The Works of the Inquisitor–The Knights Templar

So back in 2004 I had a dream one night about starting my own Space Marine Chapter. I wanted to base them on King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table of the Knights Templar order from the crusades. I’d been out of the hobby since 1996/7 at this point and had no idea what so ever that 3rd Ed. 40K had been and gone bringing the Black Templars with it; so of course I went with the Knights Templar.

I lived in Nottingham at the time but it was an age before I discovered that Warhammer World was nearby, so a trip to the in town store and I enthusiastically began with my ‘Battle for Macragge’ a starter set of paints and the Space Marine codex. This was the time of  Traits for Marines and the Knights Templar quickly became an Imperial Fist successor chapter devoted to protecting Imperial citizens on pilgrimages to Terra.

You see the black helmets for the assault marines and the yellow for the devastators. This is because the background included a story of Imperial Fists defending pilgrims against overwhelming Chaos forces and being rescued by Black Templers. Leading to the forming of the chapter formed from the survivors of the encounter.

I used a lot of parts from a Bretonian knights kit to try and capture the classic Knights Templar feel.		Librarian	Company Champion
I also used a half green half black colour for my Chaplin after reading somewhere that the colour was used that way in the real life order.		Terminator Sargent	Chaplin (‘Jean-Luc’)

The paint scheme was (very) simple, I undercoated in white and then base coated half-heartedly with more white. A liberal wash with a heavily watered down Codex Grey and a dry brush of white over and I was done. The result was average at best, but with some bold colours besides it and a high tempo meaning I actually got things completed I still feel that as an army they look alright.

My favourite two units are my Veterans, a metal Black Templers unit that had all of their Bolt Pistols replaced with Bolt Guns to represent the ‘True Grit’ trait I used.

And my Venerable Dreadnought, the Chaplin that led the Black Templers when they rescued the Imperial Fists and whose religious zeal has led the chapter in to actual worship of the Emperor as a god. A Penitent Engine with a sarcophagus built from parts of a Land Raider Crusader and the tanks guns modified to finish the piece. The traitor guard’s greenstuff’d spinal cord is a treat.

The Knights Templar battled a great deal against CSM and Ultramarines during 4th Edition in Warhammer World, and a variety of different one off opponents in Nottingham’s GW store. My battles against other loyalist Marines were based on the premise that a corrupt radical Ordo Malleus Inquisitor had tricked the Knights Templar chapter master and led one of the chapters Brotherhoods unknowingly to Chaos. Somewhere in a box is a Daemon Prince waiting to be ‘Knighted’.

In total they come to a bit over 2,000 points and apart from needing to finish the bases (I painted them Goblin Green and called it done to start with, after my 90’s roots), I think I’m pretty much done with the army. Certainly should I want to do more Marines now they would be another chapter, but never say never I guess.

My battles against friends in Warhammer World were known for some pretty appalling bad luck with dice rolls on my part, and that leads to the final images of this retrospective.

This figure was given to me when I moved away from Nottingham to Norway in 2007. ”Lady Luck Kiss My Ass!” by Simon Rippin

 

 

Well I’d love to hear some comments on this post, was it at all interesting? was the layout format OK? Is there something I could have done to improve it?

What We've Made Recently

So clearly very little has happened here in the past couple of months. After all the build up and preparation to the Deathwatch campaign it was nice with a little rest. And since then it's been full speed ahead on a nursery for my (then) upcoming first child.

 Then 12 day's early Sebastian turned up, tiny, lovely and time consuming.

So in all honesty I have done next to no hobbying since my last post two and a half months ago. D&D has been carrying on, even including a play test round of D&D Next, So far so good with that, I look forward to more. Before people start expecting more geeky discussion I am of course not allowed to tell about D&D Next, but I'm sure all that want to be in the know are involved in the play testing. I will say I like where it seems to be going. So far!

During D&D this past Tuesday I found time to start building my second Artscale Grey Knight. Excitement for the upcoming 6th Edition release has got me keen for more time to the hobby but with the little man in the house now I don't know how it's going to go. But I will keep a record of it all here for people to see.

At this point he is half built, a lot of sculpting is done but much is just blu-taced together.

On that front I want to say a big THANK YOU to all of you who have been visiting this blog, 2,500 (circa) hits since the previous post. I see from the stats that most of you have been in to see the Samurai Grey Knights so I'll use that as some extra motivation to make things happen with them. I have a few other plans for articles and posts coming up. The fictionalisation of the Deathwatch adventure 'The Greatest Good' is almost finished and will go up in a slowly rolling release. I also thought to show pictures of my collections of figures from various ranges and armies I have. 

If any of you people visiting this blog read this please comment below and explain what brought you here and what you would like to see more of. Thanks

Mission Report: The Greatest Good Good

Mission Complete.
Yesterday we all gathered at Warhammer World at 09:45am to finally play Deathwatch. Here are a few photos of the day just to help capture it's awesomeness.

The Killteam equiped themselves at Watch Fortress Erioch and travelled to their destination by Strike Cruiser. After a Drop Pod landing they approached the Tau research base and swiflty completed their primary mission.

First Stealth Suit Tau ambushed Apache

And then Fire Warriors layed down a heavy barrage
whilst the Marines were distracted

The Commander arrived at the end of the encounter,
but guile and psychic powers quickly downed him.

Warhammer World allowed us to borrow some of Forge Worlds Zone Mortalis for the Killteams journey through a Necron Tomb on the hunt for 'The Stealth' a chaos warband that were also on the planet.

Killteam Apache rescued Ultramarine Felignum from the Tau.

The missions final battle culminated against a Necron Lord - Deadly!

I had an absolutely excellent day and found all of the preparation (not as much as there should have been) to be worth it. Thank you very much to the Bugman's Bar staff for great service and food all day and the Warhammer World staff who sold me a ton of new Empire products and letting us use scenery to enhance our game. Most of all however thank you to the five fantastic players who joined me yesterday to form Killteam Apache. Start preparing for next year!

One Week Till Mission Commencement!

That's is it, only one week to go now until we descend upon Warhammer World and Killteam Apache descends upon the planet of Usra. As the killteam is currently located at Watch Fortress Erioch itself finalisation of equipment will be able to wait until the last moment.

Simon has completed all figures for the Mission and they look great, however I'm only going to tease you with this image...

Full points for identifying all members.

Just to confirm we are meeting at Warhammer World on Saturday, April 7th M03 at 09:45. Warhammer World opens at 10:00 and Games Workshop is relaunching its entire paint range on the same day. I think we can expect it to be quite busy, at least in the hall and shop so we need to be ready to occupy our table!

Words of Apache's new Battle Brother

Brother Arius' of the Blood Ravens will soon be joining Killteam Apache. In preparation here is a report on a previous action he undertook. Use this to learn about his qualities and his temperament.

+++Note+++

This opens another 500 Exp. for all members of Killteam Apache!

Spend it wisely in the Emperors name

Arius' first mission with the death watch was a clean-up mission on the planet of Catay 7. The forces of the imperium had recently fought off a minor Tyranid splinter fleet. The Death Watch were contacted to ensure that the planet was free of the xenos taint and to assess any further threat. Arius had just been recruited into kill team Rarner. Initially it seemed that all was left on the planet was the corpses of xenos scum.

Day 3 of patrols Kill team Rarner were instructed to search through a large forest located in an isolated area on the planet which may conceal any xenos threat. Initial investigation of the forest suggested that no such threat was present. As the Kill team entered the centre of the forest a chill came over the kill team, a huge clearing had been created, trees uprooted and the soil had been turned as if some creature had been burrowing in this area. "This looks like a Maloc burrow!" Suddenly the ground erupted and a huge Tyranid beast emerged, a Mawlock. It rose up and emitted a scream which even to the space marines felt like shards of glass in their ear drums. The creature turned its filthy head to the kill team squad. "Disband" Screamed Arius, run into the forest. Arius heard the sounds of bones being crushed as the mangled body of Septan, devastator marine, flew ahead of him hitting a tree. Arius ran knowing that he stood no chance of fighting the creature on his own. He ran further the death cries of his filling his ears somehow he would revenge them. Through the trees Arius could make out what looked like a storage warehouse. Arius felt the ground beneath him rumble a sign that the Maloc was burrowing beneath him. Arius activated his jump pack launching himself in to the air and landed on the roof of the warehouse below he saw the beast circling having no means of reaching Arius.

Arius knew that any way of defeating the creature was inside the warehouse, he unsheathed his chain sword: Wing of the Raven. He activated the blade and cut through the roof it was a difficult but his keen chain sword made short work of the ferrocrete. Arius dropped down into the warehouse, it was deserted. The facility was clearly a temporary facility dropped on to the planet from altitude to provide vehicles for fighting troops. This particular facility held a number of rhinos and razorbacks, nothing Arius could make use of alone. There was also a large amount of promethium tanks. Arius looked round the room suddenly something in the corner caught his eye. Walking over he found a sheet adorned with the sigil of the white scars chapter. Arius pulled the sheet away to uncover a space marine bike, obviously heavily modified but still a fine specimen of imperial engineering. A plan formulated in Arius' mind, "Idea" he whispered.

A Tyranid organism is a complicated thing without the presence of a hive mind lesser Tyranid creatures are lost and enter a predatory state, a creature the size of a Maloc however is not so afflicted yet their senses will be dulled slightly. The creature circled the area it had last caught a scent, a scent which was there but hidden. Suddenly the facilities doors opened, Arius, sat upon the bike, whispered a brief prayer then pumped the throttle, the bike surged forward.

As soon as wheel met soil the ground rumbled. The Maloc, having regained the scent, gave chase. The modifications made to the bike had clearly made it faster than the standard template construct.

The forest seemed endless. Arius rode through the trees, behind him he heard the same trees uproot and crash to the ground as the Mawlock moved underground, leaving a mount on the earth above. Arius looked behind to see the distance between he and the xenos creature, turning back he saw a large hole in the path ahead of him. Arius had a split second; he increased the bikes and jumped over the gap. He landed hard. "CRAP" shouted Arius the extra promethium tanks that Arius had mag fitted to the side of the bike juddered threateningly, by the grace of the emperor they did not ignite. The Maloc navigated round the hole with an alarming dexterity. Arius realised that he needed to create a larger distance between him and the beast. Arius noticed a button on the handle bar etched with a lightening symbol. The bike surged forward by some unknown chemical reaction. Looking behind Arius saw he had the space he required.

 He unsheathed his chain sword and stabbed it into the ground. Holding tightly to the handle he spun the bike round 180 degrees so he was face to face with the snarling jaws of the Maloc. The seconds felt like minutes as the repugnant eyes of the Maloc met Arius' steely gave. Then they charged.

Arius had been waiting for this opportunity; he removed a frag grenade from his belt and jammed it in between the bike chassis and the fuel pipe. He maintained his path till he was within a meter of the beast’s mouth. He could practically smell its foul odour.

Bike met beast. The bike entered the beast’s mouth, the frag grenade exploded as did the temporary promethium tanks. The beast was torn apart in the explosion.

Arius had left his motorised steed, activating his jump pack seconds before the collision, and he rose above the forest canopy. Upon landing he searched the forest none of his brothers had survived the beasts attack.

Defeat of such a beast earned Arius a great honours within the death-watch, such a triumph earned Arius a place with the equally prestigious kill team apache still mourning the death of assault marine Kain.

And so the story continues.........

Tau Forces Sighted

So apologies for the long period since the last post. Some solid progress has been made setting out the upcoming Deathwatch adventure, The Greatest Good. I hope to put Kill Team Apache up against a greater challenge this time around, be prepared for a fight! Welcome to Brother Marcus, comment was appreciated.

Alongside the rest of the Fire Warrior squad and their commander these brave fellows have now submitted for undercoating.

Simon's work on Brother Arius has also progressed, he found a better (more modern) set of legs so has got the pose the player wants now.

Brother Arius soon to be of the Blood Ravens

Finally we've spent some time getting characters updated.
Currently Completed:

• Brother Tiberius
• Brother Alatar
• Brother Marcus

Brother Makradon has received another 500exp. to spend and Brother Arius is nearing completion.

I've made contact with Brother Anders and hope he can contact Simon for updating soon.

So as said, sorry about the long delay but worry not. Things have been happening.

The Greatest Good

+++ Attached Briefing +++
+++ Kill-Team Apache +++
+++ Mission: KillerTeam +++
+++ Security Level: Gamma-Omega-Delta-Epsilon-Psi +++
+++ Thought of the day: Duty Prevails. +++

Killteam Apache's new Mission Brief is now available on the Ordo Xenos information portal.

Gird yourselves!

+++ Update: +++
+++ Target Image Acquired +++

Shas Gal in action against the Achilles Crusade on  Meniachus