Wednesday 30 October 2013

The Fourth Shrine War.

//Entry//
//Inquis/2564556M.41/FourthShineWar/CrimShks//
//ThrdCom/Actns/
//SqPoriat//
Ctn???

'Squad Poriat were deployed to provide the devotees of Ikartian with proof that the Emperor protects. After the Ethnarch enacted his terrible work, and corrupted waves of mutated gene-horror swarmed the streets and chapels of that great city, their role in the Shrine War changed. Yes, the Emperor protects. But he is also wrathful.'
Inquistor Judia Isut - 'To Drift Like Fire', An examination of the Fourth Shrine War

'Ten Astartes. Ten Astartes against the frenzied hordes. They talk of these things in legend. The reality is somewhat different.'
Brother Dayrn Sevart, Squad Poriat.


'The Seventh Ethnarch of Quiscience. Madman. Tyrant. Prophet.

All of the above are just words. The Ethnarch was not a creature of words. His sermons were delivered unto the flesh of his foes. Experiments that were a crime not just against the Imperium, but reality itself. Melding warp-magicks and gene-flensing to create that which he believed Mankind should aspire to become. Insanity will make a man have belief that even his greatest crimes were done with the best intentions. We hunted and quarried him though sector after sector, putting that which he forged to sword and the flame. When he fell onto Kerishian Alpha-Seven, our luck had changed. The chances of using a Astartes recruitment world as a lair were fortuitous beyond our wildest dreams. Three months after the Ethnarch made planetfall, the Astartes battle cruiser 'Dagger Luna', containing elements of the Crimson Shrikes' First, Third and Tenth Companies translated in-system...

What happened to the Crimson Shrikes on Kerishian Alpha-Seven was a small price to pay to bring the bastard Ethnarch to the Emperor's justice.'

Inquisitorial Agent 'Tristian Ravewind'. Believed to be an alias of *REDACTED*.
Images of Demi Squad Poriat, who during the First Battle for Ikartian were led by Sargeant Poriat in guerilla warfare against high value targets and armour destruction. After the destruction of 'Dagger Luna' and the impossibility of resupply, both demi-squads were forced to conserve ammunition, and later resorted to one or two man raids on enemy positions armed with only close combat weaponry and their fury, designed to cripple both remaining Ethnarch command structure and sow terror amongst 'regular' line troops.  

Demi-Squad Surrtaya, led by Imoge Surrtaya. As seen above, he carries the marking of the 'Thorn Wreath' on his right shoulder pad, and wields a Phobos pattern bolter, a rare gift in such a young Chapter, and both of these signify that Surrtaya is soon to undertake the ritual that could lead to advancement into the First Company. It is believed that after the end of the war, he undertook the membership trial known as 'The Piercing', but died four days into the ordeal.

Of further interest can be seen both Brother Kaynt on the far right, and Brother Tormah carrying a M36 Class II gravitational weapon. These brothers were the first two Astartes causalities in the Shrine War, and although Brother Kaynt was believed to have perished in an explosion on the fifth day of the battle, Brother Tormah was captured and flayed alive by the Ethnarch's forces. After the war, his body was recovered, but missing both of his progenoids...

Monday 7 October 2013

More work, and the art of transfers...

I've been slowly working on my first Tactical squad, and have now managed to get two more Marines done, including my graviton gun wielding specialist. I was going to go with a plasma gun, but the graviton gun just looks too cool not to use, plus my gaming group won't mind if I say it's a plasma gun. 

After posting some of my pics on the Bolter and Chainsword forum, I had feedback that the Shrikes needed something to break the red and black up. I realised that a perfect way to do that would be to use squad markings and a chapter logo, just to bring some more life to the models. I originally painted the Tactical arrows on, but found that I could get better results using transfers. I've never really used these before, but after some searching around on Youtube, and buying some supplies, I was ready. I decided to use the Raptors transfer sheet from Forgeworld as the chapter symbol would work nicely. These are the first results, and I'm sort of OK with them. There's a few creases that I've yet to work out how to eliminate (advice would be great here!), and I've had to paint in a few gaps, but overall the effect works. Mircosol and Mircoset are your friends! I would recommend that you try transfers, even if you're a bit nervous, as they can save so much time and effort.