Twenty First Velites: Heklion Faustus

Every once and a while you read something that just has to be turned into a gaming unit. I had just this experience whilst reading Rebirth, the new 40K era Salamanders novel by Nick Kyme.

The enemy commander is a warlord of the Black Legion and sometime Luna Wolf. There's a lovely little piece that describes him leading his men in action in support of the assault of the 'Emperor's Palace' featured in Horus Rising.

During this action, Heklion Faustus is centurion of the Twenty-First Velites, a scout company of the Luna Wolves. The brief prologue provides enough detail on Fautus and his thirty strong force to have spurred me to recreate them in the early stages of the HH. So they will eventually be in Sons of Horus livery.

First up is the centurion himself, a kit-bash who can serve either as a Vigilator or commander of the recon section. I have chosen an unusual pose for vigilator/recon commander, but Nick's text provided my inspiration, and I am aiming to catch the moment as he draws his galdius,

'Velites!' Fautus cried out so as to be heard above the thunderous battle. At the summit of the stairs, the hair fled from his face in streaks of white as the wind tugged at it, and his eyes flashed sapphire-blue in the reflected flare of the distant lightening. It was easy to follow men like Faustus, and Faustus knew the importance of never being afraid to demonstrate that. He raised his drawn gladius. Come the assault, he would sheath it again, but for now it served  solid purpose in cementing his image and invigorating his men. 'We blood them now!'

The base model is obviously the Legion Champion with the arms coming from the Mk III command set, and the head and cloak from the Mk IV command set. The Mk III vembraces are a little chunky for a recon trooper, but he is a centurion after all! There is still some cleaning up to do before he's ready for undercoating and then there's the rest of the section to assemble. Watch this space ;-)