Cadet Baume
Lucas Baume was born from the upper classes of Gallia, and like many privileged youngsters he considered it a great honour to be accepted into the planetary Astra Militarum academy, famed through the Segmentum Pacificum for the utter devotion of his trainees to the Imperial Creed and the dictates of the Adeptus Munitorum. He excelled in his training, showing tactical acumen and total disregard for the safety of the lower ranking trainees he led during gruelling combat simulations. As the perfect candidate for officer duties, he was promoted to Cadet shortly after Lord Regent Guilliman had called the Indomitus Crusade. Gallia sent hundreds of regiments to the mustering grounds and Cadet Baume was seconded to the 9th Light Infantry platoon of the Gallian 1643rd, ready to complete his officer training en route and take command. But their transport was engulfed by a warp storm and spat out of the Malfactus Rift. Harrassed by the orks of Badlanding, the ship managed to reach Finis Sidera and dock there. Cadet Baume offered the few surviving guardsmen to the Rogue Trader cartel running the station, and asked to be deployed in a suicide mission to reclaim the lost sectors of the base. As soon as the soldiers heard his plan, they deserted, joining the crews of Rogue Trader ships. From that day, Cadet Baume has been drinking heavily, ashamed by his failure, and hired himself as bodyguard for the Rogue Traders. Ever since the arrival of Inquisitor Quintus Severus to Finis Sidera, the disgraced soldier has tried to pledge his services to him. The shrewed Inquisitor has not yet accepted the offer, distrustfull of a man unable to fulfil his duties.
This was a model I did to get rid of bits shortly before packing my stuff. It is a simple conversion, the only part requiring some careful work being the cutting of an old Cadian lasgun to be replaced with a boltgun.
The rest of the bits are old Cadian legs, a Tank Officer torso, belt accessories from the Genestealer Cult upgrade pack and a French Infantry head from, I guess, the Brothers Perry's Napoleonic War range. Don't even ask me how that bit found its way into the bitz box!
Obviously, the fact that the torso had braces worked incredibly well with the head, so I replicated the colours of the Light Infantry uniform in the Napoleonic army.
Raymond & Rork
Raymond was part of a Ministorum delegation, en route to join the Hermitarium Lodovicum on Imeria, that had reached Finis Sidera shortly before the opening of the Malfactus Rift. As outbreakes of Gellerpox and daemonic manifestations ravaged the station, Raymond found himself separated from the Ministorum delegation and far from the docks when the Rogue Trader cartel sealed them off. Surrounded by shambling infected, the crusader prayed to the Emperor to take his soul when suddenly a hail of high-calibre bullet cleared a path for him. Sure that the God-Emperor had sent another of His devout servants to fight at his side, Raymond was instead greeted by a hideous mutant. Despite the mutant being barely able to speak, he managed to give his name as Rork and offered to lead Raymond to the docks. And though disgusted, Raymond felt bound to accept, for the wretch had saved his life.
For days the two fought through the bowels of Finis Sidera, and Raymond surmised that Rork had been on the station for a long time, perhaps he was even born there, and served on various Rogue Traders' ships. By the time they reached one of the few still working entrances to the docks, the crusader had to acknowledge that the Emperor worked in mysterious ways. If He had put Rork on his path, he was to work with the mutant.
Together, Raymond and Rork have hired themselves to lead salvage parties in the lost sections of Finis Sidera, hearning quite a reputation for themselves. More recently, as the Cobalt Snake docked with Finis Sidera, the duo has come to the attention of Quintus Severus. The shrewd Inquisitor senses a similar attitude to his own in Raymond and it is only a matter of time until he finds a way to bind the crusader and his mutant crony to his own service.
For a bit of a change, I've rummaged through my bits box and put together these two fellas. Like all the 40k models I do on a whim, they will see tabletop action as part of Quintus Severus' Retinue, hence why I painted Raymond in the same colours as my other crusader, Gerard.
The legs are from an old Fantasy kit, the arms from the Freeguild Greatswords, while the torso and head are from the Space Marine Scouts. The simbol on the Stormcast shield had been clipped off, so I've tried to replicate it when painting the model. It's not great, but it will do. The back of the model was similarly damaged and I've covered the area with pouches from the Sapece Marines Scouts. More pouches helped to hide the rough joint between legs and torso.
Rork is based on the body of a 5th edition Saurus Warrior, with a Ghoul head and Ork arms.
The Saurus body had a large flat area on the chest, where the original head was to be glued. That was sculpted over, continuing the wrinkles in the skin. Finally, I added the scales on the head, joining them with those along the spine. Some more Space Marine pouches completed his look.
All Together Now!
That, I think is reflected in the fact that every model is really an individual, rather than being part of a themed warband.
Their individual character is also reflected in their backstories, each almost completely unrelated to each other except for the role played by Quintus Severus. What I loved in developing these stories is how Quintus emerged as a manipulative figure, playing on the weaknesses of the other characters to ensure they serve him.
While right now my attention has been once again captured by Age of Sigmar, I still have plans to expand this band of misfits. For sure I want to add another Crusader, so that I can play them in regular 40k using the Imperial Agents codex. Then, I've realised XA-305 could be a central character, perhaps the leader, of a gang of rebellious cyber-gladiators. That would be the chance to work more on a theme rather than seeing what I can do with whatever bits I have at hand.
Anyway, all of this will have to wait. There's an Eclipse to watch for...
Dexter, Itzhak and Kasander
I've been busy, both work- and hobby-wise, lately. I've managed to complete a hiveganger, an Inquisitorial menial and an Astropath, and I've started work on some more henchmen. But without any further ado, here you have the completed models.
Dexter
A techy of some renown, Dexter owns a small workshop in the Moss Slide sector of Mancunius Dome and regularly offers his services as a Heavy to the local orlock gang known as Santiago's Tugs. He was offered a place in Severus' retinue to provide local knowledge and an operational headquarter. Dexter did not think twice about accepting the offer, especially since the shrewd Inquisitor offered him access to the PDF armoury uphive. A shiny new plasmagun and a few more priceless trinkets were indeed well worthy the annoyance of having the workshop requisitioned.
Kasander
Kasander hails from the Delphos Confraternity, a smaller order within the Astra Telepathica. Its members hide their faces behind gilded masks and replace the Astra Telepathica badge of office with an Asp, symbolising the flow of time, which the Delphites aim to master, through the study of ancient history and the scrying of the future. With his usual rational attitude, Severus denies any rumours that he keeps the Astropath with him as Kasander saw the last living moments of the Inquisitor through the veil of the Warp. Yet, a faint light glimmers behind Kasander's mask every time these rumours are voiced.
Itzhak
A malformed midget, Itzhak serves Severus as Recordarium. Cyber-engineered to plug with two servoskulls, he instantly transcribes their vid-captures into reports. He thinks of himself as the most important member of the retinue, tasked with the sacred duty of recording Severus' exploits for posterity. While the other henchmen barely suffer this attitude, Severus secretly laughs at the midget, knowing that his only function is to prevent the servoskulls carrying locator beacons to float away as bullets start flying.
Balthasar Tirpitz, Rogue Trader
Balthasar Tirpitz hails from a long line of Rogue Traders, his licence dating back to the aftermath of the Age of Apostasy. Unfortunately for the flamboyant Rogue Trader, one of his joints with Eldar Corsairs came under the attention of Quintus Severus. Rather than facing judgement, Tirpitz helped the Inquisitor in capturing the Xenos leader. Ever since, Tirpitz's ship, the Cobalt Snake, has carried Quintus to the farthest corners of the galaxy. Still able to operate some of his lucrative businesses, Tirpitz is however trying to keep his profile low, alas the Inquisitor finds out who his trading partners are. Of course, a rough fatigue and worn feather instead of flashy velvets and plumage is not enough to fool the grizzled Inquisitor. But it serves Quintus well that Tirptiz still keeps connections with Xenos and breakaway humans, especially when he's planted psy-bugs across all the decks of the Cobalt Snake.
A simple kitbash using Space Marine Scouts, the old Imperial Knights and Militia and a few Cadian/Space Marines bits.
The waist-and-leg joint was a bit too rough so I covered it with a sash. At the same time I took in some advice from euansmith on Ammobunker and added a bionic-eye.
I've rushed the paint job as I wanted to submit the model in time for the Ready Your Retinue deadline. Alas, I failed to meet the deadline, but the rough paint job gave me an idea about who Balthasar Tirpitz is and how his relationship with Quintus Severus works.
