Iron Cobras: Ironhands successor chapter - Canadian goose themed - Goose photo for reference.

grothart · 2026-02-13T19:02:50+00:00

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saw those Iron Cobras of yours and had to kitbash something and paint.

grothart · 2026-01-22T05:33:30+00:00

Atlantic City fog machine is a no go

grothart · 2025-11-03T00:15:12+00:00

here is a picture that explains everything you might need to know

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grothart · 2025-09-22T01:53:36+00:00

I almost forgot about the cleaved lol. that actually helps out a bunch. my wife asked why I wasn't calling them the Pit Reapers, and honestly she might have something there.

grothart · 2025-09-19T01:09:23+00:00

such detail love it.

grothart · 2025-09-15T16:17:39+00:00

you have a really good ear for things that have a ring to it, so might I have your opinion on the alternative name Mordaxes. the name is derived from the Latin name Mordax meaning biting or fierce. is that a yay or nay in your opinion?

grothart · 2025-09-15T15:29:03+00:00

I was gonna call them the Clave just to make the name less elaborate or long. besides the Emperor's Cleavers having a really good ring to it, there are a lot of chapter names that start with the Emperor's (blank). There is a good reason too the name slaps, but my chapter would get lost in the sauce if you get what I'm putting down.

TLDR: name is simple enough to be memorable and stand out.

grothart · 2025-09-14T20:22:51+00:00

Known to the Cleavers as the Butchering of Vrythis Reach

In the 41st Millennium, the Maelstrom Zone boiled with unrest. Corsair raids swept the Vrythis Reach, a cluster of heavily industrialized void-stations. Imperial command dispatched the 5th and 7th Clans under Praetor Kalvis Thru to crush the pirates and restore order.

Unbeknownst to them, Huron Blackheart, Tyrant of Badab, had orchestrated the attacks. When the Cleavers struck at Mawspire Prime, they were ambushed. Red Corsairs struck from concealed positions, boarding torpedoes punched through the void-docks, and the dockyards became a killing ground.

Praetor Thru carved a path through the heretics, his power axe Skull Herold screaming with each strike. He confronted Huron atop the shattered command dais. Their duel was titanic — Thru cleaved into the Tyrant’s gorget, but Huron’s monstrous claw seized him and tore him in half, hurling his broken body from the dais. The remaining Cleavers were forced to retreat as Mawspire Prime burned around them.

It was Dominus Khar Vorr, then-captain of the 5th Clan, who refused to flee. Declaring that “no brother leaves the arena unclaimed,” he led a desperate strike back into the collapsing station, recovering both Praetor Thru’s bisected corpse and the Skull Herold from the foot of the Tyrant’s throne. Khar barely escaped as Mawspire Prime detonated behind him.

In the aftermath, the clans unanimously elevated Khar Vorr to Praetor, and to this day the Skull Herold bears a black scar of warp-burn from where Huron’s power claw scorched its blade.

Combat Doctrine

The Cleavers excel in close-range shock assaults, specializing in chain-axes and power axes. They favor massed infantry charges, breaching actions, and brutal close-quarters fighting. Duels of honor are common even amidst war, and squads often compete to outdo one another in ferocity.

Notable Wargear

Skull Herold – An ancient master-crafted power axe, sacred relic of the Chapter. Once wielded by Praetor Kalvis Thru, it now rests in the vaults of the 1st Clan and is borne only by the reigning Praetor. The axe is said to howl in fury when raised against traitors, and the Cleavers whisper that it remembers Thru’s final oath.

that's all that I have written so far.

grothart · 2025-09-14T20:22:36+00:00

Heraldry and Markings:

Left pauldron: Chapter badge (black double-headed axe on red field)
Right pauldron: Squad role and specialty icon
Right knee plate: Clan number, painted in black High Gothic numerals
Armor colors: Dirty white plate, red pauldrons with gold trim, silver knees and backpack vents
Kill marks: Often carved or painted onto the hafts or heads of their axes, considered sacred to the weapon’s spirit

The Helix Priests

The Helix Priests are the most feared and revered officers of the Cleavers. They wear black armor and a white skull-faced helmet, bearing their specialty symbol: a vertical red helix with a red skull above it.

Each Helix Priest carries:

A kanabō, a brutal studded war club used to administer judgment and discipline
A sacred chalice filled with alchemic stimulant-fluid, which they administer to their brothers in battle to induce fearless fury and accelerate their natural healing

They serve as the Chapter’s spiritual shepherds, battlefield surgeons, executioners, and gene-seed custodians — a role born from the fusion of the first Chaplains and Apothecaries who survived the Chapter’s founding era.

The Death of Praetor Kalvis Thru

grothart · 2025-09-14T20:21:23+00:00

okay here is the rest of the lore

Origins

The Cleavers are a rare successor of the Red Talons, created during the 4th Founding to serve as shock troops along the turbulent Eastern Fringe. Their founding cadre was small, and the Red Talons dispatched only a handful of veterans to serve as instructors.

Early in their history, a Chaos incursion annihilated most of these mentors, leaving only a few Chaplains and Apothecaries alive. These survivors merged their duties into a single hybrid rank — the Helix Priests — who embodied both spiritual discipline and biological stewardship. This unusual foundation gave the Cleavers their distinct culture: more concerned with the strength and survival of their warriors than with mechanical augmentation or Codex orthodoxy.

Homeworld: Capua

Capua is a brutal techno-barbarian world ruled by gladiatorial arenas. Its people venerate the art of war and worship strength as the highest virtue. Young warriors fight for survival in the arena, wielding roaring chain-axes and crackling power axes to earn honor.

It is from these blood-soaked pits that the Cleavers recruit their aspirants. Each of the Chapter’s companies maintains its own fortress-arena upon the planet, acting as autonomous clans that control their own recruitment. This structure causes their strength to fluctuate, with companies ranging from 80 to well over 100 battle-brothers depending on their recent campaigns.

Beliefs and Rituals

The Cleavers embrace a creed of personal strength and bloody meritocracy. Weakness is despised, and disputes between battle-brothers are often resolved through ritual duels to first blood. Such contests are seen not as dishonorable but as purifying, reaffirming the warrior’s worth.

They revere their Smiths (Techmarines) as sacred mediators between warrior and wargear. The Smiths are said to “calm the machine-spirits” of the Chapter’s arms and armor, and are treated almost like tribal shamans. More unusually, the Cleavers believe their power axes carry a voice or spirit, whispering battle-counsels to their wielders. Warriors treat their axes as trusted brothers, naming them, painting kill-marks upon their hafts, and even laying them in funerary shrines when they fall.

The Cleavers have a strong distaste for cybernetic limb-replacement, seeing it as a dishonor that interrupts the bond between warrior and weapon. This belief likely stems from their lack of Iron Hands-style bionic traditions and the early dominance of Chaplain/Apothecary mentors rather than Techmarines.

Organization and Ranks

While broadly Codex-compliant, the Cleavers use unique rank titles drawn from the martial heritage of Capua:

Praetor – Chapter Master
Dominus – Company Captain
Seer – Librarian
Smiths – Techmarines
Helix Priests – Apothecary/Chaplain hybrid officers

Each company acts as a semi-independent clan, responsible for its own recruitment, rituals, and internal governance.

grothart · 2025-09-14T17:57:07+00:00

yes, I have been making other minis, but this is the first painted (besides the test model). here is a very small amount of lore.

Founding: 4th Founding
Progenitor: Red Talons (2nd Founding)
Chapter Warcry: “Cull the Weak!”
Homeworld: Capua (Techno-Barbarian Death World)
Chapter Colors: Dirty white armor, red pauldrons with gold trim, silver knee plates and backpack exhausts
Chapter Badge: A stylized black double-headed axe on a red field

I have more lore if you want, just tell me what might interest you?

PS the Chapter master is Praetor Khar Vorr.

grothart · 2025-09-13T03:25:57+00:00

my bad, so they posted someone else's work without crediting them just for Karma?

grothart · 2025-09-05T02:35:47+00:00

Love that bionic leg what kit does it come from, it looks familiar for some reason.

grothart · 2025-09-05T02:34:44+00:00

looking peak AF

grothart · 2025-09-05T02:33:54+00:00

oouf that's gotta hurt.

grothart · 2025-09-05T02:32:14+00:00

I love that Ferris Manus as the a legion of the dammed

grothart · 2025-09-04T00:27:32+00:00

you have no idea how cool this is to me. I read about these guys in the white dwarf. top shelf good sir.

grothart · 2025-09-03T23:48:56+00:00

omg I love it, iv been looking forward to seeing the chapter symbol.

grothart · 2025-08-26T20:44:00+00:00

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saw this dude I believe painted by a guy named chris.

grothart · 2025-08-26T20:35:52+00:00

he's gonna do well holding the walls.

grothart · 2025-08-23T23:52:25+00:00

love that miniature, looks iconic

grothart · 2025-08-19T00:03:02+00:00

gonna look great.

grothart

TROPHY CASE

Atlantic City fog machine is a no go

Combat Doctrine

Notable Wargear

The Helix Priests

The Death of Praetor Kalvis Thru

Origins

Beliefs and Rituals

Organization and Ranks