Custodes WIP (Apr 2019) - The push to 2000 points

This year I've managed to get some wargaming in nearly every week, and when those games have been 40k I've really enjoyed playing with my Custodes. While relatively simple to play, I've found them very rewarding and have wanted to get into playing some bigger games with them. The release of the Venatari tipped my hand and I've now started pushing towards a 2000 point army of pure Custodes.

Looking at my existing collection, I only really needed to add three more units of three guys to get there. So what I've decided to do is get a unit of Venetari, and a box of five regular Custodian Guard. This box of five has been split into two squads: a squad of three who I've converted into Wardens, and a squad of two basic Custodians (I'm downgrading one of my shield-captains to round this out to a unit of three).

The flight stands are awful, I elected to put mine on rocks

The Venetari are lovely miniatures and as soon as I saw them I knew I'd have to get a set. I do have a soft spot for units with wings and I loved the look of the eagle jet-packs that bore these Custodes aloft. The gun and buckler combination is also something a little different from the rest of the army and that bit of variety is quite nice. I'm quite looking forward to trying them out on the tabletop as well as my current force could do with some more fast-moving units and I don't want to just spam jetbikes.

Adding one more squad of basic Custodian guard to my army will let me field a battalion detachment and get a few more precious CP. I decided to downgrade the Shield-Captain I had designed with more stripped back armour and make some more Custodians look like him. I just need to colour-match the two new members of the squad (I need to make their gold a bit whiter) and hopefully they'll look as if they were planned to go together from the beginning.

I know Wardens are a way of taking more axes in a Custodes army, but I had these really lovely Guardian Spears left over from the Venetari which I thought would be a waste to squander and thought would make good spears for some Wardens. In order to make them stand out further I added some extras to their armour like a metal skirt over one leg to mimic the robes of the standard Warden miniatures, a lion head on one shoulder, and open-faced helmets which I thought would look suitably unique.

Additionally I'm adding a Custodes-themed Inquisitor and an Imperial Assassin to my Talons of the Emperor force as I had them laying around and thought they might be fun to use in the occasional game. The Assassin in particular I'm excited to try something different with his basing, for while most of my army is ankle-deep in water, I'd like to have him stood on the surface of it to give a subtle ninja-like impression.

I've been working for the past month and a bit on these guys, and hopefully I'll have them finished by the end of May as there's mostly just tidying up to do on them now before basing. After they are done I'm planning on making a return to the Age of Sigmar with a project I'm really excited about and have been planning for nearly a year.

Talons of the Emperor Army Showcase II - Adeptus Astra Telepathica

In the second part of my Talons of the Emperor Army Showcase, I will be looking at the non-Custodes elements which help to bring variety to my army as well as being fun little projects each in their own right. While they aren't really field-able as a coherent force themselves, they are meant to serve as allies I can take alongside my Custodes as and when I need certain kinds of support.

Sanviento Dio, the Arch-Mourner

Sanviento Dio was there when the Emperor fell, and was one of the Custodians who stood vigil as he was interred upon the Golden Throne. Since that day he painted his armour black in sign of mourning  and in fact discarded much of it as penance. While the Custodes are not religious, they do revere the spiritual nature in which Sanviento honours the fallen Master of Mankind, and he is legend amongst those who remember a time before their confinement to the Imperial Palace. As Arch-Mourner he occupies a special place in the Mourner Host as figurehead of the sorrow they bear at the loss of the Emperor's dream for humanity.

I really wanted to pay homage to some of the old artwork of shirtless Custodes who still wear black in mourning of the Emperor, and one night while trying to fall asleep I remembered the Nightbringer body I had laying around which I soon put to use in making a black-armoured living-saint proxy for my army. I managed to create this miniature from a bunch of spare Custodes parts, some wings from a Stormcast, and the body of the Nightbringer. I managed to get a spare set of Saint Celestine's Geminae and added some spare Sisters of Silence parts to make him some suitable bodyguards as well, completing the unit.

Black Sentinels and an Arch-Gaoler

Following the Edict of Nikea, the order of Black Sentinels was formed as guards, gaolers, and executioners guarding the City of Sight and installations of the Adeptus Astra Telepathica in the Sol System. I discovered the existence of this organisation from looking through Lexicanum, and while I've found descriptions of them on other websites, it is the Lexicanum entry I have taken my inspiration from. While I have elected to armour them in gold, and I have armed them with a range of weapons not just lasguns, I have given them black robes and helms incorporating snarling beast's faces. These were a lot of fun to convert and between the colours, the plumes, and the furs; they fit right in with my Sisters of Silence and Custodes. Rules-wise I plan on fielding them as Inquisitorial henchmen, with the terminator-armoured 'Arch-Gaoler' being an Inquisitor.

Astropath, Bound Psyker, and Servo-Skull

I can't possibly have the guards of the Adeptus Astra Telepathica without including an actual Astropath. The miniature I bought was in finecast and the staff was slightly mangled so I cut it off and replaced it with a psychic looking skull. He's also joined by a bound-psyker and a servo skull which I painted in the same colours as the rest of the army and can serve as objectives when I need them.

Sisters of Silence and Null-Maiden Grav-Rhino

I have been a real big fan of the Sisters of Silence miniatures since their release and would love to get more in future. In fact these were the first miniatures I bought for this project; initially intending to use them as an anti-psyker detachment for my Witch Hunters. They are borne into battle by a Grav-Rhino, probably the most troublesome of all the conversions for this force. I had an old, partially broken Rhino laying around that required an awful lot of care and conversion to make a suitable transport for my Silent Sisterhood. Though I'm not generally a big fan of vehicles, I thought it would make a fun addition to the force as well as provide me with a little conversion challenge.

Dread-Sister Eudocia

Before the most recent Chapter approved, in order to round out my 1000 point Custodes list I decided to include an assassin and after rummaging through my bits boxes I managed to create this Sisters of Silence-themed Callidus Assassin. A Culexus Assassin would probably be more fluff-appropriate, but with the bits I had available I was able to better emulate the pose of the stock Callidus assassin. I forgot to take a proper picture of her, but you can see her on the right in the pictures above.

Eisenhorn and Cherubael

I was unsure as to which army my Eisenhorn miniature and converted Cherubael should belong to, but ultimately thought he would be a lovely addition to this force as an enigmatic, uncertain ally. I had an awful lot of fun converting a daemonhost and both miniatures were an absolute joy to paint. To anyone who enjoyed the Eisenhorn books and loves painting, I'd really really recommend getting his miniature!

Finishing off this two-part showcase of my Talons of the Emperor I'd like to just quickly get down some thoughts on what, if anything, I'd like to do with this army in future. I originally envisioned this as an approximately 1500 point force of Custodes and Sisters of Silence that I would finish within a year and use only for battling, however I've had an incredible amount of fun converting this army and adding characterful units like the Black Sentinels and the Arch-Mourner, and part of me would quite like to keep adding bits to it. As my army isn't exactly optimal on the tabletop, I'm considering adding some units to what is already essentially a soup army but converting them to fit the theme. In particular I'm thinking of refraining from selling all of my guardsmen and converting some of them into a Terran-born Guard regiment so I can have a 'loyal 32' CP battery.

Now that Forge World have released beta rules for using their Custodes units in 40k I quite like the idea of adding some units from the Horus Heresy like the Aquilon Terminators and the new Venatari which are absolutely gorgeous miniatures. I can't really afford it right now but those would be some fun additions to bring to the tabletop. Additionally, from a purely painting perspective, I'd quite like to get Constantin Valdor as a technical showcase of my skills at this point in my hobby-life, and also because I have grown to really like the miniature despite initially disliking it. Though I think my time and funds this year will largely be spent on other projects, my Talons of the Emperor are a force I am really proud of and would certainly like to return to in future.

Talons of the Emperor Army Showcase I - Adeptus Custodes

My Talons of the Emperor army that I painted last year has been one of my favourite miniatures projects I've ever embarked upon. It has been loads of fun and exceptionally rewarding in a way I doubt my next few projects will be. Painting-wise; red, gold, and black are my favourite colours and this might be best army I've ever painted, having tried a lot of different techniques including glazes, custom transfers, and blending. Conversion-wise this army was lots of fun and nearly every miniature is converted in some way. Some are quite subtle like adjusting Eisenhorn's foot to make him more upright, though many like my Custodians and my Tempestus Scions are much more involved. In fact I think the only miniatures that haven't been modified in some way are my Silent Sisters and Trajann Valoris. Basing was also an adventure as I really wanted to do something different to the relatively boring bases I usually do. I ended up going for some clear, cold water that my army is striding through which contrasts wonderfully with the warmth of the palette used on the actual miniatures. It's been a great journey and I'm thrilled to finally have the finished project on the blog. This is a long post (the first of two) with plenty of fluff and a little rambling but I hope you enjoy seeing the efforts of my labours this last year!

The Mourner Host

Made up of various sub-sects of the Adeptus Custodes who usually do not leave the palace, but for reasons of academic interest, fate, or atonement have come forth to follow the Lord-Historian on his grand tour around the Imperium at the beginning of the 42nd Millennium. The Mourner Host attracts all manner of the Emperor's most devout servants from Terra; including Sisters of Silence, Acolytes of the City of Sight, and the agents of the Inquisition. This is the first of two articles exploring the Mourner Host, this one showing the members of the Adeptus Custodes under the command of the Lord-Historian and the second will show those other Imperial Agents who answer his call to war.

More after the jump:

Autumn Workbench 2018 - Experimental Undead, Malifaux Mumblings, and Hobby Review

Last year in late autumn I wrote a bit of a rambling post about current things I was working on as well as reflecting upon my progress over the year in relation to the goals I posted back in February. I've got a few odds and ends I'm working on at the moment, and I've started thinking about next year already, so I thought I'd write another rambling post as autumn comes upon us once again. 

Firstly, something oft referenced but rarely posted about on this blog is what I've been referring to as my 'Lich Warband', or as it now appears to be a 'Lich Army'. I've collected a few different undead armies in my time and I've been left with lots of spare parts. I decided to make a little army out of what spare parts I could, taking the time to experiment with narratives, weird conversions, and unusual paint jobs. Though my time working on this force has been quite sporadic, its been an awful lot of fun and I look forward to properly putting it on the blog when its finished. For now though here's a little look at what I've completed thus far:

Eisenhorn and Sisters of Silence WIP (Aug)

Cherubael WIP

Since my last post in May, I've managed to do quite a bit on the non-Custodes part of my Talons of the Emperor force. Though I've been quite busy, I have been trying hard to make some time to paint and relax amidst everything thats been going on. I've been finding working on my miniatures to be particularly therapeutic, and it's felt rather motivating and rewarding to see a smaller force coming to completion this quickly!

More after the jump: 

Custodes WIP (July)

This month I've been adding culture and custom transfers to my Custodes

Well I've been very busy this past month, but I did manage to fit in some time to do some painting over one weekend. I've decided when painting my Talons of the Emperor that I'll paint them one squad at a time alongside a hero so as to avoid batch painting.

I largely followed the WHTV tutorials for painting these Custodians (as I discussed previously), though I did include some Baharroth Blue when painting their swords between the layers of Temple Guard Blue and the White. They are almost done now, just final touches and tidying up in places to do now. I will base the whole army at the end when I've worked out how I'll achieve the effect I want.

(Left to Right) The Last Judgement - Michelangelo, Lady with an Ermine - da Vinci,
 Lady with a Unicorn - Raphael,  Portrait of a Woman - Veneto

I decided that I really wanted my Custodes to represent the heights of humanity, being the pinnacle of all of old Earth's science and culture, and the Emperor's vision of the future. I'm also at university studying history and wanted an excuse to use my degree. I've elected to use custom transfers of pieces of Renaissance Italian art to add some extra visual interest to my miniatures. Some of the ones I have planned are fairly famous, others are just ones I like. While I've studied Dutch Renaissance art as well, I decided to limit myself to Italy which I'm more familiar with. I tried out a few different pieces of art, but ultimately decided to go with portraits for the Custodians and the centre figures of Michelangelo's Last Judgement for the Shield-Captain.

(Left to Right) Cosimo I d'Medici - Bronzio, Pope Alexander VI - dell'Altissimo,  Leonardo Loredana - Bellini

I've also started doing some more work on my Sisters of Silence. I have added portraits to their capes as well (or at least those that aren't fur), and as I noticed that I had used female portraits on my Custodes; I elected to use male portraits on my Silent Sisters. Should I add a HQ choice for my sisters I will add another rendition of Christ and the Virgin Mary to her cloak, though perhaps one of Mary and the Christ-Child rather than another one of the Last Judgement. So the effect will be that these first two squads mirror one another.

Custodes WIP (June)

The crusade begins!

So I've finally managed to get hold of the first few boxes of Custodes I will need for my initial 1000pt army. I know that at the start of the year I would only start on a Custodes force when I had finished some more projects, but due to my decision to sell my Dark Angels and Imperial Guard I somehow managed to justify spending my cash on a few boxes of Custodes. I had bought some gold spray paint a while ago for my Sisters of Silence and I've had some free time after exams so I couldn't help but start putting things together and laying down some base colours.

So the core of this force will be two squads of three Custodian Guard, one with spears and one with swords. To make these I have mixed and matched three Custodes with three easy-build Stormcast Liberators, alongside some spare bits. One thing I've really tried to do with my Custodes (where the kits have allowed it) is to create a strong, square silhouette. I decided to start this force back when Trajann Valoris was first previewed because I loved how square he was and how solid and intimidating a look that is. I've therefore endeavoured to create a 'squareness' to my Custodes, creating vaguely square silhouettes by refraining from using tall helms and changing poses to create strong visual lines.

Fluff-wise I am terming this force: the Mourner-Host, being composed of members of the Adeptus Custodes who ordinarily do not leave the confines of the Imperial Palace due to the fact they primarily do not serve the Emperor in combat-roles. These are his librarians, his philosophers, and the private executioners of his will. Though they maintain  a traditional colour-scheme of gold and scarlet, they continue to wear the black of mourning as they mourn not only the Emperor, but also the death of his dream for humanity to which they were particularly close. They have been gathered by the Lord-Historian, newly wakened from his millennia long cryo-sleep, to accompany him on his travels through the Imperium. The wisdom, knowledge and ideals they bring with them, will be a familiar assurance to the Lord-Historian who has found himself in an Imperium far more alien than any he has awaken in before.

Apologies for the poor photos, I only had my phone camera available and not the best lighting conditions but you get the idea of what I'm doing. 

- The Neo-Sigillites
Made using Custodes torsos and Stomrcast legs, this is a conversion I have seen many times before and though looked quite effective. Mix and matching Custodes with Stormcasts was not as difficult as I thought it might have been, it just required a little thought when cutting and some use of green stuff to cover the few gaps. I then added Allarus helmets to keep their silhouette low and squarish which I'm going to paint red in lieu of them having crimson plumes. I've added books at their hips as I imagine these as the keeper's of the Emperor's personal library on Terra. They are loyal servants of the Lord-Historian who attend to him while he is in cryo-sleep, now venturing forth at his side to collect new materials for the Emperor's library.

- The Watchers
So I made these using a combination of Custodes legs and Stormcast torsos. I've been very unimpressed with attempts I have seen by a few people to make the most of the Custodes kit by simply sticking spare heads and weapons onto Stormcasts. In my opinion they just look like Stormcasts holding the wrong gear, and I think my torso/leg swap is much more effective at making them distinctly custodian. I've also added some cloaks to help add 'squareness' around the shoulders and emulate the robes of mourning seen on the cover of the book 'Watchers of the Throne' which has served as inspiration for my colour scheme. These individuals with their long plumes and ornate armour are philosophers, they are known as the Watchers because they spend much of their time standing upon the walls of the Imperial Palace, looking out over the surface of Terra and ruminating on the nature of death and sacrifice.

I've then build two Shield-Captains with the appropriate load-out to lead each squad.

- The Wall
This was the very first character I envisioned for this force and rather than waffling about how I put him together I'll just paste my first write-up of fluff I wrote for this army: This grim Custodian never speaks, indeed no one knows quite who he is or how old he is. His armour is certainly aged and atop his head The Wall wears the helm of an Imperial Fists Legionnaire. Many believe he was there upon the walls of the Imperial Palace when the traitors laid it to siege (from whence he has gained his moniker from the Watchers) and wears the yellow helmet in remembrance of a fallen companion from that battle. Whether he is a truly ancient Custodian, or if many have inherited the armour and role, nobody knows. When he leaves the Palace, he is followed by a procession of Custodians who feel drawn to him as a manifestation of the Emperor's will and follow his silent commands into war. Mysterious as The Wall may be, he is respected and revered by his fellow Custodians for being a near-mystical expression of of their order's duty and vigil of remembrance.

- Commodus Vendyrion, Lord-Magister
I wanted to try and adapt the look of a basic Custode, making them sleeker and more agile looking. My initial idea was to convert a squad of Custodes Assassins but non of my ideas panned out so I decided to just take my best ideas and apply it to a single miniature to use as a shield-captain.
Fluff-wise, he is a keeper of ancient knowledge from old Terra, a master of mysticism and an expert on long-extinct ideologies that promised their adherents enlightenment. His armour is not marked with the same symbols of the Emperor as his brethren, instead I will cover it in arcane glyphs from times long forgotten.

- The Emperor's Executioners
Alongside this core of my army I have my Allarus Custodes who I think are absolutely gorgeous miniatures. As hunters of enemy commanders, I decided to make my unit look like grim executioners and swapped out their heads for ones with cowls from the Deathwing set, while removing the plume to lower their profile. This order was responsible for the execution of prisoners, political dissidents, and others during the Unification Wars. They persisted until the time of the Horus Heresy and the Scouring, keeping a level of fear and order on Terra in that turbulent time.

- Theophilos Drax, The Lord-Iconoclast
I happened to have another Stormcast body from an old abandoned project which I have extensively converted into a Shield-Captain in Allarus armour. The Lord-Iconoclast joins the Executioners but has a duty beyond simply killing the leaders of the Emperor's foes. He is also tasked with the destruction of enemy artefacts. This position has existed in some form in the Custodes since the Unification Wars where the Lord-Iconoclast was charged with the destruction of ancient Terra's holy places following their conquest by the Emperor's armies. I see him and the executioners as those more responsible for clean-up and pacification than actual combat, but now sally forth with the Lord-Historian in hopes of fulfilling their ancient roles in a new galaxy.

It was my birthday recently and I received some more Custodes stuff which I should hopefully start work on soon. This includes some Vertus Praetors whose helms I've already purloined for the Watchers, Trajann Valoris himself (who I'm very excited to work on), and Tribune Ixion Hale from Forge World who I plan on converting into my Lord-Historian who will lead the force when I'm not fielding Valoris. Lots still to do on these current ones though and I hope that this entire project doesn't end up lasting longer than this year!

Eisenhorn and Sisters of Silence WIP

Looking forward to this!

The first things I have worked on for my Custodes project are funnily enough not any Adeptus Custodes at all. Instead I have been painting up Eisenhorn, my rendition of Cherubael, and a small warband representing some of the forces available to the Adeptus Astra Telepathica. This is providing me with a great opportunity to play around with the colours and techniques required for my Custodes before I get any of the miniatures.

For my Talons of the Emperor I am pretty much just following the techniques from the following videos: 

• How to paint: Custodian Guards
• WHTV Tip of the Day - Fur Coats
• WHTV Tip of the Day - Pale Skin

More after the jump:

Custodes Project 2018

So, The Euphemism (I must get him back into blogging) and I will be living in the same city for a few years now. As one of my goals for this year is to get more games in, I suggested to him the prospect of us attempting some doubles tournaments to which he readily agreed! Many years ago we did a local store WHFB doubles tournament (my Tomb Kings and his Skaven against mostly Chaos opponents if I remember correctly) and we lost hideously but had a good time doing it. This time round we are going to try 40k, a game I haven't played in about three years and basically need to relearn! For a new edition and a new attempt at doubles glory, I have decided to start a new army: the Adeptus Custodes who will be fighting alongside The Euphemism's own growing Custodes force.

As I mentioned in my hobby goals for the year, I plan on getting myself a box of Custodes every time I finish a project. My first few boxes will be geared towards a 1000 points doubles list, then afterwards I hope to build up to a 1500 point force of pure Custodes supplemented by roughly 500 points of complementary misc. Imperium stuff: e.g. Sisters of Silence, Eisenhorn, etc. I don't intend this to be ultra-competitive (after all, double Custodes isn't exactly a tournament-winning formula) but I hope to have a decent variety of things that I can have fun with. My list will be roughly as follows:

- Shield-Captain  x1 (weapon yet to be determined)

- Guards x3 with Guardian Spears

- Guards x3 with Sword and Shield

- Allarus x3 with Axes

- Vertus Praetors x3 with Hurricane Bolters

I'm hoping to make this army out of four boxes of stuff plus some various bits bought off of eBay as I'd like to convert every miniature in this army, even if it is only by a little. From a modelling perspective I'd really like to flesh out some of the more niche roles the Custodes perform for the Emperor. After all, besides being peerless warriors the Custodes are described as being diplomats, philosophers, artisans, assassins, etc. and I'd like to try and represent that on the tabletop with some little characterful conversions.

I have not read this book but I have been inspired by the cover art

Painting-wise I plan on largely following the default Custodes colour scheme but using more black than red as I feel that even though they are venturing out into the galaxy again, the Custodes should still wear the black robes of mourning as a signifier of the changes they have undergone since the internment of the Emperor upon the Golden Throne. Indeed, I hope to make each of these 13 miniatures appear as a grim avatar of death, the will of the half-dead Master of Mankind made manifest. I'll largely be following the Warhammer TV painting tutorial for Custodes that Duncan did, as well as tutorials he did for fur cloaks and pale flesh.

My hobby habits in a nutshell

This should be a fun little adventure and I hope to document it here on the blog as I assemble my forces and begin getting to grips with the new edition of 40k. Though I have many other outstanding projects, I just can't resist the shiny new miniatures and have allowed myself this one excess this year. As Custodes are a very elite force this should hopefully be a rather small at self-contained project at least, and when it is over with I hope to begin saving up for plastic Sisters of Battle that (Emperor willing) shall arrive next year...