While Space Marines earn a lot of attention when it comes to the Horus Heresy, other forces were just as active in the battles that edged closer and closer to the climactic Siege of Terra. The Knight Households were among those most committed to the Loyalist and Traitor causes, and with the Liber Questoris book now out and providing rules for deploying them en masse, we had a dig around the office for some spectacular Knights to show off.
Luckily, our colleague Rich had just such an army, and he was kind enough to talk us through what went into it.
Rich: The force you see above started life as an allied Knight Acheron for my standing Horus Heresy army, from the fearsome VIII Legion. Having amassed over 12,000 points of painted Night Lords I started looking at ways to diversify, and this was kickstarted with the release of the Cerastus Knights in plastic.
When researching suitable Knight Houses to thematically ally with my Night Lords, I ended up with the grim inhabitants of Dark Haven: House Orhlacc. The Knights of the Manticore historically stayed loyal to the Emperor, however their dark past and the unspeakable acts committed by the scions of the house during the Age of Strife gave me plenty of narrative headroom for a contingent to throw their lot in with the VIII Legion, and the Traitors, during the Horus Heresy.
This is a 3,000-point force for the new edition of the Horus Heresy, built around a towering Porphyrion and my initial Acheron. This was given the Scion Aspirant household rank, unlocking an Armiger Talon that was then filled with two Knights Moirax. Being a Questoris Mendicant: Freeblade Company, it has the Loyal Retainers rule, allowing it to take an additional Armiger Talon without having to otherwise unlock it during army composition; this was filled with two Warglaives. The force was completed with a Lancer and menacing Atrapos.
My Night Lords also call the adepts of Forge World Ulan Huda allies. I've used this little bit of army narrative to help develop my Knight list, with the Mechanicum Atrapos and Moirax being gifts from the Predator Forge.
The striking purple armour plates are achieved by sponging on a selection of heavily thinned silvers, starting from the dark tones of Iron Warriors, through Iron Hands Steel to the brightness of Stormhost Silver. After this, the recesses and panel lines were then washed with Nuln Oil.
With the preparation done, all of this was given three or four thin coats of Eidolon Purple Clear – one of the rarely seen translucent Citadel Air paints – through an airbrush to give it that deep and textural purple tone.
Lastly, the large Zone Mortalis-style Knight bases were made by cutting down the Necromunda Zone Mortalis tiles and fitting them as base toppers to match the rest of my armies, which are often found picking through rubble and ruined ground.
Thanks, Rich! All of the new rulebooks from Warhammer: The Horus Heresy are on the shelves right now alongside the massive Saturnine boxed set, and all of its individual kits are up for pre-order this weekend. There’s never been a better time to start a Questoris Familia army of your own!
