VII Legion: The Imperial Fists, sons of Rogal Dorn

My Imperial Fists army also has units from different eras.  It's designed to be playable in 2nd and 8th editions.

This is anther army I've added to recently.  At the time this photo was taken I had a significant portion of the 3rd Company painted along with some 1st Company Veterans and 10th Company Scouts.

This Dreadnought is one of the original metal Dreadnoughts produced at the very tail end of 2nd edition and into 3rd edition.  It's very solid and initially I put it in this army as an afterthought more than anything else.  I had sold stuff that worked in 7th edition and only kept parts that could be played in 2nd edition.  For all that I think that it has a lot of character.

8th edition reinvigorated my appreciation of Modern 40K and Tor Garadon's model was no exception to that. 

This Rhino was initially slated to be part of my Crimson Fists army.  I never got around to finishing it because I couldn't find the left front armor panel (which includes the headlight).  I decided that my Imperial Fists army needed at least one Rhino and here is where it ended up.

The Heavy Support section of this army was built around a 2nd/3rd edition Predator and a full Devastator Squad.

I've picked up two separate sets of 2nd Edition 40K in the past few years.  The first was complete, the second was missing models.  I used the one full Tactical Squad here so that I could play 2nd ed with style.

The original core of the army was the two Tactical Squads with Heavy Bolters.  Very iconic.  I went with the Dark Angels Tactical insignia on these marines because I felt it looked cool on the yellow shoulder pads.

I really need to go back and do some weathering on this tank to bring it in line with the Rhino.  

I have a fair few character models for this army, though the Librarian here was reassigned to my Raven Guard yesterday (1/29/20), LOL.  

Garadon in all his glory.

This army features models from all eras of play.  The Scouts here are all 1st/2nd edition models, note the Scout with Shuriken Catapult in the back there.  He "counts as" a sniper for this squad.

Veterans of the Imperial Fists, including a squad of 2nd edition Terminators, the Dreadnought, and a squad of Sternguard Veterans.  The Sternguard are equipped with old Death Watch metal boltguns to show that they're Special Issue Bolters.  I realized later that I'd painted the helmets and trim wrong on the Sternguard who now have proper white helmets with silver trim on their shoulder pads.

After adding Tor Garadon I decided to put some more Primaris marines in my Imperial Fists army.  Here are the Phobos Armor Librarian and Phobos Armor Lieutenant.  I realized only recently that I painted the Librarian incorrectly.  He's been corrected and now wears the appropriate blue armor of a Librarian with the golden yellow left shoulder pad.

Rounding out the Phobos Armored trio is this Captain.

I want to add a second unit of Eliminators to this army, which will carry the Las-Fusils.  These Sniper Bolt Rifles do work well with the Imperial Fists, though, and look striking in the golden yellow color scheme.

Possibly the best Primaris Troops choice for Imperial Fists.  Their Marksmen Bolt Guns work very well with the Imperial Fists Chapter Traits.  Rolling a 6 to hit not only automatically wounds, due to the Chapter Trait it generates a second hit!

I can't say enough about the Infiltrators.  I modified the original Helix Adept into a Comms Array so that they can operate far away from their Captain and Lieutenant.  I also grew to like the Infiltrator using the smoke grenade here, so I made him the Sergeant.

I was fortunate to be able to get a pristine, still in the shrink wrap box of Assault Marines from 2nd edition through eBay.  They add a much needed fast attack unit.

I decided to use the double Power Fist marine as a Captain and I added a Jump Pack Lieutenant to accompany the Assault Squad into battle.

I added this Techmarine, another 1st edition model, to the army so that I could legally field the Dreadnought, Predator, and Rhino in my 2nd edition games.

I bought about nine of the Space Marine Heroes models here in the US.  They were blind boxes and this guy was the super rare for the set.  I was pretty stoked to get him and since I used some of the other models as Imperial Fists I decided to use him as one as well.

I was able to make a 5 man Tactical Squad out of the rest of the Space Marine Heroes models that I had which weren't duplicates.  This squad has a lot of character to it.

I recently added the Apothecary and took this group shot.  As noted before I later reassigned the Librarian.

XIII Legion: The Ultramarines, sons of Robute Guilliman

There are a lot of models from different eras of play here.  I was not interested in the Ultramarines very much until Guilliman was brought out as a playable model.  I've grown to really enjoy this Chapter quite a bit and their colors are fun to paint.

I didn't start collecting or painting Ultramarines for myself until they released the Guilliman model.  8th edition followed shortly after that and I found myself painting up new Primaris Space Marines, starting with the contents of two sets of "Dark Millenium".  Here is the main core of the army.

Primaris Captain.  I left the cape off.

I wanted the Primaris Ancient's banner to really pop so I outlined it in the 2nd Company color of yellow.

I like the Primaris Librarian, I do wish he had more options, like a staff or axe.  The cloak is fun to paint and gives you a space to add a splash of contrasting color to the blue.  I chose red for most of the cloaks, rather than the yellow I initially used on the Gravis Captain.

Gravis Captain. I liked the checker board decals that came with Dark Millenium.

The Primaris Chaplain, like most Primaris characters, doesn't have a lot of options but he really looks imposing and his Crozius Arcanum is awesome.

Marneus Calgar has gone through many incarnations, some of which are in my collection.  I like the new sculpt quite a lot.

Suppressors from "Shadowspear".  I like their mobility and they work well in Ultramarines with their special Tactical Doctrine benefits.

I was NOT a fan of the original base for the Primaris Apothecary.  He is sold standing on the chest of a Primaris Space Marine that he has just harvested Progenoid Glands from.  To me, that's really disrespectful and doesn't fit with how the Space Marines would operate.  These are beings who will fight to recover the bodies of their dead, to have their medics, of all people, be depicted that way was really off-putting for me.  I used Green Stuff to sculpt up a rock for him to stand on instead.

I enjoyed building and painting up the Repulsor.  It's a center piece for the army as a whole and aside from Guilliman himself, it draws a lot of attention.

I was going to field ten of these guys but ended up reassigning the other five to my Raven Guard, which I started to work on in earnest once the initial build and paint for the Ultramarines was winding down.

I still struggle to find a good place in my lists for Reivers.  They just seem to be missing something to make them a harder decision when it comes to whether or not to include them.

I did not like the acrylic flight stands that came with the Inceptors so I modeled them taking off rather than in mid flight.  I did a similar thing with the Suppressors.

On the left we have the newest version of Marneus Calgar.  On the right we have the version that came out in 2nd Edition.  I have them both painted up because part of this army is compatible with 2nd edition.  This is partly scale creep and partly scale correction for Space Marines.  It's still funny to see them side by side like this.  You can see the 1st edition Rhino there on the far right.  I'll need to get a good shot of it to add later.

Eliminators are quickly becoming a favorite unit of mine.  These hail from the Shadowspear box set and work well in Ultramarines because they benefit from both the Devastator Doctrine and the Ultramarines special Tactical Doctrine rules which lets them stay mobile.

I recently reassigned this Phobos Armor Librarian to my Raven Guard. I will be adding a new one to the Ultramarines eventually, though.  The Phobos Armor Captain is also a favorite of mine.

This Lieutenant can only be purchased at conventions.  I picked him up last year at Adepticon.  I'm very happy with how he turned out.  He has a lot of character.

Rounding out the stable of Lieutenants, I have both from the Dark Millenium Box, the "Wake the Dead" Lieutenant, and the Phobos Armor Lieutenant.  That's five Lieutenants for this army.

The Victrix Honor Guard are pretty useful and were fun to paint.  They really add a lot to the look of the army when they're fielded.

I have two units of 2nd Edition Terminators for this army, both with Cyclone Missile Launchers.  I love how they turned out and they're a staple of my 2nd edition lists.

This Tactical Squad is from the 4th Edition starter box "Battle for Macragge".  They're totally compatible with both 2nd and Modern era 40K.

I love Calgar in 2nd edition because he has a Strategy Rating of 6.  This means that Orks can't just always go first against him...

...especially with this Attack Bike which is clearly upgraded for Recon!

I always loved the original bikes with their axle mounted Bolt Guns and their really sketchy side cars.

In case I don't want to use the Techmarine Trike but want to field vehicles, I also have this amazing Rogue Trader Era Techmarine on foot.

Here's the very first Marneus Calgar model in all his glory!

New year, new whatever

I've decided to just have this be about 40K and the editions I play.  That's Rogue Trader, 2nd Edition, and 8th Edition.

Modern content might sound bad, but I'd like to have a place to store this stuff that's not on social media like Facebook.

Modern 40K Post, Heresy Detected? Also, here are the Knights Revenant!

I'm gonna post about my current 8th edition project here, which is a pretty big one.  I am building an entire Chapter of Primaris Space Marines.  Right now I've started on the 5th Company and I'll be working my way down to the 1st company.  This will give me time to integrate newer releases that might impact the 1st and 10th companies.  I'm going to store the lore I've built up here for now.

In terms of rules, this is an Imperial Fists successor chapter, though they have their own chapter traits: Bolter Fusillades and Rapid Assault.  I chose Bolter Fusillades because that ties them back to the Imperial Fists.  Rapid Assault felt like it represented warriors who were used to rapidly redeploying on foot in urban combat situations.

Without further ado, here are The Knights Revenant.


History of the Knights Revenant:

The Knights Revenant were founded near the cusp of the 36th Millenia as part of 21st Founding, also known as the so-called "Cursed Founding".

Descended originally from Imperial Fists gene-seed, the chapter initially seemed to be free from the troubles that so many other chapters of that Founding were experiencing. Unlike their Primogenitors, the Knights Revenant had access to the full suite of modifications, specifically the Sus-An Membrane and the Betcher's Gland (which Imperial Fists no longer have).

While many chapters of the 21st Founding suffered from catastrophic physical and psychological flaws and mutations, others such as the Lamentors and the Knights Revenant seemed to be ill-fated in other ways.

In the early 40th Millenia, the Knights Revenant began to suffer heavy battlefield losses. A fleet based chapter, they had no official recruitment center, which made it harder for them to replenish their numbers. Along with the loss of life, a significant amount of materiel was lost as well, including every suit of Terminator armor that the Chapter possessed.

Attrition not only impacted the reserve and battle companies, it impacted leadership as well. As the Knights Revenant found themselves outnumbered by larger and larger ratios in their latter days, heroic acts by their commanders led to higher turnover which contributed to degrading the three companies that the chapter could still field.

Still, the Knights Revenant were prompt with their gene-seed tithes, perhaps concerned that failure to provide gene-seed for testing would seal their fate as a chapter of the Cursed Founding in the eyes of the Inquisition.

As their ability to engage the enemies of the Imperium began to diminish, they began to work with other chapters more frequently, supplementing their forces when possible. This has led to a generally favorable opinion of the Knights Revenant from other Space Marine chapters.

In the late 41st Millenia as Abbadon the Destroyer's 13th Black Crusade led to the destruction of Cadia and the eruption of the Great Rift, the Knights Revenant were tasked with stopping Red Corsairs from raiding Imperial Worlds. For the first time in over a thousand years the three companies of the Knights Revenant engaged in battle together.

From their battle barge, Loyalty Enduring, they engaged a much larger Red Corsair cruiser, The Nameless, in battle. Chapter Master Doreth led his Knights Revenant in a daring boarding action which saw The Nameless crippled and unable to reenter the Warp. But as the battle raged on, losses began to take their toll.

In a last ditch effort to destroy the chaos warship, Doreth and his hand picked veterans sabotaged the teleportarium on the Nameless after engaging in an emergency teleport back to the Loyalty Enduring.

At this time, the ships of the Indomitus Crusade arrived with reinforcements for the Knights Revenant. They found Chapter Master Doreth dying from battle wounds as well as from damage inflicted on him by the unstable teleportation. He recognized the Greyshields surrounding him on his command deck as fellow Knights Revenant even as he died.

The Primaris marines assigned to reinforce the Knights Revenant immediately boarded The Nameless, working to find and support their battle brothers. None had survived, however.

This left the marines assigned as reinforcements in a unique situation. Unlike other Ultima Founding chapters, the Knights Revenant were not meant to be a solely Primaris chapter. In the years since, the Knights Revenant luck seems to have improved. The officers of the Primaris Knights Revenant chose among them a new Chapter Master and adopted modified heraldry to honor those White Skullls that had died before them.

It's unclear if the curse of the 21st Founding still haunts the Knights Revenant.  Chapters like the Mortificators still refuse to take the field with them but the Imperial Fists, from whom they are descended, proudly count them as allies.


Knights Revenant Organization:

Following severe attrition, the chapter was forced to adapt their strategy for organization and deployment.

The chapter was reduced to essentially three companies: the 4th, 5th, and 9th. Chapter recruitment was so low by the time of the Indomitus Crusade that the 9th was essentially operating as the Scout Company as well as a Fire Support Reserve Company.

The 4th and 5th Battle Companies were broken down further into sections, essentially each section was about 1/3rd of a company in size, with small units of 5 to 6 marines in each of the squads. Tactical Squads fielded no heavy weapons though their sergeants typically carried Plasma Pistols to give the squad some capability to deal with heavier targets.

Lacking the armored might of Predators and Land Raiders, and with heavy weapons relegated to each section's Devastator Squad, the Knights Revenant historically turned to Land Speeders as their close fire support units. The small speeders filled the roles of flyers like Storm Talons in other chapters.

Following the events of the Indomitus Crusade the Knights Revenant were able to operate as a fully functioning chapter for the first time in over two thousand years.

Concern for the future of the chapter has led to the Knights Revenant decentralizing some of their command elements in a way that is not totally Codex compliant.

The chapter is still a fleet based chapter and following the Indomitus crusade has brought its remaining battle barges out of hiding and into battle once more. Each of the five battle barges is home to two companies of Knights Revenant and each battle barge carries its own Apothecarion, Reclusium (though the 1st Company's battle barge is recognized as the Chapter Reclusiam), and Librarius. This was in response to the loss of these particular edifices during the chapter's initial decline.

With so many losses in leadership positions, the initial waves of Primaris reinforcements had additional command elements in place. This means that a company typically has three to four Lieutenants and 1 or even two Captains. Typically each company has a Company Captain who is in charge of the company and may also have a Captain-Adjutant who is second in command in their company.  Captain-Adjutants are often the Captain of the Reserve Company stationed with the Battle Company.

Command roles typically see Lieutenants tied to leading specific sections of the company.  In smaller engagements this means that Lieutenants have command of their own forces.  In larger engagements which utilize more than one section, the Company Captain or Captain-Adjutant has overall command.

Despite reinforcing during the Indomitus Crusade, White Skull officers still tend to lead from the front, so attrition in their ranks is still higher than average.

Battle Company Organization:

Each Battle Company follows the standard Codex Astartes approach to organization of six Battle Line units, two Close Support units, and two Fire Support units.

Squads 1-4: 10 Intercessors typically carrying Auto Bolt Rifles
Squads 5-6: 10 Infiltrators typically carrying a Comms Array
Squad 7: 3 Inceptors typically armed with Assault Bolters
Squad 8: 10 Incursors
Squads 9-10: 10 Hellblasters typically armed with Assault Plasma Incinerators
Company Command: Captain, Captain-Adjutant, 4 Lieutenants, Company Ancient

Company sections:
1st Section: Squads 1 and 10, led by First Lieutenant
2nd Section: Squads 2 and 9, led by Second Lieutenant
3rd Section: Squads 3 and 7, led by Third Lieutenant
4th Section: Squads 4 and 8, led by Fourth Lieutenant
5th Section: Squads 5 and 6, no direct command oversight, each squad is led by a Veteran Sergeant.

5th Section has no dedicated commander.  They don't typically operate as a Section, having a greater degree of autonomy than the other squads in the Company.  They are essentially fielded as a heavy scouting force and supplement the other Sections in smaller engagements.

Therefore a patrol might consist of 1st Section with the 5th Squad attached while a larger engagement might find 1st and 2nd Sections led by their Lieutenants with 5th or 6th Squad attached.

Engagements involving three or more Sections are led by either the Captain or the Captain-Adjutant.  Company wide engagements are always led by the Company Captain or Chapter Master if present.

Knights Revenant tactics:

As with all Space Marine chapters, the Knights Revenant were more than capable of engaging in most types of warfare, though as their numbers initially dwindled they operated more clandestinely than overtly.

They were particularly adept at boarding actions and dense urban combat and favored assault weaponry. This is partly due to the chapter lacking much of the equipment and transports that other chapters have access to. Much of the chapter became very accustomed to fighting on foot and so much of their chapter training was centered around this style of combat, dodging from cover to cover while laying down fire with assault weapons like Flamers.

With the advent of the Indomitus Crusade, the Primaris Knights Revenant found the new Cawl-Pattern weapons well suited to this style of combat. Auto Bolt Rifles and Assault Plasma Incinerators are highly favored in the chapter.

As a successor chapter to the Imperial Fists, the Knights Revenant drill constantly with Bolt weapons. Their proficiency with these weapons is well known by other Space Marine chapters who have taken to the field of battle with the Knights Revenant.

The Battle Barges of the Knights Revenant:

When the Indomitus Crusade found the Knights Revenant they were locked in ship to ship combat with Red Corsairs on board an ancient chaos ship known as "The Nameless". The Knights Revenant battle barge "Loyalty Enduring" bore the Knights Revenant into battle for two millenia though records indicated that initially the fleet based chapter had several of these ships.

Once The Nameless had been scuttled and the gene-seed of the Knights Revenant that had died in boarding actions against it had been recovered, Doreth's dying command to thralls aboard the Loyalty Enduring was to reunite the fleet.

And so it was that the Knights Revenant entered the Warp and after translating back to real space the new marines found themselves in a forgotten corner of the southern edge of the Imperium. There, hanging in the dark like ghosts of a forgotten age, were the four other battle barges originally commissioned for the Knights Revenant.

They are known collectively as "The Enduring":

The Loyalty Enduring: the flagship of the 5th company and for many years the flagship of the chapter as a whole. It is now home to the 5th Company and the 9th Company.

The Strength Enduring: the flagship of the 4th Company and the 8th Company.

The Faith Enduring: the flagship of the 3rd Company and the 7th Company.

The Courage Enduring: the flagship of the 2nd Company and 6th Company.

The Honor Enduring: the flagship of the 1st Company and the 10th Company.

Each ship save The Honor Enduring carries a redundant Apothecarion, Reclusiam, and Librarius. For all purposes, The Honor Enduring is the flagship of the chapter and its Reclusiam, Apothecarion, and Librarius are dedicated to all 10 Companies. Chaplains, Apothecaries, and Librarians are not tied to a specific company. They rotate through all companies, including the 10th's Vanguard Company, in turn. This is to prevent any deviation from chapter approved procedure or doctrine.


Leadership of the Knights Revenant:

At the time of the Indomitus Crusade the Chapter Master of the Knights Revenant was Doreth. Doreth had served for three and a half centuries as Master of Recruits. While it was difficult for the Knights Revenant to recruit, he was very adept at finding good candidates, leading to a very high success rate both with implant surgery survival and training survival. He was also adept at recognizing a recruit that may be worthy of other chapters and for directing those chapters to take on those initiates.

With his passing even as Primaris reinforcements arrived, the last of the original Knights Revenant ascended into history. Like other chapters, such as the Iron Hands, the Knights Revenant then adopted a council for their leadership decisions. Each Captain and Lieutenant is part of this council. The title of Chapter Master is tied directly to the Company Captain of the 1st Company.

Here is the list of Company Captains at the time of this writing.

1st: Lev Griphone

2nd: Onver Grest

3rd: Ponem Vogrist

4th: Seon Hivlem

5th: Mirhl Stenilov

6th: Vilim Greshen

7th: Toomin Pregh

8th: Nestir Gellim

9th: Phellig Toprev

10th: Holin Restig


Heraldry of the Knights Revenant:

The Original Knights Revenant color scheme consisted of white armor with dark green shoulder pads.

The chapter symbol is a simple white skull.

To honor their fallen brothers, the Primaris Knights Revenant retain the dark green shoulder pads trimmed with white. The left knee is also dark green while the right knee carries the company color.

The rest of their armor is gunmetal. This is due to the fact that prior to their deployment, their armor was unpainted as they were initially to await Chapter Master Doreth's decisions about where each squad would be assigned.When it became clear that they would need to deploy quickly and be recognizable to any potential Knights Revenant still alive on the Nameless, they adorned their armor in the most direct fashion.