Skip to main content

Adding more variety to Intercessors

Since UK restrictions eased I've been playing a lot of 40K, and this has had the UNSURPRISING YET DELICIOUS effect of making me want to paint more Space Marines, despite earlier declaring I was done with them. The army's core of 3x5 Intercessors always felt a bit thin, so my first port of call was to bulk out Squad Tyvus with another five dudes. The thing about Intercessors, though, is that beyond the sergeant and the giddy excitement of a few auxiliary grenade launchers, there's no variety in these modern squads.

At least, not in the rules.

I've always maintained you don't need rules to add flavour, so I'm practicing what I preach and have added a couple of specialists to the unit. They might not have any in-game effects, but I always thought the Helix Adept in the infiltrator units was a very cool idea, and this is just an iteration on that, with both Helix and Tech adepts present in Sergeant Tyvus' squad.


To mark them out, I gave them a special pauldron and matching arm. Since they have no mechanical impact, I was careful to make sure they're still toting rifles like everyone else, as I want my opponent to have no trouble understanding what they're facing.

The tech adept is thoughtfully waving about an auspex which, along with the helmet and pauldrons, is from the Repulsor Executioner kit. Here's a closeup:


I had no special shoulder pad for the Helix Adept, so just did it freehand instead. I actually find doing freehand icons easier than faffing about highlighting a moulded pauldron, but these moulded fists allow me consistency that would otherwise elude me.



The only other detail of note that I added to the Helix Adept was a big ol' box/pouch thing to represent his medi-kit. A little green stuff was needed to make it work, but in general it was a pretty simple conversion.


In case it's helpful to the uninitiated, I've covered the painting side of these guys in previous articles; the colour recipes are all provided in the post on the captain, and there's a tutorial on the blue armour (and edge highlighting in general) here.

For the satisfaction of it, here's the full squad:


The eagle-eyed will note I've changed from black base rims to a brown. I was finding that on the table, the black rims drew attention away from the model, and after spending five hours on each marine, one really wants them to get more attention than their own base rims. Not that this saved them from Tom's Tyranids. Here's poor Sergeant Tyvus and others shortly before my ignominious last stand:

We got this?


Nope.

Comments

  1. Great looking figures! Adding variety is even more important in this era of reduced poses and 5 figure sprues doubled.

    How did you do the skin for the medic figure? Very good looking result, particularly in the shot showing his right shoulder pad.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks mate! It's basically the same skin recipe I talked about in this post: http://www.thebeardbunker.com/2021/02/assault-intercessors-kitbash.html

      I hope that helps :)

      Delete
  2. Captain Lucullus: Are we boned?

    Apothecary Eudemus: *looks at wrist-mounted diagnostic device* Yep, we're boned.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Well that's left a permanent mark on my headcanon XD

      Delete
  3. This is fun headcanon modelling. The additional pouches for medic are a great touch. I'd add the following ideas for roles in a squad:

    Designated marksman- model with scope/bionic eye and 'aiming from cover pose' and the battle honour

    Frater Novus Gesturum - junior battle brother to squad: assigned responsibility for carrying additional ammo reloads. Less weathering, more ammo bags/crates

    Second in command- ready to step in if the sergeant is incapacitated/combat squadded. Iron skull mark

    Brother Gittoof - A totally normal primaris marine

    Brother Al'far - A second totally normal primaris marine



    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. "Brother Gittoof, how are you making such incredible gains? And how come you never take off your armour?"

      Those last two are hilarious, and if/when I do the next squad addon, I may well do some of these. Excellent suggestions, thank you!

      Delete

Post a Comment