Knight Household Men-At-Arms etc.

[Ryltar Thamior]

I'm presently constructing a few Inq28/stylized kill-teams for some Horus Heresy narrative wargaming, and one of the ideas which started percolating around in my head was for a warband of Knight Household men-at-arms, huscarla, and other assorted infantry-sized fixers. Not every mechanism for advancing a Knight Household's interests will be solvable via the immediate application of fifty-food tall stompy mini-titans after all, and there's evidently a lot of space for political maneuvering in how the Knight Households interrelate with the rest of the Imperium (particularly during the Crusade & Heresy era).

But I need two things: inspiration, and information as to what's previously been depicted in fluff before I can proceed. 

Awhile back I got part-way through Vengeful Spirit, and I seem to remember that the Knights themselves had groups of retainers who played a role during the Hunts - chaps flying around in grav-vehicles acting in a role commensurate with that of 'beaters' during real-world medieval hunts, flushing out game for their lords. 

I've also found a number of citations in this forum for House troops [Atia finding mention in both Conquest and HH fiction]; and a cursory google additionally suggests the existence of "Men-at-arms" acting in a supplementary military capacity to our friends the Knights. 

So there's evidently some precedence; and with Rule of Cool firmly in mind, I'm sure it's possible to extrapolate real-world Medieval baronial court personnel into far-future equivalents. 

What sort of equipment do we think these sorts of figures would have? For the men-at-arms, standard Imperial (or possibly even Ad-Mech) weaponry seems sensible - but potentially with a more close-in focus (since anything requiring serious heavy firepower or anti-tank capacity is probably better handled by the Knights anyway). Huscarla might have more unique, ornate, or heavy-duty gear - perhaps even primitive forms of powered armour or other exotic goodies. 'Beaters' (or whatever their fancy name presumably is), may have equipment which is designed to facilitate their lords' hunting exploits - grenade-launchers and other big, loud blasty things for the purposes of flushing large fauna out of subterranean locations where they might be hiding, or flamers and the like for defoliating an area of underbrush wherein the prey may be lurking. On top of this, we might also have genetically enhanced super-sized and cybernetically augmented hunting-dogs, and other such gothitek monstrosities. 

And then we have the Sacristans... (perhaps even the banished son of a Knight-Baron who attempts to mimick a Knight's fighting-style while on foot) 

Thoughts, suggestions and input welcome. 

[CommodusXIII]

Depending on the alignment of the House, I think a mix of Skitarii, Solar Auxilia and Bretonian bits would work very well.  Especially the new Secutarii Hoplites, whose arc lances match the Cerastus Knight Lancer.  Parts from the seated Knight Scion that could also be worked into characters.

[MagicHat]

I have plans for a few Brettonnia men-at-arms (with shield) with Scion heads, gun (flamer/grenade launcher/hell gun) and backpacks. Only one flamer guy sort of put together so far though, as other releases keeps me interested.

Sadly, GW discontinued the Brettonnia men-at-arms, and 20 of my 32 are slated for my Mechanicum. So 12 men at arms anyway.

 

Then I will have some Yeomen, using the sentinel as a base, but with "pauldrons" and a gun and sentinel chainsword, mirroring their lords.