Legion Contemptor Dreadnought

Or an Osiron?

This chap was picked up at the same time as my Rhino, before the launch of Inferno.  I think I had a common reaction to him, thinking he looked rather plain compared to other Legion Contemptors, but his clean lines quickly grew on me.  It turns out, of course, that the sculptors were saving all their insane detailing for the Thousand Sons Osiron variant, have you seen that thing?

Anyway, there's no Thousand Sons dreadnought character in the Horus Heresy.  Which is someone dropping the ball if you ask me, we're talking about dudes who have the whole eternal servitude / mummies / returning after death thing as a primary image in their fluff here.  Maybe I just think that because I like Dreadnoughts...but I think one of the Forgeworld writers had similar ideas. In Inferno it's mentioned that a cadre of Dreadnoughts act as guardians to one of the Pyramids of Tizca, and come crashing out the wall (like mummies from their sarcophagi) when the invaders penetrate the interior.  How cool is that?

Chuck, Eddy, Fury...and Oz

 

As a guy who was around from the start, I have nostalgia about the original named patterns of Dreadnoughts, so getting a Contemptor and a Deredeo was always on the cards once I started on the project.  It's just a shame there's no Furibundus.

For my Chuck's loadout, I wanted an assault cannon as they're a classic Dreadnought look, especially once I found out the Contemptor variant is called the Kheres, which sounds like a weapon the numerologists of the Thousand Sons would like.  The other arm, I asked my better half to pick, and she plumped for a fist over another gun.  This turned out to be a provident choice when Osirons were revealed, as with the simple addition of a spare blade too big for a marine, you can turn a Chuck into an Oz.  It looks a bit cheap, but livable with for someone at my level.  When I get a bit better at painting blades, I'll return to this guy and try and make it a bit classier.

The cannon is on a swivel, the fist arm is fixed.

Naming the dead

My Dreadnought needed a name.  A quick scan through an encyclopedia of mythology, and I'd discovered an Egyptian goddess of wisdom and war called Neith.  Deciding to homage Phosis T'Kar's name (because I wouldn't be including him in my army despite him being cool, due to him having a bad case of being dead during my army fluff), I ended up with T'Neith.  For a first name, I just used the area Neith was worshiped, and so now we have Ancient Sais T'Neith.

He's really just meant to be a standard Contemptor, but the blade addition to the model means I can run him as an Osiron, although I'm not sure about the 50 points for that upgrade.  Ouch.  Also, nobody can agree upon which Force Org slot the Osiron goes into, which just makes ignoring the whole option all the easier.  Write clear rules if you want stuff to be used, I guess.  In the meantime, this guy will be guarding my base.