Samuel L Jackson, the Resurrection!

o/

Nope, no progress on the mechs, instead...

Whilst this pic better suits the mini below, Jules from Pulp Fiction is,
I think Samuel's finest acting performance! 

Waaaaaaaaay back in the day (pre-blog times) I had a sizable Iron Hands army lead by the infamous Iron Father Samuel L. Jackson. I used a techmarine as a base for the conversion as I didn't like the actual Iron Father mini, and later on he was cross-promoted (though to the Iron Hands, it was probably more like a demotion) to a captain when the Iron Father rules went away with an edition change. He was armed with a combi-flamer and a trimmed down chainsaw off of the IG Sentinel kit.

When I was tired of the monochromatic-hell of that army, I ebayed 'em but Samuel had earned himself an honored spot on my Hall of Heroes (HoH) display stand, where he lived out his dusty retirement until...I bumped the shelf atop of which the HoH was sitting. Unfortunately Samuel took a tumble to the floor and shattered into his constituent parts! Not having any use for him at that point, I collected his remains and tossed them into the purgatory of my bitz box. 

Whilst this mini lacks the afro and mutton chop side burns, UI have no doubt he'll be shouting Ezekiel 25:17 throughout every battle!

There he rattled around amongst years of collected gaming spares and detritus till I decided to resurrect him a little ways back. Had I thought it out properly (rather than just on impulse), I would have stripped his paint first but oh well. I added a pack and 2 bolt pistol hands, added a new 32mm base and ta-dah! He'll now be a 30k Moritat for my Blackshields/Renegade Iron Hands army. The arm on his pack is less a servo-arm and more a mechandrite. In-game it serves no purpose, aside from adding some visual appeal. Instead I figure it would assist in reloading his pistols, especially as it would be able to swivel around and actually reach the ammo pouches on Samuel's pack!

It was no picnic repositioning that fiddly little servo-arm...

With so many half-done projects already in the works, I have no idea when I'll actually get to painting him up, though given my usual tendencies...probably Tuesday!

The struggle is waning...

o/

Well, with the latest and hopefully final paradigm shift (for awhile anyways) having now passed. My Beloved Wolfy and I are settling into our 'new normal' once again. One particular boon of this latest change is the return to a consistent, daily chunk of time that can be easily used for hobbying, huzzah! As such, I was able to finally finish up my Renegade Iron Hands/Blackshields fire support squad:

Lousy photos equals: fun with filters!

Now along with my Medusa, both of my two heavy choices are painted, I'll next turn to that woefully neglected portion of my 30k force org: Troops!

*****

On the Kill Team front: after another two games my Silver Drakes remain undefeated, though admittedly, the last game was won by only the slimmest of margins! Whilst the realization that my marines have a WS/BS of 4+ continues to throw my opponents for a loop, it luckily hasn't proven to be too much of a hinderance to me. 

SMURFS!?! Attack! ATTACK!!!!

What will hurt here shortly is the rising point costs associated with going up in levels! I have a 7 strong team, leaving one extra to fill in for whomever is convalescing. However I'll only be able to field 5 at best now, or possibly just FOUR! (gulp)

What's a little brawl amongst battle brothers, right? Oh, that genestealer masquerading as a lamp post? Meh, let the Salamanders' scouts handle that....

On the bright side though, I took out Matt's level 3 Genestealer Cult Aberrant team leader! Yup, he's dead Jim. Appropriately enough, Matt's morale resource value is now the lowest in the league!

A wiley Matt, lurking in the shadows...

A few pops of color...

...just to break up the monotony.

Decals (and their associated profanity) are in-progress. Sorry about the flash,
its turned the skulls on the bases into little white blobs. 

Notta whole lot else going on though, just another busy week. Saturday I'll get in another round with the Silver Drakes and hopefully...well maybe, I'll finish these guys off soon as well.

Monochromatic flashbacks...

Way back in the day...

...I had an Iron Hands army. It was big, pretty effective on the table, and most of all, it was booooooooring to paint! Black armor, white guns and boltgun metal trim...and other than a few bitz and bobs in various colors, that was pretty much it. Painting it was monotonous as hell!

Still in the very rough initial stage. 

Skipping forward to the present, I started painting a quartet of renegade Iron Hands/Blackshields for 30k and as this post's title says: I'm suffering from monochromatic flashbacks. I'll do my best not to fall asleep whilst painting 'em. When finished these four along with their previously painted sergeant will give me a fire support squad for my little 30k army (and then I'll paint something both entirely different and decidedly more colorful). 

Struggling on...

o/

Yes I survived the weekend, but only just. I still ache all over and feel drained (both mentally and physically). Working in that ungodly heat just sucks the life right out of ya! Especially for one such as I, who is no longer acclimatized to the heat. 

But no one really cares about that right? Right.

The weekend before I left for my brief stay in hell, I bought a partial box of tac marines from Micheal (of the amazingly painted Dark Angels fame). Combining them with spares I already had, and a few bitz ordered via ebay to fill in the missing pieces, I ended up with what is essentially a 10 man dev squad for a mere $23. Nice.

Time was short but I was able to assemble a few before leaving:

Pay no attention to the Halfling & Minion loitering in the background...

The two on the left will go to my 30k Blackshields. Still not entirely sold on using the scout arms and heavy bolter on a regular marine, but it fits well with their pariah wargear theme. The other three, along with a previously assembled ML gunner will form the base of Rainbow Warriors dev squad. They'll only have 3 missile launchers, but like the Blackshields, my Rainbows also suffer from having drastically limited resources.

Hopefully I'll have the rest assembled before this week's end. 

30k Pariah Medusa / 40k Vindicator is complete!

o/

I got in a goodly bit of brush time this week, and opted to spend it on my Medusa/Vindicator. Sure, sure, some Ork units probably deserve paint more than this after last weekend's game, but oh well. They'll just have to wait.

The starting point from this tank's last appearance on here.

In 30k, Blackshields have access to Pariah armor and weaponry, so why not vehicles too? In this particular case, It'll serve as a Medusa (on a rhino hull), with the same stats/point cost as the original. The only difference will be the omission of the hull mounted heavy bolter. Call it the cost of proxying.

The basic (and as usual, sloppy as hell) color base coats and dry brushing. 

In 40k, this will serve as a Vindicator with my Chaos renegades (yes, said renegades are in fact my Blackshields from 30k). Given that I only have one opponent with which to play 30k, I figure making the army cross-compatible with 40k is a good idea. In the latter case, they'll be recently-minted renegades, and thus bereft of the usually over-abundant spikes and mutations on every surface of...well, everything..

Edges all cleaned up and ready for decals!

The decals are a mix of those from Fall out Hobby's Evil Machine Cult and the Betrayal of Calth's Word Bearers. The two work fairly well together I think, and give it a fairly unique appearance. After applying the decals I finished up the sensor pod, the right 'eye' of which I drilled out to serve as the pintle mounted combi-bolter.

Following that I got to the fun part and dirtied it up. Nothing too heavy though as I didn't want to obscure all of the runes. Also, unusually for me, this tank is bereft of battle damage or scarring, not even any rust. I suppose I got ahead of myself as I usually add that before the dirtying up part. Oh well, I guess it's a new build.

Ta dah!

The cannon's operating instructions no doubt....

...and the loading instructions, lol.

Quite intimidating from this angle!

I wanted to use the lens in the mouth as the gun, but from the side, there's nothing behind it really, meaning there was nothing to resemble a weapon's housing.

In studying after action pict captures, Imperial observers from both millenia have found these runes and symbols to be mystifying.

Anyways, I'm quite pleased with the end results.

30k Blackshields in Pariah Armor

o/

The best of the bunch I think.

I really like the idea of blackshield marines for 30k. For those not familiar, Blackshield Marauder squads are kinda like 40k CSM squads weapons wise, as the Blackshields can't have tactical squads. They variety of options is mindboggling, though you can easily make them a nightmare (for yourself) on the table top if you go overboard with them.

Some Blackshields, modify their armor/weapons for greater mobility/flexibility in very unsanctioned ways by the holy standards of the mechanicus. Sometimes its case of lacking the resources to properly maintain their equipment, in others this is done quite intentionally.

Okay cool, now how to model them?

Like this!

30k marines with bare heads (the bare head bits are never in short supply), and maybe scout marine arms. Could work I guess, but I found some necromunda goliath to space marine size comparison photos online, decided they were about the same size, and went that route instead.

The squad as a whole.

The necromunda bitz are a bit pricey, so I opted for the cheapest bodies available on ebay-yup, the ballerina berzerkers. All went together fairly well, after a fair bit of trimming off of Khorne emblems, trimming shoulder joints and to be honest I'm quite happy with the results!

No idea what these guns are called in Necromunda, but they work well for Pariah Bolters (i.e.: 16" ranged astartes shotguns).

The Necromunda Goliath grenade launcher fits in perfectly! Whilst it would make for a decent heavy bolter, the Blackshields conveniently can get grenade launchers.

Just following taking pics of these, I primed 'em up and hopefully will get some paint on at least one of 'em this week.

*apologies for the typos, but Blogger is all sorts of fucked up today!

Pariah Medusa for my 30k Blackshields

o/

After acquiring a $20, on-the-sprue rhino on ebay, I was able to make some progress on my big momma conversion kit for my 30k marines...

Beware black primered models/minis in ebay listings...because you won't see just how badly the model is assembled till it arrives on your doorstep!

The rear deck plate shown in the link above wasn't included in the ebay auction, Luckily though it doesn't look like anything is actually missing if you didn't know it was supposed to be there in the first place. There is a bit of minor damage that needs to be repaired due to being thin resin that was manhandled by the prior owner, but its nothing a little bit of plasticard can't easily cover up. 

easy fix, moving on...

The only piece of the original rhino I kept was the top deck which thankfully hadn't been glued in place. Whilst it doesn't look bad in the top photo, when looked at from the side, you could see right thru the tank due to a large gap. Thus, the front hull was tossed aside, and a goodly portion of the top plate had to be cut away as well. I also needed to do a bit of filling in of said gap on the bottom of the cannon itself. I suck at greenstuff application, but luckily a strip of plasticard fit in perfectly!

Front and top partially removed...!

Plasticard to the rescue!

With that all taken care of, it all fit together nicely. I swapped out the havoc launcher for a sensor pod which presumably mounts a targeting array for the cannon, not to mention cameras so that the driver can actually see forward and...ya know, drive this beast!

Hmmm...that add-on is a bit too traitorish for the Salamanders, so to the Blackshields this will go!

Look at that gun! Now that is how you over-compensate!! Screech this is normally your M.O., so I hope you're taking notes!

Side by side with one of Kushial's Vindicators, this gun makes the Vindi's Demolisher cannon look like a mere pop gun! As such, this will be used as a Medusa instead. But that presents another problem: along with any sort of a forward vision, there's no room for the front hull-mounted heavy bolter. So...to the pintle mount! 

That works!

Seriously, where else would it go? The weapon is so friggin' big that there's no internal space for...well, anything! Best not to ask how many rounds are stored internally (assuming one is already in the breech, I'm guessing two!), or where the engine, driver, gunner(s?) and other internals would actually go with a gun this large mounted on a mere rhino. True, the Legion Medusa is supposed to be on a reinforced basilisk hull, but the Blackshields already have pariah weapons and power armor, so why not add vehicles to that list?

Now aside from a little bit more work on the hull and of course paint, all that's needed is a 2nd rhino to follow this tank around, acting as an ammo carrier (but don't hold your breath).

The flesh is weak.

o/

I'm really happy with how this mini came out!

A better of the base

I managed to get in a bit of brush time this weekend and finished up my first Blackshield for 30k. Originally intended to be an Iron Hand, I realized that I didn't have any Iron Hands decals. Ah yes, now I remember (from way back when I had an Iron Hands army about 10+ years ago), that as the red-headed stepchild chapter/legion, decals simply don't exist aside from Forgeworld's single offering. 

However I have a few sheets of Fallout Hobbies' 'evil machine cult' decals and they work perfectly! Thus, instead of a conglomeration of Istvaan survivors, I'm going with similar (but different) the Blackshields theme for my army. My Salamanders dreadnought already has some of these decals on it as well, so it'll tie in nicely. As for the three painted Salamander marines that I have, I'll leave them as is. No sense in changing anything given how much else I already have still to paint. 

Additionally, I tweaked the paint on my Techmarine-turned-Forgelord for what seems like the umpteenth time. That, along with the addition of one of the machine cult decals, help to tie him into the army. 

Not much paintin' but some buildin' at least...

o/

Rather than (*try to*) paint a horde of 30k Salamaders, get bored, and sell 'em off ala my 30k Alpha Legion army, I decided to mix it up a bit and just do a horde of loyalist Istvaan survivors. WHICH...adds in the option of very...colorful...black...armor. Maybe I'll add in some black shields who've renounced their colors and are painted as ANGRY MAHREENZ!! in black (again? seriously?).

...sigh...

Once primed black, I just have to paint the eye lenses and call 'em raven guard, and/or iron hands right?

Anyways, I (literally) 're-armed' my flamer tactical support squad with bolters and then added a bunch of battlefield debris to their bases, and that of several others totaling 12 marines. These will (very shortly) be primed black since its warm today, unlike yesterday and the rest of the week. 

Speaking of...

GHARRRR!!!

My Ghar rebel commander finally finished doggy-paddling its way across the Atlantic, and I assembled that as well and will also be priming that alongside the marines above. Being a metal/plastic hybrid, its a woefully top-heavy model. Luckily my earlier decision to add a bunch of rocks to my Ghar's bases offsets this somewhat, though I'll still have to be careful when fielding it.

It shall remain in pieces for now for ease of painting.

The latest survivors of the simple green...

o/

Invariably, when some paint jobs have reached the end of their useful lifespan, the model wearing that paint often hasn't. Some go onto to ebay, and others go into the Simple Green. Here are the latest wrecks (post scrubbing and rinsing) to emerge from the green (which had turned black after a few weeks of soaking):

Ya know you like those Necron Gauss hatch hinges!

This poor rhino came to me via ebay. It served with me as an Inquisition Rhino for most of its career, plus the Dark Angels (briefly), and going by the colors layers discovered, it apparently came to me as a Space Wolf vehicle. Its next stop: 30k.

I'm pretty sure there's hull damage under the pasticard on the front hull, so I'll leave it be. A lot of the little gribbly bitz on the tank were lost during the paint scrubbing, but a recent sift thru my bitz box found replacements for all those lost, and some more fun options as well.

He will have a Forgeworld backpack at least...

 Sticking with 30k, here's the former Storm Wardens' Captain I killed Draigo. Yes, it hurts to erase such a glorious history but as he's one of the few survivors of an army that went the way of ebay, this guy too will join my 30k Blackshields. 

Then there's this little bastard!

Still not thinking the new paint will include a red coat...

Its rare that a simple scrubbing with a toothbrush doesn't remove all of the paint aside from a few little bits in the nooks and crannies. However this fucker required an exacto to scrape a hellova lot of it off! Plus, his mace (always easily bendable) snapped off, revealing an air bubble in the cast which explained that issue. So he got a simple choppa instead.

He also got a shield (luckily that's a vaible piece of wargear in GorkaMorka) as when I removed the old shield, it was a really bad hackjob underneath! Either I had just gotten my dremel, or was still using a rasp and files. Either way, that had to be covered! he also got the only Ork slugga I found in my bitz box!

Also, just an FYI, this coming holiday weekend will be spent with family in the mountains of North Carolina, so don't look for a Monday update. Instead you'll have to wait till Thursday.

Have a good weekend folks!

For the 1st time in my 20 years of gaming, I DON'T have a Space Marine army!

How did that happen?

Oh that's right: ebay.

Yes, this pic came from their ebay auction.

The most recent marines sold (the Storm Wardens) were ironically made up of almost all of the exact same models as I got 20 years ago in the 2nd ed 40k starter box. At my height (somewhere between 4th & 5th ed) I topped out at 19 40k armies! Don't ask where the hell I stored them all, because even now I can't figure that madness out. Currently, I have 3 (Orks & Eldar, both of which struggle to reach the 1500 point mark and my Grymn Militarum and friends who can't even reach 1k). Wolfy still has her Fem Fa'Tau though, which is easily the largest 40k army in the house.

What can I say, the twin travesties of 7th ed 40k and more recently the Age of Sigmeh have really strained my love of all things GW. However their redemption may possibly be in the near future. Ya see, unlike so many miniatures that have gone the way of ebay over the past year or so to keep the lights on, food on the table, credit cards at bay, etc., the Storm Wardens have a higher purpose. Their funds are going into a savings account, to await the day that plastic 30k arrives.

We've all seen the sprue pics, so we know its going to happen, the question is when. Luckily GW's marketing division likes to keep their customers completely in the dark, so who the hell knows. Right before Christmas is my guess. Regardless, I'm generally not in the position to make a triple-digit impulse buy (which often seems like GW's overall marketing scheme). Thus the Storm Wardens' funds will await that release. I may add to it in the intervening days/months/years as well...we'll see.

I do still have marines though. My current inventory of them is as follows:

Dark Hands/Subjugators: I have the periodically retired predator that I got an honorable mention with at Gamesday Atlanta some years ago, along with my Subjugators Librarian. Not sure why I kept him, I just like the mini I guess.

Exorcists: Yes, the accursed Matt Fucking Ward still exists, in my game room...I forgot about that model until just recently actually.

ANGRY MAHREENS!!!: Floyd Uberson is the only one I actually painted, and the only one I have left...and he's really fucking pissed off about it!!!

Aurora Chapter:  How in the FUCK can there still be a damned Aurora scout sniper left in this house?!?!?! I've sold them to Sweden (literally), given them away, repainted them and then given them away, and yet there's another half painted, headless one in the fucking mini case! Its like a god damned conspiracy or something...

Techmarine: He's a 'non-denominational' techmarine, meaning he's bereft of chapter iconography as I got tired of switching/repainting his shoulder pads (you can see him in Floyd Uberson's link above). He has 2 heavy bolter servitors that have been primed green for years now.

Blackshields: My former Emperor's Children, 30k contingent. Currently I have the recently painted Centurion and 5 recon marines (a.k.a. Scouts), a Techmarine with a conversion beamer along with a pair of Servo-Automata flunkies to serve as ablative wounds for him. I also have the now former Captain I killed Draigo (11th pic down, fighting some losers...), swimming in simple green who will be demoted to a mere grunt, an original rhino that's swimming with him, and my original predator which is the very first 40k model that I ever bought (in another year, that tank will of legal drinking age in this country!).

Storm Wardens: (3) bikers, of which only one is assembled and painted. These are the first minis my beloved Wolfy bought me, and thus they have sentimental value, yes even on the sprue.

Red Corsairs: with the demise of my Chaos marines, Centurion Niro has found himself retired to my Hall of Heros awaiting the day he can scratch the cowardly name of Tigurious off of his Murder Sword...

*****

I was going to further list the chapters I've fielded in the past as the number far exceeds the total number of marines listed above, but...I'm kinda tired and its getting late,  so screw it.

Maybe some other time.

GorkaMorka called...

...it wants it's Red Gobbo back.

I hope you didn't want to buy one on ebay. Holy crap! Look at those prices! For a stinkin' GROT!?!?!? I don't care if its a long out-of-production special character, that's just stupid! Now, whilst I don't think I'll be fielding a rebel grot force, I would like that model for my mob, and it just so happens that I have him already...

Dis, iz (or rather wuz) Da Redd Barrun! A minor chieftain in my 2nd O&G army, and Da Warlord of my 3rd and final, purely goblin Warhammer army. Ironically, of all of my green skinned fantasy armies, the all goblin vesrion was the most effective (and I only had 6 fanatics!). As you can see, his slugga was removed and replaced with a shield taken from the old Dogs of War general Lorenzo Lupo (and now you know why that guy disappeared from existence, the gobbo's ate him!).

These photos were taken shortly after Da Barun was taken out of retirement in my Hall of Heroes and just before he went into the Simple green for a much needed bath. He joined the (now former) Captain I killed Draigo of Storm Wardens' fame, and an old, original rhino with waaay too many layers of paint on it. The latter two will go to my 30k Blackshields, whereas the barun will go to GorkaMorka (though the color of his coat remains to be determined...

30k Blackshield Centurion

o/

As a follow-up to my last post, I finished my Centurion for the Blackshields. Unlike my recon marine squad (well, the 3 painted so far), he didn't choose to completely obliterate his old Emperor's Children colors. Instead merely the legion/company markings were removed. Add to that, the constant wear and tear of battle which hasn't been repaired/cleaned off, and the resulting look would qualify as a criminal offense within the EC's pretty boy ranks prior to the Horus Heresy!

The rear view on the left gives a good view of his bionic arm, the replacement for the flesh and blood appendage which was taken from him via the accursed Xenos blade that he now carries as his own.

Actually, rather than paint everything precisely, and then dirty it up, I opted to just go for basic and splotchy base colors to further add to the lacking in maintenance look of his armor. Amusingly, I can't any difference from my regular methods on the finished model (which may speed up future paint jobs significantly!). An air bubble on the chest plate (thank you for that Forgeworld) has been turned into a puncture wound in his armor. Indeed despite the robust and recuperative qualities of an Astartes' physique, it seems as though one of his 2 hearts are bleeding out (and onto a fallen Alpha Legionnaire's helmet).

My meager painted force thus far...

Next up will either be the remaining two recon marines, or my Techmarine. I was going to ask if anyone knew whether or not 30k techmarines painted their armor red like their 40k counterparts do, but its kindova moot point as I'll probably just paint him predominantly black anyways.

The Sundered and the Black

Disclaimer: Real life events weren't too kind to us late last week, and as a result it torpedoed our gaming plans for this past weekend, as such look for Da Fort's return to GorkaMorka and hopefully some Bolt Action action next week. Luckily like most gamers, I suffer from the hobbyist's version of adult ADHD and thus have more than one thing going at once. I usually hang onto these sorts of side projects to blog about when RL tosses a wrench into the works, and this is one of those posts:

*****

I've been wanting to start a 30k army and so far my handful of minis have been hopping from legion to legion with little to no paint to show for it. However we've all seen the 'plastic 30k' sprue pics floating about, and with that news my interest in starting a small 30k army has been renewed once more but my problem persists: which legion?  Well, how about none of them? Or better yet, maybe a conglomeration of several legions...

Recently I found the following story & accompanying artwork in the Horus Heresy Book 4 - Conquest, along with a few other references from the previous HH FW books, and they've really piqued my interest. As such I've started work on my now former Emperor's Children Centurion, and my also former but not Imperial Fist recon marines are good to go as is. Additionally I won't have to worry much about decals and legion insignia which is convenient. Anyways, here they are:

The Sundered and the Black 

Almost from the outset, the war of the Horus Heresy was a vast cataclysm and one whose events moved with such quicksilver pace that mystery, supposition, lies and simple ignorance cloaked much of the bloodshed even as it occurred, casting a veil over much that would never be lifted. Though the roll call of Space Marine Legions, Titan Legio, Auxilia regiments and Mechanicum Taghmata that sided with the Arch-Traitor and those who remained loyal is largely known and accepted, the full truth is far more complex and far more mysterious than commonly believed.

Of those who fell at Istvaan V during the Dropsite Massacre, there were survivors, remnants and fleeing fragments shorn of command and driven half mad by treachery; from that point onwards they were isolated, alone. These were the shattered Legions and, while some swiftly returned to the Imperial fold, some did not or would not. Some would go on to wage a bitter war of vengeance alone, some would simply disappear, their fates unknown, their stories untold. But there were others of a darker hue. It has long been refuted, but is indelibly the case that in the Legions that remained loyal there were elements, sometimes whole companies and commands, that did not. In some cases the infection of the Warmaster's 'warrior lodges' has been blamed, while in others perhaps grievances long smoldering were the cause, just as infiltration by outside forces, or simply a darker truth applies, that given the option, some legiones Astartes believed Horus had the superior cause and the superior right to command their allegiance, not the Emperor, while some retained the loyalty to their Emperor and the Great Crusade over that of their own Primarch's will. It is true that some quietly slipped anchor and turned their coats to serve another master, and that this happened on both sides of the divide.

Thus can perhaps be explained, at least in part, persistent stories and evidence long since suppressed of midnight clad warriors in defaced Night Lords heraldry savagely attacking Traitor forces at the liberation of Estaban III, or of recurring reports of multiple Space Marine strike forces seemingly in the resurrected livery of the Dusk Raiders thwarting the Iron Warriors at Kibron and Malinche's Fall. Likewise also should be considered the long-denied evidence of a Great Company of the Space Wolves Legion bearing the symbol of the Serpent's Eye slaughtering millions at Neo Cadiz in 008.M31, or of a company of Legiones Astartes present at the Siege of Mezoa bearing the hybrid arms and panoply of the Iron Hands and Sons of Horus Legions both. These were merely a handful of still infamous cases, but here are many more unsubstantiated or simply now forgotten which paint a more complex and uncertain picture of this great civil war than is normally accounted. Further to this, and perhaps an even more sinister enigma, are the persistent reports of Space Marine forces appearing bearing no sign or seal of heraldry or origin at all, or stranger yet, heraldry which bears no mark known during the Great Crusade.  Although whether the "black" Legionaries were merely turncoats or, as some have whispered, perhaps raised by the Traitors from the chimeric gene-seed of the Istvaan dead for their own terrible purposes, none can now say for certain.

Story and Artwork copyright of Forgeworld and/or Games Workshop, and obviously used without permission as they came from an illegally made Russian PDF of the Horus Heresy Book 4 - Conquest.