# The Shadow Guardians Chapter of the Adeptus Astartes



## Greenskin (Oct 13, 2011)

Hi folks! this is my first real thread on Heresy-Online, so I'll apologize ahead of time for any quality control issues.
My goal here is to post progress pictures of my army, and hopefully gain motivation and insight into how to improve my technique from the awesome community here.

















This is a codex chapter, as the title to this thread suggests. I'm planning for them to be a successor chapter of the Ultramarines, as the similarities between their two paint schemes are readily apparent. I basecoated them with Chaos Black before painting the bulk of the armor Charadon Granite. The blue areas are Regal Blue with an Enchanted Blue highlight drybrushed on top. Finally, I've used Fortress Grey highlighted with Space Wolves Grey for the accent color.








Here is a sergeant with a couple ordinary marines. I'm not sure if I like how much red he ended up with. It makes him almost look like he's from a different chapter. I might change his helmet to Space Wolves Grey (the color of all my veterans' helmets). However, I am also considering doing the cloak in a more fitting color, Maybe blue. C&C welcome!


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## spanner94ezekiel (Jan 6, 2011)

Looks awesome so far. You got any fluff/background for them yet?


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## Greenskin (Oct 13, 2011)

Thanks!
As for the background, nothing is set in stone yet, but here’s what I’ve been kicking around:

The High Lords of Terra sanctioned the creation of this chapter primarily to protect a populated star system in the galactic South East. The system [needs a proper name] is strategically important to the Imperium because of the high rate at which its human inhabitants produce psychically attuned offspring. Estimates of psychic abilities in the system’s human population range from 1:50,000 to 1:10,000 These psykers are, of course, a very valuable resource to the Imperium of Man, and the Black Ships make frequent stops in the system to collect such specimens for use as agents of the Imperium, astropathic messengers, in one of the many psychic choirs, or even to fuel the Golden Throne itself.
Scientists have speculated that some strange combination of solar radiation and mineral composition of the planets' crust conspire to create the abnormally high rate of psychic mutation in the planet's inhabitants. One archeologist has even gone so far as to claim that the worlds of this system were once home to an ancient race of Xenos--perhaps the Eldar. Still there are others within the Imperium that suspect the taint of chaos must be close at hand where humans are frequently born with such gifts.
Regardless of the causes of these phenomena, the system remains sufficiently important to the Imperium that when an Ork waaagh began to mobilize within the sector, members of the Ultramarines defended the system from any and all attacks as the green tide washed over the neighboring stars. After the waaagh had passed. A garrison of Ultramarines remained behind with a compliment of strike cruisers, thunderhawk gunships, and a pair of dreadnoughts, to defend the system from further Ork incursions into the system. Occasionally, the Ultramarines even drew gifted young psykers from the local populace for training within the Librarium of Macragge.
Under the vigilant watch of the Ultramarines, the system prospered and grew from a scrabble of primitive mining colonies and feral worlds into a productive feudal society with a competent network of manufactorums and a capable Planetary Defense Force capable of lending its strength to the Imperial Guard when necessary.
During this time, gene seed from the Ultramarines was used to create a new chapter to permanently watch over this system, and to aid the Ultramarines in defending the Ultima Segmentum against the enemies of mankind. The High Lords dubbed this new chapter the Shadow Guardians. They are to guard the Emperor’s Feast for all eternity. Because the Shadow Guardians recruit primarily from worlds within the system they are sworn to protect, they boast a large number of powerful librarians within their ranks. Additionally, a few ordinary marines from the Shadow Guardians possess low-level psychic powers which might appear to others as a strong sense of battlefield intuition.
During the Time of Ending at the close of the 41st millennium, the Shadow Guardians find the worlds in their charge under heavy attack from the advancing tendrils of the Great Devourer...

This is really all I've thought out so far. I'm thinking that the chapter is currently under heavy attack from Hive Fleet Leviathan, or perhaps they have already been routed from the system by the endless waves of clawed monsters.


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## Minizke1 (Feb 7, 2010)

I actually love how the sergeant came out. I think the quality paint job distracted me from the fact that those are AOBR marines. Lookin' great!


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## KjellThorngaard (Oct 4, 2010)

Nice start to an army. I like the paint scheme and the gritty, battle-worn look to these minis. The dark grey and blues work really well together. Kudos for putting together a bit of fluff as well. +rep for you.


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## Greenskin (Oct 13, 2011)

*Update*

The feedback is definitely appreciated, folks! Here's what I accomplished last night. I found this old metal devastator in some boxes from my childhood. he was mostly painted as an Ultramarine. Perfect for induction into an Ultramarine offshoot chapter. I'm sorry I forgot to take a "before" pic. I'll have a shot of him with his mighty lascannon up soon. 








I still need to add highlights to his armor. to highlight the Charadon granite I mix it with Fortress Grey. I have also been shading he armor with Devlan Mud and occasionally Black Wash (from a paint pot I've had for years and which is slowly disintegrating before my eyes). I want these guys to look dirty. In the near future, I may for for the royal treatment and purchase some weathering powder. I have a rhino and a razorback in boxes, and I think they'll deserve some powder before they're finished. does anyone have any advise on buying that stuff? should I go with the ForgeWorld powder or is there a cheaper alternative that works?


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## Greenskin (Oct 13, 2011)

*Commander and Veteran Sarge painted*

I had a lot of fun painting these guys. The Commander's sword was my first attempt at doing PW-style lightning effects. I couldn't decide at the time whether I wanted it to look more like lightning, or water/lava. Ultimately, it came out looking a little bit like both. 
(edit: apologies for the large image size. I'll resize next time.)
















My technique for the sword: over the black basecoat, I used a very small brush to paint white lightning bolts as a guide. I them washed the sword with several layers of red gore and blood red. I highlighted the edges of the sword with blazing orange and went over the lightning bolts with blazing orange and sunburst yellow. then I washed the darker areas of the sword with very watered down warlock purple. finally, I highlighted with sunburst yellow and skull white (mostly around the power nodes).

















Here's my finished veteran sergeant. He was one of a group of primed Black Templars I bought off of eBay. I am getting pretty good at carving their signature crosses off of the shoulder pads.
























Seeing the photo, I'm realizing that I need to clean up the area around his tactical arrow. On the table, it looks pretty good, though. I feel like I'm getting better at making a consistent tactical arrow with freehand. This is good because as a kid, I always hated the way those decals puckered and wrinkled on SM shoulder pads--very disappointing.


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## elmir (Apr 14, 2011)

Oh, I really like these. The standard of painting is a pretty good improvement over your troops. I really like the weapons on both these models. The rune on the stormbolter is a nice touch, the powersword turned out really well and I love the blue stripes on that grey chainsword.


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## Minizke1 (Feb 7, 2010)

Looks great! Lovin' your freehand work.


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## Midge913 (Oct 21, 2010)

Looking good man! The captain and the Vet Sgt. look great.


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## Greenskin (Oct 13, 2011)

*Rhino/Razorback*

Various obligations have really cut into my hobby time, but I've managed to get a rhino painted up for my tactical squad. I magnetized the top hatch so I can field it as a Razorback, too. This was my first experiment with a weathering powder. I used MIG's "Gulf War Sand" powder, and MIG's pigment fixer. While doing the weathering I learned that you really only need to mix the fixer into the powder if you want to achieve a "mud spatter" effect. if you just want a light wash or subtle dusting of pigment, it is far easier to simply mix the pigment with water, paint on a little more than you actually want, and then hit the model with matte varnish spray when the pigment has dried. This re-liquifies and washes off about 40-60% of the pigment, leaving a nice dusty look. Hope you like the tank half as much as I enjoyed making it.


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## Greenskin (Oct 13, 2011)

*Update: Blackreach Sergeant*

I forgot to post this guy earlier. I'm pretty happy with how the face turned out.









Here's some more tacticals I've been working on, as well as the old metal devastator I posted earlier. It was a pain getting the new power pack onto his back with the lascannon in place. It made me realize just how much smaller they used to be.


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## Melikor40k (Feb 7, 2011)

great work, the blues and grays go together really well and im digging the homer beard on the sarg :grin: i wish i had held onto my old devastators i really liked the over the shoulder stance of them especially the heavy bolter guys, and yes i remember how much of a pain it was to get the backpacks on them heh


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## Greenskin (Oct 13, 2011)

Thanks again for the compliments guys! For anyone who wants to see some ridiculously detailed background fluff I wrote for this ragtag chapter, it's posted over in the homebrew 40k fluff section: Here. I'd love to hear what anyone thinks of it. Reading it over I can see a little bit of repetitive phrasing that could be edited down a bit. Trying to articulate my 40k background ideas into solid prose gives me a greater depth of appreciation for the Black Library authors. 
Sadly, writing has proven to be the only thing I've had time to do for the Shadow Guardians these past few months, what with all of the craziness of life--finishing law school and now studying for the Oregon bar exam.:hang1: but I have assembled two landspeeders and very nearly finished another tactical squad, and should have some new photos to post soon.


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## Greenskin (Oct 13, 2011)

*update: tactical squad and landspeeders*

Posting the link to the fluff got me inspired to got take some progress pictures. So, here is my second painted squad--Tactical Squad Diocles, 3rd squad of the 2nd Company.









The Sergeant is the same one you've already seen. the rest of the guys are new recruits. I am still putting finishing touches on them, especially the eyes. the eye lenses on space marines are one area where I am still struggling with my technique. It hasn't helped the quality any that I started out going for the gem-style approach to painting them, and then switched to a "glow" effect on a few of them. I can't decide which style I like better, however, I think I might move toward the gemstone approach because I am not confident in my ability to do object source lighting (OSL) from glowing eyes at this point.

anyhow, here are the other 5 members of the squad. The special weapon guy on the left end is an old metal sculpt who looks significantly smaller than the rest of his squad. I probably should have put him on a base piled with cork "rocks" to fool the observer into thinking he's just as tall as his battle brothers, but he was already glued onto the old slotta-base when I got him, and I just never quite had the desire to try ripping him out of it. the squad leader is the one on the right end. He is going to eventually have an red "iron halo" marking painted onto his left shoulderpad just like the other squad leader in my earlier tac squad.










I'm not sure what to do about that purity seal blocking the breach/bolt of the squad leader's firearm. when I was building him, I had this idea that i needed to cover it because the rifle should only have an opening on one side (i know very little about guns). But now I think that these rifles are supposed to have a breach that runs clear through the rifle there, and i stupidly clogged it with that purity seal. any thoughts from teh community on this?

Here he is from another angle









Next up is a pic of a landspeeder Tornado in the making. Here's a piece of advice: do not magnetize your models while under the influence. I magnetized the underslung gun-mount bit and the assault cannon with the polarities mixed up so they repelled each other, and I had to rip an already-glued magnet out of the mount with a hobby knife and a nail. by this point my fingers were raw. then I started magnetizing the flamer and realized that the magnet in the gun mount was on the wrong side. I had put it where that little headlight is supposedto go and as a result, the magnet in teh assault cannon was also on the wrong side of the cannon. after fixing that, I managed to somehow get the polarities wrong again with the flamer. Aaaaagh. what a relaxing hobby this is. anyway, it's all fixed now, and there is very little evidence of a struggle, in spite of the amount of times i had to rip out the magnets.
I'm going to have to make some better support stems to connect my speeders to their bases, since the stock ones feel flimsy as all get out and the second one has no base. Any ideas for how to scratchbuild bases and what to use for the "stem" would be appreciated









I actually inherited the second speeder from a friend who bought the third edition boxed set (dark eldar and SMs) and then decided 40k wasn't for him. That speeder's plastic is very brittle, and there are some interesting differences in the way they made it fit together back then vs. now. the Typhoon is a simple conversion wherein I put the missile launchers on the opposite sides and moved them back over the wings. I was inspired by Paul Gaynor's Crimson Heralds army featured on the GW website a couple years ago. I think it looks much better than the standard upright possition for the launchers.









Finally, I've stripped down an old Tiguarius model and have been documenting my progress on him step by step. He's going to be either an epistolary or a chief librarian for the Shadow Guardians when finished. My army is going to have a definite librarian focus, as the fluff explains that they originated on a planet that had a lot of psykers and a tradition of psychic shamans and warlords being the leaders of the tribes.
































He's nowhere near done, but hopefully I'll get to work on that force weapon some more this week, if I can just manage to not waste too much of my freetime browsing the internets and actually choose between either full on study or hobby.


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## TechPr1est (Nov 6, 2011)

what the fuck does vanilla mean ?!!!!!

nice army


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## Words_of_Truth (Sep 20, 2007)

Vanilla means normal codex.


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## Lethiathan (Nov 11, 2011)

Can I please have a second picture of the tactical squad (1st posted models) ? All the models in the other pictures are beautiful but in that one they seem off... Just for my own looks


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## Greenskin (Oct 13, 2011)

Lethiathan said:


> Can I please have a second picture of the tactical squad (1st posted models) ? All the models in the other pictures are beautiful but in that one they seem off... Just for my own looks


Sure. 
























I don't think i ever posted them fuly completed in this thread anyway. the first and only group shot of them is from before they were finished. they still had neon green eye-lenses back then, too. Thought that green would look cool, but it didn't work for me after I decided against glowing eyes.


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## Tossidin (Dec 10, 2008)

That is some really nice work man, keep it up!


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## Hellados (Sep 16, 2009)

I really like the paint scheme, the grey, blue and gold really complements each other, how are you going to stop people from calling them Ultrasmurffs 

How did you do the righting on the shoulders, free hand or a pen??


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## Greenskin (Oct 13, 2011)

It's been a long time, but I'm happy to be posting something up here again. Here are my two finished Land Speeders for the Shadow Guardians 2nd Company. _The Land Speeder Typhoon is piloted by a veteran sergeant of the 2nd company who leads the squadron whenever mission parameters call for the deployment of multiple speeders. A seasoned warrior and an expert pilot, Brother Sgt. Pheidon has made considerable modifications to his personal Typhoon to improve its speed and maneuverability in battle. It is a testament to his seniority within the second company and his close working relationships with the chapter's techmarines that he has been allowed to modify such an ancient design, yet none in the chapter would deny its effectiveness, particularly in Pheidon's hands._


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## Greenskin (Oct 13, 2011)

The latin on the tail wing of the two crafts is accurate. Sgt. Pheidon's Typhoon reads "Audax at Fidelis" (bold, yet faithful) while the other speeder's reads "A Caeli Descendere" (from the heavens, we descend). Here are further pictures:








Both speeders have magnetized Heavy Bolters/Multi-Meltas for the gunner, and the Tornado can swap out the underslung Heavy Flamer for an Assault Cannon. Eventually, I may magnetize another MM that can be underslung on the tornado chassis as well. Thanks for looking!:good:


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## Greenskin (Oct 13, 2011)

Also, to answer Hellados' question, from an embarrassingly long time ago, I do all my work with a brush, no pens. I have also recently purchased an airbrush, and am looking forward to using it to paint SM vehicles in the future.


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## revolantis (Jun 27, 2013)

This is a really fantastic looking army. Really good work on the vehicles and a lovely paint scheme. Well done!


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## Greenskin (Oct 13, 2011)

Thanks, revolantis. I am pretty happy with the paint scheme as well. I have found it's way more fun to come up with your own paint schemes on miniatures than to just copy the company's display miniatures exactly. But I did paint codex ultramarines for quite some time as a teenager. 
With that in mind, Here's an update of my Chief Librarian Tigurius model. I learned a lot about highlighting and painting glow-like effects by working on this guy. That said, I am still not satisfied with everything about him. After many washes on his force staff, the colors have become a bit muddy. I need to do a better job on a few of the gem-like artifacts scattered around the mini. additionally, the bolt-pistol is kind of a mess and I want to clean up the metal lightning bolts on his armor, the skulls, and his yellow tabard. The tabard started out red, because I thought I would paint every tabard in the army the same color, but after looking over my old "Codex: Ultramarines" from 2nd eddition, I remembered that librarians supposedly all wear yellow cloth (at least if they follow the Codex Astartes to the letter). I thought the yellow would help him stand out more in the army. I believe I can use enough similar colors on the rest of the mini to tie him in with the rest of the army's overall color scheme.







Comments and criticisms welcome on this guy, as I know I have some more work to do on him. I still need to get a power pack on his back, too.


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## Greenskin (Oct 13, 2011)

Looking at this photo of my Tigurius up close, his face still looks unfinished. I want him to have darker skin than GW's Tigurius, but I still need him to look finished. This has resulted in a lot of finicky over-highlighting and over washing as the color goes too far in either direction--much like the ongoing battle with several areas on this guy. The base is also unfinished, and will be painted in reddish-grey earth tones to match the army. 


One final side-thought--I have always thought GW's newer Tigurius model looks inferior to this guy. It's strange that they could miss the mark so badly on that, considering they have several current Librarians that look pretty darn good.


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## Saintspirit (Jul 31, 2013)

I can agree with what you say about his face - I'd say that you should wash it with perhaps Agrax Earthshade, or Seraphim Sepia. Also, I think his Psychic Hood could probably use some blue wash.


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## zxyogi (Dec 7, 2009)

Nice work and scheme!
Keep them coming!!


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## Greenskin (Oct 13, 2011)

Hi there. I completed another Rhino transport for Tactical Squad III the other day. I got this guy off Ebay fully assembled as is. It had some "battle damage" stabbed into it in a few places. Some of it I kept, some I greenstuffed and sanded away. I also managed to pry the front panel off and replaced it with the Black Templars chapter upgrade bit you see now. The Latin/High Gothic on the front banner, "TUTATORS UMBRA" translates to "Shadow Guardians" in Low Gothic.








High Gothic on banner reads "SINE METU"-- "Without Fear"


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## Greenskin (Oct 13, 2011)

I can definitely see an improvement in my painting ability from my first Rhino to the second. Getting slightly better at painting chipped and weathered paint, freehand and decal application.
As always, any comments and/or tips on how I might improve are welcome. Thanks for checking out the growing forces.


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## Greenskin (Oct 13, 2011)

Working on some assault terminators with magnetized arms. These guys were time consuming to build, but have been a blast to paint so far.


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## Greenskin (Oct 13, 2011)

These Assault Terminators are really coming together nicely. I decided to try a little freehand lightning on the hammer heads and the shield edges. Soon, I will get their bases put together using cork, flock, and some extra bits.


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## Varakir (Sep 2, 2009)

Those termies look great, very nice work.

The lightning is very well done and fantastic attention to detail on the line work for the half/quad colours on the helmets.


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## cole.mvb (Jul 6, 2011)

Dude you are an unbelievable painter, your squads look really nice and cohesive. Now for my 2cents..... the first picture I saw of your marines does not do them justice. After I got passed the first pics I was like whoa what the heck this guys the fastest learner I've ever seen.... then I realized you just had a bad pic I think. Other than that those landspeeders are phenomenal, o really like the use of the white eagle transfer that's cut in half. And the freehand work on your rhino of the scroll was impeccable, and the interior of the radar and buttons looked like an eavy metal work. Beautiful job.


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## Greenskin (Oct 13, 2011)

Varakir said:


> Those termies look great, very nice work.
> 
> The lightning is very well done and fantastic attention to detail on the line work for the half/quad colours on the helmets.


Thank you, Varakir! glad you liked the halved/quartered heraldry on the helmets.



cole.mvb said:


> Dude you are an unbelievable painter, your squads look really nice and cohesive. Now for my 2cents..... the first picture I saw of your marines does not do them justice. After I got passed the first pics I was like whoa what the heck this guys the fastest learner I've ever seen.... then I realized you just had a bad pic I think. Other than that those landspeeders are phenomenal, o really like the use of the white eagle transfer that's cut in half. And the freehand work on your rhino of the scroll was impeccable, and the interior of the radar and buttons looked like an eavy metal work. Beautiful job.


Thanks, man! and I appreciate your "2 cents" about the first few pics. They do look pretty mediocre by comparison. Most of the first page is WIP shots of minis that have been subtly touched up over the last year or two. Truth be told, I got a little better at painting, but a LOT better at photographing miniatures since starting this Plog. Now I always use at least 3 different light sources, including one full spectrum light when I shoot. I also digitally adjust the exposure, shadows, highlights and color balance after the fact to help make the detail more visible. I might edit my first post with a newer photo just to convince more hobbyists to look over the rest of the pics in here, but it's also nice to just keep an unedited record of my humble beginnings.


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## Greenskin (Oct 13, 2011)

Got the Termies on cork bases! I've also flocked them and started painting them up already, but I don't have a pic of that just yet.... Check out the "V" on some of them, denoting the 5th squad of the 1st Company.


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## Greenskin (Oct 13, 2011)

Got the bases painted! I'm on a roll, today. Thought I'd show the back of the squad this time for variety, and to prove to the Internet that I actually painted back there. ;-)


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## torealis (Dec 27, 2006)

Man... oh man.... wow.

Overall, amazing, but those helmets are just... godly.


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## Saintspirit (Jul 31, 2013)

Agreed, they are looking fantastic, although I do have a smaller question (just note that it is not a complain of any kind) - how come their helmets all have different patterns (and not just the sergeants)?


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## Greenskin (Oct 13, 2011)

Thanks, @torealis! Although I would say the same of your beautifully crafted true-scale marines. Awesome work!



Saintspirit said:


> Agreed, they are looking fantastic, although I do have a smaller question (just note that it is not a complain of any kind) - how come their helmets all have different patterns (and not just the sergeants)?


To answer your question, @Saintspirit, I plan to give each of the terminators a bit of backstory. First a little history on the chapter...

_While the Codex Astartes states that the helmets of 1st Company veterans bear the company color (usually white), There are many known deviations from this practice within the diverse chapters of the Adeptus Astartes. Although the Shadow Guardians are fairly close adherents of the Codex in matters of military strategy, tactics, combat doctrine, and organizational structure, they have been known to take minor liberties with the heraldic traditions set forth within the mighty tome. Veterans who have served in the first company long enough are permitted much broader discretion to add personal livery, honor markings, and even unique heraldic devices to their armor, as opposed to the comparatively younger battle brothers from the battle and reserve companies. In the above terminator assault squad, most of the veterans have made subtle changes to the standard armorial markings of the chapter--evidence of their long record of service to the chapter, even since ascending to the ranks of the Veteran Company and receiving the honor of striding into battle within hallowed suits of Tactical Dreadnought Armor. The half-blue helm of Honored Brother Tauros echoes his personal heraldry of the half-moon, which is also emblazoned on his right pauldron, altering the standard chapter insignia of the half-shaded shield. The Shadow Guardians themselves are never confused by such deviations from standard chapter uniform, because of their close-knit ties of brotherhood and their advanced heads-up display software, which faithfully denotes the squad and company number of each troop and vehicle within the Astartes' field of vision._

So there you have it. I will go into even further detail on the meaning of specific markings after completing work on the models. Thanks for reading!


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## Saintspirit (Jul 31, 2013)

Aah. I see. That should work, I guess.

Keep it up!


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## Greenskin (Oct 13, 2011)

Finished the Assault Termies! The final touches are done and I've added static grass to the bases with PVA glue. Fluffy descriptions of each dude to follow shortly. Enjoy.


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## Greenskin (Oct 13, 2011)

_When a Shadow Guardian has fought in enough theaters of war to ascend to veteran status within the chapter, he is ceremonially knighted by senior staff among the chapter and assumes the honorific of "Knight-brother" from that day forward._








_Knight-brother Ius is the newest recruit in Squad Fortis. Having only recently been inducted into the first company, he is still relatively young to receive the honor of entering combat wearing a suit of Tactical Dreadnought Armour. Ius strives in all things to adhere dogmatically to the teachings of the Codex and the orders of his superior officers. Perhaps his junior status makes him unwilling to improvise. Yet, Ius is a seasoned warrior, eminently capable of of thinking on his feet when necessary, and more than a little lucky. Otherwise he would not have risen so swiftly into the ranks of the First Company. He is also selfless, ever willing to charge headlong into enemy fire to protect his sergeant and battle brothers._


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## Greenskin (Oct 13, 2011)

_Knight-brother Tauros, "the Bull," is an implacably aggressive warrior. Among those who have witnessed his terrible fury in an assault, it is obvious that he was born to wield the Thunder Hammer in battle, and he never appears more alive than while smashing torso-sized holes through heavy armour, xenos, and heretics alike. At times, one could argue that his barely contained aggression walks a fine line between effective combat strategy and uncontrolled frenzy, while giving little thought to self-preservation. However, Knight-sergeant Fortis has proven quite capable of placing the Bull where his unrestrained rampage will inflict the most damage, and thus far, the terminator armour has taken care of the self-preservation._


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## Greenskin (Oct 13, 2011)

_Knight-brother Volanus is another relatively recent addition to Squad Fortis. However, he has centuries of experience in several of the battle companies and reserve companies. He served for many years as a sergeant within the 8th company—a dedicated assault company, before his ascention to knighthood as a veteran-sergeant of an assault squad within the 4th company. From there, he was quickly inducted into the 1st to replenish its fighting strength after recent losses suffered defending a minor forge-world from Waaagh! Gruglug.

A consummate assault specialist, Volanus pushes the speed and agility of his armour's servos and fibre bundles to their absolute limits in order to maintain a surprising amount of quick and deadly grace in battle despite his cumbersome armaments. On the battlefield, he fights with a passion that inspires guardsman and battle-brother alike, and spurs them toward greater acts of valor. His personal heraldry takes the form of an eagle's head, and truly, he embodies this creature as he flies at the enemy line, swooping in for the swift, killing blow._


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## Greenskin (Oct 13, 2011)

_Knight-brother Argos was once a gregarious and good-natured warrior. However, after an incident in which his entire squad of assault terminator brethren were slain, he has become brooding and taciturn. Ordered to hold the breach in an imperial hive-city against hordes of tyranid bio-monstrosities for days on end, he watched as his battle brothers were eventually torn apart or dragged under waves of the mindless, scuttling beasts. Although Argos' stalwart defense of the breached walls bought time for the hive-city to ferry its nobility and some of the working-class population off-world, the planet was overrun by the xenos onslaught. Alone amidst a roiling sea of scything talons, Argos and what remained of his fallen comrades were teleported aboard the Dauntless Shield. As this legendary battle-barge retreated from high orbit, cyclonic torpedoes glassed the planet's surface, denying the Tyranid fleet its coveted biomass at a heavy cost in human lives.

Now Argos fights with the grim resignation of a man who knows that humanity's end-times are coming, but is determined to sell his life dearly to protect mankind for a few more days and bloody the enemy's nose in the process. On his shoulder, Knight-brother Argos bears a ragged tabbard recovered from the ichor-soaked armour of his former terminator sergeant. Upon it, Argos has written the names of his fallen squad mates, as well as an Imperial Aquila painted with his own blood._


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## Greenskin (Oct 13, 2011)

_Knight-Sergeant Fortis is a natural leader of men, even amongst the legendary heroes of the 1st Company. Under his command, the veterans of Squad Fortis become deadly swords of the Emperor's wrath.

A veteran among veterans, Fortis was granted command of his own assault terminator squad after his own knight-sergeant was slain during an ill-fated search and destroy mission aboard the twisted space hulk Hope's Folly near the Maelstrom Zone. Captured and tortured by Red Corsairs renegades residing deep within the hulk, Knight-brother Fortis was able to escape by feigning unconsciousness until he was unshackled from the interrogation table to be dragged to a holding cell. Overpowering his handlers in spite of a broken rib and a severed left hand, he took up their weapons and managed to free a handful of battle brothers from the adjoining cells before sabotaging the renegades' lair with explosives and escaping in a stolen gunship.

Today, Knight-Sergeant Fortis is the heart of his squad, leading by example and always encouraging those around him to give all for the Emperor. It is through Fortis' astute leadership that Ius learns to push the limits of what the Codex deems appropriate for assault terminator maneuvers. Through Fortis' leadership, Tauros' unbridled rages are brought to heel or effectively set loose upon the foe. Through Knight-Sergeant Fortis, this mighty squad becomes even greater than the sum of its parts, its actions the changing the fate of entire worlds._


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## Greenskin (Oct 13, 2011)

Some new developments in the world of the Shadow Guardians...

I've started modeling some scouts. Currently experimenting with alternate heads (from DE Scourges). I really feel like scouts should wear some form of helmet for deployment in low-atmosphere conditions. When I saw the bits on ebay, I thought they'd be a cheap alternative to my ideal of having expensive Elysium Drop Troop heads. Now that I've mocked them up, they look too avian. I'm not sure I can make them look enough like "Space Marine gear" without destroying what initially made these heads look cool. I'm leaning toward using the stock heads and a few random WH Fantasy heads I have on hand. Anyway, I'll let you be the judge:


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## .Bragg. (Mar 7, 2012)

The front of the helmets really would suit their purpose; though I appreciate your concern with the rear detail.

If you're confident enough to clip the detail away and sculpt the back, you could try and create that signature rectangular strip which goes over the helmet from front to back. That way you will have a unifying feature.


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## Greenskin (Oct 13, 2011)

@.Bragg. Thanks for the input! Sculpting some classic Astartes details around the top and back of the helmets is a good idea, and I appreciate the pic for inspiration. Cheers


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## .Bragg. (Mar 7, 2012)

Not a problem 

Here's some further inspiration: http://carmensminiaturepainting.blogspot.co.uk/2012/10/sculpting-gladiator-helmet.html

If you pin the helmet through the neck; this way no seen areas of the helmet will be damaged once assembled. You can then work away filing down the rear detail, I wouldn't worry too much about damage to the helmet with some patience and smooth putty you can get there.

I'd try and place down a crude yet even area of putty once the detail is removed, allow that to set so you can then return to add finer detail without altering the base layer. 

A lot of this might be obvious but naturally I'm unaware of your confidence with the old sculpting so I hope I don't seem patronizing 

- .Bragg.


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## Greenskin (Oct 13, 2011)

:grin:Got a pretty sweet deal on a 15mm-scale Leviathan Crusader from DreamForge Games. I've always thought DreaForge's walkers looked amazing, and when the sale came around, I just couldn't resist. The first one actually got lost in the mail, but Mark (the guy behind this awesome little Kickstarted company) was kind enough to send me a replacement. This is the first non-GW model I've purchased for use in my 40K army. I think it makes a much more realistic dreadnought than the standard little guy. This is because of the longer legs. Thinking realistically about things for a moment, I ask you: what is the main advantage that legs have over wheeled and even tracked vehicles? The answer is that they can maneuver over terrain that the legless vehicles cannot. The longer the legs, the greater the advantage over tank treads or wheels. Now I love the standard SM dreadnought model, it's one of the key models that sparked my lifelong obsession with 40K, but I have to admit that he has such stubby legs, that he could barely walk over anything without falling over. Thus, I wanted a walker with longer legs--something that I could picture striding over tank traps to get at the foe. I thought about converting longer legs on the existing model, maybe using IG Sentinal legs, but finally went with the Leviathan model--less conversion work to do and just a cool model whose aesthetic already leans toward the sci-fi knight look of the Space Marines.









:shok:SO MANY PIECES!









It's true, GW really does spoil us with the low piece count of its miniatures. But even with so many little parts, this guy is a joy to build. Each piece is computer designed and manufactured with such quality, that it all fits together perfectly and with an amazing level of articulation and poseability









It takes several steps just to get this far









The metal screws are a great engineering choice. They add strength to key joints that are going to move a lot.









The legs coming together


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## Greenskin (Oct 13, 2011)

*Leviathan Crusader dreadnought update*

Got this bad boy mostly assembled. Still impressed with how the joints and pistons move on this guy.









Not sure if I like the Steampunk-ish exhaust ports on his back. In Dreamforge's Eisenkern setting, they are "shield generators," but given their location on the back of the dread, we all know they read as exhaust ports in 40K. I magnetized them so I have the option of leaving them off later.:so_happy:


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## Greenskin (Oct 13, 2011)

Quick update:
I have finished assembling my Leviathan Crusader dreadnought. I also bought a second gatling cannon arm for him. I'm hoping to run him as a rifleman dread. I know the Gatling cannons read more as assault cannons than Autocannons, but I don't plan on using this guy in games that much anyway--more of a show piece mini. I must admit I am pleasantly surprised at how much cooler this guy looks with two gun-arms. I have decided to find a good GW dreadnought engine for the back of this guy, as the shield-generator/smokestack-things on his back are bothering me more and more.


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## zxyogi (Dec 7, 2009)

liking that very much!!!


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## Greenskin (Oct 13, 2011)

Dreadknight engine bits were actually cheaper than any other Dreadnought engine I could find on ebay, but looking at it on the model, I'm so glad I got that bit instead. The regular Dread' engine would look too wimpy on this machine.








I added various GW bits to up the 40k aesthetic of the model. I really like the empire shield bits on his shoulder plate. Naturally, they symbolize various battle honors, or maybe the coat of arms of each hero who has been interred within over the centuries.








Stabby knife.








Basing is coming together...


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