Custodes and Pre-Heresy Thousand Sons Project

[Perry K]

Hey folks, I've been hobbying for a long time. I thought I'd post some final and WIP pictures of my 30k stuff (my 40k will probably go in a different thread).

First up, a WIP custodes Dreadnought:



Next is a Custodes Tactical Squad (according to art, they exist, you can look it up to see what these guys are based on):



Tonight I'll post pictures of a DIY Storm Eagle WIP, 20k Thousand Sons Siege Breacher Squad WIP, the rest of the Custodes army and my Lion El'Jonson Proxy.

Questions, comments, concerns and criticisms are all welcome!

[Perry K]

Here's some more, a little out of order from the what I described, but I wanted to take slightly better pictures. In the spirit of the fellow who did the fantastic Cloud Giants thread I will be adding some small fluff snippets. As a side note, you can see that the weapons on the Custodes Terminators need to be altered slightly to reflect Guardian Spears.



As the Adeptus Custodes began to prepare for the defense of Terra many of them found themselves increasingly organized into combat units. This team, under the command of Custodian Avitan was formed from relatively young Custodes who had just completed their first Blood Games. They had seen little combat action until that point, acting and independent envoys during the earlier parts of the Great Crusade. Avitan, the eldest, had seen barely 25 years In the Emperor's Service.



Custodian Apollus led this squad of Custodes for the entirety of his long and illustrious career. Apollus acquired at least 68 known names during his service and fought at the fall of Prospero alongside Leman Russ. He and his fellow Terminators also fought along-side the Thousand Sons during much of the Great Crusade and had visited Tizca on several occasions. Apollus remarked at one point remarked to his brothers-in-arms that it was a bitter sadness that the final time they set foot on Prospero was to raze it.



Custodian Achillies was one of the Emperor's Companions, his 300 closest guardians. He held the title of Sentinel of the Garden and was nominally responsible for protecting the Emperor when he took the high-terraced gardens of the palace to be alone. As this was an understandably rare occasion Achillies often delegated stewardship of the garden to covertly investigate Terran Court affairs on behalf of his lord.

[Perry K]

In an effort to bring you guys better pictures I have switched cameras. Here is the WIP for my DIY Storm Eagle I mentioned.



At this point all that remains is a few minor details to be added such as rivets and maybe some more iconography. As a note, the lascannons are magnetized and can be switched out for missile racks.

[Perry K]

It would be some time before Revuel Arvida would learn the fate of the rest of the 4th fellowship of the Thousand Sons that had returned to Prospero with him aboard the Geometric. Despite this, the survivors of the 4th company, most of whom belonged to the Corvidae Cult, were not present when Magnus turned traitor and had not been swayed by his rhetoric.



Here squad Un-amen finds itself on the inhospitable world of Aurelia. From the markings on the shoulder armor it is easy to see that at least half the squad are relatively young inductees to the legion, who have not yet joined a cult.



Despite their confusion at the fact that Magnus seemingly abandoned them, Sergeant Un-amen and his men were proud of their legion heraldry and it would be some time before it was removed from the armor and replaced with other icons.



Many of the brothers under Un-amen's command were seasoned campaigners. Notably brother Apesh, who carries the unit Vexilla, brother Rajja who works the unit nuncio-vox and brothers Takaru and Hasan. All four marines bear markings upon their left shoulder pads, which denoted arcane areas of study within the Corvidae cult and reference ancient Terran magick symbols.

Remember don't hesitate to chime in!

[Levaticus]

Lovely work thus far. I like your use of the scion helmets for you custodes tac squad, they look surprisingly similar to the artwork. I've also always liked the Thousand sons....I wonder what other icons they would later place on their armor.....*cough*Blood Ravens *cough*

[Perry K]

+10 points to Levaticus for picking up on the fluff I'm referencing and filling in.

Here's WIP of the Storm Eagle with added detailing and primer:



On the Storm Eagle I have painted the cockpit using BOL's Sky-earth reflection How-to, it's not as clean as I'd like but when more of the overall bird is done I will post an update.

Here we have my Lion El'Jonson proxy until FW makes a real model, then this will represent a Chapter Master in the Pre-heresy Era, or Luther if he never gets a model.

His gun hand is magnetized just in case I get rules for him without a FW mini and he happens to not have a bolter type weapon.

[Perry K]

Hey all, this unit took a lot longer than i expected to paint because I wanted to find all the right parts without breaking my bank account in half and ordering them from FW.

But without further ado:
While Siege Breacher units were not as popular among the Thousand Sons as they were amongst many of their brother legion's forces, they nonetheless found use amongst the Fellowships.



Here Sergeant Rakashan leads his Siege Breachers in establishing a safe landing zone for the rest of 4th Fellowship survivors to land on Aurelia. Rakashan was noted as having limited psychic ability, and while he was never destined for the librarius of the legion he was able to augment his already considerable combat prowess by creating a pyschic sheath around his sword, effectively turning it into a power weapon.



Despite their unconventional style of warfare, the brothers of the Siege Breacher units were as steeped in the Legion's mysticism as any other. Their shields bore eldritch symbols of defense and protection as well as the same magick runes prevalent throughout the Fellowship.



Of particular note are the fact that Rakashan's unit contained two brothers who had seen extended duty in long-range support units, as denoted by the diagonal stripe on the left shoulder pad. Further many of the Marines in the unit wore modified pieces of armor, designed to better weather the dangers of void warfare and the confined quarters of boarding actions.



During the long and harrowing journey to Aurelia Rakashan and his men proved their worth many times over, defending their ship from boarding actions by traitors and clearing enemy ships and space hulks of dangerous xenos.

Rakashan himself personally slayed a traitorous Sons of Horus captain in single combat. While some might say this is a forlorn hope for a sergeant, his shield held the massive power fist of his enemy at bay until Rakashan could deliver a decisive, psychically charge, blow cutting the captain's head clean from his shoulders.

Fun story, I used my Siege Breachers in a game recently and my Sergeant here using his power sword killed almost an entire tactical squad over the course of a few turns, accepted a challenge from a Centurion and manage to kill him as well.

[Perry K]

Here's a non-fluffy WIP post for you guys (also I fixed the formatting errors in the previous post).

First, I've been working on a dreadnought for the Thousand Sons, and I'm pretty excited about how he's come along. He started here:



But has since progressed to here:



As you can see, quite a lot of conversion work was done between the two points. I heavily modified the arms to accommodate the shield and Dreadnought sized Khopesh-style weapon, as well as added significant amounts of armor plating and a few Thousand Sons style bits. It's hard to tell in the pictures but the white plates of styrene are actually textured, which will be clear once he is painted. Game wise, until we get rules for the legion, he'll be run as a contemptor with two close combat weapons and plasma blasters on each arm, to simulate his psychic powers. I'll probably also drop him in a Lucius pod so he can really get into the fray.

This post will be paired with the next post, which will have some other fluffy stuff.

[Perry K]

This post is paired with the previous one, so be sure to read them both as they have been posted at about the same time.

A Centurion and Apothecary.



Codicier Akhenaten of the 4th Fellowship was one of the few in the corvidae cult who had had some inkling of Magnus' intention to betray the Emperor. Despite the evidence in his own visions, however, the Librarian was unable to reconcile them with what he knew of his Lord and it was not until Arvida's return to the Fellowship that he confided his visions in anyone.

Luckily for the 4th Fellowship, even though Akhenaten kept his secret for a significant amount of time, he still was able to assume a leadership position and was responsible, along with several other prominent members of the Fellowship, in leading them to the relative safety of Aurelia.

___________

Secundus Medicae Mered was a Prospero-born Thousand Son with a strong affinity for the healing arts. Despite the fact that combat was a constant part of his service within the Legion he never cared for the glories of battle in the same way his brothers did. While this brought disdain on occasion from the more bloodthirsty elements of the Legion, Mered found a firm place within the command structure of the 4th Fellowship when Captain Kalliston recognized his almost preturnatural ability to heal wounds for what it was: a weak and latent psychic talent for biomancy. Mered's skills and powers would find much use in the days after the escape from Prospero.

Other items that are WIP's : a Legion speeder and the paint job on the Storm Eagle, which is coming along slowly because the flying stand I ordered still hasn't arrived.