Check out this amazing Master of the Forge!
I got an email the other day with a link to this article, and was really taken aback.
Being a follower of the Cult of the Machine myself, see my Custom Iron Angels Chapter here, I really really love this model.
This come to us from Graven Games in the UK, and it rocks. Check out the article below!
From Graven Games
Welcome to the beginnings of the Iron Guard chapter, our own Space Marine army for Warhammer 40k.
We’ve not quite got all of the background fluff worked out yet, but what we do know is that our chapter will have strong ties with the Adeptus Mechanicus and so get access to all kinds of powerful technology.
We will be converting every single model to the extreme with plenty of servo arms, power cables and bionic replacement parts, so if you like conversions, you’ve come to the right place.
To kick this show off with a bang, we’re jumping straight in with a large picture of the mean machine who will be leading the Iron Guard marines into battle, our very own Master of the Forge. This model is fully converted, but we’re holding back on painting it until we can decide on a colour scheme.
The official Techmarine/Master of the Forge model isn’t bad, but we wanted the leader of our army to really stand out against our other Techmarines and so we made this guy BIG. He’s heavily converted to be more Terminator sized than Marine, and with the addition of his full servo harness, he towers over most Space Marine models.
You may recognise some of the bits we’ve used, like the Techmarine helmet from the Ravenwing sprue and the auspex from the Devastator kit, but there’s also a huge amount of scratchbuilt details too. All of the light/white coloured areas are scratchbuilt from plasticard, while the cog/skull logo on his belt and the lamp on his backpack are made of green stuff putty.
To give you an idea of size, this Master of the Forge’s backpack is made predominantly out of the back half of a Terminator! We then bolted on loads of extras to give the whole servo harness a really solid and dangerous look.
We’ve magnetised several areas of our Master of the Forge to allow us to play around with different wargear options and swap parts around as needed.
We’re very happy with how this Mechanicus monster has turned out so far, and are looking forward to bringing you the Iron Guard marines, dreadnoughts, and tanks that he will lead into battle.
We also thought this would be as good of a place as any to show you two other Master of the Forge conversions that we built in the past.
Both of these are now long gone, off to new homes found via eBay. They will not be part of our Iron Guard chapter, but they do show you that here at Graven Games we’ve had a little bit of practice building Techmarines.
So there you have it, the beginning of our Iron Guard chapter. We’ve got big plans for this army including alternative Thunderfire Cannons, Techmarine Dreadnoughts, and upgraded Rhino transports. We hope you like our newest Master of the Forge, be sure to let us know!
Well I for one can’t wait to see more! -MBG
About the Author: Rob Baer
Rob Baer
Job Title: Managing Editor
Founded Spikey Bits in 2009
Socials: Rob Baer on Facebook and @catdaddymbg on X
About Rob Baer: Founder, Publisher, & Managing Editor of Spikey Bits, the leading tabletop gaming news website focused on the hobby side of wargaming and miniatures.
Rob also co-founded and currently hosts the Long War Podcast, which has over 350 episodes and focuses on tabletop miniatures gaming, specializing in Warhammer 40k. and spent six years writing for Bell of Lost Souls.
Every year, along with his co-hosts, he helps host the Long War 40k Doubles Tournament at Adepticon and the Long War 40k Doubles at Las Vegas Open, which attracts over 350 players from around the world.
Rob has won many Warhammer 40k Tournaments over the years, including multiple first-place finishes in Warhammer 40k Grand Tournaments over the years and even winning 1st place at the Adepticon 40k Team Tournament.
With over 30 years of experience in retail and distribution, Rob knows all the products and exactly which ones are the best. As a member of GAMA (Game Manufacturers Association), he advocates for gaming stores and manufacturers in these difficult times, always looking for the next big thing to feature for the miniatures hobby, helping everyone to provide the value consumers want.
While he’s played every edition of Warhammer 40k and Warhammer Fantasy (since 5th Edition) and has been hobbying on miniatures since the 1980s, Titans of all sizes will always be his favorite! It’s even rumored that his hobby vault rivals the Solemnance Galleries, containing rulebooks filled with lore from editions long past, ancient packs of black-bordered Magic Cards, and models made of both pewter and resin.
