Recently I’ve become a bit more concerned about flyers.  Lovell’s been breaking out Night Scythes pretty regularly, I’m sure I’ll see some at a tournament later this month, and no doubt flocks of evil doing flying things will appear at January’s Apocalypse game.  So, time to start doing something about it:

Man the wall!

I think the Aegis Defense Line actually highlights the modeling strength of GW.  For every beautiful piece-of-art model they produce, there’s a model like the ADL that’s not flashy, not fancy, but gets the job done.  Good bulk shapes so it looks good no matter what, and enough texture so anybody can paint it up to look great with some very basic drybrushing.  Further, it’s got lots of little details that you can really spend time on if you wish.  There are some incredible ADL paint jobs out there around the net, which is really cool for such a basic model.  That accessibility to a spectrum of abilities and the quality of even this basic, simple utility model, is I think in some what really separates GW from other companies, more so than the headliner models.

Technical details on the rear of a panel.

In any event, that’s why I bought the model instead of making one as long planned.  I could put together a decent barricade system pretty easily, but there’s a lot of detail on this model that would take a lot of time to scratchbuild.  Little technical doodads, tons of bolts, etc.  Hell, if you don’t lay the paint on too thick, you’ll realize the bolts here are actually bolts.  They’re not just little half spheres, there’s actually a straight bolt and then a distinguishable hex nut around it.  Ditto on the gun.  Maybe I have enough pieces to kitbash one, but it’d be tough to have it look as good, and scratchbuilding would be really hard.  So here we are.

Painting

Honestly, for now I’m going with the Aegis Defense Line primarily because I knew I could get it together and painted in short order.  I spent just a bit longer than I expected, but still basically a 1.5 evening project.  I spray primed white, painted everything Skavenblight Dinge, and dry brushed Codex Grey.  The aquilas were done in Bleached Bone highlighted with Skull White.  Window edgings and other little tech bits were picked out in Ironbreaker (the new Boltgun Metal).  That was drybrushed lightly all over with Skavenblight Dinge, and then again heavily toward the bases.  Metal pieces and the craters got washed with Nuln Oil.  It was actually kind of funny picking up new paints for this since many of mine were done: It’s been so long since I really bought paints that all the GW/Citadel names seem to have changed not once but twice!

Weapons to bear, on my mark!

One note is that I intentionally kept the scheme fairly drab here, so that it doesn’t take away focus from the army around it, as well as so it can function well as just a basic piece of terrain.  It’s also specifically not badged or painted in Kingbreakers’ colors so that it will fit in with other armies.

Tactics

Despite assembling and painting quickly being my primary motivation for fielding this rigth now, I do think it’s competitive with my other options.  Not taking up a Force Organization slot is a big plus.  It’s about the same points as a Stormtalon, Hunter, or Stalker, and unlike the latter two has both Interceptor and Skyfire so it’s useful against ground targets as well.  The ADL gun is in some ways more survivable to boot, since it’s effectively at least a 5 wound model depending on the size of the squad manning it.  On that point, I almost always have a Tactical Combat Squad hanging out in my backfield on an objective, so they may as well man same heavier weaponry.  Alternatively, if I’m real worried about flyers, I could put a Devastator squad with a few Flakk Missile Launchers on the gun, with the Devastator Sergeant using his Signum to have another guy man the gun at BS5.

You feeling lucky, punk?!

Introducing Librarian Rorschach, fresh from the dropship!

What do you see in me?!

Left side!

Right side!

Rorschach was started earlier this year and I finally dusted him off and finished him up this week.  The core of the model is a Terminator Sergeant from the Black Reach box.  The banner is from a Command Squad, spliced into a Terminator arm.  Both arms are magnetized so I could attach them for play before he was painted, and for easier transport now that he’s done—no re-gluing that banner every time I open the box!  Other details and photos from construction are in the WIP post.

My arms! My arms! What have you done?!?!

I think the paintjob came out a bit more gritty and dark than I wanted, as well as a bit sloppy, but overall I think he looks good and interesting.  From most angles and lighting the banner puts his entire body into a shadow so he doesn’t really stand out well and the details are lost, but to a large extent that’s intentional.  He’s supposed to be a dark, brooding, introspective danger.

I ignored the standard Librarian coloring because having a little Ultramarines blue in every army is great to let all those other guys know which chapter’s the boss, but I don’t think it looks good.  Despite being awesomely painted technically, I think a lot of the GW Librarian paintjobs outside of the Ultramarines really don’t work well within their armies.

Rorschach also differs from the standard Kingbreakers khaki/blue/green because he’s part of the death mindset that’s settled in the chapter since the Exterminatus of Forestway, their home planet. The Librarian and many others, notably the Kingbreakers’ Ghosts (Sternguard), have painted their armor black and helmets white to reflect the attitude that they’re all already dead and fighting on borrowed time, purely for revenge.

Librarian Rorschach, Sgt Harmon, and a few of the Kingbreakers’ Sternguard.

That narrative is important to me and well established in the chapter’s background and history of play.  They originally got this story because Kingbreakers’ Sternguard are known for hurling themselves into almost certain death, sacrificing their lives for tactical or strategic advantage.  Rorschach is no different, and even more overtly effectively a high stakes gambler.  His disconnect from reality and those around him leaves him unable to fully process consequences and thus he never hesitates to throw around the Vortex of Doom and other highly perilous spells, even within close quarters.

In terms of actual gameplay though, Rorschach most often deploys with my Sternguard.  Those guys were given a variant paintjob to differentiate them from Tactical Squads on the table without actually breaking the cohesive, muted look of the whole army.  Rorschach got similar styling in order to fit in with his usual fighting companions.

The Kingbreakers’ Ghost variant compared to the standard paint scheme.

Up next for painting at some point is probably a similar Ghost color-variant Drop Pod for these guys, and then moving on.  I kind of want/need another five Sternguard painted up, but after doing all this black I’m actually a little eager to do some standard Kingbreakers.

Walter was quite rightly giving me (friendly) flak at the tournament on Saturday for my counts-as Sternguard combi-meltas.  Between that and the great time I had, I was finally motivated yesterday to knock out some guys I’ve had kicking around for a stupid long time now in various stages of progress.  Introducing Sergeant Harmon and the Kingbreakers Ghost Squad (Sternguard):

The conception here is that Kingbreakers Sternguard are made up of the last standing survivors of other squads, nearly all of which were devastated after the fall of Forestway, let alone their ongoing campaigns against Chaos.  These marines view themselves as already dead, so they’ve painted their armor black and are even more willing than regular Kingbreakers to drop into the maw of doom, following their creed:  Without hope, without mercy, without fear.

Eventually I’m going to have ten guys in this style for a full squad of Sternguard.  There are three combi-Xs in this combat squad and there’ll be another three in the next one, a loadout I’ve been regularly running for a long time now.  Two of the combi-guns are a standard plasmagun conversion.  Sgt Harmon is rolling a Kopena-pattern combi-gun, a combination of a bolter, plasmagun, and a fuse from a Christmas tree light…  It’s not the most complex thing, but I think it looks fine in practice (there’s one or two in my army already) and it stands out a bit.

I basically always roll combi-meltas but meltas are way more precious, so the plasma look will have to do.  Anybody that has an actual problem with that, especially since I don’t mix combi-types, is probably not someone I want to play with.  I didn’t add oversize ammo clips because I couldn’t make satisfying from scratch and didn’t have enough unused storm bolters to convert from those.  One guy though is carrying a spare ammo box, and Harmon has a ton of pouches on him in traditional Kingbreakers fashion—you never know how long you’ll be in the field.

All of the arms and heads were painted separately before being attached and then washed.  This means they’re not playable while in progress, but makes a lot of the detail work easier.

The dudes were spray primed white like I always do for infantry.  The Grey Knights helmets add a really nice, mean looking flair to the guys.  They actually took a lot of time.  Originally they were going to go on some actual GK painted white, so they were built up pretty slowly in layers from a deep blue base to give a very solid white.  On these guys though they were way too clean looking so I had to wash them black.  That lost most of the blue shading, but it’s still a nice smooth white (which is tougher to get than it sounds).

The robes and top armor are just Chaos Black drybrushed pretty heavily with Codex Grey and then washed heavily with Badab Black (rest in peace!).  The wash took away the highlights a bit more than I wanted, but especially in the photos they actually come out really ghost-like.

The legs are standard Kingbreakers Hammerfall Khaki, Bleached Bone highlights, and Gryphon Sepia wash.  Arms are Ordic Olive highlighted with Snot Green (I think), washed with Thraka Green. I think they’ll fit in well with the other Kingbreakers through the common legs, arms, and shoulder pad trim (Mechrite Red, designator of Kingbreakers First Company), but the black top armor will distinguish them nicely on the table as the Sternguard.

Next up is Librarian Rorschach in Terminator Armor.  I worked out his arms this morning, he’s going to be super super sweet.  Then these guys will get their own Drop Pod in this ghost color scheme.  Somewhere along the way I should probably make or invest in a decent lightbox, there’s not been a ton of sunshine  lately, with no sign of that changing soon.

Fear the Kingbreakers!