“And lo, on the day of judgement, great tides of flesh of claws and chattering teeth did descend upon the castle man had built.
He dared to scrape the heavens with the glory of plasteel and concrete.
And the gods punished him by breaking the seal and sending forth his monsters.
Three years of torment followed, and man crawled to the heights of his towers to survive.
Until the Emperor on his throne felt pity, and saw man had repented.
The Emperor sent his angels, clad in burning ceramite and carrying the torches of purification.
And they did smite the monsters from afar,
driving them forth into the wilderness from whence they came.
But the angel’s wrath was great and their swords sharp.
The tower that man had built was reduced to rubble,
a reminder to all the price of pride.”
- Canto 6 of the Great Book of Helvellin
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Hello again, Imperial Citizens,
This month, I bring to you the very long arm of the law: a Grey Knights Devastator Squad.
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| Devastator Squad Apollo |
When I’d first picked up my little horde of RTB-01 Marines for this project I found myself in a bit of a conundrum. Would I just paint a couple Tactical Squads, as they were mostly all armed with Bolters? No, that would have been too repetitive and boring. Would I make one an Assault Squad? Hmm, tempting, but a full squads’ worth of authentic metal jump packs and weapons would run me well into the three figures.
The answer hit my square in the jaw when I found a lot going for a set of Beamer-armed metal marines. Right, that’s it, I thought. Devastators!
Rogue Trader Space Marine squads had some strange restrictions on heavy weapons. For example, you couldn’t just pick and choose a medley of guns, you basically had two lots of two different weapons for each Devastator squad (Missile Launchers and Heavy Bolters, normally), which could be swapped out entirely for another set. For Grey Knights Devastators, one of the options to replace Missile Launchers were Conversion Beamers — one of the most insane weapons in 40k history.
What do you mean it’s a laser beam that turns matter into pure energy and becomes more powerful the further it travels? The Tech-Magi of the Adeptus Mechanicus were really smoking something strong that day.
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| Heavy weapons specialists |
And so, by picking up a couple Heavy Bolters and tacking them onto two of the previously Beamer-armed Devastators, I was able to create a full, functional squad of these heavy weapon freaks for the first time in my decades-long Warhammer career. Now to aim them at something.
I’ve always found this older style of heavy weapons a bit goofy. How the hell does a human being, even if they are a Space Marine, fire mobile ordnance that size with one hand, from the shoulder?
Logic be damned, the sculptors of the day were clearly embracing the rule of cool, and gave us a wide array of incredibly wacky weapons as a result. Most of these proved so iconic, they’re still with us today. Though you probably won’t see Space Marines in 11th edition rocking Webbers…
In terms of painting these guys, there’s nothing particularly interesting to add this month. I was inspired by the inimitable Curis of Ninja Bread for the Conversion Beamers, interpreting the little hollows around the edge of the weapon’s… ahem… bulbous head as little lenses. I imagine they must channel the destruction energy towards a single point, sort of like how the Death Star powers up.
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| Danger: Do not look directly into light. |
The rest of the Marines in the squad, including the Sergeant, were painted in exactly the same way as my Tactical Squad, with a healthy smattering of checks, flames and saucy slogans. I had a lot of fun painting the big ol’ eyeball on one of the bases, and playing with different skin tones as well. I promise there’ll be some slightly more varied models to come next month…
But I’m proud to have built and finished this unit. With two squads of Marines on the table, a bit of armour and at least one character, this is really starting to feel like an army.
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| Slaughter of the daemons on the planet Helvellin |
And remember everyone, as a certain Chapter Master of the Blood Ravens would say, “walk softly… and carry a big gun.”
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Army list as of March
Techmarine Tarantus
Techmarine
Basic equipment
Vincent Black Shadow motorcycle
97 points
Brother Bethor
Deredeo Dreadnought
Missile Launcher, Heavy Plasma Gun
Standard Sensor Package, 2 Power Fields, Power Field Synchroniser
270 points
Squad Heliod
Tactical Squad
Sergeant with Bolt Gun, Bioscanner and Power Glove
1 Marine with Missile Launcher
1 Marine with Flamer
7 Marines with Bolt Guns
275 points
Bright Sword
Rhino APC with Techmarine Pilot, assigned to Squad Heliod
2 Bolt Guns
387 points
Squad Apollo
Devastator Squad
Sergeant with Bolt Gun
2 Marines with Beamers
2 Marines with Heavy Bolters
5 Marines with Bolt Guns
379 points
