Now for the shiny heroes

  All told, it took about three weeks to get my whole army painted, spread out very liberally.  I would say I probably spent about 12-18 hours each week painting and was able to complete 25 models with a simple scheme and unified plan.  I've posted about the other units, so now it's time to show off the characters that got their chunks of time.

Vexillus Praetor
  This model is the 'standard bearer' of the army.  There's a couple of options and each of them have fantastic benefits as army standards.  I chose the most expensive and, I think, the most useful one, but I'll talk about that in the unit rules.  Painting the model was easy, with the least fun part being the weapon.  However, I put a little more effort (at least the minimum required, unlike the rest of the army) and got the weapon haft looking pretty good, as you can see.  Oh, and I actually painted him at the same time as I painted the Custodian Guard.

 

  Now let's talk about the rules.  For just over 140 points, you get a model with

• 5 wounds at T5 and a 2+/5++ save
• 4 attacks at S6, -3 AP, and D3 damage, hitting on 2+
• the Vexilla Magnifica, giving a -1 to hit for enemies targeting Custodes within 6"

  Imagine  how useful that can be in an elite army with very few models already.  Plus, that gets those plasma-wielding fanatics second-guessing their strategy suddenly while the Custodes casually stroll forward.  

Shield-Captain in Terminator Armor

  I painted this model at the same time as the Allarus Terminators and found it actually easier as he didn't have any shoulder boards to paint and the gems were almost nonexistent.  That allowed me to concentrate on those different details, including the face.  Remember that I'm trying to maintain an easy color scheme and quick process, so those esoteric details like faces require a detour that I'm not trying to take forever with.  In this captain's case, I enjoyed adding teeth to him real quick before the wash.  I could have obviously spent more time, but I'm going for quick and it still looks good.  Almost... cartoony with the clenched teeth!

Remember when I mentioned the details on the cloak for the Allarus champion?  Since this guy is the captain, I actually painted those.  But again, in the interest of quickness I just slapped some Retributor Gold on the details and let it go.  Sometimes quick is the answer!  

Rules-time!  For just over 120 points, this model comes with

• 7 wounds at T5 with a 2+/5++ save
• 5 attacks, hitting on 2's, at S8, -3 AP, and D3 damage
• shooting D3 shots with an assault grenade launcher at -3 AP, hitting on 2's
• the ability to Teleport into battle and threaten from up close
• and this one is important- rerolling 1's to hit for any Custodes within 6"!

  Because an army that hits on 2's needs to reroll 1's, right?  Plus, he can be given a Misericordia to get that extra attack, and there's a relic for that grenade launcher that turns it into a S10 weapon.  Hmmm...

Shield-Captain

  This model was part of the batch of Wardens and was just as enjoyable to paint as the rest of them.  The big differences were in the placement of the gems and the addition of the cape over the skirt.  Painting all that red wasn't exactly enjoyable and probably took over an hour just for this model (three watered-down coats over all those little folds requires a few layers of each color to get smooth).  But once the red was complete, the rest of the model was as easy as it looks. 

  The face also gave a little bit of some trouble as I chose to paint the Bugman's Glow basecoat rather than Cadian Fleshtone.  Starting from a darker shade makes blending a little bit more difficult, and this is a lesson I should have learned from the Vertus Praetors.  I'm more focused on speed than perfection, so those lessons aren't going to stick.  And both models came out looking fine, even if it took a bit more work than I wanted to dedicate to such unique parts...

Rules wise, almost 120 points will get you a model with

• 6 wounds at T5 and a 2+/5++ save
• 5 attacks, hitting on 2's, at S8, -3AP, and D3 damage
• an additional attack from that deadly dagger, the Misericordia
• and just like the captain above- rerolling 1's to hit for any Custodes within 6"

  Because more rerolling 1's in this army that hits on 2's!?  Imperial forces like their rerolls, so I think that's a pretty strong decision going with more...

Captain-General Trajann Valoris

  Speaking of more rerolls, I wanted to showcase the big guy himself.  Trajann is almost the same rank as the Lord Commander himself and is above all other Imperial warlords, so he deserves a little more attention than the rest of the army.  Note that the paint plan that I've been using so far is heavily amended for this guy.  

  The most obvious change is that I wanted his robes to represent his position as basically a High Lord with some Roman-looking robes and the movies always show them in white.  White robes it is!  That wasn't fun (white rarely is) and the fact that I fully asssembled the model before painting it didn't help either.  But it came out with the effect I was looking for and the color definitely makes the model stand out.  The aquila on the back of the cloak isn't yet painted because I'm not sure what I want to do.  I thought about gold again, but my kids think that it would look good in red, and there are other options as well.  So right now it just looks like old leather or something.  

  A couple of weird details that required some attention on this model- the feather and the lion's head.  I've painted plenty of feathers for Empire (now 'Free Peoples' in AoS), but not like these.  And I've never painted a lion before- I even avoided doing White Lions for my High Elf army!  I was very worried about how to pull these off.  Luckily, the codex has pictures and that gave me the guidance to pull it off (even if I didn't have the right colors).  

  Finally, the weapon was pretty much painted the same as the rest of the army.  But the giant eagle motif on the end required some extra love.  Unfortunately, the camera didn't pick up all the subtleties.  When sitting in the rest of the army, the white robes and the bright gold of his axe make Trajann very conspicuous.  Otherwise, there can always be more detail and work done, but I was still going for quick even if I'm changing the plan a bit...

  Now for the rules on this guy- he's a beast!  For the small price of 185 points, you get the HQ choice for this army with

• 7 wounds at T5 with a 2+ save and a 3+ invulnerable save
• 5 attacks, hitting on 2's, at S10, -3 AP, and D3 damage
• and additional attack with that Misericordia
• a rapid fire shooting attack, hitting on 2's, at S5, -1 AP, and 2 damage
• once per game ability to heal, attack again, or recover command points
• and even more important than that ability- rerolling 1's to hit AND to wound for Custodes within 6"

  Oh yes, more rerolls indeed!  Plus he has the Warlord Trait that gives nearby Custodes the Heroic Intervention rule.  He may be the guardian of the entire Solar Segmuntum defenses, but he also likes to get out there and scrap a bit.  Trajann!

  Finally!!!  The Custodes army has been painted and showcased.  There is one more post coming that shows off the whole army and gives the army list.  Stay tuned in for more!