Project Horus Heresy Dark Angels

My latest project is building a 1st legion army for Warhammer 30K, aka The Horus Heresy. Right now this has been my favorite Games Workshop game for the last couple of years because I love the setting and I also think it has the most balance out of all of their current major game systems as I write this.

The group of friends that I normally play with in the Pacific Northwest are starting a tale of gamers style of campaign where we build up our army in 750 point increments every other month. In my future articles I plan to capture those increments of the progress I make and showcase what my friends are also working on.

I chose the 1st legion for two reasons. I wanted a loyalist legion that had a portion of it that turned traitor, this was also a big factor in my 3rd legion selection many years back. I also really liked the background and look of the Dark Angels. I have been a fan from the earliest days of my introduction to 40k. Their newer 30k specific units look awesome so it was an easy choice for me to make.

Test model front view

Unlike my Emperor's Children project from previous posts, this project will have more planning ahead. I didn't really know what kind of army I wanted to build at first with the 3rd legion so I ended up building and painting units that I rarely use now. This time around I have a fairly good idea which direction I want to take this project and that will hopefully save me some effort.

I decided I wanted to do a Proto-Deathwing style army that included lots of terminators, therefor my army would use the pride of the legion rite of war.

Test model rear view

There are currently a lot of 3rd party conversion bits on the market to add a bit of customization to the various legions. I wanted to include some of these impressive 3d printed pauldrons on some of my terminator sergeants and command squad. These pauldrons come from Pop Goes the Monkey.

At 750 points I only have 12 models to paint, which will be an easy to achieve goal considering all the stay at home time I have due to the current stay at home orders issued across the US.

Two five man squads of Cataphractii Terminators, a Legion Delegatus (for the rite of war), and a Primus Medicae will be my first 750 points.

Epic Necrons In Progress

I have been slowly building up some Necrons for Epic Armageddon. I really liked the idea of running Necrons in Epic since it’s my most complete 40K army to date and wanted to do a 40K/Epic campaign down the road (time permitting). I have been fortunate to have acquired some hard to obtain forumware Obelisks, Monoliths, and Tomb Spyders. My Shapeways Pylon isn’t quite to the scale I would prefer, but it will do. The infantry are Edenites from Exodus Wars and make perfect Necrons. What I’m using as a warbarque is the Trollz Ghost Ark. So far I’ve added some paint in the coppery color scheme that matches my Necrons in 40K. The copper that I use is from an old Ral Partha copper metallic paint and it is ideal for that “shiny penny” look that I so much like. Sadly, this paint is all I have left and nothing else comes close to that coppery sheen.

 

Pylon, Monoliths, and Warbarque (Ghost Ark)

The great thing about building an epic army is how easy it is to paint it up. I have only spent a few hours working on this army and have made some good headway. In the mean time I would like to re-familiarize myself with the rules and get some games in.

Obelisks, Lord, and Warriors

 

 

My all time favorite copper paint

 

What is Forumware?

Something that I have been delving into more in relation to my hobby projects is forumware. This term defines any small scale independent production of miniatures that are typically used for an existing game system such as Epic Armageddon or Warhammer 40K. If you look hard enough on certain fan forums like Tactical Command (hence the term “forumware”) or individual hobby blogs you will encounter this product. If you can find someone producing their own you can sometimes purchase it for a modest price or alternatively if it’s no longer being produced (like Otterware) then you can sometimes spot it on Ebay going for a hefty price.

 

Forumware Grey Knights for Epic

 

I wanted to show off some of the forumware that I am working on for my Epic Necrons. I recently acquired a Ghost Ark that is being used as a Warbarque in Epic. I have also included a pic of a rare Otterware Obelisk for Necrons. As of the timing of this article you can still purchase the Ghost Arks off of Ebay at a reasonable price.

 

Trolls Ghost Ark

OOP Otterware Obelisk sans corners

 

 

Forumware is the gaming communities’ answer to filling the gap that Games Workshop left after dropping specialist games. Just because specialist games are no longer supported doesn’t mean that you have to resort to the secondary market to build your army. So far the people that I have dealt with when purchasing this product have been reputable and the quality of the miniatures are top notch. If you are looking to purchase some for yourself be patient because the process takes a bit longer than your normal web purchase and be sure to use a paypal account for your transactions just in case the deal turns sour.