Special Character: Damien Gord of the Crimson Blades

The man who would one day become the Captain of the Second Battle Company of the Crimson Blades was born on the poisoned world of Penal-Col-2139B#0653Z, a prison planet where the worst scum of Segmentun Tempestus were sent to wait. If they didn't die within this most harsh and deadly place where the air was unbreathable and the gravity was crushingly dense, then they would be collected and shipped to warzones throughout the segmentum to be thrown casually and carelessly into the worst meat-grinder conflicts imaginable.


Damien Gord's parents were savage killers both, who met on the penal colony, shared little affection and rutted only to express their carnal appetites. Both were natives of Carpelia, as were many of the colony inhabitants, and as such their sun inherited their abhuman physique: overdeveloped musculature and enormous size.

In the cauldron of hostility that existed on Penal-Col-2139B#0653Z, Gord quickly mastered the skills he needed for survival; the strength of arm and will enough to fight off all attackers and establish himself, even as a young teenager as a powerful force of influence among the inmates.

He detested the first generation importees for their criminal ways and meted out his own part of their punishment. Before he was even ten years old he had already beaten his own father to death to prevent him harming a child and he continued to mete out retribution for any wrongs he saw.

By the age of fourteen he had forged a little empire, organising the offspring of the original criminal colonists into an elite police force, imposing order where otherwise there would have been chaos. It was a brutal world with them all trapped in their barely safe air-sealed city and civility and order were luxuries that Damien could neither afford nor wanted. If the thugs did not behave themselves they were beaten or killed.

Long  had Penal-Col-2139B#0653Z been a source of recruits for the Adeptus Astartes chapter of the Men of Stone - not from the criminal colonists but from their children. When the Black Scabbard fell into orbit and sent down its Thunderhawks to seek out fresh neophytes, Damien Gord was quickly singled out.

Reluctant to leave the rabble to fall back into sin it took persuasion from Chapter Mistress Alarice Klein herself to persuade him to go but he quickly warmed to the training and indoctrination of the Space Marines.

With his gigantic, lean and strong body and perfectly controlled mind, Gord excelled in every arena of training and then battle. He joined the second company; working his way through the ranks until he became first a veteran sergeant and then a first company Vanguard Veteran.

It was in the first company that he really proved his worth, leading his squad of men through the harshest battlefield conditions, always risking his own life to save others and always keeping an eye to the mission. When the Men of Stone fought alongside the Ultramarines at Damnos against the Necrons, Gord won accolades that Marneus Calgar himself never forgot.

When the Captain of the Second Company was killed in action against the Orks of Incanda, Alarice Klein called on Damien Gord to take his place. He did this with pride and honour. Never once had he given in to fear. Never once had he lost at war.

A gigantic suit of terminator armour was crafted for his monstrous frame on the shrine world of Antilochus, further enhancing his strength and size until he towered above his fellow marines almost twice their height, a man in girth and stature almost the equal of a primarch. The armour was built to protect him but also to strike out at his enemies with twin power gauntlets and storm bolters attached to each wrist armed with stable plasma charges capable of penetrating plasteel.

It was a design so perfect for battle that Mareneus Calgar had a suit of his own made to fit his own smaller size in honour of this great warrior and friend.

When the calamity came that split the Men of Stone with treachery, Damien Gord and the second company were with the survivors who escaped the carnage on the Black Scabbard.

He made it his own personal mission to hunt down his Chapter Mistress and took leadership of the remaining forces. For one hundred years, he and the remains of the chapter searched for their compatriots, rebuilding their strength, never surrendering, never giving up hope.

Now, as Captain of the Second Company of the Crimson Blades, Damien Gord fights on for honour, glory and victory, one of the mightiest Adeptus Astartes alive today and perhaps the greatest warrior of his Chapter.

Damien Gord uses the rules for Marneus Calgar. 

I have big plans for him in my campaign and though the model is preposterously big compared to normal marines it really is beautiful. As long as I have him functioning alone he looks fine.

Hopefully this story goes some way to justify his monstrous size and establishes him as a special character that is here to stay. 

Spotlight On... The Genestealer Neo-Patriarch

The idea of a Genestealer Cult has always fascinated me: infiltrating alien creatures slowly consuming aculture from the inside out; slowly turning its own strengths against it; taking over; and all the while, broadcasting a stregthening beacon to the Tyranid Hive Fleets, drawing them ever closer...

Then Inquisitor came out... and I realised that I had to have an Inquisitor-scale Genestealer of my own.

Now there wasn't, at the time, a model for a Genestealer at Inquisitor level (and the one they brought out later was pretty grim). I decided to convert one from the Tyranid Hive tyrant at the time.

Now this beauty was converted to match the old style Genestealer style. hence what might now seem an odd style.

The hardest part was doing the head as I had to saw through the metal frill of the Hive Tyrant. Man that was difficult!

I built up the detail on the Patriarch with milliput, posing him in a fairly passive pose. I did this because I wanted him to be totally different from the normal charging pose; more furtive and contemplative.

The claws were actually made from Ork knives. I'm particularly proud of spotting that possibility.

And I'm also pleased with the paint job. Considering I did him a good many years ago now, this remains one of my best ever paint jobs, especially on the head.

I am a huge Space Hulk fan and I use this chap as a 40k scale Genestealer Patriarch in that and Space Crusade. It's a little known fact that I have a site dedicated to making Space Hulk better called Space Hulk Smooth.

In 40k I either use the rules for a Broodlord (a bit whimpy for his scale) or a Hive Tyrant. It's possible to choose upgrades that match him quite nicely.

My biggest quandry has been about the colour. Since I painted him I redid all my Tyranids in yellow. But I just couldn't bring myself to repaint this guy. He's too nice. As a result he stands out a bit. But hey, why not! He deserves to stand out! 

Spotlight On... Golgotha, Space Marine Alpha Level Psyker

A while ago I wrote a little blog about my Space Marine Alpha Level Psyker, Goliath... Well now it's time to meet his brother, Golgotha.

Like his brother, Golgotha is a member of my Crimson Blades Space Marine Chapter who developed incredible psychic powers and wound up being put in suspended animation until recent events required him to be resurrected.

 

He possesses incredible psychic might, far in excess of a Space Marine Librarian. Here we see him using the strength of his mind to lift balls of magma up from far underground before hurling them forward to explosive effect.

 

 

As I mentioned in my previous article, although both Psykers make nice display pieces, they function in the game as Baneblade Super Heavy Tanks - the armour representing psychic force fields and the weapons representing psychic blasts.

 

The large fireballs are made from ping pong balls, painted with a ripple effect from dark red up to orange and then yellow. The base is made from a mixture of gravel, sand, all-purpose powdered filler and PVA glue.

The smaller fireballs were made from little polystyrene balls I got from Hobbycraft. The smoke trail is made by a piece of stiff wire with clump foliage (basically tree foliage) glued onto it. I bought from a railway model shop. This was then dry brushed a few shades of grey.



Golgotha is actually standing on a levitated rock - it isn't that easy to tell.

I was going all out with this model because I was hoping to get a look-in at the Best Army award at a Tempus Fugitives event at Warhammer World. I didn't win.

But I did get nominated.

It's a pool of water at the front of the base. The idea is that bubbling steam is surrounding another magma ball being brought up from below. I like it (although the steam - made from clump foliage - doesn't look quite as I would have liked). Unfortunately three out of four people asked aren't sure what that part's supposed to be.

For Golgotha himself, I wanted a different look from his bare-chested brother - more regal and Librarian-like. He's made from various Dark Angels parts and was quite parts-expensive.

The rock he's standing on, by the way, is made from insulation foam.

I'm interested to hear any comments if you have any views...

Spotlight On... Goliath - Space Marine Alpha Level Psyker

Wanting to take my Dinosus Space Marine Battle Company up to 3,000 points for Apocalypse scale games, I decided to add two Baneblade super heavy tanks... with a difference.

What if, I reasoned, I built a diorama that was the same base dimensions as a Baneblade and had all the same abilities but was something else... something kind of cool.

Alpha Level Psykers are beings in the background to Warhammer 40,000 that possess dangerous and lethally powerful psychic abilities. One man could be as powerful as a super heavy tank...

Goliath, a simple Space Marine from the Crimson Blades chapter develops these incredible powers and is put in suspended animation until he is needed. Here we see him levitating in a lightning field he has generated.

He moves like a Baneblade and can shoot out a vast number of psychic blasts each turn equivalent to the weapons on a Baneblade: Battle Cannon thingie, demolisher cannon, lascannons and heavy bolters.

The psychic shields he can throw up are equivalent to the armour and structure points of the Baneblade.

And if he gets killed? A roll on the Catastrophic Damage table is equivalent to his powers going wildly out of control in his death throes.

Best of all, because he is the same size as a Baneblade and uses all the official rules, my opponents tend to let me use him without complaint. He isn't some uber character whose stats I've invented; he's a perfectly legal miniature!

Watch this space to see my other Alpha level Psyker... Golgotha... coming soon.

Incidentally, it's crossed my mind to build these and sell them for people on order. If anyone is interested then let me know...

Now, if you liked this guy then take a look at his brother: Golgotha!

Spotlight On... Felix Wulf & Rex

Quite a few years ago I decided that I wanted to do something particularly different with my space marines. It took me some time to come up with the idea and a few years more to clean it up until it was presentable. Then a couple more years before it was a legal army. Take a look at the centrepiece model:

The Dinosus Second Battle Company was born with Space Marine Commander, Felix Wulf, and his faithful Tyrannosaur, Rex.

Here's Felix with he Quake Clubs. I used Ogre clubs on Terminator Power Fists. In the game they count as lightning claws if I take him off the base (he's on pins so he can fit on a normal base). I wanted the look of the diorama to be Felix running up this big plank thing while Rex looked round to see what was coming.

Rex was bought at a toy shop in Oxford. He cost over £18 but he was so much better than the bheap one I'd been using before I had to splurge out. That plume of his is made from a plastic flying stand and loads of tiny pointed strips of paper. The armour plates are made of thick cardboard bent into a curve. Believe it or not, he came with a fully posable mouth!

It was on this base that I pioneered the colour scheme that went on to be the colour of the bases in all my armies and on my war board: Overlapping patches of slack, scorched brown, bestial brown, bubonic brown and bleached bone. You'll notice there's razor wire round Rex's ankles. All the better to prevent those pesky assaults.

Click on the picture to make it bigger and take a close look at what's between his toes...

I used quite a few parts from different kits to add detail to these guys. I'm quite pleased with the cybernetic attachment on Rex's eye. That was the sensor from a Landspeeder.

Quick question for you: What's that red area near the bottom left there? It's meant to be a light but the number of people who haven't guessed that was a bit disappointing. Ah well, what can you do?

The only question remaining is how can this guy possibly fit into a Space Marine army...

Well, I used the rules for Chaos Space Marines for my feral Dinosus Battle Company. This guy counts as a Daemon Prince. Although to be honest the base is preposterously overszed and works against me tactically. And if I have Felix on foot using the rules for a Chaos Lord he's actually a better miniature to have and much harder to kill.

But hey! I didn't do it to be good in the game. Sometimes you have an idea and you just have to follow where it leads...