The Sons of Egyptus

My homebrew Space Marine Chapter. I’ve been gaming with these chaps since 4th Edition. They are (as the title may suggest) Egyptian themed! But NOT Thousand Sons!!!

The army started out as a small warband and kinda grew and grew! Fluff and background started to flow as I painted various marines from my collection. This was a bit different to anything I’d done before, because it quickly grew to a fair sized army. I guess the simple colour scheme helped get a lot done in a short space of time.

But, there was humble beginnings. The Chapter was born after conversations with my gaming group about narrative driven armies, lessor known Space Marine Chapters and taking a slice of 40k law and creating a story that runs in parallel. I started plucking the odd Marine from other (unfinished) projects to add to the ranks and started defining characters.

The current Chapter Master of The Sons of Egyptus is a chap call Amon. Amon has lived for a very long time and his service dates back to the Horus Heresy. So he is old, even by marine standards. His adventure began when he, and a small warband of his closest allies fled Terra after the Emperor was slain. Amon knew that the Imperium would quickly change and he feared what effect that may have on the worlds he held close to his heart. Some say he fled through fear, others because he wasn’t as loyal as first thought, while others believe he left to create a new Empire in the name of his fallen Lord and Commander.

I liked the idea that Amon is Terran born and bred. Details of his past and history leading up to his departure are sketchy at best. Most of his records have been deleted or ‘lost’ from Imperial records. There is little knowledge of where his geneseed originates. There are many theories and rumours but nothing has ever been confirmed. The Inquisition keeps very quiet about the whole affair and actively avoids discussion about the small troop carrier that left Terra all those years ago.

Amon and Co. stumbled upon a small desert world called Egyptus. The planets only settlement was a shanty town, full of beggars, rogues, bounty hunters etc. Imagine Mos Eisley mixed with Mad Max!!

The band of Imperial Marines settled and built shelter on the outskirts of the planet. Quickly devising plans for their next step in what would become a growing saga in Imperial history. Repainting their armour and removing their iconography didn’t sit well with some of them but they needed a new identity quickly! They dropped their titles, ‘Scions of Terra’ and adopted The Sons of Egyptus as their new name. Something that would later come back to haunt Amon.

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Here we have the first incarnation of Amon. This is him at the beginning of his new life on Egyptus. He was originally used a test Marine to try out the colour scheme and he got a bit lost in my ‘unfinished’ stuff. But I found him last night and finished him off. I’ve given him a 32mm base so he fits in with my other heroes.

I look back to the early days of trying out colour schemes with some fondness. I settled on the simple grey with blue spot colours after trying a whole host of schemes. At one stage they may have been green and red. But after playing around with that, they looked like Sons of Horus!! The colour scheme has developed a bit over time but their armour has stayed grey.

This was a lovely miniature to paint. Full of detail and character. It was brilliant fun painting a Marine. I haven’t painted a Space Marine for a while. It’s opened up a bit of hobby project for me as well! I’ve got a load of Rogue Trader and Second Edition Space Marine that have been sat around for a long long time! So, I’m going to dig out some favourites and create the original warband that fled Terra. It will give me a good excuse to write the history for each Battle Brother and paint some of my older models that are unlikely to see the light of day anytime soon.

One member of the crew already has a decent amount of fluff. Amon’s second in command and childhood friend, Amenhotep. Amenhotep currently serves in the Deathwatch under the gaze of an Inquisitor know as B. But how he ended up there is for another time.

I thought this would be a good place to start in sharing my own Space Marine Chapter. They’ve become a labour of love and I enjoy adding new bits and writing history for them. As I share the history we may jump about about a bit, so please don’t hesitate to ask questions in the comments!

Cheers.