Pre-Heresy Emperor’s Children
Today I thought I'd show you another of the armies from last weekend's Warhammer 40,000 Throne of Skulls Tournament. Demetris Tampakoudis finished third overall with his Pre-Heresy Emperor's Children Space Marine army. He was also one of the nominees for the Best Painted Army award. When you see his army you'll have no trouble accepting the second of those statements, but the first is surprising: Demetris' army is probably the most balanced army I've ever seen on the top tables of a highly competitive tournament. His army has a good mix of units and weaponry, infantry and armour. I suppose it just goes to show that in the hands of a skilled general, a flexible army can overcome any foe and triumph whatever the scenario.
Anyway, here's a look a Demetris' army:
Demetris started his army when the first Horus Heresy novel came out and used the Horus Heresy: Collected Visions book for inspiration when painting and modelling the army. Click on the image for a top-down view of the army.
Demetris' Ironclad Dreadnought uses the body and right arm from Forge World's MkIV Venerable Dreadnought, while the head is a fantasy Chaos Warrior's that has had its horns cut off. The left arm is the MkIV assault drill arm, also from Forge World. The eagle icons on the shoulders are from the Rhino kit. Demetris has also added the havoc launcher from the Chaos Vehicle frame to represent hunter-killer missiles.
These Assault Terminators have been heavily converted. Demetris cut down pins for the studs in their legs and made the shoulder pads from thin card. Each of the thunder maces were made by cutting the tops off of a thunder hammer and replacing it with the mace from the Dark Angels frame. The plumes on their backs are top knots from Ork Boyz heads. The sergeant's cape and the lightning claws, are from the Chaos Terminator Lord set and have had all of their spikes removed.
Demetris converted the Master of the Arsenal from the Masters of the Chapter set by replacing his right arm with one from the Chaos Space Marine kit. He then added a storm bolter from a Space Marine Terminator and the sling from a Dark Angel's bolter. He also swapped the model's head with one from a crew member from the High Elf Bolt Thrower set.
This ten-man Tactical Squad has been modelled as two five-man combat squads. One has been given a more static look, while the other has been posed more dynamically. Demetris said this was to represent how they would work together on the battlefield: one combat squad providing cover fire while the other closed on the enemy. Click on the image to see the full squad.