Stone Dragons fluff

Following on from the Brazen Hawks fluff and list last week, here is the Stone Dragons Fluff.

Why Was The Chapter Founded -	Counter an Ork threat
When Was The Chapter Founded -	24th or 25th founding
Who was the Chapter's Progenitor -	Unknown but believed to be Ultramarines
Fortress-Monastery -	Voyagers Keep
Colours -	Gray and yellow
Gene-seed purity -	Pure
Chapter Demeanour -	No mercy, no respite
Gene-seed mutation -	None
Chapter's Flaw -	Minor flaws, including vocal alterations and skin and eye discolouration
Chapter homeworld -	Voyagers end
Chapter organisation -	Unique small crusading forces
Combat doctrine -	Shock and awe
Special equipment -	Beastial companions and combat knife
Chapters' beliefs -	Purity of man
Chapter strength -	Nominal
Chapter friendly -	Black templars, Ultramarines,
Chapter's enemies -	orks and dark elder, inquisition
Battle Cry -	Let none live

The Stone Dragons are a rather unique chapter of space marines, due to the fact that the chapter is split up into crusading forces, some as small as a couple of squads of marines up to several hundred marines joining together for a specific campaign before disbanding again.

The Stone Dragons are spread all over the galaxy, although they do maintain a home world and a fortress monastery on the world of Voyagers End. Here, the chapter recruit and train the numerous initiates taken from the tribes that live on the planet. Once a recruit has received their basic training they are attached to a crusading force, from this point on they will receive all their training from veterans within crusading force.

The chapters origins are relatively unknown. They are a very recently founded chapter and they believe they are of Ultramarines gene stock. What is known is that the chapter was formed to guard against an ork warband, Zobgitz' Raidin Pirate mob, and a dark eldar pirate band, the kabal of the bloody night, however, both of these threats were eliminated before the chapter had been fully established. It was decreed that the chapter would still fight these forces, as such the chapter organised into crusading forces to hunt down dark eldar and ork pirates all across the galaxy.

Generic Stone Dragon. Most marines have modified armour and carry the heraldry of the crusade commander.

Again, this will be a small force, and again its mostly just for fluff reasons that the force exists. The force will be based on the Space Wolfs codex, but will take as little from the fluff and codex specific units as I can. I realise that some people don't like the whole SW successor chapters thing, and neither do I really, but I think that as long as your sensible, ie no wolfs and stuff, then you can quite easily make a force out of the remaining units and keep it all generic enough not to be an actual SW successor.

Brazen Hawks list

So following on from the fluff that I posted for these guys, here is the list I intend to build. It will be a small force, just 500 points. The purpose of this list and the army collection is just to add some flavor and fun to my collection. I would like to think that they will come out to play occasionally as an allied force but we shall see. At least, coming in at 16 models it should be simple to build and paint!

The fluff revolves around the Templars and this is reflected in the list, using BT chapter tactics and units. Also, most of the units are heated towards close combat, with the crusaders having pistols and swords as well.


So here is the 500 point allied detachment list using Black Templars chapter tactics.

Chaplin - Plasma Pistol, Crozius Arcanum

Honour guard - Chapter champion, 2x power swords, 2x power axe, Rhino

Crusader squad - Flamer, 4x Initiates w/chainswords, Rhino

Devastator squad - 2x Plasma Cannon

Short and sweet.

So, a chaplain to lead,well its a BT list and apart from the Emperors Champion there isnt really many choices and being a BT lits it ad to contain a crusader squad. I also put a honour guard in, granted in a 500 point list it forms a bog points sink. When running with the chaplain, the unit will be over half the points cost for the army. The Dev's are only 2 guns strong, as there was no points for any more, but 2 plasma cannons can still cause problems. The idea was a small combat army with good mobility, which I think I have achieved while keeping the BT feel. In the long term, if they ever did get reinforced (say another 500 points) it was be extra crusaders and a Land Raider. In a 2000 point list, there would be at least 2 if not 3 land raiders, but that is a long long way off!

Brazen Hawks fluff

Brazen Hawk

Ok, this is the fluff for the Brazen hawks, for those that haven't already checked out their page. It is mostly the same, just condensed a little for the post, the full fluff is up on their page. I will also post up the Stone Dragons fluff next week, before going in to the reasons behind creating these forces and there army lists.

Why Was The Chapter Founded -	Standing Force
When Was The Chapter Founded -	23rd Founding
Who was the Chapter's Progenitor -	Imperial Fists
Fortress-Monastery -   Colours -	None, Penitence crusade Bronze
Gene-seed purity -	Pure
Chapter Demeanour -	Suffer Not The Works Of Heretics
Gene-seed mutation -	No known mutations
Chapter's Flaw -	Faith in Suspicion
Chapter home world -	None, stripped due to penitence crusade
Chapter organisation -	Unique - Black Templar's
Combat doctrine -	Stealth and Close Combat
Special equipment -	Blessed War gear
Chapters' beliefs -	The Emperor above all else
Chapter strength -	Understrength due to penitence crusade
Chapter friendly -	Black Templar's
Chapter's enemies -	Inquisition, Slaanesh,
Battle Cry -	For Honour, For the Emperor

The Brazen Hawks have by all accounts, including those of Terra, the Inquisition and even the chapters own, ceased to exist. There has been no active sighting of a battle brother of the brazen hawks for more than 300 years. However, the chapter is not extinct, at least not yet. There remains a hand full of battle brothers. However, there is hope on the horizon, the 606 year penitence crusade is almost over and the gene seed of the chapter is stable and pure.

The chapter is nearing the end of a penitent crusade as a result of treachery from within their own ranks, when the company captain of the 8th, an old and disgruntled veteran, tried to usurp the chapter master. The resultant civil war was bloody and protracted and the Hawks became more interested in their own affairs that that of the imperium and deserted their duty and allowing a xenos threat to run rampant. This incurred the full wrath of the inquisition, resulting in a penitent crusade, and so the chapter reorganised themselves into a Templar's style crusader force and took many of the Templar's beliefs and ideologies.

The chapter was originally a successor of the imperial fists, created as a standing force to guard against an unknown threat from the ghoul stars on the eastern fringe, as divined by the Emperor's Tarot.



Why did I start this force? I decided that I wanted some more variety in the marine forces that I had in my collection. I was originally looking at 3 full 2000 point lists, two based around demi companies, and I thought that it was a little bit excessive. I therefore cut down one of the lists, the Emperors Disciples, but that left me with some extra marines. As I wanted to do something different with them, I had a think and came up with the Hawks and Dragons. The lists are small, as to enable them to slip into various army lists with out much problem, they may not be optimised at all, but its more about the fluff then anything else.

Fluff update

Fluff in all its flavours!

(Ok not the picture I was going for, but couldn't resist!)

Well, I've spent the last few weeks looking through the fluff for my various armies and also looking at the changes to the fluff and armies that Codex Imperial Allies has brought. While I don't have the codex to hand, it is sitting on a shelf somewhere in the house, patiently waiting for my birthday to come around (its a while to wait!). I will be starting to put together a number of Inquisition warbands however and many of the games I play this year will add to the fluff and the storyline of the Hjaltland saga. I've also changed a few of the armies structures and roles and so the fluff needs to be updated to bring it in line with the new army lists. This change is partly model based and partly as rules based. I didn't see a need for several demi-companies, so have skinned down my non-primary armies.

So what have I changed? Quite a bit in some cases, in others not a lot. Here a quick run down of the changes;

I have updated the fluff for the Hjaltland campaign as well as Hamnavoe system. Mostly just general updates and details.

Marines

Knights - minor updates to the basic fluff, mostly just going more in depth with it all. The 3rd company gets an update to bring it inline with the new formations from Angels Blade.

Disciples - updated the basic fluff, again just adding details. The 15th company fluff gets a major overhaul to bring it online with the updated and reduced army list.

Guardians - again mostly a basic update to the basic fluff.

Dragons - all new fluff, with details of chapter and their homeworld.

Hawks - more new fluff and also details of the "fall of the 8th"

Guard

Dagr Ormr - basic fluff update to add more details, plus a short piece on their equipment

Hjaltland LI - added more details and depth

Hrossey-  again just more detail and depth to the fluff

Hildasay PDF - all new fluff for these boys,

In addition to these, the Inquisition are getting a fluff update to bring them inline with the changes in Codex Imperial Allies. So there will be an additional inquisitor, one for each of the main factions. In addition, I have used the various online leaks to start building the fluff and lists for my small deathwatch, Grey knights and sisters units, to escort the various inquisitors end there warbands, plus I will be adding in my assassins as well, mostly just because I want to. All the inquisitors lists will be 500 point, meaning I should be able to drop them in to 1500 or 2000 point lists quite happily.

Well, that's the basic fluff updates, the relevant pages should already be updates and the others will hopefully follow shortly. Up next will be the fluff and army lists for both the dragons and hawks.

(Edit: All updates are now done, only 9 hours late!)

Valkyrie finished

Been racing through this one while the girls were watching their chick flicks. So here is the finished article, kinda, possibly. I'm still debating some sort of stripy camouflage on the top but I haven't decided yet. With the vendetta being camouflaged I like the plain lines of this, they contrast each other quite nicely I think. There's a shot of the two of them at the bottom so you can see for yourself.

The blue underneath looks a lot brighter in the pictures then it does in real life. 

And here are a few pictures with its wing mate

As you can see, there are a few differances ( notjustthe colors!) which set the two apart. With the two together, I have to say I'm leaning towards some camouflage, probably just a subtle color shift to brake up the outline a little.

Valkyrie WIP

This is my latest work, my Valkyrie. It was a present last Christmas (that would be 2016). Is been built for a while and has seen some action but I have not had a chance to get any paint on it. However, we have a guest with us at the moment, an old friend of the wife's, so I have been having a bit of time to paint while the two ladies demolish bottles of wine and watch girly films. Some pictures of the Valkyrie as it stands at the moment. I'm hoping to have it completed by the time our guest goes home or it could be a while before I get it finished.

The top of the hull

Half finished. The base will be painted blue, similar to the underside of the wings (below)

The crew and cabin.

The wings

The base.

The top

The Valkyrie still has a way to go before it is complete. the top of the hull still need another coat of green and the hull bottom is going to get a coat of blue, similar to the wings, although it will be a lighter shade of blue. I'm not sure what the difference between the colour of the hull and the wings will result in, I'm hoping that it will result in the wings being less visible and hence hide the outline of the ship, kind of like camouflage. I might just put some camouflage on the top, but I have not decided yet.

unit cards 40k app

The Unit Cards 40k App is something I found a while a go and have had on my phone for sometime, even though I have only mrules handful of cards at the moment, which I haven't even printed off!

So what is the app? Well as you can see from the card above, for my MoO, its a reference card maker. I plan on making (and printing) cards for all my units and characters, so that I have a very quick in game system to check stats and wargear without having to keep looking through the BRB or Codex. While I might not be able to get every rule for every units on the cards, I should be able to get the important ones and a basic outline of the rule.

I plan on making various cards, some specific such as like the MoO, and Creed and some generic ones, such as for infantry squads and heavy weapons teams.

Short and to the point, including everything I need when combined with the stats on the card. I won't produce a card for every infantry squad, just one set that will work with all units, hence the sgt and HWT having separate cards, as these can change depending upon the unit. Ill also do ones for flamers and meltas along with any other weapons that I have. The same will apply to the vehicles, a vehicle will only get a new card if its weapons load is different from the normal.

I will hopefully get cards sorted for all my factions, all in different colors, so there all easy to tell one from the other.

Granted, these are not really needed most of the time as I know my army rules, but there useful reminders and good to be able to show my opponent if there are any queries. When I actually get around to producing all the cards is another matter entirely!