Badger's Big Update - Part 5 - Brotherhood of the Forge

Morning all,

Now then. This is hopefully going to the last part in this mammoth updating spree, but I've saved my pet project for the final post... The Brotherhood of the Forge.

The idea behind this project had been going for a long, long time. You can find the initial blog post that I did HERE where it discusses what my original plan was for the army. It basically boiled down to "I want to buy some Dwarves*, but never play Fantasy".

So, the Codex that I fancied using was the Witchhunters book, mostly because it offered 3+ Armour Saves, but still had low Strength and Toughness on the models, combined with the interesting twist of Faith Points - which is something I really enjoy in 40k (maybe another article some time?).

Without further ado then, I'll unveil the start of the Brotherhood of the Forge, and do a bit of background info
 on them, since they're not technically Squats....

The Original Test Forger

So this guy was the birth of it all, the first actual Brotherhood member that was made and armed, rather than the test paint model. I used the basic Dwarf Thunderer model, armed with a Crossbow stock, then cut this off, along with his spare hand.

I then cut the grip from the Bolter to make a hand hole for his spare arm, cut the trigger grip from the Bolter too and glued it together to make this Bolter arm.

This guy has a cloak on his back and a Shoulder pad, which I thought I had a lot more of, so he eventually became part of the Veteran squad. The cloak and pad separate them visually from the standard members of the Squad.

As for the paint scheme, originally, they were going to be Blue, as was shown on the test model in an earlier post, however, when it came to multi-tasking the vehicles, blue was off the menu since it's my Ork Deffskullz colour - and I can't associate myself with those poster boy Ultramarines!

So I used Adeptus Battlegrey as the fatigues and I think they've come out really well, the grey matches kind of this dark, miner community that I see the Brothehood living in.

Melta Guns on the Cheap

Now, one of the staple weapons for the Witchhunters army is the Melta gun, but as anyone who's ever checked eBay for cheap plastic Melta guns, you'll find they're like 40k golddust. Everyone wants them and can charge a quid or two per gun. Noes I say!

My melta guns are made from Imperial Guard grenade launchers, with the barrel using the Chaos Tank sprue decorations. I see their Melta guns, being part of the Forge, as more ceremonial  items, passed down from generation to generation as gifts.

Brothers of the Forge a.k.a Sisters of Battle

This is the first full squads of "Sisters of Battle". A 10 strong unit, with a Flamer, Melta, Imagifier (Ancient Tapestry of Battle) and a Veteran Sergeant.

If you notice, the Veteran Sarge in this unit has a brown beard. He's a veteran amongst his peers in the Squad, but he's still a youngling to the rest of the Forge. I imagine these guys a bit like Blood Claws in the Space Wolf army.

Forge Lord a.k.a Cannonness

Now, you may recognise this fella as the Dwarf Lord from Skull Pass, which has previously been shown on the Blog before. However, he's had a new coat of grey paint, over the blue, to tie him into the rest of the force.

Forge Veterans a.k.a Celestians

The Forge Lord joins his retinue of Veterans, made up of Celestians with an Imagifier, Melta and Flamer. These guys all have cloaks and Shoulder pads to show their Veteran status.

Forge Prophet a.k.a Inquisitor

Now, in the Brotherhood society, they commune with the Forge through their Prophets, who are able to understand the Forge and relay the message to the rest of the Clan - quite similar to the Mechanicum in that they believe the Forge to be some kind of entity or God.

This guy probably won't stay as an Inquisitor for long however, since looking at his armoury (Whip and Pistol), he's more suited to being the leader of a Sister Repentia (Slayer) unit, but for the moment, he's an Inquisitor.

Forge Oathkeepers a.k.a Death Cult Assassins

Now, these guys I got off eBay for a few quid, knowing that if I was going to do some Space Dwarves, I'd need to use some Slayer equivalents.

Originally, I wanted a Repentia unit, however, with the price it was costing me buying the plastic Slayer models, I couldn't keep it going. So the other alternative, once I had made an Inquisitor, was to use them as Death Cult Assassins.

One thing I didn't want to do with them was have Naked Dwarves running about the table, so I've given them a kind of "stealth suit" look, with a jet black bodyglove.

So there you have it, the unveiling of the Brotherhood of the Forge. I've got a Whirlwind with my Relictors that's being used as my Exorcist for this force, with a removable top hatch to be a Rhino for the Celestians or SoB squad.

Hopefully you guys like them, and I'm looking forward to adding more units. I need another squad of basic dudes, along with fleshing out the Celestians to a full unit. Then I want to look at some Penitent Engine options and how on earth I could make flying Dwarves....

Peace,

SB