Inquisitor Lord Thaddues from Soul Drinkers Omnibus

I just finished the first Soul Drinker’s Omnibus. In it was an Inquisitor named Thaddeus. Thaddeus was dispatched to hunt down the Soul Drinkers; namely Sarpedon and assassinate him for turning from the Imperium.

Through the climax of the story line what Thaddeus comes to realize is that Sarpedon fights, or believes he fights, for the Emperor. Fighting for the “Ideal” that the Emperor represents, one of freedom from tyranny and exploitation. Freedom to choose your own path of honor instead of grim, soulless servitude to an Imperium uncaringly churning along using itself as its own fuel.

The Soul Drinkers see the Imperium as nothing more than another entity seeking to enslave the human race and reduce it to so much bio-matter used to feed a decadent system.

Thaddeus and Sarpedon manage a last second alliance to destroy a heinous creature wrought by the fool hardy experimentation of mutated gene seed by the Adeptus Mechanicus. This created entity has destroyed half a system of worlds and threatens to break free of forces sent to contain and destroy it.

Despite hunting Sarpedon for most of the middle book of the Omnibus, Thaddeus is forced to choose the greater of two evils and sides with Sarpedon; assisting him when near death so the creature may be destroyed. Afterwards both were forced to rapidly depart the beleaguered planet as it was overrun by thousands of mindless diseased zombie like creatures, now purposeless beyond the need to kill the living with the death of their driving consciousness……..


……6 Terran months after his encounter with Sarpedon. Long months of explaining again and again the final sequence of events that saw such priceless resources consumed and Sarpedon escaping, Thaddeus turned to look upon the large crate recently found on an outlying moon by Imperial search and rescue crews near the last know location of the Soul Drinkers. A large containment pod with Thaddeus’ name printed in deep set purple and gold.

Thaddeus had not donned any of the relics, despite them all being subjected to all 666 cleansing rituals. The items in the crate were deemed free of any deamonic influence or other discernable taints. Now however Thaddeus was tasked with putting down a particularly nasty Genestealer infestation and took stock of the tools at his disposal. Out of necessity and curiosity, Thaddeus reviewed the contents of the containment pod one more time.

When he responded to the information of its discovery he was the first to open the pod. In it were obvious Inquisitorial relics of great antiquity. A terminator suit made for an un-altered human of above average stature, a relic psy-cannon much lighter and smaller than current versions, and an extremely rare concussion ax that combined the power of current day thunder hammers with the lighter heft and focused edge of a battle ax.

These items were worth the price of worlds and the name of the Inquisitor who once wore them into battle was lost despite Thaddeus’ best efforts.

What Thaddeus did not release for inspection was the note which read, “May you find these weapons of use in your battle to eradicate the enemies of the Emperor. May you preserve freedom and truth above all else.  –S” ………

So when building and painting the force coiling in my imagination from the Omnibus I wanted to put represent Thaddeus’ durability and use of specialized ammunition. I did this by choosing an Ordo Malleous Inquisitor Lord in terminator armour with psy-cannon and thunder hammer. As written above the psy-cannon is much smaller and more powerful than recent issue and the Ax has unique abilities unable to be reproduced in the current age.

When I had gone through all my bits and models after moving I had placed this model aside as a possible Inquisitor Lord. Partly because being older it had the right stature compared to current marine sized models.

Additionally it looked old. I attempted to paint it to look old. I chose purple and gold on the Ad arm and some accents to tie into the Soul Drinkers and demonstrate a growing understanding that Thaddeus may be contemplating as  he ponders the Soul Drinkers parting with the Imperium and continuing fight against Chaos.

Sorry for the wall of text, but felt like writing that out.

Thaddeus is all done save the basing…which I will plan for a day soon and base a host of models all at once. Thaddeus will also get a psyber-skull that I need to finish up to complete his compliment of war gear.





Thanks for the read,
BDS

The Iron Warrior

The Iron Warrior

 by Dan Eaton

The age of man shifts, he is measured as;

 a builder, farmer, clock puncher, teacher, bill payer, tinker, head of home.

Noble and worthwhile all; true.

Alas, Fewer and Few measured by strength of arm, courage in battle; the immortal fight or flight.

Rare souls find the path; they the warrior, soldier, enforcer, guardian.

For some despite the soul grinding path of the provider, the builder, the bill payer,
a persistent call is herd, an unrelenting, irresistible tugging sound.
A clatter, ting, and sprang of metal on metal;
pulling at the deep seated need to test oneself.
To pit muscle, sinew, and resolve versus the seemingly immovable, the unconquerable.

These ones hear the sound of Iron calling to them.
 ...And to some of these the call of Iron is strong,
It infects the sleep, the daytime moments when the mind wonders to more favorable things.
These ones follow the scent of strain, sweat, dust, iron and steel.

These ones find the places with Iron, places with contests of strength and skill, fist and kick.
Finding a certain meaning, purity, peace in overcoming one obstacle after another.
To forge will, sinew, muscle, and bone into something larger, stronger, harder than before.
One day flows to another as things are built, farmed, timed, payed, and seen to;
The monotony broken by the test of the Iron.
The spirit soaring when a new goal is met, a new weight lifted.
Sinew, resolve, back and arm made stronger than before as the world streams tick tocking by.
This is the silent path of the iron warrior.

Campaign Force Research and Planning

     My research started by pulling out the first Warhammer 40k item I every saw. This originally belonged to my brother. It was purchased in 1990 for $22.95...ah the good ole days unh?

     Anyway I was looking for some campaign badge ideas. I did not see any really. But, I did the get inspiration for the power point glyph in the first post.

     I also noticed in the very first section, pg 4, homage to the Mentor Legion, Chapter 888. Depicting Imperial Commander Nsk Ran-Thawll of the Mentors trying on some experimental armour. It also indicated the Mentors were utilized quite a bit in this capacity.

     With this in mind I just might have to make sure I include a unit to represent the Mentors.

Here is a pic of my culled models for the campaign force:

You can see here a mostly painted Black Templar Predator. It won many battle Honors in historic confrontations such as the 2004 Adepticon Team Tournament. Also some red based Sons of Orar, a squad of Iron Snakes, and just barely make out my Chaplain.

If you look closely you can see my converted stern guard there in middle.

Better pics of each yet to come.

Here are some better pics of the pred and also indicate the starting place for my refurbishment into the campaign forces (name yet to be developed):

The pics are a little washed out. But, you get the idea. I also dug through some of my bike models for a suitable bike captain. I noticed in building much of bike forces I used quite a bit of Dark Angel shoulder pads and Raven Wing bits.

I may have to take that into account as I flesh this amalgamation all together.

Lastly here is the starting point for a basic bike captain. He will be the main character of the campaign and will thus see several incarnations I would imagine. No body starts with all the really cool war gear on their first foray! He needs a bit of work but this will provide the initial structure from which to work:

 

Thanks for the Read,

BDS

On My Work Table

This is what is currently on my work table. You don't see many Necron works in progress these days. But, I have a tournament coming up in a week thatf has some comp guide lines and I never shy from a challenge. My Necron tournament record is about 75% win to loss...so I am aiming for best comp and sportsman.

I also plan to work on some fluff as I paint each unit unique to that unit and hopefully tie into the armies general theme.