The Lament – Black Legion Noise Marines
“The mind which is immortal makes itself / Requital for its good or evil thoughts.”
Pre Unity Poet, Byron.
+++ Codex: Heretic Astartes – Fragmentary Record +++
Designation: The Lament
Legion of Origin: III Legion, Emperor’s Children (Unverified)
Current Allegiance: Black Legion
Known Warcry: “How doth the city sit solitary, that was full of people! How is she become as a widow!”
Estimated Strength: Variable.
Classification: Sonic Cult, Heretek Choir
Amongst the countless warbands of the Black Legion, few inspire such reluctant awe as The Lament. Once warriors of the IIIrd Legion, these fallen sons have long abandoned the cult of personality defined by Fulgrim leadership of the Emperor’s Children. When this fracture occurred, none but the Lament can say. Some claim The Lament were cast out when Fulgrim’s legion surrendered to dissonance. They clung to the old harmonies — music of the spheres, the exaltant nature of humanity, and were cast out for some transgression of artistic taste.
Others whisper they turned from Fulgrim out of revulsion, viewing the degradation of the legion disguised as vision.
A rarer account says they did not flee at all, but followed a new melody into the Eye. When they returned, they were changed — their voices hollow, their instruments remade. They spoke little, joined the Black Legion soon after, and still strain to hear that terrible music beneath the noise of war.
Their dirges are not celebrations of excess, but mourning hymns. To hear The Lament march to war is to hear the ghost of the IIIrd as it once was — a harmony fractured beyond repair. Yet even within their sorrow lies indulgence: a hunger for something lost, something precious debased, something pure – soiled.
Unlike other observed Sonic Cults, the Lament fall silent after battle, when the corpses still steam and the warp static fades, one might hear a lingering note — a perfect chord that dies too slowly. The Lament of the IIIrd, the sorrow of fallen angels, the echo of humanity’s hope no lost to the silence of the void.
The Models
This project grew out of an obsession with the past. I was there, is one of my favourite refrains, when the Horus Heresy was born. the models, the detail, the books…it’s a familiar talking point. The range is a gold mine, and true scaling the Black Legion opens up the entire back category for me to exploit.
Since seeing the Gal Vorback kit I’ve always wanted to try to create this conversion. The original idea was to create an Emperor Children’s army based around these conversions. debased Noise marines, broken by the weapons they wield.
The core of the conversions comes from the new Emperor’s Children plastic range. To that, I’ve added older 4th–5th edition heads — the era when Noise Marines were truly grotesque, when mutation and artifice blended into something wonderfully vile. The mix of sleek modern sculpts and baroque old-school detailing gives the unit a temporal dissonance that fits their theme perfectly.
Painting-wise, I approached them as Black Legionnaires first, with subtle notes of the IIIrd bleeding through: rich purples under black lacquer, pinks refracted through gold. Their armour sings — quietly, mournfully — a visual echo of the songs they no longer control. If you’d like to see the full conversion and painting guide, check out the link below!
Reflection
There’s something deeply satisfying about returning to the IIIrd. Really letting loose with the erverted aspect: hooks, spikes, heads, the entire nine yards. I hope you give this conversion a whirl and use the paint scheme in your own work!
