Another group of hardened Kingbreakers veterans that finally got painted in the run-up to this year’s Apocalypse:

I’ve had these guys since my first tournament, way back at the start of 5th edition. I clearly remember dropping them down directly in front of a board-spanning horde of Orks and the TO standing nearby looking at me like “WTF are you doing?!” For a long time they were just primed, then for a long time the primary colors had a coat of paint, and then that Friday evening right before the Apocalypse they got finished.

These guys have also been victims of a can of Krylon matte coat that’s much shinier than I expected. Thinking back, I believe some of my earliest guys were also done with Krylon and are shinier than my others. Colin’s Blood Angels are also done with Krylon I believe and came out shinier than expected, though it works amazing for his style. I am probably going to give the can away and switch back to Army Painter.

Beyond that though I’m pretty happy with how they turned out. The bases are a different style for Kingbreakers, going with more of a rubble theme than the usual wasteland. Partly that was an attempt to build up their bulk and height. To me it also references a cool image of these guys swinging and smashing their way through buildings, bulkheads, whatever it takes. I’m most happy with the posing on the lead three guys, the sarge and buddy blocking an incoming blow while a third swings away. Terminators all too often look super static, but those guys have some motion and story to them.

For a long while these guys had sat out in actual games in favor of more bodies and higher mobility.What I’d really love for them to do is block for my Knight as it moves forward, but they don’t move nearly fast enough to keep up. Recently though I’ve been bringing them back onto the table to be a hard wall in front of my backfield, keeping out monsters that would otherwise munch through my guys in close combat. Most recently this unit held up several Greater Daemons and a pack of Screamers for literally the entire Apocalypse match, definitely worth the points.

The Kingbreakers’ Captain Murder:

   

This is another way back model, painted years ago when 5th edition came out. I had him out just now to work on the case he lives in. The model is the captain from that edition’s Assault on Black Reach starter box. The funny thing on his bolter is a grenade launcher, an option on unnamed captains at the time. It’s made from a piece of sprue and cut up bolter bits.

Overall this paintjob has held up well. A wash on the face and a proper basing and he’d be good to go. Unfortunately he’s hardly ever hit the table. By the time he was around my Emperor’s Champion model of Captain Angholan was already well established as the Kingbreakers’ modern day leader. Captain Murder has mostly shown up in a few Apocalypse matches when the full might of the chapter has taken to the field. His backstory thus has developed in a slightly dark and absentee direction, with Murder and his 4th Company denied the chance to martyr themselves in the fall of Forestway and in response commandeering an Imperial Cruiser to chase after Legio Apex and the other perpetrators in the immediate aftermath.

The same night I did Colonel Watts I also finally painted the Techmarine to go with my Thunderfire Cannon:

Target acquired.

The Thunderfire Cannon itself is actually one of the earliest models I ever painted, way way back years ago when they were first introduced. It’s a super basic job with a wash over the metal doing all the work. One nice thing about it though is that the Kingbreakers decals stand out real nicely on the housing. This is absolutely the most poorly manufactured model I’ve ever dealt with though, shockingly so for such a simple one. Everything is warped, none of the handful of pieces go together correctly, and at the time it was near impossible to correct any of that because it was produced in metal (it may be resin now). The turret doesn’t even fit into the track platform correctly, and the interface is just a big circle. Absolutely atrocious. If I was going to field more I’d scratchbuild them or use a Mantic Forge Father Hailstorm. Patrick has one converted to have a Marine sitting on top, all done up in Imperial Fists yellow, and it looks fantastic.

I wasn’t real sold on the Techmarine’s servo harness at first, but painted and assembled it looks good and has a nice big, bulky feel to it. This guy was done super quick, just picking out some details and washing everything. The end result doesn’t really pop or grab the eye, but it doesn’t really have to. Standing way in the backfield and lobbing shells across the board he’s hardly ever the focus of clutch photos or anything like that, but he’s certainly above tabletop standard and ready if his moment comes.

It will though be nice having him fully assembled and painted. For years I’ve been using other models (namely an EM4 Space Ranger) or playing him for years without the harness attached, and it’s super easy to forget that he has a flamer and a plasma cutter built into it, alongside his bolt pistol. A good example of WYSIWYG and the physicality of models actually mattering and making the game flow faster. Doesn’t come up often, but they can really matter. One or two times he’s run forward to pop an Obliterator or a Daemon Prince in my home base with the plasma cutter and it’s way easier to forget that option without the actual model.

In general it’s a bummer that the Thunderfire model is so atrocious, because it’s a great unit. It was solid to begin with when introduced in 5e, but in 6th and 7th edition it’s really solid: The gun (T7 W2 3+) and Techmarine (T4 2+) are robust enough to survive; it’s one of the Space Marines’ few indirect fire and blast weapon options; it has a couple different modes to tackle different enemies; the Techmarine himself is well equipped; him bolstering the cover from a piece of terrain is quite helpful in and of itself; and the whole thing only costs 100 points. The only thing I’d change is to make them a squadron so you could take multiple guns in the same Force Organization slot, which seems like it would be perfectly natural.