'Armour' from IannickM: Emperor's Children Armoured Division (Epic)

Children of the Emperor! Death to his foes! 

Last year I watched Greg start an Epic 30K project during the Challenge. I spent the whole tournament drooling over his stuff and by the end of the three months the itch had become a full blown scratch and in between flashes of 1991 Nostalgia I knew I had to start a project of my own. Those interested can read a lot more about it on my blog (http://maraudersandcitadels.blogspot.ca/). We even made a 30K challenge of it in this year's duel. So this is both my first Epic/30K entry and a bonus theme round entry.

When I saw the list of bonus themes, I immediately noticed "Armour" and knew what to do! This was lucky for me as I usually don't paint vehicles of any sort. After asking Curt to allow 6mm for this bonus round, which he graciously did (y'all welcomed, fellow 6mm lovers), I figured I would enter a pair of Epic Super Heavy Tanks (Fellblades). So I painted the two tanks, and being in a groove I also painted some Infantry, and then Rhinos, and before I knew it I was looking at the possibility of entering a complete, albeit small, detachment into the Bonus round! And why not! 

So my entry has thus become my first Armoured Division (combined arms) for the Horus Heresy, aka 30K. I'm starting this project with the forces of changes and hope, with a division of Emperor's Children (as a lad in the 80s when I first played Epic I was always a fan of benevolent Warmaster Horus, while my younger goodie two-shoes brother was a loyal follower of the Emperor). The Emperor's Children, the IIIrd Legion of the Imperium, was always one of my favourite "traitor" legion. Mostly, I'll admit, because I find the purple & gold colour scheme looks really good on the battlefield, especially in the smaller scale. Their name, also, has always been a favourite of mine.

Of course, I could also mention the Legion's "joie de vivre", so refreshing in the dark and grim world of the 30th millenium! Of course, the cheap propaganda of the Emperor has repeatedly referred to the Legion as being made-up of hedonistic psychopaths! 

The Legion has a bit of a perfectionist complex and strives for perfection in all their endeavours and continuously works to perfect their military operations. Sustained not merely by the example of their peers but by a deep individual belief in their duty to their superiors and the Legion as a whole, they fought to the best of their abilities in all conditions, whether the battle was a massive attack or a simple patrol. Favouring a quick-strike and agressive approach to combat, I intend to give them more speed as the force grows.

So for this first painted Division, we have :

Space Marines clad in Mark III armours. The rules for Epic 30K requires rather big infantry formations, but it does look good. In the middle of the formation you can see a stand of sergeants with their white crests.

Rhino Armoured Personnel Carrier to transport the lads into combat. These are the classic, old school plastic Rhinos which came in the Space Marines box set of the late eighties. They aged remarkably well.

Land Raiders, famous and reliable heavy tank and transport vehicle. Also the original plastic models of my youth. The model has also aged beautifully. The nostalgia feeling was high while painting these (or one might say I was high on nostalgia while painting these).

Then a talon of Deredeo Dreadnoughts, my favourite dreadnoughts. They look really cool and remind me of some of the Robotech mech of my youth. I must say I gave these guys a bit of extra love and I think it paid off, as I really like how they came out! 

And finally, the big boys! Legion Fellblades, Super Heavy main battle tanks equipped with compact Mechanicum Atomantic Arc-reactor technology (if you don't know what this is borrow a book at Terra's Imperium library for god's sake!), a reinforced metaplas alloy chassis which provides protection superior to that of nearly all other Imperial armoured vehicles, and a (very visible) advanced Accelerator Cannon as its primary armament. Not to be fucked with. 

These are massive models measuring 45mm(!) in length and I spent a substantial amount of time working on them. I love their looks, and the additions of the legion symbols on the side doors makes for a welcome addition for someone like me who's freehand deficient!

And finally, the mandatory picture of 6mm figures next to a Canadian penny! always wanted to do that! For you see, this force is my first time painting 6mm, in fact it's my first time painting another scale than 25/28mm! (And I've been painting for over 20 years, crazy I know!) Bit of a leaning curve especially the first batch of infantry but I got the hang of it quickly and I really enjoy painting the little scale. I might be hooked on Epic for a long time. I'm also really happy I got myself an optivisor this summer, so useful especially at this scale!

Special shout-out to Greg for the base sizes; he did all the work figuring it out and I just copied it!

So, to recap :

40 infantry x 0.5 : 20 pts

8 vehicles : 16 pts

2 Super Heavy tanks (Curt, I believe these monsters are worth 5 or 6 pts?) : 10 or 12 pts

6 "guns" (dreadnoughts) : 6 pts

So a total of 54 (52?) pts to add to my total, and my first foray into the 30K duel! Horus for Hope!