Liam Perseus, Chapter Master of the Azure Flames
Modeling
I made an old model of Perseus with the Terminator Captain with Storm Bolter model years ago, but he wasn’t that great. The cabling looked bad and his storm shield was tiny. My original idea was that it be a shield that incorporates weaponry, so that a successful block can be a slice as well. The original model did not do it justice.
For the new model, I used Marneus Calgar’s upper torso, modified to get rid of the stupid eagles. I used the Devastator Sergeant head, with an elongated nose. I added a third and fourth service stud, as Perseus is about 400 years old. The legs are the plastic legs from an Assault on Black Reach Terminator sergeant, with the flame added to the right knee pad. On his back to cover up Marneus’ Bolter ammo feeds, I added some purity seals and scrolls. I also added an Iron Halo on top.
For the arms, they are double dry-pinned with a magnet holding them on. the pins come out of the torso, and the pin holes in the arms are deep, but are wide at the top so the pins slide right in. You can pick up Perseus by any of his arms and he won’t fall apart, or change his pose.
Perseus’ Storm Shield was made from the Masters of the Chapter Storm Shield, and two plastic power axes and two pewter Bike sergeant power swords. The Grenade arm is a standard Storm Bolter arm, with an Imperial Guard grenade launcher.
The Thunder Hammer/Storm Shield combo is the normal plastic one from the Termintator kit, with the Hammer modified with putty.
Paint used the standard Azure Flames color scheme, with a few embellishments on the feet and cape.
Backstory
Liam Perseus is a Terran. His parents were pilgrims, and ended up serving the Ecclisiarchy on Terra itself. He was born into servitude on Terra, and luckily for him, was a young teenager when the Tech Priests of Mars, at the behest of Inquisitor Eric Boucher, decided to make a Salamanders successor chapter. Liam was simply scooped up by a Tech Priest, as his parents told him that he was destined for greater things.
Liam was one of the thousand Space Marines delivered to Nocturne as the Sons of the Salamander. No Son had rank yet. Being trained in the arts of war by their parent chapter caused Perseus to stand out. His natural leadership qualities and powerful personality made him one of the first Sons of the Salamander to be promoted to Sergeant.
As the chapter structure took hold, Salamander Apothecaries noticed something strange. The Sons were not affected by the radiation on Nocturne. Perseus and his chapter brothers’ skin was not turning black, nor their eyes red. One battle brother died in training, and the Apothecaries examined his gene seeds. From that point on all Salamander and Sons of the Salamander Apothecaries were forbidden to speak of the possible genetic variance. The official word was that they are a Vulkan chapter and the matter was closed. Rumor persists to this day.
Perseus, being trained by ecclisiarchs as a child, found the Promethean Cult a bit dubious until he found the joy of making weapons. He hand-crafted his first sword. He insisted on using it to join in the yearly Salamander hunts on Nocturne. Sadly, this sword was destroyed in the hunt when Perseus used it to prevent himself from falling into a volcano. Perseus did bring home a Salamander pelt, but not the biggest. Undeterred, Perseus used the pelt to make a shield.
Forty seven years of distinguished service as a sergeant followed. Perseus fought traitors and aliens with equal fervor. He was among the first to re-paint his armor when the Sons of the Salamander became the Azure Flames. He fervently believed in Atrus’ vision.
His shield was severely damaged in a fight with the Iron Warriors. He used it to block the attack of the traitor’s Power Fist. The shield shattered like glass, and so did the bones in Perseus’ arm. Perseus used the shattered remnant strapped to his arm as a weapon, jamming it into the traitor’s neck.
Perseus was soon promoted to the First Company, and chose the wargear of the Thunder Hammer and Storm Shield. He was a part of the third Terminator squad during the invasion of Hive Fleet 2501 in the battle for the North Complex on Landon. Atrus personally accompanied his squad, and Perseus watched as a Hive Tyrant cut him down. Perseus smashed the Tyrant’s head with his Thunder Hammer, but Atrus was too far gone to save. Perseus heard Atrus’ voice begging to be interred in a Sarcophagus. He demanded that it be done. It was. Perseus became Captain of the First Company thereafter, and took on the duties of Chapter Master when appropriate. Atrus was still the de facto Chapter Master.
Perseus took up a new project. He remade his Storm Shield into a weapon, and trained with it to develop a new fighting style. He became known as an invincible relentless combatant, able to turn the tide against the most skilled opponent.
When Atrus died in the Chasma Spica conflict, Perseus took his rightful place as the Chapter Master. He decreed that Iperin, the planet on which Atrus died, was to be the new homeworld for the Azure Flames. Every Space Marine chapter in the Chasma Spica conflict backed up his claim.
Perseus has overseen the Chapter’s combat service. He directs them to war torn zones where the Azure Flames go out of their way to protect refugees. Under this policy, refugees are relocated to Iperin, where they are given a new home in the rebuilt capital of Releeshan. Perseus’ kind but stern leadership style and aged appearance has earned him the nickname “The Old Man.” He struggles with the authority left by Atrus’ death, and works hard to groom Atrus’ gene-son Antonius for the day Perseus falls in battle.
Rules
When Perseus has a Thunder Hammer and Storm Shield, he is the Captain of the First Company and stands in for Darnath Lysander. With his shield and grenade launcher, he has the following profile.
HQ – Chapter Master Liam Perseus: 260 Points
WS: 6
BS: 5
S: 4
T: 4
W: 4
I: 5
A: 4
Ld: 10
Equipment: Terminator Armour, Perseus’ Storm Shield, Auxilliary Grenade Launcher, Teleport Homer.
Special Rules
Eternal Warrior
Perseus’ Storm Shield: Perseus customized this tower sized Storm Shield by adding power weapons all along the perimeter. This makes the shield into a targe, used for both offense and defense. Perseus’ Storm Shield counts as both a Storm Shield and a Relic Blade. In addition, Perseus’ unique skills combined with the dangerous proposition of attacking an object covered with power weapons allows Perseus to re-roll all rolls in close combat to hit and to wound.
Riposte!: Perseus is a master of allowing an enemy to overextend themselves, and taking advantage of even the tiniest opening. In close combat, any successfully made armour or invulnerable save grants Perseus an extra attack at initiative 1. If Perseus is killed before initiative 1, the attacks are lost.
Orbital Bombardment: Perseus can call down an Orbital Bombardment, as detailed in the Chapter Master entry in the Space Marine Codex.
The New Chaos Codex: Why I like it even though it sucks
Recently on BOLS, there was a discussion of how the new Chaos Codex is not competitive. You can read it here: http://www.belloflostsouls.net/2011/02/remembering-chaos-glory-days.html
If you don’t want to click, I can sum up the arguments pretty quickly.
1. The new codex isn’t as obscenely overpowered as the older one.
2. The flavor of the legions has been left behind in favor of renegades.
3. Several armies (mostly Emperor’s Children) have invalid models (Tanks with sonic weapons)
4. Demons are generic and that’s bad.
Here are my thoughts on the above points.
RE 1: Tough. Playing against armies with Daemon Princes that have 5 wounds, a 4+ invul, feel no pain, monstrous creature and ignores invuls was no fun at all. The legion armies got bonuses for taking daemon packs in certain numbers, which had no downsides. Defilers hid behind forests and bombarded the enemy. Predators with the Nurgle +1 armor value upgrade sat with impunity in the middle of a field, heedless of danger. The new codex has lots of useful options without being ridiculous.
RE 2: True, but you can work around this. I agree with Lexington that renegade Marine chapters would not automatically trade all their assault cannons for autocannons, and trash all their landspeeders and razorbacks. However, you can still play as the World Eaters. Just take a lot of berzerkers! I’ve seen this list work well with teleporting terminators and Vindicators for fire support. While the LAYOUT of the book and fluff has left the main legions in the dust, their spirit can be found in the list, with a little creativity.
RE 3: I totally agree. This pissed me off. Several people modded Slaaneshi tanks, Legion Terminators, and Iron Warriors players even bought a goddamn Basilisk. Now, while I think the whole Basilisk thing was a MISTAKE and am VERY GLAD Chaos is not allowed to take them anymore ever, I am angry about the other stuff. Sure Legion Terminators can now just be used as regular terminators with the appropriate Icon, but that’s weak. The Legion Terminators were never overpowered, indeed they were a bit overpriced! Plus the Slaaneshi tanks had to typically pay points for a gun with as many downsides as upsides compared to the gun replaced. I’d like to see these make a comeback. Except the Nurgle +1 armor value upgrade, that was insane.
RE 4: Meh. While I agree that the old demons were flavorful and cool, I understand that GW wanted to make a Demons-only list. Should they have done this? Perhaps not. But they did it. I’d be all for a way to use the God-specific daemons in a CSM list, but haven’t figured out a way to make it fair. Just infantry only. Using Steeds of Slaanesh in a CSM army was unbelievably broken.
In conclusion, the current Chaos codex has useful and powerful units without giving certain armies a free bonus for doing what they would have done already. The list is balanced and if you can’t compete with it, you need to be more imaginative.
Now, the FLUFF and LAYOUT of the book is intolerable. They gloss over the main legions and concentrate on crappy Renegades. While renegades may by fun, they are the Sonny to the Legion’s Cher. The vast majority of Chaos Space Marines are from the Legions, and if you want to make a renegade chapter go right ahead. However the story should focus on these stubborn hateful traitors, not the upstarts that follow their example. Plus the rules for the various marks are incredibly hard to find, as they are not with the rest of the wargear! Whoever laid out this book should be forced to watch Judge Judy, Ludovicio technique style, while tripping on acid and randomly being electrocuted in the face.
I miss Bitz Ordering from GW
Gather round, ye young players, and let me tell you stories of old. In the before time, The Games Workshop magazine, White Dwarf, came with a listing of all of the possible pewter bitz in the ENTIRE GAMES WORKSHOP LINE. You could call GW and order any bitz in any quantity or combination. I used it often, as there were some things that I needed that you just couldn’t get in the blister without a huge amount of waste.
For example, back before plastic Assault Terminators, I needed a Terminator Sergeant with a Thunder Hammer and Storm Shield. The only sergeant model sold in blister had a power weapon/storm bolter. So, I bitz ordered a Terminator Sergeant body, a banner pole, and a regular Thunder Hammer/Storm Shield arm combo. Bitz ordering gave me what the blisters could not.
There was another, even SWEETER side to this. If you attended Games Day, you could buy ANY pewter bitz BY THE POUND. Want 20 meltaguns? Sure. Would you like 80 copies of the Eversor Assassin backpack? NO ONE CAN SAY NO TO THAT. It gave a DAMN good reason to attend Games Day, and let me make a HUGE amount of conversions in my army today that I would never have been able to do.
GW never intended to do individual plastic bitz and I understand that. The internet market has stepped in and filled that void. But it is incredibly rare to find any pewter bitz on non-GW ordering sites. There are a couple but they don’t have the entire range.
Sure, as more plastic kits come out, pewter is becoming obsolete. But there are some times when you just need that old archive bit. My buddy Lexington loves the old fan-style Space Marine Jump Pack. Having the old archive bitz gave modelers the ability to make anything, without having to track down old stuff on ebay.
The bottom line is that there are old pewter bitz that I wish everyone had access to. GW does give some “upgrade packets” prices, but you have to buy the whole thing. What if you want an odd number of shields?
I get why they stopped. It costs money to hire dudes who will paw through the archive and get the bitz people like. Charge us a handling fee! I’ll pay it if I need the bitz for the perfect conversion! WE ALL WILL! WE ARE ADDICTED.
Musings on Business Models: Part 3 – Warmachine (and Hordes)
For those who missed my previous rants, I have been examining how my favorite companies market their games. My first rant covered GW Mainline games and the second GW Specialist games. That covers GW. Now, on to younger, hotter companies.
Privateer Press launched Warmachine in 2003. It was immediately picked up by my friends Lexington and Andy (who now runs our local game store and STOCKS Warmachine). I was dragged in when they showed me the minis and the gameplay, both of which were awesome. I got into Warmachine and started a small Cygnar force. During this time, I was frustrated by the Vlad Windwall Turtle army, and chose not to play Haley very much as she wasn’t very fair.
Privateer then released Escalation, which added a new Caster and some more stuff to each faction. This introduced the dreaded Zealot Monolith Bearer, and soon every Menoth army I faced had a unit of invincible Zealots in my face.
Then came Apotheosis. The strained balance of the game shuddered and washed away. Epic Haley, Darius, The Harbinger, The Avatar, The Garlghast Coven, and the Old Witch of Khador seemed so powerful that many among my friends questioned whether they had done any playtesting to balance these powerful models. We learned later that they had not.
Superiority added even more stuff which could be used in tandem with old stuff, making new combos and strengthening old ones. Prime Remix tried to add balance to the game by nerfing several overpowered things like Haley and Sorcha’s feats. This helped a bit.
Legends was the final expansion in Warmachine 1.0 and the nail in the coffin of me playing. Three dudes with axes killed my entire army. The three-person units were terribly broken. I lost all interest as balance seemed gone forever. Now there were “must include” units that you needed to balance out the overpowered units from other lists. Gone was the idea that equal points tended to be equal armies.
Now, in Warmachine 2.0 I have a pretty decent interest. Warmachine Mk2 was launched in early 2010 with an extensive playtest online beforehand. Now EVERY unit had a new card, rules were more streamlined and units with similar rules now had the wording exactly the same for simplicity. There were still one or two overpowered things, but “must includes” were powered down so that you could actually WIN without them.
Each faction had their own book released with “tier lists.” Essentially if you limit yourself to the choices in the list, you get various powers. I wasn’t a big fan of this as it smacked of the old 3rd edition White Dwarf lists in 40K that gave you special rules for taking a limited list. Essentially this rewards you for taking things that are already a good idea to take. It means you can’t do wicked combos with your whole list plus mercs. There are a few that are a bit unfair (such as the Retribution Rahn list that gives every goddamn model Stealth) but most are relatively harmless.
Now, Mk2 is coming out with Wrath, another expansion with gigantic 120mm based horrors. Essentially the trend is to create a balanced game, then add expansions that make each faction have some new great things. Sadly you have to top your previous effort with each new expansion, so balance tends to get out of control.
The other part of their business model is simply to consistently make incredible models. Let’s not mince words. Privateer makes models you want to buy. There are exceptions (Winter Troll and Extreme Warpwolf spring to mind) but most are so cool you want to play every faction ever.
Pros: The expansions keep the metagame flowing for every faction simultaneously. There are no decade long waits for your army to be updated like with GW. Each expansion also releases more pewter flavored crack for you to get a fix on. Of course, some units are now PLASTIC crack, to the delight of players with sore arms.
Cons: Expansion after expansion leads to runaway power creep. Didn’t buy the latest solo? Didn’t include the latest unit? Pick up your models and go home. No one wants YOUR KIND here. Oh, you didn’t know this guy is unkillable? Eat it. Page five machismo is one thing, but there are some combos from back in 1.0 that were just unfair. Like the Harbinger sacrificing life to save every casualty you cause, and then getting healed by other stuff. Or “Chuck the Drakhun at the enemy and watch it still charge 10 inches.”
Conclusions: Privateer keeps Warmachine selling well at the cost of power creep. Let’s hope Wrath doesn’t undo ALL of the balance found in Mk2. Otherwise you might see a lot less Warmachine posts on Four Strands. If Wrath is as good as Escalation was expect MORE posts.
Rock over Corvis, Rock on Five Fingers.
Choosing a Color Scheme
Warmachine (and its sister game Hordes) is awesome, especially now that 2nd ed has toned down the insane stuff from Legends. That being said, the Iron Kingdoms is a much “smaller” world than 40K or even Warhammer Fantasy. In Warmachine all Cygnar armies ideally work for the nation of… anyone? Take a guess. That’s right: CYGNAR. One nation. One armed force. One color scheme. Boring. Sure, there are some alternate schemes in the Cygnar book, but even if everyone chose from those handful it would still be monotonous.
It is my contention that each player should create a completely original color scheme for each Warmachine faction they play. Red Cygnar? Awesome. Rusty Menoth with Black armor? Double-sweet.
When I choose to make a color scheme (for anything, not just Warmachine) I try to keep some sort of theme in mind. For the Azure Flames, it was a blue Marine army with crisp, clean perfection. There’s not a dirty model in the army. For the Orks it was wacky, dirty fun. When I chose to start painting Cygnar, it was around Apotheosis. If no one remembers the fluff that far back, Cygnar was beset on all sides by invading forces. It looked pretty grim for the boys (and girls) in blue. So, I figured they couldn’t afford as much blue in their paint and switched to a cheaper blue-gray. I also thought they’d run out of gold and switched to bronze. It’s a poor-man’s Cygnar for a desperate nation melting its own silverware to pay for the wars on like twenty seven fronts. Here is an image dump of all of my painted Cygnar stuff.
Telling a story with your model.
You can use modeling to tell a story without saying a word. I made a looted Ork vehicle. Look at all the pictures, try to see what the story behind the vehicle is, and then scroll down past the white space.
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The Story
As you can see, there is damage to the front track guard and right side front hull. The Chimera was hit by severe antitank fire, coming from its right side. This immobilized it and allowed the Orks to capture and loot it. The rear door was ripped off and replaced. The damaged laser turret was upgraded to a Rokkit Launcha. That’s how this vehicle joined Poindexta Smartyskull’s warband. I tried to explain this with the way I built it. Some people loot Ork vehicles by just slapping gubbins on wherever. That’s fine, but I like my idea better.
Finally, as an extra modelling goody, I modeled Red Paint Job as something other than a red paint job. Of course there will be some red at the end, but it will get there because of Vincent Van Grot, on the top left side. He even has a bandage on his ear!
Dipping when you can’t “dip” – Ork Trukk
So Dipping is called that because you’re supposed to “dip” the mini in the woodstain. However, this is just the easiest way to get the stain on the mini. You can brush it on in cases where the mini is too large. This is the first Trukk I painted.
You can see the pre-stain, post-stain, and finished product. The yellows had to be reinforced, as the stain darkens them too much. I also added some splattered bugs!
Konquata Monitor Kroxigor
Three posts in one day? You have to admit, the Epic army post was pretty weak. So, here’s a Kroxigor.
The only thing I have left to do is rip apart one of my Skinks and make one more star player.
Gehn the Traitor, disciple of Matthius.
Modeling and Painting
Before Big Game 5, Matt Turner came down to help us build terrain. While he was there, we discussed his Chaos Lord, Matthius, Prophet of the Four. Matt said that he wanted Matthius to have a bodyguard of traitors from various armies. I wasn’t sure about other people’s armies, but I instantly came up with an addendum to the main fluff story that involved this man:
I used the new Devastator Sergeant head, with the flat top filed away. I used the Mark 9 sergeant armor torso, the old pewter bolter-melta, and a Chaos power fist, shoulder pad, and backpack. The body was damaged as if it had suffered an explosion on Gehn’s left side, which is the arm that was replaced. He was painted with the Azure Flames scheme, with a scheme similar to some of Matt’s chaos squads on the replaced arm. Gehn was given as a gift to Matt before Big Game 5.
Background
The name of Gehn is cursed by the Azure Flames more than any other. While the twists of Chaos have poisoned, mutated, or brainwashed battle brothers before, these individuals were exterminated. Unlike others, Gehn chose to betray the Chapter. The path between his recruitment and that fateful choice is twisted and convoluted. This account merely scratches the surface of the events that led Gehn to choose madness over loyalty.
Gehn’s recruitment into the Chapter, like most battle brothers, came when his world was in need. Riven was raided by Dark Eldar pirates for slaves year after year. Losses were deemed minimal by Imperial tacticians, due to the fact that Riven had always made its imperial tithe. Calls for aid went unanswered or were spectacularly late. In c783m41, the Dark Eldar met their match. The Battle Barge His Anvil leading approximately half the Azure Flames fleet met these raiders head on. In a pincer action, the Dark Eldar ships were corralled by escorts as capital ships closed in. Sadly, the captives aboard the ships perished in the attack, but the Dark Eldar raiding force was dealt a severe blow. As is customary, the Azure Flames requested that all boys of age be allowed to prove themselves worthy of joining the Chapter. Gehn was tested and proven well above his peers in the rigorous mental and physical challenges that all aspirants to the Azure Flames are put through, and the promising youth was quickly inducted into the Chapter.
Gehn’s career as a scout was not without glory, but was lackluster compared to some of his contemporaries. He was eventually chosen and passed the final trial to become a Space Marine, and served in the reserves for 60 years before joining the 4th Company. It is at this point that Gehn’s career became more illustrious. He participated in the raid on Arkh, and played a vital role in capturing the hidden ruling council. After several decades of service, he was eventually promoted to sergeant. During his tenure he killed a Carnifex in close combat and was at the forefront of the push to take the Traitor’s Gate on Yttran. Gehn’s ambition made him to continue to strive to become a captain, but though his service was admirable, no position of Captain was ever available.
Then Antonius was recruited into the Scouts. Gehn took notice when Antonius was advanced to Space Marine faster than any other Scout on record. He then became enraged when the youth was promoted to Sergeant of the 5th Squad, 4th Company after the infiltration action on Iperin during the Chasma Spica conflict. During Antonius’ induction ritual, Gehn refrained from joining in the toast. Antonius thought nothing of it, but Captain Ganendra did. He notified Atrus, and Atrus consulted his visions of the future. To his horror, the visions spoke that Gehn would betray the Chapter. Atrus sought to send the 4th Company into battle on Julius, and had Ganendra use the 6th squad as bait for the enemy. Gehn and his squad were hit by the blast of a battle cannon. Gehn was knocked unconscious and captured by Chaos forces led by Matthius, Prophet of the Four.
Gehn was interrogated and tortured by Matthius’ subordinates until Matthius himself gave a cryptic order to bring no more harm to the prisoner. Matthius personally interrogated Gehn for several days. Hints and whispers that only Matthius hear from the Gods of Chaos guided him. Then came the secret – Matthius learned that Antonius was the gene-son of Atrus. Matthius used this information to batter holes in Gehn’s tired, damaged faith. As Matthius slowly revealed the truth, Gehn’s hatred for Antonius eclipsed that which he felt for the Dark Gods and their minions. Here was a boy promoted through deliberate favoritism while Gehn was passed up time and time again. That was not just. Gehn wanted more, and Matthius promised it. Gehn fell to Chaos with one word: “Yes.”
Gehn’s knowledge of Azure Flames security protocol proved devastating. While his codes were invalidated, he knew how certain individuals would act. Matthius’ forces penned in the beleaguered 4th Company with the help of mentally-enslaved Orks. Gehn saw fit to taunt his former allies through transmissions while the forces of Chaos closed in around them. His name was spoken as a curse by the entire Chapter as his betrayal was revealed.
The victory of the imperial forces at Daskros changed little about Gehn’s ambitions. Though he fought for his life against the newly freed Orks, he escaped from the Chasma Spica alongside his new master Matthius. He now fights for power and glory, to exult the Gods who recognize his greatness. Above all, he waits for the chance to exact his revenge on the upstart boy that had everything handed to him. Thus through jealousy did Gehn fall.
Just as Tzeentch told Matthius he would.