Most Powerful Non-Named Character in 30k: Custodes Shield Captain

The Horus Heresy game is replete with a range of super-powerful beings and constructs. Not only are Primarchs available to play, but also heroes and anti-heroes of renown such as Sigismund and Abaddon, through to titans as well. 

However, there are plenty of powerful non-named characters available to construct. Legion Praetors come with a range of possible play styles and builds augmented with rites of war, and legion specific rules. Even the Mechanicum and Solar Auxilia have a range of unnamed characters that can be built to taste and made rather powerful in their own right.

Of all of these, there is one complete stand out to my mind. The Legio Custodes Shield Captain. When built with a Praesidium Shield and Solarite Gauntlet, this creation of the Emperor is beyond rude, he's almost game-balance wrecking. Add in a teleport transponder and the Tribune rule, and he is well and truly probably the best non-named character in the Horus Heresy game. Of course, more things could be added such as digital lasers, and so forth, but 6 lots of S=10 attacks with AP1 and master-crafted is truly awesome, even if it swings at I=1. Add on eternal warrior and fearless, and this unnamed close-combat killing machine really is up there with the heroes with names in the Horus Heresy (even if he utterly lacks in the ranged shooting department).

It would have been rude not to sculpt one (thanks Santa!). 

Most power fists in the game are left handed. I find this awkward, as most storm shields (and Custodes) shields are similarly left handed. One had to be converted. I didn't fancy repositioning individual fingers, so decided it would be the shield to be converted.

The power fist is a shaved down Dark Angels terminator power fist with the iconography removed, and the shoulder joined cut down to size to ensure that the pauldron fits over the top. The shield uses a fist from one of the sentinel war blades to attach to the arm, and some green stuff sculpting to build in around the upper and lower edges of the hand to create the handle for the shield once the original left hand was removed. Otherwise, this conversion is a simple one to execute and I'm pleased with the outcome here. It will await painting on another day. 

Final thoughts on the year

Hi Folks,

This past year has been bad for many different reasons, but most obviously for the COVID-19 pandemic that has struck seemingly everywhere. Readers will have noticed a (random) drop off and pick up of my postings over this past 9 or so months, and some of this is related to the pandemic in the sense of having significantly less time for hobby. Rest assured that I (we) are all fit and healthy, but 2020 has simply been a rubbish year overall. I'm looking forward to the vaccine in 2021 and hoping that the gaming and tabletop scene will improve dramatically. 

Looking back at hobby progress, I started the year aiming to get a Shattered Legions force together. It is not quite 100% complete yet, but many aspects of it are really close, including basic squads for all three legions, plus some extras (Dreadtober in particular pushed my onward with a Salamanders dreadnought that I'm proud of -- image below!). 

Beyond that, I'm part way through reviewing the new units for the Horus Heresy from the latest hardback black book -- that will culminate in 2021 as well with a bit of luck. 

In the meantime, let me wish all of you a Happy New Year as we happily see the back of 2020. 

-jabberjabber :)

Horus Heresy Review: Lion El'Jonson

Background.

The First. The Lion. And also the final primarch that will be reviewed on Warpstone Flux! That's right folks, we now have a full collection of Primarch rules out in the open, not withstanding the second and eleventh. 

In the book, he is portrayed as both ruthless and pragmatic which can be seen in the campaigns that he fought in the past. In particular it is noted that his function was to deal with the foes of humanity that others would fear and turn away from, much like he did in his youth on Caliban. Cross reference the xenocides that he partook in and lead. 

Strengths.

The Lion, for all his rules, is actually quite the generalist to my mind. He doesn't stand out as a force multiplier (at least in the same way as Alpharius), nor is he quite at the Horus level of close combat monster. That said, his special rules give him a very good chance against most other primarchs if it ever came to it. In combat, he gets better in the sense of more attacks when reduced in wounds count. Plus, he is largely immune to certain de-buffing effects that others have upon him thanks to his Absolute Focus rule. 

The stasis grenades that he carries makes for interesting shenanigans. Combined with the Fusil Actinaeus, he stands a good chance at blinding and slowing anyone he pleases. In this regard, he is quite a threat, and one that an opponent must deal with either head on, or by moving around the Lion. 

Interestingly, he also gets a choice of close combat weapon: either the Lion Sword, or the Wolf Blade. The former is fractionally better for duels, the latter better for vehicles and breaking units. If you're not dueling, I'd suggest the Wolf Blade in almost every circumstance to be honest. 

His buffs to his army includes a better morale check buff in a bubble, charge range (you're not going to stop him getting in to combat) and the potential for personal Death Wing body guards.

Weaknesses.

His army buffs are weak in comparison to other armies out there. Plus he does not dish out any force organization chart switching abilities at all. 

Other than that, he is a primarch and that means very few realistic weaknesses. 

Overall.

His points cost is reasonable for what he is able to pull off, although he doesn't particularly excel in any one area like his brothers. Sure, he's a beast, and he demands the opponent to do something about him, and he can de-buff and resist others de-buffing him. But no mass bonuses to his army. And outclassed by a number of other primarchs in the close combat arena -- but can handle a good fraction of them. He therefore sits in the middle of the power table to my mind. Dangerous as anyone else, to be clear, but more of a generalist than a specialist. Maybe that is the beauty of the Lion though. 

Iron Hands Medusan Immortals Squad

The squad is altogether now, and here's an image to do them some justice. 

I like the gritty feel of the squad overall. They really communicate the likely conditions on the sands of Isstvan after being betrayed and suffering the massacre of their allies. At their feet lie some remains of the third legion (Emperor's Children) as they muster for revenge against the traitors. These marines will join my breacher squad to form a full 10-marine breacher squad for use as a Shattered Legions force. I still have some work to do on the rest of the Iron Hands contingent, but this is a great basis for expanding the force. 

Iron Hands Medusan Immortals 5/5

Rounding off the squad of Iron Hands Medusan Immortals at number 5 is this marine. Along with his brothers, he is also a survivor of the massacre by the traitors in the opening moments of the Horus Heresy. As befits such a survivor, he has battle damage in places, and plentiful mud scattered over his feet, lower legs, and shield. 

I enjoyed painting the battle damage on to this one in particular as it offered a chance to experiment with a couple of techniques. On the shield, one of these techniques is visible: a silvered surface surrounded by scorched black marks suggestive of explosive tipped ammunition shattering on the shield (i.e. bolt gun rounds). Once more, I'm happy that I didn't glue this one together before managing to paint his left shoulder pad. Although some of it is obscured by the shield, I'd know it was unpainted if I left it in there undone. 

A post featuring the full squad in all their glory will be made soon enough. Stay tuned. 

Iron Hands Medusan Immortals 4/5

Number four in my squad is this battle brother. Sporting a requisite amount of mud on the feet and lower legs, this marine has been through hell and back on Isstvan and now only exists to extract revenge on the traitors for the massacre. 

Mud aside, the red parts that can be seen just below the ammo feed on the bolt gun is part of the scanner that is attached to the waist of the marine and is simply poking through due to the line of sight of the image. The numeral ten on the left knee pad is a decal from the standard space marine range (although for a few of these, I did decide to kit bash -- decal bash -- the XX from the Alpha Legion to obtain some smaller ones for the Iron Tenth!). 

I like the way that this one has turned out, especially the wiggly iron pipework on the left shoulder pad that is partially hidden behind the shield. I decided to paint this first, prior to gluing together the shield on to the arm. In hindsight, this was the right choice, and it also allowed some painting on the interior of the shield as well.