The crowd cowered together in the courtyard of the great Myotis Palace. It's once majastic pearl white spires stood pitted and scarred, blackened by the swift brutal attack of the Astarte invasion forces.
Nobility and servants alike huddled together. All divides of class, creed or wealth eradicated by the overwhelming aura of impending death that surrrounded them.
Captain Lasiurus Artibeus stood impassive on the second tier of the courtyard looking down over them. The faintly glowing red lenses of his visor giving the skull terror marking on his dark blue plate armour a horrifying life of it's own. For all intent and purposes he and his men ressembled death itself.
"People of Myotis," He bellowed over his helmet's external vox caster "you have been found guilty of violating Imperial law!"
"Murderers!" A woman screamed as she defiantly stood to her feet.
No, Artibeus thought to himself. Not murderers, killers.
Murder was an act of extreme emotion, uncontrolled and indiscriminate. An unfocused and blunt action, fueled by passion and rage, ignorant of the consequences. Killers acted with a cold sense of efficiancy and logic, unquestioning in their purpose.
Artibeus recognised her as the Minister who'd first greeted him apon his arrival to Myotis over two years ago. She had openly welcomed the Astartes of the VIII Legion along with her people and through their conversations he had grown to appreciate her company.
She had brilliantly argued her people's case despite her youthful appearance, which harboured the wisdom of someone many times her age. Her skills had proven a worthy addition to their cause persuading the other nations of Myotis to join without a single drop of blood being spilt.
She had proven to be a visonary among her people, a true master of wordcraft and diplomatic ability that commanded even the respect of a seasoned Astarte like Artibeus.
With the simple gesture of his head to his first sergeant a single bolter round rang out striking the Minster cleanly in the chest. The force of the explosive round lifting her off her feet and carrying her across the courtyard to crash down amongst the serving tables.
"You have been found guilty of consorting with aliens," He continued impassionately as the broken form of an Eldar was flung into the courtyard "and taking up in arms against the Imperium." The shattered remains of General Hrantyu were thrown over the balcony landing before the wailing and screaming crowd below.
Having said all that needed to be said, he simply turned and left.
Around the top of the courtyard Astartes of the Night Lord Legion stepped out from the shadows onto the second tier.
As one they raised their bolters and began firing into the crowd.



There are a number of eras that can be classed as Pre-Heresy (The Wars of Unification, The Conquest of the Terran System, The Great Crusade) so to clarify what the army is all about I'm adding background material and the occational story to describe the army in greater detail. It's not quite an Index Astartes article but should hopefully prove an entertaining read.
The army is set a year before the events of the Heresy. The Legion is gaining unwelcome attention from Terra as reports of the Night Lords brutality reach the heart of the Imperium. Their Primarch Conrad Kruze has yet to confide his fears to his brother Fulgrim and no-one is yet to accuse them outright of their brutal attrocities but it is now it seems only a matter of time.
The Legion has just been issued with the MkIV Maximus Pattern plate armour and is in the process of replacing the older MkIII variants. Due to the rigors of campaign though the Legion lacks the resources to fully commit to such an endevour.



Captain Lasiurus Artibeus

Originally one of the recruits from Terra, Artibeus rose steadily through the ranks of the Night Lords to eventually be given command of the fifth company.
Although among the Astartes of the other Legions he has earned the reputation of being an abrupt, humourless and emotionless man like the rest of his Legion none can deny his focus and clarity of foresight on the battlefield.
Like the rest of his fellow Terrans he lacks the pale skin pigmintation and black eyes of the rest of the Legion recruited from the Legion homeworld of Nostramo.

WIP Captain Artibeus


As you can see I'm using my technique of combining WFB CW legs with parts from the Space Marines (in this case FW Red Scorpion Veterans) to create the look that I want, with a little GS work of course.
I see these guys as having a mass manufactured appearance as opposed to the more elaborate gothic designs of their contemporary counterparts.
Artibeus has been given the backpack from the new plastic devastators sprue with the large sensor removed.
The idea is that this is an improved comms system that allows him to command his troops with greater efficiency and to make him easier to tell apart from his troops in games. I'm giving him a simple selection of wargear with just an Auspex (Improved Comms Pack), Bolter and Close Combat weapon. The idea is that he doesn't set himself above his men with exotic weaponary, he is armed and fights in the same manner as those he leads in battle.

Well, it's pretty basic looking on this test model but I've got a technique I'm happy with for the blue. I'm going to drybrush the models Regal Blue then when it's dry go over the model with a very watered down Regal Blue.
Highlights will then be Regal Blue with a Regal Blue/Skull White mix for fine highlights.
This is far from the finished result but it gives me an idea of what ot expect with the proper troops.
I'm going to have a bash filling in the vents and see how many I have to fill to allow for the terror markings.
For the lightning effect I'm planning on sticking to the left greave only to balance the model out. Trouble with the IA article Pre-Hersey pictures is that they only show the Mk VI variant which has a studded left shoulder pad.
I could add studs but their's are little pointed ones that would be difficult to reproduce in large numbers.



Captain update

nice doghouse, are you gonna paint lightining bolts on them?

Lightning or not, these guys will look awesome! Just a quick question- How do you do the gold trim?

cant wait for the whole army of these will be watching here warseer & B&C

Cheers guys!

Constantin Valdor: The lightning bolts will be on the left greave only to balance out the paint scheme a little.

Stryker: The gold trim at the moment is just Brazen Brass, I'll go over that with Burnished Gold and then highlight with Shining Gold.

The Dreadnought

As I tend to arm my Astartes squads with just bolters I'm adding a Dreadnought to bolster the fire power of the infantry squads.





It's still WIP at the moment but I have drybrushed the model with Regal Blue and will be going over this to make the colour more solid with further washes of Regal Blue. The skull and other details are GSed on and the right shoulder paldron will bare the Legion icon with a gold trim whilst the left leg guard will have lightning bolts like the Astartes.

Devastator Squad
Normally I just rely on the tanks of the Legion to provide any vehicle fire but as I intend to take a new direction with this army I'm adding a Devastator squad using the really nice new plastic Devastator squad.

WIP Devastators

looking good, i love the blue just cant wait to see them painted completely.

@Doghouse why are you using chaos warrior legs?

Wow they really are looking cool! I may try some drybrushing on my alpha legion for the first time on a marine! Do you drybrush quite liberally?

AR

@Constantin Valdor: It seems that Doghouse will be using his "Gothic Marines" method with them; his GS-fu is strong.

@ Doghouse: I love your devastators mate, they look as I would have imagined them! :)

Your dreadnought is a great hybrid, with a lot of nice touches. I believe that you've combined the forgeworld assault drill arm with the powerfist from the plastic kit- I may have to borrow that idea... :ph43r:

Wow they look awesome! :blink:
Do you have a picture with a normal marine and what did you use for the legs?

Thanks guys. :)

Constantin Valdor: It's just my prefered method of making the models a little more proportionate. Plus it scares the heck out of opponents for some reason just becasue they are bigger.


Angel Robertson: I find that it's best to do it in stages, apply one coat then let it dry and repeat. Once I'm happy with it I go over the dry brusehed areas with a very watered wash of the drybrush colour to blend it in.

Stryker: You've pretty much hit the nail on the head there. I also extended the width of the shoulders with plasticard and increased the height and leg guards.

Stormshadow: Welcome to the board. For a full tutorial check this out:

Link to Gothic Tutorial

Only time for a quick update s I'm busy upgrading the site.



I'm still adding washes but decided to start mapping out the details.

what bits did you use?

how are you making those boots?

looks fantastic, nice work.

I have been folowing your thread on the B&C and am very impressed with your work on my favourite legion. I was wondering if you were planning to paint lightning onto your men? I know it features heavily on the Night Lords of today so I was just wondering if your pre-heresy's might include it.

Looking forward to seeing more. The Dreadnaught is looking great atm.


Peace

had an idea of how to add lightning without making it look cheesy (i know this is a matter of opinion but the imagery of lightning on NLs never struck me as particularily terrifying). If you incorporate the lightning design into a campaign badge it would still look like something approved by the astartes on more of a pre-heresy design.

Additionally, it could be quite a fluffy reason as to why the post-heresy night lords paint lightning onto their armour; in memory of a particularily successful campaign which led to them becoming known for their merciless attacks.

Thanks guys! :)

okidus: The dreadnought is a combination of the plastic dread and FW preheresy dread. I've stretched the torso with plasticard and increased it's height at the same time. The full tutorial for the marine legs can be found here:

Gothic Marines

Kradle: I'm going to be adding the lighting to the left greave.


HiredSword: That's an excellent idea, I'll have to do that, nice one!

Update time...

The real pain about my camera is that in the wrong lighting it plays havoc with the white balance. Although this guy looks like a light blue he's in reality closer to the colour of the Crimson Fists.
I'm happy with him in person but the camera's not doing me any favours. :(
Anyway I've decided to give him a bare head so that I can show that he's a Terran, the first sergeant will also have a bare head but be painted with a much paler skin tone to show that he's a native of Nostramo.
I'm adding his heraldry at the moment which will be a red and white checkered pattern across the lower half of the pad with some honour markings across the top half.
At this point in time he's still seen as a hero of the Imperium (well maybe an anti-hero) so the blonde haired/blue eyed poster-boy look creates an interesting contrast to the rest of the Nostramo born Night Lords. I'm also painting the Legion emblem on the left shoulder pad.
I think I'll be happier with him once I've got the first squad completed though.
As the Space Marine codex redux looks likely to be in about a years time I'm going to get around upgrading his bolter to a combi-weapon with the addition of a servo skull armed with a single shot plasma weapon.[/B]

WIP Captain Artibeus


Size shot with WIP dreadnought

Holy crap that dread is huge! I love it!

Artibeus is also looking great! I would have a nit-pick about te lightness of the blue but you explained that one so there is nothing i can see that is wrong with him. I am looking forward to seeing how you do nostraman flesh...

Good luck with it all and keep up the good work.

Peace

Thanks Kradle. :)

Update time!

Here's the first wip painted squad member. I've filled the vents in the visor to allow me greater freedom when painting the terror markings. I've got the first squad built and primed but I'm holding off on the pictures untill I've got the whole squad done for a change.
Still got to clean the paintjob up a bit, mostly around the terror markings but it's gettting there.







Scale shot

Here's a shot with the wip dreadnought. I've been talking with Hiredsword about these guys on and off for a while and he suggested saying the lightening was a campaign marking. So I've taken it one step further and made it into a proper campaign marking.

Lovin it Doghouse cant wait to see more

First of all I would like to say hi since im new here:). I've been hooked on pre-heresy stuff ever since I started reading the HH books and im starting a PH Dark Angles army. Anyway enough about me I really like the blue and how u converted the CW leg cant wait to see more.

I don't know how you do it, but you keep piling more character into these models!

Really nice job on the colour scheme as well btw, for some reason the GW scheme never really stood out. Can we have a shot of the sarge's shoulder pad as well? Glad you painted the skull on the dread gold, still a bit unsure about having two skulls on the front armour, hmm <_< it might grow on me though.

Anyway, I guess I have to add some criticsm as well; I'm glad you went with the campaign badge and kept the terror markings (i was wrong about them, a whole squad will look really menacing). I think they might look better if you take away the teeth at the bottom and fill that part in blue, then maybe just little dashes of blue (maybe 3?) along the bottom part to represent the teeth. I hope that makes sense btw.

Anyway, other than my little gripe, the legion is looking really really cool, will you do me a favour and do the rest of the legions as well please?


oh, also, for the campaign badge; look for a lightning design which you can find on really old blood angel transfer sheets, I think it was used to denote the fast attack units. It's a circle with a lightning bolt in it, I'll try and find a photo of it.

I've been following the progress of this since you posted on B&C and I must say it gets better and better. Although I only have epic marines, you have motivated me to get into 40K and start converting