Jump to content

Recommended Posts

After a long crusade to a dark and terrible place filled with the dark souls of past memories and hideous creatures long forgotten. (My parent's loft.) I found the missing pages of my White Dwarf 246. These were the fold out cover announcing the 25th birthday of GW and, more importantly, the Emperor's Champion release. On the reverse were the designer's notes from the original painter and a short story about Sigismund himself at the gates of the Imperial Palace.
 
Considering I couldn't find an electronic version of these pages anywhere, I thought it best to share them with you all. Hope you appreciate it.
 
 

Zeal 2 small

 

Zeal 1 small

 

Link to comment
https://bolterandchainsword.com/topic/339237-a-healthy-dose-of-zeal/
Share on other sites

This has been my favorite Black Templar model for years, back when I first started playing back in 3rd edition this had come out recently before then but was already out of print sadly. I had begged my mom for months for her to finally allow me to purchase one on Ebay, I painted it up to the best of my ability and then had my mom do the the lightening on the sword and script on his shoulder pad because my young hands werent steady enough to trust myself yet.

 

I stopped playing for YEARS but came back recently, I stripped off some of my old models paint to redo them w/ my increased ability but I ended up purchasing a second 25 Anniversary Emperors Champion so that I could paint him and leave my old model for his historical / sentimental value. I havent gotten to painting up the new one yet, I also picked up the re-released one with the one handed sword pose (had one before I stopped playing, not sure where it went). I've also made a few EC's using random bits from Tac / Assault Squads. My love affair is strong cool with the EC, one day I hope to add Sigismund to their ranks in all his glory.

 

If only we could get some rules for him in 40k, though given he's dead I dont expect that will ever happen.

Edited by Brother_Gneecapper

Thats just awesome, I always thought Sigismund was all but a name in the fluff until the Horus Heresy series gave him so character but its great to see at least one short story about him in older stuff. These short stories were always cool to read.

There's always been some amount of fluff about Sigismund, but his status and background have evolved anyway since its inception.

 

I think (because I wasn't around at the time) that originally he was not a ranking officer but a line battle brother before becoming the original Emperor's Champion.

I looked into this, WD 249 is perhaps one of the best first looks at the Chapter. It has the first Index Astartes article on them in it.

In there they describe Sigismund as simply 'Champion Sigismund'. The Codex says this:

 

"Sanguinus of the Blood Angels and Rogal Dorn of the Imperial Fists, together with their bravest warriors, would accompany the Emperor and take the fight to Horus above his battle barge, a mighty starship in orbit above Terra. The majority of the Imperial Fists remained on Terra to defend the Imperial Palace and Dorn charged Sigismund, the finest warrior of his legion, to hold the defences. Sigismund became the first Emperor's Champion, swearing fell oaths that the Palace would not fall and cowing to slay the enemy's mightiest champions....

 

He chose Champion Sigismund to lead the Black Templars, and the Chapter took upon themselves the black and white panoply of his personal heraldry.

...

Sigismund had been chosen as the Emperor's Champion for his fervent faith in the Emperor and his undying devotion to mankind."

 

Nothing there about being first captain of the IF, but lots of fluff has changed as we know. For instance, back when those things were written the Legions were supposed to be way smaller than the modern fluff tells us. (Say, 10 times smaller,)

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

By using this site, you agree to our Terms of Use.