# XVII Legion: Pre-Heresy Word Bearers



## Vredesbyrd (May 13, 2010)

*Scions of Colchis: Pre-Heresy Word Bearers*



> _And as ye go, preach, saying the Imperium of Man is at hand.
> Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, cast out devils: freely ye have received, freely give.'_
> 
> Excerpt from '_On the Enlightenment of Man_' by the Most Enlightened Lorgar, Urizen and Primarch of the XVII Legion of the Adeptus Astartes.


*Playback initiated...*

_It is a time of legends and a veritable tempest is crossing the galaxy; it is not a tempest of energy but one of Enlightenment. The tempest is the Imperial Truth, and the Adeptus Astartes are its harbingers. These nigh-immortal warriors have been tasked by the Emperor with spreading His Word into the darkness, with reuniting those lost enclaves of humankind seperated by Old Night and to crush those that refuse.

Foremost amongst those spreading the Word is the XVII Legion, the Word Bearers.

Innumberable warriors form the XVII Legion, and so the Legion is split into several Chapters, each further subdivided into Grand Hosts, each of which contains roughly two thousand Marines. The Hosts are divided into Coteries, each numbering ten Warrior-Brothers and up to ten Oblates - those new to the Legion, or who have yet to attain the rank of Warrior-Brother.

This is a record of the 34th Grand Host, the Bearers of the True Word._

_Each Host is a theocracy, led by a man of great fervour and belief, more commonly known as the Master of Sanctity. The 34th is no exception._

*Master of Sanctity Sor Talgron, Master and Scion of the 34th*










_Although Sor Talgron is the spiritual leader of the Host, his duties at times preclude him from planning for battle, and directing the Warrior-Brothers in the field. This duty falls to his Coryphaus, the military leader and master tactician of the Host. Outside of battle the Coryphaus is the voice of the Host, leading the responses of the Host in the daily services as well as relaying the mood and feelings of the Host to his Master of Sanctity._

*Kol Badar, Coryphaus of the 34th*










_The Master of Sanctity is prepared for all eventualities, including his own death. Though far stronger than a normal man a Marine is not indestructible, and the Master of Sanctity knows this. To this end he trains and mentors a replacement, known as the First Acolyte of the Host. As well as being mentored by the Master of Sanctity the First Acolyte leads a coterie in battle and prayer._

*First Acolyte Jarulek, Scholar-Brother of the 7th Coterie*










_Though each coteries consists of ten Warrior-Brothers there are times when serious injury or death will restrict the numbers a coterie may field. Normally the death of a Warrior-Brother will result in the elevation of an Oblate, but not necessarily so. Two Warrior-Brother's of the 7th coterie were seriously injured during a recent planet fall, and are currently recovering in the Apothecarion. As well as being led by First Apostle Jarulek, the 7th coterie is accompanied by a Flamer wielding Brother-Purgator, a Marine trained in the use of specialised weaponry._

*The Glorious Seventh, the 7th Coterie of the 34th Grand Host*










_Just as the 7th coterie is led by Jarulek, so the 17th is led by Scholar-Brother Khalaxis. Holding a rank above that of his brothers Khalaxis is equivalent to a Veteran Sergeant in the ranks of a more blinkered Legion, such as the Ultramarines._

*Khalaxis, Scholar-Brother of the 17th Coterie*










_Again, like the 7th, the 17th is accompanied by a Brother-Purgator armed with a Flamer, a weapon instrumental in destroying the lies and heresies of the unenlightened._

*The Hallowed Seventeenth, the 17th Coterie of the 34th Grand Host*










_At times a coterie will be lost in its entirety. Such is a great loss for the Legion as a whole, and is deeply grieved. Occasionally though one or two Warrior-Brothers may survive and will subsequently be assigned to a newly formed coterie, usual gaining promotion en-route. Sabtec is one such man._

*Sabtec, Scholar-Brother of the 13th Coterie*










_Unlike some of the lesser, less enlightened Legions the Word Bearers feel that the best place for their novice Warrior-Brothers to experience battle is alongside the full Warrior-Brothers on the front line. Though some advocate keeping the future of the Legion in relative safety, or infiltrating behind enemy lines to prove their worth in the XVII Legion this is not so. The Word Bearers know that the novices, or Oblates as they are known within the Legion, can only truly learn alongside their betters and so the Oblates of the Legion are attached to individual Warrior-Brothers, who will assume responsibilty for training the Oblates, in matters both martial and spiritual. Thus is the knowledge of the elders passed down, and the traditions of the Legion preserved._

*Novice Bartok, Oblate of the 17th Coterie*










_Each coterie maintains a substantial motor pool, consisting of APCs and aerial tranports as well as heavier battle tanks. The Predator is one of the most commonly seen tanks fielded by the XVII Legion, its arms and armour being perfectly suited to the fast paced warfare preferred by the Legion._

*Predator Destructor 'Veritas' of the 34th Grand Host*










_On occassion a Warrior-Brother may fall in battle to wounds so grievous that he can no longer fight for the Legion, yet not dire enough to ensure his death. For those so afflicted there is, however, a solution - internment in one of the sarcophagi of Legion's Dreadnoughts. In this limbo the Warrior-Brother can continue to fight for his Legion and Lord. The Venerable Bede was a hugley respected Scholar-Brother who was interred following battle with Orks, in which Scholar-Brother Bede was bisected by an Ork Warboos but retained conciousness long enough to see the Urizen decapitate the beast. Those interred in the sarcophagi become living repositories of knowledge and tradition, and Venerable Bede is no exception._

*The Venerable Bede, Scrivener-Archivist of the 34th*










_As the tale of the 34th continues I shall continue to chronicle it. As a Dreadnought of the Legion it is my solemn duty and right to remember and archive our actions._

*Vocal Signature Recognition Complete. Speaker identified as The Venerable Bede, Scrivener-Archivist of the 34th Coterie of the XVII Legion. M31.

Playback Terminates in 3...2...1...*

This is my first log here on Heresy-Online, hopefully one of many in the next few years. 

As you can see there are quite a few recycled models in here, and a couple of missing ones too. Two models from the Seventh were broken after being dropped and the 13th are waiting on heads from Maxmini. Bartok's hair is courtesy of *VESPASIAN* over on TGC and I've nine further Oblates awaiting their heads.

Other than a Dreadnought, a Rhino and enough heads for the 13th the modelling part of this army is more or less complete.

I'm running the army using Codex: Black Templars, hence the amalgamated Marine and Scout Squads. The Coryphaus Kol Badar is to be my Emperor's Champion and Sor Talgron is simply a Master of Sanctity. 

Alot of the names for the army mainly from the books 'Dark Apostle' and 'Dark Disciple' by Anthony Reynolds, along with a little from 'Battle For The Abyss', 'Thousand Sons' and 'Scions Of The Storm'. There's a little artistic licence in there too, but that's good for the Soul.

Since starting this army a couple of weeks back I've decided to switch some things around a little bit. For a start Sor Talgron is losing his helm, as I think it looks a little too cartoony for the great leader of a Grand Warhost of the Adeptus Astartes. I've decided to go the stylised skull helm route, using the Chaos Marine helmet in this picture pinched from the Bits and Kits webstore. I've ordered two of these helmets from Bits and Kits, because I know I'll fluff up the first attempt at removing that arrow...










Gone with that helm as it has the skull look to it still, but is quite stylised and artificery, so fitting for such an important individual.

Also got some Power Fists, Bolt Pistol and Combat Weapon arms, Meltaguns and a few other things on order too as the Squads are all getting a Meltagun and being led by a Power Fist toting bloke, converted from the existing guys with Power Weapons. No Sergeants for me, but I like the concept of squad leaders.

I was going to spend this afternoon working on my Word Bearers, but I forgot that I'd lent a friend my clippers, which makes removing bits from sprues kinda difficult.

However, I do have another picture for you lucky lucky peeps. I've managed to get my hands on an old metal Land Speeder for the army, in fact its the main reason I shuffled the list round to fit one in the army... Anyway, its armed with a Multi-melta, but I'm not sure where to put it. I'm thinking of mounting it underslung under the nose of the craft, but then the gunner on the top of the Speeder won't have anything to do, and will have a gap in front of him. Any suggestions would be ace!


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## Baron Spikey (Mar 26, 2008)

I'm loving the idea and using Codex: Black Templars is perfect!

So is this force going to be set before they turned traitor and repainted their army Crimson or when they were loyal sons of the Emperor and wore armour the colour of Granite? I'm hoping the latter because I just love stone coloured armour, it's part of the reason I'm making an Iron Champions army


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## Viscount Vash (Jan 3, 2007)

The MultiMelta was originally placed underslung as you mention with the H Flamer in front of the gunner.

If you want to fill the gap because of dropping the flamer you could make a screen or some sort of HUD there. ( Handle bars/screen from a SM bike when you next visit B&K?)

Wonderful thread full of very nice work, the addition of the fluff is a big fat cherry on top.

Mucho Reppage


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## Vredesbyrd (May 13, 2010)

Baron Spikey said:


> I'm loving the idea and using Codex: Black Templars is perfect!
> 
> So is this force going to be set before they turned traitor and repainted their army Crimson or when they were loyal sons of the Emperor and wore armour the colour of Granite? I'm hoping the latter because I just love stone coloured armour, it's part of the reason I'm making an Iron Champions army


Thanks for the compliments! The army is set after the reunification of Lorgar with the Emperor, but before his censure by the aforementioned for being too slow in forcing worlds into compliance. So essentially the Legion will be at its Imperially nuttiest, raising cathedrals, temples and churches everywhere it goes, bedecked in granite grey armour and spouting litanies of purity and devotion.

I seem to have a thing for grey armies, the project before these guys, which went head over heels downhill, was the Company of Shadow, based on the little bit of colour text in the current Chaos Space Marine codex - the one where the loyalist Marines disappear into the Underhive somewhere and return with screaming faces covering their armour. Anyway, they would've been grey but the amount of g/s work required put me off them. Maybe after these guys I'll go back to them.

By the by, you don't happen to have any links to your Iron Champions do you? I tried searching for them but to no avail.



Viscount Vash said:


> The MultiMelta was originally placed underslung as you mention with the H Flamer in front of the gunner.
> 
> If you want to fill the gap because of dropping the flamer you could make a screen or some sort of HUD there. ( Handle bars/screen from a SM bike when you next visit B&K?)
> 
> ...


Thanks for the suggestion Viscount, current concensus from a couple of forums seems to be to give the driver some sort of HUD/screen and handle type things. I'm currently thinking that the handles from the plastic Storm Bolter, off of the Vehicle Upgrade Sprue, could work quite well and was plannign on using auspexes to make the display but I like your idea of using the screens off a bike, that'd be much bigger and easier to work with I reckon. 

I'll likely give the auspex idea a go, and if it looks pants I shall then order me up some bike parts from B&K.


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## Baron Spikey (Mar 26, 2008)

I haven't put up any pics on Heresy (or any where else) because I haven't finished painting a single model yet, I'm painting them in batches nd i'm a horrendously slow painter who's easily distracted :blush:

Iron Champions

I'll be doing the grey as if it was stone, but on veterans/command models I'll alter the grey areas to blued-steel (lots of Asurmen Blue Wash will be used :biggrin
----------------------------------------------------------------
Anyway I can't wait to see your take on WB pre-heresy granite armour, the models look cool already but mad monks with 'stone' armour will just complete it.


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## Varakir (Sep 2, 2009)

Sexy opening thread, i'll definitely be keeping an eye out for updates. +rep


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## Vredesbyrd (May 13, 2010)

I hope you get some pictures up soon Baron, they sound really cool.

Well then, I got the Land Speeder stripped down to its bare metal, though I forgot to strip the Multimelta, though the paint on that is very thin so its not too much of an issue.

Since I joined Heresy-Online recently I've been getting some ace feedback and ideas on my army list. Partially because of that, but partially because I found it cheap on eBay, I bought myself another Land Speeder today.

Now this one is a Rogue Trader era one, so has an underslung Meltagun as opposed to a Multimelta, but I see no issues in running it as a Multimelta. I do have a bit of an issue though, the pilot and gunner are quite cleaerly in Mk VI helms, but my army is set before Lorgar got the slap across the wrists by the Emperor so Mk VI doesn't exist yet! The problem I have is that I don't really want to take a dremel to RT minis, and if I did I'd not know what to replace them with, what with RT minis being that little bit smaller.

Any suggestions would be ace, and the picture is shamelessly nicked from The Warhammer Trader on eBay, the store I bought it from.


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## ClassyRaptor (Apr 7, 2010)

Nice conversions there mate, Have some rep.


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## Ordo (Dec 31, 2008)

Jesus dude this is amazing, I must say your work has partially inspired me to do pre heresy Luna wolves. Damn dude those are nice
Ordo


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## Vredesbyrd (May 13, 2010)

Thanks guys, it looks like I've managed to secure a set of crew from the Ravenwing version of the newer metal Land Speeder up there, so they'll be crewing the Couch O' Doom and the Couch Boys will be piloting the Ravenwing Speeder in a future army. :wink:


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## deathwatch27 (Dec 30, 2009)

Looks good so far. Pre-heresy FTW 

If only the workshop court on and released some proper Great Crusade/Heresy minis. I know FW do a few bits like Dreds n land raider conversions but still they cost a fair whack and online only.


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## Vredesbyrd (May 13, 2010)

Thanks for the compliment!

If I'm going to be honest I like that GW don't make much Pre-Heresy stuff. It means our armies stand out more, after all if it was easy to make a Pre-Heresy army we'd see bucket loads of them.

There are the occasional Pre-Heresy parts on the Black Templar and Blood Angel sprues, enough to make them worth buying, especially in the case of the Death Company. As you say Forgeworld do Pre-Heresy stuff too, the best thing being the Mk IV Red Scorpion Veterans, perfect for an easy Pre-Heresy army!


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