The Opus: Design, Assembly and Fiction

The completed model before priming

This post opens with an excerpt - well, a fragment written out of order - of a novel I want to write detailing the Ophidian Crusade against the Five Fingers of the Hand of Mag'ladroth, and the whole history of Danforth, Alicia, Shania and the Order of Our Crystal Lady in flashbacks. This introduces Perry and the Opus, Danforth's personal transport . . . a model which I am building and of which some pictures (and instructions on how to do the conversion yourself) appear after the story (or, if you are impatient, you can jump ahead to the conversion description by clicking here).

But I hope you will stay; I make no apologies for the length of this fiction - first, this is my blog :) But, secondly and perhaps more importantly, it is the background and story which attracts me to 40k (you can see this in the large number of history & background posts and the small number of completed models in the painting & modelling posts!) To me, my models are a reflection of the narrative I am creating.

While this WIP / tutorial is useful if you want to make exactly this model (which some people in an FB group I am in have expressed an interest in) they are also useful for the simple conversion of making the Corvus wider - another interesting conversion because the vehicle is, according to many, woefully undersized.

The starboard hangar of La Pucelle was a hive of activity, shouted commands, invectives, instructions, orders and camaraderie cutting through the promethum-haze. I ducked my head under the arch’s apex as I exited the chapel-like exterior of the Sororitas lander. I straightened and set my hat back on my head as Alicia stepped to the deck and stood beside me with a fair purr of servos. “You hungry?” she asked. “Place aft of forty-five on nineteen does a decent protein scramble and recaf.”

I shook my head. “I’m good, thanks.” I felt Alicia’s surprise - combat normally made me hungry - but the revelations in the suicidal tarot had troubled me, stirring aching memories of Anastacia more than worries, if the truth be told. I looked across the crowded deck, a line of sight opening for me like an alleyway. A deck officer - blonde and severely beautiful, braided hair lacquered beneath her peaked cap and her figure too-much for the fatigues to hide - was barking orders at a pair of scruffy pilots. They snapped and I stirred to attention.

She was not Anastacia, but she would do.

Alicia followed my gaze. She made the sign of the Aquila - warding and warning - and snorted. “You can get something delivered to her quarters,” she said with disgust. She bulled her way across the deck, the metallic stomp of her feet and the sweep of her wedge-armored shoulders cutting a respectful path.

I walked myself; toward the substitute, but my path took me past Perry and the Opus. She was kneeling by the landing gear, her slim hands busy with tools. She was still wearing her immaculate flightsuit under greasy overalls. As I approached, she turned and acknowledged me with a quick Aquila.

“How’s it going, Per?” I asked. She gave me a thumbs up. “She’s good - any damage?” She held her finger and thumb narrowly apart. “If you need help, I can . . .” She shook her head. “If you’re sure . . .” She nodded. “Alright. Well, be seeing you. The Emperor protects.”

She turned to me, actually set down the magspanner, beamed. “The Emperor protects,” she agreed.

Peregrine - Perry, Per - had come into my service during the waning days of the Indomitus Crusade. A scrawny urchin with a ragged pixie cut of adamantium-blonde hair, we had met while mutually incarcerated in the holding cell of Laertes spaceport on Ophelia VII. My presence was down to just one of the undercover parts of a complicated operation that was not nearly as exciting as you would think. She was there because Navy security had arrested her for (their words) “spying and snooping” at the Thunderbolts and Avengers hangared beyond the interdict line. She had refused - again, their words - to answer questions, only telling them “pilgrimage” when asked what she was doing and calling herself “pilgrim”.

She would have been an impish, elfin creature - diminutive and skinny, with glassbird-delicate bones and expressive eyes as wide and blue as a Cherenkov rift - but for the fact she was so laconic she could have fought in the Peloponnesian Rebellion. Then again, she might have done; she never said. That's kind of the point I am making; she said practically nothing, only speaking when simple gestures could not answer my questions. Her mind was not shuttered, but neither did it gape whorishly open - hers was a careful, route-smart, self-reliant and wary intellect ill-used by the galaxy. Despite my professional inqusitiveness, I let her keep her secrets until we escaped. I returned the favor, of course - she had no idea I was an Inquisitor until we were extra-atmospheric in a stolen (their words; I - as an Inquisitor - prefer requisitioned) Aquila lander.

She was a natural pilot - phenomenally skilled, even in the unfamiliar craft - but she nearly sent it into a tailspin when I told her. “Hand of Him-On-Earth, hand of Him-On-Earth,” she kept repeating, over and over again. “Mercy on one who has consorted with xenos. Execute me with justice but I beg you do not send me back.” A score of words, but it was the most I have ever heard her say.

She had been gue’vesa. Her ancestors - grandfathers and -mothers several greats removed - had been part of the Damocles Crusade, sacrificed to the xenos by Kryptman’s pragmatism. For generations, they had bent knees and shown throats to the perfidious T’au, betraying their species by accepting the so-called “greater good”. Their masters had let their slaves keep their religion, but had blunted it with careful control, systematically suppressing triumphalist doctrines and snuffing out even the smallest spark of the flame of humanity.

Perry had somehow slipped through their net. The xenos insisted their charges speak their degenerate pidgin and printed expurgated and bowdlerized pamphlets for use during worship, but her family had retained - perhaps without realizing what they were - a few yellowing copies of common Astra Militarium texts; the Uplifting Primer, Lives of the Saints, even a copy of the Lectitio Divinitatus. Perry had devoured them, learning Gothic from her grandparents so she could read beneath the blankets of her cot after lights-out.

The texts did their work on her better than they did on whole regiments of the Guard; she saw the teaching the gue’vesa received for what it was - heretical propaganda - and rejected the false xenos ideology of the Greater Good. Intelligent and patient enough to realize those descended through generations of indoctrination from cowards and traitors would never come to love the Imperium as she did, she bided her time and planned her escape.

She became a dutiful worker, a model slave, quick and quiet in her obedience. With the right attitude and a mind like a sponge, her aptitude overcame alien prejudice and she caught the eye of an Earth-caste aerodynamicist and became his apprentice in all but name, learning everything she could of aeronautical engineering. She jockeyed within his organization, edging out other underlings for prime positions and becoming indispensable to him. He indulged her, giving her greater access to his work, granting her more authority and autonomy.

If you think the fact she left him with a knife in his heart and his manufactorum in flames shows ingratitude or cruelty, you don’t understand the perfidy of the alien, the vileness of the xenos. Nor do you understand what Perry - a mere girl raised by aliens amid heretics and traitors - understood almost from the moment she could walk; that the manifest destiny of humanity is to rule the galaxy and that all who stand in the way of the Emperor’s vision must be crushed.

She became part of my entourage then, joining us on La Pucelle and dividing her time equally between the chapel and a large workshop just off the hangar deck that was the only luxury she ever asked of me. She must have had a name - her parents probably gave her one, and if they didn’t the T’au would have - but she shook her head when we asked. It was Wayland who realized why; that would be in the T’au language and reminded her of slavery and oppression. He took to calling her “Pilgrim” or - in the Martian-accented High Gothic the Primaris Council preferred - Peregrine. She smiled and gave a thumbs-up of thanks, introducing herself in that manner - or, rather, pointing at herself and saying “Per” when the other said his name.

She and Wayland became fast friends, communicating less with words or even gestures and more just in the shared language of design and engineering. She allowed the Salamander into her sanctum, securing the doors with maglocks of her own design, encrypted with equations outside of Imperial mathematics and which my Rosette’s omniclavis could not open. She confronted me about that once, simply saying “just ask”. I never did.

What we did ask her when we met for meals in the refectory was just what she was doing in there. “Work,” she told us, and then tucked into plain, honest, Imperial food with a gusto that belied her waif-like appearance. We joked about it - Perry’s Work. She was so taciturn - to her, Imperial Gothic was a sacred language, the tongue of not her liberators, but the utopia she had struggled her whole life to be part of, and so to waste words of it was tantamount to heresy - and so reverential when she spoke of “the work” it became an inside joke. We started to refer to it in High Gothic; Opus Peregrinas.

Eventually, she and Wayland revealed “the work” - a gift to me, to all of us, really. An air-to-ground attack aircraft and dropship, built to insert myself and my chosen strikeforce into the heart of a warzone. It was her design, a reinterpretation of STC blueprints she had requisitioned using the authority I’d given her as an Inquisitor’s personal engineer. It was a blocky but sleek piece of reverse-engineered tech-heresy, a violation of the Mechanicus’ stranglehold on technology. She had learned her discipline at an alien workbench and saw no reason to offer incense to anything except the Emperor. It was skinned in raw adamantium, a gleaming silver brick with looming wings, studded with weapons, countermeasures, sensors and VTOL thrusters, a pragmatic monster of a craft. The only concessions to Imperial whimsy were ceramite rosettes bolted to the tails and doors, and a gilded version of the same writ large on the dorsal surface.

Perry came to my elbow. She had a bottle of wine in one hand and a pot of black intumescent paint with a liner brush stuck in it. The wine was from my own cellar, and the purpose of it and the paint were clear to me - she wanted me to name the vessel; painting the appellation on and breaking the bottle against the hull. It was obvious to me. “What else?” I explained, painting the name on the prow and smashing the bottle into a thousand foaming fragments against the assault ramp.

Tinkling pieces of glass dripped from the ceramite scroll, the name Opus Peregrinas peering through the rivulets of wine.

Alright, still here? On to the pictures!

I wanted to create a special transport for my Inquisitor, Danforth Laertes. In MY house rules for Inquisition warbands I allowed a whole warband to take the Authority of the Inquisition rule which lets them board any <IMPERIUM> transport, and allowed the warband to take any <IMPERIUM> transport. So, I had a wide range to choose from. The obvious one was the Corvus Blackstar of the Deathwatch, which has the advantage of looking awesome and also being covered in many Inquisition symbols.

The problem with the Corvus, or so pretty much everyone on the internet said, was that it was too small. GW transports have always been undersized, but this one was particularly egregious they said. Also, just fielding a regular Corvus and saying it was an Ordo Hereticus Inquisitor's ride seemed like a bit of a cop out.

So, I looked around the GW range and found the Stormwolf, the Space Wolves flying assault boat. Actually, I found the Stormwolf's wedge-shaped front assault bay - I really, really like that look on vehicles and thought it would work well on the Corvus if I could make it fit.

I scoured the internet for pictures of the two models which would give me an idea of scale - there weren't many of them, and none that allowed me to see the two of them side by side but I thought I could make it work. I made a bitz order on eBay and got the Stormwolf components I would need (I didn't need the whole kit) and also bought a Corvus. I reasoned I could, once I had the pieces in my hands, hold them up to each other and carefully measure and decide if this was going to work.

The major components cut out and being placed against each other

Drawing on the blueprints to see what it might look like

I measured carefully and did math (because the blueprints at the back of the instructions are not 1:1 scale) and drew some mockups. It looked as if it might fit, but then I realized making a cardboard mockup would be easy and would give me a better idea.

Cardboard FTW!

The mockup looked good and so I resolved to actually start hacking plastic up. I first cleaned off the Space Wolf iconography from the parts I would be using and used plasticard to cover the gaps. Then I turned my attention to the Corvus itself . . .

Something that was very clear was that the main body of the Corvus would be too narrow to support the Stormwolf prow. I had been fortunate to have bought a bag full of random Space Marine flier pieces from eBay, and digging through that I found an engine assembly. With various mounting plugs trimmed off, it was 20mm wide - so I resolved to add 20mm to the width of the vehicle. I assembled the rear engines and cut them in half, inserting the new engine in the middle. I split the ventral piece of the hull in to three and added plasticard bracing so I could space it out.

I cut 10mm strips of 2mm thick plasticard and used them to rebuild the armor plates on the ventral surface. There is an angled section that required shorter strips and sanding (note; a lot of this was not visible in the final piece - I did not know exactly where the troop bay would mate with the fuselage, so I was doing more work than I really needed, but it did make the final piece stronger so was worthwhile).

I assembled the two tail sections and glued them on, attaching the sides of the ventral piece to the widened central section and glued it all together.

I cut the sides of the dorsal surface off. This was marginally more complex as the cutline needed to follow the designs embossed on the hull.

I assembled each wing and attached them to dorsal side pieces, and then attached those to the fuselage (the wings being in place made it much easier to get it all in position with the central dorsal section removed).

An underside shot of the build at this stage.

Underside shot from a different angle.

I now had to bite the bullet and cut the Stormwolf troop bay so it would fit on the fuselage. I cut it just aft and dorsal of the door jambs, leaving me with a little ledge to attach plasticard to. The above picture is with things taped in place to see how they fit.

The above picture shows where I had to glue a section I cut off from the dorsal plate of the troop bay back on; I'd shortened it too much for what I wanted. The sides of the troop bay would mate with the fuselage about a third of the way onto the spaces for the front doors with the Inquisition symbol on; I wanted to use those pieces but couldn't in that case. What I did was move the troop bay forward so I could mount them on to plasticard panels I used to extend the troop bay backwards. I also built a T-shaped bracer piece to hold the troop bay on the dorsal side (on the ventral side, it was securely glued in place).

The image above it shows the side doors glued in place (I cut the lights and controls off the side) and with the dorsal plate just resting in place.

The dorsal plate is secured to the bracers at the front, which bridge the gap between the side panels, and to the engine at the rear. The other bracers are just attached to the dorsal plate and provide support for the additional armor panels.

A three-quarter shot of the ship

Here you can see the small sockets built either side of the cockpit, which will house lascannons

A similar shot to one made before, but this time showing the dorsal plate glued in place.

You can also see some additional control surfaces glued onto the cowling of the central engine

Rear view, showing the engines and also a rear plate made from a Stormwolf component

Underside, showing how much of the earlier work bridging gaps was covered by the troop bay.

A spare piece from the Corvus was used to cover its flying stand socket; the one from the Stormwolf would be used.

Not visible is another X cut in the inner hull to allow the flying stand to fit deeply.

With that, the bulk of the work was done - the only things left were weapons and some details.

I had some assault cannons in the pile of flier bits, and assembled them. I had seen a conversion online of the Corvus where the hurricane bolters were mounted ventrally, rather than spoiling the dorsal Inquisition symbol. To make that really work, I needed to flip around the bolters and with come cutting and filing I did that.

Frontal view of the completed ship

Three-quarter view of the completed ship

A lot of little things done, but no pictures of the process! I attached the weapons, including lascannons in the sockets. I filled various gaps, added some pieces to make (stowed) landing gear at the front of the troop bay, and detailed the dorsal surface with plasticard and bits. I cut plasticard panels to detail the forward-facing spaces where the doors had previously been, and attached searchlight pieces to them.

And that, is that! A long blog post, with lots of pictures, but I hope there is something interesting or useful here. The earlier stages where I widened the Corvus show this can be done relatively easily - the only components needed are an engine from a Space Marine flier and a bunch of plasticard (I used 2mm thick as it is strong and a similar thickness to the Corvus kit). Maybe some of you will want to use that method.

I've primed the model black, and will be spraying it silver and then deciding what colors to paint it in addition to that! Watch this space!

=][= Danforth Laertes

"Heroes & Heretics" Tabletop RPG

I don't have many opportunities to play Warhammer 40,000 and (as can be seen by the low number of painting & modelling posts!) I don't paint as much as I should. Obviously, the background and lore of the 40K universe is where my interest really lies - and a good way of immersing yourself in that (in addition to writing history & background) is with a good old-fashioned tabletop roleplaying game! So, here is a post about the game I ran, and some thoughts on game design and playing philosophy!

A group of friends were starting a Dungeons & Dragons game and some others, who hadn't really played RPGs before, were interested. So, I offered to run a game - my plan was to do a bit of bait-and-switch, with the gameworld being a late-medieval / early-renaissance setting but this to actually be a backwater planet of the Imperium of Man and have the wider galaxy be gradually revealed! So, the players would be "classic" RPG characters (rangers, knights, warriors etc.) in a futuristic world.

Rather than use an existing ruleset, I modified a ruleset I had written about a decade before for a game called Gotham Knights (a DC comic-book hero game). That ruleset was based on Decipher's CODA system (used for the movie-tie-in Lord of the Rings game and - I believe - a Star Trek RPG), but was both stripped-down and also added in some mechanics from other game systems.

For the 40K ruleset (which I decided to call Heroes & Heretics in the alliterative mode of Dungeons & Dragons and others!) I stripped down Gotham Knights even further, pretty much everything except Attributes and Abilities.

You can read the rules here (this is a Google doc, and so will be updated as I make changes to it - it is a "living document" and experience in running the game will necessitate changes and clarifications) and read the 40K setting specific rules here. Feel free to leave feedback in the comments on this blog post - I'd love to see what you think - and if you run a game of it, please let me know!

A few notes on my design philosophy; I've run a lot of RPGs in my time (and played more) and, while complex systems with many special and specific rules for classes, races, feats, etc. etc. provide a lot of detail and can be fun, they can also distract from what I think is the most important part of an RPG - telling an interactive story. To my mind, ten minutes spent flipping through three different books to find all the relevant rules which culminates in knowing it is a +2 rather than a +1 is wasted time; a competent GM could have just decided that in a second; at the end of the day, remaining immersed in the narrative rather than being pulled out of it is worth minor inconsistencies or a lack of realism.

Furthermore, I long ago came to believe the shelf-full of books RPG companies produce serve only one purpose - to sustain their business model. A good RPG (with an imaginative GM and players) can be run from the core book - that should contain the rules for the game, rules for players and foes, and the gameworld background. Books of additional rules or classes or magic etc. can be fun - but they gradually become more and more niche and more and more specific. I understand why companies produce them; RPGs are (in theory) an inexpensive hobby . . .

Image h/t "The Jungle" Facebook page

. . . so the companies producing them need to make supplements to keep the business afloat. They need new products because people only need to buy one of anything - they do not consume the product. This explains, in some measure, why RPG companies go to the wall - there comes a point where the majority of players simply say "I've got enough books and I do not need the latest, exceptionally niche, handbook".

So, I made Heroes & Heretics exceedingly simple. There aren't rules for "edges" or "flaws" or special abilities. There are no classes, no races. The subtleties of different weapons are smoothed away - how big is it, and is it sharp? Armor is light or heavy - there is no difference between chainmail or plate or lamellar except in appearance.

I also wanted to reflect my gaming philosophy in the ruleset; while the kind of game you run (or story you tell) is set by the GM (it is hack-and-slash, mystery, horror?) the ruleset has a significant impact on that. A game with highly realistic rules for injury (including infection, bleeding out and permanent injuries) plays very differently from a game with simple hit-points that are recovered very easily. Similarly, a game with complicated skill trees or similar plays very differently for one with a generic "Knowledge: Science" stat.

In addition to wanting games that are simple to play (so you can spend more energy on telling the story) I like games about heroes; good people doing good things in a bad universe. I like games where heroes do dramatic heroic deeds, where they can defeat hordes of faceless enemies but struggle against the "end of level boss" so to speak. Heroes should not die unless they sacrifice themselves - the story is about them! In many ways, the Marvel Cinematic Universe is the perfect exemplar of this - the interest comes from the heroes' internal conflicts and dramatic, set-piece battles where they do great deeds but only truly struggle against the grand enemy. Judging by the popularity of these movies, a lot of people agree with me!

Accordingly, I not only designed the game to be easy to play, but also to make the player characters heroes. The central mechanic which achieves this is combat damage; "brutes" (the faceless minions of evil) are taken out of combat with a single hit - don't even waste time rolling for damage! (This mechanic was not my idea originally; I think I borrowed it from Feng Shu.) Additionally, there is no death mechanic - characters (both PC and NPC) are taken out of combat with sufficient damage, but death is determined by the GM according to narrative necessity. I made it very easy to recover from damage so PCs can get back into the game quickly and easily, keeping the story going and sustaining the heroic narrative.

There are also a couple of mechanics I am rather proud of, although I am sure I picked them up from other RPGs.

Characters are built on points - nothing original there, but the points are spent on both Attributes and Abilities. So, there is no issue of a player being able to min-max a character by biasing their expenditure to one or the other; if you are 45 point character, you have 45 points in Attributes and 45 points in Abilities.

The core mechanic is 2d6 + Attribute bonus + Ability score - very simple indeed. This generates a Test Result compared to a Target Number. The Attribute bonus is not the Attribute score, but rather generated with a mathematical formula. The formula is pretty complex, but is based on a triangular number progression (and there is a table to reference so you don't need to do math!) The triangular number progression gives diminishing returns, discouraging min-maxing. Furthermore, the number of actions taken per turn is based on the lowest Attribute bonus, further encouraging even advancement.

The triangular number is used for missile combat, too - which means there is no maximum range, but the chances of hitting drop off dramatically. This philosophy of "no limits but the law of diminishing returns" allows for HUGE power differentials using the same system.

Damage is based on flesh wounds being turned into dramatic wounds; this happens when a Resist Damage check is failed (with the TN being the number of flesh wounds taken). So, it is possible to be hit several times before any "real" damage is done. Additionally, armor does not reduce damage taken but rather adds to resisting damage - so, one takes down an armored target by gradually beating it down. This is unrealistic, of course, but creates a dramatic situation (this mechanic, while likely appearing in other RPGs, was inspired by a Batman comic where Batman is being shot and his dialog suggests his armor works by gradually being worn down!)

I've never been happy with shield mechanics in any other RPG - they are either far too good, or simply not worth having. I made the mechanic simple here - you can generate your TN to be hit using the hand-to-hand combat Ability rather than dodge . .  . allowing characters with shields to gain double benefit from their melee score and avoid having to point so many points into dodge.

Inspired by wanting to run medieval characters alongside futuristic ones, I scaled the game so it modern and futuristic weapons (particularly firearms and armor) can exist alongside older ones. Often, games don't scale well - a game where a character might be killed by a sword should, in all honesty, always have them be killed by a raygun. The damage mechanic (where minions are taken out of combat immediately and where heroes only take at most a single dramatic wound per hit) allows for suitably damaging modern weapons (and suitably effective modern armor) without ruining the heroic setting.

I also designed the game so it could be played without book-keeping during the game; while any game can, in theory, be played with tokens rather than scribbling down running totals of damage or willpower etc. I specifically intended this one to be played this way. That is intended to allow the players to keep immersed in the story, rather than being taken out of it to do math.

I think the first session went well - everyone had fun and "got" the idea of an RPG. The system worked very well and people were not distracted by the mechanics of the game. The reveal of the 40K setting was dramatic (one of the characters was an amnesiac Sister of Battle found in a crater in the forest, who was presumed by the other characters with her "magical" (power) axe and "magical" (power) armor to be an angel of the God-Emperor . . . which isn't far off) and fun. Further sessions will, of course, test the game engine more - but I think it was successful.

Let me know what you think!

=][= Danforth Laertes

Fanon Timeline

As I move the background and history over to my World Anvil page, this timeline is being truncated. Click here for the timeline on World Anvil.


I've been doing a lot of work on history & background for my fanon Order and associated hangers-on (like Danforth and the Athanasians). I made some notes regarding the overall history here but recently I've spent some time developing an actual timeline, which I present here.

This timeline is a work-in-progress, and will return and update it as I change or clarify things. Links within the timeline are either to posts in this blog about the subject or event in question, or external articles (particularly for canon events). Fanon events are shown in bolded italics with canon events shown in normal text. I have avoided great detail in the descriptions; these are just historical highlights rather than exact descriptions.

For dates of canon events, I have used the best information I can find, but have avoided saying "circa", instead presuming all canon dates are potentially inaccurate. Despite recent revelations / retcons of the "current year" (Guilliman discovering it could be early M41 rather than early M42), I have presumed the Thirteenth Black Crusade began in 999.M41 and lasted 112 years to 111.M42. A description of the Imperial dating system can be found here.

mid M36 onwards	The 'Dust Zone becomes more and more heavily industrialized, polluted and cramped. Accommodation zones for the workers (on the outskirts) are encroached on by both the factories expanding and the temple precincts pushing outwards. The Via Imperator itself is left untouched, but the river becomes so polluted with runoff, metal dust and soot it appears metallic and is known as the Steel River.
744.M41	The Silent King returns to the galaxy and begins to awaken the Tomb Worlds to fight the Tyranids. The Seer of Corrinto predicts the Time of Ending; his prophecy is suppressed by the Inquisition but spreads as rumors. Verity decides she has absorbed enough of the Seraph's coils and it is time leave the Crystal Vault.
744 to 750.M41	Explicit veneration of Verity grows in the 'Dust Zone. Initially, the Ecclesiarchy is unconcerned - the cult of Verity is approved and, due to the Via Imperator, widespread. However, the 'Dust Zone cult begins to depart from the norm, with icons being produced showing her as a winged serpent. They attend Ecclesiarchy services, but hold their own additional prayer meetings. A core group of women form, living in community and speaking of Verity as if she were a real person. They advocate for the workers of the 'Dust Zone, starting a school and charitable organs.
750.M41	Rumors that the "Daughters of Verity" cannot lie or be lied to demand an investigation. Ultimately, a charge of heresy is made and the Cardinal of Ophelia convenes a trial. The Ecclesiarch intervenes, adjourning the court, dismissing the charges, declaring the Daughters innocent and elevating them to the rank of Ecclesiarchal Prelature Militant. He grants them the peak of the mountain for their Cloister-Fortress, permitting them to build a chapel around the statue of Verity (and incorporating the pillars).
750.M41 onwards	The Cloister-Fortress and chapel are built and the Order begins formalizing its education and recruitment practices, establishing relationships with the Adeptus Mechanicus of the 'Dust Zone to obtain materiel.
994.M41	Danforth hears rumors about a Sister of Battle who became pregnant and left her child beneath Saint Danforth's statue. He conducts further investigations on Ophelia, accompanied by Anastacia. He confronts Shania who, unable to lie and unwilling to remain silent, tells him the truth (including that he has a twin Sister). Danforth reverts to the name Laertes and confronts Cygnus, executing him. At his trial, he is exonerated of any wrongdoing and elevated to the rank of Inquisitor, assuming responsibilities in the Ophelia sector, frequently accompanied by Alicia (to whom he does not yet reveal her family history). Anastacia is released by Stark and switches to the Ordo Malleus.
998.M41	Third War of Armageddon; Laertes adjudicates the trial of the Athanasians, who become an informal part of his entourage, receiving modified Custodian armor stored within the Crystal Vault from Verity (whom they venerate as a Saint of the Imperial Cult).
999.M41	Thirteenth Black Crusade; the Order is assigned by the Ecclesiarch to defend and police the Ophelia system. Laertes and his entourage remain in the Ophelia Sector for the duration of the fall of Cadia, the Celestinian and Terran Crusades and the rise of the Primarch. Anastacia Ternovnik (newly elevated to the rank of Inquisitor) and Jessica Stark fight in the defense of the Gate - Ternovnik leading her entourage and Grey Knights in surgical strikes against Daemonic positions in the Cadia sector, Stark crushing traitor cells on Cadia. Both are presumed lost.
1st cent.M42	The Noctis Aeterna & the Indomitus Crusade. The Ophelia sector is forced onto the defensive until an arm of the Indomitus Crusade reaches Ophelia, bringing with it the news of the Primarch's return. Guilliman's rejection of cruelty and bureaucracy resonates with Laertes and the Order. They join the Crusade, focused on investigation of Chaos cults rather than pitched battles. Verity is seen more often, utilizing more of the Seraph's abilities. Tensions over her grow.
111.M42	The end of the Indomitus Crusade and the Triumph of Raukos. Guilliman returns to Ultramar to fight in the Plague Wars. A Primaris Council is assigned to the Order. It becomes increasingly clear factions in the Mechanicus, Astartes and Ecclesiarchy are moving against Verity, Laertes and the Order - rumored to be unified behind one who knows Laertes well and bears the rosette of the Inquisition.
Current events	Cryptic pronouncements from the Metatrix and Seraphim, and dire warnings in the Emperor's tarot; "The Fingers of the Dragon's Hand reach out. Mag'ladroth is stirring - soon he will wake." Ternovnik returns, having been taken by Trazyn the Infinite at the climax of the battle for Cadia and, together with her Grey Knights and the Daemons they were fighting, displayed in a prismatic tableau in the galleries on Solemnace. The Necron releases her to bring confirmation and aid to Laertes and the Order; Mag'ladroth's followers will find the Serpents and they will wake the Dragon. The beginning of the Ophidian Crusade. It is during the Ophidian Crusade that Alicia discovers she is Danforth's brother and Shania's daughter.

Let me know what you think!

=][= Danforth Laertes

Plans for 'Post-Rift' Background for the Order of Our Crystal Lady

All of the history & background I have created so-far for the Order of Our Crystal Lady is not only set before the "current time" but was invented by me before the release of the 8th edition with its timeline and lore "advancement" (I haven't written down everything, but I do know what happens!) The question was asked in a Facebook group I am a member of ("what are you doing with your fluff post-rift?" was the way it was formulated) and so I gave some thought to it. Here is a vomiting of unformed thoughts into a blogpost in no particular order!

Firstly, some general thoughts about the setting of 40K. This Dakka-Dakka thread (spoilers!) not only does a good job of summarizing the changes and events in the new setting, but also identifies potential sources of conflict and presents some very well-thought-out theorizing of where things could go. While the changes are significant and open up some very interesting questions and storytelling opportunities, they don't fundamentally change the nature of the setting - the Imperium is still a benighted realm of ignorance and superstition, teetering on the brink of destruction, beset by foes both inside and out. There are new players - Guilliman and Cawl, in the main - but the old players are still there and playing much the same roles. The Emperor is still on the Golden Throne and Abaddon is still making war on the Imperium and the Dragon still slumbers on Mars. Even the new players' presence doesn't detract from that - yes, Guilliman is now effectively running the Imperium but it is a realm of a million worlds (even half-a-million on this side of the Rift) and he cannot possibly have a complete influence. What GW have done with this "advancement" is more expand the setting than actually change it, if that makes sense.

I think I can confidently say major changes - and I am thinking specifically of the death of the Emperor or the fall of Terra or the awakening of the Dragon of Mars (even just the revelation of specifically and explicitly what the Dragon of Mars is) - aren't going to happen in this edition or any edition. The "grimdark mystery" of 40K is something GW aren't going to want to mess with and "five minutes to midnight" is absolutely fundamental to the setting. Everything is going to carry on much as it did before, just with the addition of the new players.

Similarly, any advancement of my Order's background must avoid such dramatic changes (no resurrection of the Emperor!) and must also be able to work within future revelations (whatever they may be). I need to keep my Order's background both in the background and sufficiently vague.

So, bearing all that in mind, here are some things I have decided. Note that these bullet points contain both post-Rift background for my Order, but also notes about events I'd already decided on but not written / published;

• I see no reason to change the background for the foundation of the Order at all; when the Silent King returns to the galaxy and awakens the Tomb Worlds to fight the Tyranids (c. 744.M41), Verity emerges from the Crystal Vault. She has spent the last 10,000 years sequentially freeing and defeating / absorbing "coils" of the Seraph's programming. There is much of the Necron construct left behind code-locks in the Vault, but Verity has absorbed enough of it that she not only possesses much of its power but is aware of the Silent King's call.
• Speaking through visions, locutions and other supernatural phenomena, Verity gathers a small band of female followers from the inhabitants of the 'Dust Zone. The leaders of the Convents and other high-ranking prelates are distrustful of this new group - they claim to follow a saint whom the Ecclesiarchy's intelligentsia believe to be nothing more than a pious fiction, and are also a challenge to existing power structures. However, the Ecclesiarch is sympathetic (rumored to be because Verity visits him) and not only offers them political protection, but also grants them a charter as an Ecclesiarchal Prelature Militant (essentially a Sisters of Battle Minor Order answering directly to him) and gives them part of the Via Imperator for their cloister-fortress.
• As detailed here, the Order of Our Crystal Lady takes as its charism the protection, education and care of the workers in the 'Dust Zone (what was the mountain region surrounding the Via Imperator, the Emperor's edict long-since ignored or forgotten, became). It participates in Crusades with the Convent Sanctorum and performs specific missions for the Ecclesiarch. It also pursues the inscrutable goals of Verity and works closely with the Inquisition, who find the unique (and inexplicable) ability of Daughters of Verity to neither lie nor be lied to useful.
• Three of my major characters - Canoness Shania, Palatine Alicia and Inquisitor Danforth Laertes - were created by me many years ago (when the first iteration of the Thirteenth Black Crusade was being played out in 3rd edition, since retconned away). Then, my intention had been to have them at the peak of their power and influence during the Black Crusade. Alicia - a loyal follower of Laertes and his lover (yes . . .) - was going to be sacrificed by him in a (fruitless) attempt to kill Abaddon (a anvilicious "the Inquisition are heartlessly pragmatic" moment). That aspect of their relationship was (thankfully!) dropped for the new background, but others remained.
• With the advancement of the timeline, I had decided to have the three of them be the leaders of the Order during the Indomitus Crusade, and place the beginnings of Laertes' and Alicia's (who are contemporaries) careers just before the Thirteenth Black Crusade in 999.M41.
• Danforth is an orphan of the 'Dust Zone of Ophelia VII; his family is not known and (as is the policy) he is adopted into the ruling family and given the family name Laertes. He is taught in the Order's schools but manifests psychic powers when he hits puberty, and a literal witch hunt (with pitchforks and torches) chases him through the streets. He is saved from being burned alive by a Sister of the Order called Shania who (because she cannot be lied to) knows the accusations against him are lies; he is certainly psychic but not in league with dangerous powers. She hands him over to the Arbites who pass him to the Black Ships. En route to Terra, he is recruited by the Inquisition.
• During her first action as a Novice, fighting alongside Blood Angels, all of Alicia's squad and the accompanying Marine squad are wiped out by artillery fire with the exception of her and a veteran sergeant. They fight through the enemy forces (in the original background, this was Slaaneshi Marines and corrupted Sisters - but such things are gratuitous and so that will be changed) but he is grievously wounded protecting her. Rather than allow his geneseed to be lost, he orders her to cut it out of him - but the organic tissue cannot survive outside of statis or a living body. She cuts her own flesh open and puts the progenoids inside her. They do not, of course, turn her into a Space Marine or anything ridiculous - these are progenoids, not implants cultured from them; they simply attach themselves to her bloodstream and draw nourishment from it, keeping themselves alive. But geneseed is more than merely biological - it has a psychic component, especially Blood Angels geneseed. Alicia is wracked by visions and temptations - Black Rage visions of fighting Horus and temptations from Ka'bandha to fall to Chaos in exchange for martial skill. She resists these, fights her way through the lines, and returns the progenoids to the Chapter. However, she remains "touched" by Sanguinius - a significant (perhaps the most significant) saint in the Imperial Cult - and so she quickly rises to a position of both military and spiritual leadership in the Order, becoming a very young member of the Palatine Council.
• Laertes serves as an Interrogator for a number of years, rising to the rank of Inquisitor of the Ordo Hereticus around the same time Alicia is made a Palatine (to replace Shania who has been appointed Canoness). His first action is to return to Ophelia VII and all-but-confront Shania - he has uncovered evidence which suggests she is his mother.
• Unable to lie and unwilling to be silent, she confirms this. She was raped when a Postulant by an Inquisitor making use of the Order's unique talents. When accused, he fervently denied it, casting Shania as a slut and whore, but the Order's inability to lie or be lied to means they know the truth. The Ecclesiarch - knowing what Daughters of Verity are capable of - sided with the Order and found it politically expedient to go against the Inquisition at that time. The Inquisitor (unable to be brought to trial by anyone other than a fellow Inquisitor) fled Ophelia. Rather than abort the baby, she brought him to term and handed him over to the orphanage.
• (In terms of age, Shania was raped when she was a young Postulant - sixteen - and gave birth to Danforth when she was 17. Danforth and Alicia are around the same age; she was 18 when she fought alongside the Blood Angels and became a Palatine in her mid 20s which was when Danforth became an Inquisitor, making Shania in her early 40s. Such ages are quite young for 40K - although Eisenhorn is described as being in his 40s in Xenos, and he seems to have been an Inquisitor for a while - but this is justifiable if they are exceptional individuals in a small Order.)
• Danforth leaves Ophelia on Inquisition business, taking Alicia and a detachment of Sisters with him. It is during this period that he encounters the Athanasians. (I will probably edit the background so that the suits of armor worn by the renegade Marines are the ancient suits of Custodian armor trapped inside the Crystal Vault, repaired and modified by Verity . . . who has taken a definite interest in Danforth as a son of the 'Dust Zone and one of her Daughters. It may also be good to set this event during the Third War for Armageddon - many Chapters are represented there.)
• During the Thirteenth Black Crusade, Danforth, the Athansians and the Order are tasked by the Ecclesiarch with policing the 'Dust Zone in particular and the Ophelia system in general - with Chaos on the ascendant, cults and subversive organizations have appeared, and it is vital to the Convent Sanctorum's war effort that not only does materiel keep flowing to Sororitas forces on the front lines, but that sabotage and treachery do not occur. They are far away from the fall of Cadia, the Celestinian and Terran Crusades and the rise of the Primarch.
• They are - along with all the forces of the Ophelia system - forced onto the defensive after the appearance of the Great Rift, defending against Chaos armies. An arm of the Indomitus Crusade comes to Ophelia, bringing relief forces and allowing the Sororitas to drive Chaos back.
• The Indomitus Crusade is too large an undertaking to simply be a single force rampaging through the galaxy - it must be a series of smaller actions and armies, multiple campaigns being mounted, running their course and then new armies being raised (the Crusade is canonically stated to last for more than one hundred years - that is four generations of humans, and so there would be Guardsmen fighting in the Crusade whose grandfathers had not been born when it started!)
• News of the Primarch's return comes to Danforth and the Order - both react positively to what he is doing; Danforth is heavily influenced by the outlook of the Order (a reverence for truth as well as compassion and fairness towards regular citizens) and so Guilliman's rejection of cruelty and bureaucracy resonates with them. They join the Crusade, but more focused on investigation of Chaos cults and so forth rather than pitched battles.
• As the Crusade progresses, Verity is seen more and more often - she has now absorbed enough "coils" of the Seraph that she can now act as it acted during the War in Heaven; it is not just a single war machine, but rather a vast construct capable of producing entire armies of robotic warrior constructs, a lynchpin in the war plan of the one who created it. She adopts larger, more fearsome and more monstrous forms in combat, and creates ever-growing phalanxes of metallic soldiery to send against the enemies of Man.
• The Mechanicus of Ophelia have always suspected this was the case, and have been studying Verity warily and from afar since her first appearance. Now, a faction within the Mechanicus (a faction perhaps connected with Cawl, perhaps the Cult of the Dragon, perhaps both) show a significant interest in her.
• Tensions over Verity grow; she and her legions are clearly recognizable as at least related to Necrons, and it becomes increasingly difficult for the Ecclesiarch to defend the Order. Factions of the Inquisition see it as an opportunity to move against Danforth (who also has enemies within the Astartes because of his support for the Athanasians). Mechanicus factions also want to gain access to / possession of Verity (either to destroy, imprison or study and reverse engineer, depending on their philosophy).
• The Metatrix and Seraphim make more and more cryptic pronouncements, and dire warnings are seen in the Emperor's tarot. "The Fingers of the Dragon's Hand reach out. Mag'ladroth is stirring - soon he will wake." Danforth leads his team to investigate and, after piecing together scraps of information, rumor and fragments of records in sealed Inquisition libraries, realizes the truth.
• The Void Dragon of Mars, Mag'ladroth the C'tan, was imprisoned on Mars by the Emperor in eons past and has slumbered in the Noctis Labyrinth for millennia, its dreams influencing the Mechanicum and then Mechanicus of Mars. Legend tells that this star god's created warriors were nigh-invincible and that they could not be defeated, only driven back or imprisoned.
• Mag'ladroth created the Seven Serpents - insanely sophisticated artificial constructs capable of reforming their software into legions of war machines - to serve as both his generals and armies. A Serpent could form itself into a legion of infantry, a battlefleet of void ships, or a single titanic war engine capable of laying waste to entire planets. A fully-functioning Serpent was more than a match for almost any army that could be brought against it, not only because of its power and strength, but also because its single animating intelligence - which grew and learned at a terrifying rate - could react and control its manifold elements in perfect harmony and without hesitation.
• The Seraph of the Crystal Vault of Ophelia was, of course, one of the Serpents - imprisoned there by the Void Dragon's ancient foes. It had not been truly defeated; instead, its programming had been modified so its software was code-locked into the Vault itself. In her lonely battle against it, imbued with the Emperor's power, Verity had sequentially unlocked its coils, defeating each one and bringing its power under the control of her will and personality.
• Another one of the Serpents had been Asirnoth, the great silver wyrm of Medusa. There, the Old Ones had fragmented the Serpent by editing its network protocols, breaking it into hundreds or thousands of smaller, weaker constructs. These were the relic machine-creatures the Primarch Ferrus Manus of the Iron Hands Legion defeated in the legendary mythohistories of the Medusan people and Iron Hands Astartes, culminating in his final battle with the central code-fragment of the Serpent, the wyrm Asirnoth, which he defeated by holding it a river of magma.
• The location and status of the five remaining Serpents are unknown; but the cryptic pronouncements (there are five "fingers" on a hand) make it clear they are not destroyed. Likely, they are imprisoned or weakened as Asirnoth and the Seraph were. The risk (and goal of Mag'ladroth's followers) is clear - that the Serpents will be freed and brought together, and that Mag'ladroth will be woken from his prison on Mars.
• And so begins the next phase of the Order's life - supported by Danforth and the Athansians, they (supported by the elements of the Ophelian armed forces - including elements of the Mechanius . . . who they might not entirely trust) set out on a crusade to find and destroy the five remaining Serpents of Mag'ladroth, the Fingers of the Dragon's Hand. Guilliman has announced his triumph at the conclusion of the Indomitus Crusade, but all is not well in the Imperium - Cawl's ambition is worrying, and his eagerness to embrace innovation causes great concern. It is possible he is influenced, or will be influenced, or is influencing, the Cult of the Dragon on Mars - and that they, consciously or not, are working to find and release the Serpents. Cawl or other hereteks like him would want to find the Serpents - to study them and learn their secrets. Perhaps some would be foolish enough to want to release Mag'ladroth, not understanding or caring about the dangers posed.
• Further complicating matters is the arrival of a Primaris Council - a group of 18 Marines (drawn from each of the original Legions) - as tactical advisors to the Order and Danforth. These are a post-Indomitus development - perhaps coming directly from Cawl, but details are fragmentary. The idea is that these Marines will both provide tactical advice and learn from the rest of the Imperial war machine - many such Councils have been sent out. But the concern is that they may be spies for Cawl or Guilliman, and the presence of Traitor geneseed is a grave concern (rumors swirl that Guilliman forbade it, but also that Gulliman allowed it, and the plan of Marines from different geneseed working together to avoid rivalries is entirely in keeping with Gulliman's known-policy of the Unnumbered Sons . . .) The Marines of Primaris Council are beginning to show development of personalities reflecting their Primarchs and Legions . . . something which is really weird, because they weren't raised in that environment, and is it really possible that personality is genetic?
• In addition to all this, of course, are tensions between the various factions who do not understand Verity or who are enemies of Danforth.

So those are ALL the notes to bring the background up to speed. As I said, lots of "spoilers" there - and perhaps some will be edited or changed. What I have tried to do is give a clear mission for the Order, a mission that can bring them into conflict or alliance with anyone or everyone ("there is only war!"), and which isn't likely to conflict with future canon. The various tensions and schisms between the different groups in the Imperium won't contradict any of this - the only thing that could do it is the waking of Mag'ladroth . . . which I don't think is going to happen.

And even if it does it doesn't invalidate the Order's mission of trying to find the Serpents - it just means another method was found to wake the Dragon. Even my seeming hard-and-fast declaration that Mag'ladroth = C'tan = Void Dragon = Dragon of Mars isn't insurmountable if contradicted; "Danforth was wrong".

(It wouldn't be the first time.)

Anyway - lots of notes. Let me know what you think!

=][= Danforth Laertes

House Rules for Inquisitorial Warbands

In previous editions of 40K, there were rules for mixed units of Inquisitorial henchmen, designed to represent the ragtag band of heroes, anti-heroes, sidekicks and hangers-on that work with an Inquisitor (for example, Betancourt, Bequin and Amos et al working with Inquisitor Eisenhorn). Under the 8th edition rules, this is not possible - partially because of the new way characters (even previously "squad upgrade", non-independent characters) work in 40K (as individual units), but also because the rules just don't have that degree of granularity currently.

Hopefully, this will change with the Inquisition Codex release - but perhaps not, because 8th edition does seem to be simpler, quicker game and this kind of complexity does make the game more fiddly. These suggested house rules certainly do!

For that reason, these rules are (of course) only to be used in friendly games and with the permission of your opponent. They are intended to allow players to field a characterful and unique Inquisitorial warband, not to gain a massive gaming advantage or create a "death star" unit. Model selection should be made with a view to background and lore - ideally, each model in the warband should have a name and a (short) biography, a reason for why and how he serves the Inquisitor.

An "Inquisitorial Warband" is a new Detachment type, consisting of one compulsory HQ (which must have the INQUISITOR Keyword), one compulsory Elite (which must be a unit of Inquisitorial Acolytes), up to a single Dedicated Transport model with the IMPERIUM Faction Keyword, up to five models selected from Troops, and up to five models selected from Elites. Models selected from Troops and / or Elites must have the IMPERIUM Faction Keyword and the INFANTRY Keyword, and cannot have the FLY or JUMP PACK Keywords. Fulfilling the requirements for this Detachment grants zero Command Points.

The total number of models selected from Troops and / or Elites with the IMPERIUM Faction Keyword cannot exceed the number of models in the Inquisitorial Acolytes unit. The total number of models in the Detachment (including the Inquisitor, but excluding the dedicated transport) cannot exceed 11.

Models selected from Troops and / or Elites are selected as individual models, not as units. Ignore the usual unit composition rules and instead select (any) single model from the chosen unit. You may take any upgrades, weapon choices etc. allowed by the unit's datasheet. You may only choose a single model from any one datasheet. Pay the appropriate points cost as determined by the appendix for that Faction for each model. *

Each model so chosen functions as an individual unit. It retains all its existing rules, Abilities and Keywords, and gains the following Abilities;

Inquisitorial Henchman: All models from the same Detachment with this rule must remain within 2" of that Detachment's Acolyte unit. If the Acolyte unit is destroyed, all models with this Ability from the same Detachment must remain within 2" of another model from the same Detachment with this Ability. This restriction is removed when only a single model with this rule remains from the same Detachment.

"I'm With The Boss": When embarking or embarked on the same Transport as the model with the INQUISITOR Keyword from the same Detachment, the model gains the Ability Authority of the Inquisition.

"Sidekick, not Redshirt": If the model is within 2" of a model with the ACOLYTE Keyword from the same Detachment, it gains the effects of the CHARACTER Keyword in the shooting phase only (i.e. cannot be targeted in the shooting phase unless it is the closest model). It does not gain the CHARACTER Keyword (unless it already has it).

These additional Abilities are designed to both require and allow the models to remain with the Inquisitorial Acolytes unit, while giving them a degree of protection from shooting. Certain models will not be well-served by being included in an Inquisitorial Warband (assassins, for example) and others might not fit the lore very well (Space Marines in particular). The Warband rules are intended to allow the creation of a characterful selection of models, not an overly powerful unit; there are many ways these rules can be abused and players should be sensitive to this. An opponent can not only refuse to allow these rules to be used, but also refuse a particular expression of these rules. I created these rules as a bit of fun, and they should be used as such.

* Obviously, these rules do not work well when designing an army a Power Level. I suppose it would be possible to work out the PR for a single model, but that sort of granularity is better served by points. If you have to use these with Power Levels, it might work to figure the points and then divide them by 20 (which seems to be about the ratio) to get an idea of PR. But that certainly would be a fudge.

Let me know what you think!

=][= Danforth Laertes

"Magdalena" Apostle-Class Knight-Titan pt II: Rules

I'd decided to build a Knight-Titan for my Sisters of Battle army not only before 8th edition was released, but before it was announced. If I had given any thought to gaming with it, I would have fielded it as an allied Knight (as pretty much any Imperial army could do in 7th) using the old workhorse of "count as". Magdalena (a piece of background which I feel is relevant; no-one calls her "Maggie" twice within earshot of a member of the Order . . .) is armed with a power fist and melta weapon; there would be some similar configuration I could field.

In 8th edition, of course, the same could be done - the Knight Errant has a thermal cannon and can upgrade its reaper chainsword for a thunderstrike gauntlet. The Errant's heavy stubber would have to stand in for the anti-infantry torso guns and the heavy flamers on the back of the power fist would just have to be cosmetic and have no in-game effect.

But the unique army construction method of 8th edition gives a different option. The datasheets detail the weapons a model may be armed with and appendices give the costs for those weapons and the basic model in points. It is, theoretically, possible to arm any model in an army with any weapon available to that army (or even any weapon at all) by simply adding up the points.

Of course, some common sense has to be (or maybe should be) applied - vehicle-only weapons shouldn't go on infantry, for example, and the number of weapons should be reasonable. One should also only use weapons from a different Faction whose costs are comparable to those in your Faction (one element of the cost of a weapon is the BS or WS of the model using it). And, naturally, any unique entries so created can only be used in friendly games and with your opponent's permission.

But with all that, it was very easy to come up with the rules and points values for Magdalena. Each of the five Knight classes has an identical profile and special rules - the only difference is in the weapon loadout - and each model has the same points cost (320) in the appendix. A basic Knight "chassis", therefore, has no weapons, the Knight Abilities, and costs 320 points.

Magdalena's weapons loadout is obvious just by looking at her; she has a thunderstrike gauntlet, a thermal cannon, titanic feet, twin heavy flamers on the back of the fist, and torso-mounted anti-infantry guns (which look like overscaled hurricane bolters). The first three weapons are easy to select from the Questor Imperialis appendix - 35pts, 76pts and 0pts respectively. The other two are a little trickier, because they are not standard Knight weapons (and it isn't entirely clear what the torso guns actually are).

I could choose two heavy flamers from the Knight appendix at 17 points each. That would be perfectly WYSIWYG and from the same Faction. But Magdalena is a Sororitas Knight - the background is not that she is seconded or oathsworn to the Sisters, but that she is actually part of their armory. Two heavy flamers are also two separate weapons, capable of firing at two different units under 8th ed rules - that didn't seem entirely reasonable given the weapons' placement.

Instead, I chose to go with an immolation flamer (35pts) from the Sororitas appendix. This is a uniquely Sisters' weapon (not just a twin-linked heavy flamer) and so seemed in character. I reasoned it was fair to use the Sisters' appendix for the points values because Knights and Sisters have the same BS (3+) and so weapons are equally effective. It was also the case that the weapons which appeared in both appendices - heavy flamer and meltagun - were the same points values, suggesting parity.

For the torso guns, I considered using hurricane bolters - that is, after all, what their appearance is inspired by. But that would have meant drawing from a different Faction (Space Marines) and I didn't want to do that. I could have counted them as heavy stubbers but that didn't seem quite right (it is not one of the "holy trinity"). Instead, I reasoned they were basically multi-barreled heavy bolters synchronized to fire together - twin-linked heavy bolters at 17 points.

So, Magdalena points out as follows:

Basic Knight chassis: 320pts
Thunderstrike gauntlet: 35pts
Thermal cannon: 76pts
Titanic feet: 0pts
Immolation flamer: 35pts
Twin heavy bolter: 17pts
TOTAL: 483pts

To calculate Power Rating requires a bit more math, and a degree of fudging. Firstly, I calculated the points cost of each of the five classes of Knight in the Index (basic weapon loadout, no carapace weapon) and compared it to the Power Rating, getting a pts : PR ratio;

Errant: 430pts / 23PR = 18.7 ratio
Paladin: 458pts / 24PR = 19.08 ratio
Warden: 466pts / 25PR = 18.64 ratio
Gallant: 389pts / 21PR = 18.52 ratio
Crusader: 512pts / 27PR = 18.96 ratio
(all ratios rounded to two decimal places)

I then averaged the ratios (getting 18.78) and divided Magdalena's points value by that to get a Power Rating of 25.71. That rounds up to 26, of course, so her pts:PR ratio is 18.58. This gives her the second "worse" ratio (after the Gallant) but the actual variation is minor (a 26PR Knight at the "best" ratio would be 496pts, only 13 points more than she is).

In terms of Keywords, it would be an unfair advantage to change them - the Faction Keywords remain IMPERIUM, QUESTOR IMPERIALIS and <HOUSEHOLD>. The chosen household is, of course, CRYSTAL LADY but there is no synergy between my Sisters' <ORDER> Faction Keyword. My army will be unified by the IMPERIUM Faction Keyword. The non-Faction Keywords of TITANIC and VEHICLE remain, with the individual class of Knight being replaced with KNIGHT APOSTLE.

So that was how I went about using the material in the Indices to create a unique entry for my army. Again, such things are only intended for fun games and with your opponent's permission. But I hope this exercise has not only shown you how I did it, but also encouraged you to consider doing similar things. In 8th edition, we might be seeing a return to the glory days of vehicle design rules and other imaginative, freeform unit creation and army selection!

Let me know what you think!

=][= Danforth Laertes

"Magdalena" Apostle-Class Knight-Titan pt I: Assembly

Although the Sisters of Battle do not have Knights as part of their army list, an allied Knight-Titan is a popular choice. My recent return to painting 40K models after a long hiatus was inspired by the Dreamforge Leviathan Crusader and thinking it would make a great Sisters of Battle Knight-Titan.

The kit has a number of swappable weapons - it comes with a rotary cannon and a large sword. I didn't want those, and so purchased the Mauler Claw (basically a power fist) and the Nova Cannon (which looks very much like a huge melta weapon).

As you can see in this video and those that follow, the Leviathan kit has almost limitless poseabilty (and even comes with little weeny screws!) and can be assembled with swappable weapons and points of articulation. I did not want to do that - I always consider wargaming miniatures to be models, not toys, and such things can easily break. But I also wanted to customize the model significantly, and that would interfere with articulation.

This is the initially assembly. The major change I made was to leave the carapace plate off the top of the torso and replace it with the cap from a fruit-juice bottle (the orange component). I also cut a section out of the chest plate, allowing it to be moved flatter against the torso. This allowed me to move the head (cut down and with a curved rear made from a plumbing piece) from being sunk between the shoulders and instead mount it where a human's head would be, using the bottle-cap as a gorget.

The next images I have jump quite a bit ahead in the process. The weapons have been assembled and attached and I started building the backpack (from spare vehicle armor plates). In these pictures, the armor plates are just taped in place to see what they look like. The tubes leading from the "arc reactor" in the chest (and the backpack pipes) are Lego components. The power fist has been assembled pointing in a meaningful manner - the "Mauler Claw" has virtually all the articulation of a human hand, so this was very easy to do. As the articulating components were all plastic, I fused all the joints with some thin polycement drawn into the gaps by capillary action, and a couple of strategic pins superglued in place.

Maxmini Gothic Backpacks

The inspiration for the backpack came from the Maxmini Gothic Backpacks rather than the Sisters of Battle armor (although I was drawing on that for other armor elements). These are a popular third-party component for Sisters, although perhaps a little overscaled for Sisters' infantry. I kitbashed the original components to make the new exhaust stacks.

She is based on an old terrain piece I had kicking about in my bitz box - the Aquila lander from "Battle for Macragge". I filled the underside with resin and drilled holes for multiple pins.

A brief discussion of what I am trying to achieve seems apropos. While Knight-Titans in 40K have a very distinctive look - quasi-humanoid "beetle-backed" forms with their heads slung between their shoulders, often with structures rising above them - I wanted Magdalena to look different. Specifically, I wanted her to look as much like a Sister of Battle as possible. This is why I moved the head inside a gorget on top of the shoulders. In addition to adding the backpack, I modified the chest - moving it backwards to close-up the over-large void left by removal of the head, but also adding in pipes leading from a central circular detail (rather than a skull icon, I created something that looks a little like an Iron Man "arc reactor"!) I also placed curved armor plates within the void, intended to suggest cleavage revealed by a low-cut neckline (as I have mentioned before, the hyper-femininity of the Sisters' armor is not only justified by essential).

A couple of images which I drew heavily on for various details are reproduced here.

"The Sister of Battle"  by LordHannu

"Sisters of Battle Katrina" by Haxiaowei

Both of these are fan-art pieces, and so differ from the classic Sisters armor - but they each had elements I really liked. The curved hip armor of the upper image was attractive (and worked well with the armor of the Leviathan, which left the hip joint vulnerable). The fleur-de-lis over the belly and the large fleurs on the thigh plates (as well as the sculpted elements on other plates) we something I wanted to reproduce too.

The above images show the next stage of design - and debate about what I was going to do. Initially, I was considering something rising from the center of the backpack (hence the mounting point) but that did not work with the vents. The mounting point was later removed. Similarly, you can see the debate about what weapons she should have mounted in her chest. The heavy-bolters were too large. The missile launchers seemed more visually appropriate. In the end, I used some plastic tube to scratch-build hurricane bolters inspired by Centurions.

The curved hip armor was built by cutting three identical pieces of thin plasticard (from a paper template) and then laminating them together with plastic cement, holding them in a jig to preserve the curve while they dried. I've used this method before, and it works very well indeed. They were simply then glued in place.

Here is the final assembly with base-coats on (the base has been pretty much painted in a dull red with weathering, while she is simply sprayed silver). A lot of components - her head and all the armor - are left off for painting (and, in fact, many of them aren't even finished). You can see where the mounting point on the rear of the backpack has been removed and replaced with a simple "fence"-style ram from the Sisters of Battle sprue.

Painting has got a bit further than this (although not much!) and so there will be further posts. But, for now, let me know what you think!

=][= Danforth Laertes