[40k][JoL10]Chapter X: Iron Masks (the Lost & Found), Dread Co. Update post#23: 13/06/2010 Options

[Bishop]

Copied from previous Diary and several threads: http://www.wargamerau.com/forum/index.php?...p;#entry1255512

Army
HQ - MoF
TRP - 5x Scouts - 4x Snipers, 1x HB w Camo Cloaks
TRP - 5x Scouts - 2x Shotguns, 2x Combat Blades, Sgt w Melta Bomb
ELT - Dread w MM/DCCW+SB
ELT - Dread w AC/DCCW+SB
HS - Dread w PC/ML
HS - Dread w AutoCan/AutoCan (Rifleman)


Concept - credit to Grey for reading and comprehending the drivel in my mind
Deathwatch-esq Dreads
More here - http://www.wargamerau.com/forum/index.php?...92032&st=20

FLUFF - contains heaps of plagiarism
CHAPTER X: IRON MASKS (the Lost and Found)
OVERVIEW
Occasionally discovered by loyalist forces on liberated worlds throughout the galaxy and sequestered away by the Inquisition are the scarce and fractured remnants of long forgotten, lost or even unknown Space Marine Chapters which, under the combined watchful eye of the Inquisition and the Adeptus Mechanicus, become Chapter X: Iron Masks (the Lost and Found).

BACKGROUND
Chapter X has existed since the Inquisitorial Orders were initially set up; at the time the Emperor was interred into the Golden Throne, as a sentinel Chapter that can be called upon for support by any of the Ordos or Adeptus in their greatest time of need. Although renowned as devastating siege specialists and expert engineers with cross-training from the Priesthood of Mars, their tactics vary depending on the situation. Where the threat is subtle they use guile and stealth, wielding power as if a scalpel used to cut out a cancer and when the menace is too great for even the Chamber Militants of the Ordos or the might of a Space Marine Chapter then they will call on the elite Battle-Brothers of Chapter X.
The Brothers of Chapter X are bound together by ancient oaths and pledges and by their loyalty to the Emperor.
In a ceremonial sanctification an Iron Mask is secured to the head piece of each member inducted in to Chapter X hence the Iron Mask moniker.
It is the sacred task of Chapter X to stand sentry. They form the first, the last and often only, line of defence against that which would expunge mankind from the Galaxy.

ORGANISATION
Chapter X are uniquely organised as they are cobbled together from many different Chapters and due to finite resources are little more than a Battle Company in size.
Their inspirational leader is an Adeptus Mechanicus Principal Master of the Forge TechMarine.
They have a larger than normal Armoury as armour is commonly all that remains from a cataclysmic event severe enough to eradicate an entire Space Marine Chapter and considering this they form a very unusual Company in both composition and structure, rarely following Adeptus Astartes guidelines.
The few Astartes members of Chapter X were either discovered in arcane cryo-stasis preservation chambers or were miraculously kept from certain death by their power armours machine spirit and often these survivors bear cybernetic replacement limbs. There are no scouts present within the chapter as there is no recruitment doctrine for Chapter X and there are no reported incidents of unearthed neophyte survivors. Aside from the ‘no recruitment’ mandate there would also be the issues surrounding the harnessing of the myriad of gene-seed variations within the Chapters existing members to successfully instigate a singular creation process. Instead, the scout battlefield role is conducted by servitors under the auspice of the Principal Master.

HOMEWORLD
Chapter X has no homeworld. They are orphans of the Imperium. When not in transition onboard an Inquisition Black Ship they are based on Mars or ‘sleeping’ on one of the many Adeptus Mechanicus Forgeworlds.

COMBAT DOCTRINE
Chapter X is specially trained to work in unique combat formations highlighting the strength of each Company unit. The mission will always be led by the Principal Master and their missions range from those taken alone and without support, attempting to accomplish their goals with minimal combat engagement: to open battle, brutal siege warfare and occasionally re-enforcing allied forces. If required Chapter X is trained to utilise unconventional means of insertion, such as teleportation, high altitude grav-chute drops, Demiurg Termite tanks etc.

APPEARANCE
The Chapter symbol is a black roman numeral X over a white background.
During an initiation ritual an Iron Mask is fitted to the head piece of each Chapter X member and when a Brother is returned to active duty his armour is ritually repainted black. To avoid any insult to the armour's machine spirit the shoulder plate bearing the original Chapter symbol is left untouched and is moved to the right shoulder. The now vacant shoulder is painted white with the chapter symbol applied and the whole of the left arm and shoulder guard are painted silver. Squad markings are placed on the lower left leg.


More to follow...

/edit - Fluff added 09/04/2010
/edit - Dryfit pics added to post#19 15/04/2010
/edit - Pg2 post #21 19/04/2010 - poll on stealth scouts
/edit - pg2 post #23 13/06/2010 - progress!

This post has been edited by Bishop: Jun 13 2010, 12:15 PM

[cmdr_roy]

Yay rainbow dreads !

[Bishop]

Gathering the bits and doing the prep work.

I have a few dreads that I had acquired in the hope of one day attending Boot Camp http://www.wargamerau.com/forum/index.php?showforum=176 when they would make an appearance as a Dread-wing with a Terminator Titan Hammer Squad or 2.

For JoL I'll work on the following and make something special out of each.
*Click on thumbs for larger pics*

For the observant, yes there are 5 dreads above and I only need 4 for this project so I'll end out ditching one of the Space Wolf ones but I haven't decided which one yet.


There are some really cool combinations above to individualise each Dread and some more bits on the way.
- FW Plasma Cannon right arm plus DCCW left arm with stubby fingers
- Furioso DCCW right arm with repaired B'jorn the fellhanded claw plus FW DA Mortis Pattern TLLC left arm
- Scratchbuilt 'rifleman' right and left TLAutoCan's from plastic shoulders with the Bastion quad gun emplacement
- Plastic MM right arm (bit on it's way) plus DCCW left arm (either the Ironclad claw/hammer or the Ven Dread Fist - still looking for any of these options)


Master of the Forge - Techmarine from the box set.


1 Litre of Citristrip Gel for the serious metal mini stripper.

More to come as they arrive through the post and I get to work on stripping, building etc.

Paint scheme is nearly settled.
It's either going to be pure Deathwatch-like eg. black armour with right shoulder the original chapter colours and something on the left side (undecided on wether to stick with an all silver arm like the Deathwatch or something else). Could also be a dark-grey body instead of Black but thats' purely semantics.
Or, Iron Warriors mettalics with orange hazard stripes.
It will depend on the twist the final fluff/theme will take.

Speaking of which the fluff/theme is also nearly finished...lots of Deathwatch plagiarism going on no matter which scheme I end up with.

This post has been edited by Bishop: Apr 3 2010, 02:01 PM

[cmdr_roy]

Where did you get the plastic auto-cannons ?

[Griddon]

Looks like the quad autocannon set up from the Bastion or Aegis line box.

[Chaplain_Fortis]

They're from the Bastion. It's the conversion that everyone on the net has done for riflemen and hydras since the kit came out. Bish mentioned it in the thread.

As for dread's I'd go with at least one rifleman, one ironclad and probably a plascan guy too. The multi-melta ones are balls unless you have vulkan around.

(Also, have a read of BA before you start... They really do the dread bash a lot better )

Like the idea of Deathwatch paint scheme.

[Bishop]

Roy's digging for some lulz...best I put him out of his misery.
The most awesome Quad Autocannons I'm using for the rifleman came from none other than our very own "cmdr_roy" who kindly donated them to shut me the funk up!

Scotty I'm not putting in a Ironclad seeing as 4x dreads in 750 is a bit pants anyway. I'd like to, but it can wait for the 1200pt version. I'll just have to pick my battles.
At this stage I'm planning on going with Chris' version of 1x TLLC/DCCW, 1x Rifleman, 1x PC/DCCW and 1x MM/DCCW.
I have seriously considered the BA dex for this list but it changes a lot and becomes quite a serious list and a serious search for the best points spend. This one's for fun mate.
Do expect to see some BA dread heavy lists at various events though as they will be quite competitive imho.

OT - everything is stripped now so just preparing the various bits to make complete Dreads before progressing to undercoating.
Some work needs to be done on B'jorns Claw and the riflemans arms plus I'm waiting on some bits to arrive too.
BTW Scott, I have settled on a Deathwatch-like scheme. I'll be pushing myself with weathering (as I hate highlighting black) and am also considering NMM seeing as it's a low model count army.

Not sure what to base them on yet. I'm considering Checkerplate/Industrial from Back2Base-ix with red/black hazard to go with the Adeptus-Mech connection or something else by someone else but I may not make a decision until I've finished painting the Dreads.




This post has been edited by Bishop: Apr 5 2010, 03:07 PM

[Griddon]

I'm not a big fan of the checkerplate to be honest. Of the posted bases I like this one the best;

[Bishop]

Chapter X: Iron Masks (the Lost & Found)

Army name confirmed and fluff slowly taking shape. Inbound soon.
Teaser:
"Occasionally discovered by loyalist forces on embattled worlds throughout the galaxy and sequested away by the Inquisition are the scarce and fractured remnants of long forgotten, lost or even unknown Space Marine Chapters which, under the combined watchful eye of the Inquistion and the Adeptus Mechanicus, become Chapter X: Iron Masks (the Lost and Found)."

[Bishop]

FLUFF - contains heaps of plagiarism and added to first post as well
CHAPTER X: IRON MASKS (the Lost and Found)
OVERVIEW
Occasionally discovered by loyalist forces on liberated worlds throughout the galaxy and sequestered away by the Inquisition are the scarce and fractured remnants of long forgotten, lost or even unknown Space Marine Chapters which, under the combined watchful eye of the Inquisition and the Adeptus Mechanicus, become Chapter X: Iron Masks (the Lost and Found).

BACKGROUND
Chapter X has existed since the Inquisitorial Orders were initially set up; at the time the Emperor was interred into the Golden Throne, as a sentinel Chapter that can be called upon for support by any of the Ordos or Adeptus in their greatest time of need. Although renowned as devastating siege specialists and expert engineers with cross-training from the Priesthood of Mars, their tactics vary depending on the situation. Where the threat is subtle they use guile and stealth, wielding power as if a scalpel used to cut out a cancer and when the menace is too great for even the Chamber Militants of the Ordos or the might of a Space Marine Chapter then they will call on the elite Battle-Brothers of Chapter X.
The Brothers of Chapter X are bound together by ancient oaths and pledges and by their loyalty to the Emperor.
In a ceremonial sanctification an Iron Mask is secured to the head piece of each member inducted in to Chapter X hence the Iron Mask moniker.
It is the sacred task of Chapter X to stand sentry. They form the first, the last and often only, line of defence against that which would expunge mankind from the Galaxy.

ORGANISATION
Chapter X are uniquely organised as they are cobbled together from many different Chapters and due to finite resources are little more than a Battle Company in size.
Their inspirational leader is an Adeptus Mechanicus Principal Master of the Forge TechMarine.
They have a larger than normal Armoury as armour is commonly all that remains from a cataclysmic event severe enough to eradicate an entire Space Marine Chapter and considering this they form a very unusual Company in both composition and structure, rarely following Adeptus Astartes guidelines.
The few Astartes members of Chapter X were either discovered in arcane cryo-stasis preservation chambers or were miraculously kept from certain death by their power armours machine spirit and often these survivors bear cybernetic replacement limbs. There are no scouts present within the chapter as there is no recruitment doctrine for Chapter X and there are no reported incidents of unearthed neophyte survivors. Aside from the ‘no recruitment’ mandate there would also be the issues surrounding the harnessing of the myriad of gene-seed variations within the Chapters existing members to successfully instigate a singular creation process. Instead, the scout battlefield role is conducted by servitors under the auspice of the Principal Master.

HOMEWORLD
Chapter X has no homeworld. They are orphans of the Imperium. When not in transition onboard an Inquisition Black Ship they are based on Mars or ‘sleeping’ on one of the many Adeptus Mechanicus Forgeworlds.

COMBAT DOCTRINE
Chapter X is specially trained to work in unique combat formations highlighting the strength of each Company unit. The mission will always be led by the Principal Master and their missions range from those taken alone and without support, attempting to accomplish their goals with minimal combat engagement: to open battle, brutal siege warfare and occasionally re-enforcing allied forces. If required Chapter X is trained to utilise unconventional means of insertion, such as teleportation, high altitude grav-chute drops, Demiurg Termite tanks etc.

APPEARANCE
The Chapter symbol is a black roman numeral X over a white background.
During an initiation ritual an Iron Mask is fitted to the head piece of each Chapter X member and when a Brother is returned to active duty his armour is ritually repainted black. To avoid any insult to the armour's machine spirit the shoulder plate bearing the original Chapter symbol is left untouched and is moved to the right shoulder. The now vacant shoulder is painted white with the chapter symbol applied and the whole of the left arm and shoulder guard are painted silver. Squad markings are placed on the lower left leg.

more to follow
/edit - plagiarism disclaimer added 09/04/2010

This post has been edited by Bishop: Apr 9 2010, 09:57 AM

[Waggerz]

Interesting background.

I wonder how many fallen angles and alpha legion have infiltrated the ranks with their 'recruit survivors' strategy.

"Oh you're wearing blue, you must be Ultramarines, come join our army!"

Not a dig at your background, just food for thought and maybe an interesting conversion or two. It certainly would be cool to have a few fallen angles looking for redemption in the list.

[Nzarra]

I have used Dragon Forge bases before and they are very good.

Love the idea of Deathwatch dreds - I will be bit hunting shortly for building a squad of deathwatch (sternguard) as the modelling potential now with all the extra chapter sprue ranges is great.

[Bishop]

Thanks for the comment Waggerz.
What I like about how this particular BG has evolved is that it leaves so much scope for all sorts of hooks/angles. I have more than 25yrs of RPG DM'ing experience so it's quite natural for me to have several stories entwined in the one theme.

I consciously involved the Inquistion as a potential lead towards tainted or 'recently cleansed' marines etc. I left this as a huge hole in the story so I can take it anywhere I like, at anytime. I like the option of being able to include a distant fragment of almost any chapter in to this company.

I hadn't specifically thought of THE Fallen Angels but I'm delighted to see you find another hook.

[Bishop]

Alun, if I thought I could 'easily' build bases half as good as the Dragon Forge - Urban Rubble or the Micro Art - Old Factory bases then I would.

Thanks for the support mate.

[The Dude]

This is going to be a sweet as army. Lots of dreadnoughts will be awesome. Are you going to pick up one of the new venerable dreads?

[Bishop]

Thanks man.
Eventually in a bigger build there will be a 'genuine real deal' Ven Dread and I'd happily use one of the new ones for that. They are great kits.
In the interim I've managed to get hold of a Ven dread left arm off spru and I plan do one of the above DCCW weilding dreads using the Dread Fist instead of a claw as a simply swap/conversion...just for something different.

[cmdr_roy]

Less fluff more paint !

[Bishop]

How about more modelling!
Bits for Dreads have been gathered and I'm ready to rock on these bad boys. Just waiting for the weather to ease so I can undercoat.
Servitor 'scouts' have also arrived and half are in the stripper.
Still some bits to source and I've a cool paint concept I want to trial for some of the scouts before I move on them. Test models will be posted for voting.

Less fluff more paint !

[Bishop]

Dryfit pics (click on thumbs for larger pics. L to R: PC-ML / AutoCan-AutoCan Rifleman / MM-DCCW / AC-DCCW)



Group Shot


Still some cleaning, magneting, drilling, cutting, modding to do etc before they see paint.
Also all need Smoke Launchers and Spotlights fitted.

And here is a dryfit of an 'Iron Mask'

I purchased a 2nd hand dread several years ago (from either Jonas or Pat iirc) that had a defiler head fitted to cover a space wolf sarcophagus and a shield over the wolf symbol on the shoulder front. Suffice to say that at the time I was impressed enough to remember it and now it gets re-visited so credit goes to 'that' modeller for the concept. All of the Dreads will have this helmet fitted to carry the theme as it's covered in the fluff.

[Gonzoangel]

Nice work on the dreads Mark, I especially like the iron mask one, looks great.