"Kraevahn's Survivors", 163rd Grenadiers
The New Drekport Corps, given their remote location at the fringes of Imperial space, seldom had the chance to fight alongside Schola Progenium-trained Tempestus Scions. For this reason, they maintained a grenadier corp, recruited from veterans of the regular infantry platoons and trained in the use of carapace armour and hot-shot las-weaponry. These grenadier platoons were at the forefront of the system defense when the Malfactus Rift opened. The 163rd, under the command of Captain Kraevahn and at the time at full strength, were sent to Beloch with orders to protect the planet's hives and their factoria.
As they withstood dozens of Renegade and Xenos raids, the 163rd became excellent city fighters, able to survive and prevail in the tangled urban war zones of Beloch. Even when warp rifts opened on the planet itself disgorging tides of daemons, the 163rd kept fighting to ensure the evacuation of crucial assets from Beloch's main spaceport. The nightmarish siege saw the 163rd ground down by wave after wave of daemons, Captain Kraevahn and his Command Squad along with a depleted squad led by Corporal Transk the only members of the platoon to board the last cargo ship leaving Beloch.
Ever since, Kraevahn's Survivors have kept operating as higly specialised fire teams, fighting either on their own or reinforcing the "Hot Heads" of the 5th Irregulars. These hardened veterans have carried out countless raids on every planet in the New Drekport system, denying resources to renegades and xenos alike, and learning all the wily tricks the Administratum does not print in the Imperial Primer.
I've painted Kraevahn's Survivors to match the 5th Irregulars, thus with Black Templar highlighted Eshin Grey for the armour, Talassar Blue highlighted Alaitoc Blue for the fatigue and Goregrunta fur highlighted with Balor Brown for the leather. This time, however, I started from a 3-stages zenithal highlight: flat black, grey at a 45º angle and white at a 90º angle. I based the weapons with Leadbelcher and then washed them twice, first with Nuln Oil and then with Agrax Earthshade. Cables and grenades were picked up in green and red.
Captain Kraevahn (Tempestor)
Private Valbek (Tempestus Scions Comms)
Gunner Lensk (Tempestus Scions Gunner with Grenade Launcher)
Gunner Pajk (Tempestus Scions Gunner with Hot-shot Volley Gun)
Gunner Rausch (Tempestus Scions Gunner with Plasma Gun)
Doc Tyborc (Tempestus Scions Trooper with Medi-kit)
Colour Sergeant Keist (Tempestus Scions Trooper with Platoon Banner)
Corporal Transk (Tempestus Scions Trooper with Scion Blade)
Troopers Voorsch and Dovorr (Tempestus Scions Troopers with Frag Grenade)
The urban camo pattern on Transk's, Voorsch's and Dovorr's cloack is what I'm happiest about. I basecoated them Celestra Grey, washed Nuln Oil, hedge highlighted Ulthuan Grey and then stippled patches of Abaddon Black. Using a smaller brush I then stippled White Scar on top of the black patches once they were dry.
New Drekport Grenadiers - WIP
Repainting my old Necromunda gang to become
the New Drekport 5th Irregular Platoon started me on a dangerous road... as soon as I finished repainting them , I wanted to add more units to the New Drekport Corps.
Luckily, I had the Space Marine Scouts from Shadow War: Armageddon still on sprues and a bunch of spare bits from assembling the Irregulars, which I immediately saw as excellent material for some unique Tempestus Scions. Head swaps were a pretty obvious requirement and easy to achieve. Much more complex was turning the Space Marine Scouts' weapons into hot-shot lasguns and special weapons. As I started converting them, I realised I could easily make them into a Kill Team with all optional equipment actually represented on the models.
Tempestor
The Tempestor was among the easiest conversions. Legs, torso and arms are from the basic Scouts, I only replaced the Scout Knife blade with a Catachan sword. The head is from the resin Ibraham Gaunt model.
Tempestus Scion Comms
Legs and torso are again from the basic Scouts, while head and arms are from the Catachan Command Squad. While the right arm and head were always intended for the vox-operator, the left arm was intended to go with a special weapon. I've instead glued an Auspex from the Tactical Marines, linking it to a backpack with a piece of wire. The backpack was done with a trimmed down Space Marine power pack, the aerials from the Sentinel and details shaved off from the targeter of the Space Marine Hunter Killer Missile.
Tempestus Scion Gunner with Grenade Launcher
For this Gunner I used legs, torso and arms with bolter from the basic Scout, carefully cutting away the body of the bolter so that I could replace it with that of a Cadian grenade launcher. The head too is from the Cadian Shock Troopers. Finally I've added krak grenades from both Scout kits to the shoulder pads.
Temptestus Scion Gunner with Hot-shot Volley Gun
Here I've used the kneeling legs and a torso from the Scout Snipers, combined with the heavy bolter arms from the basic Scouts and a Cadian Shock Trooper head. I've clipped away the round magazine and the barrel, replacing the latter with the light suppressor from a Sentinel multilaser. Part of he battery pack from the same multilaser has become the Gunner's backpack, linked to the gun itself with the cable from a sniper rifle I knew I would not use. As a final touch, I've glued a Cadian canteen to hide the flat bit on the legs where the cloak should have been glued.
Tempestus Scion Gunner with Plasma Gun
Like the Gunner with grenade launcher, I've started from a basic Scout, swapping the head for a Cadian Shock Trooper one. Rather than trimming down a bolter, this time I started from a shotgun and spliced it with a plasma pistol.
Tempestus Scion Trooper with Medi-kit
The legs, torso, arms and rifle are from the Scout Snipers, with the silencer and part of the barrel replaced by the tip of a Cadian lasgun with bayonet. The head is again from the Catachan Command Squad. The backback is from the old Scout Bikers kit, the pouches and vials on the shoulder pads from both infantry Scout kits and the vials on the belt from the Freeguild Handgunners.
Tempestus Scion Trooper with Platoon Banner
Again, legs and torso are from the basic Scouts, while head and right arm are from the Catachan Command Squad. The left arm is from the Catachan Jungle Fighters. The hot-shot lasgun is the spare sniper rifle from the Space Marine Scouts with Sniper Rifles, again with the end of the barrel and bayonet from the Cadian Shock Troopers.
Tempestus Scion Trooper with Scion Blade
Like the Tempestor, this was a straightforward conversion: just a Cadian head on a Scout Sniper, the left hand clipped from a basic Scout arm and the top of the rifle from the Cadian kit. The targeter is from the Cadian Heavy Weapon Squad.
Tempestus Scion Troopers with Frag Grenade
Here again the only conversion work are the head and gun barrel swaps, with new bits sourced from the same kits: Catachan Command Squad and Cadian Shock Troopers. As the two bodies are nearly identical, the Catachan head with cap keeps one of the models distinct from the other. On both I've also added frag greades from the Scouts kits.
All models have been based in the same way, using resin and metal details from the old Urban Combat basing kit and a mixture of slate chips and sand.
The "Hot Heads", 5th Irregulars Platoon
New Drekport's tithe regiments, the New Drekport Corps, sustained heavy casualties in the early stages of the Noctis Aeterna. The fall of Duskhurn and Beloch and the open rebellion of Morrdragor also robbed them of vital supplies. Constantly under siege from both Chaos and Xenos forces, and still cut off from the Imperium Sanctus, Imperial command has resorted to press ganging any civilian owning any sort of fire weapon and forming them into the Irregular company, together with veteran survivors of disbanded units.
Command of the Irregulars has been assigned to Lexar 'Angel Eye' Harrak, a former Commissar that had retired to Finis Sidera and embarked on a successfull career as bounty hunter. Years of fighting alongside Rogue Trader crews and even less savoury companions have though him the value of flexibility in interpeting Imperial rules, though he still thinks that a bolter round in the head is the best way to ensure combat efficiency. Angel Eye's nearly complete disregard for the Commissariat procedures is most notable in his choice of advisor: the extremely skilled but unsanctioned Pyromancer known simply as Yago, one of the dozen or so survivors of the daemonic incursion on Beloch.
As the duo has turned a motley assortment of scumbags into a viable fighting force, Imperial command has systematically overlooked their disregard for military discipline and even went as far as granting Yago a temporary pardon for his unsanctioned use of psychic powers. The Irrregulars, the argument goes, are a key asset in the defence of New Drekport, one that could not be compromised by removing their questionable but effective leaders.
The most recent addition to the Irregulars are the 5th Platoon, led by Izark Denk, a firebrand missionary whose procession of Frateris Militia was stranded from their pilgrimage to Imeria as the Noctis Aeterna descended upon the New Drekport system. Frateris Militia thus form the core of the 5th, reinforced by a few well placed veterans responsible for passing on some military training. Despite those veterans' best efforts, the other members of the 5th Irregulars have not lost their fanatical tendencies, earning themselves the "Hot Heads" moniker for their nearly suicidal attacks.
Rather than trying to curb such tendencies, Angel Eye and Yago exploit them, regularly assigning the Hot Heads to the reclamation of mining and production facilities on New Drekport, so that they could be rebuilt to support the planet defence. This has led them to often fight alongside the Wreckers, a crew working on the rebuilding of reclaimed facilities. To the horror of Enginseers and the tacit approval of Angel Eye, they fit their industrial machinery with heavy weaponry, lending mobile fire support and scouting ahead of the Hot Heads.
This 25 Power Level force of Astra Militarum started life in 2011 or so as a 2nd edition Necromunda gang. They were painted in the same colours as the Fatebenders, my Heretic Astartes Kill Team. After seeing some action in 2017, I kind of forgot about them. Now, with the release of the new Kill Team rules and the Book of the Outcast for Necromunda, I decided to revisit them.
The first thing I did was scratch-building three barricades to complement the objective markers I did in 2011 and have everything needed for Kill Team games. They are pieces of cardboard glued on old square cavalry bases and decorated with etched brass and resin details from an old Urban Combat basing kit. I've painted them to match my urban ruins, which like them were originally imagined as locations on Necromunda, but are now part of the New Drekport System.
I haven't still worked out a gang for Necromunda, but since that was their original function, I'm sure it will be really easy to put one together. The picture above, is the selection of models I will use in games of Kill Team: two well equiped Fire Teams of Astra Militarum Guardsmen.
Like the rest of the models, I've repainted their robes using Contrast paint and some edge highlight over the previous paint job. The originally purple areas were coated in Black Templar and highlighted Eshin Grey. The originally magenta areas were coated in Talassar Blue and highlighted Alaitoc Blue.
Since I was at it, I've also given a wash of Agrax Earthshade to their weapons and Reikland Fleshshade to their skin, which were admitedly badly painted.
They now look a lot better than they did previously and, most importantly, I can now field them against my Heretic Astartes in some solo games. Let's face it, as getting together with friends to play is still hard, I better find other ways of getting my gaming fix.
Stay tuned to see them in action in the new year!
