Having painted four Imperial Guardsmen for the Iron Sleet Thorn Moons Invitational the fifth and final model to tackle the Thorn Moons is someone rather different. Stuck for inspiration amongst the ranks of the Guard I took on an Imperial agent, a shadowy, mendicant figure, tasked with enacting the Emperor’s will without support from the greater Imperial war-machine.
…And yes, I’ve not drilled out the barrel because that would have almost certainly broken the gun. Am I proud? Not a bit of it!
Of course, all this leaves for us is to delve into the background of the regiment – the Sarkisian 7th.
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When the Imperium called for troops to join the crusade the Sarkis system, one of the closest along a stable warp route, was a natural choice of recruiting ground. Raised from the densely packed hive streets of Sarkis V, the men of the Sarkisian 7th were naturals at fighting in the narrow crawlspaces and elaborate trench works of their homeworld. Alas the forests of the Thorn Moons, so similar on paper to the hive-warrens, proved disastrously different once they made planetfall. Against the deadly forests of those hell-worlds the Sarkisian 7th were soon whittled down into small bands of survivors, each attempting to find their way to their own lines after their initial triumphant advance.
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All manner of unclean creatures assailed us beneath those terrible trees. Emperor preserve our souls! Have we failed?
Even against the foulest of heretics we fought on, whilst the dank forest closed around us like a fist.
We needed leadership – someone who understood those twisting forests as well as the enemy, someone who could guide us to our dreamed of vengeance.
She will not tell us where she comes from but, in contrast to our struggling, blundering steps, she walks the forests of the Moons like a native. Was she born here I wonder, beneath these hungry boughs? Did she run through a childhood spent amongst these glades and thickets? It is hard to image her as an innocent, just as it is hard to imagine a childhood spent upon these strange worlds with their all devouring forests. Give me my hive streets once more, the warrens of mankind’s great cities rolling beneath my feet! What foul death-world first spawned such unclean xenos things as trees?
I do not even know her name, nor her rank or duties. It does not seem to matter however. She has led us, when the forest grew darkest. Without her this nightmare world would have consumed us long ago. If we endure here it shall be by her actions and the Emperor’s will alone.
Once again huge thanks to the team at Iron Sleet for putting the Invitational together and to all the other hobbyists who’ve been involved. If you’ve not already do take the time to head over to Iron Sleet and take a look at the showcase of work they’ve been building, a treasure trove of inspiration awaits!
Convert or Die 
November 28th, 2017 at 8:43 am
Wonderful mini, great backstory. I love the owl. It was really great to follow your project.
November 28th, 2017 at 9:45 am
Thank you! Must confess I’ve really enjoyed it myself, in fact I wouldn’t be surprised if a few more guardsmen join the squad at some stage in the future…
November 28th, 2017 at 9:49 am
Keep us posted on that, I would love to see these guys find some other survivors of their regiment in the depth of this forest.
November 28th, 2017 at 9:09 am
The owl is fantastic and will help me with how to paint my own hehe. Great fluff too mate. I’ve said it before I’ll say it again. Write a book damn you! You and Alex should join forces and write a booo together.
November 28th, 2017 at 10:49 am
The owl was great fun to paint – and surprisingly straightforward as well (mind you I spend most of my working day looking at birds and other wildlife so maybe it’s not a surprise that I found it easier to paint than, say, a deamon or a power-armoured super-human neither of which turn up at my office with any kind of regularity). Glad you liked the piece I wrote to go with them and as for the book I’ll tell you the same thing I always do – someday, when I have the time, who knows what might happen… 😉
November 28th, 2017 at 12:08 pm
Superb mate – the splash of red does wonders for the unit & really makes her stand, out while still fitting in. Love that base too dude, top notch 🙂
November 28th, 2017 at 3:46 pm
Cheers mate – I thought the unit was in need of a bit more colour. The base was good fun too, I didn’t want to go too mad on it but it was good to stretch myself a little and do something different to my normal industrial rubble. 🙂
November 29th, 2017 at 4:16 pm
Really great unit, awesome fluff and character! Love your color scheme, and it’s been exciting to see this project develop. Well done! Now I need to get in gear and get my Thorne Moons troopers finished!
December 2nd, 2017 at 8:13 am
Really great stuff. I’ve just caught up on your posts and enjoyed reading your thought process as well as the fragments of background you’ve written. You’re painted a very effective picture of these guardsmen over the course of the last few weeks.
December 2nd, 2017 at 11:15 am
Thanks very much 🙂 The creative outpouring from everyone involved in this project has been a huge inspiration, I’m looking forward to getting the time to really dig through everything that everyone has made.
March 9th, 2018 at 3:32 am
[…] four guardsmen and, hitting something of an inspirational dry spell, rounded out the squad with a specialist agent sent to the Thorn Moons by the Imperial invaders. However that left several unfinished guardsmen […]