Battle Bunnies

Ikthelion Orthos – An Introduction

Hi everyone! I’m Ikthelion Orthos and I’m thrilled to have been asked to help contribute to the Battle Bunnies community. Catching up with what has been happening on this blog has been part of a daily routine for me for a long time, and I’m really excited to be getting involved with such a great group of hobbyists in the awesome setting that is the Horus Heresy.

I’ve been playing 40k for ages, starting back at the tender age of 11 years old after walking into my local Games Workshop armed with birthday money which was burning a hole in my pocket. I walked out soon afterwards with the 3^rd Edition starter box (Space Marines and Dark Eldar) and set about painting my first army – the Ultramarines. Well… perhaps ‘painting’ is a bit of a strong word… I certainly put paint (lots of paint!) on the models, but I’m not sure that much skill was involved!

Since then, I’ve had a go at collecting virtually every 40k army going. I am sadly what my friends describe as a “hobby butterfly” – I thought they were being really nice, until I realised they meant that all I did was flit from one project to another without ever making any progress. Having recognised this, I’m (trying to be) a reformed hobbyist – I’m sticking to one project at a time from now on and not letting my imagination run away to the hobby store with my wallet!

All of this was going perfectly well with a (new) 40k Ultramarines army until my friend who you know as Darien Vasco comes out with words to the effect of ‘you should look at getting into Horus Heresy’, whilst dragging me into the Forgeworld Store at Warhammer World. I’ve never forgiven him.

My Test Model

After losing far too much time looking at the pretty resin models, I got myself a 10 man Tactical Squad in Mk III Iron Armour. I decided that my Legion would be the Iron Warriors, as I was continuing with my 40k Ultramarines and it seemed silly to have the same army in two game systems. I started designing armies, and before long I had 3,000pts of Iron Warriors planned and mostly purchased. I managed to paint one (singular, solo, lonesome) Legionnaire in Iron Warriors colours before my old hobby butterfly tendencies reasserted themselves and I was already looking elsewhere for another project!

After a lengthy and sustained bullying campaign, Darien managed to have my mind focussed on the Heresy once again, but by this stage I had jettisoned the 40k Ultramarines in favour of another project (and it genuinely pains me to admit I can’t even remember which army this was!). I thought I’d have a go at building an Ultramarine Legion army and set about planning a mechanised list for the boys in blue. Around this sort of time, I met Kaelo and some of the other Bunnies at the Forgeworld Open Day – I’d never been to one of these events before and I really can’t recommend them enough. Kaelo and I got talking about all things Ultramarine, and I even managed to purloin details of the paint scheme he was looking to use for his army!

Just prior to all of this happening, I’d managed to convince another friend to get into the Horus Heresy so we could build Legions alongside each other. I had failed to consider that this friend is in fact a hobby machine and churns units out at an alarming rate – quickly leaving my paltry few painted Ultramarines in the dust whilst he was rapidly approaching 2k painted in just a few short months. Deciding that I would need an army that’s quicker and easier to paint, I decided to revert back to my old planned Iron Warriors list, and put the Ultramarines on hold. Each time I’ve had a hobby wobble since and thought about a new project, this friend has given me such an intimidating and judgemental look that I quickly scuttle back to my painting table to continue working on the IV^th  Legion!

Tactical Legionary

Meeting the Bunnies at the Open Day was brilliant – They’re a great bunch of hobbyists who really care about the background of the Heresy. I’m looking forward to getting involved in some of the planned campaigns this year; it’ll be good to play a series of missions that are linked together with some solid background to really push the theme of the Heresy… and my brave Iron Warriors will get to shoot some dastardly Imperial Fists! Unfortunately my army has got a long way to go before it’s all painted, but I’ll be sure to keep you posted with my progress.  

Kaelo and Drake were clearly scraping the barrel when they asked me to contribute to this fantastic blog, but I’ll be aiming to bring you regular painting and hobby updates for the Iron Warriors, all the while being bitter about it as only a son of Perturabo can!

Cheers!

Ikthelion