Category: War of the False Primarch

Silver Stars Vox Operator

On By Chris B.In LEDs, Silver Stars, Space Marines, War of the False Primarch, Warhammer 40,0006 Comments

This week I’ve added to my small squad of Silver Stars with a new vox operator. The Silver Stars are the mysterious chapter leading the Partisan forces in the War of the False Primarch. Although I’m fighting on the side of the Orthodox forces in this campaign with my Flesh Eaters, I have been slowly putting together a small force of Silver Stars to add a bit of flavour to my army display boards. This marine was intended to join his brothers on my ‘Ambush at Pipeline 13’ Armies on Parade board, but I ran out of time to finish him before the deadline.

Modelling

My aim with this model was to show a lit auspex screen. Readers who have been following my work for a while may remember a similar miniature in the past which was my Lamenter Comms Specialist.

When compared to my standard LED tutorials, this is closest to my Simple LED Muzzle Flare tutorial, only with an auspex screen instead of a muzzle flare. The LED wires run through the hand, arm, torso and left leg to join up with the resistors, switch and single CR2023 battery hidden in the base. The LEDs used are two Green Stuff World 1mm ‘Warm White’ LEDs connected in parallel. Two adjacent LEDs are intended to give the impression of two separate ‘pings’ on the screen. After hollowing out the auspex and inserting the LEDs, I used the ever-reliable Acrylic Splash Gel to fill in the screen. Once this was dry I painted two coats of with Citadel Spirit Stone Red, as this is a slightly gloss glaze and helps the screen to look good when the LEDs are switched off. Finally I added some additional lines to the screen using Citadel Wild Rider Red.

As with the previous Silver Stars, this marine is built using a Primaris marine body and legs. The arms, pauldrons, backpack, bolter and holstered pistol are from the previous version of the plastic Legion MkIII Tactical Squad set. To give the legs a more “antiquated” look, I added Mixed Micro Glass Balls from Green Stuff World as armour studs. The head is from the Legion MkVI Tactical Squad sprue, as are the antenna and vox elements of the backpack. This all helps to make the provenance of the Silver Stars armour intentionally unclear.

Painting

With the time pressure of Armies on Parade out of the way, it was nice to actually take my time over painting a Silver Stars marine! If you’re interested in the paint recipes I used, you can find a detailed list in this previous post. As I had more time, I refined my freehand process for the insignia. Details are below, all paints are Citadel unless specified otherwise.

  • White Insignia on Rose Band
  • Thinned Administratum Grey layer to produce rough outline of insignia
  • Corax White layer
  • 3:1 Screamer Pink:Lahmian Medium thin glaze
  • White Insignia on Blue Field
  • Thinned Administratum Grey layer to produce rough outline of insignia
  • Corax White layer
  • 3:1 Sotek Green:Lahmian Medium thin glaze
  • Dark Insignia on White Field
  • Slightly thinned Rhinox Hide layer
  • 3:1 Ulthuan Grey:Lahmian Medium thin glaze

This vox operator is from the unit dubbed ‘Squad Antimony’ by Orthodox codifiers during the War of the False Primarch – their actual squad designation remains unknown! The Silver Stars heraldry is quite different from other chapters, and they make use of alchemical and astrological symbols, as well as cuneiform numbers. You are very unlikely to find conventional High Gothic text or numerals on their armour. If you’d like to read more on this then Apologist has an excellent article on Silver Stars markings and heraldry.

That’s all for today, I hope you’ve enjoyed this insight into my latest Silver Star marine. I have a few more Silver Stars on the way soon, so stay tuned! As ever, thanks very much for reading, and please remember you can also find me sharing my work on Instagram, Threads, Twitter/X, Bluesky and Mastodon.

“Ambush at Pipeline 13”, Flesh Eaters Armies on Parade 2024

On By Chris B.In Armies on Parade, Flesh Eaters, LEDs, Silver Stars, Space Marines, War of the False Primarch, Warhammer 40,0003 Comments

“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.

Brother-Captain Caedes, Terminator Captain

On By Chris B.In Flesh Eaters, Leviathan, Space Marines, War of the False Primarch, Warhammer 40,000Leave a comment

The False Primarch will perish by my hand – or my fist!

Brother-Captain Caedes, Third Captain of the Flesh Eaters

It’s back to the Flesh Eaters project this week with Brother-Captain Caedes, Captain of the Flesh Eaters third company and Master of the Armoury during the War of the False Primarch.

Modelling

One year on, I’m still slowly working my way through the contents of the Leviathan box. The base miniature for Brother-Captain Caedes is the Terminator Captain from the Leviathan boxed set (also seen in the Space Marine Combat Patrol set). I’ve tried to modify it to fit the aesthetics of the Terminator Captain included in the metal RTB9 ‘Terminator Squad‘ box. This is one of my favourite classic GW models, and the style fits perfectly with the ‘Rogue Trader era’ aesthetic I’m aiming for with my Flesh Eaters army.

The head for this miniature comes from the Horus Heresy Character Heads Upgrade Set 2, which I feel may have been an intentional homage to the head of the original Terminator Captain. If not, it’s coincidentally a very close match!

I wasn’t trying to recreate every detail of the original Captain exactly, but just capture his general aesthetic. I positioned the sheathed sword on the other side of his waist as this was a better fit with the pose of the Leviathan Captain. I also thought that it made more sense being on that side so he could draw the sword with his storm bolter hand rather than the power fist – although I think I do remember an old piece of artwork with a Terminator Captain holding a power sword in his power fist!

Another feature of the original that I didn’t replicate was the grenade launcher built into the power fist. I would have been happy to add that, except that it would have interfered with the LED power fist effect.

With the LED power fist, I was aiming to give the impression of an active ‘disruption field’, with lightning crackling over the surface of the fist. If you’re interested in the details of how the LED power fist was made, I have added a full LED Power Fist Tutorial to the LED Miniatures Tutorials section of my website.

Captain Caedes’ rank as Third Captain of the Flesh Eaters granted him the title of Master of the Armoury during the War of the False Primarch. The chapter’s arsenal received a massive influx of materiel during the conflict, both by direct order of the High Lords of Terra and as spoils of war. This put more resources at Captain Caedes’ disposal than any other Master of the Armoury has had since the founding of the Flesh Eaters – resources that he did not hesitate to deploy.

EXTRACT FROM ‘A TREATISE ON THE WAR OF THE FALSE PRIMARCH’ BY SCRIBE HOWTOPHER BUXCRAFT

Painting

At this point in the Flesh Eaters project my colour schemes are well established. If you’d like to know what paints I used with this miniature, then you can find my paint recipes for red armour, Terminator iconography, Space Marine pale skin, and freehand checks in the linked articles.

I did consider giving Captain Caedes grey or white hair, but settled for brown because I wanted to give him a more youthful appearance to feed into the “young hothead” narrative – he has sworn to defeat a Primarch in personal combat after all! “Young” is a comparative term for a Space Marine Captain though, he’s still over 100 years old!

Captain Caedes’ heraldry is inspired by the heraldry of the RTB9 Terminator Captain, which is checks in opposite quarters, a skull, and a Crux Terminatus. My original plan was to reproduce this directly, but I decided it needed the third company numerals in there somewhere, so I replaced one of the check quarters. Then I wasn’t happy with the tiny Crux Terminatus that I painted, so I replaced that with a second skull.

Like their forebears, the noble Blood Angels, the Flesh Eaters also have a great respect for artisan work. Brother-Captain Caedes is said to have hand sown the embroidery on his own cloak. Like so many others in the war, the Brother-Captain had sworn to kill the Abomination by his own hand, and the black of the cloak was a constant reminder of that solemn executioner’s vow.

EXTRACT FROM ‘A TREATISE ON THE WAR OF THE FALSE PRIMARCH’ BY SCRIBE HOWTOPHER BUXCRAFT

That’s all for today, I hope you’ve enjoyed this insight into the latest addition to my Flesh Eaters army. Thanks very much for reading, and please remember you can also find me sharing my work on Instagram, Threads, Twitter/X, Bluesky and Mastodon.

Brother Castiar, Flesh Eaters Assault Intercessor with swappable helmet

On By Chris B.In Flesh Eaters, Indomitus, LEDs, Space Marines, Technical, War of the False Primarch, Warhammer 40,0001 Comment

Sometimes you need to look the enemy in the eye, and sometimes you need to trust in your wargear.

Brother Castiar, Flesh Eaters

I’m back again with the next addition to my Flesh Eaters Space Marines project. Brother Castiar is the fourth member of my second Assault Intercessor squad, along with Brother Pitman, Brother Oram, and Sergeant Byrne. As well as the usual LED muzzle flare and bullet impact effects, Castiar also has a choice between a bare head or helmet that can be easily swapped during a game.

Modelling

I had built a similar effect before with my Crimson Fists Captain, although in that case he couldn’t wear the helmet ‘mag locked’ to his belt. It’s a technique I’ve been meaning to revisit for a while and refine into a short-form tutorial. The base miniature is an Assault Intercessor from the Indomitus box – yes, I’m still working my way through that!

Swappable Helmet Tutorial

1. This tutorial builds on the techniques used in my LED Eye Lens tutorial. To prepare your miniature and base, first complete Steps 1-10 of that tutorial.

2. This technique uses IC sockets (above left) as sockets for LED legs. They are just the right size for the legs of 1.8mm LEDs to easily fit in and out. IC sockets are often manufactured in long rows or squares, but you can easily cut them down into pairs but cutting in between individual sockets with a craft knife. For this tutorial you will just need a single pair of sockets. IC sockets are available on Amazon here or from electronic component suppliers like RS here.

Assuming you’ve followed Steps 1-10 of my LED Eye Lens tutorial, you can now solder the two legs of the IC socket to the two wires inside the torso of your miniature (above right). Solder one wire to each leg. It doesn’t matter which way round you solder the wires, just remember which side was positive and which was negative.

3. Now complete Step 11 – 14 of my LED Eye Lens tutorial to prepare the helmet (above left). Make sure you consider the polarity of the LED legs with respects to the polarity of the IC socket before you fix the LED into place. At this stage I’ve also started using modelling putty to sculpt the flexible ‘rubber seal’ between the helmet and the armour. If you make sure the putty covers the entire underside of the LED this also helps prevent unwanted light spilling out from the bottom of the helmet.

You will also need to prepare the bare head (above right). Use off-cuts from you LED legs to give the bare head legs of its own, then it can easily plug into the same IC socket. Make sure that the metal legs are not touching each other, otherwise you risk short circuiting the battery when the bare head is insert. There’s also no reason that the bare head can’t simply be a replaced with a different LED helmet instead.

4. Make sure the LED legs are the right length so they fit comfortably through the neck hole and into the IC socket, while also sitting as flush as possible with the top of the torso. Once you are satisfied with the position, fix IC socket in place with glue and/or modelling putty (above left).

You may also want to add additional LED effects, for example LED Muzzle Flares or LED Plasma Weapons. If you do, this is the point at which to do it. Additional LEDs can be connected in parallel with the connections to the IC socket on the base (above right).

5. Assemble the rest of the miniature, and then make sure the both heads have a good fit with the torso. If there are gaps, you may need to use more modelling putty to sculpt additional detail to fill the gap, like the ‘rubber seal’ around the neck. (above).

6. This step is optional, but if you want to include the ability to ‘mag lock’ the helmet on the belt, you will need to drill two holes in the waist or hip of the miniature (above left). Make sure the holes are deep enough so that the helmet sits flush with the hip (above right). A 1mm drill bit should be the ideal size for this. After drilling the holes, I added a small ring of modelling putty to make them look similar to the other sockets and access ports you sometimes find on Space Marine armour. Just be careful not to drill through any wires that may be inside the leg! These holes do not need any electrical connections as the helmet is ‘powered down’ when mag locked to the waist, so is not expected to illuminate in this postion.

Painting

When painting this miniature I stuck with my usual recipes. I used my standard recipes for Flesh Eaters red armour and my recipe for Space Marine pale skin. Something that’s worth noting, I always apply a thin glaze of Biel-Tan Green to the resin in the helmet eyes so they have a green tint even when switched off. This is especially important for this miniature, where the helmet will feasibly be on display on the waist while powered down.

There’s a minor Easter Egg in the slogan Brother Castiar’s banner. Ostensibly, ‘They Will Repent’ is a threat and a promise to his Partisan enemies in the War of the False Primarch. But also – as with the banner on the Infiltrator squad – it’s also a reference to a level in the original Doom. Of course the level name is itself a biblical reference, so I guess it’s a nested Easter Egg, if you’ll excuse the pun!

That’s all for today. It’s been a while since my last blog post, but rest assured I’ve been working on lots behind the scenes, and I have plenty more to show soon. Thanks very much for reading, and please remember you can also find me sharing my work on Instagram, Threads, Twitter/X, Bluesky and Mastodon.

Brother Pitman, Flesh Eaters Assault Intercessor

On By Chris B.In Flesh Eaters, Indomitus, Space Marines, War of the False Primarch, Warhammer 40,0001 Comment

So you like bolters do you, traitors? Well GOOD NEWS!

Brother Pitman, Assault Specialist

It’s back to the Flesh Eaters project this week with Brother Pitman, an Assault Intercessor equipped with duel heavy bolt pistols and a chainsword. Brother Pitman will be joining my second Assault Intercessor squad as the third member of the unit.

Modelling & Painting

This miniature is a redux of Crimson Fists Sergeant Bast. I was always pleased with his guns akimbo pose, and wanted to bring it into my Flesh Eaters project. There are a couple of other effects I want to port over from my Crimson Fists army, but those are projects for another day.

The LED effects on Brother Pitman were assembled using the techniques described in my LED Muzzle Flare Tutorial, with the slight change that there are two LED muzzle flares instead of one. To achieve this, I simply repeated Steps 2 – 7 of the tutorial. The second yellow chip LED was connected in parallel with the first yellow chip LED and the green helmet LED.

A tip I remember picking up from a fellow miniature painter – possibly Apologist – is that if you have a model with duel weapons, it can enchance the pose if the miniature’s head is looking in the same direction as one of the guns it is firing. This is a principle I’ve tried to follow here. If you have the two guns firing in opposite directions and the miniature’s head facing halfway between the two, then it can make the model seem ‘disengaged’ from the act of firing the weapons.

The conclave known as the ‘Diet of Fools’ ensured the Flesh Eaters and the other chapters of the Pentarchy of Blood were incredibly well equipped for the task ahead. This glut of equipment, supplied by order of the High Lords of Terra, wasn’t just reserved for officers but also filtered down to the line units. In these holo-picts we can see a very well provisioned Brother Pitman. His chainsword will carry the word of Terra – quite literally – to his Partisan foes!

EXTRACT FROM ‘A TREATISE ON THE WAR OF THE FALSE PRIMARCH’ BY SCRIBE HOWTOPHER BUXCRAFT

As I’ve described previously for other Flesh Eaters miniatures, the base model is a Primaris Assault Intercessor (from the Indomitus box) that I have modified to wear MkVI armour, in keeping with the War of the False Primarch theme for my Flesh Eaters army. The heavy bolt pistols are made from Umbra pattern bolt guns with the magazine cut down to give them a smaller profile.

For those that are interested, my painting recipe for the red Flesh Eaters armour can be found in this earlier post. I’ve added a little more battle damage to this Intercessor squad than the previous one. The ‘paint chips’ on their armour were applied using the sponge method and Rhinox Hide, which I then highlighted along the lower edge with Evil Sunz Scarlet and Wild Rider Red to give a sense of depth. Below you can see a picture of Squad Byrne so far – three down, two to go!

That’s all for today, I hope you’ve enjoyed this addition to the Flesh Eaters project. I’ll be back with more LED miniatures soon. Thanks very much for reading, and please remember you can also find me sharing my work on Instagram, Threads, Twitter/X, Bluesky and Mastodon.