Over the last several years as I have gotten into various flavors of Warhammer, I have brought down upon myself a mountain of miniatures. I've gone through many iterations of my approach to painting them all, and one I've found myself taking on at present is the assembly and painting all-at-once of a fairly massive 3000-point White Scars legion force for The Horus Heresy: Age of Darkness.
I've decided that I wanted a fresh start to White Scars for the Heresy era, specifically. Elsewhere, for the 40K era, I have a large collection of models and units painted as White Scars. Many of these work just fine across rule systems, but the particulars of the marks of armor they wear and insignia and such make them identifiably 40K models, and I want a force that I can look at and say, 'there's a V Legion force from the Horus Heresy.'
I had, years ago now, found a good deal on 30 Mk III infantry that I am using for this project. Ironically, in the intervening time, that armor mark has been re-issued in a newer infantry kit upscaled some. A lot of hobbyists get real into replacing models so they're only using the newest ones, but I'm not bothered by having the older ones. I continue to use a lot of Mk IV troops for my Alpha Legion force as well. The slight difference in height and bulkiness next to the newer Mk VI and III bodies out there doesn't matter to me. So, the old Mk III guys that came with the Burning of Prospero game several years ago are currently being made into Tactical marines for the army I'm building.
It's a force designed to use the Sagyar Mazan Rite of War themed to the White Scars legion split early on in the Heresy. A portion of the legion wanted to follow Horus into rebellion, but this was pretty quickly nipped in the bud for a number of reasons as told in Chris Wraight's excellent novel Scars. After the fact, repentant legionaries were allowed a chance at redemption by being sent out on what amounted to suicide missions. They were known as the Sagyar Mazan. The rules for playing a force of them make them into a primarily infantry-focused group of fearless and uncompromising fighters heedless of their own safety. It makes them broadly above concerns of morale, and able to shrug off wounds that would otherwise kill them to get the job done. Furthermore, since they are all already written off to the legion anyhow, the opposition gain no victory points from killing them for any reason. The Sagyar Mazan are, however, precluded from bringing along any vehicles in the Heavy Support role, or Jaghatai Khan himself (or a fortification for that matter, as they are always attacking and never castled up anywhere).
Rounding out the list I have planned, in addition to the three squads of 10-man tactical marines I mentioned above, are 5 Ebon Keshig Terminators which will be in black armor, 5 Tartaros Terminators with power fists and guns which I intend to paint mostly red, 10 more Tartaros armed with dual lightning claws, 10 Cataphractii Terminators with a mix of power swords and chainswords and with combi-bolters, 10 Heavy Support marines with lascannons, 10 Reconnaissance marines, a legion Champion consul, and as wardlord, Hibou Khan, with a small command quad retinue for him. Three Rhinos and one Spartan will be dedicated transports for the force.
The first thing I did was build the 30 marines I had to begin with, and get those primed. I already have two of the three Rhinos I'll need painted. They're Mars-pattern, and not the more emblematic Deimos-pattern ones of the Heresy period, but they'll work. I had to acquire a third one, which I did get in Deimos-pattern, and got that built and primed as well, then base-coated everything I had so far in Ulthuan Grey Air using my airbrush. While doing some brush work on the first 10 Tactical marines and the new Rhino, I also have now built and primed the 5 Tartaros that will be in red (which are on loan from my Burning of Prospero box which I intend to keep as such) so that they can ideally pull double-duty as Thousand Sons here and there. Additionally, over the last week I built and primed the 10 Cataphractii I'll need.
Filling out this list meant buying several new things, including the Rhino and Cataphractii I mentioned, the resin Ebon Keshig, 10 additional Tartaros and a Spartan, as well as the heavy weapons kit for the lascannons I'm going to be using. Their bodies and those of the Recon marines are what I have leftover from the Age of Darkness launch box; what I didn't use for my Alpha Legion. For Hibou Khan, his retinue, and the Champion consul, I'll temporarily be using some of the models I painted for 40K, including the old Kor'sarro Khan and a Company Champion from the old Company Command squad. The retinue are in fact Mk IV marines, and painted black in the Ebon Keshig style, only expressly for 40K at the time.
Hibou Khan has his own model coming in resin at some point, which I may pick up, and at which point I might switch the old Kor'sarro model over to the role of the Champion consul, and potentially rebase him to match the scheme of this new force. It would then make sense to rebase the retinue as well, but we'll see about that when the time comes. I've thought many times before about rebasing my 40K White Scars from what I now consider the ill-conceived gray gravel/earth and snow scheme I used on most of them. But that's another post.
Another aspect of collecting a Warhammer army that I constantly think about is storage, and to a lesser extent, transportation. I favor boxes meant for fishing tackle, lures especially, because the individual compartments they feature are just about the perfect size for many miniatures. They keep the models safely ensconsed and also save space over something like a display case or magnetized larger plastic box, for general storage. For the appx 85 infantry I have planned for this force, 3 of the Flambeau Zerust 3700 (I think) model boxes will work. The vehicles will have to travel in something else, but I have a hard case with foam interior that is meant for a handgun that will work. It's what I usually bring my vehicles in for other forces.
So, as of the current date, I have everything I need model-wise to realize this force. It's just a matter of getting everything assembled and painted. I am to the point of being able to weather my first Tactical Squad, which I am planning to do with an oil wash. I'll need to put a gloss varnish on them first, I think. I never varnish anything I paint, though I probably should. The Deimos Rhino needs some red and black on it in various places, as well as transfers. The Terminators I've primed need colors as well, and then there's everything that's yet to be assembled, as well. Most shouldn't be too arduous, but working with super glue (for the resin Ebon Keshig) is always an ordeal. I much prefer plastic so I can use the far superior plastic glue to create the bonds between pieces of a model. For assembly, then, will be 5 Ebon Keshig plus a repair on my resin Land Raider while I'm at it, 10 Tartaros with claws, 10 Recon marines, 10 Lascannon heavy support marines, and the Spartan carrier. As well as final assembly of the 30 Tactical marines I have left their weapons off of, to this point.
The painting may take quite a long time, as well. I wonder whether I should get everything painted before starting the oil weathering. That may make a certain amount of sense. I could probably even get it all based, at least partially, then use the oils to finish that off at the same time. That actually sounds like the way forward, for now.
So then, my next step might be to go ahead and partially base and glue the bolters on to this first Tactical Squad, and them call them done for the time being, then continue from there. More later...
First 10 Tactical Marines are “battle ready” until whenever I come back much later to do oil washes on everything in this force. Or at least that’s the plan. #HorusHeresy #30K #WhiteScars #SagyarMazan #PaintingWarhammer #WarhammerCommunity
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— countelmdor.bsky.social (@countelmdor.bsky.social) May 17, 2024 at 8:20 PM
