I’ve spent the last year or so slowly building out my Inquisitorial warband(s) for various Inq28 gaming opportunities. I’ve always wanted to be able to field a few distinct, flavorful warbands of Imperial agents, and I think I’m just about there.
In addition to painting minis, I’ve also been noodling on lore, trying to tie everything together in a way that 1) pleases me and 2) suits the games we play here at Comrade’s Wargames.
For this post, I’ll be showing off my Ordo Xenos warband, led by Inquisitor Zoltav Throckswain.
Throckswain has built his career pressing deep into xenos territory, operating far outside the influence (and protection) of the Imperium. For most missions, his retinue knows they are on their own, their backs to the wall, as they bring the Emperor’s light to the darkest corners of the galaxy.
For this reason, Throckwain and his disciples are known collectively as The Last Lighthouse.
From left: Sterilizer Dante Blackthorn, Inquisitor Zoltav Throckswain, and Interrogator Lysander Frost
Lately, Throckswain and his trusted followers have been operating in the Juventius sub-sector, a region of the Caluphel sector renowned for its resplendent shrine worlds. Troubling activity from a network of purported xenos cults has drawn the Inquisitor’s attention. The insidious whispers point to Gamma Euphorion, a shining beacon to the Emperor’s grace … which may harbor a dark underbelly of corruption.
From left: Caelum Drake, H4R-T, Jezza Marchstone
Joining Throckswain on this venture are a pair of hired guns recruited from the soot-blackened slums of Palus Secundus. Their scrappy approach is backed up by the immense, mute bulk of H4R-T, an indentured servitor sporting a modular weapons harness.
From left: Vojchek Sparr, Scribe Lobcock, and Rossyncloff the Ombudsman
Even as Throckswain plunges into the depths of Hive Sacrament, the largest hive city on Gamma Euphorion, he will need adepts close at hand to process evidence, research new leads, and disentangle the spiderweb of intrigue. A trio of lettered savants accompanies him to perform these vital tasks. Their workload will only increase as Juventius Prime gives up its secrets.
And so Zoltav Throckswain sallies forth into the cauldron of secrets that bubbles just beneath the shining veneer of Hive Sacrament. The taint of xenos is all around them. Insidious whispers echo through the underhive as the agents of The Last Lighthouse are pulled deeper into a web of alien corruption.
Editor’s note: In case you can’t tell, we have a campaign brewing here at Comrade’s Wargames! Authored and gamemastered by Bif over at Orcs Illustrated, this campaign will use Shadow War: Armageddon to play out a series of linked narrative games. The games will be set in Hive Sacrament on Gamma Euphorion Prime and will feature Throckswain’s Last Lighthouse versus Bif’s cunning Genestealer Cult!
I’m tickled pink to have some lore down on paper about my warband as we head into this campaign. More to come soon, so stay tuned!
I’ve long been interested in getting some ideas down about my Dark Mechanicum warband: motivations, the names of various leaders and other personalities, and some general warband lore.
The Dark Mechanicum is one of just a small handful of factions in the Warhammer 40,000 that hasn’t been explored in exhaustive details, and that pleases me immensely. It means there are still some darkened corners to explore, some dim hallways that haven’t been illuminated with a wiki article. Light a torch, gentle reader, and let us plumb the unknowable depths together.
Curse This Metal Body
The Dark Mechanicum encompasses a myriad of factions who seek forbidden knowledge that exists beyond the flickering light of the Imperium of Man. While some may seek this knowledge from a position of misplaced altruism, we concern ourselves here with the truly corrupt few who understand that knowledge can be weaponized and used to wield immense power.
With most of their humanity wiped away after centuries of replacement and repair, the vile hereteks of the Dark Mechanicum seek to harness the darkest secrets that remain in a galaxy gone mad with ignorance. Operating from derelict space stations and abandoned asteroid hideouts, the Dark Mechanicum are composed of both brutal raiders and brilliant engineers, working side by side to accomplish their infernal goals.
The Seekers of the Fractal Schematic
The Seekers of the Fractal Schematic are one such warband. Emerging from the chaos that engulfed Gamma Euphorion Prime following a genestealer uprising, the Seekers have been seen operating throughout the Caluphel Sector on a variety of mysterious tasks. Garbled remnants of scrapcode broadcast on forgotten frequencies during their raids, together with the insane babbling of traumatized survivors, point to a singular focus on the fabled Fractal Schematic — a cryptic lodestone rumored to contain untold petabytes of infernal data within its gently pulsating crystalline lattice.
My Dark Mechanicum warband is a collection of miniatures from various manufacturers and sources. I don’t really like limiting myself to “official” figures or sticking with any one particular product line. So you’ll see figures in here from a variety of big name game systems, plus lots and lots of conversions, 3D prints, and smaller boutique sculptors. All it takes is a coherent paintjob to tie everything together and sell the warband concept.
If you’re curious about the origin of any particular mini, just leave a comment and I’ll do my best to enlighten you.
Draxus, the Blighted Cog
Draxus the Blighted Cog is among the most fearsome enforcers of the Seekers’ ranks. A hulking brute with a body assembled from cold steel, Draxus leads raids from his voidship Frigid Alloy. Although Draxus is admittedly a bit one-dimensional, he is but a servant of the warband’s true leader: the dread heretek named Rho-Terak, the Enslaver of Logic.
Rho-Terak has been a character in my warband’s lore for a long time, since the very beginning. Early on I used an Asphyxious miniature from Warmachine to represent Rho-Terak, but now I’m on the hunt for a suitably appropriate bespoke figure. More on that in the future!
Mechanicum Drudges, from the Seekers of the Fractal SchematicMechanicum Drudges, from the Seekers of the Fractal Schematic
Drudges form the core of most Dark Mechanicum raiding parties. With ill-fitting cybernetics and a variety of ramshackle weaponry, these zealots can often be found scavenging useful scraps from among the fallen, always looking for a tempting tidbit that could be used to improve their own wetware.
From left: Remnant of Deltilion, Remnant of Hypara, and Remnant of AbasmexFrom left: Remnant of Nihil and Remnant of Nocturnus
Remnants represent the lowest tier of the warband’s heirarchy and are often little more than a collection of emaciated limbs clutching rusted weaponry, animated by a crude battery pack. The tragic ranks of the Remnants are constantly replenished from among fighters who have displeased the Dark Mechanicum’s infernal leaders. Remnants have no free will of their own and rely on direct commands from nearby Surge Nodes, who drive them forward with sparking shock prods.
Surge Nodes
Surge Nodes are Dark Mechanicum warriors whose bodies have been threaded with so much wiring and augmentation that they fairly crackle with energy. In constant agony from their implants, these gaunt fighters lurch forward from ambush positions, tormenting their victims with gruesome shock prods.
Reclaimers
Reclaimers operate as the second echelon on the battlefield, following behind raiders to mop up survivors. They use unholy fire to burn away flesh and clothing, revealing blackened metal parts to be scavenged by marauding drudges. This loot is catalogued and hauled back to the Seekers’ lair for implantation.
Ascendant
Ajax 07/4 Ascendant is an example of a Dark Mechanicum warrior who is reaching the pinnacle of his inhuman metamorphosis. Ascendants are tech adepts who have been mutilated almost beyond recognition and equipped with cybernetic implants and weaponry to help them serve the warband. Lesser fighters hope to one day receive the gifts of the Ascendants if their service is rewarded.
Exitor 5.41
Exitor 5.41 is an enigma among the Seekers — is he a true synthetic warrior, or does his gaunt metal frame still contain some shreds of flesh, entombed within a steel exoskeleton? As a marksman on the battlefield, Exitor 5.41 once held position for 71 hours straight amid driving acid rain, patiently tracking an enemy officer with his augmented eyesight and waiting for the victim to step out from a bunker and present a satisfactory target.
The Septic Hound
The Septic Hound is likely a heavily modified automaton, perhaps one of the fabled Men of Iron. The Hound was encountered centuries ago in a long-forgotten hive sump, half buried in a fetid stew of engine oil and mouldering fungus. At the time off its discovery, the Hound was inert, its power core dark. A series of repairs and modifications ultimately created the skulking, scuttling monstrosity that now serves the Seekers of the Fractal Schematic.
Thoth-Mu-XIV
Thoth-Mu-XIV is a tech adept whose cybernetic enhancements include razor sharp close combat fittings. While squads of drudges advance and scatter their foes, fast-moving stalkers like Thoth-Mu-XIV separate out fleeing soldiers to be captured, providing the Seekers with needed biomass for their flesh factories.
K-Vorst-14
K-Vorst-14 was first seen during the last days of Hive Sacrament, when the acrid smoke had reached the upper spires and the planetary governor was evacuating with his house guard. K-Vorst-14 rumbled through a sheet of flame and broke the defensive lines of the garrison protecting the landing pad, providing heavy fire support that allowed Draxus the Blighted Cog to cut his way into the data vault and make off with the sanctified cogitator array.
Upload Complete
Thanks for coming on this journey with me! I’ve been noodling on this warband for a few years now, and it’s nice to get all my ideas down on paper (so to speak). Particularly since the Dark Mechanicum don’t have a lot of official lore attached to them. (Again, that’s a feature, not a bug, in my humble opinion.) Look for these guys to feature heavily in our upcoming games!
I’ve spent some time lately returning to my fantasy dwarf heartbreaker army — The Expedition to Hearthspire. This army has been in existence, either in concept or on the actual tabletop, since the late 2000s, when I scraped together a handful of dwarves to play A Song of Blades & Heroes with my old game club back in Chicago.
Since then, my collection of dwarves has increased consistently. Models became units. Units became a small army, then a larger army. Now I’ve got a fairly vast collection of painted dwarves, ready to undertake the quest for the ancient city of Hearthspire. Here’s the latest family photo, taken last month when I mustered the whole group for a game of Hobgoblin with John.
After that game, I felt inspired to paint up some reinforcements to further bolster the dwarven throng. Hobgoblin is an old school rank-and-flank type of game that encourages large armies. So I assessed the current state of my dwarf army and identified the distinct need for some elite, heavily armored dwarven infantry to anchor the center of my battle line.
I found what I was looking for in a big box full of various units and figures from Scibor Monstrous Miniatures – one of my all-time favorite makers of chunky, characterful dwarf models. (Yes, it’s true, I have so many Scibor kits in my dragon hoard that they have their own dedicated box.)
These guys were a lot of fun to paint up. I’m not always fond of bare heads (something about my lack of precision and patience when painting faces) but these guys weren’t too difficult.
I painted these guys up over the summer, and they’ve yet to see the battlefield. I’m sure they’ll eventually take to the field in a game of Hobgoblin – I played a session earlier this year with John and got my butt kicked. (And I convinced myself the reason I lost is because I didn’t have a sufficient critical mass of armored dwarvess. Problem solved!!)
Stay tuned for more content in general from Comrade’s Wargames. After a long drought, I’m easing back into the saddle to share more quality hobby content with my tens of readers.
These models were originally released a number of years ago, primarily for the Japanese market, and they were only recently released earlier this year in the USA. They’re packaged and sold as individual blind boxes that contain 1 random miniature from the 8 models in the series.
I bought a couple of these guys and then traded for a few of the others. I ended up with a duplicate of the standard bearer guy, which gave me an opportunity to convert up the surplus model. He’s the guy on the left in the photo below.
But here’s the interesting (and slightly silly) backstory: I’ve actually owned these models before, back in 2020. When they were released for the Japanese market, they were commonly sold as a sealed case containing one of each of the models in the line, including the Malignant Plaguecaster that appeared less frequently and was sort of a chase rare. I bought my sealed case in December 2020 and then promptly lost interest in my Death Guard army for a while.
Over the next two years, the Death Guard Heroes set went out of print and started to command a premium price on the secondary market. I did a sober analysis of my still-sealed box – did I really need more Plague Marines? Would I truly get around to building and painting these guys? I wisely decided to “sell into the hype” and made a tidy little profit on my box.
I figured that was the end of the story, yet here we are – I’ve re-purchased those same models (for a much more reasonable, non-premium price, I must admit). BUT! I’ve also finished painting them, so I win in the end.
Anyway, it’s a silly little story that just goes to show how much I enjoy regular, run-of-the-mill Plague Marines as the backbone for my Death Guard army.
As a bonus, here’s one more Plague Marine that I painted up around the same time. He’s converted from one of the Chaos Space Marine Chosen from the Dark Vengeance boxed set, with some extra bits from my Putrid Blightkings leftovers.
Pull up a chair, dear reader, for a personal story from our local game group.
You may have read about our friend Paul, one of the founding members of our local game club (The Majestic Gamers). I met Paul shortly after moving to town about 7 years ago.
At that time, he was just starting out in 40k, and we got together for some games. Paul shared that he experienced periodic tremors in his hands, ranging from barely noticeable to more debilitating. In spite of this, he persevered with his newfound hobby and painted up three gorgeous 40k armies that have made regular appearances on Comrade’s Wargames over the years, as well as countless skirmish warbands for Warcry, Shadespire, and other games. Truly, it was an inspiring example of someone overcoming a physical impairment to achieve spectacular skill in a creative hobby.
Paul’s magnum opus is probably his Tyranids army, which featured heavily into our 40k narrative campaigns. Here’s a couple photos from our gigantic Apocalypse game back in 2018.
Last year, Paul let us know that his tremors had become more pronounced, and the doctors had diagnosed a more advanced condition. He begrudgingly acknowledged that his painting days were likely over.
Around this time, the new Leviathan boxed set came out, and the rest of us in the Majestic Gamers had a brilliant idea – we would acquire the box set, divvy up the Tyranid models, and paint them up to fit in with Paul’s existing Tyranid army! His army would get a huge boost and we’d all get a chance to splash some paint on those cool new bugs. Daniel handled the purchase and distribution of the Leviathan box – thank you, Daniel!! Splitting up the painting amongst 5 people meant we all got a manageable numbers of models to paint up.
Here, then, are the fruits of our labors, which were delivered to Paul earlier this month. HUGE thanks to Rian, John, Parker, and Lawrence for lending their artistic skill and expertise to this project, and to Daniel for purchasing the box and handling logistics.
(Tip: If you click on the first photo, you’ll launch a fullscreen gallery where you can flip through each photo in sequence.)
Keep in mind, that’s five different people offering their own personal interpretation of Paul’s paint scheme. I think we did pretty good, all things considered! Shout-out to John for printing up those crystal pieces that we all used on the bases – that really pulled everything together in a cohesive manner.
But Wait, There’s More!
The story doesn’t end here! When we presented Paul with his newly painted Tyranid reinforcements in August, he shared with us some wonderful and heartening news: he is planning to have a procedure done that will help control his symptoms and hopefully get back some quality of life.
Yes, we immediately cracked jokes about Paul becoming a literal cyborg. Ah, the miracles of modern medicine. The procedure is planned for next month (September). So don’t throw away those paintbrushes, Paul – this hobby isn’t done with you yet!
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