Grail Company

[Disruptor_fe404]

GRAIL COMPANY, Part 1

 

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Alaric glanced one final time at the tactical display inside the Razorback, before striding out into the sun, light gleaming off his helm. Thoughts raced through his head, and holo-displays responded. He saw what his Knights saw: Paladin Latham and his squad were rapidly closing with the Hive Tyrant that was commanding the beasts they all fought; Venerable-Captain Weber crashed his metallic bulk against the Warriors that were this swarm's secondary directing will, lascannon and storm bolter tearing through flesh, his massive assault drill spattering gore onto the vision slit of his sarcophagus; Knight Einhardt clambered onto a rock formation to get a clear shot at a Carnifex that had been harrying Latham's group.

 

Servos whirred as the Razorback's lascannons tracked the same Carnifex, and twin blue beams lanced out at the beast. Alaric nodded to his Brotherhood, the five warriors he had chosen years ago as his closest battle-brothers. Their task was to bring down the third of the swarm's synapse creatures, directly ahead of them, lurking in shallow undergrowth: a Broodlord and its spawn of Genestealers.

 

Without a word, Alaric charged, his Brotherhood falling in behind him. Frag grenades landed amongst the foul aliens, followed very closely by Alaric's own Orb of Light. Shrapnel showered the Xenos, and then the Orb detnoated. The harsh light of a burning star enveloped the aliens, searing flesh and dusting bone.

 

The Broodlord itself still stood, and three more Genestealers scrambled up off the ground to protect it. They snarled, spittle dripping from their maws.

 

The air around the Brotherhood hummed, as power weapons and lightning claws came to life. A thought from Alaric opened a channel to every member of Grail Company on the battlefield.

 

"Zeal and valour! We end it now, brothers!"

 

***

 

Errant-Captain Alaric, Marshal of the Grail

 

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Alaric served as a Squire to the Black Templars, and that renowned Chapter's influence on him can be evidenced by his incorporation of their colours throughout his Company, the manner in which his Company operates, and in his own personal heraldry. Some members of Grail Company have even gone so far as to chain their weapons to their hands in emulation of the Black Templars' practicality.

 

Alaric bears his Iron Halo proudly, displaying it prominently and allowing it's refractor field to maximise it's protective capabilities. Alaric carries his Crux as a pendant hanging from his left wrist, and his numerous purity seals indicate his valour and zeal on the battlefield.

 

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In battle, Alaric uses his potent Orb of Light to thin the ranks of the enemy before he and his Brotherhood charge. In melee, all six Space Marines fight as a cohesive unit, leaving no gaps for their opponents to exploit, power weapons and chainswords doing the Emperor's holy work. Notice that Alaric's power maul does not glow like the weapons of Roth and Strom. Instead of having a superheated surface, Alaric's weapon is surrounded by an energy field, indicating that it is more ancient a relic than the newer weapons used by Roth and Strom.

 

***

 

Squad Roth, Alaric's Brotherhood

 

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Paladin Roth leads Alaric's Brotherhood. As the Captain's retinue, the Brotherhood have access to the best of the Company's armoury, allowing every one of these heroes to bear artificer-crafted weaponry and armour into battle.

 

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Paladin Roth, known to his Company as the Savant, favours a boltpistol and power sword, using the two in tandem to cut down the chaff of the opposition so that the rest of his battle-brothers can strike at more important targets. The gold rank bar on Roth's right shoulderpad indicate his Chapter-approved squad leader authority. Roth's Crux hangs from his belt.

 

Paladin Strom is called the Tempest, for his fury and strength when unleashed in battle. Strom carries no boltpistol or grenade into battle, instead relying on his paired lightning claws to the exclusion of all else. Strom's Crux is incorporated into his right shoulderpad.

 

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Knights Olrik, Werner and Armand make up the remainder of the Brotherhood. While not Paladins themselves, they are among the most experienced and battle-hardened Knights of Grail Company.

 

Olrik's armour incorporates pieces from many fallen heroes of Grail Company, and Olrik himself ensures that his deeds honour their memories.

 

Werner uses his paired chainswords to great effect, his skills in battle often leaving opponents astounded and vulnerable to those very skills.

 

Armand is the most recent addition to the Brotherhood, known in the Company for his tactical acumen. It is said that Armand is the only person Alaric turns to for a second opinion on tactical decisions.

[Disruptor_fe404]

Squad Einhardt, Alaric's Lance

 

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Squad Einhardt serves as a fire-support squad, working in tandem with the Brotherhood's Razorback and Venerable-Captain Weber to bring down heavily armoured vehicles or monstrous beasts.

 

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v515/Disruptor_fe404/Warhammer%2040K/Grail%20Part%201/08_Einhardt1.jpg

 

As Alaric does not require that every squad in Grail Company be lead by a Paladin, Knight Einhardt, the Lance, leads Alaric's Lance by virtue of being the reason for the squad's existence. Einhardt carries a mighty lascannon that incorporates a heavy blade, such that the weapon can also serve as a polearm in close combat, a situation that Einhardt often finds himself in.

 

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Knight Abel and Knight Gervase serve as Einhardt's eyes, and both are capable forward scouts and spotters. Both have incorporated bayonets into their boltguns for the inevitable close-quarters combat that the squad finds itself in while supporting the Brotherhood.

 

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Knights Kort and Berthold both serve as the squad's rearguard. Like Abel and Gervase, Kort has incorporated a bayonet into his boltgun. Berthold carries his combat blade separately, preferring to use his boltgun like a pistol in melee.

[TheReclusiarch]

Sweet! Love the little stories about each marine, makes all of them unique in some way. Keep up the good work, I'll be keeping an eye on this thread!

[ThomKovacs]

Wow, very nice indeed. Are you going to be adding iconagraphy to the right shoulder pads?

[Rindaris]

Very nice :)

[ShinyRhino]

Very cool. Those are some amazingly smooth metallics. How'd you manage that?

[Bogus]

Models look really good. You also have some really fun backstory behind these guys. Looking forward to seeing some more!

[Disruptor_fe404]

Thanks for all the kind words, guys!

 

I think it would be fair to launch into a little preamble at this point (postamble?).

 

Originally, my intention was to do a 'Sentinels: Introduction' post (the Sentinels being my DIY Chapter), which would have been a small collection of fluff, models and iconography to explain why my Marines leave their shoulderpads blank most of the time (actions speak louder than words, or in this case, icons), the ranking analogues of Squires, Knights and Paladins (Scouts, Battle-brothers, Veterans) and the organization of each Company being at the sole discretion of the Company Captain (my little cop-out that lets me use different codices to represent different Companies, and also a good way to give me an excuse to model lots of different HQ choices); but I decided that since I was so much closer to being able to post these guys, I might as well do them first. Fear not, 'Sentinels: Introduction' will be posted at some point, probably right after I've decided on (and completed) enough models to provide a 'sampling' of the Sentinels.

 

I run Grail Company using the Black Templar Codex (I'm sure some of you have already picked up on this!), so Alaric is a Marshal and his Brotherhood are Sword Brethren, the Orb of Light is a Holy Orb of Antioch, and I get to run a 5-man squad with a lascannon!

 

My recipe for the silver is simple, thinned down basecoat of mithril, normal coat of mithril, black wash for the recessed details, detail work over the top with mithril, very light drybrush mithril.

 

Part 2 of Grail Company will be online somewhere between one and three weeks' time, and will be Emperor's Champion plus a reasonably large Crusader squad. Part 3 will take a fair bit longer, as I'm only just getting into the nitty-gritty of converting a decent Venerable Dreadnought out of the very first model I ever painted.

 

 

Credit where credit is due:

 

Can't think of anyone's work that I've plagiarized/ripped off/emulated for these models in particular.

 

Cpl_Saint and Apologist were my inspiration for this type of Hall of Honor post though (models plus little bits of backstory), but they're fluff excerpts are far cooler than mine!

Edited May 8, 2009 by Disruptor_fe404

[Lord Exedore]

I love them! This is truly Templar... Great work and short stories so far. I am looking forward to see more. Will you add an LRC to these guys?

[Hubernator]

Yummmmmmy lol now that is some awesome minis. Ace painting and attention to detail ;)

[Burias-Drak'shal]

Nice models, and the basing compliments it, as it doesnt take the attention away from the model.

[Disruptor_fe404]

Lord Exedore: This is part of my 1000-point list, which unfortunately does not run any Land Raiders. At 1500 points however, I run both a Crusader and a standard, but neither of those models will be in Grail Company schemes. Keep an eye out in a few months time though, I'll be doing a Land Raider Crusader for my Chapter Master and his Honour Guard!

 

Couple updates; Part 2 will be up in a week or so, I've written up the fluff for them, just need to base my (counts as) Emperor's Champion. Part 3 will be my Venerable Dreadnought, but that's a fair ways off.

 

And even further down the track, I'll be putting together a 1500-point list to represent Sword Company (counts as Dark Angels), which I'm playtesting in a week or so.

[Terminatorinhell]

I really like the silver color and the little stories for each marine adds even more flavor, keep it coming, I love it so far!

[War Angel]

how did you do the power weapons?

[RogueTrooper]

Well i'm impressed, i realy like the feel of this force and they look very subtle for the amount of great work you've done. The background is a nice touch also.

 

Well done. ;)

[BlOoD_GoD]

Wow, that is good. *faints*

[Disruptor_fe404]

War Angel: My power weapon recipe is to start with enchanted blue, heavy drybrush of ice blue, heavy drybrysh of white, then light edge high-lights of white just to make the sharp edges look sharp.

 

Part 2 will be up this weekend, this I guarantee. Only the basing and a bit of lettering for the Emperor's Champion is left to be done, but I actually took a break from Grail Company to work on a few models from the Combat Patrol I'm putting together, some of those will be in the Hall of Honour soon too, but no fluff for them until I post them as a Company post again.