Earlier in the week we showed off what the Warhammer Community team – and their illustrious archivist allies – had achieved with the new Saturnine boxed set. Loyalists always get to go first it seems, no doubt using weighted dice on their rolls to seize the initiative at the behest of the Emperor, so today it is the turn of the Traitors, who are obviously the best – Horus himself said so.
Rob – Iron Warriors
Saturnine Praetor, Saturnine Terminators
The first thing I noticed when I looked at the Saturnine Praetor’s profile was that you can swap his axe or his fist for the hammer, so there was only one thing I could realistically do. I was actually quite surprised how flexible the kit was – it has little nubs on the knees, like the Riptide Battlesuit, that you can cut off if you don’t want the default pose, so giving him a suitably solid stance for holding both massive weapons wasn’t hard at all.
Although my Iron Warriors were Loyalists in the last edition, I thought I’d indulge in a ‘What If?’ scenario this time around and went full Traitor, hence the poor stricken Salamander built from parts of the generic vehicle gunner frame. The next most obvious choice was to give old Briaros a heavy bodyguard of Saturnine Terminators, all loaded up with twin heavy disintegrators for maximum damage and a classic IV Legion disregard for their own safety.
But wait, why only five? Don’t you get six in the Saturnine box?
Well, yes, but a little birdy told me that Saturnine Terminators (and by extension the Praetor) have the Bulky (4) special rule, so the five of them plus their boss need 24 Transport Capacity to ride around in style. It just so happens that a previous Warhammer: The Horus Heresy boxed set gave us a great big transport vehicle with room to spare. Coincidence? More like a blessing from our lord and saviour, Perturabo.
Graeme – World Eaters
MkII Despoiler Squad
When I start a new project, I always try to capture a mood or moment. For the MkII Legionaries, my immediate thought was the remnants of a World Eaters Despoiler Squad in the blood-soaked mud of Isstvan V, the Butcher’s Nails grinding away at their sanity as they slaughter fellow Space Marines heedless of their allegiance, and perhaps wonder if they’re even on the right side of this war…
The blood splatters are Blood for the Blood God liberally applied with a piece of kitchen sponge. For a couple of them, I added some Stirland Mud to look as if their chainswords have churned up the earth as well as the blood of their erstwhile brothers.
While they’re individually very rough and ready, even these five together start to look good as a unit – when there are 20 of them, and the rest of an army around them, I reckon they’ll look impressively murderous.
Ben P – Sons of Horus
Araknae Quad Accelerator Platform, Saturnine Terminators
My Sons of Horus have a long and storied history all the way back to the release of Book 1: Betrayal, so I jumped at the chance to add some new recruits to them! They’re influenced by the griminess of the artwork in Betrayal, with a (heavily) thinned coat of Darkoath Flesh Contrast that brings Sons of Horus Green down into a dark, muddy seafoam.
As befitting the Wolves of Luna, the Saturnine Terminators will join a Praetor to form a deep striking speartip, able to fire off a volley from their twin heavy disintegrators as they charge into the Warmaster’s enemies. They’ll be overlooked by the Araknae (actually my favourite model in the entire set!), which sports the Eye front and centre.
Unlike most of my Sons they’re comparatively undamaged, as you’d expect for such a recent boon from Vulkan himself. They’ll be put to good use across Horus’ new Imperium, hunting down some of Mike’s Salamanders to show them how to properly use the gifts of their primogenitor!
Kat T – Emperor’s Children
MkII Space Marines
The Emperor's Children have the snazziest hues of all the Space Marines in The Horus Heresy, in my humble opinion. Most of my time on this project was spent gluing tiny bayonets onto the end of boltguns, but once that was done I painted the miniatures up in (more or less) the Emperor's Children colours using a simple mix of Base and Contrast paints. I got Agrellan Badland all over their legs while doing the bases, but I'm going to say it was deliberate and they're meant to have sandy armour from stomping through their surroundings.
Adam W – Emperor’s Children
Saturnine Dreadnought
Seeing the Saturnine Dreadnought kit options, I knew immediately that I wanted to build something that utilised a lot of them. Emperor’s Children was the natural fit for a Traitor colour scheme utilising everything. For the armour, I have been working on base metals with an overcoat of Contrast, and the recipe of a Chaos Black spray, a heavy drybrush of Leadbelcher, and then Leviathan Purple gives a deep metallic tone that I adore.
For the basing, I had to invoke Isstvan V – so lashings of actual volcanic sand, some volcanic glass, and a headless Iron Hands torso buried in the dunes (using one of the many spare front plates that come with the kit!)
Luke – Death Guard
Saturnine Praetor
Forever the hobby butterfly, I wanted the Saturnine Praetor because as soon as I saw it I thought he’d look incredible in Death Guard colours. He’s big and brutal, and there’s plenty of real estate on the miniature to mess around with weathering. I opted for a quite bare-bones build, leaving off the cape and swapping the fabric tabard and hanging medallions for the simpler pteruges, to make him fit the XIV Legion better.
The primary armour colour is quite a simple recipe – a mix of Rakarth Flesh and Pallid Wych Flesh shaded with lots of thinned glazes of Skeleton Horde before a final panel line of Rhinox Hide. All the fun was in the weathering. I covered him in scratches, stains and rust, using paints like Mournfang Brown and Skrag Brown. I didn’t want him to be fully plastered with dirt, so tried to keep it in the middle, and only added a little verdigris to the brass areas to situate him early enough in the Heresy that he hasn’t fallen fully to the Plague God’s touch. When I get him back, I am going to repaint the text on his scrollwork, because Rob has thoroughly outdone me with his “Iron Within, Iron Without” motto – my Praetor is quietly fuming in envy.
You can pre-order your very own Saturnine box right now, which contains all of the miniatures featured in this very article. Whether you’re painting them all as one Legion, or splitting the contents between multiple Legions, let us know how you paint them over on Facebook and Instagram.
