Diesel DM

The Butcher’s pent up rage erupted in an almost palpable wave of heat. The Doom Reavers let loose an eery howl as their fell blades began to cut faster and deeper. They moved through the last of the ‘jacks to meet the knights head on, cutting through them to the last. The Savage moved into the next group of bane knights, swinging with abandon as they dropped around him.The Butcher released an arcane explosion that eliminated a group of thralls deeper in the woods, using the distraction to advance further into the leading bane knights, swinging Lola with abandon.
A gout of steam vented out of the Kodiak’s steam boiler, relieving excess pressure and scalding the nearby scrap thralls as it moved into a Helljack. Both fists connected as it drove the Helljack to the ground with headbutt. The Spriggan wiped out a few lingering thralls with it’s grenade launchers before moving into the last group of bane knights, decimating them with it’s lance. The Ternion moved in behind the Spriggan, spraying a crippling mist into the remaining bane knights.

With that a silence fell back across the forest. The kapitan counted not a single Khadoran casualty. The Kommander had kept his troops alive not through superior tactics or defensive strategy, but through his own raging battle-lust. The kapitan did not know what he put in his report to the High Kommand. He had no doubt that the Butcher was insane, but Zoktavir’s madness had brought victory in a battle few warcasters could have survived, let alone won.
The kapitan’s troubled thoughts weighed on him during the walk back to camp. He was brought out of his brooding by a massive hand set upon his shoulder, nearly tipping him off balance.
“You did well today, we live to fight another battle.” The Kommander rumbled as he continued to up the line to the front of the column. The kapitan knew that soon war would come again and the Kommander would be recalled and assigned elsewhere. Always the most dangerous assignments and most improbable of victories. But as the Kommander had just said, he would live to fight another day. The kapitan wondered what would happen when the Butcher did not make it to fight another day.
When his report reached the high kommand it mentioned none of the Kommanders disappearances or indiscretions. The battle summary ended with “Kommander Zoktavir preserved the life of every Khadoran under his watch.” The kapitan passed no judgements on the Kommander. He kept his men safe, that was all the empire needed to know.

Spriggan – Fifth Border Legion

And lastly the Spriggan is completed.  The Spriggan’s Fifth Border Legion color scheme is the most original of the models I painted.  Since the studio model is essentially all red, I had no preconceptions about what should be green, red or black.  As with all my FBL models I tended for more red than a lot of schemes I’ve seen, but I think it helps break it up more and give it a little more visual interest.

I really like the shield, though my shading probably doesn’t represent the reality of how light would hit it, it does have a nice pop and keeping the shading uniform across the two colors really ties it all in together.

Spriggan War Lance

I kept the war lance simple, all steel with a black end pieces and a red flare.  The shoulders came out nice, I tried to keep them a bit more muted yellow to avoid having them look too much like my Cygnuses.

If you’re seeing his back, you’ve already been impaled and left for dead

Not too much on the back, a distinct lack of red, but Khador ‘jacks are never too exciting from the rear view.  I did add a bit of snow to his right heel as if he’d just stepped out of a snow drift behind the base, just for a change.

And that completes my 35-pt Fifth Border Legion army.  I’ll post a wrap-up in a day or two with overall experience and what I learned from all this and some group photos.  It’s been a wild ride full of ups and downs, but hey, I made it!