Galloway's Void Reavers- DA Successor Chapter

[Galloway]

Hi all- finally starting up a plog to share my progress as I paint up a homebrew DA successor chapter I put together. Lots of different bits of inspiration, including FW Nemean Reaver and Blackshields transfer sheet, and kitbashes from many that post here. I particularly want to call out @SpacedHulk's Sword Bearers (http://www.bolterandchainsword.com/topic/272544-sword-bearers-dark-angels-revenants-8419/) and @DaemonPrinceDargor's 30k DA (http://www.bolterandchainsword.com/topic/355024-dargors-first-legion/) for a lot of what got me inspired to pull these together. To kick things off, a short Index Astartes type writeup for the chapter follows bellow- feedback welcome. As I start and/or complete units, I'll post them here.

 

Thanks for looking.

Edited June 9, 2019 by Galloway

[Galloway]

Index Astartes: Void Reavers

Chapter Motto
We stand against the dark

Chapter Origins
The Void Reavers are a Dark Angels Successor Chapter of ancient but unknown founding. They are active along the northwestern frontiers of Imperium, often found coming to the defense of isolated worlds and outposts along the border with the Halo Stars. Some scholars claim the Void Reavers operate in the tradition of nearly forgotten orders of roving knights from Caliban-that-was. These knights-errant patrolled the most remote corners of that world, protecting settlements too small or far-flung to support their own knightly orders. Unknown to all but other Unforgiven is the Void Reavers’ secret mandate to scour these remote regions for any Fallen that may be hiding there, or attempting to flee the Imperium for refuge beyond.

The Void Reavers have no known homeworld, but like many Unforgiven chapters recruit from a variety of worlds. They have established a number of small, hidden keeps and fortresses on many of these worlds that they use to train, repair, and resupply at. The Void Reavers also maintain a large starbase hidden within an asteroid field in the Marcosan depths, which serves as their de facto chapter fortress. The existence of this starbase is the Void Reavers' most closely guarded secret, known of outside the chapter by only a handful of individuals such as the Supreme Grand Master of the Dark Angels.

The Void Reavers appear to have a close connection to the Guardians of the Covenant, although the exact nature of their relationship is known only to a select number of the uppermost echelons of the Unforgiven. Like the Guardians of the Covenant, they have long-standing alliances with a number of forge worlds in Segmenta Pacificus and Obscura. This relationship includes certain factions of Stygies VIII, with whom they will sometimes trade archeotech recovered from the frontier to ensure they remain well-supplied with fresh arms and armor.

The chapter was brought to brink of extinction after the emergence of the Great Rift, with a majority of its strength active in what became the Imperium Nihilus. More than 700 battle-brothers were lost in the aftermath, selling their lives dearly in dozens of desperate sieges and last stands as they strove to shield isolated worlds from the unending torrent of Chaos unleashed by the fall of Cadia. The survivors answered Azrael’s summons to the emergency council of all Unforgiven following the Darkmor Massacre, and the Void Reavers were brought back to full strength through an infusion of Primaris marines after the Primarch’s Summit. Like many Unforgiven chapters, the Void Reavers were wary of these new marines and did not integrate them into their first two companies, or chapter leadership. However, with the knowledge of the Calgarian rites and nearly a century of recruiting, training, and indoctrinating new Primaris battle-brothers, the previously unthinkable may yet come to pass.

Organization
The Void Reavers are organized similar to other Unforgiven chapters. Their first company, the Fellwing, is comprised of veterans always fielded in Terminator armor, while their second company, the Wraithwing, is comprised purely of Marines mounted on bikes or Land Speeders, with a select few piloting atmospheric fighters. Also like the Dark Angels, the Void Reavers’ commanders and elite are members of a secret inner circle, the Gloaming Blade, who know the true nature of the chapter’s hunt for the Fallen.

Combat Doctrine
The Void Reavers’ combat doctrines do not deviate strongly from other Unforgiven chapters. They are keenly aware of often operating far from reinforcement and resupply, and have a strong preference for careful planning and tactics over wild charges and other “heroic” behavior. Like the Guardians of the Covenant, their choice of engagements and conduct on the battlefield typically shows more regard for the common citizens of the Imperium than many other chapters. But they will often take the most promising youths from their sites of victory as new recruits, such that their arrival is sometimes seen afterwards as a rather mixed blessing. And in those cases where members of the Fallen are discovered, they can be as ruthless as any other Unforgiven chapter in eliminating evidence and witnesses.

Beliefs
The Void Reavers place a particular emphasis on their duty as defenders of humanity, standing as a bulwark against the dark so that the Imperium may realize its true destiny of unchallenged control of the galaxy. They therefore have a particular hate for traitors and heretics, those members of humanity who turn their back on the Imperium and undermine it from within. To those many battle-brothers who are not of the Fellwing or Wraithwing, there is no greater enemy then the Heretic Astartes, traitors to both humanity and their oaths to the Imperium. But the greatest fury of the Void Reavers is held by those of the Gloaming Blade who know of the Fallen, for they betrayed their Legion and Primarch when they were needed most.

Notable Campaigns
832.M36 The Void Reavers battle barge Specter of Justice answers a distress call from the frontier world of Chulbrek. It arrives to find most of the population slaughtered, their bodies being harvested by horrifying biomechanical constructs. They soon discover the constructs’ masters, tall hooded figures in ragged robes that feast upon the dead and are impervious to all but their heaviest weapons. The Void Reavers quickly fall back to the Specter of Justice and declare Exterminatus on the planet. Those few survivors of Chulbrek they are able to rescue are either taken as initiates, or given positions as serfs within the vessel crew. However, most have been so damaged by the horrors they witnessed that they are remade into servitors within a standard year.

009.M41 The ork-infested space hulk Deceit of Hate carrying the horde of Warboss Gutkrusha is detected heading towards the shrineworld of Vesta VI. A combined force drawn from the Void Reavers and Blood Guard chapters launch a daring strike as it enters the Vesta system, led by members of their Terminator-armored first companies. The combined forces battle through the depths to place hidden targeting beacons at critical junctures throughout the hulk, then quickly teleport out as their Chapter fleets open fire. Precision strikes enabled by the beacons slice the space hulk apart, and the debris falls safely into the system’s binary suns. While the Ork forces are greatly weakened, Gutkrusha and many others are able to escape before the fragments are incinerated, leading to an extended campaign across the system to purge the survivors. The campaign culminates in a month-long battle that sees Gutkrusha dead and much of Vesta VI’s capital city leveled.

119.M42 A Void Reavers strike force drawn largely from its 4th company, and led by their Grand Master of Librarians, searches the void west of the Eye of Terror for a rumored stable passage through the Great Rift. They engage in a series of running battles with the traitors and hereteks of the Unbound Brethren warband as they contest control of various dead worlds found to hold Blackstone pylons. Upon discovery of a number of Fallen within the Unbound Brethren, a sizeable reinforcement fleet rushes to join them, lead by the Chapter Master himself.


Brother Risual and Brother-sergeant Besros, formerly of the Void Reavers 4^th company, 4^th squad (c. M41). Both are among the few survivors of the events following the appearance of the Great Rift, and now serve in the 4^th company veteran squad.

Edited April 16, 2022 by Galloway

[Brother Captain Arkley]

Good fluff, I look forward to see this develop :)

[Spaced Hulk]

Excellent work on the background for your Successor Chapter. It's nicely written, and feels consistent with the ethos of the Unforgiven without being either too derivative or too unorthodox. I look forward to seeing the Void Reavers develop . 

 

How are you thinking of painting the robes? I'd suggest a really dark grey rather than black, just to give a slight contrast with the armour. Another option could be to use different highlight colours, for example grey highlights for the robes and blue highlights for the armour.

[Galloway]

Thanks both for the feedback.

 

@Spaced Hulk- I've been playing/practicing with schemes for robes over the last week, but likely in the vein your suggesting. I think what I'll do (and at least try first) is start from a medium grey, and wash down/highlight to v. dark grey, definitely only use grey highlights for the robes. I'm trying to balance that against the armor, since I'm not entirely sure how cool vs. neutral I want to go, but also want to keep it clear materials are different.  Right now, plan is something like:

 

-prime everything black

 

-Armor: base coat of vallejo heavy charcoal (v. dark grey w/ blue tone), highlight with grey (~dawnstone), then wash w/ Nuln oil. Maybe follow up with some spot highlights w/ dawnstone and possibly fenrisian grey.

 

-Robes: medium grey (mechanicus standard) base, heavy dawnstone highlight, 1-2 nuln oil washes, highlight with eshin grey then dawnstone. Trim/embroidery/interiors will be medium/dark green like shoulders.

 

Suggestions on how to tweak would be welcome. I think I just need to see in practice how bluish armor highlights work w/ green shoulders, and go from there. I've got my 1st tactical squad (ETL vow) primed and basecoated, will posted some in-progress once highlights are basic tactical marines are done.

[Galloway]

Have made some progress on 1st marine in between swamp of work and real life (bleh). Lots of fussing over freehand and little details I'm still not happy with yet...trying to figure out how to do eyes and freehand symbols better. For those that have/do freehand,what color(s) would you use for the white roman numeral and chapter symbol? I have some basic pure white and grey, haven't been able to quite hit the color I want yet.

Also need take better pictures- I will say (I think) he looks much better in person than these pictures suggest...

Not sure how much more to fuss on him; will probably add a few more highlights, may try to redo eyes later. Also thinking about using same grey drubrush basing as my previous army just for consistency and ease, but not sure if that's best for black/grey army. Suggestions & feedback welcome.

[Galloway]

Well as promised I am a slow painter, but I've now finished up Tactical Squad Telgon (4th company, 1st squad). Overall pretty happy with how it came out- freehanding chapter symbol went better than expected, the squad number less so; getting the eyes to a passable level was a challenge. But a good start I think. Next up will be some intercessors and hellblasters, as well as a Primaris lieutenant.

[jbaeza94]

They look awesome!

How did you do the black robe? Might have to steal that!

[Galloway]

They look awesome!

How did you do the black robe? Might have to steal that!

Thanks! Did the robes as:

 

-prime black

-base medium dark grey (50/50 eshin grey/dawnstone although in my case I'm just using craftsmart dark grey as a dawnstone/medium grey stand-in)

-highlight ridges with medium grey, then finer highlights with light grey (army painter stone golem in my case)

-wash (not too strongly) with nuln oil

-touch up highlights with medium grey as desired

 

For reference, the armor is vallejo heavy charcoal with medium grey highlights, washed with nuln oil, with some highlights refreshed afterwards.

 

I think the biggest advice is to make sure the robe is fairly bright before the nuln oil since that will really darken it down- if you start dark the robes will be dark as well and hard to distinguish from the armor (thanks to Spaced Hulk for that tip). Or if that's what you're after, go for it. I tried a couple different recipes on some spare cloaks and tabard bits I had lying around to get a sense of what worked best for me.

[Isiah]

Great to see Successor Chapters being created and modelled. They look ace I think.

 

Can’t wait to see more.

 

Cheers

I

[Spaced Hulk]

Well as promised I am a slow painter, but I've now finished up Tactical Squad Telgon (4th company, 1st squad). Overall pretty happy with how it came out- freehanding chapter symbol went better than expected, the squad number less so; getting the eyes to a passable level was a challenge. But a good start I think. Next up will be some intercessors and hellblasters, as well as a Primaris lieutenant.

Nice work brother! The dark grey robes came out really well, there just enough contrast to set it apart from the armour. The plasma glow looks really effective as well.

Space Marine eyes are surprisingly awkward to paint. I often found one side went on quite neat, but the other was a real mess. The best advice I found was to do the easy side first, then turn the model upside down to do the other eye. Other useful tips were keep your paint thin, but not too thin (because it will go everywhere), and don't put too much paint on the brush. Just build up the colour slowly. Using a shade wash afterwards will also really define the shape of the lens, then add a small highlight afterwards to bring the colour back up.

[Interrogator Stobz]

That's a really cool colour scheme Brother. :tu:

[Galloway]

Thanks for kind words all, and well done everyone on ETL. Some truly amazing stuff.

Next up is building up the basic troops with some new Primaris recruits. Although in my head I actually imagine most of the Void Reavers being Primaris at this point, most of my actual painting plans for quite awhile after these are for non-Primaris marines like Ravenwing bikes & darkshroud, Deathwing knights & terminators, etc. But that's for the future. For now, next up will be:

-primaris lieutenant w/ MC stalker bolt rifle

-2x5 squads of intercessors with bolt rifle + 1 aux. grenade launcher, sergeants with power sword & bolt rifle,

-1x10 squad of hellblasters w/ plasma incinerators

Still getting all bits glued together for all rank and file since I plan on batch painting in groups of 10, but have got the officers all finished (or at least blue tacked together)

[Bjorn Firewalker]

Good job on the models. The IA is competently written, though there are typos you should correct.

Chapter Motto

We stand again the dark

I'm assuming you mean "We stand AGAINST the dark" (emphasis mine).

The Void Reavers have no known homeworld, but like many Unforgiven chapters recruit from a variety of worlds.

Why not describe the Chapter as "fleet-based"?

They are believed to have established a number of small, hidden keeps and fortresses on these worlds that they use to train, repair, and resupply at.

Why not write this sentence as "They established a number of small, hidden keeps and fortresses on these worlds that they use to train, repair, and resupply at"? This IA is written for us readers, who are behind the Fourth Wall- NOT for the Imperium's general population.

There are also whispered claims of a large starbase secreted within an asteroid field somewhere in the Marcosan depths, which serves as the de facto chapter fortress.

Who whispers these claims? Imperial Navy personnel who encounter the Chapter's ships? AdMech personnel whose forge ships were barred from mining asteroids in the Marcosan depths? Inquisitorial agents investigating the Chapter on the Ordo Astartes' behalf?

Their first company, the Felwing,

I'm assuming the name combines "Wing" with "Fell" (Entry 4 in that Merriam-Webster page). Why spell "Fell" with only one "l"?

The campaign culminates in a month-long battle that sees Gutkusha dead

The Warboss' name is spelled "Gutkrusha," with an additional "r", elsewhere in your IA.

[Galloway]

Good job on the models. The IA is competently written, though there are typos you should correct.

Chapter Motto

We stand again the dark

I'm assuming you mean "We stand AGAINST the dark" (emphasis mine).

The Void Reavers have no known homeworld, but like many Unforgiven chapters recruit from a variety of worlds.

Why not describe the Chapter as "fleet-based"?

They are believed to have established a number of small, hidden keeps and fortresses on these worlds that they use to train, repair, and resupply at.

Why not write this sentence as "They established a number of small, hidden keeps and fortresses on these worlds that they use to train, repair, and resupply at"? This IA is written for us readers, who are behind the Fourth Wall- NOT for the Imperium's general population.

There are also whispered claims of a large starbase secreted within an asteroid field somewhere in the Marcosan depths, which serves as the de facto chapter fortress.

Who whispers these claims? Imperial Navy personnel who encounter the Chapter's ships? AdMech personnel whose forge ships were barred from mining asteroids in the Marcosan depths? Inquisitorial agents investigating the Chapter on the Ordo Astartes' behalf?

Their first company, the Felwing,

I'm assuming the name combines "Wing" with "Fell" (Entry 4 in that Merriam-Webster page). Why spell "Fell" with only one "l"?

The campaign culminates in a month-long battle that sees Gutkusha dead

The Warboss' name is spelled "Gutkrusha," with an additional "r", elsewhere in your IA.

 

 

Thanks greatly for the close reading and suggestions. I've updated to fix typos and and include most of the suggested changes. I decided not to describe them as fleet-based because they do have their hidden starbase/chapter fortress and associated smaller keeps. Basically similar to the Dark Angels in that sense, who I don't recall ever being described as fleet based because they have an analogous setup (the Rock + distributed keeps on worlds like Piscina IV) I wanted to mirror.

[Bryan Blaire]

Whether the DA are 'fleet-based' really depends on what you decide the Rock is. Personally, I don't think it matters whether you call them fleet-based, Rock-adjacent, or anything else - they are what they are, they have a huge mobile fortress that serves multiple purposes, they have a pretty vast fleet that can send numerous strike forces anywhere needed, and they have a good chain of recruiting worlds that they have placed varying levels of garrison forces on.

[Galloway]

So I've finally been able to get my intercessors painted up, pretty happy with how they came out overall. Still learning how to get good pictures with the phone- I can see all sorts of imperfections in the picture I have trouble making out in real life. In any case, feedback and suggestions welcome. Will be working on the lieutenant and a squad of 10 hellblasters next.

Insofar as I've been putting together little bits of lore for the chapter in my head, I imagine the "firstborn" marines to be organized in full squads of 10- in the 4th company, that would be the 1st and 2nd squads (tactical), 7th squad (assaults), and 9th squad (devastators). One the other hand, the primaris battleline (3rd-6th squad) and assault (8th squad) typically operate as 5 man intercessor or inceptor units, with the remaining marines assigned to different roles (e.g. infiltrators, eliminators, etc.) as needed. 10th squad is organized as a full 10-man hellblaster unit.

Anyway, here's squad Osrasos (4th company, 3rd squad)

And here's squad Sulthus (4th company, 4th squad)

Thanks for looking, and happy holidays all.

[bevulf]

They are excellent! Great job Galloway. Chapter icons on shoulder pads are transfers or freehands?

[Galloway]

They are excellent! Great job Galloway. Chapter icons on shoulder pads are transfers or freehands?

Thanks- chapter icons are transfers. I treated myself to a big sheet of them from Bedlam Creations (https://www.bedlamcreations.com/custom-waterslide-decals/) earlier this year.

[Interrogator Stobz]

Grim and dark, love the eyes too.

[painting.for.my.sanity]

I absolutely love this colour scheme.

[ranulf the revenant]

They're really nice. Grim in the Dark and all that

[Gederas]

Quite like these guys. Interesting fluff for them.

 

The colour scheme is quite familiar. I can't seem to put my finger on where I saw it before though....

 

:P

[Spaced Hulk]

Quite like these guys. Interesting fluff for them.

 

The colour scheme is quite familiar. I can't seem to put my finger on where I saw it before though....

 

:P

Great minds obviously think alike...

 

[Galloway]

Thanks all for feedback, and very grateful for all the compliments.

 

Glad the paint scheme is resonating- neat to me to see the little differences between how Gederas, Spaced Hulk and I have all approached it.

 

Knee cheques are free hand, definitely a time consuming (and hard on the eyes) process, but one I’ve found really rewarding. The eyes are actually pretty simple- white base, then paint over with a glaze of Lahmian medium with a bit of Warpstone glow mixed in (think there was a Duncan tutorial on it at one point, but seems to have gone away0. I actually had a harder time with the eyes then the knees because I really struggled painting in the white over a black basecoat- really hard to see the shape details.

 

in any case, thanks again all for comments, and best wishes for a happy and productive New Year’s to all.
 

Hoping I’ll be able to make some solid progress on hellblasters over break then move onto more DA-specific units.