Davinite Lodge Priest

Davinite Lodge Priest - 28mm resin figure from Forge World.

Continuing along with with some individual 30k models, here we have another trusty advisor for the officers in my XVI Legion Astartes collection. This is a Davinite Lodge Priest, a special issue figure 28mm resin figure from Forge World.

Lots of helpful, Davinite-Chamber-of-Commerce scrolls handy on this guy.

So what is a "Lodge Priest", and what about the world of Davin would have Forge World create such a figure for GW's Horus Heresy setting? Well, the world of Davin is, of course, where the Warmaster Horus experienced some manner of reckoning and decided he would confront The Emperor to save humanity. Even the very earliest versions of the "Space Marine" rules included a small side story where Horus was preparing for a ritual on the planet, and he dismissed the concerns of an underling - after all, what could go wrong? The world of Davin, therefore, is an essential part of Horus Lupercal's story arc.

I'm sure that is just...Space Pepsi...in that lovely tank attached to his back?

This part of the story got a few paragraphs in the original "Space Marine" rule book,  but the authors of the Black Library expanded on this basic tale - as you might expect, given how they were in the process of dragging the whole Horus Heresy story out over 700 books or whatever. Horus is wounded in battle and Lodge priests like this one, already familiar to those worldly chaps within the Word Bearers Legion, helped Horus, um, "heal and recover". So it's only natural that he would be well-inclined toward them, right? 

No doubt that bent old blade is simply used for harmless ceremonial purposes...

The sculptors at Forge World did a fantastic job capturing the idea of a Davinite Lodge Priest - this fellow is inherently creepy, and certainly seems "off". But these features are not so over the top as they are on other Chaos/warp-power oriented sculpts. Sure, he has a small horn coming out of his head - but that is just his culture. Who are we to judge? This is the sort of fellow who can provide that "authentic" Davinite Lodge experience, something the senior officers of the XVI Legion Astartes would surely come to value as their campaign to liberate humanity took shape.

There are no official rules for this fellow that I know of, although it would be very simple to knock some stats and psyker abilities together to include this chap in a 30k game. I see him more, however, as a sort of VIP target objective or asset - the rebel forces, say, need to get him to a particular spot on the battlefield and protect him while he completes a ritual, for example, while the loyalists try desperately to prevent this. 

Thanks for reading, I hope you are having a great day.