40k: Praetors In Progress

Kingbreakers' leadership loses its head(s)...

Kingbreakers’ leadership loses its head(s)…

It’s a small thing, but Angholan’s base I’m particularly happy with (dude on the left). A long established part of his deal is that he, sergeant at the time, was crushed in a building collapse in the fall of Forestway to the Legio Apex, and was the last man recovered from the rubble by the Imperial Fists before the planet was declared Exterminatus. Much of that was inspired by the much slimmer build of his previous Emperor’s Champion model, the idea being that he was completely shattered and after being rebuilt from the boots up isn’t bulked out like a standard Marine.

Previously I’d never come up with some appropriate site for that keystone event. What would be worth not just him and his squad sacrificing themselves, but then the Fists doing a final sweep right before bombarding the planet?

Then the obvious answer hit me out of the blue the other day: The gene-seed vault in the Kingbreakers’ chapter monastery. Clearly the whole chapter would be willing to bring the house down on top of themselves rather than risk Nurgle Chaos Marines getting their slimy hands on it. It would also make sense for the Fists, in the process of evacuating whoever and whatever they could from Forestway in its last moments, to do a last check there to see if there was anything salvageable.

That detail about the vault doesn’t really show up, but that’s the story on the base. It’s a bit of broken wall and a balcony statuette from some Cityfight bits I have from building terrain at Redcap’s, with some sprue shavings sprinkled on, representing his rise from the rubble in that foundational story of him & the chapter.

I’d say the knife’s there crossed with the death’s head eagle to represent a life of constant struggle and fighting to the death for the Imperium, but it’s probably just about stabbin’ dudes/daemons.

40k: Legion Praetors on the Drying Rack

My first ever order of Forge World stuff came in recently, just some infantry dudes in a group order Redcap’s organized. These Praetors will be the first to go together.

Capt Angholan, all washed up.

Capt Angholan, all washed up.

They actually seemed totally clean, but I figure if you’re going to get Forge World you should go through the whole process of washing off the mold release agent and so on. Mold lines, flash, and such also seem pretty good. The big thing that will have to be done is straightening out a slightly warped sword.

The Terminator styled guy is going to become new, epic-styled Captain Angholan. The Emperor’s Champion model I use now works well but its particularly slim cut and my very very minor conversions don’t convey well his stat line, particularly the 3++ Invulnerable, and weapons, particularly the Heavy Flamer. More importantly, though the paint job is pretty reasonable, it could really use some washing to bring out the depths a bit and tone down the shinyness in photos, but I can’t bring myself to go back and rework him at all.

I’m not sure yet what I’ll do with this other model. They’re not super posable or convertible, so options are a touch limited. The leading candidate right now is Sergeant for a Command Squad.

Forge World's preview photo.

Forge World’s preview photo.

Infinity: WIP Pan-O Starter

I finally assembled my Pan-Oceanic Military Orders starter box.

Military Orders starter box assembled.

Military Orders starter box assembled.

Good thing they look awesome, ’cause they were a huge pain in the ass to assemble. For one thing, metal. Bleh. For another, what the hell is up with the little radio antennas on their heads? Those are each separate little tiny pieces. The models consist of the entire body, the gun arm, and… that tiny little ridiculous piece, literally as big as a grain of rice. If they couldn’t be molded integrally with the head and body, why not make a whole separate head? That’d be more poseable and way less fiddly than trying to glue those in. Hopefully all their arms don’t fall off the first time I go to play, though that’s definitely going to happen.

At any rate, at least this box is all done now. In no way am I looking forward to assembling more of these, and I’m not sure at all what colors or approach I’m going to take in painting these guys, but definitely am eager to give the game a whirl.