Tonight We Dine On Blueberry Pies!

Hello!

Praise the Dark Gods for this heretical bounty!

As usual, the majority of the Grimdark WIPs are not on Patreon anymore.  But community members can still access the latest WIPs as mentioned in previous posts.  Just to be thorough, community members will receive an email with the access information as well.

So last time, I think I left off Argel Tal's story at the Drop Site Massacre. Even though it was a crushing victory for the traitors, he ended up being the sole surviving Gal Vorbak (Corax, the loyalist Space Marines and some Custodes killed the rest). Speaking of the Custodes, Argel Tal actually looted one of their Guardian Spears to use for himself. This shouldn't work since each weapon is supposed to be gene coded for the specific user but through uh...Chaos cheat codes I guess, he was able to do some sort of hack. Yeah, don't ask me how this heresy works. It's heresy. 😅

Anyways, Agel Tal recruited a whole bunch of new Chaos Possessed Space Marines called the Vakrah Jal, the Chapter of Consecrated Iron from the Word Bearers that survived the killing fields of Istvaan V. Argel Tal and Khârn became buddies around this time when the Word Bearers and World Eaters spent time in the Conqueror's fighting pits to train for the upcoming Shadow Crusade.

When the trap was set and the Ruinstorm was summoned during the devastation of Calth, the two Traitor Legions proceeded to lay waste to the 500 worlds of Ultramar. Basically the goal was to create as much death and mayhem to sustain the Ruinstorm for years to come. Oh and payback for the Smurfs of course after Monarchia. And oh boy, did they ever.

You might have heard Titus mention recently that reclaiming the 500 World of Ultramar is an impossible task. Well a big reason for that is because the Word Bearers and World Eaters laid waste to a good chunk of them. Countless civilians killed, cities destroyed and many Smurfs slaughtered. If I remember correctly, the final number of planets devastated could have been upwards to 100 by the end of the Shadow Crusade. And if planets were not outright destroyed, their wounds only really scabbed over without healing like Calth.

Now with all that lore context for Argel Tal and the Chaos Possessed Marines, I decided to give them the full Chaos treatment. Their 'blessings' give them giant mutated claws, tentacle whips and serrated blade arms that could slice through a Dreadnought. Yeah, Possessed Chaos Marines will pretty much rip and tear anything in close combat. If you played DOW 1, you know what I'm talking about.

And as a nod to Shadow Crusade slaughter (and community member request), I'll give a special pose for Argel Tal wielding a Custodes Guardian Spear while ripping a Smurf apart. Even if it's not written specifically, I'm pretty sure Possessed Word Bearers indulged in a lot of Smurf nomming during the Shadow Crusade because Daemons love that sort of thing. The Dark Gods seem to have a particular taste for gene-seed since they always reward their followers generously if that is sacrificed. I don't know why, maybe it's like truffles for them. 😅

Anyways, Argel Tal's final fate is kind of tragic. Ingethal the Ascended once prophesized he would die "in the shadow of great wings". This was interpreted as Argel Tal being killed by Sanguinius during the Siege of Terra but it was much less glorious than that. I won't spoil it but it's pretty public knowledge so it's easy to look up. I think I'll save his death scene as a bonus reward for a future Grimdark month. All in all, I think Argel Tal is an interesting character, caught between conflicting loyalties and adapting to his possession in interesting ways.

But the moral of the story is, don't listen to prophecies in fiction because they never go the way you think it does. Seriously, I don't know why characters ever listen to prophecies in stories, it just seems like a literary device for authors to troll the readers. 😅

Got a few updates for the Warhound Titan to show. As promised, I've included the Turbo Destructor Laser and Inferno Titan for the Warhound Titan! Like the Knight proxies, the weapon options are modular. I also included one more variation for the upper back of the Warhound Titan for three in total. The legs have also been posed to look like it's chasing down targets.

And finally, I've been working on the Thunderwolves! Still working on Logan Grimnar's final poses but here's a rough idea of how the entire Grimdark Santa meme is turning out.

Just a reminder, I'm also working on Gaunt as the bonus character this month. He and final release items will be revealed when the final poll results are in. In the meantime, Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays everyone! 🎄🥳