Iron Hands Medusan Immortals 3/5

The third marine in the Iron Hands Medusan Immortals is muddied after seeing serious action against the Emperor's Children. Although following the same painting scheme as the others in this series, the mud is turned up a notch and features heavily on the shins and feet of the miniature, with a touch on the shield too, let alone the third legion shoulder pad that can be seen on the ground in front of him. 

Anomalously whiter than the rest of the miniature, and seemingly relatively untouched by the mud, is a bolt gun with the numeral "X" on the side. The narrative here is that this marine recovered the bolt gun from a fallen battle brother when his own bolt gun failed him. It also gives a touch more diversity to the squad overall and I feel it is a nice addition. Overall, I'm happy with this even given how much the alternate colour bolt gun stands out. 

Iron Hands Medusan Immortals 2/5

The second marine in my Iron Hands shattered legion Medusan Immortals is nominally the squad leader and armed with the usual bolt gun and shield. 

The base and lower part of the marine have been spray painted with darker muddier tones to present the suggestion of wear and tear on the fields of the Urgall Depression, including a tire that has probably been blown off some Emperor's Children biker. 

What I'm particularly pleased with on this miniature is how the red and orange eye pieces have worked out. They provide a nice contrast to the dull black of the Iron Hands scheme used here. Some edging in gold offsets this and combined with the weathering around the lower edge of the shield provides the final overall tone for the miniature. For the head, I attempted a few-day-growth effect for the receding hairline by subtly applying a grey colour in a male-pattern balding outline. Very happy overall with this one. 

Iron Hands Medusan Immortals 1/5

Painting progress report today. I have decided to round off my Iron Hands Breacher squad by filling it out with Iron Hands Medusan Immortals. This will take their number up to a total of ten, packed out with two flamers as their selected special weapons. 

This is the first Medusan Immortal that I've painted. It follows the Iron Hands recipe that I worked out for the rest of the Breacher squad earlier on: muted black colours (as opposed to the shinier Raven Guard slick black) combined with Nuln Oil washed metallics and battle damage applied to various locations. The trim of the armour is picked out in the washed silver colour itself as well, whereas the lenses are a combination of reds and oranges to create a reflective (refractive) lens appearance that complements the otherwise darker colours. The base has a rhino door sporting Emperor's Children colours to represent the battles that took place in the Isstvan system as is thematic with the Shattered Legions approach that I'm taking here. 

This particular marine sports a flame gun held on to the shield. In hind sight -- and if I had the time over again -- I would have put the flamer on one of the other models that did not hold the gun in place on the shield. The fit was fiddlesome to say the least and not a task I'd want to do again in a hurry. I will remember this for next time. Otherwise, this is the first of 5 marines that I will be presenting over the coming days (hopefully not weeks!). 

Horus Heresy Review: Marduk Sedras

Background.
One of the oldest warrior in the service of the Dark Angels, Sedras has fought alongside the Emperor himself, primarchs, and many others of renown. He has seen it all. Been there - done that. There's almost no battlefield type he's not served on and mastered. 

Strengths.

Sedras has many strengths. In terms of equipment, he is a terminator with a S+5 sword at AP2 which makes him deadly in close combat. He further reduces the invulnerable saving throw of enemies down by one notch thanks to the sword which could make him the breaker of enemy terminator hammer units. 

To my mind what really sets him aside from others is the Ancient of War rule which gives preferred enemy against a given faction to Sedras and any over half-strength unit within 6 inches of him at the start of the game. This is great and will resonate with many of the plasma weapons that the Dark Angels can bring to the battlefield. 

Finally, he gets to take a cenobite squad instead of a deathwing squad which won't count against the squad limit. This is very nice and comes recommended to take full advantage of his preferred enemy bubble.

Weaknesses.

Sedras is fundamentally a close combat Master of the Legion. The controlling player, as usual, will need to figure out how to get him in to combat quickly. Take a vehicle and start him on the board, as the negatives of not having him on the board (Ancient of War) is too severe to not have him there.

Given that he will start the board castled up with other units, we must also take care that the enemy isn't going to use vindicator splat templates on the army, or call down a barrage from orbit. This is a serious consideration for the Ancient of War rule when setting up.

Overall.

I like Sedras overall. He is worth the points, and can be heavily exploited for the preferred enemy rule that can really turn the tide of a battle in favour of the Dark Angels. He's also a loyalist, and can never be take by traitor forces which is a nice addition and flavourful. I can readily see many players taking him -- possibly even favouring him over the likes of Corswain for his army boosting abilities. 

Wargames Gallery: Salamanders Shattered Legion

This is my complete(?!) Salamanders Shattered Legions force. For each component of the Shattered Legions, I'm incorporating 1 HQ selection, 1 Troops, and 1 something else. In this case, the "something else" is the Salamanders Contemptor Mortis. 

The army list for this component is as follows:

1 x Praetor in Terminator Armour, with Thunder Hammer, and combi-melta. [This could be swapped to Delegatus in lower points games]. 

1 x Tactical Squad with bolt guns and bolt pistols, Sergeant with power fist and melta bombs (nuncio vox to taste).

1 x Contemptor Mortis with twin multi-meltas. 

The Salamanders Praetor will be the lead character for the Shattered Legions and loan the Covenant of Fire rite of war to the entire army for when it is combined with the Raven Guard and Iron Hands components of this force. 

I'm yet to complete the other two legions that will make up this force, but progress is slowly being made. Very happy with how the Salamanders contingent have worked out. Dreadtober 2020 certainly pushed me to finishing off the dreadnought, and hence this entire Salamanders component. 

Horus Heresy Review: Corswain

Background.

Every legion in the Horus Heresy has its own legends. From Abaddon in the Sons of Horus, through to Sigismund of the Imperial Fists. The Dark Angels are no exception in having non-Primarch's whose names ring through the din of the background period. Corswain is one such name of renown. 

Strengths. 

Corswain has an enviable combination of rules that makes him a champion in close combat. From Master of the Death Wing, legion rules, precision strikes, and his master-crafted sword and the instant death ability, Corswain should rightly be feared in melee. Indeed, outside of the Primarchs themselves, there are few who can stand up to him (but there are several). Further, the Paladin of Glory warlord rule grants him further bonuses to win combats which shouldn't be overlooked. 

Weaknesses.

Traitors cannot take him, but worse than this: he lacks eternal warrior. This is a major detriment which will need the controlling player to carefully consider the charges that they will need to pull off for this character.

Further, there is the perennial question of how to get Corswain in to melee in the first place where he can excel. Hopefully though the Dark Angles have multiple answers for this! To be clear, Corswain is only a combat monster. He is not a force multiplier, nor a ranged expert. Play appropriately and build a force that focuses on close combat, or helps with the lack of non-close combat aspects to get the best out of him. 

Overall.

Corswain is a close combat monster in power armour (and excellent power armour it is as well with a 3+ invulnerable save in close combat that partially makes up for the lack of eternal warrior -- if you feel lucky and the die gods are on side). He should be played aggressively and at the tip of any spear that the Dark Angels player forges and he shouldn't disappoint. Just watch out for enemy characters and certain legions who are capable of nullifying his special abilities and causing instant death on him before his swings at initiative. These will be deadly to him even with a stunning invulnerable save in close combat if they land sufficient wounds.