From GregB: The Alpha Legion Arrives (45 points)

The Alpha Legion arrives on my painting table

My second submission today features a new Legion for my 30k collection - the 20th Legion, known as the Alpha Legion.  The Alphas have one of the more entertaining back stories among the numerous legions featured in GW's "Horus Heresy" setting.  The other Legions have elaborate histories - some noble, some bloody, nearly all grim, and all with long service in the endless wars which abetted the rise of the Emperor and the establishment of the Imperium.

Veteran Sergeant on the left, Chaplain on the right

Back view of the officers

The history of the Alphas, on the other hand, is not well known, on purpose.  They started off as a black ops, special forces-type organization, used by the Emperor and his senior officials for specialized activities of the sort that archivists were not meant to record. Eventually the demands of the "great crusade" were such that this force was elevated to the status of a Legion itself, and they became the 20th - and final - of the Space Marine Legions. One of many decisions the Emperor would likely come to regret...

Vexillary on the left, and a communications trooper on the right

Rear detail on the communication and vexillary models

The last Legion established, but taking the name "Alpha", is a contradiction action that fits well with how the Alpha Legion rolls.  Where the other Legions strive in the shadow of their elaborate histories to pursue greater causes and honour their ponderous histories, the Alphas just seem to be trolling the galaxy.  The Alpha Legion is all about wheels-within-wheels, schemes, plotting, subversion, spying...like a Space Marine Legion-sized version of the CIA, complete with its own military industrial complex to sustain its machinations. They can do all of the standard, scary, appear-in-orbit-and-destroy-your-world Space Marine stuff.  But before they would bother, they will probably have wrecked on the pension funds, crashed the property markets, illegally seized the leases for resource extraction and rigged the elections.  If all that wasn't enough fun, then fine - orbital assault.

The Alphas built a galaxy-spanning network of informers, agents and contacts, even infiltrating the other Space Marine legions.  They spun endless webs of information and misinformation, mixing freely and spreading them widely. As such, they were disliked and distrusted by their brother Legions. 

Some Alphas in Mark IV armour

The embossed shoulder plates are from Forge World...an expensive addiction, but I love how they look

The outbreak of the Horus Heresy was almost a coincidence for the Alphas.  Although they sided with Horus in the Heresy, the Warmaster had difficulty controlling them.  The Alphas would interpret orders as liberally as they liked, and had so many schemes going they were just as likely to fight the rebels as the loyalists.  Their main operational motto is "no witnesses".  With a bunch like this, there are a lot of possibilities for fun scenarios!

Mark VI "Corvus" power armoured figures from Forge World - the Alphas are often portrayed employing these classic "beakie" armour suits, much more so it seems than the other Legions

As an aside, if you are a Space Marine dork like me, you will fine no models to be more fun to build than these Mark VI suits from Forge World - the price is eye watering, but these are faithful to the original RTB01 plastics - you will love them

The other reason I wanted to collect this force had to do with their colour scheme. They are often seen in a blue, or blue green, with a metallic sheen, the colour of a sports car.  The downside to this cool look is that it almost always seems to involve an airbrush, a general deal-breaker for me. I tried for a couple months before the Challenge started to find a way to come up with that cool metallic blue without an airbrush, but just couldn't make it work.  So I came up with a different blue-green approach - it's not a cool, metallic-looking finish, but I'm still pretty pleased with how it is turning out and there is no airbrush involved.

Chaplain for the Alpha Legion...given their approach to the universe, I expect this guy would be into irony more than anything else

This model will do as a command figure for the Alphas until I can get some more command troops

Can you feel the "faith"?

These models were a ton of fun to paint.  They are a mix of plastics from the "Betrayal at Calth" box set, with some upgraded bits from Forge World, and some resin Mark VI power armour marines from Forge World.  The Chaplain is the "Kurtha Sedd" plastic figure from the "Betrayal at Calth" box set, painted to be an officer/command figure for the Alpha Legion.

This submission has 11 28mm infantry models, but two of the models were test paints from before the Challenge so they don't count, so this should net me another 45 points.  See you with more next week!

Great additions to your 30k collection Greg, I'm sure they will continue to sow distrust and heresy on your gaming table with skill and panache!  Your blue-green colour scheme looks very good indeed.
45 well earned points!

Paul & Alan

From GregB: Some 30k Characters (18 points)

A trio of characters for 30k gaming...converted from GW's Age of Sigmar line...

I've been having some fun diving into a new period and setting with my SAGA project, but I haven't lost my 30k obsession - I have a side duel to fight, after all! Not many figures in this submission, but I hope they will be fun for folks who enjoy the Horus Heresy setting - it is fun to have many fellow fans in this Challenge!

I'll subdivide this submission into two sub-sections, one for each character, but before I dive into the details you will see both of these models are slight conversions of figures from GW's "Age of Sigmar" fantasy mass-skirmish game.  I remembered that conscript Mike A had referred to the new "Stormcast Eternals" as "Sigmarines", and this entered my mind as I tried to think of how to get some unique-ish figures into my 30k lineup...hence this little submission. OK, enough of that, on to some background...

Herald Of The Warmaster

"I have a message of hope and change to share!"

The Warmaster is a wonderful, inspiring presence in the universe.  Such is the demand on his time, he cannot possibly be expected to make every public appearance requested of him.  And so Horus Lupercal relies on this helpful Herald to spread his message of hope and change throughout the galaxy.  From TV interviews to speeches at charity luncheons and banquets, the Herald is the go-to for the straight facts on Horus' plans to Make Terra Great Again.

The sword is for emergencies only - the Herald loves peace, after all...

Fake news remains a big problem in the 30th millenium. Pro-Emperor fools in the mainstream media flood the airwaves with all sorts of #alternatefacts.  The events on Isstvan III are portrayed as a "betrayal", while military developments on Isstvan V are reported as a "dropsite massacre".

The Herald of the Warmaster works tirelessly to correct this record. He has the data to prove how the Isstvan III incident was a terrorist act carried out by pro-Emperor false flag operatives - the real atrocity! Meanwhile, any diligent review of travel and communication logs will show the unfortunate losses among some of the Legions on Isstvan V were the result of illegal interstellar immigration which caused a training accident during military maneuvers, and not some supposed "attack" carried out by certain Legions.

Can you feel the hope? It's intense, man...it's intense!

Supporting the Warmaster is an all-consuming, passionate activity.  You can see that from the facial expression of the Herald...his love for Horus' cause is intense. He is channeling his love of the Warmaster to his audience, applying the skills learned during a public speaking course he took as part of a corporate lodge retreat on the world of Davin...

I hope this figure will make for a useful and entertaining objective model for 30k games, or maybe one day participate in a narrative-style RPG game that Curt could run.   

Alpha Legion Praetor Librarian

A senior officer of the XXth Legion - and his trusty pet gryph-hound...

Space Marines are essentially lab creations.  Sure, they start with "recruits" from somewhere, but with the genetic engineering, implants etc. the resulting warrior is largely an artificial construct.  As with the warriors, so with the Space Marine officers. Sergeants etc. are promoted from the ranks, but the top leaders,  they are made for command - literally.  The senior figures in a Space Marine legion are legendary, near-demigod figures.

I wanted a very senior Alpha Legion command figure for the table, someone who reported to Alpharius himself (or who knows, maybe even is Alpharius...why should mere civilians like us know the truth?). The model would have to tower over the other models, a challenge as Space Marine models are already pretty hefty figures. To represent such a senior command figure for my Alpha Legion forces, I wanted some kind of over-the-top figure, something totally pimped out, absurd and outrageous.  Thankfully, the Stormcast Eternals had me covered...

"Follow me! It is written! Just not translated..."

Super size? Check. Ridiculous "close combat" weapon(s)? Check. Silly cloak? Check. Massive, powerful looking sculpted armour? Check.  Weird symbols implying great power? Check.  A couple of small adjustments, and I felt this figure would make an ideal Praetor Librarian for the Alpha Legion.  He emits, for me, the correct amount of over-the-top obnoxiousness to fit as a senior and respected figure within the XX Legion, a confidant of Alpharius the Primarch and Supreme Commander of the Alpha Legion.  The military mind of Caesar with blended with the demeanour of a Bond super-villain...that's how I imagine senior officers in the Alpha Legion.  With this in mind, I'm really pleased with how this whacky model turned out.

Pimped out cape and super halberd? Seems right to me...

The power fist seems more like a winter glove on this monster...

He is not named, of course, because the Alpha Legion doesn't release that kind of information to the public.  It's need-to-know, and chances are very, very high that you don't need to know. Even asking about it can be bad for your health...

Socrates has his eyes on some loyalist fools...

Adding to the "I can't believe it's me either" vibe of this figure is the familiar/pet! A gryph-hound! Seems like exactly the kind of thing this guy would travel around with - an exotic, genetically engineered attack pet.  And while the officer is not named, the pet would have some kind of @sshole-ish-sounding name speaking to the presumed superiority of its owner - like "Socrates".  The Praetor will bring Socrates to meetings, interrogations, orbital drop assaults and swanky dinner parties.  All of the Legion marines will roll their eyes, but be careful to stay out of Socrates' way...you don't need a bad rep with the boss' pet, after all...

***


So these three 28mm figures should be worth 15 points.  Not a lot of points, but hopefully a lot of fun on the table!  The conversion work here was very, very slight. I'm tempted to use some more Stormcast Eternals to perhaps try and cobble together some manner of insane honour guard to accompany the Alpha Legion officer, but might just leave him be...we'll see...anyway, see you next week!

Alan and Paul: Lovely painting Greg, and I really enjoyed reading your fake news. Unfair! 30K is so totally not my thing, but reading this had me chuckling and appreciating the humour of the absurd weapons and baroque ridiculousness of the whole aesthetic. Your painting is top notch, as always, and I've given you a couple of extra points for the conversions. And remember, a gryph-hound is forever, not just Christmas.

From MikeF - The Altar of the Snowlord - Alpha Legion Glaive Superheavy Tank - 50 points

 For my offering to the Snowlord's Altar I was tasked with completing a super-heavy vehicle for my 30k Alpha Legion. By strange coincidence I had one sitting around! The Glaive is one of the many super-heavy tanks operated by the Space Marine Legions during the Great Crusade and Horus Heresy. In the fluff it was designed to fight the various alien empires that mankind sought to...make safe. It's armed with a Volkite Carronade or "Giant Laser Thingy." The chosen legion to operate it are the stealthy and deceptive Alpha Legion! It's true that a super-heavy tank doesn't really fit with the stealthy nature of the Alpha Legion, but that's exactly what they want you to think...or is it? So much mystery!

The tank took a few pots of sotek green to cover, but it came out well I think. The decals are Forgeworld as are the special Alpha Legion doors. For the carronade I attempted to paint the burnt metal effect that seems popular for heat based weapons. It's made by painting bands of seraphim sepia, druchii violet and drakenhof nightshade and blended together. It took several attempts to get it to where I was satisfied. I'd say the result is ok considering it's done with a brush. I can see where an airbrush would shine at this sort of thing. The effect itself is actually a bit curious. Painters like to add it to jet exhaust nozzles as well, but when you actually look at pictures of real jet engines, this dramatic blueing of the metal doesn't seem to be a thing. It sometimes occurs at the end of a blowtorch and when it does appear on an engine exhaust system it actually appears further up the system near the engine where it's the hottest and not at the nozzle. I'm not saying it never happens, but it seems to be extremely rare. Maybe it's more common in combat operations when the components aren't maintain to the same standard. If anyone has real world experience/knowledge with this affect on metal, I'd welcome your input.

For points I scored it as a 54mm vehicle because it's absolutely huge, so 30 points, plus 20 points for completing the challenge.

There are only about two weeks left in the challenge and I'm hoping to complete one final vehicle for the Alpha Legion.

Thanks for visiting

From GregB: Beta Bunch for Alpha Legion (60 points)

More lads from the 20th Legion

Well, my submissions are getting repetitive, but here is - you guessed it - more 30k.  This is a second tactical squad for the 20th Legion, known as the Alpha Legion, for GW's Horus Heresy setting.   There are ten fellows wearing Mark IV power armour, plastic kits from the "Betrayal at Calth" box set.

I painted a white knee plate on this crew to help tell them apart from the first bunch

There are also a pair of Mark VI "beakie" power armour suits in this submission, kits from Forge World.  They are carrying special weapons, and can be swapped into the squad to create a unit of legion veteran troops as opposed to a vanilla tactical squad.

Comms trooper on the left and vexillary on the right

Some examples of the custom Alpha Legion heads from Forge World - nice dabs of character

The embossed shoulder pauldrons, transfers and a few of the helmets are upgrade packs from Forge World.  The helmets are available in packs of 10, and you can sprinkle the heads from one package across several units to add a bit of additional character to the overall force. 

Mark VI armoured troops from Forge World, probably my favourite models...

Love the "shark fin" style missile launcher.!

As I said previously, while the plastic Mark IV armour kits are very nice and fun to work with, the Mark VI armour sets from Forge World are a pure joy, a hidden gem for Space Marine junkies like me.  No skullz...great proportions...beakie helmets...and they mix perfectly with any plastic or resin spares or accessories.  It is everything you get from the old RTB 01 plastic box, but with better proportions and full compatibility with all of the bits out there.  I have a small and declining stash of these models, and I expect I will sprinkle them around the different forces in my collection so each one has a dash of "beakie" look to them.

When I contemplate how much fun the "beakie" models are, I'm surprised Forge World was ever allowed to release the Mark VI armour kits.  After all, they are connected to the heritage and original inspiration of the game, and Space Marine players and collectors love them - in my experience, both of those seem to be deal breakers with GW.  I imagine it all played out as some kind of dysfunctional corporate situation, where the Forge World guys had to sneak the designs online...

GW corporate tool: "You are not selling those old 'beakie' Space Marines are you? You KNOW we are not 'in' to that anymore..."

FW designer: "Of course not, Liege - we would never stoop to releasing anything that popular, connected to the collective positive experiences we all shared when we got into this hobby. That is fully against..."

GW corporate tool: "...against the business plan! As it is, this whole 'Horus Hesresy' thing seems dangerously popular, and we may have to give it the ol' 'specialist games treatment' at any minute, before more players start to enjoy it..." [makes throat-slashing gesture]

FW designer: "Not to worry, Liege - ensuring the best prices for the most accessible Horus Heresy models are only found in box games few people are actually interested in playing is doing a trick to ensure it is still harder for a gamer to get into the Horus Heresy than it otherwise might be..."

GW corporate tool: "Right then - get back to designing that new special character, Skully Bonerz McSkullz, King of Kaos Kookiness - he will be a special release, front page of a White Dwarf, etc."

Anyway, I digress...but the Mark VI suits ARE getting harder and harder to find on Forge World's byzantine web site, and I'm sure it is only a matter of time until word reaches GW leadership that these beautiful models are available for sale, and the sculpts are withdrawn from the web store...

Putting the "me" in team - the Alpha Legion...

So a total of 12 models in 28mm, good for another 60 points or so. The completion of this unit provides the absolute bare bones of a force for the tabletop - two troop choices (tactical squads) and an HQ (the chaplain).  This is next to nothing under the current iteration of the 30k/40k rules, but would be plenty for a game of Rogue Trader, or even just enough to wreck things for someone as some "allies" - and with friends like the Alpha Legion, who needs enemies?

This bunch is ready for action, but will require some reinforcements before they have any impact on the table...

Up next? Well, no prize for guessing the setting, but hopefully I might change up the scale...or not...whatever it is, we'll see you next week!

Alan and Paul: Excellent painting, Greg. Your very clean style does justice to those nice Forgeworld sculpts. Like you say, it's very refreshing to see Space Marines without skulls hanging off everywhere. Oh, and great GW rant!

From GregB: Deredeo Dreadnought for Alpha Legion (15 points)

"The Alpha Legion wants you to MOVE YOUR CAR..."

While it's not exactly up to the globe-trotting standards of certain AHPC folk (*cough* Miles *cough*) I do have the good fortune to enjoy some time in the Palm Springs, California area every year with my lovely wife Linda.  We are there this week, so not much painting, but still some 30k fun to share.  This is a Deredeo Pattern dreadnought battle armour, painted in the colours of the Alpha Legion from GW's Horus Heresy setting.

I can't top the quick explanation of dreadnoughts that JamieM already offered in his submission featuring Thousand Sons Space Marines.  The dreadnought is a power armour unit driven by the ruined remains of a fallen Space Marine.  As Jamie said, if you are going to exist solely in a coffin covered in guns, you might as well do it in a fully pimped out ride.  The Deredeo Pattern suit delivers...it will provide serious firepower to support the requirements of Alpharius' lads.

The marine-helmet-style head gives a good connection to the Marines and 30k setting on an otherwise very unique sculpt that echoes a number of sci-fi themes

I love the look of this sculpt - it fits with the other 30k dreanought suits, but evokes things like the crazy Macross destroids or the "ED 209" from Robocop, among other things.  The guns, the armour, it's all over the top - and that makes it ideal for 30k in my books!

Assuming the autocannons and missiles don't wipe out whatever the problem was, there are a pair of heavy bolters in the hull...total overkill

Steve B is a genuis, and he used magnets on the build, so I can swap in the heavy flamers if preferred. Since this is an Alpha Legion unit, I assume the flame throwers would be used to burn documents and evidence...

This thing is armed to the teeth - and the teeth probably explode or something too. Features such as the Anvillus autocannon battery, Ailos missile launcher and body mounted heavy bolters all ensure enough firepower to wipe out any inconvenient loyalists or witnesses the Alpha Legion would find inconvenient.  There is an option to equip this model with flame throwers in place of the heavy bolt guns on the hull, and I'm able to do it in this case because of: MAGIC.

A view of the ammo containers on the back

Well, actually it's magnets.  The magic comes from Steve B.  He assembled this beast for me.  Steve is a great guy, and while he doesn't have say a whole lot here on the Challenge blog, trust me that in addition to incredible painting skills (as we have seen from his submissions) he has the mind of a hobby engineer.  He has already assisted me with a number of tricky kits from Forge World, and this is a tricky one indeed, with the belt fed weapons hitching up to the pack.  But Steve not only assembled it, but he frigging magnetized the whole thing so I can switch out the weapons! All of them! So if I wanted to, I could order the plasma cannons...funny how I say "if", like that's a
variable...

The model is a big sucker, bigger than the other dreadnought models.  Seems fitting to me, as it is carrying enough weapons to fight its own war.

The tactical Marines give an idea of the size of the model...this is a big sucker

So a huge, huge, "thank you" to Steve B for his help and skills, and I hope my painting does his efforts justice. I am super psyched to have this model finished, and can't wait to take it for a stroll on the gaming table.  As a newly painted model, I'm sure it will dominate the table, right?

I don't know how many points this counts for - but I'm not a minion, so we'll toss that problem over to them! See you all next week!

Alan and Paul: Good luck! My newly painted figures inevitably suffer ignominious defeat the first time they appear on the table. And most of the times after that. This is an impressive beast, and I love the description. I said it before with your marines, but I love the paintwork on this, and the marine head in white is a nice contrast. It seems only fair to consider it a vehicle, so 15 points to you.

From MikeF - 30k Alpha Legion Vehicles for the Hydra! (70 points)

 I haven't posted in a while, but I haven't been idle. Curt asked me to complete a superheavy vehicle for my 30k Alpha Legion and I've been working away at it for the past month. Alongside the big vehicle, I also completed 3 smaller (and not so small) vehicles for the Alpha Legion. These include a Rhino, Predator and Land Raider Proteus. The Predator is heavily converted and includes bits from Ebay company Blood & Skulls Industry. They produce great resin parts for GW models to give them a nice 30k feel. The turret, weapons and side sponsons are all from B&S's and all the parts have pre-drilled holes for magnets. The resin parts need some cleanup and heat bending, but no more than Forgeworld parts. I wouldn't consider it a "cheap" alternative to Forgeworld, unless you had some spare Rhino's or land raiders kicking around.

Hopefully next week I'll have the superheavy completed for the Altar.

The front plate is from the original Predator model. The sponsons are attached to the hull with magnets

Executioner Plasma Gun

Mega-Melta Cannon

Camo netting at the rear for the sneaky Alpha Legion

This was originally the armored proteus model with smaller side doors. I wanted to keep the big doors so I used the sponson from the Storm Raven gunship model.

Thanks for visiting
 

Nice painting. Oh, and "Hail, Hydra!", errrrmmm, wrong franchise! Forget what I just said.

I've scored the three as 28mm vehicles and added a few points for the biggie and a few more for the conversion work.

Tamsin

From GregB - More Epic 30k (85 points)

In the grim darkness of the far future, we've got any size of equipment you might need for your war...

Well the end of this edition of the Challenge is in sight.  The countdown clock has been posted. Time to look at the huge pile of stuff I hoped to paint and realize that only some of it will be finished before the zero-hour arrives next week.  That means I have to focus, something I'm terrible at, but there are some external drivers helping me along.  One is that our group is hosting an Epic 30k demonstration game at a local hobby event here on the weekend, so it is a good time to get some stuff done for use on the table.  A further motivator along that line of thinking is that JamieM is once again tossing last minute sandbags in our 30k painting duel!

So with that motivation, I decided to continue on the painting path from last week - more Epic 30k stuff!  This week my submission covers almost every size available to that "scale" of game, running the gamut from foot sloggers to another pair of towering Titans!

Alpha Legion tactical marines - while my 6mm freehand is not quite as sharp as Byron's, I managed to get some markings on to most of the shoulders and vehicles!

We'll start with the smallest ones first - this is a Space Marine tactical detachment from the Alpha Legion.  During this edition of the Challenge I started painting a new force of Alpha Legion troops for my 28mm-sized forces, and I have enjoyed the colours and the backstory of that particular Legion so much I thought it would be great to have them for Epic as well. 

Command troopers in the (blurry) front

Alpha Legion motor pool - a pair of Rhino APCs, each capable of carrying two stands of infantry

 

Two more APCs, along with a command variant in the left of the photo

 The tactical detachment is the basic building block for any Epic Space Marine force, so I thought it would be a good element to paint first.  There are 40 little marines here, as well as transport for them - four Rhino APCs.  There is also a command-variant Rhino to provide some command & control assistance and serve as a ride for the command figures which I hope to paint further down the road.

Moving up in the size department we have a group of four Knights.  The 30k/40k setting does not lack for large walking things with guns, and the Knights have their place on the spectrum of those vehicles.  As you can see, they loom over the infantry, but pale in size compared to the Titans, so they are on the smaller-end of the walking-terror-scale of the dark future.

Four Knights - walkers with a nice assortment of weapons to choose from

Knights are organized into semi-feudal households, with a backstory that is too lame to even try to explain.  The bottom line is that, as with the rest of the Imperium, the Knight households divided during the Horus Heresy, with some embracing hope and change with the Warmaster, and others sticking with the so-called "Emperor".

"Paladin" variant on the left, "Errant" variant on the right

I had no specific Knight household in mind, just wanted some different colours from my first bunch, so they could be opponents on the table

Even though they are "small" (you know, relatively), Knights still provide a big punch on the table, forming an extremely mobile and versatile force that hits pretty hard.  While GW has made these available as models in 28mm scale (and it is one of the nicest new kits GW has ever issued, just beautiful) the Epic setting provides the room, scope and proper context required for these things to really be fun on the table.  There is an astonishing variety of weapons assortments, and whatever you choose, these things will have a good time stalking around, terrorizing enemy tanks and infantry.  But they will have to watch out, because in the grim darkness of the far future, there is always something bigger...

And that would include the Titans!  I painted two more to add to the group from last week (see that post for explanations on the colours and Legions involved).  To maintain rough strategic parity in my Epic 30k collection, there is one for the rebel side and one for the loyalist side.

Reaver class Titan from Legio Mortis

Reaver class Titan from Legio Gryphonicus

These are Reaver class "medium" battle titans.  In addition to a slightly more artful carapace than the ones from last week, these ones are also sporting close combat weapons! Because in the grim darkness of the far future, it doesn't matter if you are 10 stories tall and armed with weapons which can level entire city blocks in one shot - you STILL might have to PUNCH something...the engineers of Mars have got you covered! Behold, the titan-sized power fist - it's silly, and I love it!

Large close combat fist for extra-smashing duties

Still sporting a big laser cannon and "apocalypse" launcher for more conventional fun

Equipping your titans with close combat weapon systems is something of a gamble in the Epic game.  The power fist comes at the expense of mounting one of the other, very useful and terrifying weapon systems.  This sucks early in the game when you wish you had one more volcano cannon shot to bombard the enemy.  A further consideration is that the fist is only useful if you are close enough to punch the other titan, so you have to basically charge forward and get to grips for it to be worthwhile...

A view of another close combat attachment

This Titan is also sporting a scary-as-hell plasma cannon...it can only fire every other turn, so the crew can spend that time moving the Titan closer to whatever needs to be punched while it powers up between shots

On the plus side, if you bring your titan into close combat with another one and succeed, the results tend to be immediate and rewarding, as a Titan that is unsuccessful in a "close combat" tends disappear in some manner of spectacular explosion - indeed, so spectacular the Titan which defeated it risks serious damage itself! Did I mention I love how warped all of this is...?

Titan maniple from Legio Mortisi now ready for action! The big guns for a better universe! Horus for hope!

I felt both sides should have one Titan sporting a close combat power fist.  There are several gamers in our group who display the proper level of aggression to make the most of them on the table!

Titan maniple from Legion Gryphonicus, ready to defend the so-called "Emperor" to the bitter end...deluded fools...

So, in total this includes two Titans, four Knights, five 6mm sized vehicles and 40 6mm sized infantry.  I will leave it to the minions to score the thing properly, and I bow to their infinite wisdom as to the worth of this in terms of points...hope to have more to share as the finish line arrives!

Alan and Paul: Unlike Paul, Alan has never played anything 'K', and has never really seen the appeal. However, even he, grizzled old Grognard that he is, has been enjoying seeing your Epic force coming together, and particularly the affection and good humour with which you describe the silliness which is one of the hallmarks of the Far Future. These guys just look great - beautifully colourful, but also a bit grimy from all that trudging around through lots of Orkz or Skullz or Bogz or whatever. I've scored the Knights as 28mm figures and the Titans as 28mm vehicles, and thrown in a few extra points for the loely detail.