje, a Terran born librarian originally from the Iron Hands. Estranged by the Iron Hands after the council of Nikea, he was taken in by his friend Valun of the Emperor's children (Valun, an NPC is up next), and they joined the Emperor's shadow together. In doing so, COmuje abandoned his legion entirely as they had abandoned him.

So I currently have his bits in the mail, I'm going to be doing some extensive conversion work to the Magistus Amon model. I've photoshopped a rough idea of what he will look like. Although he does have a claw shaped bionic left arm, which I have built in anticipation for the rest of the model to arrive. The staff will be left as is, as Magnus gave him a special scepter to aid them in their journeys. 

Again, I will be removing a lot of the egyptian stle stuff like the spiky think on the shoulder and the striped patterns and whatnot.

his claw hand

 

Valun, of the Emperor's Children, joined his friend Comuje in volunteering for the Emperor's Shadow at the same time. He's an excellent swordsman with a good, but sometimes prideful heart.

 

Here is Maximus of the Alpha Legion. He's a hacker and spy. After losing his right arm during the great crusade, he dropped the whole "I am Alpharius" idea and devoted himself to being an agent and jumped at the chance of joining the Emperor's Shadow. He was present to recruite all the players to the Emperor's Shadow.

As for the model, his main weapon is his bionic arm, which he can energize to become a pseudo power fist,  or he can use his extendable blade (yes, inspired by Assassin's Creed). The model is in fact based on a Primaris marine, as I was running short on mk iv parts, so he's got a truescale suit of mixed plate coming from mk iii and mk iv armor. Being a hacker, he's decked out with datapads and tech gear.

 

 

And last up is a unique marine by the name of Wesley. He was found by the Imperialis Timore on Xenobia. Though a human adolscent, Wesley had become a mechanic aiding the Interex military. When the Imperial Timore arrived, He submitted to them without difficulty and was very willing and compliant. Comuje took Wesley under his wing, feeling bad for the young man. Wesley was brought back and initiated into the servants of the Emperor's Shadow and began going on missions with the Imperialis Timore. During a mission with Dovev, Wesley became injured while bravely helping to fight off a rogue surviving Thunder Warrior.

Due to his loyalty and bravery, Sebastian approved the young human to be issued the Astartes surgeries to save his life.

Honest to goodness, Wesley hasn't yet become a space marine yet, and it will be a bit before he gets to this point, but eventually, he will become a Moritat for the Emperor's Shadow. In his few missions, he's favored shotguns, so I thought it would be fun for him to be dual wielding shot guns, but I'm still waiting to get a second one so I can finish the model. I'll also be adding some additional plating like the forge world moritats have. I might do some more repositioning to the right leg to get it more natural.

 

I've really enjoyed the game and this building project so far and I hope you guys will enjoy it with me!

[Pearson73]

Some very nice kitbashing and posing here.

[Terimus]

Here's some progress I've made on Maximus, the Emperor's Shadow from the Alpha Legion. Still needs some work, but I'm getting closer.

[Bjorn Firewalker]

Maximus looks great! I keep expecting to see spikes on his helmet, like that of a Spaniard with the same name in Ridley Scott's 'Gladiator'.

[Terimus]

Making some progress on Dovev and Wesley both. Still have a long ways to go and a lot of clean up work to do.

 

Wesley finally got his left hand as well as some paint. Lighting's not the best

[Bjorn Firewalker]

The Techmarine looks great, but did pre-Heresy Techmarines were silver armor instead of red?

[Gederas]

The Techmarine looks great, but did pre-Heresy Techmarines were silver armor instead of red?

 

From what I've seen from the artwork from the Horus Heresy books, pre-Heresy Techmarines had the same armour as their Legion, maybe with a red shoulderpad to show their association with Mars.

[Terimus]

After a hiatus due to college finals and a vacation, I've been making some progress on the painting. I still have a long way to go before they are all done, but its progress.

 

Garaus is too stubborn to fully change is colors to the EMperor's shadow from the pre-Magnus thousand sons colorshttp://warhammer40k.wikia.com/wiki/Thousand_Sons

 

 

 

 

 

Comuje's bits finally came! If you are curious, the egyptian style staff was a gift from Magnus the Red to Comuje following some acts of valor that helped rescue the Thousand Sons.

 

[Bjorn Firewalker]

Good job.