Army Spotlight: Hammers of Man

In this post, I'm going to introduce my newest Warhammer 40K force: The Hammers of Man. 

If the flag looks a little...Soviet-ish, there's a reason.

The Hammers of Man are a combined force of (Primaris) Space Marines and (Valhallan) Imperial Guard. Hailing from the (made up) planet Rusov, their overall theme is somewhat Soviet Russian. 

A Rusovian Guardsman

The Valhallan line of Guard models have always had a somewhat WWII Soviet feel to them, and in creating this force, I thought to myself: "What would a Soviet-themed Space Marine force look like?"

With the release of the 8th Edition Dark Imperium boxed set, I now had a small force of Primaris Marines on my hands, and a perfect opportunity to create a new chapter. Since my force is (currently) small, and the only IG models I had were the Valhallan leftovers from my first army (RIP), I decided it was a good opportunity to merge the two. 

From that original concept came a paint scheme, a backstory, and tactics to match. 

Yes, that's a thunder hammer. No, it's not strictly legal. Yes, I paid the points for it.

As you can see, the Space Marines of the force are a little less drab, a little more showy than the guardsmen, but I think that fits. Their pauldrons are bright blood red (accomplished with the Citadel red gemstone paint) and the base paint color is a richer green. I'm reserving judgement on whose gene seed they use until the Codex: Space Marines is released. 

The backstory will be published as a series of short stories, starting with part I shortly. In essence, the series will tell the story of how the Primaris Marines came to be associated with the guardsmen, and how they learned to fight together. 

Although I've only fought one battle with them, the tactics of this force are starting to emerge. As callous as it is, the poor bloody infantry of the Imperial Guard are primarily there to soak up wounds and screen the more combat effective Primaris, although their orders mechanic allows them a lot of flexibility in terms of falling back and advancing.

In addition to my Dark Imperium marines and my infantry squads, I also have a "counts as" Earthshaker Carriage Battery (Forge World model = ~$100, Ebay WW2 artillery model = ~$20) and a Taurox Prime. 

Pay no mind to the heretics charging in. 

Overall, I'm enjoying how these guys are coming out. Stay tuned for more!