Woehammer Take ‘Tale of Four Gamers’ into the world of Legion Imperialis with a special guest star!
Legion Imperialis
Legion Imperialis is a small scale (ie tiny models) where you can: “Play out huge, cinematic games set in the Horus Heresy, where the full might of the Space Marine Legions clashed in world-shattering internecine conflict.”
it is the spiritual successor to Titan Legions, Space Marine and Epic 40k.
Solar Auxilia
In last month’s Tales of Four Gamers, I decided to grow the Solar Auxilia for Legions Imperialis. As these are small models the key for me was getting them on the table and strictly following the 3 foot rule (that is, the models need to look okay at 3 feet away!)
Pictures – Assembled Models
Grey sprue with Ogryns and Sentinels removed
Paints Used
I wanted something that was easy and repeatable, and so I decided to keep a very limited painting pallet for my Solar Auxilia. So everything is undercoated in black, a very heavy drybrush of Leadbelcher, Mephiston Red, White (Game Color by AV), Talassar Blue, & Balthasar Gold.
And I followed the same logic for bases – Balthasar Gold, Mechanicus Standard Grey, Administratum Grey and Nuln Oil, with Abbadon Black base rims
Pictures – Finished Models
What is next?
The Solar Auxilia have lots of great tanks, which can often out-fight the tanks of the Space Marine legions… but I am going to stick with the infantry for a while. The infantry take time to paint, and – because of their size – I find them more difficult also.
So I will be painting a Solar Auxilia Infantry box (RRP £31.50) in August to keep going with the painting.
I also have a second deadline to work towards – I am joining a group of friends at Warhammer World in October, and have arra
nged a game of Legions Imperialis… so I’d best have some models ready. I work much better with deadlines, so I hope this will help.
— Declan and Eeyore
Peter – Imperial Fists
So my starting force is all painted up. It also includes a converted Sigismund at 10mm scale made by the awesome Mattie of LItbashing.
I recommend painting the minis on the sprue and then glueing them to the bases. Its far easier than building up a bade of models and then attempting to get a brush between them.
Based them all in chaos black spray and then gave them all a base coat of Averlund. I then drybrushed a little Yriel yellow and shaded with Agrax Earthshade before picking out details in Mephiston Red and Abaddon Black.
What’s Next?
I’ve some flyers I’ve got my eye on to provide some tasty air support for the next update. I also need to get my first game in with the starter set. So that’ll be on the agenda between now and next month’s update.
Dave
Dave is still deciding on which Legion to go with and his colour scheme. Helpfully we’ll hear from him next month.
Woehammer Take ‘Tale of Four Gamers’ into the world of Legion Imperialis with a special guest star!
We’re joined by Mattie from LItbashing for our new series of Tale of Four Gamers. Mattie is an incredibly talented hobbyist and I urge you to check out and subscribe to their YouTube channel, especially if you’re a fan of Legions Imperialis.
Rules
The rules of this ‘Tale’ are fairly simple, we all start with half of the starter set and build it up by 250pts every couple of months.
Legion Imperialis
Legion Imperialis is a small scale (ie tiny models) where you can: “Play out huge, cinematic games set in the Horus Heresy, where the full might of the Space Marine Legions clashed in world-shattering internecine conflict.”
it is the spiritual successor to Titan Legions, Space Marine and Epic 40k.
Solar Auxilia
When Peter told us he wanted to do a Tale of Four Gamers for Woehammer, I was happy to jump on board but the first decision was what to play. I love tiny models played over vast terrain (hence Warmaster), and so I suggested something under 10mm. Peter was kind enough to oblige and noted that he, Dave & I have unpainted starter sets for Legions Imperialis … which perfectly fit the bill. And when Mattie agreed to join us as our fourth gamer we were ready to go.
But what to paint. The starter set gave 2 options: Legions (Space Marines) or Solar Auxilia. I know Peter was going to do Space Marines, and I had already painted up mine as Blood Angels… but I needed something to spur me to start the Solar Auxilia. So here was that opportunity, and I volunteered to take the Solar Auxilia and paint them up.
Starter Set
The Legions Imperialis Starter Set comes crammed full of lots of toys.
Legions Imperialis Starter Set – Games Workshop
And having decided to paint the Solar Auxilia I needed to decide on what colours to use.
Colour Scheme
With small models, I knew I wanted something simple, so I plan to use a very limited pallate for the models. The bases will be painted in the same way as my Blood Angels (Mechanicus Standard Grey, Balthasar Gold, Administratum Grey)… but how to paint the models?
The soldiers need to be painted on sprue to make it easier, so undercoat black (to hide any errors), and then heavy drybrush of Leadbelcher (to get the silver down). Colours would be provided by Balthasar Gold, Mephiston Red, and Game Colour White (because the Games Workshop whites are very chalky).
White and Red would be a challenge, but I want the army to stand out and be clearly visible when playing amongst terrain and so this fitted the bill perfectly.
Unlike the Space Marines, the Solar Auxilia portion of the box can fit into 1 Sub Cohort – with a Command model spare.
Buying a Box?
This is a permanent fixture in the Games Workshop catalogue now, but it can be a bit difficult to get at FLGS. But do ask at your local FLGS or buy the models you want with our affiliate link with Element Games.
Next Month
Army chosen, colour scheme ready, army list written, and box set bought – a good first month for Tale of Four Gamers. Next month I aim to have all this painted and be planning my next addition to the army.
— Declan and Eeyore
Imperial Fists
It took me quite a while to settle on an army I was happy with (as the others will attest to!) as I wanted an army that was aesthetically pleasing to me. I thought about a number of options, a homebrew Solar Auxilia group, Mechanicum, Alpha Legion, Iron Warriors… but eventually plumped for the Imperial Fists. I wanted something to stand out on the tabletop and painting yellow really appealed to me at this scale (yeah, I’m weird I know!).
It wouldn’t be the standard Imperial Fist scheme as I decided to have a little more black in there to break the scheme up a little more. So each marine would have a black backpack and their left pauldron in black as well. I’ve not decided on a battalion or company number yet, but I’m sure that’ll come to me in time.
This is the Space Marine half of the Legions Imperialis Starter Set. It’s great value for money when you’re starting out, especially if you can split the box with a friend as there’s two roughly equal sized forces in the box. Ask at your local FLGS or our affiliate links with Element Games (£106.25), or Frontline Gaming ($178.50 USA). This is £125.00 RRP.
I’m a complete noob to Imperialis, though I did play Epic Space Marine, long, long ago. Back in those days, I had a Salamanders army, not because I had some great love for them. It was just the spray paint we had in the garage! Later, I expanded into Chaos, and they were all red for similar reasons.
Starting out in LI seems a bit daunting to me. The miniatures are very tiny for my ancient eyes, and I am pretty unfamiliar with the rules, too. I decided to start with Space Marines because I thought they had quite a fun looking range and just seemed quite cool.
I sold off the Solar Auxilia half to help fund more marines for later in the project, I realise I could have allies, but I fancy focusing on the Space Marines to start with.
What I have really struggled with is deciding which Space Marine faction to go for. Pete has chosen loyalists, so I decided I would go traitors to have some fun themed games in the future. Initially, I liked the idea of Alpha Legion, but it seemed that they might be a bit strong, and I wasn’t sure that they fit the way I wanted to play. I painted up some test models for Night Lords…… but found it hard to tell what they were at the small scale. I then thought about Iron Warriors, great adversaries for Pete’s Imperial Fists, but I baulked at the idea of painting teeny tiny hazard stripes. So, looking back into the dim and distant past…. in third edition Warhammer 40000, I had a Word Bearer army (some pictured here rebased for Kill Team), and I have decided to recreate them in their Horus Heresy glory in LI scale.
Say what you like but the Word Bearers have some great character and great characters, and they are fantastic bad guys! All of my Word Bearers from that army were painted in the red associated with the Gal Vorbak in Horus Heresy, this recreation would be in the charcoal(ish?) grey but I intend to paint up some assault units in red and potentially do some minor conversions if I am feeling brave.
I have a lot to do for next month, I have ummed and aahed for quite some time, but now I have settled on a faction. I am feeling quite fired up for them !.
So, look out Pete, my Word Bearers are coming to save your soul!
On it’s release I bought the starter set for Legion Imperialis and the Space Marine Infantry have been in a partial state of painting since.. so this week I started (and finished) them. So back to our occasional series: How to Paint Legions Imperialis Blood Angels.
Legion Imperialis
Legion Imperialis is a small scale (ie tiny models) where you can: “Play out huge, cinematic games set in the Horus Heresy, where the full might of the Space Marine Legions clashed in world-shattering internecine conflict.”
it is the spiritual successor to Titan Legions, Space Marine and Epic 40k.
Blood Angels
There are already a lot of possible armies to play in Legion Imperialis although 18 of them are Space Marines! I have chosen to paint mine as Blood Angels as this is my army in Horus Heresy (28mm) and Warhammer 40k.
They are known for their close combat abilities but for this I have painted up the troops in the Legion Astartes: Infantry box set – except the Contemptor Dreadnoughts. In Legion Imperialis the Blood Angels can (sometimes) fight twice in close combat.
Pictures
8 Tactical Legionairres
2 Plasma Tactical Support Legionaries & 2 Missile Launcher Heavy Support Legionaries
2 Legion Terminators & 2 Assault Marines
2 Legion Command
Blood Angel Infantry
How do they play?
Legion (Space Marine) armies in Legion Imperialis have some tough options and some great infantry. The Tacticals are very difficult to move from buildings (although destroying the building is a great option), whilst the Missile Launchers have two firing modes giving great versatility.
The Terminators and Assault Marines play best into the Blood Angels special rule. Fight twice (sometimes). And the Deep Strike for the Terminators is a great way to get them near the enemy. But be careful – Deep Strike is dangerous in Legions Imperialis.
But, if you are expecting this to take a lot of points… then think again. Infantry is cheap in LI… so all this is a little less than 200 points. The suggested game is 3,000 points so there’s a lot more to get.
Paints Used
Blood Angels are red – even in Horus Heresy. So I’ve gone for a scheme using Mephiston Red as the base. This makes a little more towards 40k, than to 30k (where they should be a little more vermillion). However I have followed the same paint scheme as my Horus Heresy 28mm army.
When painting infantry in Legion Imperialis I do – where possible – paint on the sprue. And so I have done this for all these models.
Starting with an undercoat of Black, and then drybrush the entire sprue Leadbelcher. It’s then time to pick out the armour, and for my Blood Angels this meant Mephiston Red. As they are Legion (Space Marines) there is a lot of armour so the models are very red!
I then pick out the details – Abaddon Black for the cloths, Retributor Armour for elites & leaders, and Apothecary White for the Apothecary.
The bases are simple and two tone. They are painted with Balthasar Gold and Mechanicus Standard Grey. Given a wash of Agrax Earthshade. And then the Grey is redone with a highlight of Administratrum Grey.
So that’s How to Paint Legions Imperialis Blood Angels — graphic below.
Buying a Box?
This is a permanent fixture in the Games Workshop catalogue now. The box above is a ‘Legion Astartes Infantry’ box set. It also includes 4 Contemptor Dreadnoughts (not painted above). That all means – ask at your local FLGS or our affiliate links with Element Games, or Frontline Gaming (USA). They are £31.50 RRP.
Like many at Woehammer, I’ve been hit with the Imperialis bug. Being a child of the 80s & and 90s, I have strong memories of its predecessors, Space Marine and Epic. So there was no chance I wasn’t going to be getting involved with the latest iteration!
I’ve collected Blood Angels since the 2nd Edition 40k box hit the shelves. The Box art of that edition really appealed to me, and I was instantly in love with the Space Vampires.
However, for Imperialis, I wanted something that would ‘pop’ a little more on the tabletop and a Legion that has a fair bit of character. I decided early on this would be the Imperial Fists. After all, who doesn’t love painting yellow?
Credit: Games Workshop
Though, you don’t have to go with the traditional colours of the Legion you’ve chosen. GW, as always have supplied many examples in their various Heresy books of individual companies within a Legion having their own paint scheme. With sometimes hundreds of companies to each Legion, it’s no stretch to make up your own colour scheme and head cannon to your own force.
In the end, though, I did plump for the yellow and decided I (like many others) would paint them on the Sprue.
I started by spraying the sprues with Greyseer and then applied Averland Sunset to all the Marines.
I used a watered down Agrax over the top of this and did a light dry brush of Yriel Yellow. Then, it was a case of painting in the blacks, reds, and metals. None of these colours I shaded or highlighted as doing this on 100 8mm models is unfeasible!
With them all painted, I cut them from the sprues and glued them to the bases. I used the GW dark base recipe as shown on their YouTubes.
With all those Marines you also get a few spare, and having painted them up I applied them to the base of one of my Warhound Titans (along with a mini of the month Rhino which I chopped up to look destroyed).
You may be struggling to find good examples of conversions and paint jobs for Imperialis, but one YouTube channel I’ve found really useful is LItbashing. Mattie only uses GW parts from the sprues or greenstuff, and as you can see below, there’s plenty of opportunity for creating those characters from the books.
I was lucky enough to be able to look at the Imperialis sprues this week, and even put together a couple of the Sicaran tanks!
As you can see, these boys are tiny! But the sprues and build are immaculate. There were no visible mould lines, and the details to the minis are incredible!
The two Sicaran tanks I put together were built from 15 pieces, but they all went together with no problem at all.
My favourite aspect of the build was that each Sicaran tank came with a spare turret so that you could build both weapon options for both tanks. Well done GW! With a 2mm magnet to keep them in place, they’d be even better.
I’m very much looking forward to getting my hands on the boxed set of these and going to town with them!
For those worried about painting such a small scale, I’ll have a guide out shortly after the release, which will go into how easy painting smaller scale miniatures are compared to their larger cousins!
On top of the tanks you get tonnes of troops in the box! The troops have been designed to fit on the sprue so that you can paint them before you remove them. Almost all the troops come as a single piece model and the connection to the sprue is usually at the bottom of their base.
I’ve pre-ordered my copy of the boxed set and can’t wait to get cracking with a legion of Imperial Fists.
