Excommunicate Traitoris: ElectricPaladin's Knights of Blood

[ElectricPaladin]

I figured I'd start a new thread, since my old thread is more about "should I or should I not change my Blood Angels into Knights of Blood, trading in the honor and glory (and uniform redness) of the First Founding for the dubious sanity, bicolored scheme, and codex options of a renegade successor chapter?"

Because you're reading this, I've clearly decided on the latter.

This thread is going to be a sort of a blog detailing my journey through the Knights of Blood. You can expect to see WIP photos, finished model photos, and contemplations about the background of the Knights of Blood - and my particular take on them - as well as a running tally of what I have yet to buy, build, and paint. Please feel free to break my stride with your own questions, comments, concerns, and advice. Half the fun of this sort of thing is having the whole community involved in my project. I'd like to finally finish an army (other than my Khador, which is mostly painted and still going strong), and with you all cheering me on, I can do it!

Anyway, before I go any further, I want to quickly write about who the Knights of Blood are and then give that first episode of that running tally I promised.

The Knights of Blood are a renegade Space Marine chapter, which means that although they have been excommunicated by the High Lords of Terra, they haven't actually fallen to Chaos... at least not yet. A lot of chapters break up, lose their discipline, and end up going Chaotic - either all at once or piecemeal - once they go renegade. The Knights of Blood went renegade because of their awful berserk fury. They seem nearly incapable of controlling themselves in combat, and basically kill everything in sight until it's all over.

So... no Allies for these guys.

What makes the Knights of Blood particularly interesting is that when they first showed up, it was in some earlier incarnation of the Chaos Marines codex as a warband, probably devoted to Khorne. They next appeared in the latest Blood Angels codex as renegade, but probably not Chaotic, because they came to the Blood Angels' defense, and were nice enough to throw themselves into the fighting where the other chapters present wouldn't go, so none of them would have to answer to the Inquisition.

My plan is to assume that the chapter has begun the process of breaking up. Some groups - scattered survivors, maybe even entire companies - have gone bad. Others are holding together and trying to find a way to establish themselves with a new home. This means that with a couple of shifts, I could easily play them with either the Chaos Marines or Blood Angels codex, which means twice the fun for one army. I may even go so far as to buy extra HQs and kit them out differently for different armies - for example, the Blood Angels force will be lead by a librarian, but the Khornate Chaos Marines version will probably not be lead by a sorcerer - but that's not in the cards for the immediate future.

I'll post more on the dual fluffs of my armies later. For now, the running tally!

I won't go into the entire list, but here's what I have. When an entry is totally painted, I'll bold it in a celebratory fashion.

• 1 Captain
• 1 Librarian with jump pack
• 1 Librarian on foot

• 1 Sanguinary Priest on foot (assault gear) - Unpainted
• 1 Sanguinary Priest on foot (tactical gear) - Unpainted
• 1 Sanguinary Priest with jump pack
• 1 Furioso Dreadnought

• 10 Assault Marines on foot - 2/10 Painted
• 10 Assault Marines with jump packs
• 10 Tactical Marines
• 10 Scouts

• 5 Devastators - Unpainted

• 1 Baal Predator
• 1 Land Raider Crusader - Unpainted
• 1 Stormraven
• 1 Razorback - Unpainted

[ElectricPaladin]

Hey guys! Hey guys! I made a thing! It's not a thing on my original list, but it's a really cool thing anyway.





This is the librarian I'm going to use for my Knights of Blood if I decide that the terminator librarian I'm still working on converting up isn't worth the points. I'm particularly proud of the weapon he's got.

Doesn't it look a lot like a nemesis force hammer? Funny, that. How do you think a member of a renegade chapter got a weapon normally reserved for the Grey Knights?

He took it off the *******'s cooling corpse after a duel, of course.

You see, real space marine chapters judge renegade chapters for themselves. Only Inquisitorial lapdogs a few chapters require nothing more than the judgment of a corrupt bureaucracy to consider their fellow Astartes to have fallen. The Grey Knights are among the worst offenders.

The unfortunate fellow this hammer originally belonged to was sent after the Blood Knights, as though they were demons. Demons of the warp! And of course, the Inquisition's lackeys were more than happy to oblige, in force, but the Knights of Blood 5th Company proved the stronger.

Do you think he is unworthy to wield this weapon? Do you think he is a slave of Chaos? Then come here and take it from him.

Come at me, bro.

[phoenix01]

Can't wait to see them painted.

[miteyheroes]

I've always been intrigued and a bit tempted by the Knights of Blood, I look forward to seeing what you come up with!

[ElectricPaladin]

Here it goes. My first finished squad:

A group shot.



Heavy bolter guy and flamer guy.

[ElectricPaladin]

These two battle-brothers are young and haven't earned any significant honors yet.



These two battle-brothers have earned the right to wear the Black Drop, which signifies that they have shed their own blood in defense of another Son of Sanguinius. The Astartes on the left was the one who carried the squad's sergeant to safety after he was maimed by a multi-melta blast; the one on the right earned the Black Drop during the defense of Baal.



These battle-brothers have earned various other honors and the right to wear them on their shoulder pads in place of the chapter heraldry.



The sergeant remains my favorite kit-bash ever, and I'm quite proud of the paint job as well.

[ElectricPaladin]

A little fluff:

In my mind, the Knights of Blood are a chapter that straddles Chaos and loyalty. It's already been shown that a certain "sympathetic magic" exists in the world of 40k. That is, while a chapter is loyal, its members have some protection against the ravages of chaos, but somehow being cast out of the Imperium has a negative effect on them. Consider how individuals from fallen chapters frequently found themselves corrupted despite their personal wishes.

But the Knights of the Blood aren't enemies of humanity, just enemies of the Imperium, which they consider hopelessly corrupt. They still, in their own way, serve the Emperor and the species he made them to protect. They just don't do it under orders from the Lords of Terra and the Inquisition.

So, where does this leave them? In a perilous position. Chaos speaks louder to them then it did before. Some entire companies have fallen to Chaos, while others have been rent and decimated by attempted coups.

In my mind, this has had the result of pushing the Chapter a little more towards individual honors and badges. Why? It is at the same time a sign of creeping Chaotic corruption and an effort to resist Chaos. By awarding individual battle-brothers with honors and titles, they reinforce the importance of chapter, company, and squad over the individual. Knights of Blood are awarded for heroism that protects their comrades, for serving their comrades, and for supporting their comrades.

At the same time... these same honors, to a certain extent, promote the individual. Battle-brothers are understandably proud of their honors. Young battle-brothers strive to be awarded the right to wear a special badge, older battle-brothers compete for the right to improve their honors with more prestigious ones.

And so the Knights of Blood stand on the precipice of Chaos...

[interrogator_chaplain]

Looks good dude!

I love when people go outside the established chapters and paint up something unique but with a history to build upon. It feels just like you're helping build that history.

Everything looks good, just a couple questions:
- Are you doing edge highlighting?
- Can you paint those blood drops like they're the little spirit stones on Eldar Armour? All gemmed up and such? I think that would make them look stellar.

[Tzeentch's Dark Agent]

Nice stuff dude. I really should do something like this for my Fire Angels... Effort though.

[lattd]

Lovely models and background, just want to point out there is some mold lines on the powerfist and on one of the legs.