Thursday, 21 August 2014

Iron Snakes: Starting an Odyssey



About three years ago I was sitting in a hotel in Crete overlooking Charnia harbour (I know, right?) and my wife said “I haven’t bought you a Birthday present”. I said something along the lines of “…honey, we are in Greece, I’m good!”

Anyway, after much arm twisting, I suggested she could order me some miniatures online. To celebrate the holiday she got me some Spartan-style Space Marine helmets and Iron Snakes shoulder pads from Chapterhouse Studios.
Now, I am not going to wade into the debate about whether 40K parts dealers are breaching intellectual property rights law or not. That is really a job for the lawyers and law makers to decide. I will say, though, that it inspired me to purchase a squad worth of Mk III armour, boarding shields, a Techmarine with servo harness and a Contemptor Dreadnought from Forge World to round out the force. In terms of stimulating sales, I think those little bits did more for Games Workshop than the last five years of White Dwarf magazines.
If you are not familiar with the Iron Snakes chapter, they are a creation of Dan Abnett. To quote KuriboGoomba “That guy can write the crap out of anything”. His book “Brothers of the Snake” contains seven short stories that follow the various trials of Damocles Squad under the leadership of sergeant Priad. The Chapter has a dominant Ancient Greek theme to it, which I found very compelling to explore, especially being a fan of The Illiad and The Odyssey (hence the trip to Greece).
 
The force I am putting together will consist of ten Sternguard with boarding shields and plasma combi-weapons/plasma guns, a Master of the Forge, a Contemptor Dreadnought and perhaps some scouts to make it all playable. I have decided that half of the shields will have some stylised animal designs on them, which I have created a little mock-up of below. I am aiming to have some test minis painted soon, so keep an eye out for them.

Come back with your shield or on it,
M4cr0

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