World Eaters of the 591st Expedition, the first 2000 Pts!

This is a shot of my army as it stands, closer to 2500pts at the moment, but I'm hoping with the release of the new Blood Angels codex nearer to the 2000 mark! (Please click the photos for the full view)

There are also a few odds and ends thrown in, of individuals not yet formed into squads.

Here are another assault squad I've been working on, they're built to look like some of the squads from Collected Visions. They are marked as being recent recruits to the legion with their mark 4 armour, with the Power Sword wielded by the Sergeant being another indication.

Once again I intend to wait for the new Blood Angel codex before finishing off the squad and no doubt include a couple of special weapons and a Rhino.

Honour Guard WIP

This marine is going to serve as part of an Honour Guard for a forthcoming Captain model, specifically Commander of the Fleet Borya (part of the background I have been writing for my World Eaters as I build up the army.) As such I wanted him to be in a ceremonial form of armour, rather than something which will necessarily be used in front-line combat.. The marine would most likely be a veteran to be given the honour of acting as an Honour Guard, and would take this role in meetings with other Legions, components of the Great Crusade, or maybe even when meeting lost offshoots of humanity as part of 'diplomatic meetings'! The purity-seal esque scrolls stuck to his chest are a reference to one of the Horus Heresy book series, which mentioned scrolled 'oaths of the moment' fluttering from the chest plate of a World Eater captain.

The model itself is a mix of different conversion ideas. The biggest contribution was the blog My Wargame, which has excellent tutorials for all the various earlier marks of armour, and one I can't recommend highly enough for anyone wanting to make their Pre-Heresy armour as accurate as possible!

I did toy with the idea of using a complete Mk1 armour, but this as this is not completely enclosed and so opted instead for one which mixes mk1 and mk2. The polearm/chainaxe is a mix of Bretonnian Halberd and Forgeworld Chainaxe, the bolter and backpack were made using just standard components using the tutorials from My Wargame. The shoulder pads are an excellent new release from Chapterhouse Studios, and the helmet is part of the 'Steam Knights' range from Maxmini. The chest piece is a filed down mk4 torso from the Forgeworld Red Scorpion upgrade pack. Finally, I added chainmail with greenstuff to tie the model in with the rest of my forces and to give it more of a 'World Eater' feel!

Eventually I hope to have a squad of 5 marines, armed and armoured in a similar manner, and most likely using this model to represent Commander of the Fleet Borya (with a few bells and whistles added, and the sword changed to a chainaxe of course!).

Product Review: Raven's Flight

Last week I was fortunate enough to get hold of the latest Horus Heresy series audio-book offering, Raven's Flight. I have to be honest and say an audio-book isn't the kind of thing I'd normally go for, but I had a GW gift voucher left over from Christmas and thought 'what the hell'. Now I'm glad I did!

First things first, this audio book is an essential purchase for anyone who is a fan of the series. The story itself focuses on the plight of the Raven Guard after the Dropsite Massacre at Istvaan, but more importantly for the purposes of this blog also gives some details about the World Eaters Legion (more on that in a moment). As far as the 'audio book' format itself is concerned, I'm pleased to say that my fears of cheesy background music and dodgy accents were entirely misplaced: the story is narrated with poignancy and gravitas by Toby Longworth (a veteran BBC radio narrator), who paces the story perfectly and allows the listener to lose themselves in the story. Gav Thorpe's script was obviously written with the audio format in mind as it stays away from overly descriptive hyperbole which might otherwise have bogged the story down. Its also interesting to hear the voices of the Astartes as something other than their usual well-educated form, with the Raven Guard marines having more in common with Ray Winstone or Bob Hoskins than the noble and clearly-enunciated marines of Dawn of War. I thought this was a great little touch, a call back to the original conception of Marines as highly trained murderers, and for whom any kind of education would be restricted to ways to inflict violence. Perhaps not all of them were fortunate enough to have been raised on Ultramar?

Regarding the contents of the story itself, I have no wish to spoil the story for any potential listeners, suffice to say that it adds a great deal to our knowledge of the Heresy. For one, it illuminates us on the thinking of a Primarch, something which has been done only sparingly in the series so far. There is also a great deal of information on the Iron Warriors (the main adversaries of the Raven Guard within the story) and also a few comments about the World Eaters. Interestingly, there were rumours at one point that the latter were set to be the main 'bad guys' of the story (indeed, they are the sole mention of a traitor legion within the provided blurb), so its hard not to be a little disappointed that they don't feature more. But, on reflection I think certain points of the story work much better with the Iron Warriors as the protagonists. There is also an extremely relevant comment about why the World Eaters decided to throw their loyalty to the Emperor into the dustbin..

The story is not without its faults, but in my opinion there is nothing which acts to obstruct the enjoyment of a very fine story and worthy component of the Horus Heresy series. If you haven't done so already, go out and buy it!

Collecting Heads in 6mm

Just a small update! I was lucky enough to get my hands on a bulk load of Epic scale plastic vehicles at a very reasonable price from Ebay; Over 30 tanks (a combination of Rhinos and Land Raiders) for less than the price of a blister pack from Games Workshop! For anyone thinking of branching out into Epic, I can't recommend Ebay highly enough, as there seems to be lots of the stock from the old boxsets still out there.

So, here are the first few I have painted up, as well as some Land Speeders which are still pretty much a WIP. The Legion icon on the Rhinos and Landraiders is just a very small transfer!

Missing in Action

First of all I feel that an apology is in order, simply because of the amount of time involved since my last post! Here is the situation: I am planning on moving abroad within the next couple of weeks, and will be gone for most likely a year or more. Sadly, the place I am travelling to work (South Korea) has not been overly blessed by the presence of Games Workshop, and so it looks like my ability to add to this forum is going to be severely restricted. This will especially be the case during the first few months while I settle in.

However, over the past few months I have been not been entirely idle, and I will make an effort to post some of the work I have completed on the blog over the next few weeks. In the meantime, during my time away I shall endeavour to keep updating the blog with anything I feel might be of use to World Eater collectors; So, product reviews and comments on new Black Library material will become the focus of the blog.

In the meantime of course I will try my best to answer any World Eater related queries or ideas which people might have, and will look forward to the opportunity to swell the ranks of the 12th Legion once more!

I would like to take this change to thank everyone who has taken time to contribute to the blog, and of course some of the guys from The Great Crusade forum and the B&C who have helped to increase my enjoyment of the hobby ten-fold over the last few years.