These were actually finished at the last moment for the Alternate Universes tournament two weekends ago but I just got photos together.  Announcing the Kingbreakers Predators Akil and Justus!

Shots on Target

These have actually been in the Kingbreakers army for a long time now, since my first ‘Ard Boyz tournament in 2009, but they just finally got upgraded beyond what was obviously not black primer, but actually highly artistic and realistic “nightfighting camo.”  They are completely magnetized (main gun, sponsons, and Hunter-Killer missiles), but it’s kind of slap-dash.  I’m pretty sure they were assembled in a rush, super late at night, just before the tournament.  It’s functional, but not nearly as elegant as my more recent, better thought out and better executed Predator magnetization scheme.

Despite that flexibility I’ve always run these guys as Dakka-Preds with autocannon and heavy bolter sponsons.  It’s a fairly cheap setup and puts out a fair amount of shots if you can bring it all to bear.  One of my main motivations for originally getting these, and still fielding them these days, is the slight difficulty Marines have putting out a large amount of shots, given their relatively small unit sizes and comparatively few blast weapon options.  Overall I wouldn’t say these guys have ever really won a game through shooting but they generally perform solidly.  At least in 5th edition though they definitely won some important games by being big, movable brick walls that could cover troops on objectives in a pinch.

I almost always field these guys as a pair and have them work closely together in-game, so it seemed appropriate to name them after the younger Harmon brothers.

Paint Scheme

With these guys I guess I’m settling onto something of a coordinated scheme for my chapter’s vehicles: Drop Pods have a tan body (fins), other transports are primarily blue, and combat vehicles get a green frame.

To some extent I made a couple decisions here to cut corners and get these guys ready for the tournament.  I really wanted to field a fully painted force.  One big thing is that I didn’t do any weathering or damage, which I would have otherwise wished to have started playing with more on my vehicles.  This is most visible on the tank treads, which could really be spruced up some.

The other big cut corner is that I didn’t do any edging.  Between the tri-color paint scheme and the washes applied all over, I think the major blocks are broken up enough without it.  In portrait photos like these edging really helps models pop, but in battle report photos I don’t see a huge difference in quality between the vehicles I’ve edged and those I haven’t so here I didn’t bother.

The new GW Nuln Oil black wash also doesn’t really stick and pool as well as Badab Black did, so a few things like the smokelaunchers could have used some manual drybrushing or highlighting beforehand, but that’s again only really noticeable up close.

Praise the Emperor and Pass the Ammunition!

Up next, something totally unexpected…