Watcher Keep, Bolthole Station - non-celebrity Deathwatch!

[Xisor]

Foreward: I've for a long-time now fancied a 'non-famous' Deathwatch RPG, wherein all the players are from a chapter no-one's heard of. They might be one of the most famous Chapters of the Imperium day-to-day, but in the lore it's just they're unheard of.

As I also fancied a little Genestealer Cult army, the Deathwatch Overkill game struck me as a great option. (Also it's an easy to justify expense as it can be played with people who haven't got any investment in all this nonsense at all.)

So, using one of the great pieces of work over on Bolter & Chainsword (a list of Space Marine icons/shoulder pads from the DW Veterans kit that can also double as 'other Chapters' [e.g. the Raptor's Symbol is used by almost a dozen known chapters?]) and applying my own research and bits-boxing, I managed to make an entirely non-First Founding and barely-Second-Founding set of Deathwatch Space Marines, with only a single one that was wholly created by me (the Swords Imperial, and that's a repurposed Dark Angel veteran pad & pack, I think)!

So, there you go, here's a 'looking alright' stage of development for them. Certainly worthy of being played with now. Which means I also really need to get my bottom in gear and get working on the Cultists...

Anyway, without further ado:

Watch Station Bolthole, in Segmentum Tempestus, is a subcomponent of the Watcher Keep installation on the extremes of the Tempestus/Pacificus border surface. Locations of note under the Watcher Keep's auspices are the Grand Avenue of the Serpent, the Kaliarchon Combine, the Nervkor Dynasty and more than two dozen Imperial sectors on the exterior edge of the Imperium the rests beyond the conventional limits of the galactic disc.

Though remote, the density of Segmentum Pacificus and Tempestus means a great deal of traffic enters the realms served by the Watcher Keep. Watch Station Bolthole is formerly a Xenos asteroid chain which has been wholly repurposed for Imperial use. It is sited in the forbidden system Bertrand's Hearth, at the inner edge of the Horrubim Sector's Heartache Subsector.

Of Watcher Keep's two main Watch Stations (the other being Watch Station De Vaal, sited closer to the border surface and Watcher Keep itself), Watch Station Bolthole serves primarily as a transit point between the heavy duty actions conducted by the main fortress and information/personnel/materiel further into the heart of the Imperium. Moreover, it acts as a hub for patrols serving the Oreatufor Sector (across whose rim ward border the Heartache subsector is found) and its borders - specifically important due to the high number of seemingly natural warp gates and warp portals in uninhabited space pertaining to the Sector.

As of 816M41 (7), the Astartes inhabitants of Watch Station Bolthole are as follows:


Chaplain Samson Gronbach
Swords Imperial Chapter



Lexicanum Pix Draggor
Mortifcators Chapter



Watch Sergeant Moss el-Gibran
Angels of Vengeance Chapter



Brother Niss Bextor
Star Dragons Chapter



Brother Machur Yusufu
Exemplars Chapter


Brother Atafet
Hawk Lords Chapter


Brother Jayaz Tzin
Angels of Fire Chapter




Brother Garrot Bessedine
Emperor's Hands Chapter



Brother Leonard Hochmann
Subjugators Chapter


Brother Arx Sabrebull
Shadow Wolves Chapter



Brother Edmund Belzar
Angels Encarmine Chapter



---

Killteam Bolthole: Ready to deploy!
Purge the Xenos

[Rob P]

Very nice! I particularly like that you'e not gone for first founding legions.

I'm currently working on some Bloodbound having finished some Stormcast (not brilliant but can be found http://www.tga.community/forums/topic/3 ... ist-a-plog).

After that I should be entering the world of 40k. I have Battle for Macragge less 2 marines (no idea), Betrayal at Calth, Dark Angels side of Dark Vengeance (with LE chaplain), the DW Raven Guard mini, an unbuilt captain, chaplain with jetpack and the Primus Medicae in terminator armour, Also got a crap load of Tyranids.

So thinking of doing Raven Guard with DV Fallen/Unforgiven detachment vs Tyranids. But let's see. It's took me 4 months to paint about 20 Stormcast.

[Athelassan]

I've heard of the Angels Encarmine and the Angels of Vengeance! Your mission, sir, is a failure, and I must insist you commit seppuku at once.

Ath

[Vivia]

Great work, Xisor! They have done wonders with the facial expressions of the minis, I'm impressed.

[Xisor]

Cheers my dears!

I've mainly been doing a bit of Ad Mech stuff this half-year, but the last few weeks I've read a big ol' pile of Inquisition and Deathwatch stories.

As such, I treated myself to a little dabble with the Start Collecting box for Deathwatch. (Also a squad of Custodes and Sisters of Silence.) And even a Sanguinary Priest to do up as a conversion.

I've only under-sprayed them so far, but have a vague thought for the wider set.

My thinking is something along this line:
Sanguinary Priest: Techmarine with Xenophaseblade, ServoArm, grav-gun
Artemis: unsure, but might try to give him the second XPB.
Dreadnought: Guardian of the Covenant with Plasma Cannon & Storm Bolter

That leaves the regular marines themselves - I'm tempted to do a full four with Shotguns, two Frag Cannons, and the remainder bolter/sword pairings. I've a few spare chainswords about from a variety of kits, as well as the fancy bolters from the Sternguard kits, so it might be nice to keep them a bit "simple".

For keeping the theme, I'm really keen to have them all be continually non-First Founding. There's a good catalogue of 'known duplicates' of the shoulder pads on the sprues. The Imperial Fists and Raptors will probably get solid use, as there's plenty of overlap. The rest I might need to make serious judgements on!

Or, heaven forbid, get creative and invent new chapters!

---

Edit: inherent sexism alert klaxon - I also just remember a vague plan I was considering: converting up a Watch Master using one of the Guardian Spears off the Custodes frame.

... and one of the heads off the Sisters of Silence.

Which is to say: might as well 'lead by example'. There should be (and should always have been) women space marines. Simple kitbash is easy to do: so let's.

[Xisor]

Introducing some new people to fill out the watch-station's roster, including a visitor from the Watcher Keep itself - the keep's commander: Watch Mistress Ithika Pyror! Also included are some old faces

Watch Mistress Ithika Pyror, Chapter: Silver Skull.



Killteam 0-Alpha, Command


Killteam 1-Beta, Rapid


Killteam 2-Gamma, Strike


Killteam 3-Delta, Titan

[img]l.jpg[/img]

Killteam 4-Eta, Special Operations


Techmarine Cosmin Massador, Chapter: Dark Hand.



Adept Barr Illn, Chapter: Warrior Adept.



Korran Velk, Chapter: Metamarine.



Moss el-Gibran, Chapter: Angel of Vengeance.


Mox Rendorius, Chapter: Iron Talon.



Leonard Hochmann, Chapter: Subjugator.


Machur Yusufu, Chapter: Exemplar.


Edmund Belzar, Chapter: Angel Encarmine


Atafet, Chapter: Hawk Lords

[img]l.jpg[/img]

Pelos Virro, Chapter: Paladin Obscurus.



Pix Dragor, Chapter: Mortifactor.


Samson Gronbach, Chapter: Sword Imperial.


Garra Solar, Chapter: Knight of Gryphonne



Coraline Arch, Chapter: Scion of the Labyrinth at Khapik.



Truff Excelsior, Chapter: Children of the Chalice



Exxel Plim, Chapter: Knight of the Raven



Alvar Liu, Chapter: Golem.



Arx Sabrebull, Chapter: Shadow Wolves.


Jayaz Tzin, Chapter: Angel of Fire.


Niss Bextor, Chapter: Star Dragon.


Garrot Bessedine, Chapter: Emperor's Hand


Qavaria Zine, Chapter: Snakes of Ectos.



------

Of those, several are entirely new chapters.
Children of the Chalice - Blood Drinkers Successor
Paladins Obscurus - Imperial Paladins Successor
Swords Imperial - Unknown Provenance
Scion of the Labyrinth at Khapik - Brazen Minotaurs Successor

I'm hoping to do my dreadnought shortly too, and it'll be something of a challenge as I hope to free-hand it as a Star Phantoms marine!

[Squiggle]

nice work Xisor. and what great models. shame it's 44 pounds for 10 models but they do look ace.

[Xisor]

Cheers Squiggle!

For what it's worth, the Start Collecting boxes are terribly nice value (these days) - compared to the two small kits, it's both of them, plus a venerable dreadnought and the 28mm Artemis model. It's a nice wee bundle, and as Deathwatch are fairly... personal, it's easy to foist a lot of significance onto them that you might not otherwise!

[Major Rawne]

You sir are nothing but a foul temptress!

[Xisor]

Almost there, got some Primaris reinforcements included too (though IMO they're just a bunch of Veterans with Stalker Bolters & swords).

Defenstratus Affine, Chapter: Warden of the Sundered Sword.


Gozza Krone, Chapter: Storm Giant.



Kal Fisch, Chapter: Imperial Laureate.



Bert Hotep, Chapter: Eternal Ember.



Esper Vonnex, Chapter: Red Wolf.


Xiomara Labidi, Chapter: Iron Fist.



Zahra Hamiltonian, Chapter: Necropolis Hawk.



Meherzia Jennik, Chapter: Heir of the Blood of the Throne.


Isatou Torr, Chapter: Skull Bearer.

[Xisor]

And finally (for now), introducing

Neen Roten, Chapter: Star Phantom.




My free-hand is categorically atrocious, but the Star Phantoms logo is bloody intricate, so there was absolutely no danger of it looking especially good. 'Good if you've terrible eyesight and it is dark and maybe you have had too much to drink' was always going to be the best I could hope for!

[Rob P]

Loving these, Xisor!

[Xisor]

Cheers, Rob!

I've been faffing about with a few other kits and seriously enacted my "specialist" Kill Team plan.

So much so that tonight I got close to a proper deployment.

"Kill Team Bolthole" - 6 folk
The Attatorium Maniple - 4 Robots, 1 Datasmith, 1 Engineseer, 1 Onager
Inquisitorial Detachment - 1 Inquisitor, 3(5) Acolytes

A small force, all told.

But it took on 100PL of Squats (as IX Orks) and seized the prime objective.

But then six Dreadnoughts, four Robots, an Onager and a Throne of Judgement will do that, eh?

(Spoiler: the Redemptor got kablootoed by the Squat warboss, and exploded taking almost everyone nearby with it. Properly Battlefleet Gothic levels of catastrophe! )

Well, documentation and phictography will follow.

[Xisor]

Oh no, it's nine people coming to get you! Seven of whom are very physically disabled, not to mention any neurodiverse excursions.

To whit, very much WIP, but nevertheless...

Here comes OX Kill Team Emeritus

Operating at the behest of the Ordo Xenos, it's only a nine-person team.

It operates through the auspices of the Ordo Xenos under the acclaimed Alien Hunter: Inquisitor Vincenzi Annan. Annan's throne incorporates a dedicated weapons-servitor allotment, as well as space facilities for an attendant acolyte - in this instance Curator Bernicia Jiande, formerly of the Logis Strategos.

In direct command of the adepts from Watcher Keep's Bolthole Station is epistolarian Auditor Maelle Gerund, Eagle Warrior.

Supervising their deployment is the Mechanist-Procurator (techmarine) Una Sasidharan, originally of the Death Strike chapter.

Breacher, siege, and zone mortalis specialisms are overseen by Invigilator Izarra Starheart, the last known survivor of the Fire Hawks chapter.

Izarra's left hand (and Fire Hawk emblem bearing arm) wields a standard dreadnought combat weapon with heavy-flamer attachment.

Izarra's right (bearing Deathwatch iconography) features a breaching seismic-hammer (also with heavy flamer attachment), as well as additional combat systems in the form of the forward assault launchers, and dorsal hunter-killer missile racks.

Entombed within Bolthole Station's eldest dreadnought chassis is Invigilator Budi Figal, Guardian of the Covenant.

Invigilator Figal wields a multi-meta (though travels with the spare relic-armament: an ancient pattern of assault cannon), with a combat weapon bearing an integrated storm bolter.

The penultimate addition, an all-round Deathwatch operative, is Invigilator Neen Roten, Star Phantom.

The final killteam operative is Invigilator Ygga Glorr, Bone Wolf.

Invigilator Glorr operates with a famously unorthodox armament - dreadnought-grades of axe and shield - having found solace in the symbolism of the Fenrisian-pattern relic mounts held deep within Bolthole Station's armoury.

Kill Team Emeritus ready to strike at the alien.


And there you have it. Still very WIP, but the Killteam is coming along rather nicely indeed.

There's even some bonus material, in the form of some rehabilitated other models.

Introducing:
Adept Toral Decrepitude, Imperial Salient. (Homebrew - I ensilage Templars trapping, predominantly, with a fair whack of yellow. Not dissimilar to Emperor's Scythes or variant Imperial Fists.)


Adept Toral Decrepitude, Acetic Order. (Homebrew - I envisage a sharp background and droplet, with black saw blade and... I'm not sure about the final rim colour.)