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The Avenging Lions chapter sends battle-brothers to the Legio [Bolter & Chainsword]. One of the battle-brothers that has been seconded to the Legio over the millennia of the chapter's existence was Brule Onathemes, known as the Spear-Slayer. Brule Onathemes Pict capture in 709.M39 upon secondment to the Legio Bolter & Chainsword Formerly a battle-brother of the 3rd Tactical Squad, 5th Company, Brule was awarded the Imperial Laurel for his valor during the Jurekai Punitive Expedition. He has sworn his oath upon his sword of justice. Brule was seconded to the Legio Bolter & Chainsword in 709.M39 and served in the Justice of the Emperor Great Company. In keeping with the traditions of the Legio, Brule recorded his deeds on an honor shield. Upon his death, the record on his honor shield was duplicated onto two death shields, one of which covered his sarcophagus for return to the Avenging Lions and the other hung with his honor shield in the Legio's Hall of Heroes as a memorial. Notes This was an interesting diversion, and one of the few developments I ever got around to for the Avenging Lions. One day I hope to get that Legio mini-me converted and painted. It will be a firstborn Space Marine since I have locked the character into a pre-Primaris time period, but I may create a Primaris battle-brother from the Avenging Lions later. The outline of the shield has a slight red border, and that was much worse in the template that was provided. While I deleted the most egregious red bits, some still remains (and rankles me - I may have to fix that one day). The lion and eagle imagery comes from an old poster, America's Tribute to Britain, by Frederick G. Cooper in 1917 and published by the Marchbanks Press, New York. It is used without permission and has been Photoshopped to be different from the actual image (blurring the lines, using a different background color, slight cropping). I was originally going to use a lion in the style of the Finnish army, but this one caught my eye as being cool, distinctive, and a lot more obscure than the former. The chapter icon features at the top center. Brule's name appears on the silver name plate on the left, along with a black tactical squad badge and the number 3 in white, indicating his original squad affiliation. On the right you can see a stylized rendition of Brule's oath-blade (described in the chapter article) along with the text of the oath he swore upon being seconded to the Legio. I imagine that Brule added to the decorations upon the shield during his time in the Legio, that the version shown above was simply how the shield appeared upon the initiation of his secondment.

I have vowed to complete a kill team of the Legio Bolter & Chainsword for the Knives in the Void painting challenge for 2022. Before you get all excited, I know my limitations. While the Legio B&C is ostensibly a "Codex" Chapter (inasmuch as a Chapter consisting of battle-brothers from all Chapters, and which doesn't quite follow the Codex Astartes in terms of overall organization can be), I've hedged my bets and am painting a kill team drawn from the Ordo Psykana of the Chapter. No, it's not a kill team of librarians (even though that would be pretty awesome). It's a kill team of psychically gifted battle-brothers - Acolytum. The kill team uses the Grey Knights rules. Yes, that means that it's a pretty small kill team. I might be able to complete my vow. After all, how hard could it be to assemble and paint six models? Famous last words for a notoriously slow procrastinator. My long-term goal is to have a complete command roster of 20 models, but I'm being realistic about the slowness (not to mention mediocrity) of my painting, so I'm aiming for six models as my basic goal. If I can get more than that done, great. If not, nobody will be surprised. You can see the current state of the overall plan, such as it is, below. Since this represents a force of the Legio, it will be like the Deathwatch in that each member will hail from a different Chapter. No, there won't be any "First Founding" Chapters represented. There might be some Second Founding Chapters. My Senior Acolytum (Justicar) is in the little baggy labeled "1" seen just to the left of center. You can see the transverse crest that marks him out as a leader (and you can't see the muscle armor torso). He'll be armed with a Nemesis force halberd, represented as a power axe. Beyond that, I know that I'm going to have a mix of weapons in the team. My outlandish plan is to have different versions of each member, each with a different weapon, giving me flexibility from game to game. It might be more realistic to just magnetize shoulder pads and swap those around models to change weapons around. Decisions, decisions...

Scouts in the Legio Bolter & Chainsword Lacking the normal recruitment process of Codex Chapters of the Adeptus Astartes, the Legio instead uses fully trained battle-brothers in the role normally performed by scouts. In addition, it's not unknown for veterans of the Legio to replace their power armour or tactical dreadnought armour in order to perform scout missions. These warriors will bring their enhanced training and experience to bear when performing missions normally trained by neophyte scouts. These warriors will be equipped as normal for scouts, though veterans may continue to use special issue ammunition. Once their scout missions are complete, these warriors will return to their normal battlefield roles and equipment. Legio Scouts typically wear black armour and white chest decoration with dark clothing and durable leather boots, pouches, and gloves. Each scout will bear his parent Chapter's livery upon his right pauldron and the badge of the Legio upon his left pauldron. Where the badge of the Legio is typically upon a red field when wearing power armour or tactical dreadnought armour, Legio scouts often depict the badge upon a black field. If the mission calls for stealth, the chest decoration will be subdued to match the chestplate, with both colored to match the environment in which the scout will be operating. In addition, both shoulder pads may be black with the badges subdued to a dark grey. In these instances, the clothing might be replaced with camouflage fatigues suitable to the environment. Similarly, while Legio weapons casings are typically red, Legio scouts dispatched on missions requiring stealth will recolor their weapons to match the environment. At right is a pict-capture of Brother-Sergeant Akmeniel of Justice of the Emperor Great Company under Brother Captain O'rchd'ng during Operation Manala. Seconded from the Avenging Sons Chapter, Brother-Sergeant Akmeniel led his squad in reconaissance missions throughout Hive Moor, first attempting to locate Inquisitor Romerus and later seeking the masters behind the Plague of Undeath that had corrupted the citizens of Demaras Tertius. Operating against plague zombies, Squad Akmeniel opted to omit camouflage, retaining their white chest decorations and red weapons casings. Squad Akemeniel was pivotal in the operation's overall success, first locating the surviving members of the inquisitor's retinue and later pinpointing the heretics behind the corruption. Squad Akemeniel reverted to their normal battlefield role as a Tactical squad for the final stages of the operation. Other members of Squad Akemeniel included:Brother Kormos (seconded from the Crimson Castellans Chapter) Brother Yshakari (seconded from the Knights of Gryphonne Chspter) Brother Thenus (seconded from the Doom Warriors Chapter) Brother Chien (seconded from the Death Knights Chapter) Brother Murnach (seconded from the Emperor's Spears Chapter) Brother Uriartez (seconded from the Hawk Lords Chapter) Brother Sarkar (seconded from the Tauran Chapter) Brother Tuominen (seconded from the Silver Eagles Chapter) Brother Burak (seconded from the White Panthers Chapter)