(Friday) From JamieM - 30k Bearers of the Word (beakies!) (180 points)

For this post, it's a slight change of tack..... 30k still, but the start of my second legion. Because when I start collecting something new, one army isn't ever enough despite what I promise myself when I start out!

As to the "history" of the legions, The Wordbearers are baddies. Deluded, but still baddies. You see, when the Emperor pushed into the stars on the grand reconquest of worlds lost, he created 20 space marine legions to help make that happen and each legion had a Primarch to lead it, a super human being. Each Primarch was different, growing up on different worlds and being shaped by their experiences and then further shaping their legions in their image.

Lorgar, the Primarch of the Wordbearers, grew up on a religious world and hence his legion became one full of religious zealots, who venerated the Emperor as a deity. Now, the Emperor didn't like this much as he claimed there were no gods (especially not him) and so he heavily chastised the legion. This led them to turn to the Chaos gods and drag down the other traitor legions with them. So this lot essentially started the Horus Heresy......

Anyway, onto the figures! First up, 20 marines in the mark VI "beaky" armour

I've always loved beaky armour, ever since I owned the RTB01 plastic box set of marines produced by GW in the 80's. I never thought I'd be able to get this many of them again (GW doesn't produce a unit of them outside forgeworld, instead choosing to scatter parts of the armour around other boxed sets, in line with their often baffling approach to customer service) but then I was given this:

Have you ever had a box like this given to you from a family member or friend because they know you're the wargamer of the family? Badly stuck together and horribly painted figures that someone used for a while and then got bored of? Well, within this box of "delights" were nearly enough legs to make 20 Mk VI armours. A few purchases from bits sellers of helmets and the use of the iconic left studded shoulder pad from betrayal at Calth and I was away!

A fair bit of religious iconography, with hand painted scrolls and decals applied direct to armour of favoured writings.

Next up, 2 sets of support marines in Mark V armour. The box comes with heavy bolters, but I've never liked that weapon, so a quick barrel swap later and I have a unit of 5 autocannons:

Added to these is a unit of plasma gunners:

The scale doesn't really show the religious writing too well, so here are some selected closer shots:

Mostly on lower legs and vambraces as that's where they fitted best!

Finally for this fun little group of nutters, 2 contemptor class dreadnoughts:

I liked the one in the box so much that I procured another one on eBay!

This allowed me to convert the weapons on one to give him double assault cannons and have him pointing them off centre. The conversion opportunities are much reduced compared to the resin ones I did for the salamanders, but the reduced cost more than makes up for it!

Double assault cannon chap also got a head swap as I could see the legion re-modelling the head to look like a daemon and the other got a torso twist to add a little dynamism.

And a family shot to finish:

A total of 30 28mm figures and two dreadnoughts for this submission.

More 30k goodness! With "beakie" Marines to boot! Fantastic stuff.  As a fan of the "Horus for Hope" movement, I am of course very pleased to see these enlightened soldiers of faith, who had the courage to embrace change and reject the dictatorship of the so-called "Emperor". The story of the models themselves - rejected and found - matches the story of the Legion nicely.  Those "hey, are you into this junk" (which turns out to be treasure) moments are rare, but they are fun. 

Solid brush work again Jamie, and the religious touches are quite nice, fitting the back story of Word Bearers very well.  And once again your dreadnoughts have a menacing look to them that is quite appealing. I also love the conversions of the autocannons...I was not able to get my own autocannon guys assembled properly, and seeing what you did here will definitely have me copying that...

Great work Jamie - another 180 points for you!