Custodes Armory Thralls

[TheTrans]

Hey Gang

 

Looking at getting jumping onto the Custodes bandwagon.

I love truescaling marines, but in the legionary lists there 1. Isn't much room to show off the difference and 2. there is a lot of marines, hence looking at the Custodes.

 

Will be converting them up with some Sigmarine parts (in all honesty, just the legs) and lenthening them up a little (just look so damn stumpy to me at the moment). Will probably give them all capes, proper leather-strap loin cloths etc, try to make each one a hero in their own right (as they should be).

 

But any way, I was thinking of maybe making up some of the 'Armory Thralls' that reload their spears etc in the Master of Mankind and essentially have them as wound markers. I think it would be a fun modelling venture and sort of fill the Custodes army out a bit as it looks a little plain on the table top IMHO, that and the tralls being human in size, will have the custodes towering over them!

I did a quick bit of searching through MoM to find some quotes in relation to them, but it doesn't really give you any idea as to how they look:

 

'
Compliance.’ A servitor’s voice, toneless and obedient. The warrior moved away from the spear, it vanished out of the holo’s range.

 

Each one was an individual among other individuals, trailed by his own artificers and arsenal thralls, the latter of whom reloaded the Custodians’ guardian spears each time a warrior called out.

 

Behind the golden warriors came their arming thralls, bearing fresh ammunition and armour sealant; warriors in their own right but sheltered from harm by their masters’ spinning blades

 

 

 

‘Reload!’ Ra cried as he hurled the weapon back towards the armoury thralls, already drawing his meridian swords in its place. The curved blades ripped through diseased flesh, spilling rotten organs to the misty ground. The swords’ energy fields spat kinetic aggravation at every impact.

A rune chimed on his retinal display, flickering white. He sheathed the twin sabres in a smooth turn and caught his guardian spear as the ammunition thrall threw it back to him. The moment he had a fist around its haft, he was killing again. This was the way of his kind.

 

 

 

‘Reload!’ Solon called from behind him. Ra heard the snap-crack of Solon’s meridian swords activating, and the rumbled murmur of compliance as the armoury thrall gathered the guardian spear left thrust into the ground.

 

 

So that is really all that is mentioned of them in the book.

"Warriors in their own right" makes me think they should be armoued (have had some suggestions to base off of solar auxilia), but then you have stuff like "A servitor’s voice, toneless and obedient." which turns it back the other way...
 

So yeah, just wondering if you guys have any thoughts on them or know of any other mentions/pics of them, that be awesome. Also thoughts on how it would look on the table, and in a game mechanic sense?

 

Cheers,
Nick

[Cornelias]

they missed a trick, it should have been cherubs :)

[Sothalor]

They must be different from your typical Servitor, which is slow, clunky, and often mono-tasked. These guys (guys? things?) are capable of hanging close enough to an active engagement to catch hand-tossed weapons, implying a certain amount of adaptability and dexterity, and capable of tossing those weapons back to their owners.

 

How about using some of the plastic Mechanicum infantry as a base? The Skitarii Vanguard might fit the bill for augmented human chassis. I'm not sure what you'd use to replace their arms with to represent them being armory loaders though.

[TheTrans]

I was certainly thinking of starting with them Mel. Arms was a different sorty of thing entirely haha. Maybe one grasbing army (so claw or some such) but the other one is maybe just a magazine hopper that has an arm that removes mags and another that puts them in or some such? 

[Sothalor]

Yup, I would imagine mismatched limbs; one a larger grasping arrangement for catching/throwing, and one a more dexterous hand for manipulating catches, magazine releases, etc.

[Sandlemad]

There's opportunity to go pretty weird with this. They're a different sort of body but MoM mentioned the hereditary caste of sensor-monitoring thralls in the Tower of Hegemon wearing jewellery fashioned from their parents'/grandparents' bones. Not saying you should go in the same direction but there's room to go for something similarly strange.

 

The Custodes' vehicles/support elements have a hint of 1950's sci-fi aesthetic, smooth and advanced. You could mirror that a bit with the bodies from the genestealer neophytes, they've got a similar-ish look. They'd take to mechanical arms pretty well, I think. A cheaper alternative to solar auxilia.

 

Alternatively perhaps parts from the AoS High Elves shadow warriors? Some bits are a touch too 'elf-y' (swords, etc) but they do look appropriately martial. The high boots and the broad belts sort of mimic the armoured equivalents on the warriors they serve. The coats/cloaks could be done up as the same colour leather to the custodians' gloves/pteurges (sort of a burgundy on the 'eavy metal scheme) for visual similarity. Even some of the gems are a bit like those (in blue) on the custodians.

The helms are also vaguely like the traditional custodes conehead but it might be a bit much, maybe it could be used for a senior thrall of something. The helm's probably your best spot to make them obviously futuristic anyway, apart from the bionic arms.

[Jarkaira]

Atleast it is sure that they can't be baseline humans as those would :cuss their pants and flee when seeing against what those Custodes are going into. They must be somewhat similar to a servitor but with more finesse and highly developed routines. Skitarii would be the most obvious choice for me as those are augmented enough to not feel fear and obedient enough and suitable for monotoneus routines they take on.