Markus Morkaddon background

I'm still waiting for my Forgeworld stuff, but that doesn't mean I havn't been busy. I've been working on my background for my Sons of Horus.

I've decided to make the 15th Company, as it hasn't been featured before in any of the HH background, leaving me with a clean slate to work from. Here's what I have so far for my Captain.

Markus Morkaddon

Markus Morkaddon is a true veteran of the legion, having been inducted into the Luna Wolves with the first batch of recruits taken from Cthonia after the rediscovery of Horus. He soon distinguished himself in the service of the Imperium, fighting with the ruthless ferocity and charismatic manner that had served in well in his previous life as second-in-command of a deep-mine gang. Such were his abilities, he soon found himself promoted to an officer of the XVIth Legion, having impressed no less than Hastur Sejanus during the Drumar campaign, where he rallied the remnants of the 15th company after they were cut off and surrounded by Eldar, driving the Xenos before them in a torrent of bolter fire.

After this incident he was promoted to the now-vacant post of Captain of the 15th Company, the honour being bestowed by Lupercal himself. This action took him from line trooper to captain in one bound, a previously unheard of achievement. This prompted many comments from amongst the Legion high command. Whilst none could doubt his abilities and little was said to his face, there was feeling amongst the more bellicose and prideful members of the command structure who felt he did not belong there. 1st Captain Ezykle Abaddon was chief amongst his detractors, although it was said that Sejanus of the 2nd defended the young captain, reminding the 1st Captain that he had been young once and not as long ago as he’d like to think.

As the Great Crusade drew on, spreading the Imperial Truth across the galaxy, Morkaddon and his company distinguished themselves with honour, although they were always overshadowed by the other companies. They became known as the‘Fated15th, for their knack of surviving impossible odds, favouring tactics which utilized mobile squadrons of Stormeagles to act as a hammer to the massed Tactical Squads that served as the Anvil, Using their almost uncanny luck to carry them forward, they earned a reputation for pulling off daring skybourne assaults with unerring efficiency, epitomized by their taking of the Garrasii Skydome over Tinus III without a single casualty.

They also developed a friendly rivalry with Garviel Loken and the Tenth Company. The two companies were often paired up in theatres of war and constantly strove to outdo each other. Despite the fact that the 10th company often took the lions share of the glory from these actions, Morkaddon and Loken remained fast friends.
After the Luna Wolves were renamed the Sons of Horus and the Warmasters wounding, it became clear that despite this friendship, Morkaddon was loyal to the Warmaster through and through. He distanced himself from the 10th Captain, having an inkling of what was coming through his association with the Warrior Lodge.

As the first wave descended on Istvann III, he watched impassively as the 10th Captain and his men dropped to their doom, not even flinching as the firestorm engulfed the planet and fighting with grim determination in the ground war that followed. During the war against the loyalists, Morkaddon had the impression that his devotion to the new cause was in question, due to his previous friendship with the leader of the resistance. It was because of this, that after a particularly bloody ambush by loyalists that he vowed to hunt down the 10th Captain and present his head to the Warmaster himself to prove his determination in the new order. As history records, it was not Morkaddon that reached the Captain first, but Ezekyle Abaddon, drawing much ire from the 15th Captain.

The gears of war ground on and as the Dropsite massacre unfolded, the 15th formed a mobile reserve force, hemming in the Salamanders as they made a bid for freedom,. Having equipped the company’s Gunships with Multi-Meltas before taking to the field, he took grim satisfaction in destroying the Sons of Vulkan from the air, using the very weapons the Warmasters enemies specialized in the use of. It rankled Morkaddon not to have gained a place at the Warmasters side in the greatest battle of the age, but being the ever-dutiful son, he did not speak of his wounded pride.


I have more to add than this, but it's start. What do you guys think so far?

My Hobby Life 2012

Normally at this time of year I like to take a look over my hobby life andgain some focus, so I can enter the new year with my hobby-addled mind wandering a little less than usual, so with my FW order still delayed, i think now's a good time to do it


My hobby life this year

Games

40k games played :39, won 19
Fantasy Games played 8, won 2
Mordheim games played: 6, won 1
Malifaux games played: 1, lost horribly
Dreadfleet games played: 2, won 1

It's been a good gaming year for me, I got far more games in than last year (5 in all systems) and I'm improving my performance as a play. Every single one of them has been a blast to play as well, win or lose. If I can keep this rate up in 2013, I shall be very happy, although with me entering my final year of uni, it might reduce again

Modelling/Painting

Models bought:123

Models built: 154

Models completed: 65

Projects started:

Deathwing
Pre-Heresy Thousand Sons (restarted)
Empire (restarted)
Mordheim Dark Elves (restarted)
Malifaux Show Girls Crew
Chaos Space Marine reboot
Sons of Horus

Projects abandoned:

Deathwing


It's not such a good year for completing models, but I've always been more of a modeller than a painter, plus I've picked up a few modelling commisions along the way too.

It might look like I have a lot of unpainted models, but the vast majority of those that I've bought are almost finished models, which will be fullcompleted as soon as my uni studies are out the way mid-December.

 My turnover of dropped projects has dropped drastically too (thank god).  and I'm fairly happy with the progress on the ones I'm keeping too.

I'm going into the new year with clear ideas on what I'm doing for each of them

2013 Projects

Pre-Heresy Thousand Sons

My aim is to get at least a Librarian and Twenty Astartes done and ready for the table, along with twenty Spireguard (scouts), so they can either act as an independant army (using an as-yet undetermined 40k codex), or as support for my Sons of Horus (using the Legion Seeker Squads to represent their powers). I've nearly got all the models in need for them, I just have to pick up the Librarian to finish them off, so it'll be simple matter to use my time off before I return to uni in January to get them battle-ready

Sons of Horus

I've mentioned  numerous times that progress on these has been delayed until the order turns up. My plan going into 2013 is to at least have a 1750 point list built and ready to battle by February, ready for the 40k league starting up at my local club. The painting will take a bit longer, but I plan to lavish as much care and attention onto them as I possibly can, as these will probably become my main army

Space Wolves

My current main army. They're progressing nicely, with about half the models I own for them painted up and ready to go. These will very much be on the back burner in 2013, although I'll still be working on them

Hochland Empire

I'll be build these up in 500 point increments to coincide with the escalation league at my local GW. Work is slow at the moment, due to the large amount of conversion work going into it, but I'm fairly confident Von Nearostaffen will have his Glorious Army asnd the Flying Machine to go with it by mid-2013

Mordheim Dark Elves

I'm going to be putting a lot of work into these guys, making them into the ragged band of adventurers they should be, rather than simply subbing in models from my main Dark Elf army. I'm not going to working to a specific deadline though, so I can take my time with them

Malifaux Show Girls

I just need to paint these girls up, so shouldm't take too long. Being a skirmish game though, I want to put extra effort into each one, possibly turning them into display pieces, as my games of Malifaux are few and far between

Display pieces

I want to work on my painting skills, so I'll be producing a lot of one-off pieces that grab my attention, for displaying rather than gaming with. This might also put a chrimp in my urge to buy a whole new army every time something shiny in a new release grabs my attention


That should be plenty to be getting on with. My plan is not to buy any new models unless they're related to these projects. I know I said that last year, but I'm actually going to stick to it this year. Money's going to be a lot tighter, as it's my final year of uni, so I have no time to work alongside my studies. Hoepfully by the end of the year, I'll actually have some fully finished armies/warbands to  show for my efforts, but we'll see

Sad Times

My Forge World order is still not here. Phoned their customer service and they said it should be on the way to me, but that's all they knew. They've been saying that for the last three weeks though. Not happy at all. I know the postal service is busy with the run up to Christmas, but this is getting ridiculous now.

Work on my Sons of Horus has slowed to a crawl until it arrives. Sad times

Praetor Finished

Behold Markus Morkaddon, Captain of the 'fated' 15th Company of the Sons of Horus, ready to bring death to the Warmaster's enemies!

I've just added one or two touches to him since you last saw him, mainly the Eye of the Warmaster on his breastplate and shoulder pad, as he was looking far too much like a loyalist for the leader of a post-Istvann force.

He's also the first fully painted marine for my Sons of Horus. All he needs now is a few squads of the Warmasters Elite to accompany him and he's ready for war in the 31st Millennium. I'd best get cracking then!