“The War of the False Primarch was a dark and bloody episode of the Imperium’s history, now largely lost to myth and purged from all records, that plunged the Segmentum Pacificus into anarchy from 780.M33 to 860.M33. The conflict was finally ended when the High Lords of Terra convened the Pentarchy of Blood and tasked five loyal Chapters to destroy eleven others that had been declared Traitoris Perdita for their actions during the war.”

IMPERIAL ARMOUR VOLUME TWO – SECOND EDITION PG. 17

Concept

The Flesh Eaters space marine chapter, a key member of the Pentarchy of Blood, bring the will of the High Lords to the followers of the False Primarch in Segmentum Pacificus. Early in the war the Flesh Eaters scoured civilian population centres for clues to the False Primarch’s whereabouts during ‘The Pacification of Logan’s World’.  The following year Brother-Chaplain Uriah Grimm set the world of Interlude Quay aflame during the ‘Interregnum at Interlude Quay’ as he assaulted hidden bases belonging to the Silver Stars chapter. 

Sent reeling by the ferocious Flesh Eaters assault, the Silver Stars attempt to regroup and retaliate, beginning a guerrilla war on Interlude Quay. Geothermal Pipeline 13 is sabotaged, and a Flesh Eaters patrol is ambushed. The Flesh Eaters take casualties, but are able to deploy their teleport homer. Brother-Captain Caedes and his Terminator honour guard arrive to lead the counter attack!

My plan with this year’s Armies on Parade board was to continue the story of my Flesh Eaters space marines, as told in 2022’s Pacification of Logan’s World and 2023’s Interregnum at Interlude Quay. The hunt for the False Primarch continues! I mocked-up several concepts for this board, including a multi-level bunker and a ruined plaza. In the end I settled on something a bit more ‘open’ so I could capture the army in its full glory. In hindsight, I think the way last year’s board was split between two levels didn’t do the army justice. Eventually I hit upon the idea of an ambush around an isolated pipeline crossing a wasteland. This seemed like the ideal concept for an open board that allowed the army to be viewed together, while also adding points of interest and something to focus the ‘battle’ around.

Designing & Building the Board

As in previous years, the board is built around a large picture frame with the glass removed and a texture applied to the wood backboard. The pipes are simply plastic drainage pipes bought from a local DIY store and glued together. You’ll notice they have some extra gothic details – like Imperial Eagle buttresses – to add some 40K flavour. The pipes were sprayed silver, then lightly sprayed dark brown in selective areas. I tried to target areas where rust would logically gather due to rain and weather. Further rust effects were applied to these areas using Typhus Corrosion and Ryza Rust. Various extra bits of scenery – such as a chain-link fence and small industrial building – were planned but eventually fell by the wayside as I realised just how much the pipes dominated the board.

I knew from early in the process that I wanted to include ‘smoke’ effects this year, as I thought it would really enhance the look of the LEDs and the smoke concept seemed to fit really well with the industrial pipeline idea.

The smoke was achieved with an ‘Ultrasonic Mist Maker Atomizer DIY kit’ purchased from eBay, and a small reservoir of water at the bottom of one of the vertical pipe sections. The ultrasonic atomizer, as well as the miniatures described in the next section, were all controlled by batteries hidden under the board.

The explosion at the back of the board was made from flickering LED tealights covered in soft toy stuffing. The stuffing was given a spray of Chaos Black to make the smoke darker. This was included to help sell the concept of a pre-prepared ambush by the Silver Stars.

Silver Stars, Flesh Eaters & Servo Skulls

The Silver Stars space marines from my Armies on Parade 2023 board returned to the fray this year. As the Flesh Eaters include so many LED muzzle flares and bullet impacts, I always think it’s important for them to have an antagonist on their display boards to help give some context to the effects.

At some point in the design process I thought it might be fun to have a little vignette playing out of a Silver Stars sniper and a Flesh Eater silently closing in with their combat blade drawn to deliver vengeance. Below you can see the initial reposing of the sniper (left), a test on my workbench (centre), and the final product in situ on the board (right). Both these miniatures will eventually find their way onto their own bases and join their respective forces as regular models.

The Flesh Eaters casualty on the right of the board is intended to represent the victim of the sniper – but he did at least manage to activate the teleport homer before he fell! The casualty is mounted on a 40mm base and will eventually be used as an objective marker. If you look closely, there is a ‘1’ on his pauldron, for missions where numbered objectives are relevant. The servo skull with its LED eye was made in exactly the same way as Brother Nikko’s servo skull. I glued a triangle of translucent green plastic to the LED eye to really emphasise the scanning effect.

There was another servo skull flying around the board, minding his own business. This was just meant as a fun extra detail, but I think I might have mounted him too high on the pipeline, as he doesn’t appear in most of the miniatures eye level photos!

Conclusion

So that brings us to the end of another ‘Armies on Parade’ project! As is traditional, I only finished assembling and painting everything on the evening of the deadline. But at least this year I sent that submission email with 40 minutes to spare, rather than the 10 minutes that I had last year! Last minute rush aside, I’m pleased with the outcome, especially the smoke and all the little extra details like the sniper, casualty and servo skulls. I’ll aim to start earlier next year, but I’ve been saying that for five years now – although in my defence Space Marine 2 dropped right in the middle of the prime board prepping season this year!

Given more time, would I have done anything differently? Not significantly. I would have mounted the second servo skull lower on the pipeline, as mentioned above, and probably would have included a few smaller extra pieces of small scatter terrain. There was also an additional Silver Star that I didn’t quite finish in time (I’m sure we’ll see him soon) and of course the large Flesh Eaters tank that I’ve been working on for a long time and still haven’t finished…

What’s Next?

This isn’t the end for the Flesh Eaters. I still have the tank to finish that I mentioned above, plus I’d also like to add some Scouts and Death Company into the mix. Will I revisit the Flesh Eaters for Armies on Parade 2025? Possibly, but I’m also tempted to rest them for a year and have a go at something else. Time will tell!

That’s all for today, I hope you’ve enjoyed this insight into my 2024 Armies on Parade board. Thanks very much for reading, and please remember you can also find me sharing my work on Instagram, Threads, Twitter/X, Bluesky and Mastodon.