The Flying Cavalry

  I can't help but be happy right now.  I just finished up school and have fewer distractions for some hobbying.  This means that I can get some more of those painting project commitments knocked out before I have to return to the workforce like a real person.  Whew!  Back to hobbying!

  So you can see my post here about how I'm painting my Adeptus Custodes army.  I'm using this force as a motivator for the next LARGER forces I'll have to paint.  Plus- they're really good on the tabletop!  I love the look of them and I've always been a fan of the Deathwing, which is what I think of with this army- a bunch of hardcore guys with thick armor and beatstick weapons that teleport all over you.  Yeah, that sounds about right.

  Today, I'm bringing back an old series I used to publish, "A unit a week".  That means that I'm supposed to be painting a unit every week for an entire year.  The last attempt failed horribly, so let's see if I can keep it going a bit longer this time.  Better, I'm going to take a new tact with these articles and include rules and commentary.  It won't just be pictures of my models and might even include something insightful.  Let me know what you think about this experiment in the comments below.  Without further ado...

  The unit that is pictured in the referenced article finally got their bases finished and the bare head on one of them painted.  Let's see the results:

The squad, all armed with Hurricane Bolters on the advise of a buddy

He forgot his helmet.

  The one without his helmet is also missing his tail fin.  Somehow, that got lost between me buying the models and me building them.  Games Workshop is awesome and is sending me a replacement fin- their customer service is always amazing!  I'm not sure how I'm going to paint the fin, maybe red instead of gold?  That could give me some options later on...





The Unit- Vertus Praetors
  This unit is both the scouts and vanguard of the Custodes forces.  They fly above the battlefield and provide intel to the ground troops and then swoop in to destroy any particularly tough opponents.  And I don't have to mention how amazing they are on the tabletop.  Remember that they ruled the roost by being in almost every Imperial force just last year and this year they still saw heavy usage.  Vertus Praetors are tough, fast, put out good damage, and include the almighty 'FLY' keyword.  They are good.
  Here's what you get for currently 270 points is 3 bikes with a

• move of 14", 
• T6 with a save of 2+/5++ and 4 wounds, 
• carrying an Interceptor Lance with 4 attacks at 2+, S6, -3AP, and D3 Dmg that rerolls wounds on the charge, 
• and shooting with Hurricane Bolters at Rapid Fire 6 and hitting on 2's.  

Oh yes, there's three of THAT.  Twelve T6 wounds with 2+ saves is going to be hard enough to get rid of, but then being able to move 20" in a turn as well?  And if they happen get into combat, they'll wreck most things only to jump out and go shoot something else up!  They're not a nice unit.

https://warhammer40k.fandom.com/wiki/Vertus_Praetor?file=VertusPraetors.png

  Now there's also a reason that I painted this unit first- I allow my wife to use them as a Supreme Command detachment, with three Shield-captains on Dawneagle Jetbikes.  It was brutal...

Happy Hobbying!