Mechanicum and Astramalleus History

So, I continued with the blood red wash on the lower floor panels. A 40K playing friend of mine stopped by for a completely different reason and remarked on the watchtower I had built and was painting. For some reason, even though I put a large floor on the top so that anyone on top would have a commanding view (or at least an impressive one) of the field, for some reason, it never occurred to me that this was a watchtower. Oh well, a good idea is a good idea so I decided to bring a little attention to the upper level of it, too. I did the same wash on the short wall at the top to kind of bring the eye to it and remind people that it was a high place to watch out for. Once I painted the big skulls gold and highlighted with a little more mithril silver to catch the metallic nature of the building, I was as done as I was ever going to be.

Before I get to that Razorback I was talking about before, I think I'm going to paint those warpgates. Tomorrow I'm going to hit the craft store to look for some suitable jewels so it might be nice if I could possibly apply some of them tomorrow after I get home. Besides, the Razorback has waited this long. A couple more days won't hurt anything.

The Astramalleus or "Star Hammers" are an Ultramarine descended Chapter chartered during the 23rd founding in the fallout of the Age of Apostasy. Because of a change in the fundamental rites and doctrines of a Marine Chapter, a young Captain, aided by many veteran troops, managed to steal a Battle Barge and defect. After wandering for years, they managed to find a planet where they could live safely but gave it up to successfully defend a world in the throes of an Ork invasion. They were successful in their efforts but were found by their Chapter and tried by the Chapter Master of the Ultramarines. The verdict was that the survivors would found a Chapter of their own and then begin a crusade until the original defectors were all dead.

The first step was the naming of a new Chapter Master. Walach was the unanimous choice. Walach then formed a council of veterans called the Gerusia devoted to discussing and implementing policies for the good continuance of the Astramalleus. The first Gerusia convened with only ten Marines, but Walach, foreseeing the Chapters eventual full strength, set the permanent number at thirty, allowing positions for each of the ten Company Commanders, the head Chaplain, Librarian, Techmarine and Apothecary and the rest of the positions filled by the most senior Sergeants of the Chapter. One of the positions would eventually be permanently assigned to the Sergeant of the First Squad of the First Company. The Gerusia began deliberation on how to grow and perpetuate the Chapter.

With the Verdict of Ultramar began a time referred to in the Annals of the Astramalleus as the Remuneration. As part of the punishment of the original renegades, the newly formed Chapter was bound to return equipment, materiel and geneseed to the Grey Storms with interest. The forms and amounts of repayment were codified along with a schedule intent of completing the return of the debt over the course of one thousand years. The Astramalleus did not wish to wait that long. The nascent Chapter separated the problem into two basic categories: geneseed and materiel. The Gerusia decided that the answer to both problems lay in the native people of Besradine.

To answer the geneseed need, the Chapter began to choose a large number of strong, aggressive young warriors to induct into the Chapter. Higher numbers of inductions meant more Marines who could carry and mature geneseed in the future. They especially focused on young men from families with many siblings. It was thought that families that sired warriors who were receptive to the training and treatments would have a good chance of having more progeny who could undergo the process successfully. Further the Apothecaries were given directions to observe and experiment with ways to increase yield. Whether the methods lowered rejection rates or sped up maturation didn't matter as long as untainted geneseed was generated. In the fullness of time, the apothecaries would find certain combinations of herbs and compounds, both natural and synthesized, which would accomplish both aims. A 6% lower rejection rate and a 4% higher maturation speed would barely be noticed in the early phases but over millenia, it would add up. This would lead to a speedy increase in Marine ranks and, once the Remuneration was completed, a massive Scout Company and ample amounts of geneseed.

The materiel need was solved in a different way. By gaining workers and teachers from Hajic, the Chapter began to build settlements and foundries on Besradine and teaching some of the native peoples how to run them. By bringing the fruits of the Imperium, civilization began to occur on Besradine and as agriculture began to take hold, the populations began to increase, creating more workers and more possible recruits. As the original renegades had taken to scrounging when required, the new Chapter would continue by keeping found equipment. Anything that could be positively identified as belonging to another Marine Chapter would be returned. Anything unidentified and suitable for immediate use would be assigned to the Techmarines for repair. Anything not suitable for immediate use would be broken down for study by the new foundries. At first, the foundries would figure out how to make small parts of basic utility but eventually, their mastery would allow them to build entire weapons and vehicles from scratch, filling the Chapter's armories and replacing equipment officially provided by the Adeptus Mechanicus which would have to be surrendered to the Grey Storms. Eventually, the Astramalleus would only request "replacement" equipment from the Mechanicus too complicated for Besradine's foundries to create themselves.

In the course of 150 years, the new Chapter was off to a solid start and choices made would guarantee its perseverance into the future. And in the 150th year since the Verdict, representatives of the Ultramarines visited Besradine with a message for Walach.

The time of the Crusade had begun...

Mechanicum and Astramalleus History

Didn't really get much of anything done painting wise over the weekend being that it was Father's Day and I was feted from so many directions. Actually, it wasn't that packed. I just spent much of the weekend resting with the wife and family. Among my Father's Day gifts was a gift certificate to Hobby Lobby. I'm thinking that I may use it pick up some suitably elder looking jewel stones for those warpgates I built. I may be painting them a little sooner than I originally thought.

Started on the Mechanicum last night. I didn't have a lot of time so I gave it a quick wash with some boltgun metal and then highlighted some parts with mithril silver. After thinking to myself that it looked a little bland and generic, I decided to water down some blood red and do the outer panels. I guess mecharite red might have been better and more fitting, but I don't use that color enough (or even at all) to justify buying some. Better to use what you have if you ask me. I didn't have time to finish so I'll try to continue tonight, maybe while I'm doing laundry or something.

When I'm done with the Mechanicum, I'm thinking about two mini-projects. One is to assemble a Razorback that I've had for a couple months that I haven't touched. The other is to update my command squads. More to the point, I've never been a big fan of command squads so I never used them much in 4th Ed. even though I made a few. Now that they have changed their makeups slightly, I'm thinking it may be time to update them and get them in line with the current codex. I may never use them, but I'd rather have them and not need them than need them than not have them. I have a couple of Tac Squad boxes sitting around so I'll probably update a few of the guys I'm already using and use a few guys from the new tac squads with some bits to fill out the rest. Or maybe I have enough bits to just build new guys. I'll have to root around a bit and figure out which I need to do. After that, I think I'll do the Predator I have sitting around and then I think I'll return to the Terminator project. When Black Reach came out, I picked up a bunch of Termies and a Termie Assault Squad. I figure I have about 25-30 Termies and Lightning Claws to paint and a handful of metal ones to assemble and paint. That should bring me up to about 75 Termies total. I thought about an entire Terminator Company, but I think I have enough. Add in a few Veteran squads and my First Company is pretty much done. That'll mean I have a First, Second and half of a Third Companies. I think that qualifies as a huge army, but it's certainly not the biggest I've seen. There's one guy here who, last I saw 5 years ago, has seven and a half companies. He was working on an entire Chapter but I'm not sure if he made it considering I saw him a few months back and he said he hadn't even played 5th Ed. I can see how someone might stall out under those conditions. I'm not even sure, assuming I had the money and time, I would even want an entire Chapter. On the other hand, I never seriously considered that I would own two and a half companies either. Go figure…

The Astramalleus or "Star Hammers" are an Ultramarine descended Chapter chartered during the 23rd founding in the fallout of the Age of Apostasy. Because of a change in the fundamental rites and doctrines of a Marine Chapter, a young Captain, aided by many veteran troops, managed to steal a Battle Barge and defect. After wandering for years, they managed to find a planet where they could live safely but gave it up to successfully defend a world in the throes of an Ork invasion. Before they could leave, however, their pursuers found them.

When the Grey Storms arrived and recognized the renegades, they immediately changed their focus from fighting orks to capturing them. While a few of the other Marine Chapters present questioned and criticized the wisdom of the Storms' choice of actions during a wartime situation, none could afford time to investigate or forces to stop them. Walach and his band managed to avoid the Storms for a short period but knew things were about to come to a head. After receiving an ultimatum to surrender to the Storms, Walach took the biggest gamble he ever made. He surrendered himself and his entire band to the Ultramarine Captain. He requested that he and his men be tried by the sitting Lord Macragge. Part of the Grey Storm charges against the renegades maintained that by virtue of the geneseed that made up part of their bodies, the renegades were bound by the law of the Storms. Walach argued that since the Storm geneseed came from Ultramarines stock, by the same logic used by the Storms, it would belong to the Ultramarines and only the Master of the Ultramarines could choose how to dispose of it and them. The Storms disagreed but were not willing to start a fight with the Ultramarines over it so they relented and returned to the campaign as everyone awaited the answer from Ultramar. Everyone was equally surprised when word was received that Lord Macragge would hear the case.

Both sides plead their cases before the Chapter Master of the Ultramarines on Macragge. The renegades maintained that they never broke faith with the Emperor and merely resisted the manipulation of their Chapter by the Ecclesiarchy and that their loyalty during this rebellion was proven by their defense of Hajic. The Storms held that the renegades had not only rebelled against their Chapter but had also stolen materiel, experience and geneseed from them, weakening the Chapter's ability to defend against the Imperium's enemies, and had taken from Imperial worlds, misusing the authority of the Adeptus Astartes. All statements were heard, recorded and considered by Lord Macragge before his judgment was rendered.

Lord Macragge had been wary of the heightening influence of Vandire and had long kept an eye out for any attempt to extend that power over the Adeptus Astartes. With this also in mind, he rendered a judgment that would echo throughout the halls of the Astartes and the Ecclesiarchy. He decided that the renegades had remained loyal to the Emperor and had maintained that loyalty, for many even unto death. Therefore, they were not to be named traitors to the Imperium. Further, without their fortunate placement and swift action, an Imperial world and billions of citizens would be lost to the Orks and their Waagh would have an industrialized base to continue from. Therefore, it would be proper that a new Chapter be started to defend the area from more incursions. The experience and geneseed of the renegades (bolstered by more Ultramarine geneseed) would build the basis of this new Chapter. However, they had rebelled from their Chapter's rightful authority and had stolen from them. Therefore, after a sufficient period of time to train and begin this new Chapter, the original renegade Marines would begin a continual crusade until they were all dead and their Chapter would, over time, return the materiel and geneseed taken from the Grey Storms under terms to be agreed upon.

Walach never imagined an outcome such as this. He was recorded to have said "We have always remained the hammer of the Emperor and, if it is his will, we would smash the stars themselves!" From these words, the first uttered by the newly chosen Chapter Master came the name of the Chapter and so began four thousand years of glorious service to the Imperium. The Storms were not happy with the verdict but accepted it and began their four thousand year grudge...