30k Praetor for Imperial Fists

"So the guy walked in with a sword..." - Praetor for the Imperial Fists.

The procession of new 30k character models continues. Today we have a Praetor for the VII Legion Astartes, The Imperial Fists. This is a multi-part plastic figure from GW's "Age of Darkness", the rules and model range for the Horus Heresy setting. This figure was originally released with the big "Age of Darkness" box set, and is also now available on its own. 

Nice Volkite blaster to participate in the shooting fun with his friends...

The Space Marine Legions of the Horus Heresy setting copy many features of the old Roman Legions from history - for example, the senior officers are "Centurions" and the many specialist characters are found under the umbrella of "Consuls". In keeping with this theme/inspiration, the senior command figures of Space Marine Legions are known as "Praetors". Whereas the Preators of antiquity were not necessarily warriors, in the Horus Heresy setting the Praetor is an even scarier, tougher and more capable super-human Space Marine warrior. This type of character will commonly represent the core command/HQ element of a given Space Marine force on a 30k tabletop.

Love the WWE-sized decoration on the "belt" at the middle segment of the armour.

When GW issued the new "Age of Darkness" game, they included two new plastic Praetor designs. I nicknamed one "The Axehole". This is the second Praetor design, and for reasons that are probably pretty obvious, this figure tends be known as "The Sword Praetor" - not as catchy, I guess, but it delivers.

If you are particularly sharp-eyed, you might say "hey, I think that figure is a re-paint!" and you would be correct. I had originally painted this fellow up in Sons of Horus colours, but have come to see his weapons, pose etc. as more appropriate for the Loyalist side. Besides, the Sons of Horus has "The Axehole", and already have a large assortment of other officer-type figures, whereas my Imperial Fist collection was a little light on command characters. I also really wanted to have this model in a game sometime, so he has been updated to fight for The Emperor. 

Or maybe he is just an Alpha Legion operative...? Anyway, I wonder what dice karma this figure will experience on the table...

Gotta have a nice cloak, right?

Sword guy here has, well, an insanely large sword - so large, in fact, I don't even think he could sheath it and still carry it around. That is a pretty nice match, though, for the insanely large cloak! And for fun, he is also carrying around some manner of Volkite-type blaster, to deal with opponents who are not worthy of his bladecraft...

These new Praetor models - both "The Axehole" and Sword Guy here - are great fun. Where the new Mark VI "beakie" Marines are modest and plain, these Praetor figures are over-the-top characters - big blades, big guns, big cloaks and big attitudes that set them apart well from their more common charges. It all comes together so nicely - I just see a lovely homage to the original 6mm figures from the original "Space Marine" game all those years ago...

Another VII Legion Astartes group photo from my shelf...the collection is continuing to grow!

My only quibble is the terrain piece that comes with the model - I hate infantry models with built-in terrain, and dislike how that trend appears to be accelerating in the GW design studio. But that is pretty small beer - overall, these whacky plastic fellows are a fine addition to the diverse assortment of Horus Heresy character models. This fellow, with a giant sword, huge cloak, scary ray gun and a defiant pose stands ready to defend The Emperor, his Palace on Terra, or any other Important Place (tm) in the wars of the Horus Heresy.

That's all for today - thanks for reading!