Hey everyone,

welcome to yet another of my hobby projects! This one is far enough removed from my different Chaos and INQ28 models that I feel a separate thread is in order
I know what you must be thinking: Finish one of those other projects already, before starting yet another one! I know, I know. However, this is a project with a much tighter scope than, say, my World Eaters. So it will serve as more of a thing I do in order to relax.

So what are we looking at here? Let me start off by saying that I’ve never been that interested in loyal Marines. Granted, I love looking at fantastic Space Marine models as much as the next guy, but apart fron a few flashes of inspiration, I never really considered building a loyal army for a number of reasons: From a conversion standpoint, there’s very little that a loyal army would provide that I cannot do with my beloved World Eaters in one form or another. And I also really hate the line highlighting necessary to make loyal Marines look cool. Another reason why I am a Chaos player: All that nice brass trim on the armour to add instant definition to the paintjob without me having to jump through any hoops.

The same goes for most Pre-Heresy armies. While I understand the appeal of these, I’ve never felt tempted to do Pre-Heresy World Eaters — probably due to the fact that their colour scheme isn’t all that attractive to me (and would be really difficult to pull off to boot). So no Pre-Heresy for me until now.

The more attentive readers might notice that all of this sounds like there’s a colossal BUT hiding in the rafters. And they would be right, of course:

Because all of my resolutions about Marines and Pre-Heresy armies were sorely tested when I first took a look at German WD 112 (from April 2005): Not only did it feature rules for a Horus Heresy campaign, but it also marked the first time I ever saw Dave Taylor’s spectacular Legio Custodes army . I instantly fell in love with the Legio Custodes based on Dave’s army and the official artwork. There’s just something about those guys that really clicked with me. And even now, quite a few years later, Dave’s Custodes are still easily one of my favourite armies ever (the army was auctioned off for charity, btw, proving that Dave is not only an extremely talented artist but also simply a great guy).

So the seed was planted, and some time ago, I took a look at all the fantastic new Space Marine kits, and my love for the Legio Custodes was rekindled. And then, by lucky chance (or by some devious scheming of my subconscious), I found myself in the possession of three different Space Marine kits: The power armoured Grey Knights and Dark Angels Veterans (I had bought those for all the great bits and felt that I might use the DA’s as Word Bearers Chosen at some point) and the Sanguinary Guard (given to me as a gift by cousin Andy). And suddenly I realised that I had everything on my hands to create a couple of Custodes.

I wouldn’t even have to work nearly as hard as Dave Taylor, since all the cool new bits would allow me to build the models by merely sticking to kitbashing. So I did a bit of research and discovered some more great Custodes armies: Kaleb Daark’s Custodes thread on B&C , The Buddy Times and the very helpful kitbashing recipe for creating Custodians on Spiky Bitz . And so everything just fell into place.

Here’s what I wanted to do with the Custodes:

1.) I wanted to incorporate the classic “Praetorian” Custodes with their conic helmets, golden armour and Guardian Spears. In honour of Dave Taylor’s army, I wanted a squad of power armoured Custodians wearing different armour patterns. I would also definitely need a chaplain inspired by his Chaplain Animus.

2.) I wanted to build the army from all plastic and all-GW parts: I realise that there are some awesome models floating around the net – Scibor’s “SF Roman Legionaries” are Custodes in everything but name – but using readymade models for a project like this always feels like a bit of a cop out to me. So I wanted to try if I could kitbash this army by using only GW parts, preferably all of them plastic.

3.) I didn’t want this to turn into srs bsns, so I would cut a few corners here and there. Don’t get me wrong: I wanted my Custodes to look awesome, but I wouldn’t get myself killed over it. There would be the odd heraldic element belonging to Grey Knights, Blood Angels or Dark Angels — I would only cut something off unless I had something better to replace it. And I would lose no sleep over the models’ armour not being 100% accurate. Let’s face it: Some of the HH artbooks feature as many as three different armour variants for the same Custodes unit type — in the same picture.

4.) While I would try to have them be useable as a legal army, this would not be my chief concern while building the models.

With my gameplan decided, I started by building my first test models. I immediately went for the iconic “Praetorians”. All of these were kitbashed by mixing parts from Grey Knights, Dark Angels Veterans and the Sanguinary Guard (and the occasional Tac Marine bit). As per Spiky Bitz’ recipe, all the heads came from the WFB High Elf White Lions.

Here’s the first test model I built for the squad, equipped with the Legio’s trademark “Guardian Spear” (actually a GK halberd combined with a Sanguinary Guard Bolt pistol):



The shield is from some old WFB Empire spearmen. I realise that there is no precedent for shields like that in the Custodes background, but I liked the look of them and decided to use the lion motif as a recurring visual element. That’s why you’ll see lion heads repeated here and there on the models. Maybe I’ll even try to weave it into the army’s background: They could be called “The Lionsguard”, guarding the Lion’s Gate Spaceport (we all know how that went) or due to some honour awarded to them by the Emperor.

Anyway, here’s the squad’s standard bearer:



The design on the banner was done by using a simple decal taken from among the Space Marine vehicle decals. I am aware that there may actually be some fluff reason why these guys technically shouldn’t be sporting the Aquila in the first place. See my comments on accuracy above on that subject



Next up, another Custodian armed with a Guardian Spear, although this time I used a GK Storm Bolter for the conversion. Unfortunately, it ended up looking a little clunky, although I like the rest of the model:



I also built a Custodian carrying a special weapon (that was converted from a GK special weapon and the gunbarrel from a Deathwing assault cannon). I couldn’t even tell you what this is supposed to be. I just converted it to look cool…





And finally, the squad’s Centurio, Jastilus Petrarca:





I wanted the model to be the most impressive in the squad, so I used some of the most detailed parts, including the champion’s head from the White Lions. I also gave him a power sword from the AOBR Space Marine Captain and a spiffy wrist mounted Bolt pistol from the Sanguinary Guard.

Like I said, there are some departures from “official” Custodes artwork: For one, these guys are never seen using regular Marine backpacks in official sources, but I still decided to give them back packs to bulk them out a little. I went for Chaos backpacks for an older, more ornate look. I also didn’t add an extra faceplate to the High Elf heads, since they work well enough as is, in my opinion. Like I said, There’s also a bit of a hodgepodge of heraldic elements, with symbols of Blood Angels, Dark Angels and Grey Knights appearing alongside each other. However, the paintjob helps to somewhat alleviate that problem, tying everything together.

I went for a fairly straight paintjob in the trademark Custodes colours of crimson and gold. The one point where I departed from that formula were the different gems found on the models’ armour and equipment: I painted them in my beloved Vallejo Halcon Turquoise in order to add a bit of much-needed variety to the models. What’s more, jewels painted in red often end up looking like cherries, so using a different colour helped me to avoid that pitfall as well.

Here’s a picture of the whole squad assembled:



Squad Heraklion

One of the Praetorian squads in the Legio Custodes’ elite Lionsguard, squad Heraklion consists of warriors as fiercely loyal as they are accomplished. Clad in the traditional Praetorian plate and wielding an array of mastercrafted weapons, the members of the squad know no goal more important than guarding the life of their Emperor. Leading the squad is Centurio Jastilus Petrarca, a relatively young but exceedingly talented officer. In spite of his young age, the inside of his ceremonial plate already shows an astonishing number of engraved names and titles, earned through great feats and deeds of honour.


So there you have it: This squad marked the beginning of my Legio Custodes project. With recent announcements of Horus Heresy books to be released by Forgeworld soon, I am not sure whether my timing in creating these guys was rather awesome or actually completely horrible. Any Custodes released by FW will thoroughly upstage my own meagre efforts though, that much seems certain…

Nevertheless, these guys were a blast to convert and paint and stand as an example of the fantastic versatility of GW’s new plastic kits. And while my Custodes project may be limited in scope, there’s quite a bit yet to come: I already outlined some possible ideas above, but there’s more that I would like to try: Jetbikes, Cataphracts, Sisters of Silence…just wait and see where this voyage will take us!

Until then, I would like to know what you think, so drop me a comment! And, as always, thanks for looking and stay tuned for more!

I love these already. Wonderful and all GW parts yes?

Man you're a modelling machine!! These guys look great and the turquoise is a really nice spot colour. Will be interested to see how you tackle the sisters of silence.

Thanks a lot, Rabid Ferret!

This is not an ideological standpoint of mine or anything, but yes, all GW parts with this project

Must...resist...copying...Must...not...start a... new armyyyyyyyyargh

Great job Mr KS!
I'm curious to see how you've worked on the shoulder pads. Could we have a detailed pic, please?

Biohazard wrote:Man you're a modelling machine!! These guys look great and the turquoise is a really nice spot colour. Will be interested to see how you tackle the sisters of silence.

Thanks, buddy! Actually, I just built the first test models a short while ago. Using Dark Eldar Wyches and a couple of bits, it's possible to create models that are nearly 100% accurate with regard to the artwork...

...well, some of the artwork, that is. There is a silly amount of inconsistency within the different HH materials, like I stated above.

Fantastic stuff there mate

Look forward to seeing them. Im working on a couple of new Skull Champs for my WE, hopefully Ill get a chance to sit and paint today as well.

Again, thanks a lot, people!

@Hyenajoe: The shoulderpads are mostly unconverted ones that came with the DA veterans, GK and Sanguinary Guard. I just chose those with the biggest "bling" factor. One thing I did was to cut off some (overly blatant) BA iconography from the huge "winged" shoulderpads and replace it with those little lion heads from the WFB Empire cannon kit (also used them on my Hereticus Inquisitor a while ago).

I don't have the camera on hand right now, but I'll probably post the detail shots you wanted pretty soon.

:O awesome sauce, can't wait to see how these develop as a force

These are looking great, KS! Keep up the great work!

KrautScientist wrote:
This is not an ideological standpoint of mine or anything, but yes, all GW parts with this project

Where are the shields from? I could use a couple myself....

Thanks, guys!

@ Yellowbeard: Those are from the WFB 6th edition starter set (Orcs vs. Empire) and were originally the shields for the Empire spearmen. No idea how easy it is to find some more -- fortunately, I still had them lying around from my WFB days

these are super awesome. i'm thinking about doing this now...hope you don't mind :]

Those guys look great! Simply awesome kitbashing.

Thanks a lot, guys!

@ allibator: Go right ahead, mate! My only piece of advice would be to have a plan what you're going to do with the leftover stuff: If you want to replicate my recipe, you'll have a lot of leftover Sanguinary Guard, GK and DA bits on your hand On the one hand, this conversion can get rather expensive if you just want to build a squad of five Praetorians. On the other hand, the three kits give you enugh stuff for the Praetorians, a squad of jump infantry and a huge pile of bitz to use on other models. It pays to be thrifty, here

Alright, here's the detail on the shoulderpads Hyenajoe requested:



I must apologise for the fuzziness of the pictures: I only have my gakky phone camera on hand atm. Anyway, I guess it's still easy enough to recognise what I did. Going from top left to bottom right:

1: Sanguinary Guard pad. Scraped off a drop of blood and added a laurel from the WFB Empire Knights on top
2: Sanguinary Guard pad. Again, scraped off the BA iconography and added a lion's head from an Empire cannon
3. Sanguinary Guard pad. Unconverted. It's crazy how a uniform paintjob will help in tying together disparate pieces
4: This one came from the DA veterans, I think. Unconverted.
5: Sanguinary Guard again. Unconverted.
6: Grey Knights. Unconverted.
7: Same as number two.
8: This is just a regular CSM shoulder pad (used for the extra trim) with a wing I cut from one of the little Imperial icons you get with virtually any tank kit added on top. Single wings are a great way to spruce up fairly plain shoulder pads

And that's it. Hope this helps

Great stuff again! I'm beginning to wonder when you sleep...

thanks for the heads up! i'm going to do some things slightly different. just got a SG kit and a DA sprue on the way! thanks for the inspiring work my friend!

nicely done Krautscientist!

Thanks, guys!

Baiyuan wrote:Great stuff again! I'm beginning to wonder when you sleep...

Haha, I am actually rather big on sleeping, even though it doesn't look that way

This is amazing! Every single thing you churn out astounds me. I hate painting gold, so for you to do whole models covered in it is nothing short of inspirational! And it looks so good, would you mind sharing your recipe?

Keep it up, I simply can't wait for more!

@ prototype_X: Cheers, mate!

To tell you the truth, I really hate painting gold as well! So I effectively cheated by painting those guys bronze instead . Seriously though, you can probably see that the gold is of the rather dark variety

I undercoated the models with GW Chaos Black, then basecoated them with GW Tin Bitz (or Vallejo Tinny Tin, after my last Tin Bitz ran out). Then they were liberally washed with GW Devlan Mud (or, failing that, Agrax Earthshade). Then I drybrushed them with GW Shining Gold and painted GW Gryphonne Sepia into some of the deepest recesses. Done.

Admittedly, it doesn't look quite as clean and impressive as some brighter recipes, but I am pleased well enough with the results. And it's really fast work, too! I especially like the fact that you get to forget all tha stupid line highlighting

Anyway, hope this helps!

That seems ridiculously easy! I will give that a try on my next Death company, Thanks

Glad to be of help! Oh, and one thing: It probably goes without saying, but this recipe works the better the more surface detail (and texture) there is. So it's really great for Custodes with their "bling", and will also possibly work rather nicely with BA's and the huge amount of detail on their armour, but I really wouldn't recommend it so much for plain old tac marines with no over-the-top detail whatsoever. For those guys, it's line highlighting all the way

Looking good, darker gold makes them look older, more ageworn. Its been said before, but im looking forward to your sisters, mine involved quite a bit of sculpting work.
Do you have plans for expanding the army, cool think about PH is that you can easily include different factions, build yourself some cyborgs and knight titans!

Thanks, japehlio!

As for the development of the army, I already outlined that I want another Custodes squad, but wearing older marks of "regular" power armour. Then there'll be a squad of jump infantry, if only because if have all those leftover parts from the Sanguinary Guard I'll also do a few HQ models, one of them definitely a Chaplain to honour Dave Taylor's Custodes. And I want to do jetbikes. As a matter of fact, I've already worked on the conversions. More on that soon

Concerning the sisters, I was able to kitbash two fairly convincing test models without any sculpting at all. The only caveat is that, in a way, they need an even more specific number of bitz than the Praetorians.

All in all, I'll be going for variety over numbers. That means that all squads will have the minimum size, but that I get to build more different unit types. In some cases, I may even only build a single model of a certain type for the heck of it. This is really for the joy of converting, after all

I probably won't be including any huge models, since they usually stress me out Now a venerable Custodes Dread, that would be something different...but there's enough other models to finish before I think about that.

If you like I can post/link pics of mine for a bit of inspiration, didnt wanna just wander in and appear to hijack the thread...

Well, let's have a small update today: Since I already talked about my Sisters of Silence a bit, I guess there's no harm in showing you a teaser of the first two test minis I built:









Again, these are all-plastic and all-GW. They are only kitbashes, though. There was zero modelling involved. I've only got those two for now, and it'll probably be quite a while before I get around to painting them, but there you have it.

japehlio wrote:If you like I can post/link pics of mine for a bit of inspiration, didnt wanna just wander in and appear to hijack the thread...

Go for it, mate! My thread is your thread!

looks good, where exactly are the heads from?

and certainly, here are a bunch of pics: (note, I cheated and got Scibor romans lol)



put em inna spoiler as there are quite a few lol

Thanks, japehlio! The heads were spliced together from two old Dark Eldar plastic heads. It's rather easy to do and a pretty close fit to the original artwork. The only caveat is that those are technically OOP and can be a bit hard to get hold of.

But you've got quite a collection there yourself! Great job! I especially like the SoS, they look excellent!

Nice work there mate! Which codex are you using for them? or are they purely for display purposes? keep up the good work ;D

Thanks, progreen10!

While the project is indeed mainly for fun, I actually did think about which codex I wanted to use: In 5th edition many people would use the GK codex to represent Custodes. However, that didn't appeal to me, since it meant I couldn't have any (jet)bikes or "normal" Marines. So I planned to use them as Vanilla Marines, since the codex offered all the different unit types I wanted to convert. Nowadays, with the new allies rules, I could probably use a mix of GK and Marines, or even throw some Sororitas into the mix. But like I said, those considerations definitely come last. Rule of Cool is key with this project

Sweet work, consider me subbed

Thanks, MetalOxide!

After painting the first batch of models from the new "Dark Vengeance" starter box today (a couple of chaos cultists, you can see them in my World Eaters thread), I turned my attention to the other half of the box's contents.

You see, one of the greatest things about the new starter box is that both forces contained within it are pretty much equally useful for me: While the chaos models will be inducted into my World Eaters and Traitor Guard, I will try to convert as many of the Dark Angels models into Custodes as possible.

So I took one of the Deathwing Terminators from the box - here's the assembled model -



and began to turn him into a Legio Custodes Terminator wearing ancient, Cataphract-pattern Terminator armour. Quite a bit of cutting was needed for this, since I wanted to keep the Terminators powerfist -- the rivets are just screaming Pre-Heresy to me. So I needed to get rid of the shoulderpad. I cut off the entire arm, replacing the upper part with a regular Terminator arm. The other arm and torso front were put away for future projects, and I used all kinds of stuff from my bitzbox to turn this guy into a Pre-Heresy Terminator. Take a look:



Same model, ladies and gentlemen



While I realise that the armour is not 100% consistent with the artwork, I still think that enough of the visual cues are there to make this guy read as a Custodes in cataphract armour.



I think the paintjob will do the rest



As you can see above, I also build the beginnings of a Guardian Spear: The weapon was spliced together from the blade of a Nemesis force halberd, the shaft of a thunderhammer and a part of a Chaos Knight lance. I may yet add a Boltgun to transform the weapon into an actual Guardian Spear.



The really great thing is that I hadn't really expected to be able to build a whole squad of Custodes Termies: I had built a test piece (from an AOBR Termie), but I didn't want to buy a whole Termie kit for what is basically just a fun conversion. But the starter box has given me enough base models to build a whole squad. Yay!

Let me know what you think!

Nice work brother. He looks great.

Wow, I wouldn't have guessed that was a termie from the DV box. Nice converting.

D

Beautiful, very nicely done and coverted. im just waiting eagerly for the paint job

Thanks a lot, guys!

I am actually pretty surprised that the conversion turned out to be really easy. Working on the other Termies will probably quite a bit harder, though...

@ bigfish: Cheers, mate! Here's a little exclusive teaser info for you: He's going to be gold

Nice! I am still stuck as what to do with DA termies in a chaos army.....

If any of you have ever played DoW, (2 retrubution for that matter), you may know of the dopplerganger effect which clones the enemies..... So I could "clone" the DA termies to go in my CSM army

Looking forward to seeing that Pre heresy terminator painted :3

@ progreen10: Well, here's a couple of ideas, off the top of my head:

- use them to represent fallen angels. You can adjust exactly how far they have fallen by the amount of trophies and spiky bitz you chose to add

- most of the DA iconography is located on the arms and torso fronts, so replace those with chaos parts, and you'll end up with something much more in line with the rest of your army.

- the many purity seals on the Termies make them an execellent fit for Word Bearers.

- you may need a little cutting and planning ahead, but like I demonstrated above, the Termies can be transformed into something pretty different. The bigger your bitzbox, the better

Well, doing the termies as fallen might be a bit hard, as they would be deathwing, who are like complete anti-heresy.....

I'll try and do some nice spiky bitz

 progreen10 wrote:
Well, doing the termies as fallen might be a bit hard, as they would be deathwing, who are like complete anti-heresy.....

Well, as for the feasibility of Fallen Termies, let me just point you towards these guys:

http://www.bolterandchainsword.com/index.php?showtopic=178772

That's what I'd go for if I were to convert those Termies to chaos.

Oh nice, thanks

 KrautScientist wrote:

 progreen10 wrote:
Well, doing the termies as fallen might be a bit hard, as they would be deathwing, who are like complete anti-heresy.....

Well, as for the feasibility of Fallen Termies, let me just point you towards these guys:

http://www.bolterandchainsword.com/index.php?showtopic=178772

That's what I'd go for if I were to convert those Termies to chaos.

Thanks for that link. Really cool to see some Fallen Angel models.

D

Alright, I have another before/after picture for you:

Before:



Another Deathwing Terminator from the new starter box. Say about GW's decision to make the Marines in the box DA what you want, the poses on those Termies are excellent!

You know what's next, right? A lot of cutting and kitbashing is what Again, my objective was to transform this guy into a Legio Custodes Terminator. Here's the result of that plan:



The conversion was pretty easy too! I cut off the left arm (with the chainfist), which can still be used on another conversion and removed the Terminator's head (that was a part of the torso). I replaced the arms with parts from my bitzbox and built the foundation of another Guardian Spear. Then I added some bitz. Done!



You'll notice that my Custodes Terminators don't look exactly alike. The reason for that is that I am using different base models and have to make do with what's in my bitzbox. Then again, I think it fits that those warriors should wear individualised armour: Each of them is a mighty champion of the Imperium, so I think it's quite alright if their armour deviates from the standard design here and there.







I am pleasantly surprised how relatively easy those Deathwing Termies can be converted into something quite different!

Let me know what you think!

Excellent work again.

So the new arm is from your bitz box?

Also, where are the top-knot things from?

D

Thanks, mate!

The new arms are indeed from my bitzbox: The left one is a Chaos Terminator power fist (with an added lion shield). The chaos power fists look reasonably close to the claw-like fists Terminators are pictured with in the HH artbooks. The right arm was spliced together from a Chaos Terminator arm and the gauntlet from a WFB Chaos Knight (holding a lance that formed the Guardian Spear's shaft).

The topknots were cut off regular Ork Boyz

 KrautScientist wrote:
The topknots were cut off regular Ork Boyz

Very cunning. Thanks for the tip, and thanks for the info about the arms.

D

Glad I could help

I spent the last days planning out how I was going to use the different models in the Dark Vengeance box. The plans for the chaos models can be found over in my World Eaters thread, and I already showed you some of the former Deathwatch Terminators gone Custodes. But what will I do with the rest of the Dark Angels?

Whenever I hit a roadblock during my musings on possible uses of the chaos models, I relax by working on some of the Dark Angel models. Some, if not most of these will be really useful for my Custodes army!

Characters

The Company Master will definitely be transformed into a Custodes officer! It should be easy enough: Just add a different head (for example, one from the High Elf White Lions kit), a couple of bitz and get rid of some of the DA symbols, and you’re there.

I’ll probably save the Librarian for later: He won’t do much good in a Custodes force, seeing how psykers were pretty much outlawed by the Edict of Nikaea. He might make a great base for an Inquisitor, though…Hmm, I’ll have to think about this.

And then there’s the limited edition Interrogator Chaplain. I am pretty sure that he won't end up as a Custodes, as I am somehow feeling a little tempted to convert him into a Word Bearers Dark Apostle…but it’s definitely not a priority at the moment.

Ravenwing Bikes

These will probably end up as Custodes jetbikes sooner or later. I’ll be using this excellent tutorial by Ron Saikowski (of From The Warp fame), although the conversion will probably end up being a bit more complicated compared to normal Space Marine bikes, since the wheels of the bikes from the starter box are part of the bike’s main body. Still, nothing that a bit of judicious cutting cannot solve…

Tactical Marines

To tell you the truth, these are a bit of a problem: The sergeant will become a Custodes with some minor conversion work. As will the guy with the Plasma cannon (only sans the Plasma cannon, since they didn’t yet exist at the time of the Heresy, I believe). His arms are completely separate, and he is sporting a rather interesting, older helmet design, so he will become a member of a power armoured Custodes squad (I’ll be showcasing some models from the squad soon).

The other guys are a pretty hopeless case, though: I doubt any amount of cutting would make them look like anything but Dark Angels tac Marines. So into my bitzbox they go. Maybe I’ll use them as statues in a terrain project. Maybe I’ll start a DA army one day. Maybe I’ll think of something in time. We’ll see…

Deathwing Terminators

Well, you already saw what I am planning to do with those guys, right? For completeness's sake, let me show you the first test model I built for my Custodes Terminators:



This guy is a little older than the other two and was based on a Black Reach Terminator.

More on this as it develops

Actually, not only were Plasma Cannons around during the Heresy, they were more common. The Great Crusade was the technological peak of the Imperium, and its only gone downhill from there.

Awesome job on the Cataphractii KS, I look forward to seeing what else you can come up with.

Whoa, I had no idea! But if an Archmagos says so, who am I to argue?

The 2nd edition chaos codex had a passage about Plasma Cannons only being available to Dreads and not to regular infantry at the time of the Heresy, although I guess that fluff has been invalidated by more current material. It does explain where I originally got that idea, though...

That said, I'll probably still equip that Marine with something different. It looks like those Plasma cannon arms should work on any Marine torso, so he'll probably get a Bolter and CC weapon, or even Boltpistol and CC weapon. We'll see.

Anyway, thanks for the input, mate!

Can't wait to see what you do with the bikes!

D

Great conversion work.

Thanks, guys!

Since I just showcased my first Deathwing Terminators gone Custodes, let’s have a look at some finished new recruits for my Legio Custodes force:

I previously told you that my Custodes are heavily inspired by Dave Taylor’s amazing Custodes army. One thing that I found just as fascinating about Dave’s models as the iconic “Praetorians” was that he built a squad of Custodes in “regular” power armour. Supposedly, there is some precedent for this in the HH artwork, although I didn’t find any images on the internet to corroborate this. Still, the fact that Dave had included such a unit in his Custodes force was more than enough reason for me to do the same.

With his models, Dave converted the power armour to look like older patterns that would have been more common during the time of the Horus Heresy. I wanted to do the same, and I happened to have the distinct advantage of a couple of years’ worth of new plastic bits, which made my work quite a bit easier. Apart from that, I kept fairly close to the look established by Dave. I also didn’t worry about trying to get the armour to look 100% accurate: As long as there are enough “correct” visual cues, you can usually get away with minor inconsistencies. Again, the HH artwork itself is almost criminally inconsistent at times, so we shouldn’t really break our backs trying to reverse-engineer armour that was never set in stone in the first place.

So I got to work, and a short while later, I had managed to build a small squad of power armoured Custodes. Let’s take a look:





First up, a Custodes in armour resembling the Mk V “Heresy” Pattern. The torso and helmet are really instrumental in nailing the look, in my opinion. The helmet came from the Venerable Dread kit, by the way, which has several great head options for Pre-Heresy armour (or Iron Warriors, if you’re that way inclined…).

I also used the tip of a chainsword to add a Pre-Heresy-style “chain bayonet” to the model’s Boltgun. Overall, this guy may be missing a few rivets for true accuracy, but I guess that can be excused.



Next up, a Custodes in armour resembling the Mk III “Iron” Pattern. Again, a reasonably close fit, thanks to the breastplate and helmet (another design from the Venerable Dread). This guy is also channeling one of the classic GW “early 90s” poses, for those who remember that time…



This model is wearing straight up Mk VI “Corvus” Pattern armour. This was pretty easy to build, since several Marine kits feature the riveted shoulder pad, and the “Beaky” helmet was easily obtainable from the regular tactical Marines.





There’s little precedent when it comes to this guy’s armour, although I think that the shaved down berzerker helmet makes the armour look quite classical, almost like a Hoplite’s. You’ll notice that I used GK legs for quite a few of the models, but I think the additional inscriptions are a rather nice fit with the Legio Custodes’ overall tendency towards very ornate armour. I also used topknots on all of the models — if you’re a chaos player, you’re never short on topknots, you know…

And finally, the squad leader: Centurion Kletian Varios in mastercrafted power armour:







Alright, alright, who am I trying to fool? The model is the basic Black Reach Sergeant, of course, and he is wearing plain old Mk VII “Aquila” pattern armour. However, I like the model quite a lot — in spite of the fact that the pose doesn’t make a lick of sense: Why isn’t he looking the way he is pointing? Or at least looking at his weapon or something? This guy has lots of nice detail, though, and I really like the facial expression.
I made a couple of small changes, to make him look more like a Custodian: The model’s original arm looks rather strange when attached, so I replaced it with an arm from the Sanguinary Guard, which had the nice bonus of also giving the officer an impressive sword. Then I used a Dreadnought armour plate (from the Furioso kit) as the right shoulderpad, leading to a more individualised look. And I gave the model a converted backpack with some extra bling.

With five models completed, I had the minimum requirement for a squad of tactical Marines I also tried to gloss over any visual inconsistencies with a short piece of background I worked out. Here’s a shot of the whole squad:



Squad Asklepian, “The Artisans”

The members of squad Asklepian forego the classic armament of the Legio Custodes and are instead clad in different marks of power armour. But this is no token of shame, for the squad’s honoured veterans are tasked with testing newly developed armour patterns in combat. That is why their armour is highly individual, with many different patterns across the squad. Some of its members are even wearing patterns that were never approved for mass production, yet they maintain their plate with utmost pride, sometimes even further embellishing it. For it is due to squad Asklepian’s diligent work that the legions of the Imperium may be armoured to the best possible standard, and Centurio Kletian Varios and his men take pride in that knowledge.

See what I did there?

These guys were a lot of fun to build, and I can easily see myself adding some more models to the squad at some point. Right now, I have got the parts for a model in Mk IV Maximus armour as well as a Black Reach Marine with Rocket launcher that will be converted to look more Pre-Heresy. Then there’s the tactical Marine with the Plasma Gun from the new starter box: He is sporting an interesting helmet, and his arms a completely separate, so he would be rather easy to convert. I am also collecting all kinds of “older” armour parts, in case they’ll come in handy while expanding this squad. Maybe I’ll even do one squad member for each armour pattern? Kitbashing a Mk I should be interesting…

With my second troop selection out of the way, let’s take a look at an HQ model next. Until then, as always, thanks for looking and stay tuned for more!

 KrautScientist wrote:
Whoa, I had no idea! But if an Archmagos says so, who am I to argue?

The 2nd edition chaos codex had a passage about Plasma Cannons only being available to Dreads and not to regular infantry at the time of the Heresy, although I guess that fluff has been invalidated by more current material. It does explain where I originally got that idea, though...

That said, I'll probably still equip that Marine with something different. It looks like those Plasma cannon arms should work on any Marine torso, so he'll probably get a Bolter and CC weapon, or even Boltpistol and CC weapon. We'll see.

Anyway, thanks for the input, mate!

Anything for a fellow servant of the Dark Gods!

I'm loving the new custodes man. They hit all the visual cues of the DT pieces, but don't feel derivative of them, and oddly enough the black helmets catch the eye, probably from the OSL. The terminators look great too.

If I could offer a bit of critique though, I feel the dreadnought pad on the sergeant is far too large, both in thickness and in length. On a Catcaphractii it would work pretty well, but on a tactical marine it just kind of unbalances it. I feel like the VenDread lascannon backpack and the more ornate weaponry do a good enough job of distinguishing it.

Otherwise, keep up the awesome conversions mate. They were a huge inspiration in getting me up off my sorry arse and getting me to work on my Skitarii

@ Archmagos_Amadeus: Glad to serve as an incentive of working on your Skitarii, mate

Maybe this is just a lame way of excusing a dubious modelling choice, but I wanted the - admittedly huge - shoulderpad combined with the equally massive Sanguinary Guard sword to look like he was wielding the sword two-handed during battle, and the bigger shoulder pad was for added protection on the side facing the foe. At least, that's what I wanted it to look like. I also wanted an element that distracts from the fact that the armour is basically straight up Mk. VII.

I absolutely love these models, very nice conversion work (especially on non modular starter minis, those can be a nightmare to cut). I especially love the way you have painted gold, i will definatly be using that in the future (the GW gold is so horrendous i usually paint silver/copper).

Brilliant work, i love the termis. Some of us are just going to build the box and others (like you) will take it and turn it into something superior great work.

What codex do you plan on using?

Young Logan

Cheers, guys!

@ vodo40k: I have the same problems with painting gold, which is why I am basically painting these with Tin Bitz/Brassy Brass and then only apply Shining Gold during the highlighting stages. It gives them more of a bronze-look, but that's alright with me.

@ Young Logan: I am doing these guys as a modelling and painting project, above all else. That said, I originally decided that, if I ever were to use them in a game, I would probably use the Vanilla Marine codex, since it offers all the unit types I would like to convert. But with the 6th edition introducing allies, all bets are off: I may still use the Marine codex or go for a combination of Marines and GK...basically whatever allows me to use the models I built in a characterful way.

Really nice squad of Praetorians!

Really like what you did with the AoBR sgt, really cool mini.

D

Gonna get get that box for tazzy in a few weeks

Wow your Custodes are insane looking. Looking foward to seeing more.

Hng. I love them. I wanna do a similar thing, but make Pre Heresy Sanguinary guard, which are essentially the same as the terminators... Only RED. And I don't know about the weapons, but what I want to know is what kit did you get the tufts from? I absolutely love them! As in the little top knot-esue things at the top of all of them. : D

That's a good kit bash though I'm no fan of kit bashing at all.

Thanks a lot, people! Just my luck that FW decided to release "real" Cataphractii Terminators just now

Anyway, with my recipe, at least I won't have to sell a kidney to own a squad of these

@ Gonnondorf: Those topknots all came from the regular Ork Boyz: The kit has a head with a topknot that is easily cut off. Other great sources for topknots: Chaos Space Marine heads, Warriors of Chaos (they even have them as separate parts), Chaos Marauders (again, there's one head with a topknot) and some of the SW heads.

Hope this helps!

Alright, time for an update on my Custodes in general and my - improvised - Cataphractii squad in particular:

For one, I finally buckled up and converted the Deathwing sergeant into yet another Custodes Terminator wearing Cataphract armour. Here you go:









Again, a fairly easy conversion: I replaced the Terminator’s torso front with a piece from the Venerable Dreadnought kit. The right arm is a regular Terminator’s upper arm combined with a Chaos Lord’s Lightning claw. The result resembles the clawed gauntlets present in the HH artwork. The pauldrons are shinguards from loyal Dreadnoughts. I also added all kinds of purity seals, a topknot and a couple of other bitz.

Here’s a look at the whole “Cataphractii Squad” so far:



While these may not look as “official” as the new FW models, I am still reasonably pleased with the squad. I think they’ll end up looking rather nice once painted. And those Deathwing Terminators were in the box anyway, so the squad came at basically no extra cost!

Let’s wind up this post with two rather simple conversions, also for my Custodes:



The first model is a standard bearer for my squad of Custodes wearing Astartes pattern power armour. I converted this guy from the Dark Angel wielding a Plasma Gun (the gun itself was squirreled away for some future project, of course).

And then there’s the DA Company Master. With a simple head swap, he now looks like this:



Quite an imposing Legio Custodes Shield Captain, don’t you think? While these two models aren’t finished yet, I guess you can see where they are headed.

I am still far from fed-up with the Dark Vengeance models, quite the contrary: Thanks to the models I will be able to considerably bolster the ranks of both my Traitor Guard and Custodes. As as you can see, the models lend themselves rather nicely to conversions with a bit of thought (and decisive cutting…).

As always, thanks for looking and stay tuned for more!

Some of those terminator conversions beggar belief, amazing work.

Those sisters of silence are terrific, they look exactly likt the artwork. Looking forward to seeing more!

i really like that standard bearer! great work, as always!

Thanks a lot, guys! Glad you like them!

That Termie conversion with the power sword is freaking awesome.

Excellet work

D

Thanks, evildrcheese!

With two squads of Custodes completed, I decided it was time to add a commander to lead them into battle. I really enjoy building characters for my armies, and the Custodes with their extremely ornate armour lend themselves rather nicely to converting impressive commanders. However, I decided to start with something pretty straightforward.

Fortunately, I still had the Space Marine Commander from the AOBR boxed set lying around (kindly sponsored by cousin Andy), and I really like the model, so I got to work on him. Here’s the result:



The model is a very easy conversion, if you can call it a conversion at all: I just added a different sword (from the Grey Knights in power armour), a CSM backpack and a wing from the Dark Angels veteran sprue. I did consider changing the head and/or Bolter for a while, but unfortunately the model had a few rough spots, probably due to a casting mishap, so going all out on the conversion would have created all kinds of new problems. Still, I am quite pleased with the model’s composition, so I was okay with basically leaving it as it was.

When painting the model, I went for the trademark Custodes colours of Red and Gold, with some elements in Silver and Vallejo Halcon Turquoise thrown into the mix for contrast. Take a look:







The sword was painted in turquoise as well, to show it is some kind of Relic blade. I am not perfectly happy with the result yet (the highlights are a bit too subtle), but to tell you the truth, this model was a bit of a test run for a top secret HQ model I’ll reveal to you somewhere along the line…





I painted the model’s hair in grey to show the commander is a grizzled veteran. So meet my first Shield Captain:



Shield Captain Fennias Andronicus, “The Old Lion”

One of the commanding officers of the Lionsguard, Fennias Andronicus is a veteran of the Legio Custodes: Many are his honorary titles and names, and they cover every inch of the inside of his master crafted armour. Called “The Old Lion”, Shield Captain Andronicus’ age and experience make him a skilled and levelheaded tactician, yet his name is also synonymous with heroism and prowess in combat. When the Legio has to face an enemy on the field of battle, Andronicus leads from the front, relic blade in hand, and becomes and instrument of the Emperor’s wrath.


You may already have seen my WIP Custodes officer converted from the DA Company Master in my last update, and given my history of building scores of HQ models, there’ll be quite a few more characters for my Custodes force. However, with this first HQ selection completed, I now have a small but legally playable Custodes army…at least in theory:



As always, thanks for looking and stay tuned for more!

i gotta say, this is one of the most pleasing armies to the eyeballs. great work sir.

Just a small update for today, just to show you that this project is still alive

I already told you about my idea to add one model for each power armour pattern to my squad of Custodes in Astartes power armour. Thanks to the fantastic ideas for converting Pre-Heresy armour over at Mywargame.com, I was able to kitbash a Custodes in Mk. I pattern armour. Take a look:







The model is basically a kitbash, using a couple of different (Chaos) Space Marine parts and a Cadian head. While this guy may not be 100% accurate, I am rather fond of him. And putting him together took me only a couple of minutes! He also looks quite a bit less dorky than I imagined he would

C&C welcome, as always!

Oo he really looks like that old style armor, I like it a lot

Thunder Armour looks cool

That Space Marine Commander looks great!

Love what you've done to do the arly armour as well, great work as ever.

D

Thanks, people!

I am rather pleased with him, if I do say so myself...

In all fairness, the guys at Mywargame.com did a far more involved conversion, using GS and lots of cutting, but my quick recipe works well enough for me.

Liking how the custodes are coming out!

Loving the Thunder Armour!

Subscribed! Looking forward to the next piece of eye candy. I am putting together a custom force using similar pieces. I've been out of the hobby for so long I'm scared to commit to anything. I originally got into the hobby for the modeling/painting aspect but I'm very interested in playing. I usually build models that look cool but with wysiwyg I'm concerned about my builds.

Your conversions are very chracterful and look better than the FW models; the FW models are all identical and have no character.

Thanks a lot, guys!

@ Fallen_Veteran: If you're afraid of committing to a larger project, my advice would be to just start small: Build an INQ28 warband, a Necromunda gang or a Bloodbowl team: Something that can be finished in a foreseeable timeframe. Or you could just build one test squad for a 40k army, something that really interests you from a modelling/painting standpoint. That's how I started my Custodes, and look where this has gotten me
As for the WYSIWYG problem: While there may not be a right answer to this, I usually find that people who are rather laidback about the hobby tend to prefer cool-looking models over legal ones The important thing is that you tell your opponent what the model can do and that its equipment doesn't magically change midway through a game. If that much is guaranteed, most players will be rather relaxed about letting you use models that are not strictly WYSIWYG.

@ Boringstuff: Aw shucks, that's awfully nice of you to say, mate!

love the models in here!

In particular it's great to see some sister's of silence

 Sageheart wrote:
In particular it's great to see some sister's of silence

In that case, I have good news for you But I am getting ahead of myself:

I’ve been doing very little painting for a while. Maybe it’s because these last few weeks have been rather stressful, maybe it’s the weather, but somehow I just didn’t feel all that inspired to paint. On the other hand, this means I had more time for a couple of conversion projects, so I sat down to build some new recruits for my small Legio Custodes force.

Kitbashing more Custodes is always really relaxing, because even though the goal I set for myself is rather special (make it look at least reasonably close to the official artwork while only using readily available GW plastic parts), it’s really all about creativity: I love to find out how all those Marine parts can be recombined and altered to make them look like something the Legio Custodes would be equipped with. Plus the very ornate look of the Custodes means I really get to go all out on those models! So what do I have to show for my troubles?

First up, I built my fifth and probably last (at least for now) Custodes Terminator. Once again, a Terminator from the Dark Vengeance box formed the base for this model. Take a look:









The left arm of the original model was cut off and replaced with a Chaos Terminator power fist. The DA torso front went into the bitzbox, and I used some (Chaos) Space Marine parts to construct a replacement. As you can see, I decided to equip this guy with a flamer, although I wanted the weapon to look a bit more like one of the “flame lances” Custodes Terminators are equipped with in some of the artwork. So I took a heavy flamer (from the Space Wolves terminators, no less), adding all kinds of bitz for decoration and lenghtening the weapon’s barrels with some plastic pipes from an old model truck kit. The muzzle was further detailed by adding a stylised eagle’s head (from the High Elf Archers). The overall idea for this conversion was once again inspired by Kaaleb Dark’s Custodes over on B&C, btw (he’s been posting new stuff too, so I recommend you check out his thread as well!).

I also build some additional models for Squad Asklepian, my squad of Custodes armoured with Astartes pattern power armour:



I already posted this guy some time ago: The model is based on the DA with Plasmagun from Dark Vengeance. I used the model to build a Custodes standard bearer in older looking power armour. I may have to add some additional “bling” for decoration, though.

Here’s the guy I am really proud of (again, you already saw some rather fuzzy pictures of him): A Custodes wearing MK I "Thunder" pattern power armour:







And finally, what may be my favourite conversions at the moment:

I really wanted to build a small squad of Sisters of Silence to go with my Custodes. I have no idea what I could actually play them as (although Scouts seem a reasonably good idea). Anyway, some time ago, I started fooling around with a couple of Dark Eldar Wyches and some additional bits, and here are the results of that session:





The base model is a Dark Eldar Wych: The legs and most female torsi from that kit are perfect for Sisters of Silence, since they look almost exactly like the artwork in the HH artbooks. If you’re going to convert your own Sisters, you also want to look for arms with puffy sleeves — but there are enough kits with useful bits (the High Elf Archers and some WFB Empire kits are great for this!). And you can splice together almost perfect heads using really old plastic Dark Eldar heads.

I also built a standard bearer, while I was at it:



The standard is yet another part from the High Elf Archers, although I modified it a bit to better fit the artwork (and added a Dark Eldar back banner and an Imperial aquila).

Again, those two were already posted earlier, but I also built a squadleader for the Sisters of Silence very recently:









Again, the model is basically a Dark Eldar Wych with all kinds of bits added on top: I wanted her to look a bit more imosing than her squadmates, so I added a suitably impressive sword and a cloak (which I got in a bitz trade, so I can only guess that it might be from the High Elf White Lions kit). I am really quite pleased with her, to tell you the truth.

And here’s the whole squad so far:



The only downside to these is that they require a prettty diverse assortment of bits, some of them (the old Dark Eldar heads) no longer readily available. Still, I think the results are rather convincing.

The only thing that worries me is that my Custodes army has moved dar beyond the scheduled frame already. But then, it’s just so much fun kitbashing these guys and girls

As always, thanks for looking and stay tuned for more!

You've got quite the knack for sneaky conversions don't you Kraut? That Thunder Warrior is superb and those SoS are very nicely done. I'd be more inclined to go easy on the little pointy bits on the SoS legs though. Still look a little Dark Eldarish.

Thanks a lot, Snrub!

 Snrub wrote:
I'd be more inclined to go easy on the little pointy bits on the SoS legs though. Still look a little Dark Eldarish.

I thought so too at first, but they actually have very similar blades at the sides of the knees in the original HH artwork! I may have to shave off the spikes from the legs of the squad leader, though...

Nice looking army so far. And that one Terminator with the lightning claw, would make an excellent Abbaddon

Looking great buddy, I really like the SoS. Great work

could run them as an no jump pack assult squad? maybe?

This is one of my fav plogs at the moment. The kitbashing is just mad so major props for setting the bar high

R

Really impressed by the Sisters of Silence.

D

Thanks a lot for the kind words, guys!

@ KingCracker: You know, somebody on one of the German boards spotted the exact same thing, and you're both right, of course. Now I am a little worried that Chaos always keeps corrupting all of the conversions I do, even for the "ultra-loyalist" Custodes...

Alright people, it's been a while since this thread got some love, but today it's time for some Custodes-related news!

While I originally started my Custodes as a small side project with a very limited scope and a “Why the hell not?” approach, several factors have led to the army expanding far beyond what was originally planned: One reason for this was the fact that kitbashing Custodes out of all kinds of Space Marine parts is just a whole lot of fun. And there were all the Dark Angels models from the Dark Vengeance starter box too. I had to use them for something, didn’t I? Anyway, even after completing the first two squads for the army, I still couldn’t stop building and building. Today, let’s take a look at the most recent additions to my Custodes:

1.) Kitbashed Cataphractii

I already featured all of the individual models, but here’s another look at my finished Custodes Cataphractii squad, basically ready for painting:



Originally, I had planned to build only one model as a proof of concept, but the Terminators that came with the Dark Vengeance box allowed me to bump the squad size up to five. While these may look a little different from FW’s “official” Cataphractii model, they were kitbashed with base models and bitz I already owned anyway, and I think they read as Heresy-era Terminators well enough. Still, five models should be enough for now, so the next step would be to actually get some colour on these guys.

2.) Sisters of Silence

Another spur of the moment idea was to add a small squad of Sisters of Silence to the army. This was made pretty easy by the fact that some of the Dark Eldar models make for pretty convincing Sisters when combined with a couple of more imperial looking bitz.

I recently added another model to the squad. This time, the model was converted from a Dark Eldar Kabalite Warrior instead of a Wych:







I thought it would be a cool idea have a model wielding a flamer in the squad, so I used a bit from the plastic Empire wizard kit and combined it with the body of a Dark Eldar shredder to create a flamer that looked suitably archaic and ornate (and was, once again, pretty close to the official HH artwork).

Here’s the squad so far:





I think I’ll be adding one more model to make sure the squad is actually legally playable. They could probably be used as Scouts, although that’s really not all that important to me. In any case, a squad of five will look nice enough, even if it’s just on a display board The one decision I still have to make is whether to paint these in gold (like the regular Custodes) or rather in a combination of red and silver (as they are seen in several pieces of HH artwork).

3.) Legio Champion

I have mentioned the fact that I am slightly addicted to building HQ models on several occasions. So in addition to my already completed Custodes Shield Captain (and another possible commander converted from the Dark Vengeance Company Master), I wanted to build an imposing warrior to represent a mighty champion of the Legio Custodes. I wanted him to look like he could basically bring down a fortress all by himself. Here’s the result:









I combined all kinds of Marine parts with the legs of a WFB Warrior of Chaos. I also added a slightly converted Thunder Hammer. The storm bolter looks a little too clunky, so maybe I’ll just swap it for a storm shield. And I have to be honest with you: The whole model was really heavily inspired by one of the very nice Custodes models over at The Buddy Times (I really wish Hashashin would get back to building more Custodes!).

4.) Jump Infantry

I already told you that my Praetorians were built using parst from the GK, Sanguinary Guard and DA Veterans kits. That means I had a lot of leftover bits from those kits, so I thought it would be cool to build some kind of jump infantry for my Custodes, using those parts. Here are my test models for a squad of five:







And the second model:







This one is a bit closer to the classic Custodes look, wielding yet another converted Guardian Spear.

All in all, like I said, these were basically built from leftovers. I considered adding the Sanguinary Guard wings for a long time, seeing how they are a really nice fit with the overall Custodes aesthetics, but I decided against it in the end: For one, the models would have looked like nothing more than Sanguinary Guard with High-Elf heads. Plus leaving the wings off means the jump packs look identical to FW’s MK IV jump packs, adding to the models’ Pre-Heresy look. And without a doubt, the leftover wings will come in handy sooner rather than later…



Apart from the two painted test models, there are three more in the squad. I’ll probably paint these next, so expect them to be the next update concerning my Custodes army.

Anyway, these are my Custodes-related projects at the moment. All in all, the army remains a fun project to distract me from all the World Eaters stuff. Plus it offers me the way of using all the strange and obscure Marine bitz that end up in my bitzbox in new and interesting ways.

As always, thanks for looking and stay tuned for more!

Very nice work, KS! Very clever use of that Wizard bit on the flamer, and the jump troops look great. I especially like the champion. Very nice combination of bits, there. Where is the little lion bit you put on the shoulder pads from?

Cheers, mate! The lion head is from the WFB Empire cannon/mortar kit. I still had the model lying around from an old WFB starter box, and it came with several of those small lion heads.

Cool work man! Love the flamer especially

I love the new guys! The new HQ is awesome! He looks very imposing!

Cheers, guys!

I love that flamer...

May have to "borrow" that idea when SoB get a proper 'dex

I also like the JI!

Loving the flamer, very clever use of bits mate. The new big bad ass looks mean as well. Great work as usual.

nice use of the wizards staff, makes a great gothic flamer!

Alright, guys, just a small update:

You may remember that I had planned to add one model for each armour pattern between Mk. I and Mk. VI to my squad of Custodes in Astartes armour, right?

So far, I have...

Mk. I, "Thunder Armour":



Mk. III, "Iron Armour"



Mk. V, "Heresy Armour":



and Mk. VI, "Corvus Armour":



That only leaves two patterns, and while Mk. IV should be easy enough to get right, thanks to the available plastic parts, Mk. II had me rather stumped. I'll be honest with you, I even considered just getting a couple of Mk. II bitz off ebay and be done with it. But then, I really wanted to kitbash these out of GW plastic parts. So last night, I finally managed to do an early mockup for a Custodian in "Crusade" armour. Take a look:



Granted, the model needs quite a bit more work, and even then, it will not be perfect -- none of them are. What I am going for is a reasonably close approximation without resorting to using FW stuff. That said, I am rather happy with the model so far.

Let me know what you think!

he looks pretty gnarly. i personally like the MK III the best.

Well, the model is obviously still pretty rough, but it's definitely getting there. What I can say with certainty now is that Mk. II is the least supported armour pattern when it comes to readily available plastic parts. The other armour variants were far easier to approximate.

Alright, I did some more work on the Mk II Custodian:





I changed the CC weapon to a pretty ancient looking chainaxe, trimmed off some detail and added a small lion figurine on the breastplate to camouflage the BA iconography there and to make the model fit the rest of my force. This guy still needs some finetuning, but I think his armour is reasonably close to the artwork and the FW models.

Let me know what you think!

Very nice

Yea I think you got it now. Good job!

Thanks, guys! Glad you like him!

That MK2 is awesome.

Where is the head from? I've never seen it before.

really love what you've been doing, especially the SoS. I know you said the heads are oop but I was wondering what kits they were originally from? I've done some simple two part moulds before and from looking at the heads and face piece I think it might be possible to mould them. I'm interested in doing a few SoS models for modeling and really like the way you did yours

I like the idea but my only gripe is that all the legs are mk 6 or 7.
mk1 only the chest has armor and the legs should be normal legs with armor plates.
mk2 legs/chest should be banded armor
mk2 legs/chest should be banded armor with armor plates on the front.
mk5 needs more studs
your mk2 looks more like a mk4 to me.
love the helmet, sorry but i am a purist when it comes to space marine armour

Thanks a lot for the comments, guys!

@ Jehan-reznor:You've certainly managed to catch me red-handed: There's indeed quite a lot wrong and/or inaccurate about my kitbashed armour marks. Apart from the fact that I had to use available plastic parts, this is also because I am extremely lazy (and really bad ad GS work), so I aimed for a rather loose approximation of the different designs. My idea was that if I managed to hit enough of the "right" visual cues, most people wouldn't notice the things that are wrong - I do of course realise that this must sound rather irritating to a purist such as you

@ Obsidian Raven: The head's from the new WFB Skullcrusher kit: I had shaved off the Khornate "bunny ears" to use them for one of my World Eaters, so I decided to transform the rest of the helmet into an Mk. II. Some plastic was shaved off to turn the eyeslits into a single slit, and I added the sides from a regular Marine helmet. Oh, and the topknot came from some Chaos kit or other...

@ Hive Fleet Lazarus: Well, the heads were spliced together using old Dark Eldar heads (from the old warrior kit): The top of the head is the old, bare head from that kit, and the bottom came from one of the helmets. So if you manage to acquire some of the old heads, you're good to go! Let me know, though, I might want to buy some

I suck at the greenstuff to here is my attempt at MK2 techmarine, i just used plastic strips

Just took a wander through your thread and got quite excited...o_O Diggin' what I'm seeing here. Please continue.

I love the Thunder Armour. Everything you've done is great, but that conversion is just so good.

I love the four big boxing gloves on the tech marine lol.
Where did you get that head in the mk 1 thunder armour from?

Thanks a lot, guys!

@ Jehan-reznor: That is a pretty sweet looking Techmarine, to be sure! Great job! Still, I hope you'll forgive my laziness in kitbashing slightly inaccurate Marine armour

@ shingouki: That's a Cadian head from one of the IG vehicle kits - Chimera or Sentinel, I believe, but I'm not sure. I just shaved off the IG symbol on the forehead and added a CSM topknot.

Phew, it's been some time since I have posted in this thread! However, let me assure you that my kitbashed Legio Custodes army is far from abandoned! As a matter of fact, not only am I still working on the army, but I also have something new to show you today:

First up, you may remember the first two painted models for a squad of jump infantry I posted quite a while ago:



Well, the squad obviously has more members, so these are probably the next Custodes models to be painted for the army:



I couldn’t bear throwing away the beautiful GK flamer, so I used him on this member of the squad: A little flamer action never hurt anyone, after all. On second thought, hurting someone is very much the whole point in this case

Then there’s the standard bearer for the squad:



I used a leftover part from the WFB Empire Knights, which makes an excellent standard for the squad. You’ll notice that the rest of the model also looks fairly ostentatious, as befits a member of the Legio Custodes:



And finally, the squad leader:



Using mostly Sanguinary Guard parts, this grizzled veteran looks like the hero he is. I added a CSM Plasma pistol as well as a company champion’s power sword to make the model’s equipment look especially ancient and well-crafted.

A Venerable Dreadnought’s shinguard was used as the squad leader’s left pauldron:



The engravings are unfortunately the wrong way around, but there was really no easy way to fix this. I still like the overall effect, though.

While these models had been built for quite a while already, I have now cleaned and assembled their jump packs, so they are very much next in line for painting.




I also built some more models for Squad Asklepian, the unit of Custodians wearing older marks of Astartes power armour. My goal was to have every armour pattern from Mk 1 to Mk 6 on display in the squad, while some additional models with suitably old and/or ostentatious looking armour were also drafted into the unit.

So here’s the model in Mk I “Thunder amour” I already showed you a while back:



I am still really pleased with the model, if I do say so myself.

Then there’s the Dark Angels Plasma gunner from the Dark Vengeance boxed set: Since his helmet looked deliciously vintage, I gave him some new arms a while back and added him to Squad Asklepian. Since you last saw the model, I added some additional detail to it:



A small lion figurine was added to the custodian’s chest, thereby creating a winged lion ornament. I also added the bottom of a purity seal, used almost like a loincloth in this case. As you can see, the model will end up as the squad’s standard bearer.

While some of the older armour variants were reasonably easy to approximate, the Mk II “Crusade” pattern had me stumped for quite a while: I’ll be honest with you, I even considered just getting a couple of Mk II bitz off ebay and be done with it. But then, I really wanted to kitbash these out of GW plastic parts. In the end, I did manage to build a model that at least looks reasonably close, though. Take a look:



First of all, I just used the clunkiest bitz I could find for a more heavily armoured and less mobile look. The weapons (taken from the Khorne Berzerker sprue) also look suitably clunky and pre-heresy. The most important part of the conversion is the head, though: It originally came from the WFB Skullcrushers: I had shaved off the Khornate bunny ears to use them on another model, and coincidentally realised that the helmet could work as a Mk. II with a little bit of work. So the eyeslits were carefully converted to a single, cyclopean slit, and the “ears” from a regular Marine helmet were added to the sides.



It may not be a totally accurate representation of the armour design, but I am still pretty happy with it. At least it manages to look pretty archaic, and this whole project was really never about perfect accuracy anyway, but rather about the joy of converting and kitbashing.

Lastly, I still had a Marine wielding a rocket launcher from the “Assault on Black Reach” boxed set knocking around, and seeing how his helmet had a nice, archaic look, I wanted to use him for squad Asklepian. However, turning his 40k rocket launcher into a 30k one proved to be quite a headscratcher. So the model mouldered in my bitzbox for a long time. I was almost tempted to just get one of FW’s rocket launcher arms, but once again, only using plastic GW parts was part of the self-imposed restrictions for this project, so I had to find another way.

And then, only recently, it hit me: I knew which GW plastic parts to use to make that weapon look like an older design. Here’s the finished model:





One of the good old Space Crusade weapons really helped me out here! Granted, it’s far from perfect, but I think it’s a pretty reasonable approximation of the “official” FW stuff, given the rules I had set for myself. As a matter of fact, I am very much in love with this clever (at least for my standard) little conversion at the moment!

Of course I also added a topknot and an additional wing ornament to tie the model in with the rest of the squad.



So here are all four models together, ready to be painted:



This brings the number of models in Squad Asklepian up to nine and means I only need to do a model in Mk IV “Maximus Armour” to complete the collection — fortunately, I already have all the plastic bitz I need for that last Custodian in the squad.

So, as you can see, the work on my Legio Custodes project continues! And I still want to get at least most of the army painted before Forgeworld release their own take on the Emperor’s bodyguard. Because once the “official” models are available, I am pretty sure no one will cast another glance at my own meagre efforts



Anyway, any and all C&C are always welcome! And, as always, thanks for looking and stay tuned for more!

Concerning the left shoulder pad of your squad leader:

You could use some green stuff to hide/remove the letters.
Either put it right on top of the shoulder as it is at present or carefully cut away some of the plastic and than add the green stuff as some kind of inlay.
First option would work as well with a thin piece of plasticard.

After doing this you could either put some symbol or so (wing insignia, veteran symbol, etc) on top or - if you used green stuff - engrave your own words (or symbol)

if your looking for an easy way to flatten the shoulder pad scripture,
id suggest liquid greenstuff, slap a load on with an old brush and it'll fill the indents up nicely, then you can smooth it over with a nail buffer if you have one handy,

on another note this project is inspirational to say the least,
please keep up the good work sir

Big fan of the missle launcher conversion, very cool indeed. Very cool army and even when they do bring out the forge world version i think yours will be a source of inspiration for anyone not wanting to spend the no doubt heafty price to get them.

Really love the way the champion looks likes he's slowly advancing into battle.

The homage to the space crusade missile launcher is just ace!

Thanks for the kind words and constructive criticism, everyone!

@ pfibp: Oh, I am actually fine with the lettering being the wrong way around. I mean, sure, it's a little strange, but I believe trying to get rid of it would probably only make it look worse. As it stands, it's just an idiosyncratic little touch, and I rather like that I am also far too lazy to do anything about it, to tell the truth

@ bigfish: Ha, even though it's a kitbashed army, it's still far from a cheap solution. But you're probably right: The stuff released by FW will turn out to be even more expensive

@ Knightley: While it's actually a homage to the old RT era RTB01 rocket launcher, the one from Space Crusade one was a simpler knockoff of that design. And I used parts from that to build something resembling the RTB01 weapon -- it's a bit complicated, if you think about it too much

Once again, I return to this thread after a longer absence. But I do have something new to show you, even though it's only a kitbash

Back when the plastic Sternguard kit came out, I picked it up mainly to always have some suitably blinged out Space Marine parts on hand But of course, there was also the prospect of being able to use some of these bitz to build new Custodes.

Anyway, after quite a bit of deliberation, I sat down today and built another Custodes character. I give you Chief-Custodian Constantin Valdor, Captain-General of the Legio Custodes:







Even though it's only a Space Marine based kitbash, I believe most of the visual cues are there to make the model a reasonable approximation of the artwork for Valdor. While most conversions have him running forward, however, this one is clearly more static, resembling his appearance on the cover of "The Unremembered Empire".

Anyway, let me know what you think!

I was excited to see this thread bumped, and I was not disappointed

love your work. great conversions!

Thanks, guys! I realise it may not be the biggest update in the world, but I am rather pleased with the conversion, if I do say so myself

The precision cutting has really made that Guardian Spear look awesome.

Great work.

I like the idea of your Custodes being less uniform than they are portrayed in the HH art. Lends itself to the 40k setting and the fact that they are very individualistic warriors.

Great kit bash, man! He will be the grandmaster of bling-bling when he's coloured!

I love the blending between bolt pistol and glaive. They actually look like they are meant to be one piece

Young Logan

Thanks a lot, guys!

@ Medium of Death: Haha, let me put it this way: Uniformity definitely isn't my chief concern with these, what with the (official) Custodes artwork varying wildly between sources: Sometimes the same kind of Custodian is wearing different armour in the very same picture! That said, I'll be trying to have all the fun I can get with these before FW swoops in with their own Custodes, making them uniform (see their treatment of the Cataphractii) and rendering my models utterly obsolete

@ Logan: You better believe it

@ Young_Logan: Haha, yeah: Those guardian spear parts fitting together so well was a combination of unbelievable luck and some deft cutting on my part -- at least when compared to my usual, sloppy standard

He's looking really great ! I especially love the Guardian Spear kitbash : looks really convincing !

So, once again, it's been a while since the last update, but this project is still alive! In fact, with the Horus Heresy book dealing with Prospero now supposedly slated for an early 2016 release, I have been provided with a definite deadline: I have the rest of 2015 to finish this small army, until the official FW Custodes and Sisters of Silence hit. Afterwards, I doubt anyone will look at my conversions twice

So, what do I have:

First up, I completed the last models for my squad of Custodes in older marks of Astartes power armour:

The Mk II guy has been finished, and I am really rather happy with him now:



I've also finished the banner on the squad's standard bearer, courtesy of the Imperial Knight kit:





And the last model for the squad has finally been built: Check out "Mr. Mk IV"



So here's the second, unpainted half of the squad, with marks I, II, IV and two generically pre heresy looking guys:



And I have finally managed to build a fifth model for my Sisters of Silence squad:



While I was at it, I also spiced up the squad's standard bearer a bit:





Here's the finished Sisters of Silence squad, basically ready to be painted:



As always, let me know what you think!

This is really nice! Your work is exceptional - as always!

*nudge* http://maxmini.eu/conversion-bits/head-swaps/steam-nobles-heads-bits

So, with the shiny new Custodes release, I find myself drawn back to this thread after what feels like an eternity:

Now GW's new "official" models have basically rendered the kitbashes posted earlier in this thread mostly redundant. I am still pretty proud of those older models, but there's really no fooling myself: The scale difference alone is enought to disqualify them at this point That being said, I am still rather pleased with how close I came to some of the new "official" designs when I built the models ages ago:





The one part of the old army I might actually be able to salvage are my Sisters of Silence conversions, as they still look rather similar to the new models:





From left to right, one of my kitbashed Sisters from way back when, another kitbashed Sister with one of the new "official" heads spliced in, and one of the actual new models.

As for the Custodians themselves, when I saw the new Custodes models in the latest issue of WD and also discovered some really sweet ideas over on Eberious' thread, I just felt the urgent need to work on some of the new models -- fortunately enough, this was an easy plan to indulge, as I still had the mostly untouched Custodes sprues from The Burning of Prospero at hand. So I made these, in order to get it out of my system:



The guy on the right was actually completed quite a bit earlier, back when The Burning of Prospero was released. He was heavily based on the character Aquillon from "The First Heretic":



The standard bearer was heavily inspired by Eberious' aforementioned thread: I wanted to make the pose look a bit more heroic and exciting, while also making sure the guy actually had a weapon (other than one of those flimsy Custodes daggers) in his off hand:



And the Shield Captain is a conversion I have wanted to do ever since first seeing the new models: I really liked the idea of having an officer hold his ornate helmet in the crook of his arm. It really took some doing to make it happen, especially when it came to adding the helmet plume, but I am rather happy with the outcome:



One thing I did on all of the models was to replace their clunky sentinel blades with GK Nemesis psi swords. I realise that the sentinel blades are a really close match for some of the classic Custodes artwork, but they are also very clunky and unwieldy. And with the Custodes themselves so much beefier in model form, I felt they needed a bit of a visual counterpoint.

For now, I don't see this as a fully fledged new army project or anything. A Custodes "warband", almost like an INQ28 warband, might be fun, though: Just a couple of Custodians, some Sisters of Silence, and maybe a retainer or two? One of their armoury thralls (who gets to reload the Guardian Spears, as described in "The Master of Mankind")? We'll see. If nothing else, this thread has now been brought up to speed, so yeah

As always, let me know what you think!

Nice! Look forward to where this will go, especially since the GW codex is now out.

Cheers, Iliu! Don't expect an army, though -- I already have enough unpainted plastic as it stands

Slap some inquisition stuff on your kitbash custodes, give them a second life as some badass bodyguards.

Great stuff, KS - and Whaley has already typed what I was going to suggest. Either that or paint them as a closely-aligned chapter of Astartes, something like Deathwatch-style Marines that work alongside the Custodes, or a group of Fists (or Fists-and-successors) honour guard that work alongside the Custodes...

Cheers, guys!

Just to clarify, though: While I am probably going to treat these guys as a warband-/retinue-like mini project, it'll still be a proper Custodes retinue, i.e. real, actual Custodians.

That being said, they could still play a role in the INQ28 setting -- not to spoil an excellent novel, but "Carrion Throne" had some pretty sweet ideas on that account. As did the old Dark Magenta sourcebook on Terra as an Inquisitor adventurescape.

Fun fact, however, especially in the light of Azazel's comment: My DIY Space Marine chapter, the Golden Legion, is actually both an IF successor chapter and styles itself as an Astartes force inspired by the Legio Custodes, at least in some respects. There are several reasons for the hubris, but that's a story for another day...