Julius Kaesoron, 1st Captain of the Emperor's Children

[Iron Hands Fanatic]

Right, so I'm doing sketches of a few of the characters from the Heresy, which have so far been untouched by FW, kinda emulating the style of the illustrations from their HH books - my next project will be Gabriel Santar. First up is Julius Kaesoron, and I've also done some homebrew rules to go along with him:

 

[Here's the WIP thread]

 

Full-res image:

 

Thanks fer lookin'

http://heresy30k.invisionzone.com/uploads/gallery/album_192/gallery_2243_192_5679010.png

JULIUS KAESORON:

First Captain of the Emperor’s Children, The Star Ascendant, The Conductor

215 POINTS

Julius Kaesoron:   WS: 6   BS: 5   S: 4   T: 4   W: 3   I: 5   A: 4   Ld: 10   Sv: 2+

 

Unit Composition:

* 1 (Unique)

 

Unit Type:

* Infantry (Character)

 

Wargear:

* Aeturnum Warplate

* Paragon blade

* Master-crafted lightning claw

* Plasma pistol

* Plasma grenades

* Sonic shrieker

 

Special Rules:

* Legiones Astartes (Emperor’s Children)

* Independent Character

* Master of the Legion

* Masterful Warrior

* First Among Equals

* Rampage

 

Warlord Trait:

* Glorious Charge: On a single game turn (chosen by the owning player), the Warlord and all Legiones Astartes (Emperor’s Children) models within 24” gain the Rage Special Rule.

 

Masterful Warrior:

Kaesoron must always issue and accept challenges in combat where possible, and when fighting challenges may halve his Attack characteristic after modifiers (rounding down) in order to give all his close combat attacks the Fleshbane special rule.

 

First Among Equals:

If Julius Kaesoron is part of your army he will always be the army’s Warlord, regardless of the Leadership value of other HQ choices unless Fulgrim or Eidolon are also present.

 

Additionally, any Terminator-armour equipped squad Kaesoron joins before deployment may Deep Strike, and Kaesoron and any unit he joins are exempt from the restriction on units with the Slow and Purposeful special rule in the Maru Skara Right of War.

 

Aeturnum Warplate:

Constructed by the Legion’s greatest artificers from the most precious and resilient materials gathered through the course of the Great Crusade, the Aeturnum Warplate was possibly the finest suit of Cataphractii Tactical Dreadnought Armour within the arsenal of the III^rd Legion.

 

The Aeturnum Warplate follows the rules for Cataphractii Terminator Armour, with the following additions. It features a Teleporter Transponder which allows any Emperor’s Children Terminator Squads or Phoenix Terminator Squads in the army which can Deep Strike to do so without scattering so long as they are placed within 6” of Kaesoron when they deploy. Additionally, the Aeturnum Warplate counts as a Legion Vexilla for any unit which Kaesoron joins.

[BrotherCaptainArkhan]

That Terminator armour is gorgeous. Awesome job. I love how you've captured the intricacy of his armour without making it look over-blinged.

 

My only point of constructive criticism might be that either his head is slightly too large, or the rest of him is too small...? Just reducing the head size slightly could give the illusion of the great size of TDA. Just a thought.

 

Looking forward to Santar!

[Stofficus]

Looks superb, and the style matches nicely with the sketches in the various FW HH offerings. 

I agree insofar as the head is concerned; it's the only point of criticism, it makes the TDA look a little undersized. 

[Iron Hands Fanatic]

That Terminator armour is gorgeous. Awesome job. I love how you've captured the intricacy of his armour without making it look over-blinged.

 

My only point of constructive criticism might be that either his head is slightly too large, or the rest of him is too small...? Just reducing the head size slightly could give the illusion of the great size of TDA. Just a thought.

 

Looking forward to Santar!

Looks superb, and the style matches nicely with the sketches in the various FW HH offerings. 

 

I agree insofar as the head is concerned; it's the only point of criticism, it makes the TDA look a little undersized. 

 

Well, after your comments, I actually went back and altered the head / neck, which you can see edited into the image above. Originally, I tried to stick to the proportions shown in FW's models and previous sketches, but I think the fact that their illustrations were only portraits allowed them to make the heads larger than would actually work. Part of the problem was also that the head was too low to work with the shoulders - although this is a problem inherent in TDA anyway, moving the head up worked to diminish the problem a bit.

 

Anyway, thanks for the feedback - really helped

[BassWave]

His pose is ok, but I think it would look better if he was posed faced down into the mud, preferably dead :P

 

In all seriousness great work IHF, it looks excellent.

[Stofficus]

The rescaling looks quite good; has more of the bulk one expects of TDA. 

I also didn't notice the first time around he has a portrait of himself, I believe, on the decorative shield. Those silly Emperor's Children, "I'm so beautiful you ought to see me TWICE everytime you look at me!" 

[Retributis]

It's a lovingly detailed image, with one flaw. His shoulders would be in his armpits/ribcage :( From there all the proportions are off and so he looks cute/chibi-esque rather than an imposing marine. Sort of like a child in his dad's clothes.

 

Sorry if that's too negative, as I say I love the shading you've managed on the armour and the detail is great. You just need to work on how big that head is and how it fits with the body.

[Iron Hands Fanatic]

The rescaling looks quite good; has more of the bulk one expects of TDA.

I also didn't notice the first time around he has a portrait of himself, I believe, on the decorative shield. Those silly Emperor's Children, "I'm so beautiful you ought to see me TWICE everytime you look at me!"

While I wouldn't doubt for a second that most ECs would be just that vain, it's supposed to be a picture of Fulgrim

It's a lovingly detailed image, with one flaw. His shoulders would be in his armpits/ribcage From there all the proportions are off and so he looks cute/chibi-esque rather than an imposing marine. Sort of like a child in his dad's clothes.

Sorry if that's too negative, as I say I love the shading you've managed on the armour and the detail is great. You just need to work on how big that head is and how it fits with the body.

Unfortunately that's an issue inherent in all TDA to be honest - I think it's especially noticeable in Cataphractii (probably why almost all models in that pattern TDA have pteruges to hide the joins between the torso & limbs, plus large gorgets to conceal the neck). With that in mind, I might add a couple more pteruges neighbouring the chest, to make exactly where the shoulders are more ambiguous.

Edit: I've done one final edit, which has added extra pteruges to disguise his 'pits & lowered his sword arm to a more feasible position

[Caustic63]

This is some really good artwork of Julius Kaesoron. I'm glad to see that others are as big a fan of the 30k Emperor's Children as I am! On the topic of his rules though they seem a bit directionless and in some cases overlap with existing ones. May I offer some suggestions?

 

- Catiphractii Armour on an Emperor's Children character makes very little sense, considering it means he loses any and all benefits of the Crusader rule since he (and his squad) cannot run or perform a sweeping advance. It also means you cannot take him if you are running a Maru Skara list because he has the Slow and Purposeful special rule. I'd swap it for a suit of normal Tartaros Terminator armour and draw him more similar to a Phoenix Terminator.

 

- Strongly consider swapping his Rampage special rule for the Hit and Run special rule, since he would then be awesome in any squad with Phoenix Power Spears. Perhaps his Warlord Trait would be better as 'Legendary Fighter' from the BRB as well? Rage and Rampage are more representative of the World Eaters style of fighting, so I would avoid them for an Emperor's Children character.

 

- Get rid of the Masterful Warrior special rule altogether since it overlaps with his Emperor's Children special rule. Also drop the Terminator Deep Strike benefits since this exact ability is already unique to a number of legions (such as Sons of Horus, Imperial Fists, and Night Lords) and granted by a Rite of War as well.

 

Now if I wanted to be ambitious, I'd have him count as a Legion Champion for the purposes of the Maru Skara meaning that the Rite of War now only has one compulsory HQ choice if he's it. That would be a nice touch IMO. Then I'd swap both his melee weapons for the following unique weapon:

 

The Phoenician Spear

S+1/+2 AP3/2 Melee, Mastercrafted, Two-Handed

*The second profile is used when the model charges into combat*

[Iron Hands Fanatic]

This is some really good artwork of Julius Kaesoron. I'm glad to see that others are as big a fan of the 30k Emperor's Children as I am! On the topic of his rules though they seem a bit directionless and in some cases overlap with existing ones. May I offer some suggestions?

- Catiphractii Armour on an Emperor's Children character makes very little sense, considering it means he loses any and all benefits of the Crusader rule since he (and his squad) cannot run or perform a sweeping advance. It also means you cannot take him if you are running a Maru Skara list because he has the Slow and Purposeful special rule. I'd swap it for a suit of normal Tartaros Terminator armour and draw him more similar to a Phoenix Terminator.

- Strongly consider swapping his Rampage special rule for the Hit and Run special rule, since he would then be awesome in any squad with Phoenix Power Spears. Perhaps his Warlord Trait would be better as 'Legendary Fighter' from the BRB as well? Rage and Rampage are more representative of the World Eaters style of fighting, so I would avoid them for an Emperor's Children character.

- Get rid of the Masterful Warrior special rule altogether since it overlaps with his Emperor's Children special rule. Also drop the Terminator Deep Strike benefits since this exact ability is already unique to a number of legions (such as Sons of Horus, Imperial Fists, and Night Lords) and granted by a Rite of War as well.

Now if I wanted to be ambitious, I'd have him count as a Legion Champion for the purposes of the Maru Skara meaning that the Rite of War now only has one compulsory HQ choice if he's it. That would be a nice touch IMO. Then I'd swap both his melee weapons for the following unique weapon:

The Phoenician Spear

S+1/+2 AP3/2 Melee, Mastercrafted, Two-Handed

*The second profile is used when the model charges into combat*

Thanks for reminding me about Maru Skara - I've re-worded First amongst Equals to allow him & his unit to be exempt from the Slow and Purposeful restriction.

Also, the reason he has Cataphractii is because all of the fluff has him equipped with it. Plus there's no -ing way I'm re-drawing him after the amount of time & effort I put in.

The thing is, he's the 1st Captain, not a member of the Phoenix Guard, so he isn't meant to be equipped like them, or particularly designed toward synergising with them - thats where I'm going with this guy. Rage is there to represent a single, unified charge by the ECs, and Rampage is to show he's part of the Legion's elite, who are usually deployed - outnumbered - against the greatest threats.

In Masterful Warrior, I've intentionally repeated the EC's challenge clause, but the rest of the rule is entirely different.

He's designed primarily to cohere to the background, and his current incarnation ruleswise isn't really gonna change much to be honest. Then again you're more than welcome to come up with your own ruleset for however you interpret Julius.

[SpiralingCadaver]

Fun concept.

 

A few notes-- think the warlord trait should be reduced to 12", and yeah, the pose is a little awkward- the raised arms exaggerate the problem with terminator armor, think there's something odd about the lengths there, too- arms and maybe the torso are too short or something. I don't think I saw a point cost, though?

[Iron Hands Fanatic]

Fun concept.

 

A few notes-- think the warlord trait should be reduced to 12", and yeah, the pose is a little awkward- the raised arms exaggerate the problem with terminator armor, think there's something odd about the lengths there, too- arms and maybe the torso are too short or something. I don't think I saw a point cost, though?

 

Well, my justification for the 24" range is that it applies for one turn only - is that enough to mitigate the wider radius?

 

And I think I'm gonna go with around 235 points

[SpiralingCadaver]

Looking at comparable warlord traits, I don't think any affect that much area, so think he should be put at an equivalent level. He feels like around 200, though I could be wrong since I've got less familiarity with the heresy-era costs on characters and whatnot.

[Iron Hands Fanatic]

Well, 235 is the points value of the closest proxy I could make using a Praetor, in terms of basic equipment - it doesn't include the value of extra rules like the Fleshbane thing, but Unique characters tend to get a slight discount on their wargear, so it seemed about right

[Slips]

Well, 235 is the points value of the closest proxy I could make using a Praetor, in terms of basic equipment - it doesn't include the value of extra rules like the Fleshbane thing, but Unique characters tend to get a slight discount on their wargear, so it seemed about right

Consider that Sigismund is 230 Points. Does he match up accordingly (not necessarily in a 1v1 challenge) with what he brings to the Table? If not a slight drop (215, imo would be fair) might be in order.

[Iron Hands Fanatic]

Yeah that's probaby fair - although Kaesoron does have to potential to bring 9 initiative 6 attacks on the charge, all of which can potentially benefit from instant death - his staying power isn't quite as formidable and his peripheral rules are a bit less powerful than Sig's. Considering Autek Mor also has a Paragon Blade, and Cataphractii armour, but only comes in at 225 points, I think 215 seems decent enough.

[Iron Hands Fanatic]

Just thought I'd show y'all a rules page I mocked-up for Kaesoron:http://heresy30k.invisionzone.com/uploads/gallery/album_192/gallery_2243_192_4576645.png

I've also uploaded the file onto the downloads section here - the file is the full size jpeg, which is 2480 x 3508 so it's formatted for A4 on the off-chance any of you would want to print it off & have a go with his rules

 

Thanks for looking