They came from the trenches

[Cammerz]

I have begun work on a new project, putting aside the clean reds, whites and golds of the Carmine Blades and descending into the mud.

When Games Workshop first revealed the Heavy Intercessors my first thought was of them as First World War tanks, slowly grinding across the No-Man's Land of the Somme. From there I developed a colour scheme and a few army lists, steadily increasing in points value from a simple 500pt Combat Patrol up to an unfeasible 5000pt mess that will never see the light of day.

From here I began to construct the lore of this custom Chapter, a successor to the Salamanders (for rules reasons as much as fluff), These marines would be amongst the first new Primaris Marines to be gifted to their parent (as-of-yet unnamed Salamander's successor) chapter from Guilliman's Grey Shields. While it was rare, some chapters of Firstborn really disliked these new boys and they were immediately thrown into the middle of an endless global conflict, two sides completely entrenched, the fighting taking place underground in tunnels beneath the surface more than out in the sun. They were positioned at the front, between the loyalist Imperial defenders and the oncoming traitorous forces (possibly Nurgle-worshipping cultists, that sounds fitting). They were to be the anvil whilst their Firstborn brothers would form the hammer, to smash apart the heretics in a pincer action. But the hammer never came, the chapter above decided the war was unwinnable and, while the traitor forces were otherwise occupied, they launched a devastating salvo of orbital ordnance at the planet before leaving, assuming the work was done. But it was not done, the opposing armies had dug in so deep that even a Battlebarge barrage couldn't reach them all. Those who survived were the heaviest-armoured, the Gravis-equipped living tanks who now hold the line for their friendly neighbourhood subterranean Guardsmen. They were abandoned by their chapter, so deep beneath the surface, they formed their own. The Outcast Anvils.

Going from this, I decided that maybe they changed their colours using all they had to hand, Munitorum-issue paint that the Guard would use for their tanks. Supplies would be limited so they'll be weathered, grimy and another synonym that I haven't thought up right now. I also wanted to include some Firstborn Dreadnoughts so we'll assume that they were left down there as well, it would have been too difficult to recover them without tipping off the Primaris.



So now we get onto the models. I currently have everything I need to construct a 500pt list but so far I have only finished one, and this one isn't actually a Space Marine. Presenting my as-of-yet unnamed Inquisitor of the Ordo Malleus, up to her ankles in AK-Interactive's Wet Ground diorama texture.





Mostly constructed from plastic Death Korps of Krieg and various assorted components from Space Marine sprues. Her head is a Forge World Stormcast Eternals piece and her backpack is from the original metal Kasrkin.

Stay tuned for more...

[Narric]

Cool new project, and interesting Lore :3

[Cammerz]

And now for my Inquisitor's first big friend, the Captain of my Outcast Anvils.

On the tabletop he will be given the Forge Master Warlord Trait and the relic, The Salamander's Mantle. Toughness 7 and -1 to enemy wound rolls means that you'd need a Banesword's Quake Cannon to wound him on any less than a 4+

The model is almost entirely the new Gravis Captain, with only the additions of the scaly loincloth that I ordered from Spellcrow (one of nine so I plan to give them to all of the Marines) and the hand emerging from the mud which was a spare component I had left lying around after giving my Eldar Corsair Felarch a power sword.






The chapter icon started off very simplistic, I thought that a downfacing triangle would work as a stylised anvil. I messed around with a small rectangle as a base for the anvil but it never really worked. Some friends suggested that it needed a little something else and I eventually settled on half of an iron halo transfer. The triangle itself is the top part of a tactical squad icon (Battleline to the new kids) from the Tome Keepers transfer sheet that came in a couple of issues of White Dwarf, the icons will appear in their entirety on the right shoulder pads of my upcoming line infantry.

The cloak took some thought as I'm not at all experienced with greenstuff besides filling in small gaps so I decided to try some Agrellan Earth texture paint on some spare Stormcast Eternals and the effect seemed to work. I tried it a little thicker on the Gravis Captain's cloak and I couldn't be happier with how it turned out.

Coming next will be the Heavy Intercessors. Watch this space...

[Cammerz]

And here they are, the line infantry of the Outcast Anvils. As there are so few of them I have been painting each model individually rather than in a batch. It may have taken longer but I have preferred it and it probably kept my motivation up. It certainly helps that each model isn't that time consuming as, unlike the Carmine Blades, I'm not layering every individual armour panel.





As they come in the Heavy Intercessor box with the only addition of the Spellcrow loincloths.

While painting this unit I began to consider the squad and company markings of the Outcast Anvils. I want to stick quite closely to the Codex Astartes for this one but instead of the trims of the shoulder pads being in the company colour, I have opted to show it with the battlefield icon instead (tactical arrow for Battleline, assault symbol for Close Support, devastator for Fire Support, skull for Command). By having black symbols with white squad numbers (both from the Tome Keepers transfer sheets that came with a couple of White Dwarfs), I have marked these out as the 5th company. In addition, I have decided that the sergeants will be marked out my having the company colour instead of the usual drab green for their helmets.

As they're designed as if purging heretics alongside an Inquisitor and, presumably, the local Imperial Guard, I decided to go all out on relics and purity seals. Not a single model will be without both in this army, although the next model will almost be a Relic in its own right, stay tuned.

[Cammerz]

Well that didn't take too long;

Presenting my Ironclad Dreadnought:






As the toughest of all Dreadnoughts I decided that the Ironclad fitted best with the Outcast Anvils. Whilst the background for the chapter mostly revolves around the Firstborn banishing the Primaris to a world of total war, such an policy is likely to have its detractors and this is as good a way as any to make them disappear too.

I intend to put him on the table with the weapon loadout from the first image but I figured I might as well paint both as you don't need to glue any of the arms in place. I also magnetised the waist for limited posability but the bond isn't very strong so after their first outing on the battlefield tomorrow I might just decide to pick a pose and glue the sarcophagus to the waist.

The hunter-killer missile array is constructed from the magna-grapple from a Blood Angels Furioso Dreadnought with the warheads of the actual Ironclad's HKs sliced off and attached to the component.


And so, my first 500pts of Outcast Anvils are complete, here's a group photo to celebrate...

[Narric]

Continued excellent work, Cammerz!

[Cammerz]

Update time:

There isn't currently a datasheet for a Chaplain in Gravis Armour but I wasn't going to let that deter me. They do have a datasheet for a Chaplain in Terminator Armour and they're roughly the same build so fluff-wise he's in one suit of armour and crunch-wise he's in another.

I had a trio of push-fit Aggressors lying around (the other two will eventually join a fresh box of three to create a unit of five, gotta have those flame weapons) and the Sergeant seemed sufficiently laden with relics to be my base model. I swapped his arms out for some Dark Angels Terminator arms with Heavy Intercessor shoulder pads (it turns out that Gravis marines and Terminators have the same size shoulders) and removed the ammo drums on the Aggressor backpack in favour of basic exhaust vents that I took from a standard Intercessor backpack. The head is from a Primaris Reiver and the bannerpole is either from the Mk III or Mk IV Horus Heresy marines.

Enjoy;

[Cammerz]

I have made quite a bit of progress since the last update. We now have 10th edition which has shaken things up a little, particularly with regards to characters joining units (and the limitations on who can join whom).

The above Gravis Chaplain was made from an Easy-to-Build Aggessor Sergeant (that name is a bit of a misnomer, I struggled putting those together), this of course left two EtB Aggressors, my plan being to build a squad of five of them so they'd be marginally protected from 9th edition's blast rules. In 10th edition, you pay one points value for 3 Aggressors and double that for a larger squad of 4-6, so I figured I might as well spring for the full squad, most of which are the proper multi-part plastic kit.

As per the Heavy Intercessors, the Sergeant has his helmet painted in the company colour (5th company being black). I have however slightly gone against Guilliman's suggestions and made the Aggressors a Close Support unit instead of Fire Support, they are therefore squad 7 in the Outcast Anvils 5th Company and have the old Assault symbol to prove it.



The Aggressors will be joined by the Gravis Captain. My initial plan was for them to also be joined by the new Gravis-armoured Apothecary Biologis and I'd have the squad ride around in a Land Raider Redeemer at higher points levels, but I'm capped at 7 Gravis Marines in one of those. Not an issue at 1000pts of course as I'll have the whole gang on foot. Here is the Apothecary, his armour (was) white as per the Codex Astartes. Easily my favourite Astartes model in the Leviathan box.





Should I choose to split the Aggressors from the Apothecary Biologis then he'll need a new home. Enter the 9th squad of the company, the Fire Support of three Eradicators, one of whom is equipped with a multi-melta. The Biologis may not be too helpful with this trio (he grants Lethal Hits, so an unmodified to hit roll of 6 becomes an automatic wound) but every little helps.




And this of course brings me to the stage where I can present my first 1000pts of Outcast Anvils. The Chaplain isn't taking part at this stage and I have equipped the Ironclad Dreadnought with a Seismic Hammer and second Heavy Flamer instead of his old Chainfist/Meltagun arm. With two close combat arms, each with a flame weapon, it is clear that he was once an Aggressor who took one too many hits from the enemies of the Emperor.

At the bottom-right of the group photo you can see a little hint as to what I'll be bringing to the party next.

[Narric]

Excellent work, and love the look of the Biology Apothecary!

[Cammerz]

So I have 1000pts of Outcast Anvils from the 5th company, time to throw in some experience, the 5th squad from the 1st company.

Keeping with the Gravis theme with a base of Heavy Intercessor torso/leg//backpack assemblies, the arms are from the (soon to be replaced) Terminators kit (except one of them that was a Space Wolves Terminator chainfist with the wolf icon removed). The shoulder pads are also Heavy Intercessor, the helmets are from the Grey Knight Terminators box, the Crux Terminati are from the standard Terminator kit, the Iron Haloes are from the Bladeguard Veterans and the tabards are from Spellcrow.com

The Outcast Anvils show their company colours through the battlefield role icon on the right shoulder pad and on the sergeant helmets. The Codex Astartes lists the 1st company colour as white/silver so I've gone for both with a white veteran symbol (the hollow ones are from the Raven Guard transfer sheet) over a silver background, the Codex also recommends that all 1st company veterans wear the company colour on their helmets so only the skull (and different wargear) denote the sergeant.





Spellcrow were nice enough to throw in a few freebies with my order, these included the medium rock on the base of my sergeant and a scaly cape which I decided would fit well on my Terminator (Gravis) Chaplain, so here he is with the boys he'll be running with on the field (and the teleport homer from the old Terminators box);





I have a few other units on order so it shouldn't take too long before this project log gets another update.

[Cammerz]

Progress has been made!

Firstly, I have acquired some more rocks from Spellcrow which now adorn the bases of pretty much everything in the army. I have also picked up some razorwire from Army Painter which I have attached to about half of them. I'm sure I'll post up some more group shots eventually but before that I'll give you the proof-of-concept with a few new minis.

Now, this is a (mostly) all-Gravis strike force and as such should probably include more than five Heavy Intercessors, so I present to you a second squad of them:



Yet again I've got Spellcrow tabards and the rest of the parts are almost exclusively from the Heavy Intercessor box, the only exceptions being theSergeant's head with bionic eye and bionic arm with bolt pistol, both of which came from the Eradicators box.


GW, in their infinite wisdom, have decided to reduce the number of Space Marine units in the soon-to-be-released codex and pre-empted this by putting afew models up for Last Chance to Buy. I completely understand the reasoning for this, the codex was very bloated with old units, but one model in particular stood out to me.

When I was just a lad, I owned a Land Speeder that my father built and painted up for me in Blood Angels red. I loved that model but sadly it hasn't been in my possession for about two decades. When I saw that it was going I immediately knew that I had to get one.

I actually ended up getting two but I've only built this one so far.






As you can see, it isn't entirely stock. The pilots looked very small and I wanted them to at least somewhat fit with the Gravis marines. I started by giving them Heavy Intercessor helmets which looked rather silly given the scale of the old Firstborn crew so, to try to make them fit a little better, I acquired some Mk III Space Marine shoulder pads. Some pouches and a holster helped to hide the fact that these boys have definitely skipped leg day and the addition of purity seals draws the eye away whilst also fitting in with the rest of the army.

The gaping holes in the sides are where I can attach the Typhoon missile launchers. I've got magnets inside that will just about hold it all together. A much stronger magnet under the nose can convert the Land Speeder into a Tornado (as they're a Salamanders successor chapter I opted to just build up the Heavy Flamer assembly, who needs Assault Cannons).

Land Speeders are technically Legends units now (or at least, they will be in a couple of weeks when the Index is replaced witha  shiny new Codex) but I don't play in tournaments these days and I'm sure my friends won't mind.


Coming soon: Some more older models that will probably be Legends by the time I upload them here.

[Cammerz]

And as promised, just the day after they became Legends (Legends never die, I don't play in tournaments these days so they'll still see the battlefield).

I like Dreadnoughts, mostly the classic boxnaughts, if you scroll up you'll see my first Ironclad with a couple of different weapon loadouts. I decided to give him a friend, the idea being to acquire a Venerable Dreadnought kit and use the spare weapons from my first Ironclad to make it into a second Ironclad with those alternate weapons. Between ordering said Venerable and its arrival however, someone living in my building but out a box of old Firstborn units that were about to leave the codex once and for all and I decided to give them a good home. Included in that box were two more Dreadnoughts; an Ironclad and a Venerable. My ordered Venerable kit arrived and I got to work...

First we have the Ironclad, this one came pre-equipped with the Dreadnought Close Combat Weapon and the Seismic Hammer (though no underslung weaponry). I acquired a pair of Dreadnought Heavy Flamers and the parts from the Blood Angels Librarian/Furioso kit to copy the Hunter-Killer missiles from the first Ironclad.

According to the Codex Astartes, the banner for the 5th company is quartered black and white (this will be important later), so I painted that quick and easy design onto his front plate, opposite the Ironclad Assault Launchers. Once again I completed the basing with AK Interactive Terrains Wet Ground and the Battlefield Razorwire from The Army Painter.




The second Dreadnought I adopted was equipped with a Heavy Plasma Cannon and a Dreadnought Chainfist with Multi-melta (an Ironclad weapon). Both arms were removed and replaced with the spares from my original Ironclad (which did involve swapping a Dreadnought Chainfist with Multi-melta for another almost-identical Dreadnought Chainfist with Multi-melta but I'd already painted my one so it saved me some transfers.

The first two Ironclads, with their twin melee weapons and underslung flamers, are very clearly severely injured Aggressors who have been installed into larger forms of the Gravis armour they had previously served in. This third one however, with mass-firing bolt weapon and a chainfist, could only be an ex-Terminator. I took a few pieces from my new Venerable Dreadnought kit to match the armour to the sarcophagus (all those lovely arches) and found a little iron halo to fit above his Hunter-Killer assembly. For this Dreadnought I couldn't find the same missiles as I'd used on his brothers, but I did encounter some missiles from the Devastator kit that are in the process of launching. Two of those please, ebay.





And now we come to the Venerable Dreadnought I had purchased. I no longer needed to turn it into an Ironclad as I had used those spare weapons on the adopted Venerable. But wait, why not keep him as a regular Dreadnought? This chap is almost entirely built straight from the VenDread box, with the addition of the scaled tabard (as they all wear, from Spellcrow) and a little something left over from my original Ironclad Dreadnought.

I had established that my Ironclad trio are formed from two former Aggressors and a former Terminator, but none of my Gravis units are equipped with Lascannons. Going through my various transfer sheets I came upon the answer to this Dreadnought's former (and indeed current) role in my army.

The 5th company of Outcast Anvils need a Company Ancient. Who cares if he no longer has 90% of his original body?





And now, all together.

I have nicknamed them The Fab Four, but I haven't yet decided which specific ones are John, Paul, George or Ringo.