T̶w̶o̶ Three legios and a knight household

[Brother Captain Arkley]

How did you make the axe?

[Fajita Fan]

It’s just cut off from the Khorne AoS thingy:

https://www.games-workshop.com/en-US/Judgements-of-Khorne-2019

 

And I have another axe from the SW dreadnought that’s about the right size but I’d have to cover up the Fenrisian runes. Maybe this big one would be better suited for a Warlord hand?

[Brother Captain Arkley]

Do you think the Iron Circle hammers might work?

[Fajita Fan]

They're kinda small but I did consider a mace actually.  But...you know...Khorne... 

 

Now when you're building your knights it's a lot of fun to go through your bits box and hack up their melee weapons.  I need to find my Empire bits box again to get some of their shields and halberd tips.  Which of my big boxes is that in...?  

[Mendi Warrior]

There are some nice looking Khornate maces in the AoS range but ... as you say ... Khorne ...

Seems like you have tons of big boxes 

[Fajita Fan]

Well my office is closed for two weeks but I still have to report to work for a couple of days at least, then I’ll just stay home and get some progress done.

 

Edit: Still at work and I'm between things to do while we're closed.  For whatever reason I'm more interested in finishing my knight household than my titan legios. 

 

So I still have plenty of unassembled knights and while I need some for my traitors I have enough to make at least a few more converted models.  I plan to make one more Archeron since I have the flamer bits anyway, that means I could move the one I have assembled out of the command lance to be a pair in another banner.  Having one flamer in the command banner looks cool but then that lance can't do Combined Strike with their shields.

 

Given the points I don't think I can realistically fit four lancers in the command lance anymore but I like having the option.  Currently I have the king (sword and shield), his battle standard model (sword and shield), and his master of the hunt (spear and shield).  I wanted to make a duelist with a pair of Stormcast swords that have the lightning bolt tip to be the king's bodyguard, that might be fun to count as a spear/shield too.  I love my assassin Questoris knight with the dual daggers so much I'm actually thinking of modeling him with a full size 28mm knight!

 

I still have a bunch of Mechanicus bits so I thought of making an engineering knight with extra mechanical arms to be a wrecker/recovery guy.  Maybe that would work best with an Acastus chassis as it's the biggest and strongest looking.  Some people have mocked up Acastus torsos on the Mechanicus tracked guys and they look cool but I was saving those bits for Kaban machines.

 

 

Now that they're all stripped and I'm getting ready to respray them I'm planning paint schemes.  One fun idea I had was to do them all as knights of the round table in a scheme like this:

https://www.artstation.com/artwork/VdW4A4

 

I'm seeing multiple patterns and schemes for the knights of the round table depending on the version of the book they're referencing.  Percival is said to have red armor at some point which would be easier to paint and another image I saw had Arthur in blue with little yellow crowns.

Edited March 16, 2020 by Fajita Fan

[Mendi Warrior]

The Round Table is a cool idea! Eager to see your take on it.

[Brother Captain Arkley]

Yeah it could be cool... Someone on the FB AT group did the Knights from Monty Python and the Holy Grail..

[Fajita Fan]

Saw that on IG and loved it.  While I liked the idea of naming my knights after my friends I started realizing...I don't actually have that many friends left (happens in your 30s) so I'd have a few knights named for friends and start making up names.  The chart with 24 knights of the round table is...kinda perfect for a knight household isn't it?  Is anyone here knowledgeable about the King Arthur legend? This isn't something we study much at all in the US, I read Once and Future king in the 90s and saw the Clive Owen and Guy Ritchie movies at least.  :lol:  Who should be Cerastus Lancers, Archerons, Castigators, Questoris, and Acastus knights?  Did Arthur have a standard bearer who should be in his lance?  Which 3 should be in his lance?  Lancelot? Galahad? 

 

I hope this hotlinks but here's the image I can use to draw inspiration. There's a few with red/white stripes which might be more alternating panels so I don't go nuts.

 

Direct link if it doesn't work: https://images-wixmp-ed30a86b8c4ca887773594c2.wixmp.com/f/bdb58708-180d-47ab-98f9-886c3483b782/dcsw90s-5544528e-7631-4cd1-b84a-c9c9effa21e8.png/v1/fill/w_1024,h_701,strp/king_arthur_and_the_knights_of_the_round_table_by_williammarshalstore_dcsw90s-fullview.png?token=eyJ0eXAiOiJKV1QiLCJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.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.nZ5et0NjuPA2eCJDqNRu-YiZ-dcw68zZy2DIBvb5LsY

 

Now the comments on that page say Percival could be red, also why is Arthur different from this one: 

 

Edited March 16, 2020 by Fajita Fan

[Fajita Fan]

Okay so I'm just reading a Wiki and I feel like Bedivere, Kay, and Lancelot should be in his command lance.  Bedivere should be his standard bearer (described as Arthur's marshal), Kay should be the fancy spear guy with the antlers (described as his Senechal), and Lancelot should be the dual sword duelist bodyguard I'm making, IIRC he was the greatest swordsman. 

 

Opinion time: Should I print out a little banner for each knight and drill a paperclip into all of their carapace roofs (like the spot for the Stormspear pods) for them?  They'd look like fantasy Bretonian knights which is what I'm going for.  I also wouldn't have to paint things like that little stag which I will not be able to pull off on a canvas this tiny.  These shoulder plates are the size of finger nails.

[General Zodd]

The reason these are all different is that nobody’s sure if Arthur actually existed, and if he did no one has any real idea what he’d have looked like. One thing’s for certain, though, he wouldn’t have looked like a high-medieval Knight, he was likely (if he existed at all) to have been a Post Romano-Briton, so no coat of arms at all. Maybe a personal emblem used by his followers, but that’s probably about it.

 

So, if you wanted to pick one of the above, whichever you prefer, go for it! It doesn’t matter how historically accurate it is, because Arthur is more legend than history anyway. Certainly all the knights of the Round Table that gathered round him are almost all much later additions to the story. Though I’d say that if I were to do this, Arthur Pendragon would have a dragon somewhere on his heraldry, not just crowns, and as Galahad was Lancelot’s son, if you want to stick with traditional heraldic practices, his heraldry should be very similar to Lancelot’s. But as I say, it’s all legend, so pick the version you like the best!

[Fajita Fan]

Wait a bunch of these people weren’t real at all? I thought a bunch of this was based on real guys. I know that much of Arthur’s story was myth but I thought most of this was traced back to real royals.

[Gore Crow]

I'm afraid they are all fictitious. 

[Fajita Fan]

Well that's certainly interesting.  I still think it would be fun either way but at least I know I've got more artist freedom to represent something that's totally official and have Brits drop their crumpets aghast in horror at my bastardization of something so timeless. 

 

Any thoughts on who should be which chassis?

[Fajita Fan]

Spent some time upgrading the Cerastus weapons and making them look more individual. Arthur's arms have been cut off, his old sword arm will be used along with another for Lancelot's dual swords as he becomes more of the King's duelist. I added a Stormcast sword and lantern to count as a lance/shield and they're magnetized to swap out should the Atropos become available and I want to switch his chassis.  I have some Empire feathers that at this scale would've come from a massive bird but maybe giant birds exist on other planets in 30k, probably best not to overdo that look. Would topknots mounted on top of a bunch of carapaces be over the top?

 

 

The other lancers now sport a variety of weapon types - axes, spears, halberds, hammers, and a pick made from a 30k thunderhammer and the Cerastus lance tip. There's another still drying that has a 30k marine sword, I like it.  

 

 

I also chopped up a bunch of arms to mix and match the Questoris weapons with the new thunderstrike gauntlets, even cutting them up so the guns are not always on the right.  Each banner captain is getting a medieval melee weapon, I still need to build another banner of Gatlings so that captain will get an axe I think.  Empire greatswords look good at this scale on Questoris knights, the curvy flamberge is glued to a hand but I'm still stripping the captain he's going on in some alcohol.  

 

Just to be safe I may drill out all of the little stormspear mounting holes to accommodate printed banners and drill some on the Cerastus too.  I'm not totally happy with the marine banners mounted perpendicular on there, it gives very little sense of movement.  If I cut all of those off and drill them out so toothpicks fit in there I can just print pictures of heraldry and save myself a lot of time.  

 

My traitor knights will be led by Mordred once I find my Vampire Counts bits, I'd like for them to have a hybrid of chaos and vampire look.  I have an axe and some chaos chain bits ready to go for them and I might save my engineer recovery Acastus idea for them as that sounds a bit Dark Mechanicus anyway.  

 

While working on this I was watching "The King" on Netflix and the scene where all of Henry's foot knights stand to draw in the French cavalry was pretty cool, their different armor and weapon tips helped me justify the effort in making my lancers look different. As an American I know precious little about European history or armaments and I fancy myself more knowledgeable than a good chunk of us. I didn't realize this was the battle of Agincourt until the French prince said the name.

Edited March 22, 2020 by Fajita Fan

[Dark Bjoern]

I love your knight conversions! Awesome. Now give them some paint!

 

p.s: All of my 40k Knights, or better say the nobles are names after Arthur and the knight of the round table

Edited March 22, 2020 by Dark Bjoern

[Mendi Warrior]

Awesome indeed, I also love what you did, excellent converted melee weapons 

[Interrogator Stobz]

Cool conversions FF, you're a constant inspiration dude.

[Fajita Fan]

Thanks, I'm trying. These are actually more fun for me than titans. 

[General Zodd]

I love these! So much character, and they’ll look scary heading over the battlefield towards you!

[Sherrypie]

Quite a nice selection of armaments they have, very characterful when they get their liveries on.

[Fajita Fan]

So I read Once and Future King about 25 years ago and don't remember any of it but I'm reading around a few wikis for livery schemes and they're all over the map. Almost every page has a different shield or pattern for the knights, Galahad's white with a red cross and Mordred's white/purple is about the only thing I can find consistent.  Can I pretty much do whatever I want at this point?  While that's an obvious yes I still don't want to do something totally outlandish that doesn't make any sense but even the character descriptions vary from author to author.  So long as they all look individual I guess that's okay, I rather like some of these other schemes I've seen attributed to the knights so maybe I won't follow everything from that image I found earlier.  

 

I got nothing done except stripping the last guy who needed to be stripped so he can get his new arms glued on.  I did think about some list building though and I'm kinda wondering why I'm trying to make 3 lances at 2k points.  For example consider this and tell me if I'm overthinking this:

 

1985

3x Cerastus Lancers with battle standard

2x Lancers

2x Lancers

 

3x Questoris (battlecannon/melee)

3x Questoris (Gatling/melee)

3x Questoris (Gatling/melee)

 

3x Questoris (thermal/melee)

3x Questoris (thermal/melee)

3x Questoris (dual melee)

 

Acastus (conversion beamer)

 

Acastus (conversion beamer)

 

15 points gets me a missile pod in the second lance or a melta in the third, I don't know.  Either way the tactics are pretty straightforward; the command lance is looking for charges to stab something, the second lance is melting shields for the Acastus, and the third lance is probably running up like a moving speed bump to get inside shield range to potentially melt something.  The Combined Strike order makes sense on the second banner as that's how the Gatlings will do their work but why do thermal cannons need to be in a lance?  Combined Strike has diminishing marginal returns on thermal cannons given their higher strength, I could see wanting to throw more dice with them rather than loading up for a bigger wollap. Split Fire?  Probably not.  

 

Benefits of a lance are great: +2 command checks (which I assume stacks with the Lord scion bonus) and 1 strategem point per lance scion is nothing to sneeze at.  But lance coherency means 9 Questoris knights (or 2 Cerastus and 6 Questoris) have to stay relatively close to one another and can't spread out for different targets. At 2k points 3 lances means essentially 3 blobs moving towards their targets across a 4'x4' while most titan lists will out activate them.  I can only fit two Acastus in that list anyway so having a third lance is getting me...what?

 

1995 pts

4x Cerastus Lancers with battle standard (or 3x Lancers and 1 Archeron)

2x Lancers

2x Lancers

 

2x Castigators

4x Questoris (Gatling/melee)

4x Questoris (Gatling/melee)

 

3x Questoris Freeblades (2x thermal/melee, dual melee)

 

3x Questoris Freeblades (2x thermal/melee, dual melee)

 

Acastus (conversion beamer)

 

Acastus (conversion beamer)

 

So this is kinda interesting; cutting a lance gets me an extra activation, four lancers in the command banner, an extra Gatling in each of the dakka banners for redundancy (and S7 at full strength), and a pair of Castigators leading them for a better chance of getting Combined Strike off.  I lose a thermal cannon in each of the now freeblade banners and they lose the command bonus from a lance scion but they're still a 4+ if they want to charge.

 

Long post about my continued lance listbuilding indecision I know but it's fun for me.  Am I missing some key?

[Fajita Fan]

Yesterday I started my banners based on the art I could find online of the Round Table knights and started drilling holes for 2mm toothpicks. I think they'll be shaded with Agarax to look like proper wood, maybe even Agarax gloss? 

 

 

Last night I finished my last 3 Gatling knights (Wardens? I need to remember the patterns!) and then glued cheap 4x3mm tall magnets under my knights so they sit on sheet metal and stop sliding around my case like pinballs.  The 3mm tall magnets fit great and have just enough pull force to stay down but don't require me to pry them off with a level like the way I did my titans.  I will need to pry those apart and redo them before I get too much farther painting, I'm afraid I'm going to damage the paint getting them out.  I also have melee weapons on all of my banner captains, that silver thermal cannon guy above had a Lizardmen spear shaped like the BA Libby dread's force halberd and it took too much effort to cut apart and carry the theme. 

 

 

The plan today is getting at least 2 Acastus knights done at work (one is primed and ready, didn't need to be stripped) so I've got the three I can fit at 2k points when running three lances.  If I can get a third that'd be good, otherwise I'm going to get the rest of the banner poles drilled and double check everything to hopefully prime on Thursday when it's 66F and not raining.  

Edited March 24, 2020 by Fajita Fan

[Brother Captain Arkley]

These are going to look great :)

[Mendi Warrior]

They are gorgeous. One little thing though, I think a slightly thinner pole would work even better. I would go for a 1mm diameter metal rod if you have some.