Crimson Fists VII: Assault Squad Eos and Pedro Kantor

Death from above! Assault Squad Eos has been further depleted since the Battle for New Rynn City and now stand at 5 brothers strong. Their role is to counterattack rather than direct assault as they would usually become isolated. Of course if the situation arises they will deepstrike, usually behind the gunline of a static army (Tau, Imperial Guard, Eldar) to sow destruction and/or clear objectives. Otherwise they hang back, either behind terrain or in reserve, and attack the biggest threat to the rest of the army.

A very small conversion. I wanted to convey a bit more motion in the model so I bent the arm back around the helmet and filled in the space under the army with some spare sprue bits. The plastic glue sets it all together and the shoulder pauldron covers the work. Sort-ed!

Sergeant has a powerfist to help deal with vehicles and high toughness models.

And finally Chapter Master Pedro Kantor, saviour of the Crimson Fists during the darkest hour. Kantor is one of my favourite Space Marine characters and the model is great. It's not too ostentatious nor chunky nor ridiculously posed. Understated yet ornate, I really like the Classical references, such as the laurels and cingulum, the Roman legionary studded belt. I left the standard off the backpack as I'm really not a fan of them. The moulded standard is very nice though, so I may give it to another Marine a smaller handheld standard.

Kantor is not too shabby rules-wise either. He replaces 'Combat Tactics' with the 'Stubborn' USR.

Even better any unit within 12" get +1 attack. This ability swung a game for me a while ago, when the extra attacks brought down the critical number of Necrons for phase-out. Huzzah, Vote for Pedro! While I won't always use him I will certainly keep him in rotation.

That's the entire army folks. Now onto painting!

As always, C&C welcome.

One final thing. You may notice the new layout, which I must thank my wonderful girlfriend and her html skills for. Merci beaucoup!

Crimson Fists VI: Terminators (into the Hulk) and Dreadnought

Ok I think today is a rather suitable day to post on my Terminators. Like half my army these veterans are from the Assault on Black Reach box. Whilst they are snap together models and lack the flexibility of the regular sprues they are easy to assemble and, being plastic, still very easy to convert. A mix up of White Dwarf subscriptions meant I ended up with three free ones too, one of which I turned into my Terminator Chaplain.

Ok so may I present the remnants of Squad Alecto, sworn to avenge their fallen brethren by ridding the galaxy of the Greenskin menace, one Ork at a time. They like to kill 'nids too. ;)


Two conversions from the regular box. I had a spare heavy weapons from my Templars so I now have the option of arming the squad with either a heavy flamer (if I'm facing Guard, Nids, Tau, Eldar) or a Cyclone Missile Launcher (if I'm facing heavier armour).



Next up is my heaviest unit, Brother Jerian, one of the four surviving Dreadnoughts in the Chapter.

Completely standard AoBR dreadnought. I may change multi-melta to assault cannon; what do people think?

Ok so that's it for this evening.

I really can't wait for Space Hulk! I may use the Termnies in the box for my Crimson Fists but I have a feeling the storyline of the new boxset will compel me to paint them up as Blood Angels (I swear that's as far as it'll go, I don't need another Marine army!!)

Roll on September!

Crimson Fists V: Plastic Sternguard Conversions

Ok more plastic conversion, hurrah! And who doesn't like grizzled veterans with some kick-arse firepower? May I present to you Squad Thanator!
I chose the name (derived from the Ancient Greek word for death; thanatos) from the excellent plate in the Planestrike Codex that depicts the remains of the entire Crimson Fists chapter prior to the Battle for New Rynn City (989.M41).

I knew I wanted Sternguard as soon as I saw Pedro Kantor makes all Sternguard scoring units. When I include him into the army I go from having four scoring units to five, which could make all the difference in a tightly contested battle. Ammo-wise I am a fan of the long range (30") rounds as well as the AP3 rounds.

Ok onto the models themselves. Like a number of people I decided to save on buying the expensive metals and simply assembled five Tactical Marines (spare from the Battleforce box) as normal, and then proceeded to convert them. To represent the specialist ammo used by the veterans I sawed off the drum magazines from Ork Shootas and spare Terminator Storm Bolter magazines and glued them onto the bolter, having snipped off the normal sickle magazine first. Telescopic sights saved from the sprues of the tactical squads were then attached on top. If you're using expensive ammo you'd better hit!

To emphasise their elite status I only used the Mk.VI Corvus (beakie!) pattern helmets and the Mk.V studded shoulder pads, both saved from numerous Tactical Squad sprues. It should help make them stand out on the battlefield. This particular Marine has been given a plasmagun but I'm already considering replacing it with a meltagun (if I have one spare) as the squad has decent ammo for all types of infantry but lacks anti-armour. If I plan on using these to hold/take objectives they'd better be prepared!

last is good old Sarge. To be precise this is Veteran Sergeant Huron Grimm. Some of you may recognise the name. He was a Space Marine Sergeant in charge of New Rynn City's defences before Kantor made it to the city during the Battle for Rynn's World. I decided he deserved a promotion (as well as an auspex!). Like the rest of the squad I also gave him a tabard. just the small classical style ones from the sprues rather than flowing Templar ones. If you look closely at the Sternguard three pictures up you'll notice his tabard is actually from an Eldar Dire Avenger(!).

Ok that's enough for tonight. On a personal note I handed in my Masters thesis today so feeling pretty darn good. Oh and I finally passed my driving test!

I'll leave the final words with Sgt Grimm himself (taken from Index Astartes: Crimson Fists, White Dwarf UK 288)

"Nothing ever assured me more that the Emperor truly watches over us than when I saw our Chapter Master return to us from death"

Have a great weekend everyone!

Crimson Fists IV: Plastic Librarian Conversion

Having previously only used Black Templars I've never had any experience with Astartes psykers. Therefore when I decided to don the psychic hood. Hopefully the Perils of the Warp do not await me....

When I got the Assault on Black Reach box I had this plastic captain. As seen in my first post I had already selected a Captain to lead my company (when Pedro isn't around). As I love converting plastics I decided to convert the Captain into a Librarian. Two main things were needed.

• Psychic Hood
• Force Weapon

I decided on using a staff as a force weapon (as opposed to my Captain's sword and Chaplain's Crozius Arcanum club). The staff itself is a WFB spear or standard pole (I can't actually remember which, either work anyway). The top is a banner top from the Terminator Command Sprue.

The psychic hood was made from a Space Marine shoulder pad that I trimmed in order to get 3 slim curved pieces of plastic that I used to create the protective hood.

My final piece was the book. The book would help differentiate the librarian from the other HQ choices. The book comes from the Skaven Plague Monk sprue (with the long rat nails shaved down of course, unless you want the book for a Chaos sorcerer!). I simply chopped off the bolter and glued on the book o'spells.

Regarding powers, I have yet to use the librarian on the battlefield. For his first go I think I'll try Might of the Ancients and Vortex of Doom.

What do people think? Any Librarian experiences/advice would be greatly appreciated!

And his mighty battle cry?

"Quiet! People are trying to read!"

Sorry...sorry....

Crimson Fists III: Troop Choices

The Crimson Fists have been unlucky lately (what with their fortress monastary blowing up and all) so basic troop choices are important to them.

The Troops section was not usually the most glamourous of the FOC choices but now with 5th edition rules they are essential. Therefore I want to do them justice, especially as my army is a depleted, post Rynn's World battle group.

Up first are my Scouts. These guys are the future of the Chapter and therefore need to get as much combat experience as possible. I have two squads; one armed with Pistols and CCWs to seize objectives. The heavy bolter adds some firepower for larger targets and discourages tanks presenting side or rear armour. You should always try to infiltrate your Scout squads, even just for the distraction that it will cause your opponent for having enemies near his army.

The other Scout squad is armed with sniper rifles to pin enemy units that I don't want advancing towards my objectives or units. camo cloaks make the Scouts that bit more survivable when put in some handy cover (highly recommend if not essential). The missile launcher is used to target transport vehicles. These should be your priority. I spent too much time trying to take down a Monolith with this guy but heck, Necrons don't have Rhinos anyway!

Tactical Squads are great. Ten 3+ armour saves means that thsi scoring unit can survive a lot of hits before it becomes combat effective. This squad is made from the snap-fit models of the Assault on Black Reach box. Some might mock the lack of poses but sometimes you want to assemble models quickly and anyway, dynamic modelling can be kept for Elite or Fast Attack units.

The second Tactical Squad is straight out of the Space Marine box (Battleforce to be precise in my case). As with the first squad it is armed with the standard (and more importantly FREE) flamer and missile laucher. This is the best configuration in my humble opinion. The flamer can roast Orks, (Traitor) Guardsmen, Nids, Eldar, Tau with ease (all on a 3+) and negates most of their armour saves. It has an even chance of wounding Chaos Space Marines and Necrons too. The missile launcher has the benefit of frag or krak depending on the situation. All in all a very good deal.

Still no painting done but soon! In meantime C&C welcome as always.

Crimson Fists II: Plastic Terminator Chaplain

What's better than a zealous Space Marine Chaplian? A zealous Space Marine Chaplain in Tactical Dreadnought Armour!

Since I'd picked up some free Terminators from White Dwarf I was happy enough to chop it up a bit. Apart from my Captain and Pedro Kantor my entire army is plastic. I just infinitely prefer it for conversion purposes and less chance of the paint chipping.

Conversion was pretty simple. Firstly I needed to consider the essentials of the Space Marine Chaplain:

• Skull helmet
• Crozius Arcanum (ornate power weapon)
• Rosarius (for invulnerable save)

The helmet was simply the skull head Chaos Space Marine helmet (the one without any horns or overtly Chaotic symbols) that I pared with clippers to fit into the Terminator torso.

The Rosarius is represented by a banner top from the Terminator Command Sprue.


The Crozius Arcanum had to be pretty beefy to fit in with the Terminator armour. For the arm and handle I used a Thunder Hammer arm from the Terminator Assault sprue with the head of the hammer cut off. The top of the weapon is an eagle banner top, also from the Terminator Command sprue.
Since I liked the way the right arm pointed I had to put the storm bolter in the left hand. Therefore I had to chop up another arm and stick the Storm Bolter from the free terminator onto it.


I am looking forward to painting this guy, the black will stand out nicely against the navy.

Comments and criticisms welcome as always!

Crimson Fists: The Sons of Dorn rise again

When the new Space Marine Codex came out I decided to start a new chapter. I have been playing Black Templars for 7 years now (my first army) and while I enjoy their style of play and background a lot, I felt like a OCdex Chapter would be fun too. I decided to stay close though and chose the more level-headed sons of Dorn, the Crimson Fists.






This image is, for me, one of the most iconic of the images of 40k. It was the cover of the 3rd ed dex which was the first codex I bought. While I ended up picking the Templars I always loved this image.



My goal was to collect a small and manageable force of Crimson Fists. As the Crimson Fists suffered terribly after the catastrophic explosion of their Chapter Monastery during the Ork invasion of Rynn's World the idea of small, modestly equipped army suits the Crimson Fists quite well. The great colour plate from the Planetstrike Codex of the entire standing number of the Crimson Fists right before the battle of New Rynn City has given me names of squads to play with now too, which is great!



I started off with the contents of the Assault on Black Reach boxset which I can't recommend enough. So many models and all as easy to assemble as goblin pie! I picked up some free AOBR terminators from the corresponding White Dwarf issue (the number alludes me at the mo). That gave me 10 tactical marines, 8 terminators, 1 captain (which I have converted) and 1 dreadnought.



My next purchase was the SM battleforce. This gave me 10 more Tactical Marines, 5 more that I'm converting into Sternguard Veterans, 5 Scouts, 5 Assault Marines, 1 Rhino. Final stop was 5 Sniper Scouts and who else but Senor Pedro Kantor, Chapter Master himself.



My first picture is actually a recycled miniature. I bought the Masters of the Chapter for my Black Templars but as I have a number of Marshal models already I had this one to spare.

Captian Carlos Fernandez, commander of the 5th Company (depleted)

This has to be one of my favourite Space Marine characters. The Mk.III Iron Armour and the helmet held casually in the gauntleted hand... sheer coolness. Oh and the ornate power sword!



I plan on painting this army as quickly as possible (I have WAY too many unpainted armies). For this purpose I ahve the Army Painter dip. I actually have had this a year but only tracked down the necesssary matt varnish spray recently (Spray cans can't be shipped by some websites to Eire you see).


My question is this; is it ok to use normal car spray paint on plastic models? Has anyone done this? They stock very reasonablly priced cans nearby and if they worked all I'd need is a navy spray undercoat, some detailing on weapons and pouches then a quick brush of dip and hey presto, a Crimson Fist ready for basing and battle!



More Crimson Fists to follow.



C&C welcome as always!