Give me a hundred Space Marines. Or failing that give me a thousand other troops.
Rogal Dorn
Here we are, seven months into my Armies on Parade 2022 project, and the Flesh Eaters are starting to come together as a force. This is just a quick update to share some group shots and look at the last few months of progress.
My goal has always been to complete approximately 750 points by November, so only three months left to go. In that time I need to finish:
Second Assault Squad
Lieutenant
Ancient Standard Bearer
Dreadnought
Display Board!
I may need to pick up the pace a little! I also have an idea for another vehicle that would take the army up to 1000 points, but I’m not sure if I’ll finish that before Armies on Parade.
That’s it for this week, I hope you’ve enjoyed seeing the group photos of the army so far. I’ll be back again next week with some new models. As ever, thanks for reading, and please don’t forget you can also follow my work on Twitter and Instagram.
Brother-Chaplain Uriah Grimm is the first HQ choice for my Flesh Eaters army project. I started work on him a few months ago, hope to have him complete in time for a call for examples of Dramatis Persona in the War of the False Primarch, but in the end I missed the deadline by quite a way. Next I thought I’d have him finished in time for the Armies on Parade 2022 ‘Gods of War’ month, but that came and went too! Still, he’s finished now, and I’d always rather take my time and get things “right” rather than rush to a deadline.
Design & Building
“Don’t talk to me or my son ever again!”
Chaplain Grimm is heavily influenced by the Rogue Trader era Chaplain pictured above. This is the first 40K model I ever painted way back in 1993, using a mix of Citadel paints from the time (good old ‘Blood Red’) and my dad’s Humbrol paints. You may have seen me post this ancient model before, I like to dig it out occasionally just to remind people that we’ve all got to start our hobby journey somewhere and anyone can improve their painting with a little practice. You can see a more competently painted version of the same model in the bottom left of the image below.
Rogue Trader era metal Space Marine Chaplains, as seen in White Dwarf 108
When updating this model I didn’t want to make a literal rivet-by-rivet identical version, just to capture the key points and general feel of the miniature. The pose, the weapons, the distinctive skull shoulder pads and helmet were the main points I wanted to preserve. Everything else was up for grabs. You may recognise I’ve based my miniature on the Indomitus Chaplain, while the arms and shoulders are from the Black Templars Castellan, the backpack is from the Forge World Mk V Heresy Armour set and finally the helmet is a re-sculpt based on the Primaris Reiver helmet.
The LED plasma pistol was created using the techniques described in my LED Plasma Weapon tutorial, although in this case I used a TruOpto 1.8mm Green LED instead of the pink LED described in the tutorial. The reason for this is that I am trying to limit the colour pallete of LEDs in this project to only green and yellow. The other slight difference – as seen in the images above – is that I rotated the LED through 90 degrees so that it faced upwards through the plasma coil rather than out of the barrel. This makes the coils a little brighter which I prefer when you can’t really see down the barrel in this pose. The otherwise bare resin of the coils has been given a thin shade of Citadel Biel-Tan Green, just to make it look a little more visually appealing when the LED is switched off, as seen in the right-hand picture above.
Painting (a.k.a. To Bone or Not To Bone?)
One of the things that delayed me finishing this model was settling on exactly how I was going to paint it. I knew from the start that I wanted to limit the ceremonial “black” colour of the chaplain office to robes and other small areas. My main hang-up was whether to go with a traditional beige colour for the bone-styled areas of the Grimm’s armour, or to stick with Corax White? As you can see the white won in the end. This was because it emulated the original model I had painted, and also it meant I didn’t have to add any more colours to my armour colour palette, as Corax White is already part of the scheme. At first I started painting the whole shoulder pads white (rims and all), but I realised that was a little much and decided to introduce the silver and black so that the shoulders didn’t end up dominating the whole model.
The Caputmori – an eagle with a human skull – became the notorious symbol of the Partisan forces during the War of the False Primarch. The replacement of the twin heads of the Imperial eagle with a single alternative was a clear challenge to the authority of the High Lords. So how did a chaplain of the staunchly loyal Flesh Eaters acquire such a symbol of office? As with so many things in the War of the False Primarch, we are reduced to speculation. Maybe it was taken from a defeated Partisan chaplain as a trophy of conquest? Or perhaps Brother-Chaplian Grimm was simply attempting to “reclaim” this symbol for Pentarchy of Blood? We may never know the truth. But what we can be sure of is that the crozius arcanum did not leave his side for the duration of his recorded engagements during the war.
EXTRACT FROM ‘A TREATISE ON THE WAR OF THE FALSE PRIMARCH’ BY SCRIBE HOWTOPHER BUXCRAFT
So there we have it, two Troops choices and an HQ. I think that technically counts as a ‘Battle Forged’ army, doesn’t it? That abomination the False Primarch doesn’t stand a chance! Thanks for reading, and I’ll see you again soon for with some more Flesh Eaters.
Assault Squad ‘Levers’ is complete! Including Kill Team Caro, my Flesh Eaters army now consists of two troops choices. I’m not far from a (technically) playable force, so it feels like this ‘Armies on Parade 2022’ project is finally gaining a little momentum!
Design Philosophy
I’m very pleased with how this unit turned out, especially now I’ve seen all five models together. While I was working on this unit I had a three-point design philosophy:
Continue the ‘Rogue Trader’ era aesthetic and the ‘War of the False Primarch’ army theme by giving everyone MkVI power armour.
Give the impression that the unit is right in the thick of the action (bullet impacts, blood splatter, etc).
Only the sergeant could wear a helmet.
For the third point, I wanted to reverse the normal trope of bare-headed space marine officers, and make sure it was only Brother-Sergeant Levers who was wearing a helmet. After all, as the leader of the assault squad he’s the one who needs the most protection and access to all the sensors and comms devices that the helmet provides. All the other battle brothers in the unit are fighting with bare heads (infra-visors don’t count) to prove their bravery and look the enemy directly in the eye!
If you’re seeing my Flesh Eaters project for the first time and you’re interest in how the LED effects on the helmet eye lenses were achieved, I simply followed the techniques described in my LED Eye Lens tutorial. The only difference was that I used TruOpto 1.8mm Green LED instead of the red LED described in the tutorial. My painting recipe for Flesh Eaters armour can also be found in this previous post.
Squad Members
Brother-Sergeant Levers is the leader of the assault squad. A brutal close combat brawler, he routinely wears dual powerfists into battle. You can read the full article about this model here.
Brother Kane carries the squad’s “terror banner”. The trust placed in him by this role often inspires Kane to lead the charge into the fray. You can read the full article about this model here.
Brother Talon has sworn an oath to seek an honourable death in combat to prove his faith in the Emperor. You can read the full article about this model here.
Brother Akerman is known for always being stoic in the face of enemy fire. You can read the full article about this model here.
Brother Dunn is equipped with an infra-visor, ideal for spotting potential enemy ambushes in close-quarters fighting and boarding actions. You can read the full article about this model here.
So there we are, squad complete! I hope you’ve enjoyed following the progress of this unit over the last couple of months! That’s all for today, but I’ll be back again soon for more Flesh Eaters, plus a few side projects (that may also be red). As ever, thanks for reading, and please don’t forget you can also follow my work on Twitter and Instagram.
My Flesh Eater project continues this week with Brother Dunn, a chainsword-wielding Assault Intercessor equipped with an LED infra-visor and the fifth member of Assault Squad Levers.
Building & Painting
The design of Brother Dunn is intended to capture the look of Assault Marines with infra-visors and was inspired by the classic Rogue Trader Assault Marine art and model, as seen in this previous article about Brother Talon. I’ve recreated this Rogue Trader-era look using the head of a Space Marine Primaris Incursor and the techniques described in my LED Eye Lens tutorial. The only difference worth noting is that I used a TruOpto 1.8mm Green LED instead of the red LED described in the tutorial. The base model is a Primaris Assault Intercessor that I have modified to wear MkVI armour, in keeping with the War of the False Primarch theme for my Flesh Eaters army.
In this holo-pict we can see Brother Dunn of the Flesh Eaters sporting personal heraldry on his tilt shield. Astartes are granted personal heraldry on ascending to the rank of veteran, or in some cases for acts of extreme personal valour. We can assume the latter is likely the case with Brother Dunn as he is clearly a member of a line unit. The shield displays the classic ‘severed gorgon’s head’ heraldic device. The meaning of heraldry chosen by Astartes is often very personal. We might guess that the defeated gorgon represents the False Primarch, the Abomination himself, and the forward-facing central snake could perhaps be the notorious ‘Vox Volnoscere’? This would then likely mean that the five blood drops dripping from the gorgon’s neck symbolise the Pentarchy of Blood, of which the Flesh Eaters were an integral part. Can his heraldry therefore be read as a direct taunt to the Partisans, or perhaps an oath that Brother Dunn himself would see fulfilled?
Of course, the chances are equally good that Brother Dunn simply chose an image from ancient texts that would appear frightening to his enemies, and there is no deeper meaning than that!
Extract from ‘A Treatise on the War of the False Primarch’ by Scribe Howtopher Buxcraft
The personal heraldry on this model was a bit of an experiment, and I’m fairly pleased with the way it turned out. The tilt shield is a moulded-on part of the torso for this model, so I had to include it. I started by painting another Flesh Eaters symbol in Corax White, but I didn’t like the way it drew the eye away from the model’s face. So I decided to do a freehand design in Evil Sunz Scarlet and Wild Rider Red, my two red highlight colours. This way the heraldry does not immediately draw the eye to it, but there is something rewarding to find when the eye does get there. The gorgon head theme is partially inspired by a John Blanche drawing of a marine with similar heraldry, but I think it fits well with the theme, as detailed above.
The only other thing of note is the bolter. Rules-wise, I will use Brother Talon as a Primaris Assault Intercessor, so he is equipped with a heavy bolt pistol. I didn’t want to spoil the MkVI aesthetic though, so instead I used an Umbra-pattern bolter with a shortened magazine as a visual representation of the heavy bolt pistol.
That’s all for today, and that’s also it for Assault Squad Levers! I’ll be back again soon with some group shots of the unit. Then it will be time to think about some officers to lead this army! As ever, thanks for reading, and please don’t forget you can also follow my work on Twitter and Instagram.
My collection of Flesh Eater Assault Intercessors continues to grow. This week I’ve added Brother Akerman, a chainsword-wielding marine with a short temper who doesn’t take kindly to being shot at!
Building & Painting
With Brother Akerman I’ve revisited the LED effect bullet ricochets last seen in Brother Kane. I decided I wanted to give the impression that the whole squad was under fire, not just Kane, which meant someone else needed to step into the line of fire! Akerman’s bullet ricochet effects were achieved using the techniques described in my Simple LED Muzzle Flare tutorial, only with the “flares” coming from the armour rather than a gun barrel. Both LEDs are powered from the same battery. They are connected in parallel with each other and in series with a single 100 ohm resistor and a single switch. In the two images above you can see the exposed LEDs on the left, and then the impact effects after the acrylic gel had been applied, as described in steps 13 – 15 of the tutorial.
As I’ve described previously for other members of this squad, the base model is a Primaris Assault Intercessor that I have modified to wear MkVI armour, in keeping with the War of the False Primarch theme for my Flesh Eaters army. You can read the latest from the War of the False Primarch campaign here. For those that are interested, my painting recipe for the red Flesh Eaters armour can be found in this previous post.
That’s all for this week, I’ll be back again soon with the final member of this unit! As always, thanks for reading, and please don’t forget you can also follow my work on Twitter and Instagram.
Chris Buxey Paints 