Sternguard and Such

So got my order placed yesterday for my first Imperial Knight as well as the Knight Companion book.  And Tuesday I ordered the APC from Pig Iron so hopefully by Monday/Tuesday I'll have some new fun to work on.  But as it was, while ordering the Knight, I finally picked up one of the new Sternguard box sets.  And here's last night's results.

First up is the Grellon Veteran Pellaeon.  He was actually built back at the end of Feb but hasn't made the blog yet.

He's got a bit of the tough guy look to him and the sideways bolter just adds to that image.

Next up is the last of the missing Grellon, Veteran Sgt Wesly Karrde.

 

He's all from the Sternguard kit and with him complete, that's all the Grellon modeled.

After that is five Sternguard with combi weapons.  I combined regular marine bits with sternguard kit bits to make the kit go farther.

These guys got Sternguard backpacks, guns, shoulder pads on the right side, and heads.  Everything else is regular marine bits.

Next after that is five Sternguard with bolters.

These guys got sternguard arms, legs, and torsos with regular heads and backpacks.

Sternguard are one of my favorite units in the game for their hitting power, adaptability, and sheer fear factor they can instill on an opponent after they face them the first time.  It's very rare that I don't have at least one unit in my army list, and normally in a drop pod.  They're also my answer to people who want to take an escalation unit.  Killing an Eldar Revenant Titan on turn one by pouring 10 combi meltas into it from a drop pod assault unit of Sternguard is great as an attention getter.  Scoring 10 points right off the bat for 9 hull points (since I didn't have an escalation unit) and first blood while doing it is even more fun.  If there is one thing that I can say about Sternguard, it's that you can never have too many of them.


So coming up in the next few blog posts will hopefully be my Knight assembly, the Pig Iron APC, Knightly House fluff which is being worked on, and I still got some companies and other things to post as well.  So enjoy

Harlech's Grellon

So inspired by the various special guard/advisory forces that have been appearing throughout the Horus Heresy series from the Morlocks to Mournival to Phoenix Guard and so on, I created my own force, the Grellon.  Grellon is a Welsh word which means "flock".  Lions and other predators often have a lot of birds which live in and around them, so the Chapter Master as the alpha male lion with a flock around him seemed to make sense in my head.

The Order of Harlech's Grellon
    This is a special order within the Chapter consisting of a dozen veterans not within the normal command rank who act as both guardians for the Chapter Master and special advisors for him.  These veterans are picked by an assembly of the chapter's company commanders, the Chapter Master, and other select leaders of the chapter.  If one of these marines is ever chosen to promote to the rank of Captain or something similar, they'd leave the Grellon and a new veteran would be inducted.

Harlech's Grellon (11 Veterans)
    Veteran Sergeant Malfoy Cadwgan
    Veteran Sergeant Wesly Karrde
    Veteran Sergeant Bleddyn
    Veteran  Pelleaon
    Veteran Aeddon
    Veteran Maelgwyn Gwynedd
    Sternguard Veteran  Tobin
    Sternguard Veteran Pieter Kralle
    Sternguard Veteran Corvis
    Vanguard Veteran Julius Dorja
    Vanguard Veteran Owain


So far I've converted models for seven of the eleven characters and here's what we've got so far.

Veteran Sergeant Malfoy Cadwgan
     This is my Welsh Piper model.  He's made with a captain's legs and backpack, terminus crux shoulder pad, a Black Templar torso, an Imp Guard vehicle antennae for the pack, second party cloak and base, and a few other bits.  The bagpipe is stuff modeled for the bag, and the pipes themselves are bits of blackpowder weapons from a pirate range that I had bought a couple years back to use for Mordheim conversions.

Veteran Sergeant Bleddyn
    This is the metal classic veteran sgt that's been around for a number of years now.  I haven't made any tweaks to this one, I think he's cool just the way he is.

Veteran Aeddon
      This marine consists of Sanguinary Guard legs, Templar torso and pistol, FW head, and then the banner and power fist are from the Captain box.

Sternguard Veteran Pieter Kralle
     Sanguinary guard legs again for this fellow (I love the dynamic look to those legs in that set), veteran shoulder pads, and Sang Guard torso this time as well.  The pack started as a plasma cannon pack with bits added for the comm upgrade.  I need to reprime this one and a couple others due to the weather not cooperating as well as it should that day.

 

Sternguard Veteran Corvis
     This is one of the communication upgrade marines from the Forge World Horus Heresy series of models.  The only tweaks I've made to this guy is a shoulder pad swap and a purity scroll on the backpack.

 

Vanguard Veteran Julius Dorja
      This model is mainly company champion bits, shoulder pad from captain kit and one crux pad, and then a Forge World jump pack.

Vanguard Veteran Owain
    This marine is a Forge World assault marine with a Sang Guard power sword for the only conversion to him.


And that is my Grellon so far.  Still looking for ideas and inspiration on the last four and then that's when I'll see about paint jobs for them all as a group.  If anyone out there has an idea for one of the missing models, feel free to comment or drop me a message with it.