From JamieM: (Finally) Some 30k (180 Points)

As the title says, finally some 30k!  The last couple of AHPCs have been brilliant for me to get a whole bunch of 30k stuff done.  I had bought lots of it because I loved the setting - one of my first GW games was the original Epic boxed set (entitled "Space Marine") and that was all about the Horus Heresy and was the first we'd really learned about it in detail.  So there was no way I was going to not do some 30kfor this one.  I don't have quite so much of a pile ready to go, but I eventually settled upon a new legion..... the Thousand Sons.

In the story of the Horus Heresy, they have a somewhat tragic role.  When the Emperor set up the space marines, he bio-engineered each one of them a Primarch, each of them a virtual demi-god.  The legions were built in their image as each was an archetype of one sort or another.  Magnus, the Primarch of the Thousand Sons was a being with psychic powers second only to the Emperor himself.  Magnus and his Legion were more psychically attuned than most and so were scholar warriors.  The problem is that psychic powers are very closely linked to Chaos in the 30k/40k world and so the Emperor ended up forbidding his Marine legions from using psychic powers as he was worried about chaos and the influence of Daemons, but he didn't explain this to them......Magnus secretly defied the wish and discovered all this for himself.  He then tried to warn the Emperor by sending a strong psychic message to get through the psychic storm the Chaos Gods had thrown up around Terra (Earth)..... but all the message achieved was to shatter the Emperor's psychic defences keeping Terra safe and so the Emperor, in a fit of pique, sent another space marine legion (the Space Wolves) to destroy the Thousand Sons..... all because they tried to help.

Anyway, pseudo history lesson over, onto the figures!  First up, the backbone of any legion - 20 tactical space marines with bolters.

One of the things I've always liked about doing fantasy and sci-fi armies is that you can put your personal mark on them (within reason) as there is no historical colour or uniform guide.  I've also always loved converting models to make them my own and the GW range is unparalleled in it's ability to provide parts for conversions.  To represent the Thousand Sons I added some pieces to their helmets from some High Elf archers, bought years ago for another project.

The Thousand Sons have an Ancient Egyptian vibe to them as well as being scholars and I felt this suited them and made them different from the other legions.

The decals all come form the fantastic sheet produced by Forgeworld, one shoulder pad is the legion symbol, the other is a rather fetching Egyptian god inspired head.

Next up are two Predator MBTs.  These were nearly finished for the armour round, but not quite.

I added a crewman standing tall of the top in MkIV armour to ground them in the 30k universe as the models are the newer type, probably only just coming into service near the end of the Heresy (and also about 1/5 of the price of the official 30k ones from Forgeworld!)

In order to make them feel Thousand Sons, I added a bunch of decals and also some golden half globes with blue flame coming out as nothing says warrior mystics like blue flame does.  Sort of like the 30k equivalent of the lava lamp.  I also went for hieroglyphics on the turrets instead of numbers to denote the tanks.  These two are snake and bird head of the scarab squadron.

And finally three dreadnoughts.  These guys are the reason this post is so late as everything was going so well yesterday evening that I thought to myself "heck, I've got time to do these three too", showing the wargame painters usual knack of totally and utterly underestimating the time something will take to paint.....

For those who don't play 30k/40k, dreadnoughts exist to house what's left of warriors too destroyed to be rebuilt with cybernetic parts.  The leftovers are encased in amniotic fluid in the middle of it and hardwired into the systems.  These husks can never leave their dreadnoughts, but they can continue to fight.

I converted each of the fronts, but the heaviest conversion uses a mask from the "Tomb Kings" range, an army of undead based in GW's equivalent of ancient Egypt.  At first I thought it might be too much, but if you're going to fight on in a coffin covered in guns when by rights you should be dead, you might as well do it in a fully pimped out ride

One of my mates is a rabid Space Wolf fan, so I decided on this legion to be ready when he gets around to painting all the 30k stuff he's bought.

_____________________________________________

Here we go!! I was wondering when Jamie would enter the field in the 30K Duel with Greg, Iannick and Alex, and here's his first (staggering) volley.

I like the red a gold colour scheme and I'm really impressed with your addition of extra bits from other 40K and Fantasy plastic sets. As you say, it really makes the figures your own and brings the whole force to life. I think my favourite model is the Drednought with the Tomb Kings mask - that just looks amazing (thought the blue-flame methane tanks are a close second :)).

This force will give you 180 points to add to your tally, Jamie, with a good bit added for your excellent modifications. Terrific work!