[mad matt]

Black Templars - Barbarossa Crusade [Techmarine Ludwig Update]

A Black Templars army project
by mad matt





About the project...
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Ever since my early days in tabletop wargaming in the mid nineties I really was somehow addicted to Space Marines. So I always owned several Space Marine projects but never was really satisfied with any of them for a longer period. Mostly that was due to my developing painting and building skills. There were of course some particular chapters I liked more than others and I have to admit the vanilla... I mean Ultramarines were always among them as I really liked the Roman style about them and blue is a friendly colour to paint, I think. Nevertheless Black Templars have been and still are my favourite among the Space Marine chapters. Unfortunately my painting skills could never match my thoughts and ideas of the Templars Chapter so I abandoned a Templars Project of my own again and again.

The big change came in late summer 2010 when I met an incredible Templars painter online and he agreed to paint some Templar minis for me. As he doesn´t live too far away from me (only about 4 hours by car), we met in February 2011 for a painting session and he taught me how to paint Templars in his style. Since then my collection has been growing steadily. Though I have changed the painting techniques he had shown me, the results still are quite similar and I really would like to share my project with you.

I´m looking forward to your reactions, comments and criticism...

So welcome to the Barbarossa Crusade!!!
No Pity! No Remorse! No Fear!

Plans for the Future: How the project will be run...​

As they name tells this Black Templars Army Project is meant to re-enact the Barbarossa Crusade of the Black Templars Chapter. This will be done in various respects:


A: Building up the Crusade (of course):
Except for two Rhinos and one sacred Land Raider Crusader my battleforce will be a droppod only army. Some "vehicle" backup will be given by landspeeders, dreadnoughts and bikes (if you want to call it that way). As I love kitbashing and building Marines, there is quite a shocking amount of infantry and thus an nice backbone for my army (about 50 standard Initiates!!!).
Well, the smaller brother of building miniatures is painting them. Sometimes I can quite enjoy painting, but there´s some time when I hate it, too. I think it´s the challenge of willpower which must be won in order to get a adequately painted mini. The time I enjoy painting most is when I am satisfied with the finished miniature afterwards



B: Creating the background:
As I´ve written elsewhere there is only little official background covering this crusade which was one of the main reasons for me to choose this particular crusade. The reason is, that this way, I have more creative freedom within a certain fixed setting. But in my opinion it was too boring for me just to write down an anthology of that crusade. So I decided to make the fluff a mixture of reports, short stories and scenarios to be played on the table with undefined ending. All in all, we know little about the Crusade, but we know it´s ending. Everything in between is to be created. So this Barbarossa Crusade is morelike a documented campaign, for which a full battleforce is built up. There will always be some homemade scenarios linking the stories, so you could even replay this crusade or just play them for fun´s sake. My friend (who will play the orks in the crusade - some of the nicest orks I´ve ever seen: have a look here! Though it´s German the pics are still lovely. Nuzzgrond´s Waaagh post 4) and I are planning to make full size battlereports about the matches played. Depending on the outcome of the matches we will modify the storyline and thus the scenarios for the next matches. As our forces are stedily growing, the matches will grow to a larger scale as well.
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[mad matt]

Gallery



Emperor´s Champion Swordbrother Ulrich

Painted by my "mentor" Dante77




Reclusiarch Balthasar

Painted by myself




Reclusiarch Eberhart

Painted by my "mentor" Dante77





Senex Antiquus Frater Reclusiarch Rainulf - Venerable Chaplain Dreadnought

Reduced: 86% of original size [ 743 x 700 ] - Click to view full image

Painted by myself




Senex Antiquus Frater Wilhelm - Dreadnought

Painted by myself




Paladin Squad Sigmund

Reduced: 80% of original size [ 800 x 519 ] - Click to view full image

Painted by Dante77 and myself




Paladin Squad Reinhart

Reduced: 62% of original size [ 1024 x 753 ] - Click to view full image

Painted by Dante77 and myself




Paladin Squad Rudolf

Reduced: 62% of original size [ 1024 x 736 ] - Click to view full image

Painted by Dante77 and myself




Paladin Squad Konrad

Reduced: 62% of original size [ 1024 x 723 ] - Click to view full image

Painted by myself




Paladin Assault Squad Volkmar

Reduced: 83% of original size [ 769 x 537 ] - Click to view full image

Painted by myself




Paladin Bike Squad Uriel (WIP)

Painted by myself





Drop Pod 1

Painted by myself​

more to come here soon...

 

[mad matt]

Background​

Official Background


If you want to find out more about the Black Templars Chapter go here...

http://wh40k.lexicanum.de/wiki/Black_Templars​

If you want to find out more about the Barbarossa Crusade go here...

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http://warhammer40k.wikia.com/wiki/T...arossa_Crusade​

Inofficial Background by myself


The Barbarossa Sector

Reduced: 80% of original size [ 800 x 512 ] - Click to view full image

The Barbarossa System is located in the Segmentum Solar and has got four planets. Barbarossa I-III are declared as hostile to any life since the ###permission denied: insufficient authority level###. Barbarossa IV is the only planet of the system still to be inhabited by humans.

Barbarossa is a feudal world of minor importance with low population density only because after ###permission denied: insufficient authority level### many seas have dried out and left behind a dry landscape with few plants and sandy ground. Barbarossa IV is mostly of hot-dry climate.

Barbarossa´s inhabitants mainly live in small villages in simple housings. Religion is of great importance for the people of Barbarossa: They believe the Lord Emperor himself was sitting on his invisible throne in the northern mountain region called the "Brockengebirge" from where he watches over them and will return to them one day when his humble servants will need him most.

###religious deviations from the imperial standard religion have been investigated by the Ecclesiarchian Exploratory Team (EET) Augustinus in M38.476 and classified "harmless"###

The Black Templars Space Marine Chapter has got a minor chapter keep in the desolate northern mountain areas which they tend to use as a base for regular recruiting on Barbarossa IV. Rumours about ###further access denied: insufficient authority level ###

##################################### further access denied######################################​

PROLOUGE​

Kastellan Hermann and his brethren had fought in the third war of Armageddon under the command of Brother Marshall Richard (former Dimaris Crusade). During these fights they suffered severe losses of brothers but finally they were able to defeat the Greenskins in the battle of "Eagle Demos". With a fast and deadly strike the managed to secure the imperial flank (source: WD 311).

The remnants of Marshall Richard´s battlegroup were sent to the close Barbarossa-System by the High Marshall in order to start the process of recruiting and filling their ranks with new brothers. At that point of time Marshall Richard´s fleet was made up of four ships: the strike cruisers "Stählerner Zorn" (Iron Fury), "Schwarzer Wächter" (Black Guardian) and two hunter class frigates called "Ewiger Krieg" (Eternal War) and "Klinge der Rechtschaffenheit" (Blade of Righteousness).

Due to a warp anomaly Marhall Richards ship was delayed so that "Stählerner Zorn" (carrying most of the heavy vehicles) couldn´t make contact with the rest of the crusade fleet several months. Kastellan Hermann was elected Marshall for the time of Marshall Richard´s absence but he refused to take the title of a Marshall, as only the High Marshall my perform such a procedure. Nevertheless, he became the commander for the time of Marshall Richard´s absence.

1st Act​

Having arrived at the Barbarossa Sector the crusader fleet tried to establish a contact to the chapter keep on Barbarossa IV. After their hails still being unanswered after three days, Kastellan Hermann ordered one of the Thunderhawks to perform a reconaissance mission around the chapter keep in the mountain area.

1st Act - Scene one: "Thunderhawk down"​

The heat shield of the venerable Thunderhawk glowed in a dull orange shimmer, as the black craft descented from the heavens down to Barbarossa IV. On board there were three squads of Black Templar Initiates, locked into their seats and devotedly reciting the "Litanies of Readiness" totally ignoring the earaching scream of the craft. The Thunderhawk dived into a sea of thick blue-grey clouds, which forced the pilot, Brother Gerhardt, to fly lower than usual when being out on a reconnaissance mission.
"Brother Rudolf, several signals on the screen. Closing in on the chapter keep." Gerhard informed the the leader of the reconnaisannce mission and thus ending his meditations.
"Acknowledged, brother. Raise contact." Brother Rudolf answered.
"No reactions."

The black bird of iron was gliding low altitude over the dry rocky landscape of bonecoloured mountains and cliffs.
"Visual contact to chapter keep in 10, 9, 8, 7... Visual contact."
Brother Gerhardt´s voice almost broke off. The once proud walls of the keep had been desecrated with crude, rusty steel plates and brutish glyphes. Oily black smoke from dozens of campfires and battered engines rose up into the clouded sky.
"Greenskins..." Gerhardt´s voice had more of an angry lion´s roar than of a human´s uttering.
Even as the black craft raced by the first Orks began firing spark-spitting guns at them. The massive projectiles couldn´t harm the thick ceramite and plaststeel armour of the Templar´s thunderhawk. Tracer rounds soit out by large calibre machineguns whirred past the craft or simply popped off the armour with the dull "plop" of midsummer hail. Gerhardt altered course immediately, thus avoiding the main fury of bullets and speeding the thunderhawk up.
"Mission accomplished. Returning to fleet."
Only a dozen of seconds had passed when smokey streaks in the sky raced past the wings of the Thunderhawk - crude ork missiles painted with monster´s maws and angry eyes. Three orc fighta class interceptors were hunting after the Thunderhawk. The ork fighta heavy calibre machineguns spit furious streaks of bullets through the sky and some even managed to hit the craft popping off its armour with little more damage than scratching the black paint. Then the Thunderhawk´s twin linked heavy bolter sponsons opened fire. One of the interceptors exploded in a ball of flames when the mass reactive shells hit its unprotected tank.
Where the Thunderhawk was protected by thick armour the ork fightas were agile and quicker than the black craft making it impossible to outrun the greenskin crafts. One of the fightas raced by the Thunderhawk. Oily black smoke from its screaming engines reduced Gerhardts view to a minimum. Tracer rounds of the heavy bolters hammered into the fighta´s wings. Debris and chunks of crude steel plates whirred through the air past the thunderhawk, when one ont the interceptor´s wings was torn off and the red machine plumeted down to earth.
Like a hamemrstrike an ork missile slammed into the racing Thunderhawk. Warning lights flashed into life in the cockpit. The black craft rocked to the left, when Gerhardt struggeld to regain full controll over the wounded bird which was now having a burning left engine. The red ork interceptor now attacked the thunderhawk from the front, machineguns blazing, sending all its remaining missiles in an iron shower towards the damaged thunderhawk.
"Target locked" a mechanical voice confirmed only a split second before one of the thunderhawk´s underwing rockets fired up. The black rocket hit the fighta´s cockpit. Gerhardt´s evasion maneuver brought the craft out of line. Nevertheless a rain of burning steel crashed into the thunderhawk´s right wing with screeching noise.
Gerhardt struggled to regain control over the thunderhawk as it raced down towards the rocky ground.
"We have taken severe damage. Forced landing unavoidable. Our position is..."
Having merely finished the distress signal to the fleet the wounded black bird crashed into the stony ground like a god´s plough sending up a pillar of dirty yellow smoke. When the craft finally came to a halt, the Templars left the wreck through the side doors as the front ramp was buried beneath tons of sand and stone and damaged beyond any functionality. The Templars took up combat formation and secured the downed craft while Gerhardt made a last contact to the fleet in orbit.
"Emergency extraction in 32 minutes. Get to higher ground and take up a defensive position. May the Emperor protect you."
In the rocky valley the Templars could already hear crude ork engines rambling in full speed over the stony ground towards them.

"At least we won´t have to run after that foul xenos scum to deal the Emperor´s devine fury. For Sigismund! For the Emperor!"

more coming soon...​

 

[mad matt]

Scenarios and battle reports



Scenario 1: Thunderhawk down​

In this scenario the crashed Templars have to defend themselves against a n ork horde coming for them. The Templars have left their downed thunderhawk in order to get to higher ground better suited for extraction. The orks want to kill them and plunder their dead bodies and the downed Thunderhawk.

Mission Objectives:
-> Orks: Kill all Templars (1 victory point for each eleminated Templar squad)
-> Templars: No ork within 3" of the evacuation point at the end of the game (3 victory points)

Army composition:
-> Templars: 400 points: 3 standard units
-> Orks: 400 points: 0-1 HQ, 0-1 Elite, 2-6 standard, 0-2 assault, 0 support *no higher vehicle armour than 12, as other engines are too slow to arrive in time!!!*

Battlefield:
-> 72 x 48"

Setup & Beginning the battle:
-> Evacuation marker in the center of the battlefield on higher ground
-> The ork-player divides his army in two battlegroups of similar size (models, not points
-> The Templar-player sets up his battleforce within 10 " of the evacuation point. No reserves.
-> All the Orks are in reserve when the game starts.
-> normal initiative roll
-> The dice decides (rolled by the ork-player) which half of the ork battleforce enters the game in his first round over one of the short edges of his choice of the battlfield. Units that can deepstrike may deepstrike if their player wishes.
-> The left over ork units will enter the game according to normal reserve rules squad by squad. The ork player can choose whatever edge of the board he wishes for entry when a unit comes into play.
-> At the end of turn 6 the Templars player rolls a d6. On 5+ there will be a final 7th round before the game really ends.

 

[mad matt]

It´s up to you now :biggrin:

Feel free to drop some lines.
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[Midge913]

Loving the background and fluff you have included. In my opinion it is what really makes the project logs section here on Heresy unique. Your models look wonderful as well, black is such a hard color to paint effectively and you and your mentor have done a superb job with them. I look forward to following your progress with these guys!

 

[Firefighter X]

DEAD SEXY TEMPLARS !!! +rep.

Once upon a time before the true heretic in me awoke I had a soft spot for Templars [ and a massive collection of them ]. It's nice to see such craftsmanship applied to an army even if they are misguided, delusional, loyalist, scum.

Boss painting.

FFX

 

[louisshli]

Geez..... absolutely beautiful! +rep man.... will keep a close eye on this.

 

[Bayonet]

Just.... unbelievable. Amazing.

 

[GreatUncleanOne]

Really when you think about it we should all hate you for this!

Frikkin Awesome!!!!!!!!!!

 

[mad matt]

Thanks for your encouraging comments. I´ve just received the first WIP - pictures from a professional modeller who´s doing my Terminator tabards. Some others will join this Swordbrother soon, of course. I really love the result and can´t wait to see the ones with Stormshields and Hammers/ Greatswords... :shok:

 

[arumichic]

Looks really good, both the painting and the remodeling of the templars. It's a style I haven't really seen too much on the black templars and it's pulled off nicely.

 

[Firefighter X]

OOOH.. sexy tabards. The deathwing guys are going to seriously hate you [ or pester you relentlessly via PM for your source ].

Keep up the great work.

FFX

 

[stuff]

Insanely nice models, your mentor has mentord you well to say the least! +rep for sure!!

 

[Asamodai]

Really nice looking Templars. The eyes are fantastic.

 

[OrkByTheGraceOfGork]

Love the eyes and the overall technique. I think we're going to need a tutorial.

+rep

 

[alasdair]

Awesome. There is no other way to describe it.

 

[furioso-prime]

YAY! more Templars, seriously Madmike, you know how to make the Emperors favored children look GOOOOOOOOOOOOOD!mad props from the Golgotha Crusade.

 

[shaantitus]

These are magnificent. Not sure you need your mentor any more. Most impressive work on the fluff background too. I have allways been too slack to put that kind of thing together. Outstanding work.

 

[Disciple_of_Ezekiel]

Damn dude, these are stunning! Great work! The eyes almost look like the have mini LEDs in them, it looks so cool!

I keep thinking about Darth Vader and the Emperor when you talk about your mentor…lol! That would be my Nerdism coming out.

Anyways, great stuff mate, keep it coming.

Regards,
DoE