Setting New Year Goals - Lady Atia

Howdy Guys and Girls :)

Hope you've all had an awesome start to your New Year! I'll start 2016 with a brief look back and a glimpse into what the next 12 months holds for my hobby projects   =)

A look back - and a look ahead!

Well, let's take a look at some Hobby Highlights of 2015 - the Year of Khorne :D

Anaziel - a Mhara Ghal Dreadnought of the Word Bearers Legion - I made him for a painting challenge (I think shortly before FW announced their own Mhara Ghal :P) and will use his scheme for my other Word Bearers too!

Another highlight of 2015 were my Salamanders - I still have a few units to complete for them in the future!

This Sons of Horus Consul Delegatus was also made for a painting challenge - I wrote some cool lore for him (he is the Captain of the Ikon for those of you who know the SoH lore) and may feature more pics of him in a later post :)

Archmagos Draykavac - the first model for my future Dark Mechanicus army :)

A Thousand Sons Consul Praevian - there is some neat fluff about robot-controlling psykers so I needed to do one of them!

I also started to work on my Reaver Titan this year (Legio Fureans) - she is currently shelved 'till FW releases rules for 30k Skitarii though.

Last but not least - my Khorne Daemons. I'm really happy how they turned out, with An'ggrath being last years' final hobby project :)

And now - here is a list of things I'm looking forward to do 2016 - I probably won't finish all of this, but I have sorted it into three big chunks - The Shadow Crusade, The Knights of House Vyronii and the Orkimus Mekanikum - I aim to work on one of these at a time, with some one-off models between my projects! Oh, and I'm also looking forward to a new army release this year, but more to that in the future ;)

The Shadow Crusade - Betrayal at Calth

I really want to start with my Shadow Crusade/Calth themed armies - Ultramarines, Word Bearers and more Daemons. Samus will be the first model I'll paint this year, and I want to finish the components from one Betrayal at Calth set to play the game propperly with my new Love! Last but not least - my Zone Mortalis board also wants to see some paint this year :P

- 1500 points of Word Bearers
- 1500 points of Ultramarines
- Zone Mortalis Board
- More Daemons - the start of my Slaanesh and Tzeentch forces, aswell as some more Khorne stuff!

The Knights of House Vyronii

Another army I'm looking forward to start this year are my Knights of House Vyronii - I already own three of them - a Cerastus Knight Atrapos, a Questoris Knight Megaera and a Questoris Knight Errant - and just wait for the release of their transfer sheets :)

The year of the Xenos

2016 is the "year of the Xenos" - there is some awesome stuff in the plans for some Xenos action all the year round, including some really unique models from King Fluff. My Xenos army will be a Mek-themed force I call the "Orkimus Mekanikum" - or in other words, the Ork's answer to the Mechanicum forces at Ullanor! I'm really looking forward to this little project, as I have ideas for some weird, awesome stuff (and alot of dreds and tankz!)

One off projects

It's always cool to have some minor projects to paint between bigger ones - it allows to paint something new and different between larger blocks of the same scheme - so far I got my hands on the following "filler" models:

- The Agents of the Officio Assassinorum
- A Davinite Lodge Priest
- Navigator, Fleet Master, Astropath

Hope you enjoyed my first post this year, thanks for reading :)

Regards,
Lady Atia

Pre-Heresy Salamanders: Pyroclasts; Betrayal at Calth - and some support from Mezoa

Howdy Guys and Girls!

Before I come to my Salamanders, I want to say I'm pretty excited about the upcoming Betrayal at Calth - and will use my two sets to make the core of small Zone Mortalis forces for Word Bearers, Ultramarines, Imperial Fists and Iron Warriors - alongside my ZM board, that's something I'm really looking forward to, and planned since earlier this year. But I know that both Phall and Calth are huge things, and while I'll probably build atleast one set once it arrives to try the board game, the painting will need to wait a few months - Salamanders and Knights wants to be done first!

EDIT:

oh, and another pic of Betrayal at Calth :)

Speaking about the Sons of Vulkan - let's take a look at their organisation and tactics!

Unit Formation and Structure within the XVIIIth Legion

Before the reunification with their Primarch Vulkan, the XVIIIth Legion - or The Fearless, as they were called by allied Exertus Imperialis regiments - had a tendency towards asymmetrical engagements and scattered deployment, utilising Company level detachments numbering 100 to 200 Legiones Astartes under the command of a Captain, with the Legion's senior command acting as a heavy strategic reserve.

When Vulkan took over his Legion, he largely unified his Legion and formed the seven Realms - basically Great Companies. It should be noted that he tried to preserve the spirit of the self-suffiency elements were possible.

The Seven Realms are:
- Hesiod, the Seat of Kings
- Themis, the City of Warlords
- Epithemus, the Jewel City
- Heliosa, the Beacon City
- Aethonion, the Fire Spike
- Clymene, the Merchant's Sprawl
- Skarokk, the Dragonspine

Commanders over the Realms were the Lord-Protectors, below which numerous line companies, each around 120 Legiones Astartes, each under the command of a Captain. Below them were lieutenants, master sergeants, sergeants and legionaries.

Each of the Seven Realms had its own cadre of Firedrakes and Igniax (who were basically the Chaplains of the Salamanders).

The Legion was noted for its superior artifice in the creation of arms, and had a large stock of masterly crafted Dreadnoughts and Terminator armours, aswell as a substantial armoury of heavy vehicles, favouring tanks, boarding rams and gunships over static artillery, light skimmers and rapid attack vehicles - but they never lacked these things in case they might need it.

Destroyers and Pyroclasts

The dreaded Pyroclasts are the burning fury of the Salamanders Legion given material form. Shunning conventional Destroyer units in his Legion, save for a small cadre retained for xenocide operations, due to the tainting and unclean nature of the weapons they wielded, Vulkan created the Pyroclasts to fulfil the role of bringers of utter destruction, creating for them advanced and extremely powerful thermal/incendiary weapons of his own devising. To the Salamanders, fire is more than merely a weapon; it has an almost mystical function and truth, and embodies both purifying destruction and potential for rebirth and redemption. But for renewal to occur, what has gone before must be wiped away; purified by fire. It is this last concept that the Pyroclasts embody, and in battle they are relentless and remorseless, and where they are unleashed there can be no possibility of mercy or reprieve from the fire.

So basically, the Pyroclasts were used instead of Destroyers in most cases - but as far as i see, they still used a pretty small cadre of normal Destroyers too. Sadly the rules forbid you to take Destroyers in your Salamanders Detachment - maybe we will get this option with a new Rite of War?

Support from Mezoa

Hope you enjoyed my post - next week we will take a look at a great hero of the Legion.

Last but not least, i want to show what arrived for my House Vyronii force yesterday :)

regards,

Lady Atia