Transmission: Night Lords activity in the Gothic Sector

 "It has come to the attention of The Ordo Malleus that there has been a possible increase in Night Lord activity somewhere in the Gothic Sector, with limited information relayed at the expense of astropathic choirs that still remained active in the sector. Our agents have proposed the Ceresh's Fall as one of the possible sources of these messages; however, information on this world is sparce, and we've learned little about it besides its status as a minor forge world of low importance. It is my opinion that the situation should be monitored and any information gathered, but that it is of no urgency. The Night Lords are known to be raiders and scavengers with little organisation, but the possibility that they may be the precursor of a larger heretic Astartes force that is yet to become active should not be ignored."   

-  Excerpt from Lord Inquisitor Thrane de Grescaal's official report to the High Lords of Terra on incoming information regarding Chaos activity in Imperium Nihilus 

Starting a new blog is a daunting and intimidating task. I've been thinking about starting this new blog for weeks now, and I really did not know how to go about it; like they say, there is nothing more frightening than a blank canvas. So I decided to just get on with it and take the plunge, let it flow, and just hope that it takes shape once its got feet on the ground. This space will mainly be dedicated to documenting my hobby projects, so that I can both track my progress and hopefully be able to share it with others that may appreciate and get something from it. I may also use it to talk into the void occasionally. 

So we begin with the Night Lords! The eighth legion, the sons of Nostramo. This is possibly my favourite traitor legion, and it is in no small part because of ADB's incredible Trilogy centred around First Claw, a lovable bunch of psychotic killers that often feel just as much contempt for Chaos as they do for the Imperium. This is precisely one of my favourite elements of the Night Lords, the fact that they never really fell to chaos as a legion. Sure, they're traitors, but they were kind of a doomed legion since before the Heresy, and would have likely gone the way of the second and eleventh had the Great Crusade reached its intended conclusion. The idea of Astartes questioning what would be their purpose once the Great Crusade came to an end is one of my favourite narrative beats from The Horus Heresy books, and it's been utilised to great effect in the development of characters like Garviel Loken and Roboute G uilliman, who believed his Legionnaires should be ready to become leaders and statesmen once their role as soldiers came to an end. So I love the idea of a legion that is so far gone into being a weapon to be wielded that they are driven to the point of betrayal towards the Imperium not necessarily out of being manipulated by unknowable powers or loyalty to the Warmaster, but becasue of their lack of any viable future if they were to remain loyal. 

I started kitbashing these night lords using the standard Chaos Space Marine kit as a base, but also used bits from Forgeworld as well as some of the things I had lying around in my bits box. 

First off is this chap who is definitely as much an outstanding post-human as any blueberry poster boy. I really enjoyed the process of this kitbash and it gave me the chance to try my hand at some battle for the very first time. It was quite nerve wracking taking a knife to a piece of plastic that I bought with my hard earned money, but I believe that part of the process of making your own custom models is the voice inside your head that's always talking about the possibility of you messing up. All and all, I think it turned out looking quite good, and I'm really excited to see how it looks once its got paint on it. 

I used bits of different marks of armour to represent the Night Lords tendency to behave as scavengers that repair their armour with any useful components they can procure from fallen enemies or allies. The helmet is a MKIV Night Lord Helmet from Forgeworld, the bolter is taken from a MKVI  tactical marine, and the shoulder pad is a MKIII Night lord shoulder pad from Forgeworld (This last one is sadly out of production, which meant that I had to scour eBay for one a set that wasn't outrageously priced). Finally, I added a Dark Angels plasma pistol from the firstborn Dark Angels upgrade sprue because there is something about traitor Astartes wielding relic weapons from loyalist legions that just flips a switch in my brain. 

For the next member of the team, I decided I'd try something different. I really like some of the depictions of Space Marines with exposed skin, such as Kharn or that one artwork of an Emperor's Children marine with exposed abs. It's such a silly and objectively dumb thing, but i ja aht looks cool, and as far as I'm concerned the rule of cool reigns supreme. 

I used the arm from a Black Templar neophyte, cutting off it's hand and replacing it with one holding a plasma pistol from the legionnaires kit. Paper clips were the key to this, as I used one to pin both pieces together in a way that looked natural. After that, it was only a matter of filling the gap with some greenstuff and then sanding it down once it was cured. 

Finally the big guy himself: Talos/Decimus. I had a blast converting this model and I really liked the result in the end. I know people have made countless interpretations if what he would look like in model form, and I took inspiration from many of the ones I saw floating around online. 

This whole project really made me appreciate the legion aired kit and it's possibilities for customisation. the way in which many of the chest plates come as separate pieces is great for kitbashing. I got a bunch of firstborn Aquila chest pieces online, and trimmed one so that it would fit in nicely. It was. Y no means a perfect fit, but I think that some green stuff fixed that. 

Everything else is quite standard. The head is Forgeworld and so is the Shoulder pad, and the storm bolter is from the plastic cataphractii kit. The sword is taken from a Blood Angels Forgeworld kit, and it was one of the elements of the kit that took the most work and I'm the most proud of. 

It honestly was a pain. First of, I had to use hot water to try to straighten out the blade, as it had a pretty terrible curve to it when I got it in the post. I still feel I need to straighten it out a bit more, but I also feel like Forgeworld swords are never truly perfectly straight. Then it was a matter of cutting off the blade and attaching it to a hand from the legionnaires kit, again using paper clips to create a good bond between the different bits. Instead of keeping the pummel from the original bit (which was rather bland in my opinion) I decided to use one from a chaos power axe trimmed down to size. This was, I could represent that despite this being a loyalist weapon, it's been in the hands of traitors for hundreds of years. 

I'm prepping all the subassemblies for painting as I am typing this, which will come in their own entry soon. Eventually I want this to become a Night Lords kill team, but I'm still getting bits and planning for the rest of the members of the team