The Master of Siege

Thought for my first real post back I would do a quick one on a small project I did for a friend who is starting an Imperial Fists Siege Assault Vanguard army. He wanted me to build a Captain that fit the army ascetically, but that would also offer him some flexibility for list building while remaining WYSIWYG for games. After a little while of contemplating some options i came up with this guy. I just built him, all the painting on him has been done by Preston himself, and the end result fits the part pretty well i think :) Further pics and breakdown follows....

 

This picture brings out the colors a lot better. (as you can see from the backgrounds, Preston works on a lot of things) I decided on giving the Captain a dynamic pose, as if he is charging forward, shield up and with sword pointed in challenge, ready to duel an opponent or simply leading his squad in an assault of a fortification. To further go with the idea of being a Siege Master, i went with the simple, yet rare Errant pattern armor, as it offers the most protection in combat situations, which seemed ideal for this sort of specialization. I went for a simple, yet useful loadout on the model. He is carrying the storm shield and power sword, but still carries a holstered pistol so as not to be completely stuck in a melee role if necessary, along with grenades.

This angle reveals a bit of the pistol holster along with the cloak and backpack a bit. The shoulder pad purity seal and Crux Terminatus are also shown here. I think the pink and purple of the cloak adds a bit more variety in term of color for the model too. Red cloaks are a dime a dozen on Captains these days, so it's nice to see a painter change it up a bit.

Another angle, this one shows the angle of the Captains charge forward a bit more, giving a better impression of his headlong plunge into battle.The other thing you can see in this picture and others is that Preston also went for a bit more of a battle damaged "gritty" vibe with the Captain, giving more of a sense of actual battlefield use to his models - scratches, paint chipping, mud and grime, and scorching are present on many of the models that accompany the Captain to the tabletop - and really gives a good sense of a battle-tested army.

This last shot shows off a bit more of the shield details and again some of the neat weathering and damage effects that Preston used on the models. More to come in future from Preston and his collection, but for now, I thought this little collaboration would be a cool project to share.