# The Son of Horus' Sons of Horus



## The Son of Horus (Dec 30, 2006)

With all the buzz about Great Crusade and Heresy-era armies these days, how could I not jump onboard with this? Picking a Legion was a no-brainer for me. Sons of Horus, of course! And make no mistake, this is going to be a traitor army-- the iconic Cthonian Legionnaires that are on a slide towards total damnation and ten thousand years of war as the Black Legion. 

This is sort of an unusual project in that I want to be able to use the same set of models with two very different army lists. One is the Great Crusade/Heresy-era Legiones Astartes army list presented in Horus Heresy Vol. 1: Betrayal. The other, I haven't exactly settled on yet, but am leaning towards Codex: Chaos Space Marines simply because the squad makeup is overall most similar to the Heresy army list. The reason I want to make it playable using two different lists is because I want the army to be playable in a tournament and in pickup games where my opponent may not be familiar with the Forge World rules set. 

So with that in mind, I'm building not so much to a given points limit, or even to a fixed army list, but rather, am building models in a rough proportion-- for every ten models armed with boltguns, bolt pistols, and close combat weapons, I will make one model armed with a special weapon, and one sergeant. This will give me the core of bolter-armed troops the Heresy list requires (Tactical Squads are exclusively armed with boltguns) while still providing me with the special weapons troopers I'll need to form special weapons squads out of the Heresy list and include special weapons in units when drawing the army from Codex: Chaos Space Marines.

A lot of people have commented on how there isn't a good painting guide for the Sons of Horus right now. Honestly, it's pretty damned simple-- you prime the model using grey spray paint, wash it twice with Coelia Greenshade, and then highlight it using either Reaper Master Series or Vallejo, which both make appropriate colors that won't require mixing four different shades as the GW guide calls for. 

These are a couple test models. I've been playing around with weathering and battle damage, neither of which are things I'm particularly good or experienced with-- hopefully the grit and dirt looks like grit and dirt and not like air bubbles and smeared paint...


----------



## Midge913 (Oct 21, 2010)

Looking good so far mate!


----------



## Lethiathan (Nov 11, 2011)

Hmm. They need Grit for me. I'd apply a dark green/brown wash into all the recesses, then hit it with a sponge to give some nice paint chip effects. For the mud I'd do a bit more of a wash technique, several layers of brown wash onto the lower areas of the leg, or even better if you have it some weathering powder/Pigments, I now use Vallejo weathering powder to get a really cool mud effect onto the models. Also I'd make the highlights a little more crisp, to me they seem slightly blobby. 

Good start though, if you want any advice on weathering I'm pretty adept with it and I'm sure there are others who can also help you.

Lethiathan


----------



## The Son of Horus (Dec 30, 2006)

This hasn't been updated for a bit mostly because I've been in the process of getting the models together for this army. Anyway, the Horus Heresy Vol 1: Betrayal book is basically the most awesome 40k product that has come out to date as far as I'm concerned. But the army list in there... it's not for regular-sized games. It says it's designed for 1500-2500 point games, but that's a dirty lie. There are superheavy units in the regular army list. So with that in mind, I've planned on an Apocalypse-sized army, which will just grow along with my other armies as the whim strikes me. I figure ripping a page from the Codex Astartes and twisting it to suit my taste works for this project-- after all, Horus went with what worked, and Guilliman based the Codex on proven Legion formations. So it's easy to imagine a Company of Sons of Horus looking at least superficially like a Codex Battle Company. 

I've never been too keen on the Mk II armor-- which I suppose is just as well, since the Sons of Horus were the best equipped of the Legions at the outset of the Heresy. So I'm planning to make the majority of the army have Mk IV suits-- maybe a 60-40 mix of Mk IV and Mk III suits. I might throw in a Mk II or V-armored model here or there just for the sake of variety, but I want the army to LOOK like it's the best equipped, not just have them be that way in the background.

This is the list I'm building towards. 

HQ-
Captain Tullis Satrael (Praetor) armed with a Paragon Blade, Bolt Pistol, Digital Lasers, Iron Halo, Artificer Armour _Tullis Satrael goes on to become the Chaos Lord who leads my Black Legion army-- I want this to be sort of the "Pre-Heresy/Heresy-era vision of my existing Black Legion army_

HQ-
Librarian Hastis Ishmael (Consul) armed with Dual Lightning Claws, Refractor Field. Mastery 2 Divination. _Hastis Ishmael becomes a potent sorcerer of Tzeentch following the Heresy, and is one of my most celebrated HQ choices in my Black Legion collection-- he has won more games over 15 years than you can shake a stick at...)_

ELITES-
10 Sons of Horus Terminators
-Reaper Autocannon, Plasma Blaster, 3 Combi-Plasma, 2 Combi-flamers, 2 Power Fists, Sergeant has a Grenade Harness, Power Sword, and Combi-bolter. 2 Power Mauls, 5 Power Axes.

ELITES-
Contemptor Dreadnought Talon
-3 Contemptors, each armed with a twin-linked lascannon, plasma blaster, close combat weapon.

ELITES
Sons of Horus Tactical Veteran Squad
10-strong. Boltguns, Bolt Pistols, Close Combat Weapons. Two heavy bolters with suspensors, two power swords. The sergeant is armed with a boltgun, bolt pistol, and power fist. 

TROOPS (X4)
Sons of Horus Despoiler Squad
-15 Sons of Horus. Boltguns, Bolt Pistols, Close Combat Weapons. Legion Vexilla. Sergeant is armed with a Boltgun and Power Fist.

TROOPS (X2)
Sons of Horus Tactical Support Squad
10 Sons of Horus. Bolt Pistols, Plasma Guns. Sergeant is armed with a bolt pistol and power sword.

HEAVY SUPPORT (X2)
Sons of Horus Heavy Support Squad
10 Sons of Horus. Bolt Pistols, Missile Launchers. 

This is hovering around 3000 points-- right at the edge of what's needed for Apocalypse. I haven't settled on what tanks I want yet, so I figure those can always be added later. Besides, what tank could hope to outstrip the firepower available to a Heavy Support Squad, all armed with heavy weapons? It could just be my love of power armor, but even the Tactical Support Squads seem to win out over tanks... a five or six-man squad in a drop pod with meltaguns will slag whatever comes its way, and a ten-man unit laughs at superheavy vehicles. 


So anyway, here's part of a Tactical Squad for the moment-- this log will be updated REGULARLY from here on out, and these are just the handful of models that got done before I got my Sons of Horus shoulder pads in-- everything since is suitably more interesting, I think!


----------



## The Son of Horus (Dec 30, 2006)

Tullis Satrael, Captain of the 17th Grand Company. I'm thinking I may go back and add paint chipping and weathering on him, particularly on the greaves.


----------



## Old Man78 (Nov 3, 2011)

Looking good so far, not the shade of green I imagined for the Sons of Horus however. I like the mix of armor marks you have in there as well and the poses too, they look like they are just trotting forward building up steam before they burst into action! Can't wait to see more + rep


----------



## The Son of Horus (Dec 30, 2006)

I'm chugging away on a Contemptor. More work to do on the lascannons and I need to attach the close combat weapon arm still, and do the whole base... but it's coming along... slowly but surely...


----------



## Midge913 (Oct 21, 2010)

Contemptor is looking bad ass man! Well done on the battle damage.


----------



## Vaz (Mar 19, 2008)

While I personally am not a fan of the blue (Never liked the pea/sea green until the deep ocean in the HH list came out), it could also be down to the flash and a crappy camera, I do like the painting; nice and crisp without the battle damage either getting lost or being overdone. veery nice mate.


----------



## The Son of Horus (Dec 30, 2006)

Vaz said:


> While I personally am not a fan of the blue (Never liked the pea/sea green until the deep ocean in the HH list came out), it could also be down to the flash and a crappy camera, I do like the painting; nice and crisp without the battle damage either getting lost or being overdone. veery nice mate.


Honestly, I never was a fan of the sea green either. For whatever reason, the models register much bluer in the pictures than they actually are. They do have a lighter and more bluish tint to them than the ones Games Workshop shows-- I think it's because of how I highlighted them. I chose to use teals instead of greens to highlight the models, so even though they're painted basically the way Games Workshop claims to do theirs-- Administratum Grey followed by a couple washes of Coelia Greenshade-- I end up with something bluer. It's possible I've simply overdone the highlights-- I'll play around with it some more. A green glaze might even it out. I'll try it on a spare shoulder pad or something to see how it looks before going back over the models I've finished so far. 

I had originally planned the army to be in charcoal armor with red details, as they appear in the Horus Heresy Visions series, but the Forge World book explains that those are the Catulan Reavers, and are the Legion's veteran and specialist squads. I wanted the army to be representative of the Legion in general, so I decided to go with the sea green.


----------



## Djinn24 (Jan 12, 2008)

Looking good so far, can't wait to see some more of this done. Ever consider a Fellblade?


----------



## The Son of Horus (Dec 30, 2006)

djinn24 said:


> Looking good so far, can't wait to see some more of this done. Ever consider a Fellblade?


I did think about a Fellblade. The thing is, even though I'm building the army for Apocalypse, we rarely play Apocalypse locally (and that's something I'm working on changing). Focusing mostly on infantry lets me reform the same models into different squads to use Codex: Space Wolves or Codex: Chaos Space Marines (not sure which is a better fit at this point in terms of representing a Legion army) for pickup games. A Fellblade would, sadly, sit on the shelf most of the time. I bought a Baneblade when Apocalypse came out, and I think I've gotten to play with it maybe four times total. Which is sad, because the Fellblade is freakin' awesome. 

The other reason I'm waiting on vehicles, just in general, is because Forge World hasn't released Sons of Horus doors yet! They're sculpted, they're ready to go... they're in the catalog even... but they're not out yet, which is sad.


----------



## The Son of Horus (Dec 30, 2006)

Contemptor Dreadnought with Tullis Satrael. I actually have finished around 30 Legionnaires, but I then decided to go back and redo their shoulder pads-- I decided I liked black shoulder pads better than sea green, even on the rank and file ones, so I need to go repaint the squad markings and whatnot. So...check back later for those. 









I may go back and add more chipping and weathering to the dreadnought... especially on the shoulders. I also need to go back and redo the lettering, I think. It's always interesting to look at models enlarged in a photograph-- you can really see the flaws then. The lettering looks okay in person but it can definitely be better.


----------



## Midge913 (Oct 21, 2010)

nice work mate! I think they look great and I completely agree on the black shoulder pads. Provides some good contrast to the sea green.


----------



## The Son of Horus (Dec 30, 2006)

First Tactical Squad ready to go. I need to go back and add more highlights to the power fist, it seems... the fingers aren't very defined in the picture...


----------



## Zero Effect (Feb 15, 2011)

Very nice legion army coming together.

Have you seen on the FW website they brought out painting guides for the 4 legions so far? 

Just a thought.

I will be watching this thread closely as I am building up slowly a World Eaters legion.


----------

